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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/15836-8.txt b/15836-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..dd3a242 --- /dev/null +++ b/15836-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,23564 @@ +Project Gutenberg's Expositions of Holy Scripture, by Alexander Maclaren + +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: Expositions of Holy Scripture + Ezekiel, Daniel, and the Minor Prophets. St Matthew Chapters I to VIII + +Author: Alexander Maclaren + +Release Date: May 16, 2005 [EBook #15836] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK EXPOSITIONS OF HOLY SCRIPTURE *** + + + + +Produced by Charles Franks, Don Kretz and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team. + + + + + + + + + +EXPOSITIONS OF HOLY SCRIPTURE +ALEXANDER MACLAREN, D.D., Litt.D. + + +EZEKIEL, DANIEL, AND THE MINOR PROPHETS + +ST. MATTHEW +CHAPTERS I to VIII + +NEW YORK +GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY + + * * * * * + +EZEKIEL, DANIEL, AND THE MINOR PROPHETS + +CONTENTS + + + THE BOOK OF EZEKIEL + + CHAMBERS OF IMAGERY (Ezekiel viii. 12) + A COMMON MISTAKE AND LAME EXCUSE (Ezekiel xii. 27) + THE HOLY NATION (Ezekiel xxxvi. 25-38) + THE DRY BONES AND THE SPIRIT OF LIFE (Ezekiel xxxvii. 1-14) + THE RIVER OF LIFE (Ezekiel xlvii. 1) + + + THE BOOK OF DANIEL + + YOUTHFUL CONFESSORS (Daniel i. 8-21) + THE IMAGE AND THE STONE (Daniel ii. 36-49) + HARMLESS FIRES (Daniel iii. 13-25) + MENE, TEKEL, PERES (Daniel v. 17-31) + A TRIBUTE FROM ENEMIES (Daniel vi. 5) + FAITH STOPPING THE MOUTHS OF LIONS (Daniel vi. 16-28) + A NEW YEAR'S MESSAGE (Daniel xii. 13) + + + HOSEA + + THE VALLEY OF ACHOR (Hosea ii. 15) + 'LET HIM ALONE' (Hosea iv. 17) + 'PHYSICIANS OF NO VALUE' (Hosea v. 13, R.V.) + 'FRUIT WHICH IS DEATH' (Hosea x. 1-15) + DESTRUCTION AND HELP (Hosea xiii. 9) + ISRAEL RETURNING (Hosea xiv. 1-9) + THE DEW AND THE PLANTS (Hosea xiv. 5, 6) + + + AMOS + + A PAIR OF FRIENDS (Amos iii. 3) + SMITTEN IN VAIN (Amos iv. 4-13) + THE SINS OF SOCIETY (Amos v. 4-15) + THE CARCASS AND THE EAGLES (Amos vi. 1-8) + RIPE FOR GATHERING (Amos viii. 1-14) + + + JONAH + + GUILTY SILENCE AND ITS REWARD (Jonah i. 1-17) + 'LYING VANITIES' (Jonah ii. 8) + THREEFOLD REPENTANCE (Jonah iii. 1-10) + + + MICAH + + IS THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD STRAITENED? (Micah ii. 7) + CHRIST THE BREAKER (Micah ii. 13) + AS GOD, SO WORSHIPPER (Micah iv. 5, R.V.) + 'A DEW FROM THE LORD' (Micah v. 7) + GOD'S REQUIREMENTS AND GOD'S GIFT (Micah vi. 8) + + + HABAKKUK + + THE IDEAL DEVOUT LIFE (Habakkuk iii. 19) + + + ZEPHANIAH + + ZION'S JOY AND GOD'S (Zephaniah iii. 14, 17) + + + HAGGAI + + VAIN TOIL (Haggai i. 6) + BRAVE ENCOURAGEMENTS (Haggai ii. 1-9) + + + ZECHARIAH + + DYING MEN AND THE UNDYING WORD (Zechariah i. 5, 6) + THE CITY WITHOUT WALLS (Zechariah ii. 4, 5) + A VISION OF JUDGMENT AND CLEANSING (Zechariah iii. 1-10) + THE RIGHT OF ENTRY (Zechariah iii. 7) + THE SOURCE OF POWER (Zechariah iv. 1-10) + THE FOUNDER AND FINISHER OF THE TEMPLE (Zechariah iv. 9) + THE PRIEST OF THE WORLD AND KING OF MEN (Zechariah vi. 13) + + + MALACHI + + A DIALOGUE WITH GOD (Malachi i. 6, 7) + BLEMISHED OFFERINGS (Malachi i. 8) + A DIALOGUE WITH GOD (Malachi ii. 12, 14, R.V.) + THE LAST WORD OF PROPHECY (Malachi iii. 1-12) + THE UNCHANGING LORD (Malachi iii. 6) + A DIALOGUE WITH GOD (Malachi iii. 7, R.V.) + 'STOUT WORDS,' AND THEIR CONFUTATION + (Malachi iii. 13-18; iv. 1-6) + THE LAST WORDS OF THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS + (Malachi iv. 6; Revelation xxii. 21) + + * * * * * + + + + +THE BOOK OF EZEKIEL + + +CHAMBERS OF IMAGERY + + 'Then said He unto me, Son of man, hast thou seen what the ancients + of the house of Israel do in the dark, every man in the chambers of + his imagery!'--EZEKIEL viii. 12. + +This is part of a vision which came to the prophet in his captivity. He +is carried away in imagination from his home amongst the exiles in the +East to the Temple of Jerusalem. There he sees in one dreadful series +representations of all the forms of idolatry to which the handful that +were left in the land were cleaving. There meets him on the threshold of +the court 'the image of jealousy,' the generalised expression for the +aggregate of idolatries which had stirred the anger of the divine +husband of the nation. Then he sees within the Temple three groups +representing the idolatries of three different lands. First, those with +whom my text is concerned, who, in some underground room, vaulted and +windowless, were bowing down before painted animal forms upon the walls. +Probably they were the representatives of Egyptian worship, for the +description of their temple might have been taken out of any book of +travels in Egypt in the present day. It is only an ideal picture that +is represented to Ezekiel, and not a real fact. It is not at all +probable that all these various forms of idolatry were found at any +time within the Temple itself. And the whole cast of the vision +suggests that it is an ideal picture, and not reality, with which +we have to do. Hence the number of these idolaters was seventy--the +successors of the seventy whom Moses led up to Sinai to see the God +of Israel! And now here they are grovelling before brute forms painted +on the walls in a hole in the dark. Their leader bears a name which +might have startled them in their apostasy, and choked their prayers +in their throats, for Jaazan-iah means 'the Lord hears.' Each man has +a censer in his hand--self-consecrated priests of self-chosen deities. +Shrouded in obscurity, they pleased themselves with the ancient lie, +'The Lord sees not; He hath forsaken the earth.' And then, into that +Sanhedrim of apostates there comes, all unknown to them, the light of +God's presence; and the eye of the prophet marks their evil. + +I have nothing to do here with the other groups which Ezekiel saw in his +vision. The next set were the representatives of the women of Israel, +who, false at once to their womanhood and to their God, were taking part +in the nameless obscenities and abominations of the worship of the +Syrian Adonis. And the next, who from their numbers seem to be intended +to stand for the representatives of the priesthood, as the former were +of the whole people, represent the worshippers who had fallen under the +fascinations of a widespread Eastern idolatry, and with their backs to +the house of the Lord were bowing before the rising sun. + +All these false faiths got on very well together. Their worshippers had +no quarrel with each other. Polytheism, by its very nature and the +necessity of its being, is tolerant. All its rabble of gods have a +mutual understanding, and are banded together against the only One that +says, 'Thou shalt have none other gods beside Me.' + +But now, I take this vision in a meaning which the prophet had no +intention to put on it. I do not often do that with my texts, and when I +do I like to confess frankly that I am doing it. So I take the words now +as a kind of symbol which may help to put into a picturesque and more +striking form some very familiar and homely truths. Look at that +dark-painted chamber that we have all of us got in our hearts; at the +idolatries that go on there, and at the flashing of the sudden light of +God who marks, into the midst of the idolatry, 'Hast thou seen what the +ancients of the children of Israel do in the dark, each man in the +chambers of his imagery?' + +I. Think of the dark and painted chamber which we all of us carry in our +hearts. + +Every man is a mystery to himself as to his fellows. With reverence, we +may say of each other as we say of God--'Clouds and darkness are round +about Him.' After all the manifestations of a life, we remain enigmas to +one another and mysteries to ourselves. For every man is no fixed +somewhat, but a growing personality, with dormant possibilities of good +and evil lying in him, which up to the very last moment of his life may +flame up into altogether unexpected and astonishing developments. +Therefore we have all to feel that after all self-examination there lie +awful depths within us which we have not fathomed; and after all our +knowledge of one another we yet do see but the surface, and each soul +dwells alone. + +There is in every heart a dark chamber. Oh, brethren! there are very, +very few of us that dare tell all our thoughts and show our inmost +selves to our dearest ones. The most silvery lake that lies sleeping +amidst beauty, itself the very fairest spot of all, when drained off +shows ugly ooze and filthy mud, and all manner of creeping abominations +in the slime. I wonder what we should see if our hearts were, so to +speak, drained off, and the very bottom layer of every thing brought +into the light. Do you think you could stand it? Well, then, go to God +and ask Him to keep you from unconscious sins. Go to Him and ask Him to +root out of you the mischiefs that you do not know are there, and live +humbly and self-distrustfuliy, and feel that your only strength is: +'Hold Thou me up, and I shall be saved.' 'Hast thou seen what they do in +the _dark_?' + +Still further, we may take another part of this description with +possibly permissible violence as a symbol of another characteristic of +our inward nature. The walls of that chamber were all painted with +animal forms, to which these men were bowing down. By our memory, and by +that marvellous faculty that people call the imagination, and by our +desires, we are for ever painting the walls of the inmost chambers of +our hearts with such pictures. That is an awful power which we possess, +and, alas! too often use for foul idolatries. + +I do not dwell upon that, but I wish to drop one very earnest caution +and beseeching entreaty, especially to the younger members of my +congregation now. You, young men and women, especially you young men, +mind what you paint upon those mystic walls! Foul things, as my text +says, 'creeping things and abominable beasts,' only too many of you are +tracing there. Take care, for these figures are ineffaceable. No +repentance will obliterate them. I do not know whether even Heaven can +blot them out. What you love, what you desire, what you think about, you +are photographing on the walls of your immortal soul. And just as +to-day, thousands of years after the artists have been gathered to the +dust, we may go into Egyptian temples and see the figures on their +walls, in all the freshness of their first colouring, as if the painter +had but laid down his pencil a moment ago; so, on your hearts, youthful +evils, the sins of your boyhood, the pruriences of your earliest days, +may live in ugly shapes, that no tears and no repentance will ever wipe +out. Nothing can do away with 'the marks of that which once hath been.' +What are you painting on the chambers of imagery in your hearts? +Obscenity, foul things, mean things, low things? Is that mystic shrine +within you painted with such figures as were laid bare in some chambers +in Pompeii, where the excavators had to cover up the pictures because +they were so foul? Or, is it like the cells in the convent of San Marco +at Florence, where Fra Angelico's holy and sweet genius has left on the +bare walls, to be looked at, as he fancied, only by one devout brother +in each cell, angel imaginings, and noble, pure celestial faces that +calm and hallow those who gaze upon them? What are you doing, my +brother, in the dark, in your chambers of imagery? + +II. Now look with me briefly at the second thought that I draw from this +symbol,--the idolatries of the dark chamber. + +All these seventy grey-bearded elders that were bowing there before the +bestial gods which they had portrayed, had, no doubt, often stood in the +courts of the Temple and there made prayers to the God of Israel, with +broad phylacteries, to be seen of men. Their true worship was their +worship in the dark. The other was conscious or unconscious hypocrisy. +And the very chamber in which they were gathered, according to the ideal +representation of our text, was a chamber in, and therefore partaking of +the consecration of, the Temple. So their worship was doubly criminal, +in that it was sacrilege as well as idolatry. Both things are true about +us. + +A man's true worship is not the worship which he performs in the public +temple, but that which he offers down in that little private chapel, +where nobody goes but himself. Worship is the attribution of supreme +excellence to, and the entire dependence of the heart upon, a certain +person. And the people or the things to which a man attributes the +highest excellence, and on which he hangs his happiness and well-being, +these be his gods, no matter what his outward profession is. You can +find out what these are for you, if you will ask yourself, and honestly +answer, one or two questions. What is that I want most? What is it which +makes my ideal of happiness? What is that which I feel that I should be +desperate without? What do I think about most naturally and +spontaneously, when the spring is taken off, and my thoughts are allowed +to go as they will? And if the answer to none of these questions is +'God!' then I do not know why you should call yourself a worshipper of +God. It is of no avail that we pray in the temple, if we have a dark +underground shrine where our true adoration is rendered. + +Oh, dear brethren! I am afraid there are a great many of us nominal +Christians, connected with Christian Churches, posing before men as +orthodox religionists, who keep this private chapel where we do our +devotion to an idol and not to God. If our real gods could be made +visible, what a pantheon they would make! All the foul forms painted on +that cell of this vision would be paralleled in the creeping things, +which crawl along the low earth and never soar nor even stand erect, and +in the vile, bestial forms of passion to which some of us really bow +down. Honour, wealth, literary or other distinction, the sweet +sanctities of human love dishonoured and profaned by being exalted to +the place which divine love should hold, ease, family, animal appetites, +lust, drink--these are the gods of some of us. Bear with my poor words +and ask yourselves, not whom do you worship before the eye of men, but +who is the God to whom in your inmost heart you bow down? What do you do +in the dark? That is the question. Whom do you worship there? Your other +worship is not worship at all. + +Do not forget that all such diversion of supreme love and dependence +from God alone is like the sin of these men in our text, in that it is +sacrilege. They had taken a chamber in the very Temple, and turned it +into a temple of the false gods. Whom is your heart made to enshrine? +Why! every stone, if I may so say, of the fabric of our being bears +marked upon it that it was laid in order to make a dwelling-place for +God. Whom are you meant to worship, by the witness of the very +constitution of your nature and make of your spirits? Is there anybody +but One who is worthy to receive the priceless gift of human love +absolute and entire? Is there any but One to whom it is aught but +degradation and blasphemy for a man to bow down? Is there any being but +One that can still the tumult of my spirit, and satisfy the immortal +yearnings of my soul? We were made for God, and whensoever we turn the +hopes, the desires, the affections, the obedience, and that which is +the root of them all, the confidence that ought to fix and fasten upon +Him, to other creatures, we are guilty not only of idolatry but of +sacrilege. We commit the sin of which that wild reveller in Babylon was +guilty, when, at his great feast, in the very madness of his presumption +he bade them bring forth the sacred vessels from the Temple at +Jerusalem; 'and the king and his princes and his concubines drank in +them and praised the gods.' So we take the sacred chalice of the human +heart, on which there is marked the sign manual of Heaven, claiming it +for God's, and fill it with the spiced and drugged draught of our own +sensualities and evils, and pour out libations to vain and false gods. +Brethren! Render unto Him that which is His; and see even upon the walls +scrabbled all over with the deformities that we have painted there, +lingering traces, like those of some dropping fresco in a roofless +Italian church, which suggest the serene and perfect beauty of the image +of the One whose likeness was originally traced there, and for whose +worship it was all built. + +III. And now, lastly, look at the sudden crashing in upon the cowering +worshippers of the revealing light. + +Apparently the picture of my text suggests that these elders knew not +the eyes that were looking upon them. They were hugging themselves in +the conceit, 'the Lord seeth not; the Lord hath forsaken the earth.' And +all the while, all unknown, God and His prophet stand in the doorway and +see it all. Not a finger is lifted, not a sign to the foolish +worshippers of His presence and inspection, but in stern silence He +records and remembers. + +And does that need much bending to make it an impressive form of +putting a solemn truth? There are plenty of us--alas! alas! that it +should be so--to whom it is the least welcome of all thoughts that there +in the doorway stand God and His Word. Why should it be, my brother, +that the properly blessed thought of a divine eye resting upon you +should be to you like the thought of a policeman's bull's-eye to a +thief? Why should it not be rather the sweetest and the most calming and +strength-giving of all convictions--'Thou God seest me'? The little +child runs about the lawn perfectly happy as long as she knows that her +mother is watching her from the window. And it ought to be sweet and +blessed to each of us to know that there is no darkness where a Father's +eye comes not. But oh! to the men that stand before bestial idols and +have turned their backs on the beauty of the one true God, the only +possibility of composure is that they shall hug themselves in the vain +delusion:--'The Lord seeth not.' + +I beseech you, dear friends, do not think of His eye as the prisoner in +a cell thinks of the pin-hole somewhere in the wall, through which a +jailer's jealous inspection may at any moment be glaring in upon him, +but think of Him your Brother, who 'knew what was in man,' and who knows +each man, and see in Christ the all-knowing Godhood that loves yet +better than it knows, and beholds the hidden evils of men's hearts, in +order that it may cleanse and forgive all which it beholds. + +One day a light will flash in upon all the dark cells. We must all be +manifest before the judgment-seat of Christ. Do you like that thought? +Can you stand it? Are you ready for it? My friend! let Jesus Christ +come to you with His light. Let Him come into the dark corners of your +hearts. Cast all your sinfulness, known and unknown, upon Him that died +on the Cross for every soul of man, and He will come; and His light, +streaming into your hearts, like the sunbeam upon foul garments, will +cleanse and bleach them white by its shining upon them. Let Him come +into your hearts by your lowly penitence, by your humble faith, and all +these vile shapes that you have painted on its walls will, like +phosphorescent pictures in the daytime, pale and disappear when the 'Sun +of Righteousness, with healing in His beams, floods your soul, leaving +no part dark, and turning all into a temple of the living God.' + + +A COMMON MISTAKE AND LAME EXCUSE + +'... He prophesieth of the times that are far off.'--EZEKIEL xii. 27. + +Human nature was very much the same in the exiles that listened to +Ezekiel on the banks of the Chebar and in Manchester to-day. The same +neglect of God's message was grounded then on the same misapprehension +of its bearings which profoundly operates in the case of many people +now. Ezekiel had been proclaiming the fall of Jerusalem to the exiles +whose captivity preceded it by a few years; and he was confronted by the +incredulity which fancied that it had a great many facts to support it, +and so it generalised God's long-suffering delay in sending the +threatened punishment into a scoffing proverb which said, 'The days are +prolonged, and every vision faileth.' To translate it into plain +English, the prophets had cried 'Wolf! wolf!' so long that their alarms +were disbelieved altogether. + +Even the people that did not go the length of utter unbelief in the +prophetic threatening took the comfortable conclusion that these +threatenings had reference to a future date, and they need not trouble +themselves about them. And so they said, according to my text, 'They of +the house of Israel say, The vision that he sees is for many days to +come, and he prophesieth of the times that are far off.' 'It may be all +quite true, but it lies away in the distant future there; and things +will last our time, so we do not need to bother ourselves about what he +says.' + +So the imagined distance of fulfilment turned the edge of the plainest +denunciations, and was like wool stuffed in the people's ears to deaden +the reverberations of the thunder. + +I wonder if there is anybody here now whom that fits, who meets the +preaching of the gospel with a shrug, and with this saying, 'He +prophesies of the times that are far off.' I fancy that there are a few; +and I wish to say a word or two about this ground on which the +widespread disregard of the divine message is based. + +I. First, then, notice that the saying of my text--in the application +which I now seek to make of it--is a truth, but it is only half a truth. + +Of course, Ezekiel was speaking simply about the destruction of +Jerusalem. If it had been true, as his hearers assumed, that that was +not going to happen for a good many years yet, the chances were that it +had no bearing upon them, and they were right enough in neglecting the +teaching. And, of course, when I apply such a word as this in the +direction in which I wish to do now, we do bring in a different set of +thoughts; but the main idea remains the same. The neglect of God's +solemn message by a great many people is based, more or less +consciously, upon the notion that the message of Christianity--or, if +you like to call it so, of the gospel; or, if you like to call it more +vaguely, religion--has to do mainly with blessings and woes beyond the +grave, and that there is plenty of time to attend to it when we get +nearer the end. + +Now is it true that 'he prophesies of times that are far off'? Yes! and +No! Yes! it is true, and it is the great glory of Christianity that it +shifts the centre of gravity, so to speak, from this poor, transient, +contemptible present, and sets it away out yonder in an august and +infinite future. It brings to us not only knowledge of the future, but +certitude, and takes the conception of another life out of the region of +perhapses, possibilities, dreads, or hopes, as the case may be, and sets +it in the sunlight of certainty. There is no more mist. Other faiths, +even when they have risen to the height of some contemplation of a +future, have always seen it wrapped in nebulous clouds of possibilities, +but Christianity sets it clear, definite, solid, as certain as +yesterday, as certain as to-day. + +It not only gives us the knowledge and the certitude of the times that +are afar off, and that are not times but eternities, but it gives us, as +the all-important element in that future, that its ruling characteristic +is retribution. It 'brings life and immortality to light,' and just +because it does, it brings the dark orb which, like some of the double +stars in the heavens, is knit to the radiant sphere by a necessary +band. It brings to light, with life and immortality, death and woe. It +is true--'he prophesies of times that are far off' and it is the glory +of the gospel of Christ's revelation, and of the religion that is based +thereon, that its centre is beyond the grave, and that its eye is so +often turned to the clearly discerned facts that lie there. + +But is that all that we have to say about Christianity? Many +representations of it, I am free to confess, from pulpits and books and +elsewhere, do talk as if that was all, as if it was a magnificent thing +to have when you came to die. As the play has it, 'I said to him that I +hoped there was no need that he should think about God yet,' because he +was not going to die. But I urge you to remember, dear brethren, that +all that prophesying of times that are far off has the closest bearing +upon this transient, throbbing moment, because, for one thing, one +solemn part of the Christian revelation about the future is that Time is +the parent of Eternity, and that, in like manner as in our earthly +course 'the child is father of the man,' so the man as he has made +himself is the author of himself as he will be through the infinite +spaces that lie beyond the grave. Therefore, when a Christian preacher +prophesies of times that are afar off, he is prophesying of present +time, between which and the most distant eternity there is an iron +nexus--a band which cannot be broken. + +Nor is that all. Not only is the truth in my text but a half truth, if +it is supposed that the main business of the gospel is to talk to us +about heaven and hell, and not about the earth on which we secure and +procure the one or the other; but also it is a half truth because, large +and transcendent, eternal in their duration, and blessed beyond all +thought in their sweetness as are the possibilities, the certainties +that are opened by the risen and ascended Christ, and tremendous beyond +all words that men can speak as are the alternative possibilities, yet +these are not all the contents of the gospel message; but those +blessings and penalties, joys and miseries, exaltations and +degradations, which attend upon righteousness and sin, godliness and +irreligion to-day are a large part of its theme and of its effects. +Therefore, whilst on the one hand it is true, blessed be Christ's name! +that 'he prophesies of times that are far off'; on the other hand it is +an altogether inadequate description of the gospel message and of the +Christian body of truth to say that the future is its realm, and not the +present. + +II. So, then, in the second place, my text gives a very good reason for +prizing and attending to the prophecy. + +If it is true that God, speaking through the facts of Christ's death and +Resurrection and Ascension, has given to us the sure and certain hope of +immortality, and has declared to us plainly the conditions upon which +that immortality may be ours, and the woful loss and eclipse into the +shadow of which we shall stumble darkling if it is not ours, then surely +that is a reason for prizing and laying to heart, and living by the +revelation so mercifully made. People do not usually kick over their +telescopes, and neglect to look through them, because they are so +powerful that they show them the craters in the moon and turn faint +specks into blazing suns. People do not usually neglect a word of +warning or guidance in reference to the ordering of their earthly lives +because it is so comprehensive, and covers so large a ground, and is so +certain and absolutely true. Surely there can be no greater sign of +divine loving-kindness, of a Saviour's tenderness and care for us, than +that He should come to each of us, as He does come, and say to each of +us, 'Thou art to live for ever; and if thou wilt take Me for thy Life, +thou shalt live for ever, blessed, calm, and pure.' And we listen, and +say, 'He prophesies of times that are far off!' Oh! is that not rather a +reason for coming very close to, and for grappling to our hearts and +living always by the power of, that great revelation? Surely to announce +the consequences of evil, and to announce them so long beforehand that +there is plenty of time to avoid them and to falsify the prediction, is +the token of love. + +Now I wish to lay it on the hearts of you people who call yourselves +Christians, and who are so in some imperfect degree, whether we do at +all adequately regard, remember, and live by this great mercy of God, +that He _should_ have prophesied to us 'of the times that are far off.' +Perhaps I am wrong, but I cannot help feeling that, for this generation, +the glories of the future rest with God have been somewhat paled, and +the terrors of the future unrest away from God have been somewhat +lightened. I hope I am wrong, but I do not think that the modern average +Christian thinks as much about heaven as his father did. And I believe +that his religion has lost something of its buoyancy, of its power, of +its restraining and stimulating energy, because, from a variety of +reasons, the bias of this generation is rather to dwell upon, and to +realise, the present social blessings of Christianity than to project +itself into that august future. The reaction may be good. I have no +doubt it was needed, but I think it has gone rather too far, and I would +beseech Christian men and women to try and deserve more the sarcasm that +is flung at us that we live for another world. Would God it were +true--truer than it is! We should see better work done in this world if +it were. So I say, that 'he prophesieth of times that are far off' is a +good reason for prizing and obeying the prophet. + +III. Lastly, this is a very common and a very bad reason for neglecting +the prophecy. + +It does operate as a reason for giving little heed to the prophet, as I +have been saying. In the old men-of-war, when an engagement was +impending, they used to bring up the hammocks from the bunks and pile +them into the nettings at the side of the ship, to defend it from +boarders and bullets. And then, after these had served their purpose of +repelling, they were taken down again and the crew went to sleep upon +them. That is exactly what some of my friends do with that misconception +of the genius of Christianity which supposes that it is concerned mainly +with another world. They put it up as a screen between them and God, +between them and what they know to be their duty--viz., the acceptance +of Christ as their Saviour. It is their hammock that they put between +the bullets and themselves; and many a good sleep they get upon it! + +Now, that strange capacity that men have of ignoring a certain future is +seen at work all round about us in every region of life. I wonder how +many young men there are in Manchester to-day that have begun to put +their foot upon the wrong road, and who know just as well as I do that +the end of it is disease, blasted reputation, ruined prospects, perhaps +an early death. Why! there is not a drunkard in the city that does not +know that. Every man that takes opium knows it. Every unclean, unchaste +liver knows it; and yet he can hide the thought from himself, and go +straight on as if there was nothing at all of the sort within the +horizon of possibility. It is one of the most marvellous things that men +have that power; only beaten by the marvel that, having it, they should +be such fools as to choose to exercise it. The peasants on the slopes of +Vesuvius live very careless lives, and they have their little vineyards +and their olives. Yes, and every morning when they come out, they can +look up and see the thin wreath of smoke going up in the dazzling blue, +and they know that some time or other there will be a roar and a rush, +and down will come the lava. But 'a short life and a merry one' is the +creed of a good many of us, though we do not like to confess it. Some of +you will remember the strange way in which ordinary habits survived in +prisons in the dreadful times of the French Revolution, and how ladies +and gentlemen, who were going to have their heads chopped off next +morning, danced and flirted, and sat at entertainments, just as if there +was no such thing in the world as the public prosecutor and the tumbril, +and the gaoler going about with a bit of chalk to mark each door where +were the condemned for next day. + +That same strange power of ignoring a known future, which works so +widely and so disastrously round about us, is especially manifested in +regard to religion. The great bulk of English men and women who are not +Christians, and the little sample of such that I have in my audience +now, as a rule believe as fully as we do the truths which they agree to +neglect. Let me speak to them individually. You believe that death will +introduce you into a world of two halves--that if you have been a good, +religious man, you will dwell in blessedness; that if you have not, you +will not--yet you never did a single thing, nor refrained from a single +thing, because of that belief. And when I, and men of my profession, +come and plead with you and try to get through that strange web of +insensibility that you have spun round you, you listen, and then you +say, with a shrug, 'He prophesies of things that are far off.' and you +turn with relief to the trivialities of the day. Need I ask you whether +that is a wise thing or not? + +Surely it is not wise for a man to ignore a future that is certain +simply because it is distant. So long as it is certain, what in the name +of common-sense has the time when it begins to be a present to do with +our wisdom in regard to it? It is the uncertainty in future +anticipations which makes it unwise to regulate life largely by them, +and if you can eliminate that element of uncertainty--which you can do +if you believe in Jesus Christ--then the question is not when is the +prophecy going to be fulfilled, but is it true and trustworthy? The man +is a fool who, because it is far off, thinks he can neglect it. + +Surely it is not wise to ignore a future which is so incomparably +greater than this present, and which also is so connected with this +present as that life here is only intelligible as the vestibule and +preparation for that great world beyond. + +Surely it is not wise to ignore a future because you fancy it is far +away, when it may burst upon you at any time. These exiles to whom +Ezekiel spoke hugged themselves in the idea that his words were not to +be fulfilled for many days to come; but they were mistaken, and the +crash of the fall of Jerusalem stunned them before many months had +passed by. We have to look forward to a future which must be very near +to some of us, which may be nearer to others than they think, which at +the remotest is but a little way from us, and which must come to us all. +Oh, dear friends, surely it is not wise to ignore as far off that which +for some of us may be here before this day closes, which will probably +be ours in some cases before the fresh young leaves now upon the trees +have dropped yellow in the autumn frosts, which at the most distant must +be very near us, and which waits for us all. + +What would you think of the crew and passengers of some ship lying in +harbour, waiting for its sailing orders, who had got leave on shore, and +did not know but that at any moment the blue-peter might be flying at +the fore--the signal to weigh anchor--if they behaved themselves in the +port as if they were never going to embark, and made no preparations for +the voyage? Let me beseech you to rid yourselves of that most +unreasonable of all reasons for neglecting the gospel, that its most +solemn revelations refer to the eternity beyond the grave. + +There are many proofs that man on the whole is a very foolish creature, +but there is not one more tragical than the fact that believing, as many +of you do, that 'the wages of sin is death, and the gift of God is +eternal life through Jesus Christ,' you stand aloof from accepting the +gift, and risk the death. + +The 'times far off' have long since come near enough to those scoffers. +The most distant future will be present to you before you are ready for +it, unless you accept Jesus Christ as your All, for time and for +eternity. If you do, the time that is near will be pure and calm, and +the times that are far off will be radiant with unfading bliss. + + +THE HOLY NATION + + 'Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be + clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, + will I cleanse you. 26. A new heart also will I give you, and + a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the + stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart + of flesh. 27. And I will put My Spirit within you, and cause + you to walk in My statutes, and ye shall keep My judgments, + and do them. 28. And ye shall dwell in the land that I gave + to your fathers; and ye shall be My people, and I will be + your God. 29. I will also save you from all your + uncleannesses: and I will call for the corn, and will + increase it, and lay no famine upon you. 30. And I will + multiply the fruit of the tree, and the increase of the + field, that ye shall receive no more reproach of famine among + the heathen. 31. Then shall ye remember your own evil ways, + and your doings that were not good, and shall loathe + yourselves in your own sight for your iniquities and for your + abominations. 32. Not for your sakes do I this, saith the + Lord God, be it known unto you: be ashamed and confounded for + your own ways, O house of Israel. 33. Thus saith the Lord + God; In the day that I shall have cleansed you from all your + iniquities I will also cause you to dwell in the cities, and + the wastes shall be builded. 34. And the desolate land shall + be tilled, whereat; it lay desolate in the sight of all that + passed by. 35. And they shall say, This land that was + desolate is become like the garden of Eden; and the waste and + desolate and ruined cities are become fenced, and are + inhabited. 36. Then the heathen that are left round about you + shall know that I the Lord build the ruined places, and plant + that that was desolate: I the Lord have spoken it, and I will + do it. 37. Thus saith the Lord God; I will yet for this be + enquired of by the house of Israel, to do it for them; I will + increase them with men like a flock. 38. As the holy flock, + as the flock of Jerusalem in her solemn feasts; so shall the + waste cities be filled with flocks of men: and they shall + know that I am the Lord.'--EZEKIEL xxxvi. 25-38. + +This great prophecy had but a partial fulfilment, though a real one, in +the restored Israel. The land was given back, the nation _was_ +multiplied, fertility again blessed the smiling fields and vineyards, +and, best of all, the people _were_ cleansed 'from all their idols' by +the furnace of affliction. Nothing is more remarkable than the +transformation effected by the captivity, in regard to the idolatrous +propensities of the people. Whereas before it they were always hankering +after the gods of the nations, they came back from Babylon the resolute +champions of monotheism, and never thereafter showed the smallest +inclination for what had before been so irresistible. + +But the fulness of Ezekiel's prophecy is not realised until Jeremiah's +prophecy of the new covenant is brought to pass. Nor does the state of +the militant church on earth exhaust it. Future glories gleam through +the words. They have a 'springing accomplishment' in the Israel of the +restoration, a fuller in the New Testament church, and their ultimate +realisation in the New Jerusalem, which shall yet descend to be the +bride, the Lamb's wife. The principles involved in the prophecy belong +to the region of purely spiritual religion, and are worth pondering, +apart from any question of the place and manner of fulfilment. + +First comes the great truth that the foundation, so far as concerns the +history of a soul or of a community, of all other good is divine +forgiveness (v. 25). Ezekiel, the priest, casts the promise into +ceremonial form, and points to the sprinklings of the polluted under the +law, or to the ritual of consecration to the priesthood. That cleansing +is the removal of already contracted defilement, especially of the guilt +of idolatry. It is clearly distinguished from the operation on the +inward nature which follows; that is to say, it is the promise of +forgiveness, or of justification, not of sanctification. + +From what deep fountains in the divine nature that 'clean water' was to +flow, Ezekiel does not know; but we have learned that a more precious +fluid than water is needed, and have to think of Him 'who came not by +water only, but by water and blood,' in whom we have redemption through +His blood, even the forgiveness of our sins. But the central idea of +this first promise is that it must be God's hand which sprinkles from an +evil conscience. Forgiveness is a divine prerogative. He only can, and +He will, cleanse from all filthiness. His pardon is universal. The most +ingrained sins cannot be too black to melt away from the soul. The +dye-stuffs of sin are very strong, but there is one solvent which they +cannot resist. There are no 'fast colours' which God's 'clean water' +cannot move. This cleansing of pardon underlies all the rest of the +blessings. It is ever the first thing needful when a soul returns to +God. + +Then follows an equally exclusively divine act, the impartation of a new +nature, which shall secure future obedience (vs. 26, 27). Who can thrust +his hand into the depths of man's being, and withdraw one +life-principle and enshrine another, while yet the individuality of the +man remains untouched? God only. How profound the consciousness of +universal obstinacy and insensibility which regards human nature, apart +from such renewal, as possessing but a 'heart of stone'! There are no +sentimental illusions about the grim facts of humanity here. Superficial +views of sin and rose-tinted fancies about human nature will not admit +the truth of the Scripture doctrine of sinfulness, alienation from God. +They diagnose the disease superficially, and therefore do not know how +to cure it. The Bible can venture to give full weight to the gravity of +the sickness, because it knows the remedy. No surgery but God's can +perform that operation of extracting the stony heart and inserting a +heart of flesh. No system which cannot do that can do what men want. The +gospel alone deals thoroughly with man's ills. + +And how does it effect that great miracle? 'I will put My Spirit within +you.' The new life-principle is the effluence of the Spirit of God. The +promise does not merely offer the influence of a divine spirit, working +on men as from without, or coming down upon them as an afflatus, but the +actual planting of God's Spirit in the deep places of theirs. We fail to +apprehend the most characteristic blessing of the gospel if we do not +give full prominence to that great gift of an indwelling Spirit, the +life of our lives. Cleansing is much, but is incomplete without a new +life-principle which shall keep us clean; and that can only be God's +Spirit, enshrined and operative within us; for only thus shall we 'walk +in His statutes, and keep His judgments.' When the Lawgiver dwells in +our hearts, the law will be our delight; and keeping it will be the +natural outcome and expression of our life, which is His life. + +Then follows the picture of the blessed effects of obedience (vs. +28-30). These are cast into the form appropriate to the immediate +purpose of the prophecy, and received fulfilment in the actual +restoration to the land, which fulfilment, however, was imperfect, +inasmuch as the obedience and renewal of the people's hearts were +incomplete. These can only be complete under the gospel, and, in the +fullest sense, only in another order than the present. When men fully +keep God's judgments, they shall dwell permanently in a good land. +Israel's hold on its country was its obedience, not its prowess. Our +real hold on even earthly good is the choosing of God for our supreme +good. In the measure in which we can say 'Thy law is within my heart,' +all things are ours; and we may possess all things while having nothing +in the vulgar world's sense of having. Similarly that obedience, which +is the fruit of the new life of God's Spirit in our spirits, is the +condition of close mutual possession in the blessed reciprocity of trust +and faithfulness, love bestowing and love receiving, by which the quiet +heart knows that God is its, and it is God's. If stains and +interruptions still sometimes break the perfectness of obedience and +continuity of reciprocal ownership, there will be a further cleansing +for such sins. 'If we walk in the light, the blood of Jesus Christ His +Son cleanseth us from all sin' (v. 29). + +The lovely picture of the blessed dwellers in their good land is closed +by the promise of abundant harvests from corn and fruit-tree; that is, +all that nourishes or delights. The deepest truth taught thereby is that +he who lives in God has no unsatisfied desires, but finds in Him all +that can sustain, strengthen, and minister to growth, and all that can +give gladness and delight. If we make God our heritage, we dwell secure +in a good land; and 'the dust of that land is gold,' and its harvests +ever plenteous. + +Very profoundly and beautifully does Ezekiel put as the last trait in +his picture, and as the upshot of all this cornucopia of blessings, the +penitent remembrance of past evils. Undeserved mercies steal into the +heart like the breath of the south wind, and melt the ice. The more we +advance in holiness and consequent blessed communion with God, the more +clearly shall we see the evil of our past. Forgiven sin looks far +blacker because it is forgiven. When we are not afraid of sin's +consequences, we see more plainly its sinfulness. When we have tasted +God's sweetness, we think with more shame of our ingratitude and folly. +If God forgets, the more reason for us to remember our transgressions. +The man who 'has forgotten that he was purged from his old sins' is in +danger of finding out that he is not purged from them. There is no +gnawing of conscience, nor any fearful looking for of judgment in such +remembrance, but a wholesome humility passing into thankful wonder that +such sin is pardoned, and such a sinner made God's friend. + +The deep foundation of all the blessedness is finally laid bare (v. 32) +as being God's undeserved mercy. 'For Mine holy name' (v. 22) is God's +reason. He is His own motive, and He wills that the world should know +His name,--that is, His manifested character,--and understand how loving +and long-suffering He is. So He wills, not because such knowledge adds +to His glory, but because it satisfies His love, since it will make the +men who know His name blessed. The truth that God's motive is His own +name's sake may be so put as to be hideous and repellent; but it really +proclaims that He is love, and that His motive is His poor creatures' +blessing. + +To this great outline of the blessings of the restored nations are +appended two subsidiary prophecies, marked by the recurring 'Thus saith +the Lord.' The former of these (vs. 33-36) deals principally with the +new beauty that was to clothe the land. The day in which the inhabitants +were cleansed from their sins was to be the day in which the land was to +be raised from its ruin. Cities are to be rebuilt, the ground that had +lain fallow and tangled with briers and thorns is to be tilled, and to +bloom like Eden, a restored paradise. How far the fulfilment has halted +behind the promise, the melancholy condition of Palestine to-day may +remind us. Whether the literal fulfilment is to be anticipated or no +seems less important than to note that the experience of forgiveness +(and of the consequent blessings described above) is the precursor of +this fair picture. Therefore, the Church's condition of growth and +prosperity is its realisation in the persons of its individual members, +of pardon, the renewal of the inner man by the indwelling Spirit, +faithful obedience, communion with God, and lowly remembrance of past +sins. Where churches are marked by such characteristics, they will grow. +If they are not, all their 'evangelistic efforts' will be as sounding +brass and a tinkling cymbal. + +The second appended prophecy (vs. 37, 38) is that of increase of +population. The picture of the flocks of sheep for sacrifice, which +thronged Jerusalem at the feasts, is given as a likeness of the swarms +of inhabitants in the 'waste cities.' The point of comparison is chiefly +the number. One knows how closely a flock huddles and seems to fill the +road in endless procession. But the destination as well as the number +comes into view. All these patient creatures, crowding the ways, are +meant for sacrifices. So the inhabitants of the land then shall all +yield themselves to God, living sacrifices. The first words of our text +point to the priesthood of all believers; the last words point to the +sacrifice of themselves which they have to offer. + +'For this moreover will I be inquired of by the house of Israel.' The +blessings promised do not depend on our merits, as we have heard, but +yet they will not be given without our co-operation in prayer. God +promises, and that promise is not a reason for our not asking the gifts +from Him, but for our asking. Faith keeps within the lines of God's +promise, and prayers which do not foot themselves on a promise are the +offspring of presumption, not of faith. God 'lets Himself be inquired +of' for that which is in accordance with His will; and, accordant with +His will though it be, He will not 'do it for them,' unless His flock +ask of Him the accomplishment of His own word. + + +THE DRY BONES AND THE SPIRIT OF LIFE + + 1. The hand of the Lord was upon me, and carried me out in the + spirit of the Lord, and set me down in the midst of the valley + which was full of bones, 2. And caused me to pass by them round + about: and, behold, there were very many in the open valley; and, + lo, they were very dry. 3. And He said unto me, Son of man, can + these bones live? And I answered, O Lord God, Thou knowest. 4. + Again He said unto me, Prophesy upon these bones, and say unto + them, O ye dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. 5. Thus saith the + Lord God unto these bones; Behold, I will cause breath to enter + into you, and ye shall live: 6. And I will lay sinews upon you, and + will bring up flesh upon you, and cover you with skin, and put + breath in you, and ye shall live; and ye shall know that I _am_ the + Lord. 7. So I prophesied as I was commanded; and as I prophesied, + there was a noise, and behold a shaking, and the bones came + together, bone to his bone. 8. And when I beheld, lo, the sinews + and the flesh came up upon them, and the skin covered them above: + but there was no breath in them. 9. Then said He unto me, Prophesy + unto the wind, prophesy, son of man, and say to the wind, Thus + saith the Lord God; Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe + upon these slain, that they may live. 10. So I prophesied as He + commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and + stood up upon their feet, an exceeding great army. 11. Then He said + unto me, Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel: + behold, they say, Our bones are dried, and our hope is lost: we are + cut off for our parts. 12. Therefore prophesy and say unto them, + Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, O My people, I will open your + graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves, and bring you + into the land of Israel. 13. And ye shall know that I am the Lord, + when I have opened your graves, O My people, and brought you up out + of your graves. 14. And shall put My spirit in you, and ye shall + live, and I shall place you in your own land: then shall ye know + that I the Lord have spoken it, and performed it, saith the + Lord.'--EZEKIEL xxxvii. 1-14. + +This great vision apparently took its form from a despairing saying, +which had become a proverb among the exiles, 'Our bones are dried up, +and our hope is lost: we are clean cut off' (v. 11). Ezekiel lays hold +of the metaphor, which had been taken to express the hopeless +destruction of Israel's national existence, and even from it wrings a +message of hope. Faith has the prerogative of seeing possibilities of +life in what looks to sense hopeless death. We may look at the vision +from three points of view, considering its bearing on Israel, on the +world, and on the resurrection of the body. + +I. The saying, already referred to, puts the hopelessness of the mass of +the exiles in a forcible fashion. The only sense in which living men +could say that their bones were dried up, and they cut off, is a +figurative one, and obviously it is the national existence which they +regarded as irretrievably ended. The saying gives us a glimpse into the +despair which had settled down on the exiles, and against which Ezekiel +had to contend, as he had also to contend against its apparently +opposite and yet kindred feeling of presumptuous, misplaced hope. We +observe that he begins by accepting fully the facts which bred despair, +and even accentuating them. The true prophet never makes light of the +miseries of which he knows the cure, and does not try to comfort by +minimising the gravity of the evil. The bones _are_ very many, and they +_are_ very dry. As far as outward resources are concerned, despair was +rational, and hope as absurd as it would have been to expect that men, +dead so long that their bones had been bleached by years of exposure to +the weather, should live again. + +But while Ezekiel saw the facts of Israel's powerlessness as plainly as +the most despondent, he did not therefore despair. The question which +rose in his mind was God's question, and the very raising it let a gleam +of hope in. So he answered with that noble utterance of faith and +submission, 'O Lord God, Thou knowest.' 'With God all things are +possible.' Presumption would have said 'Yes'; Unbelief would have said +'No'; Faith says, 'Thou knowest.' + +The grand description of the process of resurrection follows the analogy +of the order in the creation of man, giving, first, the shaping of the +body, and afterwards the breathing into it of the breath which is life. +Both stages are wholly God's work. The prophet's part was to prophesy to +the bones first; and his word, in a sense, brought about the effect +which it foretold, since his ministry was the most potent means of +rekindling dying hopes, and bringing the _disjecta membra_ of the nation +together again. The vivid and gigantic imagination of the prophet gives +a picture of the rushing together of the bones, which has no superior in +any literature. He hears a noise, and sees a 'shaking' (by which is +meant the motion of the bones to each other, rather than an +'earthquake,' as the Revised Version has it, which inserts a quite +irrelevant detail), and the result of all is that the skeletons are +complete. Then follows the gradual clothing with flesh. There they lie, +a host of corpses. + +The second stage is the quickening of these bodies with life, and here +again Ezekiel, as God's messenger, has power to bring about what he +announces; for, at his command, the breath, or wind, or spirit, comes, +and the stiff corpses spring to their feet, a mighty army. The +explanation in the last verses of the text somewhat departs from the +tenor of the vision by speaking of Israel as buried, but keeps to its +substance, and point the despairing exiles to God as the source of +national resurrection. But we must not force deeper meaning on Ezekiel's +words than they properly bear. The spirit promised in them is simply the +source of life,--literally, of physical life; metaphorically, of +national life. However that national restoration was connected with +holiness, that does not enter into the prophet's vision. Israel's +restoration to its land is all that Ezekiel meant by it. True, that +restoration was to lead to clearer recognition by Israel of the name of +Jehovah, and of all that it implied in him and demanded from them. But +the proper scope of the vision is to assure despairing Israelites that +God would quicken the apparently slain national life, and replace them +in the land. + +II. We may extend the application of the vision to the condition of +humanity and the divine intervention which communicates life to a dead +world, but must remember that no such meaning was in Ezekiel's thoughts. +The valley full of dry bones is but too correct a description of the +aspect which a world 'dead in trespasses and sins' bears, when seen from +the mountain-top by pure and heavenly eyes. The activities of godless +lives mask the real spiritual death, which is the condition of every +soul that is separate from God. Galvanised corpses may have muscular +movements, but they are dead, notwithstanding their twitching. They that +live without God are dead while they live. + +Again, we may learn from the vision the preparation needful for the +prophet, who is to be the instrument of imparting divine life to a dead +world. The sorrowful sense of the widespread deadness must enter into a +man's spirit, and be ever present to him, in order to fit him for his +work. A dead world is not to be quickened on easy terms. We must see +mankind in some measure as God sees them if we are to do God's work +among them. So-called Christian teachers, who do not believe that the +race is dead in sin, or who, believing it, do not feel the tragedy of +the fact, and the power lodged in their hands to bring the true life, +may prophesy to the dry bones for ever, and there will be no shaking +among them. + +The great work of the gospel is to communicate divine life. The details +of the process in the vision are not applicable in this respect. As we +have pointed out, they are shaped after the pattern of the creation of +Adam, but the essential point is that what the world needs is the +impartation from God of His Spirit. We know more than Ezekiel did as to +the way by which that Spirit is given to men, and as to the kind of life +which it imparts, and as to the connection between that life and +holiness. It is a diviner voice than Ezekiel's which speaks to us in the +name of God, and says to us with deeper meaning than the prophet of the +Exile dreamed of, 'I will put my Spirit in you, and ye shall live.' + +But we may note that it is possible to have the outward form of a living +body, and yet to have no life. Churches and individuals may be perfectly +organised and perfectly dead. Creeds may be articulated most correctly, +every bone in its place, and yet have no vitality in them. Forms of +worship may be punctiliously proper, and have no breath of life in them. +Religion must have a body, but often the body is not so much the organ +as the sepulchre of the spirit. We have to take heed that the externals +do not kill the inward life. + +Again, we note that this great act of life-giving is God's revelation of +His name,--that is, of His character so far as men can know it. 'Ye +shall know that I am the Lord' (vs. 13, 14). God makes Himself known in +His divinest glory when He quickens dead souls. The world may learn what +He is therefrom, but they who have experienced the change, and have, as +it were, been raised from the grave to new life, have personal +experience of His power and faithfulness so sure and sweet that +henceforward they cannot doubt Him nor forget His grace. + +III. As to the bearing of the vision on the doctrine of the resurrection +little need be said. It does not necessarily presuppose the people's +acquaintance with that doctrine, for it would be quite conceivable that +the vision had revealed to the prophet the thought of a resurrection, +which had not been in his beliefs before. The vision is so entirely +figurative, that it cannot be employed as evidence that the idea of the +resurrection of the dead was part of the Jewish beliefs at this date. It +does, however, seem most natural to suppose that the exiles were +familiar with the idea, though the vision cannot be taken as a +revelation of a literal resurrection of dead men. For clear expectations +of such a resurrection we must turn to such scriptures as Daniel xii. 2, +13. + + +THE RIVER OF LIFE + + Waters issued out from under the threshold of the house ... EZEKIEL + xlvii. 1. + +Unlike most great cities, Jerusalem was not situated on a great river. +True, the inconsiderable waters of Siloam--'which flow softly' because +they were so inconsiderable--rose from a crevice in the Temple rock, and +beneath that rock stretched the valley of the Kedron, dry and bleached +in the summer, and a rainy torrent during the rainy seasons; but that +was all. So, many of the prophets, who looked forward to the better +times to come, laid their finger upon that one defect, and prophesied +that it should be cured. Thus we read in a psalm: 'There is a river, +the divisions whereof make glad the City of our God.' Faith saw what +sense saw not. Again, Isaiah says: 'There'--that is to say, in the new +Jerusalem--'the glorious Lord shall be unto us a place of broad rivers +and streams.' And so, this prophet casts his anticipations of the +abundant outpouring of blessing that shall come when God in very deed +dwells among men, into this figure of a river pouring out from beneath +the Temple-door, and spreading life and fertility wherever its waters +come. I need not remind you how our Lord Himself uses the same figure, +and modifies it, by saying that whosoever believeth on Him, 'out of him +shall flow rivers of living waters'; or how, in the very last words of +the Apocalyptic seer, we hear again the music of the ripples of the +great stream, 'the river of the water of life proceeding out of the +Throne of God and of the Lamb.' So then, all through Scripture, we may +say that we hear the murmur of the stream, and can catch the line of +verdure upon its banks. My object now is not only to deal with the words +that I have read as a starting-point, but rather to seek to draw out the +wonderful significance of this great prophetic parable. + +I. I notice, first, the source from which the river comes. + +I have already anticipated that in pointing out that it flows from the +very Temple itself. The Prophet sees it coming out of the house--that is +to say, the Sanctuary. It flows across the outer court of the house, +passes the altar, comes out under the threshold, and then pours itself +down on to the plain beneath. This is the symbolical dress of the +thought that all spiritual blessings, and every conceivable form of +human good, take their rise in the fact of God's dwelling with men. From +beneath the Temple threshold comes the water of life; and wherever it +is true that in any heart--or in any community--God dwells, there will +be heard the tinkling of its ripples, and freshness and fertility will +come from the stream. The dwelling of God with a man, like the dwelling +of God in humanity in the Incarnation of His own dear Son, is, as it +were, the opening of the fountain that it may pour out into the world. +So, if we desire to have the blessings that are possible for us, we must +comply with the conditions, and let God dwell in our hearts, and make +them His temples; and then from beneath the threshold of that temple, +too, will pour out, according to Christ's own promise, rivers of living +water which will be first for ourselves to drink of and be blessed by, +and then will refresh and gladden others. + +Another thought connected with this source of the river of life is that +all the blessings which, massed together, are included in that one word +'salvation'--which is a kind of nebula made up of many unresolved +stars--take their rise from nothing else than the deep heart of God +Himself. This river rose in the House of the Lord, and amidst the +mysteries of the Divine Presence; it took its rise, one might say, from +beneath the Mercy-seat where the brooding Cherubim sat in silence and +poured itself into a world that had not asked for it, that did not +expect it, that in many of its members did not desire it and would not +have it. The river that rose in the secret place of God symbolises for +us the great thought which is put into plainer words by the last of the +apostles when he says, 'We love Him because He first loved us.' All the +blessings of salvation rise from the unmotived, self-impelled, self-fed +divine love and purpose. Nothing moves Him to communicate Himself but +His own delight in giving Himself to His poor creatures; and it is all +of grace that it might be all through faith. + +Still further, another thought that may be suggested in connection with +the source of this river is, that that which is to bless the world must +necessarily take its rise above the world. Ezekiel has sketched, in the +last portion of his prophecy, an entirely ideal topography of the Holy +Land. He has swept away mountains and valleys, and levelled all out into +a great plain, in the midst of which rises the mountain of the Lord's +House, far higher than the Temple hill. In reality, opposite it rose the +Mount of Olives, and between the two there was the deep gorge of the +Valley of the Kedron. The Prophet smooths it all out into one great +plain, and high above all towers the Temple-mount, and from it there +rushes down on to the low levels the fertilising, life-giving flood. + +That imaginary geography tells us this, that what is to bless the world +must come from above the world. There needs a waterfall to generate +electricity; the power which is to come into humanity and deal with its +miseries must have its source high above the objects of its energy and +its compassion, and in proportion to the height from which it falls will +be the force of its impact and its power to generate the quickening +impulse. All merely human efforts at social reform, rivers that do not +rise in the Temple, are like the rivers in Mongolia, that run for a few +miles and then get sucked up by the hot sands and are lost and nobody +sees them any more. Only the perennial stream, that comes out from +beneath the Temple threshold, can sustain itself in the desert, to say +nothing of transforming the desert into a Garden of Eden. So moral and +social and intellectual and political reformers may well go to Ezekiel, +and learn that the 'river of the water of life,' which is to heal the +barren and refresh the thirsty land, must come from below the Temple +threshold. + +II. Note the rapid increase of the stream. + +The Prophet describes how his companion, the interpreter, measured down +the stream a thousand cubits--about a quarter of a mile--and the waters +were ankle-deep another thousand, making half a mile from the start, and +the water was knee-deep. Another thousand--or three-quarters of a +mile--and the water was waist-deep; another thousand--about a mile in +all--and the water was unfordable, 'waters to swim in, a river that +could not be passed over.' Where did the increase come from? There were +no tributaries. We do not hear of any side-stream flowing into the main +body. Where did the increase come from? It came from the abundant +welling-up in the sanctuary. The fountain was the mother of the +river--that is to say, God's ideal for the world, for the Church, for +the individual Christian, is rapid increase in their experience of the +depth and the force of the stream of blessings which together make up +salvation. So we come to a very sharp testing question. Will anybody +tell me that the rate at which Christianity has grown for these nineteen +centuries corresponds with Ezekiel's vision--which is God's ideal? Will +any Christian man say, 'My own growth in grace, and increase in the +depth and fulness of the flow of the river through my spirit and my life +correspond to that ideal'? A mile from the source the river is +unfordable. How many miles from the source of _our_ first experience do +we stand? How many of us, instead of having 'a river that could not be +passed over, waters to swim in,' have but a poor and all but stagnant +feeble trickle, as shallow as or shallower than it was at first? + +I was speaking a minute ago about Mongolian rivers. Australian rivers +are more like some men's lives. A chain of ponds in the dry season--nay! +not even a chain, but a series, with no connecting channel of water +between them. That is like a great many Christian people; they have +isolated times when they feel the voice of Christ's love, and yield +themselves to the powers of the world to come, and then there are long +intervals, when they feel neither the one nor the other. But the picture +that ought to be realised by each of us is God's ideal, which there is +power in the gospel to make real in the case of every one of us, the +rapid and continuous increase in the depth and in the scour of 'the +river of the water of life,' that flows through our lives. Luther used +to say, 'If you want to clean out a dunghill, turn the Elbe into it.' If +you desire to have your hearts cleansed of all their foulness, turn the +river into it. But it needs to be a progressively deepening river, or +there will be no scour in the feeble trickle, and we shall not be a bit +the holier or the purer for our potential and imperfect Christianity. + +III. Lastly, note the effects of the stream. + +These are threefold: fertility, healing, life. Fertility. In the East +one condition of fertility is water. Irrigate the desert, and you make +it a garden. Break down the aqueduct, and you make the granary of the +world into a waste. The traveller as he goes along can tell where there +is a stream of water, by the verdure along its banks. You travel along a +plateau, and it is all baked and barren. You plunge into a wâdy, and +immediately the ground is clothed with under-growth and shrubs, and the +birds of the air sing among the branches. And so, says Ezekiel, wherever +the river comes there springs up, as if by magic, fair trees 'on the +banks thereof, whose leaf shall not fade, neither shall the fruit +thereof be consumed.' + +Fertility comes second, the reception of the fertilising agent comes +first. It is wasted time to tinker at our characters unless we have +begun with getting into our hearts the grace of God, and the new spirit +that will be wrought out by diligent effort into all beauty of life and +character. Ezekiel seems to be copying the first psalm, or vice versa, +the Psalmist is copying Ezekiel. At any rate, there is a verbal +similarity between them, in that both dwell upon the unfading leaf of +the tree that grows planted by rivers of water. And our text goes +further, and speaks about perennial fruitfulness month by month, all the +year round. In some tropical countries you will find blossoms, buds in +their earliest stage, and ripened fruit all hanging upon one laden +branch. Such ought to be the Christian life--continuously fruitful +because dependent upon continual drawing into itself, by means of its +roots and suckers, of the water of life by which we are fructified. + +There is yet another effect of the waters--healing. As we said, Ezekiel +takes great liberties with the geography of the Holy Land, levelling it +all, so his stream makes nothing of the Mount of Olives, but flows due +east until it comes to the smitten gorge of the Jordan, and then turns +south, down into the dull, leaden waters of the Dead Sea, which it +heals. We all know how these are charged with poison. Dip up a glassful +anywhere, and you find it full of deleterious matter. They are the +symbol of humanity, with the sin that is in solution all through it. No +chemist can eliminate it, but there is One who can. 'He hath made Him to +be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness +of God in Him.' The pure river of the water of life will cast out from +humanity the malignant components that are there, and will sweeten it +all. Ay, all, and yet not all, for very solemnly the Prophet's optimism +pauses, and he says that the salt marshes by the side of the sea are not +healed. They are by the side of it. The healing is perfectly available +for them, but they are not healed. It is possible for men to reject the +influences that make for the destruction of sin and the establishment of +righteousness. And although the waters are healed, there still remain +the obstinate marshes with the white crystals efflorescing on their +surface, and bringing salt and barrenness. You can put away the healing +and remain tainted with the poison. + +And then the last thought is the life-giving influence of the river. +Everything lived whithersoever it went. Contrast Christendom with +heathendom. Admit all the hollowness and mere nominal Christianity of +large tracts of life in so-called Christian countries, and yet why is it +that on the one side you find stagnation and death, and on the other +side mental and manifold activity and progressiveness? I believe that +the difference between 'the people that _sit_ in darkness' and 'the +people that _walk_ in the light is that one has the light and the other +has not, and activity befits the light as torpor befits the darkness. + +But there is a far deeper truth than that in the figure, a truth that I +would fain lay upon the hearts of all my hearers, that unless we our own +selves have this water of life which comes from the Sanctuary and is +brought to us by Jesus Christ, 'we are dead in trespasses and sins.' The +only true life is in Christ. 'If any man thirst, let him come unto Me, +and drink. He that believeth on Me, as the Scripture hath said, out of +his heart shall flow rivers of living water.' + + * * * * * + + +THE BOOK OF DANIEL + + +YOUTHFUL CONFESSORS + + 'But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself + with the portion of the king's meat, nor with the wine which he + drank; therefore he requested of the prince of the eunuchs that he + might not defile himself. 9. Now God had brought Daniel into favour + and tender love with the prince of the eunuchs. 10. And the prince + of the eunuchs said unto Daniel, I fear my lord the king, who hath + appointed your meat and your drink; for why should he see your + faces worse liking than the children which are of your sort? then + shall ye make me endanger my head to the king. 11. Then said Daniel + to Melzar, whom the prince of the eunuchs had set over Daniel, + Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, 12. Prove thy servants, I beseech + thee, ten days; and let them give us pulse to eat, and water to + drink. 13. Then let our countenances be looked upon before thee, + and the countenance of the children that eat of the portion of the + king's meat; and as thou seest, deal with thy servants. 14. So he + consented to them in this matter, and proved them ten days. 15. And + at the end of ten days their countenances appeared fairer and + fatter in flesh than all the children which did eat the portion of + the king's meat. 16. Thus Melzar took away the portion of their + meat, and the wine that they should drink; and gave them pulse. 17. + As for these four children, God gave them knowledge and skill in + all learning and wisdom; and Daniel had understanding in all + visions and dreams. 18. Now at the end of the days that the king + had said he should bring them in, then the prince of the eunuchs + brought them in before Nebuchadnezzar. 19. And the king communed + with them; and among them all was found none like Daniel, Hananiah, + Mishael, and Azariah; therefore stood they before the king. 20. And + in all matters of wisdom and understanding, that the king enquired + of them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and + astrologers that were in all his realm. 21. And Daniel continued + even unto the first year of king Cyrus.'--DANIEL i. 8-21. + +Daniel was but a boy at the date of the Captivity, and little more at +the time of the attempt to make a Chaldean of him. The last verse says +that he 'continued even unto the first year of king Cyrus,' the date +given elsewhere as the close of the Captivity (2 Chron. xxxvi. 22; Ezra +i. 1; vi. 3). From Daniel x. 1 we learn that he lived on till Cyrus's +third year, if not later; but the date in i. 21 is probably given in +order to suggest that Daniel's career covered the whole period of the +Captivity, and burned like a star of hope for the exiles. The incident +in our passage is a noble example of religious principle applied to +small details of daily life, and shows how God crowns such conscientious +self-restraint with success. The lessons which it contains are best +gathered by following the narrative. + +I. The heroic determination of the boyish confessor is first set forth. +The plan of taking leading young men from the newly captured nation and +turning them into Babylonians was a stroke of policy as heartless and +high-handed as might be expected from a great conqueror. In some +measure, the same thing has been done by all nations who have built up a +world-wide dominion. The new names given to the youths, the attaching of +them to the court, their education in Babylonish fashion, all were meant +for the same purpose,--to denationalise them, and strip them of their +religion, and thus to make them tools for more easily governing their +countrymen. + +Most men would yield to the influences, and be so lapped in the +comforts of their new position as to become pliable as wax in the +conqueror's hands; but here and there he would come across a bit of +stiffer stuff, which would break rather than bend. Such an obstinate +piece of humanity was found in the Hebrew youth, of some fifteen years, +whose Hebrew name ('God is my judge') expressed a truth that ruled him, +when the name was exchanged for one that invoked Bel. It took some +firmness for a captive lad, without friends or influence, to take +Daniel's stand; for the motive of his desire to be excused from taking +the fare provided can only have been religious. He was determined, in +his brave young heart, not to 'defile' himself with the king's meat. The +phrase points to the pollution incurred by eating things offered to +idols, and does not imply scrupulousness like that of Pharisaic times, +nor necessarily suggest a late date for the book. Probably there had +been some kind of religious consecration of the food to Babylonian gods, +and Daniel, in his solitary faithfulness, was carrying out the same +principles which Paul afterwards laid down for Corinthian Christians as +to partaking of things offered to idols. Similar difficulties are sure +to emerge in analogous cases, and do so, on many mission fields. + +The motive here, then, is distinctly religious. Common life was so woven +in with idolatrous worship that every meal was in some sense a +sacrifice. Therefore 'Touch not, taste not, handle not,' was the +inevitable dictate for a devout heart. Daniel seems to have been the +moving spirit; but as is generally the case, he was able to infuse his +own strong convictions into his companions, and the four of them held +together in their protest. The great lesson from the incident is that +religion should regulate the smallest details of life, and that it is +not narrow over-scrupulousness, but fidelity to the highest duty, when a +man sets his foot down about any small matter, and says, 'No, I dare not +do it, little as it is, and pleasant as it might be to sense, because I +should thereby be mixed up in a practical denial of my God.' 'So did not +I, because of the fear of God' (Neh. v. 15), is a motto which will +require from many a young man abstinence from many things which it would +be much easier to accept. + +II. This young confessor was as prudent as he was brave; and the story +goes on to show how wisely he played his part, and how willing he was to +accept all working compromises which might smooth his way. He did not at +all want to pose as a martyr, and had no pleasure in making a noise. The +favour which he had won with the high officer who looked after the lads +before their formal examination (graduation we might call it), is set +down in the narrative to the divine favour; but that favour worked by +means, and no doubt the lad had done his part to win the important good +opinion of his superior. The more firm is our determination to take no +step beyond the line of duty, the more conciliatory we should be. But +many people seem to think that heroism is shown by rudeness, and that if +we are afraid that we shall some time have to say 'No' very +emphatically, we should prepare for it by a great many preliminary and +unnecessary negatives. The very stern need for parting company, when +conscience points one way and companions another, is a reason for +keeping cordially together whenever we can. + +'The prince of the eunuchs' made a very reasonable objection. He had +been appointed to see after the health of the lads, and had ample means +at his disposal; and if they lost their health in this chase after what +he could only think a superstitious fad, the despot whom he served would +think nothing of making him answer with his head. His fear gives a +striking side-light as to the conditions of service in such a court, +where no man's head was firm between his shoulders. Why should the +prince of the eunuchs have supposed that the diet asked for would not +nourish the lads? It was that of the bulk of men everywhere, and he had +only to go out into the streets or the nearest barrack in Babylon to see +what thews and muscles could be nurtured on vegetable diet and water. +But whatever the want of ground in his objection, it was enough that he +made it. Note that he puts it entirely on possible harmful results to +himself, and that silences Daniel, who had no right to ask another to +run his head into the noose, into which he was ready to put his own, if +necessary. Martyrs by proxy, who have such strong convictions that they +think it somebody else's duty to run risk for them, are by no means +unknown. + +This boy was made of other metal. So, apparently he gives up the prince +of the eunuchs, and turns to another of the friends whom he had made in +his short captivity--the person in whose more immediate charge he and +his three friends were. He is named Melzar in the Authorised Version; +but the Revised Version more accurately takes that to be a name of +office, and translates it as 'steward.' He did the catering for them, +and was sufficiently friendly to listen to Daniel's reasonable proposal +to try the vegetable diet for 'ten days'--probably meaning an indefinite +period, sufficiently long to test results, which a literal ten days +would perhaps scarcely be. So the good-natured steward let the lads have +their way, much wondering in his soul, no doubt, why they should take as +much trouble to avoid good living as most youths would have taken to get +it. + +III. The success of the experiment comes next. We do not need to suppose +a miracle as either wrought or suggested by the narrative. The issue +might have taught the steward a wholesome lesson in dietetics, which he +and a great many of us much need. 'A man's life consisteth not in the +abundance of the things which he possesseth,' and his bodily life +consisteth not in the abundance and variety of the things that he +eateth. The teaching of this lesson is, not that vegetarianism or total +abstinence is obligatory, for diet is here regarded only as part of +idolatrous worship; but certainly a secondary conclusion, fairly drawn +from the story, is that vigorous health is best kept up on very simple +fare. Many dinner-tables, over which God's blessing is formally asked, +are spread in such a fashion as it is hard to suppose deserves His +blessing. The simpler the fare, the fewer the wants: the fewer the +wants, the greater the riches; the freer the life, the more leisure for +higher pursuits, and the more sound the bodily health. + +But the rosy faces and vigorous health of Daniel and his friends may +illustrate, by a picturesque example, a large truth--that God suffers no +man to be a loser by faithfulness, and more than makes up all that is +surrendered for His sake. The blessing of God on small means makes them +fountains of truer joy than large ones unblessed. No man hath left +anything for Christ's sake but he receives a hundred-fold in this life, +if not in the actual blessings surrendered, at all events in the peace +and joy of heart of which they were supposed to be bearers. God fills +places emptied by Himself, and those emptied by us for His sake. + +IV. The conscientious abstinence of Daniel had limits. The learning of +the 'Chaldeans' was largely ritualistic, and magic, incantations, +divination, and mythology constituted a most important part of it. Did +not the conscience, which could not swallow idolatrous food, resent +being forced to assimilate idolatrous learning? No; for all that +learning could be acquired by a faithful monotheist, and could be used +against the system which gave it birth. Like Moses, or like the young +Pharisee Saul, these Jewish boys nurtured their faith by knowledge of +their enemies' belief, and used their childhood's lessons as weapons in +fighting for God's truth. It is not every man's duty to become familiar +with error, or to master anti-Christian systems. But if it become ours, +we are not to turn away from the task, nor to doubt that God will keep +His own truth alight in our minds, if we realise the danger of the +position, and seek to cling to Him. + +V. So we have the last scene in the youths' appearance before +Nebuchadnezzar. A three years' curriculum was considered necessary to +turn a Jewish boy into a Chaldean expert, fit to be a traitor to his +nation, an apostate from his God, and a tool of the tyrant. So far as +knowledge of the priestly and astronomical science went, the four +Hebrews came out at the top of the lists. The great king himself, with +that personal interference in all departments which makes a despot's +life so burdensome, put them through their paces, and was satisfied. His +object had been to get instruments with which he could work on the +Captivity, and, no doubt, also to secure servants who had no links with +anybody in Babylon. Foreigners, 'kinless loons,' are favourites with +despots, for plain reasons. But Nebuchadnezzar could not fathom the +hearts of the lads. An incarnation of unbridled will would find it +difficult to understand a life guided by conscience, and religious +scruples would have sounded as an unknown tongue to him. But yet, as he +and they stood face to face, who was stronger, the conqueror or the +youths who feared God, and none besides? They were in their right place +at the head of the examination lists. They had not said, 'We do not +believe in all this rubbish, and we are not going to trouble ourselves +to master it,' but they had set themselves determinedly to work, and +been all the more persevering because of their objection to the diet. If +a young man has to be singular by reason of his religion, let him be +singularly diligent in his work, and seek to be first, not merely for +his own glory, but for the sake of the religion which he professes. + +'Plain living and high thinking' ought to go together. England and +America have many names carved high on their annals, and written deep on +their citizens' hearts, who have nourished a sublime, studious youth in +poverty, 'cultivating literature on a little oatmeal,' and who all their +lives have 'scorned delights and lived laborious days.' It is the temper +which is most likely to succeed, but which, whether it succeeds or not, +brings the best blessings to those who cultivate it. Such a youth will +generally be followed by an honoured manhood like Daniel's, but will, at +all events, be its own reward, and have God's blessing. + +'Daniel continued unto the first year of king Cyrus.' These simple words +contain volumes. During all the troubles of the nation, from the king's +insanity, and the murders of his successors, amidst whirling intrigues, +envies, plots, and persecutions, this one man stood firm, like a pillar +amid blowing sands. So God keeps the steadfast soul which is fixed on +Him; and while the world passeth away, and the fashion thereof, he that +doeth the will of God abideth for ever. + + +THE IMAGE AND THE STONE + + 'This is the dream; and we will tell the interpretation thereof + before the king. 37. Thou, O king, art a king of kings: for the God + of heaven hath given thee a kingdom, power, and strength, and + glory. 38. And wheresoever the children of men dwell, the beasts of + the field and the fowls of the heaven hath He given into thine + hand, and hath made thee ruler over them all. Thou art this head of + gold. 39. And after thee shall arise another kingdom inferior to + thee, and another third kingdom of brass, which shall bear rule + over all the earth. 40. And the fourth kingdom shall be strong as + iron: forasmuch as iron breaketh in pieces and subdueth all + things: and as iron that breaketh all these, shall it break in + pieces and bruise. 41. And whereas thou sawest the feet and toes, + part of potters' clay, and part of iron, the kingdom shall be + divided; but there shall be in it of the strength of the iron, + forasmuch as thou sawest the iron mixed with miry clay. 42. And as + the toes of the feet were part of iron, and part of clay, so the + kingdom shall be partly strong, and partly broken. 43. And whereas + thou sawest iron mixed with miry clay, they shall mingle themselves + with the seed of men: but they shall not cleave one to another, + even as iron is not mixed with clay. 44. And in the days of these + kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never + be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, + but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it + shall stand for ever. 45. Forasmuch as thou sawest that the stone + was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it brake in + pieces the iron, the brass, the clay, the silver, and the gold; the + great God hath made known to the king what shall come to pass + hereafter: and the dream is certain, and the interpretation thereof + sure. 46. Then the king Nebuchadnezzar fell upon his face, and + worshipped Daniel, and commanded that they should offer an oblation + and sweet odours unto him. 47. The king answered unto Daniel, and + said, Of a truth it is, that your God is a God of gods, and a Lord + of kings, and a revealer of secrets, seeing thou couldest reveal + this secret. 48. Then the king made Daniel a great man, and gave + him many great gifts, and made him ruler over the whole province of + Babylon, and chief of the governors over all the wise men of + Babylon. 49. Then Daniel requested of the king, and he set + Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, over the affairs of the province + of Babylon: but Daniel sat in the gate of the king.'--DANIEL ii. + 36-49. + +The colossal image, seen by Nebuchadnezzar in his dream, was a +reproduction of those which met his waking eyes, and still remain for +our wonder in our museums. The mingled materials are paralleled in +ancient art. The substance of the dream is no less natural than its +form. The one is suggested by familiar sights; the other, by pressing +anxieties. What more likely than that, 'in the second year of his reign' +(v. 1), waking thoughts of the future of his monarchy should trouble the +warrior-king, scarcely yet firm on his throne, and should repeat +themselves in nightly visions? God spoke through the dream, and He is +not wont to answer questions before they are asked, nor to give +revelations to men on points which they have not sought to solve. We may +be sure that Nebuchadnezzar's dream met his need. + +The unreasonable demand that the 'Chaldeans' should show the dream as +well as interpret it, fits the character of the king, as an imperious +despot, intolerant of obstacles to his will, and holding human life very +cheap. Daniel's knowledge of the dream and of its meaning is given to +him in a vision by night, which is the method of divine illumination +throughout the book, and may be regarded as a lower stage thereof than +the communications to prophets of 'the word of the Lord.' + +The passage falls into two parts: the image and the stone. + +I. The Image. + +It was a human form of strangely mingled materials, of giant size no +doubt, and of majestic aspect. Barbarous enough it would have looked +beside the marble lovelinesses of Greece, but it was quite like the +coarser art which sought for impressiveness through size and costliness. +Other people than Babylonian sculptors think that bigness is greatness, +and dearness preciousness. + +This image embodied what is now called a philosophy of history. It set +forth the fruitful idea of a succession and unity in the rise and fall +of conquerors and kingdoms. The four empires represented by it are +diverse, and yet parts of a whole, and each following on the other. So +the truth is taught that history is an organic whole, however unrelated +its events may appear to a superficial eye. The writer of this book had +learned lessons far in advance of his age, and not yet fully grasped by +many so-called historians. + +But, further, the human figure of the image sets forth all these +kingdoms as being purely the work of men. Not that the overruling divine +providence is ignored, but that the play of human passions, the lust of +conquest and the like, and the use of human means, such as armies, are +emphasised. + +Again, the kingdoms are seen in their brilliancy, as they would +naturally appear to the thoughts of a conqueror, whose highest notion of +glory was earthly dominion, and who was indifferent to the suffering and +blood through which he waded to a throne. When the same kingdoms are +shown to Daniel in chapter vii. they are represented by beasts. Their +cruelty and the destruction of life which they caused were uppermost in +a prophet's view; their vulgar splendour dazzled a king's sleeping eyes, +because it had intoxicated his waking thoughts. Much worldly glory and +many of its aims appear as precious metal to dreamers, but are seen by +an illuminated sight to be bestial and destructive. + +Once more there is a steady process of deterioration in the four +kingdoms. Gold is followed by silver, and that by brass, and that by the +strange combination of iron and clay. This may simply refer to the +diminution of worldly glory, but it may also mean deterioration, morally +and otherwise. Is it not the teaching of Scripture that, unless God +interpose, society will steadily slide downwards? And has not the fact +been so, wherever the brake and lever of revelation have not arrested +the decline and effected elevation? We are told nowadays of evolution, +as if the progress of humanity were upwards; but if you withdraw the +influence of supernatural revelation, the evidence of power in manhood +to work itself clear of limitations and lower forms is very ambiguous at +the best--in reference to morals, at all events. Evil is capable of +development, as well as good; and perhaps Nebuchadnezzar's colossus is a +truer representation of the course of humanity than the dreams of modern +thinkers who see manhood becoming steadily better by its own effort, and +think that the clay and iron have inherent power to pass into fine gold. + +The question of the identification of these successive monarchies does +not fall to be discussed here. But I may observe that the definite +statement of verse 44 ('in the days of these kings') seems to date the +rise of the everlasting kingdom of God in the period of the last of the +four, and therefore that the old interpretation of the fourth kingdom as +the Roman seems the most natural. The force of that remark may, no +doubt, be weakened by the consideration that the Old Testament prophets' +perspective of the future brought the coming of Messiah into immediate +juxtaposition with the limits of their own vision; but still it has +force. + +The allocation of each part of the symbol is of less importance for us +than the lessons to be drawn from it as a whole. But the singular +amalgam of iron and clay in the fourth kingdom is worth notice. No +sculptor or metallurgist could make a strong unity out of such +materials, of which the combination could only be apparent and +superficial. The fact to which it points is the artificial unity into +which the great conquering empires of old crushed their unfortunate +subject peoples, who were hammered, not fused, together. 'They shall +mingle themselves with the seed of men' (ver. 43), may either refer to +the attempts to bring about unity by marriages among different races, or +to other vain efforts to the same end. To obliterate nationalities has +always been the conquering despot's effort, from Nebuchadnezzar to the +Czar of Russia, and it always fails. This is the weakness of these huge +empires of antiquity, which have no internal cohesion, and tumble to +pieces as soon as some external bond is loosened. There is only one +kingdom which has no disintegrating forces lodged in it, because it +unites men individually to its king, and so binds them to one another; +and that is the kingdom which Nebuchadnezzar saw in its destructive +aspect. + +II. So we have now to think of the stone cut out without hands. + +Three things are specified with regard to it: its origin, its duration, +and its destructive energy. The origin is heavenly, in sharp contrast to +the human origin of the kingdoms symbolised in the colossal man. That +idea is twice expressed: once in plain words, 'the God of heaven shall +set up a kingdom'; and once figuratively as being cut out of the +mountain without hands. By the mountain we are probably to understand +Zion, from which, according to many a prophecy, the Messiah King was to +rule the earth (Ps. ii.; Isa. ii. 3). + +The fulfilment of this prediction is found, not only in the supernatural +birth of Jesus Christ, but in the spread of the gospel without any of +the weapons and aids of human power. Twelve poor men spoke, and the +world was shaken and the kingdoms remoulded. The seer had learned the +omnipotence of ideas and the weakness of outward force. A thought from +God is stronger than all armies, and outconquers conquerors. By the +mystery of Christ's Incarnation, by the power of weakness in the +preachers of the Cross, by the energies of the transforming Spirit, the +God of heaven has set up the kingdom. 'It shall never be destroyed.' Its +divine origin guarantees its perpetual duration. The kingdoms of man's +founding, whether they be in the realm of thought or of outward +dominion, 'have their day, and cease to be,' but the kingdom of Christ +lasts as long as the eternal life of its King. He cannot die any more, +and He cannot live discrowned. Other forms of human association perish, +as new conditions come into play which antiquate them; but the kingdom +of Jesus is as flexible as it is firm, and has power to adapt to itself +all conditions in which men can live. It will outlast earth, it will +fill eternity; for when He 'shall have delivered up the kingdom to His +Father,' the kingdom, which the God of heaven set up, will still +continue. + +It 'shall not be left to other people.' By that, seems to be meant that +this kingdom will not be like those of human origin, in which dominion +passes from one race to another, but that Israel shall ever be the happy +subjects and the dominant race. We must interpret the words of the +spiritual Israel, and remember how to be Christ's subject is to belong +to a nation who are kings and priests. + +The destructive power is graphically represented. The stone, detached +from the mountain, and apparently self-moved, dashes against the +heterogeneous mass of iron and clay on which the colossus insecurely +stands, and down it comes with a crash, breaking into a thousand +fragments as it falls. 'Like the chaff of the summer threshingfloors' +(Daniel ii. 35) is the débris, which is whirled out of sight by the +wind. Christ and His kingdom have reshaped the world. These ancient, +hideous kingdoms of blood and misery are impossible now. Christ and His +gospel shattered the Roman empire, and cast Europe into another mould. +They have destructive work to do yet, and as surely as the sun rises +daily, will do it. The things that can be shaken will be shaken till +they fall, and human society will never obtain its stable form till it +is moulded throughout after the pattern of the kingdom of Christ. + +The vision of our passage has no reference to the quickening power of +the kingdom; but the best way in which it destroys is by transformation. +It slays the old and lower forms of society by substituting the purer +which flow from possession of the one Spirit. That highest glory of the +work of Christ is but partially represented here, but there is a hint in +Daniel ii. 35, which tells that the stone has a strange vitality, and +can grow, and does grow, till it becomes an earth-filling mountain. + +That issue is not reached yet; but 'the dream is certain.' The kingdom +is concentrated in its King, and the life of Jesus, diffused through His +servants, works to the increase of the empire, and will not cease till +the kingdoms of the world are the kingdoms of our God and of His Christ. +That stone has vital power, and if we build on it we receive, by +wonderful impartation, a kindred derived life, and become 'living +stones.' It is laid for a sure foundation. If a man stumble over it +while it lies there to be built upon, he will lame and maim himself. But +it will one day have motion given to it, and, falling from the height of +heaven, when He comes to judge the world which He rules and has +redeemed, it will grind to powder all who reject the rule of the +everlasting King of men. + + +HARMLESS FIRES + + 'Then Nebuchadnezzar in his rage and fury commanded to bring + Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego. Then they brought these men + before the king. 14. Nebuchadnezzar spake and said unto them, Is it + true, O Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, do not ye serve my gods, + nor worship the golden image which I have set up? 15. Now if ye be + ready that at what time ye hear the sound of the cornet, flute, + harp, sackbut, psaltery, and dulcimer, and all kinds of musick, ye + fall down and worship the image which I have made; well: but if ye + worship not, ye shall be cast the same hour into the midst of a + burning fiery furnace; and who is that God that shall deliver you + out of my hands? 16. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, answered and + said to the king, O Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer + thee in this matter. 17. If it be so, our God whom we serve is able + to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver + us out of thine hand, O king. 18. But if not, be it known unto + thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the + golden image which thou hast set up. 19. Then was Nebuchadnezzar + full of fury, and the form of his visage was changed against + Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego: therefore he spake, and commanded + that they should heat the furnace one seven times more than it was + wont to be heated. 20. And he commanded the most mighty men that + were in his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, and to + cast them into the burning fiery furnace. 21. Then these men were + bound in their coats, their hosen, and their hats, and their other + garments, and were cast into the midst of the burning fiery + furnace. 22. Therefore because the king's commandment was urgent, + and the furnace exceeding hot, the flame of the fire slew those men + that took up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego. 23. And these three + men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, fell down bound into the + midst of the burning fiery furnace. 24. Then Nebuchadnezzar the + king was astonied, and rose up in haste, and spake, and said unto + his counsellors, Did not we cast three men bound into the midst of + the fire? They answered and said unto the king, True, O king. 25. + He answered and said, Lo, I see four men loose, walking in the + midst of the fire, and they have no hurt; and the form of the + fourth is like the Son of God.'--DANIEL iii. 13-25. + +The way in which the 'Chaldeans' describe the three recusants, betrays +their motive in accusing them. 'Certain Jews whom thou hast set over the +affairs of the province of Babylon' could not but be envied and hated, +since their promotion wounded both national pride and professional +jealousy. The form of the accusation was skilfully calculated to rouse a +despot's rage. 'They have not regarded thee' is the head and front of +their offending. The inflammable temper of the king blazed up according +to expectation, as is the way with tyrants. His passion of rage is twice +mentioned (vs. 13, 19), and in one of the instances, is noted as +distorting his features. What a picture of ungoverned fury as of one who +had never been thwarted! It is the true portrait of an Eastern despot. + +Where was Daniel in this hour of danger? His absence is not accounted +for, and conjecture is useless; but the fact that he has no share in the +incident seems to raise a presumption in favour of the disputed +historical character of the Book, which, if it had been fiction, could +scarcely have left its hero out of so brilliant an instance of +faithfulness to Jehovah. + +Nebuchadnezzar's vehement address to the three culprits is very +characteristic and instructive. Fixed determination to enforce his +mandate, anger which breaks into threats that were by no means idle, and +a certain wish to build a bridge for the escape of servants who had done +their work well, are curiously mingled in it. His question, best +rendered as in the Revised Version, 'Is it of purpose ... that ye' do so +and so? seems meant to suggest that they may repair their fault by +pleading inadvertence, accident, or the like, and that He will accept +the transparent excuse. The renewed offer of an opportunity of worship +does not say what will happen should they obey; and the omission makes +the clause more emphatic, as insisting on the act, and slurring over the +self-evident result. + +On the other hand, in the next clause the act is slightly touched ('if +ye worship not'); and all the stress comes on the grim description of +the consequence. This monarch, who has been accustomed to bend men's +wills like reeds, tries to shake these three obstinate rebels by terror, +and opens the door of the furnace, as it were, to let them hear it roar. +He finishes with a flash of insolence which, if not blasphemy, at least +betrays his belief that he was stronger than any god of his conquered +subject peoples. + +But the main point to notice in this speech is the unconscious +revelation of his real motive in demanding the act of worship. The +crime of the three was not that they worshipped wrongly, but that they +disobeyed Nebuchadnezzar. He speaks of 'my gods', and of the 'image +which I have set up.' Probably it was an image of the god of the +Babylonian pantheon whom he took for his special patron, and was erected +in commemoration of some victorious campaign. + +At all events, the worship required was an act of obedience to him, and +to refuse it was rebellion. Idolatry is tolerant of any private opinions +about gods, and intolerant of any refusal to obey authority in worship. +So the early Christians were thrown to the lions, not because they +worshipped Jesus, but because they would not sacrifice at the Emperor's +command. It is not only heathen rulers who have confounded the spheres +of civil and religious obedience. Nonconformity in England was long +identified with disloyalty; and in many so-called Christian countries +to-day a man may think what he likes, and worship as he pleases in his +chamber, if only he will decently comply with authority and pretend to +unite in religious ceremonies, which those who appoint and practise them +observe with tongue in cheek. + +But we may draw another lesson from this truculent apostle of his god. +He is not the only instance of apparent religious zeal which is at +bottom nothing but masterfulness. 'You shall worship my god, not because +he is God, but because he is mine.' That is the real meaning of a great +deal which calls itself 'zeal for the Lord.' The zealot's own will, +opinions, fancies, are crammed down other people's throats, and the +insult in not thinking or worshipping as he does, is worse in his eyes +than the offence against God. + +The kind of furnace in which recusants are roasted has changed since +Nebuchadnezzar's time, and what is called persecution for religion is +out of fashion now. But every advance in the application of Christian +principle to social and civil life brings a real martyrdom on its +advocates. Every audacious refusal to bow to the habits or opinions of +the majority, is visited by consequences which only the martyr spirit +will endure. Despots have no monopoly of imperious intolerance. A +democracy is more cruel and more impatient of singularity, and +especially of religious singularity, than any despot. + +England and America have no need to fear the old forms of religious +persecution. In both, a man may profess and proclaim any kind of +religion or of no religion. But in both, the advance guard of the +Christian Church, which seeks to apply Christ's teachings more rigidly +to individual and social life, has to face obloquy, ostracism, +misrepresentation, from the world and the fossil church, for not serving +their gods, nor worshipping the golden image which they have set up. +Martyrs will be needed and persecutors will exist till the world is +Christian. + +How did the three confessors meet this rumble of thunder about their +ears? The quiet determination of their reply is very striking and +beautiful. It is perfectly loyal, and perfectly unshaken. 'We have no +need to answer thee' (Revised Version). 'It is ill sitting at Rome and +striving with the Pope.' Nebuchadnezzar's palace was not precisely the +place to dispute with Nebuchadnezzar; and as his logic was only 'Do as I +bid you, or burn,' the sole reply possible was, 'We will not do as you +bid, and we will burn.' The 'If' which is immediately spoken is already +in the minds of the speakers, when they say that _they_ do not need to +answer. They think that God will take up the taunt which ended the +king's tirade. Beautifully they are silent, and refer the blusterer to +God, whose voice they believe that He will hear in His deed. 'But Thou +shalt answer, Lord, for me,' is the true temper of humble faith, dumb +before power as a sheep before her shearers, and yet confident that the +meek will not be left unvindicated. Let us leave ourselves in God's +hands; and when conscience accuses, or the world maligns or threatens, +let us be still, and feel that we have One to speak for us, and so we +may hold our peace. + +The rendering of verse 17 is doubtful, but the general meaning is clear. +The brave speakers have hope that God will rebuke the king's taunt, and +will prove Himself to be able to deliver out of his hand. So they repeat +his very words with singular boldness, and contradict him to his face. +They have no absolute certainty of deliverance, but whether it comes or +not will make no manner of difference to them. They have absolute +certainty as to duty; and so they look the furious tyrant right in the +eyes, and quietly say, 'We will not serve thy gods.' Nothing like that +had ever been heard in those halls. + +Duty is sovereign. The obligation to resist all temptations to go +against conscience is unaffected by consequences. There may be hope that +God will not suffer us to be harmed, but whether He does or not should +make no difference to our fixed resolve. That temper of lowly faith and +inflexible faithfulness which these Hebrews showed in the supreme +moment, when they took their lives in their hands, may be as nobly +illustrated in the small difficulties of our peaceful lives. The same +laws shape the curves of the tiny ripples in a basin and of the Atlantic +rollers. No man who cannot say 'I will not' in the face of frowns and +dangers, be they what they may, and stick to it, will do his part, He +who has conquered regard for personal consequences, and does not let +them deflect his course a hairsbreadth, is lord of the world. + +How small Nebuchadnezzar was by the side of his three victims! How empty +his threats to men who cared nothing whether they burned or not, so long +as they did not apostatise! What can the world do against a man who +says, 'It is all one to me whether I live or die; I will not worship at +your shrines?' The fire of the furnace is but painted flames to such an +one. + +The savage punishment intended for the audacious rebels is abundantly +confirmed as common in Babylon by the inscriptions, which may be seen +quoted by many commentators. The narrative is exceedingly graphic. We +see the furious king, with features inflamed with passion. We hear his +hoarse, angry orders to heat the furnace seven times hotter, which he +forgot would be a mercy, as shortening the victims' agonies. We see the +swift execution of the commands, and the unresisting martyrs bound as +they stood, and dragged away by the soldiers to the near furnace, the +king following. Its shape is a matter of doubt. Probably the three were +thrown in from above, and so the soldiers were caught by the flames. + +'And these three men ... fell down bound into the midst of the burning +fiery furnace' Their helplessness and desperate condition are +pathetically suggested by that picture, which might well be supposed to +be the last of them that mortal eyes would see. Down into the glowing +mass, like chips of wood into Vesuvius, they sank. The king sitting +watching, to glut his fury by the sight of their end, had some way of +looking into the core of the flames. + +The story shifts its point of view with very picturesque abruptness +after verse 23. The vaunting king shall tell what he saw, and thereby +convict himself of insolent folly in challenging 'any god' to deliver +out of his hand. He alone seems to have seen the sight, which he tells +to his courtiers. The bonds were gone, and the men walking free in the +fire, as if it had been their element. Three went in bound, four walk +there at large; and the fourth is 'like a son of the gods,' by which +expression Nebuchadnezzar can have meant nothing more than he had +learned from his religion; namely, that the gods had offspring of +superhuman dignity. He calls the same person an angel in Daniel iii. 28. +He speaks there as the three would have spoken, and here as Babylonian +mythology spoke. + +But the great lesson to be gathered from this miracle of deliverance is +simply that men who sacrifice themselves for God find in the sacrifice +abundant blessing. They may, or may not, be delivered from the external +danger. Peter was brought out of prison the night before his intended +martyrdom; James, the brother of John, was slain with the sword, but God +was equally near to both, and both were equally delivered from 'Herod +and from all the expectation of the people of the Jews.' The disposal of +the outward event is in His hands, and is a comparatively small matter. +But no furnace into which a man goes because he will be true to God, and +will not yield up his conscience, is a tenth part so hot as it seems, +and it will do no real harm. The fire burns bonds, but not Christ's +servants, consuming many things that entangled, and setting them free. +'I will walk at liberty: for I seek Thy precepts'--even if we have to +walk in the furnace. No trials faced in obedience to God will be borne +alone. 'When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; ... +when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned.' + +The form which Nebuchadnezzar saw amid the flame, as invested with more +than human majesty, may have been but one of the ministering spirits +sent forth to minister to the martyrs--the embodiment of the divine +power which kept the flames from kindling upon them. But we have Jesus +for our Companion in all trials, and His presence makes it possible for +us to pass over hot ploughshares with unblistered feet; to bathe our +hands in fire and not feel the pain; to accept the sorest consequences +of fidelity to Him, and count them as 'not worthy to be compared with +the glory which shall be revealed,' and is made more glorious through +these light afflictions. A present Christ will never fail His servants, +and will make the furnace cool even when its fire is fiercest. + + +MENE, TEKEL, PERES + + 'Then Daniel answered and said before the king, Let thy gifts be to + thyself, and give thy rewards to another: yet I will read the + writing unto the king, and make known to him the interpretation. + 18. O thou king, the most high God gave Nebuchadnezzar thy father a + kingdom, and majesty, and glory, and honour: 19. And for the + majesty that he gave him, all people, nations, and languages, + trembled and feared before him: whom he would he slew; and whom he + would he kept alive; and whom he would he set up; and whom he would + he put down. 20. But when his heart was lifted up, and his mind + hardened in pride, he was deposed from his kingly throne, and they + took his glory from him: 21. And he was driven from the sons of + men; and his heart was made like the beasts, and his dwelling was + with the wild asses: they fed him with grass like oxen, and his + body was wet with the dew of heaven; till he knew that the most + high God ruled in the kingdom of men, and that he appointeth over + it whomsoever he will. 22. And thou his son, O Belshazzar, hast not + humbled thine heart, though thou knewest all this: 23. But hast + lifted up thyself against the Lord of Heaven: and they have brought + the vessels of his house before thee, and thou, and thy lords, thy + wives, and thy concubines, have drunk wine in them; and thou hast + praised the gods of silver, and gold, of brass, iron, wood, and + stone, which see not, nor hear, nor know: and the God in whose hand + thy breath is, and whose are all thy ways, hast thou not glorified: + 24. Then was the part of the hand sent from him; and this writing + was written. 25. And this is the writing that was written, 'MENE, + MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN.' 26. This is the interpretation of the + thing: MENE; God hath numbered thy kingdom, and finished it. 27. + TEKEL; Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting. 28. + PERES; Thy kingdom is divided, and given to the Medes and Persians. + 29. Then commanded Belshazzar, and they clothed Daniel with + scarlet, and put a chain of gold about his neck, and made a + proclamation concerning him, that he should be the third ruler in + the kingdom. 30. In that night was Belshazzar the king of the + Chaldeans slain. 31. And Darius the Median took the kingdom, being + about threescore and two years old.'--DANIEL v. 17-31. + +Belshazzar is now conceded to have been a historical personage, the son +of the last monarch of Babylon, and the other name in the narrative +which has been treated as erroneous--namely, Darius--has not been found +to be mentioned elsewhere, but is not thereby proved to be a blunder. +For why should it not be possible for Scripture to preserve a name that +secular history has not yet been ascertained to record, and why must it +always be assumed that, if Scripture and cuneiform or other documents +differ, it is Scripture that must go to the wall? + +We do not deal with the grim picture of the drunken orgy, turned into +abject terror as 'the fingers of a man's hand' came forth out of empty +air, and in the full blaze of 'the candlestick' wrote the illegible +signs. There is something blood-curdling in the visibility of but a +part of the hand and its busy writing. Whose was the body, and where was +it? No wonder if the riotous mirth was frozen into awe, and the wine +lost flavour. Nor need we do more than note the craven-hearted flattery +addressed to Daniel by the king, who apparently had never heard of him +till the queen spoke of him just before. We have to deal with the +indictment, the sentence, and the execution. + +I. The indictment. Daniel's tone is noticeably stern. He has no +reverential preface, no softening of his message. His words are as if +cut with steel on the rock. He brushes aside the promises of vulgar +decorations and honours with undisguised contempt, and goes straight to +his work of rousing a torpid conscience. + +Babylon was the embodiment and type of the godless world-power, and +Belshazzar was the incarnation of the spirit which made Babylon. So +Daniel's indictment gathers together the main forms of sin, which cleave +to every godless national or individual life. And he begins with that +feather-brained frivolity which will learn nothing by example. +Nebuchadnezzar's fate might have taught his successors what came of +God-forgetting arrogance, and attributing success to oneself; and his +restoration might have been an object-lesson to teach that devout +recognition of the Most High as sovereign was the beginning of a king's +prosperity and sanity. But Belshazzar knew all this, and ignored it all. +Was he singular in that? Is not the world full of instances of the ruin +that attends godlessness, which yet do not check one godless man in his +career? The wrecks lie thick on the shore, but their broken sides and +gaunt skeletons are not warnings sufficient to keep a thousand other +ships from steering right on to the shoals. Of these godless lives it +is true, 'This their way is their folly; yet their posterity approve +their sayings,' and their doings, and say and do them over again. +Incapacity to learn by example is a mark of godless lives. + +Further, Belshazzar 'lifted up' himself 'against the Lord of heaven,' +and 'glorified not Him in whose hand was his breath and whose were all +his ways.' The very essence of all sin is that assertion of self as +Lord, as sufficient, as the director of one's path. To make myself my +centre, to depend on myself, to enthrone my own will as sovereign, is to +fly in the face of nature and fact, and is the mother of all sin. To +live to self is to die while we live; to live to God is to live even +while we die. Nations and individuals are ever tempted thus to ignore +God, and rebelliously to say, 'Who is Lord over us?' or presumptuously +to think themselves architects of their own fortunes, and sufficient for +their own defence. Whoever yields to that temptation has let the 'prince +of the devils' in, and the inferior evil spirits will follow. Positive +acts are not needed; the negative omission to 'glorify' the God of our +life binds sin on us. + +Further, Belshazzar, the type of godlessness, had desecrated the +sacrificial vessels by using them for his drunken carouse, and therein +had done just what we do when we take the powers of heart and mind and +will, which are meant to be filled with affections, thoughts, and +purposes, that are 'an odour of a sweet smell, well-pleasing to God,' +and desecrate them by pouring from them libations before creatures. Is +not love profaned when it is lavished on men or women without one +reference to God? Is not the intellect desecrated when its force is +spent on finite objects of thought, and never a glance towards God? Is +not the will prostituted from its high vocation when it is used to drive +the wheels of a God-ignoring life? + +The coin bears the image and superscription of the true king. It is +treason to God to render it to any paltry 'Cæsar' of our own coronation. +Belshazzar was an avowed idolater, but many of us are worshipping gods +'which see not, nor hear, nor know' as really as he did. We cannot but +do so, if we are not worshipping God; for men must have some person or +thing which they regard as their supreme good, to which the current of +their being sets, which, possessed, makes them blessed; and that is our +god, whether we call it so or not. + +Further, Belshazzar was carousing while the Medes and Persians were +ringing Babylon round, and his hand should have been grasping a sword, +not a wine-cup. Drunkenness and lust, which sap manhood, are notoriously +stimulated by peril, as many a shipwreck tells when desperate men break +open the spirit casks, and go down to their death intoxicated, and as +many an epidemic shows when morality is flung aside, and mad vice rules +and reels in the streets before it sinks down to die. A nation or a man +that has shaken off God will not long keep sobriety or purity. + +II. After the stern catalogue of sins comes the tremendous sentence. +Daniel speaks like an embodied conscience, or like an avenging angel, +with no word of pity, and no effort to soften or dilute the awful truth. +The day for wrapping up grim facts in muffled words was past. Now the +only thing to be done was to bare the sword, and let its sharp edge cut. +The inscription, as given in verse 25, is simply 'Numbered, numbered, +weighed and breakings.' The variation in verse 28 (Peres) is the +singular of the noun used in the plural in verse 25, with the omission +of 'U,' which is merely the copulative 'and.' The disjointed brevity +adds to the force of the words. Apparently, they were not written in a +character which 'the king's wise men' could read, and probably were in +Aramaic letters as well as language, which would be familiar to Daniel. +Of course, a play on the word 'Peres' suggests the _Persian_ as the +agent of the _breaking_. Daniel simply supplied the personal application +of the oracular writing. He fits the cap on the king's head. 'God hath +numbered _thy_ kingdom ... _thou_ art weighed ... _thy_ kingdom is +divided' (broken). + +These three fatal words carry in them the summing up of all divine +judgment, and will be rung in the ears of all who bring it on +themselves. Belshazzar is a type of the end of every godless world-power +and of every such individual life. 'Numbered'--for God allows to each +his definite time, and when its sum is complete, down falls the knife +that cuts the threads. 'Weighed'--for 'after death the judgment,' and a +godless life, when laid in the balance which His hand holds, is +'altogether lighter than vanity.' 'Breakings'--for not only will the +godless life be torn away from its possessions with much laceration of +heart and spirit, but the man himself will be broken like some earthen +vessel coming into sharp collision with an express engine. Belshazzar +saw the handwriting on the same night in which it was carried out in +act; we see it long before, and we can read it. But some of us are mad +enough to sit unconcerned at the table, and go on with the orgy, though +the legible letters are gleaming plain on the wall. + +III. The execution of the sentence need not occupy us long. Belshazzar +so little realised the facts, that he issued his order to deck out +Daniel in the tawdry pomp he had promised him, as if a man with such a +message would be delighted with purple robes and gold chains, and made +him third ruler of the kingdom which he had just declared was numbered +and ended by God. The force of folly could no further go. No wonder +that the hardy invaders swept such an Imbecile from his throne without a +struggle! His blood was red among the lees of the wine-cups, and the +ominous writing could scarcely have faded from the wall when the shouts +of the assailants were heard, the palace gates forced, and the +half-drunken king, alarmed too late, put to the sword. 'He that, being +often reproved, hardeneth his neck shall suddenly be destroyed, and that +without remedy.' + + +A TRIBUTE FROM ENEMIES + + Then said these men, We shall not find any occasion against this + Daniel, except we find it against him concerning the law of his + God.'--DANIEL vi. 5. + +Daniel was somewhere about ninety years old when he was cast to the +lions. He had been for many years the real governor of the whole empire; +and, of course, in such a position had incurred much hatred and +jealousy. He was a foreigner and a worshipper of another God, and +therefore was all the more unpopular, as a Brahmin would be in England +if he were a Cabinet Minister. He was capable and honest, and therefore +all the incompetent and all the knavish officials would recognise in him +their natural enemy. So, hostile intrigues, which grow quickly in +courts, especially in Eastern courts, sprung up round him, and his +subordinates laid their heads together in order to ruin him. They say, +in the words of my text, 'We cannot find any holes to pick. There is +only one way to put him into antagonism to the law, and that is by +making a law which shall be in antagonism to God's law.' And so they +scheme to have the mad regulation enacted, which, in the sequel of the +story, we find was enforced. + +These intriguers say, 'We shall not find any occasion against this +Daniel, except we find it against him concerning the law of his God.' + +Now, then, if we look at that confession, wrung from the lips of +malicious observers, we may, I think, get two or three lessons. + +I. First, note the very unfavourable soil in which a character of +singular beauty and devout consecration may be rooted and grow. + +What sort of a place was that court where Daniel was? Half shambles and +half pigsty. Luxury, sensuality, lust, self-seeking, idolatry, ruthless +cruelty, and the like were the environment of this man. And in the +middle of these there grew up that fair flower of a character, pure and +stainless, by the acknowledgment of enemies, and in which not even +accusers could find a speck or a spot. There are no circumstances in +which a man must have his garments spotted by the world. However deep +the filth through which he has to wade, if God sent him there, and if he +keeps hold of God's hand, his purity will be more stainless by reason of +the impurity round him. There were saints in Cæsar's household, and +depend upon it, they were more saintly saints just because they were in +Cæsar's household. You will always find that people who have any +goodness in them, and who live in conditions unusually opposed to +goodness, have a clearer faith, and a firmer grasp of their Master, and +a higher ideal of Christian life, just because of the foulness in which +they have to live. It may sound a paradox, but it is a deep truth that +unfavourable circumstances are the most favourable for the development +of Christian character. For that development comes, not by what we draw +from the things around, but by what we draw from the soil in which we +are rooted, even God Himself, in whom the roots find both anchorage and +nutriment. And the more we are thrown back upon Him, and the less we +find food for our best selves in the things about us, the more likely is +our religion to be robust and thorough-going, and conscious ever of His +presence. Resistance strengthens muscles, and the more there is need for +that in our Christian lives, the manlier and the stronger and the better +shall we probably be. Let no man or woman say, 'If only circumstances +were more favourable, oh, what a saint I could be; but how can I be one, +with all these unfavourable conditions? How can a man keep the purity of +his Christian life and the fervour of his Christian communion amidst the +tricks and chicanery and small things of Manchester business? How can a +woman find time to hold fellowship with God, when all day long she is +distracted in her nursery with all these children hanging on her to look +after? How can we, in our actual circumstances, reach the ideal of +Christian character?' + +Ah, brother, if the ideal's being realised depends on circumstances, it +is a poor affair. It depends on you, and he that has vitality enough +within him to keep hold of Jesus Christ, has thereby power enough within +him to turn enemies into friends, and unfavourable circumstances into +helps instead of hindrances. Your ship can sail wonderfully near to the +wind if you trim the sails rightly, and keep a good, strong grip on the +helm, and the blasts that blow all but in your face, may be made to +carry you triumphantly into the haven of your desire. Remember Daniel, +in that godless court reeking with lust and cruelty, and learn that +purity and holiness and communion with God do not depend on environment, +but upon the inmost will of the man. + +II. Notice the keen critics that all good men have to face. + +In this man's case, of course, their eyesight was mended by the +microscope of envy and malice. That is no doubt the case with some of us +too. But whether that be so or no, however unobtrusive and quiet a +Christian person's life may be, there will be some people standing +close by who, if not actually watching for his fall, are at least by no +means indisposed to make the worst of a slip, and to rejoice over an +inconsistency. + +We do not need to complain of that. It is perfectly reasonable and +perfectly right. There will always be a tendency to judge men, who by +any means profess that they are living by the highest law, with a +judgment that has very little charity in it. And it is perfectly right +that it should be so. Christian people need to be trained to be +indifferent to men's opinions, but they also need to be reminded that +they are bound, as the Apostle says, to 'provide things honest in the +sight of all men.' It is a reasonable and right requirement that they +should 'have a good report of them that are without.' Be content to be +tried by a high standard, and do not wonder, and do not forget that +there are keen eyes watching your conduct, in your home, in your +relations to your friends, in your business, in your public life, which +would weep no tears, but might gleam with malicious satisfaction, if +they saw inconsistencies in you. Remember it, and shape your lives so +that they may be disappointed. + +If a minister falls into any kind of inconsistency or sin, if a +professing Christian makes a bad failure in Manchester, what a talk +there is, and what a pointing of fingers! We sometimes think it is hard; +it is all right. It is just what should be meted out to us. Let us +remember that unslumbering tribunal which sits in judgment upon all our +professions, and is very ready to condemn, and very slow to acquit. + +III. Notice, again, the unblemished record. + +These men could find no fault, 'forasmuch as Daniel was faithful.' +Neither was there any error'--of judgment, that is,--'or +fault'--dereliction of duty, that is,--'found in him.' They were very +poor judges of his religion, and they did not try to judge that; but +they were very good judges of his conduct as prime minister, and they +did judge that. The world is a very poor critic of my Christianity, but +it is a very sufficient one of my conduct. It may not know much about +the inward emotions of the Christian life, and the experiences in which +the Christian heart expatiates and loves to dwell, but it knows what +short lengths, and light weights, and bad tempers, and dishonesty, and +selfishness are. And it is by our conduct, in the things that they and +we do together, that worldly men judge what we are in the solitary +depths where we dwell in communion with God. It is useless for +Christians to be talking, as so many of them are fond of doing, about +their spiritual experiences and their religious joy, and all the other +sweet and sacred things which belong to the silent life of the spirit in +God, unless, side by side with these, there is the doing of the common +deeds which the world is actually able to appraise in such a fashion as +to extort, even from them, the confession, 'We find no occasion against +this man.' + +You remember the pregnant, quaint old saying, 'If a Christian man is a +shoeblack, he ought to be the best shoeblack in the parish.' If we call +ourselves Christians, we are bound, by the very name, to live in such a +fashion as that men shall have no doubt of the reality of our profession +and of the depth of our fellowship with Christ. It is by our common +conduct that they judge us. And the 'Christian Endeavourer' needs to +remember, whether he or she be old or young, that the best sign of the +reality of the endeavour is the doing of common things with absolute +rightness, because they are done wholly for Christ's sake. + +It is a sharp test, and I wonder how many of us would like to go out +into the world, and say to all the irreligious people who know us, 'Now +come and tell me what the faults are that you have seen in me.' There +would be a considerable response to the invitation, and perhaps some of +us would learn to know ourselves rather better than we have been able to +do. 'We shall not find any occasion in _this_ Daniel'--I wonder if +they would find it in _that_ Daniel--'except we find it concerning +the law of his God.' There is a record for a man! + +IV. Lastly, note obedient disobedience. + +The plot goes on the calculation that, whatever happens, this man may be +trusted to do what his God tells him, no matter who tells him not to do +it. And so on that calculation the law, surely as mad a one as any +Eastern despot ever hatched, is passed that, for a given space of time, +nobody within the dominions of this king, Darius, is to make any +petition or request of any man or god, save of the king only. It was one +of the long series of laws that have been passed in order to be broken, +and being broken, might be an instrument to destroy the men that broke +it. It was passed with no intention of getting obedience, but only with +the intention of slaying one faithful man, and the plot worked according +to calculation. + +What did it matter to Daniel what was forbidden or commanded? He needed +to pray to God, and nothing shall hinder him from doing that. And so, +obediently disobedient, he brushes the preposterous law of the poor, +shadowy Darius on one side, in order that he may keep the law of his +God. + +Now I do not need to remind you how obedience to God has in the past +often had to be maintained by disobedience to law. I need not speak of +martyrs, nor of the great principle laid down so clearly by the apostle +Peter, 'We ought to obey God rather than man.' Nor need I remind you +that if a man, for conscience sake, refuses to render active obedience +to an unrighteous law, and unresistingly accepts the appointed penalty, +he is not properly regarded as a law-breaker. + +If earthly authorities command what is clearly contrary to God's law, a +Christian is absolved from obedience, and cannot be loyal unless he is a +rebel. That is how our forefathers read constitutional obligations. That +is how the noble men on the other side of the Atlantic, fifty years ago, +read their constitutional obligations in reference to that devilish +institution of slavery. And in the last resort--God forbid that we +should need to act on the principle--Christian men are set free from +allegiance when the authority over them commands what is contrary to the +will and the law of God. + +But all that does not touch us. But I will tell you what does touch us. +Obedience to God needs always to be sustained--in some cases more +markedly, in some cases less so--but always in some measure, by +disobedience to the maxims and habits of most men round about us. If +they say 'Do this,' and Jesus Christ says 'Don't,' then they may talk as +much as they like, but we are bound to turn a deaf ear to their +exhortations and threats. + + 'He is a slave that dare not be + In the right with two or three,' + +as that peaceful Quaker poet of America sings. + +And for us, in our little lives, the motto, 'This did not I, because of +the fear of the Lord,' is absolutely essential to all noble Christian +conduct. Unless you are prepared to be in the minority, and now and +then to be called 'narrow,' 'fanatic,' and to be laughed at by men +because you will not do what they do, but abstain and resist, then there +is little chance of your ever making much of your Christian profession. + +These people calculated upon Daniel, and they had a right to calculate +upon him. Could the world calculate upon us, that we would rather go to +the lions' den than conform to what God and our consciences told us to +be a sin? If not, we have not yet learned what it means to be a +disciple. The commandment comes to us absolutely, as it came to the +servants in the first miracle, 'Whatsoever He saith unto you'--that, and +that only--'whatsoever He saith unto you, do it.' + + +FAITH STOPPING THE MOUTHS OF LIONS + + 'Then the king commanded, and they brought Daniel, and cast him + into the den of lions. Now the king spake and said unto Daniel, Thy + God whom thou servest continually, He will deliver thee. 17. And a + stone was brought, and laid upon the mouth of the den; and the king + sealed it with his own signet, and with the signet of his lords; + that the purpose might not be changed concerning Daniel. 18. Then + the king went to his palace, and passed the night fasting: neither + were instruments of musick brought before him: and his sleep went + from him. 19. Then the king arose very early in the morning, and + went in haste unto the den of lions. 20. And when he came to the + den, he cried with a lamentable voice unto Daniel: and the king + spake and said to Daniel, O Daniel, servant of the living God, is + thy God, whom thou servest continually, able to deliver thee from + the lions? 21. Then said Daniel unto the king, O king, live for + ever. 22. My God hath sent His angel, and hath shut the lions' + mouths, that they have not hurt me: forasmuch as before Him + innocency was found in me; and also before thee, O king, have I + done no hurt, 23. Then was the king exceeding glad for him, and + commanded that they should take Daniel up out of the den. So + Daniel was taken up out of the den, and no manner of hurt was found + upon him, because he believed in his God. 24. And the king + commanded, and they brought those men which had accused Daniel, and + they cast them into the den of lions, them, their children, and + their wives; and the lions had the mastery of them, and brake all + their bones in pieces or ever they came at the bottom of the den. + 25. Then king Darius wrote unto all people, nations, and languages, + that dwell in all the earth; Peace be multiplied unto you. 26. I + make a decree, That in every dominion of my kingdom men tremble and + fear before the God of Daniel: for He is the living God, and + stedfast for ever, and His kingdom that which shall not be + destroyed, and His dominion shall be even unto the end. 27. He + delivereth and rescueth, and He worketh signs and wonders in heaven + and in earth, who hath delivered Daniel from the power of the + lions. 28. So this Daniel prospered in the reign of Darius, and in + the reign of Cyrus the Persian.'--DANIEL vi. 16-28. + +Daniel was verging on ninety when this great test of his faithfulness +was presented to him. He had been honoured and trusted through all the +changes in the kingdom, and, when the Medo-Persian conquest came, the +new monarch naturally found in him, as a foreigner, a more reliable +minister than in native officials. 'Envy doth merit as its shade +pursue,' and the crafty trick by which his subordinates tried to procure +his fall, was their answer to Darius's scheme of making him prime +minister. Our passage begins in the middle of the story, but the earlier +part will come into consideration in the course of our remarks. + +I. We note, first, the steadfast, silent confessor and the weak king. +Darius is a great deal more conspicuous in the narrative than Daniel. +The victim of injustice is silent. He does not seem to have been called +on to deny or defend the indictment. His deed was patent, and the breach +of the law flagrant. He, too, was 'like a sheep before the shearers,' +dumb. His silence meant, among other things, a quiet, patient, fixed +resolve to bear all, and not to deny his God. Weak men bluster. Heroic +endurance has generally little to say. Without resistance, or a word, +the old man, an hour ago the foremost in the realm, is hauled off and +flung into the pit or den. It is useless and needless to ask its form. +The entrance was sealed with two seals, one the king's, one the +conspirators', that neither party might steal a march on the other. +Fellows in iniquity do not trust each other. So, down in the dark there, +with the glittering eyeballs of the brutes round him, and their growls +in his ears, the old man sits all night long, with peace in his heart, +and looking up trustfully, through the hole in the roof, to his +Protector's stars, shining their silent message of cheer. + +The passage dwells on the pitiable weakness and consequent unrest of the +king. He had not yielded Daniel to his fate without a struggle, which +the previous narrative describes in strong language. 'Sore displeased,' +he 'set his heart' on delivering him, and 'laboured' to do so. The +curious obstacle, limiting even his power, is a rare specimen of +conservatism in its purest form. So wise were our ancestors, that +nothing of theirs shall ever be touched. Infallible legislators can make +immutable laws; the rest of us must be content to learn by blundering, +and to grow by changing. The man who says, 'I never alter my opinions,' +condemns himself as either too foolish or too proud to learn. + +But probably, if the question had been about a law that was inconvenient +to Darius himself, or to these advocates of the constitution as it has +always been, some way of getting round it would have been found out. If +the king had been bold enough to assert himself, he could have walked +through the cobweb. But this is one of the miseries of yielding to evil +counsels, that one step taken calls for another. 'In for a penny, in for +a pound.' Therefore let us all take heed of small compliances, and be +sure that we can never say about any doubtful course, 'Thus far will I +go, and no farther.' Darius was his servants' servant when once he had +put his name to the arrogant decree. He did not know the incidence of +his act, and we do not know that of ours; therefore let us take heed of +the quality of actions and motives, since we are wholly incapable of +estimating the sweep of their consequences. + +Darius's conduct to Daniel was like Herod's to John the Baptist and +Pilate's to Jesus. In all the cases the judges were convinced of the +victim's innocence, and would have saved him; but fear of others biassed +justice, and from selfish motives, they let fierce hatred have its way. +Such judges are murderers. From all come the old lessons, never too +threadbare to be dinned into the ears, especially of the young, that to +be weak is, in a world so full of temptation, the same as to be wicked, +and that he who has a sidelong eye to his supposed interest, will never +see the path of duty plainly. + +What a feeble excuse to his own conscience was Darius's parting word to +Daniel! 'Thy God, whom thou servest continually, He will deliver thee!' +And was flinging him to the lions the right way to treat a man who +served God continually? Or, what right had Darius to expect that any god +would interfere to stop the consequences of his act, which he thus +himself condemned? We are often tempted to think, as he did, that a +divine intervention will come in between our evil deeds and their +natural results. We should be wiser if we did not do the things that, +by our own confession, need God to avert their issues. + +But that weak parting word witnessed to the impression made by the +lifelong consistency of Daniel. He must be a good man who gets such a +testimony from those who are harming him. The busy minister of state had +done his political work so as to extort that tribute from one who had no +sympathy with his religion. Do we do ours in that fashion? How many of +our statesmen 'serve God continually' and obviously in their public +life? + +What a contrast between the night passed in the lions' den and the +palace! 'Stone walls do not a prison make, nor iron bars a cage,' and +soft beds and luxurious delights of sense bring no ease to troubled +consciences. Daniel is more at rest, though his 'soul is among lions,' +than Darius in his palace. Peter sleeps soundly, though the coming +morning is to be his last. Better to be the victim than the doer of +injustice! + +The verdict of nightly thoughts on daily acts is usually true, and if +our deeds do not bear thinking of 'on our beds,' the sooner we cancel +them by penitence and reversed conduct, the better. But weak men are +often prone to swift and shallow regrets, which do not influence their +future any more than a stone thrown into the sea makes a permanent gap. +Why should Darius have waited for morning, if his penitence had moved +him to a firm resolution to undo the evil done? He had better have +sprung from his bed, and gone with his guards to open the den in the +dark. Feeble lamentations are out of place when it is still time to act. + +The hurried rush to the den in the morning twilight, and the 'lamentable +voice,' so unlike royal impassiveness, indicate the agitation of an +impulsive nature, accustomed to let the feeling of the moment sway it +unchecked. Absolute power tends to make that type of man. The question +thrown into the den seems to imply that its interior was not seen. If +so, the half-belief in Daniel's survival is remarkable. It indicates, as +before, the impression of steadfast devoutness made by the old man's +life, and also a belief that his God was possibly a true and potent +divinity. + +Such a belief was quite natural, but it does not mean that Darius was +prepared to accept Daniel's God as his god. His religion was probably +elastic and hospitable enough to admit that other nations might have +other gods. But his thoughts about this 'living God' are a strange +medley. He is not sure whether He is stronger than the royal lions, and +he does not seem to feel that if a god delivers, his own act in +surrendering a favoured servant of such a god looks very black. A +half-belief blinds men to the opposition between their ways and God's, +and to the certain issue of their going in one direction and God in +another. If Daniel be delivered, what will become of Darius? But, like +most men, he is illogical, and that question does not seem to have +occurred to him. Surely this man may sit for a portrait of a weak, +passionate nature, in the feebleness of his resistance to evil, the half +hopes that wrong would be kept from turning out so badly as it promised, +the childish moanings over wickedness that might still have been mended, +and the incapacity to take in the grave, personal consequences of his +crime. + +II. We next note the great deliverance. The king does not see Daniel, +and waits in sickening doubt whether any sound but the brutes' snarl at +the disturber of their feast will be heard. There must have been a sigh +of relief when the calm accents were audible from the unseen depth. And +what dignity, respect, faith, and innocence are in them! Even in such +circumstances the usual form of reverential salutation to the king is +remembered. That night's work might have made a sullen rebel of Daniel, +and small blame to him if he had had no very amiable feelings to Darius; +but he had learned faithfulness in a good school, and no trace of +returning evil for evil was in his words or tones. + +The formal greeting was much more than a form, when it came up from +among the lions. It heaped coals of fire on the king's head, let us +hope, and taught him, if he needed the lesson, that Daniel's +disobedience had not been disloyalty. The more religion compels us to +disregard the authority and practices of others, the more scrupulously +attentive should we be to demonstrate that we cherish all due regard to +them, and wish them well. How simply, and as if he saw nothing in it to +wonder at, he tells the fact of his deliverance! 'My God has sent His +angel, and hath shut the lions' mouths.' He had not been able to say, as +the king did before the den was opened, 'Thy God will deliver thee'; but +he had gone down into it, knowing that He was able, and leaving himself +in God's care. So it was no surprise to him that he was safe. +Thankfulness, but not astonishment, filled his heart. So faith takes +God's gifts, however great and beyond natural possibility they may be; +for the greatest of them are less than the Love which faith knows to +move all things, and whatsoever faith receives is just like Him. + +Daniel did not say, as Darius did, that he served God continually, but +he did declare his own innocency in God's sight and unimpeachable +fidelity to the king. His reference is probably mainly to his official +conduct; but the characteristic tone of the Old Testament saint is +audible, which ventured on professions of uprightness, accordant with +an earlier stage of revelation and religious consciousness, but scarcely +congruous with the deeper and more inward sense of sin produced by the +full revelation in Christ. But if the tone of the latter part of verse +22 is somewhat strange to us, the historian's summary in verse 23 gives +the eternal truth of the matter: 'No manner of hurt was found upon him, +because he had trusted in his God.' That is the basis of the reference +in Hebrews xi. 33: 'Through faith ... stopped the mouths of lions.' + +Simple trust in God brings His angel to our help, and the deliverance, +which is ultimately to be ascribed to His hand muzzling the gaping +beasts of prey, may also be ascribed to the faith which sets His hand in +motion. The true cause is God, but the indispensable condition without +which God will not act, and with which He cannot but act, is our trust. +Therefore all the great things which it is said to do are due, not to +anything in it, but wholly to that of which it lays hold. A foot or two +of lead pipe is worth little, but if it is the channel through which +water flows into a city, it is priceless. + +Faith may or may not bring external deliverances, such as it brought to +Daniel; but the good cheer which this story brings us does not depend on +these. When Paul lay in Rome, shortly before his martyrdom, the +experience of Daniel was in his mind, as he thankfully wrote to Timothy, +'I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion.' He adds a hope which +contrasts strangely, at first sight, with the clear expectation of a +speedy and violent death, expressed a moment or two before ('I am +already being offered, and the time of my departure is come') when he +says, 'The Lord will deliver me from every evil work'; but he had +learned that it was possible to pass through the evil and yet to be +delivered from it, and that a man might be thrown to the lions and +devoured by them, and yet be truly shielded from all harm from them. So +he adds, 'And will save me unto His heavenly kingdom,' thereby teaching +us that the true deliverance is that which carries us into, or something +nearer towards, the eternal home. Thus understood, the miracle of +Daniel's deliverance is continually repeated to all who partake of +Daniel's faith, 'Thou hast made the Most High thy habitation ... thou +shalt tread upon the lion and adder.' + +The savage vengeance on the conspirators and the proclamation of Darius +must be left untouched. The one is a ghastly example of retributive +judgment, in which, as sometimes is the case even now, men fall into the +pit they have digged for others, and it shows the barbarous cruelty of +that gorgeous civilisation. The other is an example of how far a man may +go in perceiving and acknowledging the truth without its influencing his +heart. The decree enforces recognition of Daniel's God, in language +which even prophets do not surpass; but it is all lip-reverence, as +evanescent as superficial. It takes more than a fright caused by a +miracle to make a man a true servant of the living God. + +The final verse of the passage implies Daniel's restoration to rank, and +gives a beautiful, simple picture of the old man's closing days, which +had begun so long before, in such a different world as Nebuchadnezzar's +reign, and closed in Cyrus's, enriched with all that should accompany +old age--honour, obedience, troops of friends. 'When a man's ways please +the Lord, He maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him.' + + +A NEW YEARS MESSAGE + + 'But go thou thy way till the end be: for thou shalt rest, and + stand in thy lot at the end of the days.'--DANIEL xii. 13. + +Daniel had been receiving partial insight into the future by the visions +recorded in previous chapters. He sought for clearer knowledge, and was +told that the book of the future was sealed and closed, so that no +further enlightenment was possible for him. But duty was clear, whatever +might be dark; and there were some things in the future certain, +whatever might be problematic. So he is bidden back to the common paths +of life, and is enjoined to pursue his patient course with an eye on the +end to which it conducts, and to leave the unknown future to unfold +itself as it may. + +I do not need, I suppose, to point the application. Anticipations of +what may be before us have, no doubt, been more or less in the minds of +all of us in the last few days. The cast of them will have been very +different, according to age and present circumstances. But bright or +dark, hopes or dreads, they reveal nothing. Sometimes we think we see a +little way ahead, and then swirling mists hide all. + +So I think that the words of my text may help us not only to apprehend +the true task of the moment, but to discriminate between the things in +the unknown future that are hidden and those that stand clear. There are +three points, then, in this message--the journey, the pilgrim's +resting-place, and the final home. 'Go thou thy way till the end be: for +thou shalt rest, and stand in thy lot at the end of the days.' Let us, +then, look at these three points briefly. + +I. The journey. + +That is a threadbare metaphor for life. But threadbare as it is, its +significance is inexhaustible. But before I deal with it, note that very +significant 'but' with which my text begins. The Prophet has been asking +for a little more light to shine on the dark unknown that stretches +before him. And his request is negatived--'_But_ go thou thy way.' In +the connection that means, 'Do not waste your time in dreaming about, or +peering into, what you can never see, but fill the present with +strenuous service.' 'Go thou thy way.' Never mind the far-off issues; +the step before you is clear, and that is all that concerns you. Plod +along the path, and leave to-morrow to take care of itself. There is a +piece of plain practical wisdom, none the less necessary for us to lay +to heart because it is so obvious and commonplace. + +And then, if we turn to the emblem with which the continuity of daily +life and daily work is set forth here, as the path along which we +travel, how much wells up in the shape of suggestion, familiar, it may +be, but very needful and wholesome for us all to lay to heart! + +The figure implies perpetual change. The landscape glides past us, and +we travel on through it. How impossible it would be for us older people +to go back to the feelings, to the beliefs, to the tone and the temper +with which we used to look at life thirty or forty years ago! Strangely +and solemnly, like the silent motion of some gliding scene in a theatre, +bit by bit, inch by inch, change comes over all surroundings, and, +saddest of all, in some aspects, over ourselves. + + 'We all are changed, by still degrees, + All but the basis of the soul.' + +And it is foolish for us ever to forget that we live in a state of +things in which constant alteration is the law, as surely as, when the +train whizzes through the country, the same landscape never meets the +eye twice, as the traveller looks through the windows. Let us, then, +accept the fact that nothing abides with us, and so not be bewildered +nor swept away from our moorings, nor led to vain regrets and paralysing +retrospects when the changes that must come do come, sometimes slowly +and imperceptibly, sometimes with stunning suddenness, like a bolt out +of the blue. If life is truly represented under the figure of a journey, +nothing is more certain than that we sleep in a fresh hospice every +night, and leave behind us every day scenes that we shall never traverse +again. What madness, then, to be putting out eager and desperate hands +to clutch what must be left, and so to contradict the very law under +which we live! + +Then another of the well-worn commonplaces which are so believed by us +all that we never think about them, and therefore need to be urged, as I +am trying, poorly enough, to do now--another of the commonplaces that +spring from this image is that life is continuous. Geologists used to be +divided into two schools, one of whom explained everything by invoking +great convulsions, the other by appealing to the uniform action of laws. +There are no convulsions in life. To-morrow is the child of to-day, and +yesterday was the father of this day. What we are, springs from what we +have been, and settles what we shall be. The road leads somewhither, and +we follow it step by step. As the old nursery rhyme has it-- + + 'One foot up and one foot down, + That's the way to London town.' + +We make our characters by the continual repetition of small actions. Let +no man think of his life as if it were a heap of unconnected points. It +is a chain of links that are forged together inseparably. Let no man +say, 'I do this thing, and there shall be no evil consequences impressed +upon my life as results of it.' It cannot be. 'To-morrow _shall be_ as +this day, and much more abundant.' We shall to-morrow be more of +everything that we are to-day, unless by some strong effort of +repentance and change we break the fatal continuity, and make a new +beginning by God's grace. But let us lay to heart this, as a very solemn +truth which lifts up into mystical and unspeakable importance the things +that men idly call trifles, that life is one continuous whole, a march +towards a definite end. + +And therefore we ought to see to it that the direction in which our life +runs is one that conscience and God can approve. And, since the rapidity +with which a body falls increases as it falls, the more needful that we +give the right direction and impulses to the life. It will be a dreadful +thing if our downward course acquires strength as it travels, and being +slow at first, gains in celerity, and accrues to itself mass and weight, +like an avalanche started from an Alpine summit, which is but one or two +bits of snow and ice at first, and falls at last into the ravine, tons +of white destruction. The lives of many of us are like it. + +Further, the metaphor suggests that no life takes its fitting course +unless there is continuous effort. There will be crises when we have to +run with panting breath and strained muscles. There will be long +stretches of level commonplace where speed is not needed, but 'pegging +away' is, and the one duty is persistent continuousness in a course. But +whether the task of the moment is to 'run and not be weary,' or to +'walk and not faint,' crises and commonplace stretches of land alike +require continuous effort, if we are to 'run with patience the race that +is set before us.' + +Mark the emphasis of my text, 'Go thy way _till_ the end.' You, my +contemporaries, you older men! do not fancy that in the deepest aspect +any life has ever a period in it in which a man may 'take it easy.' You +may do that in regard to outward things, and it is the hope and the +reward of faithfulness in youth and middle age that, when the grey +hairs come to be upon us, we may slack off a little in regard to outward +activity. But in regard to all the deepest things of life, no man may +ever lessen his diligence until he has attained the goal. + +Some of you will remember how, in a stormy October night, many years +ago, the _Royal Charter_ went down when three hours from Liverpool, and +the passengers had met in the saloon and voted a testimonial to the +captain because he had brought them across the ocean in safety. Until +the anchor is down and we are inside the harbour, we may be shipwrecked, +if we are careless in our navigation. 'Go thou thy way _until the end_.' +And remember, you older people, that until that end is reached you have +to use all your power, and to labour as earnestly, and guard yourself as +carefully, as at any period before. + +And not only '_till_ the end,' but 'go thou thy way _to_ the end.' That +is to say, let the thought that the road has a termination be ever +present with us all. Now, there is a great deal of the so-called devout +contemplation of death which is anything but wholesome. People were +never meant to be always looking forward to that close. Men may think of +'the end' in a hundred different connections. One man may say, 'Let us +eat and drink, for to-morrow we die.' Another man may say, 'I have only +a little while to master this science, to make a name for myself, to win +wealth. Let me bend all my efforts in a fierce determination--made the +fiercer because of the thought of the brevity of life--to win the end.' +The mere contemplation of the shortness of our days may be an ally of +immorality, of selfishness, of meanness, of earthly ambitions, or it may +lay a cooling hand on fevered brows, and lessen the pulsations of hearts +that throb for earth. + +But whilst it is not wholesome to be always thinking of death, it is +more unwholesome still never to let the contemplation of that end come +into our calculations of the future, and to shape our lives in an +obstinate blindness to what is the one certain fact which rises up +through the whirling mists of the unknown future, like some black cliff +from the clouds that wreath around it. Is it not strange that the surest +thing is the thing that we forget most of all? It sometimes seems to me +as if the sky rained down opiates upon people, as if all mankind were in +a conspiracy of lunacy, because they, with one accord, ignore the most +prominent and forget the only certain fact about their future; and in +all their calculations do _not_' so number their days' as to 'apply' +their 'hearts unto wisdom.' 'Go thou thy way until the end,' and let thy +way be marked out with a constant eye towards the end. + +II. Note, again, the resting-place. + +'Go thou thy way, for thou shalt rest.' Now, I suppose, to most careful +readers that clearly is intended as a gracious, and what they call a +euphemistic way of speaking about death. 'Thou shalt rest'; well, that +is a thought that takes away a great deal of the grimness and the terror +with which men generally invest the close. It is a thought, of course, +the force of which is very different in different stages and conditions +of life. To you young people, eager, perhaps ambitious, full of the +consciousness of inward power, happy, and, in all human probability, +with the greater portion of your lives before you in which to do what +you desire, the thought of 'rest' comes with a very faint appeal. And +yet I do not suppose that there is any one of us who has not some burden +that is hard to carry, or who has not learned what weariness means. + +But to us older people, who have tasted disappointments, who have known +the pressure of grinding toil for a great many years, whose hearts have +been gnawed by harassments and anxieties of different kinds, whose lives +are apparently drawing nearer their end than the present moment is to +their beginning, the thought, 'Thou shalt rest,' comes with a very +different appeal from that which it makes to these others. + + 'There remaineth a rest for the people of God, + And I have had trouble enough for one,' + +says our great modern poet; and therein he echoes the deepest thoughts +of most of this congregation. That rest is the cessation of toil, but +the continuance of activity--the cessation of toil, and anxiety, and +harassment, and care, and so the darkness is made beautiful when we +think that God draws the curtain, as a careful mother does in her +child's chamber, that the light may not disturb the slumberer. + +But, dear friends, that final cessation of earthly work has a double +character. 'Thou shalt rest' was said to this man of God. But what of +people whom death takes away from the only sort of work that they are +fit to do? It will be no rest to long for the occupations which you +never can have any more. And if you have been living for this wretched +present, to be condemned to have nothing to do any more in it and with +it will be torture, and not repose. Ask yourselves how you would like to +be taken out of your shop, or your mill, or your study, or your +laboratory, or your counting-house, and never be allowed to go into it +again. Some of you know how wearisome a holiday is when you cannot get +to your daily work. You will get a very long holiday after you are dead. +And if the hungering after the withdrawn occupation persists, there will +be very little pleasure in rest. There is only one way by which we can +make that inevitable end a blessing, and turn death into the opening of +the gate of our resting-place; and that is by setting our heart's +desires and our spirit's trust on Jesus Christ, who is the 'Lord both of +the dead and of the living.' If we do that, even that last enemy will +come to us as Christ's representative, with Christ's own word upon his +lip, 'Come unto Me, ye that are weary and are heavy laden, and +I'--because He has given Me the power--'_I_ will give you rest.' + + 'Sleep, full of rest, from head to foot; + Lie still, dry dust, secure of change.' + + +III. That leads me to the last thought, the home. + +'Thou shalt stand in thy lot at the end of the days.' 'Stand'--that is +Daniel's way of preaching, what he has been preaching in several other +parts of his book, the doctrine of the resurrection. 'Thou shalt stand +in _thy lot_.' That is a reference to the ancient partition of the land +of Canaan amongst the tribes, where each man got his own portion, and +sat under his own vine and fig-tree. And so there emerge from these +symbolical words thoughts upon which, at this stage of my sermon, I can +barely touch. First comes the thought that, however sweet and blessed +that reposeful state may be, humanity has not attained its perfection +until once again the perfected spirit is mated with, and enclosed +within, its congenial servant, a perfect body. 'Corporeity is the end of +man.' Body, soul, and spirit partake of the redemption of God. + +But then, apart from that, on which I must not dwell, my text suggests +one or two thoughts. God is the true inheritance. Each man has his own +portion of the common possession, or, to put it into plainer words, in +that perfect land each individual has precisely so much of God as he is +capable of possessing. 'Thou shalt stand in thy lot,' and what +determines the lot is how we wend our way till that other end, the end +of life. 'The end of the days' is a period far beyond the end of the +life of Daniel. And as the course that terminated in repose has been, so +the possession of 'the portion of the inheritance of the saints in +light' shall be, for which that course has made men meet. Destiny is +character worked out. A man will be where he is fit for, and have what +he is fit for. Time is the lackey of eternity. His life here settles how +much of God a man shall be able to hold, when he stands in his lot at +the 'end of the days,' and his allotted portion, as it stretches around +him, will be but the issue and the outcome of his life here on earth. + +Therefore, dear brethren, tremendous importance attaches to each +fugitive moment. Therefore each act that we do is weighted with eternal +consequences. If we will put our trust in Him, 'in whom also we obtain +the inheritance,' and will travel on life's common way in cheerful +godliness, we may front all the uncertainties of the unknown future, +sure of two things--that we shall rest, and that we shall stand in our +lot. We shall all go where we have fitted ourselves, by God's grace, to +go; get what we have fitted ourselves to possess; and be what we have +made ourselves. To the Christian man the word comes, 'Thou shalt stand +in thy lot.' And the other word that was spoken about one sinner, will +be fulfilled in all whose lives have been unfitting them for heaven: +'Judas by transgression fell, that he might go to his own place.' He, +too, stands in his lot. Now settle which lot is yours. + + * * * * * + + +HOSEA + + +THE VALLEY OF ACHOR + + 'I will give her ... the valley of Achor for a door of + hope.'--HOSEA II. 15. + +The Prophet Hosea is remarkable for the frequent use which he makes of +events in the former history of his people. Their past seems to him a +mirror in which they may read their future. He believes that 'which is +to be hath already been,' the great principles of the divine government +living on through all the ages, and issuing in similar acts when the +circumstances are similar. So he foretells that there will yet be once +more a captivity and a bondage, that the old story of the wilderness +will be repeated once more. In that wilderness God will speak to the +heart of Israel. Its barrenness shall be changed into the fruitfulness +of vineyards, where the purpling clusters hang ripe for the thirsty +travellers. And not only will the sorrows that He sends thus become +sources of refreshment, but the gloomy gorge through which they +journey--the valley of Achor--will be a door of hope. + +One word is enough to explain the allusion. You remember that after the +capture of Jericho by Joshua, the people were baffled in their first +attempt to press up through the narrow defile that led from the plain of +Jordan to the highlands of Canaan. Their defeat was caused by the +covetousness of Achan, who for the sake of some miserable spoil which he +found in a tent, broke God's laws, and drew down shame on Israel's ranks +When the swift, terrible punishment on him had purged the camp, victory +again followed their assault, and Achan lying stiff and stark below his +cairn, they pressed on up the glen to their task of conquest. The rugged +valley, where that defeat and that sharp act of justice took place, was +named in memory thereof, the valley of _Achor_, that is, _trouble_; and +our Prophet's promise is that as then, so for all future ages, the +complicity of God's people with an evil world will work weakness and +defeat, but that, if they will be taught by their trouble and will purge +themselves of the accursed thing, then the disasters will make a way for +hope to come to them again. The figure which conveys this is very +expressive. The narrow gorge stretches before us, with its dark +overhanging cliffs that almost shut out the sky; the path is rough and +set with sharp pebbles; it is narrow, winding, steep; often it seems to +be barred by some huge rock that juts across it, and there is barely +room for the broken ledge yielding slippery footing between the beetling +crag above and the steep slope beneath that dips so quickly to the black +torrent below. All is gloomy, damp, hard; and if we look upwards the +glen becomes more savage as it rises, and armed foes hold the very +throat of the pass. But, however long, however barren, however rugged, +however black, however trackless, we may see if we will, a bright form +descending the rocky way with radiant eyes and calm lips, God's +messenger, Hope; and the rough rocks are like the doorway through which +she comes near to us in our weary struggle. For us all, dear friends, it +is true. In all our difficulties and sorrows, be they great or small; in +our business perplexities; in the losses that rob our homes of their +light; in the petty annoyances that diffuse their irritation through so +much of our days; it is within our power to turn them all into occasions +for a firmer grasp of God, and so to make them openings by which a +happier hope may flow into our souls. + +But the promise, like all God's promises, has its well-defined +conditions. Achan has to be killed and put safe out of the way first, or +no shining Hope will stand out against the black walls of the defile. +The tastes which knit us to the perishable world, the yearnings for +Babylonish garments and wedges of gold, must be coerced and subdued. +Swift, sharp, unrelenting justice must be done on the lust of the flesh, +and the lust of the eye, and the pride of life, if our trials are ever +to become _doors of hope._ There is no natural tendency in the mere fact +of sorrow and pain to make God's love more discernible, or to make our +hope any firmer. All depends on how we use the trial, or as I say--first +stone Achan, and then hope! + +So, the trouble which detaches us from earth gives us new hope. +Sometimes the effect of our sorrows and annoyances and difficulties is +to rivet us more firmly to earth. The eye has a curious power, which +they call persistence of vision, of retaining the impression made upon +it, and therefore of seeming to see the object for a definite time after +it has really been withdrawn. If you whirl a bit of blazing stick round, +you will see a circle of fire though there is only a point moving +rapidly in the circle. The eye has its memory like the soul. And the +soul has its power of persistence like the eye, and that power is +sometimes kindled into activity by the fact of loss. We often see our +departed joys, and gaze upon them all the more eagerly for their +departure. The loss of dear ones should stamp their image on our hearts, +and set it as in a golden glory. But it sometimes does more than that; +it sometimes makes us put the present with its duties impatiently away +from us. Vain regret, absorbed brooding over what is gone, a sorrow kept +gaping long after it should have been healed, like a grave-mound off +which desperate love has pulled turf and flowers, in the vain attempt to +clasp the cold hand below--in a word, the trouble that does not withdraw +us from the present will never be a door of hope, but rather a grim gate +for despair to come in at. + +The trouble which knits us to God gives us new hope. That bright form +which comes down the narrow valley is His messenger and herald--sent +before His face. All the light of hope is the reflection on our hearts +of the light of God. Her silver beams, which shed quietness over the +darkness of earth, come only from that great Sun. If our hope is to grow +out of our sorrow, it must be because our sorrow drives us to God. It is +only when we by faith stand in His grace, and live in the conscious +fellowship of peace with Him, that we rejoice in hope. If we would see +Hope drawing near to us, we must fix our eyes not on Jericho that lies +behind among its palm-trees, though it has memories of conquests, and +attractions of fertility and repose, nor on the corpse that lies below +that pile of stones, nor on the narrow way and the strong enemy in front +there; but higher up, on the blue sky that spreads peaceful above the +highest summits of the pass, and from the heavens we shall see the angel +coming to us. Sorrow forsakes its own nature, and leads in its own +opposite, when sorrow helps us to see God. It clears away the thick +trees, and lets the sunlight into the forest shades, and then in time +corn will grow. Hope is but the brightness that goes before God's face, +and if we would see it we must look at Him. + +The trouble which we bear rightly with God's help, gives new hope. If we +have made our sorrow an occasion for learning, by living experience, +somewhat more of His exquisitely varied and ever ready power to aid and +bless, then it will teach us firmer confidence in these inexhaustible +resources which we have thus once more proved, 'Tribulation worketh +patience, and patience experience, and experience hope.' That is the +order. You cannot put patience and experience into a parenthesis, and +omitting them, bring hope out of tribulation. But if, in my sorrow, I +have been able to keep quiet because I have had hold of God's hand, and +if in that unstruggling submission I have found that from His hand I +have been upheld, and had strength above mine own infused into me, then +my memory will give the threads with which Hope weaves her bright web. I +build upon two things--God's unchangeableness, and His help already +received; and upon these strong foundations I may wisely and safely +rear a palace of Hope, which shall never prove a castle in the air. The +past, when it is God's past, is the surest pledge for the future. +Because He has been with us in six troubles, therefore we may be sure +that in seven He will not forsake us. I said that the light of hope was +the brightness from the face of God. I may say again, that the light of +hope which fills our sky is like that which, on happy summer nights, +lives till morning in the calm west, and with its colourless, tranquil +beauty, tells of a yesterday of unclouded splendour, and prophesies a +to-morrow yet more abundant. The glow from a sun that is set, the +experience of past deliverances, is the truest light of hope to light +our way through the night of life. + +One of the psalms gives us, in different form, a metaphor and a promise +substantially the same as that of this text. 'Blessed are the men who, +passing through the valley of weeping, make it a well.' They gather +their tears, as it were, into the cisterns by the wayside, and draw +refreshment and strength from their very sorrows, and then, when thus we +in our wise husbandry have irrigated the soil with the gathered results +of our sorrows, the heavens bend over us, and weep their gracious tears, +and 'the rain also covereth it with blessings.' No chastisement for the +present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous; nevertheless, afterward it +yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness.' + +Then, dear friends, let us set ourselves with our loins girt to the +road. Never mind how hard it may be to climb. The slope of the valley of +trouble is ever upwards. Never mind how dark is the shadow of death +which stretches athwart it. If there were no sun there would be no +shadow; presently the sun will be right overhead, and there will be no +shadow then. Never mind how black it may look ahead, or how frowning the +rocks. From between their narrowest gorge you may see, if you will, the +guide whom God has sent you, and that Angel of Hope will light up all +the darkness, and will only fade away when she is lost in the sevenfold +brightness of that upper land, whereof our 'God Himself is Sun and +Moon'--the true Canaan, to whose everlasting mountains the steep way of +life has climbed at last through valleys of trouble, and of weeping, and +of the shadow of death. + + +'LET HIM ALONE' + + 'Ephraim is joined to idols: let him alone.'--HOSEA iv. 17. + +The tribe of Ephraim was the most important member of the kingdom of +Israel; consequently its name was not unnaturally sometimes used in a +wider application for the whole of the kingdom, of which it was the +principal part. Being the 'predominant partner,' its name was used alone +for that of the whole firm, just as in our own empire, we often say +'England,' meaning thereby the three kingdoms: England, Scotland, and +Ireland. So 'Ephraim' here does not mean the single tribe, but the whole +kingdom of Israel. + +Now Hosea himself was a Northerner, a subject of that kingdom; and its +iniquities and idolatries weighed heavily on his heart, and were ripped +up and brought to light with burning eloquence in his prophecies. The +words of my text have often, and terribly, been misunderstood. And I +wish now to try to bring out their true meaning and bearing. They have a +message for us quite as much as they had for the people who originally +received them. + +I. I must begin by explaining what, in my judgment, this text does not +mean. + +First, it is not what it is often taken to be, a threatening of God's +abandoning of the idolatrous nation. I dare say we have all heard grim +sermons from this text, which have taken that view of it, and have tried +to frighten men into believing now, by telling them that, perhaps, if +they do not, God will never move on their hearts, or deal with them any +more, but withdraw His grace, and leave them to insensibility. There is +not a word of that sort in the text. Plainly enough it is not so, for +this vehement utterance of the Prophet is not a declaration as to God, +and what He is going to do, but it is a commandment to some men, telling +them what _they_ are to do. 'Let him alone' does not mean the same thing +as '_I_ will let him alone'; and if people had only read with a little +more care, they would have been delivered from perpetrating a libel on +the divine loving-kindness and forbearance. + +It is clear enough, too, that such a meaning as that which has been +forced upon the words of my text, and is the common use of it, I +believe, in many evangelical circles, cannot be its real meaning, +because the very fact that Hosea was prophesying to call Ephraim from +his sin showed that God had _not_ let Ephraim alone, but was wooing him +by His prophet, and seeking to win him back by the words of his mouth. +God was doing all that He could do, rising early and sending His +messenger and calling to Ephraim: 'Turn ye! Turn ye! why will ye die?' +For Hosea, in the very act of pleading with Israel on God's behalf, to +have declared that God had abandoned it, and ceased to plead, would have +been a palpable absurdity and contradiction. + +But beyond considerations of the context, other reasons conclusively +negative such an interpretation of this text. I, for my part, do not +believe that there are any bounds or end to God's forbearing pleading +with men in this life. I take, as true, the great words of the old +Psalm, in their simplest sense--'His mercy endureth for ever'; and I +fall back upon the other words which a penitent had learned to be true +by reflecting on the greatness of his own sin: 'With Him are multitudes +of redemptions'; and I turn from psalmists and prophets to the Master +who showed us God's heart, and knew what He spake when He laid it down +as the law and the measure of human forgiveness which was moulded upon +the pattern of the divine, that it should be 'seventy times seven'--the +multiplication of both the perfect numbers into themselves--than which +there can be no grander expression for absolute innumerableness and +unfailing continuance. + +No, no! men may say to God, 'Speak no more to us'; or they may get so +far away from Him, as that they only hear God's pleading voice, dim and +faint, like a voice in a dream. But surely the history of His +progressive revelation shows us that, rather than such abandonment of +the worst, the law of the divine dealing is that the deafer the man, the +more piercing the voice beseeching and warning. The attraction of +gravitation decreases as distance increases, but the further away we are +from Him, the stronger is the attraction which issues from Him, and +would draw us to Himself. + +Clear away, then, altogether out of your minds any notion that there is +here declared what, in my judgment, is not declared anywhere in the +Bible, and never occurs in the divine dealings with men. Be sure that He +never ceases to seek to draw the most obstinate, idolatrous, and +rebellious heart to Himself. That divine charity 'suffereth long, and is +kind' ... 'hopeth all things, and beareth all things.' + +Again, let me point out that the words of my text do not enjoin the +cessation of the efforts of Christian people for the recovery of the +most deeply sunken in sin. 'Let him alone' is a commandment, and it is a +commandment to God's Church, but it is not a commandment to despair of +any that they may be brought into the fold, or to give up efforts to +that end. If our Father in heaven never ceases to bear in His heart His +prodigal children, it does not become those prodigals, who have come +back, to think that any of their brethren are too far away to be drawn +by their loving proclamation of the Father's heart of love. + +_There_ is the glory of our Gospel, that, taking far sadder, graver +views of what sin and alienation from God are, than the world's +philosophers and philanthropists do, it surpasses them just as much as +in the superb confidence with which it sets itself to the cure of the +disease as in the unflinching clearness with which it diagnoses the +disease as fatal, if it be not dealt with by the all-healing Gospel. All +other methods for the restoration and elevation of mankind are compelled +to recognise that there is an obstinate residuum that will not and +cannot be reached by their efforts. It used to be said that some old +cannon-balls, that had been brought from some of the battlefields of the +Peninsula, resisted all attempts to melt them down; so there are +'cannon-balls,' as it were, amongst the obstinate evil-doers, and the +degraded and 'dangerous' classes, which mark the despair of our modern +reformers and civilisers and elevators, for no fire in their furnaces +can melt down their hardness. No; but there is the furnace of the Lord +in Jerusalem, and the fire of God in Zion, which can melt them down, and +has done so a hundred and a thousand times, and is as able to do it +again to-day as it ever was. Despair of no human soul. That boundless +confidence in the power of the Gospel is the duty of the Christian +Church. 'The damsel is not dead, but sleepeth!' They laughed Him to +scorn, knowing that she was dead. But He put out His hand, and said unto +her '_Talitha cumi_, I say unto thee, Arise!' When we stand on one side +of the bed with your social reformers on the other, and say 'The damsel +is not dead, but sleepeth,' they laugh us to scorn, and bid us try our +Gospel upon these people in our slums, or on those heathens in the New +Hebrides. We have the right to answer, 'We have tried it, and man after +man, and woman after woman have risen from the sick-bed, like Peter's +wife's mother; and the fever has left them, and they have ministered +unto Him. There are no people in the world about whom Christians need +despair, none that Christ's Gospel cannot redeem. Whatever my text +means, it does not mean cowardly and unbelieving doubt as to the power +of the Gospel on the most degraded and sinful. + +II. So, the text enjoins on the Christian Church separation from an +idolatrous world. + +'Ephraim is joined to idols.' Do you 'let him alone.' Now, there has +been much harm done by misreading the force of the injunction of +separation from the world. There is a great deal of union and +association with the most godless people in our circle, which is +inevitable. Family bonds, business connections, civic obligations--all +these require that the Church shall not withdraw from the world. There +is the wide common ground of Politics and Art and Literature, and a +hundred other interests, on which it does Christian men no good, and the +world much harm, if the former withdraw to themselves, and on the plea +of superior sanctity, leave these great departments of interest and +influence to be occupied only by non-Christians. + +Then, besides these thoughts of necessary union and association upon +common ground, there is the other consideration that absolute separation +would defeat the very purpose for which Christian people are here. 'Ye +are the salt of the earth,' said Christ. Yes, and if you keep the meat +on one plate and the salt on another, what good will the salt be? It has +to be rubbed in particle by particle, and brought into contact over all +the surface, and down into the depths of the meat that it is to preserve +from putrefaction. And no Christian churches or individuals do their +duty, and fulfil their function on earth, unless they are thus closely +associated and intermingled with the world that they should be trying to +leaven and save. A cloistered solitude, or a proud standing apart from +the ordinary movements of the community, or a neglect, on the plea of +our higher duties, of the duties of the citizen of a free country--these +are not the ways to fulfil the exhortation of my text. 'Let the dead +bury their dead,' said Christ; but He did not mean that His Church was +to stand apart from the world, and let it go its own way. It is a bad +thing for both when little Christian côteries gather themselves +together, and talk about their own goodness and religion, and leave the +world to perish. Clotted blood is death; circulated, it is life. + +But, whilst all this is perfectly true--and there are associations that +we must not break if we are to do our work as Christian people--it is +also true that it is possible, in the closest unions with men who do not +share our faith, to do the same thing that they are doing, with a +difference which separates us from them, even whilst we are united with +them. They tell us that, however dense any material substance may seem +to be, there is always a film of air between contiguous particles. And +there should be a film between us and our Christless friends and +companions and partners, not perceptible perhaps to a superficial +observer, but most real. If we do our common work as a religious duty, +and in the exercise of all our daily occupations 'set the Lord always +before' us, however closely we may be associated with people who do not +so live, they will know the difference; never fear! And you will know +the difference, and will not be identified with them, but separate in a +wholesome fashion from them. + +And, dear brethren, if I may go a step further, I would venture to say +that it seems to me that our Christian communities want few things more +in this day than the reiteration of the old saying, 'Have no fellowship +with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them.' There +is so much in this time to break down the separation between him that +believeth in Christ and him that doth not; narrowness has come to be +thought such an enormous wickedness, and liberality is so lauded by all +sorts of superficial people, that Christian men need to be summoned back +to their standard. 'Being let go, they went to their own company'--there +is a natural affinity which should, and will, if our faith is vital, +draw us to those who, on the gravest and solemnest things, have the same +thoughts, the same hopes, the same faith. I do not urge you, God knows, +to be bigoted and narrow, and shut yourselves up in your faith, and +leave the world to go to the devil; but I do not wish, either, that +Christian people should fling themselves into the arms and nestle in the +hearts of persons who do not share with them 'like precious faith.' + +I am sure that there are many Christian people, old and young, who are +suffering in their religious life because they are neglecting this +commandment of my text. 'Let him alone.' There can be no deep affection, +and, most of all--if I may venture on such ground--no wedded love worth +the name, where there is not unanimity in regard to the deepest matters. +It does not say much for the religion of a professing Christian who +finds his heart's friends and his chosen companions in people that have +no sympathy with the religion which he professes. It does not say much +for you if it is so with you, for the Christian, whom you like least, is +nearer you in the depths of your true self than is the non-Christian +whom you love most. + +Be sure, too, that if we mix ourselves up with Ephraim, we shall find +ourselves grovelling beside him before his idols ere long. Godlessness +is infectious. Many a young woman, a professing Christian, has married a +godless man in the fond hope that she might win him. It is a great deal +more frequently the case that he perverts her than that she converts +him. Do not let us knit ourselves in these close bonds with the +worshippers of idols, lest we 'learn their ways, and get a snare into +our souls.' 'Be not unequally yoked with unbelievers. What fellowship +hath light with darkness? Wherefore, come out from among them and be ye +separate, saith the Lord. Touch not the unclean thing, and I will be a +Father unto you, and ye shall be My sons and My daughters.' + + +'PHYSICIANS OF NO VALUE' + + 'When Ephralm saw his sickness, and Judah saw his wound, then went + Ephraim to Assyria, and sent to king Jareb: but he is not able to + heal you, neither shall he cure you of your wound.'--HOSEA v. 13 + (R.V.). + +The long tragedy which ended in the destruction of the Northern Kingdom +by Assyrian invasion was already beginning to develop in Hosea's time. +The mistaken politics of the kings of Israel led them to seek an ally +where they should have dreaded an enemy. As Hosea puts it in figurative +fashion, Ephraim's discovery of his 'sickness' sent him in the vain +quest for help to the apparent source of the 'sickness,' that is to +Assyria, whose king in the text is described by a name which is not his +real name, but is a significant epithet, as the margin puts it, 'a king +that should contend'; and who, of course, was not able to heal nor to +cure the wounds which he had inflicted. Ephraim's suicidal folly is but +one illustration of a universal madness which drives men to seek for the +healing of their misery, and the alleviation of their discomfort, in +the repetition of the very acts which brought these about. The attempt +to get relief in such a fashion, of course, fails; for as the verse +before our text emphatically proclaims, it is God who has been 'as a +moth unto Ephraim,' gnawing away his strength: and it is only He who can +heal, since in reality it is He, and not the quarrelsome king of +Assyria, who has inflicted the sickness. + +Thus understood, the text carries wide lessons, and may serve us as a +starting-point for considering man's discovery of his 'sickness,' man's +mad way of seeking healing, God's way of giving it. + +I. First, then, man's discovery of his sickness. + +The greater part of most lives is spent in mechanical, unreflecting +repetition of daily duties and pleasures. We are all apt to live on the +surface, and it requires an effort, which we are too indolent to make +except under the impulse of some arresting motive, to descend into the +depths of our own souls, and there to face the solemn facts of our own +personality. The last place with which most of us are familiar, is our +innermost self. Men are dimly conscious that things within are not well +with them; but it is only one here and there that says so distinctly to +himself, and takes the further step of thoroughly investigating the +cause. But that superficial life is at the mercy of a thousand +accidents, each one of which may break through the thin film, and lay +bare the black depths. + +But there is another aspect of this discovery of sickness, far graver +than the mere consciousness of unrest. Ephraim does not see his sickness +unless he sees his sin. The greater part of every life is spent without +that deep, all-pervading sense of discord between itself and God. Small +and recurrent faults may evoke recurring remonstrances of conscience, +but that is a very different thing from the deep tones and the clear +voice of condemnation in respect to one's whole life and character which +sounds in a heart that has learned how 'deceitful and desperately +wicked' it is. Such a conviction may flash upon a man at any moment, and +from a hundred causes. A sorrow, a sunset-sky, a grave, a sermon, may +produce it. + +But even when we have come to recognise clearly our unrest, we have gone +but part of the way, we have become conscious of a symptom, not of the +disease. Why is it that man is alone among the creatures in that +discontent with externals, and that dissatisfaction with himself? 'Foxes +have holes, and the birds of the air have roosting-places': why is it +that amongst all God's happy creatures, and God's shining stars, men +stand 'strangers in a strange land,' and are cursed with a restlessness +which has not 'where to lay its head'? The consciousness of unrest is +but the agitation of the limbs which indicates disease. That disease is +the twitching paralysis of sin. Like 'the pestilence that walketh in +darkness,' it has a fell power of concealing itself, and the man whose +sins are the greatest is always the least conscious of them. He dwells +in a region where the malaria is so all-pervading that the inhabitants +do not know what the sweetness of an unpoisoned atmosphere is. If there +is a 'worst man' in the world, we may be very sure that no conscience is +less troubled than his is. + +So the question may well be urged on those so terribly numerous amongst +us, whose very unconsciousness of their true condition is the most fatal +symptom of their fatal disease. What is the worth of a peace which is +only secured by ignoring realities, and which can be shattered into +fragments by anything that compels a man to see himself as he is? In +such a fool's paradise thousands of us live. 'Use and wont,' the +continual occupation with the trifles of our daily lives, the fleeting +satisfactions of our animal nature, the shallow wisdom which bids us +'let sleeping dogs lie,' all conspire to mask, to many consciences, +their unrest and their sin. We abstain from lifting the curtain behind +which the serpent lies coiled in our hearts, because we dread to see +its loathly length, and to rouse it to lift its malignant head, and to +strike with its forked tongue. But sooner or later--may it not be too +late--we shall be set face to face with the dark recess, and discover +the foul reptile that has all the while been coiled there. + +II. Man's mad way of seeking healing. + +Can there be a more absurd course of action than that recorded in our +text? 'When Ephraim saw his sickness, then went Ephraim to Assyria.' The +Northern Kingdom sought for the healing of their national calamities +from the very cause of their national calamities, and in repetition of +their national sin. A hopeful policy, and one which speedily ended in +the only possible result! But that insanity was but a sample of the +infatuation which besets us all. When we are conscious of our unrest, +are we not all tempted to seek to conceal it with what has made it? Take +examples from the grosser forms of animal indulgence. The drunkard's +vulgar proverb recommending 'a hair of the dog that bit you,' is but a +coarse expression of a common fault. He is wretched until 'another +glass' steadies, for a moment, his trembling hand, and gives a brief +stimulus to his nerves. They say that the Styrian peasants, who +habitually eat large quantities of arsenic, show symptoms of poison if +they leave it off suddenly. These are but samples, in the physical +region, of a tendency which runs through all lire, and leads men to +drown thought by plunging into the thick of the worldly absorptions that +really cause their unrest. The least persistent of men is strangely +obstinate in his adherence to old ways, in spite of all experience of +their crooked slipperiness. We wonder at the peasants who have their +cottages and vineyards on the slopes of Vesuvius, and who build them, +and plant them, over and over again after each destructive eruption. The +tragedy of Israel is repeated in many of our lives; and the summing up +of the abortive efforts of one of its kings to recover power by +following the gods that had betrayed him, might be the epitaph of the +infatuated men who see their sickness and seek to heal it by renewed +devotion to the idols who occasioned it: 'They were the ruin of him and +of all Israel.' The experience of the woman who had 'spent all her +living on physicians, and was nothing the better, but rather the worse,' +sums up the sad story of many a life. + +But again the sense of sin sometimes seeks to conceal itself by +repetition of sin. When the dormant snake begins to stir, it is lulled +to sleep again by absorption of occupations, or by an obstinate refusal +to look inwards, and often by plunging once more into the sin which has +brought about the sickness. To seek thus for ease from the stings of +conscience, is like trying to silence a buzzing in the head by standing +beside Niagara thundering in our ears. They used to beat the drums when +a martyr died, in order to drown his testimony; and so foolish men seek +to silence the voice of conscience by letting passions shout their +loudest. It needs no words to demonstrate the incurable folly of such +conduct; but alas, it takes many words far stronger than mine to press +home the folly upon men. The condition of such a half-awakened +conscience is very critical if it is soothed by any means by which it is +weakened and its possessor worsened. In the sickness of the soul +homoeopathic treatment is a delusion. Ephraim may go to Assyria, but +there is no healing of him there. + +III. God's way of giving true healing. + +Ephraim thought that, because the wounds were inflicted by Assyria, it +was the source to which to apply for bandages and balm. If it had +realised that Assyria was but the battle-axe wherewith the hand of God +struck it, it would have learned that from God alone could come healing +and health. The unrest which betrays the presence in our souls of a +deep-seated sin, is a divine messenger. We terribly misinterpret the +true source of all that disturbs us when we attribute it only to the +occasions which bring it about; for the one purpose of all our +restlessness is to drive us nearer to God, and to wrench us away from +our Assyria. The true issue of Ephraim's sickness would have been the +penitent cry, 'Come, let us return to the Lord our God, for He hath +smitten, and He will bind us up.' It is in the consciousness of loving +nearness to Him that all our unrest is soothed, and the heaving ocean in +our hearts becomes as a summer's sea and 'birds of peace sit brooding on +the charmed waves.' It is in that same consciousness that conscience +ceases to condemn, and loses its sting. The prophet from whom our text +is taken ends his wonderful ministry, that had been full of fiery +denunciations and dark prophecies, with words that are only surpassed in +their tenderness and the outpouring of the heart of God, by the fuller +revelation in Jesus Christ: 'O Israel, return unto the Lord thy God. +Take with you words, and return unto the Lord, and say unto Him: Assyria +shall not save us, for in Thee the fatherless findeth mercy.' The divine +answer which he was commissioned to bring to the penitent Israel--'I +will heal their backslidings, I will love them freely; if Mine anger is +turned away from Me'--is, in all its wealth of forgiving love but an +imperfect prophecy of the great Physician, from the hem of whose garment +flowed out power to one who 'had spent all her living on physicians and +could not be healed of any,' and who confirmed to her the power which +she had thought to steal from Him unawares by the gracious words which +bound her to Him for ever--'Daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole; go +in peace.' + + +'FRUIT WHICH IS DEATH' + + 'Israel is an empty vine, he bringeth forth fruit unto himself: + according to the multitude of his fruit he hath increased the + altars; according to the goodness of his land they have made goodly + images. 2. Their heart is divided; now shall they be found faulty: + He shall break down their altars, He shall spoil their images. 3. + For now they shall say, We have no king, because we feared not the + Lord; what then should a king do to us? 4. They have spoken words, + swearing falsely in making a covenant: thus judgment springeth up + as hemlock in the furrows of the field. 5. The inhabitants of + Samaria shall fear because of the calves of Beth-aven: for the + people thereof shall mourn over it, and the priests thereof that + rejoiced on it, for the glory thereof, because it is departed from + it. 6. It shall be also carried unto Assyria for a present to king + Jareb: Ephraim shall receive shame, and Israel shall be ashamed of + his own counsel. 7. As for Samaria, her king is cut off as the foam + upon the water. 8. The high places also of Aven, the sin of Israel, + shall be destroyed: the thorn and the thistle shall come up on + their altars; and they shall say to the mountains, Cover us; and to + the hills, Fall on us. 9. O Israel, thou hast sinned from the days + of Gibeah: there they stood: the battle in Gibeah against the + children of iniquity did not overtake them. 10. It is in my desire + that I should chastise them; and the people shall be gathered + against them, when they shall bind themselves in their two furrows. + 11. And Ephraim is as an heifer that is taught, and loveth to tread + out the corn; but I passed over upon her fair neck: I will make + Ephraim to ride; Judah shall plow, and Jacob shall break his clods. + 12. Sow to yourselves in righteousness, reap in mercy; break up + your fallow ground: for it is time to seek the Lord, till He come + and rain righteousness upon you. 13. Ye have plowed wickedness, ye + have reaped iniquity; ye have eaten the fruit of lies: because thou + didst trust in thy way, in the multitude of thy mighty men. 14. + Therefore shall a tumult arise among thy people, and all thy + fortresses shall be spoiled, as Shalman spoiled Beth-arbel in the + day of battle: the mother was dashed in pieces upon her children. + 15. So shall Beth-el do unto you because of your great wickedness: + in a morning shall the king of Israel utterly be cut off.'--HOSEA + x. 1-15. + +The prophecy of this chapter has two themes--Israel's sin, and its +punishment. These recur again and again. Reiteration, not progress of +thought, characterises Hosea's fiery stream of inspired eloquence. +Conviction of sin and prediction of judgment are his message. We trace a +fourfold repetition of it here, and further note that in each case there +is a double reference to Israel's sin as consisting in the rebellion +which set up a king and in the schism which established the calf +worship; while there is also a double phase of the punishment +corresponding to these, in the annihilation of the kingdom and the +destruction of the idols. + +The first section may be taken to be verses 1-3. The image of a +luxuriant vine laden with fruit is as old as Jacob's blessing of the +tribes (Gen. xlix. 22), where it is applied to Joseph, whose descendants +were the strength of the Northern Kingdom. Hosea has already used it, +and here it is employed to set forth picturesquely the material +prosperity of Israel. Probably the period referred to is the successful +reign of Jeroboam II. But prosperity increased sin. The more fruit or +material wealth, the more altars; the better the harvests, the more the +obelisks or pillars to gods, falsely supposed to be the authors of the +blessings. The words are as condensed as a proverb, and are as true +to-day as ever. Israel had attributed its prosperity to Baal (Hosea ii. +8). The misuse of worldly wealth and the tendency of success to draw us +away from God, and to blind to the true source of all blessing, are as +rife now as then. + +The root of the evil was, as always, a heart divided--that is, between +God and Baal--or, perhaps, 'smooth'; that is, dissimulating and +insincere. In reality, Baal alone possesses the heart which its owner +would share between him and Jehovah. 'All in all, or not at all,' is the +law. Whether Baals or calves were set beside God, He was equally +deposed. + +Then, with a swift turn, Hosea proclaims the impending judgment, setting +himself and the people as if already in the future. He hears the first +peal of the storm, and echoes it in that abrupt 'now.' The first burst +of the judgment shatters dreams of innocence, and the cowering wretches +see their sin by the lurid light. That discovery awaits every man whose +heart has been 'divided.' To the gazers and to himself masks drop, and +the true character stands out with appalling clearness. What will that +light show us to be? An unnamed hand overthrows altars and pillars. No +need to say whose it is. One half of Israel's sin is crushed at a blow, +and the destruction of the other follows immediately. + +They themselves abjure their allegiance; for they have found out that +their king is a king Log, and can do them no good. A king, set up in +opposition to God's will, cannot save. The ruin of their projects +teaches godless men at last that they have been fools to take their own +way; for all defences, recourses, and protectors, chosen in defiance of +God, prove powerless when the strain comes. The annihilation of one half +of their sin sickens them of the other. The calves and the monarchy +stood or fell together. It is a dismal thing to have to bear the brunt +of chastisement for what we see to have been a blunder as well as a +crime. But such is the fate of those who seek other gods and another +king. + +In verse 4 Hosea recurs to Israel's crime, and appends a description of +the chastisement, substantially the same as before, but more detailed, +which continues till verse 8. The sin now is contemplated in its effects +on human relations. Before, it was regarded in relation to God. But men +who are wrong with Him cannot be right with one another. Morality is +rooted in religion, and if we lie to God, we shall not be true to our +brother. Hence, passing over all other sins for the present, Hosea fixes +upon one, the prevalence of which strikes at the very foundation of +society. What can be done with a community in which lying has become a +national characteristic, and that even in formal agreements? +Honey-combed with falsehood, it is only fit for burning. + +Sin is bound by an iron link to penalty. Therefore, says Hosea, God's +judgment springs up, like a bitter plant (the precise name of which is +unknown) in the furrows, where the farmer did not know that its seeds +lay. They little dreamed what they were sowing when they scattered +abroad their lies, but this is the fruit of these. 'Whatsoever a man +soweth, that shall he also reap'; and whatever other crop we may hope to +gather from our sins, we shall gather that bitter one which we did not +expect. The inevitable connection of sin and judgment, the bitterness of +its results, the unexpectedness of them, are all here, and to be laid to +heart by us. + +Then verses 5 and 6 dilate with keen irony on the fate of the first half +of Israel's sin--the calf. It was thought a god, but its worshippers +shall be in a fright for it. 'Calves,' says Hosea, though there was but +one at Beth-el; and he uses the feminine, as some think, depreciatingly. +'Beth-aven' or the 'house of vanity,' he says, instead of Beth-el, 'the +house of God.' A fine god whose worshippers had to be alarmed for its +safety! 'Its people'--what a contrast to the name they might have borne, +'My people'! God disowns them, and says, 'They belong to it, not to Me.' +The idolatrous priests of the calf worship will tremble when that image, +which had been shamefully their 'glory,' is carried off to Assyria, and +given as a present to 'king Jareb'--a name for the king of Assyria +meaning the fighting or quarrelsome king. The captivity of the god is +the shame of the worshippers. To be 'ashamed of their own counsel' is +the certain fate of all who depart from God; for, sooner or later, +experience will demonstrate to the blindest that their refuges of lies +can neither save themselves nor those who trust in them. But shame is +one thing and repentance another; and many a man will say, 'I have been +a great fool, and my clever policy has all crumbled to pieces,' who will +only therefore change his idols, and not return to God. + +Verse 7 recurs to the political punishment of the civil rebellion. The +image for the disappearance of the king is striking, whether we render +'foam' or 'chip,' but the former has special beauty. In the one case we +see the unsubstantial bubble, + + 'A moment white, then melts for ever'; + +and in the other, the helpless twig swept down by the stream. Either +brings vividly before us the powerlessness of Israel against the roaring +torrent of Assyrian power; and the figure may be widened out to teach +what is sure to become of all man-made and self-chosen refuges when the +floods of God's judgments sweep over the world. The captivity of the +idol and the burst bubble of the monarchy bid us all make Jehovah our +God and King. The vacant shrine and empty throne are followed by utter +and long-continued desolation. Thorns and thistles have time to grow on +the altars, and no hand cuts them down. What of the men thus stripped of +all in which they had trusted? Desperate, they implore the mountains to +fall on them, as preferring to die, and the hills to cover them, as +willing to be crushed, if only they may be hidden. That awful cry is +heard again in our Lord's predictions of judgment, and in the +Apocalypse. Therefore this prophecy foreshadows, in the destruction of +Israel's confidences and in their shame and despair, a more dreadful +coming day, in which we shall be concerned. + +Verses 9 to 11 again give the sin and its punishment. 'The days of +Gibeah' recall the hideous story of lust and crime which was the +low-water mark of the lawless days of old. That crime had been avenged +by merciless war. But its taint had lived on, and the Israel of Hosea's +day 'stood,' obstinately persistent, just where the Benjamites had been +then, and set themselves in dogged resistance, as these had done, 'that +the battle against the children of unrighteousness might not touch +them.' + +Stiff-necked setting oneself against God's merciful fighting with evil +lasts for a little while, but verse 10 tells how soon and easily it is +annihilated. God's 'desire' brushes away all defences, and the obstinate +sinners are like children, who are whipped when their father wills, let +them struggle as they may. The instruments of chastisement are foreign +armies, and the chastisement itself is described with a striking figure +as 'binding them to their two transgressions'; that is, the double sin +which is the keynote of the chapter. Punishment is yoking men to their +sins, and making them drag the burden like bullocks in harness. What +sort of load are we getting together for ourselves? When we have to drag +the consequences of our doings behind us, how shall we feel? + +The figure sets the Prophet's imagination going, and he turns it another +way, comparing Israel to a heifer, broken in, and liking the easy work +of threshing, in which the unmuzzled ox could eat its fill, but now set +to harder tasks in the fields. Judah, too, is to share in the +punishment. If men will not serve God in and because of prosperous ease, +He will try what toil and privation will do. Abused blessings are +withdrawn, and the abundance of the threshing-floor is changed for +dragging a heavy plough or harrow. + +Verse 12 still deals with the figure suggested in the close of the +previous verse. It is the only break in the clouds in this chapter. It +is a call to amendment, accompanied by a promise of acceptance. If we +'sow for righteousness'--that is, if our efforts are directed to +embodying it in our lives--we 'shall reap according to mercy.' That is +true universally, whether it is taken to mean God's mercy to us, or ours +to others. The aim after righteousness ever secures the divine favour, +and usually ensures the measure which we mete being measured to us +again. + +But sowing is not all; thorns must be grubbed up. We must not only turn +over a new leaf, but tear out the old one. The old man must be slain if +the new man is to live. The call to amend finds its warrant in the +assurance that there is still time to seek the Lord, and that, for all +His threatenings, He is ready to rain blessings upon the seekers. The +unwearying patience of God, the possibility of the worst sinner's +repentance, the conditional nature of the threatenings, the possibility +of breaking the bond between sin and sorrow, the yet deeper thought that +righteousness must come from above, are all condensed in this brief +gospel before the Gospel. + +But that bright gleam passes, and the old theme recurs. Once more we +have sin and punishment exhibited in their organic connection in verses +13 and 14. Israel's past had been just the opposite of sowing +righteousness and reaping mercy. Wickedness ploughed in, iniquity will +surely be its fruit. Sin begets sin, and is its own punishment. What +fruit have we of doing wrong? 'Lies'; that is, unfulfilled expectations +of unrealised satisfaction. No man gets the good that he aimed at in +sinning, or he gets something more that spoils it. At last the +deceitfulness of sin will be found out, but we may be sure of it now. +The root of all Israel's sin was the root of ours; namely, trust in +self, and consequent neglect of God. The first half of verse 13 is an +exhaustive analysis of the experience of every sinful life; the second, +a penetrating disclosure of the foundation of it. + +Then the whole closes with the repeated threatening, dual as before, and +illustrated by the forgotten horrors of some dreadful siege, one of the +'unhappy, far-off things,' fallen silent now. A significant variation +occurs in the final threatening, in which Beth-el is set forth as the +cause, rather than as the object, of the destruction. 'They were the +ruin of him and of all Israel.' Our vices are made the whips to scourge +us. Our idols bring us no help, but are the causes of our misery. + +The Prophet ends with the same double reference which prevails +throughout, when he once more declares the annihilation of the monarchy, +which, rather than a particular person, is meant by 'the king.' 'In the +morning' is enigmatical. It may mean 'prematurely,' or 'suddenly,' or +'in a time of apparent prosperity,' or, more probably, the Prophet +stands in vision in that future day of the Lord, and points to 'the +king' as the first victim. The force of the prophecy does not depend on +the meaning of this detail. The teaching of the whole is the certainty +that suffering dogs sin, but yet does so by no iron, impersonal law, but +according to the will of God, who will rain righteousness even on the +sinner, being penitent, and will endow with righteousness from above +every lowly soul that seeks for it. + + +DESTRUCTION AND HELP + + 'O Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself; but in Me is thine + help.'--HOSEA xiii. 9 (A.V.). + + 'It is thy destruction, O Israel, that thou art against Me, against + thy Help' (R.V.). + +These words are obscure by reason of their brevity. Literally they might +be rendered, 'Thy destruction for, in, or against Me; in, or against thy +Help.' Obviously, some words must be supplied to bring out any sense. +Our Authorised Version has chosen the supplement 'is,' which fails to +observe the second occurrence with 'thy Help' of the preposition, and is +somewhat lax in rendering the 'for' of the second clause by the neutral +'but.' It is probably better to read, as the Revised Version, with most +modern interpreters, 'Thou art against Me, against thy Help,' and to +find in the second clause the explanation, or analysis, of the +destruction announced in the first. So we have here the wail of the +parental love of God over the ruin which Israel has brought on itself, +and that parental love is setting forth Israel's true condition, in the +hope that they may discern it. Thus, even the rebuke holds enclosed a +promise and a hope. Since God is their help, to depart from Him has been +ruin, and the return to Him will be life. Hosea, or rather the Spirit +that spake through Hosea, blended wonderful tenderness with unflinching +decision in rebuke, and unwavering certainty in foretelling evil with +unfaltering hope in the promise of possible blessing. His words are set +in the same key as the still more wonderfully tender ones that Jesus +uttered as He looked across the valley from Olivet to the gleaming city +on the other side, and wailed, 'O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, how often would +I have gathered thy children together, as a hen gathereth her chickens +under her wings, and ye would not! Therefore your house is left unto you +desolate.' + +We may note here + +I. The loving discovery of ruin. + +It is strange that men should need to be told, and that with all +emphasis, the evil case in which they are; and stranger still that they +should resent the discovery and reject it. This pathetic pleading is the +voice of a divine Father trying to convince His son of misery and +danger; and the obscurity of the text is as if that voice was choked +with sobs, and could only speak in broken syllables the tragical word in +which all the evil of Israel's sin is gathered up--'his destruction,' or +'corruption.' It gathers up in one terrible picture the essential nature +of sin and the death of the soul, which is its wages--inward misery and +unrest, outward sorrows, the decay of mental and moral powers, the +spreading taint which eats its way through the whole personality of a +man who has sinned, and pauses not till it has reduced his corpse to +putrefaction. All these, and a hundred more effects of sin, are crowded +together in that one word 'thy destruction.' + +It is strange that it needs God's voice, and that in its most piercing +tones, to convince men of ruin brought by sin. A mortifying limb is +painless. There is no consciousness in the drugged sleep which becomes +heavier and heavier till it ends in death. There is no surer sign of the +reality and extent of the corruption brought about by sin, than man's +ignorance of it. There is no more tragical proof that a man is +'wretched, and miserable, and blind, and naked' than his vehement +affirmation, 'I am rich, and have gotten riches, and have need of +nothing,' and his self-complacent rejection of the counsel to 'buy +refined gold, and white garments, and eye-salve to anoint his eyes.' So +obstinately unconscious are we of our ruin that even God's voice, +whether uttered in definite words, or speaking in sharp sorrows and +punitive acts, but too often fails to pierce the thick layer of self +complacency in which we wrap ourselves, and to pierce the heart with the +arrow of conviction. Indeed we may say that the whole process of divine +education of a soul, conducted through many channels of providences, has +for its end mainly this--to convince His wandering children that to be +against Him, against their Help, is their destruction. + +But, perhaps, the strangest of all is the attitude which we often take +up of resenting the love that would reveal our ruin. It is stupid of the +ox to kick against its driver's goad; but that is wise in comparison +with the action of the man who is angry with God because He warns that +departure from Him is ruin. Many of us treat Christianity as if it had +made the mischief which it reveals, and would fain mend; and we all need +to be reminded that it is cruel kindness to conceal unpleasant truths, +and that the Gospel is no more to be blamed for the destruction which it +declares than is the signalman with his red flag responsible for the +broken-down viaduct to which the train is rushing that he tries to save. + +II. The loving appeal to conscience as to the cause. + +Israel's destruction arose from the fact of Israel having turned against +God, its Help. Sin is suicide. God is our Help, and only Help. His will +is love and blessing. His only relation to our sin is to hate it, and +fight against it. In conflict of love with lovelessness one of His +chiefest weapons is to drive home to our consciousness the conviction of +our sin. When He is driven to punish, it is our wrongdoing that forces +Him to what Isaiah calls, 'His strange act.' The Heavenly Father is +impelled by His love not to spare the rod, lest the sparing spoil the +child. An earthly father suffers more punishment than he inflicts upon +the little rebel whom, unwillingly and with tears, he may chastise; and +God's love is more tender, as it is more wise, than that of the fathers +of our flesh who corrected us. 'He doth not willingly afflict nor is +soon angry'; and of all the mercies which He bestows upon us, none is +more laden with His love than the discipline by which He would make us +know, through our painful experience, that it is 'an evil and bitter +thing to forsake the Lord, and that His fear is not in us.' In its +essence and depth, separation from God is death to the creature that +wrenches itself away from the source of life; and all the weariness and +pains of a godless life are, if we take them as He meant them, the very +angels of His presence. + +Just as the sole reason for our sorrows lies in our wrongdoing, the sole +cause of our wrongdoing is in ourselves. It is because 'Israel is +against Me' that Israel's destruction rushes down upon it. It could have +defended its hankering after Assyria and idols, by wise talk about +political exigencies and the wisdom of trying to turn possibly powerful +enemies into powerful allies, and the folly of a little nation, on a +narrow strip of territory between the desert and the sea, fancying +itself able to sustain itself uncrushed between the upper millstone of +Assyria on the north, and the under one, Egypt, on the south. But +circumstances are never the cause, though they may afford the excuse of +rebellion against our Helper, God; and all the modern talk about +environments and the like, is merely a cloak cast round, but too scanty +to conceal the ugly fact of the alienated will. All the excuses for sin, +which either modern scientific jargon about 'laws,' or hyper-Calvinistic +talk about 'divine decrees,' alleges, are alike shattered against the +plain fact of conscience, which proclaims to every evil-doer, 'Thou art +the man!' We shall get no further and no deeper than the truth of our +text: 'It is thy destruction that thou art against Me.' + +The pleading God has from the beginning spoken words as tender as they +are stern, and as stern as they are tender. His voice to the sons of men +has from of old asked the unanswerable question, 'Why should ye be +stricken any more?' and has answered it, so far as answer is possible, +by the fact, which is as mysterious as it is undeniable, 'Ye will revolt +more and more.' God calls upon man to judge between Him and His +vineyard, and asks, 'What could have been done more to My vineyard that +I have not done unto it? Wherefore, when I looked that it should bring +forth grapes, brought it forth wild grapes?' The fault lay not in the +vine-dresser, but in some evil influence that had found its way into the +life and sap of the vine, and bore fruits in an unnatural product, which +could not have been traced to the vine-dresser's action. So God stands, +as with clean hands, declaring that 'He is pure from the blood of all +men; that He has no pleasure in the death of the wicked'; and His word +to the men on whom falls the whole weight of His destroying power is, +'Thou hast procured this unto thyself.' + +III. The loving forbearance which still offers restoration. + +He still claims to be Israel's Help. Separation from Him has all but +destroyed the rebellious; but it has not in the smallest degree affected +the fulness of His power, nor the fervency of His desire to help. +However earth may be shaken by storms, or swathed in mist that darkens +all things and shuts out heaven, the sun is still in its tabernacle and +pouring down its rays through the cloudless blue that is above the +enfolding cloud. Our text has wrapped up in it the broad gospel that all +our self-inflicted destruction may be arrested, and all the evil which +brought it about swept away. God is ready to prove Himself our true and +only Helper in that, as our prophet says, 'He will ransom us from the +power of the grave'; and, even when death has laid its cold hand upon +us, will redeem us from it, and destroy the destruction which had fixed +its talons in us. All the guilt is ours; all the help is His; His work +is to conquer and cast out our sins, to heal our sicknesses, to soothe +our sorrows. And He has Himself vindicated His great name of our Help +when He has revealed Himself as 'the God and Father of our Lord and +Saviour Jesus Christ.' + + +ISRAEL RETURNING + + 'O Israel, return unto the Lord thy God; for thou hast fallen by + thine iniquity. 2. Take with you words, and turn to the Lord: say + unto Him, Take away all iniquity, and receive us graciously: so + will we render the calves of our lips. 3. Asshur shall not save us; + we will not ride upon horses: neither will we say any more to the + work of our hands, Ye are our gods: for in thee the fatherless + findeth mercy. 4. I will heal their backsliding, I will love them + freely: for mine anger is turned away from Him. 5. I will be as the + dew unto Israel: He shall grow as the lily, and cast forth His + roots as Lebanon. 6. His branches shall spread, and His beauty + shall be as the olive-tree, and His smell as Lebanon. 7. They that + dwell under His shadow shall return; they shall revive as the corn, + and grow as the vine: the scent thereof shall be as the wine of + Lebanon. 8. Ephraim shall say, What have I to do any more with + idols? I have heard Him, and observed Him: I am like a green + fir-tree. From me is thy fruit found. 9. Who is wise, and He shall + understand these things? prudent, and He shall know them? for the + ways of the Lord are right, and the just shall walk in them: but + the transgressors shall fall therein.'--HOSEA xiv. 1-9. + +Hosea is eminently the prophet of divine love and of human repentance. +Both streams of thought are at their fullest in this great chapter. In +verses 1 to 3 the very essence of true return to God is set forth in the +prayer which Israel is exhorted to offer, while in verses 4 to 8 the +forgiving love of God and its blessed results are portrayed with equal +poetical beauty and spiritual force. Verse 9 closes the chapter and the +book with a kind of epilogue. + +I. The summons to repentance. + +'Israel,' of course, here means the Northern Kingdom, with which Hosea's +prophecies are chiefly occupied. 'Thou hast fallen by thine +iniquity'--that is the lesson taught by all its history, and in a deeper +sense it is the lesson of all experience. Sin brings ruin for nations +and individuals, and the plain teachings of each man's own life exhort +each to 'return unto the Lord.' We have all proved the vanity and misery +of departing from Him; surely, if we are not drawn by His love, we might +be driven by our own unrest, to go back to God. + +The Prophet anticipates the clear accents of the New Testament call to +repentance in his expansion of what he meant by returning. He has +nothing to say about sacrifices, nor about self-reliant efforts at moral +improvement. 'Take with you _words_,' not 'the blood of bulls and +goats.' Confession is better than sacrifice. What words are they which +will avail? Hosea teaches the penitent's prayer. It must begin with the +petition for forgiveness, which implies recognition of the petitioner's +sin. The cry, 'Take away all iniquity,' does not specify sins, but +masses the whole black catalogue into one word. However varied the forms +of our transgressions, they are in principle one, and it is best to bind +them all into one ugly heap, and lay it at God's feet. We have to +confess not only sins, but sin, and the taking away of it includes +divine cleansing from its power, as well as divine forgiveness of its +guilt. Hosea bids Israel ask that God would take away all iniquity; John +pointed to 'the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.' +But beyond forgiveness and cleansing, the penitent heart will seek that +God would 'accept the good' in it, which springs up by His grace, when +the evil has been washed from it, like flowers that burst from soil off +which the matted under-growth of poisonous jungle has been cleared. Mere +negative absence of 'evil' is not all that we should desire or exhibit; +there must be positive good; and however sinful may have been the past, +we are not too bold when we ask and expect that we may be made able to +produce 'good,' which shall be fragrant as sweet incense to God. + +Petitions are followed by vows. On the one hand, the experience of +forgiveness and cleansing will put a new song in our mouths, and instead +of animal sacrifices, we shall render the praise which is better than +'calves' laid on the altar. Perhaps the Septuagint rendering of that +difficult phrase 'the calves of our lips,' which is given in Hebrews +xiii. 15, 'the fruit of our lips,' is preferable. In either case, the +same thought appears--that the penitent's experience of forgiving and +restoring love makes 'the tongue of the dumb sing,' and it will bind +men's hearts more closely to God than anything besides can do, so that +their old inclinations to false reliances and idolatries drop away from +them. The old fable tells us that the storm made the traveller wrap his +cloak closer round him, but the sunshine made him throw it off. +Judgments often make men cling more closely to their sins, but forgiving +mercy makes them 'cast off the works of darkness.' The men who had +experienced that in God, the Israel, which by its sins had brought down +the punishment of His repudiation of being its father (i. 9), had found +mercy, would no longer feel temptation to turn to Assyria for help, nor +to seek protection from Egypt's cavalry, nor to debase their manhood by +calling stocks and stones, the work of their own hands, their gods. What +earthly sweetness will tempt, or what earthly danger will affright, the +heart that is feeling the bliss of union with God? Would Judas's thirty +pieces of silver attract the disciple reclining on Jesus' bosom? We are +most firmly bound to God, not by our resolves, but by our experience of +His all-sufficient mercy. Fill the heart with that wine of the kingdom, +and bitter or poisonous draughts will find no entrance into the cup. + +II. God's welcoming answer. + +The very abruptness of its introduction, without any explanation as to +the speaker, suggests how swiftly and joyfully the Father hastens to +meet the returning prodigal while he is yet afar off. Like pent-up +waters rushing forth as soon as a barrier is taken away, God's love +pours itself out immediately. His answer ever gives more than the +penitent asks--robe and ring and shoes, and a feast to him who dared not +expect more than a place among the hired servants. He gives not by +drops, but in floods, answering the prayer for the taking away of +iniquity by the promise to heal backsliding, going beyond desires and +hopes in the gift of love which asks for no recompense, is drawn forth +by no desert, but wells up from the depths of God's heart, and +strengthens the new, tremulous trust of the penitent by the assurance +that every trace of anger is effaced from God's heart. + +The blessings consequent on the gift of God's love are described in +lovely imagery, drawn, like Hosea's other abundant similes, from nature, +and especially from trees and flowers. The source of all fruitfulness is +a divine influence, which comes silently and refreshing as the 'dew,' +or, rather, as the 'night mist,' a phenomenon occurring in Palestine in +summer, and being, accurately, rolling masses of vapour brought from +the Mediterranean, which counteract the dry heat and keep vegetation +alive. The influences which refresh and fructify our souls must fall in +many a silent hour of meditation and communion. They will effloresce +into manifold shapes of beauty and fruitfulness, of which the Prophet +signalises three. The lily may stand for beauty of purity, though +botanists differ as to the particular flower meant. Christians should +present to the world 'whatsoever things are lovely,' and see to it that +their goodness is attractive. But the fragrant, pure lily has but +shallow roots, and beauty is not all that a character needs in this +world of struggle and effort. So there are to be both the lily's blossom +and roots like Lebanon. The image may refer to the firm buttresses of +the widespread foot-hills, from which the sovereign summits of the great +mountain range rise, or, as is rather suggested by the accompanying +similes from the vegetable world, it may refer to the cedars growing +there. Their roots are anchored deep and stretch far underground; +therefore they rear towering heads, and spread broad shelves of dark +foliage, safe from any blast. Our lives must be deep rooted in God if +they are to be strong. Boots generally spread beneath the soil about as +far as branches extend above it. There should be at least as much +underground, 'hid with Christ in God,' as is visible to the world. + +But beauty and strength are not all. So Hosea thinks of yet another of +the characteristic growths of Palestine, the olive, which is not +strikingly beautiful in form, with its strangely gnarled, contorted +stem, its feeble branches, and its small, pointed, pale leaves, but has +the beauty of fruitfulriess, and is green when other trees are bare. +Such 'beauty' should be ours, and will be if the 'dew' falls on us. + +In verse 7 there are difficulties, both as to the application of the +'his,' and as to the reading and rendering of some of the words. But the +general drift is clear. It prolongs the tones of the foregoing verses, +keeping to the same class of images, and expressing fruitfulness, +abundant as the corn and precious as the grape, and fragrance like the +'bouquet' of the choicest wine. + +Verse 8 offers great difficulties on any interpretation. The supplement +'shall say' is questionable, and it is doubtful whether Ephraim is the +speaker at all, and whether, if so, he speaks all the four clauses, and +who speaks any or all of them, if not he. To the present writer, it +seems best to take the supplement as right, and possible to regard the +whole verse as spoken by Ephraim, though perhaps the last clause is +meant to be God's utterance. The meaning will then come out as follows. +The penitent Israel again speaks, after the gracious promises preceding. +The tribal name is, as usual in Hosea, equivalent to Israel, whose +penitent cry we heard at the beginning of the passage. Now we hear his +glad response to God's abundant answer. 'What have I to do any more with +idols?' He had vowed (verse 3) to have no more to do with them, and the +resolve is deepened by the rich grace held forth to him. Hosea had +lamented Ephraim's mad adherence to 'his idols' (iv. 17), but now the +union is dissolved, and by penitence and reception of God's grace, he is +joined to the Lord, and parted from them. His renunciation of idolatry +is based, in the second clause, on his experience of what God can do, +and on his having heard God's gracious voice of pardon and promise. If a +man hears God, he will not be drawn to worship at any idol's shrine. + +Further, in the third clause, Ephraim is joyfully conscious of the +change that has passed on him, in accordance with the great promises +just spoken, and with grateful astonishment that such verdure should +have burst out from the dry and rotten stump of his own sinful nature, +exclaims, 'I am like a green fir-tree.' That is another reason why he +will have no more to do with idols. They could never have made his +sapless nature break into leafage. But what of the fourth clause--'From +Me is thy fruit found'? Can we understand that to mean that Ephraim +still speaks, keeping up the image of the previous clause, and declaring +that all the new fruitfulness which he finds in himself he recognises to +be God's, both in the sense that, in reality, it is produced by Him, and +that it belongs to Him? He comes seeking fruit, and He finds it. All our +good is His, and we shall be happy, productive, and wise, in proportion +as we offer all our works to Him, and feel that, after all, they are not +ours, but the works of that Spirit which dwells in penitent and +believing hearts. Some have thought that this last clause must be taken +as spoken by God; but, even if so taken, it conveys substantially the +same thought as to the divine origin of man's fruitfulness. + +The last verse is rather a general reflection summing up the whole than +an integral part of this wonderful representation of penitence, pardon, +and fruitfulness. It declares the great truth that the knowledge of the +pardoning mercy of God, and of the ways by which He weans men from sin +and makes them fruitful of good, makes us truly wise. That knowledge is +more than intellectual apprehension; it is experience. Providence has +its mysteries, but they who keep near to God, and are 'just' because +they do, will find the opportunity of free, unfettered activity in +God's ways, and transgressors will stumble therein. Therefore wisdom and +safety lie in penitence and confession, which will ever be met by +gracious pardon and showers of blessing that will cause our hearts, +which sin has made desert, to rejoice and blossom like the rose. + + +THE DEW AND THE PLANTS + + 'I will be as the dew unto Israel: he shall grow as the lily, and + cast forth his roots as Lebanon. 6. His branches shall spread, and + his beauty shall be as the olive-tree ...'--Hosea xiv. 5, 6. + +Like his brethren, Hosea was a poet as well as a prophet. His little +prophecy is full of similes and illustrations drawn from natural +objects; scarcely any of them from cities or from the ways of men; +almost all of them from Nature, as seen in the open country, which he +evidently loved, and where he had looked upon things with a clear and +meditative eye. This whole chapter is full of emblems drawn from the +vegetable world. The lily, the cedar, the olive, are in my text. And +there follow, in the subsequent verses, the corn, and the vine, and the +green fir-tree. + +The words which I have read, no doubt originally had simply a reference +to the numerical increase of the people and their restoration to their +land, but they may be taken by us quite fairly as having a very much +deeper and more blessed reference than that. For they describe the +uniform condition of all spiritual life and growth,' I will be as the +dew unto Israel'; and then they set forth some of the manifold aspects +of that growth, and the consequences of receiving that heavenly dew, +under the various metaphors to which I have referred. It is in that +higher signification that I wish to look at them now. + +I. The first thought that comes out of the words is that for all life +and growth of the spirit there must be a bedewing from God. + +'I will be as the dew unto Israel.' Now, scholars tell us that the kind +of moisture that is meant in these words is not what we call dew, of +which, as a matter of fact, there falls, in Palestine, little or none at +the season of the year referred to in my text, but that the word really +means the heavy night-clouds that come upon the wings of the south-west +wind, to diffuse moisture and freshness over the parched plains, in the +very height and fierceness of summer. The metaphor of my text becomes +more beautiful and striking, if we note that, in the previous chapter, +where the Prophet was in his threatening mood, he predicts that 'an east +wind shall come, the wind of the Lord shall come up from the +wilderness'--the burning sirocco, with death upon its wings--'and his +spring shall become dry, and his fountain shall be dried up.' We have +then to imagine the land gaping and parched, the hot air having, as with +invisible tongue of flame, licked streams and pools dry, and having +shrunken fountains and springs. Then, all at once there comes down upon +the baking ground and on the faded, drooping flowers that lie languid +and prostrate on the ground in the darkness, borne on the wings of the +wind, from the depths of the great unfathomed sea, an unseen moisture. +You cannot call it rain, so gently does it diffuse itself; it is liker a +mist, but it brings life and freshness, and everything is changed. The +dew, or the night mist, as it might more properly be rendered, was +evidently a good deal in Hosea's mind; you may remember that he uses the +image again in a remarkably different aspect, where he speaks of men's +goodness as being like 'a morning cloud, and the early dew that passes +away.' + +The natural object which yields the emblem was all inadequate to set +forth the divine gift which is compared to it, because as soon as the +sun has risen, with burning heat, it scatters the beneficent clouds, and +the 'sunbeams like swords' threaten to slay the tender green shoots. But +this mist from God that comes down to water the earth is never dried up. +It is not transient. It may be ours, and live in our hearts. Dear +brethren, the prose of this sweet old promise is 'If I depart, I will +send Him unto you.' If we are Christian people, we have the perpetual +dew of that divine Spirit, which falls on our leaves and penetrates to +our roots, and communicates life, freshness, and power, and makes growth +possible--more than possible, certain--for us. 'I'--Myself through My +Son, and in My Spirit--'I will be'--an unconditional assurance--'as the +dew unto Israel.' + +Yes! That promise is in its depth and fulness applicable only to the +Christian Israel, and it remains true to-day and for ever. Do we see it +fulfilled? One looks round upon our congregations, and into one's own +heart, and we behold the parable of Gideon's fleece acted over +again--some places soaked with the refreshing moisture, and some as hard +as a rock and as dry as tinder and ready to catch fire from any spark +from the devil's forge and be consumed in the everlasting burnings some +day. It will do us good to ask ourselves why it is that, with a promise +like this for every Christian soul to build upon, there are so few +Christian souls that have anything like realised its fulness and its +depth. Let us be quite sure of this--God has nothing to do with the +failure of His promise, and let us take all the blame to ourselves. + +'I will be as the dew unto Israel.' Who was Israel? The man that +wrestled all night in prayer with God, and took hold of the angel and +prevailed and wept and made supplication to Him. So Hosea tells us; and +as he says in the passage where he describes the Angel's wrestling with +Jacob at Peniel, 'there He spake with us'--when He spake, He spake with +him who first bore the name. Be you Israel, and God will surely be your +dew; and life and growth will be possible. That is the first lesson of +this great promise. + +II. The second is, that a soul thus bedewed by God will spring into +purity and beauty. + +We go back to Hosea's vegetable metaphors. 'He shall grow as the lily' +is his first promise. If I were addressing a congregation of botanists, +I should have something to say about what kind of a plant is meant, but +that is quite beside the mark for my present purpose. It is sufficient +to notice that in this metaphor the emphasis is laid upon the two +attributes which I have named--beauty and purity. The figure teaches us +that ugly Christianity is not Christ's Christianity. Some of us older +people remember that it used to be a favourite phrase to describe +unattractive saints that they had 'grace grafted on a crab stick.' There +are a great many Christian people whom one would compare to any other +plant rather than a lily. Thorns and thistles and briers are a good deal +more like what some of them appear to the world. But we are bound, if we +are Christian people, by our obligations to God, and by our obligations +to men, to try to make Christianity look as beautiful in people's eyes +as we can. That is what Paul said, 'Adorn the teaching'; make it look +well, inasmuch as it has made you look attractive to men's eyes. Men +have a fairly accurate notion of beauty and goodness, whether they have +any goodness or any beauty in their own characters or not. Do you +remember the words: 'Whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are +of good report, whatsoever things are venerable ... if there be any +praise'--from men--'think on these things'? If we do not keep that as +the guiding star of our lives, then we have failed in one very distinct +duty of Christian people--namely, to grow more like a lily, and to be +graceful in the lowest sense of that word, as well as _grace full_ in +the highest sense of it. We shall not be so in the lower, unless we are +so in the higher. It may be a very modest kind of beauty, very humble, +and not at all like the flaring reds and yellows of the gorgeous flowers +that the world admires. These are often like a great sunflower, with a +disc as big as a cheese. But the Christian beauty will be modest and +unobtrusive and shy, like the violet half buried in the hedge-bank, and +unnoticed by careless eyes, accustomed to see beauty only in gaudy, +flaring blooms. But unless you, as a Christian, are in your character +arrayed in the "beauty of holiness," and the holiness of beauty, you are +not quite the Christian that Jesus Christ wants you to be; setting forth +all the gracious and sweet and refining influences of the Gospel in your +daily life and conduct. That is the second lesson of our text. + +III. The third is, that a God-bedewed soul that has been made fair and +pure by communion with God, ought also to be strong. + +He "shall cast forth his roots like Lebanon." Now I take it that simile +does not refer to the roots of that giant range that slope away down +under the depths of the Mediterranean. That is a beautiful emblem, but +it is not in line with the other images in the context. As these are all +dependent on the promise of the dew, and represent different phases of +the results of its fulfilment, it is natural to expect thus much +uniformity in their variety, that they shall all be drawn from +plant-life. If so, we must suppose a condensed metaphor here, and take +"Lebanon" to mean the forest which another prophet calls "the glory of +Lebanon." The characteristic tree in these, as we all know, was the +cedar. + +It is named in Hebrew by a word which is connected with that for +"strength." It stands as the very type and emblem of stability and +vigour. Think of its firm roots by which it is anchored deep in the +soil. Think of the shelves of massive dark foliage. Think of its +unchanged steadfastness in storm. Think of its towering height; and thus +arriving at the meaning of the emblem, let us translate it into practice +in our own lives. "He shall cast forth his roots as Lebanon." Beauty? +Yes! Purity? Yes! And braided in with them, if I may so say, the +strength which can say "No!" which can resist, which can persist, which +can overcome; power drawn from communion with God. "Strength and beauty" +should blend in the worshippers, as they do in the "sanctuary" in God +Himself. There is nothing admirable in mere force; there is often +something sickly and feeble, and therefore contemptible in mere beauty. +Many of us will cultivate the complacent and the amiable sides of the +Christian life, and be wanting in the manly "thews that throw the +world," and can fight to the death. But we have to try and bring these +two excellences of character together, and it needs an immense deal of +grace and wisdom and imitation of Jesus Christ, and a close clasp of His +hand, to enable us to do that. Speak we of strength? He is the type of +strength. Of beauty? He is the perfection of beauty. And it is only as +we keep close to Him that our lives will be all fair with the reflected +loveliness of His, and strong with the communicated power of His +grace--"strong in the Lord, and in the power of His might." + +Brethren, if we are to set forth anything, in our daily lives, of this +strength, remember that our lives must be rooted in, as well as bedewed +by, God. Hosea's emblems, beautiful and instructive as they are, do not +reach to the deep truth set forth in still holier and sweeter words; "I +am the Vine, ye are the branches." The union of Christ and His people +is closer than that between dew and plant. Our growth results from the +communication of His own life to us. Therefore is the command stringent +and obedience to it blessed, "Abide in Me, for apart from Me ye can +do"--and are--"nothing." + +Let us remember that the loftier the top of the tree and the wider the +spread of its shelves of dark foliage, if it is steadfastly to stand, +unmoved by the loud winds when they call, the deeper must its roots +strike into the firm earth. If your life is to be a fair temple-palace +worthy of God's dwelling in, if it is to be impregnable to assault, +there must be quite as much masonry underground as above, as is the case +in great old buildings and palaces. And such a life must be a life "hid +with Christ in God," then it will be strong. When we strike our roots +deep into Him, our branch also shall not wither, and our leaf shall be +green, and all that we do shall prosper. The wicked are not so. They are +like chaff--rootless, fruitless, lifeless, which the wind driveth away. + +IV. Lastly, the God-bedewed soul, beautiful, pure, strong, will bear +fruit. + +That is the last lesson from these metaphors. "His beauty shall be as +the olive-tree." Anybody that has ever seen a grove of olives knows that +their beauty is not such as strikes the eye. If it was not for the blue +sky overhead, that rays down glorifying light, they would not be much to +look at or talk about. The tree has a gnarled, grotesque trunk which +divides into insignificant branches, bearing leaves mean in shape, harsh +in texture, with a silvery underside. It gives but a quivering shade and +has no massiveness, nor symmetry. Ay! but there are olives on the +branches. And so the beauty of the humble tree is in what it grows for +man's good. After all, it is the outcome in fruitfulness which is the +main thing about us. God's meaning, in all His gifts of dew, and beauty, +and purity, and strength, is that we should be of some use in the world. + +The olive is crushed into oil, and the oil is used for smoothing and +suppling joints and flesh, for nourishing and sustaining the body as +food, for illuminating darkness as oil in the lamp. And these three +things are the three things for which we Christian people have received +all our dew, and all our beauty, and all our strength--that we may give +other people light, that we may be the means of conveying to other +people nourishment, that we may move gently in the world as lubricating, +sweetening, soothing influences, and not irritating and provoking, and +leading to strife and alienation. _The_ question after all is, Does +anybody gather fruit off us, and would anybody call _us_ 'trees of +righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified'? That +is lesson four from this text. May we all open our hearts for the dew +from heaven, and then use it to produce in ourselves beauty, purity, +strength, and fruitfulness! + + * * * * * + + +AMOS + + +A PAIR OF FRIENDS + + 'Can two walk together, except they be agreed?'-AMOS III. 8. + +They do not need to be agreed about everything. They must, however, wish +to keep each others company, and they must be going by the same road to +the same place. The application of the parable is very plain, though +there are differences of opinion as to the bearing of the whole context +which need not concern us now. The 'two,' whom the Prophet would fain +see walking together, are God and Israel, and his question suggests not +only the companionship and communion with God which are the highest form +of religion and the aim of all forms and ceremonies of worship, but also +the inexorable condition on which alone that height of communion can be +secured and sustained. Two _may_ walk together, though the one be God in +heaven and the other be I on earth. But they have to be agreed thus far, +at any rate, that both shall wish to be together, and both be going the +same road. + +I. So I ask you to look, first, at that possible blessed companionship +which may cheer a life. + +There are three phrases in the Old Testament, very like each other, and +yet presenting different facets or aspects of the same great truth. +Sometimes we read about 'walking before God' as Abraham was bid to do. +That means ordering the daily life under the continual sense that we are +'ever in the great Taskmaster's eye' Then there is 'walking after God,' +and that means conforming the will and active efforts to the rule that +He has laid down, setting our steps firm on the paths that He has +prepared that we should walk in them, and accepting His providences. +But also, high above both these conceptions of a devout life is the one +which is suggested by my text, and which, as you remember, was realised +in the case of the patriarch Enoch--'walking with God.' For to walk +before Him may have with it some tremor, and may be undertaken in the +spirit of the slave who would be glad to get away from the jealous eye +that rebukes his slothfulness; and 'walking after Him' may be a painful +and partial effort to keep His distant figure in sight; but to 'walk +with Him' implies a constant, quiet sense of His Divine Presence which +forbids that I should ever be lonely, which guides and defends, which +floods my soul and fills my life, and in which, as the companions pace +along side by side, words may be spoken by either, or blessed silence +may be eloquent of perfect trust and rest. + +But, dear brother, far above us as such experience seems to sound, such +a life is a possibility for every one of us. We may be able to say, as +truly as our Lord said it, 'I am not alone, for the Father is with me.' +It is possible that the dreariest solitude of a soul, such as is not +realised when the body is removed from men, but is felt most in the +crowded city where there is none that loves or fathoms and sympathises, +may be turned into blessed fellowship with Him. Yes, but that solitude +will not be so turned unless it is first painfully felt. As Daniel said, +'I was left alone, and I saw the great vision.' We need to feel in our +deepest hearts that loneliness on earth before we walk with God. + +If we are so walking, it is no piece of fanaticism to say that there +will be mutual communications. Do you not believe that God knows His way +into the spirits that He has endowed with conscious life? Do you not +believe that He speaks now to people as truly as He did to prophets and +Apostles of old? as truly; though the results of His speech to us of +to-day be not of the same authority for others as the words that He +spoke to a Paul or a John. The belief in God's communications as for +ever sounding in the depths of the Christian spirit does not at all +obliterate the distinction between the kind of inspiration which +produced the New Testament and that which is realised by all believing +and obedient souls. High above all our experience of hearing the words +of God in our hearts stands that of those holy men of old who heard +God's message whispered in their ears, that they might proclaim it on +the housetops to all the world through all generations. But though they +and we are on a different level, and God spoke to them for a different +purpose, He speaks in our spirits, if we will comply with the +conditions, as truly as He did in theirs. As really as it was ever true +that the Lord spoke to Abraham, or Isaiah, or Paul, it is true that He +now speaks to the man who walks with Him. Frank speech on both sides +beguiles many a weary mile, when lovers or friends foot it side by side; +and this pair of friends of whom our text speaks have mutual +intercourse. God speaks with His servant now, as of old, 'as a man +speaketh with his friend'; and we on our parts, if we are truly walking +with Him, shall feel it natural to speak frankly to God. As two friends +on the road will interchange remarks about trifles, and if they love +each other, the remarks about the trifles will be weighted with love, so +we can tell our smallest affairs to God; and if we have Him for our +Pilgrim-Companion, we do not need to lock up any troubles or concerns of +any sort, big or little, in our hearts, but may speak them all to our +Friend who goes with us. + +The two _may_ walk together. That is the end of all religion. What are +creeds for? What are services and sacraments for? What is theology for? +What is Christ's redeeming act for? All culminate in this true, constant +fellowship between men and God. And unless, in some measure, that result +is arrived at in our cases, our religion, let it be as orthodox as you +like, our faith in the redemption of Jesus Christ, let it be as real as +you will, our attendances on services and sacraments, let them be as +punctilious and regular as may be, are all 'sounding brass and tinkling +cymbal.' Get side by side with God; that is the purpose of all these, +and fellowship with Him is the climax of all religion. + +It is also the secret of all blessedness, the only thing that will make +a life absolutely sovereign over sorrow, and fixedly unperturbed by all +tempests, and invulnerable to all 'the slings and arrows of outrageous +fortune.' Hold fast by God, and you have an amulet against every evil, +and a shield against every foe, and a mighty power that will calm and +satisfy your whole being. Nothing else, nothing else will do so. As +Augustine said, 'O God! Thou hast made us for Thyself, and in Thyself +only are we at rest.' If the Shepherd is with us we will fear no evil. + +II. Now, a word, in the next place, as to the sadly incomplete reality, +in much Christian experience, which contrasts with this possibility. + +I am afraid that very, very few so-called Christian people habitually +feel, as they might do, the depth and blessedness of this communion. And +sure I am that only a very small percentage of us have anything like the +continuity of companionship which my text suggests as possible. There +may be, and therefore there should be, running unbroken through a +Christian life one long, bright line of communion with God and happy +inspiration from the sense of His presence with us. Is it a line in _my_ +life, or is there but a dot here, and a dot there, and long breaks +between? The long, embarrassed pauses in a conversation between two who +do not know much of, or care much for, each other are only too like +what occurs in many professing Christians' intercourse with God. Their +communion is like those time-worn inscriptions that archæologists dig +up, with a word clearly cut and then a great gap, and then a letter or +two, and then another gap, and then a little bit more legible, and then +the stone broken, and all the rest gone. Did you ever read the +meteorological reports in the newspapers and observe a record like this, +'Twenty minutes' sunshine out of a possible eight hours'? Do you not +think that such a state of affairs is a little like the experience of a +great many Christian people in regard to their communion with God? It is +broken at the best, and imperfect at the completest, and shallow at the +deepest. O, dear brethren! rise to the height of your possibilities, and +live as close to God as He lets you live, and nothing will much trouble +you. + +III. And now, lastly, a word about the simple explanation of the failure +to realise this continual presence. + +'Can two walk together except they be agreed?' Certainly not. Our +fathers, in a sterner and more religious age than ours, used to be +greatly troubled how to account for a state of Christian experience +which they supposed to be due to God's withdrawing of the sense of His +presence from His children. Whether there is any such withdrawal or not, +I am quite certain that that is not the cause of the interrupted +communion between God and the average Christian man. + +I make all allowance for the ups and downs and changing moods which +necessarily affect us in this present life, and I make all allowance, +too, for the pressure of imperative duties and distracting cares which +interfere with our communion, though, if we were as strong as we might +be, they would not wile us away from, but drive us to, our Father in +heaven. But when all such allowances have been made, I come back to my +text as _the_ explanation of interrupted communion. The two are _not_ +agreed; and that is why they are not walking together. The consciousness +of God's presence with us is a very delicate thing. It is like a very +sensitive thermometer, which will drop when an iceberg is a league off +over the sea, and scarcely visible. We do not wish His company, or we +are not in harmony with His thoughts, or we are not going His road, and +therefore, of course, we part. At bottom there is only one thing that +separates a soul from God, and that is sin--sin of some sort, like tiny +grains of dust that get between two polished plates in an engine that +ought to move smoothly and closely against each other. The obstruction +may be invisible, and yet be powerful enough to cause friction, which +hinders the working of the engine and throws everything out of gear. A +light cloud that we cannot see may come between us and a star, and we +shall only know it is there, because the star is _not_ visibly there. +Similarly, many a Christian, quite unconsciously, has something or other +in his habits, or in his conduct, or in his affections, which would +reveal itself to him, if he would look, as being wrong, because it blots +out God. + +Let us remember that very little divergence will, if the two paths are +prolonged far enough, part their other ends by a world. Our way may go +off from the ways of the Lord at a very acute angle. There may be +scarcely any consciousness of parting company at the beginning. Let the +man travel on upon it far enough, and the two will be so far apart that +he cannot see God or hear Him speak. Take care of the little divergences +which are habitual, for their accumulated results will be complete +separation. There must be absolute surrender if there is to be +uninterrupted fellowship. + +Such, then, is the direction in which we are to look for the reasons for +our low and broken experiences of communion with God. Oh, dear friends! +when we do as we sometimes do, wake with a start, like a child that all +at once starts from sleep and finds that its mother is gone--when we +wake with a start to feel that we are alone, then do not let us be +afraid to go straight back. Only be sure that we leave behind us the sin +that parted us. + +You remember how Peter signalised himself on the lake, on the occasion +of the second miraculous draught of fishes, when he floundered through +the water and clasped Christ's feet. He did not say then, 'Depart from +Me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord!' He had said that before on a similar +occasion, when he felt his sin less, but now he knew that the best place +for the denier was with his head on Christ's bosom. So, if we have +parted from our Friend, there should be no time lost ere we go back. May +it be true of us that we walk with God, so that at last the great +promise may be fulfilled about us, 'that we shall walk with Him in +white,' being by His love accounted 'worthy,' and so 'follow' and keep +company with, 'the Lamb whithersoever He goeth!' + + +SMITTEN IN VAIN + + 'Come to Beth-el, and transgress; at Gilgal multiply transgression; + and bring your sacrifices every morning, and your tithes after + three years: 5. And offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving with leaven, + and proclaim and publish the free offerings; for this liketh you, O + ye children of Israel, saith the Lord God. 6. And I also have given + you cleanness of teeth in all your cities, and want of bread in all + your places; yet have ye not returned unto Me, saith the Lord. 7. + And also I have withholden the rain from you, when there were yet + three months to the harvest; and I caused it to rain upon one city, + and caused it not to rain upon another city; one piece was rained + upon, and the piece whereupon it rained not withered. 8. So two or + three cities wandered unto one city, to drink water; but they were + not satisfied; yet have ye not returned unto Me, saith the Lord. 9. + I have smitten you with blasting and mildew: when your gardens, and + your vineyards, and your fig-trees, and your olive-trees increased, + the palmerworm devoured them: yet have ye not returned unto Me, + saith the Lord. 10. I have sent among you the pestilence, after the + manner of Egypt; your young men have I slain with the sword, and + have taken away your horses; and I have made the stink of your + camps to come up unto your nostrils; yet have ye not returned unto + Me, saith the Lord. 11. I have overthrown some of you, as God + overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and ye were as a firebrand plucked + out of the burning; yet have ye not returned unto Me, saith the + Lord. 12. Therefore thus will I do unto thee, O Israel; and because + I will do this unto thee, prepare to meet thy God, O Israel. 13. + For, lo, He that formeth the mountains, and createth the wind, and + declareth unto man what is his thought, that maketh the morning + darkness, and treadeth upon the high places of the earth, The Lord, + The God of hosts, is His name.'--AMOS iv. 4-13. + +The reign of Jeroboam II. was one of brilliant military success and of +profound moral degradation. Amos was a simple, hardy shepherd from the +southern wilds of Judah, and his prophecies are redolent of his early +life, both in their homely imagery and in the wholesome indignation and +contempt for the silken-robed vice of Israel. No sterner picture of an +utterly rotten social state was ever drawn than this book gives of the +luxury, licentiousness, and oppressiveness of the ruling classes. This +passage deals rather with the religious declension underlying the moral +filth, and sets forth the self-willed idolatry of the people (vs. 4, 5), +their obstinate resistance to God's merciful chastisement (vs. 6-11), +and the heavier impending judgment (vs. 12, 13). + +I. Indignant irony flashes in that permission or command to persevere in +the calf worship. The seeming command is the strongest prohibition. +There can be no worse thing befall a man than that he should be left to +go on forwardly in the way of his heart. The real meaning is +sufficiently emphasised by that second verb, 'and _transgress_'. 'Flock +to one temple after another, and heap altars with sacrifices which you +were never bid to offer, but understand that what you do is not worship, +but sin.' That is a smiting sentence to pass upon elaborate ceremonial. +The word literally means treason or rebellion, and by it Amos at one +blow shatters the whole fabric. Note, too, that the offering of tithes +was not called for by Mosaic law, 'every three days' (Revised Version), +and that the use of leaven in burnt offerings was prohibited by it, and +also that to call for freewill offerings was to turn spontaneousness +into something like compulsion, and to bring ostentation into worship. +All these characteristics spoiled the apparent religiousness, over and +above the initial evil of disobedience, and warrant Amos's crushing +equation, 'Your worship = rebellion.' All are driven home by the last +words of verse 5, 'So ye love it.' The reason for all this prodigal +ostentatious worship was to please themselves, not to obey God. That +tainted everything, and always does. + +The lessons of this burst of sarcasm are plain. The subtle influence of +self creeps in even in worship, and makes it hollow, unreal, and +powerless to bless the worshipper. Obedience is better than costly +gifts. The beginning and end of all worship, which is not at same time +'transgression' is the submission of tastes, will, and the whole self. +Again, men will lavish gifts far more freely in apparent religious +service, which is but the worship of their reflected selves, than in +true service of God. Again, the purity of willing offerings is marred +when they are given in response to a loud call, or, when given, are +proclaimed with acclamations. Let us not suppose that all the brunt of +Amos's indignation fell only on these old devotees. The principles +involved in it have a sharp edge, turned to a great deal which is +allowed and fostered among ourselves. + +II. The blaze of indignation changes in the second part of the passage +into wounded tenderness, as the Prophet speaks in the name of God, and +recounts the dreary monotony of failure attending all God's loving +attempts to arrest Israel's departure by the mercy of judgment. Mark the +sad cadence of the fivefold refrain, 'Ye have not returned unto Me, +saith the Lord.' The 'unto' implies reaching the object to which we +turn, and is not the less forcible but more usual word found in this +phrase, which simply means 'towards' and indicates direction, without +saying anything as to how far the return has gone. So there may have +been partial moments of bethinking themselves, when the chastisement was +on Israel; but there had been no thorough 'turning,' which had landed +them at the side of God. Many a man turns _towards_ God, who, for lack +of resolved perseverance, never so turns as to get _to_ God. The +repeated complaint of the inefficacy of chastisements has in it a tone +of sorrow and of wonder which does not belong only to the Prophet. If we +remember who it was who was 'grieved at the blindness of their heart,' +and who 'wondered at their unbelief' we shall not fear to recognise here +the attribution of the same emotions to the heart of God. + +To Amos, famine, drought, blasting, locusts, pestilence, and probably +earthquake, were five messengers of God, and Amos was taught by God. If +we looked deeper, we should see more clearly. The true view of the +relation of all material things and events to God is this which the +herdsman of Tekoa proclaimed. These messengers were not 'miracles,' but +they were God's messengers all the same. Behind all phenomena stands a +personal will, and they are nearer the secret of the universe who see +God working in it all, than they who see all forces except the One which +is the only true force. 'I give cleanness of teeth. I have withholden +the rain. I have smitten. I have sent the pestilence. I have overthrown +some of you.' To the Prophet's eye the world is all aflame with a +present God. Let no scientific views, important and illuminating as +these may be, hide from us the deeper truth, which lies beyond their +region. The child who says 'God,' has got nearer the centre than the +scientist who says 'Force.' + +But Amos had another principle, that God sent physical calamities +because of moral delinquencies and for moral and religious ends. These +disasters were meant to bring Israel back to God, and were at once +punishments and reformatory methods. No doubt the connection between sin +and material evils was closer under the Old Testament than now. But if +we may not argue as Amos did, in reference to such calamities as +drought, and failures of harvests, and the like, as these affect +communities, we may, at all events, affirm that, in the case of the +individual, he is a wise man who regards all outward evil as having a +possible bearing on his bettering spiritually. 'If a drought comes, +learn to look to your irrigation, and don't cut down your forests so +wantonly,' say the wise men nowadays; 'if pestilence breaks out, see to +your drainage.' By all means. These things, too, are God's commandments, +and we have no right to interpret the consequences of infraction of +physical laws as being meant to punish nations for their breach of moral +and religious ones. If we were prophets, we might, but not else. But +still, is God so poor that He can have but one purpose in a providence? +Every sorrow, of whatever sort, is meant to produce all the good effects +which it naturally tends to produce; and since every experience of pain +and loss and grief naturally tends to wean us from earth, and to drive +us to find in God what earth can never yield, all our sorrows are His +messengers to draw us back to Him. Amos' lesson as to the purpose of +trials is not antiquated. + +But he has still another to teach us; namely, the awful power which we +have of resisting God's efforts to draw us back. 'Our wills are ours, we +know not how,' but alas! it is too often not 'to make them Thine.' This +is the true tragedy of the world that God calls, and we do refuse, even +as it is the deepest mystery of sinful manhood that God calls and we can +refuse. What infinite pathos and grieved love, thrown back upon itself, +is in that refrain, 'Ye have not returned unto Me!' How its recurrence +speaks of the long-suffering which multiplied means as others failed, and +of the divine charity, which 'suffered long, was not soon angry, and +hoped all things!' How vividly it gives the impression of the obstinacy +that to all effort opposed insensibility, and clung the more closely and +insanely to the idolatry which was its crime and its ruin! The very same +temper is deep in us all. Israel holds up the mirror in which we may see +ourselves. If blows do not break iron, they harden it. A wasted +sorrow--that is, a sorrow which does not drive us to God--leaves us less +impressible than it found us. + +III. Again the mood changes, and the issue of protracted resistance is +prophesied (vs. 12, 13). 'Therefore' sums up the instances of refusal +to be warned, and presents them as the cause of the coming evil. The +higher the dam is piled, the deeper the water that is gathered behind +it, and the surer and more destructive the flood when it bursts. +Long-delayed judgments are severe in proportion as they are slow. Note +the awful vagueness of threatening in that emphatic 'thus,' as if the +Prophet had the event before his eyes. There is no need to specify, for +there can be but one result from such obstinacy. The 'terror of the +Lord' is more moving by reason of the dimness which wraps it. The +contact of divine power with human rebellion can only end in one way, +and that is too terrible for speech. Conscience can translate 'thus.' +The thunder-cloud is all the more dreadful for the vagueness of its +outline, where its livid hues melt into formless black. What bolts lurk +in its gloom? + +The certainty of judgment is the basis of a call to repentance, which +may avert it. The meeting with God for which Israel is besought to +prepare, was, of course, not judgment after death, but the impending +destruction of the Northern Kingdom. But Amos's prophetic call is not +misapplied when directed to that final day of the Lord. Common-sense +teaches preparation for a certain future, and Amos's trumpet-note is +deepened and re-echoed by Jesus: 'Be ye ready also, for ... the Son of +man cometh.' Note, too, that Israel's peculiar relation to God is the +very ground of the certainty of its punishment, and of the appeal for +repentance. Just because He is 'thy God,' will He assuredly come to +judge, and you may assuredly prepare, by repentance, to meet Him. The +conditions of meeting the Judge, and being 'found of Him in peace,' are +that we should be 'without spot, and blameless'; and the conditions of +being so spotless and uncensurable are, what they were in Amos's day, +repentance and trust. Only we have Jesus as the brightness of the +Father's glory to trust in, and His all-sufficient work to trust to, for +pardon and purifying. + +The magnificent proclamation of the name of the Lord which closes the +passage, is meant as at once a guarantee of His judgment and an +enforcement of the call to be ready to meet Him. He in creation forms +the solid, changeless mountains and the viewless, passing wind. The most +stable and the most mobile are His work. He reads men's hearts, and can +tell them their thoughts afar off. He is the Author of all changes, both +in the physical and the moral world, bringing the daily wonder of +sunrise and the nightly shroud of darkness, and with like alternation +blending joy and sorrow in men's lives. He treads 'on the high places of +the earth,' making all created elevations the path of His feet, and +crushing down whatever exalts itself. Thus, in creation almighty, in +knowledge omniscient, in providence changing all things and Himself the +same, subjugating all, and levelling a path for His purposes across +every opposition, He manifests His name, as the living, eternal Jehovah, +the God of the Covenant, and therefore of judgment on its breakers, and +as the Commander and God of the embattled forces of the universe. Is +this a God whose coming to judge is to be lightly dealt with? Is not +this a God whom it is wise for us to be ready to meet? + + +THE SINS OF SOCIETY + + 'For thus saith the Lord unto the house of Israel, Seek ye Me, and + ye shall live: 5. But seek not Beth-el, nor enter into Gilgal, and + pass not to Beer-sheba: for Gilgal shall surely go into captivity, + and Beth-el shall come to nought. 6. Seek the Lord, and ye shall + live; lest He break out like fire in the house of Joseph, and + devour it, and there be none to quench it in Beth-el. 7. Ye who + turn judgment to wormwood, and leave off righteousness in the + earth, 8. Seek Him that maketh the seven stars and Orion, and + turneth the shadow of death into the morning, and maketh the day + dark with night: that calleth for the waters of the sea, and + poureth them out upon the face of the earth: The Lord is His name: + 9. That strengtheneth the spoiled against the strong, so that the + spoiled shall come against the fortress. 10. They hate him that + rebuketh in the gate, and they abhor him that speaketh uprightly. + 11. Forasmuch therefore as your treading is upon the poor, and ye + take from him burdens of wheat: ye have built houses of hewn stone, + but ye shall not dwell in them; ye have planted pleasant vineyards, + but ye shall not drink wine of them. 12. For I know your manifold + transgressions and your mighty sins: they afflict the just, they + take a bribe, and they turn aside the poor in the gate from their + right 13. Therefore the prudent shall keep silence in that time; + for it is an evil time. 14. Seek good, and not evil, that ye may + live: and so the Lord, the God of hosts, shall be with you, as ye + have spoken. 15. Hate the evil, and love the good, and establish + judgment in the gate: it may be that the Lord God of hosts will be + gracious unto the remnant of Joseph.'--AMOS v. 4-15. + +The reign of Jeroboam II, in which Amos prophesied, was a period of +great prosperity and of great corruption. Amos, born in the Southern +Kingdom, and accustomed to the simple life of a shepherd, blazed up in +indignation at the signs of misused wealth and selfish luxury that he +saw everywhere, in what was to him almost a foreign country. If one +fancies a godly Scottish Highlander sent to the West end of London, or a +Bible-reading New England farmer's man sent to New York's 'upper ten,' +one will have some notion of this prophet, the impressions made, and the +task laid on him. He has a message to our state of society which, in +many particulars, resembles that which he had to rebuke. + +There seems to be a slight dislocation in the order of the verses of the +passage, for verse 7 comes in awkwardly, breaking the connection between +verses 6 and 8, and itself cut off from verse 10, to which it belongs. +If we remove the intruding verse to a position after verse 9, the whole +passage is orderly and falls into three coherent parts: an exhortation +to seek Jehovah, enforced by various considerations (vs. 4-9); a +vehement denunciation of social vices (vs. 7, 10-13); and a renewed +exhortation to seek God by doing right to man (vs. 14, 15). + +Amos's first call to Israel is but the echo of God's to men, always and +everywhere. All circumstances, all inward experiences, joy and sorrow, +prosperity and disaster, our longings and our fears, they all cry aloud +to us to seek His face. That loving invitation is ever sounding in our +ears. And the promise which Amos gave, though it may have meant on his +lips the continuance of national life only, yet had, even on his lips, a +deeper meaning, which we now cannot but hear in it. For, just as to +'seek the Lord' means more to us than it did to Israel, so the +consequent life has greatened, widened, deepened into life eternal. But +Amos's narrower, more external promise is true still, and there is no +surer way of promoting true well-being than seeking God. 'With Thee is +the fountain of life,' in all senses of the word, from the lowest purely +physical to the highest, and it is only they who go thither to draw that +will carry away their pitchers full of the sparkling blessing. The +fundamental principle of Amos's teaching is an eternal truth, that to +seek God is to find Him, and to find Him is life. + +But Amos further teaches us that such seeking is not real nor able to +find, unless it is accompanied with turning away from all sinful quests +after vanities. We must give up seeking Bethel, Gilgal, or Beersheba, +seats of the calf worship, if we are to seek God to purpose. The sin of +the Northern Kingdom was that it wanted to worship Jehovah under the +symbol of the calves, thus trying to unite two discrepant things. And is +not a great deal of our Christianity of much the same quality? Too many +of us are doing just what Elijah told the crowds on Carmel that they +were doing, trying to 'shuffle along on both knees.' We would seek God, +but we would like to have an occasional visit to Bethel. It cannot be +done. There must be detachment, if there is to be any real attachment. +And the certain transiency of all creatural objects is a good reason for +not fastening ourselves to them, lest we should share their fate. +'Gilgal shall go into captivity, and Bethel shall come to nought,' +therefore let us join ourselves to the Eternal Love and we shall abide, +as it abides, for ever. + +The exhortation is next enforced by presenting the consequences of +neglecting it. To seek Him is life, not to seek Him incurs the danger of +finding Him in unwelcome ways. That is for ever true. We do not get away +from God by forgetting Him, but we run the risk of finding in Him, not +the fire which vitalises, purifies, melts, and gladdens, but that which +consumes. The fire is one, but its effects are twofold. God is for us +either that fire into which it is blessedness to be baptized, or that by +which it is death to be burned up. And what can Bethel, or calves, or +all the world do to quench it or pluck us out of it? + +Once more the exhortation is urged, if we link verse 8 with verse 6, and +supply 'Seek ye' at its beginning. Here the enforcement is drawn from +the considerations of God's workings in nature and history. The shepherd +from Tekoa had often gazed up at the silent splendours of the Pleiades +and Orion, as he kept watch over his flocks by night, and had seen the +thick darkness on the wide uplands thinning away as the morning stole op +over the mountains across the Dead Sea, and the day dying as he gathered +his sheep together. He had cowered under the torrential rains which +swept across his exposed homeland, and had heard God's voice summoning +the obedient waters of the sea, that He might pour them down in rain. +But the moral government of the world also calls on men to seek Jehovah. +'He causeth destruction to flash forth on the strong, so that +destruction cometh upon the fortress.' High things attract the +lightning. Godless strength is sure, sooner or later, to be smitten +down, and no fortress is so impregnable that He cannot capture and +overthrow it. Surely wisdom bids us seek Him that does all these +wonders, and make Him our defence and our high tower. + +The second part gives a vivid picture of the vices characteristic of a +prosperous state of society which is godless, and therefore selfishly +luxurious. First, civil justice is corrupted, turned into bitterness, +and prostrated to the ground. Then bold denouncers of national sins are +violently hated. Do we not know that phase of an ungodly and rich +society? What do the newspapers say about Christians who try to be +social reformers? Are the epithets flung at them liker bouquets or +rotten eggs? 'Fanatics and faddists' are the mildest of them. Then the +poor are trodden down and have to give large parts of their scanty +harvests to the rich. Have capital and labour just proportions of their +joint earnings? Would a sermon on verse 11 be welcome in the suburbs of +industrial centres, where the employers have their 'houses of hewn +stone'? Such houses, side by side with the poor men's huts, struck the +eye of the shepherd from Tekoa as the height of sinful luxury, and still +more sinful disproportion in the social condition of the two classes. +What would he have said if he had lived in England or America? Justice, +too, was bought and sold. A murderer could buy himself off, while the +poor man, who could not pay, lost his case. We do not bribe juries, but +(legal) justice is an expensive luxury still, and counsel's fees put it +out of the reach of poor men. + +One of the worst features of such a state of society as Amos saw is that +men are afraid to speak out in condemnation of it, and the ill weeds +grow apace for want of a scythe. Amos puts a certain sad emphasis on +'prudent,' as if he was feeling how little he could be called so, and +yet there is a touch of scorn in him too. The man who is over-careful of +his skin or his reputation will hold his tongue; even good men may +become so accustomed to the glaring corruptions of society in the midst +of which they have always lived, that they do not feel any call to +rebuke or wage war against them; but the brave man, the man who takes +his ideals from Christ, and judges society by its conformity with +Christ's standard, will not keep silence, and the more he feels that 'It +is an evil time' the more will he feel that he cannot but speak out, +whatever comes of his protest. What masquerades as prudence is very +often sinful cowardice, and such silence is treason against Christ. + +The third part repeats the exhortation to 'seek,' with a notable +difference. It is now 'good' that is to be sought, and 'evil' that is to +be turned from. These correspond respectively to 'Jehovah,' and 'Bethel, +Gilgal, and Beersheba,' in former verses. That is to say, morality is +the garb of religion, and religion is the only true source of morality. +If we are not seeking the things that are lovely and of good report, our +professions of seeking God are false; and we shall never earnestly and +successfully seek good and hate evil unless we have begun by seeking and +finding God, and holding Him in our heart of hearts. Modern social +reformers, who fancy that they can sweeten society without religion, +might do worse than go to school to Amos. + +Notable, too, is the lowered tone of confidence in the beneficial result +of obeying the Prophet's call. In the earlier exhortation the promise +had been absolute. 'Seek ye Me, and ye _shall_ live'; now it has cooled +to 'it may be.' Is Amos faltering? No; but while it is always true that +blessed life is found by the seeker after God, because He finds the very +source of life, it is not always true that the consequences of past +turnings from Him are diverted by repentance. 'It may be' that these +have to be endured, but even they become tokens of Jehovah's +graciousness, and the purified 'remnant of Joseph' will possess the true +life more abundantly because they have been exercised thereby. + + +THE CARCASS AND THE EAGLES + + 'Woe to them that are at ease in Zion, and trust in the mountain of + Samaria, which are named chief of the nations, to whom the house of + Israel came! 2. Pass ye unto Calneh, and see; and from thence go ye + to Hamath the great; then go down to Gath of the Philistines: be + they better than these kingdoms? or their border greater than your + border? 3. Ye that put far away the evil day, and cause the seat of + violence to come near; 4. That lie upon beds of ivory, and stretch + themselves upon their couches, and eat the lambs out of the flock, + and the calves out of the midst of the stall; 5. That chant to the + sound of the viol, and invent to themselves instruments of musick, + like David; 6. That drink wine in bowls, and anoint themselves with + the chief ointments: but they are not grieved for the affliction of + Joseph. 7. Therefore now shall they go captive with the first that + go captive, and the banquet of them that stretched themselves shall + be removed. 8. The Lord God hath sworn by Himself, saith the Lord + the God of hosts, I abhor the excellency of Jacob, and hate his + palaces: therefore will I deliver up the city with all that is + therein.'--AMOS vi. 1-8. + +Amos prophesied during the reign of Jeroboam, the son of Joash. +Jeroboam's reign was a time of great prosperity for Israel. Moab, +Gilead, and part of Syria were reconquered, and the usual effects of +conquest, increased luxury and vainglory, followed. Amos was not an +Israelite born, for he came from Tekoa, away down south, in the wild +country west of the Dead Sea, where he had been a simple herdsman till +the divine call sent him into the midst of the corrupt civilisation of +the Northern Kingdom. The first words of his prophecy give its whole +spirit: 'The Lord will roar from Zion.' The word rendered 'roar' is the +term specially used for the terrible cry with which a lion leaps on its +surprised prey (Amos iii. 4, 8). It is from Zion, the seat of God's +Temple, that the 'roar' proceeds, and Amos's prophecy is but the echo of +it in Israel. + +The prophecy of judgment in this passage is directed against the sins of +the upper classes in Samaria. They are described in verse 1 as the +'notable men ... to whom the house of Israel come,' which, in modern +language, is just 'conspicuous citizens,' who set the fashion, and are +looked to as authorities and leaders, whether in political or commercial +or social life. The word by which they are designated is used in Numbers +i. 17: 'Which are _expressed_ by name.' The word 'carried back the +thoughts of the degenerate aristocracy of Israel to the faith and zeal +of their forefathers' (Pusey, _Minor Prophets_, on this verse). Israel, +Amos calls 'The first of the nations.' It is singular that such a title +should be given to the nation against whose corruption his one business +is to testify, but probably there is keen irony in the word. It takes +Israel at its own estimate, and then goes on to show how rotten, and +therefore short-lived, was the prosperity which had swollen national +pride to such a pitch. The chiefs of the foremost nation in the world +should surely be something better than the heartless debauchees whom the +Prophet proceeds to paint. Anglo-Saxons on both sides of the Atlantic, +who are by no means deficient in this same complacent estimate of their +own superiority to all other peoples, may take note. The same thought is +prominent in the description of these notables as 'at ease.' They are +living in a fool's paradise, shutting their eyes to the thunder-clouds +that begin to rise slowly above the horizon, and keeping each other in +countenance in laughing at Amos and his gloomy forecasts. They 'trusted +in the mountain of Samaria,' which, they thought, made the city +impregnable to assault. No doubt they thought that the Prophet's talk +about doing right and trusting in Jehovah was very fanatical and +unpractical, just as many in England and America think that their +nations are exalted, not by righteousness, but by armies, navies, and +dollars or sovereigns. + +Verse 2 is very obscure to us from our ignorance of the facts underlying +its allusions. In fact, it has been explained in exactly opposite ways, +being taken by some to enumerate three instances of prosperous +communities, which yet are not more prosperous than Israel, and by +others to enumerate three instances of God's judgments falling on places +which, though strong, had been conquered. In the former explanation, +God's favour to Israel is made the ground of an implied appeal to their +gratitude; in the latter, His judgments on other nations are made the +ground of an appeal to their fear, lest like destruction should fall on +them. + +But the main points of the passage are the photograph of the crimes +which are bringing the judgment of God, and the solemn divine oath to +inflict the judgment. The crimes rebuked are not the false worship of +the calves, though in other parts of his prophecy Amos lashes that with +terrible invectives, nor foul breaches of morality, though these were +not wanting in Israel, but the vices peculiar to selfish, luxurious +upper classes in all times and countries, who forget the obligations of +wealth, and think only of its possibilities of self-indulgence. French +_noblesse_ before the Revolution, and English peers and commercial +magnates, and American millionaires, would yield examples of the same +sin. The hardy shepherd from Tekoa had learned 'plain living and high +thinking' before he was a prophet, and would look with wondering and +disgusted eyes at the wicked waste which he saw in Samaria. He begins +with scourging the reckless security already referred to. These notables +in Israel were 'at ease' because they 'put far away the evil day,' by +refusing to believe that it was at hand, and paying no heed to prophets' +warnings, as their fellows do still and always, and as we all are +tempted to do. They who see and declare the certain end of national or +personal sins are usually jeered at as pessimists, fanatics, alarmists, +bad patriots, or personal ill-wishers, and the men whom they try to warn +fancy that they hinder the coming of a day of retribution by +disbelieving in its coming. Incredulity is no lightning-conductor to +keep off the flash, and, listened to or not, the low growls of the +thunder are coming nearer. + +With one hand these sinners tried to push away the evil day, while with +the other they drew near to themselves that which made its coming +certain--'the seat of violence,' or, rather, 'the sitting,' or +'session.' Violence, or wrongdoing, is enthroned by them, and where men +enthrone iniquity, God's day of vengeance is not far off. + +Then follows a graphic picture of the senseless, corrupting luxury of +the Samaritan magnates, on which the Tekoan shepherd pours his scorn, +but which is simplicity itself, and almost asceticism, before what he +would see if he came to London or New York. To him it seemed effeminate +to loll on a divan at meals, and possibly it was a custom imported from +abroad. It is noted that 'the older custom in Israel was to sit while +eating.' The woodwork of the divans, inlaid with ivory, had caught his +eye in some of his peeps into the great houses, and he inveighs against +them very much as one of the Pilgrim Fathers might do if he could see +the furniture in the drawing-rooms of some of his descendants. There is +no harm in pretty things, but the æsthetic craze does sometimes indicate +and increase selfish heartlessness as to the poverty and misery, which +have not only no ivory on their divans, but no divans at all. Thus +stretched in unmanly indolence on their cushions, they feast on +delicacies. 'Lambs out of the flock' and 'calves out of the stall' seem +to mean animals too young to be used as food. These gourmands, like +their successors, prided themselves on having dainties out of season, +because they were more costly then. And their feasts had the adornment +of music, which the shepherd, who knew only the pastoral pipe that +gathered his sheep, refers to with contempt. He uses a very rare word of +uncertain meaning, which is probably best rendered in some such way as +the Revised Version does: 'They sing idle songs.' To him their +elaborate performances seemed like empty babble. Worse than that, they +'devise musical instruments like David.' But how unlike him in the use +they make of art! What a descent from the praises of God to the 'idle +songs' fit for the hot dining-halls and the guests there! Amos was +indignant at the profanation of art, and thought it best used in the +service of God. What would he have said if he had been 'fastened into a +front-row box' and treated to a modern opera? + +The revellers 'drink wine in bowls' by which larger vessels than +generally employed are intended. They drank to excess, or as we might +say, by bucketfuls. So the dainty feast, with its artistic refinement +and music, ends at last in a brutal carouse, and the heads anointed with +the most costly unguents drop in drunken slumber. A similar picture of +Samaritan manners is drawn by Isaiah (chap. xxviii.), and obviously +drunkenness was one of the besetting sins of the capital. + +But the darkest hue in the dark picture has yet to be added: 'They are +not grieved for the affliction (literally, the 'breach' or 'wound') of +Joseph.' The tribe of Ephraim, Joseph's son, being the principal tribe +of the Northern Kingdom, Joseph is often employed as a synonym for +Israel. All these pieces of luxury, corrupting and effeminate as they +are, might be permitted, but heartless indifference to the miseries +groaning at the door of the banqueting-hall goes with them. 'The +classes' are indifferent to the condition of 'the masses.' Put Amos into +modern English, and he is denouncing the heartlessness of wealth, +refinement, art, and culture, which has no ear for the complaining of +the poor, and no eyes to see either the sorrows and sins around it, or +the lowering cloud that is ready to burst in tempest. + +The inevitable issue is certain, because of the very nature of God. It +is outlined with keen irony. Amos sees in imagination the long +procession of sad captives, and marching in the front ranks, the +self-indulgent Sybarites, whose pre-eminence is now only the melancholy +prerogative of going first in the fettered train. What has become of +their revelry? It is gone, like the imaginary banquets of dreams, and +instead of luxurious lolling on silken couches, there is the weary tramp +of the captive exiles. Such result must be, since God is what He is. He +has sworn 'by Himself'; His being and character are the pledge that it +will be so as Amos has declared. How can such a God as He is do +otherwise than hate the pride of such a selfish, heartless, +God-forgetting aristocracy? How can He do otherwise than deliver up the +city? God has not changed, and though His mills grind slowly, they do +grind still; and it is as true for England and America, as it was for +Samaria, that a wealthy and leisurely upper class, which cares only for +material luxury glossed over by art, which has condescended to be its +servant, is bringing near the evil day which it hugs itself into +believing will never come. + + +RIPE FOR GATHERING + + 'Thus hath the Lord God shewed unto me: and behold a basket of + summer fruit. 2. And He said, Amos, what seest thou? And I said, A + basket of summer fruit. Then said the Lord unto me, The end is come + upon My people of Israel; I will not again pass by them any more. + 3. And the songs of the temple shall be howlings in that day, saith + the Lord God: there shall be many dead bodies in every place; they + shall cast them forth with silence. 4. Hear this, O ye that swallow + up the needy, even to make the poor of the land to fail. 5. Saying, + When will the new moon be gone, that we may sell corn? and the + sabbath, that we may set forth wheat, making the ephah small, and + the shekel great, and falsifying the balances by deceit? 6. That + we may buy the poor for silver, and the needy for a pair of shoes; + yea, and sell the refuse of the wheat? 7. The Lord hath sworn by + the excellency of Jacob, Surely I will never forget any of their + works. 8. Shall not the land tremble for this, and every one mourn + that dwelleth therein? and it shall rise up wholly as a flood; and + it shall be cast out and drowned, as by the flood of Egypt. 9. And + it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord God, that I will + cause the sun to go down at noon, and I will darken the earth in + the clear day: 10. And I w ill turn your feasts into mourning, and + all your songs into lamentation; and I will bring up sackcloth upon + all loins, and baldness upon every head; and I will make it as the + mourning of an only son, and the end thereof as a bitter day. 11. + Behold, the days come, saith the Lord God, that I will send a + famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, + but of hearing the words of the Lord: 12. And they shall wander + from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east, they shall + run to and fro to seek the word of the Lord, and shall not find it. + 13. In that day shall the fair virgins and young men faint for + thirst. 14. They that swear by the sin of Samaria, and say, Thy + God, O Dan, liveth: and, The manner of Beer-sheba liveth; even they + shall fall, and never rise up again.'--AMOS viii. 1-14. + +There are three visions in the former chapter, each beginning as verse +1. This one is therefore intended to be taken as the continuation of +these, and it is in substance a repetition of the third, only with more +detail and emphasis. An insolent attempt, by the priest of Beth-el, to +silence the Prophet, and the fiery answer which he got for his pains, +come between. The stream of Amos's prophecy flows on, uninterrupted by +the boulder which had tried to dam it up. Some courage was needed to +treat Amaziah and his blasphemous bluster as a mere parenthesis. + +We have first to note the vision and its interpretation. It is such as a +countryman, 'a dresser of sycamore trees' would naturally have. +Experience supplies forms and material for the imagination, and moulds +into which God-given revelations run. The point of the vision is rather +obscured by the rendering 'summer fruit.' 'Ripe fruit' would be better, +since the emblem represents the Northern Kingdom as ripe for the +dreadful ingathering of judgment. The word for this (_qayits_) and that +for 'the end' (_qets_) are alike in sound, but the play of words cannot +be reproduced, except by some clumsy device, such as 'the end ripens' or +'the time of ripeness comes.' The figure is frequent in other prophecies +of judgment, as, for instance, in Revelation xiv. 14-20. + +Observe the repetition, from the preceding vision, of 'I will not pass +by them any more.' The first two visions had threatened judgments, which +had been averted by the Prophet's intercession; but the third, and now +the fourth, declare that the time for prolonged impunity is passed. Just +as the mellow ripeness of the fruit fixes the time of gathering it, so +there comes a stage in national and individual corruption, when there is +nothing to be done but to smite. That period is not reached because God +changes, but because men get deeper in sin. Because 'the harvest is +ripe,' the long-delayed command, 'Put in thy sickle' is given to the +angel of judgment, and the clusters of those black grapes, whose juice +in the wine-press of the wrath of God is blood, are cut down and cast +in. It is a solemn lesson, applying to each soul as well as to +communities. By neglect of God's voice, and persistence in our own evil +ways, we can make ourselves such that we are ripe for judgment, and can +compel long-suffering to strike. Which are we ripening for--the harvest +when the wheat shall be gathered into Christ's barns, or that when the +tares shall be bound in bundles for burning? + +The tragedy of that fruit-gathering is described with extraordinary +grimness and force in the abrupt language of verse 3. The merry songs +sung in the palace (this rendering seems more appropriate here than +'temple') will be broken off, and the singers' voices will quaver into +shrill shrieks, so suddenly will the judgment be. Then comes a picture +as abrupt in its condensed terribleness as anything in Tacitus--'Many +the corpses; everywhere they fling them; hush!' We see the ghastly +masses of dead ('corpse' is in the singular, as if a collective noun), +so numerous that no burial-places could hold them; and no ceremonial +attended them, but they were rudely flung anywhere by anybody (no +nominative is given), with no accustomed voice of mourning, but in +gloomy silence. It is like Defoe's picture of the dead-cart in the +plague of London. Such is ever the end of departing from God--songs +palsied into silence or turned into wailing when the judgment bursts; +death stalking supreme, and silence brooding over all. + +The crimes that ripened men for this terrible harvest are next set +forth, in part, in verses 4 to 6. These verses partly coincide verbally +with the previous indictment in Amos ii. 6, etc., which, however, is +more comprehensive. Here only one form of sin is dealt with. And what +was the sin that deserved the bad eminence of being thus selected as the +chief sign that Israel was ripe and rotten? Precisely the one which gets +most indulgence in the Christian Church; namely, eagerness to be rich, +and sharp, unkindly dealing. These men, who were only fit to be swept +out of the land, were most punctual in their religious duties. They +would not on any account do business either on a festival or on Sabbath, +but they were very impatient till--shall we say? Monday morning +came--that they might get to their beloved work again. + +Their lineal descendants are no strangers on the exchanges, or in the +churches of London or New York. They were not only outwardly scrupulous +and inwardly weary of religious observances, but when they did get to +'business,' they gave short measure and took a long price, and knew how +to turn the scales always in their own favour. It was the expedient of +rude beginners in the sacred art of getting the best of a bargain, to +put a false bottom in the _ephah_, and to stick a piece of lead below +the shekel weight, which the purchaser had to make go up in the scale +with his silver. There are much neater ways of doing the same thing now; +and no doubt some very estimable gentlemen in high repute as Christians, +who give respectability to any church or denomination, could have taught +these early practitioners a lesson or two. + +They were as cruel as they were greedy. They bought their brethren as +slaves, and if a poor man had run into their debt for even a pair of +shoes, they would sell him up in a very literal sense. Avarice, +unbridled by the fear of God, leads by a short cut to harshness and +disregard of the claims of others. There are more ways of buying the +needy for a pair of shoes than these people practised. + +The last touch in the picture is meanness, which turned everything into +money. Even what fell through the sieve when wheat was winnowed, which +ought to have been given to anybody, was carefully scraped up, and, +dirty as it was, sold. Is not 'nothing for nothing' an approved maxim +to-day? Are not people held up as shining lights of commerce, who have +the faculty of turning everything into saleable articles? Some serious +reflections ought to be driven home to us who live in great commercial +communities, and are in manifold ways tempted to 'learn their ways, and +so get a snare unto our souls,' by this gibbeting of tempers and +customs, very common among ourselves, as the very head and front of the +sin of Israel, which determined its ripeness for destruction. + +The catalogue of sins is left incomplete (compare with chapter ii.), as +if holy indignation turned for relief to the thought of the certain +judgment. That certainly is strongly affirmed by the representation of +the oath of Jehovah. 'He can swear by no other,' therefore He 'swears by +Himself'; and the 'excellency of Jacob' cannot with propriety mean +anything else than Him who is, or ought to be, the sole ground of +confidence and occasion of 'boasting' to the nation (Hos. v. 5). He +gives His own being as the guarantee that judgment shall fall. As surely +as God is God, injustice and avarice will ruin a nation. We talk now +about necessary consequences and natural laws rendering penalties +inevitable. The Bible suggests a deeper foundation for their certain +incidence--even the very nature of God Himself. As long as He is what He +is, covetousness and its child, harshness to the needy, will be sin +against Him, and be avenged sooner or later. God has a long and a wide +memory, and the sins which He 'remembers' are those which He has not +forgiven, and will punish. + +Amos heaps image on image to deepen the impression of terror and +confusion. Everything is turned to its opposite. The solid land reels, +rises, and falls, like the Nile in flood (see Revised Version). The sun +sets at midday, and noon is darkness. Feasts change to mourning, songs +to lamentations. Rich garments are put aside for sackcloth, and flowing +locks drop off and leave bald heads. These are evidently all figures +vividly piled together to express the same thought. The crash that +destroyed their national prosperity and existence would shake the most +solid things and darken the brightest. It would come suddenly, as if the +sun plunged from the zenith to the west. It would make joy a stranger, +and bring grief as bitter as when a father or a mother mourns the death +of an only son. Besides all this, something darker beyond is dimly +hinted in that awful, vague, final threat, 'The end thereof as a bitter +day.' + +Now all these threats were fulfilled in the fall of the kingdom of +Israel; but that 'day of the Lord' was in principle a miniature +foreshadowing of the great final judgment. Some of the very features of +the description here are repeated with reference to it in the New +Testament. We cannot treat such prophecies as this as if they were +exhausted by their historical fulfilment. They disclose the eternal +course of divine judgment, which is to culminate in a future day of +judgment. The oath of God is not yet completely fulfilled. Assuredly as +He lives and is God, so surely will modern sinners have to stand their +trial; and, as of old, the chase after riches will bring down crashing +ruin. We need that vision of judgment as much as Samaria did when Amos +saw the basket of ripe fruit, craving, as it were, to be plucked. So do +obstinate sinners invite destruction. + +The last section specifies one feature of judgment, the deprivation of +the despised word of the Lord (vs. 11-14). Like Saul, whose piteous wail +in the witch's hovel was, 'God ... answereth me no more,' they who paid +no heed to the word of the Lord shall one day seek far and wearily for a +prophet, and seek in vain. The word rendered 'wander,' which is used in +the other description of people seeking for water in a literal drought +(iv. 8), means 'reel,' and gives the picture of men faint and dizzy with +thirst, yet staggering on in vain quest for a spring. They seek +everywhere, from the Dead Sea on the east to the Mediterranean on the +west, and then up to the north, and so round again to the +starting-point. Is it because Judah was south that that quarter is not +visited? Perhaps, if they had gone where the Temple was, they would have +found the stream from under its threshold, which a later prophet saw +going forth to heal the marshes and dry places. Why was the search vain? +Has not God promised to be found of those that seek, however far they +have gone away? The last verse tells why. They still were idolaters, +swearing by the 'sin of Samaria,' which is the calf of Beth-el, and by +the other at Dan, and going on idolatrous pilgrimages to Beer-sheba, far +away in the south, across the whole kingdom of Judah (Amos v. 5). It was +vain to seek for the word of the Lord with such doings and worship. + +The truth implied is universal in its application. God's message +neglected is withdrawn. Conscience stops if continually unheeded. The +Gospel may still sound in a man's ears, but have long ceased to reach +farther. There comes a time when men shall wish wasted opportunities +back, and find that they can no more return than last summer's heat. +There may be a wish for the prophet in time of distress, which means no +real desire for God's word, but only for relief from calamity. There may +be a sort of seeking for the word, which seeks in the wrong places and +in the wrong ways, and without abandoning sins. Such quest is vain. But +if, driven by need and sorrow, a poor soul, feeling the thirst after the +living God, cries from ever so distant a land of bondage, the cry will +be answered. But let us not forget that our Lord has told us to take +heed how we hear, on the very ground that 'to him that hath shall be +given; and from him that hath not, even that he hath shall be taken +away.' + + * * * * * + + +JONAH + + +GUILTY SILENCE AND ITS REWARD + + Now the word of the Lord came unto Jonah the son of Amittai, + saying, 2. Arise, go to Nineveh, that great, city, and cry against + it; for their wickedness is come up before Me. 3. But Jonah rose + up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the Lord, and went + down to Joppa; and he found a ship going to Tarshish: so he paid + the fare thereof, and went down into it, to go with them unto + Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. 4. But the Lord sent out a + great wind into the sea, and there was a mighty tempest in the sea, + so that the ship was like to be broken. 5. Then the mariners were + afraid, and cried every man unto his god, and cast forth the wares + that were in the ship into the sea, to lighten it of them. But + Jonah was gone down into the sides of the ship; and he lay, and was + fast asleep. 6. So the shipmaster came to him, and said unto him, + What meanest thou, O sleeper? arise, call upon thy God, if so be + that God will think upon us, that we perish not. 7. And they said + every one to his fellow, Come, and let us cast lots, that we may + know for whose cause this evil is upon us. So they cast lots, and + the lot fell upon Jonah. 8. Then said they unto him, Tell us, we + pray thee, for whose cause this evil is upon us; What is thine + occupation? and whence comest thou? what is thy country? and of + what people art thou? 9. And he said unto them, I am an Hebrew; and + I fear the Lord, the God of heaven, which hath made the sea and the + dry land. 10. Then were the men exceedingly afraid, and said unto + him, Why hast thou done this? For the men knew that he fled from + the presence of the Lord, because he had told them. 11. Then said + they unto him, What shall we do unto thee, that the sea may be calm + unto us? for the sea wrought, and was tempestuous. 12. And he said + unto them, Take me up, and cast me forth into the sea; so shall the + sea be calm unto you: for I know that for my sake this great + tempest is upon you. 13. Nevertheless the men rowed hard to bring + it to the land; but they could not: for the sea wrought, and was + tempestuous against them. 14. Wherefore they cried unto the Lord, + and said, We beseech thee, O Lord, we beseech thee, let us not + perish for this man's life, and lay not upon us innocent blood: for + Thou, O Lord, hast done as it pleased Thee. 15. So they took up + Jonah, and cast him forth into the sea; and the sea ceased from her + raging. 16. Then the men feared the Lord exceedingly, and offered a + sacrifice unto the Lord, and made vows. 17. Now the Lord had + prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the + belly of the fish three days and three nights.'--JONAH i. 1-17. + +Jonah was apparently an older contemporary of Hosea and Amos. The +Assyrian power was looming threateningly on the northern horizon, and a +flash or two had already broken from that cloud. No doubt terror had +wrought hate and intenser narrowness. To correct these by teaching, by +an instance drawn from Assyria itself, God's care for the Gentiles and +their susceptibility to His voice, was the purpose of Jonah's mission. +He is a prophet of Israel, because the lesson of his history was for +them, though his message was for Nineveh. He first taught by example the +truth which Jesus proclaimed in the synagogue of Nazareth, and Peter +learned on the housetop at Joppa, and Paul took as his guiding star. A +truth so unwelcome and remote from popular belief needed emphasis when +first proclaimed; and this singular story, as it were, underlines it for +the generation which heard it first. Its place would rather have been +among the narratives than the prophets, except for this aspect of it. So +regarded, Jonah becomes a kind of representative of Israel; and his +history sets forth large lessons as to its function among the nations, +its unwillingness to discharge it, the consequences of disobedience, and +the means of return to a better mind. + +Note then, first, the Prophet's unwelcome charge. There seems no +sufficient reason for doubting the historical reality of Jonah's mission +to Nineveh; for we know that intercourse was not infrequent, and the +silence of other records is, in their fragmentary condition, nothing +wonderful. But the fact that a prophet of Israel was sent to a heathen +city, and that not to denounce destruction except as a means of winning +to repentance, declared emphatically God's care for the world, and +rebuked the exclusiveness which claimed Him for Israel alone. The same +spirit haunts the Christian Church, and we have all need to ponder the +opposite truth, till our sympathies are widened to the width of God's +universal love, and we discern that we are bound to care for all men, +since He does so. + +Jonah sullenly resolved not to obey God's voice. What a glimpse into the +prophetic office that gives us! The divine Spirit could be resisted, and +the Prophet was no mere machine, but a living man who had to consent +with his devoted will to bear the burden of the Lord. One refused, and +his refusal teaches us how superb and self-sacrificing was the +faithfulness of the rest. So we have each to do in regard to God's +message intrusted to us. We must bow our wills, and sink our prejudices, +and sacrifice our tastes, and say, 'Here am I; send me.' + +Jonah represents the national feelings which he shared. Why did he +refuse to go to Nineveh? Not because he was afraid of his life, or +thought the task hopeless. He refused because he feared success. God's +goodness was being stretched rather too far, if it was going to take in +Nineveh. Jonah did not want it to escape. If he had been sent to destroy +it, he would probably have gone gladly. He grudged that heathen should +share Israel's privileges, and probably thought that gain to Nineveh +would be loss to Israel. It was exactly the spirit of the prodigal's +elder brother. There was also working in him the concern for his own +reputation, which would be damaged if the threats he uttered turned out +to be thunder without lightning, by reason of the repentance of Nineveh. + +Israel was set among the nations, not as a dark lantern, but as the +great lampstand in the Temple court proclaimed, to ray out light to all +the world. Jonah's mission was but a concrete instance of Israel's +charge. The nation was as reluctant to fulfil the reason of its +existence as the Prophet was. Both begrudged sharing privileges with +heathen dogs, both thought God's care wasted, and neither had such +feelings towards the rest of the world as to be willing to be messengers +of forgiveness to them. All sorts of religious exclusiveness, +contemptuous estimates of other nations, and that bastard patriotism +which would keep national blessings for our own country alone, are +condemned by this story. In it dawns the first faint light of that sun +which shone at its full when Jesus healed the Canaanite's daughter, or +when He said, 'Other sheep I have, which are not of this fold.' + +Note, next, the fatal consequences of refusal to obey the God-given +charge. We need not suppose that Jonah thought that he could actually +get away from God's presence. Possibly he believed in a special presence +of God in the land of Israel, or, more probably, the phrase means to +escape from service. At any rate, he determined to do his flight +thoroughly. Tarshish was, to a Hebrew, at the other end of the world +from Nineveh. The Jews were no sailors, and the choice of the sea as +means of escape indicates the obstinacy of determination in Jonah. + +The storm is described with a profusion of unusual words, all apparently +technical terms, picked up on board, just as Luke, in the only other +account of a storm in Scripture, has done. What a difference between the +two voyages! In the one, the unfaithful prophet is the cause of +disaster, and the only sluggard in the ship. In the other, the Apostle, +who has hazarded his life to proclaim his Lord, is the source of hope, +courage, vigour, and safety. Such are the consequences of silence and of +brave speech for God. No wonder that the fugitive Prophet slunk down +into some dark corner, and sat bitterly brooding there, self-accused +and condemned, till weariness and the relief of the tension of his +journey lulled him to sleep. It was a stupid and heavy sleep. Alas for +those whose only refuge from conscience is oblivion! + +Over against this picture of the insensible Prophet, all unaware of the +storm (which may suggest the parallel insensibility of Israel to the +impending divine judgments), is set the behaviour of the heathen +sailors, or 'salts,' as the story calls them. Their conduct is part of +the lesson of the book; for, heathen as they are, they have yet a sense +of dependence, and they pray; they are full of courage, battling with +the storm, jettisoning the cargo, and doing everything possible to save +the ship. Their treatment of Jonah is generous and chivalrous. Even when +they hear his crime, and know that the storm is howling like a wild +beast for him, they are unwilling to throw him overboard without one +more effort; and when at last they do it, their prayer is for +forgiveness, inasmuch as they are but carrying out the will of Jehovah. +They are so much touched by the whole incident that they offer +sacrifices to the God of the Hebrews, and are, in some sense, and +possibly but for a time, worshippers of Him. + +All this holds the mirror up to Israel, by showing how much of human +kindness and generosity, and how much of susceptibility for the truth +which Israel had to declare, lay in rude hearts beyond its pale. This +crew of heathen of various nationalities and religions were yet men who +could be kind to a renegade Prophet, peril their lives to save his, and +worship Jehovah. 'I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel,' +is the same lesson in another form. We may find abundant opportunities +for learning it; for the characters of godless men, and of some among +the heathen, may well shame many a Christian. + +Jonah's conduct in the storm is no less noble than his former conduct +had been base. The burst of the tempest blew away all the fog from his +mind, and he saw the stars again. His confession of faith; his calm +conviction that he was the cause of the storm; his quiet, unhesitating +command to throw him into the wild chaos foaming about the ship; his +willing acceptance of death as the wages of his sin, all tell how true a +saint he was in the depth of his soul. Sorrow and chastisement turn up +the subsoil. If a man has any good in him, it generally comes to the top +when he is afflicted and looks death in the face. If there is nothing +but gravel beneath, it too will be brought up by the plough. There may +be much selfish unfaithfulness overlying a real devoted heart. + +Jonah represented Israel here too, both in that the consequence of the +national unfaithfulness and greedy, exclusive grasp of their privileges +would lead to their being cast into the roaring waves of the sea of +nations, amid the tumult of the peoples, and in that, for them as for +him, the calamity would bring about a better mind, the confession of +their faith, and acknowledgment of their sin. The history of Israel was +typified in this history, and the lessons it teaches are lessons for all +churches, and for all God's children for all time. If we shirk our duty +of witnessing for Him, or any other of His plain commands, +unfaithfulness will be our ruin. The storm is sure to break where His +Jonahs try to hide, and their only hope lies in bowing to the +chastisement and consenting to be punished, and avowing whose they are +and whom they serve. If we own Him while the storm whistles round us, +the worst of it is past, and though we have to struggle amid its waves, +He will take care of us, and anything is possible rather than that we +should be lost in them. + +The miracle of rescue is the last point. Jonah's repentance saved his +life. Tossed overboard impenitent he would have been drowned. So Israel +was taught that the break-up of their national life would not be their +destruction if they turned to the Lord in their calamity. The wider +lesson of the means of making chastisement into blessing, and securing a +way of escape--namely, by owning the justice of the stroke, and +returning to duty--is meant for us all. He who sends the storm watches +its effect on us, and will not let His repentant servants be utterly +overwhelmed. That is a better use to make of the story than to discuss +whether any kind of known Mediterranean fish could swallow a man. If we +believe in miracles, the question need not trouble us. And miracle there +must be, not only in the coincidence of the fish and the Prophet being +in the same bit of sea at the same moment, but in his living for so long +in his strange 'ark of safety.' + +The ever-present providence of God, the possible safety of the nation, +even when in captivity, the preservation of every servant of God who +turns to the Lord in his chastisement, the exhibition of penitence as +the way of deliverance, are the purposes for which the miracle was +wrought and told. Flippant sarcasms are cheap. A devout insight yields a +worthy meaning. Jesus Christ employed this incident as a symbol of His +Death and Resurrection. That use of it seems hard to reconcile with any +view but that the story is true. But it does not seem necessary to +suppose that our Lord regarded it as an intended type, or to seek to +find in Jonah's history further typical prophecy of Him. The salient +point of comparison is simply the three days' entombment; and it is +rather an illustrative analogy than an intentional prophecy. The +subsequent action of the Prophet in Nineveh, and the effect of it, were +true types of the preaching of the Gospel by the risen Lord, through His +servants, to the Gentiles, and of their hearing the Word. But it +requires considerable violence in manipulation to force the bestowing +of Jonah, for safety and escape from death, in the fish's maw, into a +proper prophecy of the transcendent fact of the Resurrection. + + +'LYING VANITIES' + + 'They that observe lying vanities forsake their own mercy.'--JONAH + 11. 8. + +Jonah's refusal to obey the divine command to go to Nineveh and cry +against it is best taken, not as prosaic history, but as a poetical +representation of Israel's failure to obey the divine call of witnessing +for God. In like manner, his being cast into the sea and swallowed by +the great fish, is a poetic reproduction, for homiletical purposes, of +Israel's sufferings at the hands of the heathen whom it had failed to +warn. The song which is put into Jonah's mouth when in the fish's belly, +of which our text is a fragment, represents the result on the part of +the nation of these hard experiences. 'Lying vanities' mean idols, and +'their own mercy' means God. The text is a brief, pregnant utterance of +the great truth which had been forced home to Israel by sufferings and +exile, that to turn from Jehovah to false gods was to turn from the sure +source of tender care to lies and emptiness. That is but one case of the +wider truth that an ungodly life is the acme of stupidity, a tragic +mistake, as well as a great sin. + +In confirmation and enforcement of our text we may consider:-- + +I. The illusory vanity of the objects pursued. + +The Old Testament tone of reference to idols is one of bitter contempt. +Its rigid monotheism was intensified and embittered by the universal +prevalence of idolatry; and there is a certain hardness in its tone in +reference to the gods of the nations round about, which has little room +for pity, and finds expression in such names as those of our +text--'vanities,' 'lies,' 'nothingness,' and the like. To the Jew, +encompassed on all sides by idol-worshippers, the alternative was +vehement indignation or entire surrender. The Mohammedan in British +India exhibits much the same attitude to Vishnu and Siva as the Jew did +to Baal and Ashtoreth. It is easy to be tolerant of dead gods, but it +becomes treason to Jehovah to parley with them when they are alive. + +But the point which we desire to insist upon here is somewhat wider than +the vanity of idols. It is the emptiness of all objects of human pursuit +apart from God. These last three words need to be made very prominent; +for in itself 'every creature of God is good,' and the emptiness does +not inhere in themselves, but first appears when they are set in His +place. He, and only He, can, and does, satisfy the whole nature--is +authority for the will, peace for the conscience, love for the heart, +light for the understanding, rest for all seeking. He, and He alone, can +fill the past with the light in which is no regret, the present with a +satisfaction rounded and complete, the future with a hope certain as +experience, to which we shall ever approximate, and which we can never +exhaust and outgrow. Any, or all, the other objects of human endeavour +may be won, and yet we may be miserable. The inadequacy of all these +ought to be pressed home upon us more than it is, not only by their +limitations whilst they last, but by the transiency of them all. 'The +fashion of this world passeth away,' as the Apostle John puts it, in a +forcible expression which likens all this frame of things to a panorama +being unwound from one roller and on to another. The painted screen is +but paint at the best, and is in perpetual motion, which is not arrested +by the vain clutches of hands that would fain stop the irresistible and +tragic gliding past. + +These vanities are 'lying vanities.' There is only one aim of life +which, being pursued and attained, fulfils the promises by which it drew +man after it. It is a bald commonplace, reiterated not only by preachers +but by moralists of every kind, and confirmed by universal experience, +that a hope fulfilled is a hope disappointed. There is only one thing +more tragic than a life which has failed in its aims, and it is a life +which has perfectly succeeded in them, and has found that what promised +to be bread turns to ashes. The word of promise may be kept to the ear, +but is always broken to the hope. Many a millionaire loses the power to +enjoy his millions by the very process by which he gains them. The old +Jewish thinker was wise not only in taking as the summing up of all +worldly pursuits the sad sentence, 'All is vanity,' but in putting it +into the lips of a king who had won all he sought. The sorceress draws +us within her charmed circle by lying words and illusory charms, and +when she has so secured the captives, her mask is thrown off and her +native hideousness displayed. + +II. The hard service which lying vanities require. + +The phrase in our text is a quotation, slightly altered, from Psalm +xxxi. 6: 'I hate them that regard lying vanities; but I trust in the +Lord.' The alteration in the form of the verb as it occurs in Jonah +expresses the intensity of regard, and gives the picture of watching +with anxious solicitude, as the eyes of a servant turned to his master, +or those of a dog to its owner. The world is a very hard master, and +requires from its servants the concentration of thought, heart, and +effort. We need only recall the thousand sermons devoted to the +enforcement of 'the gospel of getting on,' which prosperous worldlings +are continually preaching. A chorus of voices on every side of us is +dinning into the ears of every young man and woman the necessity for +success in life's struggle of taking for a motto, 'This one thing I do.' +How many a man is there, who in the race after wealth or fame, has flung +away aspirations, visions of noble, truthful love to life, and a hundred +other precious things? Browning tells a hideous story of a mother +flinging, one after another, her infants to the wolves as she urged her +sledge over the snowy plain. No less hideous, and still more maiming, +are the surrenders that men make when once their hearts have been filled +with the foolish ambitions of worldly success. Let us fix it in our +minds, that nothing that time and sense can give is worth the price that +it exacts. + + 'It is only heaven that can be had for the asking; + It is only God that is given away.' + +All sin is slavery. Its yoke presses painfully on the neck, and its +burden is heavy indeed, and the rest which it promises never comes. + +III. The self-inflicted loss. + +Our text suggests that there are two ways by which we may learn the +folly of a godless life--One, the consideration of what it turns to, the +other, the thought of what it departs from. + +'They forsake their own Mercy,' that is God. The phrase is here almost +equivalent to 'His name'; and it carries the blessed thought that He has +entered into relations with every soul, so that each man of us--even if +he have turned to 'lying vanities'--can still call Him, 'my own Mercy.' +He is ours; more our own than is anything without us. He is ours, +because we are made for Him, and He is all for us. He is ours by His +love, and by His gift of Himself in the Son of His love. He is ours; if +we take Him for ours by an inward communication of Himself to us in the +innermost depths of our being. He becomes 'the Master-Light of all our +seeing.' In the mysterious inwardness of mutual possession, the soul +which has given itself to God and possesses Him, has not only communion, +but may even venture to claim as its own the deeper and more mysterious +_union_ with God. Those multiform mercies, 'which endure for ever,' and +speed on their manifold errands into every remotest region of His +universe, gather themselves together, as the diffused lights of some +nebulæ concentrate themselves into a sun. That sun, like the star that +led the wise men from the East, and finally stood over one poor house in +an obscure village, will shine lambent above, and will pass into, the +humblest heart that opens for it. They who can say, as we all can if we +will, 'My God,' can never want. + +And if we turn to the alternative in our text, and consider who they are +to whom we turn when we turn from God, there should be nothing more +needed to drive home the wholesome conviction of the folly of the +wisest, who deliberately prefers shadow to substance, lying vanities to +the one true and only reality. I beseech you to take that which is your +own, and which no man can take from you. Weigh in the scales of +conscience, and in the light of the deepest necessities of your nature, +the whole pile of those emptinesses that have been telling you lies ever +since you listened to them; and place in the other scale the mercy of +God, and the Christ who brings it to you, and decide which is the +weightier, and which it becomes you to take for your pattern for ever. + + +THREEFOLD REPENTANCE + + 'And the word of the Lord came unto Jonah the second time, saying, + 2. Arise, go unto Nineveh, that great city, and preach unto it the + preaching that I bid thee. 3. So Jonah arose, and went unto + Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was an + exceeding great city of three days' journey. 4. And Jonah began to + enter into the city a day's journey, and he cried, and said, Yet + forty days, and Nineveh shall he overthrown. 5. So the people of + Ninoveh believed God, and proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, + from the greatest of them even to the least of them. 6. For word + came unto the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, and he + laid his robe from him, and covered him with sackcloth, and sat in + ashes. 7. And he caused it to be proclaimed and published through + Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying, Let + neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything; let them not + feed, nor drink water: 8. But let man and beast be covered with + sackcloth, and cry mightily unto God; yea, let them turn every one + from his evil way, and from the violence that is in their hands. 9. + Who can tell if God will turn and repent, and turn away from His + fierce anger, that we perish not? 10. And God saw their works, that + they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil, that + He had said that He would do unto them; and He did it not.'--JONAH + iii. 1-10. + +This passage falls into three parts: Jonah's renewed commission and new +obedience (vs. 1-4), the repentance of Nineveh (vs. 5-9), and the +acceptance thereof by God (ver. 10). We might almost call these three +the repentance of Jonah, of Nineveh, and of God. The evident intention +of the narrative is to parallel the Ninevites turning from their sins, +and God's turning from His anger and purpose of destruction; and if the +word 'repentance' is not applied to Jonah, his conduct sufficiently +shows the thing. + +I. Note the renewed charge to the penitent Prophet, and his new +eagerness to fulfil it. His deliverance and second commission are put as +if all but simultaneous, and his obedience was swift and glad. Jonah did +not venture to take for granted that the charge which he had shirked was +still continued to him. If God commands to take the trumpet, and we +refuse, we dare not assume that we shall still be honoured with the +delivery of the message. The punishment of dumb lips is often dumbness. +Opportunities of service, slothfully or faintheartedly neglected, are +often withdrawn. We can fancy how Jonah, brought back to the better mind +which breathes in his psalm, longed to be honoured by the trust of +preaching once more, and how rapturously his spirit would address itself +to the task. Duties once unwelcome become sweet when we have passed +through the experience of the misery that comes from neglecting them. It +is God's mercy that gives us the opportunity of effacing past +disobedience by new alacrity. + +The second charge is possibly distinguishable from the first as being +less precise. It may be that the exact nature of 'the preaching that I +bid thee' was not told Jonah till he had to open his mouth in Nineveh; +but, more probably, the second charge was identical with the first. + +The word rendered 'preach' is instructive. It means 'to cry' and +suggests the manner befitting those who bear God's message. They should +sound it out loudly, plainly, urgently, with earnestness and marks of +emotion in their voice. Languid whispers will not wake sleepers. Unless +the messenger is manifestly in earnest, the message will fall flat. Not +with bated breath, as if ashamed of it; nor with hesitation, as if not +quite sure of it; nor with coldness, as if it were of little +urgency,--is God's Word to be pealed in men's ears. The preacher is a +crier. The substance of his message, too, is set forth. 'The preaching +which I bid thee'--not his own imaginations, nor any fine things of his +own spinning. Suppose Jonah had entertained the Ninevites with +dissertations on the evidences of his prophetic authority, or submitted +for their consideration a few thoughts tending to show the agreement of +his message with their current opinions in religion, or an argument for +the existence of a retributive Governor of the world, he would not have +shaken the city. The less the Prophet shows himself, the stronger his +influence. The more simply he repeats the stern, plain, short message, +the more likely it is to impress. God's Word, faithfully set forth, will +prove itself. The preacher or teacher of this day has substantially the +same charge as Jonah had; and the more he suppresses himself, and +becomes but a voice through which God speaks, the better for himself, +his hearers, and his work. + +Nineveh, that great aggregate of cities, was full, as Eastern cities +are, of open spaces, and might well be a three days' journey in +circumference. What a task for that solitary stranger to thunder out his +loud cry among all these crowds! But he had learned to do what he was +bid; and without wasting a moment, he 'began to enter into the city a +day's journey,' and, no doubt, did not wait till the end of the day to +proclaim his message. Let us learn that there is an element of +threatening in God's most merciful message, and that the appeal to +terror and to the desire for self-preservation is part of the way to +preach the Gospel. Plain warnings of coming evil may be spoken tenderly, +and reveal love as truly as the most soothing words. The warning comes +in time. 'Forty days' of grace are granted. The gospel warns us in time +enough for escape. It warns us because God loves; and they are as +untrue messengers of His love as of His justice who slur over the +declaration of His wrath. + +II. Note the repentance of Nineveh (vs. 5-9). The impression made by +Jonah's terrible cry is perfectly credible and natural in the excitable +population of an Eastern city, in which even now any appeal to terror, +especially if associated with religious and prophetic claims, easily +sets the whole in a frenzy. Think of the grim figure of this foreign +man, with his piercing voice and half-intelligible speech, dropped from +the clouds as it were, and stalking through Nineveh, pealing out his +confident message, like that gaunt fanatic who walked Jerusalem in its +last agony, crying, 'Woe! woe unto the bloody city!' or that other, who, +with flaming fire on his head and madness in his eyes, affrighted London +in the plague. No wonder that alarm was kindled, and, being kindled, +spread like wildfire. Apparently the movement was first among the +people, who began to fast before the news penetrated to the seclusion of +the palace. But the contagion reached the king, and the popular +excitement was endorsed and fanned by a royal decree. The specified +tokens of repentance are those of ordinary mourning, such as were common +all over the East, with only the strange addition, which smacks of +heathen ideas, that the animals were made sharers in them. + +There is great significance in that 'believed God' (ver. 5). The +foundation of all true repentance is crediting God's word of +threatening, and therefore realising the danger, as well as the +disobedience, of our sin. We shall be wise if we pass by the human +instrument, and hear God speaking through the Prophet. Never mind about +Jonah, believe God. + +We learn from the Ninevites what is true repentance They brought no +sacrifices or offerings, but sorrow, self-abasement, and amendment. The +characteristic sin of a great military power would be 'violence,' and +that is the specific evil from which they vow to turn. The loftiest +lesson which prophets found Israel so slow to learn, 'A broken and a +contrite heart Thou wilt not despise,' was learned by these heathens. We +need it no less. Nineveh repented on a peradventure that their +repentance might avail. How pathetic that 'Who can tell?' (ver. 9) is! +We _know_ what they _hoped_. Their doubt might give fervour to their +cries, but our certainty should give deeper earnestness and confidence +to ours. + +The deepest meaning of the whole narrative is set forth in our Lord's +use of it, when He holds up the men of Nineveh as a condemnatory +instance to the hardened consciences of His hearers. Probably the very +purpose of the book was to show Israel that the despised and yet dreaded +heathen were more susceptible to the voice of God than they were: 'I +will provoke you to jealousy by them which are no people.' The story was +a smiting blow to the proud exclusiveness and self-complacent contempt +of prophetic warnings, which marked the entire history of God's people. +As Ezekiel was told: 'Thou are not sent ... to many peoples of a strange +speech and of an hard language.... Surely, if I sent thee to them, they +would hearken unto thee. But the house of Israel will not hearken unto +thee.' It is ever true that long familiarity with the solemn thoughts of +God's judgment and punishment of sin abates their impression on us. Our +Puritan forefathers used to talk about 'gospel-hardened sinners,' and +there are many such among us. The man who lives by Niagara does not +hear its roar as a stranger does. The men of Nineveh will rise in the +judgment with other generations than that which was 'this generation' in +Christ's time; and that which is 'this generation' to-day will, in many +of its members, be condemned by them. + +But the wave of feeling soon retired, and there is no reason to believe +that more than a transient impression was made. It does not seem certain +that the Ninevites knew what 'God' they hoped to appease. Probably their +pantheon was undisturbed, and their repentance lasted no longer than +their fear. Transient repentance leaves the heart harder than before, as +half-melted ice freezes again more dense. Let us beware of frost on the +back of a thaw. 'Repentance which is repented of' is worse than none. + +III. We note the repentance of God (ver. 10). Mark the recurrence of the +word 'turn,' employed in verses 8, 9, and 10 in reference to men and to +God. Mark the bold use of the word 'repent,' applied to God, which, +though it be not applied to the Ninevites in the previous verses, is +implied in every line of them. The same expression is found in Exodus +xxxii. 14, which may be taken as the classical passage warranting its +use. The great truth involved is one that is too often lost sight of in +dealing with prophecy; namely, that all God's promises and threatenings +are conditional. Jeremiah learned that lesson in the house of the +potter, and we need to keep it well in mind. God threatens, precisely in +order that He may not have to perform His threatenings. Jonah was sent +to Nineveh to cry, 'Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown,' in +order that it might not be overthrown. What would have been the use of +proclaiming the decree, if it had been irreversible? There is an +implied 'if' in all God's words. 'Except ye repent' underlies the most +absolute threatenings of evil. 'If we hold fast the beginning of our +confidence firm unto the end,' is presupposed in the brightest and +broadest promises of good. + +The word 'repent' is denied and affirmed to have application to God. He +is not 'a son of man, that He should repent,' inasmuch as His +immutability and steadfast purpose know no variableness. But just +because they cannot change, and He must ever be against them that do +evil, and ever bless them that turn to Him with trust, therefore He +changes His dealings with us according to our relation to Him, and +because He cannot repent, or be other than He was and is, 'repents of +the evil that He had said that He would do' unto sinners when they +repent of the evil that they have done against Him, inasmuch as He +leaves His threatening unfulfilled, and 'does it not.' + +So we might almost say that the purpose of this book of Jonah is to +teach the possibility and efficacy of repentance, and to show how the +penitent man, heathen or Jew, ever finds in God changed dealings +corresponding to his changed heart. The widest charity, the humbling +lesson for people brought up in the blaze of revelation, that dwellers +in the twilight or in the darkness are dear to God and may be more +susceptible of divine impressions than ourselves, the rebuke of all +pluming ourselves on our privileges, the boundlessness of God's mercy, +are among the other lessons of this strange book; but none of them is +more precious than its truly evangelic teaching of the blessedness of +true penitence, whether exemplified in the renegade Prophet returning +to his high mission, or the fierce Ninevites humbled and repentant, and +finding mercy from the God of the whole earth. + + * * * * * + + +MICAH + + +IS THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD STRAITENED? + + 'O thou that art named the house of Jacob, is the Spirit of the + Lord straitened? Are these His doings?'--MICAH ii. 7. + +The greater part of so-called Christendom is to-day[1] celebrating the +gift of a Divine Spirit to the Church; but it may well be asked whether +the religious condition of so-called Christendom is not a sad satire +upon Pentecost. There seems a woful contrast, very perplexing to faith, +between the bright promise at the beginning and the history of the +development in the future. How few of those who share in to-day's +services have any personal experience of such a gift! How many seem to +think that that old story is only the record of a past event, a +transient miracle which has no kind of relation to the experience of the +Christians of this day! There were a handful of believers in one of the +towns of Asia Minor, to whom an Apostle came, and was so startled at +their condition that he put to them in wonder the question that might +well be put to multitudes of so-called Christians amongst us: 'Did you +receive the Holy Ghost when you believed?' And their answer is only too +true a transcript of the experience of large masses of people who call +themselves Christians: 'We have not so much as heard whether there be +any Holy Ghost.' + +[1] Whitsunday + +I desire, then, dear brethren, to avail myself of this day's +associations in order to press upon your consciences and upon my own +some considerations naturally suggested by them, and which find voice in +those two indignant questions of the old Prophet:--'Is the Spirit of the +Lord straitened?' 'Are these'--the phenomena of existing popular +Christianity--'are these His doings?' And if we are brought sharp up +against the consciousness of a dreadful contrast, it may do us good to +ask what is the explanation of so cloudy a day following a morning so +bright. + +I. First, then, I have to ask you to think with me of the promise of the +Pentecost. + +What did it declare and hold forth for the faith of the Church? I need +not dwell at any length upon this point. The facts are familiar to you, +and the inferences drawn from them are commonplace and known to us all. +But let me just enumerate them as briefly as may be. + +'Suddenly there came a sound, as of the rushing of a mighty wind, and it +filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared cloven +tongues as of fire, and it sat upon each of them; and they were all +filled with the Holy Ghost.' + +What lay in that? First, the promise of a Divine Spirit by symbols which +express some, at all events, of the characteristics and wonderfulness of +His work. The 'rushing of a mighty wind' spoke of a power which varies +in its manifestations from the gentlest breath that scarce moves the +leaves on the summer trees to the wildest blast that casts down all +which stands in its way. + +The natural symbolism of the wind, to popular apprehension the least +material of all material forces, and of which the connection with the +immaterial part of a man's personality has been expressed in all +languages, points to a divine, to an immaterial, to a mighty, to a +life-giving power which is free to blow whither it listeth, and of which +men can mark the effects, though they are all ignorant of the force +itself. + +The other symbol of the fiery tongues which parted and sat upon each of +them speaks in like manner of the divine influence, not as destructive, +but full of quick, rejoicing energy and life, the power to transform and +to purify. Whithersoever the fire comes, it changes all things into its +own substance. Whithersoever the fire comes, there the ruddy spires +shoot upwards towards the heavens. Whithersoever the fire comes, there +all bonds and fetters are melted and consumed. And so this fire +transforms, purifies, ennobles, quickens, sets free; and where the fiery +Spirit is, there are energy, swift life, rejoicing activity, +transforming and transmuting power which changes the recipient of the +flame into flame himself. + +Then, still further, in the fact of Pentecost there is the promise of a +Divine Spirit which is to influence all the moral side of humanity. +This is the great and glorious distinction between the Christian +doctrine of inspiration and all others which have, in heathen lands, +partially reached similar conceptions--that the Gospel of Jesus Christ +has laid emphasis upon the _Holy_ Spirit, and has declared that holiness +of heart is the touchstone and test of all claims of divine inspiration. +Gifts are much, graces are more. An inspiration which makes wise is to +be coveted, an inspiration which makes holy is transcendently better. +There we find the safeguard against all the fanaticisms which have +sometimes invaded the Christian Church, namely, in the thought that the +Spirit which dwells in men, and makes them free from the obligations of +outward law and cold morality, is a Spirit that works a deeper holiness +than law dreamed, and a more spontaneous and glad conformity to all +things that are fair and good, than any legislation and outward +commandment could ever enforce. The Spirit that came at Pentecost is not +merely a Spirit of rushing might and of swift-flaming energy, but it is +a Spirit of holiness, whose most blessed and intimate work is the +production in us of all homely virtues and sweet, unpretending +goodnesses which can adorn and gladden humanity. + +Still further, the Pentecost carried in it the promise and prophecy of a +Spirit granted to all the Church. 'They were all filled with the Holy +Ghost.' This is the true democracy of Christianity, that its very basis +is laid in the thought that every member of the body is equally close to +the Head, and equally recipient of the life. There is none now who has a +Spirit which others do not possess. The ancient aspiration of the Jewish +law-giver: 'Would God that all the Lord's people were prophets, and that +the Lord would put His Spirit upon them,' is fulfilled in the +experience of Pentecost; and the handmaiden and the children, as well as +the old men and the servants, receive of that universal gift. Therefore +sacerdotal claims, special functions, privileged classes, are alien to +the spirit of Christianity, and blasphemies against the inspiring God. +If 'one is your Master, all ye are brethren,' and if we have all been +made to drink into one Spirit, then no longer hath any man dominion over +our faith nor power to intervene and to intercede with God for us. + +And still further, the promise of this early history was that of a +Spirit which should fill the whole nature of the men to whom He was +granted; filling--in the measure, of course, of their receptivity--them +as the great sea does all the creeks and indentations along the shore. +The deeper the creek, the deeper the water in it; the further inland it +runs, the further will the refreshing tide penetrate the bosom of the +continent. And so each man, according to his character, stature, +circumstances, and all the varying conditions which determine his power +of receptivity, will receive a varying measure of that gift. Yet it is +meant that all shall be full. The little vessel, the tiny cup, as well +as the great cistern and the enormous vat, each contains according to +its capacity. And if all are filled, then this quick Spirit must have +the power to influence all the provinces of human nature, must touch the +moral, must touch the spiritual. The temporary manifestations and +extraordinary signs of His power may well drop away as the flower drops +when the fruit has set. The operations of the Divine Spirit are to be +felt thrilling through all the nature, and every part of the man's being +is to be recipient of the power. Just as when you take a candle and +plunge it into a jar of oxygen it blazes up, so my poor human nature +immersed in that Divine Spirit, baptized in the Holy Ghost, shall flame +in all its parts into unsuspected and hitherto inexperienced brightness. +Such are the elements of the promise of Pentecost. + +II. And now, in the next place, look at the apparent failure of the +promise. + +'Is the Spirit of the Lord straitened?' Look at Christendom. Look at all +the churches. Look at yourselves. Will any one say that the religious +condition of any body of professed believers at this moment corresponds +to Pentecost? Is not the gap so wide that to fill it up seems almost +impossible? Is not the stained and imperfect fulfilment a miserable +satire upon the promise? 'If the Lord be with us,' said one of the +heroes of ancient Israel, 'wherefore is all this come upon us?' I am +sure that we may say the same. If the Lord be with us, what is the +meaning of the state of things which we see around us, and must +recognise in ourselves? Do any existing churches present the final +perfect form of Christianity as embodied in a society? Would not the +best thing that could happen, and the thing that will have to happen +some day, be the disintegration of the existing organisations in order +to build up a more perfect habitation of God through the Spirit? I do +not wish to exaggerate. God knows there is no need for exaggerating. The +plain, unvarnished story, without any pessimistic picking out of the +black bits and forgetting ail the light ones, is bad enough. + +Take three points on which I do not dwell and apply them to yourselves, +dear brethren, and estimate by them the condition of things around us. +First, say whether the ordinary tenor of our own religious life looks +as if we had that Divine Spirit in us which transforms everything into +its own beauty, and makes men, through all the regions of their nature, +holy and pure. Then ask yourselves the question whether the standard of +devotion and consecration in any church witnesses of the presence of a +Divine Spirit. A little handful of people, the best of them very +partially touched with the life of God, and very imperfectly consecrated +to His service, surrounded by a great mass about whom we can scarcely, +in the judgment of charity, say even so much, that is the description of +most of our congregations. 'Are these His doings?' Surely somebody +else's than His. + +Take another question. Do the relations of modern Christians and their +churches to one another attest the presence of a unifying Spirit? 'We +have all been made to drink into one Spirit,' said Paul. Alas, alas! +does it seem as if we had? Look round professing Christendom, look at +the rivalries and the jealousies between two chapels in adjoining +streets. Look at the gulfs between Christian men who differ only on some +comparative trifle of organisation and polity, and say if such things +correspond to the Pentecostal promise of one Spirit which is to make all +the members into one body? 'Is the Spirit of the Lord straitened? Are +these _His_ doings?' + +Take another branch of evidence. Look at the comparative impotence of +the Church in its conflict with the growing worldliness of the world. I +do not forget how much is being done all about us to-day, and how still +Christ's Gospel is winning triumphs, but I do not suppose that any man +can look thoughtfully and dispassionately on the condition, say, for +instance, of Manchester, or of any of our great towns, and mark how the +populace knows nothing and cares nothing about us and our Christianity, +and never comes into our places of worship, and has no share in our +hopes any more than if they lived in Central Africa, and that after +eighteen hundred years of nominal Christianity, without feeling that +some malign influence has arrested the leaping growth of the early +Church, and that somehow or other that lava stream, if I might so call +it, which poured hot from the heart of God in the old days has had its +flow checked, and over its burning bed there has spread a black and +wrinkled crust, whatsoever lingering heat there may still be at the +centre. 'If God be with us, why has all this come upon us?' + +III. And now, lastly, let us think for a moment of the solution of the +contradiction. + +The indignant questions of my text may be taken, with a little possibly +permissible violence, as expressing and dismissing some untrue +explanations. One explanation that sometimes is urged is, the Spirit of +the Lord _is_ straitened. That explanation takes two forms. Sometimes +you hear people saying, 'Christianity is effete. We have to go now to +fresh fountains of inspiration, and turn away from these broken cisterns +that can hold no water.' I am not going to argue that question. I do not +think for my part that Christianity will be effete until the world has +got up to it and beyond it in its practice, and it will be a good while +before that happens. Christianity will not be worn out until men have +copied and reduced to practice the example of Jesus Christ, and they +have not quite got that length yet. No shadow of a fear that the gospel +has lost its power, or that God's Spirit has become weak, should be +permitted to creep over our hearts. The promise is, 'I will send +another Comforter, and He shall abide with you _for ever_.' It is a +permanent gift that was given to the Church on that day. We have to +distinguish in the story between the symbols, the gift, and the +consequences of the gift. The first and the last are transient, the +second is permanent. The symbols were transient. The people who came +running together saw no tongues of fire. The consequences were +transient. The tongues and the miraculous utterances were but for a +time. The results vary according to the circumstances; but the central +thing, the gift itself, is an irrevocable gift, and once bestowed is +ever with the Church to all generations. + +Another form of the explanation is the theory that God in His +sovereignty is pleased to withhold His Spirit for reasons which we +cannot trace. But it is not true that the gift once given varies in the +degree in which it is continued. There is always the same flow from God. +There are ebbs and flows in the spiritual power of the Church. Yes! and +the tide runs out of your harbours. Is there any less water in the sea +because it does? So the gift may ebb away from a man, from a community, +from an epoch, not because God's manifestation and bestowment fluctuate, +but because our receptivity changes. So we dismiss, and are bound to +dismiss, if we are Christians, the unbelieving explanation, 'The Spirit +of the Lord is straitened,' and not to sit with our hands folded, as if +an inscrutable sovereignty, with which we have nothing to do, sometimes +sent more and sometimes less of His spiritual gifts upon a waiting +Church. It is not so. 'With Him is no variableness.' The gifts of God +are without repentance; and the Spirit that was given once, according to +the Master's own word already quoted, is given that He may abide with us +for ever. + +Therefore we have to come back to this, which is the point to which I +seek to bring you and myself, in lowly penitence and contrite +acknowledgment--that it is all our own fault and the result of evils in +ourselves that may be remedied, that we have so little of that divine +gift; and that if the churches of this country and of this day seem to +be cursed and blasted in so much of their fruitless operations and +formal worship, it is the fault of the churches, and not of the Lord of +the churches. The stream that poured forth from the throne of God has +not lost itself in the sands, nor is it shrunken in its volume. The fire +that was kindled on Pentecost has not died down into grey ashes. The +rushing of the mighty wind that woke on that morning has not calmed and +stilled itself into the stagnancy and suffocating breathlessness of +midday heat. The same fulness of the Spirit which filled the believers +on that day is available for us all. If, like that waiting Church of +old, we abide in prayer and supplication, the gift will be given to us +too, and we may repeat and reproduce, if not the miracles which we do +not need, yet the necessary inspiration of the highest and the noblest +days and saints in the history of the Church. 'If ye, being evil, know +how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your +Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him?' 'Ask and ye +shall receive,' and be filled 'with the Holy Ghost and with power.' + + +CHRIST THE BREAKER + + 'The Breaker is come up before them: they have broken up, and have + passed through the gate, and are gone out by it: and their king + shall pass before them, and the Lord on the head of them.'--MICAH + ii. 13. + +Micah was contemporary with Isaiah. The two prophets stand, to a large +extent, on the same level of prophetic knowledge. Characteristic of both +of them is the increasing clearness of the figure of the personal +Messiah, and the increasing fulness of detail with which His functions +are described. Characteristic of both of them is the presentation which +we find in this text of that Messiah's work as being the gathering +together of the scattered captive people and the leading them back in +triumph into the blessed land. + +Such is the image which underlies my text. Of course I have nothing to +do now with questions as to any narrower and nearer historical +fulfilment, because I believe that all these Messianic prophecies which +were susceptible of, and many of which obtained, a historical and +approximate fulfilment in the restoration of the Jews from the +Babylonish captivity, have a higher and broader and more real +accomplishment in that great deliverance wrought by Jesus Christ, of +which all these earlier and partial and outward manifestations were +themselves prophecies and shadows. + +So I make no apology for taking the words before us as having their only +real accomplishment in the office and working of Jesus Christ. He is +'the Breaker which is come up before us.' He it is that has broken out +the path on which we may travel, and in whom, in a manner which the +Prophet dreamed not of, 'the Lord is at the head' of us, and our King +goes before us. So that my object is simply to take that great name, the +Breaker, and to see the manifold ways in which in Scripture it is +applied to the various work of Jesus Christ in our redemption. + +I. I follow entirely the lead of corresponding passages in other +portions of Scripture, and to begin with, I ask you to think of that +great work of our Divine Redeemer by which He has broken for the +captives the prison-house of their bondage. + +The image that is here before us is either that of some foreign land in +which the scattered exiles were bound in iron captivity, or more +probably some dark and gloomy prison, with high walls, massive gates, +and barred windows, wherein they were held; and to them sitting hopeless +in the shadow of death, and bound in affliction and iron, there comes +one mysterious figure whom the Prophet could not describe more +particularly, and at His coming the gates flew apart, and the chains +dropped from their hands; and the captives had heart put into them, and +gathering themselves together into a triumphant band, they went out with +songs and everlasting joy upon their heads; freemen, and on the march to +the home of their fathers. 'The Breaker is gone up before them; they +have broken, and passed through the gate, and are gone out by it.' + +And is not that our condition? Many of us know not the bondage in which +we are held. We are held in it all the more really and sadly because we +conceit ourselves to be free. Those poor, light-hearted people in the +dreadful days of the French Revolution, used to keep up some ghastly +mockery of society and cheerfulness in their prisons; and festooned the +bars with flowers, and made believe to be carrying on their life freely +as they used to do; but for all that, day after day the tumbrils came to +the gates, and morning after morning the jailer stood at the door of the +dungeons with the fatal list in his hand, and one after another of the +triflers was dragged away to death. And so men and women are living a +life which they fancy is free, and all the while they are in bondage, +held in a prison-house. You, my brother! are chained by guilt; you are +chained by sin, you are chained by the habit of evil with a strength of +which you never know till you try to shake it off. + +And there comes to each of us a mighty Deliverer, who breaks the gates +of brass, and who cuts the bars of iron in sunder. Christ comes to us. +By His death He has borne away the guilt; by His living Spirit He will +bear away the dominion of sin from our hearts; and if the Son will make +us free we shall be free indeed. Oh! ponder that deep truth, I pray you, +which the Lord Christ has spoken in words that carry conviction in their +very simplicity to every conscience: 'He that committeth sin is the +slave of sin.' And as you feel sometimes--and you all feel +sometimes--the catch of the fetter on your wrists when you would fain +stretch out your hands to good, listen as to a true gospel to this old +word which, in its picturesque imagery, carries a truth that should be +life. To us all 'the Breaker is gone up before us,' the prison gates are +open. Follow His steps, and take the freedom which He gives; and be sure +that you 'stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made you free, +and be not entangled again with any yoke of bondage.' + +Men and women! Some of you are the slaves of your own lusts. Some of you +are the slaves of the world's maxims. Some of you are held in bondage by +some habit that you abominate, but cannot get away from. Here is freedom +for you. The dark walls of the prison are round us all. 'The Scripture +hath shut up all in sin, that He might have mercy upon all.' Blessed be +His name! As the angel came to the sleeping Apostle, and to his light +touch the iron gates swung obedient on their hinges, and Roman soldiers +who ought to have watched their prey were lulled to sleep, and fetters +that held the limbs dropped as if melted; so, silently, in His meek and +merciful strength, the Christ comes to us all, and the iron gate which +leadeth out into freedom opens of its own accord at His touch, and the +fetters fall from our limbs, and we go forth free men. 'The Breaker is +gone up before us.' + +II. Again, take another application of this same figure found in +Scripture, which sets forth Jesus Christ as being the Opener of the path +to God. + +'I am the Way and the Truth and the Life, no man cometh to the Father +but by Me,' said He. And again, 'By a new and living way which He hath +opened for us through the veil' (that is to say, His flesh), we can have +free access 'with confidence by the faith of Him.' That is to say, if we +rightly understand our natural condition, it is not only one of bondage +to evil, but it is one of separation from God. Parts of the divine +character are always beautiful and sweet to every human heart when it +thinks about them. Parts of the divine character stand frowning before a +man who knows himself for what he is; and conscience tells us that +between God and us there is a mountain of impediment piled up by our own +evil. To us Christ comes, the Path-finder and the Path; the Pioneer who +breaks the way for us through all the hindrances, and leads us up to the +presence of God. + +For we do not know God as He is except by Jesus Christ. We see +fragments, and often distorted fragments, of the divine nature and +character apart from Jesus, but the real divine nature as it is, and as +it is in its relation to me, a sinner, is only made known to me in the +face of Jesus Christ. When we see Him we see God; Christ's tears are +God's pity, Christ's gentleness is God's meekness, Christ's tender, +drawing love is not only a revelation of a most pure and sweet Brother's +heart, but a manifestation through that Brother's heart of the deepest +depths of the divine nature. Christ is the heart of God. Apart from Him, +we come to the God of our own consciences and we tremble; we come to the +God of our own fancies and we presume; we come to the God dimly guessed +at and pieced together from out of the hints and indications of His +works, and He is little more than a dead name to us. Apart from Christ +we come to a peradventure which we call a God; a shadow through which +you can see the stars shining. But we know the Father when we believe in +Christ. And so all the clouds rising from our own hearts and consciences +and fancies and misconceptions, which we have piled together between God +and ourselves, Christ clears away; and thus He opens the path to God. + +And He opens it in another way too, on which I cannot dwell. It is only +the God manifest in Jesus Christ that draws men's hearts to Him. The +attractive power of the divine nature is ail in Him who has said, 'I, if +I be lifted up, will draw all men unto Me.' The God whom men know, or +think they know, outside of the revelation of divinity in Jesus Christ, +is a God before whom they sometimes tremble, who is far more often their +terror than their love, who is their 'ghastliest doubt' still more +frequently than He is their 'dearest faith.' But the God that is in +Christ woos and wins men to Him, and from His great sweetness there +streams out, as it were, a magnetic influence that draws hearts to Him. +The God that is in Christ is the only God that humanity ever loved. +Other gods they may have worshipped with cowering terror and with +far-off lip reverence, but this God has a heart, and wins hearts because +He has. So Christ opens the way to Him. + +And still further, in a yet higher fashion, that Saviour is the +Path-breaker to the Divine Presence, in that He not only makes God known +to us, and not only makes Him so known to us as to draw us to Him, but +in that likewise He, by the fact of His Cross and passion, has borne and +borne away the impediments of our own sin and transgression which rise +for ever between us and Him, unless He shall sweep them out of the way. +He has made 'the rough places plain and the crooked things straight'; +levelled the mountains and raised the valleys, and cast up across all +the wilderness of the world a highway along which 'the wayfaring man +though a fool' may travel. Narrow understandings may know, and selfish +hearts may love, and low-pitched confessions may reach the ear of the +God who comes near to us in Christ, that we in Christ may come near to +Him. The Breaker is gone up before us; 'having therefore, brethren, +boldness to enter into the holiest of all ... by a new and living way, +which He hath consecrated for us ... let us draw near with true hearts' + +III. Then still further, another modification of this figure is found in +the frequent representations of Scripture, by which our Lord is the +Breaker, going up before us in the sense that He is the Captain of our +life's march. + +We have, in the words of my text, the image of the gladly-gathered +people flocking after the Leader. 'They have broken up, and have passed +through the gate, and are gone out by it; and their King shall pass +before them, and the Lord on the head of them.' The Prophet knew not +that the Lord their King, of whom it is enigmatically said that He too, +as well as 'the Breaker,' is to go before them, was in mysterious +fashion to dwell in that Breaker; and that those two, whom He sees +separately, are yet in a deep and mysterious sense one. The host of the +captives, returning in triumphant march through the wilderness and to +the promised land, is, in the Prophet's words, headed both by the +Breaker and by the Lord. We know that the Breaker is the Lord, the Angel +of the Covenant in whom is the name of Jehovah. + +And so we connect with all these words of my text such words as +designate our Saviour as the Captain of our salvation; such words as His +own in which He says, 'When He putteth forth His sheep He goeth before +them'--such words as His Apostle used when he said, 'Leaving us an +ensample that we should follow in His steps.' And by all there is +suggested this--that Christ, who breaks the prison of our sins, and +leads us forth on the path to God, marches at the head of our life's +journey, and is our Example and Commander; and Himself present with us +through all life's changes and its sorrows. + +Here is the great blessing and peculiarity of Christian morals that they +are all brought down to that sweet obligation: 'Do as I did.' Here is +the great blessing and strength for the Christian life in all its +difficulties--you can never go where you cannot see in the desert the +footprints, haply spotted with blood, that your Master left there before +you, and planting your trembling feet in the prints, as a child might +imitate his father's strides, may learn to recognise that all duty comes +to this: 'Follow Me'; and that all sorrow is calmed, ennobled, made +tolerable, and glorified, by the thought that He has borne it. + +The Roman matron of the legend struck the knife into her bosom, and +handed it to her husband with the words, 'It is not painful!' Christ has +gone before us in all the dreary solitude, and in all the agony and +pains of life. He has hallowed them all, and has taken the bitterness +and the pain out of each of them for them that love Him. If we feel that +the Breaker is before us, and that we are marching behind Him, then +whithersoever He leads us we may follow, and whatsoever He has passed +through we may pass through. We carry In His life the all-sufficing +pattern of duty. We have in His companionship the all-strengthening +consolation. Let us leave the direction of our road in His hands, who +never says 'Go!' but always 'Come!' This General marches in the midst of +His battalions and sets His soldiers on no enterprises or forlorn hopes +which He has not Himself dared and overcome. + +So Christ goes as our Companion before us, the true pillar of fire and +cloud in which the present Deity abode, and He is with us in real +companionship. Our joyful march through the wilderness is directed, +patterned, protected, companioned by Him, and when He 'putteth forth His +own sheep,' blessed be His name, 'He goeth before them.' + +IV. And now, lastly, there is a final application of this figure which +sets forth our Lord as the Breaker for us of the bands of death, and the +Forerunner 'entered for us into the heavens.' + +Christ's resurrection is the only solid proof of a future life. Christ's +present resurrection life is the power by partaking in which, 'though we +were dead, yet shall we live.' + +He has trodden that path, too, before us. He has entered into the great +prison-house into which the generations of men have been hounded and +hurried; and where they lie in their graves, as in their narrow cells. +He has entered there; with one blow He has struck the gates from their +hinges, and has passed out, and no soul can any longer be shut in as for +ever into that ruined and opened prison. Like Samson, He has taken the +gates which from of old barred its entrance, and borne them on His +strong shoulders to the city on the hill, and now Death's darts are +blunted, his fetters are broken, and his gaol has its doors wide open, +and there is nothing for him to do now but to fall upon his sword and to +kill himself, for his prisoners are free. 'Oh, death! I will be thy +plague; oh, grave! I will be thy destruction.' 'The Breaker has gone +up before us'; therefore it is not possible that we should be holden of +the impotent chains that He has broken. + +The Forerunner is for us entered and passed through the heavens, and +entered into the holiest of all. We are too closely knit to Him, if we +love Him and trust Him, to make it possible that we shall be where He is +not, or that He shall be where we are not. Where He has gone we shall +go. In heaven, blessed be His name! He will still be the leader of our +progress and the captain at the head of our march. For He crowns all His +other work by this, that having broken the prison-house of our sins, and +opened for us the way to God, and been the leader and the captain of our +march through all the pilgrimage of life, and the opener of the gate of +the grave for our joyful resurrection, and the opener of the gate of +heaven for our triumphal entrance, He will still as the Lamb that is in +the midst of the Throne, go before us, and lead us into green pastures +and by the still waters, and this shall be the description of the +growing blessedness and power of the saints' life above, 'These are +they which follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth.' + + +AS GOD, SO WORSHIPPER + + '... All the peoples will walk every one in the name of his god, + and we will walk in the name of the Lord our God for ever and + ever.'--MICAH iv. 5 (R.V.). + +This is a statement of a general truth which holds good of all sorts of +religion. 'To walk' is equivalent to carrying on a course of practical +activity. 'The name' of a god is his manifested character. So the +expression 'Walk in the name' means, to live and act according to, and +with reference to, and in reliance on, the character of the worshipper's +god. In the Lord's prayer the petition 'Hallowed be Thy name' precedes +the petition 'Thy will be done.' From reverent thoughts about the name +must flow life in reverent conformity to the will. + +I. A man's god is what rules his practical life. + +Religion is dependence upon a Being recognised to be perfect and +sovereign, whose will guides, and whose character moulds, the whole +life. That general statement may be broken up into parts; and we may +dwell upon the attitude of dependence, or of that of submission, or upon +that of admiration and recognition of ideal perfection, or upon that of +aspiration; but we come at last to the one thought--that the goal of +religion is likeness and the truest worship is imitation. Such a view of +the essence of religion gives point to the question, What is our god? +and makes it a very easily applied, and very searching test, of our +lives. Whatever we profess, that which we feel ourselves dependent on, +that which we invest, erroneously or rightly, with supreme attributes of +excellence, that which we aspire after as our highest good, that which +shapes and orders the current of our lives, is our god. We call +ourselves Christians. I am afraid that if we tried ourselves by such a +test, many of us would fail to pass it. It would thin the ranks of all +churches as effectually as did Gideon's ordeal by water, which brought +down a mob of ten thousand to a little steadfast band of three hundred. +No matter to what church we belong, or how flaming our professions, our +practical religion is determined by our answer to the question, What do +we most desire? What do we most eagerly pursue? England has as much need +as ever the house of Jacob had of the scathing words that poured like +molten lead from the lips of Isaiah the son of Amoz, 'Their land is full +of silver and gold, neither is there any end of their treasures. Their +land is also full of idols: they worship the work of their own hands.' +Money, knowledge, the good opinion of our fellows, success in a +political career--these, and the like, are our gods. There is a worse +idolatry than that which bows down before stocks and stones. The aims +that absorb us; our highest ideal of excellence; that which possessed, +we think would secure our blessedness; that lacking which everything +else is insipid and vain--these are our gods: and the solemn prohibition +may well be thundered in the ears of the unconscious idolaters not only +in the English world, but also in the English churches. 'Thou shalt not +give My glory to another, nor My praise to graven images.' + +II. The worshipper will resemble his god in character. + +As we have already said, the goal of religion is likeness, and the +truest worship is imitation. It is proved by the universal experience of +humanity that the level of morality will never rise above the type +enshrined in their gods; or if it does, in consequence of contact with a +higher type in a higher religion, the old gods will be flung to the +moles and the bats. 'They that make them are like unto them; so is every +one that trusteth in them.' That is a universal truth. The worshippers +were in the Prophet's thought as dumb and dead as the idols. They who +'worship vanity' inevitably 'become vain.' A Venus or a Jupiter, a Baal +or an Ashtoreth, sets the tone of morals. + +This truth is abundantly enforced by observation of the characters of +the men amongst us who are practical idolaters. They are narrowed and +lowered to correspond with their gods. Low ideals can never lead to +lofty lives. The worship of money makes the complexion yellow, like +jaundice. A man who concentrates his life's effort upon some earthly +good, the attainment of which seems to be, so long as it is unattained, +his passport to bliss, thereby blunts many a finer aspiration, and makes +himself blind to many a nobler vision. Men who are always hunting after +some paltry and perishable earthly good, become like dogs who follow +scent with their noses at the ground, and are unconscious of everything +a yard above their heads. We who live amidst the rush of a great +commercial community see many instances of lives stiffened, narrowed, +impoverished, and hardened by the fierce effort to become rich. And +wherever we look with adequate knowledge over the many idolatries of +English life, we see similar processes at work on character. Everywhere +around us 'the peoples are walking every one in the name of his god.' +That character constitutes the worshipper's ideal; it is a pattern to +which he aims to be assimilated; it is a good the possession of which he +thinks will make him blessed; it is that for which he willingly +sacrifices much which a clearer vision would teach him is far more +precious than that for which he is content to barter it. + +The idolaters walking in the name of their god is a rebuke to the +Christian men who with faltering steps and many an aberration are +seeking to walk in the name of the Lord their God. If He is in any real +and deep sense 'our God,' we shall see in Him the realised ideal of all +excellence, the fountain of all our blessedness, the supreme good for +our seeking hearts, the sovereign authority to sway our wills; the +measure of our conscious possession of Him will be the measure of our +glad imitation of Him, and our joyful spirits, enfranchised by the +assurance of our loving possession of Him who is love, will hear Him +ever whisper to us, 'Be ye perfect as your Father which is in heaven is +perfect.' The desire to reproduce in the narrow bounds of our human +spirits the infinite beauties of the Lord our God will give elevation to +our lives, and dignity to our actions attainable from no other source. +If we hallow His name, we shall do His will, and earth will become a +foretaste of heaven. + +III. The worshipper will resemble his god in fate. + +We may observe that it is only of God's people that Micah in our text +applies the words 'for ever and ever.' 'The peoples'' worship perishes. +They walk for a time in the name of their god, but what comes of it at +last is veiled in silence. It is Jehovah's worshippers who walk in His +name for ever and ever, and of whom the great words are true, 'Because I +live ye shall live also.' We may be sure of this that all the divine +attributes are pledged for our immortality; we may be sure, too, that a +soul which here follows in the footsteps of Jesus, which in its earthly +life walked in the name of the Lord its God, will continue across the +narrow bridge, and go onward 'for ever and ever' in direct progress in +the same direction in which it began on earth. The imitation, which is +the practical religion of every Christian, has for its only possible +result the climax of likeness. The partial likeness is attained on earth +by contemplation, by aspiration, and by effort; but it is perfected in +the heavens by the perfect vision of His perfect face. 'We shall be like +Him, for we shall see Him as He is.' Not till it has reached its goal +can the Christian life begun here be conceived as ended. It shall never +be said of any one who tried by God's help to walk 'in the name of the +Lord' that he was lost in the desert, and never reached his journey's +end. The peoples who walked in the name of any false god will find their +path ending as on the edge of a precipice, or in an unfathomable bog; +loss, and woe, and shame will be their portion. But 'the name of the +Lord is a strong tower,' into which whoever will may run and be safe, +and to walk in the name of the Lord is to walk on a way 'that shall be +called the Way of Holiness, whereon no ravenous beast shall go up, but +the redeemed shall walk there,' and all that are on it 'shall come with +singing to Zion, and everlasting joy shall be upon their heads.' + + +'A DEW FROM THE LORD' + + 'The remnant of Jacob shall be in the midst of many people as a dew + from the Lord, that tarrieth not for man, nor waiteth for the sons + of men.'--MICAH v. 7. + +The simple natural science of the Hebrews saw a mystery in the +production of the dew on a clear night, and their poetic imagination +found in it a fit symbol for all silent and gentle influences from +heaven that refreshed and quickened parched and dusty souls. Created by +an inscrutable process in silence and darkness, the dewdrops lay +innumerable on the dry plains and hung from every leaf and thorn, each +little globule a perfect sphere that reflected the sun, and twinkled +back the beams in its own little rainbow. Where they fell the scorched +vegetation lifted its drooping head. That is what Israel is to be in the +world, says Micah. He saw very deep into God's mind and into the +function of the nation. + +It may be a question as to whether the text refers more especially to +the place and office of Israel when planted in its own land, or when +dispersed among the nations. For, as you see, he speaks of 'the remnant +of Jacob' as if he was thinking of the survivors of some great calamity +which had swept away the greater portion of the nation. Both things are +true. When settled in its own land, Israel's office was to teach the +nations God; when dispersed among the Gentiles, its office ought to have +been the same. But be that as it may, the conception here set forth is +as true to-day as ever it was. For the prophetic teachings, rooted +though they may be in the transitory circumstances of a tiny nation, are +'not for an age, but for all time,' and we get a great deal nearer the +heart of them when we grasp the permanent truths that underlie them, +than when we learnedly exhume the dead history which was their +occasion. + +Micah's message comes to all Christians, and very eminently to English +Christians. The subject of Christian missions is before us to-day, and +some thoughts in the line of this great text may not be inappropriate. + +We have here, then, + +I. The function of each Christian in his place. + +'The remnant of Jacob shall be as a dew from the Lord in the midst of +many nations.' What made Israel 'as a dew'? One thing only; its +religion, its knowledge of God, and its consequent purer morality. It +could teach Greece no philosophy, no art, no refinement, no +sensitiveness to the beautiful. It could teach Rome no lessons of policy +or government. It could bring no wisdom to Egypt, no power or wealth to +Assyria. But God lit His candle and set it on a candlestick, that it +'might give light to all that were in the house.' The same thing is true +about Christian people. We cannot teach the world science, we cannot +teach it philosophy or art, but we can teach it God. Now the possibility +brings with it the obligation. The personal experience of Jesus Christ +in our hearts, as the dew that brings to us life and fertility, carries +with it a commission as distinct and imperative as if it had been pealed +into each single ear by a voice from heaven. That which made Israel the +'dew amidst many nations,' parched for want of it, makes Christian men +and women fit to fill the analogous office, and calls upon them to +discharge the same functions. For--in regard to all our possessions, and +therefore most eminently and imperatively in regard to the best--that +which we have, we have as stewards, and the Gospel, as the Apostle +found, was not only given to him for his own individual enjoyment, +elevation, ennobling, emancipation, salvation, but was 'committed to +his charge,' and he was 'entrusted' with it, as he says, as a sacred +deposit. + +Remember, too, that, strange as it may seem, the only way by which that +knowledge of God which was bestowed upon Israel could become the +possession of the world was by its first of all being made the +possession of a few. People talk about the unfairness, the harshness, of +the providential arrangement by which the whole world was not made +participant of the revelation which was granted to Israel. The fire is +gathered on to a hearth. Does that mean that the corners of the room are +left uncared for? No! the brazier is in the middle--as Palestine was, +even geographically in the centre of the then civilised world--that from +the centre the beneficent warmth might radiate and give heat as well as +light to 'all them that are in the house.' + +So it is in regard to all the great possessions of the race. Art, +literature, science, political wisdom, they are all intrusted to a few +who are made their apostles; and the purpose is their universal +diffusion from these human centres. It is in the line of the analogy of +all the other gifts of God to humanity, that chosen men should be raised +up in whom the life is lodged, that it may be diffused. + +So to us the message comes: 'The Lord hath need of thee.' Christ has +died; the Cross is the world's redemption. Christ lives that He may +apply the power and the benefits of His death and of His risen life to +all humanity. But the missing link between the all sufficient redemption +that is in Christ Jesus, and the actual redemption of the world, is +'the remnant of Jacob,' the Christian Church which is to be 'in the +midst of many people, as a dew from the Lord.' + +Now, that diffusion from individual centres of the life that is in Jesus +Christ is the chiefest reason--or at all events, is one chief +reason--for the strange and inextricable intertwining in modern society, +of saint and sinner, of Christian and non-Christian. The seed is sown +among the thorns; the wheat springs up amongst the tares. Their roots +are so matted together that no hand can separate them. In families, in +professions, in business relations, in civil life, in national life, +both grow together. God sows His seed thin that all the field may smile +in harvest. The salt is broken up into many minute particles and rubbed +into that which it is to preserve from corruption. The remnant of Jacob +is in the _midst_ of many peoples; and you and I are encompassed by +those who need our Christ, and who do not know Him or love Him; and one +great reason for the close intertwining is that, scattered, we may +diffuse, and that at all points the world may be in contact with those +who ought to be working to preserve it from putrefaction and decay. + +Now there are two ways by which this function may be discharged, and in +which it is incumbent upon every Christian man to make his contribution, +be it greater or smaller, to the discharge of it. The one is by direct +efforts to impart to others the knowledge of God in Jesus Christ which +we have, and which we profess to be the very root of our lives. We can +all do that if we will, and we are here to do it. Every one of us has +somebody or other close to us, bound to us, perhaps, by the tie of +kindred and love, who will listen to us more readily than to anybody +else. Christian men and women, have you utilised these channels which +God Himself, by the arrangements of society, has dug for you, that +through them you may pour upon some thirsty ground the water of life? We +could also help, and help far more than any of us do, in associated +efforts for the same purpose. The direct obligation to direct efforts to +impart the Gospel cannot be shirked, though, alas! it is far too often +ignored by us professing Christians. + +But there is another way by which 'the remnant of Jacob' is to be 'a dew +from the Lord,' and that is by trying to bring to bear Christian +thoughts and Christian principles upon all the relations of life in +which we stand, and upon all the societies, be they greater or +smaller--the family, the city, or the nation--of which we form parts. We +have heard a great deal lately about what people that know very little +about it, are pleased to call 'the Nonconformist conscience,' I take the +compliment, which is not intended, but is conveyed by the word. But I +venture to say that what is meant, is not the 'Nonconformist' +conscience, it is the _Christian_ conscience. We Nonconformists have no +monopoly, thank God, of that. Nay, rather, in some respects, our friends +in the Anglican churches are teaching some of us a lesson as to the +application of Christian principles to civic duty and to national life. +I beseech you, although I do not mean to dwell upon that point at all at +this time, to ask yourselves whether, as citizens, the vices, the +godlessness, the miseries--the removable miseries--of our great town +populations, lie upon your hearts. Have you ever lifted a finger to +abate drunkenness? Have you ever done anything to help to make it +possible that the masses of our town communities should live in places +better than the pigsties in which many of them have to wallow? Have you +any care for the dignity, the purity, the Christianity of our civic +rulers; and do you, to the extent of your ability, try to ensure that +Christ's teaching shall govern the life of our cities? And the same +question may be put yet more emphatically with regard to wider subjects, +namely, the national life and the national action, whether in regard to +war or in regard to other pressing subjects for national consideration. +I do not touch upon these; I only ask you to remember the grand ideal of +my text, which applies to the narrowest circle--the family; and to the +wider circles--the city and the nation, as well as to the world. Time +was when a bastard piety shrank back from intermeddling with these +affairs and gathered up its skirts about it in an ecstasy of unwholesome +unworldliness. There is not much danger of that now, when Christian men +are in the full swim of the currents of civic, professional, literary, +national life. But I will tell you of what there is a danger--Christian +men and women moving in their families, going into town councils, going +into Parliament, going to the polling booths, and leaving their +Christianity behind them. 'The remnant of Jacob shall be as a dew from +the Lord.' + +Now let me turn for a moment to a second point, and that is + +II. The function of English Christians in the world. + +I have suggested in an earlier part of this sermon that possibly the +application of this text originally was to the scattered remnant. Be +that as it may, wherever you go, you find the Jew and the Englishman. I +need not dwell upon the ubiquity of our race. I need not point you to +the fact that, in all probability, our language is destined to be the +world's language some day. I need do nothing more than recall the fact +that a man may go on board ship, in Liverpool or London, and go round +the world; everywhere he sees the Union Jack, and everywhere he lands +upon British soil. The ubiquity of the scattered Englishman needs no +illustration. + +But I do wish to remind you that that ubiquity has its obligation. We +hear a great deal to-day about Imperialism, about 'the Greater Britain,' +about 'the expansion of England.' And on one side all that new +atmosphere of feeling is good, for it speaks of a vivid consciousness +which is all to the good in the pulsations of the national life. But +there is another side to it that is not so good. What is the expansion +sought for? Trade? Yes! necessarily; and no man who lives in Lancashire +will speak lightly of that necessity. Vulgar greed, and earth-hunger? +_that_ is evil. Glory? that is cruel, blood-stained, empty. My text +tells us why expansion should be sought, and what are the obligations it +brings with it. 'The remnant of Jacob shall be in the midst of many +people as a dew from the Lord' There are two kinds of Imperialism: one +which regards the Empire as a thing for the advantage of us here, in +this little land, and another which regards it as a burden that God has +laid on the shoulders of the men whom John Milton, two centuries ago, +was not afraid to call 'His Englishmen.' + +Let me remind you of two contrasted pictures which will give far more +forcibly than anything I can say, the two points of view from which our +world-wide dominion may be regarded. Here is one of them: 'By the +strength of my hand I have done it, and by my wisdom, for I am prudent. +And I have removed the bounds of the people, and have robbed their +treasures, and my hand hath found as a nest the riches of the people; +and as one gathereth eggs that are left, have I gathered all the earth; +and there was none that moved a wing, or opened a mouth, or peeped.' +That is the voice of the lust for Empire for selfish advantages. And +here is the other one: 'The kings of Tarshish and of the isles shall +bring presents; yea, all kings shall fall down before Him; all nations +shall serve Him, for He shall deliver the needy when he crieth, the poor +also, and him that hath no helper. He shall redeem their soul from +deceit and violence, and precious shall their blood be in His sight.' +That is the voice that has learned: 'He that is greatest among you, let +him be your servant'; and that the dominion founded on unselfish +surrender for others is the only dominion that will last. Brethren! that +is the spirit in which alone England will keep its Empire over the +world. + +I need not remind you that the gift which we have to carry to the +heathen nations, the subject peoples who are under the ægis of our laws, +is not merely our literature, our science, our Western civilisation, +still less the products of our commerce, for all of which some of them +are asking; but it is _the_ gift that they do _not_ ask for. The dew +'waiteth not for man, nor tarrieth for the sons of men.' We have to +create the demand by bringing the supply. We have to carry Christ's +Gospel as the greatest gift that we have in our hands. + +And now, I was going to have said a word, lastly, but I see it can only +be a word, about-- + +III. The failure to fulfil the function. + +Israel failed. Pharisaism was the end of it--a hugging itself in the +possession of the gift which it did not appreciate, and a bitter +contempt of the nations, and so destruction came, and the fire on the +hearth was scattered and died out, and the vineyard was taken from them +and 'given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof.' Change the +name, as the Latin poet says, and the story is told about us. England +largely fails in this function; as witness in India godless civilians; +as witness on every palm-shaded coral beach in the South Seas, +profligate beach-combers, drunken sailors, unscrupulous traders; as +witness the dying out of races by diseases imported with profligacy and +gin from this land. 'A dew from the Lord!'; say rather a malaria from +the devil! 'By you,' said the Prophet, 'is the name of God blasphemed +among the Gentiles.' By Englishmen the missionary's efforts are, in a +hundred cases, neutralised, or hampered if not neutralised. + +We have failed because, as Christian people, we have not been adequately +in earnest. No man can say with truth that the churches of England are +awake to the imperative obligation of this missionary enterprise. 'If +God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest He spare not thee.' +Israel's religion was not diffusive, therefore it corrupted; Israel's +religion did not reach out a hand to the nations, therefore its heart +was paralysed and stricken. They who bring the Gospel to others increase +their own hold upon it. There is a joy of activity, there is a firmer +faith, as new evidences of its power are presented before them. There is +the blessing that comes down upon all faithful discharge of duty; 'If +the house be not worthy, your peace shall return to you.' After all, our +Empire rests on moral foundations, and if it is administered by us--and +we each have part of the responsibility for all that is done--on the +selfish ground of only seeking the advantage of 'the predominant +partner,' then our hold will be loosened. There is no such cement of +empire as a common religion. If we desire to make these subject peoples +loyal fellow-subjects, we must make them true fellow-worshippers. The +missionary holds India for England far more strongly than the soldier +does. If we apply Christian principles to our administration of our +Empire, then instead of its being knit together by iron bands, it will +be laced together by the intertwining tendrils of the hearts of those +who are possessors of 'like precious faith.' Brethren, there is another +saying in the Old Testament, about the dew. 'I will be as the dew unto +Israel,' says God through the Prophet. We must have Him as the dew for +our own souls first. Then only shall we be able to discharge the office +laid upon us, to be in the midst of many peoples as 'dew from the Lord.' +If our fleece is wet and we leave the ground dry, our fleece will soon +be dry, though the ground may be bedewed. + + +GOD'S REQUIREMENTS AND GOD'S GIFT + + 'What doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love + mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?'--MICAH vi. 8. + +This is the Prophet's answer to a question which he puts into the mouth +of his hearers. They had the superstitious estimate of the worth of +sacrifice, which conceives that the external offering is pleasing to +God, and can satisfy for sin. Micah, like his great contemporary Isaiah, +and the most of the prophets, wages war against that misconception of +sacrifice, but does not thereby protest against its use. To suppose that +he does so is to misunderstand his whole argument. Another misuse of the +words of my text is by no means uncommon to-day. One has heard people +say, 'We are plain men; we do not understand your theological +subtleties; we do not quite see what you mean by "Repentance toward God, +and faith in Jesus Christ." "To do justly, and to love mercy, and to +walk humbly with my God," that is my religion, and I leave all the rest +to you.' That is our religion too, but notice that word 'require.' It is +a harsh word, and if it is the last word to be said about God's relation +to men, then a great shadow has fallen upon life. + +But there is another word which Micah but dimly caught uttered amidst +the thunders of Sinai, and which you and I have heard far more clearly. +The Prophet read off rightly God's _requirements_, but he had not +anything to say about God's _gifts_. So his word is a half-truth, and +the more clearly it is seen, and the more earnestly a man tries to live +up to the standard of the requirements laid down here, the more will he +feel that there is something else needed, and the more will he see that +the great central peculiarity and glory of Christianity is not that it +reiterates or alters God's requirements, but that it brings into view +God's gifts. 'To do justly, to love mercy, to walk humbly with our God,' +is possible only through repentance towards God, and faith in our Lord +Jesus Christ. And if you suppose that these words of my text disclose +the whole truth about God's relation to men, and men's to God, you have +failed to apprehend the flaming centre of the Light that shines from +heaven. + +I. So, then, the first thing that I wish to suggest is God's +requirements. + +Now, I do not need to say more than just a word or two about the +summing-up in my text of the plain, elementary duties of morality and +religion. It covers substantially the same ground, in a condensed form, +as does the Decalogue, only that Moses began with the deepest thing and +worked outwards, as it were; laying the foundation in a true relation to +God, which is the most important, and from which will follow the true +relation to men. Micah begins at the other end, and starting with the +lesser, the more external, the purely human, works his way inwards to +that which is the centre and the source of all. + +'To do justly,' that is elementary morality in two words. Whatever a man +has a right to claim from you, give him; that is the sum of duty. And +yet not altogether so, for we all know the difference between a +righteous man and a good man, and how, if there is only rigidly +righteous action, there is something wanting to the very righteousness +of the action and to the completeness of the character. 'To do' is not +enough; we must get to the heart, and so '_love_ mercy.' Justice is not +all. If each man gets his deserts, as Shakespeare says, 'who of us shall +scape whipping?' There must be the mercy as well as the justice. In a +very deep sense no man renders to his fellows all that his fellows have +a right to expect of him, who does not render to them mercy. And so in a +very deep sense, mercy is part of justice, and you have not given any +poor creature all that that poor creature has a right to look for from +you, unless you have given him all the gracious and gentle charities of +heart and hand. Justice and mercy do, in the deepest view, run into one. + +Then Micah goes deeper. 'And to walk humbly with thy God.' Some people +would say that this summary of the divine requirements is defective, +because there is nothing in it about a man's duty to himself, which is +as much a duty as his duty to his fellows, or his duty to God. But there +is a good deal of my duty to myself crowded into that one word, +'humbly.' For I suppose we might almost say that the basis of all our +obligations to our own selves lies in this, that we shall take the right +view--that is, the lowly view--of ourselves. But I pass that. + +'To walk humbly with thy God.' 'Can two walk together unless they be +agreed?' For walking with God there must be communion, based in love, +and resulting in imitation. And that communion must be constant, and run +through all the life, like a golden thread through some web. So, then, +here is the minimum of the divine requirements, to give everybody what +he has a right to, including the mercy to which he has a right, to have +a lowly estimate of myself, and to live continually grasping the hand of +God, and conscious of His overshadowing wing at all moments, and of +conformity to His will at every step of the road. That is the minimum; +and the people who so glibly say, 'That is my religion,' have little +consciousness of how far-reaching and how deep-down-going the +requirements of this text are. The requirements result from the very +nature of God, and our relation to Him, and they are endorsed by our own +consciences, for we all know that these, and nothing less than these are +the duties that we owe to God. So much for God's requirements. + +II. Our failure. + +There is not one of us that has come up to the standard. Man after man +may be conceived of as bringing in his hands the actions of his life, +and laying them in the awful scales which God's hand holds. In the one +are God's requirements, in the other my life; and in every case down +goes the weight, and 'weighed in the balances we are altogether lighter +than vanity.' We stand before the great Master in the school, and one by +one we take up our copybooks; and there is not one of them that is not +black with blots and erasures and swarming with errors. The great cliff +stands in front of us with the victor's prize on its topmost ledge, and +man after man tries to climb, and falls bruised and broken at the base. +'There is none righteous, no, not one.' Micah's requirements come to +every man that will honestly take stock of his life and his character as +the statement of an unreached and unreachable ideal to which he never +has climbed nor ever can climb. + +Oh, brethren! if these words are all the words that are to be said about +God and me, then I know not what lies before the enlightened conscience +except shuddering despair, and a paralysing consciousness of inevitable +failure. I beseech you, take these words, and go apart with them, and +test your daily life by them. God requires me to do justly. Does there +not rise before my memory many an act in which, in regard to persons and +in regard to circumstances, I have fallen beneath that requirement? He +requires me 'to love mercy.' He requires me 'to walk humbly,' and I have +often been inflated and self-conceited and presumptuous. He requires me +to walk with Himself, and I have shaken away His hand from me, and +passed whole days without ever thinking of Him, and 'the God in whose +hands' my 'breath is, and whose are all' my 'ways,' I have 'not +glorified.' I cannot hammer this truth into your consciences. You have +to do it for yourselves. But I beseech you, recognise the fact that you +are implicated in the universal failure, and that God's requirement is +God's condemnation of each of us. + +If, then, that is true, that all have come short of the requirement, +then there should follow a universal sense of guilt, for there is the +universal fact of guilt, whether there be the sense of it or not. There +must follow, too, consequences resulting from the failure of each of us +to comply with these divine requirements, consequences very alarming, +very fatal; and there must follow a darkening of the thought of God. 'I +knew thee that thou wert an austere man, reaping where thou didst not +sow, and gathering where thou didst not straw.' That is the God of all +the people who take my text as the last word of their religion--God +'requires of me. The blessed sun in the heavens becomes a lurid ball of +fire when it is seen through the mist of such a conception of the divine +character, and its relation to men. There is nothing that so drapes the +sky in darkness, and hides out the great light of God, as the thought of +His requirements as the last thought we cherish concerning Him. + +There follows, too, upon this conception, and the failure that results +to fulfil the requirements, a hopelessness as to ever accomplishing that +which is demanded of us. Who amongst us is there that, looking back upon +his past in so far as it has been shaped by his own effort and his own +unaided strength, can look forward to a future with any hope that it +will mend the past? Brethren! experience teaches us that we have not +fulfilled, and cannot fulfil, what remains our plain duty, +notwithstanding our inability to discharge it--viz., 'To do justly, and +to love mercy, and to walk humbly with our God.' To think of God's +requirements, and of my own failure, is the sure way to paralyse all +activity; just as that man in the parable who said, 'Thou art an austere +man,' went away and hid his talent in the earth. To think of God's +requirements and my own failures, if heaven has nothing more to say to +me than this stern 'Thou shalt,' is the short way to despair. And that +is why most of us prefer to be immersed in the trivialities of daily +life rather than to think of God, and of what He asks from us. For the +only way by which some of us can keep our equanimity and our +cheerfulness is by ignoring Him and forgetting what He demands, and +never taking stock of our own lives. + +III. Lastly, my text leads us to think of God's gift. + +I said it is a half-truth, for it only tells us of what He desires us to +be, and does not tell us of how we may be it. It is meant, like the law +of which it is a condensation, to be the _pedagogue_, to lead the child +to Jesus Christ, the true Master, and the true Gift of God. + +God 'requires.' Yes, and He requires, in order that we should say to +Him, 'Lord, Thou hast a right to ask this, and it is my blessedness to +give it, but I cannot. Do Thou give me what Thou dost require, and then +I can.' + +The gift of God is Jesus Christ, and that gift meets all our failures. I +have spoken of the sense of guilt that rises from the consciousness of +failure to keep the requirements of the divine law; and the gift of God +deals with that. It comes to us as we lie wounded, bruised, conscious of +failure, alarmed for results, sensible of guilt, and dreading the +penalties, and it says to us, 'Thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin +purged.' 'God requires of thee what thou hast not done. Trust yourselves +to Me, and all iniquity is passed from your souls.' + +I spoke of the hopelessness of future performance, which results from +experience of past failures; and the gift of God deals with that. You +cannot meet the requirements. Christ will put His Spirit into your +spirits, if you will trust yourselves to Him, and then you will meet +them, for the things which are impossible with men are possible with +God. So, if led by Micah, we pass from God's requirements to His gifts, +look at the change in the aspect which God bears to us. He is no longer +standing strict to mark, and stern to judge and condemn: but bending +down graciously to help. His last word to us is not 'Thou shalt do' but +'I will give.' His utterance in the Gospel is not 'do,' but it is +'take'; and the vision of God, which shines out upon us from the life +and from the Cross of Jesus Christ, is not that of a great Taskmaster, +but that of Him who helps all our weakness, and makes it strength. A God +who 'requires' paralyses men, shuts men out from hope and joy and +fellowship; a God who gives draws men to His heart, and makes them +diligent in fulfilling all His blessed requirements. + +Think of the difference which the conception of God as giving makes to +the spirit in which we work. No longer, like the Israelites in Egypt, do +we try to make bricks without straw, and break our hearts over our +failures, or desperately abandon the attempt, and live in neglect of God +and His will; but joyfully, with the clear confidence that 'our labour +is not in vain in the Lord,' we seek to keep the commandments which we +have learned to be the expressions of His love. One of the Fathers puts +all in one lovely sentence: 'Give what Thou commandest, and command what +Thou wilt.' + +Think, too, of the difference which this conception of the giving rather +than of the requiring God brings into what we have to do. We have not to +begin with effort, we have to begin with faith. The fountain must be +filled from the spring before it can send up its crystal pillar flashing +in the sunlight; and we must receive by our trust the power to will and +to do. First fill the lamp with oil, and let the Master light it, and +then let its blaze beam forth. First, we have to go to the giving God, +with thanks 'unto Him for His unspeakable gift'; and then we have to say +to Him, 'Thou hast given me Thy Son. What dost Thou desire that I shall +give to Thee?' We have first to accept the gift, and then, moved by the +mercy of God, to ask, 'Lord I what wilt Thou have me to do?' + + * * * * * + + +HABAKKUK + + +THE IDEAL DEVOUT LIFE + + 'The Lord God is my Strength, and He will make my feet like hinds' + feet, and He will make me to walk upon mine high + places.'--HABBAKKUK iii. 19. + +So ends one of the most magnificent pieces of imaginative poetry in +Scripture or anywhere else. The singer has been describing a great +delivering manifestation of the Most High God, which, though he knew it +was for the deliverance of God's people, shed awe and terror over his +soul. Then he gathers himself together to vow that in this God, thus +manifested as the God of his salvation, he 'will rejoice,' whatever +penury or privation may attach to his outward life. Lastly, he rises, in +these final words, to the apprehension of what this God, thus rejoiced +in, will become to those who so put their trust and their gladness upon +Himself. + +The expressions are of a highly metaphorical and imaginative character, +but they admit of being brought down to very plain facts, and they tell +us the results in heart and mind of true faith and communion with God. + +It is to be noticed that a parallel saying, almost verbatim the same as +that of my text, occurs in the 18th psalm, and that there, too, it is +the last and joyous result of a tremendous manifestation of the +delivering energy of God. + +Without any attempt to do more than bring out the deep meaning of the +words, I note that the three clauses of our text present three aspects +of what our lives and ourselves may steadfastly be if we, too, will +rejoice in the God of our salvation. + +I. First, such communion with God brings God to a man for his strength. + +The 18th psalm, which is closely parallel, as I have remarked, with this +one, gives a somewhat different and inferior version of that thought +when it says, 'It is the Lord that girdeth me with strength.' But +Habakkuk, though perhaps he could not have put into dogmatic shape all +that he meant, had come farther than that with this: 'The Lord is my +strength.' He not only _gives_, as one might put a coin into the hand of +a beggar, while standing separate from him all the while, but 'He is my +strength.' + +And what does that mean? It is an anticipation of that most wonderful +and highest of all the New Testament truths which the Apostle declared +when he said: 'I can do all things in Christ which strengtheneth me +within.' It is the anticipation in experience--which always comes before +dogmatic formulas that reduce experiences into articulate utterances, of +what the Apostle recorded when he said that he had heard the voice that +declared, 'My grace is sufficient for thee, and My strength is made +perfect in weakness.' + +Ah, brother! do not let us deprive ourselves of the lofty consolations +and the mysterious influx of power which may be ours, if we will open +our eyes to see, and our hearts to receive, what is really the central +blessing of the Gospel, the communication through the same faith as +Habakkuk exercised when he said, 'I will rejoice in the God of my +salvation,' of an actual divine strength to dwell in and manifest itself +majestically and triumphantly through, our weakness. 'The Lord is my +strength,' and if we will rejoice in the Lord we shall find that +Habakkuk's experience was lower than ours, inasmuch as he knew less of +God than we do; and we shall be able to surpass his saying with the +other one of the Prophet: 'The Lord is my strength and song; He also is +become my salvation.' That is the first blessing that this ancient +believer, out of the twilight of early revelation, felt as certain to +come through communion with God. + +II. The second is like unto it. Such rejoicing communion with God will +give light-footedness in the path of life. + +'He makes my feet like hinds' feet.' The stag is, in all languages +spoken by people that have ever seen it, the very type and emblem of +elastic, springing ease, of light and bounding gracefulness, that clears +every obstacle, and sweeps swiftly over the moor. And when this singer, +or his brother psalmist in the other psalm that we have referred to, +says, 'Thou makest my feet like hinds' feet,' what he is thinking about +is that light and easy, springing, elastic gait, that swiftness of +advance. What a contrast that is to the way in which most of us get +through our day's work! Plod, plod, plod, in a heavy-footed, spiritless +grind, like that with which the ploughman toils down the sticky furrows +of a field, with a pound of clay at each heel; or like that with which a +man goes wearied home from his work at night. The monotony of trivial, +constantly recurring doings, the fluctuations in the thermometer of our +own spirits; the stiff bits of road that we have all to encounter sooner +or later; and as days go on, our diminishing buoyancy of nature, and the +love of walking a little slower than we used to do; we all know these +things, and our gait is affected by them. But then my text brings a +bright assurance, that swift and easy and springing as the course of a +stag on a free hill-side may be the gait with which we run the race set +before us. + +It is the same thought, under a somewhat different garb, which the +Apostle has when he tells us that the Christian soldier ought to have +his 'feet shod with the alacrity that comes from the gospel of peace.' +We are to be always ready to run, and to run with light hearts when we +do. That is a possible result of Christian communion, and ought, far +more than it is, to be an achieved reality with each of us. Of course +physical conditions vary. Of course our spirits go up and down. Of +course the work that we have to do one day seems easier than the same +work does another. All these fluctuations and variations, and causes of +heavy-footedness--and sometimes more sinful ones, causes of +sluggishness--will survive; but in spite of them all, and beneath them +all, it is possible that we may have ourselves thus equipped for the +road, and may rejoice in our work 'as a strong man to run a race,' and +may cheerily welcome every duty, and cast ourselves into all our tasks. +It is possible, because communion with God manifest in Christ does, as +we have been seeing, actually breathe into men a vigour, and +consequently a freshness and a buoyancy that do not belong to +themselves, and do not come from nature or from surrounding things. +Unless that is true, that Christianity gives to a man the divine +gladness which makes him ready for work, I do not know what is the good +of his Christianity to him. + +But not only is that so, but this same communion with God, which is the +opening of the heart for the influx of the divine power, brings to bear +upon all our work new motives which redeem it from being oppressive, +tedious, monotonous, trivial, too great for our endurance, or too little +for our effort. All work that is not done in fellowship with Jesus +Christ tends to become either too heavy to be tackled successfully, or +too trivial to demand our best energies, and in either case will be done +perfunctorily, and as the days go on, mechanically and wearisomely, as a +grind and a pled. 'Thou makest my feet like hinds' feet'--if I get the +new motive of love to God in Christ well into my heart so that it comes +out and influences all my actions, there will be no more tasks too +formidable to undertake, or too small to be worth an effort. There will +be nothing unwelcome. The rough places will be made plain, and the +crooked things straight, and our feet will be shod with the preparedness +of the gospel of peace. + +If we live in daily communion with God, another thought, too, will come +in, which will, in like manner, make us ready 'to run with' cheerfulness +'the race that is set before us.' We shall connect everything that +befalls us, and everything that we have to do, with the final issue, and +life will become solemn, grave, and blessed, because it is the outer +court and vestibule of the eternal life with God in Christ. They that +hold communion with Him, and only they, will, as another prophet says, +'run and not be weary,' when there come the moments that require a +special effort; and 'will walk and not faint' through the else +tediously long hours of commonplace duty and dusty road. + +III. The last of the thoughts here is--Communion with God brings +elevation. + +'He will make me to walk upon my high places.' One sees the herd on the +skyline of the mountain ridge, and at home up there, far above dangers +and attack; able to keep their footing on cliff and precipice, and +tossing their antlers in the pure air. One wave of the hand, and they +are miles away. 'He sets me upon my high places'; if we will keep +ourselves in simple, loving fellowship with God in Christ; and day by +day, even when 'the fig-tree does not blossom, and there is no fruit in +the vine,' will still 'rejoice in the God of our salvation,' He will +lift us up, and Isaiah's other clause in the verse which I have quoted +will be fulfilled: 'They shall mount up with wings as eagles.' Communion +with God does not only help us to plod and to travel, but it helps us to +soar. If we keep ourselves in touch with Him, we shall be like a weight +that is hung on to a balloon. The buoyancy of the one will lift the +leadenness of the other. If we hold fast by Christ's hand that will lift +us up to the high places, the heights of God, in so far as we may reach +them in this world; and we shall be at home up there. They will be '_my_ +high places,' that I never could have got at by my own scrambling, but +to which Thou hast lifted me up, and which, by Thy grace, have become my +natural abode. I am at home there, and walk at liberty in the loftiness, +and fear no fall amongst the cliffs. + +Are you and I familiar with these upper ranges of thought and experience +and life? Do we feel at home there more than down in the bottoms, +amongst the swamps, and the miasma, and the mists? Where is your home, +brother? The Mass begins with _Sursum corda_: 'Up with your hearts,' and +that is the word for us. But the way to get up is to keep ourselves in +touch with Jesus Christ, and then He will, even whilst our feet are +travelling along this road of earth, set us at His own right hand in the +heavenly places, and make them '_our_ high places.' It is safe up there. +The air is pure; the poison mists are down lower; the hunters do not +come there; their arrows or their rifles will not carry so far. It is +only when the herd ventures a little down the hill that it is in danger +from shots. + +But the elevation will not be such as to make us despise the low paths +on which duty--the sufficient and loftiest thing of all--lies for us. +Our souls may be like stars, and dwell apart, and yet may lay the +humblest duties upon themselves, and whilst we live in the high places, +we 'may travel on life's common way in cheerful godliness.' Communion +with Him will make us light-footed, and lift us high, and yet it will +keep us at desk, and mill, and study, and kitchen, and nursery, and +shop, and we shall find that the high places are reachable in every +life, and in every task. So we may go on until at last we shall hear the +Voice that says, 'Come up higher,' and shall he lifted to the mountain +of God, where the living waters are, and shall fear no snares or hunters +any more for ever. + + * * * * * + + +ZEPHANIAH + + +ZION'S JOY AND GOD'S + + 'Sing, O daughter of Zion; shout, O Israel; be glad and rejoice + with all the heart, O daughter of Jerusalem.... 17. He will rejoice + over thee with joy; He will rest in His love, He will joy over thee + with singing.'--ZEPHANIAH iii. 14, 17. + +What a wonderful rush of exuberant gladness there is in these words! The +swift, short clauses, the triple invocation in the former verse, the +triple promise in the latter, the heaped together synonyms, all help the +impression. The very words seem to dance with joy. But more remarkable +than this is the parallelism between the two verses. Zion is called to +rejoice in God because God rejoices in her. She is to shout for joy and +sing because God's joy too has a voice, and breaks out into singing. For +every throb of joy in man's heart, there is a wave of gladness in God's. +The notes of our praise are at once the echoes and the occasions of His. +We are to be glad because He is glad: He is glad because we are so. We +sing for joy, and He joys over us with singing because we do. + +I. God's joy over Zion. + +It is to be noticed that the former verse of our text is followed by the +assurance: 'The Lord is in the midst of thee'; and that the latter verse +is preceded by the same assurance. So, then, intimate fellowship and +communion between God and Israel lies at the root both of God's joy in +man and man's joy in God. + +We are solemnly warned by 'profound thinkers' of letting the shadow of +our emotions fall upon God. No doubt there is a real danger there; but +there is a worse danger, that of conceiving of a God who has no life and +heart; and it is better to hold fast by this--that in Him is that which +corresponds to what in us is gladness. We are often told, too, that the +Jehovah of the Old Testament is a stern and repellent God, and the +religion of the Old Testament is gloomy and servile. But such a +misconception is hard to maintain in the face of such words as these. +Zephaniah, of whom we know little, and whose words are mainly forecasts +of judgments and woes pronounced against Zion that was rebellious and +polluted, ends his prophecy with these companion pictures, like a gleam +of sunshine which often streams out at the close of a dark winter's day. +To him the judgments which he prophesied were no contradiction of the +love and gladness of God. The thought of a glad God might be a very +awful thought; such an insight as this prophet had gives a blessed +meaning to it. We may think of the joy that belongs to the divine nature +as coming from the completeness of His being, which is raised far above +all that makes of sorrow. But it is not in Himself alone that He is +glad; but it is because He loves. The exercise of love is ever +blessedness. His joy is in self-impartation; His delights are in the +sons of men: 'As the bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride, so shall thy +God rejoice over thee.' His gladness is in His children when they let +Him love them, and do not throw back His love on itself. As in man's +physical frame it is pain to have secretions dammed up, so when God's +love is forced back upon itself and prevented from flowing out in +blessing, some shadow of suffering cannot but pass across that calm sky. +He is glad when His face is mirrored in ours, and the rays from Him are +reflected from us. + +But there is another wonderfully bold and beautiful thought in this +representation of the gladness of God. Note the double form which it +assumes: 'He will rest'--literally, be silent--'in His love; He will joy +over thee with singing.' As to the former, loving hearts on earth know +that the deepest love knows no utterance, and can find none. A heart +full of love rests as having attained its desire and accomplished its +purpose. It keeps a perpetual Sabbath, and is content to be silent. + +But side by side with this picture of the repose of God's joy is set +with great poetic insight the precisely opposite image of a love which +delights in expression, and rejoices over its object with singing. The +combination of the two helps to express the depth and intensity of the +one love, which like a song-bird rises with quivering delight and pours +out as it rises an ever louder and more joyous note, and then drops, +composed and still, to its nest upon the dewy ground. + +II. Zion's joy in God. + +To the Prophet, the fact that 'the Lord is in the midst of thee' was the +guarantee for the confident assurance 'Thou shalt not fear any more'; +and this assurance was to be the occasion of exuberant gladness, which +ripples over in the very words of our first text. That great thought of +'God dwelling in the midst' is rightly a pain and a terror to rebellious +wills and alienated hearts. It needs some preparation of mind and spirit +to be glad because God is near; and they who find their satisfaction in +earthly sources, and those who seek for it in these, see no word of good +news, but rather a 'fearful looking for of judgment' in the thought that +God is in their midst. The word rendered 'rejoices' in the first verse +of our text is not the same as that so translated in the second. The +latter means literally, to move in a circle; while the former literally +means, to leap for joy. Thus the gladness of God is thought of as +expressing itself in dignified, calm movements, whilst Zion's joy is +likened in its expression to the more violent movements of the dance. +True human joy is like God's, in that He delights in us and we in Him, +and in that both He and we delight in the exercise of love. But we are +never to forget that the differences are real as the resemblances, and +that it is reserved for the higher form of our experiences in a future +life to 'enter into the joy of the Lord.' + +It becomes us to see to it that our religion is a religion of joy. Our +text is an authoritative command as well as a joyful exhortation, and we +do not fairly represent the facts of Christian faith if we do not +'rejoice in the Lord always.' In all the sadness and troubles which +necessarily accompany us, as they do all men, we ought by the effort of +faith to set the Lord always before us that we be not moved. The secret +of stable and perpetual joy still lies where Zephaniah found it--in the +assurance that the Lord is with us, and in the vision of His love +resting upon us, and rejoicing over us with singing. If thus our love +clasps His, and His joy finds its way into our hearts, it will remain +with us that our 'joy may be full'; and being guarded by Him whilst +still there is fear of stumbling, He will set us at last 'before the +presence of His glory without blemish in exceeding joy. + + * * * * * + + +HAGGAI + + +VAIN TOIL + + 'Ye have sown much, and bring in little; ye eat, but ye have not + enough; ye drink, but ye are not filled with drink; ye clothe you, + but there is none warm; and he that earneth wages earneth wages to + put it into a bag with holes.'--HAGGAI i. 6 + +A large emigration had taken place from the land of captivity to +Jerusalem. The great purpose which the returning exiles had in view was +the rebuilding of the Temple, as the centre-point of the restored +nation. With true heroism, and much noble and unselfish enthusiasm, they +began the work, postponing to it all considerations of personal +convenience. But the usual fate of all great national enthusiasms +attended this. Political difficulties, hard practical realities, came in +the way, and the task was suspended for a time. A handful remained true +to the original ideas; the rest fell away. Personal comfort, love of +ease, the claims of domestic life, the greed of gain, all the ignoble +motives which, like gravitation and friction, check such movements after +the first impulse is exhausted, came into play. Like every great cause, +this one was launched amidst high hopes and honest zeal: but by degrees +the hopes faded and became nothing better than 'godly imaginations.' The +exiles took to building their own ceiled houses, and let the House of +God lie waste. They began to think more of settling on the land than of +building the Temple. No doubt they said all the things with which men +are wont to hide their selfishness under the mask of duty:--Men must +live; we must take care of ourselves; it is mad enthusiasm to build a +temple when we have not homes; we mean to build it some time, but we are +practical men and must provide for our wants first.' + +This wisdom of theirs turned out folly, as it generally does. There +came, as we learn from this prophet, a season of distress, in which the +harvest, for which they had sacrificed their duties and their calling, +failed: and in spite of their prudent diligence, or rather, just because +of their misplaced and selfish attention to their worldly well-being, +they were poor and hungry. 'The heaven over them was stayed from dew, +and the earth from her fruit.' Haggai was sent by God to interpret the +calamity, and to urge to the fulfilment of their earlier purposes. + +His words apply to a supernatural condition of things with which he is +dealing, but they contain truths illustrated by it and true for ever. +For us all, as truly as for those Jews, the first thing, the primary, +all-embracing duty, is to serve God, to obey, love, and live with Him. +The same selfish and worldly excuses have force with us: 'We have +business to look after; men must live; we have no time to think about +religion; I have built a new mill that occupies my thoughts; I have +found a new plaything, and I must try it; I have married a wife, and +therefore I cannot come.' So God and His claims, Christ and His love, +are hustled into a corner to be attended to when opportunity serves, but +to be neglected in the meantime. And the same result follows, not by +miracle, but by natural necessity. Haggai puts these results in our text +with bitter, indignant amplification. His words are all the working out +of one idea-the unprofitableness, on the whole and in the long-run, of a +godless life. He illustrates this in the clauses of our text in various +forms, and my purpose now is simply to apply each of these to the +realities of a godless life. + +I. It is a life of fruitless toil. + +The Prophet pictures the sowing, the abundant seed thrown broadcast, the +long waiting, and then, finally, a wretched harvest--a few prematurely +yellow ears and short stalks. I remember a friend telling me that when +he was a boy he went out reaping with his father in one of our years of +great drought; and after a day's work threshed out all that he had cut, +and carried it home with him in his handkerchief. That is what Haggai +saw realised in fact, because the sowing had been without God. It is +what we may see in others and feel in ourselves. It is the very law and +curse of godless toil with its unproductive harvest. The builders set +out to build a tower whose top shall reach to heaven, and they never get +higher than a story or two. There is nothing more tragic than the +contrast between what a man actually accomplishes in his life and what +he planned when he began it. Many and many of our lives are like the +half-built houses in Pompeii, where the stones are lying that had been +all squared and polished, and have never been lifted to their place in +the unfinished walls. Much of the seed never comes up at all; and what +we gather is always less than what we expected. The prize gleams before +us; when we get it, is it as good as it looked when it hung tempting at +the unreached goal? A fox-brush is scarcely sufficient payment for +riding over half a county. Ah! but you say, there is the enthusiasm and +stir of the pursuit. Well, yes; it is something if it is _training_ you +for something, and if you can say that faculties worth the cultivating +are developed in that way: and whether that is so depends on what you +think a man is made for, and on whether these are faculties which will +last and find their scope as long as you last. Consider what you are, +what you seek; and then say whether the most fruitful harvest from which +God and His love are left out is not little. + +This fruitlessness of toil is inevitable unless it springs from a motive +which in itself is sufficient, pursues a purpose which will surely be +accomplished, and is done in hope of the world where 'our works do +follow us.' If we are allied to Christ, then whether our work be great +or small, apparently successful or frustrated, it will be all right. +Though we do not see our fruit, we know that He will bless the springing +thereof, and that no least deed done for Him but shall in the +harvest-day be found waving a nodding head of multiplied results. 'God +giveth it a body as it hath pleased Him'; and 'he that goeth forth +weeping shall doubtless return, bringing his sheaves with him.' 'Your +labour is not in vain to the Lord.' + +II. A godless life is one of unsatisfied hunger and thirst. + +The poor results of the exiles' toil did not avail to stay gnawing +hunger nor slake burning thirst, and the same result applies only too +sadly to lives lived apart from God. There are a multitude of desires +proper to the human soul besides those which belong to the bodily frame, +and these have their proper objects. Is it true that the objects are +sufficient to satisfy the desires? Does any one of the things for which +we toil feed us full when we have it? Do we not always want just a +little more? And is not that want accompanied with a real and sharp +sense of hunger? Is it not true the appetite GROWS with what it feeds +on? And even if a man schools himself to something like content, it +comes not because the desire is satisfied, but because it is somehow +bridled. Cerberus often breaks his chain, in spite of honied cakes that +have been tossed into the wide mouths of his tripled heads. What do +wealth and ambition do for their votaries? And even he who thirsts for +nobler occupations and lives for higher aims is often obliged to admit, +in weariness, that 'this also is vanity.' + +But even when the desire is satisfied, the man desiring is not. To feed +their bodies men starve their souls. How many longings are crushed or +neglected by him who pushes eagerly after any one longing! We have +either to race from one course to another, splitting life into +intolerable distractions, or we have to circumscribe and limit ourselves +in order to devote all our power to securing one; and if we secure it, +then a hundred others will bark like a kennel of hounds. + +And if you say, 'I know nothing about all this; I have my aims, and on +the whole I secure a tolerable satisfaction for them,' do you not know a +nameless unrest? If you do not, then you are so much the poorer and the +lower, and you have murdered part of yourself. Some one single tyrannous +desire sits solitary in your heart. He has slain all his brethren that +he may rule, as sultans used to do in Constantinople. One big fish in +the aquarium has eaten up all the others. + +God only satisfies the soul. It is only the 'bread which came down from +Heaven,' of which if we eat our souls shall live, and be filled as with +marrow and fatness. That One is all-sufficient in His Oneness. +Possessing Him, we know no satiety; possessing Him, we do not need to +maim any part of our nature; possessing Him, we shall not covet divers +multifarious objects. The loftiest powers of the soul find in Him their +adequate, inexhaustible, eternal object. The lowest desires may, like +the beasts of the forest, seek their meat from God. If we take Him for +our own and live on Him by faith, our blessed experience will be, 'I am +full: I have all and abound.' + +III. The godless life is one of futile defences. + +'Ye clothe you, but there is none warm.' The clothing was to guard +against the nipping air that blew shrewdly on their hills, and it failed +to keep them from the weather. We may be indulging in fancy in this +application of our text, but still raiment is as needful as food, and +its failure to answer its purpose points to a real sorrow and +insufficiency of a life lived without God. In it there is no real +defence against the manifold evils which storm upon all of us. When the +bitter, biting weather comes, what have you to shelter you from the cold +blast? Some rags of stoical resignation or proverbial commonplaces? +'What is done cannot be helped'; 'What cannot be cured must be endured'; +'It is a long lane that has no turning,' and the like. But what are +these? You may have other occupations to interest you, but these will +not heal, though they may divert your attention from, your gaping +wounds. You have friends, and the like, but though you have all these +and much beside, these will not avail. 'The covering is shorter than +that a man can wrap himself in it.' Naked and shivering, exposed to the +pelting and the pitiless storm, with rags soaked through, and chilled to +the bone, what is there but death before the man in the wild weather on +some trackless moor? And what is there for us if we have to bear the +storms and cold of life without God? No doubt most of us struggle +through somehow. Time heals much; work does a great deal; to live is so +much, that no living being can be wholly miserable. Other cares and +other occupations blossom and grow, and the brown mounds get covered +with sweet springing grass. But how many lie down and die? How many for +the rest of their lives go crushed and broken-spirited? How many carry +about with them, deep in their hearts, a sleepless sorrow? How many have +to bear passionate paroxysms of agony and bursts of angry grief, all of +which might have been softened and soothed and made to gleam with the +mellow light of hope as from a hidden sun, if only, instead of defiantly +and weakly fronting the world alone, they had found in the man Christ +the refuge from the storm and the covert from the tempest. How can a man +face all the awful possibilities and the solemn certainties of life +without God and not go mad? It is impossible to work without Him; it is +impossible to rejoice without Him; but more impossible still, if that +could be, is it to endure without Him. It is in union with Jesus Christ, +and with Him alone, that we shall receive 'the pure linen, clean and +white,' which is a surer defence than the warrior's mail, and 'being +clothed we shall not be found naked.' + +IV. A godless life is one of fleeting riches. + +In Haggai's strong metaphor, the poor day-labourer earns his small wage +and puts it into a ragged bag, or as we should say, a pocket with a hole +in it; and when he comes to look for it, it is gone, and all his toil is +for nothing. What a picture this is of the very experience that befalls +all men who work for less wages than God's 'Well done.' Take an instance +or two: here is a man who works hard for a long time, and puts his money +into some bank, and one morning he gets a letter to tell him the bank's +doors are closed, and his savings gone--a bag with holes. Here is a man +who climbs by slow degrees to the head of his profession and lives in +popular admiration, and some day he sees a younger competitor shooting +ahead of him, and all is lost--a bag with holes. Here is a man who has, +by some great discovery, established his fame or his fortune, and a new +man, standing on his shoulders, makes a greater, and his fame dwarfs and +his trade runs into other channels--a bag with holes. Here is a man who +has conquered a world, and dies on the rock of St. Helena, with his +pompous titles stripped off him, and instead of kingdoms a rood or two +of garden, and instead of his legions, half a dozen soldiers, a doctor, +and a jailer--a bag with holes. Here is a man who, having amassed his +riches and kept them without loss all his life, is dying. They cannot go +with him. That would not matter; but unfortunately he has to live +yonder, and he will have 'nothing of all his labour that he can carry +away in his hands'--a bag with holes. + +Such loss and final separation befall us all; but he who loves God loses +none of his real treasure when he parts from earthly treasures. Fortune +may turn her wheel as she pleases, his wealth cannot be taken from him. +His riches are laid up in a sure storehouse, 'where neither moth nor +rust doth corrupt.' We each live for ever. Should we not have for our +object in life that which is eternal as ourselves? Why should we fix +our hopes on that which is not abiding--on things that can perish, on +things that we must lose? Let us not run this awful risk. Do not +impoverish or darken life here; do not condemn yourselves to unfruitful +toil, to unsatisfied desires, to unguarded calamities, to unstable +possessions; but come, as sinful men ought to come, to Jesus Christ for +pardon and for life. Then, in due season, you will reap if you faint +not; and the harvest will not be little, but 'some sixty-fold and some +an hundred-fold'; then you will 'hunger no more, neither thirst any +more,' but 'He that hath mercy on you will lead you to living fountains +of water'; then you will not have to draw your poor rags round you for +warmth, but shall be clothed with the robe of righteousness and the +garment of praise; then you will never need to fear the loss of your +riches, but bear with you whilst you live your treasures beyond the +reach of change, and will find them multiplied a thousand-fold when you +die and go to God, your portion and your joy for ever. + + +BRAVE ENCOURAGEMENTS + + 'In the seventh month, in the one and twentieth day of the month, + came the word of the Lord by the prophet Haggai, saying, 2. Speak + now to Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to + Joshua the son of Josedech, the high priest, and to the residue of + the people, saying, 3. Who is left among you that saw this house in + her first glory? and how do ye see it now? is it not in your eyes + in comparison of it as nothing? 4. Yet now be strong, O Zerubbabel, + saith the Lord; and be strong, O Joshua, son of Josedech, the high + priest; and be strong, all ye people of the land, saith the Lord, + and work: for I am with you, saith the Lord of Hosts: 5. According + to the word that I covenanted with you when ye came out of Egypt, + so My Spirit remaineth among you: fear ye not. 6. For thus saith + the Lord of Hosts; Yet once, it is a little while, and I will + shake the heavens, and the earth, and the sea, and the dry land; 7. + And I will shake all nations, and the desire of all nations shall + come; and I will fill this house with glory, saith the Lord of + Hosts. 8. The silver is Mine, and the gold is Mine, saith the Lord + of Hosts. 9. The glory of this latter house shall be greater than + of the former, saith the Lord of hosts: and in this place will I + give peace, saith the Lord of Hosts.'--HAGGAI ii. 1-9. + +The second year of Darius, in which Haggai prophesied, was 520 B.C. +Political intrigues had stopped the rebuilding of the Temple, and the +enthusiasm of the first return had died away in the face of prolonged +difficulties. The two brave leaders, Zerubbabel and Joshua, still +survived, and kept alive their own zeal; but the mass of the people were +more concerned about their comforts than about the restoration of the +house of Jehovah. They had built for themselves 'ceiled houses,' and +were engrossed with their farms. + +The Book of Ezra dwells on the external hindrances to the rebuilding. +Haggai goes straight at the selfishness and worldliness of the people as +the great hindrance. We know nothing about him beyond the fact that he +was a prophet working in conjunction with Zechariah. He has been thought +to have been one of the original company who came back with Zerubbabel, +and it has been suggested, though without any certainty, that he may +have been one of the old men who remembered the former house. But these +conjectures are profitless, and all that we know is that God sent him to +rouse the slackened earnestness of the people, and that his words +exercised a powerful influence in setting forward the work of +rebuilding. This passage is the second of his four short prophecies. We +may call it a vision of the glory of the future house of Jehovah. + +The prophecy begins with fully admitting the depressing facts which were +chilling the popular enthusiasm. Compared with the former Temple, this +which they had begun to build could not but be 'as nothing.' So the +murmurers said, and Haggai allows that they are quite right. Note the +turn of his words: 'Who is left ... that saw this house in its former +glory?' There had been many eighteen years ago; but the old eyes that +had filled with tears then had been mostly closed by death in the +interval, and now but few survived. Perhaps if the eyes had not been so +dim with age, the rising house would not have looked so contemptible. +The pessimism of the aged is not always clear-sighted, nor their +comparisons of what was, and what is beginning to be, just. But it is +always wise to be frank in admitting the full strength of the opinions +that we oppose; and encouragements to work will never tell if they blink +difficulties or seek to deny plain facts. Haggai was wise when he began +with echoing the old men's disparagements, and in full view of them, +pealed out his brave incitements to the work. + +The repetition of the one exhortation, 'Be strong, be strong, be +strong,' is very impressive. The very monotony has power. In the face of +the difficulties which beset every good work the cardinal virtue is +strength. 'To be weak is to be miserable,' and is the parent of +failures. One hears in the exhortation an echo of that to Joshua, to +whom and to his people the command 'Be strong and of good courage' was +given with like repetition (Joshua i.). + +But there is nothing more futile than telling feeble men to be strong, +and trembling ones to be very courageous. Unless the exhorter can give +some means of strength and some reason for courage, his word is idle +wind. So Haggai bases his exhortation upon its sufficient ground, 'For I +am with you, saith Jehovah of hosts.' Strength is a duty, but only if we +have a source of strength available. The one basis of it is the presence +of God. His name reveals the immensity of His power, who commands all +the armies of heaven, angels, or stars, and to whom the forces of the +universe are as the ordered ranks of His disciplined army; and who is, +moreover, the Captain of earthly hosts, ever giving victory to those who +are His 'willing soldiers in the day of His power.' It is not vain to +bid a man be strong, if you can assure him that God is with him. Unless +you can, you may save your breath. + +Here is the temper for all Christian workers. Let them realise the duty +of strength; let them have recourse to the Fountain of strength; let +them mark the purpose of strength, which is 'work,' as Haggai puts it so +emphatically. We have nothing to do with the magnitude of what we may be +able to build. It may be very poor beside the great houses that greater +ages or men have been able to rear. But whether it be a temple brave +with gold and cedar, or a log, it is our business to put all our +strength into the task, and to draw that strength from the assurance +that God is with us. + +The difficulties connected with the translation of verse 5 need not +concern us here. For my purpose, the general sense resulting from any +translation is clear enough. The covenant made of old, when Israel came +from an earlier captivity, is fresh as ever, and God's Spirit is with +the people; therefore they need not fear. 'Fear ye not' is another of +the well-meant exhortations which often produce the opposite effect from +the intended one. One can fancy some of the people saying, 'It is all +very well to talk about not being afraid; but look at our feebleness, +our defencelessness, our enemies; we cannot but fear, if we open our +eyes.' Quite true; and there is only one antidote to fear, and that is +the assurance that God's covenant binds Him to take care of me. Unless +one believes that, he must be strangely blind to the facts of life if he +has not a cold dread coiled round his heart and ever ready to sting. + +The Prophet rises into grand predictions of the glory of the poor house +which the weak hands were raising. Verses 6-9 set things invisible over +against the visible. In general terms the Prophet announces a speedy +convulsion, partly symbolical and partly real, in which 'all nations' +shall be revolutionised, and as a consequence, shall become Jehovah's +worshippers, bringing their treasures to the Temple, and so filling the +house with glory. This shall be because Jehovah is the true Possessor of +all their wealth. But the scope of verse 9 seems to transcend these +promises, and to point to an undescribed 'glory,' still greater than +that of the universal flocking of the nations with their gifts, and to +reach a climax in the wide promise of peace given in the Temple, and +thence, as is implied, flowing out 'like a river' through a +tranquillised world. + +'Yet once, it is a little while.' How long did the little while last? +There were, possibly, some feeble incipient fulfilments of the prophecy +in the immediate future; for, after the exile, there were convulsions in +the political world which resulted in security to the Jews, and the +religion of Israel began to draw some scattered proselytes. But the +prophecy is not completely fulfilled even now, and it covers the entire +development of the 'kingdom that cannot be moved' until the end of time. +The writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews thus understands the prophecy +(Hebrews xii. 26, 27), and there are echoes of it in Revelation xxi., +which describes the final form of the Holy City, the New Jerusalem. So +the chronology of prophecy is not altogether that of history; and while +the events stand clear, their perspective is foreshortened. All the ages +are but 'a little while' in the calendar of heaven. In regard to the +whole of the prophetic utterances, we have often to say with the +disciples, 'What is this that he saith, a little while?' Eighteen +centuries have rolled away since the seer heard, 'Behold, I come +quickly,' and the vision still tarries. + +The old interpretation of 'the desire of all nations' as meaning Jesus +Christ gave a literal fulfilment of the prophecy by His presence in the +Temple; but that meaning of the phrase is untenable, both because the +verb is in the plural, which would be impossible if a person were meant, +and because the only interpretation which gives relevancy to verse 8 is +that the expression means the silver and gold, there declared to be +Jehovah's. That venerable explanation, then, cannot stand. There were +offerings from heathen kings, such as those from Darius recorded in Ezra +vi. 6-10, and the gifts of Artaxerxes (Ezra vii. 15), which may be +regarded as incipient accomplishments; but such facts as these cannot +exhaust the prophecy. + +It must be admitted that nothing happened during the history of that +Temple to answer to the full meaning of this prophecy. But was it +therefore a delusion that God spoke by Haggai? We must distinguish +between form and substance. The Temple was the centre point of the +kingdom of God on earth, the place of meeting between God and men, the +place of sacrifice. The fulfilment of the prophecy is not to be found in +any house made with hands, but in the true Temple which Jesus Christ has +builded. He in His own humanity was all that the Temple shadowed and +foretold. It is in Him, and in the spiritual Temple which He has reared, +that Haggai's vision will find its full realisation, which is yet +future. The powers that issue from Him shattered the Roman empire, have +ever since been casting earth's kingdoms into new moulds, and have still +destructive work to do. The 'once more' began when Jesus came, but the +final 'shaking' lies in front still. Every smaller revolution in thought +or sweeping away of institutions is a prelude to that great 'shaking' +when everything will go except the kingdom that cannot be moved. Its +result shall be that the treasures of the nations shall be poured at His +feet who is 'worthy to receive riches,' even as other prophecies have +foretold that 'men shall bring unto Thee the wealth of the nations' +(Isaiah lx. 11; Revelation xxi. 24, 26). + +In that true Temple the glory of the Shechinah, which was wanting in the +second, for ever abides, 'the glory as of the only-begotten of the +Father'; and in it dwells for ever the dove of peace, ready to glide +into every heart that enters to worship at the shrine. Jesus Christ is +not the 'desire of all nations' which shall come to the Temple, but is +the Temple to which the wealth of all nations shall be brought, in whom +the true glory of a manifested God abides, and from whom the peace of +God which passeth all understanding, and is His own peace too, shall +enter reconciled souls, and calm turbulent passions, and reconcile +contending peoples, and diffuse its calm through all the nations of the +saved who there 'walk in the light of the Lord.' + + * * * * * + + +ZECHARIAH + + +DYING MEN AND THE UNDYING WORD + + 'Your fathers, where are they? and the prophets, do they live for + ever? 6. But My words and My statutes, which I commanded My + servants the prophets, did they not take hold of your + fathers?'-Zechariah i. 5, 6. + +Zechariah was the Prophet of the Restoration. Some sixteen years before +this date a feeble band of exiles had returned from Babylon, with high +hopes of rebuilding the ruined Temple. But their designs had been +thwarted, and for long years the foundations stood unbuilded upon. The +delay had shattered their hopes and flattened their enthusiasm; and +when, with the advent of a new Persian king, a brighter day dawned, the +little band was almost too dispirited to avail itself of it. At that +crisis, two prophets 'blew soul-animating strains,' and as the narrative +says elsewhere, 'the work prospered through the prophesying of Haggai +and Zechariah.' + +My text comes from the first of Zechariah's prophecies. In it he lays +the foundation for all that he has subsequently to say. He points to +the past, and summons up the august figures of the great pre-Exilic +prophets, and reminds his contemporaries that the words which they spoke +had been verified in the experience of past generations. He puts himself +in line with these, his mighty predecessors, and declares that, though +the hearers and the speakers of that prophetic word had glided away into +the vast unknown, the word remained, lived still, and on his lips +demanded the same obedience as it had vainly demanded from the +generation that was past. + +It has sometimes been supposed that of the two questions in my text the +first is the Prophet's--'Your fathers, where are they?' and that the +second is the retort of the people--'The prophets, do they live for +ever?' 'It is true that our fathers are gone, but what about the +prophets that you are talking of? Are they any better off? Are they not +dead, too?' But though the separation of the words into dialogue gives +vivacity, it is wholly unnecessary. And it seems to me that Zechariah's +appeal is all the more impressive if we suppose that he here gathers the +mortal hearers and speakers of the immortal word into one class, and +sets over against them the Eternal Word, which lives to-day as it did +then, and has new lessons for a new generation. So it is from that point +of view that I wish to look at these words now, and try to gather from +them some of the solemn, and, as it seems to me, striking lessons which +they inculcate. I follow with absolute simplicity the Prophet's +thoughts. + +I. The mortal hearers and speakers of the abiding Word. + +'Your fathers, where are they? and the prophets, do they live for ever?' +It is all but impossible to invest that well-known thought with any +fresh force; but, perhaps, if we look at it from the special angle from +which the Prophet here regards it, we may get some new impression of the +old truth. That special angle is to bring into connection the Eternal +Word and the transient vehicles and hearers of it. + +Did you ever stand in some roofless, ruined cathedral or abbey church, +and try to gather round you the generations that had bowed and +worshipped there? Did you ever step across the threshold of some ancient +sanctuary, where the feet of vanished generations had worn down the +sand-stone steps at the entrance? It is solemn to think of the fleeting +series of men; it is still more striking to bring them into connection +with that everlasting Word which once they heard, and accepted or +rejected. + +But let me bring the thought a little closer. There is not a sitting in +our churches that has not been sat in by dead people. As I stand here +and look round I can re-people almost every pew with faces that we shall +see no more. Many of you, the older _habitués_ of this place, can do the +same, and can look and think, 'Ah! _he_ used to sit there; _she_ used to +be in that corner.' And I can remember many mouldering lips that have +stood in this place where I stand, of friends and brethren that are +gone. 'Your fathers, where are they?' 'Graves under us, silent,' is the +only answer. 'And the prophets, do they live for ever?' No memories are +shorter-lived than the memories of the preachers of God's Word. + +Take another thought, that all these past hearers and speakers of the +Word had that Word verified in their lives. 'Took it not hold of your +fathers?' Some of them neglected it, and its burdens were upon them, +little as they felt them sometimes. Some of them clave to it, and +accepted it, and its blessed promises were all fulfilled to them. Not +one of those who, for the brief period of their earthly lives, came in +contact with that divine message but realised, more or less consciously, +some blessedly and some in darkened lives and ruined careers, the solemn +truth of its promises and of its threatenings. The Word may have been +received, or it may have been neglected, by the past generations; but +whether the members thereof put out a hand to accept, or withheld their +grasp, whether they took hold of it or it took hold of them--wherever +they are now, their earthly relation to that word is a determining +factor in their condition. The syllables died away into empty air, the +messages were forgotten, but the men that ministered them are eternally +influenced by the faithfulness of their ministrations, and the men that +heard them are eternally affected by the reception or rejection of that +word. So, when we summon around us the congregation of the dead, which +is more numerous than the audience of the living to whom I now speak, +the lesson that their silent presence teaches us is, 'Wherefore we +should give the more earnest heed to the things that we have heard.' + +II. Let us note the abiding Word, which these transient generations of +hearers and speakers have had to do with. + +It is maddening to think of the sure decay and dissolution of all human +strength, beauty, wisdom, unless that thought brings with it +immediately, like a pair of coupled stars, of which the one is bright +and the other dark, the corresponding thought of that which does not +pass, and is unaffected by time and change. Just as reason requires some +unalterable substratum, below all the fleeting phenomena of the +changeful creation--a God who is the Rock-basis of all, the staple to +which all the links hang--so we are driven back and back and back, by +the very fact of the transiency of the transient, to grasp, for a refuge +and a stay, the permanency of the permanent. 'In the year that King +Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne'--the passing away of +the mortal shadow of sovereignty revealed the undying and true King. It +is blessed for us when the lesson which the fleeting of all that _can_ +flee away reads to us is that, beneath it all, there is the Unchanging. +When the leaves drop from the boughs of the trees that veil the face of +the cliff, then the steadfast rock is visible; and when the generations, +like leaves, drop and rot, then the rock background should stand out the +more clearly. + +Zechariah meant by the 'word of God' simply the prophetic utterances +about the destiny and the punishment of his nation. We ought to mean by +the 'word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever,' not merely the +written embodiment of it in the Old or New Testament, but the Personal +Word, the Incarnate Word, the everlasting Son of the Father, who came +upon earth to be God's mouthpiece and utterance, and who is for us all +_the_ Word, the Eternal Word of the living God. It is His perpetual +existence rather than the continuous duration of the written word, +declaration of Himself though it is, that is mighty for our strength and +consolation when we think of the transient generations. + +Christ lives. That is the deepest meaning of the ancient saying, 'All +flesh is grass.... The Word of the Lord endureth for ever.' He lives; +therefore we can front change and decay in all around calmly and +triumphantly. It matters not though the prophets and their hearers pass +away. Men depart; Christ abides. Luther was once surprised by some +friends sitting at a table from which a meal had been removed, and +thoughtfully tracing with his fingers upon its surface with some drop of +water or wine the one word 'Vivit'; He lives. He fell back upon that +when all around was dark. Yes, men may go; what of that? Aaron may have +to ascend to the summit of Hor, and put off his priestly garments and +die there. Moses may have to climb Pisgah, and with one look at the land +which he must never tread, die there alone by the kiss of God, as the +Rabbis say. Is the host below leaderless? The Pillar of Cloud lies still +over the Tabernacle, and burns steadfast and guiding in front of the +files of Israel. 'Your fathers, where are they? The prophets, do they +live for ever?' 'Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and to-day and for +ever.' + +Another consideration to be drawn from this contrast is, since we have +this abiding Word, let us not dread changes, however startling and +revolutionary. Jesus Christ does not change. But there is a human +element in the Church's conceptions of Jesus Christ, and still more in +its working out of the principles of the Gospel in institutions and +forms, which partakes of the transiency of the men from whom it has +come. In such a time as this, when everything is going into the +melting-pot, and a great many timid people are trembling for the Ark of +God, quite unnecessarily as it seems to me, it is of prime importance +for the calmness and the wisdom and the courage of Christian people, +that they should grasp firmly the distinction between the divine +treasure which is committed to the churches, and the earthen vessels in +which it has been enshrined. Jesus Christ, the man Jesus, the divine +person, His incarnation, His sacrifice, His resurrection, His ascension, +the gift of His Spirit to abide for ever with His Church--these are the +permanent 'things which cannot be shaken.' And creeds and churches and +formulas and forms--these are the human elements which are capable of +variation, and which need variation from time to time. No more is the +substance of that eternal Gospel affected by the changes, which are +possible on its vesture, than is the stateliness of some cathedral +touched, when the reformers go in and sweep out the rubbish and the +trumpery which have masked the fair outlines of its architecture, and +vulgarised the majesty of its stately sweep. Brethren! let us fix this +in our hearts, that nothing which is of Christ can perish, and nothing +which is of man can or should endure. The more firmly we grasp the +distinction between the permanent and the transient in existing +embodiments of Christian truth, the more calm shall we be amidst the +surges of contending opinions. 'He that believeth shall not make haste.' + +III. Lastly, the present generation and its relation to the abiding +Word. + +Zechariah did not hesitate to put himself in line with the mighty forms +of Isaiah, and Jeremiah, and Ezekiel, and Hosea. He, too, was a prophet. +We claim, of course, no such authority for present utterers of that +eternal message, but we do claim for our message a higher authority than +the authority of this ancient Prophet. He felt that the word of God that +was put into his lips was a new word, addressed to a new generation, and +with new lessons for new circumstances, fitting as close to the wants of +the little band of exiles as the former messages, which it succeeded, +had fitted to the wants of their generation. We have no such change in +the message, for Jesus Christ speaks to us all, speaks to all times and +to all circumstances, and to every generation. And so, just as Zechariah +based upon the history of the past his appeal for obedience and +acceptance, the considerations which I have been trying to dwell upon +bring with them stringent obligations to us who stand, however unworthy, +in the place of the generations that are gone, as the hearers and +ministers of the Word of God. Let me put two or three very simple and +homely exhortations. First, see to it, brother, that you accept that +Word. By acceptance I do not mean a mere negative attitude, which is +very often the result of lack of interest, the negative attitude of +simply not rejecting; but I mean the opening not only of your minds but +of your hearts to it. For if what I have been saying is true, and the +Word of God has for its highest manifestation Jesus Christ Himself, then +you cannot accept a person by pure head-work. You must open your hearts +and all your natures, and let Him come in with His love, with His pity, +with His inspiration of strength and virtue and holiness, and you must +yield yourselves wholly to Him. Think of the generations that are gone. +Think of their brief moment when the great salvation was offered to +them. Think of how, whether they received or rejected it, that Word took +hold upon them. Think of how they regard it now, wherever they are in +the dimness; and be you wise in time and be not as those of your fathers +who rejected the Word. + +Hold it fast. In this time of unrest make sure of your grasp of the +eternal, central core of Christianity, Jesus Christ Himself, the +divine-human Saviour of the world. There are too many of us whose faith +oozes out at their finger ends, simply because they have so many around +them that question and doubt and deny. Do not let the floating icebergs +bring down _your_ temperature; and have a better reason for not +believing, if you do not believe, than that so many and such influential +and authoritative men have ceased to believe. When Jesus asks, 'Will ye +also go away?' our answer should be, 'Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou +hast the words of eternal life.' + +Accept Him, hold Him fast, trust to His guidance in present day +questions. Zechariah felt that his message belonged to the generation to +whom he spoke. It was a new message. We have no new message, but there +are new truths to be evolved from the old message. The questionings and +problems, social, economical, intellectual, moral--shall I say +political?--of this day, will find their solution in that ancient word, +'God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that +whosoever believeth in Him should not perish.' There is the key to all +problems. 'In Him are hid all the treasures and wisdom of knowledge.' + +Zechariah pointed to the experiences of a past generation as the basis +of his appeal. We can point back to eighteen centuries, and say that the +experiences of these centuries confirm the truth that Jesus Christ is +the Saviour of the world. The blessedness, the purity, the power, the +peace, the hope which He has breathed into humanity, the subsidiary and +accompanying material and intellectual prosperity and blessings that +attend His message, its independence of human instruments, its +adaptation to all varieties of class, character, condition, geographical +position, its power of recuperating itself from corruptions and +distortions, its undiminished adaptedness to the needs of this +generation and of each of us--enforce the stringency of the exhortation, +and confirm the truth of the assertion: 'This is My beloved Son; hear ye +Him!' 'The voice said, Cry. And I said, What shall I cry? All flesh is +grass, and all the goodliness thereof as the flower of the field: the +grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away: but the Word of +our God shall stand for ever.' Three hundred years after Isaiah a +triumphant Apostle added, 'This is the word which by the Gospel is +preached unto you.' Eighteen hundred years after Peter we can echo his +confident declaration, and, with the history of these centuries to +support our faith, can affirm that the Christ of the Gospel and the +Gospel of the Christ are in deed and in truth the Living Word of the +Living God. + + +THE CITY WITHOUT WALLS + + 'Jerusalem shall be inhabited as towns without walls.... For I, + saith the Lord, will be unto her a wall of fire round about, and + will be the glory in the midst of her.'--ZECHARIAH ii. 4, 5. + +Zechariah was the Prophet of the returning exiles, and his great work +was to hearten them for their difficult task, with their small resources +and their many foes, and to insist that the prime condition to success, +on the part of that portion of the nation that had returned, was +holiness. So his visions, of which there is a whole series, are very +largely concerned with the building of the Temple and of the city. In +this one, he sees a man with a measuring-rod in his hand coming forth to +take the dimensions of the still un-existing city of God. The words that +I have read are the centre portion of that vision. You notice that there +are three clauses, and that the first in order is the consequence of the +other two. 'Jerusalem shall be builded as a city without walls ... for I +will be a wall of fire round about her, and the glory in the midst of +her.' + +And that exuberant promise was spoken about the Jerusalem over which +Christ wept when he foresaw its inevitable destruction. When the Romans +had cast a torch into the Temple, and the streets of the city were +running with blood, what had become of Zechariah's dream of a wall of +fire round about her? Then can the divine fire be quenched? Yes. And +who quenched it? Not the Romans, but the people that lived within that +flaming rampart. The apparent failure of the promise carries the lesson +for churches and individuals to-day, that in spite of such glowing +predictions, there may again sound the voice that the legend says was +heard within the Temple, on the night before Jerusalem fell. 'Let us +depart,' and there was a rustling of unseen wings, and on the morrow the +legionaries were in the shrine. 'If God spared not the natural branches, +take heed lest He also spare not thee.' + +Now let us look, in the simplest possible way, at these three clauses, +and the promises that are in them; keeping in mind that, like all the +divine promises, they are conditional. + +The first is this:-- + +I. 'I will be a wall of fire round about her.' + +I need not dwell on the vividness and beauty of that metaphor. These +encircling flames will consume all antagonism, and defy all approach. +But let me remind you that the conditional promise was intended for +Judæa and Jerusalem, and was fulfilled in literal fact. So long as the +city obeyed and trusted God it was impregnable, though all the nations +stood round about it, like dogs round a sheep. The fulfilment of the +promise has passed over, with all the rest that characterised Israel's +position, to the Christian Church, and to-day, in the midst of all the +agitations of opinion, and all the vauntings of men about an effete +Christianity, and dead churches, it is as true as ever it was that the +living Church of God is eternal. If it had not been that there was a God +as a wall of fire round about the Church, it would have been wiped off +the face of the earth long ago. If nothing else had killed it the faults +of its members would have done so. The continuance of the Church is a +perpetual miracle, when you take into account the weakness, and the +errors, and the follies, and the stupidities, and the narrownesses, and +the sins, of the people who in any given day represent it. That it +should stand at all, and that it should conquer, seems to me to be as +plain a demonstration of the present working of God, as is the existence +still, as a separate individuality amongst the peoples of the earth, of +His ancient people, the Jews. Who was it who said, when somebody asked +him for the best proof of the truth of Christianity, 'The Jews'? and so +we may say, if you want a demonstration that God is working in the +world, 'Look at the continuance of the Christian Church.' + +In spite of all the vauntings of people that have already discounted its +fall, and are talking as if it needed no more to be reckoned with, that +calm confidence is the spirit in which we are to look around and +forward. It does not become any Christian ever to have the smallest +scintillation of a fear that the ship that bears Jesus Christ can fail +to come to land, or can sink in the midst of the waters. There was once +a timid would-be helper who put out his hand to hold up the Ark of God. +He need not have been afraid. The oxen might stumble, and the cart roll +about, but the Ark was safe and stable. A great deal may go, but the +wall of fire will be around the Church. In regard to its existence, as +in regard to the immortal being of each of its members, the great word +remains for ever true: 'Because I live ye shall live also.' + +But do not let us forget that this great promise does not belong only to +the Church as a whole, but that we have each to bring it down to our +own individual lives, and to be quite sure of this, that in spite of all +that sense says, in spite of all that quivering hearts and weeping eyes +may seem to prove, there is a wall of fire round each of us, if we are +keeping near Jesus Christ, through which it is as impossible that any +real evil should pass and get at us, as it would be impossible that any +living thing should pass through the flaming battlements that the +Prophet saw round his ideal city. Only we have to interpret that promise +by faith and not by sense, and we have to make it possible that it shall +be fulfilled by keeping inside the wall, and trusting to it. As faith +dwindles, the fiery wall burns dim, and evil can get across its embers, +and can get at us. Keep within the battlements, and they will flame up +bright and impassable, with a fire that on the outer side consumes, but +to those within is a fire that cherishes and warms. + +II. The next point of the promise passes into a more intimate region. It +is well to have a defence from that which is without us; but it is more +needful to have, if a comparison can be made between the two, a glory +'in the midst' of us. + +The one is external defence; the other inward illumination, with all +which light symbolises--knowledge, joy, purity. + +There is even more than that meant by this great promise. For notice +that emphatic little word _the--the_ glory, not _a_ glory--in the midst +of her. Now you all know what 'the glory' was. It was that symbolic +Light that spoke of the special presence of God, and went with the +Children of Israel in their wanderings, and sat between the Cherubim. +There was no 'Shechinah,' as it is technically called, in that second +Temple. But yet the Prophet says, 'The glory'--the actual presence of +God--'shall be in the midst of her,' and the meaning of that great +promise is taught us by the very last vision in the New Testament, in +which the Seer of the Apocalypse says, 'The glory of the Lord did +lighten it' (evidently quoting Zechariah), 'and the Lamb is the light +thereof.' So the city is lit as by one central glow of radiance that +flashes its beams into every corner, and therefore 'there shall be no +night there.' + +Now this promise, too, bears on churches and on individuals. On the +Church as a whole it bears in this way: the only means by which a +Christian community can fulfil its function, and be the light of the +world, is by having the presence of God, in no metaphor, the actual +presence of the illuminating Spirit in its midst. If it has not that, it +may have anything and everything else--wealth, culture, learning, +eloquence, influence in the world--but all is of no use; it will be +darkness. We are light only in proportion as we are 'light in the Lord.' +As long as we, as communities, keep our hearts in touch with Him, so +long do we shine. Break the contact, and the light fades and flickers +out. + +The same thing is true, dear brethren, about individuals. For each of us +the secret of joy, of purity, of knowledge, is that we be holding close +communion with God. If we have Him in the depths of our hearts, then, +and only then, shall we be 'light in the Lord.' + +And now look at the last point which follows, as I have said, as the +result of the other two. + +III. 'Jerusalem shall be without walls.' + +It is to be like the defenceless villages scattered up and down over +Israel. There is no need for bulwarks of stone. The wall of fire is +round about. The Prophet has a vision of a great city, of a type unknown +in those old times, though familiar to us in our more peaceful days, +where there was no hindrance to expansion by encircling ramparts, no +crowding together of the people because they needed to hide behind the +city walls; and where the growing community could spread out into the +outer suburbs, and have fresh air and ample space. That is the vision of +the manner of city that Jerusalem was to be. It did not come true, but +the ideal was this. It has not yet come true sufficiently in regard to +the churches of to-day, but it ought to be the goal to which they are +tending. The more a Christian community is independent of external +material supports and defences the better. + +I am not going to talk about the policy or impolicy of Established +Churches, as they are called. But it seems to me that the principle that +is enshrined in this vision is their condemnation. Never mind about +stone and lime walls, trust in God and you will not need them, and you +will be strong and 'established' just in the proportion in which you are +cut loose from all dependence upon, and consequent subordination to, the +civil power. + +But there is another thought that I might suggest, though I do not know +that it is directly in the line of the Prophet's vision; and that is--a +Christian Church should neither depend on, nor be cribbed and cramped +by, men-made defences of any kind. Luther tells us somewhere, in his +parabolic way, of people that wept because there were no visible pillars +to hold up the heavens, and were afraid that the sky would fall upon +their heads. No, no, there is no fear of that happening, for an unseen +hand holds them up. A church that hides behind the fortifications of +its grandfathers' erection has no room for expansion; and if it has no +room for expansion it will not long continue as large as it is. It must +either grow greater, or grow, and deserve to grow, less. + +The same thing is true, dear brethren, about ourselves individually. +Zechariah's prophecy was never meant to prevent what he himself helped +to further, the building of the actual walls of the actual city. And our +dependence upon God is not to be so construed as that we are to waive +our own common-sense and our own effort. That is not faith; it is +fanaticism. + +We have to build ourselves round, in this world, with other things than +the 'wall of fire,' but in all our building we have to say, 'Except the +Lord build the house, they labour in vain that build it. Except the Lord +keep the city, the watchers watch in vain.' But yet neither Jerusalem +nor the Church, nor the earthly state of that believer who lives most +fully the life of faith, exhausts this promise. It waits for the day +when the city shall descend, 'like a bride adorned for her husband, +having no need of the sun nor of the moon, for the glory ... lightens +it.' Having walls, indeed, but for splendour, not for defence; and +having gates, which have only one of the functions of a gate--to stand +wide open, to the east and the west, and the north and the south, for +the nations to enter in; and never needing to be barred against enemies +by day, 'for there shall be no night there.' + + +A VISION OF JUDGEMENT AND CLEANSING + + 'And he shewed me Joshua the high priest standing before the Angel + of the Lord, and Satan standing at his right hand to resist him. 2. + And the Lord said unto Satan, The Lord rebuke thee, O Satan; even + the Lord that hath chosen Jerusalem rebuke thee: is not this a + brand plucked out of the fire? 3. Now Joshua was clothed with filthy + garments, and stood before the Angel. 4. And He answered and spake + unto those that stood before Him, saying, Take away the filthy + garments from him. And unto him He said, Behold, I have caused + thine iniquity to pass from thee, and I will clothe thee with + change of raiment. 5. And I said, Let them set a fair mitre upon + his head. So they set a fair mitre upon his head, and clothed him + with garments. And the Angel of the Lord stood by. 6. And the Angel + of the Lord protested unto Joshua, saying, 7. Thus saith the Lord + of Hosts, If thou wilt walk in My ways, and if thou wilt keep My + charge, then thou shalt also judge My house, and shalt also keep My + courts, and I will give thee places to walk among these that stand + by, 8. Hear now, O Joshua the high priest, thou, and thy fellows + that sit before thee: for they are men wondered at: for, behold, I + will bring forth My servant The BRANCH. 9. For behold the stone + that I have laid before Joshua; upon one stone shall be seven eyes: + behold, I will engrave the graving thereof, saith the Lord of + Hosts, and I will remove the iniquity of that land in one day. 10. + In that day, saith the Lord of Hosts, shall ye call every man his + neighbour under the vine and under the fig-tree.'--ZECHARIAH iii. + 1-10. + +Zechariah worked side by side with Haggai to quicken the religious life +of the people, and thus to remove the gravest hindrances to the work of +rebuilding the Temple. Inward indifference, not outward opposition, is +the real reason for slow progress in God's work, and prophets who see +visions and preach repentance are the true practical men. + +This vision followed Haggai's prophecy at the interval of a month. It +falls into two parts--a symbolical vision and a series of promises +founded on it. + +I. The Symbolical Vision (vs. 1-5).--The scene of the vision is left +undetermined, and the absence of any designation of locality gives the +picture the sublimity of indefiniteness. Three figures, seen he knows +not where, stand clear before the Prophet's inward eye. They were shown +him by an unnamed person, who is evidently Jehovah Himself. The real and +the ideal are marvellously mingled in the conception of Joshua the high +priest--the man whom the people saw every day going about +Jerusalem--standing at the bar of God, with Satan as his accuser. The +trial is in process when the Prophet is permitted to see. We do not hear +the pleadings on either side, but the sentence is solemnly recorded. The +accusations are dismissed, their bringer rebuked, and in token of +acquittal, the filthy garments which the accused had worn are changed +for the full festal attire of the high priest. + +What, then, is the meaning of this grand symbolism? The first point to +keep well in view is the representative character of the high priest. He +appears as laden not with individual but national sins. In him Israel +is, as it were, concentrated, and what befalls him is the image of what +befalls the nation. His dirty dress is the familiar symbol of sin; and +he wears it, just as he wore his sacerdotal dress, in his official +capacity, as the embodied nation. He stands before the judgment seat, +bearing not his own but the people's sins. + +Two great truths are thereby taught, which are as true to-day as ever. +The first is that representation is essential to priesthood. It was so +in shadowy and external fashion in Israel; it is so in deepest and most +blessed reality in Christ's priesthood. He stands before God as our +representative--'And the Lord hath made to meet on Him the iniquity of +us all.' If by faith we unite ourselves with Him, there ensues a +wondrous transference of characteristics, so that our sin becomes His, +and His righteousness becomes ours; and that in no mere artificial or +forensic sense, but in inmost reality. Theologians talk of a +_communicatio idiomatum_ as between the human and the divine elements in +Christ. There is an analogous passage of the attributes of either to the +other, in the relation of the believer to his Saviour. + +The second thought in this symbolic appearance of Joshua before the +angel of the Lord is that the sins of God's people are even now present +before His perfect judgment, as reasons for withdrawing from them His +favour. That is a solemn truth, which should never be forgotten. A +Christian man's sins do accuse him at the bar of God. They are all +visible there; and so far as their tendency goes, they are like wedges +driven in to rend him from God. + +But the second figure in the vision is 'the Satan,' standing in the +plaintiff's place at the Judge's right hand, to accuse Joshua. The Old +Testament teaching as to the evil spirit who 'accuses' good men is not +so developed as that of the New, which is quite natural, inasmuch as the +shadow of bright light is deeper than that of faint rays. It is most +full in the latest books, as here and in Job; but doctrinal inferences +drawn from such highly imaginative symbolism as this are precarious. No +one who accepts the authority of our Lord can well deny the existence +and activity of a malignant spirit, who would fain make the most of +men's sins, and use them as a means of separating their doers from God. +That is the conception here. + +But the main stress of the vision lies, not on the accuser or his +accusation, but on the Judge's sentence, which alone is recorded. 'The +Angel of the Lord' is named in verse 1 as the Judge, while the sentence +in verse 2 is spoken by 'the Lord.' It would lead us far away from our +purpose to inquire whether that Angel of the Lord is an earlier +manifestation of the eternal Son, who afterwards became flesh--a kind of +preluding or rehearsing of the Incarnation. But in any case, God so +dwells in Him as that what the Angel says God says and the speaker +varies as in our text. The accuser is rebuked, and God's rebuke is not a +mere word, but brings with it punishment. The malicious accusations have +failed, and their aim is to be gathered from the language which +announces their miscarriage. Obviously Satan sought to procure the +withdrawal of divine favour from Joshua, because of his sin; that is, to +depose the nation from its place as the covenant people, because of its +transgressions of the covenant. Satan here represents what might +otherwise have been called, in theological language, 'the demands of +justice.' The answer given him is deeply instructive as to the grounds +of the divine forbearance. + +Note that Joshua's guilt as the representative of the people is not +denied, but tacitly admitted and actually spoken of in verse 4. Why, +then, does not the accuser have his way? For two reasons. God has chosen +Jerusalem. His great purpose, the fruit of His undeserved mercy, is not +to be turned aside by man's sins. The thought is the same as that of +Jeremiah: 'If heaven above can be measured ... then I will also cast off +all the seed of Israel for all that they have done' (Jer. xxxi. 37). +Again, the fact that Joshua was 'a brand plucked from the burning'--that +is, that the people whom he represented had been brought unconsumed from +the furnace of captivity--is a reason with God for continuing to extend +His favour, though they have sinned. God's past mercies are a motive +with him. Creatural love is limited, and too often says, 'I have +forgiven so often, that I am wearied, and can do it no more.' He _has_, +therefore he _will_. We often come to the end of our long-suffering a +good many times short of the four hundred and ninety a day which Christ +prescribes. But God never does. True, Joshua and his people have sinned, +and that since their restoration, and Satan had a good argument in +pointing to these transgressions; but God does not say, 'I will put back +the half-burned brand in the fire again, since the evil is not burned +out of it,' but forgives again, because He has forgiven before. + +The sentence is followed by the exchange of the filthy garments +symbolical of sin, for the full array of the high priest. Ministering +angels are dimly seen in the background, and are summoned to unclothe +and clothe Joshua. The Prophet ventures to ask that the sacerdotal +attire should be completed by the turban or mitre, probably that +headdress which bore the significant writing 'Holiness to the Lord,' +expressive of the destination of Israel and of its ceremonial cleanness. +The meaning of this change of clothing is given in verse 4: 'I have +caused thine iniquity to pass from thee.' Thus the complete restoration +of the pardoned and cleansed nation to its place as a nation of priests +to Jehovah is symbolised. To us the gospel of forgiveness fills up the +outline in the vision; and we know how, when sin testifies against us, +we have an Advocate with the Father, and how the infinite love flows out +to us notwithstanding all sin, and how the stained garment of our souls +can be stripped off, and the 'fine linen clean and white,' the priestly +dress on the day of atonement, be put on us, and we be made priests unto +God. + +II. The remainder of the vision is the address of the Angel of the Lord +to Joshua, developing the blessings now made sure to him and his people +by this renewed consecration and cleansing. First (verse 7) is the +promise of continuance in office and access to God's presence, which, +however, are contingent on obedience. The forgiven man must keep God's +charge, if he is to retain his standing. On that condition, he has 'a +place of access among those that stand by'; that is, the privilege of +approach to God, like the attendant angels. This promise may be taken as +surpassing the prerogatives hitherto accorded to the high priest, who +had only the right of entrance into the holiest place once a year, but +now is promised the _entrée_ to the heavenly court, as if he were one of +the bright spirits who stand there. They who have access with confidence +within the veil because Christ is there, have more than the ancient +promise of this vision. + +The main point of verse 8 is the promise of the Messiah, but the former +part of the verse is remarkable. Joshua and his fellows are summoned to +listen, 'for they are men which are a sign.' The meaning seems to be +that he and his brethren who sat as his assessors in official functions, +are collectively a sign or embodied prophecy of what is to come. Their +restoration to their offices was a shadowy prophecy of a greater act of +forgiving grace, which was to be effected by the coming of the Messiah. + +The name 'Branch' is used here as a proper name. Jeremiah (Jer. xxiii. +5; xxxiii. 15) had already employed it as a designation of Messiah, +which he had apparently learned from Isaiah iv. 2. The idea of the word +is that of the similar names used by Isaiah, 'a shoot out of the stock +of Jesse, and a Branch out of his roots' (Isaiah xi. 1), and 'a tender +plant, and as a root out of a dry ground' (Isaiah liii. 2); namely, that +of his origin from the fallen house of David, and the lowliness of his +appearance. + +The Messiah is again meant by the 'stone' in verse 9. Probably there was +some great stone taken from the ruins, to which the symbol attaches +itself. The foundation of the second Temple had been laid years before +the prophecy, but the stone may still have been visible. The Rabbis have +much to say about a great stone which had been in the first Temple, and +there used for the support of the ark, but in the second was set in the +empty place where the ark should have been. Isaiah had prophesied of the +'tried corner-stone' laid in Zion, and Psalm cxviii. 22 had sung of the +stone rejected and made the head of the corner. We go in the track, +then, of established usage, when we see in this stone the emblem of +Messiah, and associate with it all thoughts of firmness, preciousness, +support, foundation of the true Temple, basis of hope, ground of +certitude, and whatever other substratum of fixity and immovableness +men's hearts or lives need. In all possible aspects of the metaphor, +Jesus is the Foundation. + +And what are the 'seven eyes on the stone'? That may simply be a vivid +way of saying that the fulness of divine Providence would watch over the +Messiah, bringing Him when the time was ripe, and fitting Him for His +work. But if we remember the subsequent explanation (iv. 10) of the +'seven,' as 'the eyes of the Lord which run to and fro through the whole +earth,' and connect this with Revelation v. 6, we can scarcely rest +content with that meaning, but find here the deeper thought that the +fulness of the divine Spirit was given to Messiah, even as Isaiah (xi. +2) prophesies of the sevenfold Spirit. + +'I will engrave the graving thereof' is somewhat obscure. It seems to +mean that the seven eyes will be cut on the stone, like masons' marks. +If the seven eyes are the full energies of the Holy Spirit, God's +cutting of them on the stone is equivalent to His giving them to His +Son; and the fulfilment of the promise was when He gave the Holy Spirit +not 'by measure unto Him.' + +The blessed purpose of Messiah's coming and endowment with the Spirit is +gloriously stated in the last clause of verse 9: 'I will remove the +iniquity of that land in one day.' Jesus Christ has 'once for all' made +atonement, as the Epistle to the Hebrews so often says. The better +Joshua by one offering has taken away sin. 'The breadth of Thy land, O +Immanuel,' stretched far beyond the narrow bounds which Zechariah knew +for Israel's territory. It includes the whole world. As has been +beautifully said, 'That one day is the day of Golgotha.' + +The vision closes with a picture of the felicity of Messianic times, +which recalls the description of the golden age of Solomon, when 'Judah +and Israel dwelt safely, every man under his vine and under his +fig-tree' (1 Kings iv. 25). In like manner the nation, cleansed, +restored to its priestly privilege of free access to God by the Messiah +who comes with the fulness of the Spirit, shall dwell in safety, and +shall be knit together by friendship, and unenvyingly shall each share +his good with all others, recognising in every man a neighbour, and +gladly welcoming him to partake of all the blessings which the true +Solomon has brought to his house and heart. + + +THE RIGHT OF ENTRY + + 'I will give thee places to walk among these that stand + by.'--ZECHARIAH iii. 7. + +A WORD or two of explanation will probably be necessary in order to see +the full meaning of this great promise. The Prophet has just been +describing a vision of judgment which he saw, in which the high priest, +as representative of the nation, stood before the Angel of the Lord as +an unclean person. He is cleansed and clothed, his foul raiment stripped +off him, and a fair priestly garment, with 'Holiness to the Lord' +written on the front of it, put upon him. And then follow a series of +promises, of which the climax is the one that I have read. 'I will give +thee a place of access,' says the Revised Version, instead of 'places to +walk'; 'I will give thee a place of access among those that stand by'; +the attendant angels are dimly seen surrounding their Lord. And so the +promise of my text, in highly figurative fashion, is that of free and +unrestrained approach to God, of a life that is like that of the angels +that stand before His Face. + +So, then, the words suggest to us, first, what a Christian life may be. + +There are two images blended together in the great words of my text; the +one is that of a king's court, the other is that of a temple. With +regard to the former it is a privilege given to the highest nobles of a +kingdom--or it was so in old days--to have the right of _entrée_, at all +moments and in all circumstances, to the monarch. With regard to the +latter, the prerogative of the high priest, who was the recipient of +this promise, as to access to the Temple, was a very restricted one. +Once a year, with the blood that prevented his annihilation by the +brightness of the Presence into which he ventured, he passed within the +veil, and stood before that mysterious Light that coruscated in the +darkness of the Holy of Holies. But this High Priest is promised an +access on all days and at all times; and that He may stand there, beside +and like the seraphim, who with one pair of wings veiled their faces in +token of the incapacity of the creature to behold the Creator; 'with +twain veiled their feet' in token of the unworthiness of creatural +activities to be set before Him, 'and with twain did fly' in token of +their willingness to serve Him with all their energies. This Priest +passes within the veil when He will. Or, to put away the two metaphors, +and to come to the reality far greater than either of them, we can, +whensoever we please, pass into the presence before which the splendours +of an earthly monarch's court shrink into vulgarity, and attain to a +real reception of the light that irradiates the true Holy Place, before +which that which shone in the earthly shrine dwindles and darkens into a +shadow. We may live with God, and in Him, and wrap a veil and 'privacy +of glorious light' about us, whilst we pilgrim upon earth, and may have +hidden lives which, notwithstanding all their surface occupation with +the distractions and duties and enjoyments of the present, deep down in +their centres are knit to God. Our lives may on the outside thus be +largely amongst the things seen and temporal, and yet all the while may +penetrate through these, and lay hold with their true roots on the +eternal. If we have any religious life at all, the measure in which we +possess it is the measure in which we may ever more dwell in the house +of the Lord, and have our hearts in the secret place of the Most High, +amid the stillnesses and the sanctities of His immediate dwelling. + +Our Master is the great Example of this, of whom it is said, not only +in reference to His mysterious and unique union of nature with the +Father in His divinity, but in reference to the humanity which He had in +common with us all, yet without sin, that the Son of Man came down from +heaven, and even in the act of coming, and when He had come, was yet the +Son of Man 'which _is in heaven_.' Thus we, too, may have 'a place of +access among them that stand by,' and not need to envy the angels and +the spirits of the just made perfect, the closeness of their communion, +and the vividness of their vision, for the same, in its degree, may be +ours. We, too, can turn all our desires into petitions, and of every +wish make a prayer. We, too can refer all our needs to His infinite +supply. We, too may consciously connect all our doings with His will and +His glory; and for us it is possible that there shall be, as if borne on +those electric wires that go striding across pathless deserts, and carry +their messages through unpeopled solitudes, between Him and us a +communication unbroken and continuous, which, by a greater wonder than +even that of the telegraph, shall carry two messages, going opposite +ways simultaneously, bearing to Him the swift aspirations and +supplications of our spirits, and bringing to us the abundant answer of +His grace. Such a conversation in heaven, and such association with the +bands of the blessed is possible even for a life upon earth. + +Secondly, let us consider this promise as a pattern for us of what +Christian life should be, and, alas! so seldom is. + +All privilege is duty, and everything that is possible for any Christian +man to become, it is imperative on him to aim at. There is no greater +sin than living beneath the possibilities of our lives, in any region, +whether religious or other it matters not. Sin is not only going +contrary to the known law of God, but also a falling beneath a divine +ideal which is capable of realisation. And in regard to our Christian +life, if God has flung open His temple-gates and said to us, 'Come in, +My child, and dwell in the secret place of the Most High, and abide +there under the shadow of the Almighty, finding protection and communion +and companionship in My worship,' there can be nothing more insulting to +Him, and nothing more fatally indicative of the alienation of our hearts +from Him, than that we should refuse to obey the merciful invitation. + +What should we say of a subject who never presented himself in the court +to which he had the right of free _entrée?_ His absence would be a mark +of disloyalty, and would be taken as a warning-bell in preparation for +his rebellion. What should we say of a son or a daughter, living in the +same city with their parents, who never crossed the threshold of the +father's house, but that they had lost the spirit of a child, and that +if there was no desire to be near there could be no love? + +So, if we will ask ourselves, 'How often do I use this possibility of +communion with God, which might irradiate all my daily life?' I think we +shall need little else, in the nature of evidence, that our piety and +our religious experience are terribly stunted and dwarfed, in comparison +with what they ought to be. + +There is an old saying, 'He that can tell how often he has thought of +God in a day has thought of Him too seldom.' I dare say many of us would +have little difficulty in counting on the fingers of one hand, and +perhaps not needing them all, the number of times in which, to-day, our +thoughts have gone heavenwards. What we may be is what we ought to be, +and not to use the prerogatives of our position is the worst of sins. + +Again, my text suggests to us what every Christian life will hereafter +perfectly be. + +Some commentators take the words of my text to refer only to the +communion of saints from the earth, with the glorified angels, in and +after the Resurrection. That is a poor interpretation, for heaven is +here to-day. But still there is a truth in the interpretation which we +need not neglect. Only let us remember that nothing--so far as Scripture +teaches us--begins yonder except the full reaping of the fruits of what +has been sown here, and that if a man's feet have not learned the path +into the Temple when he was here upon earth, death will not be the guide +for him into the Father's presence. All that here has been imperfect, +fragmentary, occasional, interrupted, and marred in our communion with +God, shall one day be complete. And then, oh! then, who can tell what +undreamed-of depths and sweetnesses of renewed communion and of +intercourses begun, for the first time then, between 'those that stand +by,' and have stood there for ages, will then be realised? + +'Ye are come'--even here on earth--'to an innumerable company of angels, +to the general assembly and Church of the first-born,' but for us all +there may be the quiet hope that hereafter we shall 'dwell in the house +of the Lord for ever'; and 'in solemn troops and sweet societies' shall +learn what fellowship, and brotherhood, and human love may be. + +Lastly, notice, not from my text but from its context, how any life may +become thus privileged. + +The promise is preceded by a condition: 'If thou wilt walk in My ways, +and if thou wilt keep My charge, then ... I will give thee access among +those that stand by.' That is to say, you cannot keep the consciousness +of God's presence, nor have any blessedness of communion with Him, if +you are living in disobedience of His commandments or in neglect of +manifest duty. A thin film of vapour in our sky tonight will hide the +moon. Though the vapour itself may be invisible, it will be efficacious +as a veil. And any sin, great or small, fleecy and thin, will suffice to +shut me out from God. If we are keeping His commandments, then, and only +then, shall we have access with free hearts into His presence. + +But to lay down that condition seems the same thing as slamming the door +in every man's face. But let us remember what went before my text, the +experience of the priest to whom it was spoken in the vision. His filthy +garments were stripped off him, and the pure white robes worn on the +great Day of Atonement, the sacerdotal dress, were put upon him. It is +the _cleansed_ man that has access among 'those that stand by.' And if +you ask how the cleansing is to be effected, take the great words of the +Epistle to the Hebrews as an all-sufficient answer, coinciding with, but +transcending, what this vision taught Zechariah: 'Having, therefore, +brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest of all, by the blood of +Jesus, ... and having a High Priest over the house of God; let us draw +near with a true heart, in full assurance of faith, having our hearts +sprinkled from an evil conscience.' Cleansed by Christ, and with Him for +our Forerunner, we have boldness and 'access with confidence by the +faith of Him,' who proclaims to the whole world, 'No man cometh to the +Father but by Me.' + + +THE SOURCE OF POWER + + 'And the Angel that talked with me came again, and waked me, as a + man that is wakened out of his sleep, 2. And said unto me, What + seest thou? And I said, I have looked, and behold, a candlestick + all of gold, with a bowl upon the top of it, and his seven lamps + thereon, and seven pipes to the seven lamps which are upon the top + thereof: 3. And two olive-trees by it, one upon the right side of + the bowl, and the other upon the left side thereof. 4. So I + answered and spake to the Angel that talked with me, saying, What + are these, my Lord? 5. Then the Angel that talked with me answered + and said unto me, Knowest thou not what these be? And I said, No, + my Lord. 6. Then He answered and spake unto me, saying, This is the + word of the Lord unto Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might, nor by + power, but by My Spirit, saith the Lord of Hosts. 7. Who art thou, + O great mountain? before Zerubbabel thou shalt become a plain: and + he shall bring forth the headstone thereof with shoutings, crying, + Grace, grace unto it. 8. Moreover, the word of the Lord came unto + me, saying, 9. The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of + this house; his hands shall also finish it; and thou shalt know + that the Lord of Hosts hath sent me unto you. 10. For who hath + despised the day of small things? for they shall rejoice, and shall + see the plummet in the hand of Zerubbabel with those seven; they + are the eyes of the Lord, which run to and fro through the whole + earth.'--ZECHARIAH iv. 1-10. + +THE preceding vision had reference to Joshua the priest, and showed him +restored to his prerogative of entrance into the sanctuary. This one +concerns his colleague Zerubbabel, the representative of civil power, as +he of ecclesiastical, and promises that he shall succeed in rebuilding +the Temple. The supposition is natural that the actual work of +reconstruction was mainly in the hands of the secular ruler. + +Flesh is weak, and the Prophet had fallen into deep sleep, after the +tension of the previous vision. That had been shown him by Jehovah, but +in this vision we have the same angel interpreter who had spoken with +Zechariah before. He does not bring the vision, but simply wakes the +Prophet that he may see it, and directs his attention to it by the +question, 'What seest thou?' The best way to teach is to make the +learner put his conceptions into definite words. We see things more +clearly, and they make a deeper impression, when we tell what we see. +How many lazy looks we give at things temporal as well as at things +eternal, after which we should be unable to answer the Angel's question! +It is not every one who sees what he looks at. + +The passage has two parts--the vision and its interpretation, with +related promises. + +The vision may be briefly disposed of. Its original is the great lamp +which stood in the tabernacle, and was replaced in the Solomonic Temple +by ten smaller ones. These had been carried away at the Captivity, and +we do not read of their restoration. But the main thing to note is the +differences between this lamp and the one in the tabernacle. The +description here confines itself to these: They are three--the 'bowl' or +reservoir above the lamp, the pipes from it to the seven lights, and the +two olive-trees which stood on either side of the lamp and replenished +from their branches the supply in the reservoir. The tabernacle lamp had +no reservoir, and consequently no pipes, but was fed with oil by the +priests. The meaning of the variations, then, is plain. They were +intended to express the fuller and more immediately divine supply of +oil. If the Revised Version's rendering of the somewhat doubtful +numerals in verse 2 be accepted, each several light had seven pipes, +thus expressing the perfection of its supplies. + +Now, there can be no doubt about the symbolism of the tabernacle lamp. +It represented the true office of Israel, as it rayed out its beams into +the darkness of the desert. It meant the same thing as Christ's words, +'Ye are the light of the world,' and as the vision of the seven golden +candlesticks, in Revelation i. 12, 13, 20. The substitution of separate +lamps for one with seven lights may teach the difference between the +mere formal unity of the people of God in the Old Testament and the true +oneness, conjoined with diversity, in the New Testament Church, which is +one because Christ walks in the midst. Zechariah's lamp, then, called to +the minds of the little band of restored exiles their high vocation, and +the changed arrangements for the supply of that oil, which is the +standing emblem for divine communications fitting for service, or, to +keep to the metaphor, fitting to shine, signified the abundance of +these. + +The explanation of the vision is introduced, as at Zechariah i. 9, 19, +by the Prophet's question of its meaning. His angelic teacher is +astonished at his dullness, as indeed heavenly eyes must often be at +ours, and asks if he does not know so familiar an object. The Prophet's +'No, my Lord,' brings full explanation. Ingenuously acknowledged +ignorance never asks Heaven for enlightenment in vain. + +First, the true source of strength and success, as shown by the vision, +is declared in plain terms. What fed the lamp? Oil, which symbolises +the gift of a divine Spirit, if not in the full personal sense as in the +New Testament, yet certainly as a God-breathed influence, preparing +prophets, priests, kings, and even artificers, for their several forms +of service. Whence came the oil? From the two olive-trees, which though, +as verse 14 shows, they represented the two leaders, yet set forth the +truth that their power for their work was from God; for the Bible knows +nothing of 'nature' as a substitute for or antithesis to God, and the +growth of the olive and its yield of oil is His doing. + +This, then, was the message for Zerubbabel and his people, that God +would give such gifts as they needed, in order that the light which He +Himself had kindled should not be quenched. If the lamp was fed with +oil, it would burn, and there would be a Temple for it to stand in. If +we try to imagine the feebleness of the handful of discouraged men, and +the ring of enemies round them, we may feel the sweetness of the promise +which bade them not despond because they had little of what the world +calls might. + +We all need the lesson; for the blustering world is apt to make us +forget the true source of all real strength for holy service or for +noble living. The world's power at its mightiest is weak, and the +Church's true power, at her feeblest, is omnipotent, if only she grasps +the strength which is hers, and takes the Spirit which is given. The +eternal antithesis of man's weakness at his haughtiest, and God's +strength even in its feeblest possessors, is taught by that lamp +flaming, whatever envious hands or howling storms might seek to quench +it, because fed by oil from on high. Let us keep to God's strength, and +not corrupt His oil with mixtures of foul-smelling stuff of our own +compounding. + +Next, in the strength of that revelation of the source of might a +defiant challenge is blown to the foe. The 'great mountain' is primarily +the frowning difficulties which lifted themselves against Zerubbabel's +enterprise, and more widely the whole mass of worldly opposition +encountered by God's servants in every age. It seems to bar all advance; +but an unseen Hand crushes it down, and flattens it out into a level, on +which progress is easy. The Hebrew gives the suddenness and completeness +of the transformation with great force; for the whole clause, 'Thou +shalt become a plain,' is one word in the original. + +Such triumphant rising above difficulties is not presumption when it has +been preceded by believing gaze on the source of strength. If we have +taken to heart the former words of the Prophet, we shall not be in +danger of rash overconfidence when we calmly front obstacles in the path +of duty, assured that every mountain shall be made low. A brave scorn of +the world, both in its sweetnesses and its terrors, befits God's men, +and is apt to fulfil its own confidences; for most of these terrors are +like ghosts, who will not wait to be spoken to, but melt away if fairly +faced. Nor should we forget the other side of this thought; namely, that +it is the constant drift of Providence to abase the lofty in mind, and +to raise the lowly. What is high is sure to get many knocks which pass +over lower heads. To men of faith every mountain shall either become a +plain or be cast into the sea. + +Then follows, on the double revelation of the source of strength and the +futility of opposition, the assurance of the successful completion of +the work. The stone which is to crown the structure shall be brought +forth and set in its place amid jubilant prayers not offered in vain, +that 'grace'--that is, the protecting favour of God--may rest on it. + +The same thought is reiterated and enlarged in the next 'word,' which is +somewhat separated from the former, as if the flow of prophetic +communication had paused for a moment, and then been resumed. In verse 9 +we have the assurance, so seldom granted to God's workers, that +Zerubbabel shall be permitted to complete the task which he had begun. +It is the fate of most of us to inherit unfinished work from our +predecessors, and to bequeath the like to our successors. And in one +aspect, all human work is unfinished, as being but a fragment of the +fulfilment of the mighty purpose which runs through all the ages. Yet +some are more happy than others, in that they see an approximate +completion of their work. But whether it be so or not, our task is to +'do the little we can do, and leave the rest with God,' sure that He +will work all the fragments into a perfect whole, and content to do the +smallest bit of service for Him. Few of us are strong enough to do +separate building. We are like coral insects, whose reef is one, though +its makers are millions. + +Zerubbabel finished his task, but its end was but a new beginning of an +order of things of which he did not see the end. There are no beginnings +or endings, properly speaking, in human affairs, but all is one unbroken +flow. One man only has made a real new beginning, and that is Jesus +Christ; and He only will really carry His work to its very last issues. +He is Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending. He is the +Foundation of the true Temple, and He is also the Headstone of the +corner, the foundation on which all rests, the apex to which all runs +up. 'When He begins, He will also make an end.' + +The completion of the work is to be the token that the 'angel who spake +with me' was God's messenger. We can know that before the fulfilment, +but we cannot but know it after. Better to be sure that the message is +from God while yet the certainty is the result of faith, than to be sure +of it afterwards, when the issue has shattered and shamed our doubts. + +If we realise that God's Spirit is the guarantee for the success of work +done for God, we shall escape the vulgar error of measuring the +importance of things by their size, as, no doubt, many of these builders +were doing. No one will help on the day of great things who despises +that of small ones. They say that the seeds of the 'big trees' in +California are the smallest of all the conifers. I do not vouch for the +truth of the statement, but God's work always begins with little seeds, +as the history of the Church and of every good cause shows. 'What do +these feeble Jews?' sneered the spectators of their poor little walls, +painfully piled up, over which a fox could jump. They did very little, +but they were building the city of God, which has outlasted all the +mockers. + +Men might look with contempt on the humble beginning, but other eyes +than theirs looked at it with other emotions. The eyes which in the last +vision were spoken of as directed on the foundation stone, gaze on the +work with joy. These are the seven eyes of 'the Lord,' which are 'the +seven Spirits of God, sent forth into all the earth' (Rev. v. 6). The +Spirit is here contemplated in the manifoldness of His operations rather +than in the unity of His person. Thus the closing assurance, which +involves the success of the work, since God's eyes rest on it with +delight, comes round to the first declaration, 'Not by might, not by +power, but by My Spirit.' Note the strong contrast between 'despise' and +'rejoice.' What matter the scoffs of mockers, if God approves? What are +they but fools who look at that which moves His joy, and find in it only +food for scorn? What will become of their laughter at last? If we try to +get so near God as to see things with His eyes, we shall be saved from +many a false estimate of what is great and what is small, and may have +our own poor little doings invested with strange dignity, because He +deigns to behold and bless them. + + +THE FOUNDER AND FINISHER OF THE TEMPLE + + 'The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house; + his hands shall also finish it.'--ZECHARIAH iv. 9. + +I am afraid that Zerubbabel is very little more than a grotesque name to +most Bible-readers, so I may be allowed a word of explanation as to him +and as to the original force of my text. He was a prince of the blood +royal of Israel, and the civil leader of the first detachment of +returning exiles. With Joshua, the high priest, he came, at the head of +a little company, to Palestine, and there pathetically attempted, with +small resources, to build up some humble house that might represent the +vanished glories of Solomon's Temple. Political enmity on the part of +the surrounding tribes stopped the work for nearly twenty years. During +all that time, the hole in the ground, where the foundations had been +dug and a few courses of stones been laid, gaped desolate, a sad +reminder to the feeble band of the failure of their hopes. But with the +accession of a new Persian king, new energy sprang up, and new, +favourable circumstances developed themselves. The Prophet Zechariah +came to the front, although quite a young man, and became the mainspring +of the renewed activity in building the Temple. The words of my text +are, of course, in their plain, original meaning, the prophetic +assurance that the man, grown an old man by this time, who had been +honoured to take the first spadeful of soil out of the earth should be +the man 'to bring forth the headstone with shoutings of Grace, grace +unto it!' + +But whilst that is the original application, and whilst the words open +to us a little door into long years of constrained suspension of work +and discouraged hope, I think we shall not be wrong if we recognise in +them something deeper than a reference to the Prince of David's line, +concerning whom they were originally spoken. I take them to be, in the +true sense of the term, a Messianic prophecy; and I take it that, just +because Zerubbabel, a member of that royal house from which the Messiah +was to come, was the builder of the Temple, he was a prophetic person. +What was true about him primarily is thereby shown to have a bearing +upon the greater Son of David who was to come thereafter, and who was to +build the Temple of the Lord. In that aspect I desire to look at the +words now: 'His hands have laid the foundation of the house, and His +hands shall also finish it.' + +I. There is, then, here a large truth as to Christ, the true +Temple-builder. + +It is the same blessed message which was given from His own lips long +centuries after, when He spoke from heaven to John in Patmos, and said, +'I am Alpha and Omega, the First and the Last.' The first letter of the +Greek alphabet, and the last letter of the Greek alphabet, and all the +letters that lie between, and all the words that you can make out of the +letters--they are all from Him, and He underlies everything. + +Now that is true about creation, in the broadest and in the most +absolute sense. For what does the New Testament say, with the consenting +voice of all its writers? 'In the beginning was the Word, and the Word +was with God, and the Word was God. Without Him was not anything made +that was made.' His hands laid the foundations of this great house of +the universe, with its 'many mansions.' And what says Paul? 'He is the +Beginning, in Him all things consist' ... 'that in all things He might +have the pre-eminence.' And what says He Himself from heaven? 'I am the +First and the Last.' So, in regard to everything in the universe, Christ +is its origin, and Christ is its goal and its end. He 'has laid the +foundation, and His hands shall also finish it.' + +But, further, we turn to the application which is the more usual one, +and say that He is the Beginner and Finisher of the work of redemption, +which is His only from its inception to its accomplishment, from the +first breaking of the ground for the foundations of the Temple to the +triumphant bringing forth of the last stone that crowns the corner and +gleams on the topmost pinnacle of the completed structure. There is +nothing about Jesus Christ, as it seems to me, more manifest, unless our +eyes are blinded by prejudice, than that the Carpenter of Nazareth, who +grew up amidst the ordinary conditions of infant manhood, was trained as +other Jewish children, increased in wisdom, spoke a language that had +been moulded by man, and inherited His nation's mental and spiritual +equipment, yet stands forth on the pages of these four Gospels as a +perfectly original man, to put it on the lowest ground, and as owing +nothing to any predecessor, and not as merely one in a series, or +naturally accounted for by reference to His epoch or conditions. He +makes a new beginning; He presents a perfectly fresh thing in the +history of human nature. Just as His coming was the introduction into +the heart of humanity of a new type, the second Adam, the Lord from +heaven, so the work that He does is all His own. He does it all Himself, +for all that His servants do in carrying out the purposes dear to His +heart is done by His working in and through them, and though we are +fellow-labourers with Him, His hands alone lay every stone of the +Temple. + +Not only does my text, in its highest application, point to Jesus Christ +as the Author of redemption from its very beginning, but it also +declares that all through the ages His hand is at work. 'Shall also +finish it'--then He is labouring at it now; and we have not to think of +a Christ who once worked, and has left to us the task of developing the +consequences of His completed activity, but of a Christ who is working +on and on, steadily and persistently. The builders of some great +edifice, whilst they are laying its lower courses, are down upon our +level, and as the building rises the scaffolding rises, and sometimes +the platform where they stand is screened off by some frail canvas +stretched round it, so that we cannot see them as they ply their work +with trowel and mortar. So Christ came down to earth to lay the courses +of His Temple that had to rest upon earth, but now the scaffolding is +raised and He is working at the top stories. Though out of our sight, He +is at work as truly and energetically as He was when He was down here. +You remember how strikingly one of the Evangelists puts that thought in +the last words of his Gospel--if, indeed, they are his words. 'He was +received up into heaven, and sat at the right hand of God, and they went +everywhere, preaching the word.' Well, that looks as if there were a sad +separation between the Commander and the soldiers that He had ordered to +the front, as if He were sitting at ease on a hill overlooking the +battlefield from a safe distance and sending His men to death. But the +next words bring Him and them together--'The Lord also working with +them, and confirming the word with signs following.' And so, brethren, a +work begun, continued, and ended by the same immortal Hand, is the work +on which the redemption of the world depends. + +II. Notice, secondly, that we have here the assurance of the triumph of +the Gospel. + +No doubt, in the long-forgotten days in which my text was spoken, there +were plenty of over-prudent calculators in the little band of exiles who +said, 'What is the use of our trying to build in face of all this +opposition and with these poor resources of ours?' They would throw cold +water enough on the works of Zerubbabel, and on Zechariah who inspired +them. But there came the great word of promise to them, 'He shall bring +forth the headstone with shoutings.' The text is the cure for all such +calculations by us Christian people, and by others than Christian +people. When we begin to count up resources, and to measure these +against the work to be done, there is little wonder if good men and bad +men sometimes concur in thinking that the Gospel of Jesus Christ has +very little chance of conquering the world. And that is perfectly true, +unless you take Him into the calculation, and then the probabilities +look altogether different. We are but like a long row of ciphers, but +put one significant figure in front of the row of ciphers and it comes +to be of value. And so, if you are calculating the probabilities of the +success of Christianity in the world and forget to start with Christ, +you have left out the principal factor in the problem. Churches lose +their fervour, their members die and pass away. He renews and purifies +the corrupted Church, and He liveth for ever. Therefore, because we may +say, with calm confidence, 'His hands have laid the foundation of the +house, and His hands are at work on all the courses of it as it rises,' +we may be perfectly sure that the Temple which He founded, at which He +still toils, shall be completed, and not stand a gaunt ruin, looking on +which passers-by will mockingly say, 'This man began to build and was +not able to finish.' When Brennus conquered Rome, and the gold for the +city's ransom was being weighed, he clashed his sword into the scale to +outweigh the gold. Christ's sword is in the scale, and it weighs more +than the antagonism of the world and the active hostility of hell. 'His +hands have laid the foundation; His hands shall also finish it.' + +III. Still further, here is encouragement for despondent and timid +Christians. + +Jesus Christ is not going to leave you half way across the bog. That is +not His manner of guiding us. He began; He will finish. Remember the +words of Paul which catch up this same thought: 'Being confident of this +very thing, that He which hath begun a good work in you will perfect the +same until the day of Jesus Christ.' Brethren! if the seed of the +kingdom is in our hearts, though it be but as a grain of mustard seed, +be sure of this, that He will watch over it and bless the springing +thereof. So, although when we think of ourselves, our own slowness of +progress, our own feeble resolutions, our own wayward hearts, our own +vacillating wills, our many temptations, our many corruptions, our many +follies, we may well say to ourselves, 'Will there ever be any greater +completeness in this terribly imperfect Christian character of mine than +there is to-day?' Let us be of good cheer, and not think only of +ourselves, but much rather of Him who works on and in and for us. If we +lift up our hearts to Him, and keep ourselves near Him, and let Him +work, He will work. If we do not--like the demons in the old monastic +stories, who every night pulled down the bit of walling that the monks +had in the daytime built for their new monastery--by our own hands pull +down what He, by His hand, has built up, the structure will rise, and we +shall be 'builded together for a habitation of God through the Spirit.' +Be of good cheer, only keep near the Master, and let Him do what He +desires to do for us all. God is 'faithful who hath called us to the +fellowship of His Son,' and He also will do it. + +IV. Lastly, here is a striking contrast to the fate which attends all +human workers. + +There are very few of us who even partially seem to be happy enough to +begin and finish any task, beyond the small ones of our daily life. +Authors die, with books half finished, with sentences half finished +sometimes, where the pen has been laid down. No man starts an entirely +fresh line of action; he inherits much from his past. No man completes a +great work that he undertakes; he leaves it half-finished, and coming +generations, if it is one of the great historical works of the world, +work out its consequences for good or for evil. The originator has to be +contented with setting the thing going and handing on unfinished tasks +to his successors. That is the condition under which we live. We have to +be contented to do our little bit of work, that will fit in along with +that of a great many others, like a chain of men who stand between a +river and a burning house, and pass the buckets from end to end. How +many hands does it take to make a pin? How many did it take to make the +cloth of our dress? The shepherd out in Australia, the packer in +Melbourne, the sailors on the ship that brought the wool home, the +railwayman that took it to Bradford, the spinner, the weaver, the dyer, +the finisher, the tailor--they all had a hand in it, and the share of +none of them was fit to stand upright by itself, as it were, without +something on either side of it to hold it up. + +So it is in all our work in the world, and eminently in our Christian +work. We have to be contented with being parts of a mighty whole, to do +our small piece of service, and not to mind though it cannot be singled +out in the completed whole. What does that matter, as long as it is +there? The waters of the brook are lost in the river, and it, in turn, +in the sea. But each drop is there, though indistinguishable. + +Multiplication of joy comes from division of labour, 'One soweth and +another reapeth,' and the result is that there are two to be glad over +the harvest instead of one--'that he that soweth and he that reapeth may +rejoice together.' So it is a good thing that the hands that laid the +foundations so seldom are the hands that finish the work; for thereby +there are more admitted into the social gladness of the completed +results. The navvy that lifted the first spadeful of earth in excavating +for the railway line, and the driver of the locomotive over the +completed track, are partners in the success and in the joy. The +forgotten bishop who, I know not how many centuries ago, laid the +foundations of Cologne Cathedral, and the workmen who, a few years +since, took down the old crane that had stood for long years on the +spire, and completed it to the slender apex, were partners in one work +that reached through the ages. + +So let us do our little bit of work, and remember that whilst we do it, +He for whom we are doing it is doing it in us, and let us rejoice to +know that at the last we shall share in the 'joy of our Lord,' when He +sees of the travail of His soul and is satisfied. Though He builds all +Himself, yet He will let us have the joy of feeling that we are +labourers together with Him. 'Ye are God's building'; but the Builder +permits us to share in His task and in His triumph. + + +THE PRIEST OF THE WORLD AND KING OF MEN + + 'He shall build the Temple of the Lord ... and He shall be a Priest + upon His throne.'--ZECHARIAH vi. 13. + +A handful of feeble exiles had come back from their Captivity. 'The holy +and beautiful house' where their fathers praised Him was burned with +fire. There was no king among them, but they still possessed a +representative of the priesthood, the other great office of divine +appointment. Their first care was to rear some poor copy of the Temple; +and the usual difficulties that attend reconstruction of any sort, and +dog every movement that rests upon religious enthusiasm, beset them +--strong enemies, and half-hearted friends, and personal jealousies +weakening still more their weak forces. In this time of anarchy, of toil +at a great task with inadequate resources, of despondency that was +rapidly fulfilling its own forebodings, the Prophet, who was the spring +of the whole movement, receives a word in season from the Lord. He is +bidden to take from some of the returned exiles the tribute-money which +they had brought, and having made of it golden and silver crowns--the +sign of kingship--to set them on the high priest's head, thus uniting +the sacerdotal and regal offices, which had always been jealously +separated in Israel. This singular action is explained, by the words +which he is commanded to speak, as being a symbolic prophecy of Him who +is 'the Branch'--the well-known name which older prophets had used for +the Messiah--indicating that in Him were the reality which the +priesthood shadowed, and the rule which was partly delegated to Israel's +king as well as the power which should rear the true temple of God among +men. + +It is in accordance with the law of prophetic development from the +beginning, that the external circumstances of the nation at the moment +should supply the mould into which the promise is run. The earliest of +all Messianic predictions embraced only the existence of evil, as +represented by the serpent, and the conquest of it by one who was known +but as a son of Eve. When the history reaches the patriarchal stage, +wherein the family is the predominant conception, the prophecy +proportionately advances to the assurance, 'In thy seed shall all the +families of the earth be blessed.' When the mission of Moses had made +the people familiar with the idea of a man who was the medium of +revelation, then a further stage was reached--'a Prophet shall the Lord +your God raise up unto you, of your brethren, like unto me.' The kingdom +of David prepared the way for the prediction of the royal dignity of the +Messiah, as the peaceful reign of Solomon for the expectation of one who +should bring peace by righteousness. The approach of national disaster +and sorrow was reflected in Isaiah's vision of the suffering Messiah, +and that prophet's announcements of exile had for their counterpoise the +proclamation of Him who should bring liberty to the captive. So, here, +the kingless band of exiles, painfully striving to rear again the +tabernacle which had fallen down, are heartened for their task by the +thought of the priest-king of the nation, the builder of an imperishable +dwelling-place for God. + +To-day we need these truths not less than Zechariah's contemporaries +did. And, thank God! we can believe that, for every modern perplexity, +the blessed old words carry the same strength and consolation. If kings +seem to have perished from among men, if authorities are dying out, and +there are no names of power that can rally the world--yet there is a +Sovereign. If old institutions are crumbling, and must still further +decay ere the site for a noble structure be cleared, yet He shall build +the Temple. If priest be on some lips a name of superstitious folly, and +on others a synonym for all that is despised as effete in religion, yet +this Priest abideth for ever, the guide and the hope for the history of +humanity and for the individual spirit. Let us, then, put ourselves +under the Prophet's guidance, and consider the eternal truths which he +preaches to us too. + +I. The true hope of the world is a priest. + +The idea of priesthood is universal. It has been distorted and abused; +it has been made the foundation of spiritual tyranny. The priest has not +been the teacher nor the elevator of the people. All over the world he +has been the ally of oppression and darkness, he has hindered and +cramped social and intellectual progress. And yet, in spite of all this, +there the office stands, and wherever men go, by some strange perversity +they take with them this idea, and choose from among themselves those +who, being endowed with some sort of ceremonial and symbolic purity, +shall discharge for their brethren the double office of representing +them before God, of representing God to them. That is what the world +means, with absolute and entire unanimity, by a priest--one who shall be +sacrificer, intercessor, representative; bearer of man's worship, +channel of God's blessing. How comes it, that, in spite of all the +cruelties and lies that have gathered round the office, it lives, +indestructible, among the families of men? Why, because it springs from, +and corresponds to, real and universal wants in their nature. It is the +result of the universal consciousness of sin. Men feel that there is a +gulf betwixt them and God. They know themselves to be all foul. True, as +their knowledge of God dims and darkens, their conscience hardens and +their sense of sin lessens; but, as long as there is any notion of God +at all, there will be a parallel and corresponding conviction of moral +evil. And so, feeling that, and feeling it, as I believe, not because +they are rude and barbarous, but because, though rude and barbarous, +they still preserve some trace of their true relation to God, they lay +hold upon some of their fellows, and say, 'Here! be thou for us this +thing which we cannot be for ourselves--stand thou there in front of us, +and be at once the expression of our knowledge that we dare not come +before our gods, and likewise, if it may be, the medium by which their +gifts may come on us, unworthy.' + +That is a wide-spread and all but universally expressed instinct of +human nature. Argue about it as you like, explain it away how you +choose, charge the notions of priesthood and sacrifice with +exaggeration, immorality, barbarism, if you will--still the thing +remains. And I believe for my part that, so far from that want being one +which will be left behind, with other rude and savage desires, as men +advance in civilisation--it is as real and as permanent as the craving +of the understanding for truth, and of the heart for love. When men lose +it, it is because they are barbarised, not civilised, into forgetting +it. On that rock all systems of religion and eminently all theories of +Christianity, that leave out priest and sacrifice, will strike and +split. The Gospel for the world must be one which will meet all the +facts of man's condition. Chief among these facts is this necessity of +the conscience, as expressed by the forms in which for thousands of +years the worship of mankind has been embodied all but everywhere--an +altar, and a priest standing by its side. + +I need not pause to remind you how this Jewish people, who have at all +events taught the world the purest Theism, and led men up to the most +spiritual religion, had this same institution of a priesthood for the +very centre of its worship. Nor need I dwell at length on the fact that +the New Testament gives--in its full adhesion to the same idea. We are +told that all these sacerdotal allusions in it are only putting pure +spiritual truth in the guise of the existing stage of religious +development--the husk, not the kernel. It seems to me much rather that +the Old Testament ceremonial--Temple, priesthood, sacrifice--was +established for this along with other purposes, to be a shadow of things +to come. Christ's office is not metaphorically illustrated by reference +to the Jewish ritual; but the Jewish ritual is the metaphor, and +Christ's office the reality. He is the Priest. + +And what is the priest whom men crave? + +The first requisite is oneness with those whom he represents. Men have +ever felt that one of themselves must fill this office, and have taken +from among their brethren their medium of communication with God. And we +have a Priest who, 'in all things, is made like unto His brethren,' +having taken part of their flesh and blood, and being 'in all points +tempted like as we are.' The next requisite is that these men, who +minister at earth's altars, should, by some lustration, or abstinence, +or white robe, or other external sign, be separated from the profane +crowd, and possess, at all events, a symbolic purity--expression of the +conviction that a priest must be cleaner and closer to God than his +fellows. And we have a Priest who is holy, harmless, undefiled, radiant +in perfect purity, lustrous with the light of constant union with God. + +And again, as in nature and character, so in function, Christ +corresponds to the widely expressed wants of men, as shown in their +priesthoods. They sought for one who should offer gifts and sacrifices +on their behalf, and we have One who is 'a merciful and faithful High +Priest to make reconciliation for the sins of the people.' They sought +for a man who should pass into the awful presence, and plead for them +while they stood without, and we lift hopeful eyes of love to the +heavens, 'whither the Forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus, made an +High Priest for ever.' They sought for a man who should be the medium of +divine blessings bestowed upon the worshippers, and we know who hath +gone within the veil, having ascended up on high, that He might give +gifts unto men. + +The world needs a priest. Its many attempts to find such show how deep +is the sense of need, and what he must be who shall satisfy them. We +have the Priest that the world and ourselves require. I believe that +modern Englishmen, with the latest results of civilisation colouring +their minds and moulding their characters, stand upon the very same +level, so far as this matter is concerned, as the veriest savage in +African wilds, who has darkened even the fragment of truth which he +possesses, till it has become a lie and the parent of lies. You and I, +and all our brethren, alike need a brother who shall be holy and close +to God, who shall offer sacrifices for us, and bring God to us. For you +and me, and all our brethren alike, the good news is true, 'we have a +great High Priest that is passed into the heavens, Jesus, the Son of +God.' That message quenches the fire on every other altar, and strips +the mitre from every other head. It, and it alone, meets fully and for +ever that strange craving, which, though it has been productive of so +many miseries and so many errors, though it has led to grinding tyranny +and dark superstitions, though it has never anywhere found what it longs +for, remains deep in the soul, indestructible and hungry, till it is +vindicated and enlightened and satisfied by the coming of the true +Priest,' made not after the law of a carnal commandment, but after the +power of an endless life.' + +II. Our text tells us, secondly, that 'the priest of the world is the +king of men.' 'He shall be a Priest upon His throne.' + +In Israel these two offices were jealously kept apart, and when one +monarch, in a fit of overweening self-importance, tried to unite in his +own person the kingly and the priestly functions, 'the leprosy rose up +in his forehead,' even as he stood with the censer in his hand, and +'Uzziah the king was a leper unto the day of his death.' And the history +of the world is full of instances, in which the struggles of the +temporal and spiritual power have caused calamities only less +intolerable than those which flowed from that alliance of priests and +kings which has so often made monarchy a grinding tyranny, and religion +a mere instrument of statecraft. History being witness, it would seem to +be a very doubtful blessing for the world that one man should wield both +forms of control without check or limitation, and be at once king and +priest. If the words before us refer to any one but to Christ, the +prophet had an altogether mistaken notion about what would be good for +men, politically and ecclesiastically, and we may be thankful that his +dream has never come true. But if they point to the Son of David who has +died for us, and declare that because He is Priest, He is therefore +King--oh! then they are full of blessed truth concerning the basis and +the nature and the purpose of His dominion, which may well make us lift +up our heads and rejoice that in the midst of tyranny and anarchy, of +sovereignties whose ultimate resort is force, there is another +kingdom--the most absolute of despotisms and yet the most perfect +democracy, whose law is love, whose subjects are every one the children +of a King, the kingdom of that Priest-ruler on whose head is Aaron's +mitre, and more than David's crown. + +He does rule. 'The kingdom of Christ' is no unreal fanciful phrase. Take +the lowest ground. Who is it that, by the words He spoke, by the deeds +He did, by the life He lived, has shaped the whole form of moral and +religious thought and life in the civilised world? Is there One among +the great of old, the dead yet sceptred sovereigns, who still rule our +spirits from their urns, whose living power over thought and heart and +deed among the dominant races of the earth is to be compared with His? +And beyond that, we believe that, as the result of His mighty work on +earth, the dominion of the whole creation is His, and He is King of +kings, and Lord of lords, that His will is sovereign and His voice is +absolute law, to which all the powers of nature, all the confusions of +earth's politics, all the unruly wills of men, all the pale kingdoms of +the dead, and all the glorious companies of the heavens, do bow in real +though it be sometimes unconscious and sometimes reluctant obedience. + +The foundation of His rule is His sacrifice; or in other words--no truer +though a little more modern in their sound--men will do anything for Him +who does _that_ for them. Men will yield their whole souls to the warmth +and light that stream from the Cross, as the sunflower turns itself to +the sun. He that can give an anodyne which is not an opiate, to my +conscience--He that can appeal to my heart and will, and say, 'I have +given Myself for thee,' will never speak in vain to those who accept His +gift, when He says, 'Now give thyself to Me.' + +Brethren! it is not the thinker who is the true king of men, as we +sometimes hear it proudly said. We need One who will not only show but +be the Truth; who will not only point, but open and be, the Way; who +will not only communicate thought, but give, because He is, the Life. +Not the rabbi's pulpit, nor the teacher's desk, still less the gilded +chairs of earthly monarchs, least of all the tents of conquerors, are +the throne of the true King. He rules from the Cross. The one dominion +worth naming, that over men's inmost spirits, springs from the one +sacrifice which alone calms and quickens men's inmost spirits. 'Thou art +the King of Glory, O Christ,' for Thou art 'the Lamb of God, which +taketh away the sin of the world.' + +His rule is wielded In gentleness. Priestly dominion has ever been +fierce, suspicious, tyrannous. 'His words were softer than oil, yet were +they drawn swords.' But the sway of this merciful and faithful High +Priest is full of tenderness. His sceptre is not the warrior's mace, nor +the jewelled rod of gold, but the reed--emblem of the lowliness of His +heart, and of authority guided by love. And all His rule is for the +blessing of His subjects, and the end of it is that they may be made +free by obedience, emancipated in and for service, crowned as kings by +submission to the King of kings, consecrated as priests by their +reliance on the only Priest over the house of God, whose loving will +rests not until it has made all His people like Himself. + +Then, dear brethren! amid all the anarchic chaos of this day, when old +institutions are crumbling or crashing into decay, when the whole +civilised world seems slowly and painfully parting from its old +moorings, and like some unwieldy raft, is creaking and straining at its +chains as it feels the impulse of the swift current that is bearing it +to an unknown sea, when venerable names cease to have power, when old +truths are flouted as antiquated, and the new ones seem so long in +making their appearance, when a perfect Babel of voices stuns us, and on +every side are pretenders to the throne which they fancy vacant, let us +joyfully welcome all change, and hopefully anticipate the future. +Lifting our eyes from the world, let us fix them on the likeness of a +throne above the firmament that is above the cherubs, and rejoice since +there we behold 'the likeness as the appearance of a man upon it.' +'Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem; behold, thy King cometh unto thee.' + +III. Our text still further reminds us that the Priest-King of men +builds among men the Temple of God. + +The Prophet and his companions had become familiar in their captivity +with the gigantic palaces and temples which Assyrian and Babylonian +monarchs had a passion for rearing. They had learned to regard the king +as equally magnified by his conquests and by his buildings. Zechariah +foretells that the true King shall rear a temple more lasting than +Solomon's, more magnificent than those which towered on their +marble-faced platforms over the Chaldean plain. + +Christ is Himself the true Temple of God. Whatsoever that shadowed +Christ is or gives. In Him dwelt all the fulness of the Godhead. 'The +glory' which once dwelt between the cherubim, 'tabernacled among us' in +His flesh. As the place of sacrifice, as the place where men meet God, +as the seat of revelation of the divine will, the true tabernacle which +the Lord hath pitched is the Manhood of our Lord. + +Christ builds the temple. By faith, the individual soul becomes the +abode of God, and into our desecrated spirits there comes the King of +Glory. 'Know ye not that ye are the temples of God?' By faith, the whole +body of believing men 'are builded together for an habitation of God +through the Spirit.' + +Christ builds this temple because He is the Temple. By His incarnation +and work, He makes our communion with God and God's dwelling in us +possible. By His death and sacrifice He draws men to Himself, and blends +them in a living unity. By the gift of His Spirit and His life, He +hallows their wills, and makes them partakers of His own likeness; so +that 'coming to Him, we also are built up a spiritual house.' + +Christ builds the temple, and uses us as His servants in the work. Our +prophecy was given to encourage faint-hearted toilers, not to supply an +excuse for indolence. Underlying all our poor labours, and blessing them +all, is the power of Christ. We may well work diligently who work in the +line of His purposes, after the pattern of His labours, in the strength +of His power, under the watchfulness of His eye. The little band may be +few and feeble; let them not be fearful, for He, the throned Priest, +even _He_, and not they with their inadequate resources, shall build the +temple. + +Christ builds on through all the ages, and the prophecy of our text is +yet unfulfilled. Its fulfilment is the meaning and end of all history. +For the present, there has to be much destructive as well as +constructive work done. Many a wretched hovel, the abode of sorrow and +want, many a den of infamy, many a palace of pride, many a temple of +idols, will have to be pulled down yet, and men's eyes will be blinded +by the dust, and their hearts will ache as they look at the ruins. Be +it so. The finished structure will obliterate the remembrance of poor +buildings that cumbered its site. This Emperor of ours may indeed say, +that He found the city of brick and made it marble. Have patience if His +work is slow; mourn not if it is destructive; doubt not, though the +unfinished walls, and corridors that seem to lead nowhere, and all the +confusion of unfinished toils puzzle you, when you try to make out the +plan. See to it, my brother, that you lend a hand and help to rear the +true temple, which is rising slowly through the ages, at which +successive generations toil, and from whose unfinished glories they +dying depart, but which shall be completed, because the true Builder +'ever liveth,' and is 'a priest for ever after the order of +Melchizedek.' Above all, brethren! take heed that you are yourselves +builded in that temple. Travellers sometimes find in lonely quarries +long abandoned or once worked by a vanished race, great blocks squared +and dressed, that seem to have been meant for palace or shrine. But +there they lie, neglected and forgotten, and the building for which they +were hewn has been reared without them. Beware lest God's grand temple +should be built up without you, and you be left to desolation and decay. +Trust your souls to Christ, and He will set you in the spiritual house +which the King greater than Solomon is building still. + +In one of the mosques of Damascus, which has been a Christian church, +and before that was a heathen temple, the portal bears, deep cut in +Greek characters, the inscription, 'Thy kingdom, O Christ, is an +everlasting kingdom, and Thy dominion endureth throughout all +generations.' The confident words seem contradicted by the twelve +centuries of Mohammedanism on which they have looked down. But though +their silent prophecy is unheeded and unheard by the worshippers below, +it shall be proved true one day, and the crescent shall wane before the +steady light of the Sun of Righteousness. The words are carven deep over +the portals of the temple which Christ rears; and though men may not be +able to read them, and may not believe them if they do, though for +centuries traffickers have defiled its courts, and base-born usurpers +have set up their petty thrones, yet the writing stands sure, a dumb +witness against the transient lies, a patient prophet of the eternal +truth. And when all false faiths, and their priests who have oppressed +men and traduced God, have vanished; and when kings that have +prostituted their great and godlike office to personal advancement and +dynastic ambition are forgotten; and when every shrine reared for +obscene and bloody rites, or for superficial and formal worship, has +been cast to the ground, then from out of the confusion and desolation +shall gleam the temple of God, which is the refuge of men, and on the +one throne of the universe shall sit the Eternal Priest--our Brother, +Jesus the Christ. + + * * * * * + + +MALACHI + + +A DIALOGUE WITH GOD + + 'A son honoureth his father, and a servant his master: if then I be + a Father, where is Mine honour? and if I be a master, where is My + fear? saith the Lord of Hosts unto you, O priests, that despise My + Name. And ye say, Wherein have we despised Thy Name? 7. Ye offer + polluted bread upon Mine altar. And ye say, Wherein have we + polluted Thee?'--MALACHI i. 6, 7. + +A charactistic of this latest of the prophets is the vivacious dialogue +of which our text affords one example. God speaks and the people +question His word, which in reply He reiterates still more strongly. The +other instances of its occurrence may here be briefly noted, and we +shall find that they cover all the aspects of the divine speech to men, +whether He charges sin home upon them or pronounces threatenings of +judgment, or invites by gracious promises the penitent to return. His +charges of sin are repelled in our text and in the following verse by +the indignant question, 'Wherein have we polluted Thee?' And similarly +in the next chapter the divine accusation, 'Ye have wearied the Lord +with your words,' is thrown back with the contemptuous retort, 'Wherein +have we wearied Him?' And in like manner in the third chapter, 'Ye have +robbed Me,' calls forth no confession but only the defiant answer,' +Wherein have we robbed Thee?' And in a later verse, the accusation, +'Your words have been stout against Me,' is traversed by the question, +'What have we spoken so much against Thee?' Similarly the threatening of +judgment that the Lord will 'cut off' the men that 'profane the holiness +of the Lord' calls forth only the rebutting question, 'Wherefore?' (ii. +14). And even the gracious invitation, 'Return unto Me, and I will +return unto you,' evokes not penitence, but the stiff-necked reply, +'Wherein shall we return?' (iii. 7). In this sermon we may deal with the +first of these three cases, and consider, God's Indictment, and man's +plea of 'Not guilty.' + +I. God's Indictment. + +The precise nature of the charge is to be carefully considered. The Name +is the sum of the revealed character, and that Name has been despised. +The charge is not that it has been blasphemed, but that it has been +neglected, or under-estimated, or cared little about. The pollution of +the table of the Lord is the overt act by which the attitude of mind and +heart expressed in despising His Name is manifested; but the overt act +is secondary and not primary--a symptom of a deeper-lying disease. And +herein our Prophet is true to the whole tenor of the Old Testament +teaching, which draws its indictment against men primarily in regard to +their attitude, and only as a manifestation of that, to their acts. The +same deed may be, if estimated in relation to human law, a crime: if +estimated in relation to godless ethics, a wrong; and if estimated in +the only right way, namely, the attitude towards God which it reveals, a +sin. 'The despising of His Name' may be taken as the very definition of +sin. It is usual with men to-day to say that 'Sin is selfishness'; but +that statement does not go deep enough unless it be recognised that +self-regard only becomes sin when it rears its puny self in opposition +to, or in disregard of, the plain will of God. The 'New Theology,' of +course, minimises, even where it does not, as it to be consistent +should, deny the possibility of sin: for, if God is all and all is God, +there can be no opposition, there can be no divine will to be opposed, +and no human will to oppose it. But the fact of sin certified by men's +own consciences is the rock on which Pantheism must always strike and +sink. A superficial view of human history and of human nature may try to +explain away the fact of sin by shallow talk about 'heredity' and +'environment,' or about 'ignorance' and 'mistakes'; but after all such +euphemistic attempts to rechristen the ugly thing by beguiling names, +the fact remains, and conscience bears sometimes unwilling witness to +its existence, that men do set their own inclinations against God's +commands, and that there is in them that which is 'not subject to the +law of God, neither indeed can be.' The root of all sin is the +despising of His Name. + +And as sin has but one root, it has many branches, and as working +backwards from deed to motive, we find one common element in all the +various acts; so working outwards from motive to deed, we have to see +one common character stamped upon a tragical variety of acts. The +poison-water is exhibited in many variously coloured and tasted +draughts, but however unlike each other they may be, it is always the +same. + +The great effort of God's love is to press home this consciousness of +despising His Name upon all hearts. The sorrows, losses, and +disappointments which come to us all are not meant only to make us +suffer, but through suffering to lead us to recognise how far we have +wandered from our Father, and to bring us back to His heart and our +home. The beginning of all good in us is the contrite acknowledgment of +our evil. Christ's first preaching was the continuation of John's +message, 'Repent ye, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand'; and His +tenderest revelation of the divine love incarnated in Himself was meant +to arouse the penitent confession, 'I am no more worthy to be called Thy +son,' and the quickening resolve, 'I will arise and go to my Father.' +There is no way to God but through the narrow gate of repentance. There +is no true reception of the gift of Christ which does not begin with a +vivid and heart-broken consciousness of my own sin. We can pass into, +and abide in, the large room of joyous acceptance and fellowship, but we +must reach it by a narrow path walled in by gloomy rocks and trodden +with bleeding feet. The penitent knowledge of oar sin is the first step +towards the triumphant knowledge of Christ's righteousness as ours. Only +they who have called out in the agony of their souls, 'Lord, save us, we +perish,' have truly learned the love of God, and truly possess the +salvation that is in Christ. + +II. Man's plea of 'Not Guilty.' + +That such an answer should be given to such a charge is a strange, +solemn fact, which tragically confirms the true indictment. The effect +of all sin is to make us less conscious of its presence, as persons in +an unventilated room are not aware of its closeness. It is with profound +truth that the Apostle speaks of being hardened by the 'deceitfulness' +of sin. It comes to us in a cloud and enfolds us in obscure mist. Like +white ants, it never works in the open, but makes a tunnel or burrows +under ground, and, hidden in some piece of furniture, eats away all its +substance whilst it seems perfectly solid. The man's perception of the +standard of duty is enfeebled. We lose our sense of the moral character +of any habitual action, just as a man who has lived all his life in a +slum sees little of its hideousness, and knows nothing of green fields +and fresh air. Conscience is silenced by being neglected. It can be +wrongly educated and perverted, so that it may regard sin as doing God's +service; and the only judgment in which it can be absolutely trusted is +the declaration that it is right to do right, while all its other +decisions as to what is right may be biassed by self-interest; but the +force with which it pronounces its only unalterable decision depends on +the whole tenor of the life of the man. The sins which are most in +accordance with our characters, and are therefore most deeply rooted in +us, are those which we are least likely to recognise as sins. So, the +more sinful we are, the less we know it; therefore there is need for a +fixed standard outside of us. The light on the deck cannot guide us; +there must be the lighthouse on the rock. This sad answer of the heart +untouched by God's appeal prevents all further access of God's love to +that heart. That love can only enter when the reply to its indictment +is, 'I have despised Thy name.' + +Let us not forget the New Testament modification of the divine +accusation. 'In Christ' is the Name of God fully and finally revealed to +men. For us who live in the blaze of the ineffable brightness of the +revelation, our attitude towards Him who brings it is the test of our +'hallowing of the Name' which He brings. He Himself has varied Malachi's +indictment when He said, 'He that despiseth Me despiseth Him that sent +Me.' Our sin is now to be measured by our under-estimate and neglect of +Him, and chiefly of His Cross. That Cross prevents our consciousness of +sin from becoming despair of pardon. Judas went out, and with bitter +weeping, himself ended his traitorous life. If God's last word to us +were, 'Ye have despised My Name,' and it sank into our souls, there +would be no hope for any of us. But the message which begins with the +universal indictment of sin passes into the message which holds forth +forgiveness and freedom as universal as the sin, and 'God hath concluded +all in unbelief that He may have mercy upon all.' + + +BLEMISHED OFFERINGS + + 'Offer it now unto thy governor; will he be pleased with thee, or + accept thy person? saith the Lord of Hosts.'--MALACHI i. 8. + +A word of explanation may indicate my purpose in selecting this, I am +afraid, unfamiliar text. The Prophet has been vehemently rebuking a +characteristic mean practice of the priests, who were offering maimed +and diseased animals in sacrifice. They were probably dishonest as well +as mean, because the worshippers would bring sound beasts, and the +priests, for their own profit, slipped in a worthless animal, and kept +the valuable one for themselves. They had become so habituated to this +piece of economical religion, that they saw no harm in it, and when they +offered the lame and the sick and the blind for sacrifice they said to +themselves, 'It is not evil.' And so Malachi, with the sudden sharp +thrust of my text, tries to rouse their torpid consciences. He says to +them: 'Take that diseased creature that you are not ashamed to lay on +God's altar, and try what the governor'--the official appointed by the +Persian Kings to rule over the returned exiles--'will think about it. +Will an offering of that sort be considered a compliment or an insult? +Do you think it will smooth your way or help your suit with him? Surely +God deserves as much reverence as the deputy of Artaxerxes. Surely what +is not good enough for a Persian satrap is not good enough for the Lord +of Hosts. Offer it to the governor, will he be pleased with it? Will he +accept thy person?' + +Now, it seems to me that this cheap religion of the priests, and this +scathing irony of the Prophet's counsel need little modification to fit +us very closely. You will bear me witness, I think, that I do not often +speak to you about money. But I am going to try to bring out something +about the great subject of Christian administration of earthly +possessions from this text, because I believe that the Christian +consciousness of this generation does need a great deal of rousing and +instructing about this matter. + +I. We note the startling and strange contrast which the text suggests. + +The diseased lamb was laid without scruple or hesitation on God's altar, +and not one of these tricky priests durst have taken it to Court in +order to secure favour there. Generalise that, and it comes to this--the +gifts that we lavish on men are the condemnation of the gifts that we +bring to God; and further, we should be ashamed to offer to men what we +are not in the least ashamed to bring to God. Let me illustrate in one +or two points. + +Let us contrast in our own consciences, for instance, the sort of love +that we give to one another with the sort of love that we bring to Him. +How strong, how perennially active, how delighting in sacrifice and +service, what a felt source of blessedness is the love that knits many +husbands and wives, many parents and children, many lovers and friends +together! And in dreadful contrast, how languid, how sporadic and +interrupted, how reluctant when called upon for service and sacrifice, +how little operative in our lives is the love we bring to God! We durst +not lay upon the altar of family affection, of wedded love, of true +friendship, a love of such a sort as we take to God and expect Him to he +satisfied with. It would be an insult if offered to 'the governor,' but +we think it good enough for the King of kings. Here a gushing flood, +there a straitened trickle coming drop by drop; here a glowing flame +that fills life with warmth and light, there a few dying embers. Measure +and contrast the love that is lavished by men upon one another, and the +love that is coldly brought to Him. And I think we must all bow our +heads penitently. + +Contrast the trust that we put in one another, and the trust that we +direct to Him. In the one case it is absolute. 'I am as sure as I am of +my own existence that so-and-so will always be as true as steel to me, +and will never fail me, and whatever he, or she, does, or fails to do, +no shadow of suspicion, or mist of doubt, will creep across the sunshine +of our sky.' And in contrast to the firm grasp with which we clasp an +infirm human hand, there is a tremulous touch, scarcely a grasp at all, +which we lay upon the one Hand that is strong enough always to be +outstretched for our defence and our blessing. Contrast your confidence +in men, and your confidence in God. Are we not all committing the +absurdity of absolutely trusting that which has no stability or stay, +and refusing so to trust that which is the Rock of Ages? God's +faithfulness is absolute, our faith in it is tremulous. Men's +faithfulness is uncertain, our faith in it is entire. + +We might contrast the submission and obedience with which we follow +those who have secured our confidence and evoked our love, as contrasted +with the rebellion, the reluctance, the self-will, which come in to +break and mar our submission to God. Men that will not take Jesus Christ +for their Master, and refuse to follow Him when He speaks, will bind +themselves to some human teacher, and enrol themselves as disciples in +some school of thought or science or philosophy, with a submission so +entire, that it puts to shame the submission which Christians render to +the Incarnate Truth Himself. + +And so I might go on, all round the horizon of our human nature, and +signalise the difference that exists between the blemished sacrifices +which each part of our being dares to bring to God and expects Him to +accept, and the sacrifices, unblemished and spotless, which we carry to +one another. + +But let me say a word more directly about the subject of which Malachi +is speaking. It seems to me that we may well take a very condemnatory +contrast between what we offer to God in regard to our administration of +earthly good, and what we offer on other altars. Contrast what you give, +for directly beneficent and Christian purposes, with what you spend, +without two thoughts, on your own comfort, indulgence, recreation, +tastes--sometimes doubtful tastes--and the like. Contrast England's +drink bill and England's missionary contribution. We spend £10,000,000 +on some wretched war, and some of you think it is cheap at the price, +and the whole contributions of English Christians to missionary purposes +in a twelvemonth do not amount to a tenth of that sum. You offer that to +the spread of Christ's kingdom. 'Offer it to your Government,' and try +to compound for your share of the ten millions that you are going to +spend in shells and gunpowder by the amount you give to Christian +missions, and you will very soon have the tax-gatherer down on you. +'Will he be pleased with it?' + +This one Missionary Society with which we are nominally connected has an +income of £70,000 a year. I suppose that is about a shilling per head +from the members of our congregations. Of this congregation there are +many that never give us a farthing, except, perhaps, the smallest coin +in their pockets when the collecting-box comes round. I do not suppose +that there is one of us that applies the underlying principle in our +text, of giving God our best, to this work. I am not going to urge you. +It is my business now simply to state, as boldly and strongly as I can, +the fact; and I say with all sadness, with self-condemnation, as well as +bringing an indictment against my brethren, but with the clearest +conviction that I am not exaggerating in the smallest degree, that the +contrast between what we lavish on other things and what we give for +God's work in the world, is a shameful contrast, like that other which +the Prophet gibbeted with his indignant eloquence. + +II. And now let me come to another point--viz., that we have here +suggested and implied the true law and principle on which all Christian +giving of all sorts is to be regulated. + +And that is--give the best. The diseased animal was no more fit for the +altar of God than it was for the shambles of the viceroy. It was the +entire and unblemished one that would be accepted in either case. But +for us Christian people that general principle has to be expanded. Let +me do it in two or three sentences. + +The foundation of all is 'the unspeakable Gift.' Jesus Christ has given +Himself, God has given His Son. And Jesus Christ and God, in giving, +gave up that we might receive. Do you believe that? Do you believe it +about yourself? If you do, then the next step becomes certain. That +gift, truly received by any man, will infallibly lead to a kindred +(though infinitely inferior) self-surrender. If once we come within the +circle of the attraction of that great Sun, if I might so say, it will +sweep us clean out of our orbit, and turn us into satellites reflecting +His light. To have self for our centre is death and misery, to have +Christ for our centre is life and blessedness. And the one power that +decentralises a man, and sweeps him into an orbit around Jesus, is the +faithful acceptance of His great gift. Just as some little State will +give up its independence in order to be blessedly absorbed into a great +Empire, on the frontiers of which it maintains a precarious existence, +so a man is never so strong, never so blessed, never so truly himself, +as when the might of Christ's sacrifice has melted down all his +selfishness, and has made it flow out in rivers of self-surrender, +self-absorption, self-annihilation, and so self-preservation. 'He that +loseth his life shall find it.' + +Then the next step is that this self-surrender, consequent upon my +faithful acceptance of the Lord's surrender for me, changes my whole +conception as to what I call my possessions. If I, in the depths of my +soul, have yielded myself to Jesus Christ, which I shall have done if I +have truly accepted Him as yielding Himself for me, then the yielding of +self draws after it, necessarily, and without a question, a new relation +between me and all that I have and all that I can do. Capacities, +faculties, means, opportunities, powers of brain and heart and mind, and +everything else--they all belong to Him. As in old times a nobleman came +and put his hands between the King's hands, and kneeling before him +surrendered his lands, and all his property, to the over-lord, and got +them back again for his own, so we shall do, in the measure in which we +have accepted Christ as our Saviour and our Guide. And so, because am +His, I shall feel that I am His steward to administer what He gives me, +not for myself, but for men and for God. + +Then there follows another thing, and that is, that Christian giving, +not of money only, but of money in a very eminent degree, is only right +and truly Christian when you give yourself with your gift. A great many +of us put our sixpence, or our half-crown, or our sovereign, into the +plate, and no part of ourselves goes with it, except a little twinge of +unwillingness to part with it. That is how they fling bones to dogs. +That is not how you have to give your money and your efforts to God and +God's cause. Farmers nowadays sow their seed-corn out of a machine with +a number of little conical receptacles at the back of it and a small +hole in the bottom of each, and as the thing goes bumping along over the +furrows, out they fall. That drill does as well as, and better than, the +hand of the sower scattering the seed, but it does not do near as well +in the Christian agriculture in sowing the seed of the Kingdom. +Machine-work will not do there; we have to have the sower's hand, and +the sower's heart with his hand, as he scatters the seed. Brethren! +apply the lesson to yourselves, and let your sympathies and your prayers +and your wishes to help go along with your gifts, if you intend them to +be of any good. + +And there is another thing, and that is that, somehow or other, if not +in the individual gifts, at all events in their aggregate, there must be +present the fact of sacrifice. 'I will not offer unto the Lord burnt +offerings of that which doth cost me nothing,' said the old king. And we +do not give as we ought, unless our gifts involve some measure of +sacrifice. From many a subscription list some of the biggest donations +would disappear, like the top-writing in one of those old manuscripts +where the Gospel has been half-erased and written over with some foolish +legend, which vanishes when the detergent liquid is applied to the +parchment, if that thought were brought to bear upon it. God asks how +much is kept, not how much is given. + +Now, dear friends, these are all threadbare, elementary, 'A.B.C.' +truths. Are they the alphabet of our stewardship and administration of +our possessions? + +III. One last suggestion I would make on this text is that it brings +before us the possible blessing and possible grave results of right or +wrong Christian giving. + +'Will he be pleased with it? Or will he accept thy person?' Will the +governor think the hobbling creature, blind of an eye, and infected with +some sickness, to be a beautiful addition to his flock? Will it help +your suit with him? No! + +It is New Testament teaching that our faithfulness in the administration +of earthly possessions of all sorts has a bearing on our spiritual life. +Remember our Lord's triple illustration of this principle, when He +speaks about faithfulness 'in that which is least,' leading on to the +possession of that which is the greatest; when He speaks of faithfulness +in regard to 'the unrighteous Mammon' leading on to being intrusted with +the true riches; when He speaks of faithfulness in our administration of +that which is another's--alien to ourselves, and which may pass into the +possession of a thousand more--leading on to our firmer hold, and our +deeper and fuller possession of the riches which, in the deepest sense +of the word, are our own. One very important element in the development +and advance of the religious life is our right use of these earthly +things. I have seen many a case in which a man was far better when he +was a poor man than he was when a rich one, in which slowly, stealthily, +certainly, the love of wealth has closed round a man like an iron band +round a sapling, and has hindered the growth of his Christian character, +and robbed him of the best things. And, God be thanked! one has seen +cases, too, in which, by their Christian use of outward possessions, men +have weakened the dominion of self upon themselves, have learned the +subordinate value of the wealth that can be counted and detached from +its possessor, and have grown in the grace and knowledge of the Lord and +Saviour Jesus Christ. Dear friends, God has given all of us something in +charge, the faithful use of which is a potent factor in the growth of +our Christian characters. + +It is New Testament teaching that our faithful administration of earthly +possessions has a bearing on the future. Remember what Jesus Christ +said, 'That when ye fail they may receive you into everlasting +habitations.' Remember what His Apostle says, 'Laying up in store for +themselves a good foundation against the time to come, that they may lay +hold on eternal life.' Let no fear of imperilling the great truth of +salvation by faith lead us to forget that the faith which saves +manifests its vitality and genuineness, by its effects upon our lives, +and that no small part of our lives is concerned with the right +acquisition and right use of these perishable outward gifts. And let us +take care that we do not, in our dread of damaging the free grace of +God, forget that although we do not earn blessedness, here or hereafter, +by gifts whilst we are living or legacies when we are dead, the +administration of money has an important part to play in shaping +Christian character, and the Christian character which we acquire here +settles our hereafter. + +Brethren! we all need to revise our scale of giving, especially in +regard to missionary operations. And if we will do that at the foot of +the Cross, then we shall join the chorus, 'Worthy is the Lamb that was +slain to receive _riches_,' and we shall come to Him 'bringing our +silver and our gold with us,' rejoicing that He gives us the possibility +of sharing His blessedness, 'according to the word of the Lord Jesus +which He spake, It is more blessed to give than to receive.' + + +A DIALOGUE WITH GOD + + 'The Lord will cut off the man that doeth this ... out of the tents + of Jacob, ... 14. Yet ye say, Wherefore? Because the Lord hath been + witness between thee and the wife of thy youth.'--MALACHI ii. 12, + 14 (R.V.). + +It is obvious from the whole context that divorce and foreign +inter-marriage were becoming increasingly prevalent in Malachi's time. +The conditions in these respects were nearly similar to that prevailing +in the times of Ezra and Nehemiah. It is these sins which the Prophet is +here vehemently condemning, and for which he threatens to cut off the +transgressors out of the tents of Jacob, and to regard no more their +offerings and simulated worship. They might cover 'the altar of the Lord +with tears,' but the sacrifice which they laid upon it was polluted by +the sins of their daily domestic life, and therefore was not 'regarded +by Him any more.' Malachi is true to the prophetic spirit when he +denounces a religion which has the form of godliness without its power +over the practical life. But his sharp accusations have their edge +turned by the question, 'Wherefore?' which again calls out from the +Prophet's lips a more sharply-pointed accusation, and a solemner warning +that none should 'deal treacherously against the wife of his youth,' +'for I hate putting away, saith the Lord.' We may dismiss any further +reference to the circumstances of the text, and regard it as but one +instance of man's way of treating the voice of God when it warns of the +consequences of the sin of man. Looked at from such a point of view the +words of our text bring before us God's merciful threatenings and man's +incredulous rejection of them. + +I. God's merciful threatenings. + +The fact of sin affects God's relation to and dealings with the sinner. +It does not prevent the flowing forth of His love, which is not drawn +out by anything in us, but wells up from the depths of His being, like +the Jordan from its source at Dan, a broad stream gushing forth from +the rock. But that love which is the outgoing of perfect moral purity +must necessarily become perfect opposition to its own opposite in the +sinfulness of man. The divine character is many-sided, and whilst 'to +the pure' it 'shows itself pure,' it cannot but be that 'to the froward' +it 'will show itself froward.' Man's sin has for its most certain and +dreadful consequence that, if we may so say, it forces God to present +the stern side of His nature which hates evil. But not merely does sin +thus modify the fact of the divine relation to men, but it throws men +into opposition in which they can see only the darkness which dwells in +the light of God. To the eye looking through a red tinted medium all +things are red, and even the crystal sea before the throne is 'a sea of +glass mingled with fire.' + +No sin can stay our reception of a multitude of good gifts appealing to +our hearts and revealing the patient love of our Father in heaven, but +every sin draws after it as certainly as the shadow follows the +substance, evil consequences which work themselves out on the large +scale in nations and communities, and in the smaller spheres of +individual life. And surely it is the voice of love and not of anger +that comes to warn us of the death which is the wages of sin. It is not +God who has ordained that 'the soul that sinneth it shall die,' but it +is God who tells us so. The train is rushing full steam ahead to the +broken bridge, and will crash down the gulph and be huddled, a hideous +ruin, on the rocks; surely it is care for life that holds out the red +flag of danger, and surely God is not to be blamed if in spite of the +flag full speed is kept up and the crash comes. + +The miseries and sufferings which follow our sins are self-inflicted, +and for the most part automatic. 'Whatsoever a man soweth, that'--and +not some other crop--'will he also reap.' The wages of sin are paid in +ready money; and it is as just to lay them at God's door as it would be +to charge Him with inflicting the disease which the dissolute man brings +upon himself. It is no arbitrary appointment of God's that 'he that +soweth to the flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption'; nor is it His +will acting as that of a jealous despot which makes it inevitably true +that here and hereafter, 'Every transgression and disobedience shall +receive its just recompense of reward,' and that to be parted from Him +is death. + +If then we rightly understand the connection between sin and suffering, +and the fact that the sorrows which are but the echoes of preceding sins +have all a distinctly moral and restorative purpose, we are prepared +rightly to estimate how tenderly the God who warns us against our sins +by what men call threatenings loves us while He speaks. + +II. Man's rejection of God's merciful threatenings. + +It is the great mystery and tragedy of life that men oppose themselves +to God's merciful warnings that all sin is a bitter, because it is an +evil, thing. He has to lament, 'I have smitten your children, and they +have received no correction.' The question 'Wherefore?' is asked in very +various tones, but none of them has in it the accent of true conviction; +and there is a whole world of difference between the lowly petition, +'Show me wherefore Thou contendest with me,' and the curt, +self-complacent brushing aside of God's merciful threatenings in the +text. The last thing which most of us think of as the cause of our +misfortunes is ourselves; and we resent as almost an insult the word, +which if we were wise, we should welcome as the crowning proof of the +seeking love of our Father in heaven. We are more obstinate and foolish +than Balaam, who persisted in his purpose when the angel with the drawn +sword in his hand would have barred his way, not to the tree of life, +but to death. The awful mystery that a human will can, and the yet +sadder mystery that it does, set itself against the divine, is never +more unintelligible, never so stupid, and never so tragic as when God +says, 'Turn ye, turn ye, why will ye die?' and we say, 'Why need I die? +I will not turn.' + +The 'Wherefore?' of our text is widely asked in the present day as an +expression of utter bewilderment at the miseries of humanity, both in +the wide area of this disordered world and in the narrower field of +individual lives. There are whole schools of so-called political and +social thinkers who have yet to learn that the one thing which the world +and the individual need is not a change of conditions or environment, +but redemption from sin. Man's sorrows are but a symptom of his disease, +and he is no more to be healed by tinkering with these than a +fever-stricken patient can be restored to health by treating the +blotches on his skin which tell of the disease that courses through his +veins. + +But sometimes the question is more than an expression of bewilderment; +it conceals an arraignment of God's justice, or even a denial that there +is a God at all. There are men among us who hesitate not to avow that +the miseries of the world have rooted out of their minds a belief in +Him; and who point to all the ills under which humanity staggers as +conclusive against the ancient faith of a God of love. They, too, forget +that that love is righteousness, and that if there be sin in the world +and God above it, He must necessarily war against it and hate it. + +Our right response to God's merciful threatenings is to ask this +question in the right spirit. We are not wise if we turn a deaf ear to +His warnings, or go on in a headlong course which He by His providences +declared to be dangerous and fatal. We use them as wise men should, only +if our 'Wherefore?' is asked in order to learn our evil, and having +learned it, to purge our bosoms of the perilous stuff by confession and +to seek pardon and victory in Christ. Then we shall 'know the secret of +the Lord' which is 'with them that fear Him'; and the mysteries that +still hang over our own histories and the world's destiny will have +shining down upon them the steadfast light of that love which seeks to +make men blessed by making them good. + + +THE LAST WORD OF PROPHECY + + 'Behold, I will send My messenger, and he shall prepare the way + before Me: and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to His + temple, even the Messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in: + behold, He shall come, saith the Lord of Hosts. 2. But who may + abide the day of His coming? and who shall stand when He appeareth? + for He is like a refiner's fire, and like fullers' soap: 3. And He + shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: and He shall purify + the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may + offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness. 4. Then shall the + offering of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant unto the Lord, as in + the days of old, and as in former years. 5. And I will come near to + you to judgment; and I will be a swift Witness against the + sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against false swearers, + and against those that oppress the hireling in his wages, the + widow, and the fatherless, and that turn aside the stranger from + his right, and fear not Me, saith the Lord of Hosts. 6. For I am + the Lord, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not + consumed. 7. Even from the days of your fathers ye are gone away + from mine ordinances, and have not kept them. Return unto Me, and I + will return unto you, saith the Lord of Hosts. But ye said, Wherein + shall we return? 8. Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed Me. + But ye say, Wherein have we robbed Thee? In tithes and offerings. + 9. Ye are cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed Me, even this + whole nation. 10. Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that + there may be meat in Mine house, and prove Me now herewith, saith + the Lord of Hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, + and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to + receive it. 11. And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and + he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground; neither shall your + vine cast her fruit before the time in the field, saith the Lord of + Hosts. 12. And all nations shall call you blessed: for ye shall be + a delightsome land, saith the Lord of Hosts.'--MALACHI iii. 1-12. + +Deep obscurity surrounds the person of this last of the prophets. It is +questioned whether Malachi is a proper name at all. It is the Hebrew +word rendered in verse 1 of our passage 'My messenger,' and this has led +many authorities to contend that the prophecy is in fact anonymous, the +name being only a designation of office. Whether this is so or not, the +name, if it is a name, is all that we know about him. The tenor of his +prophecy shows that he lived after the restoration of the Temple and its +worship, and the sins which he castigates are substantially those with +which Ezra and Nehemiah had to fight. One ancient Jewish authority +asserts that he was Ezra; but the statement has no confirmation, and if +it had been correct, we should not have expected that such an author +would have been anonymous. This dim figure, then, is the last of the +mighty line of prophets, and gives strong utterance to the 'hope of +Israel'! One clear voice, coming from we scarcely know whose lips, +proclaims for the last time, 'He comes! He comes!' and then all is +silence for four hundred years. Modern critics, indeed, hold that the +bulk of the Psalter is of later date; but that contention has much to do +before it can be regarded as established. + +The first point worthy of notice in this passage, then, is the +concentration, in this last prophetic utterance, of that element of +forward-looking expectancy which marked all the earlier revelation. From +the beginning, the selectest spirits in Israel had set their faces and +pointed their fingers to a great future, which gathered distinctness as +the ages rolled, and culminated in the King from David's line, of whom +many psalms sung, and in the suffering Servant of the Lord, who shines +out from the pages of the second part of Isaiah's prophecy. This +Messianic hope runs through all the Old Testament, like a broadening +river. 'They that went before cried, Hosanna! Blessed is He that +cometh.' + +That hope gives unity to the Old Testament, whatever criticism may have +to teach about the process of its production. The most important thing +about the book is that one purpose informs it all; and the student who +misses the truth that 'the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy' +has a less accurate conception of the meaning and inter-relations of the +Old Testament than the unlearned who has accepted that great truth. We +should be willing to learn all that modern scholarship has to teach +about the course of revelation. But we should take care that the new +knowledge does not darken the old certainty that the prophets 'testified +beforehand of the sufferings of Christ and of the glory that should +follow,' Here, at the very end, stands Malachi, reiterating the +assurance which had come down through the centuries. The prophets, as it +were, had lit a beacon which flamed through the darkness. Hand after +hand had flung new fuel on it when it burned low. It had lighted up many +a stormy night of exile and distress. Now we can dimly see one more, the +last of his order, casting his brand on the fire, which leaps up again; +and then he too passes into the darkness, but the beacon burns on. + +The next point to note is the clear prophecy of a forerunner. 'My +messenger' is to come, and to 'prepare the way before Me.' Isaiah had +heard a voice calling, 'Prepare the way of the Lord,' and Malachi quotes +his words, and ascribes the same office to the 'messenger.' In the last +verses of his prophecy he calls this messenger 'Elijah the prophet.' +Here, then, we have a remarkable instance of a historical detail set +forth in prophecy. The coming of the Lord is to be immediately preceded +by the appearance of a prophet, whose function is to effect a moral and +religious reformation, which shall prepare a path for Him. This is no +vague ideal, but definite announcement of a definite fact, to be +realised in a historical personality. How came this half-anonymous Jew, +four hundred years beforehand, to hit upon the fact that the next +prophet in Israel would herald the immediate coming of the Lord? There +ought to be but one answer possible. + +Another point to note is the peculiar relation between Jehovah and Him +who comes. Emphatically and broadly it is declared that Jehovah Himself +'shall suddenly come to His temple'; and then the prophecy immediately +passes on to speak of the coming of 'the Messenger of the covenant,' +and dwells for a time exclusively on his work of purifying; and then +again it glides, without conscious breach of continuity or mark of +transition, into, 'And _I_ will come near to you in judgment.' A +mysterious relationship of oneness and yet distinctness is here +shadowed, of which the solution is only found in the Christian truth +that the Word, which was Grod, and was in the beginning with God, became +flesh, and that in Him Jehovah in very deed tabernacled among men. The +expression 'the Messenger (or Angel) of the covenant' is connected with +the remarkable representations in other parts of the Old Testament, of +'the Angel of Jehovah,' in whom many commentators recognise a +pre-incarnate manifestation of the eternal Word. That 'Angel' had +redeemed Israel from Egypt, had led them through the desert, had been +the 'Captain of the Lord's host.' The name of Jehovah was 'in Him.' He +it is whose coming is here prophesied, and in His coming Jehovah comes +to His temple. + +We next note the aspect of the coming which is prominent here. Not the +kingly, nor the redemptive, but the judicial, is uppermost. With keen +irony the Prophet contrasts the professed eagerness of the people for +the appearance of Jehovah and their shrinking terror when He does come. +He is 'the Lord whom ye seek'; the Messenger of the covenant is He 'whom +ye delight in.' But all that superficial and partially insincere longing +will turn into dread and unwillingness to abide His scrutiny. The images +of the refiner's fire and the fullers' soap imply painful processes, of +which the intention is to burn out the dross and beat out the filth. It +sounds like a prolongation of Malachi's voice when John the Baptist +peals out his herald cry of one whose 'fan was in His hand,' and who +should plunge men into a fiery baptism, and consume with fire that +destroyed what would not submit to be cast into the fire that cleansed. +Nor should we forget that our Lord has said, 'For judgment am I come +into the world.' He came to 'purify'; but if men would not let Him do +what He came for, He could not but be their bane instead of their +blessing. + +The stone is laid. If we build on it, it is a sure foundation; if we +stumble over it, we are broken. The double aspect and effect of the +gospel, which was meant only to have the single operation of blessing, +are clearly set forth in this prophecy, which first promises purging +from sin, so that not only the 'sons of Levi' shall offer in +righteousness, but that the 'offerings of Judah and Jerusalem shall be +pleasant,' and then passes immediately to foretell that God will come in +judgment and witness against evil-doers. Judgment is the shadow of +salvation, and constantly attends on it. Neither Malachi nor the Baptist +gives a complete view of Messiah's work, but still less do they give an +erroneous one; for the central portion of both prophecies is His +purifying energy which both liken to cleansing fire. + +That real and inward cleansing is the great work of Christ. It was +wrought on as many of His contemporaries as believed on Him, and for +such as did not He was a swift Witness against them. Nor are we to +forget that the prophecy is not exhausted yet; for there remains another +'day of His coming' for judgment. The prophets did not see the +perspective of the future, and often bring together events widely +separated in time, just as, to a spectator on a mountain, distances +between points far away towards the horizon are not measurable. We have +to allow for foreshortening. + +This blending of events historically widely apart is to be kept in view +in interpreting Malachi's prediction that the coming would result in +Judah's and Israel's offerings being 'pleasant unto the Lord as in +former years.' That prediction is not yet fulfilled, whether we regard +the name of Israel and the relation expressed in it as having passed +over to the Christian Church, or whether we look forward to that +bringing in of all Israel which Paul says will be as 'life from the +dead.' But by slow degrees it is being fulfilled, and by Christ men are +being led to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God. + +The more directly Messianic part of this prophecy is closed in verse 6 +by a great saying, which at once gives the reason for the coming and for +its severe aspect of witness against sin. The unchangeableness of God, +which is declared in His very name, guarantees the continued existence +of Israel. As Paul says in regard to the same subject, 'The calling of +God is without change of purpose' (on His part). But it is as impossible +that God should leave them to their sins, which would destroy them, as +that He should Himself consume them. Therefore He will surely come; and +coming, will deliver from evil. But they who refuse to be so delivered +will forfeit that title and the pledge of preservation which it implies. + +A new paragraph begins with verse 7, which is not closely connected with +the promises preceding. It recurs to the prevailing tone of Malachi, the +rebuke of negligence in attending to the legal obligations of worship. +That negligence is declared to be a reason for God's withdrawal from +them. But the 'return,' which is promised on condition of their renewed +obedience, can scarcely be identified with the coming just foretold. +That coming was to bring about offerings of righteousness which should +be pleasant to the Lord. This section (vs. 7-12) promises blessings as +results of such offerings, and a 'return' of Jehovah to His people +contingent upon their return to Him. If the two sections of this passage +are taken as closely connected, this one must describe the consequences +of the coming. But, more probably, this accusation of negligence and +promise of blessing on a change of conduct are independent of the +previous verses. We, however, may fairly take them as exhibiting the +obligations of those who have received that great gift of purifying from +Jesus Christ, and are thereby consecrated as His priests. + +The key-word of the Christian life is 'sacrifice'--surrender, and that +to God. That is to be stamped on the inmost selves, and by the act of +the will, on the body as well. 'Yield yourselves to God, and your +members as instruments of righteousness to Him.' It is to be written on +possessions. Malachi necessarily keeps within the limits of the +sacrificial system, but his impetuous eloquence hits us no less. It is +still possible to 'rob God.' We do so when we keep anything as our own, +and use it at our own will, for our own purposes. Only when we recognise +His ownership of ourselves, and consequently of all that we call 'ours,' +do we give Him His due. All the slave's chattels belong to the owner to +whom he belongs. Such thorough-going surrender is the secret of thorough +possession. The true way to enjoy worldly goods is to give them to God. + +The lattices of heaven are opened, not to pour down, as of old, fiery +destruction, but to make way for the gentle descent of God's blessing, +which will more than fill every vessel set to receive it. This is the +universal law, not always fulfilled in increase of outward goods, but in +the better riches of communion and of larger possession in God Himself. +He suffers no man to be His creditor, but more than returns our gifts, +as legends tell of some peasant who brought his king a poor tribute of +fruits of his fields, and went away from the presence-chamber with a +jewel in his hand. + + +THE UNCHANGING LORD + + 'I am the Lord, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not + consumed.' MALACHI iii. 6. + +The scriptural revelations of the divine Name are always the basis of +intensely practical admonition. The Bible does not think it worth while +to proclaim the Name of God without building on the proclamation +promises or commandments. There is no 'mere theology' in Scripture; and +it does not speak of 'attributes,' nor give dry abstractions of +infinitude, eternity, omniscience, unchangeableness, but lays stress on +the personality of God, which is so apt to escape us in these abstract +conceptions, and thus teaches us to think of this personal God our +Father, as infinite, eternal, knowing all things, and never changing. +There is all the difference in our attitude towards the very same truth +if we think of the unchangeableness of God, or if we think that our +Father God is unchangeable. In our text the thought of Him as unchanging +comes into view as the foundation of the continuance of the unfaithful +sons of Jacob in their privileges and in their very lives. 'I am the +Lord,' Jehovah, the Self-existent, the Eternal whose being is not under +the limitations of succession and time. 'Because I am Jehovah, I change +not'; and because Jehovah changes not, therefore our finite and mortal +selves abide, and our infinite and sinful selves are still the objects +of His steadfast love. + +Let us consider, first, the unchangeable God, and second, the unchanging +God as the foundation of our changeful lives. + +I. The unchangeable God. + +In the great covenant-name Jehovah there is revealed an existence which +reverses all that we know of finite and progressive being, or finite and +mortal being, or finite and variable nature. With us there are mutations +arising from physical nature. The material must needs be subject to laws +of growth and decadence. Our spiritual nature is subject to changes +arising from the advancement in knowledge. Our moral nature is subject +to fluctuations; circumstances play upon us, and 'nothing continueth in +one stay.' Change is the condition of life. It means growth and +happiness; it belongs to the perfection of creatures. But the +unchangeableness of God is the negation of all imperfection, it is the +negation of all dependence on circumstances, it is the negation of all +possibility of decay or exhaustion, it is the negation of all caprice. +It is the assurance that His is an underived, self-dependent being, and +that with Him is the fountain of light; it is the assurance that, raised +above the limits of time and the succession of events, He is in the +eternal present, where all things that were and are, and are to come, +stand naked and open. It is the assurance that the calm might of His +eternal will acts, not in spasms of successive volitions preceded by a +period of indecision and equilibrium between contending motives, but is +one continuous uniform energy, never beginning, never bending, never +ending; that the purpose of His will is 'the eternal purpose which He +hath purposed in Himself.' It is the assurance that the clear vision of +His infinite knowledge, from the heat of which nothing is hid, has no +stages of advancement, and no events lying nebulous in a dim horizon by +reason of distance, or growing in clearness as they draw nearer, but +which pierces the mists of futurity and the veils of the past and the +infinities of the present, and 'from the beginning to the end knoweth +all things.' It is the assurance that the mighty stream of love from the +heart of God is not contingent on the variations of our character and +the fluctuations of our poor hearts, but rises from His deep well, and +flows on for ever, 'the river of God' which 'is full of water.' It is +the assurance that round all the majesty and the mercy which He has +revealed for our adoration and our trust there is the consecration of +permanence, that we might have a rock on which to build and never be +confounded. Is there anywhere in the past an act of His power, a word of +His lip, a revelation of His heart which has been a strength or a joy or +a light to any man? It is valid for me, and is intended for my use. 'He +fainteth not, nor is weary.' The bush burns and is not consumed. 'I will +not alter the thing that has gone out of my lips.' 'By two immutable +things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we have strong +consolation.' + +II. The unchanging God as the foundation of our changeful lives. + +In the most literal sense our text is true. Because He lives we live +also. He is the same for ever, therefore we are not consumed. The +foundation of our being lies beyond and beneath all the mutable things +from which we are tempted to believe that we draw our lives, and is in +God. The true lesson to be drawn from the mutable phenomena of earth +is--heaven. The many links in the chain must have a staple. Reason +requires that behind all the fleeting shall be the permanent. There must +be a basis which does not partake of change. The lesson from all the +mutable creation is the immutable God. + +Since God changes not, the life of our spirits is not at the mercy of +changing events. We look back on a lifetime of changing scenes through +which we have passed, and forward to a similar succession, and this +mutability is sad to many of us, and in some aspects sad to all, so +powerless we are to fix and arrest any of our blessings. Which we shall +keep we know not; we only know that, as certainly as buds and blossoms +of spring drop, and the fervid summer darkens to November fogs and +December frosts, so certainly we shall have to part with much in our +passage through life. But if we let God speak to us, the necessary +changes that come to us will not be harmful but blessed, for the lesson +that the mutability of the mutual is meant to impress upon us is, the +permanency of the divine, and our dependence, not on them, but on Him. +We may look upon all the world of time and chance and think that He who +Himself is unchanging changeth all. The eye of the tempest is a point of +rest. The point in the heavens towards which, according to some +astronomers, the whole of the solar system is drifting, is a fixed +point. If we depend on Him, then change is not all sad; it cannot take +God away, but it may bring us nearer to Him. We cannot be desolate as +long as we have Him. We know not what shall be on the morrow. Be it so; +it will be God's to-morrow. When the leaves drop we can see the rock on +which the trees grow; and when changes strip the world for us of some of +its waving beauty and leafy shade, we may discern more clearly the firm +foundation on which our hopes rest. All else changes. Be it so; that +will not kill us, nor leave us utterly forlorn as long as we hear the +voice which says, 'I am the Lord; I change not; therefore ye are not +consumed.' + +God's purposes and promises change not, therefore our faith may rest on +Him, notwithstanding our own sins and fluctuations. It is this aspect of +the divine immutability which is the thought of our text. God does not +turn from His love, nor cancel His promises, nor alter His purposes of +mercy because of our sins. If God could have changed, the godless +forgetfulness of, and departure from, Him of 'the Sons of Jacob' would +have driven Him to abandon His purposes; but they still live--living +evidences of His long-suffering. And in that preservation of them God +would have them see the basis of hope for the future. So this is the +confidence with which we should cheer ourselves when we look upon the +past, and when we anticipate the future. The sins that have been in our +past have deserved that we should have been swept away, but we are here +still. Why are we? Why do we yet live? Because we have to do with an +unchanging love, with a faithfulness that never departs from its word, +with a purpose of blessing that will not be turned aside. So let us look +back with this thought and be thankful; let us look forward with it and +be of good cheer. Trust yourself, weak and sinful as you are, to that +unchanging love. The future will have in it faults and failures, sins +and shortcomings, but rise from yourself to God. Look beyond the light +and shade of your own characters, or of earthly events to the central +light, where there is no glimmering twilight, no night, 'no variableness +nor shadow of turning.' Let us live in God, and be strong in hope. +Forward, not backward, let us look and strive; so our souls, fixed and +steadied by faith in Him, will become in a manner partakers of His +unchangeableness; and we too in our degree will be able to say, 'The +Lord is at my side; I shall not be moved.' + + +A DIALOGUE WITH GOD + + 'Return unto Me, and I will return unto you, saith the Lord of + Hosts. But ye say, Wherein shall we return?'--MALACHI iii. 7 + (R.V.). + +In previous sermons we have considered God's indictment of man's sin met +by man's plea of 'not guilty,' and God's threatenings brushed aside by +man's question. Here we have the climax of self-revealing and patient +love in God's wooing voice to draw the wanderer back, met by man's +refusing answer. These three divine utterances taken together cover the +whole ground of His speech to us; and, alas! these three human +utterances but too truly represent for the most part our answers to Him. + +I. God's invitation to His wandering child. + +The gracious invitation of our text presupposes a state of departure. +The child who is tenderly recalled has first gone away. There has been a +breach of love. Dependence has been unwelcome, and cast off with the +vain hope of a larger freedom in the far-off land; and this is the true +charge against us. It is not so much individual acts of sin but the +going away in heart and spirit from our Father God which describes the +inmost essence of our true condition, and is itself the source of all +our acts of sin. Conscience confirms the description. We know that we +have departed from Him in mind, having wasted our thoughts on many +things and not having had Him in the multitude of them in us. We have +departed from Him in heart, having squandered our love and dissipated +our desires on many objects, and sought in the multiplicity of many +pearls--some of them only paste--a substitute for the all-sufficient +simplicity of the One of great price. We have departed from Him in will, +having reared up puny inclinations and fleeting passions against His +calm and eternal purpose, and so bringing about the shock of a collision +as destructive to us as when a torpedo-boat crashes in the dark against +a battleship, and, cut in two, sinks. + +The gracious invitation of our text follows, 'I am the Lord, I change +not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.' Threatenings, and the +execution of these in acts of judgment, are no indication of a change in +the loving heart of God; and because it is the same, however we have +sinned against it and departed from it, there is ever an invitation and +a welcome. We may depart from Him, but He never departs from us. Nor +does He wait for us to originate the movement of return, but He invites +us back. By all His words in His threatenings and in His commandments, +as in the acts of His providence, we can hear His call to return. The +fathers of our flesh never cease to long for their prodigal child's +return; and their patient persistence of hope is but brief and broken +when contrasted with the infinite long-suffering of the Father of +spirits. We have heard of a mother who for long empty years has nightly +set a candle in her cottage window to guide her wandering boy back to +her heart; and God has bade us think more loftily of the +unchangeableness of His love than that of a woman who may forget, that +she should not have compassion upon the son of her womb. + +II. Man's answer to God's invitation. + +It is a refusal which is half-veiled and none the less real. There is +no unwillingness to obey professed, but it is concealed under a mask of +desiring a little more light as to how a return is to be accomplished. +There are not many of us who are rooted enough in evil as to be able to +blurt out a curt 'I will not' in answer to His call. Conscience often +bars the way to such a plain and unmannerly reply; but there are many +who try to cheat God, and who do to some extent cheat themselves, by +professing ignorance of the way which would lead them to His heart. Some +of us have learned only too well to raise questions about the method of +salvation instead of accepting it, and to dabble in theology instead of +making sure work of return. Some of us would fain substitute a host of +isolated actions, or apparent moral or religious observance, for the +return of will and heart to God; and all who in their consciences answer +God's call by saying, 'Wherein shall we return?' with such a meaning are +playing tricks with themselves, and trying to hoodwink God. + +But the question of our text has often a nobler origin, and comes from +the depths of a troubled heart. Not seldom does God's loving invitation +rouse the dormant conscience to the sense of sin. The man, lying broken +at the foot of the cliff down which he has fallen, and seeing the +brightness of God far above, has his heart racked with the question: How +am I, with lame limbs, to struggle back to the heights above? 'How shall +man be just with God?' All the religions of the world, with their +offerings and penances and weary toils, are vain attempts to make a way +back to the God from whom men have wandered, and that question, 'Wherein +shall we return?' is really the meaning of the world's vain seeking and +profitless effort. + +God has answered man's question; for Christ is at once the way back to +God, and the motive which draws us to walk in it. He draws us back by +the magnetism of His love and sacrifice. We return to God when we cling +to Jesus. He is the highest, the tenderest utterance of the divine +voice; and when we yield to His invitation to Himself we return to God. +He calls to each of us, 'Come unto Me, and I will give you rest.' What +can we reply but, 'I come; let me never wander from Thee'? + + +'STOUT WORDS,' AND THEIR CONFUTATION + + 'Your words have been stout against Me, saith the Lord: yet ye say, + What have we spoken so much against Thee? 14. Ye have said, It is + vain to serve God; and what profit is it that we have kept His + ordinance, and that we have walked mournfully before the Lord of + Hosts? 15. And now we call the proud happy; yea, they that work + wickedness are set up; yea, they that tempt God are even delivered. + 16. Then they that feared the Lord spake often one to another: and + the Lord hearkened, and heard it; and a book of remembrance was + written before Him for them that feared the Lord, and that thought + upon His name. 17. And they shall be Mine, saith the Lord of Hosts, + in that day when I make up My jewels; and I will spare them, as a + man spareth his own son that serveth him. 18. Then shall ye return, + and discern between the righteous and the wicked; between him that + serveth God and him that serveth Him not. IV. 1. For, behold, the + day cometh that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and + all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh + shall burn them up, saith the Lord of Hosts, that it shall leave + them neither root nor branch. 2. But unto you that fear My Name + shall the sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and + ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall. 3. And ye + shall tread down the wicked; for they shall be ashes under the + soles of your feet, in the day that I shall do this, saith the Lord + of Hosts. 4. Remember ye the law of Moses My servant, which I + commanded unto him in Horeb for all Israel, with the statutes and + judgments. 5. Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the + coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord: 6. And he shall + turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the + children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a + curse.'--MALACHI iii. 13-18; iv. 1-6. + +This passage falls into three parts,--the 'stout words' against God +which the Prophet sets himself to confute (verses 13-15); the prophecy +of the day which will show their falsehood (verse 16 to iv. 3); and the +closing exhortation and prediction (iv. 4-6). + +I. The returning exiles had not had the prosperity which they had hoped. +So many of them, even of those who had served God, began to let doubts +darken their trust, and to listen to the whispers of their own hearts, +reinforced by the mutterings of others, and to ask: 'What is the use of +religion? Does it make any difference to a man's condition?' Here had +they been keeping God's charge, and going in black garments 'before the +Lord,' in token of penitence, and no good had come to them, while +arrogant neglect of His commandments did not seem to hinder happiness, +and 'they that work wickedness are built up.' Sinful lives appeared to +have a firm foundation, and to rise high and palace-like, while +righteous ones were like huts. Goodness seemed to spell ruin. + +What was wrong in these 'stout words'? It was wrong to attach such worth +to external acts of devotion, as if these were deserving of reward. It +was wrong to suspend the duty of worship on the prosperity resulting +from it, and to seek 'profit' from 'keeping his charge.' Such religion +was shallow and selfish, and had the evils of the later Pharisaism in +germ in it. It was wrong to yield to the doubts which the apparently +unequal distribution of worldly prosperity stirred in their hearts. But +the doubts themselves were almost certain to press on Old Testament +believers, as well as on Old Testament scoffers, especially under the +circumstances of Malachi's time. The fuller light of Christianity has +eased their pressure, but not removed it, and we have all had to face +them, both when our own hearts have ached with sorrow and when pondering +on the perplexities of this confused world. We look around, and, like +the psalmist, see 'the prosperity of the wicked,' and, like him, have to +confess that our 'steps had wellnigh slipped' at the sight. The old, old +question is ever starting up. 'Doth God know?' The mystery of suffering +and the mystery of its distribution, the apparent utter want of +connection between righteousness and well-being, are still formidable +difficulties in the way of believing in a loving, all-knowing, and +all-powerful God, and are stock arguments of the unbeliever and +perplexities of humble faith. Never to have felt the force of the +difficulty is not so much the sign of steadfast faith as of scant +reflection. To yield to it, and still more, to let it drive us to cast +religion aside, is not merely folly, but sin. So thinks Malachi. + +II. To the stout words of the doubters is opposed the conversation of +the godly. '_Then_ they that feared the Lord spake one with another,' +nourishing their faith by believing speech with like-minded. The more +the truths by which we believe are contradicted, the more should we +commune with fellow-believers. Attempts to rob us should make us hold +our treasure the faster. Bold avowal of the faith is especially called +for when many potent voices deny it. And, whoever does not hear, God +hears. Faithful words may seem lost, but they and every faithful act are +written in His remembrance and will be recompensed one day. If our names +and acts are written there, we may well be content to accept scanty +measures of earthly good, and not be 'envious of the foolish' in their +prosperity. + +Malachi's answer to the doubters leaves all other considerations which +might remove the difficulty unmentioned, and fixes on the one, the +prophecy of a future which will show that it is not all the same whether +a man is good or bad. It was said of an English statesman that he called +a new world into existence to redress the balance of the old, and that +is what the Prophet does. Christianity has taught us many other ways of +meeting the doubters' difficulty, but the sheet anchor of faith in that +storm is the unconquerable assurance that a day comes when the +righteousness of providence will be vindicated, and the eternal +difference between good and evil manifested in the fates of men. The +Prophet is declaring what will be a fact one day, but he does not know +when. Probably he never asked himself whether 'the day of the Lord' was +near or far off, to dawn on earth or to lie beyond mortal life. But this +he knew--that God was righteous, and that sometime and somewhere +character would settle destiny, and even outwardly it would be good to +be good. He first declares this conviction in general terms, and then +passes on to a magnificent and terrible picture of that great day. + +The promise, which lay at the foundation of Israel's national existence, +included the recognition of it as 'a peculiar treasure unto Me above all +people,' and Malachi looks forward to that day as the epoch when God +will show by His acts how precious the righteous are in His sight. Not +the whole Israel, but the righteous among them, are the heirs of the old +promise. It is an anticipation of the teaching that 'they are not all +Israel which are of Israel,' And it bids us look for the fulfilment of +every promise of God's to that great day of the Lord which lies still +before us all, when the gulf between the righteous and the wicked shall +be solemnly visible, wide, and profound. There have been many 'days +which I make' in the world's history, and in a measure each of them has +re-established the apparently tottering truth that there is a God who +judgeth in the earth, but the day of days is yet to come. + +No grander vision of judgment exists than Malachi's picture of 'the +day,' lurid, on the one hand, with the fierce flame, before which the +wicked are as stubble that crackles for a moment and then is grey ashes, +or as a tree in a forest fire, which stands for a little while, a pillar +of flame, and then falls with a crash, shaking the woods; and on the +otherhand, radiant with the early beams of healing sunshine, in whose +sweet morning light the cattle, let out from their pent-up stalls, +gambol in glee. But let us not forget while we admire the noble poetry +of its form that this is God's oracle, nor that we have each to settle +for ourselves whether that day shall be for us a furnace to destroy or a +sun to cheer and enlighten. + +We can only note in a sentence the recurrence in verse 1 of the phrases +'the proud' and they 'that work wickedness,' from verse 15 of chapter +iii. The end of those whom the world called happy, and who seemed stable +and elevated, is to be as stubble before the fire. We must also point +out that 'the sun of righteousness' means the sun which is +righteousness, and is not a designation of the Messiah. Nor can we dwell +on the picture of the righteous treading down the wicked, which seems to +prolong the previous metaphor of the leaping young cattle. Then shall +'the upright have dominion over them in the morning.' + +III. The final exhortation and promise point backwards and forwards, +summing up duty in obedience to the law, and fixing hope on a future +reappearance of the leader of the prophets. Moses and Elijah are the two +giant figures which dominate the history of Israel. Law and prophecy are +the two forms in which God spoke to the fathers. The former is of +perpetual obligation, the latter will flash up again in power on the +threshold of the day. Jesus has interpreted this closing word for us. +John came 'in the spirit and power of Elijah,' and the purpose of his +coming was to 'turn the hearts of the fathers to the children' (Luke i. +16, 17); that is, to bring back the devout dispositions of the +patriarchs to the existing generations, and so to bring the 'hearts of +the children to their fathers,' as united with them in devout obedience. +If John's mission had succeeded, the 'curse' which smote Israel would +have been stayed. God has done all that He can do to keep us from being +consumed by the fire of that day. The Incarnation, Life, and Death of +Jesus Christ made a day of the Lord which has the twofold character of +that in Malachi's vision, for He is a 'saviour of life unto life' or +'of death unto death,' and must be one or other to us. But another day +of the Lord is still to come, and for each of us it will come burning as +a furnace or bright as sunrise. Then the universe shall 'discern between +the righteous and the wicked, between him that serveth God and him that +serveth Him not.' + + +THE LAST WORDS OF THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS + + 'Lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.'--MALACHI iv. 6. + + 'The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. + Amen.'--REVELATION xxii. 21. + +It is of course only an accident that these words close the Old and the +New Testaments. In the Hebrew Bible Malachi's prophecies do not stand at +the end; but he was the last of the Old Testament prophets, and after +him there were 'four centuries of silence.' We seem to hear in his words +the dying echoes of the rolling thunders of Sinai. They gather up the +whole burden of the Law and of the prophets; of the former in their +declaration of a coming retribution, of the latter in the hope that that +retribution may be averted. + +Then, in regard to John's words, of course as they stand they are simply +the parting benediction with which he takes leave of his readers; but it +is fitting that the Book of which they are the close should seal up the +canon, because it stands as the one prophetic book of the New Testament, +and so reaches forward into the coming ages, even to the consummation of +all things. And just as Christ in His Ascension was taken from them +whilst His hands were lifted up in the act of blessing, so it is fitting +that the revelation of which He is the centre and the theme should part +from us as He did, shedding with its final words the dew of benediction +on our upturned heads. + +I venture, then, to look at these significant closing words of the two +Testaments as conveying the spirit of each, and suggesting some thoughts +about the contrast and the harmony and the order that subsist between +them. + +I. I ask you, first, to notice the apparent contrast and the real +harmony and unity of these two texts. + +'Lest I come and smite the land with a curse.' That last awful word does +not convey, in the original, quite the idea of our English word 'curse.' +It refers to a somewhat singular institution in the Mosaic Law according +to which things devoted, in a certain sense, to God were deprived of +life. And the reference historically is to the judgments that were +inflicted upon the nations that occupied the land before the Israelitish +invasion, those Canaanites and others who were put under 'the ban' and +devoted to utter destruction. So, says my text, Israel, which has +stepped into their places, may bring down upon its head the same +devastation; and as they were swept off the face of the land that they +had polluted with their iniquities, so an apostate and God-forgetting +Judah may again experience the same utter destruction falling upon them. +If instead of the word 'curse' we were to substitute the word +'destruction,' we should get the true idea of the passage. + +And the thought that I want to insist upon is this, that here we have +distinctly gathered up the whole spirit of millenniums of divine +revelation, all of which declare this one thing, that as certainly as +there is a God, every transgression and disobedience receives, and must +receive, its just recompense of reward. + +That is the spirit of law, for law has nothing to say, except, 'Do this, +and thou shalt live; do not this, and thou shalt die.' + +And then turn to the other. 'The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with +you all.' What has become of the thunder? All melted into dewy rain of +love and pity and compassion. Grace is love that stoops; grace is love +that foregoes its claims, and forgives sins against itself. Grace is +love that imparts, and this grace, thus stooping, thus pardoning, thus +bestowing, is a universal gift. The Apostolic benediction is the +declaration of the divine purpose, and the inmost heart and loftiest +meaning of all the words which from the beginning God hath spoken is +that His condescending, pardoning, self-bestowing mercy may fall upon +all hearts, and gladden every soul. + +So there seems to emerge, and there is, a very real and a very +significant contrast. 'I come and smite the earth with a curse' sounds +strangely unlike 'The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.' +And, of course, in this generation there is a strong tendency to dwell +upon that contrast and to exaggerate it, and to assert that the more +recent has antiquated the more ancient, and that now the day when we +have to think of and to dread the curse that smites the earth is past, +'because the true Light now shineth.' + +So I ask you to notice that beneath this apparent contrast there is a +real harmony, and that these two utterances, though they seem to be so +diverse, are quite consistent at bottom, and must both be taken into +account if we would grasp the whole truth. For, as a matter of fact, +nowhere are there more tender utterances and sweeter revelations of a +divine mercy than in that ancient law with its attendant prophets. And +as a matter of fact, nowhere, through all the thunderings and lightnings +of Sinai, are there such solemn words of retribution as dropped from the +lips of the Incarnate Love. There is nothing anywhere so dreadful as +Christ's own words about what comes, and must come, to sinful men. Is +there any depth of darkness in the Old Testament teaching of retribution +half as deep, half as black, and as terrible, as the gulf that Christ +opens at your feet and mine? Is there anything so awful as the +threatenings of Infinite Love? + +And the same blending of the widest proclamation of, and the most +perfect rejoicing confidence in, the universal and all-forgiving love of +God, with the teaching of the sharpest retribution, lies in the writings +of this very Apostle about whose words I am speaking. There are nowhere +in Scripture more solemn pictures than those in that book of the +Apocalypse, of the inevitable consequences of departure from the love +and the faith of God, and John, the Apostle of love, is the preacher of +judgment as none of the other writers of the New Testament are. + +Such is the fact, and there is a necessity for it. There must be this +blending; for if you take away from your conception of God the absolute +holiness which hates sin, and the rigid righteousness which apportions +to all evil its bitter fruits, you have left a maimed God that has not +power to love but is nothing but weak, good-natured indulgence. Impunity +is not mercy, and punishment is never the negation of perfect love, but +rather, if you destroy the one you hopelessly maim the other. The two +halves are needed in order to give full emphasis to either. Each note +alone is untrue; blended, they make the perfect chord. + +II. And now, let me ask you to look with me at another point, and that +is, the relation of the grace to the punishment. + +Is it not love which proclaims judgment? Are not the words of my first +text, if you take them all, merciful, however they wear a surface of +threatening? 'Lest I come.' Then He speaks that He may not come, and +declares the issue of sin in order that that issue may never need to be +experienced by us that listen to Him. Brethren! both in regard to the +Bible and in regard to human ministrations of the Gospel, it is +all-important, as it seems to me at present, to insist that it is the +cruellest kindness to keep back the threatenings for fear of darkening +the grace; and that, on the other hand, it is the truest tenderness to +warn and to proclaim them. It is love that threatens; 'tis mercy to tell +us that the wrath will come. + +And just as one relation between the grace and the retribution is that +the proclamation of the retribution is the work of the grace, so there +is another relation--the grace is manifested in bearing the punishment, +and in bearing it away by bearing it. Oh! there is no adequate measure +of what the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ is except the measure of the +smiting destruction from which He frees us. It is because every +transgression receives its just recompense of reward, because the wages +of sin is death, because God cannot but hate and punish the evil, that +we get our truest standard of what Christ's love is to every soul of us. +For on Him have met all the converging rays of the divine retribution, +and burnt the penal fire into His very heart. He has come between every +one of us, if we will, and that certain incidence of retribution for our +evil, taking upon Himself the whole burden of our sin and of our guilt, +and bearing that awful death which consists not in the mere dissolution +of the tie between soul and body, but in the separation of the conscious +spirit from God, in order that we may stand peaceful, serene, untouched, +when the hail and the fire of the divine judgment are falling from the +heavens and running along the earth. The grace depends for all our +conceptions of its glory, its tenderness, and its depth, on our estimate +of the wrath from which it delivers. + +So, dear brethren, remember, if you tamper with the one you destroy the +other; if there be no fearful judgment from which men need to be +delivered, Christ has borne nothing for us that entitles Him to demand +our hearts; and all the ascriptions of praise and adoration to Him, and +all the surrender of loving hearts, in utter self-abandonment, to Him +that has borne the curse for us, fade and are silent. If you strike out +the truth of Christ's bearing the results of sin from your theology, you +do not thereby exalt, but you fatally lower the love; and in the +interests of the loftiest conceptions of a divine loving-kindness and +mercy that ever have blessed the world, I beseech you, be on your guard +against all teachings that diminish the sinfulness of sin, and that ask +again the question which first of all came from lips that do not commend +it to us--'_Hath_ God said?' or advance to the assertion--'Ye shall +_not_ surely die.' If 'I come to smite the earth with a curse' ceases to +be a truth to you, 'the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ' will fade away +for you likewise. + +III. Now, still further, let me ask you to consider, lastly, the +alternative which these texts open for us. + +I believe that the order in which they stand in Scripture is the order +in which men generally come to believe them, and to feel them. I am +old-fashioned enough and narrow enough to believe in conversion; and to +believe further that, as a rule, the course through which the soul +passes from darkness into light is the course which divine revelation +took: first, the unveiling of sin and its issues, and then the glad +leaping up of the trustful heart to the conception of redeeming grace. + +But what I seek briefly to suggest now is, not only the order of +manifestation as brought out in these words, but also the alternative +which they present to us, one branch or other of which every soul of you +will have to experience. You must have either the destruction or the +grace. And, more wonderful still, the same coming of the same Lord will +be to one man the destruction, and to another the manifestation and +reception of His perfect grace. As it was in the Lord's first coming, +'He is set for the rise and the fall of many in Israel.' The same heat +softens some substances and bakes others into hardness. A bit of wax and +a bit of clay put into the same fire--one becomes liquefied and the +other solidified. The same light is joy to one eye and torture to +another. The same pillar of cloud was light to the hosts of Israel, and +darkness and dismay to the armies of Egypt. The same Gospel is 'a savour +of life unto life, or of death unto death,' by the giving forth of the +same influences killing the one and reviving the other; the same Christ +is a Stone to build upon or a Stone of stumbling; and when He cometh at +the last, Prince, King, Judge, to you and me, His coming shall be +prepared as the morning; and ye 'shall have a song as when one cometh +with a pipe to the mountain of the Lord'; or else it shall be a day of +darkness and not of light. He comes to me, to you; He comes to smite or +He comes to glorify. + +Oh, brethren! do not believe that God's threatenings are wind and words; +do not let teachings that sap the very foundations of morality and eat +all the power out of the Gospel persuade you that the solemn words, 'The +soul that sinneth it shall die,' are not simple verity. + +And then, my brethren, oh! then, do you turn yourselves to that dear +Lord whose grace is magnified in this most chiefly, that 'He hath borne +our sins and carried our sorrows'; and taking Him for your Saviour, your +King, your Shield, your All, when He cometh it will be life to you; and +the grace that He imparts will be heaven for ever more. + + * * * * * + + + + +ST. MATTHEW + +_Chaps. I to VIII_ + + + + +CONTENTS + + MATTHEW'S GENEALOGY OF JESUS CHRIST (Matt. i. 1-16) + THE NATIVITY (Matt. i. 18-25) + THE NAME ABOVE EVERY NAME (Matt. i. 21) + THE FIRST-FRUITS OF THE GENTILES (Matt. ii. 1-12) + THE KING IN EXILE (Matt. ii. 13-23) + THE HERALD OF THE KING (Matt. iii. 1-12) + THE BAPTISM IN FIRE (Matt. iii. 11) + THE BAPTISM OF JESUS (Matt. iii. 13-17) + THE DOVE OF GOD (Matt. in. 16) + THE VICTORY OF THE KING (Matt. iv. 1-11) + THE SPRINGING OF THE GREAT LIGHT (Matt. iv. 12-16) + THE EARLY WELCOME AND THE FIRST MINISTERS OF THE KING + (Matt. iv. 17-25) + THE NEW SINAI (Matt. v. 1-16) + THE FIRST BEATITUDE (Matt. v. 3) + THE SECOND BEATITUDE (Matt. v. 4) + THE THIRD BEATITUDE (Matt. v. 5) + THE FOURTH BEATITUDE (Matt. v. 6) + THE FIFTH BEATITUDE (Matt. v. 7) + THE SIXTH BEATITUDE (Matt. v. 8) + THE SEVENTH BEATITUDE (Matt. v. 9) + THE EIGHTH BEATITUDE (Matt. v. 10) + SALT WITHOUT SAVOUR (Matt. v. 13) + THE LAMP AND THE BUSHEL (Matt. v. 14-16) + THE NEW FORM OF THE OLD LAW (Matt. v. 17-26) + 'SWEAR NOT AT ALL' (Matt. v. 33-37) + NON-RESISTANCE (Matt. v. 38-42) + THE LAW OF LOVE (Matt. v. 43-48) + TRUMPETS AND STREET CORNERS (Matt. vi. 1-5) + SOLITARY PRAYER (Matt. vi. 6) + THE STRUCTURE OF THE LORD'S PRAYER (Matt. vi. 9) + 'OUR FATHER' (Matt. vi. 9) + 'HALLOWED BE THY NAME' (Matt. vi. 9) + 'THY KINGDOM COME' (Matt. vi. 10) + 'THY WILL BE DONE' (Matt. vi. 10) + THE CRY FOR BREAD (Matt. vi. 11) + 'FORGIVE US OUR DEBTS' (Matt. vi. 12) + 'LEAD US NOT INTO TEMPTATION' (Matt. vi. 13) + 'DELIVER US FROM EVIL' (Matt. vi. 13) + 'THINE IS THE KINGDOM' (Matt. vi. 13) + FASTING (Matt. vi. 16-18) + TWO KINDS OF TREASURE (Matt. vi. 10-20) + HEARTS AND TREASURES (Matt. vi. 21) + ANXIOUS CARE (Matt. vi. 24-25) + JUDGING, ASKING, AND GIVING (Matt. vii. 1-12) + OUR KNOCKING (Matt. vii. 7) + THE TWO PATHS (Matt, vii. 1344) + THE TWO HOUSES (Matt. vii. 24-26) + THE CHRIST OF THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT (Matt. vii. 28-29) + THE TOUCH THAT CLEANSES (Matt. viii. 14) + THE FAITH WHICH CHRIST PRAISES (Matt. viii. 8-9) + SWIFT HEALING AND IMMEDIATE SERVICE (Matt. viii. 14-15) + THE HEALING CHRIST (Matt. viii. 17) + CHRIST REPRESSING RASH DISCIPLESHIP (Matt. viii. 19-20) + CHRIST STIMULATING SLUGGISH DISCIPLESHIP (Matt. viii. 21-22) + THE PEACE-BRINGER IN THE NATURAL WORLD (Matt, viii. 23-27) + THE PEACE-BRINGER IN THE SPIRITUAL WORLD (Matt. viii. 28-34) + + + * * * * * + + +MATTHEW'S GENEALOGY OF JESUS CHRIST + + 'The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the + son of Abraham. 2. Abraham begat Isaac; and Isaac begat Jacob; and + Jacob begat Judas and his brethren; 3. And Judas begat Phares and + Zara of Thamar; and Phares begat Esrom; and Esrom begat Aram; 4. + And Aram begat Aminadab; and Aminadab begat Naasson; and Naasson + begat Salmon; 5. And Salmon begat Booz of Rachab; and Booz begat + Obed of Ruth; and Obed begat Jesse; 6. And Jesse begat David the + king; and David the king begat Solomon of her that had been the + wife of Urias; 7. And Solomon begat Roboam; and Roboam begat Abia; + and Abia begat Asa; 8. And Asa begat Josaphat; and Josaphat begat + Joram; and Joram begat Ozias; 9. And Ozias begat Joatham; and + Joatham begat Achaz; and Achaz begat Ezekias; 10. And Ezekias begat + Manasses; and Manasses begat Amon; and Amon begat Josias; 11. And + Josias begat Jechonias and his brethren, about the time they were + carried away to Babylon: 12. And after they were brought to + Babylon, Jechonias begat Salathiel; and Salathiel begat Zorobabel; + 13. And Zorobabel begat Abiud; and Abiud begat Eliakim; and Eliakim + begat Azor; 14. And Azor begat Sadoc; and Sadoc begat Achim; and + Achim begat Eliud; 15. And Eliud begat Eleazar; and Eleazar begat + Matthan; and Matthan begat Jacob; 16. And Jacob begat Joseph the + husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called + Christ.'--MATT. 1. 1-16. + +To begin a Gospel with a genealogy strikes us modern Westerns as +singular, to say the least of it. To preface the Life of Jesus with an +elaborate table of descents through forty-one generations, and then to +show that the forty-second had no real connection with the forty-first, +strikes us as irrelevant. Clause after clause comes the monotonous +'begat,' till the very last, when it fails, and we read instead: 'Jacob +begat Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus.' So, then, +whoever drew up this genealogy knew that Jesus was not Joseph's son. +Why, then, was he at the pains to compile it, and why did the writer of +the Gospel, if he was not the compiler, think it important enough to +open his narrative? The answer lies in two considerations: the ruling +idea of the whole Gospel, that Jesus is the promised Jewish Messiah, +David's son and Israel's king; and the characteristic ancient idea that +the full rights of sonship were given by adoption as completely as by +actual descent. Joseph was 'of the house and lineage of David,' and +Joseph took Mary's first-born as his own child, thereby giving Him +inheritance of all his own status and claims. Incidentally we may remark +that this presentation of Jesus as Joseph's heir seems to favour the +probability that He was regarded as His reputed father's first-born +child, and so disfavours the contention that the 'brethren' of Jesus +were Joseph's children by an earlier marriage. But, apart from that, the +place of this table of descent at the beginning of the Gospel makes it +clear that the prophecies of the Messiah as David's son were by the +Hebrew mind regarded as adequately fulfilled by Jesus being by adoption +the son of Joseph, and that such fulfilment was regarded as important by +the evangelist, not only for strengthening his own faith, but for urging +his Lord's claims on his fellow-countrymen, whom he had chiefly in view +in writing. Such external 'fulfilment' goes but for little with us, who +rest Jesus' claims to be our King on more inward and spiritual grounds, +but it stands on the same level as other similar fulfilments of prophecy +which meet us in the Gospels; such as the royal entry into Jerusalem, +'riding upon an ass,' in which the outward, literal correspondence is +but a finger-post, pointing to far deeper and truer realisation of the +prophetic ideal in Jesus. + +What, then, did the evangelist desire to make prominent by the +genealogy? The first verse answers the question. We need not discuss +whether the title, 'The book of the generations of Jesus Christ,' +applies to the table of descent only, or to the whole chapter. The +former seems the more probable conclusion, but the point to note is that +two facts are made prominent in the title; viz. that Jesus was a true +Jew, 'forasmuch as He also is a son of Abraham,' and was the true king +of Israel, being the 'Son of David,' of whom prophets had spoken such +great things. If we would take in the full significance of Matthew's +starting-point, we must set by the side of it those of the other three +evangelists. Mark plunges at once, without preface or allusion to +earlier days, into the stir and stress of Christ's work, slightly +touching on the preliminaries of John's mission, the baptism and +temptation, and hurrying on to the call of the fishermen, and the busy +scenes on the Sabbath in Capernaum. Luke has his genealogy as well as +Matthew, but, in accordance with his universalistic, humanist tone, he +traces the descent from far behind Abraham, even to 'Adam, which was the +son of God,' and he works in the reverse order to Matthew, going upwards +from Joseph instead of downwards to him. John soars high above all +earthly birth, and begins away back in the Eternities before the world +was, for his theme is not so much the son of Joseph who was the son of +David and the son of Abraham, or the son of Adam who was the son of God, +as the Eternal 'Word' who 'was with God,' and entered into history and +time when He 'became flesh.' We must take all these points of view +together if we would understand any of them, for they are not +contradictory, but complementary. + +The purpose of Matthew's genealogy is further brought out by its +symmetrical arrangement into three groups of fourteen generations +each--an arrangement not arrived at without some free manipulating of +the links. The sacred number is doubled in each case, which implies +eminent completeness. Each of the three groups makes a whole in which a +tendency runs out to its goal, and becomes, as it were, the +starting-point for a new epoch. So the first group is pre-monarchical, +and culminates in David the King. Israel's history is regarded as all +tending towards that consummation. He is thought of as the first King, +for Saul was a Benjamite, and had been deposed by divine authority. The +second group is monarchical, and it, too, has a drift, as it were, which +is tragically marked by the way in which its last stage is described: +'Josias begat Jechonias and his brethren, about the time that they were +carried away to Babylon.' Josiah had four successors, all of them +phantom kings;--Jehoahaz, who reigned for three months and was taken +captive to Egypt; his brother Jehoiakim, a puppet set up by Egypt, +knocked down by Babylon; his son Jehoiachin, who reigned eleven years +and was carried captive to Babylon; and last, Zedekiah, Josiah's son, +under whom the ruin of the kingdom was completed. The genealogy does not +mention the names of these ill-starred 'brethren,' partly because it +traces the line of descent through 'Jeconias' or Jehoiachin, partly +because it despises them too much. A line that begins with David and +ends with such a quartet! This was what the monarchy had run out to: +David at the one end and Zedekiah at the other, a bright fountain +pouring out a stream that darkened as it flowed through the ages, and +crept at last into a stagnant pond, foul and evil-smelling. Then comes +the third group, and it too has a drift. Unknown as the names in it are, +it is the epoch of restoration, and its 'bright consummate flower' is +'Jesus who is called the Christ.' He will be a better David, will +burnish again the tarnished lustre of the monarchy, will be all that +earlier kings were meant to be and failed of being, and will more than +bring the day which Abraham desired to see, and realise the ideal to +which 'prophets and righteous men' unconsciously were tending, when as +yet there was no king in Israel. + +A very significant feature of this genealogical table is the insertion +in it, in four cases, of the names of the mothers. The four women +mentioned are Thamar a harlot, Rachab another, Ruth the Moabitess, and +Bathsheba; three of them tainted in regard to womanly purity, and the +fourth, though morally sweet and noble, yet mingling alien blood in the +stream. Why are pains taken to show these 'blots in the scutcheon'? May +we not reasonably answer--in order to suggest Christ's relation to the +stained and sinful, and to all who are 'strangers from the covenants of +promise.' He is to be a King with pity and pardon for harlots, with a +heart and arms open to welcome all those who were afar off among the +Gentiles. The shadowy forms of these four dead women beckon, as it were, +to all their sisters, be they stained however darkly or distant however +remotely, and assure them of welcome into the kingdom of the king who, +by Jewish custom, could claim to be their descendant. + +The ruling idea of the genealogy is clearly though unostentatiously +shown by the employment of the names 'Jesus Christ' and 'Christ,' while +throughout the rest of this Gospel the name used habitually is Jesus. +In verse 1 we have the full title proclaimed at the very beginning; then +in verse 16, 'Jesus who is called Christ' repeats the proclamation at +the end of the genealogy proper, while verse 17 again presents the three +names with which it began as towering like mountain peaks, Abraham, +David, and--supreme above the other two, the dominant summit to which +they led up, we have once more 'Christ.' Similarly the narrative that +follows is of 'the birth of Jesus Christ.' That name is never used again +in this Gospel, except in one case where the reading is doubtful; and as +for the form 'Jesus who is called Christ,' by which He is designated in +the genealogy itself, the only other instance of it is on the mocking +lips of Pilate, while the uniform use of Jesus in the body of this +Gospel is broken only by Peter in his great confession, and in, at most, +four other instances. Could the purpose to assert and establish, at the +very outset, His Messianic, regal dignity, as the necessary +pre-supposition to all that follows, be more clearly shown? We must +begin our study of His life and works with the knowledge that He, of +whom these things are about to be told, is the King of Israel. + + +THE NATIVITY + + 'Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When as His mother + Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was + found with child of the Holy Ghost. 19. Then Joseph her husband, + being a just man, and not willing to make her a publick example, + was minded to put her away privily. 20. But while he thought on + these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a + dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto + thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the + Holy Ghost. 21. And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt + call His name JESUS: for He shall save His people from their sins. + 22. Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was + spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, 23. Behold, a virgin + shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall + call His name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us. + 24. Then Joseph being raised from sleep did as the angel of the + Lord had bidden him, and took unto him his wife: 25. And knew her + not till she had brought forth her first-born son: and he called His + name JESUS.'--MATT. 1.18-25. + +Matthew's account of the Nativity sets Joseph in the foreground. His +pain and hesitation, his consideration for Mary, the divine +communication to him, and his obedience to it, embarrassing as his +position must have been, take up larger space than the miracle of the +birth itself. Probably in all this we have an unconscious disclosure of +the source of the evangelist's information. At all events, he speaks as +if from Joseph's point of view. Luke, on the other hand, has most to say +about Mary's maidenly wonder and meek submission, her swift hurrying to +find help from a woman's sympathy, as soon as the Angel of the +Annunciation had spoken, and the hymn of exultation which Elisabeth's +salutation heartened her to pour forth. Surely that narrative could have +come from none but her meek and faithful lips? The two accounts +beautifully supplement each other, and give two vivid pictures of these +two devout souls, each sharply tried in a different fashion, each richly +blessed by variously moulded obedience. Joseph took up his burden, and +Mary hers, because God had spoken and they believed. + +The shock to Joseph of the sudden discovery, crashing in on him after he +was bound to Mary, and in what would else have been the sweet interval +of love and longing 'before they came together,' is delicately and +unconsciously brought out in verse 18. 'She was found'--how the +remembrance of the sudden disclosure, blinding and startling as a +lightning flash, lives in that word! And how the agony of perplexity as +to the right thing to do in such a cruel dilemma is hinted at in the two +clauses that pull in opposite directions! As a 'just man' and 'her +husband,' Joseph owed it to righteousness and to himself not to ignore +his betrothed's condition; but as her lover and her husband, how could +he put her, who was still so dear to him, to public shame, some of which +would cloud his own name? To 'put her away' was the only course +possible, though it racked his soul, and to do it 'privily' was the +last gift that his wounded love could give her. No wonder that 'these +things' kept him brooding sadly on them, nor that his day's troubled +thinkings coloured his sleeping hours! The divine guidance, which is +ever given to waiting minds, was given to him by the way of a dream, +which is one of the Old Testament media of divine communications, and +occurs with striking frequency in this and the following chapter, there +being three recorded as sent to Joseph and one to the Magi. It is +observable, however, that to Joseph it is always '_the_'or 'an angel of +the Lord' who appears in the dream, whereas the dream only is mentioned +in the case of the Magi. The difference of expression may imply a +difference in the manner of communication. But in any case, we need not +wonder that divine communications were abundant at such an hour, nor +shall we be startled, if we believe in the great miracle of the Word's +becoming flesh, that a flight of subsidiary miracles, like a bevy of +attendant angels, clustered round it. + +The most stupendous fact in history is announced by the angel chiefly as +the reason for Joseph's going on with his marriage. Surely that strange +inversion of the apparent importance of the two things speaks for the +historical reliableness of the narrative. The purpose in hand is mainly +to remove his hesitation and point his course, and he is to take Mary as +his wife, _for_ 'that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost.' +Could 'the superstitious veneration of a later age', which is supposed +to have originated the story of a supernatural birth, have spoken so? As +addressed to Joseph, tortured with doubts of Mary and hesitations as to +his duty, the sequence of the two things is beautifully appropriate, +otherwise it is monstrous. The great mystery, which lies at the +foundation of Christianity, is declared in the fewest and simplest +words. That He who is to show God to men, and to save them from their +sins, must be born of a woman, is plainly necessary. Because 'the +children are partakers of flesh and blood,' He also must 'take part of +the same.' That He must be free from the taint in nature, which passes +down to all 'who are born of the will of the flesh or of man,' is no +less obviously requisite. Both requirements are met in the supernatural +birth of Jesus, and unless both have been met, He is not, and cannot be, +the world's saviour. Nor is that supernatural birth less needful to +explain His manifestly sinless character than it is to qualify Him for +His unique office. The world acknowledges that in Him it finds a man +without blemish and without spot. How comes He to be free from the flaws +which, like black streaks in Parian marble, spoil the noblest +characters? Surely if, after millions of links in the chain, which have +all been of mingled metal, there comes one of pure gold, it cannot have +had the same origin as the others. It is part of the chain, 'the Word +was made flesh'; but it has been cast and moulded in another forge, for +it is 'that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost.' + +'She shall bring forth a son.' The angel does not say, 'a son to thee,' +but yet Joseph was to assume the position of father, and by naming the +child to acknowledge it as his. The name of Jesus or Joshua was borne by +many a Jewish child then. There was a Jesus among Paul's _entourage_. It +recalled the warrior leader, and, no doubt, was often given to children +in these days of foreign dominion by fathers who hoped that Israel might +again fight for freedom. But holier thoughts were to be Joseph's, and +the salvation from God which was expressed by the name was to be of +another kind than Joshua had brought. It was to be salvation from sin +and from sins. This child was to be a leader too, a conqueror and a +king, and the mention of 'His people,' taken in connection with Joseph's +having been addressed as 'the son of David,' is most significant. He, +too, is to have a subject people, and the deliverance which He is to +bring is not political or to be wrested from Rome by the sword, but +inward, moral, and spiritual, and therefore to be effected by moral and +spiritual weapons. + +It is the evangelist, not the angel, who points to Isaiah's prophecy. He +does so with a certain awe, as he thinks of the greatness of 'all these +things'. Undoubtedly the Hebrew word rendered in Matthew, after the +Septuagint, 'virgin', does not necessarily imply the full meaning of +that word; and as undoubtedly the prophecy, as it stands in Isaiah, +pointed to an event to occur in the immediate future; yet it is clear, +from the further development of the prophecy by Isaiah, and especially +from the fourfold name given to the child in Isaiah ix. 6, and the +glorious dominion there foretold for Him, that Isaiah conceives of Him +as the Messiah. And, since any 'fulfilment' of the glowing prophecies +attached to the Child were, in Isaiah's time, but poor and partial, the +great Messianic hope was necessarily trained to look further down the +stream of time. He who should fill the _rôle_ set forth was yet to come. +Matthew believed that it was completely filled by Jesus, and we know +that he was right. The fulfilment does not depend on the question +whether or not the idea of Virginity is contained in the Hebrew word, +but on the correspondence between the figure seen by the prophet in the +golden haze of his divinely quickened imagination, and the person to be +described in the gospel, and we know that the correspondence is +complete. The name Immanuel, to be given to the prophetic child, +breathed the certainty that in 'God with us' Israel would find the +secret of its charmed existence, even while an Ahaz was on the throne. +The name takes on a deeper meaning when applied to Him to whom alone it +in fullest truth belongs. It proclaims that in Jesus God dwells among +us, and it lays bare the ground of the historical name Jesus, for only +by a man who is one of ourselves, and in whom God is with us, can we be +saved from our sins. The one Name is the deep, solid foundation, the +other is the fortress refuge built upon it. He is Jesus, because He is +Immanuel. + +How different the world and his own life looked to Joseph when he woke! +Hesitations and agonising doubts of his betrothed's purity had vanished +with the night, and, instead of the dread that her child would be the +offspring of shame, had come a divinely given certainty that it was 'a +holy thing.' In the rush of the sudden revulsion, all that was involved +would not be clear, but the duty that lay nearest him was clear, and his +obedience was as swift as it was glad. He believed, and his faith took +the burden off him, and brought back the sweet relations which had +seemed to be rent for ever. The Birth was foretold by the angel in a +single clause, it is recorded by the evangelist in another. In both +cases, Mary's part and Joseph's are set side by side ('she shall bring +forth ... and thou shalt call: she had brought forth ... and he +called'), and the birth itself is in verse 25 recorded mainly in its +bearing on Joseph's marital relations. Could such a perspective in the +narrative be conceived of from any other point of view than Joseph's? + +We do not enter on the controversy as to whether that 'till' and the +expression 'first-born' shut us up to the conclusion that Joseph and Mary +had children. The words are not decisive, and probably opinions will +always differ on the point. Mediævally-minded persons will reject with +horror the notion that Jesus had brethren in the proper sense of the +word, while those who believe that the perfect woman is a happy wife and +mother, will not feel that it detracts from Mary's sacredness, nor from +her purity, to believe that she had other children than 'her first-born +Son'. + + +THE NAME ABOVE EVERY NAME + + '... Thou shalt call His name JESUS: for He shall save His people + from their sins'.--MATT. 1. 21. + +I. THE historical associations of the name. + +It was a very common Jewish name, and of course was given in memory of +the great leader who brought the hosts of Israel to rest in the promised +land. + +There is no sharper contrast conceivable than between Joshua and Jesus. +The contrast and the parallel are both most significant. + +(a) The contrast. + +Joshua is perhaps one of the least interesting of the Old Testament men; +a mere soldier, fit for the fierce work which he had to do, rough and +hard, ready and prompt, of an iron will and a brave heart. The one +exhortation given him when he comes to the leadership is 'be strong and +of a good courage,' and that seems to have been the main virtue of his +character. The task he had to do was a bloody one, and thoroughly he did +it. The difficulties that have been found in the extermination of the +Canaanites may be met by considerations of the changed atmosphere +between then and now, and of their moral putrescence. But no explanation +can make the deed other than terrible, or the man that did it other than +fierce and stern. No traits of chivalrous generosity are told of him, +nothing that softens the dreadfulness of war. He showed no touch of pity +or compunction, no lofty, statesmanlike qualities, nothing constructive; +he was simply a rough soldier, with an iron hand and an iron heel, who +burned and slew and settled down his men in the land they had +devastated. + +The very sharpness of the contrast in character is intended to be felt +by us. Put by the side of this man the image of Jesus Christ, in all His +meekness and gentleness. + +Does not this speak to us of the profound change which He comes to +establish among men? + +The highest ideal of character is no longer the rough soldier, the +strong man, but the man of meekness, and gentleness, and patience. + +How far the world yet is from understanding all that is meant in the +contrast between the first and the second bearers of the name! + +We have done with force, and are come into the region of love. There is +no place in Christ's kingdom for arms and vulgar warfare. + +The strongest thing is love, armed with celestial armour. 'Truth and +meekness and righteousness' are our keenest-edged weapons--this is true +for _Christian morals_; and for _politics_ in a measure which the world +has not yet learned. + +'Put up thy sword into its sheath,' + +(b) The parallel. + +It is not to be forgotten that the work which the soldier did in type is +the work which Christ does. He is the true Moses who leads us through +the wilderness. But also He is the Captain who will bring us into the +mountain of His inheritance. + +But besides this, we too often forget the soldier-like virtues in the +character of Christ. + +We have lost sight of these very much, but certainly they are present +and most conspicuous. If only we will look at our Lord's life as a real +human one, and apply the same tests and terms to it which we do to +others, we shall see these characteristics plainly enough. + +What do we call persistence which, in spite of all opposition, goes +right on to the end, and is true to conscience and duty, even to death? +What do we call the calmness which forgets self even in the agonies of +pain on the cross? What do we call the virtue which rebukes evil in high +places and never blanches nor falters in the utterance of unwelcome +truths? + +Daring courage. | +Promptness of action. | All conspicuous in Jesus. +Iron will. | + +It has become a commonplace thing now to say that the bravery which +dares to do right in the face of all opposition is higher than that of +the soldier who flings away his life on the battlefield. The soldiers of +peace are known now to deserve the laurel no less than the heroes of +war. + +But who can tell how much of the modern world's estimate of the +superiority of moral courage to mere brute force is owing to the history +of the life of Christ? + +We find a further parallel in the warfare through which He conquers for +us the land. + +His own struggle ('I have overcome'), and the lesson that we too must +fight, and that all our religious life is to be a conflict. It is easy +to run off into mere rhetorical metaphor, but it is a very solemn and a +very practical truth which is taught us, if we ponder that name of the +warrior Leader borne by our Master as explained to us by Himself in His +words, 'In the world ye shall have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I +have overcome the world.' + +Ps. cx. 'Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power, in the +beauties of holiness from the womb of the morning: thou hast the dew of +thy youth.' + +II. The significance of the name. + +Joshua means God is Saviour. As borne by the Israelitish leader, it +pointed both him and the people away from him to the unseen and +omnipotent source of their victory, and was in one word an explanation +of their whole history, with all its miracles of deliverance and +preservation of that handful of people against the powerful nations +around. It taught the leader that he was only the lieutenant of an +unseen Captain. It taught the soldiers that 'they got not the land in +possession by their own arms, but because He had a favour unto them.' + +1. God as Saviour appears in highest manifestation in Jesus. + +I do not now mean in regard to the nature of the salvation, but in +regard to the relation between the human and the divine. Joshua was the +human agent through which the divine will effected deliverance, but, as +in all helpers and teachers, he was but the instrument. He could not +have said, 'I lead you, I give you victory.' His name taught him that he +was not to come in his own name. But '_he_ shall save'--not merely God +shall save through him. And '_his_ people'--not 'the people of _God_' + +All this but points to the broad distinction between Christ and all +others, in that God, the Saviour, is manifest in Him as in none other. + +We are not detracting from the glory of God when we say that Christ +saves us. + +Christ's consciousness of being Himself Salvation is expressed in many +of His words. He makes claims and puts forward His own personality in a +fashion that would be blasphemy in any other man, and yet all the while +is true to His name, 'God is the Saviour.' + +The paradox which lies in these earliest words, the great gulf between +the name and the interpretation on the angel's lips, is only solved when +we accept the teaching which tells us that in that Word made flesh and +dwelling among us, we behold 'God manifest in the flesh,' and 'in Christ +reconciling the world unto Himself.' + +The name guards us, too, from that very common error of thinking of +Christ as if He were more our Saviour than God is. We are not without +need of this warning. Christ does not bend the divine will to love, is +not more tender than our Father God. + +2. The Salvation brought by Jesus is in its nature the loftiest. + +It is with strong emphasis that the angel defines the sphere of +salvation as being 'their sins.' The Messianic expectation had been +degraded as it flowed through the generations, as some pure stream loses +its early sparkle, and gathers scum on its surface from filth flung into +it by men. Mere deliverance from the Roman yoke was all the salvation +that the mass wanted or expected, and the tragedy of the Cross was +foreshadowed in this prophecy which declares an inward emancipation from +sin as the true work of Mary's unborn Son. + +We can discern the Jewish error in externalising and materialising the +conception of salvation, but many of us repeat it in essence. What is +the difference between the Jew who thought that salvation was +deliverance from Rome, and the 'Christian' who thinks that it is +deliverance not from sin but from its punishment? + +We have to think of a liberation from sin itself, not merely from its +penalties. This thought has been often obscured by preachers, and often +neglected by Christians, in whom selfishness and an imperfect +understanding of the gospel have too often made salvation appear as +merely a means of escape from impending suffering. All deep knowledge of +what _Sin_ is teaches us that it is its own punishment, and that the +hell of hell is to be under the dominion of evil. + +3. God's people are His people. + +Israel was _God's_ portion--and Joshua was but their leader for a time. +But the people of God are the people of Christ. + +The way by which we become the people of Jesus is simply by faith in +Him. + +III. The usage of the name. + +It was a common Jewish name, but seems to have been almost abandoned +since then by Jews from abhorrence, by Christians from reverence. + +The Jewish fanatic who during the siege stalked through Jerusalem +shrieking, 'Woe to the city', and, as he fell mortally wounded, added, +'and to myself also,' was a Jesus. There is a Jesus in Colossians. + +We find it as the usual appellation in the Gospels, as is natural. But +in the Epistles it is comparatively rare alone. + +The reason, of course, is that it brings mainly before us the human +personality of Jesus. So when used alone in later books it emphasises +this: 'This same Jesus shall so come'. 'We see Jesus, made a little, +etc.' + +Found in frequent use by two classes of religionists--_Unitarian_ and +_Sentimental_. + +We should seek to get all the blessing out of it, and to dwell, taught +by it, on the thoughts of His true manhood, tempted, our brother, bone +of our bone. + +We should beware of confining our thoughts to what is taught us by that +name. Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. Even with thoughts of His +lovely human character let us blend thoughts of His Messianic office and +of His divine nature. We shall not see all the beauty of Jesus unless we +know Him as the Christ, the Son of the Highest. + +And besides the name written on His vesture and his thigh, He bears a +name which no man knoweth but Himself. Beyond our grasp is His +uncommunicable name, His deep character, but near to us for our love and +for our faith is all we need to know. That name which He bore in His +humiliation He bears still in His glory, and the name which is above +every name, and at which every knee shall bow, is the name by which +Jewish mothers called their children, and through eternity we shall call +His name Jesus because He hath finally and fully saved us from our +sins. + + +THE FIRST-FRUITS OF THE GENTILES + + 'Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judæa in the days of Herod + the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, + 2. Saying, Where is He that is born King of the Jews? for we have + seen His star in the east, and are come to worship Him. 3. When + Herod the king had heard these things, he was troubled, and all + Jerusalem with him. 4. And when he had gathered all the chief + priests and scribes of the people together, he demanded of them + where Christ should be born. 5. And they said unto him, In + Bethlehem of Judæa: for thus it is written by the prophet, 6. And + thou Bethlehem, in the land of Juda, art not the least among the + princes of Juda: for out of thee shall come a Governor, that shall + rule my people Israel. 7. Then Herod, when he had privily called + the wise men, enquired of them diligently what time the star + appeared. 8. And he sent them to Bethlehem, and said, Go and search + diligently for the young child; and when ye have found Him, bring + me word again, that I may come and worship Him also. 9. When they + had heard the king, they departed; and, lo, the star, which they + saw in the east, went before them, till it came and stood over + where the young child was. 10. When they saw the star, they + rejoiced with exceeding great joy. 11. And when they were come into + the house, they saw the young child with Mary His mother, and fell + down, and worshipped Him: and when they had opened their treasures, + they presented unto Him gifts; gold, and frankincense, and myrrh. + 31. And being warned of God in a dream that they should not return + to Herod, they departed into their own country another way.'--MATT. + ii. 1-12. + +Matthew's Gospel is the gospel of the King. It has a distinctly Jewish +colouring. All the more remarkable, therefore, is this narrative, which +we should rather have looked for in Luke, the evangelist who delights to +emphasise the universality of Christ's work. But the gathering of the +Gentiles to the light of Israel was an essential part of true Judaism, +and could not but be represented in the Gospel which set forth the +glories of the King. There is something extremely striking and +stimulating to the imagination in the vagueness of the description of +these Eastern pilgrims. Where they came from, how long they had been in +travelling, how many they were, what was their rank, whither they +went,--all these questions are left unsolved. They glide into the story, +present their silent adoration, and as silently steal away.' The +tasteless mediæval tradition knows all about them: they were three; they +were kings. It knows their names; and, if we choose to pay the fee, we +can see their bones to-day in the shrine behind the high altar in +Cologne Cathedral. How much more impressive is the indefiniteness of our +narrative! How much more the half sometimes is than the whole! + +I. We see here heathen wisdom led by God to the cradle of Christ. It is +futile to attempt to determine the nationality of the wise men. Possibly +they were Persian magi, whose astronomy was half astrology and wholly +observation, or they may have travelled from some place even deeper in +the mysterious East; but, in any case, they were led by God through +their science, such as it was. The great lesson which they teach remains +the same, however subordinate questions about the nature of the star and +the like may be settled. The sign in the heavens and its explanation +were both of God, whether the one was a natural astronomical phenomenon +or a supernatural light, and the other the conclusions of their science +or the inbreathing of His wisdom. So they stand as representatives of +the great truth, that, outside the limits of the people of revelation, +God moved on hearts and led seeking souls to the light in divers +manners. These silent strangers at the cradle carry on the line of +recipients of divine messages outside of Israel which is headed by the +mysterious Melchizedek, and includes that seer who saw a star arise out +of Jacob, and which, in a wider sense, includes many a 'poet of their +own' and many a patient seeker after truth. Human wisdom, as it is +called, is God's gift. In itself, it is incomplete. It raises more +questions than it solves. Its highest function is to lead to Jesus. He +is Lord of the sciences, as of all that belongs to man; and +notwithstanding all the appearances to the contrary at present, we may +be sure that the true scope of all knowledge, and its certain end, is to +lead to the recognition of Him. + +May we not see in these Magi, too, a type of the inmost meaning of +heathen religions? These faiths have in them points of contact with +Christianity. Besides their falsehoods and abhorrent dark cruelties and +lustfulnesses, they enshrine confessions of wants which the King in the +cradle alone can supply. Modern unbelieving teachers tell us that +Christianity and they are alike products of man's own religious faculty. +But the truth is that they are confessions of need, and Christianity is +the supply of the need. At bottom, their language is the question of the +wise men, 'Where is He?' Their sacrifices proclaim man's need of +reconciliation. Their stories of the gods coming down in the likeness of +men, speak of his longing for a manifestation of God in the flesh. The +cradle and the cross are Heaven's answer to their sad questions. + +II. The contrast of these Gentiles' joyful eagerness to worship the King +of Israel, with the alarm of his own people at the whisper of his name, +is a prelude of the tragedy of his rejection, and the passing over of +the kingdom to the Gentiles. Notice the bitter and scornful emphasis of +that 'Herod the _king_' coming twice in the story in immediate +connection with the mention of the true King. He was a usurper, +caricaturing the true Monarch. Like most kings who have had 'great' +tacked to their names, his greatness consisted mainly in supreme +wickedness. Fierce, lustful, cunning, he had ruled without mercy; and +now he was passing through the last stages of an old age without love, +and ringed round by the fears born of his misdeeds. He trembles for his +throne, as well he may, when he hears of these strangers. Probably he +does not suppose them mixed up with any attempt to unseat him, or he +would have made short work of them; unless, indeed, his craft led him to +dissemble until he had sucked them dry and had used them to lead him to +the infant rival, after which he may have meant to murder them too. But +he recognises in their question the familiar tones of the Messianic +hope, which he knew was ever lying like glowing embers in the breast of +the nation, ready to be blown into a flame. His creatures in the capital +might disown it, but he knew in his secret heart that he was a usurper, +and that at any moment that smouldering hatred and hope might burn up +him and his upstart monarchy. An evil conscience is full of fears, and +shrinks from the good news that the King of all is at hand. His coming +should be joy, as is that of the bursting spring or the rosy dawn; but +our own sin makes the day of the Lord darkness and not light, and sends +us cowering into our corners to escape these searching eyes. + +Nor less tragic and perverted is the trouble which 'all Jerusalem' +shared with Herod. The Magi had naturally made straight for the capital, +expecting to find the new-born King there, and His city jubilant at His +birth. But they traverse its streets only to meet none who know anything +about Him. They must have felt like men who see, gleaming from far on +some hill-side, a brightness which has all vanished when they reach the +spot, or like some of our mission converts brought to our 'Christian +country,' and seeing how little our people care for the Christ whom they +have learned to know. Their question indicates utter bewilderment at the +contrast between what they had seen in the East and what they found in +Jerusalem. They must have been still more perplexed if they observed the +effect of their question. Nobody in Jerusalem knew anything about their +King. That was strange enough. But nobody wanted Him. That was stranger +still. A prophet had long ago called on 'Zion' to 'rejoice greatly' +because 'thy King cometh'; but now anxiety and terror cloud all faces. +It was partly because self-interest bound many to Herod, and partly +because they all feared that any outburst of Messianic hopes would lead +to fresh cruelties inflicted by the relentless, trembling tyrant. So the +Magi, who represented the eagerness of Gentile hearts grasping the new +hopes, and claiming some share in Israel's Messiah, saw His own people +careless, and, if moved from their apathy, alarmed at the unwelcome +tidings that the promise which had shone as a great light through dreary +centuries was at last on the eve of fulfilment. So the first page on the +gospel history anticipates the sad issue: 'They shall come from the +east, and from the west,' and you yourselves shall be thrust out. + +III. Then followed the council of the theologians, with its solemn +illustration of the difference between orthodoxy and life, and of the +utter hollowness of mere knowledge, however accurate, of the letter of +Scripture. The questions as to the composition of this gathering of +authorities, and of the variations between the quotation of Micah in the +text and its form in the Hebrew, do not concern us now. We may remark on +the evident purpose of God to draw forth the distinct testimony of the +ecclesiastical rulers to the place of Messiah's birth, and on the fact +that this, the most ancient interpretation of the prophecy, is vouched +to us by existing Jewish sources as having been the traditional one +until the exigencies of controversy with Christians pushed it aside +Notice the different conduct of Herod, the Magi, and the scribes. The +first is entangled in a ludicrous contradiction. He believes that +Messiah is to be born in Bethlehem, and yet he determines to set himself +against the carrying out of what he must, in some sense, believe to be +God's purpose. 'If this infant is God's Messiah, I will kill Him,' is +surely as strange a piece of policy gone mad as ever the world heard +of. But it is perhaps not more insane than much of our own action, when +we set ourselves against what we know to be God's will, and consciously +seek to thwart it. A child trying to stop a train by pushing against the +locomotive has as much chance of success. The scribes, again, are quite +sure where Messiah is to be born; but they do not care to go and see if +He is born. These strangers, to whom the hope of Israel is new, may rush +away, in their enthusiasm, to Bethlehem; but they, to whom it had lost +all gloss, and become a commonplace, would take no such trouble. Does +not familiarity with the gospel produce much the same effect on many of +us? Might not the joy and the devotion, however ignorant if compared +with our better knowledge of the letter, which mark converts from +heathenism, shame the tepid zeal and unruffled composure of us, who have +heard all about Christ, till it has become wearisome? Here on the very +threshold of the gospel story is the first instance of the lesson taught +over and over again in it, namely, the worthlessness of head knowledge, +and the constant temptation of substituting it for that submission of +the will and that trust of the heart, which alone make religion. The +most impenetrable armour against the gospel is the familiar and lifelong +knowledge of the gospel. + +The Magi, on their part, accept with implici confidence the information. +They have followed the star; they have now a more sure word, and they +will follow that. They were led by their science to contact with the +true guide. He that is faithful in his use of the dimmest light will +find his light brighten. The office of science is not to lead to Christ +by a road discovered by itself, but to lead to the Word of God which +guides to Him. Not by accident, nor without profound meaning, did both +methods of direction unite to point these earnest seekers, who were +ready to follow every form of guidance, to the Monarch whom they sought. + +IV. Herod's crafty counsel need not detain us. We have already remarked +on its absurdity. If the child were not Messiah, he need not have been +alarmed; if it were, his efforts were fruitless. But he does not see +this, and so plots and works underground in the approved fashion of +kingcraft. His reason for questioning the Magi as to the time was, of +course, to get an approximate age of the infant, that he might know how +widely to fling his net. He did it privately, so as to keep any inkling +of his plot secret till he had secured the further information which he +hoped to delude them into bringing. Like other students and recluses fed +upon great thoughts, the Magi were very easily deceived. Good, simple +people, they were no match for Herod, and told him all without +suspicion, and set off to look for the child, quite convinced of his +good faith; while he, no doubt, breathed more freely when he had got +them out of Jerusalem, and congratulated himself on having done a good +stroke of business in making them his spies. He was probably within a +few months of his death. The world was already beginning to slip from +him. But before he passed to his account, he too was brought within +sight of the Christ, and summoned to yield his usurped dominion to the +true King How different this old man's reception of the tidings of the +nativity from Simeon's! His hostility, in its cruelty, its blundering +cunning and its impotence, is a type of the relations of the world-power +to Christ. 'The rulers take counsel together, ... against His anointed. +... He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh.' + +V. We have next the discovery of the King. The reappearing star becomes +the guide to the humble house. It cannot have been an ordinary star, for +no such could have pointed the precise house among all the homes of +Bethlehem. The burst of joy at its reappearance vividly suggests the +perplexity of the recent days, and the support given by its welcome beam +to the faith which had accepted, not perhaps without some misgivings +caused by the indifference of the teachers, the teaching of the +prophecy. Surely that faith would be more than ever tried by the humble +poverty in which they found the King. The great paradox of Christianity, +the manifestation of divinest power in uttermost weakness, was forced +upon them in its most startling form. 'This child on His mother's lap, +with none to do Him homage, and in poverty which makes our costly gifts +seem out of place,--this is the King, whose coming set stars ablaze and +drew us hither. Is this all?' Their Eastern religions were not +unfamiliar with the idea of incarnation. Their Eastern monarchies were +splendid. They must have felt a shock at the contrast between what they +expected and what they found. They learned the lesson which all have to +learn, that Christ disappoints as well as fulfils the expectations of +men, that the mightiest power is robed in lowliness, and the highest +manifestation of God begins with a helpless infant on His mother's knee. +These wise men were not repelled. Our modern 'wise men are not all as +wise as they. + +VI. Adoration and offering follow discovery. The 'worship' of the Magi +cannot have been adoration in the strict sense. We attribute too much to +them if we suppose them aware of Christ's divinity. But it was clearly +more than mere reverence for an earthly King. It hovered on the +border-line, and meant an indefinite submission and homage to a +partially discerned superiority, in which the presence of God was in +some sort special. The old mediæval interpretation of the offered gold +as signifying recognition of His kingship, the frankincense of His +deity, and the myrrh of His death, is so beautiful that one would fain +wish it true. But it cannot pretend to be more than a fancy. We are on +surer ground when we see in the gifts the choicest products of the land +of the Magi, and learn the lesson that the true recognition of Christ +will ever be attended by the spontaneous surrender to Him of our best. +These gifts would not be of much use to Mary. If there had been a +'practical man' among the Magi, he might have said, 'What is the use of +giving such things to such a household?' And it would have been +difficult to have answered. But love does not calculate, and the impulse +which leads to consecrate the best we have to Him is acceptable in His +sight. + +This earliest page in the gospel history is a prophecy of the latest. +These are the first-fruits of the Gentiles unto Christ. They bear 'in +their hands a glass which showeth many more,' who at last will come like +them to the King of the whole earth. 'They shall bring gold and incense; +and they shall show forth the praises of the Lord.' There were Gentiles +at the cradle and at the cross. The Magi learned the lessons which the +East especially needed, of power in weakness, royalty in lowliness. +Incarnation not in monstrous forms or with destructive attributes, but +in feeble infancy which passes through the ordinary stages of +development. The Greeks who sought to see Jesus when near the hour of +His death, learned the lesson for want of which their nation's culture +rotted away, 'Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it +abideth alone' So these two groups, one at the beginning, the other at +the end, one from the mysterious East, the other from the progressive +and cultured West, received each a half of the completed truth, the +gospel of Incarnation and Sacrifice, and witness to the sufficiency of +Christ for all human needs, and to the coming of the time when all the +races of men shall gather round the throne to which cradle and cross +have exalted Him, and shall recognise in Him the Prince of all the kings +of the earth, and the Lamb slain for the sins of the world. + + +THE KING IN EXILE + + 'And when they were departed, behold, the angel of the Lord + appeareth to Joseph in a dream, saying, Arise, and take the young + child and His mother, and flee into Egypt, and be thou there until + I bring thee word: for Herod will seek the young child to destroy + Him. 14. When he arose, he took the young child and His mother by + night, and departed into Egypt; 15. And was there until the death + of Herod; that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord + by the prophet, saying, Out of Egypt have I called My son. 16. Then + Herod, when he saw that he was mocked of the wise men, was + exceeding wroth, and sent forth, and slew all the children that + were in Bethlehem, and in all the coasts thereof, from two years + old and under, according to the time which he had diligently + enquired of the wise men. 17. Then was fulfilled that which was + spoken by Jeremy the prophet, saying, 18. In Rama was there a voice + heard, lamentation, and weeping, and great mourning, Rachel weeping + for her children, and would not be comforted, because they are not. + 19. But when Herod was dead, behold, an angel of the Lord appeareth + to a dream to Joseph in Egypt, 20. Saying, Arise, and take the + young child and His mother, and go into the land of Israel; for + they are dead which sought the young child's life. 21. And he + arose, and took the young child and His mother, and came into the + land of Israel. 22. But when he heard that Archelaus did reign in + Judæa in the room of his father Herod, he was afraid to go thither; + notwithstanding, being warned of God in a dream, he turned aside + into the parts of Galilee: 23. And he came and dwelt in a city + called Nazareth: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the + prophets, He shall be called a Nazarene.'--MATT. ii. 13-23. + +Delitzsch, in his _New Investigations into the Origin and Plan of the +Canonical Gospels_, tries to show that Matthew is constructed on the +plan of the Pentateuch. The analogy is somewhat strained, but there are +some striking points of correspondence. He regards Matthew i. to ii. 15 +as answering to Genesis. It begins with the 'genesis of Jesus,' and, as +the Old Testament book ends with the migration of Israel to Egypt, so +this section of the Gospel ends with the flight of the Holy Family to +the same land. The section from ii. 15 to the end of the Sermon on the +Mount answers to Exodus, and here the parallels are striking. The murder +of the innocents at Bethlehem by Herod answers to Pharaoh's slaughter of +Hebrew children; the Exodus, to the return to Nazareth; the call of +Moses at the bush, to the baptism of Jesus; the forty years in the +wilderness, to the forty days' desert hunger and temptation; and the +giving of the law from Sinai, to the Sermon on the Mount, which contains +the new law for the kingdom of God. Without supposing that the +evangelist moulded his Gospel on the plan of the Pentateuch, we cannot +but see that there is a real parallel between the beginnings of the +national life of Israel and the commencement of the life of Christ. Our +present text brings this parallel into great prominence. It is divided +into three sections, each of which has for its centre an Old Testament +prophecy. + +I. We have first the flight into Egypt and the prophecy fulfilled +therein. The appearance of the angel seems to have followed immediately +on the departure of the Magi. They were succeeded by a loftier visitor +from a more distant land, coming to lay richer gifts and a more absolute +homage at the infant's feet. The angel of the Lord, who had already +eased Joseph's honest and troubled heart by disclosing the secret of +Mary's child, comes again. To Mary he had appeared waking; her meek eyes +could look on him, and her obedient ears hear his voice. But Joseph, who +stood on a lower spiritual level, needed the lower form of revelation by +dream, which betokens less susceptibility in the recipient and less +importance in the communication. It is the only form appropriate to his +power of receiving, and four times it is mentioned as granted to him. +The warning to the wise men was also conveyed in a dream. We can +scarcely help recalling the similar prominence of dreams in the history +of the earlier Joseph, whose life was moulded in order to bring Israel +into Egypt. + +The angel speaks of 'the young child and His mother,' reversing the +order of nature, as if he bowed before the infant, 'Lord of men as well +as angels,' and would deepen the lesson which so many signs gathering +round the cradle were teaching the silent Joseph,--that Mary and he were +but humble ministers of the child's. The partial instruction given, and +the darkness left lying over the future, are in accordance with the +methods of God's leading, which always gives light enough for the next +duty, and never for the one after that. The prompt and precise obedience +of Joseph to the heavenly vision is emphatically expressed by the verbal +repetition of the command in the account of its fulfilment. There was no +hesitation, no reluctance, no delay. On the very night, as it appears, +of the dream, he rose up; the simple preparations were quickly made; the +wise men's gifts would help to sustain their modest wants, and before +the day broke they were on their road. How strangely blended in our +Lord's life, from the very dawning, are dignity and lowliness, glory and +reproach! How soon His brows are crowned with thorns! The adoration of +the Magi witnesses to Him as the King of Israel and the hope of the +world. The flight of which that adoration was the direct cause witnesses +no less clearly to Him as despised and rejected, tasting sorrow in His +earliest food, and not having where to lay His head. + +But the most important part of the story is the connection which Matthew +discerns between it and Hosea's words. In their original place they are +not a prophecy at all, but simply a part of a tender historical _résumé_ +of God's dealings with Israel, by which the prophet would touch his +contemporaries' hearts into penitence and trust. How, then, is the +evangelist justified in regarding them as prophetic, and in looking on +Christ's flight as their fulfilment? The answer is to be found in that +analogy between the national and the personal Israel which runs through +all the Old Testament, and reaches its greatest clearness in the second +part of Isaiah's prophecies. Jesus Christ was what Israel was destined +and failed to be, the true Servant of God, His Anointed, His Son, the +medium of conveying His name to the world. The ideal of the nation was +realised in Him. His brief stay in Egypt served the very same purpose in +His life which their four hundred years there did in theirs,--it +sheltered Him from enemies, and gave Him room to grow. Just as the +infant nation was unawares fostered in the very lap of the country which +was the symbol of the world hostile to God, so the infant Christ was +guarded and grew there. The prophecy is a prophecy just because it is +history; for the history was all a shadow of the future, and He is the +true Israel and the Son of God. It would have been fulfilled quite as +really, that is to say, the parallel between Christ and the nation would +have been as fully carried out, if His place of refuge had been in some +other land; but the precise outward identity helps to point the parallel +to unobservant eyes. The great truth taught by it of the typical +relation between the nation and the Person is the key to large regions +of Old Testament history and prophecy. Rightly, therefore, does Matthew +call our attention to this pregnant fact, and bid us see in the divine +selection of the place where the young life of God manifest in the flesh +was sheltered, a fulfilment of prophecy. Egypt was the natural asylum of +every fugitive from Palestine, but a deeper reason bent the steps of the +Holy Family to the shelter of its palms and temples. + +II. The slaughter of the innocents, and the prophecy fulfilled +therein.--Herod's fierce rage, enflamed by the dim suspicion that these +wily Easterns have gone away laughing in their sleeves at having tricked +him, and by the dread that they may be stirring up armed defenders of +the infant King, is in full accord with all that we know of him. The +critics who find the story of the massacre 'unhistorical,' because +Josephus does not mention it, must surely be very anxious to discredit +the evangelist, and very hard pressed for grounds to do so, or they +would not commit themselves to the extraordinary assumption that nothing +is to be believed outside of the pages of Josephus. A splash or two of +'blood of poor innocents,' more or less, found on the Idumean tyrant's +bloody skirts, could be of little consequence in the eyes of those who +knew what a long saturnalia of horrors his reign had been; and the +number of the infants under two years old in such a tiny place as +Bethlehem would be small, so that their feeble wail might well fail to +reach the ears even of contemporaries. But there is no reason for +questioning the simple truth of a story so like the frantic cruelty and +sleepless suspicion of the grey-headed tyrant, who was stirred to more +ferocity as the shades of death gathered about him, and power slipped +from his rotting hands. Of all the tragic pictures which Scripture gives +of a godless old age, burning with unquenchable hatred to goodness and +condemned to failure in all its antagonism, none is touched with more +lurid hues than this. What a contrast between the king _de jure_, the +cradled infant; and the king _de facto_, going down to his loathsome +death, which all but he longed for! He may well stand as a symbol of the +futility of all opposition to Christ the King. + +The fate of these few infants is a strange one. In their brief lives +they have won immortal fame. They died for the Christ whom they never +knew. These lambs were slain for the sake of the Lamb who lived while + + 'Little flowers of martyrdom, + Roses by the whirlwind shorn,' + +That quotation, from Jeremiah xxxi. 16, requires a brief consideration. +The original is still less a prophecy than was the passage in Hosea. It +is a highly imaginative and grandly weird personification of the mighty +mother of three of the tribes, stirring in her tomb, and lifting up the +shrill lamentation of Eastern grief over her children carried away to +captivity. That hopeless wail from the grave by Bethlehem is heard as +far north as Ramah, beyond Jerusalem. Once again, says Matthew, the +same grief might have been imaginatively heard from the long-silent tomb +so near the scene of this pitiful tragedy. And the second ancestral +weeping was fuller of woe than the bitterness of that first lament; for +this bewailed the actual slaughter of innocents, and wept the miseries +that so soon gathered round the coming of the King, so long waited for. +Seeing that the prophet's words do not describe a fact, but are a +poetical personification to convey simply the idea of calamity, which +might make the dead mother weep, the word 'fulfilled' can obviously be +applied to them only in a modified and somewhat elastic sense, and is +sufficiently defended if we recognise in the slaughter of these children +a woe which, though small in itself, yet, when considered in reference +to its inflicter, a usurping king of the Jews, and in reference to its +occasion, the desire to slay the God-sent King, and in reference to its +innocent victims, and in reference to its place as first of the tragic +series of martyrdoms for Messiah, was heavy with a sorer burden of +national disaster, when seen by eyes made wise by death, than even the +captivity which seemed to falsify the promises of God and the hopes of a +thousand years. + +III. The return to Nazareth, and the prophecy fulfilled therein.--They +who patiently wait for guidance, and move not till the cloud moves, are +never disappointed, nor left undirected. Joseph is a pattern of +self-abnegating submission, and an example of its rewards. The angel +ever comes again to those who have once obeyed him and continue to wait. +This third appearance is described in the same words as the former. His +coming was the appearance of a familiar presence His command begins by a +verbal repetition of the former summons, 'Arise and take the young +child and His mother, and go,' and then passes to a singular allusion to +that command to Moses which was the first step towards the former +calling of God's son--the nation--out of Egypt. 'All the men are dead +which sought thy life,' was the encouragement to Moses to go back. 'They +are dead that sought the young child's life,' is the encouragement to +Joseph. It sums up in one sentence the failure of the first attempt, and +is like an epitaph cut on a tombstone for a man yet living,--a prophecy +of the end of all succeeding efforts to crush Christ and thwart His +work. 'The dreaded infant's hand' is mightier than all mailed fists, or +fingers that hold a pen. Christ lives and grows; Herod rots and dies. + +Apparently Joseph's intention was to return to Bethlehem. He may have +thought that Nazareth would scarcely satisfy the angel's injunction to +go to the 'Land of Israel,' or that David's city was the right home for +David's heir. At all events, his perplexity appeals to Heaven for +direction; and, for the fourth time, his course is marked for him by a +dream, whether through the instrumentality of the angel who knew the way +to his couch so well, we are not told, Archelaus, Herod's son, who had +received Judæa on the partition at his father's death, was a smaller +Herod, as cruel and less able. There was more security in the obscurity +of Nazareth, under the less sanguinary sway of Antipas, whose share of +his father's vices was his lust, rather than his ferocity. So, after so +many wanderings, and with such strange new experience and thoughts, the +silent, steadfast Joseph and the meek mother bring back their mysterious +charge and secret to the humble old home. Matthew does not seem to have +known that it had formerly been their home, but his account is no +contradiction of Luke's. + +Again he is reminded of a prophecy, or perhaps, rather, of many +prophecies, for he uses the plural 'prophets,' as if he were summing up +the tenor of more than one utterance. The words which he gives are not +found in any prophet. But we know that to call a man 'a Nazarene' was +the same thing as to call him lowly and despised. The scoff of the +Pharisee to Nicodemus's timid appeal on Christ's behalf, and the +guileless Nathaniel's quest ion, show that. The fact that Christ by His +residence in Nazareth became known as the 'Nazarene,' and so shared in +the contempt attaching to all Galileans, and especially to the +inhabitants of that village, is a kind of concentration of all the +obscurity and ignominy of His lot. The name was nailed over His head on +the cross as a scornful _reductio ad absurdum_ of His claims to be King +of Israel This explanation of the evangelist's meaning does not exclude +a reference in his mind to the prophecy in Isaiah xi. 1, where Messiah +is called 'a branch' or more properly, 'a shoot' for which the Hebrew +word is _netzer_. The name Nazareth is probably etymologically connected +with that word, and may have been given to the little village +contemptuously to express its insignificance. The meaning of the +prophecy is that the offspring of David, who should come when the +Davidic house was in the lowest depths of obscurity, like a tree of +which only the stump is left, should not appear in royal pomp, or in a +lofty condition, but as insignificant, feeble, and of no account. Such +prophecy was fulfilled in the very fact that He was all His life known +as 'of Nazareth' and the verbal assonance between that name, 'the shoot' +and the word 'Nazarene' is a finger-post pointing to the meaning of the +place of abode chosen for Him. The mere fact of residence there, and the +consequent contempt, do not exhaust the prophecies to which reference is +made. These might have been fulfilled without such a literal and +external fulfilment. But it serves, like the literal riding upon an ass, +and many other instances in Christ's life, to lead dull apprehensions to +perceive more plainly that He is the theme of all prophecy, and that in +His life the trivial is significant and nothing is accidental. + + +THE HERALD OF THE KING + + 'In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness + of Judæa, 2. And saying, Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at + hand. 3. For this is He that was spoken of by the prophet Esaias, + saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the + way of the Lord, make His paths straight. 4. And the same John had + his raiment of camel's hair, and a leathern girdle about his loins; + and his meat was locusts and wild honey. 5. Then went out to him + Jerusalem, and all Judæa, and all the region round about Jordan, 6. + And were baptized of him in Jordan, confessing their sins. 7. But + when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his + baptism, he said unto them, O generation of vipers, who hath warned + you to flee from the wrath to come? 8. Bring forth therefore fruits + meet for repentance: 9. And think not to say within yourselves, We + have Abraham to our father: for I say unto you, that God is able of + these stones to raise up children unto Abraham. 10. And now also + the axe is laid unto the root of the trees: therefore every tree + which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the + fire, 11. I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he + that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not + worthy to clean he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with + fire: 12. Whose fan is in His hand, and He will throughly purge His + floor, and gather His wheat into the garner; but He will burn up + the chaff with unquenchable fire.'--MATT. iii. 1-12. + +Matthew's Gospel is emphatically the Gospel of the kingdom. The keynote +sounded in the story of the Magi dominates the whole. We have stood by +the cradle of the King, and seen the homage and the dread which +surrounded it. We have seen the usurper's hatred and the divine +guardianship. Now we hear the voice of the herald of the King. This +section may be conveniently treated as falling into two parts: the +first, from verse 1 to verse 6, a general outline of the Baptist's +person and work; the second, from verse 7 to end, a more detailed +account of his preaching. + +I. We have an outline sketch of the herald and of his work. The voice of +prophecy had fallen silent for four hundred years. Now, when it is once +more heard, it sounds in exactly the same key as when it ceased. Its +last word had been the prediction of the day of the Lord, and of the +coming of Elijah once more. John was Elijah over again. There were the +same garb, the same isolation, the same fearlessness, the same grim, +gaunt strength, the same fiery energy of rebuke which bearded kings in +the full fury of their self-will. Elijah, Ahab, and Jezebel have their +doubles in John, Herod, and Herodias. The closing words of Malachi, +which Matthew, singularly enough, does not quote, are the best +explication of the character and work of the Baptist. His portrait is +flung on the canvas with the same startling abruptness with which Elijah +is introduced. Matthew makes no allusion to his relationship to Jesus, +has nothing to say about his birth or long seclusion in the desert. He +gives no hint that his vague expression 'in these days' covers thirty +years. John leaps, as it were, into the arena full grown and full armed. +His work is described by one word--'preaching'; out of which all modern +associations, which have too often made it a synonym for long-winded +tediousness and toothless platitudes, must be removed. It means +proclaiming, or acting as a herald, and implies the uplifted voice and +the brief, urgent message of one who runs before the chariot, and +shouts, 'The king! the king!' + +His message is summed up in two sentences, two blasts of the trumpet: +the call to repentance, and the rousing proclamation that the kingdom of +heaven is at hand. In the former he but reproduces the tone of earlier +prophecy, when he insists on a thorough change of disposition and a true +sorrow for sin. But he advances far beyond his precursors in the latter, +which is the reason for repentance. They had seen the vision of the +kingdom and the King, 'but not nigh.' He has to peal into the drowsy +ears of a generation which had almost forgotten the ancient hope, that +it was at the very threshold. Like some solitary stern crag which +catches the light of the sun yet unrisen but hastening upwards, long +before the shadowed valleys, John flamed above his generation all aglow +with the light, as the witness that in another moment it would spring +above the eastern horizon. But he sees that this is no joyful message to +them. Nothing is more remarkable in his preaching than the sombre hues +with which his expectation of the day of the Lord is coloured. 'To what +purpose is the day of the Lord to you? It is darkness and not light'; it +is to be judgment, therefore repentance is the preparation. + +The gleam and purity of lofty spiritual ideas are soon darkened, as a +film forms on quicksilver after short exposure. John's contemporaries +thought that the kingdom of heaven meant exclusive privileges, and their +rule over the heathen. They had all but lost the thought that it meant +first God's rule over their wills, and their harmony with the glad +obedience of heaven. They had to be rudely shaken out of their +self-complacency and taught that the livery of the King was purity, and +the preparation for His coming, penitence. + +The next touch in this outline sketch is John's fulfilment of prophecy. +Matthew probably knew that wonderfully touching and lowly answer of his +to the deputation from the ecclesiastical authorities, which at once +claimed prophetic authority and disclaimed personal importance, 'I am +the voice of one crying in the wilderness.' The prophecy in its original +application refers to the preparation of a path in the desert, for +Jehovah coming to redeem His people from captivity. The use made of it +by Matthew, and endorsed by all the evangelists, rests on the principle, +without which we have no clue to the significance of the Old Testament, +that the history of Israel is prophetic, and that the bondage and +deliverance are types of the sorer captivity from which Christ redeems, +and of the grander deliverance which He effects. + +Our evangelist gives a vivid picture of the asceticism of John, which +was one secret, as our Lord pointed out, of his hold on the people. The +more luxuriously self-indulgent men are, the more are they fascinated by +religious self-denial. A man 'clothed in soft raiment' would have drawn +no crowds. A religious teacher must be clearly free from sensual +appetites and love of ease, if he is to stir the multitude. John's rough +garb and coarse food were not assumed by him to create an impression. He +was no mere imitator of the old prophets, though he wore a robe like +Elijah's. His asceticism was the expression of his severe, solitary +spirit, detached from the delights of sense, and even from the softer +play of loves, because the coming kingdom flamed ever before him, and +the age seemed to him to be rotting and ready for the fire. There is no +need to bring in irrelevant learning about Essenes to account for his +mode of life. The thoughts which burned in him drove him into the +wilderness. He who was possessed with them could not 'come eating and +drinking,' and might well seem to sense-bound wonderers as if some +demonic force, other than ordinary motives, tyrannised over him. + +The last point in this brief _résumé_ of John's work is the universal +excitement which it produced. He did not come out of the desert with his +message. If men would hear it, they must go to him. And they went. All +the southern portion of the country seemed to empty itself into the +wilderness. Sleeping national hopes revived, the awe of the coming +judgment seized all classes. It was so long since a fiery soul had +scattered flaming words, and religious teachers had for so many +centuries been mumbling the old well-worn formulas, and splitting hairs, +that it was an apocalypse to hear once more the accent of conviction +from a man who really believed every word he said, and himself thrilled +with the solemn truths which he thundered. Wherever a religious teacher +shows that he has John's qualities, as our Lord in His eulogium analysed +them--namely, unalterable resolution, like an iron pillar, and not like +a reed shaken with the wind, conspicuous superiority to considerations +of ease and comfort, a direct vision of the unseen, and a message from +God, the crowds will go out to see him; and even if the enthusiasm be +shallow and transient, some spasm of conviction will pass across many a +conscience, and some will be pointed by him to the King. + +II. The second portion of this section is a more detailed account of +John's preaching, which Matthew gives as addressed to the Pharisees and +Sadducees. We are not to suppose that at any time John had a +congregation exclusively made up of such; nor that these words were +addressed to them only. What is emphasised is the fact that among the +crowds were many of both these parties, the religious aristocrats who +represented two tendencies of mind bitterly antagonistic, and each +unlikely to be drawn to the prophet. Self-righteous pedants who had +turned religion into a jumble of petty precepts, and very superior +persons who keenly appreciated the good things of this world, and were +too enlightened to have much belief in anything, and too comfortable to +be enthusiasts, were not hopeful material. If they were drawn into the +current, it must have run strong indeed. These representatives of the +highest and coldest classes of the nation had the very same red-hot +words flung at them as the mob had. Luke tells us that the first words +in this summary were spoken to the people. Both representations are +true. All fared alike. So they should, and so they always will, if a +real prophet has to talk to them. John's salutation is excessively rough +and rude. Honeyed words were not in his line; he had not lived in the +desert for all these years, and held converse with God and his own +heart, without having learned that his business was to smite on +conscience with a strong hand, and to tear away the masks which hid men +from themselves. The whole spirit of the old prophets was revived in his +brusque, almost fierce, address to such very learned, religious, and +distinguished personages. Isaiah in his day had called their +predecessors 'rulers of Sodom'; John was not scolding when he called his +hearers 'ye offspring of vipers' but charging them with moral corruption +and creeping earthliness. + +The summary of his preaching is like a succession of lightning flashes. +We can but note in a word or two each flash as it flames and strikes. +The remarkable thing about his teaching is that, in his hands, the great +hope of Israel became a message of terror, the proclamation of the +impending kingdom passed into a denunciation of 'the wrath to come,' set +forth with a tremendous wealth of imagery as the axe lying at the root +of the trees, the fan winnowing the wheat from the chaff, the destroying +fire. That wrath was inseparable from the coming of the King; for His +righteous reign necessarily meant punishment of unrighteousness. So all +the older prophets had said, and John was but carrying on their +testimony. So Christ has said. No more terrible warnings of the certain +judgment of evil which is involved in His merciful work, have ever been +given, than fell from the lips into which grace was poured. We need +to-day a clearer discernment of the truth which flamed before John's +eyes, that the full proclamation of the kingdom of heaven must include +the plain teaching of 'the wrath to come.' + +Next comes the urgent demand for reformation of life as the sign of real +repentance. John's exhortation does not touch the deepest ground for +repentance which is laid in the heart-softening love of God manifested +in the sacrifice of His Son, but is based wholly on the certainty of +judgment. So far, it is incomplete; but the demand for righteous living +as the only test of religious emotion is fully Christian, and needed in +this generation as much as it ever was. All preachers and others +concerned in 'revivals' may well learn a lesson, and while they follow +John in seeking to arouse torpid consciences by the terrors which are a +part of the gospel, should not forget to demand, not merely an emotional +repentance, but the solid fruits which alone guarantee the worth of the +emotion. + +The next flash strikes the lofty structure of confidence in their +descent. John knows that every man in that listening crowd believes that +his birth secured him joy and dominion when Messiah came. So he wrenches +away this shield against which his sharpest arrows were blunted. What a +murmur of angry denial must have met his contemptuous, audacious denial +of their trusted privilege! The pebbles on the Jordan beach, or the +loose rocks scattered so plentifully over the desert, could be made as +good sons of Abraham as they. A glimpse of the transference of the +kingdom to the despised Gentiles passed across his vision. And in these +far-reaching words lay the anticipation, not only of the destruction of +all Jewish exclusiveness, but of the miracles of quickening to be +wrought on the stony hearts of those beyond its pale. + +Once more with a new emblem the immediate beginning of the judgment is +proclaimed, and its principles and issues are declared. The sharp axe +lies at the roots of the tree, ready to be lifted and buried in its +bark. The woodman's eye is looking over the forest; he marks with the +fatal red line the worthless trees, and at once the swinging blows come +down, and the timber is carted away to be burned. The trees are men. The +judgment is an individualising one, and all-embracing. Nothing but +actual righteousness of life will endure. All else will be destroyed. + +The coming of the kingdom implied the coming of the King. John knew that +the King was a man, and that He was at the door. So his sermon reaches +its climax in the ringing proclamation of His advent. The first +noticeable feature in it is the utter humility of the dauntless prophet +before the yet veiled Sovereign. All the fiery force, the righteous +scorn and anger, the unflinching bravery, melt into meek submission. He +knows the limits of his own power, and gladly recognises the infinite +superiority of the coming One. He never moved from that lowly attitude. +Even when his followers tried to stir up base jealousy in him at being +distanced by the Christ, who, as they suggested, owed His first +recognition to him, all that his immovable self-abnegation cared to +answer was, 'He must increase, but I must decrease.' He was glad 'to +fade in the light of the Sun that he loved.' What a wealth of suppressed +emotion and lowly love there is in the words so pathetic from the lips +of the lonely ascetic, whom no home joys had ever cheered: 'He that +hath the bride is the bridegroom.... My joy is fulfilled'! + +Note, too, the grand conception of the gifts of the King. John knew that +his baptism was, like the water in which he immersed, cold, and +incapable of giving life. It symbolised, but did not effect, cleansing, +any more than his preaching righteousness could produce righteousness. +But the King would come, bringing with Him the gift of a mighty Spirit, +whose quick energy, transforming dead matter into its own likeness, +burning out the foul stains from character, and melting cold hearts into +radiant warmth, should do all that his poor, cold, outward baptism only +shadowed. Form and substance of this great promise gather up many Old +Testament utterances. From of old, fire had been the emblem of the +divine nature, not only, nor chiefly, as destructive, but rather as +life-giving, cleansing, gladdening, fructifying, transforming. From of +old, the promise of a divine Spirit poured out on all flesh had been +connected with the kingdom of Messiah; and John but reiterates the +uniform voice of prophecy, even as he anticipates the crowning gift of +the gospel, in this saying. + +Note, further, the renewed prophecy of judgment. There is something very +solemn in the stern refrain at the end of each of three consecutive +verses,--'with fire.' The first and the third refer to the destructive +fire; the second, to the cleansing Spirit. But the fire that destroys is +not unconnected with that which purifies. And the very same divine +flame, if welcomed and yielded to, works purity, and if repelled and +scorned, consumes. The rustic simplicity of the figures of the +husbandman with his winnowing-shovel, the threshing-floor exposed to +every wind, the stored wheat, the rootless, lifeless, worthless chaff, +and the fierce fire in some corner of the autumn field where it is +utterly burned up--needs no comment. They add nothing but another vivid +picture to the thoughts already dealt with. But the question arises as +to the whole of the representation of judgment here: Does it look beyond +the present world? I see no reason for supposing that John was speaking +about anything but the sifting and destroying which would attend the +coming of the looked-for kingdom on earth. The principles which he laid +down are, no doubt, true for both worlds; but the application of them +which his prophetic mission embraced, lies on this side of the grave. + +Note, further, the limitations in John's knowledge of the King. His +prophecy unites, as contemporaneous, events which, in fact, are widely +separate,--the coming of Christ, and the judgments which He executes, +whether on Israel or in the final 'great day of the Lord.' There is no +perspective in prophecy. The future is foreshortened, and great gulfs of +centuries are passed over, as, standing on a plain, we see it as +continuous, though it may really be cleft by deep ravines. He did not +know 'what manner of time' the spirit which was in him did 'signify.' No +doubt his expectations were correct, in so far as Christ's coming really +sifted and separated, and was the rising and the falling of many; but it +was not attended by such tokens as John inferred. Hence we can +understand his doubts when in prison, and learn that a prophet was often +mistaken as to the meaning of his message. + +Again, while we have here a clear prediction of the Spirit as bestowed +by Christ, we find no hint of His work as the sacrifice for sin, through +whom the guilt which no repentance and no outward baptism could touch +was taken away. The Gospel of John gives us later utterances of the +Baptist's, by which we learn that he advanced beyond the point at which +he stood here. 'Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the +world,' was his message after Christ's baptism. It is the last, highest +voice of prophecy. The proclamation of a kingdom of heaven, of a king +mighty and righteous, whose coming kindled a fire of judgment, and a +blessed fire of purifying, into one or other of which all men must be +plunged, contained elements of terror, as well as of hope. It needed +completion by that later word. + +When John stretched out his forefinger, and with awe-struck voice bade +his hearers look at Jesus coming to him, prophecy had done its work. The +promise had been gradually concentrated on the nation, the tribe, the +house, and now it falls on the person. The dove narrows its circling +flight till it lights on His head. The goal has been reached, too, in +the clear declaration of Messiah's work. He is King, Giver of the +Spirit, Judge, but He is before all else the Sacrifice for the world's +sins. Therefore he to whom it was given to utter that great saying was a +prophet, and more than a prophet; and when he had spoken it, there was +nothing more for him to do but to decrease. He was like the breeze +before sunrise, which springs up, as crying 'The dawn! the dawn!' and +dies away. + + +THE BAPTISM IN FIRE + + 'He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire.'--MATT. + iii. 11 + +There is no more pathetic figure in Scripture than that of the +forerunner of our Lord. Lonely and ascetic, charged to light against all +the social order of which he was a part, seeing many of his disciples +leave him for another master; then changing the free wilderness for a +prison cell, and tortured by morbid doubts; finally murdered as the +victim of a profligate woman's hate and a profligate man's perverse +sense of honour: he had indeed to bear 'the burden of the Lord.' But +perhaps most pathetic of all is the combination in his character of +gaunt strength and absolute humility. How he confronts these people whom +he had to rebuke, and yet how, in a moment, the flashing eye sinks in +lowest self-abasement before 'Him that cometh after me'! How true, +amidst many temptations, he was to his own description of himself: 'I am +a voice'--nothing more. His sinewy arm was ever pointed to the 'Lamb of +God.' It is given to very few to know so clearly their limits, and to +still fewer--and these, men who keep very near God--to abide so +contentedly within them, and to acquiesce so thankfully in the +brightening glories of One whom self-importance and ambition would +prompt to take for a rival and an enemy. + +The words before us signalise at once John's lofty conception of the +worth of his work, and his humble consciousness of its worthlessness as +compared with Christ's. 'I indeed baptize you with water, but He with +fire.' As is the difference between the two elements, so is the +difference between His ministry and mine--the one effecting an outward +cleansing, the other being an inward penetrating power, which shall +search men through and through, and, burning, shall purge away dross and +filth. The text comes in the midst of a triple representation of our +Lord's work in its relation to his, each portion of which ends with the +refrain, 'the fire.' But these three fires have not the same effects. +The first and last destroy, the second cleanses. These are threatenings, +but this is altogether a promise. There is a fire that consumes the +barren tree and the light chaff that is whirled from the threshing-floor +by the wind of His fan; but there is also a fire that, like the genial +heat in some greenhouse, makes even the barren tree glow with blossom +and loads its branches with precious fruit. His coming may kindle fire +that will destroy, but its merciful purpose is to plunge us into that +fiery baptism of the Holy Ghost, whereof the result is cleansing and +life. Looking at the words before us, then, they lead us to think of +that emblem of the Spirit of God, of Christ as bestowing it, and of its +effects on us. I venture to offer a few considerations now on each of +these points. + +I. The Holy Spirit is fire. + +It would scarcely be necessary to spend any time in illustrating that +truth, but for the strange misapprehension of the words of our text +which I believe to be not uncommon. People sometimes read them as if the +first portion referred to those who trust in Christ, and who therefore +receive the blessings of His sanctifying energy, whilst the latter +words, on the other hand, were a threatening against unbelievers. Now, +whatever may be the meaning of the emblem in the preceding and +subsequent clauses, it can have but one meaning in our text itself--and +that is, the purifying influence of the Spirit of God. Baptism with the +Holy Ghost is not one thing and baptism with fire another, but the +former is the reality of which the latter is the symbol. + +It may be worth while to dwell briefly on the force of the emblem, which +is often misunderstood. Fire, then, all over the world has been taken to +represent the divine energy. Even in heathendom, side by side with the +worship of light was the worship of fire. Even that cruel +Moloch-worship, with all its abominations rested upon the notion that +the swift power and ruddy blaze of fire were symbols of glorious +attributes. Though the thought was darkened and marred, wrongly +apprehended and ferociously worked out in ritual, it was a true thought +for all that. And Scripture has from the beginning used it. It would +carry us too far to enumerate the instances which might be adduced. But +we may quote a few. When the covenant was made between God and Abraham, +upon which all the subsequent revelation reposed, the divine presence +was represented by a smoking furnace, and a lamp of fire that passed +between the divided pieces of the sacrifice. When the great revelation +of the divine Name was given to Moses, which prepared for the great +deliverance from Egypt, the sign of it was a thorn-bush--one of the many +dotted over the desert--burning and unconsumed. Surely the ordinary +interpretation, which sees, in that undying flame, an emblem of Israel +undestroyed in the furnace of bondage, is less natural than that which +sees in it a sign having the same purpose and the same meaning as the +deep words, 'I am that I am.' The Name, the revelation proper, is +accompanied by the sign which expresses in figure the very same +truth--the unwearied power, the undecaying life of the great +self-existent God, who wills and does not change, who acts and does not +faint, who gives and is none the poorer, who fills the universe and is +Himself the same, who burns and is not consumed--the 'I am.' Further, we +remember how to Israel the pledge and sacramental seal of God's +guardianship and guidance was the pillar which, in the fervid light of +the noonday sun, seemed to be but a column of wavering smoke, but which, +when the darkness fell, glowed at the heart and blazed across the +sleeping camp, a fiery guard. 'Who among us,' says the prophet, 'shall +dwell with everlasting burnings?' The answer is a parallel to the +description given in one of the Psalms in reply to the question, 'Lord, +who shall abide in Thy tabernacle?' From which parallelism, as well as +from the whole tone of the passage, the conclusion is unavoidable that +to Isaiah 'everlasting burnings' was a symbolic designation of God. And, +passing by all other references, we remember that our Lord Himself used +the same emblem, as John does, with apparently the same meaning, when, +yearning for the fulfilment of His work, He said,' I am come to send +fire on earth--oh that it were already kindled!' The day of Pentecost +teaches the same lesson by its fiery tongues; and the Seer in Patmos +beheld, burning before the throne, the sevenfold lamps of fire which are +'the seven spirits of God.' + +Thus, then, there is a continuous chain of symbolism according to which +some aspect of the divine nature, and especially of the Spirit of God, +is set forth for us by fire. The question, then, comes to be--what is +that aspect? In answer, I would remind you that the attributes and +offices of the Spirit of God are never in Scripture represented as being +destructive, and are only punitive, in so far as the convictions of sin, +which He works in the heart, may be regarded as being punishments. The +fire of God's _Spirit_, at all events, is not a wrathful energy, +working pain and death, but a merciful omnipotence, bringing light and +joy and peace. The Spirit which is fire is a Spirit which giveth life. +So the symbol, in the special reference in the text, has nothing of +terror or destruction but is full of hope and bright with promise. + +Even in its more general application to the divine nature, the same +thing is to a large extent true. The common impression is the reverse of +this. The interpretation which most readers unconsciously supply to the +passages of Scripture where God is spoken of as flaming fire, is that +God's terrible wrath is revealed in them. I am very far from denying +that the punitive and destructive side of the divine character is in the +symbol, but certainly that is not its exclusive meaning, nor does it +seem to me to be its principal one. The emblem is employed over and over +again, in connections where it must mean chiefly the blessed and joyous +aspect of God's Name to men. It is unquestionably part of the felicity +of the symbol that there should be in it this double force--for so is it +the fitter to show forth Him who, by the very same attributes, is the +life of those who love Him and the death of those who turn from Him. +But, still, though it is true that the bright and the awful aspects of +that Name are in themselves one, and that their difference arises from +the difference of the eyes which behold them, yet we are justified, I +think, in saying that this emblem of fire regards mainly the former of +these and not the latter. The principal ideas in it seem to be swift +energy and penetrating power, which cleanses and transforms. It is fire +as the source of light and heat; it is fire, not so much as burning up +what it seizes into ashes, but rather as laying hold upon cold dead +matter, making it sparkle and blaze, and turning it into the likeness of +its own leaping brightness; it is fire as springing heavenwards, and +bearing up earthly particles in its shooting spires; it is fire, as +least gross of visible things;--in a word, it is fire as life, and not +as death, that is the symbol of God. It speaks of the might of His +transforming power, the melting, cleansing, vitalising influence of His +communicated grace, the warmth of His conquering love. It has, indeed, +an under side of possible judgment, punishment, and destruction, but it +has a face of blessing, of life-giving, of sanctifying power. And +therefore the Baptist spake glad tidings when he said, 'He shall baptize +you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire.' + +II. Christ plunges us into this divine fire. + +I presume that scarcely any one will deny that our version weakens the +force of John's words by translating '_with_ water, _with_ the Holy +Ghost,' instead of 'in water, in the Holy Ghost.' One of the most +accurate of recent commentators,[2] for instance, in his remarks on this +verse, says that the preposition here 'is to be understood in accordance +with the idea of baptism that is immersion, not as expressing the +instrument with which, but as meaning "in," and expressing the element +in which the immersion takes place.' I suppose that very few persons +would hesitate to agree with that statement. If it is correct, what a +grand idea is conveyed by that metaphor of the completeness of the +contact with the Spirit of God into which we are brought! How it +represents all our being as flooded with that transforming power! But, +apart from the intensity communicated to the promise by such a figure, +there is another important matter brought distinctly before us by the +words, and that is Christ's personal agency in effecting this saturating +of man's coldness with the fire from God. This testimony of John's is in +full accord with Christ's claims for Himself, and with the whole tenor +of Scripture on the subject. He is the Lord of the Spirit. He is come to +scatter that fire on the earth. He brings the ruddy gift from heaven to +mortals, carrying it in the bruised reed of His humanity; and, in +pursuance of His merciful design, He is bound and suffers for our sakes, +but, loosed at last from the bands by which it was not possible that He +should be holden, and 'being by the right hand of God exalted, He hath +shed forth this.' His mighty work opens the way for the life-giving +power of the Spirit to dwell as an habitual principle, and not as a mere +occasional gift, among men, sanctifying their characters from the +foundation, and not merely, as of old, bestowing special powers for +special functions. He claims to send us the Comforter. We know but +little of such high themes, but we can clearly see that, while there may +be many other reasons for the full bestowment of the Spirit of God +having to be preceded by the gift of Christ, one reason must be that the +measure of individual and subjective inspiration varies according to the +amount of objective revelation. The truth revealed is the condition and +the instrument of the Spirit's working. The sharper that sword of the +Spirit is, the mightier will be His power. Hence, only when the +revelation of God is complete by the message of His Son, His life, +death, resurrection, and ascension, was the full, permanent gift of the +Spirit possible, not to make new revelations, but to unfold all that lay +in the Word spoken once for all, in whom the whole Name of God is +contained. + +[2] Meyer. + +However that may be, the main thing for us, dear friends, is this--that +Christ gives the Spirit. In and by Jesus, you and I are brought into +real contact with this cleansing fire. Without His work, it would never +have burned on earth; without our faith in His work it will never purify +our souls. The Spirit of God is not a synonym for the moral influence +which the principles of Christianity exert on men who believe them; but +these principles, the truths revealed in Jesus Christ, are the means by +which the Spirit works its noblest work. Our acceptance of these truths, +then, our faith in Him whom these truths reveal, is absolutely essential +to our possession of that cleansing power. The promise is of 'that +Spirit which they that believe on Him should receive.' If we have no +faith in Jesus, then, however we may fancy that the gift of God can be +ours by other means, the stern answer comes to our fond delusions and +mistaken efforts, 'Thou hast neither part nor lot in this matter.' Oh! +you who are seeking for spiritual elevation, for intellectual +enlightenment, for the fire of a noble enthusiasm, for the consecration +of pure hearts, anywhere but in Christ your Lord, will you not listen to +the majestic and yet lowly voice, which blends in its tones grave and +loving rebuke, gentle pity, wonder and sorrow at our blindness, earnest +entreaty, and divine authority--'If thou knewest the gift of God, and +who it is that speaketh to thee, thou wouldst have asked of Him, and He +would have given thee living water'? + +Here are we cold, foul, dark, dead: there is that fire of God able to +cleanse, to enlighten, to give life. How is true contact to be effected +between our great need and His all-sufficient energy? One voice brings +the answer for every Christian soul, '_I_ will send the Comforter.' +Brethren, let us cleave to Him, and in humble faith ask Him to plunge us +into that fiery stream which, for all its fire, is yet a river of water +of life proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. '_He_ +shall baptize you in the Holy Ghost and in fire.' + +III. That fiery baptism quickens and cleanses. + +In John's mind, the difference between the two baptisms, his and the +Christ's, expresses accurately the difference between the two ministries +and their effects. As has been truly and beautifully said, he is +conscious of something 'cold and negative' in his own teaching, of which +the water of his baptism is a fit representation. His message is divine +and true, but it is hard: 'Repent, do what you ought, wait for the +Kingdom and its King.' And, when his command has been obeyed, his +disciples come up out of Jordan, at the best but superficially cleansed, +and needing that the process begun in them should be perfected by +mightier powers than any which his message wields. They need more than +that outward washing--they need an inward cleansing; they need more than +the preaching of repentance and morality--they need a gift of life; they +need a new power poured into their souls, the fiery steam of which, as +it rolls along, like a lava current through mountain forests, shall +seize and burn every growth of evil in their natures. They need not +water, but Spirit; not water, but Fire. They need what shall be life to +their truest life, and death to all the death within, that separates +them from the life of God. + +So the two main effects expressed here are these: quickening and +cleansing. + +Fire gives warmth. We talk about ardent desires, warm hearts, the glow +of love, the fire of enthusiasm, and even the flame of life. We draw the +contrast with cold natures, which are loveless and unemotional, hard to +stir and quicken; we talk about thawing reserve, about an icy torpor, +and so on. The same general strain of allusion is undoubtedly to be +traced in our text. Whatever more it means, it surely means this, that +Christ comes to kindle in men's souls a blaze of enthusiastic, divine +love, such as the world never saw, and to set them aflame with fervent +earnestness, which shall melt all their icy hardness of heart, and turn +cold self-regard into self-forgetting consecration. + +Here, then, our text touches upon one of the very profoundest +characteristics of Christianity considered as a power in human life. The +contrast between it and all other religions and systems of ethics lies, +amongst other things, in the stress which it lays upon love and on the +earnestness which comes from love; whereas these are scarcely regarded +as elements in virtue according to the world, and have certainly no +place at all in the world's notion of 'temperate religion.' Christ gives +fervour by giving His Spirit. Christ gives fervour by bringing the +warmth of His own love to bear upon our hearts through the Spirit, and +that kindles ours. Where His great work for men is believed and trusted +in, there, and there only, is there excited an intensity of consequent +affection to Him which glows throughout the life. It is not enough to +say that Christianity is singular among religious and moral systems in +exalting fervour into a virtue. Its peculiarity lies deeper--in its +method of producing that fervour. It is kindled by that Spirit using as +His means the truth of the dying love of Christ. The secret of the +Gospel is not solved by saying that Christ excites love in our souls. +_The_ question yet remains--how? There is but one answer to that. He +loved us to the death. That truth laid on hearts by the Spirit, who +takes of Christ's and shows them to us, and that truth alone, makes +fire burst from their coldness. + +Here is the power that produces that inner fervour without which virtue +is a name and religion a yoke. Here is the contrast, not only to John's +baptism, but to all worldly religion, to all formalism and decent +deadness of external propriety. Here is the consecration of +enthusiasm--not a lurid, sullen heat of ignorant fanaticism, but a +living glow of an enkindled nature, which flames because kindled by the +inextinguishable blaze of His love who gave Himself for us. 'He shall +baptize you in fire.' + +Then, dear brethren, if we profess to have come into personal contact +with Jesus Christ, here is a sharp test for us, and a solemn rebuke to +much of our lives. For a Christian to be cold is sin. Our coldness can +only come from our neglecting to stir up the gift that is in us. People +reproach us with extravagant emotion: let us confess that we have never +deserved that reproach half as much as we ought. The world's ideal of +religion is decorous coldness--has not the world's ideal been our +practice? We are afraid to be fervent, but our true danger is icy +torpor. We sit frost-bitten and almost dead among the snows, and all the +while the gracious sunshine is pouring down, that is able to melt the +white death that covers us, and to free us from the bonds that hold us +prisoned in their benumbing clasp. + +No evil is more marked among the Christian Churches of this day than +precisely the absence of this 'spirit of burning.' There is plenty of +liberality and effort, there is much interest in religious questions, +there is genial tolerance and wide culture, there is a high standard of +morality, and, on the whole, a tolerable adherence to it--but there is +little love, and little fervour. 'I have somewhat against thee, that +thou hast left thy first love.' + +Where is that Spirit which was poured out on Pentecost? Where are the +cloven tongues of fire, where the flame which Christ died to light up? +Has it burned down to grey ashes, or, like some house-fire, lit and left +untended, has it gone out after a little ineffectual crackling among the +lighter pieces of wood and paper, without ever reaching the solid mass +of obstinate coal? Where? The question is not difficult to answer. His +promise remains faithful. He does send the Spirit, who is fire. But our +sin, our negligence, our eager absorption with worldly cares, and our +withdrawal of mind and heart from the patient contemplation of His +truth, have gone far to quench the Spirit. Is it not so? Are our souls +on fire with the love of God, aglow with the ardour caught from Christ's +love? Does that love which fills our hearts coruscate and flame in our +lives, making us lights in the darkness, as some firebrand caught up +from the hearth will serve for a torch and blaze out into the night? 'He +shall baptize with fire.' + + 'O Thou that earnest from above, + The pure celestial fire to impart, + Kindle a flame of sacred love + On the mean altar of my heart.' + +Then there is another thought expressed by this symbol, namely, that +this baptism gives cleansing as well as warmth, or rather gives +cleansing by warmth. Fire purifies. That Spirit, which is fire, +produces holiness in heart and character, by this most chiefly among all +His manifold operations, that He excites the flame of love to God, which +burns our souls clear with its white fervours. This is the Christian +method of making men good,--first, know His love, then believe it, then +love Him back again, and then let that genial heat permeate all your +life, and it will woo forth everywhere blossoms of beauty and fruits of +holiness, that shall clothe the pastures of the wilderness with +gladness. Did you ever see a blast-furnace? How long would it take a +man, think you, with hammer and chisel, or by chemical means, to get the +bits of ore out from the stony matrix? But fling them into the great +cylinder, and pile the fire and let the strong draught roar through the +burning mass, and by evening you can run off a golden stream of pure and +fluid metal, from which all the dross and rubbish is parted, which has +been charmed out of all its sullen hardness, and will take the shape of +any mould into which you like to run it. The fire has conquered, has +melted, has purified. So with us. Love 'shed abroad in our hearts by the +Holy Ghost given unto us,' love that answers to Christ's, love that is +fixed upon Him who is pure and separate from sinners, will purify us and +sever us from our sins. Nothing else will. All other cleansing is +superficial, like the water of John's baptism. Moralities and the +externals of religion will wash away the foulness which lies on the +surface, but stains that have sunk deep into the very substance of the +soul, and have dyed every thread in warp and woof to its centre, are not +to be got rid of so. The awful words which our great dramatist puts into +the mouth of the queenly murderess are heavy with the weight of most +solemn truth. After all vain attempts to cleanse away the stains, we, +like her, have to say, 'There's the smell of the blood still--will +these hands ne'er be clean?' No, never; unless there be something +mightier, more inward in its power, than the water with which we can +wash them, some better gospel than 'Repent and reform.' God be thanked, +there is a mightier detergent than all these--even that divine Spirit +which Christ gives, and that divine forgiveness which Christ brings. +There, and there alone, dear brethren, we can lose all the guilt of our +faultful past, and receive a new and better life which will mould our +future into growing likeness to His great purity. Oh do not resist that +merciful searching fire, which is ready to penetrate our very bones and +marrow, and burn up the seeds of death which lurk in the inmost intents +of the heart! Let Him plunge you into that gracious baptism, as we put +some poor piece of foul clay into the fire, and like it, as you glow you +will whiten, and all the spots will melt away before the conquering +tongues of the cleansing flame. In that furnace, heated seven times +hotter than any earthly power could achieve, they who walk live by the +presence of the Son of Man, and nothing is consumed but the bonds that +held them. His Spirit is fire, and that Spirit of fire is, therefore, +the Spirit of holiness. + +But take one warning word in conclusion. The alternative for every man +is to be baptized in the fire or to be consumed by it. The symbol of +which we have been speaking sets forth the double thought of purifying +and destruction. Nothing which we have said as to the former in the +least weakens the completing truth that there is in it an under side of +possible terror. One of the felicities of the emblem is its capacity to +set forth this twofold idea. There is that in the divine nature which +the Bible calls wrath, the necessary displeasure and aversion of holy +love from sin and wrong-doers. There is in the divine procedure even +now and here, the manifestation of that aversion in punishment. 'The +light of Israel becomes a flaming fire.' + +I have no panorama of hell to exhibit, and I would speak with all +reticence on matters so awful; but this much, at any rate, is clear, +that the very same revelation of God, thankfully accepted and submitted +to, is the medium of cleansing and the source of joyful life, and, +rejected, becomes the source of sorrow and the occasion of death. Every +man sees that aspect of God's face which he has made himself fit to see. +Every gift of God is to men either a savour of life unto life, or a +savour of death unto death. Most chiefly is this so in regard to Christ +and His gospel, who, though He came not to judge but to save, yet by +reason of that very universal purpose of salvation, becomes a judge in +the act of saving, and a condemnation to those in whom, by their own +faults, that purpose is not fulfilled. + +The same pillar of fire which gladdened the ranks of Israel as they +camped by the Red Sea, shone baleful and terrible to the Egyptian hosts. +The same Ark of the Covenant whose presence blessed the house of +Obed-edom, and hallowed Zion, and saved Jerusalem, smote the +Philistines, and struck down their bestial gods. Christ and His gospel +even here hurt the men whom they do not save. + +And we have only to carry that process onwards into another world, and +suppose it made more energetic there, as it will be, to feel dimly in +how awful a sense it may be that the same fire which gives life may be +the occasion of death--and how profound a truth lies in the words-- + + 'What maketh Heaven, that maketh Hell.' + +Yes, verily; to be salted with fire or to be consumed by it, to be +baptized in it or to be cast into it, is the choice offered to us all; +to thee, my brother, and to me. Israel made its choice, and in seventy +years, the Roman standards on Zion and the flames leaping round the +Temple, interpreted John's words in one of their halves, while the +growing energy of the fire that was lit on Pentecost fulfilled them in +the other. Many a nation and Church has made its choice since then. You +have to make yours. 'The fire shall try every man's work, of what sort +it is.' Shall our work be gold, and silver, and precious stones which +shall gleam and flash in the light, or wood, hay, and stubble which +shall writhe for a moment in the blaze and perish? 'Our God is a +consuming fire.' Shall that be the ground of my confidence that I shall +one day be pure from all my sins, or shall it be the parent of my +ghastliest fear that I may be, like the chaff, destroyed by contact with +a holy love rejected, with a Saviour disbelieved, with a Spirit grieved +and quenched? Choose which. + + +THE BAPTISM OF JESUS + + 'Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to Jordan unto John, to be baptized + of him. 14. But John forbad Him, saying, I have need to be baptized + of Thee, and comest Thou to me? 15. And Jesus answering said unto + him, Suffer it to be so now: for thus it becometh us to fulfil all + righteousness. Then he suffered Him. 16. And Jesus, when He was + baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the + heavens were opened unto Him, and He saw the Spirit of God + descending like a dove, and lighting upon Him: 17. And lo a voice + from heaven, saying, This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well + pleased.'--MATT. iii. 13-17. + +When Jesus set out from Galilee to seek baptism from John, He took the +first step on His path of public work; and it is noteworthy that He took +it, apparently, from self-originated impulse, and not, as in the case of +the prophets of old, from obedience to a 'prophetic call.' 'The Word of +the Lord came to' them; His Messianic consciousness needed no external +stimulus to kindle it into flame. What did He mean by seeking baptism? +John recognised the incongruity of His submitting to a rite which +professed repentance and promised cleansing. It does not follow that +John recognised His Messianic character, but only that he knew His +blameless life. The remonstrance witnesses at once to John's humble +consciousness of sin and to Jesus' acknowledged purity. Christ's answer +has a sound of authority, even in its gentle lowliness, and it confirms +the belief in His sinlessness by the absence of any reference to +repentance, and by regarding His baptism, not as a token of repented +transgression to be washed away, but as an act which completed the +perfect circle of righteousness, which His life had hitherto drawn. He +submitted to the appointed rite, because He would be one with His +brethren in all obedience. So, then, the principle underlying His +baptism is the principle underlying His incarnation, His life of +obedience and identification of Himself with us, and His death. 'He also +Himself likewise took part of' whatsoever His brethren were partakers +of, and therefore He was 'numbered with the transgressors' in that, +needing no repentance, He submitted to the baptism of repentance, and +cleansed the cleansing water by being plunged in it. + +What was the significance of the descent of the Spirit on Him? Matthew's +account implies that the appearance of the descending dove was to Jesus. +John i. 32 states that it was also visible to John. The accompanying +voice is as if principally directed to John, according to Matthew, while +Mark and Luke represent it as addressed to Jesus. Both appearance and +voice were the tokens of the Father's approval, and acceptance of the +Son's consecration of Himself to the Messianic work. The dove descending +on Him was the token that henceforward His manhood should be anointed +with the unbroken influences of the divine Spirit, and possess the +unbroken consciousness of the Father's good pleasure, lying like +sunshine on the stormy sea on which He had launched. How different the +conception of the Spirit as a dove, which was Jesus' experience of it, +from the Baptist's, which was that of fire! Jesus is in this incident, +as in all, our pattern and example, teaching us that we too must yield +ourselves to do the Father's will, and must identify ourselves with +sinners, if we are to help them and to have the Father's approval +sounding in our hearts, and the dove of God nestling there, and teaching +us, too, that gentleness is the divinest and strongest power to win men +from evil and for God. + + +THE DOVE OF GOD + + 'He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon + Him.' MATT. iii. 16. + +This Gospel of Matthew is emphatically the gospel of the Kingdom. It +sets forth Jesus as the long-promised Messiah, the Son of David. And +this conception of Him and of His work, whilst it runs through the whole +of the Gospel, is more obviously influential in shaping the selection of +incidents and colouring the cast of the language, in the early portion. +Hence the genealogy with which the Gospel begins dwells with emphasis on +His royal descent from David. Hence the story of the wise men of the +East is given, who came to do their homage to the new-born King of the +Jews, whose innocent poverty and infancy are set in contrast with the +court and character of the cruel Herod who had for an hour usurped the +title. Hence, also, the mission of John the Baptist is all summed up in +his proclamation: 'The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.' He is the herald +that runs before the chariot of the advancing Monarch, and shouts to a +slumbering nation, 'The King! the King!' + +Preserving the same reference to the royal dignity of Jesus, we may look +at His baptism as being His public assumption of His Messianic office, +and at this descent of the Holy Spirit as the anointing or coronation of +the King. As His meek head rose, glistening from the waters of the +baptism, there fluttered down upon Him the gentle token of the manifest +designation from the Heavens, which solemnly declared Him to be the Son +of God, anointed Messias, King of Israel and of the world. + +So in looking at this incident, I take simply two points of view, and +consider its bearing on Jesus, and on us. + +I. As to the former, we have here the Coronation of the King. + +We need not spend time upon the question which we have no materials for +answering, viz.--What was the 'objective material reality' here? We do +not know enough about what constitutes 'objective material reality,' nor +about what are the laws of prophetic ecstasy and vision, to discuss such +a question as that. Nor is there any need to moot it. It does not matter +one rush whether bystanders would have seen anything or not. It does not +matter in the least whether there was any actual excitation of auditory +or visual nerves. It does not matter whether there was anything which +people are contented to call _material_--a word which covers a depth of +ignorance. Enough for us that this was no fancy, born in a man's brain, +but an actual manifestation, whether through sense or apart from sense, +to consciousness, of a divine outpouring and communication. Enough for +us that the voice which spoke was God's, and that that which descended +was the Spirit of God. As to all other questions, they may be amusing +and interesting, but they are insoluble, and therefore unimportant. + +Well, then, taking that point of view, the next question that arises is +as to the purpose of this descent of the Spirit. Plainly, as I have +said, it was the coronation and anointing of the Monarch. But a man is +king before he is crowned. Coronation is the consequence and not the +cause of his royalty. It is but the official and solemn announcement of +a previous fact. No additional power, no fresh authority, comes of the +crowning. And so the first purpose of this great fact is distinctly +stated, in John's Gospel, as having been the solemn, divine pointing out +of Messiah to the Baptist primarily, but in order that he might bear +witness of Him to others. The words which follow are a commentary on, +and part of the explanation of, the descent of the Holy Spirit. They +are God's finger, pointing to Jesus and saying, 'Arise, anoint Him, for +this is He.' + +But it must be remembered always that this was neither the beginning of +that divine Spirit's operation upon Jesus, nor the beginning of His +Messianic nature and consciousness; nor the beginning of His Sonship. +That day was not in deepest truth the 'day' on which the Son was +'begotten.' Before the baptism there was the consciousness of +Messiahship witnessed in these words, so singularly compacted of +humility and authority: 'Suffer it to be so now, for thus it becometh us +to fulfil all righteousness'; and before His baptism, and even before +His birth, that divine Spirit wrought His manhood, and ere the heavens +opened, or the dove fluttered down upon His head, He from everlasting +was the Son in the bosom of the Father. + +So we see here, I think, if we follow the lead of the Scriptural +teaching, not the beginning of powers or communications, but an advance +in these. Christ's baptism was an epoch in His human development, +inasmuch as it was the public official assumption of His Messianic +office. He came from out of the sheltering obscurity of the Galilean +village nestling among its hills. He had now put His foot upon the path, +set with knives and hot ploughshares, along which He had to walk to the +Cross. Inasmuch as it was an epoch in His development (for His manhood +was capable of growth and maturing), and inasmuch as new tasks needed +increase of gifts, and inasmuch as His man's nature was subject to the +conditions of time, and capable of expansion and increase of capacity, +therefore, I believe that when Christ rose from the waters of baptism, +no new gift indeed was His, but such an advance in the communication to +His manhood of the sustaining Spirit, as fully equipped Him for the new +calls of His Messianic work. + +His manhood needed, as ours does, the continual communication of the +divine Spirit, and His manhood, because it was sinless, was capable of a +complete reception of that Spirit. Sinless though He knew Himself to be, +as His own words declare, He yet bowed His head to the baptism of +repentance, which He needed not for Himself, just as He afterwards bowed +His head to a darker, a sadder baptism, which He had to be baptized +with, though it likewise He needed not for Himself, because in both the +one and the other He would make Himself one with His brethren. The +Spirit of God had shaped His manhood ere His birth. The Spirit of God +had been abiding in His holy infancy and growing youth, but now it came +in larger measure for new needs and His Messiah's work. + +So, dear friends, we see in Christ, baptized with the Spirit of God, the +realised ideal of manhood, ever dependent, ever needing for its purity +that holy influence, and receiving at every pore that divine gift. What +a contrast to our limited partial reception, broken and interrupted so +often! All the doors that are barred in our hearts by sin, all the +windows that are darkened in our souls by vice and self, in Him stood +open to the day, and brilliantly receptive of the illumination. And so +'the Father giveth not the Spirit by measure unto Him.' + +Notice, too, the meaning of the symbol. Think of what John, with his +incomplete though not inaccurate conceptions, expected in the Messiah +whom he proclaimed. To him the coming of the King was first and chiefly +a coming to judgment. There is nothing more remarkable than the aspect +of terror which drapes the old hope of Israel as it comes from John's +lips. He believes that the King is coming, that His coming is to be an +awful thing. Judgment is to go before Him, He bears 'His fan in His +hand,' and kindles 'unquenchable fire,' into which the leafy trees that +have no fruit upon them are to be flung, there to shrivel and crackle +and disappear. This is what he expects at the worst, and at the best a +baptism in the Holy Ghost, from Messiah's hands, which, however, is +likewise to be fiery even whilst it quickens, and searching and +destructive even whilst it gladdens. When, then, his carpenter cousin is +designated as Messiah, John sees two wonders: that this is the Christ, +and that the Spirit which he had thought of as searching and consuming, +should come fluttering down upon His head in the likeness of a dove. Old +Testament symbols and natural poetry unite in giving felicity to that +emblem. 'The Spirit of God brooded on the face of the deep,' says +Genesis; and the word employed describes accurately the action of the +mother-bird, with her soft breast and outstretched wings quickening the +life that lies beneath. The dove was pure and allowed for sacrifice. All +nations have made it the symbol of meekness, gentleness, faithfulness. +All these associations determined the form which the descending +Benediction took. + +What then does it proclaim as to the character of the King? Purity is +the very foundation of His royalty. Meekness and gentleness are the very +weapons of His conquest and the sceptre of His rule. The dove will +outfly all Rome's eagles and all rapacious, unclean feeders, with their +strong wings, and curved talons, and sharp beaks. The lesson as to the +true nature of the true Kingdom, which was taught of old when the +prophet said 'Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion, thy King cometh unto +thee, meek, riding on an ass,' and not upon the warhorse of secular +force; the lesson which was taught unwittingly, as to the true nature of +the true Kingdom, when the scoffers, speaking a deeper truth than they +understood, put upon His brow the crown of thorns, and forced into His +hand the sceptre of reed, was taught here--the lesson that meekness +conquers, and that His kingdom is founded in suffering, and wielded in +gentleness. The lesson of the ancient psalm, which in rapture of +prophetic vision beheld the coming of the Bridegroom, and said with +strange blending of images of war and of peace: 'Thine arrows are sharp +in the heart of the King's enemies; in Thy majesty ride prosperously, +because of meekness; and Thy right hand shall teach Thee terrible +things';--that same lesson was taught when the King was crowned, and in +the day of His coronation, that which fell upon His bowed, glistening +head, was the Dove from Heaven, the proclamation that meekness and +gentleness are the garment of Omnipotence. + +II. Consider this incident as showing us the gifts of the King to His +subjects. + +Christ has nothing which He keeps to Himself. Christ received the Spirit +that He might diffuse it through the whole world. Whatsoever He has +received of the Father He gives unto us. This conception of the gift +that Christ has to bestow upon men, as being the very life-spirit that +dwelt in His manhood, and made and kept it pure, is the highest thought +that we can have of what the gospel does for us. You do not understand +its meaning if you content yourself with thinking of it as simply the +means of escape from wrath. You do not understand its meaning--though, +blessed be God! that is the first part of its mercy to us--if you think +of Christ's gift as only pardon by means of His sacrifice on the Cross. +We must rise higher than that; we must feel, if we would understand the +'unspeakable gift,' that it is the gift of Himself to dwell within us by +His Spirit as the very spirit of our lives. Assimilation by reception of +a supernatural life from Him, is the teaching of Pentecost. Christ is +our life; 'the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made us +free from the law of sin and death.' + +Therefore, all Christian men are spoken of in the New Testament in the +same language which is used in reference to their Master. Is He the Son +of God? They are sons through Him. Is He the High Priest? They are +priests unto God. Is He the Light of the World? They are, in their +places, kindled and derived lights. Is He the Christ, the Messias, the +Anointed? 'Ye have an unction from the Holy One,' and He hath anointed +us in Him. So that it is no arrogance, though it may be a questionably +wise form of expression, when we say that the object of Christ's coming +is to make us all Christs, God's anointed, and to make us so because He +Himself in His Spirit dwells in us. + +Christ can do that. He can give this Spirit. That is the very thing that +all other teachers cannot do. They can teach tricks of imitation, they +can galvanise men, for a little while, into some kind of copy of their +characteristics. They can give them the principles which they themselves +have been living on, but to repeat and to continue the spirit of the +Teacher is the very thing that cannot be done. 'Let a double portion +fall upon me,' said Elisha; and Elijah, knowing the limits of the human +relationship between master and disciple, could only shake his head in +doubt and say, 'Thou askest a hard thing; perhaps thou wilt get it, +perhaps thou wilt not, but it will not be I that will give it you.' But +Christ says: 'I give My Spirit to you all.' + +And let us remember, too, how full of blessed teaching, of rebuke, and +of instruction that symbol is, in reference to ourselves. To all of us +there is offered, if we like to have it, this dove-like Spirit. What +does that mean? Let us for a moment dwell upon the various uses of the +emblem, for they all carry important lessons. Our hearts are like that +wild chaos which preceded the present ordered state of things. And over +the seething darkness, full of all formless horrors and half-discerned +dead monstrosities, over all the chaos of disordered wills, rebellious +appetites, stinging conscience, darkened perceptions, there will come, +if we will (and we may will by His help, which is never far away from +us), gently, but quickening us into life and reducing confusion into +order, and flooding our cloudy night with light, that divine Spirit. The +dove that brooded over Chaos and made it Cosmos, will brood over your +nature, and re-create the whole. 'If any man be in Christ, he is a new +creation.' 'The old things are passed away.' Creator Spirit! create a +clean heart in me. + +And then again let me remind you that this emblem brings to us another +cognate and yet distinct hope, inasmuch as the dove was the emblem of +purity and clean for sacrifice. This is the characteristic of the +scriptural doctrine of inspiration, by which it is distinguished from +all heathen and secular conceptions of a similar sort, viz., that it +puts the moral in the foreground, and that the Spirit, which is the +Spirit of truth, and of wisdom and of power, is first and foremost the +Spirit of holiness. So that if a man is not clean, no matter what his +gifts, no matter what his wisdom, no matter what his intellectual force, +no matter what his supernatural and miraculous power, he has not the +Spirit of God in him. The Dove comes, and where it comes there is peace, +there is purity, there is sacrifice. If any man have not the Spirit of +holiness he is none of Christ's. + +So, brethren, remember that not in shining faculty, not in piercing +vision into mystery, not in the eloquence of honeyed tongue, nor the +power of a swift hand, not in any of the lesser and subordinate gifts +which the world exclusively honours as inspiration, is the power of the +indwelling Spirit to be manifested. If the Spirit of God is in you, it +is making you clean. + +Still further, remember how, as for the King so for His subjects, the +Dove that crowns Him and that dwells in them is the Spirit of meekness +and of gentleness. That is the true force. Light, which is silent, is +mightier than all lightnings. The Spirit, which is the 'Spirit of love,' +is therefore 'the Spirit of power.' The true type of Christian +character, which the gospel has brought into being, looks modest, +inconspicuous and humdrum, by the side of the more brilliant and vulgar +beauties of the world's ideals. Just as the iridescent hues on a dove's +neck, and the quiet blue of its plumage, look modest and Quaker-like +beside gaudy parroquets and other bedizened birds, so the Christian type +of character, patient, meek, gentle, not self-asserting, seems pale and +sober-tinted beside the world's heroes. But gentleness is the mightiest +and will conquer at last. For Christ and Christ's followers go forth, +through universal love to universal power. + +And the last suggestion that I offer to you about the significance of +this symbol is one that I freely admit to be fanciful, and yet it +strikes me as being very beautiful. Noah's dove came back to the ark +with one leaf in his beak. That was the prophecy and the foretaste of a +whole world of beauty and of verdure. The dove that comes to us, bearing +with it some leaf plucked from the tree of life, which is in the midst +of the paradise of God, is the earnest of our inheritance until the day +of redemption. All the gifts of that divine Spirit, gifts of holiness, +of gentleness, of wisdom, of truth--all these are forecasts and +anticipations of the perfectness of the heavens. To us, sailing over a +dismal sea, the Spirit comes bearing with it a message that tells us of +the far-off land and the fair garden of God in which the blessed shall +walk. + +Dear friends, remember the one condition on which is suspended our +possession of the Spirit of God. It is that we shall have Christ for our +very own by our humble faith. If we are trusting in Him, He will come +and put His Spirit within our hearts. Without Him these hearts are cages +of unclean and hateful birds. But the meek presence of the dove of God +will drive out the obscene, twilight-loving creatures that build and +scream there, and will fill our hearts with the tranquillity, the +purity, the gentleness, the hope, which are 'the fruit of the Spirit.' + + +THE VICTORY OF THE KING + + 'Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be + tempted of the devil. 2. And when He had fasted forty days and + forty nights, He was afterward an hungred. 3. And when the tempter + came to Him, he said, If Thou be the Son of God, command that these + stones be made bread. 4. But He answered and said, It is written, + Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that + proceedeth out of the mouth of God. 5. Then the devil taketh Him up + into the holy city, and setteth Him on a pinnacle of the temple, 6. + And saith unto Him, If Thou be the Son of God, cast Thyself down: + for it is written, He shall give His angels charge concerning Thee: + and in their hands they shall bear Thee up, lest at any time Thou + dash Thy foot against a stone. 7. Jesus said unto him, It is + written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. 8. Again, the + devil taketh Him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth + Him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them; 9. And + saith unto Him, All these things will I give Thee, if Thou wilt + fall down and worship me. 10. Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee + hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy + God, and Him only shalt thou serve. 11. Then the devil leaveth Him, + and, behold, angels came and ministered unto Him.'--MATT. iv. 1-11. + +Every word of the first verses of this narrative is full of meaning. +'Then' marks the immediate connection, not only in time but in +causation, between the baptism and the temptation. The latter followed +necessarily on the former. 'Of the Spirit'--then God does lead His Son +into temptation. For us all, as for Christ, it is true that, though God +does not tempt as wishing us to fall, He does so order our lives that +they carry us into places where the metal of our religion is tried. 'To +be tempted'--then a pure, sinless human nature is capable of temptation, +and the King has to begin his career by a battle. 'Of the devil'--then +there is a dark kingdom of evil, and a personal head of it, the prince +of darkness. He knows His rival, and yet He knows him but partially. He +strides out to meet him in desperate duel, as Goliath did the stripling +whom he despised; and both hosts pause and gaze. To a sinless nature no +temptation can arise from within, but must be presented from without. + +We leave untouched the question as to the manner of this temptation, +which remains equally real, whether we conceive that the tempter +appeared in bodily form, and actually carried the body of our Lord from +place to place, or whether we suppose that, during it all, Christ sat +silent, and apparently alone in the wilderness. We only divert attention +from the true importance of the incident by giving prominence to +picturesque or questionable externals of it. + +I. The first assault and repulse, in the desert. + +Unlike John the Baptist, whose austere spirit was unfolded in the +desert, Jesus grew up among men, passing through and sanctifying +childhood and youth, home duties, and innocent pleasures. But ere He +enters on His work, the need which every soul appointed to high and hard +tasks has felt, namely, the need for seclusion and communion with God in +solitude, was felt by Him. As it had been for Moses and Elijah, the +wilderness was His school; and as the collective Israel, so the personal +Son of God, has to be led into the wilderness, that there God may 'speak +to His heart.' So deep and rapt was the communion, that, for forty days, +spirit so mastered flesh that the need and desire for food were +suspended. But when He touched earth again, the pinch of hunger began. +Analogous cases of the power of high emotion to hold physical wants in +abeyance are sufficiently familiar to make so extreme an instance +explicable. + +We have to distinguish in the first temptation between the sphere in +which it moves, the act suggested, and the true nature of the act as +dragged to light in Christ's answer. The sphere is that of the physical +nature. Hunger has nothing to do with right or wrong. It asserts itself +independent of all considerations. In itself neutral, it may, like all +physical cravings, lead to sin. Most men are most tempted by fleshly +desires. Satan had tried the same bait before on the first Adam. It had +answered so well then, that he thinks himself wise in bringing it out +once more. Adam, in his garden, surrounded by all that sense needed, had +yielded, and thereby had turned the garden into desert; Christ, in the +desert, pressed by hunger, does not yield, and thereby turns the desert +into a garden again. At the beginning of His course He is tempted by the +innocent desire to secure physical support; at its close He is tempted +by the innocent desire to avoid physical pain. He overcomes both, and by +His victories in the wilderness so unlike the garden, and in Gethsemane, +another garden, so unlike the first, He brings 'a statelier Eden back to +man.' + +The act suggested seems not only innocent, but in accordance with His +dignity. It was a strange anomaly for 'the Son of God,' on whose head +the dove had descended, and in whose ears the voice had sounded, to be +at the point of starving. What more unbecoming than that one possessed +of His mysterious closeness to God should be suffering from such ignoble +necessities? What more foolish than to continue to hunger, when a word +could spread a table in the wilderness? John had said that God could +make children of Abraham out of these stones. Could He not make bread +out of them? The suggestion sounds benevolent, sensible, almost +religious. The need is real, the remedy possible and easy; the result +desirable as preserving valuable life, and putting an end to an anomaly, +and the objections apparently _nil_. The bait is skilfully wound over +the barbed hook. + +Christ's answer tears it away, and discloses the sharp points. He will +not discuss with Satan whether He is Son of God or no. To the Jews He +was wont to answer, 'I say unto you'; to Satan He answers, 'It is +written.' He puts honour on 'the sword of the Spirit, which is the word +of God,' and sets us an example of how to wield it. The words quoted are +found in the account of Israel's miraculous sustenance in the desert by +the manna, and are applied by Christ to Himself, not as Son of God, but +as simple man. They contain the great truth that God can feed men, in +their physical life, by bread or without bread. When He does it by bread +or other ordinary means, it is even then not the material substance in +itself, but His will operating through it, which feeds. He can abolish +all the outward means, and still keep a man alive. There is no reference +to the truth which is sometimes forcibly inserted into this saying, that +man has a higher than bodily life, and needs more than material bread to +feed the hunger of the soul. The whole scope of the words is to state +the law of physical nourishment as dependent at last on the divine will, +and therefore equally capable of being accomplished with or without +bread, by ordinary means or apart from these. + +The bearing of the words on Christ's hunger is twofold: First, He will +not use His miraculous powers to provide food, for that would be to +distrust God, and so to cast off His filial dependence; second, He will +not separate Himself from His brethren, and provide for Himself by a way +not open to them, for that would really be to reverse the very purpose +of His incarnation and to defeat His whole work. He has come to bear all +man's burdens, and shall He begin by separating Himself from them? +Therefore He answers in words which declare the law for 'man,' and +thereby merges all that was distinctive in His position in a loving +participation in our lot. If the Captain of our Salvation had begun by +refusing to share the privations of the rank and file, and had provided +dainties for Himself, what would have become of His making common cause +with them? The temptation addressed to Christ's physical nature was, to +put it roughly, 'Look out for yourself.' His answer was, 'As Son of God, +I hold by My filial dependence. As man, I share My brethren's lot, and +am content to live as they live.' + +II. The second assault and repulse, on the temple. + +We need not touch on the questions as to whether our Lord's body was +really transported to the temple, and, if so, to what part of it. But we +may point out that there is nothing in the narrative to warrant the +usual interpretation of this temptation, as being addressed to the +desire of recognition, and as equivalent to the suggestion that our Lord +should show Himself, by a stupendous miracle before the multitude, as +the Messiah. There is nothing about spectators, and no sign that the +dread solitude wrapping these two was broken by others. We must seek +for the point of the second temptation in another direction. + +The very locality chosen for it helps us to the right understanding of +it. There were plenty of cliffs in the desert, down which a fall would +have been fatal. Why not choose one of them? The temple was God's house, +the fitting scene for an attempt to work disaster by the abuse of +religious ideas. The former temptation underlies this. That had sought +to move Jesus to cast off His filial confidence; this seeks to pervert +that confidence, and through it to lead Him to cast off filial +obedience. Therefore 'the Devil quotes Scripture for his purpose.' What +could be more religious than an act of daring based upon faith, which +again was based on a word which proceeded 'out of the mouth of God'? It +is not in the suppression of certain words in the quotation that Satan's +error lies. The omitted words are not material. What did he hope to +accomplish by this suggestion? If Jesus was, in bodily reality, standing +on the summit of the temple, the tempter, profoundly disbelieving the +promise, may have thought that the leap would end his anxieties by the +death of his rival. But, at any rate, he sought to lead His faith into +wrong paths, and to incite to what was really sinful self-will under the +guise of absolute trust. + +Our Lord's answer, again drawn from Deuteronomy, strips off the disguise +from the action which seemed so trustful. He changes the plural verb of +the original passage into the singular, thus at once taking as His own +personal obligation the general command, and pointing a sharp arrow at +His foe, who was now knowingly or unknowingly so flagrantly breaking +that law. If God had bidden Jesus cast Himself down, to do it would have +been right. As He had not, to do it was not faith, but self-will. To +cast Himself into dangers needlessly, and then to trust God (whom He had +not consulted about going into them) to get Him out, was to 'tempt God.' +True faith is ever accompanied with true docility. He had come to do His +Father's will. A divine 'must' ruled His life. Was He to begin His +career by throwing off His allegiance on pretext of trust? If the +Captain of our Salvation commences the campaign by rebellion, how can He +lead the rank and file to that surrender of their own wills which is +victory? + +The lessons for us from the second temptation are weighty. Faith may be +perverted. It may even lead to abandoning filial submission. God's +promised protection is available, not in paths of our own choosing, but +only where He has sent us. If we take the leap without His command, we +shall fall mangled on the very temple pavement. It is when we are 'in +the way' which He has prescribed that 'the angels of God' whom He has +promised 'meet' us. How many scandals in the falls of good men would +have been avoided, and how many mad enterprises would have been +unattempted, and how much more clearly would the relations of filial +faith and filial obedience have been understood, if the teaching of this +second temptation had been laid to heart! + +III. The final assault and repulse, on the mountain. + +Again the scene changes, because the stress of the temptation is +different. The 'exceeding high mountain' is not to be looked for in our +atlases. The manner in which all the glories of the world's kingdoms +were flashed in one dazzling panorama, like an instantaneous photograph, +before Christ's eyes, is beyond our knowledge. We note that Satan has no +more to say about 'the Son of God.' He has been foiled in both his +assaults on Christ in that character. If He stood firm in filial trust +and in filial submission, there was no more to be done. So the tempter +tries new weapons, and seeks to pervert the desire for that dominion +over the world which was to be a consequence of the sonship. He has not +been able to touch Him as Son; can he not spoil Him as King? They are +rivals: can they not strike up a treaty? Jesus thinks that He is going +to reign as God's viceroy; can He not be induced, as a much quicker way +of getting to His end, to become Satan's? Such a scheme sounds very +stupid; but Satan is very stupid, for all his wisdom, and the hopeless +folly of his proposal is typical of the absurdities which lie in all +sins. There is an old play, the title of which would be coarse if it +were not so true, 'The Devil is an Ass.' + +His boast, like all his wiles, is a little truth and a great lie. It is +true that his servants do often manage to climb into thrones and other +high places. It is true that beggars and worse than beggars on +horseback, and princes and better than princes walking, is often the +rule. It is true that the crowned saints of the world might be counted +on the fingers. But, for all that, the Father of lies was like himself +in this promise. He did not say that, if he gives a kingdom to one of +his servants, he takes it from another. He did not say that his gifts +are shams, and fade away when the daylight comes. He did not say that +he and his are, after all, tools in God's hands. + +What was it that he thought he was appealing to in Christ? Ambition? He +knew that Jesus was destined to be King of the earth, and he blunders to +the conclusion that His reign is to be such as he could help Him to. How +impossible it is for Satan to penetrate the depths of that loving heart! +How mole-blind evil is to the radiant light of goodness! How hate fails +when it tries to fathom love! If all that Satan meant by 'the glory' of +the world had been Christ's, He would have been no nearer His heart's +desire. + +The temptation was not only to fling away the ideal of His kingdom, but +to reverse the means for its establishment. Neither temptation could +originate within Christ's heart, but both beset Him all His life. The +cravings of His followers, the expectations of His race, the certainty +of an enthusiastic response if He would put Himself at their head, and +the equal certainty of death if He would not, were always urging Him to +the very same thing. + +'There is nothing weaker,' says an old school-man, 'than the Devil +stripped naked.' The mask is thrown off at last, and swift and smiting +comes the gesture and the word of abhorrence, 'Get thee hence, +Satan,'--now revealed in thy true colours. Jesus still couches His +refusal in Scripture words, as if sheltering Himself behind their broad +shield. It is safest to meet temptation, not by our own reasonings and +thoughts, but by the words which cannot lie. As He had held unmoved, by +His filial trust and His filial submission, now He clings to the +foundation principle of all religion,--the exclusive worship and service +of God. His kingdom is to be a kingdom of priests; therefore to begin it +by such an act would be suicide. It is to be the victorious antagonist +of Satan's kingdom, because it is to lead all men to worship God alone; +therefore enmity, not alliance, is to be between these two. Christ's +last words are not only His final refusal of all the baits, but the +ringing proclamation of war to the death, and that a war which will end +in victory. The enemy's quiver is empty. He feels that he has met more +than his match, so he skulks from the field, beaten for the first time +by having encountered a heart which all his fiery darts failed to +inflame, and dimly foreseeing yet more utter defeat. + +The last temptation teaches us both the nature of Christ's kingdom and +the means of its establishment. It is a rule over men's hearts and +wills, swaying them to goodness and the exclusive worship and service of +God. That being so, the way to found it follows of course. It can only +be set up by suffering, utter self-sacrifice, gentleness, and goodness. +Christ is King of all because He is servant of all. His cross is His +throne. His realm is of hearts softened, cleansed, made gladly obedient, +and growingly like Himself. For such a king, weapons of force are +impossible, and for His subjects the same law holds. They have often +tried to fight for Christ with the Devil's weapons, to make compliance +with him for ends which they thought good, to keep terms with evil, or +to adopt worldly policy, craft, or force. They have never succeeded, +and, thank God! they never will. + +That duel was fought for us. There we all conquered, if we will hold +fast by Him who conquered then, and thereby taught our 'hands to war' +and our 'fingers to fight.' The strong man is bound. The spoiling of his +house follows of course, and is but a question of time. + + +THE SPRINGING OF THE GREAT LIGHT + + 'Now when Jesus had heard that John was cast into prison, He + departed into Galilee; 13. And leaving Nazareth, He came and dwelt + in Capernaum, which is upon the sea coast, in the borders of + Zabulon and Nephthalim: 14. That it might be fulfilled which was + spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying, 15. The land of Zabulon, and + the land of Nephthalim, by the way of the sea, beyond Jordan, + Galilee of the Gentiles; 16. The people which sat in darkness saw + great light; and to them which sat in the region and shadow of + death light is sprung up.'--MATT. iv. 12-16. + +Though the narrative of the Temptation is immediately followed by the +notice of Jesus' return to Galilee, there was a space between wide +enough to hold all that John's Gospel tells of the gathering of the +first disciples, the brief stay in Galilee, the Jerusalem ministry, and +the journey through Samaria. John i. 43 refers to the same point of time +as verses 12-16 of this chapter. It is rash to conclude Matthew's +ignorance from his silence, and it is plain, from his own words, that he +did not suppose that the return to Galilee followed the Temptation as +closely in time as it does in his narrative. For he does link the +Temptation to the Baptism immediately, by '_Then_ was Jesus led up of +the Spirit' (verse 1), and so some interval of time must be allowed, +during which Jesus left the wilderness, and went to some place where He +could hear of John's imprisonment. A gap is necessary. Its extent is not +indicated, nor are the reasons for silence as to its contents. But we +may as reasonably conjecture that Matthew's eagerness to get to his main +subject, the Galilean ministry, led him to regard the short visit to +Jerusalem as an episode from which little came, as put his silence down +to a very improbable ignorance. The same explanation may account for the +slight mention made of His 'leaving Nazareth,' of which Luke has given +the memorable story. + +John was silenced, and that moved Jesus to go back to Galilee and take +up His ministry there. His reason has been thought to have been the wish +to avoid a similar fate, but He was safer from Herod in Jerusalem than +in Capernaum, within reach of the tyrant's arm, stretched out from +Tiberias close by, and the supposition is more probable, as well as more +worthy, that a directly opposite motive impelled Him. The voice that had +cried, 'After me cometh a greater than I,' was stifled in a dungeon. It +was fitting that He, of whom John had spoken, should at once stand +forth. There must be no interval between the ringing proclamation by the +herald and the appearance of the king, lest men should say that one more +hope had been dashed, and one more prophet proved a dreamer. And is +there not a lesson for all times in the fact that when John is silenced, +Jesus begins to speak? Is not the quenching of a light kindled to bear +witness to the true Light, ever the occasion for that unkindled and +unquenchable Light to burn the more brightly, though tear-dimmed eyes +often fail to see it? + +The choice of Capernaum as a residence suggested to Matthew Isaiah's +prophecy, which he quotes freely, fusing into one sentence the +geographical terms, in verse 15, which, in the Hebrew, are the close of +one paragraph, and the prophecy in verse 16 which, in the Hebrew, begins +another. The territory of Zabulon lay in what is now called Lower +Galilee, stretching right across from the northern end of the Sea of +Gennesaret to the coast of the Mediterranean, while that of Naphtali lay +further north. 'The way of the sea' is here not the designation of +another district, but a specification of those named in the preceding +clauses, and may be rendered 'towards the sea,' while 'beyond Jordan' is +the almost heathen territory on the east bank of the river, and 'Galilee +of the Gentiles' is the general name for all three, the two tribal +territories and the trans-Jordanic district. These are all smelted into +one designation, 'the people which sat in darkness,' and thus the whole +of verse 15 and the first clause of verse 16 make the nominative of the +verb 'saw.' There is something very impressive in that long-drawn-out +accumulation of geographical names, and in their being all massed in the +one sad description of their inert darkness, and then equally massed as +seeing the great light that springs up. The intense pathos of that +description and its sad truth to experience should not be unnoticed. +They sit in the dark--the attitude of listless languor and constrained +inaction, too true an emblem of the paralysis which falls on all the +highest activities of the spirit, if the light from God has been +quenched. It is only wild beasts that are active in the night. The lower +parts of man's nature may work energetically in that darkness, but all +that makes his glory is torpid in it. Christ's light has been the great +impulse to progress. Races without it sit and do not march. But that is +not all, for the sad picture is sketched again with blacker shadows in +the next clause, which substitutes for 'darkness' the still more tragic +words, 'the region and shadow of death.' The realm of darkness is the +region of death. That dread figure is the lord of it, and, grimly +enough, its very intensity of blackness has power to throw a shadow even +there where there is no light, and to deepen the gloom. The second +clause advances on the first in another respect, for while the former +spoke only of 'seeing' the light, the latter tells of the blessed +suddenness with which it 'sprung up.' The one clause speaks of the human +perception, the other of the divine revelation which precedes it and +makes it possible. + +But had Matthew any right to see in Jesus' Galilean ministry the +fulfilment of a prophecy which, as spoken, was simply a promise that the +northern parts of Israel which, by geographical position, had to bear +the first and worst brunt of Assyrian invasion, should have deliverance +from the oppressor? Yes; for Isaiah's vision of the light rising on +Israel, crushed beneath foreign oppression, was based on a distinctly +Messianic prediction. It was because Messiah should come that he +expected Assyria to be flung off and Israel to be set free, and he was +right in the expectation, for though the Messiah did not come visibly +then, His coming was the guarantee, and in some sense the cause, of +Israel's deliverance. Nor was Matthew less right in seeing in that +earlier deliverance but a germinant accomplishment of the prophecy, +which, by its very transiency, outwardness, and incompleteness, pointed +onwards to a better spring of the Light, and a fuller deliverance from +a murkier darkness and a more mortal death. 'The life was the light of +men,' the teacher of all knowledge of God, the source of all light of +true joy, the giver of all light of white purity, and He has risen on a +world sitting in darkness that all men may walk in the light, and be +children of the light. + + +THE EARLY WELCOME AND THE FIRST MINISTERS OF THE KING + + 'From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the + kingdom of heaven is at hand. 18. And Jesus, walking by the sea of + Galilee, saw two brethren, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his + brother, casting a net into the sea: for they were fishers. 19. And + He saith unto them, Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men. + 20. And they straightway left their nets, and followed Him. 21. And + going on from thence, He saw other two brethren, James the son of + Zebedee, and John his brother, in a ship with Zebedee their father, + mending their nets: and He called them. 22. And they immediately + left the ship and their father, and followed Him. 23. And Jesus + went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching + the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and + all manner of disease among the people. 24. And His fame went + throughout all Syria: and they brought unto Him all sick people + that were taken with divers diseases and torments, and those which + were possessed with devils, and those which were lunatick, and + those that had the palsy; and He healed them. 25. And there + followed Him great multitudes of people from Galilee, and from + Decapolis, and from Jerusalem, and from Judæa, and from beyond + Jordan.'--MATT. iv. 17-25. + +In these verses we have a summary of our Lord's early Galilean +ministry. The events are so presented and combined as to give an +impression as of a triumphal progress of the newly anointed monarch. He +sweeps through the northern regions, everywhere exercising the twofold +office of teaching and healing, and everywhere followed by eager crowds. +This joyous burst of the new power, like some strong fountain leaping +into the sunshine, and this rush of popular enthusiasm, are meant to +heighten the impression of the subsequent hostility of the people. The +King welcomed at first is crucified at last. It was 'roses, roses, all +the way' in these early days, but they withered soon. There are three +points in these verses: the King acting as His own herald; the King +calling His first servants; and the King wielding His power and welcomed +by His subjects. + +I. In verse 17 we have a striking picture of the King as His own herald. +The word rendered 'preach' of course means, literally, to proclaim as a +herald does. It is remarkable that this earliest phase of our Lord's +teaching is described in the same words as John's preaching. The stern +voice was silenced. Instead of the free wilderness, John had now the +gloomy walls of Machæus for the bound of his activity. But Jesus takes +up his message, though with a difference. The severe imagery of the axe, +the fan, the fire, is not repeated, as it would seem. Sterner words than +John's could fall hot from the lips into which grace was poured; but the +time for these was not yet come. It may seem singular that Christ should +have spoken of the kingdom, and been silent concerning the King. But +such silence was only of a piece with the reticence which marked His +whole teaching, and was a sign of His wise adaptation of His words to +the capacity of His hearers, as well as of His lowliness. He veiled His +royalty by deigning to be His own herald; by substituting the +proclamation of the abstract, the kingdom, for the concrete, the King; +by seeming to careless hearers to be but the continuer of the +forerunner's message; by the simple, remote region which He chose for +His earliest work. The belief that the kingdom was at hand was equally +necessary, and repentance equally indispensable as preparation for it, +whoever the King might be. The same law of congruity between message and +hearers, which He enjoined on His followers, when He bade them be +careful where they flung their pearls, and which governed His own +fullest final revelations to His truest friends, when He said, 'I have +yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot carry them now,' moulded +His first words to the excited but ignorant crowds. + +II. The King's mandate summoning His servants. The call of the first +four disciples is so told as to make prominent these points: the +brotherhood of the two pairs; their occupation at the moment of their +call; the brief, authoritative word of Christ; His investiture of them +with new functions, which yet in some sense were the prolongation of the +old; their unhesitating, instantaneous obedience and willing abandonment +of their all. These points all help the impression of regal power, and +do something to explain the nature of the kingdom and the heart of the +King. Matthew does not seem to have known of the previous intercourse of +the four with Jesus, as recorded In John 1. His narrative, taken alone, +would lay stress on the strange influence wielded by Jesus over these +busy fishermen. But that influence is no less remarkable, and becomes +more explicable, on taking John's supplemental account into +consideration. It tells us that one brother of each pair--namely Andrew, +and probably John--had sought Jesus on the Baptist's testimony, and in +that never-to-be-forgotten night had acquired the conviction that He was +the King of Israel. It tells us, too, that Andrew first found his own +brother, Simon; from which we may infer that the other one of the two +next found his brother James, and that each brought his own brother to +Jesus. The bond of discipleship was then riveted. But apparently, when +Jesus went up to Jerusalem on that first journey recorded only in John's +Gospel, the four went back to their fishing, and waited for His further +call. It came in the manner which Matthew describes. The background, +which John enables us to fill in, shows us that their following was no +sudden blind impulse, but the deliberate surrender of men who knew well +what they were doing, though they had not fathomed the whole truth as to +His kingdom and their place in it. They knew, at any rate, that He was +the Messiah and that they were called by a voice, which they ought to +obey, to be His soldiers and partisans. They could not but know that the +call meant danger, hardship, conflict. They rallied to the call, as +soldiers might when the commander honours them by reading out their +names, as picked for leaders of the storming-party. + +Was this the same incident which St. Luke narrates as following the +first miraculous draught of fishes? That is one of the difficulties in +harmonising the synoptic narratives which will always divide opinions. +On the whole, I incline to think it most natural to answer 'no.' The +reasons would take us too far afield. But accepting that view, we may +note through how many stages Jesus led this group of His disciples +before they were fully recognised as apostles. First there was their +attachment to Him as disciples, which in no degree interfered with their +trade. Then came this call to more close attendance on Him, which, +however, was probably still somewhat intermittent. Then followed the +call recorded by Luke, which finally tore them from their homes; and, +last of all, their appointment as apostles. At each stage they 'might +have had opportunity to have returned.' Their vocation in the kingdom +dawns on them slowly. They and we are led on, by little and little and +little, to posts and tasks of which we do not dream at the beginning. +Duty opens before the docile heart bit by bit. Abram is led to Harran, +and only there learns his ultimate destination. Obedience is rewarded by +the summons to more complete surrender, which is also fuller possession +of Him for whom the surrender is made. + +'The word of a king is with power.' Christ's call is authoritative in +its brevity. All duty lies in 'Come ye after Me.' He does not need to +use arguments. From the very first this meek and lowly man assumes a +tone which on other lips we call arrogant. His style is royal. His mouth +is autocratic. He knows that He has the right to command. And, strangely +enough, the world admits the right, and finds nothing unworthy of His +meekness--a meekness of which He was fully conscious, which is another +paradox--in this unconditional claim of absolute submission to his curt +orders. What is the explanation of this tone of authority? How comes it +that the kingdom which is liberty is, from its very foundation, an +absolute despotism? That same peremptory summons reaches beyond these +four fishermen to us all. They were the first to hear it, and continued +to hold pre-eminence among the disciples, for they make up the first +group of the three quaternions into which the list of the apostles is +always divided. But the very same voice speaks to us, and we are as +truly summoned by the King to be His servants and soldiers as were they. + +Their prompt self-surrendering response is the witness of the power over +their hearts which Jesus had won. The one pair of brothers left their +nets floating in the water; the other left their father with the mesh +and the twine in his old hands. It was not much wealth to leave. But he +surrenders much who surrenders all, however little that all may be; and +he surrenders nothing who keeps back anything. One sweet portion of +their earthly happiness He left them to enjoy, heightened by +discipleship, for each had his brother by his side, and natural +affection was ennobled by common faith and service. If Zebedee was left, +John still had James. True, Herod's sword cut their union asunder, and +James died first, and John last, of the twelve; but years of happy +brotherhood were to come before then. So both the surrender which +outwardly gives up possessions or friends, and that which keeps them, +sanctified by being held and used as for and from Him, were exemplified +in the swift obedience of these four to the call of the King. + +'I will make you fishers of men.' That shows a kindly wish to make as +little as may be of the change of occupation. Their old craft is to be +theirs still, only in nobler form. The patience, the brave facing of the +storm and the night, the observance of the indications which taught +where to cast, the perseverance which toiled all night though not a fin +glistened in the net, would all find place in their new career. Nor are +these words less royal than was the call. They contain profound hints as +to the nature of the kingdom which could scarcely be apprehended at +first. But this at least would be clear, that Jesus summoned them to +service, to gather in men out of the dreary waves of worldly care and +toil into a kingdom of stable rest, and that by summoning them to +service He endowed them with power. So He does still. All whom He +summons to follow Him are meant by Him to be fishers of men. It was not +as apostles, but as simple disciples, that these four received this +charge and ability. The same command and fitness are given to all +Christians. Following Christ, surrender, the obligation of effort to win +others, capacity to do so, belong to all the subjects of Christ's +kingdom. + +III. The triumphal progress of the King. Our evangelist evidently masses +together without regard to chronological order the broad features of the +early Galilean ministry. He paints it as a time of joyful activity, of +universal recognition, of swift and far-spreading fame. We do not +exaggerate the impression of victorious publicity which they give, when +we call these closing verses the record of the King's triumphal progress +through His dominions. Observe the reiterated use of 'all,'--all +Galilee, all manner of sickness and all manner of disease, all Syria, +all that were sick. Matthew labours to convey the feeling of universal +stir and wide-reaching, 'full-throated' welcome. Observe, too, that the +activity of Christ is confined to Galilee, but the fame of Him crosses +the border into heathendom. The King stays on His own territory, but He +conquers beyond the frontier. Syria and the mostly heathen Decapolis, +and Peræa ('beyond Jordan'), are moved. The odour of the ointment not +only fills the house, but enriches the scentless outside air. The +prophecy contained in the coming of the Magi is beginning to be +fulfilled. From its first preaching, the kingdom is diffusive. Note, +too, the contrast between John's ministry and Christ's, in that the +former stayed in one spot, and the crowds had to go out to him, while +the very genius of Christ's mission expressed itself in that this +shepherd king sought the sad and sick, and 'went about in all Galilee.' +Observe, too, that He teaches and preaches the good news of the kingdom, +before He heals. John's proclamation of the kingdom had been so charged +with threatenings and mingled with fire that it could scarcely be called +a 'gospel'; but here that joyous word, used for the first time, is in +place. As the tidings came from Christ's lips, they were good tidings, +and to proclaim them was His first task. The miracles of healing came +second. They were not 'the bell before the sermon,' but the benediction +after it. They flowed from Christ in rich abundance. The eager +receptiveness of the people, ignorant as it was, was greater then than +ever afterwards. Therefore the flow of miraculous power was more +unimpeded. But it may be questioned whether we generally have an +adequate notion of the immense number of Christ's miracles. Those +recorded are but a small proportion of those done. There were more +grapes in the vineyards of Eshcol than the messengers brought in +evidence to the camp. Our Lord's miracles are told by units; they seem +to have been wrought by scores. These early ones were not only +attestations of His claim to be the King, but illustrations of the +nature of His kingdom He had conquered and bound the strong man, and now +He was 'spoiling his house.' They were parables of His higher work on +men's souls, which He comes to cleanse from the oppression of demons, +from the foamings of epilepsy, from impotence as to doing right. They +were tokens of the inexhaustible fountain of power, and of the swift and +equally inexhaustible treasures of sympathy, which dwelt in Him. They +were His first trophies in His holy war, His first gifts to His +subjects. + +Thus compassed with enthusiasm, and shedding on the wearied new hopes, +and on the sick unwonted health, and stirring in sluggish souls some +aspirations that greatened and inspired, the King appeared. But no +illusions deceived His calm prescience. From the beginning He knew the +path which stretched before Him; and while the transient loyalty of the +ignorant shouted hosannas around His steps, He saw the cross at the end, +and the sight did not make Him falter. + + +THE NEW SINAI + + 'And seeing the multitudes, He went up into a mountain: and when He + was set, His disciples came unto Him: 2. And He opened his mouth, + and taught them, saying, 3. Blessed are the poor in spirit: for + theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 4. Blessed are they that mourn: + for they shall be comforted. 5. Blessed are the meek: for they + shall inherit the earth. 6. Blessed are they which do hunger and + thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled. 7. Blessed + are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy. 8. Blessed are the + pure in heart: for they shall see God. 9. Blessed are the + peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God, 10. + Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake: for + theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 11. Blessed are ye, when men shall + revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil + against you falsely, for My sake. 12. Rejoice, and be exceeding + glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they + the prophets which were before you. 13. Ye are the salt of the + earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be + salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and + to be trodden under foot of men. 14. Ye are the light of the world. + A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. 15. Neither do men + light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; + and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. 16. Let your + light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and + glorify your Father which is in heaven.'--MATT. v. 1-16. + +An unnamed mountain somewhere on the Sea of Galilee is the Sinai of the +new covenant. The contrast between the savage desolation of the +wilderness and the smiling beauty of the sunny slope near the haunts of +men symbolises the contrast in the genius of the two codes, given from +each. There God came down in majesty, and the cloud hid Him from the +people's gaze; here Jesus sits amidst His followers, God with us. The +King proclaims the fundamental laws of His kingdom, and reveals much of +its nature by the fact that He begins by describing the characteristics +of its subjects, as well as by the fact that the description is cast in +the form of beatitudes. + +We must leave unsettled the question as to the relation between the +Sermon on the Mount and the shorter edition of part of it given by Luke, +only pointing out that in this first part of Matthew's Gospel we are +evidently presented with general summaries; as, for example, the summary +of the Galilean ministry in the previous verses, and the grand +procession of miracles which follows in chapters viii. and ix. It is +therefore no violent supposition that here too the evangelist has +brought together, as specimens of our Lord's preaching, words which were +not all spoken at the same time. His description of the Galilean +ministry in ch. iv. 23, as 'teaching' and 'healing,' governs the +arrangement of his materials from chapter v. to the end of chapter ix. +First comes the sermon, then the miracles follow. + +The Beatitudes, as a whole, are a set of paradoxes to the 'mind of the +flesh.' They were meant to tear away the foolish illusions of the +multitude as to the nature of the kingdom; and they must have disgusted +and turned back many would-be sharers in it. They are like a dash of +cold water on the fiery, impure enthusiasms which were eager for a +kingdom of gross delights and vulgar conquest. And, no doubt, Jesus +intended them to act like Gideon's test, and to sift out those whose +appetite for carnal good was uppermost. But they were tests simply +because they embodied everlasting truths as to the characters of His +subjects. Our narrow space allows of only the most superficial treatment +of these deep words. + +I. The foundation of all is laid in poverty of spirit. The word rendered +'poor' does not only signify one in a condition of want, but rather one +who is aware of the condition, and seeks relief. If we may refer to +Latin words here, it is mendicus rather than _pauper_, a beggar rather +than a poor man, who is meant. So that to be poor in spirit is to be in +inmost reality conscious of need, of emptiness, of dependence on God, of +demerit; the true estimate of self, as blind, evil, weak, is intended; +the characteristic tone of feeling pointed to is self-abnegation, like +that of the publican smiting his breast, or that of the +disease-weakened, hunger-tortured prodigal, or that of the once +self-righteous Paul, 'O wretched man that I am!' People who do not like +evangelical teaching sometimes say, 'Give me the Sermon on the Mount.' +So say I. Only let us take all of it; and if we do, we shall come, as we +shall have frequent occasion to point out, in subsequent passages, to +something uncommonly like the evangelical theology to which it is +sometimes set up as antithetic. For Christ begins His portraiture of a +citizen of the kingdom with the consciousness of want and sin. All the +rest of the morality of the Sermon is founded on this. It is the root of +all that is heavenly and divine in character. So this teaching is dead +against the modern pagan doctrine of self-reliance, and really embodies +the very principle for the supposed omission of which some folk like +this Sermon; namely, that our proud self-confidence must be broken down +before God can do any good with us, or we can enter His kingdom. + +The promises attached to the Beatitudes are in each case the results +which flow from the quality, rather than the rewards arbitrarily given +for it. So here, the possession of the kingdom comes by consequence from +poverty of spirit. Of course, such a kingdom as could be so inherited +was the opposite of that which the narrow and fleshly nationalism of the +Jews wanted, and these first words must have cooled many incipient +disciples. The 'kingdom of heaven' is the rule of God through Christ. It +is present wherever wills bow to Him; it is future, as to complete +realisation, in the heaven from which it comes, and to which, like its +King, it belongs even while on earth. Obviously, its subjects can only +be those who feel their dependence, and in poverty of spirit have cast +off self-will and self-reliance. 'Theirs is the kingdom' does not mean +'they shall rule,' but 'of them shall be its subjects.' True, they shall +rule in the perfected form of it; but the first, and in a real sense the +only, blessedness is to obey God; and that blessedness can only come +when we have learned poverty of spirit, because we see ourselves as in +need of all things. + +II. Each Beatitude springs from the preceding, and all twined together +make an ornament of grace upon the neck, a chain of jewels. The second +sounds a more violent paradox than even the first. Sorrowing is blessed. +This, of course, cannot mean mere sorrow as such. That may or may not +be a blessing. Grief makes men worse quite as often as it makes them +better. Its waves often flow over us like the sea over marshes, leaving +them as salt and barren as it found them. Nor is sorrow always sure of +comfort. We must necessarily understand the word here so as to bring it +into harmony with the context, and link it with the former Beatitude as +flowing from it, as well as with the succeeding. The only intelligible +explanation is that this sorrow arises from the contemplation of the +same facts concerning self as lead to poverty of spirit, and is, in +fact, the emotional side of the same disposition. He who takes the true +measure of himself cannot but sorrow over the frightful gulf between +what he should and might be and what he is, for he knows that there is +more than misfortune or unavoidable creatural weakness at work. The grim +reality of sin has to be reckoned in. Personal responsibility and guilt +are facts. The soul that has once seen its own past as it is, and looked +steadily down into the depths of its own being, cannot choose but +'mourn.' Such contrition underlies all moral progress. The ethical +teaching of the Sermon on the Mount puts these two, poverty of spirit +and tears for sin, at the foundation. Do its admirers lay that fact to +heart? This is Christ's account of discipleship. We have to creep +through a narrow gate, which we shall not pass but on our knees and +leaving all our treasures outside. But once through, we are in a great +temple with far-reaching aisles and lofty roof. Such sorrow is sure of +comfort. Other sorrow is not. The comfort it needs is the assurance of +forgiveness and cleansing, and that assurance has never been sought from +the King in vain. The comfort is filtered to us in drops here; it pours +in a flood hereafter. Blessed the sorrow which leads to experience of +the tender touch of the hand that wipes away tears from the face, and +plucks evil from the heart! Blessed the mourning, which prepares for the +festal garland and the oil of gladness and the robe of praise, instead +of ashes on the head and sackcloth on the spirit! + +III. Meekness here seems to be considered principally as exercised to +men, and it thus constitutes the first of the social virtues, which +henceforward alternate with those having exclusive reference to God. It +is the grace which opposes patient gentleness to hatred, injury, or +antagonism. The prominence given to it in Christ's teaching is one of +the peculiarities of Christian morals, and is a standing condemnation of +much so-called Christianity. Pride and anger and self-assertion and +retaliation flaunt in fine names, and are called manly virtues. Meekness +is smiled at, or trampled on, and the men who exercise it are called +'Quakers' and 'poor-spirited' and 'chicken-hearted' and the like. Social +life among us is in flagrant contradiction of this Beatitude; and as for +national life, all 'Christian nations' agree that to apply Christ's +precept to it would be absurd and suicidal. He said that the meek should +inherit the earth; statesmen say that the only way to keep a country is +to be armed to the teeth, and let no man insult its flag with impunity. +There does not seem much room for 'a spirited foreign policy' or for +'proper regard to one's own dignity' inside this Beatitude, does there? +But notice that this meekness naturally follows the preceding +dispositions. He who knows himself and has learned the depth of his own +evil will not be swift to blaze up at slights or wrongs. The true +meekness is not mere natural disposition, but the direct outcome of +poverty of spirit and the consequent sorrow. So, it is a test of their +reality. Many a man will indulge in confessions of sin, and crackle up +in sputtering heat of indignation at some slight or offence. If he +does, his lowly words have had little meaning, and the benediction of +these promises will come scantily to his heart. + +Does Christ mean merely to say that meek men will acquire landed +properly? Is there not a present inheritance of the earth by them, +though they may not own a foot of it? They have the world who enjoy it, +whom it helps nearer God, who see Him in it, to whom it is the field for +service and the means for growing character. But in the future the +kingdom of heaven will be a kingdom of the earth, and the meek saints +shall reign with the King who is meek and lowly of heart. + +IV. Righteousness is conformity to the will of God, or moral perfection. +Hunger and thirst are energetic metaphors for passionate desire, and +imply that righteousness is the true nourishment of the Spirit. Every +longing of a noble spirit is blessed. Aspiration after the unreached is +the salt of all lofty life. It is better to be conscious of want than to +be content. There are hungers which are all unblessed, greedy appetites +for the swine's husks, which are misery when unsatisfied, and disgust +when satiated. But we are meant to be righteous, and shall not in vain +desire to be so. God never sends mouths but He sends meat to fill them. +Such longings prophesy their fruition. + +Notice that this hunger follows the experience of the former Beatitudes. +It is the issue of poverty of spirit and of that blessed sorrow. +Observe, too, that the desire after, and not the possession or +achievement of, righteousness is blessed. Is not this the first hint of +the Christian teaching that we do not work out or win but receive it? +God gives it. Our attitude towards that gift should be earnest longing. +Such a blessed hungerer shall 'receive ... righteousness from the God of +his salvation.' The certainty that he will do so rests at last on the +faithfulness of God, who cannot but respond to all desires which He +inspires. They are premonitions of His purposes, like rosy clouds that +run before the chariot of the sunrise. The desire to be righteous is +already righteousness in heart and will, and reveals the true bent of +the soul. Its realisation in life is a question of time. The progressive +fulfilment here points to completeness in heaven, when we shall behold +His face in righteousness, and be satisfied when we awake in His +likeness. + +V. Again we have a grace which is exercised to men. Mercy is more than +meekness. That implied opposition, and was largely negative. This does +not regard the conduct of others at all, and is really love in exercise +to the needy, especially the unworthy. It embraces pity, charitable +forbearance, beneficence, and is revealed in acts, in words, in tears. +It is blessed in itself. A life of selfishness is hell; a life of mercy +is sweet with some savour of heaven. It is the consequence of mercy +received from God. Poverty of spirit, sorrow, hunger after righteousness +bring deep experiences of God's gentle forbearance and bestowing love, +and will make us like Him in proportion as they are real. Our +mercifulness, then, is a reflection from His. His ought to be the +measure and pattern of ours in depth, scope, extent of self-sacrifice, +and freeness of its gifts. A stringent requirement! + +Our exercise of mercy is the condition of our receiving it. On the +whole, the world gives us back, as a mirror does, the reflection of our +own faces; and merciful men generally get what they give. But that is a +law with many exceptions, and Jesus means more than that. Merciful men +get mercy from God--not, of course, that we deserve mercy by being +merciful. That is a contradiction in terms; for mercy is precisely that +which we do not deserve. The place of mercy in this series shows that +Jesus regarded it as the consequence, not the cause, of our experience +of God's mercy. But He teaches over and over again that a hard, +unmerciful heart forfeits the divine mercy. It does so, because such a +disposition tends to obscure the very state of mind to which alone God's +mercy can be given. Such a man must have forgotten his poverty and +sorrow, his longings and their rich reward, and so must have, for the +time, passed from the place where he can take in God's gift. A life +inconsistent with Christian motives will rob a Christian of Christian +privileges. The hand on his brother's throat destroys the servant's own +forgiveness. He cannot be at once a rapacious creditor and a discharged +bankrupt. + +VI. If detached from its connection, there is little blessedness in the +next Beatitude. What is the use of telling us how happy purity of heart +will make us? It only provokes the despairing question, 'And how am I to +be pure?' But when we set this word in its place here, it does bring +hope. For it teaches that purity is the result of all that has gone +before, and comes from that purifying which is the sure answer of God to +our poverty, mourning, and longing. Such purity is plainly progressive, +and as it increases, so does the vision of God grow. The more the +glasses of the telescope are cleansed, the brighter does the great star +shine to the gazer. 'No man hath seen God,' nor can see Him, either +amid the mists of earth or in the cloudless sky of heaven, if by seeing +we mean perceiving by sense, or full, direct comprehension by spirit. +But seeing Him is possible even now, if by it we understand the +knowledge of His character, the assurance of His presence, the sense of +communion with Him. Our earthly consciousness of God may become so +clear, direct, real, and certain, that it deserves the name of vision. +Such blessed intuition of Him is the prerogative of those whose hearts +Christ has cleansed, and whose inward eye is therefore able to behold +God, because it is like Him. 'Unless the eye were sunlike, how could it +see the sun?' We can blind ourselves to Him, by wallowing in filth. +Impurity unfits for seeing purity. Swedenborg profoundly said that the +wicked see only blackness where the sun is. + +Like all these Beatitudes, this has a double fulfilment, as the kingdom +has two stages of here and hereafter. Purity of heart is the condition +of the vision of God in heaven. Without holiness, 'no man shall see the +Lord.' The sight makes us pure, and purity makes us see. Thus heaven +will be a state of ever-increasing, reciprocally acting sight and +holiness. Like Him because we see Him, we shall see Him more because we +have assimilated what we see, as the sunshine opens the petals, and +tints the flower with its own colours the more deeply, the wider it +opens. + +VII. Once more we have the alternation of a grace exercised to men. If +we give due weight to the order of these Beatitudes, we shall feel that +Christ's peacemaker must be something more than a mere composer of men's +quarrels. For he has to be trained by all the preceding experiences, and +has to be emptied of self, penitent, hungering for and filled with +righteousness, and therefore pure in heart as well as, in regard to men, +meek and merciful, ere he can hope to fill this part. That +apprenticeship deepens the conception of the peace which Christ's +subjects are to diffuse. It is, first and chiefly, the peace which +enters the soul that has traversed all these stages; that is to say, the +Christian peacemaker is first to seek to bring about peace between men +and God, by beseeching them to be reconciled to Him, and then +afterwards, as a consequence of this, is to seek to diffuse through all +human relations the blessed unity and amity which flow most surely from +the common possession of the peace of God. Of course, the relation which +the subjects of the true King bear to all wars and fightings, to all +discord and strife, is not excluded, but is grounded on this deeper +meaning. The centuries that have passed since the words were spoken, +have not yet brought up the Christian conscience to the full perception +of their meaning and obligation. Too many of us still believe that +'great doors and effectual' can be blown open with gunpowder, and regard +this Beatitude as a counsel of perfection, rather than as one of the +fundamental laws of the kingdom. + +The Christian who moves thus among men seeking to diffuse everywhere the +peace with God which fills his own soul, and the peace with all men +which they only who have the higher peace can preserve unbroken in their +quiet, meek hearts, will be more or less recognised as God-like by men, +and will have in his own heart the witness that he is called by God His +child. He will bear visibly the image of his Father, and will hear the +voice that speaks to him too as unto a son. + +VIII. The last Beatitude crowns all the paradoxes of the series with +what sounds to flesh as a stark contradiction. The persecuted are +blessed. The previous seven sayings have perfected the portraiture of +what a child of the kingdom is to be. This appends a calm prophecy, +which must have shattered many a rosy dream among the listeners, of what +his reception by the world will certainly turn out. Jesus is not +summoning men to dominion, honour, and victory; but to scorn and +suffering. His own crown, He knew, was first to be twisted of thorns, +and copies of it were to wound His followers' brows. Yet even that fate +was blessed; for to suffer for righteousness, which is to suffer for +Him, brings elevation of spirit, a solemn joy, secret supplies of +strength, and sweet intimacies of communion else unknown. The noble army +of martyrs rose before His thoughts as He spoke; and now, eighteen +hundred years after, heaven is crowded with those who by axe and stake +and gibbet have entered there. 'The glory dies not, and the grief is +past.' They stoop from their thrones to witness to us that Christ is +true, and that the light affliction has wrought an eternal weight of +glory. + + +THE FIRST BEATITUDE + + 'Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of + Heaven.'--MATT. v. 2. + +'Ye are not come unto the mount that burned with fire, nor unto the +sound of a trumpet, and the voice of "awful" words.' With such +accompaniments the old law was promulgated, but here, in this Sermon on +the Mount, as it is called, the laws of the Kingdom are proclaimed by +the King Himself; and He does not lay them down with the sternness of +those written on tables of stone. No rigid 'thou shalt' compels, no iron +'thou shalt not' forbids; but each precept is linked with a blessing, +and every characteristic that is required is enforced by the thought +that it contributes to our highest good. It fitted well Christ's +character and the lips 'into which grace is poured,' that He spake His +laws under the guise of these Beatitudes. + +This, the first of them, is dead in the teeth of flesh and sense, a +paradox to the men who judge good and evil by things external and +visible, but deeply, everlastingly, unconditionally, and inwardly true. +All that the world commends and pats on the back, Christ condemns, and +all that the world shrinks from and dreads, Christ bids us make our own, +and assures us that in it we shall find our true blessing. 'The poor in +spirit,' they are the happy men. + +The reason for the benediction is as foreign to law and earthly thoughts +as is the benediction of which it is the reason--'for theirs is the +Kingdom of Heaven.' Poverty of spirit will not further earthly designs, +nor be an instrument for what the world calls success and prosperity. +But it will give us something better than earth, it will give us heaven. +Do you think that that _is_ better than earth, and should you be +disposed to acquiesce in the benediction of those who may lose the +world's gifts but are sure to have heaven's felicities? + +Now, I think I shall best deal with these words by considering, most +simply, the fundamental characteristic of a disciple of Jesus Christ, +and the blessed issues of that character. + +I. First, then, the fundamental characteristic of Christ's disciples. + +Now it is to be noticed that Luke's version of the Sermon on the Mount, +which is much briefer than Matthew's, omits the words 'in spirit,' and +so seems at first sight to be an encomium and benediction upon the +outward condition of earthly poverty. Matthew, on the other hand, says +'poor in spirit.' And the difference between the two evangelists has +given occasion to some to maintain that one or the other of them +misunderstood Christ's meaning, and modified His expression either by +omission or enlargement. But if you will notice another difference +between the two forms of the saying in the two Gospels, you will, I +think, find an explanation of the one already referred to; for Matthew's +Beatitudes are general statements, 'Blessed are'; and Luke's are +addressed to the circle of the disciples, 'Blessed are ye.' And if we +duly consider that difference, we shall see that the general statement +necessarily required the explanation which Matthew's version appends to +it, in order to prevent the misunderstanding that our Lord was setting +so much store by earthly conditions as to suppose that virtue and +blessedness were uniformly attached to any of these. Jesus Christ was no +vulgar demagogue flattering the poor and inveighing against the rich. +Luke's 'ye poor' shows at once that Christ was not speaking about all +the poor in outward condition, but about a certain class of such. No +doubt the bulk of His disciples were poor men who had been drawn or +driven by their sense of need to open their hearts to Him. Outward +poverty is a blessing if it drives men to God; it is not a blessing if, +as is often the case, it drives men from Him; or if, as is still oftener +the case, it leaves men negligent of Him. So that Matthew's enlargement +is identical in meaning with Luke's condensed form, regard being had to +the difference in the structure of the two Beatitudes. + +And so we come just to this question--What is this poverty of spirit? I +do not need to waste your time in saying what it is not. To me it seems +to be a lowly and just estimate of ourselves, our character, our +achievements, based upon a clear recognition of our own necessities, +weaknesses, and sins. + +The 'poor in spirit.'--I wonder if it would be very reasonable for a +moth that flits about the light, or a gnat that dances its hour in the +sunbeam, to be proud because it had longer wings, or prettier markings +on them, than some of its fellows? Is it much more reasonable for us to +plume ourselves on, and set much store by, anything that we are or have +done? Two or three plain questions, to which the answers are quite as +plain, ought to rip up this swollen bladder of self-esteem which we are +all apt to blow. 'What hast thou that thou hast not received?' Where did +you get it? How came you by it? How long is it going to last? Is it such +a very big thing after all? You have written a book; you are clever as +an operator, an experimenter; you are a successful student. You have +made a pile of money; you have been prosperous in your earthly career, +and can afford to look upon men that are failures and beneath you in +social position with a smile of pity or of contempt, as the case may be. +Well! I suppose the distance to the nearest fixed star is pretty much +the same from the top of one ant-hill in a wood as from the top of the +next one, though the one may be a foot higher than the other. I suppose +that we have all come out of nothing, and are anything, simply because +God is everything. If He were to withhold His upholding and inbreathing +power from any of us for one moment, we should shrivel into nothingness +like a piece of paper calcined in the fire, and go back into that +vacuity out of which His fiat, and His fiat alone, called us. And yet +here we are, setting great store, some of us, by our qualities or +belongings, and thinking ever so much of ourselves because we possess +them, and all the while we are but great emptinesses; and the things of +which we are so proud are what God has poured into us. + +You think that is all commonplace. Bring it into your lives, brethren; +apply it to your estimate of yourselves, and your expectations from +other people, and you will be delivered from a large part of the +annoyances and the miseries of your present. + +But the deepest reason for a habitual and fixed lowly opinion of +ourselves lies in a sadder fact. We are not only recipient +nothingnesses; we have something that is our own, and that is our will, +and we have lifted it up against God. And if a man's position as a +dependent creature should take all lofty looks and high spirit out of +him, his condition as a sinful man before God should lay him flat on his +face in the presence of that Majesty; and should make him put his hand +on his lips and say, from behind the covering, 'Unclean! unclean!' Oh, +brethren, if we would only go down into the depths of our own hearts, +every one of us would find there more than enough to make all +self-complacency and self-conceit utterly impossible, as it ought to be, +for us for ever. I have no wish, and God knows I have no need, to +exaggerate about this matter; but we all know that if we were turned +inside out, and every foul, creeping thing, and every blotch and spot +upon these hearts of ours spread in the light, we could not face one +another; we could scarcely face ourselves. If you or I were set, as they +used to set criminals, up in a pillory with a board hanging round our +necks, telling all the world what we were, and what we had done, there +would be no need for rotten eggs to be flung at us; we should abhor +ourselves. You know that is so. I know that it is so about myself, 'and +heart answereth to heart as in a glass.' And are we the people to perk +ourselves up amongst our fellows, and say, 'I am rich and increased with +goods, and have need of nothing'? Do we not know that we are poor and +miserable and blind and naked? Oh, brethren, the proud old saying of the +Greeks, 'Know thyself,' if it were followed out unflinchingly and +honestly by the purest saint this side heaven, would result in this +profound abnegation of all claims, in this poverty of spirit. + +So little has the world been influenced by Christ's teaching that it +uses 'poor-spirited creature' as a term of opprobrium and depreciation. +It ought to be the very opposite; for only the man who has been down +into the dungeons of his own character, and has cried unto God out of +the depths, will be able to make the house of his soul a fabric which +may be a temple of God, and with its shining apex may pierce the clouds +and seem almost to touch the heavens. A great poet has told us that the +things which lead life to sovereign power are self-knowledge, +self-reverence, and self-control. And in a noble sense it is true, but +the deepest self-knowledge will lead to self-abhorrence rather than to +self-reverence; and self-control is only possible when, knowing our own +inability to cope with our own evil, we cast ourselves on that Lamb of +God who beareth away the sin of the world, and ask Him to guide and to +keep us. The right attitude for us is, 'He did not so much as lift up +his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful +to me a sinner.' And then, sweeter than angels' voices fluttering down +amid the blue, there will come that gracious word, 'Blessed are the poor +in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.' + +II. Turn, now, to the blessed issues of this characteristic. + +Christ does not say 'joyful,' 'mirthful,' 'glad.' These are poor, vulgar +words by the side of the depth and calmness and permanence which are +involved in that great word 'blessed.' It is far more than joy, which +may be turbulent and is often impure. It is far deeper than any gladness +which has its sources in the outer world, and it abides when joys have +vanished, and all the song-birds of the spring are silent in the winter +of the soul. 'Blessed are the poor ... for theirs is the Kingdom of +Heaven.' + +The bulk of the remaining Beatitudes point onward to a future; this +deals with the present. It does not say '_shall be_,' but '_is_ the +Kingdom.' It is an all-comprehensive promise, holding the succeeding +ones within itself, for they are but diverse aspects--modified according +to the necessities which they supply--of that one encyclopædia of +blessings, the possession of the Kingdom of Heaven. + +Now the Kingdom of Heaven (or of God) is a state in which the will of +God is absolutely and perfectly obeyed. It is capable of partial +realisation here, and is sure of complete fulfilment hereafter. To the +early hearers of these words the phrase would necessarily suggest the +idea which bulked so large in prophecy and in Judaism, of the Messianic +Kingdom; and we may well lay hold of that thought to suggest the first +of the elements of this blessedness. That poverty of spirit is blessed +because it is an indispensable condition of becoming Christ's men and +subjects. I believe, dear friends, for my part, that the main reason why +so many of us are not out-and-out Christian men and women, having +entered really into that Kingdom which is obedience to God in Christ, is +because we have a superficial knowledge, or no knowledge at all, of our +own sinful condition, and of the gravity of that fact. Intellectually, I +take it that an under-estimate of the universality and of the awfulness +of sin has a great deal to do in shaping all the maimed, imperfect, +partial views of Christ, His character and nature, which afflict the +world. It is the mother of most of our heresies. And, practically, if +you do not feel any burden, you do not care to hear about One who will +carry it. If you have no sense of need, the message that there is a +supply will fall perfectly ineffectual upon your ears. If you have not +realised the truth that whatever else you may be, of which you might be +proud--wise, clever, beautiful, accomplished, rich, prosperous--you have +this to take all the self-conceit out of you, that you are a sinful +man--if you have not realised that, it will be no gospel to you that +Jesus Christ has died, the just for the unjust, and lives to cleanse us. + +Brethren, there is only one way into the true and full possession of +Christ's salvation, and that is through poverty of spirit. It is the +narrow door, like the mere low slits in the wall which in ancient times +were the access to some wealth-adorned palace or stately +structure--narrow openings that a man had to stoop his lofty crest in +order to enter. If you have never been down on your knees before God, +feeling what a wicked man or woman you are, I doubt hugely whether you +will ever stand with radiant face before God, and praise Him through +eternity for His mercy to you. If you wish to have Christ for yours, you +must begin, where He begins His Beatitudes, with poverty of spirit. + +It is blessed because it invites the riches of God to come and make us +wealthy. It draws towards itself communication of God's infinite self, +with all His quickening and cleansing and humbling powers. Grace is +attracted by the sense of need, just as the lifted finger of the +lightning rod brings down fire from heaven. The heights are barren; it +is in the valleys that rivers run, and flowers bloom. 'God resisteth the +proud, and giveth grace to the humble.' If we desire to have Him, who is +the one source of all blessedness, in our hearts, as a true possession, +we must open the door for His entrance by poverty of spirit. Desire +brings fulfilment; and they who know their wants, and only they, will +truly long that they may be supplied. + +This poverty of spirit is blessed because it is its own reward. All +self-esteem and self-complacency are like a hedgehog, as some one has +said, 'rolled up the wrong way, tormenting itself with its prickles.' +And the man that is always, or often, thinking how much above A, B, or C +he is, and how much A, B, or C ought to offer of incense to him, is sure +to get more cuffs than compliments, more enmity than affection; and will +be sore all over with wounded vanities of all sorts. But if we have +learned ourselves, and have departed from these lofty thoughts, then to +be humble in spirit is to be wise, cheerful, contented, simple, restful +in all circumstances. You remember John Bunyan's shepherd boy, down in +the valley of humiliation. _Heart's-ease_ grew there, and his song was, +'He that is low need fear no fall.' If we have this true, deep-rooted +poverty of spirit, we shall be below the tempest, which will go clean +over our heads. The oaks catch the lightnings; the grass and the +primroses are unscorched. 'The day of the Lord shall be upon all high +things, and the loftiness of men shall be brought low.' + +So, dear brethren, blessedness is not to be found outside us. We need +not ask 'who shall go up into the heavens, or who shall descend into the +deep,' to bring it. It is in thee, if at all. Christ teaches us that the +sources of all true blessedness are within us; there or nowhere is +Eden. If we have the tempers and dispositions set forth in these +Beatitudes, condition matters but very little. If the source of all +blessedness is within us, the first step to it all is poverty of spirit. +'Be ye clothed with humility.' The Master girt Himself with the +servant's towel, and His disciples are to copy Him who said: 'Take My +yoke upon you.... I am meek and lowly in heart ... and ye shall find +rest'--and is not that blessedness?--'ye shall find rest unto your +souls.' + + +THE SECOND BEATITUDE + + 'Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.'--MATT. + v. 4. + +An ordinary superficial view of these so-called Beatitudes is that they +are simply a collection of unrelated sayings. But they are a great deal +more than that. There is a vital connection and progress in them. The +jewels are not flung down in a heap; they are wreathed into a chain, +which whosoever wears shall have 'an ornament of grace about his neck.' +They are an outgrowth from a common root; stages in the evolution of +Christian character. + +Now, I tried to show in the former sermon how the root of them all is +the poverty of spirit which is spoken of in the preceding verse; and how +it really does lie at the foundation of the highest type of human +character, and in its very self is sure of possessing the Kingdom of +Heaven. And now I turn to the second of these Beatitudes. Like all the +others, it is a paradox, for it starts from a wholly different +conception from the common one, of what is man's chief good. If the aims +which usually engross us are really the true aims of life, then there is +no meaning in this saying of our Lord, for then it had been better not +to sorrow at all than to sorrow and be comforted. But if the true +purpose for which we are all gifted with this solemn gift of life is +that we may become 'imitators of God as dear children,' then there are +few things for which men should be more thankful than the sacred sorrow, +than which there are few instruments more powerful for creating the type +of character which we are set here to make our own. All lofty, +dignified, serious thinkers and poets (who for the most of men are the +best teachers) had spoken this same thought as well as Christ. But He +speaks it with a difference all His own, which deepens incalculably its +solemnity, and sets the truth of the otherwise sentimental saying, which +flies often in the face of human nature, upon immovable foundations. + +Let me ask you, then, to look with me, in the simplest possible way, at +the two thoughts of our text, as to who are the mourners that are +'blessed,' and as to what is the consolation that they receive. + +I. The mourners who are blessed. + +'Blessed are they that mourn.' Ah! that is not a universal bliss. All +mourners are _not_ blessed. It would be good news, indeed, to a world so +full of miseries that men sometimes think it were better not to be, and +holding so many wrecked and broken hearts, if every sorrow had its +benediction. But just as we saw in the preceding discourse that the +poverty which Christ pronounced blessed is not mere straitness of +circumstances, or lack of material wealth, so here the sorrow, round the +head of which He casts this halo of glory, is not that which springs +from the mere alteration of external circumstances, or from any natural +causes. The influence of the first saying runs through all the +Beatitudes, and since it is 'the poor in spirit' who are there +pronounced happy, so here we must go far deeper than mere outward +condition, in order to find the ground of the benediction pronounced. +Let us be sure, to begin with, of this, that no condition, be it of +wealth or woe, is absolutely and necessarily good, but that the seat of +all true blessedness lies within, in the disposition which rightly meets +the conditions which God sends. + +So I would say, first, that the mourners whom Christ pronounces +'blessed' are those who are 'poor in spirit.' The mourning is the +emotion which follows upon that poverty. The one is the recognition of +the true estimate of our own characters and failings; the other is the +feeling that follows upon that recognition. The one is the prophet's +clear-sighted 'I am a man of unclean lips'; the other is the same +prophet's contemporaneous wail, 'Woe is me, for I am undone!' + +And surely, brethren, if you and I have ever had anything like a glimpse +of what we really are, and have brought ourselves into the light of +God's face, and have pondered upon our characters and our doings in +that--not 'fierce' but all-searching, 'light' that flashes from Him, +there can be no attitude, no disposition, more becoming the best, the +purest, the noblest of us, than that 'Woe is me, for I am undone!' + +Oh, dear friends, if--not as a theological term, but as a clinging, +personal fact--we realise what sin against God is, what must necessarily +come from it, what aggravations His gentleness, His graciousness, His +constant beneficence cause, how facilely we do the evil thing and then +wipe our lips and say, 'We have done no harm,' we should be more +familiar than we are with the depths of this experience of mourning for +sin. + +I cannot too strongly urge upon you my own conviction--it may be worth +little, but I am bound to speak it--that there are few things which the +so-called Christianity of this day needs more than an intenser +realisation of the fact, and the gravity of the fact, of personal +sinfulness. There lies the root of the shallowness of so much that calls +itself Christianity in the world to-day. It is the source of almost all +the evils under which the Church is groaning. And sure I am that if +millions of the people that complacently put themselves down in the +census as Christians could but once see themselves as they are, and +connect their conduct with God's thought about it, they would get shocks +that would sober them. And sure I am that if they do not thus see +themselves here and now, they will one day get shocks that will stupefy +them. And so, dear friends, I urge upon you, as I would upon myself, as +the foundation and first step towards all the sunny heights of +God-likeness and blessedness, to go down, down deep into the hidden +corners, and see how, like the elders of Israel whom the prophet beheld +in the dark chamber, we worship creeping things, abominable things, +lustful things, in the recesses within. And then we shall possess more +of that poverty of spirit, and the conscious recognition of our own true +character will merge into the mourning which is altogether blessed. + +Now, note, again, how such sorrow will refine and ennoble character. How +different our claims upon other men would be if we possessed this sober, +saddened estimate of what we really are! How our petulance, and +arrogance, and insisting upon what is due to us of respect and homage +and deference would all disappear! How much more rigid would be our +guard upon ourselves, our own emotions, our own inclinations and tastes! +How much more lenient would be our judgment of the openly and +confessedly naughty ones, who have gone a little further in act, but not +an inch further in essence, than we have done! How different our +attitude to our fellows; and how lowly our attitude to God! Such sorrow +would sober us, would deliver us from our lusting after the gauds of +earth, would make us serious and reflective, would bring us to that +'sad, wise valour' which is the conquering characteristic of humanity. + +There is nothing more contemptible than the lives which, for want of +this self-knowledge, foam away in idle mirth, and effervesce in what the +world calls 'high spirits.' + + 'There is no music in the life + That sounds with idiot laughter solely, + There's not a string attuned to mirth + But has its chords in melancholy.' + +So said one whose reputation in English literature is mainly that of a +humorist. He had learned that the only noble humanity is that in which +the fountains of laughter and of tears lie so close together that their +waters intermingle. I beseech you not to confound the 'laughter of +fools,' which is the 'crackling of thorns under the pot,' with the true, +solemn, ennobling gladness which lives along with this sorrow of my +text. + +Further, such mourning infused into the sorrow that comes from external +disasters will make it blessed too. As I have said, there is nothing in +any condition of life which necessarily and universally makes it +blessed. Though poets and moralists and Christian people have talked a +great deal, and beautifully and truly, about the sanctifying and +sweetening influences of calamity, do not let us forget that there are +perhaps as many people made worse by their sorrows as are made better by +them. There is such a thing as being made sullen, hard, selfish, +negligent of duty, resentful against God, hopeless, by the pressure of +our calamities. Blessed be God, there is such a thing as being drawn to +Him by them! Then they, too, come within the sweep of this benediction +of the Master, and outward distress is glorified into the sorrow which +is blessed. A drop or two of this tincture, the mourning which comes +from poverty of spirit, slipped into the cup of affliction, clears and +sweetens the waters, and makes them a tonic bitter. Brethren, if our +outward losses and disappointments and pains help us to apprehend, and +are accepted by us in the remembrance of, our own unworthiness, then +these, too, are God's sweet gifts to us. + +One word more. This mourning is perfectly compatible with, and indeed is +experienced in its purest form only along with, the highest and purest +joy. I have been speaking about the indispensable necessity of such +sadness for all noble life. But let us remember, on the other hand, that +no one has so much reason to be glad as he has who, in poverty of +spirit, has clasped and possesses the wealth of the Kingdom. And if a +man, side by side with this profound and saddened sense of his own +sinfulness, has not a hold of the higher thing--Christ's righteousness +given to penitence and faith--then his knowledge of his own unworthiness +is still too shallow to inherit a benediction. There is no reason why, +side by side in the Christian heart, there should not lie--there is +every reason why there should lie--these two emotions, not mutually +discrepant and contradictory, but capable of being blended together--the +mourning which is blessed, and the joy which is unspeakable and full of +glory. + +II. And now a word or two with regard to the consolation which such +mourning is sure to receive. + +It is not true, whatever sentimentalists may say, that all sorrow is +comforted and therefore blessed. It may be forgotten. Pain may sting +less; men may betake themselves to trivial, or false, unworthy, low +alleviations, and fancy that they are comforted when they are only +diverted. But the sorrow meant in my text necessarily ensures for every +man who possesses it the consolation which follows. That consolation is +both present and future. + +As for the present, the mourning which is based, as our text bases it, +on poverty of spirit, will certainly bring after it the consolation of +forgiveness arid of cleansing. Christ's gentle hand laid upon us, to +cause our guilt to pass away, and the inveterate habits of inclination +towards evil to melt out of our nature, is His answer to His child's +cry, 'Woe is me, for I am undone!' And anything is more probable than +that Christ, hearing a man thus complain of himself before Him, should +fail to send His swift answer. + +Ah, brethren! you will never know how deep and ineffably precious are +the consolations which Christ can give, unless you have learned despair +of self, and have come helpless, hopeless, and yet confident, to that +great Lord. Make your hearts empty, and He will fill them; recognise +your desperate condition, and He will lift you up. The deeper down we go +into the depths, the surer is the rebound and the higher the soaring to +the zenith. It is they who have poverty of spirit, and mourning based +upon it, and only they, who pass into the sweetest, sacredest, secretest +recesses of Christ's heart, and there find all-sufficient consolation. + +In like manner, that consolation will come in its noblest and most +sufficing form to those who take their outward sorrows and link them +with this sense of their own ill-desert. Oh, dear friends, if I am +speaking to any one who to-day has a burdened heart, let such be sure of +this, that the way to consolation lies through submission; and that the +way to submission lies through recognition of our own sin. If we will +only 'lie still, let Him strike home, and bless the rod,' the rod will +blossom and bear fruit. The water of the cataract would not flash into +rainbow tints against the sunshine, unless it had been dashed into spray +against black rocks. And if we will but say with good old Dr. Watts, + + 'When His strokes are felt, + His strokes are fewer than our crimes, + And lighter than our guilt,' + +it will not be hard to bow down and say, 'Thy will be done,' and with +submission consolation will be ours. + +Is there anything to say about that future consolation? Very little, for +we know very little. But 'God Himself shall wipe away all tears from +their eyes.' The hope of that consolation is itself consolation, and +the hope becomes all the more bright when we know and measure the depths +of our own evil. Earth needs to be darkened in order that the magic, +ethereal beauty of the glow in the western heavens may be truly seen. +The sorrow of earth is the background on which the light of heaven is +painted. + +So, dear friends, be sure of this, that the one thing which ought to +move a man to sadness is his own character. For all other causes of +grief are instruments for good. And be sure of this, too, that the one +thing which can ensure consolation adequate to the grief is bringing the +grief to the Lord Christ and asking Him to deal with it. His first word +of ministry ran parallel with these two Beatitudes. When He spoke them +He began with poverty of spirit, and passed to mourning and consolation, +and when He opened His lips in the synagogue of Nazareth He began with, +'The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He hath anointed Me to +preach good tidings unto the poor, to give unto them that mourn in Zion +a diadem for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise +for the spirit of heaviness.' + + +THE THIRD BEATITUDE + + 'Blessed are the meek! for they shall inherit the earth,'--MATT, v. + 5. + +The originality of Christ's moral teaching lies not so much in the +novelty of His precepts as in the new relation in which He sets them, +the deepening which He gives them, the motives on which He bases them, +and the power which He communicates to keep them. Others before Him had +pronounced a benediction on the meek, but our Lord means far more than +they did, and, both in His description of the character and in the +promise which He attaches to it, He vindicates the uniqueness of His +notion of a perfect man. + +The world's ideal is, on the whole, very different from His. It inclines +to the more conspicuous and so-called heroic virtues; it prefers a +great, flaring, yellow sunflower to the violet hiding among the grass, +and making its presence known only by fragrance. 'Blessed are the +strong, who can hold their own,' says the world. 'Blessed are the meek,' +says Christ. + +The Psalmist had said it before Him, and had attached verbally the same +promise to the word. But our Lord means more than David did when he +said, 'The meek shall inherit the earth.' I ask you to think with me +now, first, what this Christian meekness is; then, whence it issues; and +then, whither it leads. + +I. What Christian meekness is. + +Now, the ordinary use of the word is to describe an attitude, or more +properly a disposition, in regard to men, especially in regard to those +who depreciate, or wrong, or harm us. But the Christian conception of +meekness, whilst it includes that, goes far deeper; and, primarily, has +reference to our attitude, or rather our disposition, towards God. And +in that aspect, what is it? Meek endurance and meek obedience, the +accepting of His dealings, of whatever complexion they are, and however +they may tear or desolate our hearts, without murmuring, without +sulking, without rebellion or resistance, is the deepest conception of +the meekness which Christ pronounces blessed. When sorrow comes upon us, +unless we have something more than natural strength bestowed upon us, we +are all but certain, like fractious children when beaten, to kick and +plunge and scream, or to take the infliction of the sorrow as being an +affront and an injury. If we have any claim to this benediction, we must +earn it by accepting our sorrows; then the accepted sorrow becomes a +solemn joy, or almost akin thereto. The ox that kicks against the goads +only does two things thereby; it does not get away from them, but it +wounds its own hocks, and it drives the sharp points deeper into the +ragged wounds. Let Him strike, dear friend, for when He strikes He cuts +clean; and there is no poison on the edge of His knife. Meekness towards +God is, first, patient endurance of His Will. + +And, in reference to Him, it is, next, unquestioning docility and +obedience. Its seat is in the will. When the will is bowed, a man is far +on his road to perfection; and the meaning of all that God does with +us--joys and sorrows, light and darkness, when His hand gives, and when +His hand withdraws, as when His authoritative voice commands, and the +sweet impulses of His love graciously constrain--is that our wills may +be made plastic and flexible, like a piece of wrought leather, to every +touch of His hand. True meekness goes far deeper down than any attitude +towards men. It lays hold on the sovereign will of God as our supreme +good, and delights in absolutely and perfectly conforming itself +thereto. + +And then there follows, as a matter of course, that which is usually the +whole significance of the word, the meekness which is displayed in our +attitude towards men. The truly meek heart remains unprovoked amidst all +provocation. Most men are like dogs that answer bark for bark, and only +make night hideous and themselves hoarse thereby. But it is our business +to meet evil with good; and the more we are depreciated, the more we are +harmed, the more we are circled about by malice and by scorn, the more +patiently and persistently to love on. + +Ah, brethren, it is easy to say and hard to do thus; but it is a plain +Christian duty. Old-fashioned people believe that the sun puts out the +fire. I know not how that may be, but sure I am that the one thing that +puts out the fire of antagonism and wrath and malice in those who +dislike or would harm us is that we should persistently shine upon, and +perchance overcome, evil with good. Provoked, we remain, if we are truly +meek, masters of ourselves and calm and equable, and so are blessed in +ourselves. Meekness makes no claims upon others. Plenty of people are +sore all over with the irritation caused by not getting what they +consider due respect. They howl and whine because they are not +appreciated. Do not expect much of men. Make no demands, if for no +better reason than because the more you demand the less you will get; +and the less you seem to think to be your due, the more likely you are +to receive what you desire. + +But that is a poor, shallow ground. The true exhortation is, 'Be ye +imitators of God, as dear children.' + +Ah, what a different world we should live in if the people that say, +'Oh, the Sermon on the Mount is my religion,' really made it their +religion! How much friction would be taken out of all our lives; how all +society would be revolutionised, and earth would become a Paradise! + +But there is another thing to be taken into account in the description +of meekness. That grace, as the example of our Lord shows, harmonises +with undaunted bravery and strenuous resistance to the evil in the +world. On our own personal account, there are to be no bounds to our +patient acceptance of personal wrong; on the world's account, there are +to be no bounds to our militant attitude against public evils. Only let +us remember that 'the wrath of men worketh not the righteousness of +God.' If contending theologians, and angry philanthropists, and social +reformers, that are ready to fly at each other's throats for the sacred +cause of humanity, would only remember that there is no good to be done +except in this spirit, there would be more likelihood of the errors and +miseries of mankind being redressed than, alas! there is to-day. +Gentleness is the strongest force in the world, and the soldiers of +Christ are to be priests, and to fight the battles of the Kingdom, +robed, not in jingling, shining armour or with sharp swords, nor with +fierce and eager bitterness of controversy, but in the meekness which +overcomes. You may take all the steam-hammers that ever were forged and +batter at an iceberg, and, except for the comparatively little heat that +is developed by the blows and melts some smell portion, it will be ice +still, though pulverised instead of whole. But let it get into the +silent drift of the Arctic current, and let it move quietly down to the +southward, then the sunbeams smite its coldness to death, and it is +dissipated in the warm ocean. Meekness is conqueror. 'Be not overcome of +evil, but overcome evil with good.' + +II. Notice whence this Christian meekness flows. + +You observe the place which this Beatitude holds in the linked series of +these precious sayings. It follows upon 'poverty of spirit' and +'mourning.' And it follows, too, upon the 'comfort' which the mourner is +promised that he will receive. It is the conduct and disposition towards +God and man which follows from the inward experience described in the +two former Beatitudes, which had relation only to ourselves. + +The only thing that can be relied upon as an adequate cold water +_douche_ to our sparks of anger, resentment, retaliation, and rebellion +is that we shall have passed through the previous experiences, have +learned a just and lowly estimate of ourselves, have learned to come to +God with penitence in our hearts, and have been raised by His gracious +hand from the dust where we lay at His feet, and been welcomed to His +embrace. He who thus has learned himself, and has felt repentance, and +has received the comfort of forgiveness and cleansing, he, and he only, +is the man who, under all provocation and in any and every circumstance, +can be absolutely trusted to live in the spirit of meekness. + +If I have found out anything of my own sin, if my eyes have been filled +with tears and my heart with conscious unworthiness before Him, oh, +then, surely I shall not kick or murmur against discipline of which the +main purpose is to rid me of the evil which is slaying me; but rather I +shall recognise in the sorrows that do fall upon me, in the losses and +disappointments and empty places in my life and heart, one way of God's +fulfilling His great promise, 'From all your filthiness, and from all +your idols, I will cleanse you.' The man who has thus learned the +purpose, the highest purpose, of sorrow, is not likely to remonstrate +with God for giving him too much of the cleansing medium. + +In like manner, if we have, in any real way, received for our own the +comfort which God gives to the penitent heart, we shall be easily +pleased with anything that He sends. And if we have measured ourselves, +not against ourselves, but against His law, and have found out how much +we owe unto our Lord, it is not likely that we shall take our brother by +the throat and say, 'Pay me that thou owest.' If any treat me badly, try +to rob me, harm me, sneer at me, or turn the cold shoulder to me, who am +I that I should resent that? Oh, brethren, we need, for our right +relation to our fellows, a deeper conviction of our sinfulness before +Him. Many of us are blessed with natural tendencies to meekness, but +these are insufficient. Many of us seek to cultivate this grace from +true and right, though not the deepest, motives. Let us reinforce them +by that which comes from the consideration of the place which this +Beatitude holds in the wreathed chain, and remember that 'poverty of +spirit' and 'mourning' must precede it. + +Now, _there_ is a sharp test for us Christian people. If I have learned +myself, and have penitently received God's pardon, I shall be meek with +God and with man. If I am not meek with God and with man, have I +received God's pardon? One great reason why so many of you Christian +people have so little consciousness of God's forgiving mercy, as a +constant joy in your lives, is because you have so little obeyed the +commandment, 'Be ye imitators of God, and walk in love, as God hath +forgiven and loved us.' + +III. And now, lastly, note whither this meekness leads. + +'They shall inherit the earth.' The words are quoted, as I have already +said, from one of the psalms, and in the Psalmist's mouth they had, I +suppose, especial reference to Israel's peaceful possession of the +promised land, which in that Old Dispensation was made contingent on the +people's faithfulness. In that aspect, and looking at this Sermon on the +Mount as the programme of the King Himself, what a bucket of cold water +such words as these must have poured on the hot Messianic expectations +of the carnal Jew! Here was a King that did not expect to win back the +land by armed rebellion against the Roman legions, but said, 'Be meek, +and you will truly possess it, whether there is a Pilate in the +procurator's house at Cæsarea or not.' + +But for us the words have a double reference, as all the promises +annexed to these Beatitudes have. They apply to the present; they apply +to the future. And that is no mere looseness of interpretation, eking +out an insufficient verification of them here upon earth by some dim +hopes of a future fulfilment, but it flows from the plain fact that the +gifts which a man receives on condition of his being a true disciple are +one and the same in essence, and only differ in degree, here and +hereafter. Circumstances alter, no doubt, and there will be much in that +heavenly state unlike that which we experience here. But the essence of +Christian blessedness is the same in this world and in the furthest +reach of the shining but dim eternity beyond. And so we take the double +reference of these words to be inherent in the facts of the case, and +not to be a makeshift of interpretation. + +There is a present inheritance of the earth which goes, as certainly as +the shadow with the sunshine, with the meekness spoken of in our text. +Not literal, of course, for it is not true that this Christian grace +has in it any tendency whatever to draw to itself material good of any +sort. The world in outward possession belongs to the strong men, to the +men of faculty, of force and push and ambition. If you want to get +through a crowd, make your elbows as sharp, and your feet upon the toes +of your neighbours as heavy as you can, and a road will be made for you; +but, in the majority of cases, the meek man on the edge of the crowd +will stop there. + +Nor is it true that there would be any real blessedness, though the +earth were ours in that outward sense. For you cannot measure happiness +by the acre, nor does an outward condition of the most full-fed +abundance, and of wealth beyond the dreams of avarice, and above the +gnawings of care, ensure to any man even the shabby blessedness that the +world knows, to say nothing of the solid beatitude that Christ +proclaims. + +So we must go deeper than that for the meaning of 'inherit.' Whatever +are our circumstances, it is true that this calm, equable, submissive +acceptance of the divine will and obedience to it, and this loving and +unresentful attitude towards men, bring with them necessarily a +peacefulness of heart which gets the highest good out of the modicum of +material supplies which God's providence may send us. It used to be the +idea that gods and beatified spirits were nourished, not by the gross, +material flesh of the sacrifices, but by a certain subtle aroma and +essence that went up in the incense smoke. So Christ's meek men do live +and thrive, and are blessed in a true possession of earthly good, even +though their outward portion of it may be very small. 'Better is a +little that a righteous man hath than the riches of many wicked.' + +And, beyond that, there is a further fulfilment of this promise, upon +which I venture to say but very little. It seems to me very probable +that our Lord's words here fall in with what appears to be a general +stream of representation throughout Scripture, to the effect that the +perfected form of the Kingdom of God is to be realised in this renovated +earth, when it becomes the 'new earth in which dwelleth righteousness.' +Whether that be so or no, at all events we may fairly gather from the +words the thought that in the ultimate state of assimilation and +fellowship with God and Christ to which Christian people have a right to +look forward, there will be an external universe on which they will +exercise their activities, and from which they will draw as yet +unimagined delights. + +But, at all events, dear brethren, we may be sure of this blessed +thought, that they who meekly live, knowing and mourning their sin, and +who meekly take to their hearts as their only hope the comfort of +Christ's pardon and cleansing, who are meekly recipient, meekly +enduring, meekly obedient, shall have in their hearts, even here, a +quiet fountain of peace which shall make the wilderness rejoice and +blossom as the rose, and hereafter shall be crowned with the lordship of +all. Meekness overcomes, 'and he that overcometh shall inherit all +things.' + + +THE FOURTH BEATITUDE + + 'Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: + for they shall be filled.'--MATT. v. 6. + +Two preliminary remarks will give us the point of view from which I +desire to consider these words now. First, we have seen, in previous +sermons, that these paradoxes of the Christian life which we call the +Beatitudes are a linked chain, or, rather, an outgrowth from a common +root. Each presupposes all the preceding. Now, of course, it is a +mistake to expect uniformity in the process of building up character, +and stages which are separable and successive in thought may be +simultaneous and coalesce in fact. But none the less is our Lord here +outlining successive stages in the growth of a true Christian life. I +shall have more to say about the place in the series which this +Beatitude holds, but for the present I simply ask you to remember that +it has a background and set of previous experiences, out of which it +springs, and that we shall not understand the depth of Christ's meaning +if we isolate it from these and regard it as standing alone. + +Then, another consideration is the remarkable divergence in this +Beatitude from the others. The 'meek,' the 'merciful,' the 'pure in +heart' the 'peacemakers,' have all attained to certain characteristics. +But this is not a benediction pronounced upon those who have attained to +righteousness, but upon those who long after it. Desire, which has +reached such a pitch as to be comparable to the physical craving of a +hungry man for food or to the imperious thirst of parched throats, seems +a strange kind of blessedness; but it is better to long for a +higher--though it be unattained--good than to be content with a lower +which is possessed. Better to climb, though the summit be far and the +path be steep, than to browse amongst the herds in the fat valleys. +Aspiration is blessedness when it is worthily directed. Let us, then, +look at these two points of this Beatitude; this divine hunger of the +soul, and its satisfaction which is sure. + +I. Note, then, the hunger which is blessed. + +Now 'righteousness' has come to be a kind of theological term which +people use without attaching any very distinct meaning to it. And it +would be little improvement to substitute for 'righteousness' the +abstraction of moral conformity to the will of God. Suppose we try to +turn the words of my text into modern English, and instead of saying, +'Blessed are those that hunger and thirst after righteousness,' say, +Blessed are the men and women that long more than for anything else to +be good. Does not that sound a little more near our daily lives than the +well-worn and threadbare word of my text? Righteousness is neither more +nor less than in spirit a will submitted to God, and in conduct the +practice of whatsoever things are noble and lovely and of good report. + +The production of such a character, the aiming after the perfection of +spirit and of conduct, is the highest aim that a man can set before him. +There are plenty of other hungers of the soul that are legitimate. There +are many of them that are bracing and ennobling and elevating. It is +impossible not to hunger for the supply of physical necessities. It is +good to long for love, for wisdom. It is better to long most to be good +men and women. For what are we here for? To enjoy? To work? To know? +Yes! But it is not conduct, and it is still less thought, and it is +least of all enjoyment, in any of its forms, which is the purpose of +life, and ought to be our aim here upon earth. We are here to learn to +_be_; and the cultivation and production of characters that lie parallel +with the will of God is the Omega of all our life in the flesh. All +these other things, even the highest of them, the yearning desire + + 'To follow knowledge, like a sinking star, + Beyond the furthest bounds of human thought,' + +ought to be subordinate to this further purpose of being good men and +women. All these are scaffolding; the building is a character conformed +to God's will and assimilated to Christ's likeness. + +That commends itself as a statement of man's chief end to all reasonable +and thoughtful men in their deepest and truest moments. And so, whilst +we must let our desires go out on the lower levels, and seek to draw to +ourselves the various gifts that are necessary for the various phases +and sides of our being, here is one that a man's own conscience tells +him should stand clearly supreme and dominant--the hunger and thirst +after righteousness. + +Still further, notice how this desire, on which our Lord pronounces His +benediction, comes in a series. I know that all men have latent, and +sometimes partially and fragmentarily operative in their lives and +manifest on the surface, sporadic desires after goodness. The existence +of these draws the line between man and devil. And there is no soul on +earth which has not sometimes felt the longing to be better than it is, +to its own consciousness, to-day. But the yearning which our Lord +blesses comes after, and is the result of, the previous characteristics +which He has described. There must be the poverty of spirit which +recognises our own insufficiency and unworthiness; or, to put it into +simpler words, we must know ourselves to be sinners. There must be the +mourning which follows upon that revelation of ourselves; the penitence +which does not wash away sin, but which makes us capable of receiving +forgiveness. There must be the comfort which comes from pardon received; +and there must be the yielding of ourselves to the Supreme Will, which +is the true root of all meekness, in the face of antagonism from +creatures and of opposition from circumstances. When thus a man's +self-conceit is beaten out of him, and he knows how far he is from the +possession of any real, deep righteousness of his own; and when, +further, his heart has glowed with the consciousness of forgiveness; and +when, further, his will has bowed itself before the Father in heaven, +then there will spring in his heart a hungering and thirsting, deeper +far and far more certain of fruition, than ever can be realised in +another heart, a stranger to such experiences. Brethren, if we are ever +to possess the righteousness which is itself blessed, it must be because +we have the hunger and the thirst which are sharpened and accentuated by +profound discovery of our own evil, lowly penitence before God, and glad +assurance of free and full forgiveness. + +Then note, still further, how that which is pronounced blessed is not +the realisation of a desire, but the desire itself. And that is so, not +only because, as I said, all noble aspiration is good, fulfilled or +unfulfilled, and aim is of more importance than achievement, and what a +man strongly wishes is often the revelation of his deepest self, and the +prophecy of what he will be; but Christ puts the _desire_ for a certain +quality here as in line with the _possession_ of a number of other +qualities attained, because He would hint to us that such a +righteousness as shall satisfy the immortal hunger and thirst of our +souls is one to be received in answer to longing, and not to be +manufactured by our own efforts. + +It is a gift; and the condition of receiving the gift is to wish it +honestly, earnestly, deeply, continually. The Psalmist had a glimpse of +the same truth when he crowned his description of the man who was fit to +ascend the hill of the Lord, and to stand in His holy place, with, 'he +shall _receive_ the blessing from the Lord, and _righteousness_ from the +God of his salvation.' + +Of course, in saying that the first step towards the possession of this +divinely bestowed and divinely blessed righteousness is not effort but +longing, I do not forget that the retention of it, and the working of it +into our characters, and out in our conduct, must be the result of our +own continual diligence. But it is effort based on faith; and it is +mainly, as I believe, the effort to keep open the line of communication +between us and God, the great Giver, which ensures our possession of +this gift of God. Dear friends, the righteousness that avails for us is +not of our making, but of God's giving, through Jesus Christ. + +So, before I pass to the other thoughts of my text, may I pause here for +a moment? 'Blessed are they that hunger and thirst'--think of the +picture that that suggests--the ravenous desire of a starving man, the +almost fierce longing of a parched throat. Is that a picture of the +intensity, of the depth, of our desires to be good? Do we professing +Christian men and women long to be delivered from our evils and to be +clothed in righteousness, with an honesty and an earnestness and a +continuity of longing which would make such words as these of my text +anything else, if applied to us, than the bitterest irony? Oh, one looks +out over the Christian Church, and one looks--which is more to the +purpose--into one's own heart, and contrasts the tepid, the lazy, the +occasional, and, I am afraid, the only half-sincere wishes to be better, +with the unmistakable earnestness and reality of our longings to be +rich, or wise, or prosperous, or famous, or happy in our domestic +relationships, and the like. Alas! alas! that the whole current of the +great river of so many professing Christians' desires runs towards earth +and creatures, and the tiniest little trickle is taken off, like a lade +for a mill, from the great stream, and directed towards higher things. +It is hunger and thirst after righteousness that is blessed. You and I +can tell whether our desires deserve such a name as that. + +II. And now, secondly, the satisfying of this divine hunger of the soul. + +'They shall be filled,' says our Lord. Now all these promises appended +to the Beatitudes have a double reference--to the certainty of the +present, and to the perfection of the future. That there is such a +double reference may be made very obvious if we notice that the first of +the promises, which includes them all, and of which the others are but +aspects and phases, is cast into the present tense, whilst the remainder +stand in the future. 'Theirs _is_ the Kingdom of Heaven,' not _shall +be_--'they _shall be_ comforted,' they '_shall_ inherit the earth,' and +so on. So, then, we are warranted, indeed we are obliged, to regard this +great promise in the text as having two epochs of fulfilment--one +partially here upon earth, one complete hereafter. And these two differ, +not in kind, but in degree. + +So then, with regard even to the present, 'they shall be filled.' Should +not that be a gospel to the seeking spirit of man, who knows so well +what it is to be crucified with the pangs of a vain desire, and to set +his heart upon that which never comes into his hands? There is one +region in which nothing is so impossible as that any desire should be in +vain, or any wish should be unfulfilled, and it is the region into which +Christ points us in these great words of my text. Turn away from earth, +where fulfilled desires and unfulfilled are often equally disappointed +ones. Turn away from the questionable satisfactions which come to those +whose hearts go out in longing for love, wisdom, wealth, transitory +felicity; and be sure of this, that the one longing which never will be +disappointed, nor, when answered, will prove to have given us but ashes +instead of bread, is the longing to be like God and like Christ. That +desire alone is sure to be fulfilled, and, being fulfilled, is sure to +be blessed. + +It is not true that all desires after righteousness are fulfilled. Those +which spring up, as I have said, in men's hearts sporadically, and apart +from the background of the experiences of my text, are not always, not +often, even partially accomplished. There are in every land, no doubt, +souls that thirst after righteousness, as they are able to discern it. +And we are sure of this, that no such effort and longing passes +unnoticed by Him 'who hears the young ravens when they cry,' and is not +deaf to the prayer of men who long to be good. But the experience of the +bulk of us, apart from Jesus Christ, is 'the things that I would not, +these I do, and the things that I would, these I do not.' The hunger +and thirst after righteousness, imperfect as they are, which are felt +at intervals by all men, do not avail to break the awful continuity of +their conduct as evil in the sight of God and of their own consciences. +And so, just because every man knows something of the sting of this +desire after righteousness, which yet remains for the most part +unfulfilled, the world is full of sadness. 'Oh, wretched man that I am, +who shall deliver me from the body of this death?' comes to be the +expression of the noblest amongst us. Then this great Gospel comes to +us, and the Nazarene confidently fronts a world dimly conscious of its +need, and sometimes miserable because it is bad, and says: 'Ho! every +one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters.... Come to Me, and drink.' + +What right had He to stand thus and promise that every desire after +goodness should be fulfilled in Him? He had the right, because He +Himself had the power and the purpose to fulfil it. For this is the very +heart of His Gospel: that He will give to every one who asks it that +spirit of life which was His own, and which 'shall make us free from the +law of sin and death.' + +Thus, dear friends, we have to be content to take the place of +recipients, and to accept, not to work out for ourselves, this +righteousness for which, more or less feebly, and all of us too feebly, +we do sometimes long. Oh, believe me, away from Him you will never +receive into your characters a goodness that will satisfy yourselves. +Siberian prisoners sometimes break their chains and escape for some +distance. They are generally taken back and again shut up in their +captivity. If we are able, as we are in some measure, to break the +bondage of evil in ourselves, we are not able to complete our +emancipation by any skill, effort, or act of ours. We must be content to +receive the blessing. There is no loom of earth which can weave, and no +needle that man's hands can use which can stitch together, the pure +garment that befits a soul. We must be content to take the robe of +righteousness which Jesus Christ has wrought, and to strip off, by His +help, the ancient self, splashed with the filth of the world, and +spotted by the flesh: and to 'put on the new man,' which Christ, and +Christ alone, bestows. + +As for the future fulfilment of this promise--desire will live in +heaven, desire will dilate the spirit, the dilated spirit will be +capable of fuller gifts of God-likeness, and increased capacity will +ensure increased reception. Thus, through eternity, in blessed +alternation, we shall experience the desire that brings new gifts and +the satisfying that produces new desires. + +Dear friends, all that I have been trying to say in this sermon is +gathered up into the one word--'that I may be found in Him, not having +my own righteousness, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the +righteousness which is of God by faith.' + + +THE FIFTH BEATITUDE + + 'Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.'--MATT. v. + 7. + +THE divine simplicity of the Beatitudes covers a divine depth, both in +regard to the single precepts and to the sequence of the whole. I have +already pointed out that the first of the series Is to be regarded as +the root and germ of all the subsequent ones. If for a moment we set it +aside and consider only the fruits which are successively developed from +it, we shall see that the remaining members of the sequence are arranged +in pairs, of which each contains, first, a characteristic more inward +and relating to the deep things of individual religion; and, second, a +characteristic which has its field of action in our relations to men. +For example, the 'mourners' and the 'meek' are paired. Those who 'hunger +and thirst after righteousness' and the 'merciful' are paired. 'The pure +in heart' and 'the peacemakers' are paired. + +Now that sequence can scarcely be accidental. It is the application in +detail of the great principle which our Lord endorsed in its Old +Testament form when He said that the first great commandment, the love +of God, had a companion consequent on and like unto it, the love of our +neighbour. Religion without beneficence, and beneficence without +religion, are equally maimed. The one is a root without fruit, and the +other a fruit without a root. The selectest emotions, the lowliest +faith, the loftiest aspirations, the deepest consciousness of one's own +unworthiness--these priceless elements of personal religion--are of +little worth unless there are inseparably linked with them meekness, +mercifulness, and peacemaking. 'What God hath joined together, let not +man put asunder.' If any Christian people have neglected the service of +man for the worship of God, they are flying in the face of Christ's +teaching. If any antagonists of Christianity attack it on the ground +that it fosters such neglect, they mistake the system that they +criticise, and are judging it by the imperfect practice of the disciples +instead of by the perfect precepts of the Master. + +So, then, here we have a characteristic lodged in the very heart of this +series of Beatitudes which refers wholly to our demeanour to one +another. My remarks now will, therefore, be of a very homely, +commonplace, and practical kind. + +I. Note the characteristic on which our Lord here pours out His +blessing--Mercy. + +Now, like all the other members of this sequence, with the exception, +perhaps, of the last, this quality refers to disposition much rather +than to action. Conduct is included, of course; but conduct only +secondarily. Jesus Christ always puts conduct second, as all wise and +great teachers do. 'As a man thinketh in his heart so is he.' That is +the keynote of all noble morality. And none has ever carried it out more +thoroughly than has the morality of the Gospel. It is a poor translation +and limitation of this great word which puts in the foreground merely +merciful actions. The mercifulness of my text is, first and foremost, a +certain habitual way of looking at and feeling towards men, especially +to men in suffering and need, and most especially to men who have proved +themselves bad and blameworthy. It is implied that a rigid retribution +would lead to severer methods of judgment and of action. + +Therefore the first characteristic of the merciful man is that he is +merciful in his judgments; not making the worst of people, no Devil's +Advocate in his estimates of his fellows; but, endlessly, and, as the +world calls it, foolishly and incredibly, gentle in his censures, and +ever ready to take the charitable--which is generally the +truer--construction of acts and motives. That is a very threadbare +thought, brother, but the way to invest commonplace with startling power +is to bring it into immediate connection with our own life and conduct. +And if you will try to walk by this threadbare commonplace for a week, +I am mistaken if you do not find out that it has teeth to bite and a +firm grip to lay upon you. Threadbare truth is not effete until it is +obeyed, and when we try to obey it, it ceases to be commonplace. + +Again, I may remind you that this mercifulness, which is primarily an +inward emotion, and a way, as I said, of thinking of, and of looking at, +unworthy people, must necessarily, of course, find its manifestation in +our outward conduct. And there will be, what I need not dilate upon, a +readiness to help, to give, to forgive not only offences against society +and morality, but offences against ourselves. + +I need not dwell longer upon this first part of my subject. I wished +mainly to emphasise that to begin with action, in our understanding of +mercifulness, is a mistake; and that we must clear our hearts of +antipathies, and antagonisms, and cynical suspicions, if we would +inherit the blessings of our text. + +Before I go further, I would point out the connection between this +incumbent duty of mercifulness and the preceding virtue of meekness. It +is hard enough to bear 'the spurns that patient merit of the unworthy +takes,' without one spot of red in the cheek, one perturbation or flush +of anger in the heart; and to do that might task us all to the utmost. +But that is not all that Christ's ethics require of us. It is not +sufficient to exercise the passive virtue of meekness; there must be the +active one of mercifulness. And to call for that is to lay an additional +weight upon our consciences, and to strain and stretch still further the +obligation under which we come. We have not done what the worst men and +our most malicious enemies have a right to receive from us when we say, +with the cowardly insincerity of the world, 'I can forgive but I cannot +forget.' That is no forgiveness, and that is no mercifulness It is not +enough to stand still, unresisting. There must be a hand of helpfulness +stretched out, and a gush of pity and mercifulness in the heart, if we +are to do what our Master has done for us all, and what our Master +requires us to do for one another. Mercifulness is the active side of +the passive meekness. + +Further, in a word, I would note here another thing, and that is--what a +sad, stern, true view of the condition of men in the world results from +noticing that the only three qualities in regard to our relation to them +which Christ sets in this sevenfold tiara of diamonds are meekness in +the face of hatred and injustice; mercifulness in the face of weakness +and wickedness; peacemaking in the face of hostility and wrangling. What +a world in which we have to live, where the crowning graces are those +which presuppose such vices as do these! Ah! dear friends, 'as sheep in +the midst of wolves' is true to-day. And the one conquering power is +patient gentleness, which recompenses all evil with good, and is the +sole means of transforming and thus overcoming it. + +People talk a great deal, and a good deal of it very insincerely, about +their admiration for these precepts gathered together in this chapter. +If they would try to live them for a fortnight, they would perhaps pause +a little longer than some of them do before they said, as do people that +detest the theology of the New Testament, 'The Sermon on the Mount is +_my_ religion.' Is it? It does not look very like it. At all events, if +it is, it is a religion behind which practice most wofully limps. + +II. Let me ask you to look at what I have already in part referred +to--the place in this series which Mercifulness holds. + +Now, of course, I know, and nothing that I say now is to be taken for a +moment as questioning or underestimating it, that, altogether apart from +religion, there is interwoven into the structure of human nature that +sentiment of mercifulness which our Lord here crowns with His +benediction. But it is not that natural, instinctive sentiment--which is +partially unreliable, and has little power apart from the reinforcement +of higher thoughts to carry itself consistently through life--that our +Lord is here speaking about; but it is a mercifulness which is more than +an instinct, more than a sentiment, more than the natural answer of the +human heart to the sight of compassion and distress, which is, in fact, +the product of all that has preceded it in this linked chain of +characteristics and their blessings. + +And so I ask you to recall these. 'Poor in spirit,' 'mourning,' 'meek,' +'hungering and thirsting after righteousness'--these are the springs +that feed the flow of this river; and if it be not fed from them, but +from the surface-waters of human sentiment and instinct, it will dry up +long before it has availed to refresh barren places, and to cool thirsty +lips. And note also the preceding promises, 'theirs is the kingdom of +heaven'; 'they shall be comforted'; 'they shall inherit the earth; 'they +shall be filled.' These are experiences which, again, are another +collection of the head-waters of this stream. + +That is to say, the true, lasting, reliable, conquering mercifulness has +a double source. The consciousness of our own weakness, the sadness that +creeps over the heart when it makes the discovery of its own sin, the +bowed submission primarily to the will of God, and secondarily to the +antagonisms which, in subservience to that will, we may meet in life, +and the yearning desire for a fuller righteousness and a more lustrous +purity in our own lives and characters--these are the experiences which +will make a man gentle in his judgment of his brother, and full of +melting charity in all his dealings with him. If I know how dark my own +nature is, how prone to uncommitted evils, how little I have to thank +myself for the virtues that I have practised, which are largely due to +my exemption from temptation and to my opportunities, and how little I +have in my own self that I can venture to bring to the stern judgment +which I am tempted to apply to other people, then the words of censure +will falter on my tongue, and the bitter construction of my brother's +conduct and character will be muffled in silence. 'Except as to open +outbreakings,' said one of the very saintliest of men, 'I want nothing +of what Judas and Cain had.' If we feel this, we shall ask ourselves, +'Who art thou that judgest another man's servant?' and the condemnation +of others will stick in our throats when we try to utter it. + +And, on the other hand, if I, through these paths of self-knowledge, and +lowly estimate of self, and penitent confession of sin, and flexibility +of will to God, and yearning, as for my highest food and good, after a +righteousness which I feel I do not possess, have come into the position +in which my poverty is, by His gift, made rich, and the tears are wiped +away from off my face by His gracious hand, and a full possession of +large blessings bestowed on my humble will, and the righteousness for +which I long imparted to me, shall I not have learned how divine a thing +it is to give to the unworthy, and so be impelled to communicate what I +have already received? 'Be ye therefore imitators of God, as beloved +children; and walk in love as Christ also hath loved us.' They only are +deeply, through and through, universally and always merciful who have +received mercy. The light is reflected at the same angle as it falls, +and the only way by which there can come from our faces and lives a +glory that shall lighten many dark hearts, and make sunshine in many a +shady place, is that these hearts shall have turned full to the very +fountain itself of heavenly radiance, and so 'have received of the Lord +that which also' they 'deliver' unto men. + +And so, brethren, there are two plain, practical exhortations from these +thoughts. One is, let us Christian people learn the fruits of God's +mercy, and be sure of this, that our own mercifulness in regard to men +is an accurate measure of the amount of the divine mercy which we have +received. The other is, let all of us learn the root of man's mercy to +men. There is plenty, of a sort, of philanthropy and beneficent and +benevolent work and feeling to-day, entirely apart from all perception +of, and all faith in, the Gospel of Jesus Christ, in so far as the +individuals who exercise that beneficence are concerned. I, for my part, +am narrow enough to believe that the streams of non-Christian +charitableness, which run in our land and in other lands to-day, have +been fed from Christ's fountain, though the supply has come underground, +and bursts into light apparently unconnected with its source. If there +had been no New Testament there would have been very little of the +beneficence which flouts the New Testament to-day. Historically, it is +the great truths, which we conveniently summarise as being evangelical +Christianity, that have been mother to the new charity that, since +Christ, has been breathed over the world. I, for my part, believe that +if you strike out the doctrine of universal sinfulness, if you cover +over the Cross of Christ, if you do not find in it the manifestation of +a God who is endlessly merciful to the most unworthy, you have destroyed +the basis on which true and operative benevolence will rest. So then, +dear brethren, let us all seek to get a humbler and a truer conception +of what we ourselves are, and a loftier and truer faith of what God in +Christ is; and then to remember that if we have these, we are bound to, +and we shall, show that we have them, by making that which is the anchor +of our hope the pattern of our lives. + +III. Lastly, notice the requital, 'They shall obtain mercy.' + +Now, it is a wretched weakening of that great thought to suppose that it +means that if A. is merciful to B., B. will be merciful to A. +That is sometimes true, and sometimes it is not. It does not so very +much matter whether it is true or not; that is not what Jesus Christ +means. All these Beatitudes are God's gifts, and this is God's gift too. +It is His mercy which the merciful man obtains. + +But you say: 'Have you not just been telling us that this sense and +experience of God's mercy must precede my mercy, and now you say that my +mercy must precede God's?' No; I do not say that it must precede it; I +do say that my mercifulness is, as it were, lodged between the segments +of a golden circle, and has on one side the experience of the divine +mercy which quickens mine by thankfulness and imitation; on the other +side, the larger experience of the divine mercy which follows upon my +walking after the example of my Lord. + +This is only one case of the broad general principle, 'to him that hath +shall be given, and from him that hath not shall be taken even that +which he hath.' Salvation is no such irreversible gift as that once +bestowed a man can go on anyhow and it will continue; but it is given in +such a fashion as that, for its retention, and still more for its +increase, there must be a certain line of feeling and of action. + +Our Lord does not mean to say, of course, that this one isolated member +of a series carries with it the whole power of bringing down upon a man +the blessings which are only due to the combination of the whole series, +but that it stands as one of that linked band which shall receive the +blessing from on high. And the blessing here is stated in accordance +with the particular Grace in question, according to that great law of +retaliation which brings life unto life and death unto death. + +No man who, having received the mercy of God, lives harsh, hard, +self-absorbed, implacable, and uncommunicative, will keep that mercy in +any vivid consciousness or to any blessed issue. The servant took his +fellow-servant by the throat, and said, 'Pay me that thou owest,' and +his master said, 'Deliver him to the tormentors until he pay the +uttermost farthing.' You receive your salvation as a free gift; you keep +it by feelings and conduct correspondent to the gift. + +Though benevolence which has an eye to self is no benevolence, it is +perfectly legitimate, and indeed absolutely necessary, that whilst the +motive for mercifulness is mercy received, the encouragement to +mercifulness should be mercy still to be given. 'Walk in love, as Christ +also hath loved us'; and when you think of your own unworthiness, and of +the great gifts which a gracious God has given, let these impel you to +move amongst men as copies of God, and be sure that you deepen your +spiritual life, not only by meditation and by faith, but by practical +work, and by showing towards all men mercy like the mercy which God has +bestowed upon you. + + +THE SIXTH BEATITUDE + + 'Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.'--MATT. v. + 8. + +AT first hearing one scarcely knows whether the character described in +this great saying, or the promise held out, is the more inaccessible to +men. 'The pure in heart': who may they be? Is there one of us that can +imagine himself possessed of a character fitting him for the vision of +God, or such as to make him bear with delight that dazzling blaze? 'They +shall see God,' whom 'no man hath seen at any time, nor can see.' Surely +the requirement is impossible, and the promise not less so. But does +Jesus Christ mock us with demands that cannot be satisfied, and dangle +before us hopes that can never be realised? There have been many +moralists and would-be teachers who have done that. What would be the +use of saying to a man lying on a battlefield sore wounded, and with +both legs shot off, 'If you will only get up and run, you will be safe'? +What would be the use of telling men how blessed they would be if they +were the opposite of what they are? But that is not Christ's way. + +These words, lofty and remote as they seem, are in truth amongst the +most hopeful and radiant that ever came from even His lips. For they +offer the realisation of an apparently impossible character, they +promise the possession of an apparently impossible vision; and they +soothe fears, and tell us that the sight from which, were it possible, +we should sometimes fain shrink, is the source of our purest gladness. +So there are three things, it seems to me, worth our notice in these +great words--How hearts can be made pure; how the pure heart can see +God; and how the sight can be simple blessedness. + +I. How hearts can be made pure. + +Now, the key which has unlocked for us, in previous sermons, the +treasures of meaning in these Beatitudes, is especially necessary here. +For, as I have said, if you take this to be a mere isolated saying, it +becomes a mockery and a pain. But if you connect it, as our Lord would +have us connect it, with all the preceding links of this wreathed chain +describing the characteristics of a devout soul, then it assumes an +altogether different appearance. 'The pure in heart' are they who have +exercised and received the previous qualifications and bestowments from +God. That is to say, there must precede all such purity as is capable of +the divine vision, the poverty of spirit which recognises its true +condition, the mourning which rightly feels the gravity and awfulness of +that condition, the desire for its opposite, which will never be the +'hunger and thirst' of a soul, except it is preceded by a profound sense +of sin and the penitence that ensues thereupon. + +But when these things have gone before, and when they have been +accompanied, as they surely will be, with the results that flow from +them without an interval of time--viz. enrichment with possession of the +kingdom, the comforting and drying of the tears of penitence, and the +possession of a righteousness bestowed because it is desired, and not +won because it is worked for--then, and only then, will the heart be +purged and defecated from its evils and its self-regard, and its eyes +opened and couched and strengthened to behold undazzled the eternal +light of God. The word of my text, standing alone, ministers despair. +Regarded where Christ set it, as one of the series of characteristics +which He has been describing, it kindles the brightest and surest hope. + +'Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots?' No; but +God can change them; and the implication of my text, regarded in its due +relation to these other Beatitudes, is just that the requisite purity is +not of man's working, but is God's gift. The same truth which here +results from the study of the place of our text in this series is +condensed into a briefer, but substantially equivalent, form in the +saying of another part of the New Testament, about 'purifying their +hearts by faith.' + +Dear brethren, we come back to the old truth--all a man's hope of, and +effort after, reformation and self-improvement must begin with the +consciousness of sin, the lament over it, the longing for divine +goodness, the opening of the heart for the reception thereof; and only +then can we rise to these serene heights of purity of heart. This, and +this alone, is the way by which 'a clean thing' can be brought 'out of +an unclean one.' and men stained and foul with evil, and bound under the +chains of that which is the mother of all evil, the undue making +themselves the centres of their lives, can be washed and cleansed and +emancipated, and God be made the end and the aim, the motive and the +goal, the power and the reward, of all their work. Righteousness is a +gift to begin with, and it is a gift bestowed on condition of +'repentance toward God, and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.' We all have +longings after purity, suppressed, dashed, contradicted a thousand times +in our lives day by day, but there they are; and the only way by which +they can be fully satisfied is when we go with our foul hands, empty as +well as foul, and lift them up to God, and say, 'Give what Thou +commandest, even the clean heart, and we shall be clean.' + +But then, do not let us forget, either, that this gift bestowed not once +and for ever, but continuously if there be continuous desire, is to be +utilised, appropriated, worked into our characters, and worked out in +our lives, by our own efforts, as well as by our own faith. 'Having, +therefore, these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from +all filthiniess of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of +the Lord.' 'Every man that hath this' gift bestowed, 'purifieth +_himself_ even as He is pure.' He that brings to us the gift of +regeneration, by which we receive the new nature which is free from sin, +calls to each of us as He presents to us the basin with the cleansing +water, 'Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings; ... +cease to do evil, learn to do well.' 'What God hath joined together let +not man put asunder,' viz. the act of faith by which we receive, the act +of diligence by which we use, the purifying power. + +II. Note how the pure heart sees God. + +One is tempted to plunge into mystical depths when speaking upon such a +text as this, but I wish to resist the temptation now, and to deal with +it in a plain, practical fashion. Of course I need not remind you, or +do more than simply remind you, that the matter in question here is no +perception by sense of Him who is invisible, nor is it, either, an +adequate and direct knowledge and comprehension of Him who is infinite, +and whom a man can no more comprehend than he can stretch his short arms +round the flaming orb of the central sun. But still, there is a relation +to God possible for sinful men when they have been purified through the +faith that is in Jesus Christ, which is so direct, so immediate, that it +deserves the name of vision; and which, as I believe, is the ground of a +firmer certitude, and of a no less clear apprehension, than is the sense +from which the name is borrowed. For the illusions of sense have no +place in the sight which the pure heart has of its Father, God. + +Only, remember that here, and in the interpretation of all such +Scriptural words, we have ever to be guided and governed by the great +principle which our Lord laid down, under very solemn circumstances, +when He said: 'He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father.' Jesus Christ, +whose name from eternity is the Word, is, from eternity to eternity, +that which the name indicates--viz. the revealing activity of the +eternal God. And, as I believe, wherever there have been kindled in +men's hearts, either by the contemplation of nature and providence, or +by the intuitions of their own spirits, any glints or glimpses of a God, +there has been the operation of 'the Light that lighteth every man that +cometh into the world.' And far beyond the limits of historical +Revelation within Israel, as recorded in Scripture, that Eternal Word +has been unveiling, as men's dim eyes were capable of perceiving it, the +light of the knowledge of the glory of God. But for us who stand in the +full blaze of that historical manifestation in the character and work of +Jesus Christ our Saviour, our vision of God is neither more nor less +than the apprehension and the realisation of Christ as 'God manifest in +the flesh.' + +Whether you call it the vision of God, or whether you call it communion +with God in Jesus Christ, or whether you fall back upon the other +metaphor of God dwelling in us and we dwelling in God, it all comes to +the same thing, the consciousness of His presence, the realisation of +His character, the blessed assurance of loving relations with Him, and +the communion in mind, heart, will, and conduct, with God who has come +near to us all in Jesus Christ. + +Now, I need not remind you, I suppose, that for such a realisation and +active, real communion, purity of heart is indispensable. That is no +arbitrary requirement, but inherent, as we all know, in the very nature +of the case. If we think of what He is, we shall feel that only the pure +in heart can really pass into loving fellowship with Him. 'How can two +walk together except they be agreed?' And if we reflect upon the history +of our own feelings and realisation of God's presence with us, we shall +see that impurity always drew a membrane over the eye of our souls, or +cast a mist of invisibility over the heavens. The smallest sin hides God +from us. A very, very little grain of dye stuff will darken miles of a +river, and make it incapable of reflecting the blue sky and the +sparkling stars. The least evil done and loved blurs and blots, if it +does not eclipse, for us the doers the very Sun of Righteousness +Himself. No sinful men can walk in the midst of that fiery furnace and +not be consumed. 'The pure in heart'--and only they--'shall see God.' + +Nor need I remind you, I suppose, that in this, as in all these +Beatitudes, the germinal fulfilment in the present life is not to be +parted off by a great gap from the perfect fulfilment in the life which +is to come. And so I do not dwell so much on the differences, great and +wonderful as these must necessarily be, between the manner of +apprehension and communion with God which it is reserved for heaven to +bestow upon us, and the manner of those which we may enjoy here; but I +rather would point to the blessed thought that in essence they are one, +however in degree they may be different. No doubt, changed +circumstances, new capacities, the withdrawal of time and sense, the +dropping away of the veil of flesh, which is the barrier between us and +the unseen order of things in which 'we live and move and have our +being,' will induce changes and progresses in the manner and in the +degree of that vision about which it would be folly for us to speak. If +there were anything here with which we could compare the state of the +blessed in heaven, in so far as it differs from their state on earth, we +could form some conception of these differences; but if there were +anything here with which we could compare it, it would be less glorious +than it is. It is well that we should have to say, 'Eye hath not seen, +nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things +that God hath prepared.' So let us be thankful that 'it doth not yet +appear what we shall be'; and let us never allow our ignorance of the +manner to make us doubt or neglect the fact, seeing that we know 'that +when He shall appear ... we shall see Him as He is.' + +III. Lastly, notice how this sight brings blessedness. + +There is nothing else that will 'satisfy the eye with seeing.' The +vision of God, even in that incipient and imperfect form which is +possible upon earth, is the one thing that will calm our distractions, +that will supply our needs, that will lift our lives to a level of +serene power and blessedness, unattainable by any other way. Such a +sight will dim all the dazzling illusions of earth, as, when the sun +leaps into the heavens, the stars hide their faces and faint into +invisibility. It will make us lords of ourselves, masters of the world, +kings over time and sense and the universe. Everything will be different +when 'earth is crammed with heaven, and every common bush afire with +God.' That is what is possible for a Christian holding fast by Jesus +Christ, and in Him having communion with the Father and the Holy Spirit. + +Brethren, I venture to say no word about the blessedness of that future. +Heaven's golden gates keep their secret well. Even the purest joys of +earth, about which poets have sung for untold centuries, after all +singing need to be tasted before they are conceived of; and all our +imaginings about the blessedness yonder is but like what a chrysalis +might dream in its tomb as to the life of the radiant winged creature +which it would one day become. Let us be content to be ignorant, and +believe with confidence that we shall find that the vision of God is the +heaven of heavens. + +We shall owe that eternal vision to the eternal Revealer; for, as I +believe, Scripture teaches us that it is only in Him that the glorified +saints see the Father, as it is only in Him that here on earth we have +the vision of God. That sight is not, like the bodily sense to which it +is compared, a far-off perception of an ungrasped brightness, but it is +the actual possession of what we behold. We see God when we have God. +When we have God we have enough. + +But I dare not close without one other word. There _is_ a vision of God +possible to an impure heart, in which there is no blessedness. There +comes a day in which 'they shall call upon the rocks to fall and cover +them from the face of Him that sits upon the throne.' The alternative is +before each of us, dear friends--either 'every eye shall see Him, and +they also which pierced Him; and all kindreds of the earth shall wail +because of Him'; or, 'I shall behold Thy face in righteousness. I shall +be satisfied, when I awake, with Thy likeness.' If we cry, 'Create a +clean heart in me, O God!' He will answer, 'I will give you a new heart, +and take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a +heart of flesh, and I will pour clean water upon you, and ye shall be +clean.' + + +THE SEVENTH BEATITUDE + + 'Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children + of God.' MATT. v. 9. + +This is the last Beatitude descriptive of the character of the +Christian. There follows one more, which describes his reception by the +world. But this one sets the top stone, the shining apex, upon the whole +temple-structure which the previous Beatitudes had been gradually +building up. You may remember that I have pointed out in previous +sermons how all these various traits of the Christian life are deduced +from the root of poverty of spirit. You may also remember how I have had +occasion to show that if we consider that first Beatitude, 'Blessed are +the poor in spirit,' as the root and mother of all the rest, the +remainder are so arranged as that we have alternately a grace which +regards mainly the man himself and his relations to God, and one which +also includes his relations to man. + +Now there are three of these which look out into the world, and these +three are consummated by this one of my text. These are 'the meek,' +which describes a man's attitude to opposition and hatred; 'the +merciful,' which describes his indulgence in judgment and his +pitifulness in action; and 'the peacemakers.' For Christian people are +not merely to bear injuries and to recompense them with pity and with +love, but they are actively to try to bring about a wholesomer and purer +state of humanity, and to breathe the peace of God, which passes +understanding, over all the janglings and struggles of this world. + +So, I think, if we give a due depth of significance to that name +'peacemaker,' we shall find that this grace worthily completes the whole +linked series, and is the very jewel which clasps the whole chain of +Christian and Christ-like characteristics. + +I. How are Christ's peacemakers made? + +Now there are certain people whose natural disposition has in it a fine +element, which diffuses soothing and concord all around them. I dare say +we all have known such--perhaps some good woman, without any very +shining gifts of intellect, who yet dwelt in such peace of heart herself +that conflict and jangling were rebuked in her presence. And there are +other people who love peace, and seek after it in the cowardly fashion +of letting things alone; whose 'peacemaking' has no nobler source than +hatred of trouble, and a wish to let sleeping dogs lie. These, instead +of being peacemakers, are war-makers, for they are laying up materials +for a tremendous explosion some day. + +But it is a very different temper that Jesus Christ has in view here, +and I need only ask you to do again what we have had occasion to do in +the previous sermons of this series--to link this characteristic with +those that go before it, of which it is regarded as being the bright and +consummate flower and final outcome. No man can bring to others that +which he does not possess. Vainly will he whose own heart is torn by +contending passions, whose own life is full of animosities and +unreconciled outstanding causes of alienation and divergence between him +and God, between him and duty, between him and himself, ever seek to +shed any deep or real peace amongst men. He may superficially solder +some external quarrels, but that is not all that Jesus Christ means. His +peacemakers are created by having passed through all the previous +experiences which the preceding verses bring out. They have learned the +poverty of their own spirits. They have wept tears, if not real and +literal, yet those which are far more agonising--tears of spirit and +conscience--when they have thought of their own demerits and foulnesses. +They have bowed in humble submission to the will of God, and even to +that will as expressed by the antagonisms of man. They have yearned +after the possession of a fuller and nobler righteousness than they have +attained. They have learned to judge others with a gentle judgment +because they know how much they themselves need it, and to extend to +others a helping hand because they are aware of their own impotence and +need of succour. They have been led through all these, often painful, +experiences into a purity of heart which has been blessed by some +measure of vision of God; and, having thus been equipped and prepared, +they are fit to go out into the world and say, in the presence of all +its tempests, 'Peace! be still.' Something of the miracle-working energy +of the Master whom they serve will be shed upon those who serve Him. + +Brethren, the peacemaker who is worthy of the name must have gone +through these deep spiritual experiences. I do not say that they are to +come in regular stages, separable from each other. That is not the way +in which a character mounts towards God. It does so not by a flight of +steps, at distinctly different elevations, but rather by an ascending +slope. And, although these various Christian graces which precede that +of my text are separable in thought, and are linked in the fashion that +our Lord sets forth in experience, they may be, and often are, +contemporaneous. + +But whether separated from one another in time or not, whether this +life-preparation, of which the previous verses give us the outline, has +been realised drop by drop, or whether it has been all flooded on to the +soul at once, as it quite possibly has, in some fashion or other it must +precede our being the sort of peacemakers that Christ desires and +blesses. + +There is only one more point that I would make here before I go on, and +that is, that it is well to notice that the climax of Christian +character, according to Jesus Christ Himself, is found in our relations +to men, and not in our relation to God. Worship of heart and spirit, +devout emotions of the sacredest, sweetest, most hallowed and hallowing +sort, are absolutely indispensable, as I have tried to show you. But +equally, if not more, important is it for us to remember that the purest +communion with God, and the selectest emotional experiences of the +Christian life, are meant to be the bases of active service; and that, +if such service does not follow these, there is good reason for +supposing that these are spurious, and worth very little. The service of +man is the outcome of the love of God. He who begins with poverty of +spirit is perfected when, forgetting himself, and coming down from the +mountain-top, where the Shekinah cloud of the Glory and the audible +voice are, he plunges into the struggles of the multitude below, and +frees the devil-ridden boy from the demon that possesses him. Begin by +all means with poverty of spirit, or you will never get to +this--'Blessed are the peacemakers.' But see to it that poverty of +spirit leads to the meekness, the mercifulness, the peace-bringing +influence which Christ has pronounced blessed. + +II. What is the peace which Christ's peacemakers bring? + +This is a very favourite text with people that know very little of the +depths of Christianity. They fancy that it appeals to common sense and +men's natural consciences, apart altogether from minutenesses of +doctrine or of Christian experience. They are very much mistaken. No +doubt there is a surface of truth, but only a surface, in the +application that is generally given to these words of our text, as if it +meant nothing more than 'he is a good man that goes about and tries to +make contending people give up their quarrels, and produces a healing +atmosphere of tranquillity wherever he goes.' That is perfectly true, +but there is a great deal more in the text than that. If we consider the +Scriptural usage of this great word 'peace,' and all the ground that it +covers in human experience; if we remember that it enters as an element +into Christ's own name, the 'Peace-Bringer,' the 'Prince of Peace'; and +if we notice, as I have already done, the place which this Beatitude +occupies in the series, we shall be obliged to look for some far deeper +meaning before we can understand the sweep of our Lord's intention here. + +I do not think that I am going one inch too far, or forcing meanings +into His words which they are not intended to bear, when I say that the +first characteristic of the peace, which His disciples have been passed +through their apprenticeship in order to fit them to bring, is the peace +of reconciliation with God. The cause of all the other fightings in the +world is that men's relation to the Father in heaven is disturbed, and +that, whilst there flow out from Him only amity and love, these are met +by us with antagonism often, with opposition of will often, with +alienation of heart often, and with indifference and forgetfulness +almost uniformly. So the first thing to be done to make men at peace +with one another and with themselves is to rectify their relation to +God, and bring peace there. + +We often hear in these days complaints of Christian Churches and +Christian people because they do not fling themselves, with sufficient +energy to please the censors, into movements which are intended to bring +about happier relations in society. The longest way round is sometimes +the shortest way home. It does not belong to all of us Christians, and I +doubt whether it belongs to the Christian Church as such at all, to +fling itself into the movements to which I have referred. But if a man +go and carry to men the great message of a reconciled and a reconciling +God manifest in Jesus Christ, and bringing peace between men and God, he +will have done more to sweeten society and put an end to hostility than +I think he will be likely to do by any other method. Christian men and +women, whatever else you and I are here for, we are here mainly that we +may preach, by lip and life, the great message that in Christ is our +peace, and that God 'was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself.' + +We are not to leave out, of course, that which is so often taken as +being the sole meaning of the great word of my text. There is much that +we are all bound to do to carry the tranquillising and soothing +influences of Gospel principles and of Christ's example into the +littlenesses of daily life. Any fool can stick a lucifer match into a +haystack and make a blaze. It is easy to promote strife. There is a +malicious love of it in us all; and ill-natured gossip has a great deal +to do in bringing it about. But it takes something more to put the fire +out than it did to light it, and there is no nobler office for +Christians than to seek to damp down all these devil's flames of envy +and jealousy and mutual animosity. We have to do it, first, by making +very sure that we do not answer scorn with scorn, gibes with gibes, hate +with hate, but 'seek to overcome evil with good.' It takes two to make a +quarrel, and your most hostile antagonist cannot break the peace unless +you help him. If you are resolved to keep it, kept it will be. + +May I say another word? I think that our text, though it goes a good +deal deeper, does also very plainly tell us Christian folk what is our +duty in relation to literal warfare. There is no need for me to discuss +here the question as to whether actual fighting with armies and swords +is ever legitimate or not. It is a curious kind of Christian duty +certainly, if it ever gets to be one. And when one thinks of the +militarism that is crushing Europe and driving her ignorant classes to +wild schemes of revolution; and when one thinks of the hell of +battlefields, of the miseries of the wounded, of mourning widows, of +ruined peaceful peasants, of the devil's passions that war sets loose, +some of us find it extremely hard to believe that all that is ever in +accordance with the mind of Christ. But whether you agree with me in +that or no, surely my text points to the duty of the Christian Church to +take up a very much more decisive position in reference to the military +spirit than, alas! it ever has done. Certainly it does seem to be not +very obviously in accordance with Christ's teachings that men-of-war +should be launched with a religious service, or that _Te Deums_ should +be sung because thousands have been killed. It certainly does seem to be +something like a satire on European Christianity that one of the chief +lessons we have taught the East is that we have instructed the Japanese +how to use Western weapons to fight their enemies. Surely, surely, if +Christian churches laid to heart as they ought these plain words of the +Master, they would bring their united influence to bear against that +demon of war, and that pinchbeck, spurious glory which is connected with +it. 'Blessed are the peacemakers': let us try to earn the benediction. + +III. Lastly, note the issue of this peacemaking. + +'They shall be called the sons of God.' Called? By whom? Christ does not +say, but it should not be difficult to ascertain. It seems to me that to +suppose that it is by men degrades this promise, instead of making it +the climax of the whole series. Besides, it is not true that if a +Christian man lives as I have been trying to describe, protesting +against certain evils, trying to diffuse an atmosphere of peace round +about him; and, above all, seeking to make known the Name of the great +Peacemaker, men will generally call him a 'son of God.' The next verse +but one tells us what they will call him. 'Blessed are ye when men shall +revile you, and persecute you, and say all manner of evil against you +falsely for My sake.' They are a great deal more likely to have stones +and rotten eggs flung at them than to be pelted with bouquets of scented +roses of popular approval. No! no! it is not man's judgment that is +meant here. It matters very little what men call us. It matters +everything what God calls us. It is He who will call them 'sons of God.' +So the Apostle John thought that Christ meant, for he very beautifully +and touchingly quotes this passage when he says, 'Beloved! behold what +manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be +called the sons of God.' + +God's calling is a recognition of men for what they are. God owns the +man that lives in the fashion that we have been trying to outline--God +owns him for His child; manifestly a son, because he has the Father's +likeness. 'Be ye therefore imitators of God as beloved children, and +walk in love.' God in Christ is the first Peacemaker, and they who go +about the world proclaiming His peace and making peace, bear the image +of the heavenly, and are owned by God as His sons. + +What does that owning mean? Well, it means a great deal which has yet to +be disclosed, but it means this, too, that the whisper of the Voice +which owns us for children will be heard by ourselves. The Spirit which +cries, 'Abba, Father!' will open our ears to hear Him say, 'Thou art My +beloved Son.' Or, to put it into plain English, there is no surer way by +which we can come to the calm, happy, continual consciousness of being +the children of God than by this living like Him, to spread the peace +of God over all hearts. + +I have said in former sermons that all these promises, which are but the +natural outcome of the characteristics to which they are attached, have +a double reference, being fulfilled in germ here, and in maturity +hereafter. Like the rest, this one has that double reference. For the +consciousness, here and now, that we are the children of God is but, as +it were, the morning twilight of what shall hereafter be an typesetting +meridian sunshine. What depths of divine assimilation, what mysteries of +calm, peaceful, filial fellowship, what riches beyond count of divine +inheritance, lie in the name of son, the possession of these alone can +tell. For the same Apostle, whose comment upon these words we have +already quoted, goes on to say, 'It doth not yet appear what we shall +be.' + +Only we have one assurance, wide enough for all anticipation, and firm +enough for solid hope: 'If children, then heirs; heirs of God, and +joint-heirs with Christ.' He must make us sons before we can be called +sons of God. He must give us peace with God, with ourselves, with men, +with circumstances, before we can go forth effectually to bring peace to +others. If He has given us these good things, He has bound us to spread +them. Let us do so. And if our peace ever is spoken in vain as regards +others, it will come back to us again; and we shall be kept in perfect +peace, even in the midst of strife, until we enter at last into the city +of peace and serve the King of Peace for ever. + + +THE EIGHTH BEATITUDE + + 'Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake: for + theirs is the kingdom of heaven.'--MATT. v. 10. + +We have seen the description of the true subjects of the kingdom growing +into form and completeness before our eyes in the preceding verses, +which tell us what they are in their own consciousness, what they are in +their longings, what they become in inward nature by God's gift of +purity, how they move among men as angels of God, meek, merciful, +peace-bringing. Is anything more needed for complete portraiture, any +added touch to the picture? Yes--what the world is to them, what are its +wages for such work, what its perception of such characters. Their +relations to it are those of peace-bringers, reconcilers; its to them +are those of hostility and dislike. Blessed are the persecuted for +righteousness' sake. + +I take these words to be as universal and permanent in their application +as any which have preceded them. This characteristic is, like all the +others, the result of those which go before it and presupposes their +continuous operation. The benediction which is attached is not an +arbitrary promise, but stands in as close a relation of consequence to +the characteristic as do the others. And it is marked out as the last in +the series by being a repetition of the first, to express the idea of +completeness, a rounded whole; to suggest that all the others are but +elements of this, and that the initial blessing given to the poor in +spirit is identical with that which is the reward of the highest +Christian character, the one possessing implicitly what the other has in +full development. + +1. The world's recompense to the peace-bringers. + +It may be thought that this clause, at all events, has reference to +special epochs only, and especially to the first founding of +Christianity. Such a reference, of course, there is. And very +remarkable is it how clearly and honestly Christ always warned would-be +disciples of what they would earn in this world by following Him. + +But He seems to take especial pains to show that He here proclaims a +principle of equal generality with the others, by separating the +application of it to His immediate hearers which follows in the next +verse, from the universal statement in the text. Their individual +experience was but to illustrate the general rule, not to exhaust it. +And you remember how frequently the same thought is set forth in +Scripture in the most perfectly general terms. + +1. Notice that antagonism is inevitable between a true Christian and the +world. + +Take the character as it is sketched in verses preceding. Point by point +it is alien from the sympathies and habits of irreligious men. The +principles are different, the practices are different. + +A true Christian ought to be a standing rebuke to the world, an +incarnate conscience. + +There are but two ways of ending that antagonism: either by bringing the +world up to Christian character, or letting Christian character down to +the world. + +2. The certain and uniform result is opposition and dislike--persecution +in its reality. + +Darkness hateth light. + +Some will, no doubt, be touched; there is that in all men which +acknowledges how awful goodness is. But the loftier character is not +loved by the lower which if loves. + +Aristides 'the Just.' Christ Himself. + +As to practice--a righteous life will not make a man 'popular.' And as +for 'opinions'--earnest religious opinions of any sort are distasteful. +Not the profession of them, but the reality of them--especially those +which seem in any way new or strange--make the average man angrily +intolerant of an earnest Christianity which takes its creed seriously +and insists on testing conventional life by it. Indolence, +self-complacency, and inborn conservatism join forces in resenting the +presence of such inconvenient enthusiasts, who upset everything and want +to 'turn the world upside down.' + + 'The moping owl doth to the moon complain + Of such as, wandering near her ivy tower. + Molest her ancient, solitary reign.' + +The seeds of the persecuting temper are in human nature, and they +germinate in the storms which Christianity brings with it. + +3. The phases vary according to circumstances. + +We have not to look for the more severe and gross kinds of persecution. + +The tendency of the age is to visit no man with penalties for his +belief, but to allow the utmost freedom of thought. + +The effect of Christianity upon popular morality has been to bring men +up towards the standard of Christ's righteousness. + +The long proclamation of Christian truth in England has the effect of +making mere profession of it a perfectly safe and even proper thing. + +But the antagonism remains at bottom the same. + +Let a man earnestly accept even the creeds of established religion and +live by them, and he will find that out. Let him seek to proclaim and +enforce some of those truths of Christianity whose bearing upon social +and economical and ecclesiastical questions is but partially understood. +Let him set up and stick to a high standard of Christian morality and +see what comes of it, in business, say, or in social life. + +'All that will live godly will suffer persecution.' + +4. The present forms are perhaps not less hard to bear than the old +ones. + +They are, no doubt, very small in contrast with the lions in the arena +or the fires of Smithfield. The curled lip, the civil scorn, the +alienation of some whose good opinion we would fain have, or, if we +stand in some public position, the poisonous slanders of the press, and +the contumacious epithets, are trivial but very real tokens of dislike. +We have the assassin's tongue instead of the assassin's dagger. But yet +such things may call for as much heroism as braving a rack, and the +spirit that shoots out the tongue may be as bad as the spirit that +yelled, _'Christianos ad leones.'_ + +5. The great reason why professing Christians now know so little about +persecution is because there is so little real antagonism. 'If ye were +of the world, the world would love his own.' The Church has leavened the +world, but the world has also leavened the Church; and it seems agreed +by common consent that there is to be no fanatical goodness of the early +primitive pattern. Of course, then, there will be no persecution, where +religion goes in silver slippers, and you find Christian men running +neck and neck with others, and no man can tell which is which. + +Then, again, many escape by avoiding plain Christian duty, shutting +themselves up in their own little côteries. + +(a) Let us be sure that we never flinch from our Christian character to +buy anybody's good opinion. + +It is not for us to lower our flags to whoever fires across our bows. Do +you never feel it an effort to avow your principles? Do you never feel +that they are being smiled away in society? Are you not flattered by +being shown that this religion of yours is the one thing that stands +between you and cordial reception by these people? + +(b) Let us be sure that it is righteousness and Christ which are the +grounds of anything of the sort we have to bear, and not our own faults +of temper and character. + +(c) Let us be sure that we are not persecutors our selves. + +To be so is inherent in human nature. + +Men have often been both confessors and inquisitors. The spirit of +censorious judgment, of fierce hate, of impatient intolerance, has +often disgraced Christian men. It is for us to be only and always meek, +merciful peace-bringers; and if men will not accept truth, to seek to +win and woo them, not to be angry. + +It is very hard to be both firm and tolerant, not letting the foolish +heart expand into a lazy glow of benevolence to all beliefs, and so +perilling one's own, nor letting intense adherence to our own +convictions darken into impotent wrath against their harshest opponents. +But let us remember that as God is our great example of mercy, so Christ +is our great example of patience, both under the world's unbelief and +the world's persecution. + +II. God's Gift to the persecuted. + +'The kingdom of heaven.' + +This last promise is the same as the first--to express completeness, a +rounded whole. All the others are but elements of this. + +That highest reward given to the perfectest saint is but the fuller +possession of what is given in germ to the humblest and sinfullest at +the very first. The poor in spirit gets it at the beginning. + +It is not implied by this promise that a Christian man's blessedness +depends on the accident of some other person's behaviour to him, or that +martyrs have a place which none others can reach. But theirs is the +kingdom of heaven as a natural result of the character which brings +about persecution, and as a natural result of the development of that +character which persecution brings about. This promise, like all the +others, has its twofold fulfilment. + +There is a present recompense. + +Persecution is the result of a character which brings Christians into +the kingdom. Theirs is the kingdom--they are subjects. To them it is +given to enter. + +Persecution makes the present consciousness of the possession of the +kingdom more vivid and joyous. It brings the enforced sense of a +vocation separate from the hostile world's. As Thomas Fuller puts it +somewhere, in troublous times the Church builds high, just as the men do +in cities where there is little room to expand on the ground level. + +Persecution brightens and solidifies hope, and thus may become +infinitely sweet and blessed. How often it has been given to the martyr, +as it was given to Stephen, to see heaven opened and Jesus standing at +the right hand of God, as if risen to His feet to uphold as well as to +receive His servant. Paul and Silas made the prison walls ring with +their praises, though their backs were livid with wales and stained with +blood. And we, in our far smaller trials for Christ's sake, may have the +same more conscious possession of the kingdom and brightened hope of yet +fuller possession of it. + +There is a future recompense in the perfect kingdom, where men are +rewarded according to their capacities. And if the way in which we have +met the world's evil has been right, then that will have made us fit for +a fuller possession. + +In closing we recur to the thought of all these Beatitudes as a chain +and the beginning of all as being penitence and faith. + +Many a poor man, or many a little child, may have a higher place in +heaven than some who have died at the stake for their Lord, for not our +history, but our character, determines our place there, and all the +fulness of the kingdom belongs to every one who with penitent heart +comes to God in Christ, and then by slow degrees from that root brings +forth first the blade, then the ear, then the full corn in the ear. + +Here is Jesus' ideal of character--poor in spirit, mourning, meek, +hungering and thirsting after righteousness, merciful, pure in heart, +peacemakers, persecuted for righteousness' sake. To be these is to be +blessed. And here is Jesus' ideal of what, over and above the inherent +blessedness of such a character, constitutes the true blessedness of a +soul--the possession of the kingdom of heaven, comfort from God, the +inheritance of the earth of which the inheritor may not own a yard, full +satisfaction of the longing after righteousness, the obtaining of mercy +from God, the name of sons of God, and, last as first, the possession of +the kingdom of heaven. Is Jesus' ideal yours? Do you believe that such a +character is the highest that a man can attain, that in itself it is +truly blessed, and will bring about results in contrast with which all +baser-born joys are coarse and false? Happy will you be if you so +believe, and if so believing you make the ideal which He paints your +aim, and therefore secure the blessedness which He attaches to it as +your exceeding great reward. + + +SALT WITHOUT SAVOUR + + 'Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his + savour, wherewith shall it be salted? It is thenceforth good for + nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of + men.'--MATT. v. 13. + +These words must have seemed ridiculously presumptuous when they were +first spoken, and they have too often seemed mere mockery and irony in +the ages since. A Galilean peasant, with a few of his rude countrymen +who had gathered round him, stands up there on the mountain, and says to +them, 'You, a handful, are the people who are to keep the world from +rotting, and to bring it to all its best light.' Strange when we think +that Christ believed that these men were able to do these grand +functions because they drew their power from Himself! Stranger still to +think that, notwithstanding all the miserable inconsistencies of the +professing Church ever since, yet, on the whole, the experience of +history has verified these words! And although some wise men may curl +their lips with a sneer as they say about us Christians, '_Ye_ are the +salt of the earth!' yet the most progressive, and the most enlightened, +and the most moral portion of humanity has derived its impulse to +progress, its enlightenment as to the loftiest truths, and the purest +portion of its morality, from the men who received their power to impart +these from Jesus Christ. + +And so, dear brethren, I have to say two or three things now, which I +hope will be plain and earnest and searching, about the function of the +Christian Church, and of each individual member of it, as set forth in +these words; about the solemn possibility that the qualification for +that function may go away from a man; about the grave question as to +whether such a loss can ever be repaired; and about the certain end of +the saltless salt. + +I. First, then, as to the high task of Christ's disciples as here set +forth. + +'Ye are the salt of the earth'! The metaphor wants very little +explanation, however much enforcement it may require. It involves two +things: a grave judgment as to the actual state of society, and a lofty +claim as to what Christ's followers are able to do to it. + +A grave judgment as to the actual state of society--it is corrupt and +tending to corruption. You do not salt a living thing. You salt a dead +one that it may not be a rotting one. And, Christ says by implication +here, what He says plainly more than once in other places:--'Human +society, without My influence, is a carcass that is rotting away and +disintegrating; and you, faithful handful, who have partially +apprehended the meaning of My mission, and have caught something of the +spirit of My life, you are to be rubbed into that rotting mass to +sweeten it, to arrest decomposition, to stay corruption, to give flavour +to its insipidity, and to save it from falling to pieces of its own +wickedness. Ye are the _salt_ of the earth.' + +Now, it is not merely because we are the bearers of a truth that will do +all this that we are thus spoken of, but we Christian men are to do it +by the influence of conduct and character. + +There are two or three thoughts suggested by this metaphor. The chief +one is that of our power, and therefore our obligation, to arrest the +corruption round us, by our own purity. The presence of a good man +hinders the devil from having elbow-room to do his work. Do you and I +exercise a repressive influence (if we do not do anything better), so +that evil and low-toned life is ashamed to show itself in our presence, +and skulks back as do wrong-doers from the bull's-eye of a policeman's +lantern? It is not a high function, but it is a very necessary one, and +it is one that all Christian men and women ought to discharge--that of +rebuking and hindering the operation of corruption, even if they have +not the power to breathe a better spirit into the dead mass. + +But the example of Christian men is not only repressive. It ought to +tempt forth all that is best and purest and highest in the people with +whom they come in contact. Every man who does right helps to make public +opinion in favour of doing right; and every man who lowers the standard +of morality in his own life helps to lower it in the community of which +he is a part. And so in a thousand ways that I have no need to dwell +upon here, the men that have Christ in their hearts and something of +Christ's conduct and character repeated in theirs are to be the +preserving and purifying influence in the midst of this corrupt world. + +There are two other points that I name, and do not enlarge upon. The +first of them is--salt does its work by being brought into close contact +with the substance upon which it is to work. And so we, brought into +contact as we are with much evil and wickedness, by many common +relations of friendship, of kindred, of business, of proximity, of +citizenship, and the like,--we are not to seek to withdraw ourselves +from contact with the evil. The only way by which the salt can purify is +by being rubbed into the corrupted thing. + +And once more, salt does its work silently, inconspicuously, gradually. +'Ye are the light of the world,' says Christ in the next verse. Light is +far-reaching and brilliant, flashing that it may be seen. That is one +side of Christian work, the side that most of us like best, the +conspicuous kind of it. Ay! but there is a very much humbler, and, as I +fancy, a very much more useful, kind of work that we have all to do. We +shall never be the 'light of the world,' except on condition of being +'the salt of the earth.' You have to play the humble, inconspicuous, +silent part of checking corruption by a pure example before you can +aspire to play the other part of raying out light into the darkness, and +so drawing men to Christ Himself. + +Now, brethren, why do I repeat all these common, threadbare platitudes, +as I know they are? Simply in order to plant upon them this one question +to the heart and conscience of you Christian men and women:--Is there +anything in your life that makes this text, in its application to you, +other else than the bitterest mockery? + +II. The grave possibility of the salt losing its savour. + +There is no need for asking the question whether such loss is a physical +fact or not, whether in the natural realm it is possible for any forms +of matter that have saline taste to lose it by any cause. That does not +at all concern us. The point is that it is possible for us, who call +ourselves--and are--Christians, to lose our penetrating pungency, which +stays corruption; to lose all that distinguishes us from the men that we +are to better. + +Now I think that nobody can look upon the present condition of +professing Christendom; or, in a narrower aspect, upon the present +condition of English Christianity; or in a still narrower, nobody can +look round upon this congregation; or in the narrowest view, none of us +can look into our own hearts--without feeling that this saying comes +perilously near being true of us. And I beg you, dear Christian friends, +while I try to dwell on this point, to ask yourselves this +question--Lord, is it I? and not to be thinking of other people whom you +may suppose the cap will fit. + +There is, then, manifest on every side--first of all, the obliteration +of the distinction between the salt and the mass into which it is +inserted, or to put it into other words, Christian men and women swallow +down bodily, and practise thoroughly, the maxims of the world, as to +life, as to what is pleasant and what is desirable, and as to the +application of morality to business. There is not a hair of difference +in that respect between hundreds and thousands of professing Christian +men, and the irreligious man that has his office up the same staircase. +I know, of course, that there are in every communion saintly men and +women who are labouring to keep themselves unspotted from the world, but +I know too that in every communion there are those, whose religion has +next to no influence on their general conduct, and does not even keep +them from corruption, to say nothing of making them sources of purifying +influence. You cannot lay the flattering unction to your souls that the +reason why there is so little difference between the Church and the +world to-day is because the world has grown so much better. I know that +to a large extent the principles of Christian ethics have permeated the +consciousness of a country like this, and have found their way even +amongst people who make no profession at all of being Christians. Thank +God for it; but that does not explain it all. + +If you take a red-hot ball out of a furnace and lay it down upon a +frosty moor, two processes will go on--the ball will lose heat and the +surrounding atmosphere will gain it. There are two ways by which you +equalise the temperature of a hotter and a colder body: the one is by +the hot one getting cold, and the other is by the cold one getting hot. +If you are not heating the world, the world is freezing you. Every man +influences all men round him, and receives influences from them, and if +there be not more exports than imports, if there be not more influences +and mightier influences raying out from him than are coming into him, he +is a poor creature, and at the mercy of circumstances. 'Men must either +be hammers or anvil';--must either give blows or receive them. I am +afraid that a great many of us who call ourselves Christians get a great +deal more harm from the world than we ever dream of doing good to it. +Remember this, 'you are the salt of the earth,' and if you do not salt +the world, the world will rot you. + +Is there any difference between your ideal of happiness and the +irreligious one? Is there any difference between your notion of what is +pleasure, and the irreligious one? Is there any difference in your +application of the rules of morality to daily life, any difference in +your general way of looking at things from the way of the ungodly world? +Yes, or No? Is the salt being infected by the carcass, or is it +purifying the corruption? Answer the question, brother, as before God +and your own conscience. + +Then there is another thing. There can be no doubt but that all round +and shared by us, there are instances of the cooling of the fervour of +Christian devotion. That is the reason for the small distinction in +character and conduct between the world and the Church to-day. An Arctic +climate will not grow tropical fruits, and if the heat have been let +down, as it has been let down, you cannot expect the glories of +character and the pure unworldliness of conduct that you would have had +at a higher temperature. Nor is there any doubt but that the present +temperature is, with some of us, a distinct _loss_ of heat. It was +not always so low. The thermometer has gone down. + +There are, no doubt, some among us who had once a far more vigorous +Christian life than they have to-day; who were once far more aflame with +the love of God than they are now. And although I know, of course, that +as years go on emotion will become less vivid, and feeling may give +place to principle, yet I know no reason why, as years go on, fervour +should become less, or the warmth of our love to our Master should +decline. There will be less spluttering and crackling when the fire +burns up; there may be fewer flames; but there will be a hotter glow of +ruddy, unflaming heat. That is what ought to be in our Christian +experience. + +Nor can there be any doubt, I think, but that the partial obliteration +of the distinction between the Church and the world, and the decay of +the fervour of devotion which leads to it, are both to be traced to a +yet deeper cause, and that is the loss or diminution of actual +fellowship with Jesus Christ. It was that which made these early +disciples 'salt.' It was that which made them 'light.' It is that, and +that alone, which makes devotion burn fervid, and which makes characters +glow with the strange saintliness that rebukes iniquity, and works for +the purifying of the world. And so I would remind you that fellowship +with Jesus Christ is no vague exercise of the mind but is to be +cultivated by three things, which I fear me are becoming less and less +habitual amongst professing Christians:--Meditation, the study of the +Bible, private prayer. If you have not these--and you know best whether +you have them or not--no power in heaven or earth can prevent you from +losing the savour that makes you salt. + +III. Now I come to the next point, and that is the solemn question: Is +there a possibility of re-salting the saltless salt, of restoring the +lost savour? + +'Wherewithal shall it be salted?' says the Master. That is plain enough, +but do not let us push it too far. If the Church is meant for the +purifying of the world, and the Church itself needs purifying, is there +any power in the world that will do it? If the army joins the rebels, is +there any force that will bring back the army to submission? Our Lord is +speaking about ordinary means and agencies. He is saying in effect, if +the one thing that is intended to preserve the meat loses its power, is +there anything lying about that will salt that? So far, then, the answer +seems to be--No. + +But Christ has no intention that these words should be pushed to the +extreme of asserting that if salt loses its savour, if a man loses the +pungency of his Christian life, he cannot win it back, by going again to +the source from which he received it at first. There is no such +implication in these words. There is no obstacle in the way of a +penitent returning to the fountain of all power and purity, nor of the +full restoration of the lost savour, if a man will only bring about a +full reunion of himself with the source of the savour. + +Dear brethren, the message is to each of us; the same pleading words, +which the Apocalyptic seer heard from Heaven, come to you and me: +'Remember, therefore, from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do +the first works.' And all the savour and the sweetness that flow from +fellowship with Jesus Christ will come back to us in larger measure than +ever, if we will come back to the Lord. Repentance and returning will +bring back the saltness to the salt, and the brilliancy to the light. + +IV. But one last word warns us what is the certain end of the saltless +salt. + +As the other Evangelist puts it: 'It is neither good for the land nor +for the dunghill.' You cannot put it upon the soil; there is no +fertilising virtue in it. You cannot even fling it into the +rubbish-heap; it will do mischief there. Pitch it out into the road; it +will stop a cranny somewhere between the stones when once it is well +trodden down by men's heels. That is all it is fit for. God has no use +for it, man has no use for it. If it has failed in doing the only thing +it was created for, it has failed altogether. Like a knife that will not +cut, or a lamp that will not burn, which may have a beautiful handle, or +a beautiful stem, and may be highly artistic and decorated; but the +question is, Does it cut, does it burn? If not, it is a failure +altogether, and in this world there is no room for failures. The poorest +living thing of the lowest type will jostle the dead thing out of the +way. And so, for the salt that has lost its savour, there is only one +thing to be done with it--cast it out, and tread it under foot. + +Yes; where are the Churches of Asia Minor, the patriarchates of +Alexandria, of Antioch, of Constantinople; the whole of that early +Syrian, Palestinian Christianity: where are they? Where is the Church of +North Africa, the Church of Augustine? 'Trodden under foot of men!' Over +the archway of a mosque in Damascus you can read the half-obliterated +inscription--'Thy Kingdom, O Christ, is an everlasting Kingdom,' and +above it--'There is no God but God, and Mohammed is His prophet!' The +salt has lost his savour, and been cast out. + +And does any one believe that the Churches of Christendom are eternal in +their present shape? I see everywhere the signs of disintegration in the +existing embodiments and organisations that set forth Christian life. +And I am sure of this, that in the days that are coming to us, the storm +in which we are already caught, all dead branches will be whirled out of +the tree. So much the better for the tree! And a great deal that calls +itself organised Christianity will have to go down because there is not +vitality enough in it to stand. For you know it is low vitality that +catches all the diseases that are going; and it is out of the sick +sheep's eyeholes that the ravens peck the eyes. And it will be the +feeble types of spiritual life, the inconsistent Christianities of our +churches, that will yield the crop of apostates and heretics and +renegades, and that will fall before temptation. + +Brethren, remember this: Unless you go back close to your Lord, you will +go further away from Him. The deadness will deepen, the coldness will +become icier and icier; you will lose more and more of the life, and +show less and less of the likeness, and purity, of Jesus Christ until +you come to this--I pray God that none of us come to it--'Thou hast a +name that thou livest, and art dead.' Dead! + +My brother, let us return unto the Lord our God, and keep nearer Him +than we ever have done, and bring our hearts more under the influence of +His grace, and cultivate the habit of communion with Him; and pray and +trust, and leave ourselves in His hands, that His power may come into +us, and that we in the beauty of our characters, and the purity of our +lives, and the elevation of our spirits, may witness to all men that we +have been with Christ; and may, in some measure, check the corruption +that is in the world through lust. + + +THE LAMP AND THE BUSHEL + + 'Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill + cannot be hid. 15. Neither do men light a candle, and put it under + a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that + are in the house. 16. Let your light so shine before men, that they + may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in + heaven.'--Matt. v. 14-16. + +The conception of the office of Christ's disciples contained in these +words is a still bolder one than that expressed by the preceding +metaphor, which we considered in the last sermon. 'Ye are the salt of +the earth' implied superior moral purity and power to arrest corruption. +'Ye are the light of the world' implies superior spiritual illumination, +and power to scatter ignorance. + +That is not all the meaning of the words, but that is certainly in them. +So then, our Lord here gives His solemn judgment that the world, without +Him and those who have learned from Him, is in a state of darkness; and +that His followers have that to impart which will bring certitude and +clearness of knowledge, together with purity and joy and all the other +blessed things which are 'the fruit of the light.' + +That high claim is illustrated by a very homely metaphor. In every +humble house from which His peasant-followers came, there would be a +lamp--some earthen saucer with a little oil in it, in which a wick +floated, a rude stand to put it upon, a meal-chest or a flour-bin, and a +humble pallet on which to lie. These simple pieces of furniture are +taken to point this solemn lesson. 'When you light your lamp you put it +on the stand, do you not? You light it in order that it may give light; +you do not put it under the meal-measure or the bed. So I have kindled +you that you may shine, and put you where you are that you may give +light.' + +And the same thought, with a slightly different turn in the application, +lies in that other metaphor, which is enclosed in the middle of this +parable about the light: 'a city that is set on an hill cannot be hid.' +Where they stood on the mountain, no doubt they could see some village +perched upon a ridge for safety, with its white walls gleaming in the +strong Syrian sunlight; a landmark for many a mile round. So says +Christ: 'The City which I found, the true Jerusalem, like its prototype +in the Psalm, is to be conspicuous for situation, that it may be the joy +of the whole earth.' + +I take all this somewhat long text now because all the parts of it hold +so closely together, and converge upon the one solemn exhortation with +which it closes, and which I desire to lay upon your hearts and +consciences, 'Let your light so shine before men.' I make no pretensions +to anything like an artificial arrangement of my remarks, but simply +follow the words in the order in which they lie before us. + +I. First, just a word about the great conception of a Christian man's +office which is set forth in that metaphor, 'Ye are the light of the +world.' + +That expression is wide, 'generic,' as they say. Then in the unfolding +of this little parable our Lord goes on to explain what kind of a light +it is to which He would compare His people--the light of a lamp kindled. +Now that is the first point that I wish to deal with. Christian men +individually, and the Christian Church as a whole, shine by derived +light. There is but One who is light in Himself. He who said, 'I am the +light of the world, he that followeth Me shall not walk in darkness,' +was comparing Himself to the sunshine, whereas when He said to us, 'Ye +are the light of the world; men do not light a lamp and put it under a +bushel,' He was comparing us to the kindled light of the lamp, which had +a beginning and will have an end. + +Before, and independent of, His historical manifestation in the flesh, +the Eternal Word of God, who from the beginning was the Life, was also +the light of men; and all the light of reason and of conscience, all +which guides and illumines, comes from that one source, the Everlasting +Word, by whom all things came to be and consist. 'He was the true light +which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.' And further, the +historic Christ, the Incarnate Word, is the source for men of all true +revelation of God and themselves, and of the relations between them; the +Incarnate Ideal of humanity, the Perfect Pattern of conduct, who alone +sheds beams of certainty on the darkness of life, who has left a long +trail of light as He has passed into the dim regions beyond the grave. +In both these senses He is the light, and we gather our radiance from +Him. + +We shall be 'light' if we are 'in the Lord.' It is by union with Jesus +Christ that we partake of His illumination. A sunbeam has no more power +to shine if it be severed from the sun than a man has to give light in +this dark world if He be parted from Jesus Christ. Cut the current and +the electric light dies; slacken the engine and the electric arc becomes +dim, quicken it and it burns bright. So the condition of my being light +is my keeping unbroken my communication with Jesus Christ; and every +variation in the extent to which I receive into my heart the influx of +His power and of His love is correctly measured and represented by the +greater or the lesser brilliancy of the light with which I reflect His +radiance. Ye were some time darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord.' +Keep near to Him, and a firm hold of His hand, and then you will be +light. + +And now I need not dwell for more than a moment or two upon what I have +already said is included in this conception of the Christian man as +being light. There are two sides to it: one is that all Christian people +who have learned to know Jesus Christ and have been truly taught of Him, +do possess a certitude and clearness of knowledge which make them the +lights of the world. We advance no claims to any illumination as to +other than moral or religious truth. We leave all the other fields +uncontested. We bow humbly with confessed ignorance and with unfeigned +gratitude and admiration before those who have laboured in them, as +before our teachers, but if we are true to our Master, and true to the +position in which He has placed us, we shall not be ashamed to say that +we believe ourselves to know the truth, in so far as men can ever know +it, about the all-important subject of God and man, and the bond between +them. + +To-day there is need, I think, that Christian men and women should not +be reasoned or sophisticated or cowed out of their confidence that they +have the light because they do know God. It is proclaimed as the +ultimate word of modern thought that we stand in the presence of a power +which certainly is, but of which we can know nothing except that it is +altogether different from ourselves, and that it ever tempts us to +believe that we can know it, and ever repels us into despair. Our answer +is Yes! we could have told you that long ago, though not altogether in +your sense; you have got hold of half a truth, and here is the whole of +it:--'No man hath seen God at any time, nor can see Him!' (a Gospel of +despair, verified by the last words of modern thinkers), 'the only +begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared +Him.' + +Christian men and women, 'Ye are the light of the world.' Darkness in +yourselves, ignorant about many things, ungifted with lofty talent, you +have possession of the deepest truth; do not be ashamed to stand up and +say, even in the presence of Mars' Hill, with all its Stoics and +Epicureans:--'Whom ye ignorantly'--alas! not 'worship'--'Whom ye +ignorantly speak of, Him declare we unto you.' + +And then there is the other side, which I only name, moral purity. Light +is the emblem of purity as well as the emblem of knowledge, and if we +are Christians we have within us, by virtue of our possession of an +indwelling Christ, a power which teaches and enables us to practise a +morality high above the theories and doings of the world. But upon this +there is the less need to dwell, as it was involved in our consideration +of the previous figure of the salt. + +II. And now the next point that I would make is this, following the +words before us--the certainty that if we are light we shall shine. + +The nature and property of light is to radiate. It cannot choose but +shine; and in like manner the little village perched upon a hill there, +glittering and twinkling in the sunlight, cannot choose but be seen. So, +says Christ, 'If you have Christian character in you, if you have Me in +you, such is the nature of the Christian life that it will certainly +manifest itself.' Let us dwell upon that for a moment or two. Take two +thoughts: All earnest Christian conviction will demand expression; and +all deep experience of the purifying power of Christ upon character will +show itself in conduct. + +All earnest conviction will demand expression. Everything that a man +believes has a tendency to convert its believer into its apostle. That +is not so in regard to common every-day truths, nor in regard even to +truths of science, but it is so in regard to all moral truth. For +example, if a man gets a vivid and intense conviction of the evils of +intemperance and the blessings of abstinence, look what a fiery +vehemence of propagandism is at once set to work. And so all round the +horizon of moral truth which is intended to affect conduct; it is of +such a sort that a man cannot get it into brain and heart without +causing him before long to say--'This thing has mastered me, and turned +me into its slave; and I must speak according to my convictions.' + +That experience works most mightily in regard to Christian truth, as the +highest. What shall we say, then, of the condition of Christian men and +women if they have not such an instinctive need of utterance? Do you +ever feel this in your heart:--'Thy word shut up in my bones was like a +fire. I was weary of forbearing, and I could not stay'? Professing +Christians, do you know anything of the longing to speak your deepest +convictions, the feeling that the fire within you is burning through all +envelopings, and will be out? What shall we say of the men that have it +not? God forbid I should say there is no fire, but I do say that if the +fountain never rises into the sunlight above the dead level of the pool, +there can be very little pressure at the main; that if a man has not the +longing to speak his religious convictions, those convictions must be +very hesitating and very feeble; that if you never felt 'I must say to +somebody I have found the Messias,' you have not found Him in any very +deep sense, and that if the light that is in you can be buried under a +bushel, it is not much of a light after all, and needs a great deal of +feeding and trimming before it can be what it ought to be. + +On the other hand, all deep experience of the purifying power of Christ +upon character will show itself in conduct. It is all very well for +people to profess that they have received the forgiveness of sins and +the inner sanctification of God's Spirit. If you have, let us see it, +and let us see it in the commonest, pettiest affairs of daily life. The +communication between the inmost experience and the outermost conduct is +such as that if there be any real revolution deep down, it will manifest +itself in the daily life. I make all allowance for the loss of power in +transmission, for the loss of power in friction. I am glad to believe +that you and I, and all our imperfect brethren, are a great deal better +in heart than we ever manage to show ourselves to be in life. Thank God +for the consolation that may come out of that thought--but +notwithstanding I press on you my point that, making all such allowance, +and setting up no impossible standard of absolute identity between duty +and conduct in this present life, yet, on the whole, if we are Christian +people with any deep central experience of the cleansing power and +influence of Christ and His grace, we shall show it in life and in +conduct. Or, to put it into the graphic and plain image of my text, If +we are light we shall shine. + +III. Again, and very briefly, this obligation of giving light is still +further enforced by the thought that that was Christ's very purpose in +all that He has done with us and for us. + +The homely figure here implies that _He_ has not kindled the lamp to put +it under the bushel, but that _His_ purpose in lighting it was that it +might give light. God has made us partakers of His grace, and has given +to us to be light in the Lord, for this among other purposes, that we +should impart that light to others. No creature is so small that it has +not the right to expect that its happiness and welfare shall be regarded +by God as an end in His dealings with it; but no creature is so great +that it has the right to expect that its happiness or well-being shall +be regarded by God and itself as God's only end in His dealings with it. +He gives us His grace, His pardon, His love, the quickening of His +Spirit by our union with Jesus Christ; He gives us our knowledge of Him, +and our likeness to Him--what for? 'For my own salvation, for my +happiness and well-being,' you say. Certainly, blessed be His name for +His love and goodness! But is that all His purpose? Paul did not think +so when he said, 'God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness +hath shined into our hearts that we might give to others the light of +the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.' And +Christ did not think so when He said, 'Men do not light a candle and put +it under a bushel, but that it may give light to all that are in the +house.' 'Heaven doth with us as we with torches do: not light them for +themselves.' The purpose of God is that we may shine. The lamp is +kindled not to illumine itself, but that it may 'give light to all that +are in the house.' + +Consider again, that whilst all these things are true, there is yet a +solemn possibility that men--even good men--may stifle and smother and +shroud their light. You can do, and I am afraid a very large number of +you do do, this; by two ways. You can bury the light of a holy character +under a whole mountain of inconsistencies. If one were to be fanciful, +one might say that the bushel or meal-chest meant material well-being, +and the bed, indolence and love of ease. I wonder how many of us +Christian men and women have buried their light under the flour-bin and +the bed, so interpreted? How many of us have drowned our consecration +and devotion in foul waters of worldly lusts, and have let the love of +earth's goods, of wealth and pleasure and creature love, come like a +poisonous atmosphere round the lamp of our Christian character, making +it burn dim and blue? + +And we can bury the light of the Word under cowardly and sheepish and +indifferent silence. I wonder how many of us have done that? Like +blue-ribbon men that button their great-coats over their blue ribbons +when they go into company where they are afraid to show them, there are +many Christian people that are devout Christians at the Communion Table, +but would be ashamed to say they were so in the miscellaneous company of +a railway carriage or a _table d'hote_. There are professing Christians +who have gone through life in their relationships to their fathers, +sisters, wives, children, friends, kindred, their servants and +dependants, and have never spoken a loving word for their Master. That +is a sinful hiding of your light under the bushel and the bed. + +IV. And so the last word, into which all this converges, is the plain +duty: If you are light, shine! + +'Let your light so shine before men,' nays the text, 'that they may see +your good works and glorify your Father which is in Heaven.' In the next +chapter our Lord says: 'Take heed that ye do not your alms before men to +be seen of them. Thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are; for they love +to pray standing in the synagogues that they may be seen of men.' What +is the difference between the two sets of men and the two kinds of +conduct? The motive makes the difference for one thing, and for another +thing, 'Let your light so shine' does not mean 'take precautions that +your goodness may come out into public,' but it means 'Shine!' You find +the light, and the world will find the eyes, no fear of that! You do not +need to seek 'to be seen of men,' but you do need to shine that men may +see. + +The lighthouse keeper takes no pains that the ships tossing away out at +sea may behold the beam that shines from his lamp; all that he does is +to feed it and tend it. And that is all that you and I have to do--tend +the light, and do not, like cowards, cover it up. Modestly, but yet +bravely, carry out your Christianity, and men will see it. Do not be as +a dark lantern, burning with the slides down and illuminating nothing +and nobody. Live your Christianity, and it will be beheld. + +And remember, candles are not lit to be looked at. Candles are lit that +something else may be seen by them. Men may see God through your words, +through your conduct, who never would have beheld Him otherwise, because +His beams are too bright for their dim eyes. And it is an awful thing to +think that the world always--_always_--takes its conception of +Christianity from the Church, and neither from the Bible nor from +Christ; and that it is you and your like, you inconsistent Christians, +you people that say your sins are forgiven and yet are doing the old +sins day by day which you say are pardoned, you low-toned, unpraying, +worldly Christian men, who have no elevation of character and no +self-restraint of life and no purity of conduct above the men in your +own profession and in your own circumstances all round you--it is you +that are hindering the coming of Christ's Kingdom, it is you that are +the standing disgraces of the Church, and the weaknesses and diseases of +Christendom. I speak strongly, not half as strongly as the facts of the +case would warrant; but I lay it upon all your consciences as professing +Christian people to see to it that no longer your frivolities, or +doubtful commercial practices, or low, unspiritual tone of life, your +self-indulgence in household arrangements, and a dozen other things that +I might name--that no longer do they mar the clearness of your testimony +for your Master, and disturb with envious streaks of darkness the light +that shines from His followers. + +How effectual such a witness may be none who have not seen its power can +suppose. Example does tell. A holy life curbs evil, ashamed to show +itself in that pure presence. A good man or woman reveals the ugliness +of evil by showing the beauty of holiness. More converts would be made +by a Christ-like Church than by many sermons. Oh! if you professing +Christians knew your power and would use it, if you would come closer to +Christ, and catch more of the light from His face, you might walk among +men like very angels, and at your bright presence darkness would flee +away, ignorance would grow wise, impurity be abashed, and sorrow +comforted. + +Be not content, I pray you, till your own hearts are fully illumined by +Christ, having no part dark--and then live as remembering that you have +been made light that you may shine. 'Arise, shine, for thy light is +come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee.' + + +THE NEW FORM OF THE OLD LAW + + 'Think not that I am come to destroy the law or the prophets: I am + not come to destroy, but to fulfil. 18. For verily I say unto you, + Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise + pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. 19. Whosoever therefore + shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men + so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but + whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great + in the kingdom of heaven. 20. For I say unto you, That except your + righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and + Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven. + 21. Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt + not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the + judgment: 22. But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his + brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment; and + whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the + council; but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of + hell-fire. 23. Therefore, if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and + there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee; 24. + Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be + reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift. 25. + Agree with thine adversary quickly, whiles thou art in the way with + him; lest at any time the adversary deliver thee to the judge, and + the judge deliver thee to the officer, and thou be cast into + prison. 26. Verily I say unto thee, Thou shalt by no means come out + thence, till thou hast paid the uttermost farthing.'--MATT. v. + 17-26. + +This passage falls naturally into two parts--the former extending from +verse 17 to 20 inclusive; the latter, from verse 21 to the end. In the +former, the King of the true kingdom lays down the general principles of +the relation between its laws and the earlier revelation of the divine +will; in the latter, He exemplifies this relation in one case, which is +followed, in the remainder of the chapter, by three other illustrative +examples. + +I. The King laying down the law of His kingdom in its relation to the +older law of God. + +The four verses included in this section give a regular sequence of +thought: verse 17 declaring our Lord's personal relation to the former +revelation as fulfilling it; verse 18 basing that statement of the +purpose of His coming on the essential permanence of the old law; verses +19 and 20 deducing thence the relation of His disciples to that law, and +that in such a way that verse 19 corresponds to verse 18, and affirms +that this permanent law is binding in its minutest details on His +subjects, while verse 20 corresponds to verse 17, and requires their +deepened righteousness as answering to His fulfilment of the law. + +The first thing that strikes one in looking at these verses is their +authoritative tone. There may, even thus early in Christ's career, have +been some murmurs that He was taking up a position of antagonism to +Mosaism, which may account for the 'think not' which introduces the +section. But however that may be, the swift transition from the +Beatitudes to speak of Himself and of the meaning of His work is all of +a piece with His whole manner; for certainly never did religious teacher +open his mouth, who spoke so perpetually about Himself as did the meek +Jesus. 'I came' declares that He is 'the coming One,' and is really a +claim to have voluntarily appeared among men, as well as to be the +long-expected Messiah. With absolute decisiveness He states the purpose +of His coming. He knows the meaning of His own work, which so few of us +do, and it is safe to take His own account of what He intends, as it so +seldom is. His opening declaration is singularly composed of blended +humility and majesty. Its humility lies in His placing Himself, as it +were, in line with previous messengers, and representing Himself as +carrying on the sequence of divine revelation. It would not have been +humble for anybody but Him to say that, but it was so for Him. Its +majesty lies in His claim to 'fulfil' all former utterances from God. +His fulfilment of the law properly so called is twofold: first, in His +own proper person and life, He completes obedience to it, realises its +ideal; second, in His exposition of it, both by lip and life, He deepens +and intensifies its meaning, changing it from a letter which regulates +the actions, to a spirit which moves the inward man. + +So these first words point to the peculiarity of His coming as being His +own act, and make two daring assertions, as to His character, which He +claims to be sinless, and as to His teaching, which he claims to be an +advance upon all the former divine revelation. As to the former, He +speaks here as He did to John, 'thus it becometh us to fulfil all +righteousness.' No trace of consciousness of sin or defect appears in +any words or acts of His. The calmest conviction that He was perfectly +righteous is always manifest. How comes it that we are not repelled by +such a tone? We do not usually admire self-complacent religious +teachers. Why has nobody ever given Christ the lie, or pointed to His +unconsciousness of faults as itself the gravest fault? Strange inaugural +discourse for a humble sage and saint to assert his own immaculate +perfection, stranger still that a listening world has said, 'Amen!' +Note, too, the royal style here. In this part of the 'Sermon' our Lord +twice uses the phrase, 'I say unto you,' which He once introduces with +His characteristic 'verily.' Once He employs it to give solemnity to the +asseveration which stretches forward to the end of this solid-seeming +world, and once He introduces by it the stringent demand for His +followers' loftier righteousness. His unsupported word is given us as +our surest light in the dark future, His bare command as the most +imperative authority. This style goes kingly; it calls for absolute +credence and unhesitating submission. When He speaks, even if we have +nothing but His word, it is ours neither 'to make reply' nor 'to reason +why,' but simply to believe, and swiftly to do. Rabbis might split hairs +and quote other rabbis by the hour; philosophers may argue and base +their teachings on elaborate demonstrations; moralists may seek to sway +the conscience through reason; legislators to appeal to fear and hope. +He speaks, and it is done; He commands, and it stands fast. There is +nothing else in the world the least like the superb and mysterious +authority with which He fronts the world, and, as Fountain of knowledge +and Source of obligation, summons us all to submit and believe, by that +'Verily, I say unto you.' + +Verse 18. Next we have to notice the exuberant testimony to the +permanence of the law. Not the smallest of its letters, not even the +little marks which distinguished some of them, or the flourishes at the +top of some of them, should pass,--as we might say, not even the stroke +across a written 't,' which shows that it is not 'l.' The law shall last +as long as the world. It shall last till it be accomplished. And what +then? The righteousness which it requires can never be so realised that +we shall not need to realise it any more, and in the new heavens +righteousness dwelleth. But in a very real sense law shall cease when +fulfilled. There is no law to him who can say, 'Thy law is within my +heart.' When law has become both 'law and impulse,' it has ceased to be +law, in so far as it no longer stands over against the doer as an +external constraint. + +Verse 19. On this permanence of the law Christ builds its imperative +authority in His kingdom. Obviously, the 'kingdom of heaven' in verse 19 +means the earthly form of that kingdom. The King republishes, as it +were, the old code, and adopts it as the basis of His law. He thus +assumes the absolute right of determining precedence and dignity in that +kingdom. The sovereign is the 'fountain of honour,' whose word ennobles. +Observe the merciful accuracy of the language. The breach of the +commandments either in theory or in practice does not exclude from the +kingdom, for it is, while realised on earth, a kingdom of sinful men +aiming after holiness; but the smallest deflection from the law of +right, in theory or in practice, does lower a man's standing therein, +inasmuch as it makes him less capable of that conformity to the King, +and consequent nearness to Him, which determines greatness and smallness +there. Dignity in the kingdom depends on Christ-likeness, and +Christ-likeness depends on fulfilling, as He did, all righteousness. +Small flaws are most dangerous because least noticeable. More Christian +men lose their chance of promotion in the kingdom by a multitude of +little sins than by single great ones. + +Verse 20. As the King has Himself by His perfect obedience fulfilled the +law, His subjects likewise must, in their obedience, transcend the +righteousness of those who best knew and most punctiliously kept it. The +scribes and Pharisees are not here regarded as hypocrites, but taken as +types of the highest conformity with the law which the old dispensation +afforded. The new kingdom demands a higher, namely a more spiritual and +inward righteousness, one corresponding to the profounder meaning which +the King gives to the old commandment. And this loftier fulfilment is +not merely the condition of dignity in, but of entrance at all into, the +kingdom. Inward holiness is the essence of the character of all its +subjects. How that holiness is to be ours is not here told, except in so +far as it is hinted by the fact that it is regarded as the issue of the +King's fulfilling the law. These last words would have been terrible and +excluding if they had stood alone. When they follow 'I am come to +fulfil,' they are a veiled gospel, implying that by His fulfilment the +righteousness of the law is fulfilled in us. + +II. We have an illustrative example in the case of the old commandment +against murder. This part of the passage falls into three +divisions--each occupying two verses. First we have the deepening and +expansion of the commandment. This part begins with the royal style +again. 'What was said to them of old' is left in its full authority. +'But I say unto you' represents Jesus as possessing co-ordinate +authority with that law, of which the speaker is unnamed, perhaps +because the same Word of God which now spoke in Him had spoken it. We +need but refer here to the Jewish courts and Sanhedrim, and to that +valley of Hinnom, where the offal of Jerusalem and the corpses of +criminals were burned, nor need we discuss the precise force of 'Raca' +and 'thou fool.' The main points to be observed are, the distinct +extension of the conception of 'killing' to embrace malevolent anger, +whether it find vent or is kept close in the heart; the clear +recognition that, whilst the emotion which is the source of the overt +act is of the same nature as the act, and that therefore he who 'hateth +his brother is a murderer,' there are degrees in criminality, according +as the anger remains unexpressed, or finds utterance in more or less +bitter and contemptuous language; that consequently there are degrees in +the severity of the punishment which is administered by no earthly +tribunal; and that, finally, this stern sentence has hidden in it the +possibility of forgiveness, inasmuch as the consequence of the sin is +liability to punishment, but not necessarily suffering of it. The old +law had no such mitigation of its sentence. + +Verses 23, 24. The second part of this illustrative example intensifies +the command by putting obedience to it before acts of external worship. +The language is vividly picturesque. We see a worshipper standing at the +very altar while the priest is offering his sacrifice. In that sacred +moment, while he is confessing his sins, a flash across his memory shows +him a brother offended,--rightly or wrongly it matters not. The solemn +sacrifice is to pause while he seeks the offended one, and, whatever the +other man's reception of his advances may be, he cleanses his own bosom +of its perilous stuff; then he may come back and go on with the +interrupted worship. Nothing could put in a clearer light the prime +importance of the command than this setting aside of sacred religious +acts for its sake. 'Obedience is better than sacrifice.' And the little +word 'therefore,' at the beginning of verse 23, points to the terrible +penalties as the reason for this urgency. If such destruction may light +on the angry man, nothing should come between him and the conquest of +his anger. Such self-conquest, which will often seem like degradation, +is more acceptable service to the King, and truer worship, than all +words or ceremonial acts. Deep truths as to the relations between +worship, strictly so called, and life, lie in these words, which may +well be taken to heart by those whose altar is Calvary, and their gift +the thank-offering of themselves. + +Verses 25, 26. The third part is a further exhortation to the same +swiftness in casting out anger from the heart, thrown into a parabolic +form. When you quarrel with a man, says Christ in effect, prudence +enjoins to make it up as soon as possible, before he sets the law in +motion. If once he, as plaintiff, has brought you before the judge, the +law will go on mechanically through the stages of trial, condemnation, +surrender to the prison authorities, and confinement till the last +farthing has been paid. So, if you are conscious that you have an +adversary,--and any man that you hate is your adversary, for he will +appear against you at that solemn judgment to come,--agree with him, +put away the anger out of your heart at once. In the special case in +hand, the 'adversary' is the man with whom we are angry. In the general +application of the precept to the whole series of offences against the +law, the adversary may be regarded as the law itself. In either +interpretation, the stages of appearing before the judge and so on up +till the shutting up in prison are the stages of the judgment before the +tribunal, not of earth, but of the kingdom of heaven. They point to the +same dread realities as are presented in the previous verses under the +imagery of the Jewish courts and the foul fires of the valley of Hinnom. +Christ closes the grave parable with His solemn 'Verily I say unto +thee'--as looking on the future judgment, and telling us what His eyes +saw. The words have no bearing on the question of the duration of the +imprisonment, for He does not tell us whether the last farthing could +ever be paid or not; but they do teach this lesson, that, if once we +fall under the punishments of the kingdom, there is no end to them until +the last tittle of the consequences of our breach of its law has been +paid. To delay obedience, and still more to delay abandoning +disobedience, is madness, in view of the storm that may at any moment +burst on the heads of the rebels. + +Thus He deepens and fulfils one precept of the old law by extending the +sweep of its prohibition from acts to thoughts, by setting obedience to +it above sacrifice and worship, and by picturing in solemn tones of +parabolic warning the consequences of having the disobeyed precept as +our unreconciled adversary. In this one case we have a specimen of His +mode of dealing with the whole law, every jot of which He expanded in +His teaching, and perfectly observed in His life. + +A gospel is hidden even in these warnings, for it is distinctly taught +that the offended law may cease to be our adversary, and that we may be +reconciled with it, ere yet it has accused us to the judge. It was not +yet time to proclaim that the King 'fulfilled' the law, not only by +life, but by death, and that therefore all His believing subjects 'are +justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the +law,' as well as endowed with the righteousness by which they fulfil +that law in deeper reality, and fairer completeness, than did those 'of +old time,' who loved it most. + + +'SWEAR NOT AT ALL' + + 'Again, ye have heard that it hath been said by them of old time, + Thou shalt not forswear thyself, but shalt perform unto the Lord + thine oaths: 34. But I say unto you, Swear not at all; neither by + heaven; for it is God's throne: 35. Nor by the earth; for it is His + footstool; neither by Jerusalem; for it is the city of the great + King. 36. Neither shalt thou swear by thy head, because thou canst + not make one hair white or black. 37. But let your communication + be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay: for whatsoever is more than these cometh of + evil.'--MATT. v. 33-37. + +In His treatment of the sixth and seventh commandments, Jesus deepened +them by bringing the inner man of feeling and desire under their +control. In His treatment of the old commandments as to oaths, He +expands them by extending the prohibitions from one kind of oath to all +kinds. The movement in the former case is downwards and inwards; in the +latter it is outwards, the compass sweeping a wider circle. Perjury, a +false oath, was all that had been forbidden. He forbids all. We may note +that the forms of colloquial swearing, which our Lord specifies, are not +to be taken as an exhaustive enumeration of what is forbidden. They are +in the nature of a parenthesis, and the sentence runs on continuously +without them--'Swear not at all ... but let your communication be Yea, +yea; Nay, nay.' The reason appended is equally universal, for it +suggests the deep thought that 'whatsoever is more than these' that is +to say, any form of speech that seeks to strengthen a simple, grave +asseveration by such oaths as He has just quoted, 'cometh of evil' +inasmuch as it springs from, and reveals, the melancholy fact that his +bare word is not felt binding by a man, and is not accepted as +conclusive by others. If lies were not so common, oaths would be +needless. And oaths increase the evil from which they come, by +confirming the notion that there is no sin in a lie unless it is sworn +to. + +The oaths specified are all colloquial, which were and are continually +and offensively mingled with common speech in the East. Nowhere are +there such habitual liars, and nowhere are there so many oaths. Every +traveller there knows that, and sees how true is Christ's filiation of +the custom of swearing from the custom of falsehood. But these poisonous +weeds of speech not only tended to degrade plain veracity in the popular +mind, but were themselves parents of immoral evasions, for it was the +teaching of some Rabbis, at all events, that an oath 'by heaven' or 'by +earth' or 'by Jerusalem' or 'by my head' did not bind. That further +relaxation of the obligation of truthfulness was grounded on the words +quoted in verse 33, for, said the immoral quibblers, 'it is "thine oaths +to the Lord" that thou "shalt perform," and for these others you may do +as you like' Therefore our Lord insists that every oath, even these +mutilated, colloquial ones which avoid His name, is in essence an appeal +to God, and has no sense unless it is. To swear such a truncated oath, +then, has the still further condemnation that it is certainly an +irreverence, and probably a quibble, and meant to be broken. It must be +fully admitted that there is little in common between such pieces of +senseless profanity as these oaths, or the modern equivalents which +pollute so many lips to-day, and the oath administered in a court of +justice, and it may further be allowed weight that Jesus does not +specifically prohibit the oath 'by the Lord,' but it is difficult to see +how the principles on which He condemns are to be kept from touching +even judicial oaths. For they, too, are administered on the ground of +the false idea that they add to the obligation of veracity, and give a +guarantee of truthfulness which a simple affirmation does not give. Nor +can any one, who knows the perfunctory formality and indifference with +which such oaths are administered and taken, and what a farce 'kissing +the book' has become, doubt that even judicial oaths tend to weaken the +popular conception of the sin of a lie and the reliance to be placed +upon the simple 'Yea, yea; Nay, nay.' + + +NON-RESISTANCE + + 'Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a + tooth for a tooth: 39. But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: + but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the + other also. 40. And if any man will sue thee at the law, and take + away thy coat, let him have thy cloke also. 41. And whosoever shall + compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain. 42. Give to him that + asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of thee turn not thou + away.'--MATT. v. 38-42. + +The old law directed judges to inflict penalties precisely equivalent to +offences--'an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth' (Exod. xxi. 24), +but that direction was not for the guidance of individuals. It was +suited for the stage of civilisation in which it was given, and probably +was then a restriction, rather than a sanction, of the wild law of +retaliation. Jesus sweeps it away entirely, and goes much further than +even its abrogation. For He forbids not only retaliation but even +resistance. It is unfortunate that in this, as in so many instances, +controversy as to the range of Christ's words has so largely hustled +obedience to them out of the field, that the first thought suggested to +a modern reader by the command 'Resist not evil' (or, an evil man) is +apt to be, Is the Quaker doctrine of uniform non-resistance right or +wrong, instead of, Do I obey this precept? If we first try to understand +its meaning, we shall be in a position to consider whether it has +limits, springing from its own deepest significance, or not. What, then, +is it not to resist? Our Lord gives three concrete illustrations of what +He enjoins, the first of which refers to insults such as contumelious +blows on the cheek, which are perhaps the hardest not to meet with a +flash of anger and a returning stroke; the second of which refers to +assaults on property, such as an attempt at legal robbery of a man's +undergarment; the third of which refers to forced labour, such as +impressing a peasant to carry military or official baggage or +documents--a form of oppression only too well known under Roman rule in +Christ's days. In regard to all three cases, He bids His disciples +submit to the indignity, yield the coat, and go the mile. But such +yielding without resistance is not to be all. The other cheek is to be +given to the smiter; the more costly and ample outer garment is to be +yielded up; the load is to be carried for two miles. The disciple is to +meet evil with a manifestation, not of anger, hatred, or intent to +inflict retribution, but of readiness to submit to more. It is a hard +lesson, but clearly here, as always, the chief stress is to be laid, not +on the outward action, but on the disposition, and on the action mainly +as the outcome and exhibition of that. If the cheek is turned, or the +cloak yielded, or the second mile trudged with a lowering brow, and hate +or anger boiling in the heart, the commandment is broken. If the inner +man rises in hot indignation against the evil and its doer, he is +resisting evil more harmfully to himself than is many a man who makes +his adversary's cheeks tingle before his own have ceased to be reddened. +We have to get down into the depths of the soul, before we understand +the meaning of non-resistance. It would have been better if the eager +controversy about the breadth of this commandment had oftener become a +study of its depth, and if, instead of asking, 'Are we ever warranted in +resisting?' men had asked, 'What in its full meaning is non-resistance?' +The truest answer is that it is a form of Love,--love in the face of +insults, wrongs, and domineering tyranny, such as are illustrated in +Christ's examples. This article of Christ's New Law comes last but one +in the series of instances in which His transfiguring touch is laid on +the Old Law, and the last of the series is that to which He has been +steadily advancing from the first--namely, the great Commandment of +Love. This precept stands immediately before that, and prepares for it. +It is, as suffused with the light of the sun that is all but risen, +'Resist not evil,' for 'Love beareth all things.' + +It is but a shallow stream that is worried into foam and made angry and +noisy by the stones in its bed; a deep river flows smooth and silent +above them. Nothing will enable us to meet 'evil' with a patient +yielding love which does not bring the faintest tinge of anger even into +the cheek reddened by a rude hand, but the 'love of God shed abroad in +the heart,' and when that love fills a man, 'out of him will flow a +river of living water,' which will bury evil below its clear, gentle +abundance, and, perchance, wash it of its foulness. The 'quality of' +this non-resistance 'is twice blessed,' 'it blesseth him that gives and +him that takes.' For the disciple who submits in love, there is the gain +of freedom from the perturbations of passion, and of steadfast abiding +in the peace of a great charity, the deliverance from the temptation of +descending to the level of the wrong-doer, and of losing hold of God and +all high visions. The tempest-ruffled sea mirrors no stars by night, nor +is blued by day. If we are to have real communion with God, we must not +flush with indignation at evil, nor pant with desire to shoot the arrow +back to him that aimed it at us. And in regard to the evil-doer, the +most effectual resistance is, in many cases, not to resist. There is +something hid away somewhere in most men's hearts which makes them +ashamed of smiting the offered left cheek, and then ashamed of having +smitten the right one. 'It is a shame to hit him, since he does not +defend himself,' comes into many a ruffian's mind. The safest way to +travel in savage countries is to show oneself quite unarmed. He that +meets evil with evil is 'overcome of evil'; he that meets it with +patient love is likely in most cases to 'overcome evil with good.' And +even if he fails, he has, at all events, used the only weapon that has +any chance of beating down the evil, and it is better to be defeated +when fighting hate with love than to be victorious when fighting it with +itself, or demanding an eye for an eye. + +But, if we take the right view of this precept, its limitations are in +itself. Since it is love confronting, and seeking to transform evil into +its own likeness, it may sometimes be obliged by its own self not to +yield. If turning the other cheek would but make the assaulter more +angry, or if yielding the cloak would but make the legal robber more +greedy, or if going the second mile would but make the press-gang more +severe and exacting, resistance becomes a form of love and a duty for +the sake of the wrong-doer. It may also become a duty for the sake of +others, who are also objects of love, such as helpless persons who +otherwise would be exposed to evil, or society as a whole. But while +clearly that limit is prescribed by the very nature of the precept, the +resistance which it permits must have love to the culprit or to others +as its motive, and not be tainted by the least suspicion of passion or +vengeance. Would that professing Christians would try more to purge +their own hearts, and bring this solemn precept into their daily lives, +instead of discussing whether there are cases in which it does not +apply! There are great tracts in the lives of all of us to which it +should apply and is not applied; and we had better seek to bring these +under its dominion first, and then it will be time enough to debate as +to whether any circumstances are outside its dominion or not. + + +THE LAW OF LOVE + + 'Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy + neighbour, and hate thine enemy. 44. But I say unto you, Love your + enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, + and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; + 45. That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: + for He maketh His sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and + sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. 46. For if ye love them + which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the + same? 47. And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than + others! do not even the publicans so? 48. Be ye therefore perfect, + even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.'--MATT. v. + 43-48. + +The last of the five instances of our Lord's extending and deepening and +spiritualising the old law is also the climax of them. We may either +call it the highest or the deepest, according to our point of view. His +transfiguring touch invests all the commandments with which He has been +dealing with new inwardness, sweep, and spirituality, and finally He +proclaims the supreme, all-including commandment of universal love. 'It +hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour'--that comes from Lev. +xix. 18; but where does 'and hate thine enemy' come from? Not from +Scripture, but in the passage in Leviticus 'neighbour' is co-extensive +with 'children of thy people,' and the hatred and contempt of all men +outside Israel which grew upon the Jews found a foothold there. 'Who is +my neighbour?' was apparently a well-discussed question in the schools +of the Rabbis, and, whether any of these teachers ever committed +themselves to plainly formulating the principle or not, practically the +duty of love was restricted to a narrow circle, and the rest of the wide +world left out in the cold. But not only was the circumference of love's +circle drawn in, but to hate an enemy was elevated almost into a duty. +It is the worst form of retaliation. 'An eye for an eye' is bad enough, +but hate for hate plunges men far deeper in the devil's mire. To flash +back from the mirror of the heart the hostile looks which are flung at +us, is our natural impulse; but why should we always leave it to the +other man to pitch the keynote of our relations with him? Why should we +echo only his tones? Cannot we leave his discord to die into silence and +reply to it by something more musical? Two thunder-clouds may cast +lightnings at each other, but they waste themselves in the process. +Better to shine meekly and victoriously on as the moon does on piled +masses of darkness till it silvers them with its quiet light. So Jesus +bids us do. We are to suppress the natural inclination to pay back in +the enemy's own coin, to 'give him as good as he gave us,' to 'show +proper spirit,' and all the other fine phrases with which the world +whitewashes hatred and revenge. We are not only to allow no stirring of +malice in our feelings, but we are to let kindly emotions bear fruit in +words blessing the cursers, and in deeds of goodness, and, highest of +all, in prayers for those whose hate is bitterest, being founded on +religion, and who are carrying it into action in persecution. We cannot +hate a man if we pray for him; we cannot pray for him if we hate him. +Our weakness often feels it so hard not to hate our enemies, that our +only way to get strength to keep this highest, hardest commandment is to +begin by trying to pray for the foe, and then we gradually feel the +infernal fires dying down in our temper, and come to be able to meet his +evil with good, and his curses with blessings. It is a difficult lesson +that Jesus sets us. It is a blessed possibility that Jesus opens for +us, that our kindly emotions towards men need not be at the mercy of +theirs to us. It is a fair ideal that He paints, which, if Christians +deliberately and continuously took it for their aim to realise, would +revolutionise society, and make the fellowship of man with man a +continual joy. Think of what any community, great or small, would be, if +enmity were met by love only and always. Its fire would die for want of +fuel. If the hater found no answering hate increasing his hate, he would +often come to answer love with love. There is an old legend spread +through many lands, which tells how a princess who had been changed by +enchantment into a loathly serpent, was set free by being thrice kissed +by a knight, who thereby won a fair bride with whom he lived in love and +joy. The only way to change the serpent of hate into the fair form of a +friend is to kiss it out of its enchantment. + +No doubt, partial anticipations of this precept may be found, buried +under much ethical rubbish, elsewhere than in the Sermon on the Mount, +and more plainly in Old Testament teaching, and in Rabbinical sayings; +but Christ's 'originality' as a moral teacher lies not so much in the +absolute novelty of His commandments, as in the perspective in which He +sets them, and in the motives on which He bases them, and most of all in +His being more than a teacher, namely, the Giver of power to fulfil what +He enjoins. Christian ethics not merely recognises the duty of love to +men, but sets it as the foundation of all other duties. It is root and +trunk, all others are but the branches into which it ramifies. Christian +ethics not merely recognises the duty, but takes a man by the hand, +leads him up to his Father God, and says: There, that is your pattern, +and a child who loves his Father will try to copy his ways and be made +like Him by his love. So Morality passes into Religion, and through the +transition receives power beyond its own. The perfection of worship is +imitation, and when men 'call Him Father' whom they adore, imitation +becomes the natural action of a child who loves. + +A dew-drop and a planet are both spheres, moulded by the same law of +gravitation. The tiny round of our little drops of love may be not all +unlike the colossal completeness of that Love, which owns the sun as +'His sun,' and rays down light and distils rain over the broad world. +God loves all men apart altogether from any regard to character, +therefore He gives to all men all the good gifts that they can receive +apart from character, and if evil men do not get His best gifts, it is +not because He withholds, but because they cannot take. There are human +love-gifts which cannot be bestowed on enemies or evil persons. It is +not possible, nor fit, that a Christian should feel to such as he does +to those who share his faith and sympathies; but it is possible, and +therefore incumbent, that he should not only negatively clear his heart +of malice and hatred, but that he should positively exercise such active +beneficence as they will receive. That is God's way, and it should be +His children's. + +The thought of the divine pattern naturally brings up the contrast +between it and that which goes by the name of love among men. Just +because Christians are to take God as their example of love, they must +transcend human examples. Here again Jesus strikes the note with which +He began His teaching of His disciples' 'righteousness'; but very +significantly He does not now point to Pharisees, but to publicans, as +those who were to be surpassed. The former, no doubt, were models of +'righteousness' after a rigid, whitewashed-sepulchre sort, but the +latter had bigger hearts, and, bad as they were and were reputed to be, +they loved better than the others. Jesus is glad to see and point to +even imperfect sparks of goodness in a justly condemned class. No doubt, +publicans in their own homes, with wife and children round them, let +their hearts out, and could be tender and gentle, however gruff and +harsh in public. When Jesus says '_even_ the publicans,' He is not +speaking in contempt, but in recognition of the love that did find some +soil to grow on, even in that rocky ground. But is not the bringing in +of the 'reward' as a motive a woful downcome? and is love that loves for +the sake of reward, love at all? The criticism and questions forget that +the true motive has just been set forth, and that the thought of +'reward' comes in, only as secondary encouragement to a duty which is +based upon another ground. To love because we shall gain something, +either in this world or in the next, is not love but long-sighted +selfishness; but to be helped in our endeavours to widen our love so as +to take in all men, by the vision of the reward, is not selfishness but +a legitimate strengthening of our weakness. Especially is that so, in +view of the fact that 'the reward' contemplated is nothing else than the +growth of likeness to the Father in heaven, and the increase of filial +consciousness, and the clearer, deeper cry, 'Abba, Father.' If longing +for, and having regard to, that 'recompense of reward' is selfishness, +and if the teaching which permits it is immoral, may God send the world +more of such selfishness and of teachers of it! + +But the reference to the shrunken love-streams that flow among men +passes again swiftly to the former thought of likeness to God as the +great pattern. Like a bird glancing downwards for a moment to earth, and +then up again and away into the blue, our Lord's words re-soar, and +settle at last by the throne of God. The command, 'Be ye perfect, even +as your Father which is in heaven is perfect,' may be intended to refer +only to the immediately preceding section, but one is inclined to regard +it rather as the summing up of the whole of the preceding series of +commandments from verse 20 onwards. The sum of religion is to imitate +the God whom we worship. The ideal which draws us to aim at its +realisation must be absolutely perfect, however imperfect may be all our +attempts to reproduce it. We sometimes hear it said that to set up +perfection as our goal is to smite effort dead and to enthrone despair. +But to set up an incomplete ideal is the surest way to take the heart +out of effort after it. It is the Christian's prerogative to have ever +gleaming before him an unattained aim, to which he is progressively +approximating, and which, unreached, beckons, feeds hope of endless +approach, and guarantees immortality. + + +TRUMPETS AND STREET CORNERS + + 'Take heed that ye do nob your alms before men, to be seen of them: + otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven. 2. + Therefore, when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet + before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues, and in the + streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, + They have their reward. 3. But when thou doest alms, let not thy + left hand know what thy right hand doeth; 4. That thine alms may be + in secret: and thy Father, which seeth in secret, Himself shall + reward thee openly. 5. And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as + the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the + synagogues, and in the corners of the streets, that they may be + seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.'--MATT. + vi. 1-5. + +Our Lord follows His exposition of the deepened sense which the old law +assumes in His kingdom, by a warning against the most subtle foes of +true righteousness. He first gives the warning in general terms in verse +1, and then flashes its light into three dark corners, and shows how +hankering after men's praise corrupts the beneficence which is our duty +to our neighbour, the devotion which is our duty to God, and the +abstinence which is our duty to ourselves. We deal now with the two +former. + +We have first the general warning, given out like the text of a sermon, +or the musical phrase which underlies the various harmonies of some +concerto. The first word implies that the evil is a subtle and seducing +one. 'Take heed' as of something which may steal into and mar the +noblest lives. The serpent lies coiled under the leaves, and may sting +and poison the unwary hand. The generality of the warning, and the +logical propriety of the whole section, require the adoption of the +reading of the Revised Version, namely, 'righteousness.' The thing to be +taken heed of is not the doing it 'before men,' which will often be +obligatory, often necessary, and never in itself wrong, but the doing it +'to be seen of them.' Not the number of spectators, but the furtive +glance of our eyes to see if they are looking at us, makes the sin. We +are to let our good works shine, that men may glorify our Father. Pious +souls are to shine, and yet to be hid,--a paradox which can be easily +solved by the obedient. If our motive is to make God's glory more +visible, we shall not be seeking to be ourselves admired. The +harp-string's swift vibrations, as it gives out its note, make it +unseen. + +The reason for the warning goes on two principles: one that +righteousness is to be rewarded, over and above its own inherent +blessedness; another, that the prospect of the reward is a legitimate +stimulus, over and above the prime reason for righteousness, namely, +that it is righteous. The New Testament morality is not good enough for +some very superfine people, who are pleased to call it selfish because +it lets a martyr brace himself in the fire by the vision of the crown +athwart the smoke. Somehow or other, however, that selfish morality gets +itself put in practice, and turns out more unselfish people than its +assailants manage to produce. Perhaps the motive which they attack may +be part of the reason. + +The mingling of regard for man's approbation with apparently righteous +acts absolutely disqualifies them for receiving God's reward, for it +changes their whole character, and they are no longer what they seem. +Charity given from that motive is not charity, nor prayer offered from +it devotion. + +I. The general warning is applied to three cases, of which we have to +deal with two. Our Lord speaks first of ostentatious almsgiving. Note +that we are not to take 'blowing the trumpets' as actual fact. Nobody +would do that in a synagogue. The meaning of all attempts, however +concealed, to draw attention to one's beneficence, is just what the +ear-splitting blast would be; and the incongruity of startling the +worshippers with the harsh notes is like the incongruity of doing good +and trying to attract notice. I think Christ's ear catches the screech +of the brazen abomination in a good many of the ways of raising and +giving money, which find favour in the Church to-day. This is an +advertising age, and flowers that used to blush unseen are forced now +under glass for exhibition. No one needs to blow his own trumpet +nowadays. We have improved on the ruder methods of the Pharisees, and +newspapers and collectors will blow lustily and loud for us, and defend +the noise on the ground that a good example stimulates others. Perhaps +so, though it may be a question what it stimulates to, and whether B's +gift, drawn from him in imitation or emulation of A's, is any liker +Christ's idea of gifts than was A's, given that B might hear of it. To +a very large extent, the money getting and giving arrangements of the +modern Church are neither more nor less than the attempt to draw +Christ's chariot with the devil's traces. Christ condemned ostentation. +His followers too often try to make use of it. 'They have their reward.' +Observe that _have_ means _have received in full_, and note the emphasis +of that _their_. It is all the reward that they will ever get, and all +that they are capable of. The pure and lasting crown, which is a fuller +possession of God Himself, has no charms for them, and could not be +given. And what a poor thing it is which they seek--the praise of men, a +breath, as unsubstantial and short-lived as the blast of the trumpet +which they blew before their selfish benevolence. Their charity was no +charity, for what they did was not to give, but to buy. Their gift was a +speculation. They invested in charity, and looked for a profit of +praise. How can they get God's reward? True benevolence will even hide +the giving right hand from the idle left, and, as far as may be, will +dismiss the deed from the doer's consciousness. Such alms, given wholly +out of pity and desire to be like the all-giving Father, can be +rewarded, and will be, with that richer acquaintance with Him and more +complete victory over self, which is the heaven of heaven and the +foretaste of it now. + +In its coarsest forms, this ostentation is out and out hypocrisy, which +consciously assumes a virtue which it has not. But far more common and +dangerous is the subtle, unconscious mingling of it with real +charity--the eye wandering from the poor, whom the hand is helping, to +the bystanders--and it is this mingling which we have therefore to take +most heed to avoid. One drop of this sour stuff will curdle whole +gallons of the milk of human kindness. The hypocrisy which hoodwinks +ourselves is more common and perilous than that which blinds others. + +II. We need not dwell at length on the second application of the general +warning--to prayer; as the words are almost, and the thoughts entirely, +identical with those of the former verses. If there be any action of the +spirit which requires the complete exclusion of thoughts of men, it is +prayer, which is the communion of the soul alone with God. It is as +impossible to pray, and at the same time to think of men, as to look up +and down at once. If we think of prayer, as formalists in all times have +done, as so many words, then it will not seem incongruous to choose the +places where men are thickest for 'saying our prayers,' and we shall do +it with all the more spirit if we have spectators. That accounts for a +great deal of the 'devotion' in Mohammedan and Roman Catholic countries +which travellers with no love for Protestant Christianity are so fond of +praising. But if we think of prayer as Christ did, as being the yearning +of the soul to God, we shall feel that the inmost chamber and the closed +door are its fitting accompaniments. Of course, our Lord is not +forbidding united prayer; for each of the assembled worshippers may be +holding communion with God, which is none the less solitary though +shared by others, and none the less united though in it each is alone +with God. + +III. Our Lord passes for a time from the more immediate subject of +ostentation to add other teaching about prayer, which still farther +unfolds its true conception. Another corruption arising from the error +of thinking that prayer is an outward act, is 'vain repetition,' +characteristic of all heathen religion, and resting upon a profound +disbelief in the loving willingness of God to help. Of course, earnest, +reiterated prayer is not vain repetition. Jesus is not here condemning +His own agony in Gethsemane when He thrice 'said the same words.' The +persistence in prayer, which is the child of faith, is no relation to +the parrot-like repetition which is the child of disbelief, nor does the +condemnation of the one touch the other. The frenzied priests who +yelled, 'O Baal, hear us!' all the long day; the Buddhists who repeat +the sacred invocation till they are stupefied; the poor devotee who +thinks merit is proportioned to the number of Paternosters and Aves, are +all instances of this gross mechanical conception of prayer. Are there +no similar superstitions nearer home? Are there no ministers or +congregations that we ever heard of, who have a regulation length for +their prayers, and would scarcely think they had prayed at all if their +devotions were as short as most of the prayers in the Bible? Are we in +no danger of believing what Christ here tells us is pure +heathenism--that many words may move God? + +The only real remedy against such degradation of the very idea of prayer +lies in the deeper conceptions of God and of it which Christ here gives. +He knows our needs before we ask. Then what is prayer for? Not to inform +Him, nor to move Him, unwilling, to have mercy, as if, like some proud +prince, He required a certain amount of recognition of His greatness as +the price of His favours, but to fit our own hearts by conscious need +and true desire and dependence, to receive the gifts which He is ever +willing to give, but we are not always fit to receive. As St. Augustine +has it, the empty vessel is by prayer carried to the full fountain. + + +SOLITARY PRAYER + + 'Enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to + thy Father which is in secret,'--MATT. vi. 6. + +An old heathen who had come to a certain extent under the influence of +Christ, called prayer 'the flight of the solitary to the Solitary.' +There is a deep truth in that, though not all the truth. + +Prayer is not only the most intensely individual act that a man can +perform, but it is also the highest social act. Christ came not to carry +solitary souls by a solitary pathway to heaven, but to set the solitary +in families and to rear up a church. Of that church the highest function +is united worship. + +No one is likely to fall into the mistake of supposing that this passage +before us condemns praying in the synagogues, or even, if need were, at +the street corners. It does not, of course, interdict social public +prayer, though it enjoins solitary secret communion with the solitary, +secret God. + +I. What is the practice here enjoined? + +Since 'that they may be seen of men' constitutes the evil, we may fairly +say that Christ is not here prescribing the place where, but the spirit +in which, we ought to pray; that what He condemns is not the fact of +praying where we can be seen, but of picking out the place in order that +we may be seen; that, in a word, the contrast here is between +ostentation and sincerity. A man that has sidelong looks at the +passers-by in his devotions has not much devotion. + +But then, as a material help to this, we need solitude and secrecy; they +are not indispensable, but almost so. And in that solitude what is to be +our occupation? One word answers the question--Communion. We are to be +alone that we may more fully and thrillingly feel that we are with God. +That communion will have an intellectual element in which we try to rise +to perception of the high truths as to God, or in meditation gaze on +Him, and a petitionary element in which we ask for the communication of +His grace according to our needs. + +II. What is the special worth of such a habit? + +1. The truths that we profess to believe are in their nature such as can +only be vividly realised by such an exercise. They are all matters of +faith, not of sense. God is a spirit, and is felt near by none but still +and waiting spirits. Our religion has to do with the Unseen, the Solemn, +the Profound, the Remote. These are not to be fully felt hastily. They +are like mountains that grow on us as we gaze, like a fair scene that we +must be alone in, rightly to feel. They must be allowed to saturate the +soul. The eye must be slowly accustomed to the light. + +2. The pressure of the world can only be resisted by such an exercise. + +Our business as Christians is to keep ourselves free from it. + +3. The tone and balance of our own minds can only be preserved and +restored thus. Solitude is the mother-country of the strong. 'I was left +alone, and I saw this great vision.' We get hot and fevered, interested +and absorbed, and we need solitude as a counterpoise. + +4. What is the connection of this with other kinds of worship and with +our life's work? It has a function of its own. + +These cannot be substituted for it--public worship, reading Christian +books, bring a different class of feelings altogether into play. + +They are not to be excluded by it. They find their true foundation in +it. A tree's branches stretch to the same circumference as its roots. + +5. What is the special need of this precept for this age? + +It is neglected in our modern life. The evils of our modern +Christianity, the low tone of religion, the small grasp of Christian +truth, the irreligious cast of religious work. + +The thought of being alone with God will be a joy--or a terror. + + +THE STRUCTURE OF THE LORD'S PRAYER + + 'After this manner therefore pray ye.'--MATT. vi. 9. + +'After this manner' may or may not imply that Christ meant this prayer +to be a form, but He certainly meant it for a model. And they who drink +in its spirit, and pray, seeking God's glory before their own +satisfaction, and, while trustfully asking from His hand their daily +bread, rise quickly to implore the supply of their spiritual hunger, do +pray after this manner,' whether they use these words or no. + +All begins with the recognition of the Fatherhood of God. The clear and +fixed contemplation of God is the beginning of all true prayer, and that +contemplation does not fasten on His remote and partially intelligible +attributes, nor strive to climb to behold Him as in Himself, but grasps +Him as related to us. The Fatherhood of God implies His communication of +life, His tenderness, and our kindred. This is the prayer of the +children of the kingdom, and can only be truly offered by those who, by +faith in the Son, have received the adoption of sons. It gathers all +such into a family, so delivering their prayer from selfish absorption +in their own joys or needs. As our Father 'in Heaven,' He is lifted +clear above earth's limitations, changes, and imperfections. So +childlike familiarity is sublimed into reverence, our hearts are drawn +upward, and freed from the oppressive and narrowing attachment to earth +and sense. + +The perfect sevenfold petitions of the prayer fall into two halves, +corresponding roughly to the first and second tables of the decalogue. +The first half consists of three petitions, which refer to God and His +kingdom. They are three, in accordance with the symbolism of numbers +which, in the Old Testament, always regards three as the sacred number +of completeness and of divinity. The second half consists of four +petitions, which refer to ourselves. They are four--the number which +symbolises the creature. The lessons taught by the order in which these +two halves occur do not need to be dwelt upon. God first and man second, +His glory before our wants--that is the true order. For how few of us is +it the spontaneous order! Do we first rise to God, and only secondly +descend to ourselves? + +Note, too, the sequence in each of these halves. In the first we may say +that we begin from above and come down, or from within and come +outwards. In the second, the process is the opposite. We begin on the +lowest level with our external needs, and go upwards and inwards to +removal of sin, exemption from temptation, and complete deliverance from +evil. The first half gives us the beginning, middle, and end of God's +purposes for the world. The recognition of His name is the basis of His +kingdom, and His kingdom is the sphere in which alone His will is done. +The second half, in like manner, gives us the beginning, middle, and end +of His dealings with the individual, the common mercies of daily bread, +forgiveness, guidance, protection in conflict, and final deliverance. + +The 'name' of God is His revealed character. He hallows it when He so +acts as to make His holiness manifest. We hallow it when we regard it as +the holy thing which it is. That petition is first, because the +knowledge of God as He is self-revealed is the deepest want of men, and +the spread of that knowledge and reverence is the way by which His +kingdom comes. + +God's kingdom is His rule over men's hearts. Christ began His ministry +by proclaiming its near approach, and in effect brought it to earth. But +it spreads slowly in the individual heart, and in the world. Therefore, +this second petition is ever in place, until the consummation. God's +rule is established through the hallowing of His name; for it is a rule +which works on men through their understandings, and seeks no ignorant +submission. + +The sum of this first half is, 'Thy will be done, as in Heaven, so on +earth.' Obedience to that will is the end of God's self-revelation. It +makes all the difference whether we begin with the thought of the name +or of the will. In the latter case, religion will be slavish and +submission sullen. There is no more horrible and paralysing conception +of God than that of mere sovereign will. But if we think of Him as +desiring that we should know His name, and as gathering all its +syllables into the one perfect 'Word of God'; then we are sure that His +will must be intelligible and good. Obedience becomes delight, and the +surrender of our wills to His the glad expression of love. He who begins +with 'Thy will be done' is a slave, and never really does the will at +all; he who begins with 'Our Father, hallowed be Thy name,' is a son, +and his will, gladly yielding, is free in surrender, strong in +self-abnegation, and restful in putting the reins into God's hands. + +The two halves make a whole. The second, which deals with our needs, +starts with the cry for bread, and climbs up slowly through the ills of +life, from bodily hunger to trespasses and human unkindness and personal +weakness, and a world of temptation, and the double evil of sin and of +sorrow, and so regains at last the starting-point of the first half, +Heaven and God. The probable meaning of the difficult word rendered +'daily' seems to be 'sufficient for our need.' The lessons of the +petition are that God's children have a claim for the supply of their +wants, since He is bound, as a faithful Creator, not to send mouths +without sending meat to fill them, but that our desires should be +limited to our actual necessities, and our cravings, as well as our +efforts for the bread that perishes, made into prayers. Such a prayer +rightly used would put an end to much wicked luxury among Christians, +and to many questionable ways of getting wealth. 'Bless my cheating, my +sharp practice, my half lies!' If we dare not pray this prayer over what +we do in 'earning our living,' we had better ask ourselves whether we +are not rather earning our death. + +Sin is debt Incurred to God. So Christ taught in the previous chapter by +His parable of agreeing with the adversary; and in the other parables +of the two debtors (Luke vii. 41) and of the unmerciful servant (Matt. +xviii. 23). As universal as the need for bread is the need for pardon. +It is the first want of the spiritual nature, but it is a constantly +recurring want, as this petition teaches us. Forgiveness is the +cancelling of a debt; but we must not forget that it is a Father's +forgiveness, and therefore does not merely, or even chiefly, imply the +removal of penalty, but much rather the unimpeded flow of the Father's +love, and consequently the removal of the miserable consciousness of +separation from Him. The appended comparison 'as we have forgiven' does +not mean that our forgiveness is the reason for God's forgiveness of us. +The ground of our pardon is Christ's work, the condition of it our +faith; but, as we saw in considering the Beatitudes, the condition on +which the children of the kingdom can retain the blessing of the divine +pardon is their imitation of it. + +The next petition is the expression of conscious weakness. The forgiven +man, though in his deepest soul hating sin, is still surrounded with +sparks which may fire the combustibles in his heart. If we ask not to be +led into temptation, because we want a smooth and easy road, we are +wrong. If we do so from self-distrust and fear lest we fall, then it is +allowable. But perhaps we may draw a distinction between being tempted +and being led into temptation. The former may mean the presentation of +an inducement to do evil which we cannot hope to escape, and which it is +not well that we should escape. The latter may mean the further step of +embracing or being entangled in it by consenting to it. We do not need +to dread the entrance into the Valley of the Shadow of Death, for if the +Lord be with us we shall pass through it. Our prayer may mean, lead us, +not into, but through, the trial. It is the plaint of conscious +weakness, the recognition of God as ordering our path, the cry of a +heart which desires holiness most of all, and which trusts in God's +upholding hand in the hour of trial. + +'Deliver us from evil' is a petition which, in its width, fits the close +of the prayer better than does the translation of the Revised Version. +There seems an echo of the words in Paul's noble confidence while the +headsman's axe was so near, 'The Lord will deliver me from every evil +work.' Entire exemption from evil of every sort, whether sin or sorrow, +is the true end of our prayers, as it is the crown of God's purpose. +Nothing less can satisfy our yearnings; nothing less can fulfil the +divine desire for us. Nothing less should be the goal of our faith and +hope. To the height of meek assurance, and the reaching out of our souls +in desire which is the pledge of its own fulfilment, Christ would have +us attain on the wings of prayer. _They_ can have no narrower bonds +to the horizon of their hopes, nor any lesser blessing for the +satisfaction of their longings, whose prayer begins with 'Our Father +which art in heaven'; for where the Father is, the child must wish to +be, and some day will be, to go out no more. + + +'OUR FATHER' + + 'Our Father which art in heaven.'--Matt. vi. 9. + +The words of Christ, like the works of God, are inexhaustible. Their +depth is concealed beneath an apparent simplicity which the child and +the savage can understand. But as we gaze upon them and try to fathom +all their meaning, they open as the skies above us do when we look +steadily into their blue chambers, or as the sea at our feet does when +we bend over to pierce its clear obscure. The poorest and weakest learns +from them the lesson of divine love and a mighty helper; the reverent, +loving contemplation of the profoundest souls, and the experience of all +the ages discern ever new depths in them and feel that much remains +unlearned. 'They did all eat and were filled, men, women, and +children--and they took up of fragments that were left five baskets +full.' + +This is especially true about the Lord's Prayer. We teach it to our +children, and its divine simplicity becomes their lisping tongues and +little folded hands. But the more we ponder it, and try to make it the +model of our prayers, the more wonderful does its fulness of meaning +appear, the more hard does it become to pray 'after this manner.' There +is everything in it: the loftiest revelation of God in His relations to +us and in His purposes with the world; the setting forth of all our +relations to Him, to His purposes, and to one another; the grandest +vision of the future for mankind; the care for the smallest wants of +each day. + +As a theology, it smites into fragments all false, unworthy human +thoughts of God. As an exposition of religion, the man who has drunk in +its spirit has ceased from self-will and sin. As a foundation of social +morals it lays deep the only basis for true human brotherhood, and he +who lives in its atmosphere will live in charity and helpfulness with +all mankind. As a guide for personal life, it gives us authoritatively +the order and relative worth of all human desires, and with these the +order and subordination of our pursuits and life's aims. As a prayer it +is all comprehensive and intended to be so, holding within the perfect +seven of its petitions, all for which we should come to God, and resting +them all on His divine name, and closing them all with a chorus of +thanksgiving. As a prophecy it opens the loftiest vision, beyond which +none is possible, of the final transformation of this world into the +kingdom in which God's will shall be perfectly done, and of the final +deliverance from, all evil of the struggling, sinning, sorrowing souls +of His children. + +I desire to try in a series of sermons to set forth what little I can +see of the depth and comprehensiveness of this model of all prayer, and +of its ever fresh applicability to the wants and difficulties of our +days as of all days. But before dealing with that great invocation of +the divine name on which all rests, a word or two must be said touching +the introductory clause. + +'After this manner pray ye.' The question which is usually made +prominent in thinking of these words is really a very subordinate one. +Did Christ intend to establish a form, or only to give an example? +Churchmen say, a form; Dissenters generally say, an example. But it +would be better for both Churchmen and Dissenters to try to realise for +themselves what 'this manner' is. + +Unquestionably, whether our Lord is giving us a form or not, His chief +object was not to prescribe words. To pray is not to repeat petitions, +and His commandment has for its chief meaning a much deeper one than +that He was giving us either a form which we are to incorporate verbally +with our prayers, or an outline according to which our spoken +supplications are to be shaped. Whether in addition to this we are to +regard the very words as to be used by us, will be determined by each +man and church according as he regards the use of set forms in prayer as +being the true and noblest manner of prayer. Such use is certainly not +inconsistent with the utmost spirituality, but the habitual use of +forms, especially their exclusive use, seems to many of us to be +dangerous, regard being had to the tendency of human nature to rest in +them. And it is not without significance that this very prayer of our +Lord's, which was given as the corrective of vain repetitions and idle, +heathenish chattering of forms of prayer, has itself come to be the +saddest instance in all Christendom of these very faults, while the +beads slip through the fingers of the mechanical repeater of muttered +Paternosters. Instead of wrangling about this subordinate question, let +us try to pray after this manner. We shall find it hard, but blessed. Be +sure that every prayer not after this manner is after a wrong manner. + +This prayer helps to reverse our foolish desire to make earth foremost. +The true end of prayer is to get our wills harmonised with His, not to +bend His to ours. Surely if self-denial and submission be the very heart +of Christianity, that should be most expressed in prayer which is the +very sanctuary of religion. The prayers that are to be offered after +this manner will not be passionate, petulant pleadings or prescriptions +to God to do this or that, but in them God and His glory will be first, +I second, and through Him and as He wills. + +Ah, brethren! this is an awful requirement of Christ's. Who dare take +such holy words into his lips? It is a hard matter to pray as Christ +taught us. The prayer seems to move in a height of unapproachable +elevation, and the air there is too thin and pure for our gross lungs. +For be it remembered, we are not praying after this manner unless our +lives in some sort repeat and confirm our prayers. Do our hearts seek +first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness? Are our energies given +to this, as their noblest aim, to hallow God's name; or does the very +blood in our hearts throb hot, passionate desires for worldly things, +and God's name and kingdom and will seem dreamy and far-off objects +which kindle no desire in our souls and rule no effort of our lives, +like suns far away which shed little light upon the earth and sway not +its rolling tides, that are obedient to the nearer but borrowed light of +the changeful moon? If so, no matter whether we use this form or not, we +are not praying after this manner. + +Look, now, at this first clause, which is the basis of all. + +I. The divine Name which is the ground and object of all our prayers. It +is not merely a formula of address, like the superscription on a letter, +but the reality of His character as revealed before us. There is +inseparable from all prayer the effort to conceive worthily of Him to +whom we speak; to raise our souls to that height. + +How much of our prayer, even while truest, fails here! We may be +distinctly conscious of our wants; our wishes may be right, and our +confidence may be firm that God will give us what we ask; yet how often +there is no vivid thought of Him filling the mind! How often our prayers +are offered to a mere name! How seldom through the cloud-wrack beneath +His feet do we see His face! + +This absorbed contemplation is the necessary preliminary of all real +prayer, and there is a truth in the thought that such losing of self in +gazing on God is the highest form of prayer. We should feel as some +peasant come to court who stands on the threshold of the +presence-chamber, and forgetting his grievances and his embassy, gazes +entranced on the splendour and benignity of his sovereign. + +Look, then, at this Name: what it expresses. It is not new. The Jews +dimly had it, and even Greek and other paganisms knew of a 'father of +Gods and men.' The name of Father carries with it primarily the idea of +the Source of life ('we also are His offspring'), and also, secondarily, +that of loving care. + +How wonderful, how beautiful, that that earthly relation should find its +deepest reality in God! God be thanked that, 'like as a father pitieth +his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear Him.' + +But the true Christian idea of God's fatherhood is more than all this. +This is a prayer for disciples, for those who alone can really pray. All +men are God's children because all draw their life from Him, were made +in His image, and are objects of His love. But there is a fatherhood and +a sonship which are not universal, and for which another birth is +necessary. Its conditions are plainly laid down by the Evangelist: 'To +as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become sons of God,' +and by the Apostle, 'Ye are the children of God through faith in Christ +Jesus.' + +We are made sons through Jesus. We are made sons by faith. + +And now, how should this Fatherhood affect our prayers? We shall come +with hope and familiar confidence, for 'your heavenly Father knoweth +what things ye have need of.' Does a father love to have his children +about him? Does a child shrink from telling its wishes to a father? Also +we must bend our wills to His--to a Father. + +Contrast that conception with the ideas of God which we are all tempted +to cherish, the slavish one which dwells upon the gulf between God and +man, with the cold deity of 'natural religion,' with the Epicurean +notion of Him which divorces Him from all living interest in His +creation. + +Contrast it with the ghastly image which our consciences and our fears +frame, the heathen notion of an avenger and cruel. We do not need to +seek to avert His anger. This mighty word shatters all cowering terror +and abject prostration. + +And it is a vow as well as an Invocation, binding us to supreme love to +Him, to obedience to Him, to moral conformity with Him. Be ye perfect as +your Father which is in heaven is perfect. The noblest prayer is 'Abba, +Father.' + +II. The loftiness and perfectness of that divine Name. + +'In heaven.' Not fact, but symbol, to express His exaltation above the +earth, and so suggesting all ideas of remoteness from creatures, from +earth's limitations and conditions, changes and imperfection, and +showing the gulf between man and God. + +1. The thought that He is in heaven deepens our reverence, love casting +out fear, but making us more lowly. It leads to familiar yet +awe-stricken approach. + +2. It exalts the preciousness of the Fatherhood, as being free from all +weakness and all change. It reveals a better Father than we can know +here; one not narrow of view, infirm of purpose, weak in tenderness, +bounded in power. As the heavens stretch calm and serene above us, far +from all our trouble and noise, unvexed, pitying, and dropping rain and +dew on earth, so is He. + +3. It draws our hearts and hopes to our Father's home. + +4. It delivers us from worship of the visible and from worship by means +of the visible. So the Name guards against placing stress on externals +and secondary forms, places, times of worship. + +III. The Community of Brotherhood of the Worshippers. + +_Our_ Father. + +1. All true enjoyment of blessings depends on our being willing to share +them. To keep for ourselves is to lose. We enter by faith into a great +community. + +2. The effect of this on our prayers: to destroy their selfishness. We +bow to Him of whom the whole family is named. + +3. Effect on our lives. + +Dare we rise from our knees to plan and plot for ourselves? How we are +tempted to forget our brotherhood in personal animosities, vanity, and +self-interest, competing with others! Our differences of ideas arising +from differences of race, training, occupation, country, fling us apart. +Our differences of wealth and position alienate us. Our differences of +conception of Christianity often separate and embitter us. But do these +not crumble when we say '_Our_ Father'? + +Think of the generations who have gone to the grave saying this prayer. +What a prophecy of the heaven, where all shall be gathered and each feel +his sense of Fatherhood increased by his brethren! + +And this is the only possible basis for true fraternity among men. + +Opinion? Men are not thinking machines. + +Interest? Men are not ruled by calculations, and such union is the +destruction of true unity. + +Common aims?--shallow. + +Nation or race?--artificial and not capable of universality. + +There is no brotherhood but that which rests on God's Fatherhood, +Christ's Sonship. For the world Christ has come, therefore we are no +more 'strangers and foreigners.' + +Therefore, listening to His voice, and trusting in Him who has made us +heirs together with Him, let us lift up our voices, 'Our Father,' and +therein proclaim that God who loves every soul of man, who knows each +man's wants, who bends over him in pitying tenderness, who can neither +die nor change, and who will gather into His eternal home all His +prodigal children and keep them blessed by His side for evermore. + + +'HALLOWED BE THY NAME' + + 'Hallowed be Thy name.'--Matt. vi. 9. + +Name is character so far as revealed. + +I. What is meaning of Petition? + +Hallowed means to make holy; or to show as holy; or to regard as holy. +The second of these is God's hallowing of His Name. The third is men's. + +The prayer asks that God would so act as to show the holiness of His +character, and that men, one and all, may see the holiness of His +character. + +i.e. Hallowed by divine self-revelation. + +Hallowed by human recognition. + +Hallowed by human adoration and appropriate sentiments. + +Hallowed by human action. + +II. On what it rests: + +On the Fatherhood of God. + +On the confidence that God wills that His Name should be known. In +other words, the petition rests on the assurance of God's fatherly love, +which cannot but will that His children should know their Father as He +is. + +On the fact that men need the knowledge of the Name. + +On the conviction that men cannot attain it for themselves. + +That Christ is the great means of His hallowing His Name. + +His finished work does not render this prayer unnecessary. + +'I have declared Thy name, and will declare it.' + +That this is to be issue of all. A grand prophecy. + +III. Why put first. + +Singular, that so remote a petition should stand at beginning. We should +begin not with ourselves, but with God; not with temporal wants, not +even with our own spiritual ones. + +We begin not with men, but with God. + +It is God's glory even more than men's knowledge of Him that the +petition contemplates. And though the two things coincide, which of them +is foremost in our minds makes an infinite difference. + +Then in regard to God, we first ask not that His law may be kept, but +that His nature may be known. + +The place of this petition in the prayer is explained by considerations +which suggest very important thoughts for ourselves and all men. + +That true knowledge of God is the deepest and fundamental necessity for +all men. + +That the knowledge will affect their whole scheme of thought and life. + +That the most important of all questions is, How does a man think of +God? + +That the Inward comes before the Outward. + +That knowledge is the guide of emotions and of practical life, as set +forth here in the order of petitions. + +This sequence of petitions corrects many errors into which we are apt to +fall. + +(a) That religion is chiefly to give us forgiveness. + +(b) That accurate knowledge of God and His will matters comparatively +little if we have devout emotions and experiences. + +(c) That plans for the reformation of men should begin with the +exterior, leaving theological subtleties to themselves. + +But this is not a theological subtlety. + +'Seek ye first the kingdom of God,' is a maxim for social reformation as +well as for individual life. + +IV. To what practical life this prayer binds us. + +Following in our estimates, aims, and practice the sequence which it +prescribes. Desiring for world most of all that it may hallow the Name. + +Seeking for ourselves to hallow it. + +Seeking for ourselves that we may be the means of others doing so. + +The ever-present remembrance, that the name of God is blasphemed or +hallowed, that God is glorified or disgraced, by us. + +That to be like His name is true way to commend it. Do you know this +name? + + +'THY KINGDOM COME' + + 'Thy kingdom come.--MATT. vi. 10. + +'The Lord reigneth, let the earth be glad'; 'The Lord reigneth, let the +people tremble,' was the burden of Jewish psalmist and prophet from the +first to the last. They have no doubt of His present dominion. Neither +man's forgetfulness and man's rebellion, nor all the dark crosses and +woes of the world, can disturb their conviction that He is then and for +ever the sole Lord. + +The kingdom is come, then. Yet John the Baptist broke the slumbers of +that degenerate people with the trumpet-call, 'Repent, for the kingdom +is at hand.' It is not come, then--but coming. And the Master said, 'If +I by the finger of God cast out devils, no doubt the kingdom of God is +come nigh unto you.' It is come, then, in Him. This prayer throws it +forward again into the future, and far down on the stream of prophecy; +we hear borne up to us through the darkness the shouts that shall hail a +future day when here on earth the kingdoms of this world shall become +the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ. It is a kingdom, then, that +has ever been, and yet has stages of progress, a kingdom that was +established in Jesus; a kingdom that has a past, a present, and a future +on earth. It is after this world that the words are said, 'Come, ye +blessed, enter into the kingdom.' It is a kingdom, then, manifested on +earth, and yet a kingdom into which death, who keeps the keys of all +secrets, admits us. + +Once more--the kingdom of God is within you. 'The kingdom of God is +righteousness, and peace, and joy.' But there is beyond earth to be a +manifestation of the kingdom in a more perfect form. It is 'the kingdom +of heaven,' not only because the King is 'Our Father which art in +heaven,' but because we cannot completely come into it, or it into us, +till we pass out of earth by death, and enter through that gate into the +city. He has translated us into the kingdom of His dear Son. + +It is a dominion, then, over heart and soul, having its realm within, +standing not so much in outward institutions as in inner experiences; +and yet a kingdom which, though like leaven hid, shall like leaven be +seen in its effects; though like a seed buried deep, shall like a seed +blossom into a mighty tree; though it cometh not with observation, yet +is like to the lightning that flashes with a kind of omnipresence in its +rapid course from end to end, everywhere at once; which though it be +within, yet clearly is meant to rule over all outward acts, and one day +to have all kings bowing down before it. + +These are the varieties with which the one thought of the kingdom of +God, or of heaven, is presented in Scripture. It is eternal yet revealed +in time, ever here but ever coming, ever coming but never come on earth, +but entered when we go yonder, ruling us man by man, inward, spiritual, +unseen, and yet moulding nations and institutions, outward and visible, +compelling sight and filling all the earth. + +But these varieties are not contradictions, still less are they the +effects of a vague and imperfect notion which means anything or +everything according to the fancy of the writer. The conception is clear +and well defined. The kingdom of God is an organised community which is +subject to the will of the personal God. The elements of subordination +and society are both there. On the one hand there is the Ruler, on the +other there is the mass of subjects. The whole of the varieties in the +use of the term can be all reconciled in the one simple central notion, +but we cannot afford to lose sight of any of them if we would understand +what is meant by this prayer. + +Let us take these thoughts which I have suggested, as expressing the +Scriptural meaning of this phrase, and by their help try to ascertain +what this prayer suggests. + +I. God reigns, yet we pray for the coming of His kingdom. + +That is to acknowledge that the world has departed from Him. It is at +once to separate ourselves from those who see in it no signs of +departure and rebellion. It is to confess that, Lord as He is whether +men believe it or no, whether men will it or no, yet that the relation +of common subordination as to a supreme Lord which we hold with all +creatures is not all that we are fit for, not all that we should be. +That dominion which the psalmist saw making the sea and the fulness +thereof rejoice, which is at once the control and the upholding, the +sustaining and the commanding, of all orders of being, is not the whole +of the dominion which can be exercised over man. The rule, which we +share with the trees of the field and the tribes of life, is not all; +and the unwilling control which the thought of an overruling Providence +demands that we shall believe that God exercises over all the workings +of men--that is not enough. And the terrible bending of men into +unconscious instruments, by which He that sitteth in the heavens laughs +at princes' and rulers' counsel, speaking to the tyrant as the rod of +His anger, using men as the axe with which He hews, and the staff in His +hand, and then casting away the tool into the fire--that is not the +kingdom that men are made to be. Something more, even the loving, +willing submission of heart and life to Him is possible, is needed, +unless, indeed, it is true that a man hath no pre-eminence over a beast. +Enough for them that He feedeth them when they cry; enough for them that +led they know not how, and fed by they know not whom, they live they +know not why, do they know not what, and die they know not when. But 'be +ye not as the horse or the mule which have no understanding'; it is our +prerogative to be led by His eye speaking to the heart, not by His +bridle appealing to the sense; to do Him loyal service, to understand +His purposes, to sympathise with them, and sympathising to execute. This +our prayer gives us the clear distinction, then, between mere blind +obedience and the true goal of man. The kingdom is other and better than +the creature-wide dominion. + +And then, this prayer reposes on the confession that that higher, better +form of obedience is not yet attained. In a word, it can only be prayed +aright by a man who feels that the world has gone away from God and His +commandments. We separate ourselves by it from all who think that this +present state is the natural condition of men, the order into which they +were born, the kind of world which God intended; and we assert, in sight +of all the evils and sore sorrows that fill the world, that this is not +God's intention. People tell us that the doctrine of a fall, an earth +which has departed from God, a race which has rebelled, is a gloomy and +dark one, covering the face of life with sackcloth. But it seems to me +that instead of being so, it is the only conviction that can make a man +bear to see the world as it is. Brethren, which of these two is the +gloomy--the creed that says, Look at all these men dying--in dumb +ignorance, living in brutal sin; look at blood, rapine, lies, +battlefields, broken hearts, hopes that never set to fruit but died in +the bud, the stream of sad groans, and sadder curses, and wild mirth, +saddest of all. Look at it all, coming to pass on this fair earth amid +the pomp of sunsets and the calm beauty of autumn, and beneath the cold +stars, in a world where the noblest creature is the saddest, and accept +for explanation that it is the necessary road for the perfecting of the +creature; that it is all for the best, that it is exactly what God meant +the world to be;--or the creed which sees the same things and says: +'This is not what God intended: an enemy hath done this'? Sin hath +entered into the world, and death by sin. + +The Christian doctrine does not make the facts, but only the Christian +doctrine can explain them. It seems to me that if I believed that life +as I see it in the world, and as I feel it in myself, is life as God +meant it to be, I should either go mad or be a wise man, not a fool, if +I were to look up at the unpitying stars that could sing for joy over +such a creation, and say, _There is no God_. It is a refuge from such +possible horrors, not an aggravation of them, which this prayer teaches +us when it teaches us to pray for a kingdom yet to come, from which men +have departed, and in departing have worked for themselves all this woe +and ruin. + +II. The kingdom for the coming of which we pray is established already. + +Christ has established it. His name is King of kings and Lord of lords. +He is Prince of all the kings of the earth. He is crowned with glory and +honour. By Him, that is to say, it becomes possible for men to serve God +with the energies of their will, and by Him it becomes possible for men +to take the pardon which God gives in Him. He founds the kingdom, and He +exercises the dominion. On an eternal relation and on an historical fact +that dominion of His is grounded,--on an eternal relation inasmuch as +He, the everlasting Word of God, has from the beginning been the Lord +and King of the world; on an historical fact inasmuch as that eternal +Word has been manifested on earth, and tasted death for every man. +Christ founds the kingdom, for He by His Incarnation and Sacrifice sets +forth the weightiest motives for service; He opens the path to return; +He brings God's forgiveness to men, and so shall rule over them for +ever--a King and Priest upon His throne: the Prince of all the kings of +the earth, both because He has from everlasting been the anointed King, +and because in time He has been, and will for ever be, the faithful and +true witness, and the first begotten from the dead. The foundation is +thus laid, the dominion established, the kingdom is come; but we are to +pray for its perfecting as the one hope of the world. + +Then let us remember that we are thus guarded from the error that is +always rife, of looking for some new thing as the one deliverance for +earth. It is sad to mark how undying that tendency is. Age after age, +men have had the heartache of seeing hopes blasted, and fair schemes for +the regeneration of the world knocked to pieces about the ears of their +projectors, and yet they hope on. Every period, as every man, has its +times of credulity, its firm conviction that it has found the one thing +needful, and the shout of Eureka goes ever up. Alas, alas! time after +time the old experience is repeated, and the gratulations die down into +gloomy silence. Yet men hope on. What a strange testimony at once of the +futility of all the past attempts, and of the indestructible conviction +that men have of the certainty that the world will be better and +brighter some day, that undying expectation is! It is sorrowful and yet +ennobling to think of the persistency of the expectation, and the +disappointment of it. + +God forbid that I should say a word to seem to disparage it! Not so. I +say the expectations are of God, and if men give them false shapes, and +scarcely understand them when they utter them, that does not in any +degree make the expectation less noble or less true. But what I wish to +urge is this, that the Christian attitude towards all such hopes should +not be unsympathising. Rather we are bound to say 'yes, it is so, and we +know how.' We are bound to proclaim that it is not any new thing that we +expect, but only the working out of the old. God be thanked that it is +not! The evils are not new, they have been from the beginning; and God +has surely not been so cruel to the world as to leave it till now in the +dark. Our hopes are not set on any new, untried remedy. This bridge +across the Infinite for us is not a frail plank on which no one has yet +walked, and which may crack and break when the timid foot of the first +passenger is on the centre, but it is a tried structure upon which ages +have walked. + +Then if I have any hearers who are fancying that the gospel is worn out, +any who are glowing with the anticipation of great new things, who +scarcely know how, but believe that somehow, the ills that have in all +ages cursed humanity are to be exorcised by some new methods of social +organisation or the like--I pray them to ponder this prayer and to +receive its lesson. Do not say, you are but adding one more to the Babel +of opinions which confound us. Not so. We are not arguing for an +opinion, we are proclaiming a fact. We are not ventilating a nostrum, we +are preaching a divine revelation, a divine revealer. We are not setting +forth our notion of the evil, and our idea of what may be a remedy. We +are telling men God's word about both. We are preaching an old, old +truth: not man's opinion, but God's act; not man's device, but Christ's +power. We proclaim that the kingdom of God is nigh you, and while a +Babel, as you say, of private opinions, of passionate complaints, of +despairing cries afflicts the silence, one serene voice rises, 'Come +unto Me, all ye that are weary and heavy laden,' and after that sole +voice rings out the twofold choral anthem--of praise, 'Rejoice, O earth, +for thy King is come'; and of prayer, 'Thy kingdom come.' + +III. We pray for the coming of a kingdom which is inward and spiritual. + +I do not mean to weary you with any proofs that this is so. The whole +language of Christ, the whole tenor of Scripture, the common sense of +the case, the testimony of our own souls as to what we want most, +confirm this. But it is enough to note the admitted fact; to enforce the +thought that thus the kingdom assumes a purely individual character, and +that thus its power over individuals is the pledge of its power over +masses, and is its way of exercising universal sway. 'We have all of us +one human heart, and therefore what the kingdom can do and has done for +me or for any oilier man, it can do for all. + +Let me remind you of two or three consequences that flow from this +thought. + +1. Lessons for politicians, for all men, as to the true way to cure the +evils of the world: Not by external arrangements; not by better laws; +not by education; not by progress in arts; not by trade, etc. + +You must go deeper than these 'pills to cure an earthquake'--it is the +soul, the individual will that is diseased; and the one cure for the +world's evil is that it should be right with God; and that loyal, hearty +obedience by Christ should be in it. + +2. Lessons for Christian men as to hasty externalising of the kingdom: + +_Theocracies_, State Churches, and the like. + +3. We pray for a kingdom that will be external. If spirit, then body; if +individuals, then communities. + +It is to be all-comprehensive governing:--institutions, arts, sciences. +All spheres of human life are capable of sanctification and will receive +it. A prophet had a vision of a day when the very bells of the horses +should bear the same inscription of 'holiness to the Lord' as was +engraved on the High Priest's mitre, and when every pot and pan in the +kitchens of Jerusalem should be sacred as the vessels of the Temple. + +The fault of Christians in losing sight of this--how all the aspects are +reconciled--and how this must be the completion--the point to which all +tends; how clearly maimed the gospel would be if such were not the goal. + +So much, then, the prayer assumes:--the certainty that the world is +wrong; the certainty that the kingdom is the only thing to set it right; +the certainty that it can set it all right; the certainty that it will. + +4. We pray for a kingdom to come which cannot be fully realised on this +side the grave. Large as are the capabilities of this scene, they are +not large enough for the full display of all the blessedness that lies +in that kingdom. And so it is not all a mistake when men say, 'Ah, this +world can never do for us'; it is not all an unhealthy dream that says, +'I am weary of this; let me die.' + +Think of the chorus of voices that present this prayer--the unconscious +cries that have gone up; the voices of sorrow and want. The cry hath +entered into the ears of the Lord God of Sabaoth; the creature groaneth +and travaileth; all men unconsciously pray this prayer when they weep +and when they hope. Christian men pray it when they mourn their +rebellious wilfulness and when they feel the weight of all this anarchic +world, or when their work in bringing it back to its King seems almost +vain, the souls underneath the altar pray it when they cry, 'How long, O +Lord, how long?' + +And ah, dear friends--there should come a sadder, humbler cry from us, +each feeling his own sinful heart. To me the glory of that coming, and +the life from the dead which it shall be to the world, will be as +nothing unless I know the King and trust Him. Let us each re-echo the +cry of that dying thief, which He cannot refuse to answer, 'Lord, +remember me when Thou comest in Thy kingdom.' + + +'THY WILL BE DONE' + + 'Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.'--MATT. vi. 10. + +It makes all the difference whether the thought of the name, or that of +the will, of God be the prominent one. If men begin with the will, then +their religion will be slavish, a dull, sullen resignation, or a +painful, weary round of unwelcome duties and reluctant abstainings. The +will of an unknown God will be in their thoughts a dark and tyrannous +necessity, a mysterious, inscrutable force, which rules by virtue of +being stronger, and demands only obedience. There is no more horrible +conception of God than that which makes Him merely or mainly sovereign +will. + +But when we think first of God as desiring that His name should be +known, and to that end mirroring Himself in all the great and beautiful, +the ordered whole of creation, and energising through all the +complexities of human affairs, and gathering the scattered syllables of +His name into one full and articulate utterance in the Word of God, then +our thoughts of His will become reverent and loving; we are sure that +the will of the self-revealing God must be intelligible, we are sure +that the will of the loving God must be good. Then our obedience becomes +different, and instead of being slavish is filial; instead of being +reluctant submission to a mightier force, is glad conformity to the +fountain of love and goodness; instead of being sullen resignation, is +trustful reliance; instead of being painful execution of unwelcome +duties, is spontaneous expression in acts which are easy of the +indwelling love. He who begins with 'Thy will be done' is a slave, and +never really does the will at all; he who begins with 'Our Father, +hallowed,' is a son, and obeys from the heart. + +This, then, is one reason for the order in which the clauses of the +prayer follow each other, perhaps the chief reason. + +Let us consider-- + +I. Obedience is here set forth as the end of all divine revelation. + +II. As the issue in man of all religious thought and emotion. + +III. As the sum of all Christ's and our desires for men. + +IV. As the bond which unites all creation into one. + +I. Obedience to the will of God is the end of all divine revelation. + +God's name is made known before His will is proclaimed. That order +suggests as to God's will-- + +1. That it is not mere naked omnipotent authority. + +2. That it is not inscrutable. + +3. That its scope and direction are to be determined by His name. All +these thoughts are included in this, that it is the will of a loving, +good God, the will of a Father. + +How that destroys all harsh, awful ideas such as those of a stony fate, +or a cold necessity, or an omnipotent tyrant, or an inscrutable +sovereign. + +How Christianity has been affected by these ideas--extreme Calvinism, +for instance; but it is more profitable to think how the tendency to +them lies in us all. + +II. Obedience is the issue of all religion. + +The knowledge of the name, and the hallowing of it must go first. Note-- + +1. How inward the nature of obedience is. This sequence of petitions +shifts the centre from without to within, from actions to dispositions. + +2. How nothing is obedience that is not cheerful and loving. Not +constrained, not sullen, not task-work. + +3. How naturally dominant over all life the principles of God's truth +are. Let them be known, and all the rest will follow. They have power to +control all acts, great and small. + +4. How impossible practical righteousness is without religion. The Name +is the true basis of morality. We hear a great deal about life rather +than creed; the Gospel is both. The one foundation of theoretical and +practical morals is the will of God. + +5. How maimed and spurious is religion without practical obedience. + +Religion in the form of thought and of emotion is intended to influence +life. + +The ultimate result of God's revelation of Himself and of God's kingdom +among men is the conformity of our life and actions with the Will of +God. That is the test of our religion. Character and conduct are all +important. Here is a lesson for us all as to what the final issue of +religious profession ought to be. Knowledge of God, true reverent +thoughts of Him, submission in spirit to His kingdom--all these have for +their final sphere the full sanctification of the nature and the free, +spontaneous obedience of the life. We are all tempted to separate +between our consciousness and emotions of a religious nature, and our +daily life. Many a man is a good Christian in his heart, with real +religious feeling, but when you get him into the field of the world he +is full of sins. There must always be a disproportion in this world +between convictions, resolutions, and actions; we imperfectly live out +our principles; the force of gravity pulls down the arrow, and however +true the bow and careful the aim and strong the hand, its course will be +a curve, not a straight line. + +Our machinery does not work in vacuo, and the force of friction and +atmosphere opposes it and brings it to a standstill. This must be; but +the discrepancy may be indefinitely lessened, and this prayer is a +prophecy and kindles a hope. + +III. Obedience is the sum of all Christ's desires for the world. + +This is the last loftiest petition, beyond that there is nothing, for if +our wills are conformed to God's, then we are perfect and blessed. + +1. The loftiest dignity of man is to obey. We have will: God has will. +Ours is evidently meant to submit, His to rule. He only is what he ought +to be whose whole soul bows to the divine command. + +2. The will submitted to God is free, strong, restful. He does not +desire that it should be crushed or absorbed, but freely acting in +obedience. That will is truly free which is delivered from bondage, and +the burden of sin and evil. Submission to God strengthens the will. Sin +overbears it, as we all know. Obedience braces and nerves it. Submission +to God makes it restful. It is the conflict of self-will which troubles +us. Peace is to will as God does; so He flows through us, and He is 'the +living will that shall endure.' + +3. The results of obedience will be perfect blessedness. + +God's will is only for our good. His will for men and nations observed +would change the face of the world. + +Then this prayer includes everything that ardent lovers of their kind +would desire. + +How Christianity reforms from within, giving new life and letting that +work on laws and institutions. Here is a lesson for all social reformers +and for Christian men to see to it that they, for the world, try to +spread the knowledge of His name, and for themselves, seek to be +harmonised with His will. + +But this petition sets forth an apparently unattainable example as our +pattern of obedience. 'As in heaven,' refers perhaps to the visible +universe, which has always left on thoughtful minds the impression of +beauty and order, and is the great revelation in nature of the +omnipotent will of God. There clouds float on in peacefulness obeying +Him, there stars burn and planets roll on their mighty revolutions. +'These all continue this day, according to Thine ordinance.' + +But that is by no means the exhaustive idea of this clause. We should +not desire, were it possible, that men should be lowered to the level of +the stars, doing a will which they know not, and swayed by a force which +they have no eyes to discern. The obedience, the only true obedience, is +that of spiritual beings who know God and can turn themselves to +contemplate the will which rules their currents, as the sea looks up to +the moon that sways its tides. So the reference is obviously to higher +orders of beings, either higher by creation as angels, or higher because +they have died, and are glorious saints before the Throne. + +This petition, then, is a revelation as well. For the doing of God's +will there must be spiritual beings, like ourselves. If our doing it +like them is the highest last desire which He who came to do that will +can form for us, and is the ultimate goal which, if reached, the world's +history would be crowned, then these spiritual beings must do it +perfectly. Their obedience must be complete. There can be no +interruption to it from sin, no effort in it because of weakness, no +resistance because of temptation, no flaw because of ignorance, no pause +because of weariness, no pain because of rebellious will. Their +obedience must be free, constant, spontaneous, happy. It must cover all +their lives. Their whole being must be a sacrifice and service to the +God whom they behold, and their life must be a life of activity. It is +not the knowledge that floods the perfect spirits in heaven that is +proposed for our example, nor their blessedness, but their service. So +the thoughts of those who regard that heavenly existence only as +idleness are corrected, and we are taught that, while we know little as +to that future life, the conformity to the will of God, which in its +present partial attainment is the secret of the purest blessedness, in +its perfection will be the heaven of heaven. + +Then again, there is here the grand idea that the whole creation will be +bound into a unity by obedience to one will. We and they now form one +whole, because now we serve the one Lord. And there comes a time when +there shall be one Lord and His name one; when the omnipresent energy of +His will in the physical universe shall be but a faint shadow of the +universal dominion of His loving will in all His creatures. Then indeed +it will be true, 'Thou doest according to Thy will in the armies of +heaven and the inhabitants of earth.' + +What glorious harmonies will sound then, when all co-operate with God +and with one another, and one purpose, and one will, and one love fills +the whole creation! + +The petition has a bearing of this upon the dreams of moralists and +reformers. They were true, they shall be more than fulfilled. Earth will +be no longer separated from heaven, but united with it, and from one +extremity of creation to another will be no creature which does not obey +and rejoice. + + +THE CRY FOR BREAD + + 'Give us this day our daily bread.'--MATT. vi. 11. + +What a contrast there is between the two consecutive petitions, Thy will +be done, and Give us this day! The one is so comprehensive, the other so +narrow; the one loses self in the wide prospect of an obedient world, +the other is engrossed with personal wants; the one rises to such a +lofty, ideal height, the other is dragged down to the lowest animal +wants. + +And yet this apparent bathos is apparent only, and the fact that so +narrow and earthly a petition has its place in the pattern of all prayer +is full of instruction. No less instructive is the place which it has. A +single word about that place may constitute a fitting introduction to +our remarks now. We have already seen how the former petitions +constitute together a great whole. That first part of the prayer +expresses the desires which should ever be foremost in a good man's +soul--those which have to do with God, and point to the advancement of +His glory. It begins, as I said, with the inward, and advances to the +outward, as must ever be the law of progress in the sanctifying of human +souls and life. It begins with heaven and brings heaven down to earth, +that earth may become like heaven, and both 'according well may make one +music.' Then, in the second part of the prayer we come to individual +wants. These have their legitimate place in our approaches to God. +Prayer is not merely communion with God, not merely reverent +contemplation of His fatherly and holy name, though that should always +be first and chiefest in it. It is not merely the expression of absorbed +contemplation, but of a nature that desires and is dependent. Nor is it +only the utterance of world-wide desires, and the expression of a being +that has conquered self. The perfection of man is not to have no +desires, or to be petrified or absorbed into a state without a will and +without a wish, still less to be elevated into a condition of absolute +possession of all he seeks, without a want. And the perfection of prayer +is not that it should be the utterance of that impossible emotion, +'disinterested love' to God, but that it should be the recognition of +our dependence on God, the expression of our many wants, and the frank +telling Him, with wills submitted, or rather conformed, to His, what we +need. To pray is to adore; to pray is also to ask. We have to say Our +Father, and we have also to say, Give us, being sure that if we, being +evil, know how to give good gifts to our children, much more does He +know how to give good things to them that ask Him. + +So much for the general considerations applicable to the whole of this +second part. + +As to the connection of its several petitions with each other, it may be +noticed that it is the exact opposite of the former part. That began +with the highest and came downwards; this begins with the lowest and +goes upwards. That began with the inward and worked outwards; this +begins with the outward and passes inwards. That set forth the heavenly +order in its gradual self-revelation, working the transformation of +earth; this sets forth the earthly order in its gradual appropriation of +Heaven's gifts. The former declares, that foremost in importance and in +God's order are the spiritual blessings which come from knowledge of +His name; the latter, beginning with the prayer for bread, and thence +advancing to deeper necessities, reminds us, that in the order of time +the least important is still the condition of all the rest. The loftiest +pinnacles looking out to the morning sky must have their foundations +rooted in common earth. 'That was not first which is spiritual, but that +which is natural, and afterwards that which is spiritual.' This order, +then, is in symmetrical opposition to that of the previous part. There +is a rhythmical correspondence in inverted movement, like the expansion +and contraction of the heart, or the rise and fall of a fountain. + +It is worth noticing how these two opposed halves make one whole; and as +the former begins with contemplation of the fatherly greatness in the +heavens, so the latter part, starting with the cry for bread, climbs +slowly up through all the ills of life, and passing from want to +trespass, human unkindness and hatred, and again to personal weakness +and a tempting world, and the evil of sin and the evil of sorrow, +reaches once more after cries and tears the point from which all began, +and rises to heaven and God. The doxology comes circling round to the +invocation, and the prayer, which has winged its weary way through all +weltering floods of human sorrow and want, comes back like Noah's dove, +with peace born of its flight, to its home in God, and ends where it +began. They whose prayer and whose lives start with 'Our Father which +art in Heaven,' will end with the confidence and the praise, 'Thine is +the kingdom and the honour.' + +Now looking at this petition in itself, I note-- + +I. The prayer for Bread. + +This contains first an important lesson as to what may be legitimately +the subject of our prayers. + +The Lord by this juxtaposition condemns the overstrained and fantastic +spiritualism which tramples down earthly wants and condemns desires +rooted in our physical nature as sin. It is a wonderful testimony from +Jesus of the worth of common gifts, that the desire for them should here +stand beside that great one for the doing of God's will. There is +nothing here of the false asceticism which undervalues the life which +now is, nothing of the morbid tone of feeling which despises and +condemns as sinful the due appreciation of and desire for the blessings +of this life. To give predominance to material wants and earthly good is +heathen and unchristian, therefore the petition for these follows the +others. But to despise them and pretend to be indifferent to them is +heathen and unchristian too; therefore the prayer for them finds its +place among the others. So the right understanding of this prayer is a +barrier against the opposite evils of a false sensuousness which forgets +the spirit that is in the flesh, and of a false spirituality which +forgets the flesh that is around the spirit. He who made us desire truth +in the inward parts, made us also to desire our daily bread, and we +observe His order when we do both, and seek the Kingdom of God, not +exclusively, but first. + +And not only is this petition the vindication of a healthy naturalism, +but it also shows us that we may rightly make prayers of our desires for +earthly things. + +We sometimes hear it said that we have only a right to ask God for such +gifts as holiness and conformity to His will. This has a truth, a great +truth, in it. But it may be overstrained. We are to subdue our wishes, +we are to be more anxious for our soul's health than for our bodily +wants. We are to present our desires concerning all things in this life, +with an implied 'if it be Thy will,' but while all that is true, we are +also to ask Him for these lower blessings. Our prayers should include +all which we desire, all which we need. Our desires should be such as we +can turn into prayers. If we dare not ask God for a thing, do not let us +seek for it. But whatever we do want, let us go to Him for it, and be +sure that He does not wish lip homage and fine-sounding petitions for +things for which we do not really care, but that He does desire that we +should be frank with Him, making a prayer of every wish, and seeing that +we have neither wishes which we dare not make prayers, nor prayers which +are not really wishes. Let our supplications cover all the ground of our +daily wants, and be true to our own souls. If any man lack anything, let +him ask of God, who giveth to all men life and breath and all things. + +Then still further--the prayer is the recognition of God as the Giver of +daily bread. + +'Thou openest Thine hand,' says the old psalm, 'and satisfiest the +desire of every living thing.' There is no part of the divine dealings +of which the Bible speaks more frequently and more lovingly than His +supply of all creatures' wants. It is a grand thought, 'Who feedeth the +young ravens when they cry, who maketh the grass to grow on the +mountains. The eyes of all wait upon Thee.' There is a magnificent verse +in the 104th Psalm, which regards even the roar of the lion prowling for +its prey in midnight forests as a cry to God--'The young lions seek +their meat from God.' As Luther says somewhere in his rough prose--'Even +to feed the sparrows God spends more than the revenues of the French +king would buy.' And that universal bounty applies truly to those whose +lot is 'In the sweat of thy brow shalt thou eat bread.' For us it is +true. God feeds _us_. 'Thou givest meat to them that fear Thee, Thou +wilt ever be mindful of Thy covenant.' In giving us our daily bread, His +hand is hid under second causes, but these should not mask the truth +from us. + +God is the life of nature. His will is the power whose orderly working +we call nature's laws. Force is the sign manual of God. There would be +no harvest, no growth, unless to each seed God gave a body as it hath +pleased Him. The existence of bread is the effect of His work. 'He hath +not left Himself without witness in that He giveth rain from heaven and +fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness.' as Paul +said to the rough farmer folk of Lycaonia. + +The distribution of the bread is of God. + +By second causes, our work and other means. + +Be it so. Here is a steam engine, in one room away at one end of your +mill; here is a spindle whirring five hundred yards off. What then? Who +thinks that that bit of belting moves the drum round which it turns, or +that the cog-wheel that carries the motion originates it? The motion +here has force at the other end, the effect here has its cause in God. + +The nourishment by bread is of God. + +'Man doth not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out +of the mouth of God.' + +The reason why any natural substance has properties is by reason of +present will of God; they reside not in itself, but in Him. + +All this we say that we believe when we pray this prayer. + +How much it conflicts with our modern habit of putting God as far away +from daily life as we can! + +The prayer is the consecration of our work for bread. + +The indirect way by which it is answered is a great blessing, and it +pledges us to labour. + +_Orare est laborare._ Not, as it is sometimes quoted, as if toil was to +do instead of prayer, but that active life may be consecrated to God, +and all our efforts which terminate in gaining bread for ourselves and +for those we love may become prayer, and be offered to God. + +How can we pray for God to give us our daily bread, and then go to seek +it by means which we dare not avow or defend in our prayers? Bless my +cheating, bless my sharp practice, bless my half-heartedness. It is no +part of my business to apply principles to details of conduct, but it is +my business to say--take this prayer for a test, and if you dare not pray +it over what you do in earning your living, ask yourself whether you are +not rather earning your _death_. + +Then the prayer is a pledge of thankful recognition of God in our +blessings. + +Ah! dear friends, are we not all guilty in this? How utterly heathenish +is our oblivion of God in our daily life! How far we have come from that +temper which recognises Him in all joys, and begins every new day with +Him! Daily mercies demand daily songs of praise. His love wakens us +morning by morning. It follows us all the day long with its fatherly +benefits. It reveals itself anew every time He spreads our table, every +time He gives us teaching or joy. And our thanksgiving and consciousness +of His presence should be as constant as are His gifts. 'My voice shalt +thou hear in the morning.' 'They walk all the day long in the light of +Thy countenance.' 'I will both lay me down in peace and sleep.' 'They +ate their meat with gladness and singleness of heart.' + +II. The union with our brethren in our prayer. + +'Give _us_.' The struggle for existence is represented by many as the +very law of human life. The fight for bread is the great antagonist of +brotherly regard for our fellows. Trade is said to be warfare; and then +others starting from that conception that one man's gains are some other +man's losses, proclaim with undoubted truth on these premises 'property +is robbery.' But surely this clause of our prayer teaches us a more +excellent way. We are not to be like stiff-necked men who fight with one +another for the drop of brackish water caught in the corner of a sail, +but we are to be as children bowing down together before a great Father, +all sitting at His table where nothing wants, and where even the pet +dogs below it eat of the crumbs. + +The main thing is to note how our Lord teaches us here to identify +ourselves with others, to make common cause with them in our petition +for bread. He who rightly enters into the meaning of this prayer, and +feels the unity which it supposes, can scarcely regard his possessions +as given to himself alone, or to be held without regard to other people. +We are all one in need; high and low, rich and poor, we all hang on God +for the same supplies. We are all one in reception of His gifts. Is it +becoming in one who is a member of such a whole, to clasp his portion in +both his hands and carry it off to a corner where he gnaws it by +himself? That is how wolves feast, with one foot on their bone and a +watchful eye all round for thieves, not how men, brethren, should feast. + +I am not here to deal with economical questions, or to apply principles +to details, but surely one may say that this petition contemplates as +possible a better state of things than 'each for himself,' whether God +is for us all or no, and that it does teach that at all events a man is +part of a whole which has a claim on his possessions. 'Neither said any +man that aught which he possessed was his own.' + +The Christian doctrine of property does not seem to be communism. You +have your property. It is your own. You have the power, and as far as +law is concerned, the right, to do with it none but selfish acts. You +have it, but you are not an owner--only a steward. You have it, but you +hold it not for your own sake, but as a trustee. You have it as a member +of a family, a great community. You have it that you may dispense to +others, you have it that you may help to multiply the bonds of affection +to benefactors and of love to the great Giver. + +And this liberality is founded, according to this petition, in our +common relation to God. We do not want charity--we want justice. The +needy cannot enforce their claims, but their cry enters into the ears of +the Lord, and what is withheld from them is 'kept back by fraud.' The +Bible always puts benevolence and liberality on the ground of their +being a debt. 'Withhold not good from him to whom it is due.' + +So how, beside this prayer, does it look to see two men who have united +in it, the one being Dives clothed and faring sumptuously, and the other +Lazarus with scraps for his food and dogs for his doctors? There is many +a contrast like that to-day. All I have to say is--that such contrasts +are not meant as the product of Christianity and civilisation and +commerce for eighteen hundred years, and that one chief way of ending +them is that we shall learn to feel and live the true communism which +traces all a man's possessions to God, and feels that he has received +them as a member of a community for the blessing of all, even as Christ +taught when He bid us say, 'Give us our daily bread.' + +III. The prayer for bread for to-day. + +This carries with it precious truths as to the manner of the divine +gifts and the limit of our cares and anxieties. + +God gives not all at once, but continuously, and in portions sufficient +for the day. + +As with the manna fresh gathered every morning, so all our gifts from +Him are given according to the present exigencies. + +Note the beauty and blessedness of this method of supplying our wants. +It gives to each moment its own special character, it gives to each the +glory of having in it a fresh gift of God. It binds all together in one +long line of brightness made up of an infinite number of points, each a +separate act of divine love, each a glittering sign of His presence. It +brings God very near to all life. It draws us closer to Him, by giving +us at each moment opportunity and need for feeling our dependence upon +Him, by bringing us once again to His throne that our wants may be +supplied. And as each moment, so each day, comes with its new duties and +its new wants. Yesterday's food nourishes us not to-day. To-day's +strength must come from this day's God and His new supplies. And thus +the monotony of life is somewhat broken, and there come to us all the +fresh vigour and the new hope of each returning day, and the merciful +wall of the night's slumber is built up between us and yesterday with +its tasks and its weariness. And fresh elastic hopes, along with renewed +dependence on God, should waken us morning by morning, as we look into +the unknown hours and say, 'Give us this day our daily bread.' + +Then, again, let us learn not to try to abrogate this wise ordinance by +onward-looking anxieties. We have to exercise forethought, and not to +possess it is to be a poor creature, below the ant and the bee. No man +is in a favourable position for intellectual or moral growth who has not +some certainty in his life, and a reasonable prospect of such perpetuity +as is compatible with this changeful state. But that is a very different +thing from the careful, anxious forebodings in which we are all so prone +to indulge. These are profitless and harmful, robbing us of strength and +contributing nothing to our wisdom or to our security. They are contrary +to this law of the divine dealings that we shall get our rations as we +need them, no sooner; that the path will be opened when we come to it, +not till then. God knows the line of march, and will issue our route +each morning. God looks after the commissariat and saves us the trouble +of carrying it. + +Let us try not to be 'over-inquisitive to cast the fashion of uncertain +evils,' nor magnify trouble in the fog of our own thoughts, but limit +our cares to to-day, and let to-morrow alone, for our God will be in it +as He has been in the past. He will never take us where He will not go +with us. Each day will have its own brightness, as each place its own +rainbow. If we are led into dry lands, there will be a fountain opened +in the desert, and He will feed us by His ravens ere we shall want. +Bread shall be given and water made sure. To-morrow shall be as this +day. Then let the veil still hang, nor try to lift it with the hand of +forecasting thought, nor be over-careful to make the future sure by +earthly means, but let present blessings be parents of bright hopes. +Remember Him who is the same yesterday, and to-day, and for ever. In Him +the past is unwept for and the future sure. Accept the merciful +limitations on His gifts, and let them be the limitations which you set +to your own desires while you pray, 'Give us this day our daily bread.' + +IV. The prayer for bread suited to our needs. + +'_Daily_ bread' clearly cannot be the right rendering, for after 'this +day' that would be weak repetition. + +The word is difficult, for it only occurs here and there in Luke. + +It may be rendered 'for the coming (day),' but that can scarcely be +supposed to be our Lord's meaning, when His precept to take no thought +for the morrow is remembered. A more satisfactory rendering is, +'sufficient for our subsistence,' the bread which we need to sustain us. + +Such a petition points to desires limited by our necessities. What we +should wish, and what we have a right to ask from God, is what we +_need_--no more and no less. + +This does not reduce us all to one level, but leaves Him to settle what +we do want. How different this prayer in the mouth of a king and of a +pauper! But it does rebuke immoderate and unbridled desires. God does +not limit us to mere naked necessaries--He giveth liberally, and means +life to be beautiful and adorned. That which is over and above bread is +to a large extent that which makes life graceful and refined, and I have +no wish to preach a crusade against it; but I have just as little +hesitation in declaring what it is not left to pulpit moralists to say, +that the falsely luxurious style of living among us looks very strange +by the side of this petition. So much luxury which does not mean +refinement; so much ostentatious expenditure which does not represent +increased culture or pleasure or anything but a resolve to be on a level +with somebody else; so much which is so ludicrously unlike the poor +little shrimp of a man or woman that sits in the centre of it all! + +'Plain living and high thinking are no more.' + +'My riches consist not in the abundance of my possessions, but in the +fewness of my wants.' + +'The less a man needs, the nearer is he to the gods.' + +So, what a lesson for us all in this age, where everyone of us is +tempted to adopt a scale of what is necessary very far beyond the truth. + +Young and old--dare, if need be, to be poor. 'Having food and raiment, +let us therewith be content.' + +We cannot all become rich, but let us learn to bring down our desires +to, and bound them by, our true wants. + +Christ has taught us here to put this petition after these loftier ones, +and He has taught us to pass quickly by it to the more noble and higher +needs of the soul. Do we treat it thus, making it a secondary element in +our wishes? If so, then our days will be blessed, each filled with fresh +gifts from God, and each leading us to Him who is the true Bread that +came down from Heaven. + + +'FORGIVE US OUR DEBTS' + + 'Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.'--MATT. vi. 12. + +The sequence of the petitions in the second half of the Lord's Prayer +suggests that every man who needs to pray for daily bread needs also to +pray for daily forgiveness. The supplication for the supply of our +bodily needs precedes the others, because it deals with a need which is +fundamental indeed, but of less importance than those which prompt the +subsequent petitions. God made us to need bread, we have made ourselves +to need pardon. The answer to the later petition is as certain as that +to the earlier. He who gives meat will not withhold forgiveness. _Give_ +and _forgive_ refer to our deepest wants, but how many who feel the one +are all unconscious of the other! + +I. The consciousness of sin, of which this petition is the expression. + +'Debt' and 'duty' are one word. 'Owe' and 'ought' are one word. Duty is +what is due. Ought is what we owe--to some one or other. We are under +obligations all round, which conscience tells us that we have not +fulfilled. The unfulfilled obligation or duty becomes a debt. We divide +our obligations into duties to God, our neighbours, and ourselves; but +the division is superficial, for whatever we owe to ourselves or to men, +we owe also to God, and the non-fulfilment of our obligations to Him is +sin. 'No man liveth to himself, ... we live unto God.' Our consciences +accuse us of undone duties to ourselves, the indulgence of evil tempers, +a slack hand over ourselves, a careless husbandry which leaves furrows +full of weeds, failure to bend the bow to the uttermost, to keep the +mirror bright. It accuses us of undone duties to our neighbours, +unkindness, neglect of opportunities of service, and many another ugly +fault. Duties undone are debts not only to ourselves or to our fellows, +but to God. The great Over-lord reckons offences against His vassals as +crimes against Himself. + +That graver aspect of our faults as being sins may seem a gloomy +thought, but it is really one full of blessing, for it lodges the true +power of remission of our burdensome debts in the hands of the one true +creditor, whom the prayer has taught us to call 'Our Father.' + +That consciousness of sin should be as universal as the sense of bodily +hunger; but, alas! it is too often dormant. It is especially needful to +try to awake it in this generation, when the natural tendency of the +heart to ignore it is strengthened by talk of heredity and environment, +and by the disposition to think of sin with pity rather than +reprobation. Men are apt to regard a consciousness of sin as morbid. +They will acknowledge failure or imperfection, but there is little +realisation of sin, and therefore little sense of the need for a +deliverer. If men are ever to be brought to a saving grip of Jesus +Christ, they must have learned a far more heart-piercing consciousness +of their sin than this morally relaxed age possesses. + +II. The cry to which that consciousness gives voice. + +We often ask for forgiveness; have we any definite notion of what we are +asking for? When we forgive one another, he who forgives puts away +alienation of heart, every cloud of suspicion from his mind, and his +feeling and his conduct are as if there had never been a jar or an +offence, or are more tender and loving because of the offence that is +now forgiven. He who is forgiven has, on his part, a deeper shame for +the offence, which looks far darker now, when it is blotted out, than it +did before forgiveness. Both are eager to show love, not in order to +erase the past, but because the past is erased. + +When a father forgives his child, does that merely or chiefly mean that +he spares the rod; or does it not much rather mean that he lets his love +flow out to the little culprit, undammed back by the child's fault? And +when God forgives He does so, not so much as a judge but rather as the +Father. It is the father's heart that the child craves when it cries for +pardon. The remission of punishment is an element, but by no means the +chief element, in man's forgiveness, and that is still more true as to +God's. There are present, and for the most part outward, consequences of +a forgiven man's sin which are not averted by forgiveness, and which it +is for his good that he should not escape. But when the assurance of +God's unhindered love rests on a pardoned soul, those consequences of +its sins which it has to reap cease to be penal and become educative, +cease to be the expressions only of God's hatred of evil, and become +expressions of His love to the forgiven evil-doer. 'I will be his +Father, and he shall be My son. If he commit iniquity, I will chasten +him with the rod of men ... but My mercy shall not depart from him.' + +III. The startling addition to the cry. + +'_As_ we forgive.' Is, then, our poor forgiveness the measure or +condition of God's? At first sight that addition seems to impose a limit +on His pardon which might well plunge us into despair. But reflection on +the words brings to light more comforting, though solemnly warning, +thoughts. + +We learn that our human forgiveness is the faint reflection of the light +of His. We have a right to infer His gentleness, forbearance, and +forgiveness from the existence of such gracious qualities in ourselves. +God is all that is good in men. 'Whatsoever things are reverend, +whatsoever things are honourable, whatsoever things are lovely--all +these are in Him, and all as they are seen in men are from Him. 'He that +formed the eye, shall not He see?' We forgive, and will not He? + +In a very real sense our forgiving is the condition of our being +forgiven. We are accustomed to hear that faith and repentance are +conditions of receiving the divine forgiveness. But the very same +disposition which, when directed to God, produces faith and repentance, +when directed to men, produces a forgiving temper. A deep sense of my +own unworthiness, and of having no ground of right to stand on, will +surely lead me to be lenient and placable to others. We cannot cut our +lives into halves, and be inwardly filled with contrition, and outwardly +full of assertion of our rights. We cannot plead with God to do for us +what we will not do for others. Our prayer for forgiveness must, if it +is real, influence our whole behaviour; and if it is not real, it will +not be answered. + +The possession of God's forgiveness will make us forgiving. 'Forgiving +one another, even as also God in Christ hath forgiven you. Be ye +therefore imitators of God, as beloved children.' + +Our continuous possession and conscious enjoyment of God's forgiveness +will be contingent on our forgivingness. He who took his fellow-servant +by the throat and half choked him in his determination to exact the last +farthing of his debt was, by the act, cancelling his own discharge and +piling up a mountain of debt, against himself. Our consciousness of +forgiveness will be most clear and satisfying when we are forgiving +those who trespass against us. We shall pardon most spontaneously and +fully when our hearts are warm with the beams of God's pardon. + + +'LEAD US NOT INTO TEMPTATION' + + 'And lead us not into temptation.'--MATT. vi. 13. + +The petition of the previous clause has to do with the past, this with +the future; the one is the confession of sin, the other the supplication +which comes from the consciousness of weakness. The best man needs both. +Forgiveness does not break the bonds of evil by which we are held. But +forgiveness increases our consciousness of weakness, and in the new +desire which comes from it to walk in holiness, we are first rightly +aware of the strength and frequency of inducements to sin. A man may by +mere natural conscience know something of what temptation is, but only +he understands its strength who resists it. + +The sense of forgiveness and the new desires and love thereby developed, +lead to the falling of the mask from the deceitful forms that gleam +around us. He who is forgiven has his eyesight purged, and can see that +these are not what they seem, but demons that lure us to our +destruction. It is true that the sign of the Cross compels the foul +thing to appear in its own true form. 'Then started up in his own shape +the fiend.' The love which comes from forgiveness and the new sympathies +which it engenders are the Ithuriel's spear. What a wonderful change +passes upon the siren tempters when we believe that Christ has pardoned +us, and have learned to love Him! Then the fishtail is seen below the +sunlit waters. + +Forgiveness is one of the chief means of teaching us our sin. The +removal of all dread of personal consequences, which it effects, leaves +us free to contemplate with calmed hearts the moral character of our +actions. The revelation of God's love which is made in forgiveness +quickens our consciences as well as purges them, and our standard of +purity is raised. The effort to live rightly, which is the sure result +of God's love believed, first teaches us thoroughly how wrong we are. We +know the strength of the current when we try to pull against it. +Looking to God as our Father, our blackness shows blacker against the +radiant purity of His white light. + +Forgiveness does not at once and wholly annihilate the tendency to +transgress. True, the belief that God has forgiven supplies the +strongest motives for holiness, and the new life which comes to every +man who so believes will by degrees conquer all the lingering garrisons +of the Philistines which hold scattered strong-posts in the land. But +though this be so, still the purifying process is a slow and gradual +one, and evil may be forced out of the heart while yet it is in the +blood. The central will may be cleansed while yet habits continue to be +strong, and the power of resistance, new-born as it is, may be weak in +act though omnipotent in nature. All sin leaves some tendency to +recurrence. The path which one avalanche has hollowed lies ready for +another. It is true, on the one side, that no purity is so bright and no +obedience so steadfast as that of the man who has been cleansed and +reclaimed from rebellion. But it is also true that, on the road to that +ultimate purity, a pardoned man has to struggle daily with the bitter +relics of his old self, to wage war against evils the force of which he +never knew till he tried to resist them, against sins which were all +sleek, and velvety, and purring, as long as he fondled and stroked them, +but which flash out sharp claws when he would fling them from their dens +in his heart. Forgiveness does not at once conquer sin, and forgiveness +leads to deeper consciousness of sin. Hence the order of petitions here. +Following on the prayer for pardon, comes that for shelter from and in +temptation which arises from deep consciousness of our own weakness and +liability to fall. + +Temptation has two parts in it--the circumstances which lead to sin, the +desire which is addressed by them. There must be tinder as well as +spark, if there is to be flame. Fire falling on water or upon bare rock +will kindle nothing. God sends the one, we make the other. + +The Prayer:-- + +I. Expresses our recognition of God as ordering all circumstances. + +There is the general faith that His Providence orders our lot, and the +specific that God orders and brings about temptations. + +To tempt is to present inducements to sin, but a secondary significance +is to do so maliciously, and with desire that we should fall. It is in +this secondary sense that James denies that God tempts any man. We tempt +ourselves, or evil tempts us. But God does tempt in so far as He +presents outward circumstances which become occasions of falling or of +standing, as we take them. He sends temptations, He sends trials, and +the two only differ in name, and in what is implied in the word, of the +disposition of the sender. Christ was led into the wilderness by the +Spirit to be tempted. If God does not in malice tempt, still He does in +mercy try. God sends trials; we make them temptations. + +II. Implies that our chiefest wish is holiness, our greatest dread sin. + +This is the only negative petition. + +What would be _our_ deprecatory prayers? Lead us not into sorrow, loss, +poverty, disease, death? + +How we fill our prayers with womanish shriekings and fears! + +This petition can come only from a man whose will is resigned and fixed +on God. One thing he fears, and that is to sin. + +The one thing to be desired is not outward well-being, but inward +character. + +Think of our lives: what do we dread most? + +III. Expresses our self-distrust. + +It is from consciousness of our weakness that we pray thus. The language +at first sight seems to breathe only a wish to be exempt from +temptation. If that were its meaning, it were contrary to Christ's +teaching and to the whole tenor of Scripture. But such a wish _is_ +included in it, and corresponds to one tone of mind, and to what ought +always to be our feeling. We rightly shrink from temptation because we +know our own weakness. That is the only allowable ground; if we do it +from indolence, or dread of trouble, we are wrong. If flesh shrinks from +pain, we are 'carnal and walk as men.' If we desire simply to have a +smooth path, then we have yet to learn what our Master meant when He +said, 'In the world ye shall have tribulation.' His servants should +'count it all joy when they fall into divers temptations.' + +But if we rightly understand our own weakness, we shall dread to meet +the enemy, because we know how often circumstances make all the +difference between saint and sinner. + +IV. Expresses our reliance on God if temptation comes. + +I take to be 'tempted' as being presentation of inducement to sin. I +take to 'enter into temptation' as the further step of consenting to it. + +Perhaps there may be hovering in the words of the petition a +half-conscious allusion to a captive being led into a prison. + +What we should chiefly desire is that God would lead us not _into_, but +_through_ and _out of_, temptation. To pray simply for exemption from +trial is-- + +1. To ask what is impossible. + +All scenes of life, all stages, both sexes, all relations, all +professions, are and ever will be full of inducements to sin. + +Whether any given circumstance will tempt you or not depends on what you +are. If there is nothing adhesive on you, it will not stick. + +2. To ask what would not be for our good. + +Effect of conquered temptation on the Christian life. + +Effect on character. The old belief that the strength of a slain enemy +passed into his slayer is true in regard to a Christian's overcome +temptations. + +Effect on grasp of truth. + +Effect on consciousness of relation to God. + +Effect on Future. + +So then we ought to desire not so much exemption from temptation, as +strength in it. + +And He will always be at our side to grant us this. + +We should seek not freedom from furnace, but His presence in it; not to +be guided away from the dark valley, but through it. His prayer is our +model; His life is our pattern, who was tempted 'though He were the +Son'; His strength is our hope. He is 'able to succour them that are +tempted.' + +We identify ourselves in such a prayer with all who have sinned, and +knowing that we are men of like passions, and that we may fall like +them, we cry 'lead _us_ not.' + +He who offers this prayer from such motives will best and most willingly +meet temptation when it comes. The soldier who goes into the field with +careful circumspection, knowing the enemy's strength and his own +weakness, is the most likely to conquer. It is the presumptuous men, +confident in their own strength, who are sure to get beaten. + + +'DELIVER US FROM EVIL' + + 'But deliver us from evil.'--MATT. vi. 13. + +The two halves of this prayer are like a calm sky with stars shining +silently in its steadfast blue, and a troubled earth beneath, where +storms sweep, and changes come, and tears are ever being shed. The one +is so tranquil, the other so full of woe and want. What a dark picture +of human conditions lies beneath the petitions of this second half! +Hunger and sin and temptation, and wider still, that tragic word which +includes them all--evil. Forgiveness and defence and deliverance--what +sorrows these presuppose! Each step of these latter supplications seems +to carry us deeper into the shadow and the darkness, each to present a +darker aspect of what human life really is; and now that we have reached +the last, we have an all-comprehensive cry which holds within its +meaning every ill that flesh is heir to. + +But seeing that we have to do with a prayer, we have also to do with a +prophecy. We know that if we ask anything according to His will, He +heareth us, and therefore the sadder the want which is expressed, the +fuller of hope is the prayer. This petition gives a dark picture of +human wants, but whatsoever thing we pray about or against, we thereby +profess to believe to be contrary to God's will, and to be certain of +removal by Him; and when our Lord commanded us to say 'Our Father, ... +deliver us from evil,' He gave us the lively hope that all which is +included in that terribly wide word should be swept away, and that He +would break every yoke and let His oppressed go free. The whole sum of +human sorrow is gathered into one petition, that we may all feel that +every item of it is capable of attenuation and extinction; and so our +prayer, in the very clause which seems to sound the lowest depth, really +rises to the loftiest height, and the words which sound likest a wail +over all the misery that is done under the sun, have in them the notes +of triumph. 'The sweetest songs are those which tell of saddest +thought.' The most jubilant and confident prayer is that which feels +most keenly the burden of evil, and 'falling with its weight of sins +'upon the great world's altar-stairs,' cries to God for deliverance. + +Consider, then:-- + +I. The width of this petition. + +What is evil? + +Well, we leave God to decide what it is, but also we have no reason that +I can see for limiting the impressive width of the word. It is a +profound insight into the nature of evil which, in our own language and +in other tongues, uses one word to express both what we call sin, and +what we call sorrow. And I know not why we should suppose that our Lord +does not include both of these here. There is what we call physical +evil, pain, sorrow, meaning thereby whatever wars against our well-being +and happiness. There is what we call moral evil, sin, meaning thereby +whatever wars against our purity. Both are evil. Men's consciences tell +them so of the one. Men's sensibilities tell them so of the other. + +You cannot sophisticate a man into believing that he is not suffering +when his flesh is racked or his heart wounded. It is evil to be in pain. +It is evil to carry a heavy heart. It is evil to be stripped of what we +have long been accustomed to lean upon. It is evil to be crushed down by +loss and want. It is evil to stand by the black hole that swallows the +coffin that holds the light of our eyes. It is evil to have the arrows +of calumny or hate sticking in our quivering spirits. It is evil to be +battered with the shocks of change and doom in the world, to have to +toil at ungrateful tasks beyond our strength. The life which turns the +child's rounded features into the thin face lined and wrinkled, and the +child's elastic run into the slow, heavy tread, is after all a life +which in its outward aspects is a life of evil. + +And many a man who has had little sympathy with what seem to him the +hazy platitudes of the rest of the prayer, learns to pray this clause, +and is always ready to pray it. For we may be sure of this, that they +who make the world their all are they who feel its evils most keenly. +From how many lips unused to prayer are cries every hour going up in +this sorrowful world which really mean, 'deliver us from evil'! + +But it is not only these external evils which the prayer includes. It +means every kind of sin, all dominion of what is contrary to God's will. + +And the petition is 'deliver,' pull us out, drag us from. It is a cry +for the _entire_ emancipation or _utter_ extinction of evil in its +effect upon us. + +So this petition in its clear recognition of evil sets forth man's +condition distinctly, and is opposed to that false stoicism which tries +to argue men out of their senses, and convince them that the fire which +burns them is only a painted fire. Christianity has nothing in common +with that insensibility to suffering which it is sometimes supposed to +teach. Christ wept, and bade the daughters of Jerusalem weep also. + +Christianity has deep words to say about evil and pain as being salutary +and for our good, and about submission to God's will as being better +than wild wishes to be delivered now and at once from all pain and +sorrow. But it begins with full admission that evil is evil, and all its +teachings presuppose that. Job was tormented by the well-meaning +platitudes of his friends, who lifted up their hands in holy horror that +he did not lie on his dunghill, as if it had been a bed of roses; and +Job, who felt all the sorrow of his losses and ground out many a wrong +saying between his teeth, was justified because he had held by the truth +that his senses taught him, that pain was bitter and bad, and by the +other which his faith taught him, that God must be good. He could not +reconcile them. We can in part; but our Lord has taught us in this +prayer that it is not to be done by denying or sophisticating facts. +Then let us use this prayer in all its breadth, and feel that it covers +all which makes our hearts heavy, and all which makes our consciences +sore. + +'From all evil and mischief--plague, pestilence, and famine, as well as +envy, hatred, and hypocrisy--from sin, from the crafts and assaults of +the devil,--Good Lord, deliver us.' 'In all time of our tribulation; in +all time of our wealth, in the hour of death, and in the day of +judgment,--Good Lord, deliver us.' + +II. The unity and source of the evil. + +The singular number suggests that all evil, multiform as it seems, is at +bottom one. It is a great weltering coil, but wilderness and tangle as +it appears, there is a tap root from which it all comes, like a +close-clinging mass of ivy which is choking the life out of an elm-tree. +If that root were grubbed up, all would fall. It is like some huge sea +monster 'floating many a rood,' but there is only one life in it. The +hydra has a hundred heads, but one heart. And the place in the prayer in +which this clause comes suggests what that is--sin. + +That place implies that all human sorrows and sufferings are +consequences of human evil. And that is true inasmuch as many of them +are distinctly and naturally its results. Disease is often the result of +dissipation, poverty of indolence, friendlessness of selfishness. How +many of the miseries of our great cities, how many of the miseries of +nations, result from criminal neglect and injustice! 'Man's inhumanity +to man makes countless thousands mourn.' Ah! if all men were saying from +the heart, 'Thy will be done,' how many of their griefs would be at an +end! And it is true that sorrows are the consequences of sin inasmuch as +suffering has been introduced by God into the world because of sin. He +has been forced by our rebellion to use judgments, and that to bring us +back. + +And it is true that sorrows are the consequences of sin inasmuch as the +sting is taken out of them when our sins are forgiven and we love God. +Then they so change their characters as scarcely to deserve to be called +by their old name, and the paradox, 'sorrowful yet always rejoicing,' +becomes a sober fact of experience. + +III. The divine opposition to evil. + +This prayer implies that all evil is contrary to His will. The one kind +is so, absolutely and always. The other is a method to which He has had +recourse, but not that which, if things had gone right, He would have +adopted. + +So this prayer breathes confidence that God will overcome both kinds. + +How much there is to make us believe that evil is eternal. + +How apt we are to fall into despair, to lose heart for ourselves and our +fellows; to say that it has always been so, and it always will be so. + +For all social reformers here is encouragement. + +For ourselves, when we seem to do so little in setting ourselves right, +here is confidence. + +But it must be _God_ who conquers the world's evil. + +Our most potent weapon in the struggle with our own and the world's evil +is the earnest offering of this petition. + +Think of the failure of godless schemes; how often we have been on the +verge of political and other millenniums. + +Only the God, who cures sin, can cure the world's ills. + +We are not to substitute praying for working. God may answer our prayer +by setting us to work. + +Remember that you pledge yourselves to work for your fellows by that +_Us_, and to try to reduce, were it by ever so little, the sum of human +misery. + +IV. The manner of God's deliverance from evil. God delivers us by +Christ, that is the sum of all. + +He delivers us from sin by His answers to the previous petitions. + +He delivers us from suffering by teaching us how to bear it, and by +showing us the meaning of it. The evil in evil is taken away. There +shines a brightness round about the devouring fire (Ezek. i. 4). 'All +things work together for good.' + +Finally, He delivers by taking us to Himself. + +This prayer goes beyond present experience. It is the yearning for full +redemption. It is the last which is answered. But there lies in it a not +indistinct prophecy of that great and blessed time when we shall be like +Him, and delivered from all evil. + +For ourselves and for the world it carries the assurance that neither +sorrow nor sin shall be permitted to deform for ever the face of this +fair creation; but that the day comes when God's name being everywhere +hallowed, and His will done on earth, and His kingdom set up, and all +our wants supplied, and all our sins forgiven, and all temptations taken +out of the way, evil of every kind shall be scourged out of God's +universe, and 'the ransomed of the Lord shall return with joy upon their +heads, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.' + +Then shall this mighty prayer be answered, the prayer of God's children +in all ages, the prayer which He offers before the Throne who on earth +prayed, 'Not that Thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that +Thou shouldest keep them from the evil'; the prayer which the +white-robed souls offer when they cry, 'How long, O Lord, how long?' the +prayer which, all unconsciously, the sobs, and cries, and sorrows of six +thousand years have been offering; the prayer which is every hour being +answered in hourly mercies, and multitudes of forgivenesses and gracious +guiding; the prayer which has been steadily tending towards its +fulfilment, through all the ages during which God's name has been +growing in men's love, and His will more and more obeyed, and His +kingdom more and more fully come; the prayer which will be at last +completely realised when all His children shall stand before His Throne +happy and good, and the noise of earth's evil shall sound only in the +ear of memory, like the murmur of some far-off sea heard from the sacred +mountain, or the remembrance of the tempest when all the winds are +still. + +If our prayer is, 'Deliver us from evil,' our life's experience will be +that 'He delivered us from so great a death and will deliver,' our dying +word will be thanksgiving to 'the angel who delivered us from all evil,' +and our death will bring the full deliverance for which while here we +pray, and admit us into that region of unmingled good and blessing and +purity, whose distant brightness we, tossing on the unquiet sea, behold +from afar and long to possess. 'After this manner pray ye,' and to you +the promise will be blessedly fulfilled, 'Because he hath set his love +upon Me, therefore will I deliver him. I will set him on high, because +he hath known My name' (Ps. xci. 14). + + +'THINE IS THE KINGDOM' + + 'Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. + Amen.' MATT. vi. 13. + +There is no reason to suppose that this doxology was spoken by Christ. +It does not occur in any of the oldest and most authoritative +manuscripts of Matthew's Gospel. It does not seem to have been known to +the earliest Christian writers. Long association has for us intertwined +the words inextricably with our Lord's Prayer, and it is a wound to +reverential feeling to strike out what so many generations have used in +their common supplications. No doubt this doxology is appropriate as a +conclusion, and serves to give an aspect of completeness. It sounds cold +and cheerless to end our prayer with 'evil.' But the question is not one +of feeling or of our notions of fitness, but purely one of criticism, +and the only evidence which has any right to be heard in settling the +text of the New Testament is dead against this clause. If we regard that +evidence, we are obliged to say that the doxology has no business here. +How it stands here is a question which may be answered satisfactorily. +When the Lord's Prayer came to be used in public worship, it was natural +to append to it a doxology, just as in chanting the psalms it became the +habit to repeat at the end of each the Gloria. This doxology, originally +written on the margin of the gospel, would gradually creep into the +text, and once there, was naturally retained. + +It does not follow that, because Christ did not speak it, we ought not +to use it. It should not be in the Bible, but it may well be in our +prayers. If we think that our Lord gave us a pattern rather than a form, +we are quite justified in extending that pattern by any additions which +harmonise with its spirit. If we think He gave us a form to be repeated +_verbatim_, then we ought not to add to it this doxology. + +At first sight it seems as if the prayer without it were incomplete. It +contains loving desires, lowly dependence, humble penitence, earnest +wishes for cleansing, but there appears none of that rapturous praise +which is also an element in all true devotion. And this may have been +one reason for the addition of the doxology. But I think that that +absence of praise and joy is only apparent; the first clause of the +prayer expresses the highest form of both. The doxology, if you will +think of it, adds nothing to the contemplation of the divine character +which the prayer has already taught us. It is only a repetition at the +close of what we had at the beginning, and its conception, lofty and +grand as it is, falls beneath that of 'Our Father.' We might almost say +that the doxology is incongruous with the prayer as presenting a less +blessed, spiritual, distinctively Christian thought of God. That would +be going too far, but I cannot but feel a certain change in tone, a +dropping from the loftiest elevation down to the celebration of the +lower aspects of the divine. 'Kingdom, power, and glory' are grand, but +they do not reach the height of ascription of praise which sounds in the +very first words of the prayer. + +Properly speaking, too, this doxology is not a part of the prayer. It +expresses two things: the devout contemplation of God which the whole +course of the petitions has excited in the soul--and in that aspect it +is the Church's echo to the Lord's Prayer; and the confidence with which +we pray--and in that aspect it is rather the utterance of meditative +reflection asking of itself its reasons for hope and stirring itself up +to lay hold on God. + +Notice, then-- + +I. The meaning of the doxology. + +Kingdom, power, and glory correspond to kingdom, will, and hallowing in +the first part. The order is not the same, but it is still substantially +identical. + +'Thine the kingdom.' All earthly things, the whole fates of men here, +are ruled by Him. The prayer asked that it might be so; here we declare +that it is so already, not, of course, in the deepest sense, but that +even now and here He rules with authority. 'Thy kingdom is an +everlasting kingdom,' and this conviction is inseparable from our +Christianity. How hard it is to believe it at all times, from what we +see around us! The temptation is to think that the kingdom is men's, or +belongs to blind fate, or chance, and our own evil hearts ever suggest +that the kingdom is our own. Satan said, 'All is mine, and I will give +it Thee.' + +The affairs of the world seem so far from God, we are so tempted to +believe that He is remote from it, that nations and their rulers and the +field of politics are void of Him. We see craft and force and villainy +ruling, we see kingdoms far from any perception that society is for man +and from God. We see _Dei gratiâ_ on our coins, and 'by the grace of the +Devil' for real motto. We see long tracks of godless crime and mean +intrigue, and here and there a divine gleam falling from some heroic +deed of sacrifice. We see king and priest playing into each other's +hands, and the people destroyed, whatever be the feud. But we are to +believe that the world is the kingdom of God; to learn whence comes all +human rule, and to be sure that even here and now 'Thy kingdom is an +everlasting kingdom.' + +'Thine the Power.' Not merely has He authority over, but He works indeed +through all--the whole world and all creatures are the field of the ever +present energy of God. That is a simple truth, deep but clear, that all +power comes from Him. He is the cause of all changes, physical and all +other. Force is the garment of the present God, and among men all power +is from Him. His will is the creative word. + +'Thine the Glory.' God's glory is the praise which comes from the +accomplishment of His purpose and will. This is the end of all Creation +and Manifestation. The thought of Scripture is that all things are for +the greater glory of God. It may be a most cold-blooded and cruel +doctrine, or it may be a most blessed one. All depends on what is our +conception of the character of the God whose self-revelation is His +glory. + +An almighty Devil is the God of many people. But we have learned to say +'Our Father,' and hence this thought is blessed. Unless we had so +learned, the thought that His end was His glory would make Him a selfish +tyrant. But since we know Him to be our Father, we know that His Glory +is the revelation of His Love, His Fatherhood; that when we say that He +does all things for His own glory, we say that He does all things that +men may know His character as it is, and 'to know Him is life eternal.' + +'Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory': whatsoever we may +have lost and suffered in the past; whatsoever fiery baptism and strife +of arms or of principles we may yet have to go through; whatsoever +shocks of loss and sorrow may strike upon our own hearts; whatsoever +untraversed seas our nation or our race may have to embark upon, One +abides, the same One remains ours and is ever with us. We may have to +face storm and cloud, and 'neither sun nor stars may appear'; we may +have to fling out the best anchors we can find, if haply they may hold +on anything, and may wearily 'wish for the day.' But 'the Lord sitteth +upon the flood,' and in the thickest of the night, when we lift our +wearied eyes, we shall see Him coming to us across the storm, and the +surges smoothing themselves to rest for His pavement, and the waves +subside into their caves at His voice. + +'Thine is the Kingdom, and the power, and the glory.' Then the world and +we shall be guided right and kept safe, and whatsoever is true and good +shall rule, and the weak cause shall be the conquering, and all false +fame shall fade like morning mist, and every honest desire and effort +for man's blessedness shall have eternal honour. God is King; God is +mighty; God's name shall have glory; then for us there is Hope +invincible in spite of all evil. Courage to stand by His truth and His +will, endless patience and endless charity, are our fitting robes, the +livery of our King. Because He is our Father, He will deliver us and our +brethren from all evil, and by His all-powerful Love will found His +universal kingdom and get the glory due unto His name, the glory of +loving and being loved by all His children. + +II. The force of the doxology in its place here. + +It reminds us that the ground of our confidence is in God's own +character. We do not need to make ourselves worthy to receive. We cannot +move Him, but He is self-moved, and so we do not need to be afraid. Nor +is our prayer to be an attempt to bend His will. + +Our confidence digs deep down to build on the rock of the ever-living +God, whose 'is the Kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever.' We +flee to Him for a refuge against ourselves. We bring nothing. We look to +His own character, which will always be the same, and to His past, which +is the type and prophecy for all His future. He is His own reason, His +own motive, His own end. + +When we ground our prayers on Him, then we touch ground, and in whatever +weltering sea of trouble we may be buffeted, we have found the bottom +and can stand firm. + +But the 'Amen' which closes the doxology is not the empty form which it +has now become. It means not only, So may it be! but also, So will it +be! It is not only the last breathing of desire, but also the expression +of assured expectancy and confidence; not merely be it so, but confident +expression of assurance that it will be so. + +How much of our prayer flies off into empty air because there is no +expectation in it! How much which has no certainty of being answered in +it! How much which is followed by no marking of the future to discern +the answer! We should stand praying like some Grecian statue of an +archer, with hand extended and lips parted and eye following the arrow +of our prayer on its flight till it touches the mark. We have a right +to be confident that we shall be heard. We should apply the Amen to all +the petitions of the prayer. So it becomes a prophecy, and the Christian +man is to live in the calm expectation that all the petitions will be +accomplished. For the world they will be, for us they may be. It is for +each of us to decide for ourselves whether they will be answered in and +for us. + +The place of the doxology here suggests that all prayer should lead to +thankful contemplation of God's character. + +We have seen how the prayer begins with contemplation, and then passes +into supplication. Thus all prayer should end as it began. It has a +circular motion, and starting from the highest heavens and coming down +to earth, is thither drawn again and rests at the throne of God, whence +it set out, like the strong Spirits before His throne who veil their +faces while they gaze upon the glory, and then fly forth to help human +sorrows and satisfy human hearts, and then on unwearied pinions winging +their way to their first station, meekly sink their wings of flight, and +veil their faces again with their wings. The rivers that flow through +broad lands, bringing blessing and doing humble service in drinking-cup +and domestic vessel, came in soft rain from heaven, and though their +bright waves are browned with soil and made opaque with many a stain, +yet their work done, they rest in the great ocean, and thence are drawn +up once more to the clouds of heaven. So with our prayers; they ought to +start from the contemplation of our God, and they ought to return +thither again. + +And as this is the last word of our prayers, so may we not say that it +represents the perpetual form of fellowship with God? Prayers for bread, +and pardon, and help, and deliverance, are for the wilderness. Prayers +for the hallowing of His name, and the coming of His kingdom, and the +doing of His will, are out of date when they are fulfilled; but for ever +this voice shall rise before His throne, and that last new song, which +shall ring with might as of thunder and sweetness as of many harps from +the thousand times ten thousand, shall be but the expansion and the +deepening of the praise of earth. Then 'every creature which is in +heaven, and on the earth and under the earth and in the sea, shall be +heard saying, "Blessing, and honour, and glory, and power, be unto Him +that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever."' + +So we finish these meditations. I have felt all along how poorly my +words served me to say even what I saw, and how poorly my vision saw +into the clear depths of the divine prayer. But I hope that they may +have helped you half as much as they have myself, to feel more strongly +how all-comprehensive it is. I said at the beginning, and I repeat with +more emphasis now, that there is everything in this prayer--God's +relations to man, man's to God and his fellows, the foundation stones of +Christian theology, of Christian morals, of Christian society, of +Christian politics. There is help for the smallest wants and light for +daily duties; there is strength for the hour of death and the day of +judgment. There is the revelation of the timeless depths of our Father's +heart; there is the prophecy of the furthest future for ourselves and +our brethren. No man can exhaust it. Every age may find in its simple +syllables lessons for their new perplexities and duties. It will not be +outgrown in heaven. But, thank God, we do not need to exhaust its +meaning in order to use it aright. Jesus interprets our prayers, and +many a dumb yearning, and many a broken sob, and many a passionate +fragment of a cry, and many an ignorant desire that may appear to us +very unlike His pattern for all ages, will be accepted by Him. He +inspires, presents and answers every prayer offered through Him to the +Father in heaven. He counts the poorest prayer to be 'after this +manner,' if it comes from a heart seeking the Father, owning its sin, +longing dimly for deliverance and purity, and hoping through its tears +in the great and loving tenderness of the Father in heaven who has sent +His Son, that through Him we might cry Abba, Father. + + +FASTING + + 'Moreover, when ye fast, be not, as the hypocrites, of a sad + countenance: for they disfigure their faces, that they may appear + unto men to fast. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. + 17. But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thine head, and wash thy + face; 18. That thou appear not unto men to fast, but unto thy + Father which is in secret: and thy Father, which seeth in secret, + shall reward thee openly.'--MATT. vi. 16-18. + +Fasting has gone out of fashion now, but in Christ's time it went along +with almsgiving and prayers, as a recognised expression of a religious +life. The step from expression to ostentation is a short one, and the +triple repetition here of almost the same words in regard to each of the +three corruptions of religion, witnesses to our Lord's estimate of their +commonness. We are exposed to them just as the Pharisees of His day +were. If there is less fasting now than then, Christians still need to +take care that they do not get up a certain 'sad countenance' for the +sake of being seen of men, and because such is understood to be the +proper thing for a religious man. They have to take care, too, not to +parade the feelings, of which fasting used to be the expression, as, for +instance, a sense of their own sinfulness, and sorrow for the nation's +or the world's sins and sorrows. There are deep and sorrowful emotions +in every real Christian heart, but the less the world is called in to +see them, the purer and more blessed and purifying they will be. The man +who has a sidelong eye to spectators in expressing his Christian (or any +other) emotion, is very near being a hypocrite. Expressing emotion with +reference to bystanders, is separated by a very thin line from feigning +emotion. The sidelong glance will soon become a fixed gaze, seeing +nothing else, and the purpose of fasting will slip out of sight. The man +who only wishes to attract attention easily succeeds in that shabby aim, +and has his reward, but misses all the true results, which are only +capable of being realised when he who fasts is thinking of nothing but +his own sin and his forgiving God. + + +TWO KINDS OF TREASURE + + 'Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and + rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: 20. + But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven.'--MATT. vi. 19-20. + +The connection with the previous part is twofold. + +The warning against hypocritical fastings and formalism leads to the +warning against worldly-mindedness and avarice. For what +worldly-mindedness is greater than that which prostitutes even religious +acts to worldly advantage, and is laying up treasure of men's good +opinion on earth even while it shams to be praying to God? And there is +a close connection which the history of every age has illustrated +between formal religious profession and the love of money, which is the +vice of the Church. Again, the promise of rewarding openly naturally +leads on to the positive exhortation to make that reward our great +object. + +The connection with what follows is remarkable. The injunction and +prohibition of the text refer to two species of the same genus, one the +vice of avarice, the other the vice of anxiety. + +I. The Two Treasures. + +These are--on earth, all things which a man can possess;--in heaven, +primarily God Himself, the reward which has been spoken of in previous +verses, viz. God's love and approbation, a holy character, and all those +spiritual and personal graces, beauties, perfections and joys which come +to the good man from above. + +This command and prohibition require of Christ's disciples-- + +1. A rectification of their judgment as to what is the true good of man. + +(a) Sense and flesh tend to make us think the visible and material the +best. + +(b) Our peculiar position here in a great commercial centre powerfully +reinforces this tendency. + +(c) The prevailing current of this age is all in the same direction. +The growth of luxury, the increase of wealth, and set of thought, +threaten us with a period when not only religious thought will fail, but +when all faith, enthusiasm, all poetry and philosophy, the very +conception of God and duty, all idealism, all that is unseen, will be +scouted among men. Naturalism does not fulfil its own boast of dealing +with facts; there are more facts than can be seen. So the first thing is +to settle it in our minds, in opposition to our own selves and to +prevailing tendencies, that truth is better than money, that pure +affections and moderate desires and a heart set on God are richer wealth +than all external possessions. + +2. Desire that follows the corrected judgment. It is one thing to know +all this, another to wrench our wishes loose from earth. + +3. A practical life that obeys the impulse of the desire. Christ's +command and prohibition here do not refer only to a certain course of +action, but to a certain motive and purpose in action, and to actions +drawn from these. If we obey Christ we shall lead lives obviously +different from those which are based upon an estimate which we are to +reject; but the main thing is to live and work with an eye to the +eternal, not the temporal, results of our doings. We are to administer +our lives as God does His providence, using the temporal only as means +to an end, the eternal. We are to live to be God-like, to love God, and +be loved by Him. + +There is here the idea of which we are somewhat too much afraid, that +our life on earth adds to the rewards of blessedness in heaven. The idea +of reward is emphatically and often inculcated in Scripture, however +much a mistaken jealousy for 'the doctrines of Grace' may be chary of +it. We need only recall such words as 'They shall walk with Me in white, +for they are worthy'; or, 'Laying up in store for themselves a good +foundation'; or, 'Thou shalt have treasure in heaven.' If people would +only think of heaven less carnally, and would regard it as the +perfection of holiness, there would be no difficulty in the notion of +reward. Men get there what they have made themselves fit for here. +'Their works do follow them.' + +II. The foes of the earthly, which are powerless against the heavenly. + +The imagery implies a comparatively simple state of society and +primitive treasures. Moths gnaw rich garments. Rust, or more properly +corruption, would get into a man's barns and vineyards, hay-crops and +fruits. Thieves would steal the hoard that he had laid by, for want of +better investment. Or to generalise, corruption, the natural process of +wearing away, natural enemies proper to each kind of possession, human +agency which takes away all external possessions--these multifarious +agents co-operate to render impossible the permanent possession of any +'treasure on earth.' + +On the other hand, what a man has laid up in heaven, and what he is +partially here, have no tendency to grow old. Men never weary of God, +never find Him failing, never exhaust truth, never drink the love of God +to the dregs, never find purity palling upon the taste, 'Age cannot +wither, nor custom stale, "their" infinite variety.' + +'Treasure in heaven' has no enemies which destroy it. Every earthly +possession has its own foes, every earthly joy has its own destructive +opposite; but nothing touches this treasure in heaven. + +It has nothing to fear from men. Nobody can take it out of a man's soul +but himself. The inmost circle of our life is inviolable. It is +incorruptible and undefiled and fadeth not away, for it all comes from +the eternal God and our eternal union to Him. He is our portion for +ever. + +III. The madness of fastening the heart down to earth. + +The heart must be in heaven in order to find its true home. It is +unnatural, contrary to the constitution of the 'heart' that it should be +fettered to earth. + +If it is, it will be restless and unsatisfied. + +If it is, it will be at the mercy of all these enemies. + +If it is, what will happen when the man is no longer on earth? 'What +shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his own soul?' + + +HEARTS AND TREASURES + + 'For where your treasure is, there will your heart be + also.'--MATT. vi. 21. + +'Your treasure' is probably not the same as your neighbour's. It is +yours, whether you possess it or not, because you love it. For what our +Lord means here by 'treasure' is not merely money, or material good, but +whatever each man thinks best, that which he most eagerly strives to +attain, that which he most dreads to lose, that which, if he has, he +thinks he will be blessed, that which, if he has it not, he knows he is +discontented. + +Now, if that is the meaning of 'treasure,' then this great saying of nay +text is, as a matter of course, true. For what in each case makes the +treasure is precisely the going out of the heart to grapple it, and it +is just because the heart is there that a thing is the treasure. + +Now, I need not do more than remind you, I suppose, that in Scripture +'heart' means a great deal more than it does in our modern usage, for we +employ it as an expression for the affections, whereas the Bible takes +it as including the whole inner man. For instance, we read, 'As a man +_thinketh_ in his heart, so is he'; and of 'the thoughts and intents of +the heart.' So then the affections, as with us, but also thoughts, +purposes, volitions, are all included in the word; and as one passage of +Scripture says, 'Out of it are the issues of life.' It is the central +reservoir, the central personality, the indivisible unit of the +thinking, willing, feeling, loving person which I call 'myself.' So what +Christ says is that where a man's treasure lies, not merely his +affections will twine round it, but his whole self will be, as it were, +implicated and intertwisted with it, so as that what befalls it will +befall him. + +Now, further, notice that this saying, so obviously true, is introduced +by a 'for,' and that it is the broad basis on which rest the obligation +and the wisdom of the double counsel which has preceded, on the one +hand, the warning against choosing perishable and uncertain good for our +treasure, and mixing ourselves up with that, and on the other the loving +counsel to choose for ourselves the wealth which is perpetual, +unprecarious, and certain. + +So I think we may look at these words from a threefold point of view, +and see in them a mirror that will show us ourselves, a dissuasive and a +persuasive. Let us take these three aspects. + +I. Here, then, is a mirror that a man may hold up before himself, and +find out something about himself by it. + +For, like other general statements of the same sort, you can turn this +saying round about, and take it the other way, and not only say, as the +text says, 'where your treasure is, there will your heart be also,' but, +'where your heart is, there is your treasure.' A man's real god is the +thing that he counts best, and for which he works most earnestly, and +which, as I said, he most longs to have, and trembles to think he will +lose. That is his god, and his treasure, whatever his professions may +be. Where your heart is, there is your treasure. + +Now, of course, for the larger part of the lives of all of us, there are +certain lines laid down by our circumstances, our trades, our various +duties, on which the train of our thoughts and efforts must run. But the +question is, When I am set free from the constraint of my daily +avocations and pressing duties, and am at liberty to go as I like, where +do I go? When the weight is taken off the sapling in the nursery garden, +which has been hung on it to turn it into a weeping-tree, its elastic +stem springs to the erect position. Where do I spring to when the +weights are taken off? The mother bird will hover over her nest. Where +her treasure is, there is her maternal instinct. The needle follows the +drawing of the pole-star; the sunflower turns to the sun. 'Being let go, +they went to their own company.' Where do _you_ go? The reins laid upon +the horse's neck, it will trot straight home to its stable; 'the ox +knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's crib,' and our instincts are +not less sure than theirs. You go 'home' when you are left to +yourselves; where do you go? + +We call ourselves Christians. If our treasure is in Christ, our hearts +will turn to Him. And what does that mean? 'Hearts,' as I said, mean +thoughts. Now, can you and I say, 'In the multitude of my thoughts +within me, Thy comforts delight my soul'? Does there come stealing into +my mind often and often the blessed contemplation of my wealth in Jesus +Christ? The river of thought brings down, in its continual flow, much +mire and sand. Does it bring any gold? Do I think about Christ, and find +it to be my refreshment to do so? An old mystic said, 'If I can tell how +often I have thought of God to-day, I have not thought of Him often +enough.' 'Where your treasure is, there will your thoughts be also.' + +The heart means love. Where do my affections turn when I am set free? +The heart means the will. Is my will all saturated with, and so made +pliant by, the will and commandment of Jesus Christ? If He is my +treasure, then thoughts, affection, obedience will all turn to Him, and +the current of my being, whatever may be the surface-ripple--ay, or the +surface-storm--will be ever sliding surely, though it may be silently, +towards Himself. Ah! brethren, if we would be honest with ourselves and +look into this mirror, we should have cause to be ashamed, some of us, +of our very profession of being Christians, and all of us to feel that +we have far too much heaped up for ourselves other treasures and +forgotten our true wealth, and we should all have to pray, 'Unite my +heart to fear Thy name.' The Assyrians had a superstition that a demon, +if he saw his own reflection in a mirror, would fly. I think if some of +us professing Christians saw ourselves, as the looking-glass of my text +might give us to see ourselves, we should shudderingly depart from that +self, and seek to have a better self formed within us. 'Where your +treasure is, there will your heart be also.' + +II. Now let me ask you to look at this saying, in the connection in +which our Lord adduced it, as being a dissuasive. + +He applies it to both branches of His previous advice. He had just said, +'Lay not up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust doth +corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal.' These are very +primitive methods of depriving men of their treasures, arguing a +comparatively simple state of society. The moth is that which destroys +wealth in garments, which was a great part of ancient Eastern wealth. +Rust rather means corrosion, or corruption, and applies to the other +great kind of primitive wealth, in food and the stores of the harvest. +And the thieves who dig through the mud wall of the house, and carry +away the owners' little hoard of gold and silver, point also to a +primitive condition of society. But whatever may be the special force of +these different words, they suggest to us this, that all that is here +has its own particular and special enemy which wars against its +permanence. There are _bacteria_ of all sorts, every vegetable has its +own kind. Every growth has to fear the gnawing of some foe. And so every +treasure that I can gather into my heart, excepting one, is threatened +by some kind of danger. + +No man can have lived as long in a great commercial community, as some +of us have done, without knowing that there are a great many besides +professional and so-called thieves in it, that take away the gold and +silver. How many instances I can look back upon, of lords of the +exchange and magnates of trade, who carved their names, as they thought, +in imperishable marble on the doors of their warehouses, and then became +bankrupt and fugitive, and were lost sight of. We all know the +uncertainty of riches. + +And are the other kinds of treasure that we cleave to more reliable? +Have they not their moths and their rusts? Is it pleasure? Well, I say +nothing about the diseases that fill the bones of many a young man who +flings himself into dissipation; but I remind you of just this one +thing, that all that pleasure tends to become flat, stale, and +unprofitable. That which the poet said of his own class, that it 'begins +in gladness, and thereof cometh in the end despondency and madness,' is +true of every delight of sense, ay! and of more than sense, of taste +and of intellect. As the Book of Proverbs has it, 'the end of that mirth +is heaviness.' + +Brethren, the moth and the rust claim as their prey all treasures except +one. Is it love-pure, blessed, soul-filling, soul-resting as it is? Yes, +and on a hundred walls in any city there hangs, and in a thousand hearts +there hangs, that great picture where the feeble form of Love is trying +to repel from entrance into the rose-covered portal of the home the +inevitable and mighty shrouded form of Death. Is it culture? 'Whether +there be tongues they shall cease; whether there be knowledge it shall +vanish away.' The last illuminator and teacher, which is Death, +antiquates and brushes aside, as of no use in the new conditions, most +of the knowledge which men, wisely in a measure, but foolishly if +exclusively, have sought to acquire for themselves here below. + +And when the moth and the rust come, and the separating, bony fingers of +the skeleton Death filch away at last your treasure, what about you who +are wrapped up with it, implicated in it; so grown into it, and it into +you, that to wrench you from it opens your veins, and you bleed to +death? There is a pathetic inscription in one of the rural churches of +this country, in which two parents record the death of their only child, +and add, 'All our hopes were in this frail bark, and the shipwreck is +total.' I have heard of a man that might have been saved from a +foundering ship, but he lashed his money-bags round him, and he sank +along with them. 'Where your treasure is, there will your heart be +also,' pierced by all the wounds, gnawed by all the moths, rotted by all +the corruption that affects it, and when the thief, the last great thief +of all, comes, you will only have to say, 'They have taken away my +gods, and what have I more?' And the answer out of the waste places of +an echoing universe will be, 'Nothing! Nothing!' + +III. Now, lastly, let me show you the persuasive in my text. + +'Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also,' therefore, says +Christ, 'lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth +nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through and +steal.' If my treasure is in heaven it is secure. And oh! brethren, we +need for our blessedness, we need for our rest, we need for our peace +and joy, to know that the thing which we count best shall never be taken +away from us, and we cannot have that certainty in regard to any +treasure except the treasure that is in God. All outward things which we +say we possess are incompletely possessed, because they remain outside +us. However intertwined with them, we are separate from them, and we are +just so much intertwined with them that the separation from them is +agony, even if it is not death. What we need is to be so incorporated +with, and infused into, what is our treasure, that we are quite sure +that as long as we last it will last, and that nothing can rend it from +us. 'I bear all my goods with me,' said the old heathen. We should be +able to say more than that. I carry all my good in me, because my good +is God, who is in the heavens, and though in the heavens, dwells in the +hearts that love Him. Then in all changes, 'life, or death, or things +present or things to come, height or depth, or any other creature,' we +can afford to smile on, and say: 'You cannot take my wealth from me, for +I am in God, and God is in me.' + +Further, if our hearts are in heaven, then heaven will be in our hearts, +and here we shall know the joy and the peace that come from 'sitting in +heavenly places in Christ Jesus,' even whilst on earth. There is no +blessedness, no stable repose, no victorious independence of the buffets +and blows of life, except this, that my heart is lifted above them all, +and, I was going to say, is inhaled and sucked into the life of Jesus +Christ. Then if my heart is where my treasure is, and He is my +treasure,' my life is hid with Christ in God.' If my heart is in heaven, +heaven is in my heart. + +Further, my text is a promise as well as a statement of a present fact. +Where your treasure now is there will your whole self one day be. A man +who has by God's grace, through faith and love and the wise use of +things temporal, chosen God his chief good, and possessed in some degree +the good which he has chosen, even Jesus Christ in his heart, that man +bears in himself the pledge and the foretaste of eternal life. So the +old psalmist found out, who lived in a time when that future world was +shrouded in far thicker clouds of darkness than it is to us, for when he +had risen to the height of saying, 'My flesh and my heart faileth, but +God is the strength of my heart and my portion for ever,' he immediately +sprang to this assurance--an assurance of faith before it was a fact +certified by Revelation--'Thou wilt guide me by Thy counsel, and +afterwards receive me to glory.' The possession of Christ for our +treasure, which possession always follows on our estimating Him as such, +and desiring to have Him, that possession bears in its bosom the germ of +the assurance that, whatever befalls my physical life, I shall not be +less immortal than my treasure, and that where my heart to-day, by +aspiration and desire and faith and love, has built its nest, thither I +shall follow in His own time. They that have laid up treasure in heaven +will at last be brought to the enjoyment of the treasure that they have +laid up, and to the possession of 'the inheritance that is incorruptible +and undefiled, and that fadeth not away.' + + +ANXIOUS CARE + + 'Ye cannot serve God and Mammon. 25. Therefore I say unto you. Take + no thought for your life.'--Matt. vi. 24-25. + +Foresight and foreboding are two very different things. It is not that +the one is the exaggeration of the other, but the one is opposed to the +other. The more a man looks forward in the exercise of foresight, the +less he does so in the exercise of foreboding. And the more he is +tortured by anxious thoughts about a possible future, the less clear +vision has he of a likely future, and the less power to influence it. +When Christ here, therefore, enjoins the abstinence from thought for our +life and for the future, it is not for the sake of getting away from the +pressure of a very unpleasant command that we say, He does not mean to +prevent the exercise of wise and provident foresight and preparation for +what is to come. When this English version of ours was made, the phrase +'taking thought' meant solicitous anxiety, and that is the true +rendering and proper meaning of the original. The idea is, therefore, +that here there is forbidden for a Christian, not the careful +preparation for what is likely to come, not the foresight of the storm +and taking in sail while yet there is time, but the constant occupation +and distraction of the heart with gazing forward, and fearing and being +weakened thereby; or to come back to words already used, foresight is +commanded, and, _therefore_, foreboding is forbidden. My object now +is to endeavour to gather together by their link of connection, the +whole of those precepts which follow my text to the close of the +chapter; and to try to set before you, in the order in which they stand, +and in their organic connection with each other, the reasons which +Christ gives for the absence of anxious care from our minds. + +I mass them all into three. If you notice, the whole section, to the end +of the chapter, is divided into three parts, by the threefold repetition +of the injunction, 'Take no thought.' 'Take no thought for your life, +what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what +ye shall put on.' The reason for the command as given in this first +section follows:--Is not the life more than meat, and the body than +raiment?' The expansion of that thought runs on to the close of the +thirtieth verse. Then there follows another division or section of the +whole, marked by the repetition of the command, 'Take no +thought,'--saying, 'What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, +Wherewithal shall we be clothed?' The reason given for the command in +this second section is--'(for after all these things do the Gentiles +seek): for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these +things. But seek ye first the kingdom of God.' And then follows a third +section, marked by the third repetition of the command, 'Take no +thought--for the morrow.' The reason given for the command in this third +section is--'for the morrow shall take thought for the things of +itself.' + +Now if we try to generalise the lessons that lie in these three great +divisions of the section, we get, I think, first,--anxious thought is +contrary to all the lessons of nature, which show it to be unnecessary. +That is the first, the longest section. Then, secondly, anxious thought +is contrary to all the lessons of revelation or religion, which show it +to be heathenish. And lastly, anxious thought is contrary to the whole +scheme of Providence, which shows it to be futile. You do not _need_ to +be anxious. It is _wicked_ to be anxious. It is _of no use_ to be +anxious. These are the three points,--anxious care is contrary to the +lessons of Nature; contrary to the great principles of the Gospel; and +contrary to the scheme of Providence. Let us try now simply to follow +the course of thought in our Lord's illustration of these three +principles. + +I. The first is the consideration of the teaching of Nature. 'Take no +thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor +yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, +and the body than raiment?' And then comes the illustration of the fowls +of the air and the lilies of the field. + +The whole of these verses fall into these general thoughts: You are +obliged to trust God for your body, for its structure, for its form, for +its habitudes, and for the length of your being; you are obliged to +trust Him for the foundation--trust Him for the superstructure. You are +obliged to trust Him, whether you will or not, for the greater--trust +Him gladly for the less. You cannot help being dependent. After all your +anxiety, it is only directed to the providing of the things that are +needful for the life; the life itself, though it is a natural thing, +comes direct from God's hand; and all that you can do, with all your +carking cares, and laborious days, and sleepless nights, is but to adorn +a little more beautifully or a little less beautifully, the allotted +span--but to feed a little more delicately or a little less delicately, +the body which God has given you. What is the use of being careful for +food and raiment, when down below these necessities there lies the awful +question--for the answer to which you have to hang helpless, in +implicit, powerless dependence upon God,--Shall I live, or shall I die? +shall I have a body instinct with vitality, or a body crumbling amidst +the clods of the valley? After all your work, your anxiety gets but such +a little way down; like some passing shower of rain, that only softens +an inch of the hard-baked surface of the soil, and has no power to +fructify the seed that lies feet below the reach of its useless +moisture. Anxious care is foolish; for far beyond the region within +which your anxieties move, there is the greater region in which there +must be entire dependence upon God. 'Is not the life more than meat? Is +not the body more than raiment?' You _must_ trust Him for these; +you may as well trust Him for all the rest. + +Then, again, there comes up this other thought: Not only are you +compelled to exercise unanxious dependence in regard to a matter which +you cannot influence--the life of the body--and that is the greater; +but, still further, _God gives you that_. Very well: God gives you +the greater; and God's great gifts are always inclusive of God's little +gifts. When He bestows a thing, He bestows all the consequences of the +thing as well. When He gives a life, He swears by the gift, that He will +give what is needful to sustain it. God does not stop half way in any of +His bestowments. He gives royally and liberally, honestly and +sincerely, logically and completely. When He bestows a life, therefore, +you may be quite sure that He is not going to stultify His own gift by +retaining unbestowed anything that is wanted for its blessing and its +power. You have had to trust Him for the greater; trust Him for the +less. He has given you the greater--no doubt He will give you the less. +'The life is more than meat, and the body than raiment.' 'Which of you, +by taking thought, can add one cubit unto his stature? And why take ye +thought for raiment?' + +Then there is another thought. Look at God's ways of doing with all His +creatures. The animate and the inanimate creation are appealed to, the +fowls of the air and the lilies of the field, the one in reference to +food and the other in reference to clothing, which are the two great +wants already spoken of by Christ in the previous verses. I am not going +to linger at all on the exquisite beauty of these illustrations. Every +sensitive heart and pure eye dwell upon them with delight. The 'fowls of +the air,' the lilies of the field,' 'they toil not, neither do they +spin'; and then, with what an eye for the beauty of God's +universe,--'Solomon, in all his glory, was not arrayed like one of +these!' Now, what is the force of this consideration? It is +this--_There_ is a specimen, in an inferior creation, of the divine care +which _you_ can _trust_, you men who are 'better than they.' And not +only that:--_There_ is an instance, not only of God's giving things that +are necessary, but of God's giving more, lavishing beauty upon the +flowers of the field. I do not think that we sufficiently dwell upon the +moral and spiritual uses of beauty in God's universe. That everywhere +His loving, wooing hand should touch the flower into grace, and deck all +barren places with glory and with fairness--what does that reveal to us +about Him? It says to us, He does not give scantily: it is not the mere +measure of what is wanted, absolutely needed, to support a bare +existence, that God bestows. He 'taketh pleasure in the prosperity of +His servants.' Joy, and love, and beauty, belong to Him; and the smile +upon His face that comes from the contemplation of His own fairness +flung out into His glorious creation, is a prophecy of the gladness that +comes into His heart from His own holiness and more ethereal beauty +adorning the spiritual creatures whom He has made to flash back His +likeness. The flowers of the field are so clothed that we may learn the +lesson that it is a fair Spirit, and a loving Spirit, and a bountiful +Spirit, and a royal Heart, that presides over the bestowments of +creation, and allots gifts to men. + +But notice further, how much of the force of what Christ says here +depends on the consideration of the inferiority of these creatures who +are thus blessed; and also notice what are the particulars of that +inferiority. We read that verse, 'They sow not, neither do they reap, +nor gather into barns,' as if it marked out a particular in which their +free and untoilsome lives were superior to ours. It is the very +opposite. It is part of the characteristics that mark them as lower than +we, that they have not to work for the future. They reap not, they sow +not, they gather not;--are ye not much better than they? Better in this, +amongst other things, that God has given us the privilege of influencing +the future by our faithful toil, by the sweat of our brow and the labour +of our hands. These creatures labour not, and yet they are fed. And the +lesson for us is--much more may we, whom God has blessed with the power +of work, and gifted with force to mould the future, be sure that He will +bless the exercise of the prerogative by which He exalts us above +inferior creatures, and makes us capable of toil. You can influence +to-morrow. What you can influence by work, fret not about, for you _can_ +work. What you cannot influence by work, fret not about, for it is vain. +'They toil not, neither do they spin.' You are lifted above them because +God has given you hands that can grasp the tool or the pen. Man's crown +of glory, as well as man's curse and punishment, is, 'In the sweat of +thy brow shalt thou eat bread.' So learn what you have to do with that +great power of anticipation. It is meant to be the guide of wise work. +It is meant to be the support for far-reaching, strenuous action. It is +meant to elevate us above mere living from hand to mouth; to ennoble our +whole being by leading to and directing toil that is blessed because +there is no anxiety in it, labour that will be successful since it is +according to the will of that God who has endowed us with the power of +putting it forth. + +Then there comes another inferiority. 'Your heavenly Father feedeth +them.' They cannot say '_Father!_' and yet they are fed. You are above +them by the prerogative of toil. You are above them by the nearer +relation which you sustain to your Father in heaven. He is their Maker, +and lavishes His goodness upon them: He is your Father, and He will not +forget His child. They cannot trust: you can. They might be anxious, if +they could look forward, for they know not the hand that feeds them; but +you can turn round, and recognise the source of all blessings. So, +doubly ought you to be guarded from care by the lesson of that free +joyful Nature that lies round about you, and to say, 'I have no fear of +famine, nor of poverty, nor of want; for He feedeth the ravens when they +cry. There is no reason for distrust. Shame on me if I am anxious, for +every lily of the field blows its beauty, and every bird of the air +carols its song without sorrowful foreboding, and yet there is no +Father in heaven to them!' + +And the last Inferiority is this; 'To-day it is, and to-morrow it is +cast into the oven.' Their little life is thus blessed and brightened. +Oh, how much greater will be the mercies that belong to them who have a +longer life upon earth, and who never die! The lesson is not--These are +the plebeians in God's universe, and you are the aristocracy, and you +may trust Him; but it is--They, by their inferior place, have lesser and +lower wants, wants but for a bounded being, wants that stretch not +beyond earthly existence, and that for a brief span. They are blessed in +the present, for the oven to-morrow saddens not the blossoming to-day. +You have nobler necessities and higher longings, wants that belong to a +soul that never dies, to a nature which may glow with the consciousness +that God is your Father, wants which 'look before and after,' therefore, +you are 'better than they'; and 'shall He not much more clothe you, O ye +of little faith?' + +II. And now, in the second place, there is here another general line of +considerations tending to dispel all anxious care--the thought that it +is contrary to all the lessons of Religion, or Revelation, which show it +to be heathenish. + +There are three clauses devoted to the illustration of this thought: +'After all these things do the Gentiles seek'; 'your heavenly Father +knoweth that ye have need of all these things'; 'seek ye first the +kingdom of God, and His righteousness, and all these things shall be +added unto you.' + +The first clause contains the principle, that solicitude for the future +is at bottom heathen worldly-mindedness. The heathen tendency in us all +leads to an overestimate of material good, and it is a question of +circumstances whether that shall show itself in heaping up earthly +treasures, or in anxious care. These are the same plant, only the one is +growing in the tropics of sunny prosperity, and the other in the arctic +zone of chill penury. The one is the sin of the worldly-minded rich man, +the other is the sin of the worldly-minded poor man. The character is +the same in both, turned inside out! And, therefore, the words, 'ye +cannot serve God and Mammon,' stand in this chapter in the centre +between our Lord's warning against laying up treasures on earth, and His +warning against being full of cares for earth. He would show us thereby +that these two apparently opposite states of mind in reality spring from +that one root, and are equally, though differently, 'serving Mammon.' We +do not sufficiently reflect upon that. We say, perhaps, this intense +solicitude of ours is a matter of temperament, or of circumstances. So +it may be: but the Gospel was sent to help us to cure worldly +temperaments, and to master circumstances. But _the_ reason why we are +troubled and careful about the things of this life lies here, that our +hearts have taken an earthly direction, that we are at bottom heathenish +in our lives and in our desires. It is the very characteristic of the +Gentile (that is to say, of the heathen) that earth should bound his +horizon. It is the very characteristic of the worldly man that all his +anxieties on the one hand, and all his joys on the other, should be +'cribbed, cabined and confined' within the narrow sphere of the visible. +When a Christian is living in the foreboding of some earthly sorrow +coming down upon him, and is feeling as if there would be nothing left +if some earthly treasure were swept away, is that not, in the very root +of it, idolatry--worldly-mindedness? Is it not clean contrary to all +our profession that for us 'there is none upon earth that we desire +besides Thee'? Anxious care rests upon a basis of heathen +worldly-mindedness. + +Anxious care rests upon a basis, too, of heathen misunderstanding of the +character of God. 'Your heavenly Father knoweth that you have need of +all these things.' The heathen thought of God is that He is far removed +from our perplexities, either ignorant of our struggles, or +unsympathising with them. The Christian has the double armour against +anxiety--the name of the Father, and the conviction that the Father's +knowledge is co-extensive with the Father's love. He who calls us His +children thoroughly understands what His children want. And so, anxiety +is contrary to the very name by which we have learned to call God, and +to the pledge of pitying care and perfect knowledge of our frame which +lies in the words 'our Father.' Our Father is the name of God, and our +Father intensely cares for us, and lovingly does all things for us. + +And then, still further, Christ points out here, not only what is +the real root of this solicitous care--something very like +worldly-mindedness, heathen worldly-mindedness; but He points out what +is the one counterpoise of it--'seek first the kingdom of God.' It is of +no use only to tell men that they ought to trust, that the birds of the +air might teach them to trust, that the flowers of the field might +preach resignation and confidence to them. It is of no use to attempt to +scold them into trust, by telling them that distrust is heathenish. You +must fill the heart with a supreme and transcendent desire after the +one supreme object, and then there will be no room or leisure left for +anxious care after the lesser. Have inwrought into your being, Christian +man, the opposite of that heathen over-regard for earthly things. 'Seek +first the kingdom of God.' Let all your spirit be stretching itself out +towards that divine and blessed reality, longing to be a subject of that +kingdom, and a possessor of that righteousness; and 'the cares that +infest the day' will steal away from out of the sacred pavilion of your +believing spirit. Fill your heart with desires after what is worthy of +desire; and the greater having entered in, all lesser objects will rank +themselves in the right place, and the 'glory that excelleth' will +outshine the seducing brightness of the paltry present. Oh! it is want +of love, it is want of earnest desire, it is want of firm conviction +that God, God only, God by Himself, is enough for me, that makes me +careful and troubled. And therefore, if I could only attain unto that +sublime and calm height of perfect conviction, that He is sufficient for +me, that He is with me for ever,--the satisfying object of my desires +and the glorious reward of my searchings,--let life and death come as +they may, let riches, poverty, health, sickness, all the antitheses of +human circumstances storm down upon me in quick alternation, yet in them +all I shall be content and peaceful. God is beside me, and His presence +brings in its train whatsoever things I need. You cannot cast out the +sin of foreboding thoughts by any power short of the entrance of Christ +and His love. The blessings of faith and felt communion leave no room +nor leisure for anxiety. + +III. Finally, Christ here tells us, that thought for the morrow is +contrary to all the scheme of Providence, which shows it to be vain. +'The morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto +the day is the evil thereof.' + +I interpret these two clauses as meaning this: To-morrow has anxieties +enough of its own, alter and in spite of all the anxieties about it +to-day by which you try to free it from care when it comes. _Every_ +day--every day will have its evil, have it to the end. And every day +will have evil enough to task all the strength that a man has to cope +with it. So that it just comes to this: Anxiety,--it is all vain. After +all your careful watching for the corner of the heaven where the cloud +is to come from, there will be a cloud, and it will rise somewhere, but +you never know beforehand from what quarter. The morrow shall have its +own anxieties. After all your fortifying of the castle of your life, +there will be some little postern left unguarded, some little weak place +in the wall left uncommanded by a battery; and there, where you never +looked for him, the inevitable invader will come in. After all the +plunging of the hero in the fabled waters that made him invulnerable, +there was the little spot on the heel, and the arrow found its way +_there_? There is nothing certain to happen, says the proverb, but +the unforeseen. To-morrow _will have_ its cares, spite of anything +that anxiety and foreboding can do. It is God's law of Providence that a +man shall be disciplined by sorrow; and to try to escape from that law +by any forecasting prudence, is utterly hopeless, and madness. + +And what does your anxiety do? It does not empty to-morrow, brother, of +its sorrows; but, ah! it empties to-day of its strength. It does not +enable you to escape the evil, it makes you unfit to cope with it when +it comes. It does not bless to-morrow, but it robs to-day. For every +day has its own burden. Sufficient for each day is the evil which +properly belongs to it. Do not add to-morrow's to to-day's. Do not drag +the future into the present. The present has enough to do with its own +proper concerns. We have always strength to bear the evil when it comes. +We have not strength to bear the foreboding of it. 'As thy day, thy +strength shall be.' In strict proportion to the existing exigencies will +be the God-given power; but if you cram and condense to-day's sorrows by +experience, and to-morrow's sorrows by anticipation, into the narrow +round of the one four-and-twenty hours, there is no promise that 'as +_that_ day thy strength shall be.' God gives us (His name be +praised!)--God gives us power to bear all the sorrows of His making; but +He does not give us power to bear the sorrows of our own making, which +the anticipation of sorrow most assuredly is. + +Then: contrary to the lessons of Nature, contrary to the teachings of +Religion, contrary to the scheme of Providence; weakening your strength, +distracting your mind, sucking the sunshine out of every landscape, and +casting a shadow over all the beauty--the curse of our lives is that +heathenish, blind, useless, faithless, needless anxiety in which we do +indulge. Look forward, my brother, for God has given you that royal and +wonderful gift of dwelling in the future, and bringing all its glories +around your present. Look forward, not for life, but for heaven; not for +food and raiment, but for the righteousness after which it is blessed to +hunger and thirst, and wherewith it is blessed to be clothed. Not for +earth, but for heaven, let your forecasting gift of prophecy come into +play. Fill the present with quiet faith, with patient waiting, with +honest work, with wise reading of God's lessons of nature, of +providence, and of grace, all of which say to us, Live in God's future, +that the present may be bright: work in the present, that the future may +be certain! _They_ may well look around in expectation, sunny and +unclouded, of a blessed time to come, whose hearts are already 'fixed, +trusting in the Lord.' He to whom there are a present Christ, and a +present Spirit, and a present Father, and a present forgiveness, and a +present redemption, may well live expatiating in all the glorious +distance of the unknown to come, sending out (if I may use such a +figure) from his placid heart over all the weltering waters of this +lower world, the peaceful seeking dove, his meek hope, that shall come +back again from its flight with some palm-branch broken from the trees +of Paradise between its bill. And he that has no such present has a +future dark, chaotic, a heaving, destructive ocean; and over it there +goes for ever--black-pinioned, winging its solitary and hopeless +flight--the raven of his anxious thoughts, which finds no place to rest, +and comes back again to the desolate ark with its foreboding croak of +evil in the present and evil in the future. Live in Christ, 'the same +yesterday, and to-day, and for ever'; and _His_ presence shall make all +_your_ past, present, and future--memory, enjoyment, and hope--to be +bright and beautiful, because all are centred in Him. + + +JUDGING, ASKING, AND GIVING + + 'Judge not, that ye be not judged. 2. For with what judgment ye + judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall + be measured to you again. 3. And why beholdest thou the mote that + is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in + thine own eye? 4. Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull + out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own + eye! 5. Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own + eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of + thy brother's eye. 6. Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, + neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them + under their feet, and turn again and rend you. 7. Ask, and it shall + be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be + opened unto you: 8. For every one that asketh receiveth; and he + that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened. + 9. Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he + give him a stone? 10. Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a + serpent? 11. If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts + unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in + heaven give good things to them that ask Him? 12. Therefore all + things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so + to them: for this is the law and the prophets.'--MATT. vii. 1-12. + +I. How can we help 'judging,' and why should we not 'judge'? The power +of seeing into character is to be coveted and cultivated, and the +absence of it makes simpletons, not saints. Quite true: but seeing into +character is not what Jesus is condemning here. The 'judging' of which +He speaks sees motes in a brother's eye. That is to say, it is +one-sided, and fixes on faults, which it magnifies, passing by virtues. +Carrion flies that buzz with a sickening hum of satisfaction over sores, +and prefer corruption to soundness, are as good judges of meat as such +critics are of character. That Mephistophelean spirit of detraction has +wide scope in this day. Literature and politics, as well as social life +with its rivalries, are infested by it, and it finds its way into the +church and threatens us all. The race of fault-finders we have always +with us, blind as moles to beauties and goodness, but lynx-eyed for +failings, and finding meat and drink in proclaiming them in tones of +affected sorrow. How flagrant a breach of the laws of the kingdom this +temper implies, and how grave an evil it is, though thought little of, +or even admired as cleverness and a mark of a very superior person, +Christ shows us by this earnest warning, embedded among His fundamental +moral teachings. + +He points out first how certainly that disposition provokes retaliation. +Who is the Judge that judges us as we do others? Perhaps it is best to +say that both the divine and the human estimates are included in the +purposely undefined expression. Certainly both are included in fact. For +a carping spirit of eager fault-finding necessarily tinges people's +feelings towards its possessor, and he cannot complain if the severe +tests which he applied to others are used on his own conduct. A cynical +critic cannot expect his victims to be profoundly attached to him, or +ready to be lenient to his failings. If he chooses to fight with a +tomahawk, he will be scalped some day, and the bystanders will not +lament profusely. But a more righteous tribunal than that of his victims +condemns him. For in God's eyes the man who covers not his neighbour's +faults with the mantle of charity has not his own blotted out by divine +forgiveness. + +This spirit is always accompanied by ignorance of one's own faults, +which makes him who indulges in it ludicrous. So our Lord would seem to +intend by the figure of the mote and the beam. It takes a great deal of +close peering to see a mote; but the censorious man sees only the mote, +and sees it out of scale. No matter how bright the eye, though it be +clear as a hawk's, its beauty is of no moment to him. The mote +magnified, and nothing but the mote, is his object; and he calls this +one-sided exaggeration 'criticism,' and prides himself on the accuracy +of his judgment. He makes just the opposite mistake in his estimate of +his own faults, if he sees them at all. We look at our neighbour's +errors with a microscope, and at our own through the wrong end of a +telescope. We see neither in their real magnitude, and the former +mistake is sure to lead to the latter. We have two sets of weights and +measures: one for home use, the other for foreign. Every vice has two +names; and we call it by its flattering and minimising one when we +commit it, and by its ugly one when our neighbour does it. Everybody can +see the hump on his friend's shoulders, but it takes some effort to see +our own. David was angry enough at the man who stole his neighbour's ewe +lamb, but quite unaware that he was guilty of a meaner, crueller theft. +The mote can be seen; but the beam, big though it is, needs to be +'considered.' So it often escapes notice, and will surely do so, if we +are yielding to the temptation of harsh judgment of others. Every one +may be aware of faults of his own very much bigger than any that he can +see in another, for each of us may fathom the depth of our own +sinfulness in motive and unspoken, unacted thought, while we can see +only the surface acts of others. + +Our Lord points out, in verse 4, a still more subtle form of this harsh +judgment, when it assumes the appearance of solicitude for the +improvement of others, and He thus teaches us that all honest desire to +help in the moral reformation of our neighbours must be preceded by +earnest efforts at mending our own conduct. If we have grave faults of +our own undetected and unconquered, we are incapable either of judging +or of helping our brethren. Such efforts will be hypocritical, for they +pretend to come from genuine zeal for righteousness and care for +another's good, whereas their real root is simply censorious +exaggeration of a neighbour's faults; they imply that the person +affected with such a tender care for another's eyes has his own in good +condition. A blind guide is bad enough, but a blind oculist is a still +more ridiculous anomaly. Note, too, that the result of clearing our own +vision is beautifully put as being, not ability to see, but ability to +cure, our fellows. It is only the experience of the pain of casting out +a darling evil, and the consciousness of God's pitying mercy as given +to us, that makes the eye keen enough, and the hand steady and gentle +enough, to pull out the mote. It is a delicate operation, and one which +a clumsy operator may make very painful, and useless, after all. A rough +finger or a harsh spirit makes success impossible. + +II. Verse 6 comes in singular juxtaposition with the preceding warning +against uncharitable judgments. Christ's calling men dogs and swine does +not sound like obeying His own precept. But the very shock which the +words give at first hearing is part of their value. There are men whom +Jesus, for all His gentleness, has to estimate thus. His pitying eyes +were not blind to truth. It was no breach of infinite charity in Him to +see facts, and to give them their right names; and His previous precept +does not bid us shut our eyes, or give up the use of common sense. This +verse limits the application of the preceding one, and inculcates +prudence, tact, and discernment of character, as no less essential to +His servants than the sweet charity, slow to suspect and sorrowful to +expose a brother's fault. The fact that His gentle lips used such words +may well make us shudder as we think of the deforming of human nature +into pure animalism which some men achieve, and which is possible for +all. + +The inculcation of discretion in the presentation of the truth may +easily be exaggerated into a doctrine of reserve which is more +Jesuitical than Christian. Even when guarded and limited, it may seem +scarcely in harmony with the commission to preach the gospel to every +creature, or with the sublime confidence that God's word finds something +to appeal to in every heart, and has power to subdue the animal in every +man. But the divergence is only apparent. The most expansive zeal is to +be guided by prudence, and the most enthusiastic confidence in the +universal power of the gospel does not take leave of common sense. There +are people who will certainly be repelled, and perhaps stirred to +furious antagonism to the gospel and its messengers, if they are not +approached with discretion. It is bad to hide the treasure in a napkin; +it is quite as bad to fling it down before some people without +preparation. Jesus Himself locked His lips before Herod, although the +curious ruler asked many questions; and we have sometimes to remember +that there are people who 'will not hear the word,' and who must first +'be won without the word.' Heavy rains run off hard-baked earth. It must +first be softened by a gentle drizzle. Luther once told this fable: 'The +lion made a great feast, and he invited all the beasts, and among the +rest, a sow. When all manner of costly dishes were set before the +guests, the sow asked, "Have you no bran?" Even so, said he, we +preachers set forth the most dainty dishes,--the forgiveness of sins, +and the grace of God; but they turn up their snouts, and grub for +guilders.' + +This precept is one side of the truth. The other is the adaptation of +the gospel to all men, and the obligation on us to preach it to all. We +can only tell most men's disposition towards it by offering it to them, +and we are not to be in a hurry to conclude that men are dogs and swine. + +III. It may be a question whether, in verse 8, the emphasis is to be +laid on 'every one' or on 'that asketh,' or, in other words, whether the +saying is an assurance that the universal law will be followed in our +case, or a statement of the universal condition without which no +receiving is possible, and, least of all, the receiving of the gifts of +the kingdom by its subjects. In either case, this verse gives the reason +for the preceding exhortation. Then follows the tender illustration in +which the dim-sighted love of earthly fathers is taken as a parable of +the all-wise tenderness and desire to bestow which move the hand of the +giving God. There is some resemblance between an Eastern loaf and a +stone, and some between a fish and a serpent. However imperfect a +father's love, he will neither be cruel enough to cheat his unsuspecting +child with what looks like an answer to his wish but is useless or +hurtful, nor foolish enough to make a mistake. All human relationships +are in some measure marred by the faults of those who sustain them. What +a solemn attestation of universal sinfulness is in these words of +Christ's, and how calmly He separates Himself by His sinlessness from +us! I do not know that there is anywhere a stronger scriptural proof of +these two truths than this one incidental clause, 'ye, being evil.' I +wonder whether the people who pit the Sermon on the Mount against +evangelical Christianity are ready to take this part of it into their +creeds. It is noteworthy, also, that the emphasis is laid, not on the +earthly father's willingness, but on his knowing how to give good gifts. +Our Lord seems to think that He need not assure us of the plain truth +that of course our Father in heaven is willing, just because He is our +Father, to give us all good; but He heartens us with the assurance that +His love is wisdom, and that He cannot make any mistakes. There are no +stones mingled with our bread, nor any serpents among the fish. He gives +good, and nothing but good. + +IV. The great precept which closes the section is not only to be taken +as an inference from the immediately preceding context, but as the +summing up of all the duties to our neighbours, in which Christ has +been laying down the law of the kingdom from Matthew v. 17. This general +reference of the 'therefore' is confirmed by the subsequent clause, +'this is the law and the prophets'; the summing up of the whole past +revelation of the divine will, and therefore in accordance with our +Lord's previous exposition of the relation between His new law and that +former one. As Luther puts it in his vigorous, homely way, 'With these +words He now closes His instructions given in these three chapters, and +ties it all up in a little bundle.' + +But a connection may also be traced with the preceding paragraph. There +our desires were treated as securing God's corresponding gifts. Here our +desires, when turned to men, are regarded, not as securing their +corresponding conduct, but as obliging us to action. By taking our +wishes as the rule of our dealings with others, we shall be like God, +who in regard to His best gifts takes our wishes as the rule of His +dealings with us. Our desires sent heavenward procure blessings for us; +sent earthward, they prescribe our blessing of others. That is a +startling turn to give to our claims on our fellows. It rests on the +principle that every man has equal rights, therefore we ought not to +look for anything from others which we are not prepared to extend to +others. A. should give B. whatever A. thinks B. should give him. Our +error is in making ourselves our own centre, and thinking more of our +claims on others than of our obligations to them. Christ teaches us that +these are one. Such a principle applied to our lives would wonderfully +pull down our expectations and lift up our obligations. It is really but +another way of putting the law of loving our neighbours as ourselves. If +observed, it would revolutionise society. Nothing short of it is the law +of the kingdom, and the duty of all who call themselves Christ's +subjects. + +This is the inmost meaning, says Jesus, of the law and the prophets. All +former revelations of the divine will in regard to men's relations to +men are summed in this. Of course, this does not mean, as some people +would like to make it mean, that morality is to take the place of +religion, but simply that all the precepts touching conduct to men are +gathered up, for the subjects of the kingdom, in this one. 'Love worketh +no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.' + + +OUR KNOCKING + + 'Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, + and it shall be opened unto you.'--MATT, vii. 7. + +In the letter to the church at Laodicea, we read, 'Behold, I stand at +the door and knock.' The image is there employed to set forth the +tenderness and patience of the exalted Christ, who condescends to sue +for entrance into every human heart, and comes in with His hands full of +blessing. Now, it is very striking, I think, that the same symbol is +employed in this text in reference to _our_ duty. There is such a thing +as our knocking at some door for entrance and blessing. What is that +knocking? + +The answer which is popularly given, I suppose, is that all these three +injunctions in our text, 'Ask--seek--knock,' are but diverse aspects of +the one exhortation to prayerfulness. And that may, perhaps, exhaust +their meaning; but I am rather disposed to think that it is possible to +trace a difference and a climax in them. _To ask_ is obviously to apply +to a person who can give, and that is prayer. _To seek_ is not, as I +think, quite the same thing, but rather expresses the idea of effort, +the personal effort which ought to accompany and will accompany all real +prayer. And _to knock_ possibly adds to the conception of prayer and of +effort, the idea, as common to both of them, of a certain persistency +and continuity born of earnestness. So that we have here, as I think, a +threefold statement of the conditions under which certain great +blessings are given, and a threefold exhortation as to our Christian +duty. + +I. In considering these words I would first inquire to whom such +exhortations are rightly addressed. + +Now, it is to be remembered that these words occur in that great +discourse of our Lord's which is called the Sermon on the Mount. And for +the right understanding of that great embodiment of Christian morality, +and of its relations to the whole body of Christian truth, it is, I +think, very needful to remember that the Sermon on the Mount is +addressed to Christ's disciples, that it is the promulgation of the laws +of the kingdom by the King for His subjects; that it presupposes +discipleship and entrance into the kingdom, and has not a word to say +about the method of entrance. So that, though very many of its +exhortations are but the republication in nobler form of the common laws +of morality which are binding upon all men, and may be addressed to all +men, the form in which they appear in that Sermon, the connection in +which they stand, the height to which they are elevated, and the +motives by which they are enforced, all limit their application to men +who are truly followers and disciples of Jesus Christ. And this +consideration especially bears on these words of our text. + +The first exhortation which Christianity addresses to a man is not +'ask.' The first duty that a man has to discharge in regard to Christ +and His grace, and the revelation that is in Him, is neither to seek nor +to knock, but it is to take and to open. Christ knocks first, and when +He knocks we should say, 'Come in, Thou blessed of the Lord.' + +To bid a man pray, when he should be exhorted to believe, is to darken +the clearness of the divine counsel, and to narrow the fulness of the +divine grace. God does not wait to be asked for His mercy and His +pardon. Like the dew on the grass, He 'tarrieth not for man, nor waiteth +for the sons of men.' Before we call, He answers; and to say to people, +'Pray!' 'Seek!' 'Knock!' when the one thing to say is 'Take the gifts +that God sent you before you asked for them,' is folly, and has often +led to a course of painful and profitless struggling, which was all +unnecessary and wide of the mark. It is like telling a man to pray for +rain when the reservoirs at his side are full, and every flower is +bending its chalice, charged with the blessing. It is needless to tell a +man to seek for the treasure that is lying there at his side, and to +which he has only to turn his eyes and stretch out his hands. It is +folly to exhort a man to beat at a door that is standing wide open. The +door of God's grace is thus wide open, and the treasure of God's mercy +has come down, and the rain of God's forgiving love has dropped upon all +of us, and made the wilderness to rejoice. + +And so my message to some of you, dear brethren, is to say that you +have nothing whatever to do, primarily, with this text. You have neither +to ask, nor to seek, nor to knock, but to listen to Him, whose gentle +hand knocks at your hearts, and to open the door and let Him come in +with His grace and mercy. + +II. And now, in the next place, let me ask you to consider in what +region of life these promises are true. + +They sound at first as if they were dead in the teeth of the facts of +life. Is there any region of experience in which to ask is to receive, +to seek is to find, and in which every door flies open at our touch? If +there be, it is not in the ordinary work-a-day world in which you and I +live, where we all have to put up with a great many bitter +disappointments and refused requests, where we have all searched long +and sorely for some things that we have not found, and the search has +aged and saddened us. + +It seems to be perfectly certain that the distinct purpose which our +Lord here has in view, is to assert that the law of His Kingdom is the +direct opposite of the law of earthly life, and that the sad discrepancy +between desire and possession, between wish and fact, is done away with +for His followers. 'Be it unto thee even as thou wilt,' is the charter +of His Kingdom. + +Now, dear brethren, it does not want much wisdom to know that that would +be a very questionable blessing indeed, if it were taken to apply to the +outward circumstances of our lives. There are a good many people, in all +ages, and there are some people in this day, who set themselves up for +very lofty and spiritual Christians who have made deep discoveries as +to the power of prayer, and who seem to understand by it just exactly +this, that if a man will only pray for what he wishes instead of working +for it, he will get what he wishes. And I make bold to say that all +forms of so-called higher experience which involve anything like that +thought are, instead of being an exaltation, a degradation, of the very +idea of Christian prayer. For the meaning of prayer is not that I shall +force my will upon God, but that I shall bend my will to His. + +There is one region, and one only, in which it is true, absolutely, +unconditionally, without limitation, and always, that what we ask we +get, what we seek we find, and that the door at which we knock shall be +opened unto us; and that is not the region of outward, questionable, and +changeful good. + +Why, the very context of these words shows us that. It dwells upon the +discrimination of an earthly father in answering his child's requests; +and says: 'he knows how to give good gifts,' and 'so will your heavenly +Father.' And it takes an illustration which we may extend in that same +direction when it says, 'If a child ask a loaf, will the father give him +a stone? or if he ask for a fish, will he give him a serpent?' We may +turn the question and say: If the child ask for a serpent because he +fancies that it is a fish, will his father give him that? Or if he cast +his eye upon a thing which he imagines to be a loaf when it is only a +stone, will his father let him break his teeth upon that? Surely no! He +knows how to give good gifts, and an essential condition of that divine +knowledge of how to give good gifts is the knowledge of how to refuse +mistaken and foolish wishes. + +So let us be thankful that His divine providence does not spoil His +children, and make them, as all spoiled children are, a curse and a +misery to themselves and to everybody round about them; but He +disciplines them by a gracious 'No' as well as by a frank, glad 'Yes,' +and often refuses the petition and grants the deeper-lying meaning of +the same. + +Therefore, I say that the region in which this great and liberal charter +of entire response to our desires has force is simply and only the +spiritual region in which the highest good is. You may grow as Christian +men just as fast and just as far as you choose. A fuller knowledge of +God's truth, a more entire conformity to Christ's pattern, a deeper +communion with God--they are all possible for every one of us in any +measure to which we choose to set our expectations, and to shape our +desires and our actions. 'Open thy mouth wide and I will fill it.' The +stretch of the jaws determines the size of the portion that is put into +them; and He Himself who is the only real limit of His gifts, in His +endless fulness, always imparts to you and me just as much of Himself as +we like and wish to take. 'Ye are not straitened in Me, ye are +straitened in yourselves.' + +And oh! brethren, what a solemn light such thoughts as that throw on the +low attainments of our average Christianity! So many of us, like +Gideon's fleece, dry in the midst of the dew that comes down from +heaven! So many of us in the midst of the blessed sunshine of His grace, +standing like deep gorges on a mountain in cold shadow! How much you +have lying at hand; how little of it you take for your own! + +Suppose one of those old Spanish explorers in the sixteenth century had +been led into some of those rich Mexican treasure-houses, where all +round him were massive bars of gold and gleaming diamonds and precious +stones, and had come out from the abundance with sixpence-worth in His +palm, when he might have loaded himself with ingots of pure and +priceless metal. That is what some of you do, when Jesus Christ puts the +key of His storehouse in your hands and says to you, 'Go in and help +yourselves,' You stop as soon as you are within the threshold. You do +little more than take some insignificant corner nibbled off the great +solid mass of riches that might belong to you, and bear that away. The +only conclusion is that you do not care much about His wealth. Dear +brethren, you professing Christian people that are listening to me, if +life is scant in your veins, if your faith is, as it is with many of +you, all but dead, if your Christian character is very little better +than the character of the people round you, if your religion does not +give you any happiness, nor do other people much good, if your love is +so cold that it has almost expired, and your hopes dim, there is no +creature in heaven or earth or hell that is to blame for it but +yourselves. 'Ye have not because ye ask not; ye ask and have not because +ye ask amiss.' + +III. And that brings me to the last question, namely, on what conditions +these promises depend. + +'Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it +shall be opened.' I said at the beginning of these remarks that I traced +a difference between these three commands, and I take that difference +for granted now as the basis of the few words I have to say. The first +condition is--desires presented to Him who can grant them. To ask +implies the will of a person that will hear and respond and has the +power to bestow. That Person is God in Christ. Go and ask Him. We all +know that prayer is essential, and so I do not need to dwell upon it; go +and ask Him, and you will get what you need. + +Do you ever pray, you professing Christian people? I do not mean with +your mouths, but with your hearts; do you ever pray to be made less +worldly? Do you ever wish to be so? Do you ever really desire that your +love of this present should be diminished? Have you any appetite for +righteousness? Does it seem to you to be a good thing that you should +have less pleasure in the present and more joys in the future? Would you +like to be a devouter Christian than you are? I very much question it +about many of you. I am not hitting at individuals, but I am speaking +about the average type of professing Christians in this generation. + +If you desire it you will ask it. Is there any place in any of your +rooms where there is a little bit of carpet worn white by your knees? Or +do you pray when you are half asleep at night, and before you are well +awake in the morning, and scramble through a prayer as the necessary +preliminary to going to the work that really interests you, the work of +your trade or business? 'Ask, and ye shall receive.' + +The second condition is effort. 'Seek, and ye shall find.' There are a +great many things in this world that cannot be given to a wish. There +are a great many things in the Kingdom of Grace that Jesus Christ cannot +give to a mere wish. There must be my own personal effort if I am to +secure that which I desire. That is the reason why so many prayers seem +to go unanswered. Think of the thousands of supplications that will go +up in churches and chapels to-day for spiritual blessings. How comes it +that such an enormous proportion of these prayers will never be answered +at all? Well, if a man stand at the butts and shoot his arrow at a +target, and does not care enough for its fate to stand there long enough +to see whether it hits the bull's eye, the probability is that it will +never reach its aim. And if men pray, and pray, and pray, in public, and +then come out of their churches and chapels and not only forget all +about their prayers but never expect an answer to them, and do nothing +in their lives in accordance therewith, is there any wonder that they +are not answered? Men repeat the Lord's Prayer every morning, and ask +God day by day 'lead us not into temptation,' and then go out into daily +life, and are willing to fling themselves into temptation, and go +through the very thick of the fire of it, if there is a ten pound note +on the other side of the flame. And men ask God that He will help them +to 'grow in grace' and Christian character, and seldom do a single thing +that they know will promote that growth. All such prayer is vain and +unresponded to. With prayer there must go effort. + +And then, lastly, the third condition is continuity or persistence. +'Knock, and it shall be opened unto you,' 'Then there is such a thing as +a delay in these answers that you have been speaking about,' you say. +No! there is no delay, but there is such a thing as the beginning of a +long task; and therefore there is such a thing as the necessity for +persistent and continuous perseverance even in the offering of the +desires, which to express is to have satisfied; and in putting forth of +the efforts in which to seek is to find. ''Tis a lifelong task ere the +lump be leavened.' Eternal life is a gift, but the building of a +Christian character is the result of patient, continuous, well-directed +efforts to the appropriation and employment of the gift that we have +received. 'Forty-and-six years was this temple in building,' they said, +and it was not finished then. It will take more than forty-and-six years +to build up in my poor heart, full of rubbish and of evil, a temple to +the Holy Ghost. + +I need not insist upon the virtue of perseverance; that is a commonplace +written on the head of all copybooks, but let me remind you that in the +Christian life, as much as in any other, that virtue is needful, and +unless a man is content to do as Abraham Lincoln said, 'Keep pegging +away' at the duties of Christian life with continual effort, there is no +promise and no possibility that that man shall grow in grace. + +Now, two last words: one is, we want nothing more for the largest and +most blessed possession of the true riches and eternal joys of the +kingdom than the application to our Christian life of the very same +qualities, virtues, excellences, which we need for the successful +prosecution of our daily business. Dear brethren, draw for yourselves +the contrast between the eagerness with which you pursue that, and the +tepidity with which you pursue this. You know that effort and +perseverance are wanted there, and you do not grudge them; they are +wanted just as much here. Do you put them forth? Some of you are all +fire in the one place, and are all frost in the other. You Christian men +and women, give the kingdom as much as you give the world, and you will +be strong and growing Christians; but if you will not, do not wonder +that you are so feeble as you are. + +And the last remark I make is--this great symbol of my text which is +used in reference to our Lord's condescending beseechings for the +entrance into our hearts, and is also used, as we have seen, in +reference to our own continuity of prayerful effort, is used in another +and very solemn application, in words of His 'Many will seek to enter +in, and shall not be able, when once the Master of the house is risen +up, and hath shut to the door; and will begin to stand without and to +knock at the door, saying, Lord! Lord! open to us; and He'--He who said +'Knock, and it shall be opened'--'He shall answer and say to you, I know +you not whence ye are.' That you may escape that repulse, oh my friend! +do you open your heart now to the knocking Christ, and then, then, and +not till then, 'Ask!' that you may be filled with the treasures of His +love, 'seek!' that you may find the rich provision He has laid up for us +all, 'knock!' that door after door in the many mansions of the Father's +House may be opened unto you; until at last an entrance is ministered +abundantly into the everlasting kingdom, and you go in with the King to +the eternal feast. + + +THE TWO PATHS + + 'Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is + the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in + thereat: 14. Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, + which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.'--MATT. + vii. 13-14. + +A frank statement of the hardships and difficulties involved in a course +of conduct does not seem a very likely way to induce men to adopt it, +but it often proves so. There is something in human nature which +responds to the bracing tonic of the exhortation: 'By doing thus you +will have to face many hardships and many difficulties which you may +avoid by leaving it alone; but do it, because it is best in the long +run, being right from the beginning.' So the story of the martyrs' fires +has lighted many a man to the faith for which the martyr was burned. +Many a youth has been led to take the shilling and enlist by reading +accounts of wounds and battles and sufferings. + +Our Lord will have no soldiers in His army on false pretences. They +shall know exactly what they have to reckon on if they take service with +Him. And thus, in the solemn and familiar words of my text, He enjoins +each of us to become His disciples; and that not only because--as is +sometimes supposed--of the blessing that lies at the end for His +servants, but because of the very things on the road to the end which, +at first sight, seemed difficulties. For you will observe that in my +text the exhortation, 'Enter ye in at the strait gate,' is followed by +two clauses, each of which begins with a 'for'; the one being a +description of the road that is to be shunned; the other, an account of +the path that is to be followed. In each description there are four +contrasted particulars: the gate, strait or wide; the road, narrow or +broad; the travellers, many or few; and the ends, life or destruction. + +Now, people generally read these words as if our Lord was saying, +'_Though_ the one path is narrow and rugged and steep and unfrequented, +yet walk on it, because it leads to life; and _though_ the other +presents the opposite of all these characteristics, yet avoid it, +because pleasant and popular as it is, its end is destruction.' But that +is not what He says. All four things are reasons for avoiding the one +and following the other; which, being turned into plain English, is just +this, that we ought to be Christian people precisely because there are +difficulties and pains and sacrifices in being so, which we may ignobly +shirk if we like. It is not, _Though_ the road be narrow it leads to +life, therefore enter it; but _Because_ it is narrow, and leads to life, +therefore blessed are the feet that are set upon it. + +Let us, then, look at these four characteristics, and note how they all +enforce the merciful summons which our Lord is addressing to each of us, +as truly as He did to the hearers gathered around Him on the mountain: +'Enter ye in at the strait gate.' + +I. The gates. + +The gate is in view here merely as a means of access to the road, and +the metaphor simply comes to this, that it is more difficult to be a +Christian man than not to be one, and therefore you ought to be one. + +Now, what makes a Christian? We do not need to go further than this +Sermon on the Mount for answer. The two first of our Lord's Beatitudes, +as they are called, are 'Blessed are the poor in spirit,' and 'Blessed +are they that mourn.' These two carry the conditions of entrance on the +Christian life. There must be consciousness of our own emptiness, +weakness, and need; there must be penitent recognition of our own +ill-desert and lamentation over that. These two things, the +consciousness of emptiness, and the sorrow for sin, make--I was going to +say--the two door-posts of the narrow gate through which a man has to +press. It is too narrow for any of his dignities or honours. A camel +cannot go through the eye of a needle, not only because of its own bulk, +but because of the burdens which flap on either side of it, and catch +against the jambs. All my self-confidence, and reputation, and +righteousness, will be rubbed off when I try to press through that +narrow aperture. You may find on a lonely moor low, contracted openings +that lead into tortuous passages--the approaches to some of the ancient +'Picts' houses,' where a feeble folk dwelt, and secured themselves from +their enemies. The only way to get into them is to go down upon your +knees; and the only way to get into this road--the way of +righteousness--is by taking the same attitude. No man can enter +unless--like that German Emperor whom a Pope kept standing in the snow +for three days outside the gate of Canossa--he is stripped of +everything, down to the hair-shirt of penitence. And that is not easy. +Naaman wanted to be healed as a great man in the court of Damascus. He +had to strip himself of his offices, and dignities, and pride, and to +come down to the level of any other leper. You and I, dear brother, have +to go through the same process of stripping ourselves of all the +adventitious accretions that have clung to us, and to know ourselves +naked and helpless, before we can pass through the gate. + +Further, we have to go in one by one. Two cannot pass the turnstile at +the same time. We have to enter singly, as we shall have to pass through +the other 'dark gates, across the wild which no man knows,' at the end +of life. + +Because it is strait, it is a great deal easier to stop outside, as so +many of those to whom I speak are doing. For that, you have nothing to +do but to drift and let things drift. No decision nor effort is needed; +no coming out of yourselves. It is all as easy as it is for a wild +animal to enter in between the broadly extending palisades that converge +as they come nearer the trap, so that the creature is snared before he +knows. The gate is wide: that is the sure condemnation of it. It is +always easy to begin bad and unworthy things, of all sorts. And there is +nothing easier than to keep in the negative position which so many of my +audience, I fear me, are in, of not being a Christian. + +But, on the other side, it is not so hard as it looks to go in, and it +is not so easy as it seems to stop out. For there are two men in every +man--a better and a worse; and what pleases the one disgusts the other. +The choice which each of us has to make is whether we shall do the +things that are easiest to our worst self, or those that are easiest to +our best self. For in either case there will be difficulties; in either +case there will be antagonisms. + +But it is good for us to make the effort, apart altogether from the end. +If there were no life eternal at the far end of the road which at this +end has the narrow gate, it would contribute to all that is noblest and +best in our characters, and to the repression of all that is ignoble and +worst, that we should take that lowly position which Christ requires, +and by the heroism of a self-abandoning faith, fling ourselves into His +arms. + +Remember, too, that the strait gate, by reason of its very straitness, +is in the noblest sense wide. If there were anything else required of a +man than simply self-distrust and reliance on Jesus Christ, then this +great Gospel that I am feebly trying to preach would be a more +sectional and narrower thing than it is. But its glory is that it +requires nothing which any man is unable to bring, that it has no +invitation for sections, classes, grades of culture or intelligence or +morality, but that in its great cosmopolitanism and universality it +comes to every man; because it treats all as on one level, and requires +from each only what all can bring--knowledge of themselves as sinners, +and humble trust in Jesus Christ as a Saviour. It is narrow because +there is no room for sin or self-righteousness to go in; it is wide as +the world, and, like the capacious portals of some vast cathedral, ample +enough to receive without hustling, and to accommodate without +inconvenience, every soul of man. + +II. Notice the contrast of the two roads, which, in like manner, points +the exhortation to choose the better. + +The one is broad; the other is narrow. Which, being turned into plain +English, is just this--that the Christian course has limitations which +do not hamper the godless man; and that on the path of godlessness or +Christlessness there is a deceptive appearance of freedom and +independence which attracts many. + +'Narrow is the road.' Yes, if you are to be a Christian, you must have +your whole life concentrated on, and consecrated to, one thing; and, +just as the vagrant rays of sunshine have to be collected into a focus +before they burn, so the wandering manifoldnesses of our aims and +purposes have all to be brought to a point, 'This one thing I do,' and +whatsoever we do we have to do it as in God, and for God, and by God, +and with God. Therefore the road is narrow because, being directed to +one aim, it has to exclude great tracts on either side, in which people +that have a less absorbing and lofty purpose wander and expatiate at +will. As on some narrow path in Eastern lands, with high, prickly-pear +hedges on either side, and vineyards stretching beyond them, with +luscious grapes in abundance, a traveller has to keep on the road, +within the prickly fences, dusty though it may be, and though his +thirsty lips may be cracking. + +I remember once going to that strange island-fortress off the Normandy +coast, which stands on an isolated rock in the midst of a wide bay. One +narrow causeway leads across the sands. Does a traveller complain of +having to keep it? It is safety and life, for on either side stretches +the tremulous sand, on which, if a foot is planted, the pedestrian is +engulfed. So the narrow way on which we have to journey is a highway +cast up, on which no evil will befall us, while on each hand away out +to the horizon lie the treacherous quicksands. Narrowness is sometimes +safety. If the road is narrow it is the better guide, and they who +travel along it travel safely. Restrictions and limitations are of the +essence of all nobleness and virtue. 'So did not I because of the fear +of the Lord.' + +Set side by side with that the competing path. Wide? Yes! 'Do as you +like'--that is sufficiently wide. And even where that gospel of the +animal has not become the guide to a man, there are many occupations, +pursuits, recreations which men who lack the supreme concentration and +consecration that come through over mastering love to Jesus Christ who +has redeemed them, may legitimately in their own estimation do, but +which no Christian man should do. + +But, as I said before about the gates, it is not so easy as it looks to +walk the broad road, nor so hard as it seems to tread the narrow one. +For 'her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace'; +and, on the other hand, licentiousness and liberty are not the same +thing, and true freedom is not to do as you like, but to like to do as +you ought. Besides, the path which looks attractive, and tempts to the +indulgence of many appetites and habits which a Christian man must +rigidly subdue, does not continue so attractive. Earthly pleasures have +a strange knack of losing their charm, and, at the same time, increasing +their hold, with familiarity. Many a man who has plunged into some kind +of dissipation because of the titillation of his senses which he found +in it, discovers that the titillation diminishes and the tyranny grows; +and that when he thought that he had bought a joy, he has sold himself +slave to a master. + +So, dear friends, and especially you young people, let me beseech you +to be suspicious of courses of conduct which come to you with the +whisper, 'pleasant, sweet.' If you have two things before you, one of +which is easy and the other hard, ninety times out of a hundred it will +be safe for you to choose the hard one, and the odd ten times it will be +at least as well for you to choose it. 'Thus we travel to the stars.' As +one of our poets has it, 'the path of duty is the way of glory,' and +those that 'scorn delights and live laborious days,' and listen not to +the voices that say 'Come and enjoy this,' but to the sterner voice that +says 'Come and bear this'--these will + + 'Find the stubborn thistles bursting + Into glossy purples that outredden + All voluptuous garden roses.' + +So, because the road is narrow, therefore choose it. Because the other +path is wide, I beseech you to avoid it. + +III. Note the travellers. + +On the one road there are 'few,' on the other, by comparison,'many.' +That was true in Christ's time, and although the world is better since, +and many feet have trodden the narrow way, and have found that it leads +to life, yet I am afraid it is so still. + +Now, did you ever think, or do you believe, that the fact of a course of +conduct, or of an opinion, being the conduct or the opinion of a +majority, is _pro tanto_ against it? 'What _every_body says must be +true,' says the old proverb, and I do not dispute it. What _most_ +people say is, I think, most often false. And that is true about +conduct, as well as about opinion. It is very unsafe to take the general +sense of a community for your direction. It is unsafe in regard to +matters of opinion, it is even more unsafe in regard to matters of +conduct. That there are many on a road is no sign that the road is a +right one; but it is rather an argument the other way; looking at the +gregariousness of human nature, and how much people like to save +themselves the trouble of thinking and decision, and to run in ruts; +just as a cab-driver will get upon the tram-lines when he can, because +his vehicle runs easier there. So the fact that, if you are going to be +Christ-like Christians, you will be in the minority, is a reason for +being such. + +You young men in warehouses, and all of you in your different spheres +and circles, do not be afraid of being singular. And remember that Jesus +Christ, and one man with Him, though it is _Athanasius contra +mundum_, are always in the majority. + +Now that is good, bracing teaching, apart altogether from Christianity. +But I wish to bring it to bear especially in that direction. And so I +would remind you that after all, the solitude in which a man may have to +walk, if he sets Christ before him, and tries to follow Him with His +cross upon his shoulders, is only an apparent solitude. For, look, whose +footsteps are these on my path, not without spots of blood, where the +tender feet have trod upon thorns and briars? There has been Somebody +here before me. Who? 'Let him take up his cross and follow _Me_.' +And if we follow Him, the solitude will be like that in which the two +sad disciples walked on the Resurrection day, when a third came and +joined Himself to them. So a second will come to each of us, if we are +alone, and our hearts will burn within us. Nor shall we need to wait +till the repose of the evening and the breaking of bread, before we know +that 'it is the Lord'; nor, known and recognised, will He vanish from +our sides. + +Dear brethren, because 'few there be that go in thereat,' and walk +thereon, I beseech _you_ to go in through the door of faith, and to +walk in the way of Christ, who has left us an ensample that we should +follow in His steps. If of thee it can be said, as the great Puritan +poet said of one virgin pure, that thou + + '--Wisely hast shunned the broad way and the green, + And with those few art eminently seen + That labour up the hill of heavenly truth,'-- + +his assurance to her will be applicable to thee, and + + '--Thou, when the Bridegroom, with His feastful friends, + Passes to bliss at the mid-hour of night, + Hast gained thy entrance.' + +IV. That leads me to the last point--viz. the contrasted ends of these +two paths. + +Christ assumes the right to speak decisively and authoritatively with +regard to the ultimate issues of human conduct, in a way which, as I +believe, marks His divinity, and which no man can venture upon without +presumption. Of the one path He declares without hesitation that it +leads to life; of the other He affirms uncompromisingly that it 'leads +to destruction.' Now, I dare not dwell upon these solemn thoughts with +any enfeebling expansion by my own words, but I beseech you to lay them +to heart--only take the simple remark, as a commentary and an exposition +of the solemn meaning of these issues, that life does not mean mere +continuous existence, but, as it generally does upon His lips, means +that which alone He recognises as being the true life of such a creature +as man--viz. existence in union with Himself, the Source of life; and +that, conversely, destruction does not mean merely the cessation of +being, or what we call the destruction of consciousness and the +annihilation of a soul, but that it means the continued consciousness of +a soul rent away from Him in whom alone is life, and which therefore has +made shipwreck of everything, and has destroyed itself. + +There are the issues, then, before us, and I dare not blur the clear +distinction which Jesus Christ draws. I listen to Him, and accept His +word, and I press upon you, dear brethren, that the main thing about a +road is, after all, where it leads us; and I ask you to remember that +your life-path--as I try to remember that mine--is tending to one or +other of these two issues. The one path may be, and is, rough and steep +though its delights are nobler, more poignant, and more permanent than +any that can be found elsewhere. Steadily climbing like some mountain +railway, it reaches at last the short tunnel on the summit level, and +then dashes out into the blinding blaze of a new sunshine. The other +goes merrily enough, at first, downhill, but at last it comes to the +edge of the abyss, and there _it_ stops, but the traveller does +not. He goes over; and nobody can see the darkness into which he falls. + +Dear friends, Christ says, 'I am the Way.' Do you go to Him and cry, +'See if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me into the way +everlasting.' + + +THE TWO HOUSES + + 'Therefore, whosoever heareth these sayings of Mine, and doeth + them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon + a rock.... 25. And every one that heareth these sayings of Mine, + and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which + built his house upon the sand.'--Matt. vii. 24, 25. + +Our Lord closes the so-called Sermon on the Mount, which is really the +King's proclamation of the law of His Kingdom, with three pairs of +contrasts, all meant to sway us to obedience. The first is that of the +two ways: one broad, and leading down to abysses of destruction; the +other narrow, and leading up to shining heights of life. The second is +that of the two trees, one good and one bad, each bearing fruit +according to its nature; by which our Lord would teach us that conduct +is the outcome and revelation of character, and the test of being a +follower of His. The third is that of our text, the two houses on the +two foundations, and their fate before the one storm; by which our Lord +would teach us that the only foundation on which can be built a life +that will stand the blast of final judgment is His sayings and Himself. + +Now, there are many very important and profound links of connection and +relation between these three contrasted pictures, but I only point to +one thing here, and that is that in all of them Jesus Christ most +decisively divides all His hearers--for it is about them that He is +speaking--into two classes: either on the broad road or on the narrow, +not a foot in each; either the good tree or the bad; either the house +on the sand or the house on the rock. Such a sharp division is said +nowadays to be narrow, and to be contradicted by the facts of life, in +which the great mass of men are neither very white nor very black, but a +kind of neutral grey. Yes, they are--on the surface. But if you go down +to the bottom, and grasp the life in its inmost principles and essential +nature, I fancy that Jesus Christ's narrowness is true to fact. At all +events, there it is. + +Now, following out the imagery of our text, I wish to bring before you +the two foundations, the two houses, the one storm, the two endings. + +I. The two foundations: Rock, Sand. + +Now, to build on the Rock, Jesus Christ Himself explains to us as being +the same thing as to hear and do His sayings. The one representation is +plain fact, the other is metaphor which points precisely in the same +direction. It is scarcely a digression if I pause for a moment, and +point you to the singular and unique attitude which this Carpenter's Son +of Nazareth takes up here, fronting the whole race with that +'whosoever,' and alleging that _His_ sayings are an infallible law +for conduct, and that _He_ has the right absolutely to command +every man, woman, and child of the sons and daughters of Adam. And the +strange thing is that the best men have admitted His claim, have +recognised that He had the right, and have seen that His precepts are +the very ideal of human conduct, and, if they have ventured to criticise +at all, their criticism has only been that the precepts are too good to +be obeyed, and contemplate an ideal that is unreachable in human +society. Be that as it may, there stands the fact that this Man, in this +Sermon on the Mount, which so many people say has no doctrinal teaching +in it, assumes an attitude which nothing can warrant and nothing explain +except the full-toned belief that in Him we have God manifest in the +flesh. + +But what I desire to point to now is the significance of this demand +that He makes, that we shall take His sayings as the foundation of our +lives. The metaphor is a very plain one, by which the principles that +underlie or dominate and mould our conduct are regarded as the +foundation upon which we build the structure of our lives. But the +Sermon on the Mount is not all of these 'sayings of Mine.' It is +fashionable in certain quarters to-day to isolate these precepts, and to +regard them as being the part of Christian Revelation by which men who +set little store by theological subtleties, and reject the mysteries of +the Incarnation and the Atonement, may still abide. But I would have you +notice that it is absurd to isolate this Sermon on the Mount, or to deal +with it as if it were the very centre of the Christian Revelation. It is +nothing of the sort. Beautiful as it is, wonderful as it is as a high +ideal of human conduct, it is a law still, though it is a perfect law; +and it has all the impotences and all the deficiencies that attach to a +law, if you take it and rend it out of its place, and insist upon +dealing with it as if it stood alone. There is not a word in it that +tells you how to keep its precepts. There is no power in it, or raying +from it, to make a man obey any one of its commandments. It comes +radiant and beautiful, but imperative, and just because no man keeps it +to the full, its very beauty becomes menacing, and it stands there over +against us, showing us what we ought to be, and, by consequence, what we +are not. And is that all that Jesus Christ came into the world to do? +God forbid! If He had only spoken this Sermon on the Mount--which some +of you take for the _Alpha_ and the _Omega_ of Christianity as far as +you are concerned--He would not have been different in essence from +other teachers,--though high above them in degree,--who speak to us of +the shining heights of duty that we are to scale, but leave us +grovelling in the mire. + +The Sermon on the Mount, with its stringent requirements, absolutely +demands to be completed by other thoughts and other 'sayings of Mine.' +And so I remind you, not only that there are other 'sayings of Mine' to +be kept than it, but also that there is no keeping of it without keeping +other sayings first. For the highest of Christ's commandments is +'Believe also in Me,' and you have to take Him as your Redeemer and +Saviour from death before you will ever thoroughly accept Him as your +Guide and Pattern for life. We must first draw near to Him in humble +penitence and lowly faith, and then there comes into our hearts a power +which makes it possible and delightsome to keep even the loftiest, and +in other aspects the hardest, of 'those sayings of Mine.' So, brethren, +the obedience of which this text speaks is second, and the building of +ourselves on Jesus Christ Himself, by faith in Him, is first. Only when +we build on Him as our Saviour shall we build our lives upon Him in +obedience to His commands. + +'Behold! I lay in Zion for a foundation, a stone, a tried corner-stone, +a sure foundation, and he that believeth shall not make haste'; and long +after the prophet said that, the Apostle catches up the same thought +when he says, 'Other foundation can no man lay than that is laid. Let +every man take heed how he buildeth thereon.' Jesus Christ is the +foundation of our lives, if we have any true life at all. He ought to be +the foundation of all our thinking. His word should be the absolute +truth, His life the final all-satisfying, perfect revelation of God, to +our hearts. 'In Him are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.' +The facts of His Incarnation, earthly life, Death, Resurrection, +Ascension, and present Sovereignty--these facts, with the truths that +are deduced from them, and the great glimpses which they afford into the +heart of God and the depths of things, are the foundations of all true +thinking on moral and social and religious questions, and on not a few +other questions besides. Christ in His Revelation gives us the ultimate +truth on which we have to build. + +He is also the foundation of all our hope, the foundation of all our +security, the foundation of all our effort and aspiration. His Cross +goes before the nations and leads them, His Cross stands by the +individual, and anodynes the sense of guilt, and breaks the bondage and +captivity of sin, and stirs to all lofty emotions and holy living, and +moves ever in the van like the pillar of cloud and fire, the Pattern of +our lives and the Guide of our pilgrimage. It is Christ Himself who is +the foundation, and His death and sacrifice which are the sure basis of +our hope, safety, and blessedness; and it is only because He Himself is +the Foundation, and what He has done for us is the basis of hope and +blessedness, that He has the right to come to us and say, 'Take My +commandments as the foundation on which you build your lives.' + +The Rock of Ages cleft for us, is the Rock on which we build if we are +Christians; the other man built his house upon the sand. That is to say, +shifting inclinations, short-lived appetites, transitory aims, varying +judgments of men, the fashions of the day in morality, the changing +judgments of our own consciences--these are the things on which men +build, if they are not building upon Jesus Christ. Like a vessel that +has a raw hand at the helm, you sometimes head one way, and then the +puff of wind that fills your sails dies down, or the sails that were +flat as a board belly out a little, or you are caught in some current, +and round goes the bowsprit on another tack altogether. How many of us +are pursuing the objects which we pursued five-and-twenty years ago, if +we have numbered so many years? What has become of aims that were +everything to us then? We have won some of them, and they have turned +out not half as good as we thought they would be. The hare is never so +big when it is in the bag as when it is hurrying across the fields. We +have missed some of them, and we scarcely remember that we once wanted +them. We have outlived a great many, and they lie away behind us, hull +down on the horizon, and we are making for some other point that, in +like manner, if we reach it, will be left behind and be lost. There is +nothing that lasts but God and Christ, and the people that build their +lives upon them. + +I press upon all your hearts that one simple thought--what an absurdity +it is for us to choose for our life's object anything that is +shorter-lived than ourselves!--and how long-lived you are you know. They +tell us that sand makes a very good foundation under certain +circumstances. I believe it does, but what if the water gets in? What +about it then? But in regard to all these transitory aims and +short-lived purposes on which some of you are building your lives, there +is a certainty that the water will come in some day. So, friend, dig +deeper down, even to the Eternal Rock. That is the only foundation on +which an immortal man or woman like you is wise to build your life. Are +you doing it? + +II. Let me say a word, in the next place, about the two houses. + +The one is built upon the rock. That just means, of course--and I need +not enlarge upon that--a life which is based upon, and shaped after, the +commandments of Jesus Christ, His Pattern and Example. And that life +will stand. Now, of course, the ideal would be that the whole of His +sayings should enter into the whole of our lives, that no commandment of +that dear Lord should be left unobeyed, and that no action of ours +should be unaffected by His known will. That is the ideal, and for us +the task of wisdom is daily to draw nearer and nearer to that ideal, and +to bring the whole of our lives more and more under the sway and +sanctifying influence of the whole sum of Christ's precepts. Of course, +on the other side, the life that is built on the sand is the life which +is not thus regulated by Christ's will and known commandments. + +But I desire rather to bring out, in a word or two, some of the lessons +that may be gathered from this general metaphor of a man's life as a +house. And the first that I would suggest is this:--Have you ever +thought of your life as being a whole, with a definite moral +characteristic stamped upon it? I look upon the men and women that I +come across in the world, and I cannot help seeing that a great many of +them have never got into their heads the idea that their life is a +whole. A house? No. A cartload of bricks, tumbled down at random, would +be a better metaphor. A chain? No! A heap of links not linked. Many of +you live from hand to mouth. Many of you have such unity in your life as +comes from the pressure of the external circumstances of your trade or +profession. But for anything like the living consciousness that life is +a whole, with a definite moral character for which you are responsible, +it has never dawned upon your mind. And so you go on haphazard, never +bringing reflection to bear upon the trend and drift of your days; doing +what you must do because your occupation is this, that, or the other +thing; doing what you incline to do in the matter of recreation; now and +then sporadically, and for a minute or two, bringing conscience to bear, +and being very uncomfortable sometimes when you do. But as for +recognising the mystic solemnity of all these days of yours in that they +are welded together, and are all tending to one end, and that each +passing moment contributes its infinitesimal share to the awful solemn +whole--that has seldom entered your minds, and for a great many of you +it has never had any effect in restraining or stimulating or regulating +your conduct. + +Then there is another consideration which this metaphor suggests--viz. +that the house is built up by slow degrees, brick upon brick, course by +course, day by day, and moment by moment. It is slow work, but certain +work. 'Let every man take heed how he buildeth,' and never despise the +little things. Very small bricks make a large house. + +Then there is another consideration that I would suggest, and that is, +you have to live in the house that you build. Your deeds make the house +that Christ is here speaking of. Like the chrysalis that spins out of +its own entrails the cocoon in which it lies, so are you spinning, to +vary the metaphor, what you lodge in, until you eat your way through it, +and pass into the next stage of being. Our deeds seem transient, but +although we are building on the sand we are building for Eternity, +because, though the deeds are transient in appearance, they abide. + +They abide in memory. Some of you know how true that is. Black memories +haunt some of us, and there could be for some no worse hell than that +God should say, 'Son, remember.' You have to live in the house that you +build. The deeds abide in habit. They abide in limiting and determining +what we can be and do in the future; and in a hundred other ways that I +must not touch upon. Only, I bring to you this question, and I pray God +that you may listen to it and answer it: What are you building? A shop? +That is a noble ambition, is it not? A pleasure-house? That is worse. A +prison? Some of you are rearing for your incarceration a jail where you +will be tied and held by the cords of your sins, and whence you will be +unable to break out. Or are you building a temple? If you are building +on Christ it is all right. Only take heed _what_ you build on that +foundation. + +III. Now let me say a word, in the next place, about the storm. + +I need not dwell upon the picturesque force of our Lord's description, +so true to the sudden inundations of Eastern lands, and as true to the +sudden floods of Northern countries when the snows melt. The house is +attacked on all sides. From above, the rain comes down to beat on the +roof, the wind rages round the walls, the flood comes swirling round the +eaves from beneath, and if the house stands upon a cliff, the polished +rock turns the flood off innocuous, but if it stands upon sand, the +furious rush of waters eats a way beneath and undermines the whole. + +But you will notice that the description of the storm is repeated in +both cases, and is _verbatim_ the same in each. And the lesson from that +is just this--let no Christian man fancy that he is not going to be +judged according to his works, for he is. The storm that comes, which I +take distinctly to mean the final judgment which falls upon all men, +beats against the house that is built upon the rock. For every one of +us, Christian or not Christian, 'must all appear before the Judgment +Seat of Christ, that we may receive according to the deeds done in the +body.' Christian people, do not fancy that the great doctrine of +forgiveness of sins and acceptance in the Beloved, means that you have +not to stand His judgment according to your works. According to the +other metaphor of the Apostle, working out the same idea with some +changes in figure, the Christian man who builds 'upon the foundation +gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble,' has his 'work tried +by fire.' So all of us have to face that prospect, and I beseech you to +face it wisely. A sensible builder calculates the strain to which his +work will be exposed before he begins to put it up. Or if he does not +there will befall it the same fate that years ago befell that +unfortunate Tay Bridge, where, by reason of girders too feeble, and +piers not solid enough, and rivets left out where they should have been +put in, one December night the whole thing went over into the water +below. You have to stand the hurtling black storm. Take into account the +strain which your building will have to resist, and build accordingly. + +IV. And now, lastly, one word about the two endings. + +'It stood'; 'it fell'; that is all. A life of obedience to Christ is +stable, a life not based on Christ vanishes; and these two statements +are true because whatsoever a man does for himself, apart from God in +Christ, he is sowing to corruption, and he will reap corruption. As I +said, nothing lasts but God, and what is done according to the will of +God. And when the storm comes, whether the builder was a Christian man +or not, all which was not thus built on Christ will be swept away, as +the flimsy habitation of Eastern people, made of bamboos and oiled +paper, are whirled away before the typhoon. All that was not built upon +Christ--and much of you Christian people's lives is not built on +Christ--will have to go. + +And what about the builders? 'If any man's work abide he will receive a +reward.' 'Their works do follow them.' 'If any man's work is burned, he +himself shall be saved, yet so as by fire.' And if any man has reared a +structure of a life ignoring Jesus Christ, and with no connection with +Him, then house and builder will perish together. + +Jesus Christ does not speak in my text about the righteousness or the +unrighteousness of these two courses of conduct. He does not say, 'a +_good_ man does so-and-so, or a _bad_ man does the other thing,' but he +says: A _wise_ man builds his house on the Rock, and a _foolish_ man +builds his on the sand. To live by faith and obedience is supreme +wisdom. Every life which is not built upon Christ is the perfection of +folly. + + +THE CHRIST OF THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT + + 'And it came to pass, when Jesus had ended these sayings, the + people were astonished at His doctrine: 29. For He taught them as + one having authority, and not as the scribes.'--MATT. vii. 28-29. + +It appears, then, from these words, that the first impression made on +the masses by the Sermon on the Mount was not so much an appreciation of +its high morality, as a feeling of the personal authority with which +Christ spoke. Had the scribes, then, no authority? They ruled the whole +life of the nation with tyrannical power. They sat in Moses' seat, and +claimed all manner of sway and control. And yet when people listened to +Jesus, they heard something ringing in His voice that they missed in the +rabbis. They only set themselves up, in their highest claims, as being +commentators upon, and the expositors of, the Law. Their language was +'Moses commanded'; 'Rabbi _this_ said _so-and-so_; Rabbi _that_ said +_such-and-such_.' But as even the crowd that listened to Him detected, +Jesus Christ, in these great laws of His kingdom, adduced no authority +but His own; stood forth as a Legislator, not as a commentator; and +commanded, and prohibited, and repealed, and promised, on His own bare +word. That is a characteristic of all Christ's teaching; and, as we see +from my text, to the apprehension of the first auditors, it was deeply +stamped on the Sermon on the Mount. + +I purpose to turn to that Sermon now, and try if we can make out the +points in it which impressed these people, who first heard it, with the +sense that they were in the presence of an autocratic Voice that had a +right to speak, and which did speak, with absolute and unexampled +authority. + +And I do that the more readily because I dare say you have all heard +people that said 'Oh! I do not care about the dogmas of Christianity; +give me the Sermon on the Mount and its sublime morality; that is +Christianity enough for me.' Well, I should be disposed to say so pretty +nearly too, if you will take _all_ the Sermon on the Mount, and not go +picking and choosing bits out of it. For I am sure that if you will take +the whole of its teaching you will find yourself next door to, if not in +the very inmost chamber of, the mysticism of the Gospel of John and the +theology of Paul. + +I. I ask you, then, to note that the Sermon claims for Jesus Christ the +authority of supremacy above all former revelation and revealers. + +'Think not,' says He, 'that I am come to destroy the law or the +prophets; I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.' And then He goes on, +in five cases, to illustrate, in a very remarkable way, the authority +that He claimed over the former Law, moulding it according to His will. + +Now I do not propose to do more than suggest, in a sentence, two points +that I think of importance. Observe that remarkable form of speech, 'I +am come.' May we not fairly say that it implies that He existed before +birth, and that His appearance among men was the result of His own act? +Does it not imply that He was not merely born, but _came_, choosing to +be born just as He chose to die? In what sense can we understand the +Apostle's view that it was an infinite and stupendous act of +condescension in Christ to 'be found in fashion as a man,' unless we +believe that by His own will and act He came forth from the Father and +entered into the world, just as by His own will and act He left the +world and went unto the Father? + +But I do not dwell upon that, nor upon another very important +consideration. Why was it that Jesus Christ, at the very beginning of +His mission, felt Himself bound to disclaim any intention of destroying +the law or the prophets? Must not the people have begun to feel that +there was something revolutionary and novel about His teaching, and that +it was threatening to disturb what had been consecrated by ages? So that +it was needful that He should begin His career with this disclaimer of +the intention of destruction. Strange for a divine messenger, if He +simply stood as one in the line and sequence of divine revelation, to +begin His work by saying, 'Now, I do not mean to annihilate all that is +behind Me!' The question arises how anybody should have supposed that He +did, and why it should ever have been needful for Him to say that He did +not. + +But I pass by all that, and ask you to think how much lies in these +words of our Lord: 'I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.' They imply +a claim that His life was a complete embodiment of God's law. Here is a +man beginning His ministry as a religious teacher, with the assertion, +stupendous, and, upon any other lips but His, insane arrogance, that He +had come to do everything which God demanded, and to set forth before +the world a living Pattern of the whole obedience of a human nature to +the whole law of God. Who is He that said that? And how do we account +for the fact that nineteen centuries have passed, and, excepting in the +case of here and there a bitter foe whose hostility had robbed him of +his common sense, no lip has ventured to say that He claimed too much +for Himself when He said, 'I am come to fulfil the law'; or that He +falsely read the facts of His own experience and consciousness when He +declared, 'I have finished the work which Thou gavest Me to do.' + +Still further, here our Lord claims specifically and expressly to fulfil +not only law but prophets. That is to say, He sets Himself forth as the +Reality which had filled the imaginations and the hearts of a whole +nation for centuries; as the living Reality which had been meant by all +those lofty words of seers and prophets in the past. He declares that +all those rapturous forecastings, all those dim anticipations, all those +triumphant promises, were not left to swing _in vacuo_, or to float +about unfulfilled, but that He stood there, the actual Realisation of +them all; and in Him, wrapped up as in a seed, the Kingdom of Heaven was +among men. + +And still further, He claims not only personal purity and completeness, +and the fulfilment of all prior and prophetic anticipation, but also He +claims to have, and He exercises, the power of moulding, expanding, +interpreting, and in some cases brushing aside, laws which He and they +alike knew to be the laws of God. I do not need to specify in detail the +instances which are contained in this Sermon on the Mount. But I simply +ask you to consider the formula with which our Lord introduces each of +His references to that subject. 'Ye have heard that it hath been said to +them of old time' so-and-so,--and then follows a command of the Mosaic +law; but '_I_ say unto you' so-and-so,--and then follows a deepening or +a modification or a repeal, of statutes acknowledged by Him and His +hearers to be divine. He certainly claims to speak with the same right +and authority as the old Law did. He as certainly claims to speak with +incomparably higher authority than Moses did, for the latter never +professed to give precepts of his own. He was not the Lawgiver, as he is +often called, but only the messenger of the Lawgiver. But Christ is +Himself the fountain of the laws of His Kingdom. Nor only so, but He +puts Himself without apology or explanation in front of Moses and +asserts power to modify, to set aside, or to re-enact with new +stringency, the precepts of the divine law. + +One supposition alone accounts for Christ's attitude to law and prophets +in this Sermon, and that is that the Eternal Wisdom and Personal Word of +God, which at sundry times and in 'divers manners' spake to the old +world by Moses, itself at last, in human form and personal guise, came +here on earth and spake to us men. It is the same Voice that breathed +through the prophets of old, and that spake on the lips of the Christ of +Nazareth; the same Eternal Word who manifested Himself in a 'fiery law' +on Sinai, and in words of no less majesty and of deepened gentleness, +when He gathered the people round about Him, and said to them, 'It hath +been said to them of old time, ... but _I_ say unto you ...' + +Here is the sum and climax of all revelation, the last word of the +divine mind and will and heart, to the world. Moses and Elias stand +beside Him on the Mount of Transfiguration, witnesses of His superiority +and servants at His feet, and they vanish into mist and darkness, and +leave there, erect, white-robed, solitary, the unique figure of the One +Lawgiver and the perfect Revealer of God to men. + +And this is the authority which struck even on the unsusceptible hearts +of the listening crowds. + +II. Still further, let me ask you to consider how, in this same great +Sermon, He claims the authority of One who is unique in His relation to +the Father. + +You will find that in it there occurs very frequently the expression, +'_your_ Father which is in Heaven'; or sometimes with the +variation,'_thy_ Father which is in Heaven,' or, 'which seeth in +secret.' But you will also find that whilst our Lord speaks about '_My_ +Father which is in Heaven,' He never says '_our_ Father'; excepting in +the exception which proves the rule when He is putting into the lips of +His disciples the great formula of prayer which we call the 'Lord's +Prayer'; and there speaking as through their consciousness, and teaching +them their lesson, He says '_Our_ Father,' not as if He Himself were +praying, but as if He were telling them how to pray. But when He speaks +out of His own consciousness He speaks of '_My_ Father' and '_your_ +Father,' never of '_our_ Father.' + +And that corresponds with other phenomena in Scripture in our Lord's own +language where you find that always He draws this broad distinction. He +never associates Himself with us in His Sonship. He ever asserts that He +is _the_ Son of God. Even when He wishes to speak with the utmost +tenderness, He bids the weeping Mary hear the message, 'I go unto My +Father and your Father.' This doctrine is thought by many to be one of +those which they get rid of by professing the Christianity of the Sermon +on the Mount. But it is there as plainly as in other parts of Scripture. +If we accept all which it teaches, we cannot escape from the belief that +He is the only begotten and well-beloved Son of the Father; and also +that through Him and in Him we, too, may receive the adoption of sons. + +Dear friends, I press this upon you as no mere piece of hard theological +doctrine, but as containing in it the very essentials of all spiritual +life for each of us, that all our spiritual life must come by +participation in Christ, and that we enter into an altogether new and +blessed relation to God when, laying our humble and penitent hands on +the head of that dear Sacrifice that died on the Cross for as, we +through Him cease to be children of wrath and become heirs of God. 'To +as many as received Him, to them gave He authority to become the +children of God, even to them that believe in His name,' but His Sonship +stands unique and unapproachable, though it is the foundation from which +flows all the sonship of the whole family in heaven and in earth. Moses +and the prophets, teachers and guides, Apostles and Helpers, they are +all but the servants of the family; this is the Son through whom we +receive the adoption of sons. + +III. We have in this great discourse the authority of One who is +absolute Lord and Master over men. + +'Not every one that saith unto me, Lord! Lord! shall enter into the +Kingdom of Heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, Lord! Lord! have we +not prophesied in Thy name, and in Thy name done many wonderful works?' +'Whoso heareth these sayings of Mine, and doeth them, I will liken him +to a wise man, which built his house upon a rock.' + +Jesus Christ here comes before the whole race, and claims an absolute +submission. His word is to control, with authoritative and +all-comprehensive scrutiny and power, every aim of our lives, and every +action. In His name we may be strong, in His name we may cast out +devils, in His name we may do many wonderful works. If we build upon Him +we build upon a rock; if we build anywhere else we build upon the sand. + +Strange, outrageous claims for a _man_ to make! 'Give me the Sermon on +the Mount, and keep your doctrinal theology,' say people. But I want to +know what kind of morality it is that is all traceable up to this--'Do +as I bid you, My will is your law; My smile is your reward; to obey Me +is perfection.' I think that takes you a good long way into 'theology.' +I think that the Man who said that--and you all know that He said +it--must he either a good deal more or a good deal less than a perfect +man. If He is only that He is not that; for if He is only that, He has +no business to tell me to obey Him. He has no business to substitute His +will for every other law; and you have no business--and it will be at +the peril of your manhood if you do--to take any man, the Man Christ or +any other, as an absolute example and pattern and master. + +My brethren, Christ's claim to absolute obedience rests upon His divine +nature and on His redeeming work. He has delivered us from our enemies, +and therefore He commands us. He has given Himself for us, and therefore +He has a right to say, 'Give yourselves to Me.' He is God manifest in +the flesh, and therefore absolute power becomes His lips, and utter +submission is our dignity. To say to Him 'Lord, Lord,' carries us whole +universes beyond saying to Him, 'Rabbi, Rabbi.' + +IV. And now, lastly, we have in this great discourse the authority of +our Lord set forth as being the authority of Him who is to be the Judge +of the world. + +'Then will _I_ profess unto you I never knew you; depart from _Me_, ye +that work iniquity.' He, the meek, the humble, who never claimed for +Himself anything except what His consciousness compelled Him to assert, +who desired only that men should know Him for what He was, because it +was their life so to know Him, here declares that the whole world is to +be judged by Him, that He has such knowledge of men as will pierce +beneath the surface of professions and will be undazzled by the most +stupendous miracles, and beneath the eloquent words of many a preacher +and the wonderful works of many a so-called Christian philanthropist, +will see the hidden rottenness that they never saw, and, tearing down +the veil, will reveal men at the last to themselves. + +That is no human function, that is no work that belongs to a mere +teacher, pattern, martyr, sage, philosopher, or saint. That is a divine +work; and the authority of Him whose final word to each of us will +settle beyond appeal our fate, and reveal beyond cavil our character, is +a divine authority. He has a right to command because He is going to +judge; and the lips that declare the law are the lips that will read the +sentence. + +So, my brethren, do you take the whole Christ for yours, the Son of God, +the crown and end of revelation, the sinless and the perfect, who died +on the Cross for our salvation, and loves and pities, and is ready to +help every one of us; who, therefore, commands us with an absolute +authority, and who one day comes to be our Judge? If you turn to Him and +ask Him, 'Art Thou He that should come?' let Him speak for Himself, and +He will answer you: 'I that speak unto thee am He.' When He asks each of +us, as He does now, 'Whom sayest thou that I am?' oh that we may all +answer, with the assent of our understandings, with the love of our +hearts, with the submission of our wills, 'Thou art the Christ, the Son +of the living God.' + + +THE TOUCH THAT CLEANSES + + 'When He was come down from the mountain, great multitudes followed + Him. 1. And, behold, there came a leper and worshipped Him, saying, + Lord, if Thou wilt, Thou canst make me clean. 3. And Jesus put + forth His hand, and touched him, saying, I will; he thou clean. And + immediately his leprosy was cleansed. 4. And Jesus saith unto him, + See thou tell no man; but go thy way, shew thyself to the priest, + and offer the gift that Moses commanded, for a testimony unto + them.'--MATT. viii. 14. + +THE great collection of Jesus' sayings, which we call the Sermon on the +Mount, is followed by a similar collection of Jesus' doings, which we +call miracles. It is significant that Matthew puts the words first and +the works second, as if to teach us the relative importance of the two. +Some one has said that miracles are 'the bell rung before the sermon,' +but Matthew thinks that the sermon comes first. He masses together nine +miracles (the raising of Jairus' daughter and the healing of the woman +with the bloody issue being so closely connected that they may be +regarded as one) which are divided into three groups of three each, and +are separated by three sections of more general character, like three +landings in a broad flight of stairs, or three breaks in a procession +(ch. viii. 18-22; ix. 9-17, 35-38). + +The first triplet comprises miracles of bodily healing, and shows Jesus +as the great physician, curing leprosy, palsy, and fever, three types of +disease which have their analogues in the moral world. The cure of the +leper comes first, apparently not from chronological reasons, but +because leprosy had been made by the Old Testament legislation the +symbol of sin. The story is found in all the Synoptic Gospels, with +slight variations, which make more impressive their verbal identity in +reporting the leper's appeal and the Lord's answer. + +A leper had to keep apart from men and was shunned by them, but this one +ventured to mingle with the 'great multitudes' that 'followed' Jesus, +till he reached His side. He must have known something of Christ to have +approached Him with a flicker of long-absent hope in his heart. No doubt +he had heard of some of the earlier miracles; and no doubt the crowd +recoiled from him so that he could easily reach Jesus. When he got there +he worshipped, or, as Luke puts it, 'fell on his face,' and made his +appeal. It would be all the more piteous, because it was spoken in that +feeble, hoarse voice characteristic of leprosy, and it was in itself +most pathetic. The poor creature has won his way to a surprising +confidence, dashed with a yet more surprising diffidence and doubt. He +is sure of the power, but not of the willingness, of this wonderful +healer. 'Thou canst,' does not make him confident, because it is +weakened by 'If Thou wilt.' Faith, desire, humility, and submissiveness +are beautifully smelted together in the wistful words, which are all the +more prevalent a prayer, because they do not venture to take the form of +prayer. To tell Jesus that His will was all that was needed to heal him +was, as it were, to throw the responsibility for this continued misery +on Him who could so easily deliver, if He only willed to do it. But the +hope which gleamed before his poor eyes was only a gleam, obscured by +his ignorance of Jesus' disposition towards him. The lowly acquiescence, +with which he leaves Jesus to decide whether he is to be freed from his +horrible, living death, is very beautiful, and speaks of a patient, +disciplined spirit, as well as of a profound insight into our Lord's +authority. The leper does cling to the hope that Jesus does will to heal +him, but he will not rebel if he is left shut up in his prison-house. +Surely in such a blending of trust, yearning, and acceptance of that +Will, whatever it involved, there was the germ of discipleship. Surely +there was, at least, the beginning of a living union with Jesus, which +would heal more than the leprosy of the flesh. + +Mark gives the precious addition to the narrative, of a glimpse into the +heart of Jesus, when he tells us that, 'moved with compassion,' He 'put +forth His hand and touched him.' Swift and, we may almost say, +instinctive was the outgoing of pity from the heart, which was so +pitiful because it was so pure, and laid on itself every man's sorrow +because it carried no burden of its own sin or self-regard. That touch +had deep meaning, but it was not done for the sake of a meaning. It was +the spontaneous expression of love, and revealed the delicate quickness +of perception of another's feelings which flows from love only. The +leper had almost forgotten what the touch of a hand felt like. He had +lived, ever since his disease was manifest, apart from others, had +perhaps lost the embraces of wife and children, had walked alone in +crowds, and had a heart-chilling circle cleared round him everywhere. +But now this Man stretches His hand across the dreary gulf, and lets him +feel once more the sweetness of a warm and gentle touch. It was half +the cure; it was the complete clearing away of the last film of the +cloud of doubt as to the will of Jesus. It answered the 'if' by +something that spoke louder than any word. And, though it was not meant +for anything but the silent voice of pity and love, we do not rob it of +its beautiful spontaneity when we see, in the touch of that pure hand on +the rotting feculence of leprosy, a parable of the Incarnation, in which +He lays hold on our flesh of sin and is yet without sin--contracts no +defilement by contact, but by touching cleanses the foulness on which He +lays His white fingers. By that touch He proclaimed Himself the priest, +to whom the Law gave the office of laying his hand on the leper. + +But the great word accompanying the touch is majestic in its brevity and +absolute claim to absolute power. Jesus accepts the leper's lofty +conception of His omnipotent will, as He always accepted the highest +conceptions that any formed of His person or authority. The sovereign +utterance, 'I will,' claims possession of the divine prerogative of +affecting dead matter by the mere outgoing of His volition. Not only is +it true of Him that 'He spake and it was done,' but He willed and it was +done; and these are the hall-marks of divine power. Neither the touch of +His hand nor the word of His lips cleansed the leper, but simply the +exercise of His will, of which word and touch were but audible and +visible tokens for sense to grasp. The form of the poor husky croak for +help determined the form of the answer, and the correspondence is marked +by all the evangelists as a striking instance of Christ's loving way of +echoing our petitions in His replies, and moulding His gifts to match +our desires. Thunder in heaven wakes echoes on earth, but more wonderful +is it that the thin voice of our supplications, when we scarcely dare to +shape them into prayers, should wake a voice from the throne, which, +though it is mighty as 'the voice of many waters' and sweet as that of +'harpers harping with their harps,' deigns to echo our poor cries. + +The prohibition to speak of the cure till the priests had pronounced it +real and complete is more stringent in Mark, who also tells how utterly +it was disregarded. Its reason was obviously the wish to comply with the +law, and also the wish to get the official seal to the cure. Jesus did +desire the miracle to be known, but not till it was authoritatively +certified by the priest whose business it was to pronounce a sufferer +clean. It was for the leper's advantage, too, that he should have the +official certificate, since he would not be restored to society without +it. One does not wonder that the prohibition was disregarded in the +uncontrollable delight and wonder at such an experience. The leper was +eloquent, as we all can be, when our hearts are engaged, and his +blessing refused to be hid. Alas, how many of us, who profess to have +been cleansed from a worse defilement, find no such impulse to speak +welling up in ourselves! Alas, how superfluous is the injunction to +hundreds of Christ's disciples: 'See thou say nothing to any man'! + + +THE FAITH WHICH CHRIST PRAISES + + 'The centurion answered and said: Lord, I am not worthy that Thou + shouldest come under my roof, but speak the word only, and my + servant shall be healed. 9. For I am a man under authority, having + soldiers under me: and I say to this man, Go! and he goeth; and to + another, Come I and he cometh; and to my servant, Do this; and he + doeth it.'--MATT. viii. 8-9. + +This miracle of the healing of the centurion's servant is the second of +the great series which Matthew gives us. It is perhaps not accidental +that both the first and the second miracles in his collection point out +our Lord's relation to outcasts from Israel. The first of them deals +with a leper, the second with the prayer of a heathen. And so they both +contribute to the great purpose of Matthew's Gospel, the bringing out of +the nature of the kingdom and the glory of the King. + +My object now is to deal with the whole of the incident of which I have +read the most important part. We have in the story three things: the man +and his faith; Christ's eulogium upon the faith, and declaration of its +place in His kingdom; and the answer to the faith. Look, then, at these +three in succession. + +I. We consider, first, the man and his faith. + +He was a heathen and a Gentile. The Herod, who then ruled over Galilee, +had a little army, officered by Romans, of whom probably this centurion +was one; the commander, perhaps, of some small garrison of a hundred +men, the sixtieth part of a legion, which was stationed in Capernaum. If +we look at all the features of his character which come out in the +story, we get a very lovable picture of a much more tender heart than +might have been supposed to beat under the armour of a mercenary soldier +set to overawe a sullen people. 'He loveth our nation,' say the elders +of the Jews,--not certainly because of their amiability, but because of +the revelation which they possessed. Like a great many others in that +strange, restless era when our Lord came, this man seems to have become +tired of the hollowness of heathenism, and to have been groping for the +light. His military service brought him into contact with Judaism and +its monotheism, and his heart sprang to that as the thing he had been +seeking. 'He hath built us a synagogue,' thereby expressing his adhesion +to, or at least his lofty estimate of, the worship which was there +carried on. Just as, if an English officer in India were, in some little +village or other, to repair a ruined temple, he would win the hearts of +all the people, because they would think he was coming over to +Brahminism; so this soldier was felt to be nearer to the Jews than his +official position might have suggested. + +Then, there was in him a beautiful human kindliness, which neither the +rough military life, nor that carelessness about a slave--which is one +of the worst fruits of slavery, had been able to sour or destroy. He was +tenderly anxious about his servant, who, according to Luke's expression, +was 'dear to him.' Then we get as the crown of all the beauty of his +character, the lowliness of spirit which the 'little brief authority' in +which he 'was dressed' had not puffed up. 'I am not worthy that Thou +shouldest come under my roof.' That lowliness is emphasised in Luke's +version of the story, which is more detailed and particularly accurate +than Matthew's summary account. By it we learn that he did not venture +to come himself, but sent His messengers to Jesus. If we take Matthew's +version, there is another lovely trait. He does not ask Christ to do +anything. He simply spreads the necessity before Him, in the confidence +that His pitying love lies so near the surface that it was sure to flow +forth, even at that light touch. He will not prescribe, he tells the +story, and leaves all to Him. Christ's answer, 'I will come and heal +him,' throbs with the consciousness of power, and is gentle with +tenderness, quick to interpret unspoken wishes, and not slow to answer, +unless it is for the wisher's good to be refused. When He was asked to +go, because the asker considered that His presence was necessary for His +power to have effect, He refused; when He is not asked to go, He +volunteers to do so. He is moved to apparently opposite actions by the +same motive, the good of the petitioner, whose weak faith He strengthens +by refusal, whose strong faith He confirms by acquiescence. And that is +the law of His conduct always, and you and I may trust it absolutely, He +may give, or retain ungiven, what we desire; in either case, He will be +acting in order that our trust in Him may be deepened. + +That brings us to the remarkable and unique conception of our Lord's +manner of working and power to which this centurion gives utterance. 'I +also' (for the true text of Matthew has that 'also,' as the Revised +Version shows), 'I also am a man under authority, having soldiers under +me, and I say to this man, Go, and he goeth; to another, Come, and he +cometh; to my servant, Do this, and he doeth it. Speak thou with a word +only and my servant shall be healed.' A centurion was likely to +understand the power of a word of command. His whole training had taught +him the omnipotence of the uttered will of the authoritative general, +and although he was but an officer over a poor sixtieth part of a +legion, yet in some limited measure the same power lay in him, and his +word could secure unhesitating submission. One good thing about the +devilish trade of war is that it teaches the might of authority and the +virtue of absolute obedience. And even his profession, with all its +roughness and wickedness, had taught the centurion this precious lesson, +a jewel that he had found in a dunghill, the lesson that, given the +authoritative lip, a word is omnipotent. The commander speaks and the +legion goes, though it be to dash itself to death. + +So he turns to Christ. Does he mean to parallel or to contrast his +subordination and Christ's position? The 'also,' which, as I remarked, +the Revised Version has rightly replaced in the text here, is in favour +of the former supposition, that he means to parallel Christ's position +with his own. And it is much more natural to suppose that a heathen man, +with little knowledge of Christ and of the depths of the divine +revelation in the past, should have attained to the conception of Jesus +as possessing a real but subordinate and derived authority, than to +suppose that he had grasped, at that early stage, the truth which +Christ's nearest friends took long years to understand, and which some +of them do not understand yet, viz. that Christ possessed as His own the +power which He wielded. + +But if we take this point of view, and consider that the centurion's +conception falls beneath the lofty Christian ideal of Christ's power in +the universe, as it is set forth to us in the New Testament, even then +His words set forth a truth. For if we believe on the one hand in the +divinity of our Lord and Saviour, we also believe that 'the Son is +subject to the Father' and listen to His own words when He says, 'All +power is _given_ unto Me in heaven and in earth.' So that whatever +difference there may be between His relation to the power which He +wields and that of a prophet or miracle-worker, who derives his power +from Him, this is true, that Christ's power, too, is a power given to +Him. But the other side is one that I desire to emphasise in a few +words, viz. that the centurion's conception falls short of the truth, +inasmuch as, if we believe in Christ's witness to Himself, we must +believe that the power which acted through His word, dwelt in Him, in an +altogether different relation to His person from that in which an +analogous power may have dwelt in any other man. 'He spake and it was +done, He commanded and it stood fast.' Diseases fled at His word. 'By +the breath of His mouth He slew' these enemies of men. He rebuked the +storm, and the howling of the wind and the dashing of the waves were +less loud than His calm voice. He flung a word into the depths of the +grave, strangely speaking to, and yet more strangely heard by, the dull +cold ear of death, and Lazarus, dazzled, stumbles out into the light. +Who is this, that commandeth the waves, and the seas, and the +sicknesses, and they obey Him? My brother, I pray that you and I, in +these days of hesitation, when many a truth is clouded by doubt, may be +able to answer with the full assent and consent of understanding and +heart, 'this is God manifest in the flesh.' + +And remember that this prerogative of dealing with physical nature, by +the bare forth-putting of His word, is not only a doctrine of +Christianity, but that more and more physical investigation is coming to +the unifying of all forces in one, and to the resolving of that one into +the force of a will, and that all that will, as the Christian scheme +teaches us, is lodged in Jesus Christ. His lip speaks, and it is power. +He moves in nature, in providence, in history, in grace, because in Him +abides now in the form of a man, that same everlasting Word which was +with the Father, and by whom all things were made. The centurion bows +before the Commander, and the Christ says, 'as Captain of the Lord's +host am I now come.' Such, then, is the faith of this soldier taught him +by the Legion. + +II. Now a word next as to our Lord's eulogium on his faith. + +Jesus Christ accepts and endorses the centurion's estimate of Him, as He +always accepts the highest place offered Him. No one ever proffered to +Jesus Christ honours that He put by. No one ever brought to Him a trust +which He said was either excessive or misdirected. 'Speak the word and +my servant shall be healed,' said the centurion. Contrast Christ's +acceptance of this confidence in his power with Elijah's 'Am I a God, to +kill and to make alive, that they send this man to me to recover him of +his leprosy?' Or contrast it with Peter's 'Why look ye so earnestly on +us, as though by our own power or holiness we had made this man to +walk?' Christ takes as His due all the honour, love, and trust, which +any man can give Him--either an exorbitant appetite for adulation, or +the manifestation of conscious divinity. + +'And He marvelled.' Twice we read in Scripture that Christ +wondered--once at this heathen's faith, so strongly grown, with so few +advantages of culture; once at Jewish unbelief, so feeble and fruitless, +after so much expenditure of patience and care. But passing from that, +notice how much lies in these sad and yet astonished words of His: +'Verily I say unto you, I have not _found_ so great faith, no, not in +Israel.' Then, He came _seeking_ faith from this people whom God had +cared for during centuries. The one fruit that He desired was trust in +Him. That is what He is seeking for in us--not lives of profession, not +orthodoxy of conception, not even fruits in work, but before all this, +and productive of all that is good in any of them, He desires to find in +our hearts the child's trust that casts itself wholly on His Omnipotent +word, and is sure of an answer. This man's faith was great, great in the +rapidity of its growth, great in the difficulties which it had overcome, +great in the clearness of its conception, great in the firmness of its +affiance, great in the humility with which it was accompanied. Such a +faith He seeks as the thirsty traveller seeks grapes in the wilderness, +and when He finds it growing in our hearts, then He is satisfied and +glad. + +Still further, there is brought out the dignity of faith as being not +only the great desire of Christ's heart for each of us, but also as +being the one means of admission into the kingdom. 'I say unto you, many +shall come from the east and the west, and shall sit down with Abraham +and Isaac and Jacob, in the Kingdom of Heaven; but the children of the +Kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness.' Strange that Matthew's, +the Jewish gospel, should record that saying. Strange that Luke's, the +universal human gospel, should omit it. But it was relevant to Matthew's +great purpose to make very plain this truth--which the nation were +forgetting, and which was gall and wormwood to them,--that hereditary +descent and outward privileges had no power to open the door of Christ's +Kingdom to any man, and that the one thing which had, was the one thing +which the centurion possessed and the Jews did not, a simple trust in +that divine Lord. + +My brethren, there are many of us who attach precisely the same value as +these Jews did, in slightly different forms, to external connection with +religion and religious institutions. What blunts the sharpest words that +come from pulpits, and prevents them from getting to hearts and +consciences, is just that pestilent old Jewish error, that because men +have always had a kind of outward hold on the Kingdom, therefore they do +not need the teaching that the publicans and the harlots want. + +My dear friend, nothing binds a man to Christ but trust. Nothing opens +the doors of His Kingdom, either here on earth or yonder, but reliance +upon Him. And although you were steeped to the eye-brows in religious +privileges, and high in place in His church, it would avail nothing. The +Kingdom of Christ is a Kingdom into which faith, and faith only, admits +a man. Therefore from the furthest corners of the world Christ's sad +prescience saw the Gentiles flocking, and the Jews who trusted in +externals, cast out. + +I need not dwell on the two halves of the picture here, the radiant glow +of the one, the tragic darkness of the other. The feast expresses +abundance, joy, rest, companionship. 'They shall come' says Christ; then +He is there, and sitting at the head of the table; and the Master's +welcome makes the feast. On the other hand, that which is without the +banqueting hall is dark. That darkness is but the making visible of the +nature of the men. Hell comes out of a man before it surrounds him. They +'were sometime darkness,' and now they are in the darkness. I say no +more about that, I dare not; but I pray you to remember that the lips +which said this 'spake that He did know'; and to take heed lest, +speculating and arguing, and sometimes quarrelling, about the nature and +the duration of future retribution, we should lose our sense of the +awfulness and certainty of the fact. + +III. So one word lastly as to the answer that faith brings. + +'Go thy way; as thou hast believed, so be it done unto thee.' He heals +at a distance, and shapes His gift by the man's desire. The form of the +vase that is dipped into the sea settles the quantity and the shape of +the water that is taken out. There is a wide truth in that, on which I +do not now enlarge. The measure of my faith is the measure of my +possession of Christ. He puts the key of the treasure-house into our +hands and says, 'Go in, and take as much as you like'; and some of us +come out with a halfpenny as all that we care to bring away. You are +starving, some of you, whilst you are sitting in a granary bursting with +plenty. Suppose a proclamation were made, 'There will be given away gold +to anybody that likes to come. Let them bring a purse, and it will be +filled.' How large a purse do you think you would like to take? A sack, +I should think. Christ says that to you; and you bring a tiny thing like +what they keep sovereigns in, that will scarcely hold a farthing, with +such a narrow throat is it provided, and so small its interior +accommodation. 'Ye have not because ye ask not.' 'Open thy mouth wide +and I will fill it.' + + +SWIFT HEALING AND IMMEDIATE SERVICE + + 'And when Jesus was come into Peter's house, He saw his wife's + mother laid, and sick of a fever. 15. And He touched her hand, and + the fever left her: and she arose and ministered unto them.'--MATT. + viii. 14-15. + +Other accounts give a few additional points. + +Mark:-- + +That the house was that of Peter and Andrew. + +That Christ went with James and John. + +That He was told of the sickness. + +That He lifted her up. + +Luke, physician-like, diagnoses the fever as 'great.' He also tells us +that the sick woman's friends _besought_ Jesus and did not merely 'tell' +Him of her. May we infer that to His ear the telling of His servants' +woes is a prayer for His help? He does not mention Christ's touch, +which Mark here and elsewhere delights to record, and which Matthew also +specifies. He fixes attention on the all-powerful word which was the +vehicle of Christ's healing might. + +Both evangelists put this miracle in its chronological order, from which +it appears that it was done on the Sabbath day, which explains our verse +16, 'when the _even_ was come.' + +I. The scene of the miracle. + +The domestic privacy of the great event seems to have struck the +evangelists. It stands between the narrative of Christ's public work in +the synagogue, and the story of the eager crowds who came round the +doors. So it gives us a glimpse of the uniformity of that life of +blessing as being the same in public and in private. + +Again, it suggests the characteristic absence of all ostentation in His +works. We can scarcely suppose this miracle done for the sake of showing +His divinity. It was pure goodness and sympathy which moved Him. + +It occurred in a household of His disciples. There, too, sorrow will +come. But there, if they tell Him of it, His help will not be far away. +This is one of the few miracles wrought on one of His more immediate +followers. The Resurrection of Lazarus, so like this in many respects, +is the only other. + +This scene of the healing Christ in His disciples' household suggests +the whole subject of the effect on domestic life of Christianity, or +more truly of Christ Himself. It is scarcely too much to say that the +home, as many of us blessedly know, is the creation of Christ. Cana of +Galilee--The household at Bethany. + +II. The time. + +After His long day's toil--the unwearied mercy. On the Sabbath--the Lord +of the Sabbath. + +III. The person. + +The woman. How Christianity embodies the true emancipation of women. +They are participants in an equal gift, honoured by admission to equal +service. + +IV. The effect. + +'She ministered'; testimony of the completeness of the cure. Which +completeness is also real in the spiritual region. + +How the basis of all our service must be His healing. Ours second, not +first. + +How the end of His healing is our service. We are bound to render it: He +desires it. How each one's character and circumstances determine his +service. How common duties may be sanctified. He accepts our service +whatever it be. + +The Sabbath. The services of love come before ritual observance, in +Jesus and in the cured woman. + + +THE HEALING CHRIST + + 'Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses.'--MATT. + viii. 17. + +You will remember, probably, that in our Old Testament translation of +these words they are made to refer to man's mental and spiritual evils: +'He bare our griefs and carried our sorrows.' Our evangelist takes them +to refer, certainly not exclusively, but in part, to men's corporeal +evils--'our infirmities' (bodily weaknesses, that is) 'and our +sicknesses.' He was distinctly justified in so doing, both by the +meaning of the original words, which are perfectly general and capable +of either application, and by the true and deep view of the +comprehensiveness of our Lord's mission and purpose. Christ is the +antagonist of all the evils that affect man's life, whether his +corporeal or his spiritual; and no less true is it that, in His deep +sympathy, 'He bare our sicknesses' than that, in the mystery of His +atoning death, 'He was wounded for our transgressions.' + +It is, therefore, this point of view of Christ, as the Healer, which I +desire to bring before you now. + +I. First, I ask you to look at the plain facts as to our Lord's ministry +which are contained in these words:--'Himself took our infirmities, and +bare our sicknesses.' + +Now, there are two points that I desire to emphasise very briefly. One +is the prominence in Christ's life which is given to His healing energy. +We are accustomed to think of His cures as miracles. We are accustomed +to think of them in that aspect as evidences of His mission, or as +difficulties and stumbling-blocks, as the case may be. But I ask you to +put away all such thoughts for a minute, and think about the miracles +simply as being cures. Remember how enormous a proportion of our Lord's +time and pains and sympathy and thoughts was directed to that one +purpose of healing people of their bodily infirmities. We may almost say +that to an outsider He would look a great deal liker a man who, as the +Apostle Peter painted Him in one of his earliest addresses, 'went about +doing good and healing,' than as a teacher of divine wisdom, to say +nothing of an incarnation of the divine nature. His miracles of healing +were certainly the most conspicuous part of His life's work. + +And then, remember, that whilst the great proportion of our Lord's +miracles are miracles of healing, we are sure that the whole of the +recorded miraculous works of our Lord are the smallest fraction of what +He really did. You remember how there crop up, here and there, in the +Gospels, general _résumés_ of our Lord's work, of such a kind as +this:--'And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, +and preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom, and healing all manner of +sickness and all manner of disease among the people. And they brought +unto Him all sick people that were taken with divers diseases and +torments, and those which were possessed with devils, and those which +were lunatic, and those that had the palsy and He healed them.' Or, +again:--'And Jesus departed from thence, and came nigh unto the sea of +Galilee, and went up into a mountain, and sat down there. And great +multitudes came unto Him, having those that were lame, blind, dumb, +maimed, and many others, and cast them down at Jesus' feet, and He +healed them.' Now these are but specimens of the occasional +generalisations which we find in the Gospels, which warrant us in saying +that, according to the New Testament record, Christ's works of healing +were to be numbered, not by tens, but by hundreds, and perhaps by +thousands. + +That is the first fact calling for notice. The words of our text suggest +a second thought as to the cost at which these cures were wrought. +'Himself took and bare' does not mean only 'took away.' It includes +that, as a consequence, but it points to something before the removal of +the sicknesses. It points to the fact that Christ in some real sense +endured the loads which He removed. Of course, His cross is the highest +exemplification of the great law which runs through His whole life, that +He identifies Himself with all the evil which He takes away, and is able +to take it away only because He identifies Himself with it. But whilst +the cross is the highest exemplification of this, every miracle of mercy +which He wrought is an illustration of the same principle in its +appropriate fashion, and upon a lower level. And although we cannot say +that the physical sufferings which He alleviated were physically laid +upon Him, yet we can say that He so identified Himself with all +sufferers by His swift sympathy as that He bore, and therefore bore +away, the diseases as well as the sins of the men for whose healing He +lived, and for whose redemption He died. + +The proof of this crops up now and then. What did it mean that, when He +stood beside one poor sufferer, before He could utter from His +authoritative lips the divine word of power, 'Ephphatha, be opened,' the +same lips had to shape themselves for the utterance of an altogether +human and brotherly sigh? Did it not mean that the condition of His +healing power was sympathy, that He must bring Himself to feel the +burden that He will roll away? That sigh proves that His cures were the +works, not without cost to the doer, of a sympathising heart, and not +the mere passionless acts of a miracle-monger. + +In like manner, what meant that strange tempest of agitation that swept +across the pacific ocean of His nature ere He stood by the grave of +Lazarus? Why that being 'troubled in Himself' before He raised him? +Wherefore the tears that heralded the restoration of the man to life? +They could not be shed for the loss that was so soon to be repaired. +They can only have been the emotion and tears of One who saw, as massed +in one black whole, the entire sorrows that affected physical humanity, +and rose in a holy passion of indignation and of sorrow at the sight of +that enemy, Death, with whose beginnings He had wrestled in many a +miracle of restoration, and whose sceptre He was now about to pluck from +his bony clutch. Therefore I say that Christ the healer bore, and +thereby bore away, the sicknesses and the infirmities of men. + +Amidst mountains of rubbish and chaff, the Rabbis have a grain of wheat +in their legend which tells us that Messias is to come as a leper, and +to be found sitting amongst the lepers at the city's gate; which is a +picturesque and symbolical way of declaring the same truth that I am now +insisting upon, the participation by the Redeemer in all burdens and +sorrows of body and of spirit which He takes away. + +II. And now with these facts--for I take them to be such--for the basis +of our thoughts, let me ask you to turn, in the second place, to some +plain practical conclusions that come from them. + +The first of these that I would suggest is the lesson as to the proper +sweep and sphere of Christian beneficence. As I said in my introductory +remarks, we do not rightly measure the whole circumference of Christ's +work unless we regard it as covering and including all forms of human +evil. He is the antagonist of everything that is antagonistic to +man--pain, misery, sickness, death itself. All these are excrescences on +the divine design, transient accompaniments of disordered relations +between God and man. And this great physician of souls fights the +disease and does not neglect the symptoms; deals with the central evil +and is not so absorbed with that as to omit from His view or His +treatment the merely superficial manifestations of it. + +So that if Christian people, individually and as Churches, are justly +exposed, in any measure, to the sarcasm which is freely cast upon them, +that they neglect the temporal well-being of men in order to attend +exclusively to their spiritual wants, they have not learned the example +of such partial treatment from their Master; nor have they taken in the +significance and the power of His life in its relation to human sorrow. +All that makes the heart bleed Christ comes to take away. 'All the ills +that _flesh_ is heir to,' as well as those which each spirit, by +rebellion, brings upon itself--are the foes with whom Christ has left +His Church in the world in order to wage incessant warfare. If we +Christians, oppressed with the sense of the depth and central nature of +the evil of man's sin, have so devoted ourselves to preaching and +evangelising, that we are, in any measure, rightly chargeable with +neglecting hospitals and infirmaries and other forms of relief for +temporal necessities, just in that proportion have we departed from our +Master's spirit. But I do not, for my part, much believe, either in the +good faith of the accusers or in the applicability of the charge which +men, who never do anything for the religious improvement of their +fellows, are apt to bring against us. My little experience, I think, +teaches me that the folk who say to us 'Do not waste your money on +Bibles and missionaries, give it to hospitals and schools,' are not +usually the people that 'waste their money' on either; and that the +largest portion of all the work that is done in England to-day, for the +temporal well-being of men, comes from the Christians who also do work +for their spiritual well-being. + +But let us learn the lesson, if we need it, from our enemies and our +critics; and see to it that the more we feel the lofty and transcendent +importance of carrying Christ's salvation to men's souls, the more we +endeavour, likewise, to live amongst them as He did, the embodiment of +pity, wide-eyed and comprehensive, for every evil that racks their +hearts and every pain that tortures their nerves. As a fact, hospitals +are found within the limits of Christianity, and not outside it; and so +far, Christendom, though it is largely professing Christendom only, has +learned that it follows a Christ who is the Saviour of the body and the +Physician of the soul. + +In the next place, another practical lesson which I would draw from this +is, as to the sole conditions upon which any form of Christian help can +be rendered. The condition for the elevation of men is that the lever +which lifts them must have its point below them. That is to say, you +have to go down if you would heave up. You have to go amongst if you +would deliver; you have to make your own, by a sympathy which you have +learned of your Master, the sorrows and the sins of humanity, if you +would effectually remedy them. A guinea to an hospital is not your +contribution to the Christ-like relief of human suffering. It wants, and +He wants, your heart, your sympathy. Think for a moment of the universe +of anguish that may lie within the narrow limits of one human body--that +awful mystery of pain which holds in its red-hot pincers hundreds and +thousands of men and women in this city at this moment. Try to imagine +the mass of bodily agony, an enormous percentage of which is utterly +innocent, and a still larger percentage of it perfectly remediable, +which at this hour, whilst we sit here, is torturing mankind. And oh! +brethren, do not let any thought of the transcendent importance of +Christ's gospel, and what it does to men's hearts, make us careless +about these real, though lesser, evils which lie beside us, and which we +can remedy and help. + +Only, remember the condition of help for them all. The newspapers went +into raptures some years since, and wisely, over a Roman Catholic priest +who shut himself up in a little island with a colony of lepers. Some +Protestant martyrs have done the same before him, without any chorus of +newspaper praise. Whoever did it had penetrated to the secret of +Christian help--identification with the evil. If we would take away any +misery or sin, we must act like that doctor who shut himself up in the +wards of an hospital, and kept a diary of the symptoms of his disease, +till the pen dropped from his fingers and the film came over his eyes. +Are we ready to do anything like that for our brethren? Until we are, we +have yet to learn and to practise the pattern which He has set, 'Who, +though He was rich, for our sins became poor': and who, 'forasmuch as +the children were partakers of flesh and blood, Himself likewise'--in +their own fashion of weakness, and weariness, and sorrow, and pain, and +ultimately death--'took part of the same.' 'He bore our sicknesses,' +therefore He bore them away, and, in so doing, taught us the law of +Christian help. + +And lastly, let me not pass from this subject without leaving on your +hearts, dear friends, the other thought, of the connection and the +relative importance of these two hemispheres of Christ's work. The +sicknesses are symbols of the sins; the removal of the bodily pain and +disease is a prophecy and a visible parable proclaiming the removal of +all the harassment and abnormal action that afflict intellect, will, or +spirit. Christ Himself has taught us to regard His miracles of healing +as the making visible, in the outward sphere, of the analogous miracles +of healing in the spiritual realm. And although I have been saying a +great deal about the preciousness and the sacredness of the curative +influences which flow from Christ, and deal with outward diseases and +evils, let us not forget that a sound body is of small worth as compared +with a sound mind; that the body is the servant of the spirit, meant +mainly to do its behests, bring it knowledge, and express its will; and +that high above, and pointed to by, the lower, though precious work of +healing men's sicknesses, towers that work which we all of us need, and +the robustest of us, perhaps, need most, the healing of our sick souls +and their deliverance from death. + +Every one of these manifold miracles which the Saviour wrought may be +taken as parabolical. You and I grope in darkness as the blind. You and +I have ears deaf to hear, and lips dumb to speak, the praises and the +love and the word of God. We are lame in the powers of mind and spirit +to run in the way of His commandments, and to walk unfainting in the +paths of duty. The fever of hot, passionate, foolish desires burns in +the veins of us all with its poison. The paralysis of a will that is +slothful to good infests and hinders us all. But there comes to us that +great hope and promise that Christ has the Spirit of the Lord upon Him +to bring liberty to the captive, sight to the blind, hearing to the +deaf, healing to the fevered, vigour to the palsied, activity to the +lame. Only let us set our trust in Him, carry our weaknesses to Him, +acknowledge our sins to Him, seek the touch of His healing and +quickening hand, and the miracle shall be wrought. + +The old-fashioned surgery used to believe in the transfusion of blood +from a sound to a diseased person, and the consequent expulsion of +disease. That is the fact about our relation to Christ. Put your arm +side by side with His by simple faith in Him. Come into contact with +Him, and the blood of Jesus Christ, the 'law of the spirit of life that +was in Him,' will pass into the veins of your spirits, and make you +whole of whatsoever disease you have. 'Then shall the eyes of the blind +be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped; then shall the +lame man leap as a hart, and the tongue of the dumb shall sing.' And so +shall you begin that course of healing and purifying, which will know no +pause nor natural termination until, redeemed in body, soul, and spirit, +you reach the land 'where the inhabitant thereof shall no more say, I am +sick,'--'and there shall be no more death, neither shall there be any +more pain.' + + +CHRIST REPRESSING RASH DISCIPLESHIP + + 'And a certain scribe came, and said unto Him, Master, I will + follow Thee whithersoever Thou goest. 20. And Jesus saith unto him, + The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the + Son of Man hath not where to lay His head.'--MATT. viii. 19-20. + +Our Lord was just on the point of leaving Capernaum for the other side +of the lake. His intended departure from the city, in which He had spent +so long a time, and wrought so many miracles, produced precisely +opposite effects on two of the crowd around Him, both of whom seem to +have been, in the loose sense of the word, disciples. One was this +scribe, whom the prospect of losing the Master from his side, hurried +into a too lightly formed and too confidently expressed undertaking. The +other presented exactly the opposite fault. That other man in the crowd, +at the prospect of losing sight of the Christ, began to think that there +were imperative duties at home which would prevent his following the +Master, and said, 'Suffer me first to go and bury my father.' A sacred +obligation, and one which Christ would not have desired him to suspend, +unless there had been something more behind it! + +These two men, then, represent the two opposite poles of weakness, the +one too swift, the other too slow, to take a decisive step. And Christ's +treatment of them is, in like manner, a representation of the two +opposite methods which He adopts for curing opposite diseases, and +bringing both back to the same state of health. He stimulates the too +sluggish, He represses the too willing (if such a paradox may be +allowed). His treatment is at once spur and bridle. To the one man He +administers a sobering representation of what he is undertaking with so +light a heart; to the other He gives the commandment that sounds so +stern: 'Leave the highest duty, if you cannot do it without conflicting +with your higher to Me.' + +And so I think that Matthew's arrangement of this pair of companion +pictures is to be preferred to that which we find in Luke, who +localises the incident in a different part of our Lord's ministry, and +on a different occasion. I deal now only with the first of these two +contrasted pictures, and consider the lightly-made vow, and Christ's +sobering treatment of it. + +I. The too lightly uttered vow. + +There is a certain almost jaunty air of self-complacence about the man +and his facile promise. What he promised was no more than what Christ +requires from each of us, no more than what Christ was infinitely glad +to have laid at His feet. And he promised it with absolute sincerity, +meaning every word that he said, and believing that he could fulfil it +all. What was the fault? There were three: taking counsel of a +transitory feeling; making a vow with a very slight knowledge of what it +meant; and relying with foolish confidence on his own strength. + +Vows which rest on no firmer foundation than these are sure to sink and +topple over into ruin. Discipleship which is the result of mere emotion +must be evanescent, for all emotion is so. Effervescence cannot last, +and when the cause ceases the effect ceases too. Discipleship which +enlists in Christ's army, in ignorance of the hard marching and fighting +which have to be gone through, will very soon be skulking in the rear or +deserting the flag altogether. Discipleship which offers faithful +following because it relies on its own fervour and force will, sooner or +later, feel its unthinkingly undertaken obligations too heavy, and be +glad to shake off the yoke which it was so eager to put on. + +These three things, singly or combined, are the explanations, as they +are the causes, of half the stagnant Christianity that chokes our +churches. Men have vowed, and did not know what they were vowing, +pledging themselves, in a moment of excitement, to what after years +discover to them to be a hard and uncongenial course of life. They have +been carried into the position of professed disciples on the top of a +wave of emotion which has long since broken and retreated, leaving them +stranded and motionless in a place where they have no business to be. +Every community of professing Christians is weakened, and its vitality +is lowered, by the presence and influence of members who have said, 'I +will follow Thee whithersoever Thou goest,' but whose vow was but a +flash in the pan, and never meant anything. They did not know what they +were saying. They had not stopped to think why they were saying it, +still less did they take the advice of the Master to count their forces +before they went into the battle, and see whether their ten thousand +could meet him that would come against them with twenty thousand. + +I do not suppose that much of our modern religionism is in great danger +from too fervid emotion. That, certainly, is not the side on which our +average Christianity is defective. No feeling can be too fervid which +has been kindled by profound contemplation and hearty acceptance of +Christ's redeeming love. The facts to which sound religious emotion +looks, warrant, and the work in the Christian life which it has to do, +needs that it shall be at white-heat, if it is to be worthy of its +object and equal to its tasks. But there very often is emotion which is +too fervid for the convictions which are presumed to kindle it, and +which burns itself out quickly because it neither comes from principle +nor leads to action. No resolution to follow Christ can be too +enthusiastic, nor any renunciation for His sake too absolute, to +correspond to His supreme authority. But there may very easily be brave +words much too great for the real determination which is in them. A +half-empty bottle makes more noise, if you shake it, than a full one. We +cannot estimate the hindrances of the Christian life too lightly; if we +do so knowing them, and thinking little of them because we think so +joyfully of Christ our helper. But there may very easily be a +presumptuous contempt of these, which is only the result of ignorance +and self-confidence, and will soon be abased into dread of them, and +probably end in desertion of Him. + +A sadly large number of professing Christians may see their own faces in +this mirror. How many of us are exactly like this man? Long, long ago we +vowed to follow Christ. Have we advanced a yard on the Christian course +since then, or do we stand very much at the same point as on that +far-off day? Some of us, who spent no breath in saying what we were +going to do, but used it in the prayer, 'Draw me, and I will run after +Thee,' have followed the Captain. Some of us have been like clumsy +recruits, who have only been marking time all the while, one foot up and +the other down, but always in the same place. That is the kind of +advance that the lightly formed resolution--formed in ignorance of what +it involved, and in foolish confidence in the resolver's strength--is +too apt to lead to. Is it not so in all life? No caravan ever starts +from a port on the coast to go up-country, but there is a percentage of +deserters in the first week. There are always, in every good work, +adherents, easily moved, pushing themselves into the front, full of +resolves in the beginning, and then, when the tug comes, they drop out +of the ranks and leave the quiet ones, that did not say, 'I am going to +do it,' but thought to themselves, 'I should uncommonly like to _try_ +whether I can.' to bear the burden and heat of the march. A sad, wise, +self-distrustful valour is the temper that wins. + +Let us see to it, dear brethren, not that our fervour be less--I do not +know how the fervour of some of you could be less and keep alive at +all--but that our principle be more; not that our resolutions be less +noble, but that they be more deeply engrained. You can light a fire of +the chips and paper in an instant, and the flimsier the material the +more quickly it will crackle; it takes a longer time to get coals in a +blaze, and they will last longer. Be your resolves slow to begin and +never-ending,' especially when you say, as we are all bound to say, +'Lord! I will follow Thee whithersoever Thou goest.' + +II. Note our Lord's treatment of this too lightly uttered vow. + +It is wonderfully gentle and lenient. He speaks no rebuke. He does not +reject the proffered devotion. He does not even say that there was +anything defective in it, but simply answers by a quiet statement of +what the vow was pledging the rash utterer to do. Christ's words are a +douche of cold water to condense the steam which was so noisily +escaping, to turn the vaporous enthusiasm into something more solid, +with the particles nearer each other. His object was not to repel, but +to turn an ignorant, somewhat bragging vow into a calm, humble +determination, with a silent 'God helping me' for its foundation. To +repel is sometimes the way to attract. Jesus Christ would not have any +one coming after Him on a misunderstanding of where he is going, or +what he will have to do. It shall be all fair and above board, and the +difficulties and sacrifices and necessary restrictions and +inconveniences shall all be stated. He does not need to hide from His +recruits the black side of the war for which He seeks to enlist them, +but He tells it all to them to begin with, and then waits--and He only +knows how longingly He waits--for their repeating, with full knowledge +and humble determination, the vow that sprang so lightly to their lips +when they did not understand what they were saying. Of course our Lord's +words had literal truth, and their original intention was to bring +clearly before this man the hard fact that following Jesus meant +homelessness. It is as if He had said, 'You are ready to follow Me +wherever I go--are you? You will have to go far, and to be always going. +Creatures have their burrows and their roosting-places, but I, the Lord +of creatures, the Son of Man, whose kingdom prophets proclaimed, am +houseless in My own realm, and My followers must share My wandering +life. Are you ready for that?' Jesus was homeless. He was born in a +hired stable, cradled in a manger, owed shelter to faithful friends, was +buried in a borrowed grave; He had 'not where to lay His head,' living +or dying. And His servants, in literal truth, had to tramp after Him, +through the length and breadth of the land. And if this man was meaning +to follow Him whithersoever He went, he had not before him a little +pleasure-journey across the lake, to come back again in a day or two, +but he was enlisting for a term of service, that extended over a life. + +But then, beyond that, there is a deeper lesson here. 'The Son of Man' +on our Lord's lips not only expressed His dignity as Messiah, but His +relation to the whole race of men; and declared that He was what we +nowadays call ideal manhood. And that is the point, as I take it, of the +contrast between the restful lives of the lower creatures, who all have +a place fitted to them, where they curl themselves up, and go to sleep, +and are comfortable, and the higher life of men, which is homeless in +the deepest sense. 'The Son of Man,' He in whom the whole essence of +humanity is, as it were, concentrated; and who, in His own person, +presents the very type and perfection of manhood, cannot but be +homeless. + +Ah, yes I man's prerogative is unrest, and he should recognise it as a +blessing. It is the condition of all noble life; it is the condition of +all growth. 'The foxes have holes,' and the fox's hole fits it, and +therefore the hole of the fox to-day is what it was in the beginning, +and ever shall be. Man has no such abode, therefore he grows. Man is +blessed with that great 'discourse that looks before and after,' and his +thoughts wander through eternity, and therefore he is capable of endless +advance, and if he is in the path where his Maker has meant him to be, +sure of endless growth. The more a man gets like a beast, the more has +he of the beast's lot of happy contentment in this world. And the more +he gets like a man, like the 'Son of Man,' the more has he to realise +that he is a pilgrim and a sojourner, as all his fathers were. + +And so, dear friends, because disciples must follow the Son of Man who +is the King, and whose life is the perfect mirror of manhood, restless +homelessness is our lot, if we are His disciples. Ay! and it is our +blessing. It is better to sleep beneath the stars than beneath golden +canopies, and to lay the head upon a stone than upon a lace pillow, if +the ladder is at our side and the face of God above it. Better be out in +the fields, a homeless stranger with the Lord, than huddling together +and perfectly comfortable in houses of clay that perish before the +moth. + +Do not let us repine; let us be thankful that we cannot, if we are +Christ's, but be strangers here; for all the bitterness and pain of +unrest and homelessness pass away, and all sweetness and gladness is +breathed into them, when we can say, 'I am a sojourner and a stranger +_with Thee_,' and when in our unrest we are 'following the Lamb +whithersoever He goeth.' + + +CHRIST STIMULATING SLUGGISH DISCIPLESHIP + + 'And another of His disciples said unto Him, Lord, suffer me first + to go and bury my father. 22. But Jesus said unto him, Follow Me; + and let the dead bury their dead.'--MATT. viii. 21-22. + +The very first words of these verses, 'And another of His disciples,' +show us that the incident recorded in them is only half of a whole. We +have already considered the other half, and supplement our former +remarks by a glance at the remaining portion now. The two men, whose +treatment by Christ is narrated, are the antipodes of each other. The +former is a type of well-meaning, lightly formed, and so, probably, +swiftly abandoned purposes. This man is one of the people who always see +something else to be done first, when any plain duty comes before them. +Sluggish, hesitating, keenly conscious of other possibilities and +demands, he needs precisely the opposite treatment from his +light-hearted and light-purposed brother. Some plants want putting into +a cold house to be checked, some into a greenhouse to be forwarded. +Diversity of treatment, even when it amounts to opposition of treatment, +comes from the same single purpose. And so here the spur is applied, +whilst in the former incident it was the rein that was needed. + +I. Note, then, first of all, this apparently most laudable and +reasonable request. + +'Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father.' Nature says 'Go,' and +religion enjoins it, and everything seems to say that it is the right +thing for a man to do. The man was perfectly sincere in his petition, +and perfectly sincere in the implied promise that, as soon as the +funeral was over, he would come back. He meant it, out and out. If he +had not, he would have received different treatment; and if he had not, +he would have ceased to be the valuable example and lesson that he is to +us. So we have here a disciple quite sincere, who believes himself to +have already obeyed in spirit and only to be hindered from obeying in +outward act by an imperative duty that even a barbarian would know to be +imperative. + +And yet Jesus Christ read him better than he read himself; and by His +answer lets us see that the tone of mind into which we are all tempted +to drop, and which is the characteristic natural tendency of some of us, +that of being hindered from doing the plain thing that lies before us, +because something else crops up, which we also think is imperative upon +us, is full of danger, and may be the cover of a great deal of +self-deception; and, at any rate, is not in consonance with Christ's +supreme and pressing and immediate claims. + +The temper which says, 'Suffer me first to go and bury my father,' is +full of danger. One never knows but that, after he has got his father +buried, there will be something else turning up equally important. +There was the will to be read afterwards, and if he was, as probably he +was, the eldest son, he would most likely be the executor. There would +be all sorts of affairs to settle up before he might feel that it was +his duty to leave everything and follow the Master. + +And so it always is. 'Suffer me _first_, and when we get to the top of +that hill, there is another one beyond. And so we go on from step to +step, getting ready to do the duties that we know are most imperative +upon us, by sweeping preliminaries out of the way, and so we go on until +our dying day, when somebody else buries us. Like some backwoodsman in +the American forests who should say to himself, 'Now, I will not sow a +grain of wheat until I have cleared all the land that belongs to me. I +will do that first and then begin to reap,' he would be a great deal +wiser if he cleared and sowed a little bit first, and lived upon it, and +then cleared a little bit more. Mark the plain lesson that comes out of +this incident, that the habit, for it is a habit with some of us, of +putting other pressing duties forward, before we attend to the highest +claims of Christ, is full of danger, because there will be no end to +them if we once admit the principle. And this is true not only in regard +to Christianity, but in regard to everything that is worth doing in this +world. Whenever some great and noble task presents itself with its +solemn call for consecration, some dwarf of an apparent duty thrusts +itself in between and perks up in our faces with its demand, 'Attend to +me first, and then I will let you go on to that other.' + +But morally, this plea, however sincerely urged, is more or less +unconscious self-deception. The person who says 'Suffer me first' is +usually hoodwinking conscience, and covering over, if not a +determination not to do, at least a reluctance to determine to do, the +postponed duty. And although we may think ourselves quite resolved in +spirit, and only needing the fitting vacant space to show that we are +ready to act, in the majority of cases the man who says 'Suffer me +first' means, though he often does not know it, 'I do not think I will +do it, after all, even then.' Now there are a great many good people +who, when urged to some of the plain duties of discipleship--such as +Christian work, Christian beneficence, the consecration of themselves to +the service of their Master--have always something else very important, +and of immediate, pressing urgency, that has to be done first. And then +and then, ay? and then,--something else, and then--something else. And +so some of you go on, and will go on, unless by God's grace you shake +off the evil habit, to the end of your days, fancying yourselves +disciples, and yet all the while delaying really to follow the Master +until the close. And 'all your yesterdays will be but lighting you, with +unfulfilled purposes, to dusty death.' + +II. Now look at the apparently harsh and unreasonable refusal of this +reasonable request. + +It is extremely unlike Jesus Christ in substance and in tone. It is +unlike Him to put any barrier in the way of a son's yielding to the +impulses of his heart and attending to the last duties to his father. It +is extremely unlike Him to couch His refusal in words that sound, at +first hearing, so harsh and contemptuous, and that seem to say, 'Let the +dead world go as it will; never you mind it, do you not go after it at +all or care about it.' + +But if we remember that it is Jesus Christ, who came to bring life into +the dead world, who says this, then, I think, we shall understand better +what He means. I do not need to explain, I suppose, that by the one +'dead' here is meant the physical and natural 'dead,' and by the other +the morally and religiously 'dead'; and that what Christ says, in the +picturesque way that He so often affected in order to bring great truths +home in concrete form to sluggish understandings, is in effect, 'Nay! +For the men in the world that are separated from God, and so are dead in +their selfhood and their sin, burying other dead people is appropriate +work. But your business, as living by Me, is to carry life, and let the +burying alone, to be done by the dead people that can do nothing else.' + +Now the spirit of our Lord's answer may be put thus:--It must always be +Christ first, and every one else second; and it must therefore sometimes +be Christ _only_, and no one else. 'Let me bury my father and then I +will come.' 'No,' says Christ; 'first your duty to Me': first in order +and time, because first in order of importance. And this is His habitual +tone, 'He that loveth father or mother more than Me is not worthy of +Me.' + +Did you ever think of what a strange claim that is for a _man_ to make +upon others? This Jesus Christ comes to you and me, and to every man, +and says, 'I demand, and I have a right to demand, thy supreme affection +and thy first obedience. All other relations are subordinate to thy +relation to Me. All other persons ought to be less dear to thee than I +am. No other duty can be so imperative as the duty of following Me.' +What right has He to speak thus to us? On what does such a tremendous +claim rest? Who is it that fronts humanity and says, 'He that loveth +father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me'? He had a right to +say it, because He is more than they, and has done more than they, +because He is the Son of God manifest in the flesh, and because on the +Cross He has died for all men. Therefore all other claims dwindle and +sink into nothingness before His. Therefore His will is supreme, and our +relation to Him is the dominant fact in our whole moral and religious +character. He must be first, whoever comes second, and between the first +and the second there is a great gulf fixed. + +Remember that this postponing of all other duties, relationships, and +claims to Christ's claims and relationships, and to our duties to Him, +lifts them up, and does not lower them; exalts, and does not degrade, +the earthly affections. They are nobler and loftier, being second, than +when perversely, and, in the literal sense, _preposterously_, they +assume to be first. The little hills in the foreground are never so +green and fair as when they are looked at in connection with the great +white Alps that tower behind them; and all earthly loves and +relationships catch a tinge of more ethereal beauty, and are lifted into +a loftier region, when they are rigidly subordinated to our love to Him. +Being second, they are more than when they bragged that they were first. + +Again, if it must be Christ first, and everybody and everything besides +second, then to carry that out, it will often have to be Christ only, +and no one else. There will come in every man's life the need for a +sharp decision between conflicting allegiances. Life is full of harsh +alternatives, and it is of no use to kick against the pricks. The +divine order is Jesus first and all things second. But we sometimes +break that order, and then it comes to be, 'Very well, then, if you +cannot keep the lower in their right places, you must learn to do +without them altogether; and if you will not have Him first and them +second, you must not have them at all.' 'If thine eye offend thee, pluck +it out,' it would be far better for thee to keep it without offence. 'If +thine hand offend thee,' put it down on the block, and take the cleaver +in the other hand, and off with it, it would be better for thee to go +into life whole than maimed, but it is better to go into life maimed, +than to go into destruction whole. The abandonment of the father's bier +is second best; but it is sometimes imperative. When you find a taste, a +pursuit, a study, an occupation, a recreation coming between you and +Jesus Christ--when you do not know how it is, but, somehow or other, the +sky that was blue a minute or two ago has a doleful veil of grey +creeping all over it, be sure that something or other which ought to be +under has got topmost, and you will have to get rid of it in order to +come right again. If this man would certainly have come back had Jesus +let him go, he would have been let go; but because Jesus knew that he +would not come back, therefore He said, 'You must deny your natural +affection, because it is coming between you and Me.' + +So, dear brethren, when we find that earthly duties, pursuits, +occupations of any kind, affections, pure and beautiful as in themselves +they may be, are hindering our following the Master, then, if they are +things of which we can denude ourselves, though it be at a distinct +sacrifice, we are bound to do so; or else we are not loving the Master +more than all besides. + +Let me remind you in closing of the variation in this story which the +evangelist Luke gives us. He interprets Christ's commandment, 'Follow +Me,' and expands it into 'preach the Gospel,' which was involved in it. +There are many of you who are busily engaged in legitimate occupations, +and devoting yourselves in various degrees to various forms of +beneficence touching the secular condition of the people around us. May +I hint to such, 'Let the dead bury their dead; preach thou the gospel?' +A Christian man's first business is to witness for Jesus Christ, and no +amount of diligence in legitimate occupations or in work for the good +of others will absolve him from the charge of having turned duties +upside down, if he says, 'I cannot witness for Jesus Christ, for I am so +busy about these other things.' This command has a special application +to us ministers. There are hosts of admirable things that we are tempted +to engage in nowadays, with the enlarged opportunities that we have of +influencing men, socially, politically, intellectually, and it wants +rigid concentration for us to keep out of the paths which might hinder +our usefulness, or, at all events, dissipate our strength. Let us hear +that ringing voice ringing always in our ears, 'Preach thou the gospel +of the kingdom.' + + +THE PEACE-BRINGER IN THE NATURAL WORLD + + 'And when He was entered into a ship, His disciples followed Him. + 24. And, behold, there arose a great tempest in the sea, insomuch + that the ship was covered with the waves; but He was asleep. 25. + And His disciples came to Him, and awoke Him, saying, Lord, save + us: we perish. 26. And He saith unto them, Why are ye fearful, O ye + of little faith? Then he arose, and rebuked the winds and the sea, + and there was a great calm. 27. But the men marvelled, saying, What + manner of man la this, that even the winds and the sea obey + him!'--MATT. viii. 23-27. + +The second group of miracles in these chapters shows us Christ as the +Prince of Peace, and that in three regions--the material, the +superhuman, and the moral. He stills the tempest, casts out demons, and +forgives sins, thus quieting nature, spirit, and conscience. + +Mountain-girdled lakes are exposed to sudden storms from the wind +sweeping down the glens. Such a one comes roaring down as the little +boat, probably belonging to James and John, is labouring across the six +or seven miles to the eastern side. Matthew describes the boat as it +would appear from shore, as being 'covered' and lost to sight by the +breaking waves. Mark, who is Peter's mouthpiece, describes the desperate +plight as one on board knew it, and says the boat was 'filling.' It must +have been a serious gale which frightened a crew who had spent all their +lives on the lake. + +Note Christ's sleep in the storm. His calm slumber is contrasted with +the hurly-burly of the tempest and the alarm of the crew. It was the +sleep of physical exhaustion after a hard day's work. He was too tired +to keep awake, or to be disturbed by the tumult. His fatigue is a sign +of His true manhood, of His toil up to the very edge of His strength; a +characteristic of His life of service, which we do not make as prominent +in our thoughts as we should. It is also a sign of His calm conscience +and pure heart. Jonah slept through the storm because his conscience was +stupefied; but Christ, as a tired child laying its head on its mother's +lap. + +That sleep may have a symbolical meaning for us. Though Christ is +present, the storm comes, and He sleeps through it. Lazarus dies, and He +makes no sign of sympathy. Peter lies in prison, and not till the +hammers of the carpenters putting up the gibbet for to-morrow are heard, +does deliverance come. He delays His help, that He may try our faith and +quicken our prayers. The boat may be covered with the waves, and He +sleeps on, but He will wake before it sinks. He sleeps, but He never +over-sleeps, and there are no too-lates with Him. + +Note next the awaking cry of fear. The broken abruptness of their appeal +reveals the urgency of the case in the experienced eyes of these +fishermen. Their summons is a curious mixture of fear and faith. 'Save +us' is the language of faith; 'we perish' is that of fear. That strange +blending of opposites is often repeated by us. The office of faith is to +suppress fear. But the origin of faith is often in fear, and we are +driven to trust just because we are so much afraid. A faith which does +not wholly suppress fear may still be most real; and the highest faith +has ever the consciousness that unless Christ help, and that speedily, +we perish. + +So note next the gentle remonstrance. There is something very majestic +in the tranquillity of our Lord's awaking, and, if we follow Matthew's +order, in His addressing Himself first to the disciples' weakness, and +letting the storm rage on. It can do no harm, and for the present may +blow as it listeth, while He gives the trembling disciples a lesson. +Observe how lovingly our Lord meets an imperfect faith. He has no rebuke +for their rude awaking of Him. He does not find fault with them for +being 'fearful,' but for being 'so fearful' as to let fear cover faith, +just as the waves were doing the boat. He pityingly recognises the +struggle in their souls, and their possession of some spark of faith +which He would fain blow into a flame. He shows them and us the reason +for overwhelming fear as being a deficiency in faith. And He casts all +into the form of a question, thus softening rebuke, and calming their +terrors by the appeal to their common sense. Fear is irrational if we +can exercise faith. It is mere bravado to say 'I will not be afraid,' +for this awful universe is full of occasions for just terror; but it is +the voice of sober reason which says 'I will trust, and not be afraid.' +Christ answers His own question in the act of putting it,--ye are of +little faith, that is why ye are so fearful. + +Note, next, the word that calms the storm. Christ yields to the cry of +an imperfect faith, and so strengthens it. If He did not, what would +become of any of us? He does not quench the dimly burning wick, but +tends it and feeds it with oil--by His inward gifts and by His answers +to prayer--till it burns up clear and smokeless, a faith without fear. +Even smoke needs but a higher temperature to flame; and fear which is +mingled with faith needs but a little more heat to be converted into +radiance of trust. That is precisely what Christ does by this miracle. +His royal word is all-powerful. We see Him rising in the stern of the +fishing-boat, and sending His voice into the howling darkness, and wind +and waves cower at His feet like dogs that know their master. As in the +healing of the centurion's servant, we have the token of divinity in +that His bare word is able to produce effects in the natural realm. As +He lay asleep He showed the weakness of manhood; but He woke to manifest +the power of indwelling divinity. So it is always in His life, where, +side by side with the signs of humiliation and participation in man's +weakness, we ever have tokens of His divinity breaking through the veil. +All this power is put forth at the cry of timid men. The storm was meant +to move to terror; terror was meant to evoke the miracle--the result was +complete and immediate. No after-swell disturbed the placid waters when +the wind dropped. There had been 'a great tempest,' and now there was 'a +great calm,' as the fishermen floated peacefully to their landing-place +beneath the shadow of the hills. The wilder the tempest, the profounder +the subsequent repose. + +All this is a true symbol of our individual lives, as well as of the +history of the Church. Storms will come, and He may seem to be heedless. +He is ever awakened by our cry, which needs not to be pure faith in +order to bring the answer, but may be strangely intertwined of faith and +fear. 'The Lord will help ... and that right early,' and the peace that +He brings is peace indeed. So it may be with us amid the struggles of +life. So may it be with us when the voyage on this storm-tossed sea of +time is done! 'They cry unto the Lord in their trouble. He maketh the +storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are still. Then are they glad +because they be quiet; so He bringeth them unto their desired haven.' + + +THE PEACE-BRINGER IN THE SPIRITUAL WORLD + + 'And when He was come to the other side into the country of the + Gergesenes, there met Him two possessed with devils, coming out of + the tombs, exceeding fierce, so that no man might pass by that way. + 29. And, behold, they cried out, saying, What have we to do with + Thee, Jesus, thou Son of God? art Thou come hither to torment us + before the time? 30. And there was a good way off from them an herd + of many swine feeding. 31. So the devils besought Him, saying, If + Thou cast us out, suffer us to go away into the herd of swine. 32. + And He said unto them, Go. And when they were come out, they went + into the herd of swine: and, behold, the whole herd of swine ran + violently down a steep place into the sea, and perished in the + waters. 33. And they that kept them fled, and went their ways into + the city, and told every thing, and what was befallen to the + possessed of the devils. 34. And, behold, the whole city came out + to meet Jesus: and when they saw Him, they besought Him that He + would depart out of their coasts.'--MATT. viii. 28-34. + +Matthew keeps to chronological order in the first and second miracles of +the second triplet, but probably His reason for bringing them together +was rather similarity in their contents than proximity in their time. +For one cannot but feel that the stilling of the storm, which manifested +Jesus as the Peace-bringer in the realm of the Natural, is fitly +followed by the casting out of demons, which showed Him as the Lord of +still wider and darker realms, and the Peace-bringer to spirits tortured +and torn by a mysterious tyranny. His meek power sways all creatures; +His 'word runneth very swiftly.' Winds and seas and demons hearken and +obey. Cheap ridicule has been plentifully flung at this miracle, and +some defenders of the Gospels have tried to explain it away, and have +almost apologised for it, but, while it raises difficult problems in its +details, the total effect of it is to present a sublime conception of +Jesus and of His absolute, universal authority. The conception is +heightened in sublimity when the two adjacent miracles are contemplated +in connection. + +There is singular variation in the readings of the name of the scene of +the miracle in the three evangelists. According to the reading of the +Authorised Version, Matthew locates it in the 'country of the +Gergesenes'; Mark and Luke, in the 'country of the Gadarenes'; whereas +the Revised Version, following the general consensus of textual critics, +reads 'Gadarenes' in Matthew and 'Gerasenes' in Mark and Luke. Now, +Gadara is over six miles from the lake, and the deep gorge of a river +lies between, so that it is out of the question as the scene of the +miracle. But the only Gerasa known, till lately, is even more +impossible, for it is far to the east of the lake. But some years since, +Thomson found ruins bearing the name of Khersa or Gersa, 'at the only +portion of that coast on which the steep hills come down to the shore' +(Smith, Historical Geography of the Holy Land, p. 459). This is probably +the site of the miracle, and may have been included in the territory +dependent on Gadara, and so have been rightly described as in 'the +country of the Gadarenes.' + +Matthew again abbreviates, omitting many of the most striking and solemn +features of the narrative as given by the other two evangelists, and he +also diverges from them in mentioning two demoniacs instead of one. That +is not contradiction, for if there were two, there was one, but it is +divergence, due to more accurate information. Whether they were meant so +or no, the abbreviations have the striking result that Jesus speaks but +one word, the permissive 'Go,' and that thus His simple presence is the +potent spell before which the demons cower and flee. They know Him as +'the Son of God'; a name which, on their lips, must be taken in its full +significance. If demoniacal possession is a fact, there is no difficulty +in accounting for the name here given to Jesus, nor for the sudden +change from the fierce purpose of barring an intruder's path to abject +submission. If it is not a fact, to make a plausible explanation of +either circumstance will be a task needing many contortions, as is seen +by the attempts to achieve it. For example, we are told that the +demoniacs were afraid of Jesus, because He 'was not afraid of them,' and +they knew Him, because 'men with shattered reason also felt the spell, +while the wise and the strong-minded often used their intellect, under +the force of passion or prejudice, to resist the force of truth.' +Possibly the last clause goes as far to explain some critics' +non-recognition of demoniacal possession as the first does to explain +the demoniacs' recognition of Jesus! + +To the demonic nature Christ's coming brought torture, as the sunbeam, +which gives life to many, also gives death to ugly creatures that crawl +and swarm in the dark. Turn up a stone, and the creeping things hurry +out of the penetrating glare so unwelcome. 'What maketh heaven, that +maketh hell,' and the same presence is life or death, joy or agony. The +dear perception of divine purity and the shuddering recoil of impotent +hatred from it are surely of the very essence of the demonic nature, and +every man, who looks into the depths of his own spirit, knows that the +possibilities of such a state are in him. + +Our Lord discriminated between healing the sick and casting out demons. +He distinguished between forms of disease due to possession and the same +diseases when dissociated from it, as, for example, cases of dumbness. +His whole attitude, both in His actual dealing with the possessed and in +His referring to the subject, gave His complete adhesion to the reality +of the awful thing. It is vain to say that He humoured the delusions of +insanity in order to cure them. That theory does not adequately explain +any of the facts and does not touch some of them. It is perilous to try +to weaken the force of the narrative by saying that the evangelists were +under the influence of popular notions (which are quietly assumed to +have been wrong), and hence that their prepossessions coloured their +representations. If the mirror was so distorted, what reliance can be +placed on any part of its reflection of Jesus? There can be no doubt +that the Gospel narrative asserts and assumes the reality of demoniacal +possession, and if the representation that Jesus also assumed it is due +to the evangelists, what trust can be reposed in authorities which +misrepresent Him in such a matter? On the other hand, if they do not +misrepresent Him, and He blundered, confounding mere insanity with +possession by a demon, what reliance can be reposed in Him as our +Teacher of the Unseen World? The issues involved are very grave and +far-reaching, and raillery or sarcasm is out of place. + +But the question is pertinent: By what right do we allege that +demoniacal possession is an exploded figment and an impossibility? Do we +know ourselves or our fellows so thoroughly as to be warranted in +denying that deep down in the mysterious 'subliminal consciousness' +there is a gate through which spiritual beings may come into contact +with human personalities? He would be bold, to the verge of presumption +or somewhat further, who should take up such a position. And have we any +better right to assume that we know so much of the universe as to be +sure that there are no evil spirits there, who can come into contact +with human spirits and wield an alien tyranny over them? The Christian +attitude is not that of such far-reaching denial which outruns our +knowledge, but that of calm belief that Jesus is the head of all +principality and power, and that to Him all are subject. It is taken for +granted that the supposed possession is insanity. But may it not rather +be that to-day some of the supposed insanity is possession? Be that as +it may--and perhaps those who have the widest experience of 'lunatics' +would be the least ready to dismiss the possibility,--Jesus recognised +the reality that there were souls oppressed by a real personality, which +had settled itself in the house of life, and none of us has wide and +deep enough knowledge to contradict Him. Might it not be better to +accept His witness in this, as in other matters beyond our ken, as true, +and to ponder it? + +The demons' petition, according to the Received Text, takes the form, +'Suffer us to go,' while the reading adopted by most modern editors is +'Send us.' The former reading seems to be taken from Luke (viii. 32), +while Mark has 'Send' (not the same word as now read in Matthew). But +Mark goes on to say, not that Jesus sent them, but that He 'suffered +them' or 'gave them leave' (the same word as in Matthew, according to +the Received Text). Thus, Jesus' part in the transaction is simply +permissive, and the one word which He speaks is authoritative indeed in +its curtness, and means simply 'away,' or 'begone.' It casts them out +but does not send them in. He did not send them into the herd, but out +of the men, and did not prevent their entrance into the swine. It should +further be noted that nothing in the narrative suggests that the +destruction of the herd was designed even by the demons, much less by +Jesus. The maddened brutes rushed straight before them, not knowing why +or where; the steep slope was in front, and the sea was at its foot, and +their terrified, short gallop ended there. The last thing the demons +would have done would have been to banish themselves, as the death of +the swine did banish them, from their new shelter. There is no need, +then, to invent justifications for Christ's destroying the herd, for He +did not destroy it. No doubt, keeping swine was a breach of Jewish law; +no doubt the two demoniacs and the bystanders would be more convinced of +the reality of the exorcism by the fate of the swine, but these +apologies are needless. + +The narrative suggests some affinity between the demoniac and the animal +nature, and though it is easy to ridicule, it is impossible to disprove, +the suggestion. We know too little about either to do that, and what we +cannot disprove it is somewhat venturesome hardily to deny. There are +depths in the one nature, which we cannot fathom though its possessors +are close to us; the other is removed from our investigation altogether. +Where we are so utterly ignorant we had better neither affirm nor deny. +But we may take a homiletical use out of that apparent affinity, and +recognise that a spirit in rebellion against God necessarily gravitates +downwards, and becomes more or less bestialised. + +No wonder that the swineherds fled, but, surely, it is a wonder that +eagerness to be rid of Jesus was the sole result of the miracle. Perhaps +the reason was the loss of the swine, which would bulk largest in their +keepers' excited story; perhaps the reason was a fear that He would find +out and rebuke other instances of breach of strict Jewish propriety, +perhaps it was simply the shrinking from any close contact with the +heavenly, or apparently supernatural, which is so instinctive in us, and +witnesses to a dormant consciousness of discord with Heaven. 'Depart +from me, for I am a sinful man,' is the cry of the roused conscience. +And, alas! it has power to send away Him whom we need, and who comes to +us, just because we are sinful, and just that He may deliver us from our +sin. + + +END OF VOL. I + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Expositions of Holy Scripture +by Alexander Maclaren + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK EXPOSITIONS OF HOLY SCRIPTURE *** + +***** This file should be named 15836-8.txt or 15836-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/5/8/3/15836/ + +Produced by Charles Franks, Don Kretz and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team. + + +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: Expositions of Holy Scripture + Ezekiel, Daniel, and the Minor Prophets. St Matthew Chapters I to VIII + +Author: Alexander Maclaren + +Release Date: May 16, 2005 [EBook #15836] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK EXPOSITIONS OF HOLY SCRIPTURE *** + + + + +Produced by Charles Franks, Don Kretz and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team. + + + + + + + + + +EXPOSITIONS OF HOLY SCRIPTURE +ALEXANDER MACLAREN, D.D., Litt.D. + + +EZEKIEL, DANIEL, AND THE MINOR PROPHETS + +ST. MATTHEW +CHAPTERS I to VIII + +NEW YORK +GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY + + * * * * * + +EZEKIEL, DANIEL, AND THE MINOR PROPHETS + +CONTENTS + + + THE BOOK OF EZEKIEL + + CHAMBERS OF IMAGERY (Ezekiel viii. 12) + A COMMON MISTAKE AND LAME EXCUSE (Ezekiel xii. 27) + THE HOLY NATION (Ezekiel xxxvi. 25-38) + THE DRY BONES AND THE SPIRIT OF LIFE (Ezekiel xxxvii. 1-14) + THE RIVER OF LIFE (Ezekiel xlvii. 1) + + + THE BOOK OF DANIEL + + YOUTHFUL CONFESSORS (Daniel i. 8-21) + THE IMAGE AND THE STONE (Daniel ii. 36-49) + HARMLESS FIRES (Daniel iii. 13-25) + MENE, TEKEL, PERES (Daniel v. 17-31) + A TRIBUTE FROM ENEMIES (Daniel vi. 5) + FAITH STOPPING THE MOUTHS OF LIONS (Daniel vi. 16-28) + A NEW YEAR'S MESSAGE (Daniel xii. 13) + + + HOSEA + + THE VALLEY OF ACHOR (Hosea ii. 15) + 'LET HIM ALONE' (Hosea iv. 17) + 'PHYSICIANS OF NO VALUE' (Hosea v. 13, R.V.) + 'FRUIT WHICH IS DEATH' (Hosea x. 1-15) + DESTRUCTION AND HELP (Hosea xiii. 9) + ISRAEL RETURNING (Hosea xiv. 1-9) + THE DEW AND THE PLANTS (Hosea xiv. 5, 6) + + + AMOS + + A PAIR OF FRIENDS (Amos iii. 3) + SMITTEN IN VAIN (Amos iv. 4-13) + THE SINS OF SOCIETY (Amos v. 4-15) + THE CARCASS AND THE EAGLES (Amos vi. 1-8) + RIPE FOR GATHERING (Amos viii. 1-14) + + + JONAH + + GUILTY SILENCE AND ITS REWARD (Jonah i. 1-17) + 'LYING VANITIES' (Jonah ii. 8) + THREEFOLD REPENTANCE (Jonah iii. 1-10) + + + MICAH + + IS THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD STRAITENED? (Micah ii. 7) + CHRIST THE BREAKER (Micah ii. 13) + AS GOD, SO WORSHIPPER (Micah iv. 5, R.V.) + 'A DEW FROM THE LORD' (Micah v. 7) + GOD'S REQUIREMENTS AND GOD'S GIFT (Micah vi. 8) + + + HABAKKUK + + THE IDEAL DEVOUT LIFE (Habakkuk iii. 19) + + + ZEPHANIAH + + ZION'S JOY AND GOD'S (Zephaniah iii. 14, 17) + + + HAGGAI + + VAIN TOIL (Haggai i. 6) + BRAVE ENCOURAGEMENTS (Haggai ii. 1-9) + + + ZECHARIAH + + DYING MEN AND THE UNDYING WORD (Zechariah i. 5, 6) + THE CITY WITHOUT WALLS (Zechariah ii. 4, 5) + A VISION OF JUDGMENT AND CLEANSING (Zechariah iii. 1-10) + THE RIGHT OF ENTRY (Zechariah iii. 7) + THE SOURCE OF POWER (Zechariah iv. 1-10) + THE FOUNDER AND FINISHER OF THE TEMPLE (Zechariah iv. 9) + THE PRIEST OF THE WORLD AND KING OF MEN (Zechariah vi. 13) + + + MALACHI + + A DIALOGUE WITH GOD (Malachi i. 6, 7) + BLEMISHED OFFERINGS (Malachi i. 8) + A DIALOGUE WITH GOD (Malachi ii. 12, 14, R.V.) + THE LAST WORD OF PROPHECY (Malachi iii. 1-12) + THE UNCHANGING LORD (Malachi iii. 6) + A DIALOGUE WITH GOD (Malachi iii. 7, R.V.) + 'STOUT WORDS,' AND THEIR CONFUTATION + (Malachi iii. 13-18; iv. 1-6) + THE LAST WORDS OF THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS + (Malachi iv. 6; Revelation xxii. 21) + + * * * * * + + + + +THE BOOK OF EZEKIEL + + +CHAMBERS OF IMAGERY + + 'Then said He unto me, Son of man, hast thou seen what the ancients + of the house of Israel do in the dark, every man in the chambers of + his imagery!'--EZEKIEL viii. 12. + +This is part of a vision which came to the prophet in his captivity. He +is carried away in imagination from his home amongst the exiles in the +East to the Temple of Jerusalem. There he sees in one dreadful series +representations of all the forms of idolatry to which the handful that +were left in the land were cleaving. There meets him on the threshold of +the court 'the image of jealousy,' the generalised expression for the +aggregate of idolatries which had stirred the anger of the divine +husband of the nation. Then he sees within the Temple three groups +representing the idolatries of three different lands. First, those with +whom my text is concerned, who, in some underground room, vaulted and +windowless, were bowing down before painted animal forms upon the walls. +Probably they were the representatives of Egyptian worship, for the +description of their temple might have been taken out of any book of +travels in Egypt in the present day. It is only an ideal picture that +is represented to Ezekiel, and not a real fact. It is not at all +probable that all these various forms of idolatry were found at any +time within the Temple itself. And the whole cast of the vision +suggests that it is an ideal picture, and not reality, with which +we have to do. Hence the number of these idolaters was seventy--the +successors of the seventy whom Moses led up to Sinai to see the God +of Israel! And now here they are grovelling before brute forms painted +on the walls in a hole in the dark. Their leader bears a name which +might have startled them in their apostasy, and choked their prayers +in their throats, for Jaazan-iah means 'the Lord hears.' Each man has +a censer in his hand--self-consecrated priests of self-chosen deities. +Shrouded in obscurity, they pleased themselves with the ancient lie, +'The Lord sees not; He hath forsaken the earth.' And then, into that +Sanhedrim of apostates there comes, all unknown to them, the light of +God's presence; and the eye of the prophet marks their evil. + +I have nothing to do here with the other groups which Ezekiel saw in his +vision. The next set were the representatives of the women of Israel, +who, false at once to their womanhood and to their God, were taking part +in the nameless obscenities and abominations of the worship of the +Syrian Adonis. And the next, who from their numbers seem to be intended +to stand for the representatives of the priesthood, as the former were +of the whole people, represent the worshippers who had fallen under the +fascinations of a widespread Eastern idolatry, and with their backs to +the house of the Lord were bowing before the rising sun. + +All these false faiths got on very well together. Their worshippers had +no quarrel with each other. Polytheism, by its very nature and the +necessity of its being, is tolerant. All its rabble of gods have a +mutual understanding, and are banded together against the only One that +says, 'Thou shalt have none other gods beside Me.' + +But now, I take this vision in a meaning which the prophet had no +intention to put on it. I do not often do that with my texts, and when I +do I like to confess frankly that I am doing it. So I take the words now +as a kind of symbol which may help to put into a picturesque and more +striking form some very familiar and homely truths. Look at that +dark-painted chamber that we have all of us got in our hearts; at the +idolatries that go on there, and at the flashing of the sudden light of +God who marks, into the midst of the idolatry, 'Hast thou seen what the +ancients of the children of Israel do in the dark, each man in the +chambers of his imagery?' + +I. Think of the dark and painted chamber which we all of us carry in our +hearts. + +Every man is a mystery to himself as to his fellows. With reverence, we +may say of each other as we say of God--'Clouds and darkness are round +about Him.' After all the manifestations of a life, we remain enigmas to +one another and mysteries to ourselves. For every man is no fixed +somewhat, but a growing personality, with dormant possibilities of good +and evil lying in him, which up to the very last moment of his life may +flame up into altogether unexpected and astonishing developments. +Therefore we have all to feel that after all self-examination there lie +awful depths within us which we have not fathomed; and after all our +knowledge of one another we yet do see but the surface, and each soul +dwells alone. + +There is in every heart a dark chamber. Oh, brethren! there are very, +very few of us that dare tell all our thoughts and show our inmost +selves to our dearest ones. The most silvery lake that lies sleeping +amidst beauty, itself the very fairest spot of all, when drained off +shows ugly ooze and filthy mud, and all manner of creeping abominations +in the slime. I wonder what we should see if our hearts were, so to +speak, drained off, and the very bottom layer of every thing brought +into the light. Do you think you could stand it? Well, then, go to God +and ask Him to keep you from unconscious sins. Go to Him and ask Him to +root out of you the mischiefs that you do not know are there, and live +humbly and self-distrustfuliy, and feel that your only strength is: +'Hold Thou me up, and I shall be saved.' 'Hast thou seen what they do in +the _dark_?' + +Still further, we may take another part of this description with +possibly permissible violence as a symbol of another characteristic of +our inward nature. The walls of that chamber were all painted with +animal forms, to which these men were bowing down. By our memory, and by +that marvellous faculty that people call the imagination, and by our +desires, we are for ever painting the walls of the inmost chambers of +our hearts with such pictures. That is an awful power which we possess, +and, alas! too often use for foul idolatries. + +I do not dwell upon that, but I wish to drop one very earnest caution +and beseeching entreaty, especially to the younger members of my +congregation now. You, young men and women, especially you young men, +mind what you paint upon those mystic walls! Foul things, as my text +says, 'creeping things and abominable beasts,' only too many of you are +tracing there. Take care, for these figures are ineffaceable. No +repentance will obliterate them. I do not know whether even Heaven can +blot them out. What you love, what you desire, what you think about, you +are photographing on the walls of your immortal soul. And just as +to-day, thousands of years after the artists have been gathered to the +dust, we may go into Egyptian temples and see the figures on their +walls, in all the freshness of their first colouring, as if the painter +had but laid down his pencil a moment ago; so, on your hearts, youthful +evils, the sins of your boyhood, the pruriences of your earliest days, +may live in ugly shapes, that no tears and no repentance will ever wipe +out. Nothing can do away with 'the marks of that which once hath been.' +What are you painting on the chambers of imagery in your hearts? +Obscenity, foul things, mean things, low things? Is that mystic shrine +within you painted with such figures as were laid bare in some chambers +in Pompeii, where the excavators had to cover up the pictures because +they were so foul? Or, is it like the cells in the convent of San Marco +at Florence, where Fra Angelico's holy and sweet genius has left on the +bare walls, to be looked at, as he fancied, only by one devout brother +in each cell, angel imaginings, and noble, pure celestial faces that +calm and hallow those who gaze upon them? What are you doing, my +brother, in the dark, in your chambers of imagery? + +II. Now look with me briefly at the second thought that I draw from this +symbol,--the idolatries of the dark chamber. + +All these seventy grey-bearded elders that were bowing there before the +bestial gods which they had portrayed, had, no doubt, often stood in the +courts of the Temple and there made prayers to the God of Israel, with +broad phylacteries, to be seen of men. Their true worship was their +worship in the dark. The other was conscious or unconscious hypocrisy. +And the very chamber in which they were gathered, according to the ideal +representation of our text, was a chamber in, and therefore partaking of +the consecration of, the Temple. So their worship was doubly criminal, +in that it was sacrilege as well as idolatry. Both things are true about +us. + +A man's true worship is not the worship which he performs in the public +temple, but that which he offers down in that little private chapel, +where nobody goes but himself. Worship is the attribution of supreme +excellence to, and the entire dependence of the heart upon, a certain +person. And the people or the things to which a man attributes the +highest excellence, and on which he hangs his happiness and well-being, +these be his gods, no matter what his outward profession is. You can +find out what these are for you, if you will ask yourself, and honestly +answer, one or two questions. What is that I want most? What is it which +makes my ideal of happiness? What is that which I feel that I should be +desperate without? What do I think about most naturally and +spontaneously, when the spring is taken off, and my thoughts are allowed +to go as they will? And if the answer to none of these questions is +'God!' then I do not know why you should call yourself a worshipper of +God. It is of no avail that we pray in the temple, if we have a dark +underground shrine where our true adoration is rendered. + +Oh, dear brethren! I am afraid there are a great many of us nominal +Christians, connected with Christian Churches, posing before men as +orthodox religionists, who keep this private chapel where we do our +devotion to an idol and not to God. If our real gods could be made +visible, what a pantheon they would make! All the foul forms painted on +that cell of this vision would be paralleled in the creeping things, +which crawl along the low earth and never soar nor even stand erect, and +in the vile, bestial forms of passion to which some of us really bow +down. Honour, wealth, literary or other distinction, the sweet +sanctities of human love dishonoured and profaned by being exalted to +the place which divine love should hold, ease, family, animal appetites, +lust, drink--these are the gods of some of us. Bear with my poor words +and ask yourselves, not whom do you worship before the eye of men, but +who is the God to whom in your inmost heart you bow down? What do you do +in the dark? That is the question. Whom do you worship there? Your other +worship is not worship at all. + +Do not forget that all such diversion of supreme love and dependence +from God alone is like the sin of these men in our text, in that it is +sacrilege. They had taken a chamber in the very Temple, and turned it +into a temple of the false gods. Whom is your heart made to enshrine? +Why! every stone, if I may so say, of the fabric of our being bears +marked upon it that it was laid in order to make a dwelling-place for +God. Whom are you meant to worship, by the witness of the very +constitution of your nature and make of your spirits? Is there anybody +but One who is worthy to receive the priceless gift of human love +absolute and entire? Is there any but One to whom it is aught but +degradation and blasphemy for a man to bow down? Is there any being but +One that can still the tumult of my spirit, and satisfy the immortal +yearnings of my soul? We were made for God, and whensoever we turn the +hopes, the desires, the affections, the obedience, and that which is +the root of them all, the confidence that ought to fix and fasten upon +Him, to other creatures, we are guilty not only of idolatry but of +sacrilege. We commit the sin of which that wild reveller in Babylon was +guilty, when, at his great feast, in the very madness of his presumption +he bade them bring forth the sacred vessels from the Temple at +Jerusalem; 'and the king and his princes and his concubines drank in +them and praised the gods.' So we take the sacred chalice of the human +heart, on which there is marked the sign manual of Heaven, claiming it +for God's, and fill it with the spiced and drugged draught of our own +sensualities and evils, and pour out libations to vain and false gods. +Brethren! Render unto Him that which is His; and see even upon the walls +scrabbled all over with the deformities that we have painted there, +lingering traces, like those of some dropping fresco in a roofless +Italian church, which suggest the serene and perfect beauty of the image +of the One whose likeness was originally traced there, and for whose +worship it was all built. + +III. And now, lastly, look at the sudden crashing in upon the cowering +worshippers of the revealing light. + +Apparently the picture of my text suggests that these elders knew not +the eyes that were looking upon them. They were hugging themselves in +the conceit, 'the Lord seeth not; the Lord hath forsaken the earth.' And +all the while, all unknown, God and His prophet stand in the doorway and +see it all. Not a finger is lifted, not a sign to the foolish +worshippers of His presence and inspection, but in stern silence He +records and remembers. + +And does that need much bending to make it an impressive form of +putting a solemn truth? There are plenty of us--alas! alas! that it +should be so--to whom it is the least welcome of all thoughts that there +in the doorway stand God and His Word. Why should it be, my brother, +that the properly blessed thought of a divine eye resting upon you +should be to you like the thought of a policeman's bull's-eye to a +thief? Why should it not be rather the sweetest and the most calming and +strength-giving of all convictions--'Thou God seest me'? The little +child runs about the lawn perfectly happy as long as she knows that her +mother is watching her from the window. And it ought to be sweet and +blessed to each of us to know that there is no darkness where a Father's +eye comes not. But oh! to the men that stand before bestial idols and +have turned their backs on the beauty of the one true God, the only +possibility of composure is that they shall hug themselves in the vain +delusion:--'The Lord seeth not.' + +I beseech you, dear friends, do not think of His eye as the prisoner in +a cell thinks of the pin-hole somewhere in the wall, through which a +jailer's jealous inspection may at any moment be glaring in upon him, +but think of Him your Brother, who 'knew what was in man,' and who knows +each man, and see in Christ the all-knowing Godhood that loves yet +better than it knows, and beholds the hidden evils of men's hearts, in +order that it may cleanse and forgive all which it beholds. + +One day a light will flash in upon all the dark cells. We must all be +manifest before the judgment-seat of Christ. Do you like that thought? +Can you stand it? Are you ready for it? My friend! let Jesus Christ +come to you with His light. Let Him come into the dark corners of your +hearts. Cast all your sinfulness, known and unknown, upon Him that died +on the Cross for every soul of man, and He will come; and His light, +streaming into your hearts, like the sunbeam upon foul garments, will +cleanse and bleach them white by its shining upon them. Let Him come +into your hearts by your lowly penitence, by your humble faith, and all +these vile shapes that you have painted on its walls will, like +phosphorescent pictures in the daytime, pale and disappear when the 'Sun +of Righteousness, with healing in His beams, floods your soul, leaving +no part dark, and turning all into a temple of the living God.' + + +A COMMON MISTAKE AND LAME EXCUSE + +'... He prophesieth of the times that are far off.'--EZEKIEL xii. 27. + +Human nature was very much the same in the exiles that listened to +Ezekiel on the banks of the Chebar and in Manchester to-day. The same +neglect of God's message was grounded then on the same misapprehension +of its bearings which profoundly operates in the case of many people +now. Ezekiel had been proclaiming the fall of Jerusalem to the exiles +whose captivity preceded it by a few years; and he was confronted by the +incredulity which fancied that it had a great many facts to support it, +and so it generalised God's long-suffering delay in sending the +threatened punishment into a scoffing proverb which said, 'The days are +prolonged, and every vision faileth.' To translate it into plain +English, the prophets had cried 'Wolf! wolf!' so long that their alarms +were disbelieved altogether. + +Even the people that did not go the length of utter unbelief in the +prophetic threatening took the comfortable conclusion that these +threatenings had reference to a future date, and they need not trouble +themselves about them. And so they said, according to my text, 'They of +the house of Israel say, The vision that he sees is for many days to +come, and he prophesieth of the times that are far off.' 'It may be all +quite true, but it lies away in the distant future there; and things +will last our time, so we do not need to bother ourselves about what he +says.' + +So the imagined distance of fulfilment turned the edge of the plainest +denunciations, and was like wool stuffed in the people's ears to deaden +the reverberations of the thunder. + +I wonder if there is anybody here now whom that fits, who meets the +preaching of the gospel with a shrug, and with this saying, 'He +prophesies of the times that are far off.' I fancy that there are a few; +and I wish to say a word or two about this ground on which the +widespread disregard of the divine message is based. + +I. First, then, notice that the saying of my text--in the application +which I now seek to make of it--is a truth, but it is only half a truth. + +Of course, Ezekiel was speaking simply about the destruction of +Jerusalem. If it had been true, as his hearers assumed, that that was +not going to happen for a good many years yet, the chances were that it +had no bearing upon them, and they were right enough in neglecting the +teaching. And, of course, when I apply such a word as this in the +direction in which I wish to do now, we do bring in a different set of +thoughts; but the main idea remains the same. The neglect of God's +solemn message by a great many people is based, more or less +consciously, upon the notion that the message of Christianity--or, if +you like to call it so, of the gospel; or, if you like to call it more +vaguely, religion--has to do mainly with blessings and woes beyond the +grave, and that there is plenty of time to attend to it when we get +nearer the end. + +Now is it true that 'he prophesies of times that are far off'? Yes! and +No! Yes! it is true, and it is the great glory of Christianity that it +shifts the centre of gravity, so to speak, from this poor, transient, +contemptible present, and sets it away out yonder in an august and +infinite future. It brings to us not only knowledge of the future, but +certitude, and takes the conception of another life out of the region of +perhapses, possibilities, dreads, or hopes, as the case may be, and sets +it in the sunlight of certainty. There is no more mist. Other faiths, +even when they have risen to the height of some contemplation of a +future, have always seen it wrapped in nebulous clouds of possibilities, +but Christianity sets it clear, definite, solid, as certain as +yesterday, as certain as to-day. + +It not only gives us the knowledge and the certitude of the times that +are afar off, and that are not times but eternities, but it gives us, as +the all-important element in that future, that its ruling characteristic +is retribution. It 'brings life and immortality to light,' and just +because it does, it brings the dark orb which, like some of the double +stars in the heavens, is knit to the radiant sphere by a necessary +band. It brings to light, with life and immortality, death and woe. It +is true--'he prophesies of times that are far off' and it is the glory +of the gospel of Christ's revelation, and of the religion that is based +thereon, that its centre is beyond the grave, and that its eye is so +often turned to the clearly discerned facts that lie there. + +But is that all that we have to say about Christianity? Many +representations of it, I am free to confess, from pulpits and books and +elsewhere, do talk as if that was all, as if it was a magnificent thing +to have when you came to die. As the play has it, 'I said to him that I +hoped there was no need that he should think about God yet,' because he +was not going to die. But I urge you to remember, dear brethren, that +all that prophesying of times that are far off has the closest bearing +upon this transient, throbbing moment, because, for one thing, one +solemn part of the Christian revelation about the future is that Time is +the parent of Eternity, and that, in like manner as in our earthly +course 'the child is father of the man,' so the man as he has made +himself is the author of himself as he will be through the infinite +spaces that lie beyond the grave. Therefore, when a Christian preacher +prophesies of times that are afar off, he is prophesying of present +time, between which and the most distant eternity there is an iron +nexus--a band which cannot be broken. + +Nor is that all. Not only is the truth in my text but a half truth, if +it is supposed that the main business of the gospel is to talk to us +about heaven and hell, and not about the earth on which we secure and +procure the one or the other; but also it is a half truth because, large +and transcendent, eternal in their duration, and blessed beyond all +thought in their sweetness as are the possibilities, the certainties +that are opened by the risen and ascended Christ, and tremendous beyond +all words that men can speak as are the alternative possibilities, yet +these are not all the contents of the gospel message; but those +blessings and penalties, joys and miseries, exaltations and +degradations, which attend upon righteousness and sin, godliness and +irreligion to-day are a large part of its theme and of its effects. +Therefore, whilst on the one hand it is true, blessed be Christ's name! +that 'he prophesies of times that are far off'; on the other hand it is +an altogether inadequate description of the gospel message and of the +Christian body of truth to say that the future is its realm, and not the +present. + +II. So, then, in the second place, my text gives a very good reason for +prizing and attending to the prophecy. + +If it is true that God, speaking through the facts of Christ's death and +Resurrection and Ascension, has given to us the sure and certain hope of +immortality, and has declared to us plainly the conditions upon which +that immortality may be ours, and the woful loss and eclipse into the +shadow of which we shall stumble darkling if it is not ours, then surely +that is a reason for prizing and laying to heart, and living by the +revelation so mercifully made. People do not usually kick over their +telescopes, and neglect to look through them, because they are so +powerful that they show them the craters in the moon and turn faint +specks into blazing suns. People do not usually neglect a word of +warning or guidance in reference to the ordering of their earthly lives +because it is so comprehensive, and covers so large a ground, and is so +certain and absolutely true. Surely there can be no greater sign of +divine loving-kindness, of a Saviour's tenderness and care for us, than +that He should come to each of us, as He does come, and say to each of +us, 'Thou art to live for ever; and if thou wilt take Me for thy Life, +thou shalt live for ever, blessed, calm, and pure.' And we listen, and +say, 'He prophesies of times that are far off!' Oh! is that not rather a +reason for coming very close to, and for grappling to our hearts and +living always by the power of, that great revelation? Surely to announce +the consequences of evil, and to announce them so long beforehand that +there is plenty of time to avoid them and to falsify the prediction, is +the token of love. + +Now I wish to lay it on the hearts of you people who call yourselves +Christians, and who are so in some imperfect degree, whether we do at +all adequately regard, remember, and live by this great mercy of God, +that He _should_ have prophesied to us 'of the times that are far off.' +Perhaps I am wrong, but I cannot help feeling that, for this generation, +the glories of the future rest with God have been somewhat paled, and +the terrors of the future unrest away from God have been somewhat +lightened. I hope I am wrong, but I do not think that the modern average +Christian thinks as much about heaven as his father did. And I believe +that his religion has lost something of its buoyancy, of its power, of +its restraining and stimulating energy, because, from a variety of +reasons, the bias of this generation is rather to dwell upon, and to +realise, the present social blessings of Christianity than to project +itself into that august future. The reaction may be good. I have no +doubt it was needed, but I think it has gone rather too far, and I would +beseech Christian men and women to try and deserve more the sarcasm that +is flung at us that we live for another world. Would God it were +true--truer than it is! We should see better work done in this world if +it were. So I say, that 'he prophesieth of times that are far off' is a +good reason for prizing and obeying the prophet. + +III. Lastly, this is a very common and a very bad reason for neglecting +the prophecy. + +It does operate as a reason for giving little heed to the prophet, as I +have been saying. In the old men-of-war, when an engagement was +impending, they used to bring up the hammocks from the bunks and pile +them into the nettings at the side of the ship, to defend it from +boarders and bullets. And then, after these had served their purpose of +repelling, they were taken down again and the crew went to sleep upon +them. That is exactly what some of my friends do with that misconception +of the genius of Christianity which supposes that it is concerned mainly +with another world. They put it up as a screen between them and God, +between them and what they know to be their duty--viz., the acceptance +of Christ as their Saviour. It is their hammock that they put between +the bullets and themselves; and many a good sleep they get upon it! + +Now, that strange capacity that men have of ignoring a certain future is +seen at work all round about us in every region of life. I wonder how +many young men there are in Manchester to-day that have begun to put +their foot upon the wrong road, and who know just as well as I do that +the end of it is disease, blasted reputation, ruined prospects, perhaps +an early death. Why! there is not a drunkard in the city that does not +know that. Every man that takes opium knows it. Every unclean, unchaste +liver knows it; and yet he can hide the thought from himself, and go +straight on as if there was nothing at all of the sort within the +horizon of possibility. It is one of the most marvellous things that men +have that power; only beaten by the marvel that, having it, they should +be such fools as to choose to exercise it. The peasants on the slopes of +Vesuvius live very careless lives, and they have their little vineyards +and their olives. Yes, and every morning when they come out, they can +look up and see the thin wreath of smoke going up in the dazzling blue, +and they know that some time or other there will be a roar and a rush, +and down will come the lava. But 'a short life and a merry one' is the +creed of a good many of us, though we do not like to confess it. Some of +you will remember the strange way in which ordinary habits survived in +prisons in the dreadful times of the French Revolution, and how ladies +and gentlemen, who were going to have their heads chopped off next +morning, danced and flirted, and sat at entertainments, just as if there +was no such thing in the world as the public prosecutor and the tumbril, +and the gaoler going about with a bit of chalk to mark each door where +were the condemned for next day. + +That same strange power of ignoring a known future, which works so +widely and so disastrously round about us, is especially manifested in +regard to religion. The great bulk of English men and women who are not +Christians, and the little sample of such that I have in my audience +now, as a rule believe as fully as we do the truths which they agree to +neglect. Let me speak to them individually. You believe that death will +introduce you into a world of two halves--that if you have been a good, +religious man, you will dwell in blessedness; that if you have not, you +will not--yet you never did a single thing, nor refrained from a single +thing, because of that belief. And when I, and men of my profession, +come and plead with you and try to get through that strange web of +insensibility that you have spun round you, you listen, and then you +say, with a shrug, 'He prophesies of things that are far off.' and you +turn with relief to the trivialities of the day. Need I ask you whether +that is a wise thing or not? + +Surely it is not wise for a man to ignore a future that is certain +simply because it is distant. So long as it is certain, what in the name +of common-sense has the time when it begins to be a present to do with +our wisdom in regard to it? It is the uncertainty in future +anticipations which makes it unwise to regulate life largely by them, +and if you can eliminate that element of uncertainty--which you can do +if you believe in Jesus Christ--then the question is not when is the +prophecy going to be fulfilled, but is it true and trustworthy? The man +is a fool who, because it is far off, thinks he can neglect it. + +Surely it is not wise to ignore a future which is so incomparably +greater than this present, and which also is so connected with this +present as that life here is only intelligible as the vestibule and +preparation for that great world beyond. + +Surely it is not wise to ignore a future because you fancy it is far +away, when it may burst upon you at any time. These exiles to whom +Ezekiel spoke hugged themselves in the idea that his words were not to +be fulfilled for many days to come; but they were mistaken, and the +crash of the fall of Jerusalem stunned them before many months had +passed by. We have to look forward to a future which must be very near +to some of us, which may be nearer to others than they think, which at +the remotest is but a little way from us, and which must come to us all. +Oh, dear friends, surely it is not wise to ignore as far off that which +for some of us may be here before this day closes, which will probably +be ours in some cases before the fresh young leaves now upon the trees +have dropped yellow in the autumn frosts, which at the most distant must +be very near us, and which waits for us all. + +What would you think of the crew and passengers of some ship lying in +harbour, waiting for its sailing orders, who had got leave on shore, and +did not know but that at any moment the blue-peter might be flying at +the fore--the signal to weigh anchor--if they behaved themselves in the +port as if they were never going to embark, and made no preparations for +the voyage? Let me beseech you to rid yourselves of that most +unreasonable of all reasons for neglecting the gospel, that its most +solemn revelations refer to the eternity beyond the grave. + +There are many proofs that man on the whole is a very foolish creature, +but there is not one more tragical than the fact that believing, as many +of you do, that 'the wages of sin is death, and the gift of God is +eternal life through Jesus Christ,' you stand aloof from accepting the +gift, and risk the death. + +The 'times far off' have long since come near enough to those scoffers. +The most distant future will be present to you before you are ready for +it, unless you accept Jesus Christ as your All, for time and for +eternity. If you do, the time that is near will be pure and calm, and +the times that are far off will be radiant with unfading bliss. + + +THE HOLY NATION + + 'Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be + clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, + will I cleanse you. 26. A new heart also will I give you, and + a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the + stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart + of flesh. 27. And I will put My Spirit within you, and cause + you to walk in My statutes, and ye shall keep My judgments, + and do them. 28. And ye shall dwell in the land that I gave + to your fathers; and ye shall be My people, and I will be + your God. 29. I will also save you from all your + uncleannesses: and I will call for the corn, and will + increase it, and lay no famine upon you. 30. And I will + multiply the fruit of the tree, and the increase of the + field, that ye shall receive no more reproach of famine among + the heathen. 31. Then shall ye remember your own evil ways, + and your doings that were not good, and shall loathe + yourselves in your own sight for your iniquities and for your + abominations. 32. Not for your sakes do I this, saith the + Lord God, be it known unto you: be ashamed and confounded for + your own ways, O house of Israel. 33. Thus saith the Lord + God; In the day that I shall have cleansed you from all your + iniquities I will also cause you to dwell in the cities, and + the wastes shall be builded. 34. And the desolate land shall + be tilled, whereat; it lay desolate in the sight of all that + passed by. 35. And they shall say, This land that was + desolate is become like the garden of Eden; and the waste and + desolate and ruined cities are become fenced, and are + inhabited. 36. Then the heathen that are left round about you + shall know that I the Lord build the ruined places, and plant + that that was desolate: I the Lord have spoken it, and I will + do it. 37. Thus saith the Lord God; I will yet for this be + enquired of by the house of Israel, to do it for them; I will + increase them with men like a flock. 38. As the holy flock, + as the flock of Jerusalem in her solemn feasts; so shall the + waste cities be filled with flocks of men: and they shall + know that I am the Lord.'--EZEKIEL xxxvi. 25-38. + +This great prophecy had but a partial fulfilment, though a real one, in +the restored Israel. The land was given back, the nation _was_ +multiplied, fertility again blessed the smiling fields and vineyards, +and, best of all, the people _were_ cleansed 'from all their idols' by +the furnace of affliction. Nothing is more remarkable than the +transformation effected by the captivity, in regard to the idolatrous +propensities of the people. Whereas before it they were always hankering +after the gods of the nations, they came back from Babylon the resolute +champions of monotheism, and never thereafter showed the smallest +inclination for what had before been so irresistible. + +But the fulness of Ezekiel's prophecy is not realised until Jeremiah's +prophecy of the new covenant is brought to pass. Nor does the state of +the militant church on earth exhaust it. Future glories gleam through +the words. They have a 'springing accomplishment' in the Israel of the +restoration, a fuller in the New Testament church, and their ultimate +realisation in the New Jerusalem, which shall yet descend to be the +bride, the Lamb's wife. The principles involved in the prophecy belong +to the region of purely spiritual religion, and are worth pondering, +apart from any question of the place and manner of fulfilment. + +First comes the great truth that the foundation, so far as concerns the +history of a soul or of a community, of all other good is divine +forgiveness (v. 25). Ezekiel, the priest, casts the promise into +ceremonial form, and points to the sprinklings of the polluted under the +law, or to the ritual of consecration to the priesthood. That cleansing +is the removal of already contracted defilement, especially of the guilt +of idolatry. It is clearly distinguished from the operation on the +inward nature which follows; that is to say, it is the promise of +forgiveness, or of justification, not of sanctification. + +From what deep fountains in the divine nature that 'clean water' was to +flow, Ezekiel does not know; but we have learned that a more precious +fluid than water is needed, and have to think of Him 'who came not by +water only, but by water and blood,' in whom we have redemption through +His blood, even the forgiveness of our sins. But the central idea of +this first promise is that it must be God's hand which sprinkles from an +evil conscience. Forgiveness is a divine prerogative. He only can, and +He will, cleanse from all filthiness. His pardon is universal. The most +ingrained sins cannot be too black to melt away from the soul. The +dye-stuffs of sin are very strong, but there is one solvent which they +cannot resist. There are no 'fast colours' which God's 'clean water' +cannot move. This cleansing of pardon underlies all the rest of the +blessings. It is ever the first thing needful when a soul returns to +God. + +Then follows an equally exclusively divine act, the impartation of a new +nature, which shall secure future obedience (vs. 26, 27). Who can thrust +his hand into the depths of man's being, and withdraw one +life-principle and enshrine another, while yet the individuality of the +man remains untouched? God only. How profound the consciousness of +universal obstinacy and insensibility which regards human nature, apart +from such renewal, as possessing but a 'heart of stone'! There are no +sentimental illusions about the grim facts of humanity here. Superficial +views of sin and rose-tinted fancies about human nature will not admit +the truth of the Scripture doctrine of sinfulness, alienation from God. +They diagnose the disease superficially, and therefore do not know how +to cure it. The Bible can venture to give full weight to the gravity of +the sickness, because it knows the remedy. No surgery but God's can +perform that operation of extracting the stony heart and inserting a +heart of flesh. No system which cannot do that can do what men want. The +gospel alone deals thoroughly with man's ills. + +And how does it effect that great miracle? 'I will put My Spirit within +you.' The new life-principle is the effluence of the Spirit of God. The +promise does not merely offer the influence of a divine spirit, working +on men as from without, or coming down upon them as an afflatus, but the +actual planting of God's Spirit in the deep places of theirs. We fail to +apprehend the most characteristic blessing of the gospel if we do not +give full prominence to that great gift of an indwelling Spirit, the +life of our lives. Cleansing is much, but is incomplete without a new +life-principle which shall keep us clean; and that can only be God's +Spirit, enshrined and operative within us; for only thus shall we 'walk +in His statutes, and keep His judgments.' When the Lawgiver dwells in +our hearts, the law will be our delight; and keeping it will be the +natural outcome and expression of our life, which is His life. + +Then follows the picture of the blessed effects of obedience (vs. +28-30). These are cast into the form appropriate to the immediate +purpose of the prophecy, and received fulfilment in the actual +restoration to the land, which fulfilment, however, was imperfect, +inasmuch as the obedience and renewal of the people's hearts were +incomplete. These can only be complete under the gospel, and, in the +fullest sense, only in another order than the present. When men fully +keep God's judgments, they shall dwell permanently in a good land. +Israel's hold on its country was its obedience, not its prowess. Our +real hold on even earthly good is the choosing of God for our supreme +good. In the measure in which we can say 'Thy law is within my heart,' +all things are ours; and we may possess all things while having nothing +in the vulgar world's sense of having. Similarly that obedience, which +is the fruit of the new life of God's Spirit in our spirits, is the +condition of close mutual possession in the blessed reciprocity of trust +and faithfulness, love bestowing and love receiving, by which the quiet +heart knows that God is its, and it is God's. If stains and +interruptions still sometimes break the perfectness of obedience and +continuity of reciprocal ownership, there will be a further cleansing +for such sins. 'If we walk in the light, the blood of Jesus Christ His +Son cleanseth us from all sin' (v. 29). + +The lovely picture of the blessed dwellers in their good land is closed +by the promise of abundant harvests from corn and fruit-tree; that is, +all that nourishes or delights. The deepest truth taught thereby is that +he who lives in God has no unsatisfied desires, but finds in Him all +that can sustain, strengthen, and minister to growth, and all that can +give gladness and delight. If we make God our heritage, we dwell secure +in a good land; and 'the dust of that land is gold,' and its harvests +ever plenteous. + +Very profoundly and beautifully does Ezekiel put as the last trait in +his picture, and as the upshot of all this cornucopia of blessings, the +penitent remembrance of past evils. Undeserved mercies steal into the +heart like the breath of the south wind, and melt the ice. The more we +advance in holiness and consequent blessed communion with God, the more +clearly shall we see the evil of our past. Forgiven sin looks far +blacker because it is forgiven. When we are not afraid of sin's +consequences, we see more plainly its sinfulness. When we have tasted +God's sweetness, we think with more shame of our ingratitude and folly. +If God forgets, the more reason for us to remember our transgressions. +The man who 'has forgotten that he was purged from his old sins' is in +danger of finding out that he is not purged from them. There is no +gnawing of conscience, nor any fearful looking for of judgment in such +remembrance, but a wholesome humility passing into thankful wonder that +such sin is pardoned, and such a sinner made God's friend. + +The deep foundation of all the blessedness is finally laid bare (v. 32) +as being God's undeserved mercy. 'For Mine holy name' (v. 22) is God's +reason. He is His own motive, and He wills that the world should know +His name,--that is, His manifested character,--and understand how loving +and long-suffering He is. So He wills, not because such knowledge adds +to His glory, but because it satisfies His love, since it will make the +men who know His name blessed. The truth that God's motive is His own +name's sake may be so put as to be hideous and repellent; but it really +proclaims that He is love, and that His motive is His poor creatures' +blessing. + +To this great outline of the blessings of the restored nations are +appended two subsidiary prophecies, marked by the recurring 'Thus saith +the Lord.' The former of these (vs. 33-36) deals principally with the +new beauty that was to clothe the land. The day in which the inhabitants +were cleansed from their sins was to be the day in which the land was to +be raised from its ruin. Cities are to be rebuilt, the ground that had +lain fallow and tangled with briers and thorns is to be tilled, and to +bloom like Eden, a restored paradise. How far the fulfilment has halted +behind the promise, the melancholy condition of Palestine to-day may +remind us. Whether the literal fulfilment is to be anticipated or no +seems less important than to note that the experience of forgiveness +(and of the consequent blessings described above) is the precursor of +this fair picture. Therefore, the Church's condition of growth and +prosperity is its realisation in the persons of its individual members, +of pardon, the renewal of the inner man by the indwelling Spirit, +faithful obedience, communion with God, and lowly remembrance of past +sins. Where churches are marked by such characteristics, they will grow. +If they are not, all their 'evangelistic efforts' will be as sounding +brass and a tinkling cymbal. + +The second appended prophecy (vs. 37, 38) is that of increase of +population. The picture of the flocks of sheep for sacrifice, which +thronged Jerusalem at the feasts, is given as a likeness of the swarms +of inhabitants in the 'waste cities.' The point of comparison is chiefly +the number. One knows how closely a flock huddles and seems to fill the +road in endless procession. But the destination as well as the number +comes into view. All these patient creatures, crowding the ways, are +meant for sacrifices. So the inhabitants of the land then shall all +yield themselves to God, living sacrifices. The first words of our text +point to the priesthood of all believers; the last words point to the +sacrifice of themselves which they have to offer. + +'For this moreover will I be inquired of by the house of Israel.' The +blessings promised do not depend on our merits, as we have heard, but +yet they will not be given without our co-operation in prayer. God +promises, and that promise is not a reason for our not asking the gifts +from Him, but for our asking. Faith keeps within the lines of God's +promise, and prayers which do not foot themselves on a promise are the +offspring of presumption, not of faith. God 'lets Himself be inquired +of' for that which is in accordance with His will; and, accordant with +His will though it be, He will not 'do it for them,' unless His flock +ask of Him the accomplishment of His own word. + + +THE DRY BONES AND THE SPIRIT OF LIFE + + 1. The hand of the Lord was upon me, and carried me out in the + spirit of the Lord, and set me down in the midst of the valley + which was full of bones, 2. And caused me to pass by them round + about: and, behold, there were very many in the open valley; and, + lo, they were very dry. 3. And He said unto me, Son of man, can + these bones live? And I answered, O Lord God, Thou knowest. 4. + Again He said unto me, Prophesy upon these bones, and say unto + them, O ye dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. 5. Thus saith the + Lord God unto these bones; Behold, I will cause breath to enter + into you, and ye shall live: 6. And I will lay sinews upon you, and + will bring up flesh upon you, and cover you with skin, and put + breath in you, and ye shall live; and ye shall know that I _am_ the + Lord. 7. So I prophesied as I was commanded; and as I prophesied, + there was a noise, and behold a shaking, and the bones came + together, bone to his bone. 8. And when I beheld, lo, the sinews + and the flesh came up upon them, and the skin covered them above: + but there was no breath in them. 9. Then said He unto me, Prophesy + unto the wind, prophesy, son of man, and say to the wind, Thus + saith the Lord God; Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe + upon these slain, that they may live. 10. So I prophesied as He + commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and + stood up upon their feet, an exceeding great army. 11. Then He said + unto me, Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel: + behold, they say, Our bones are dried, and our hope is lost: we are + cut off for our parts. 12. Therefore prophesy and say unto them, + Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, O My people, I will open your + graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves, and bring you + into the land of Israel. 13. And ye shall know that I am the Lord, + when I have opened your graves, O My people, and brought you up out + of your graves. 14. And shall put My spirit in you, and ye shall + live, and I shall place you in your own land: then shall ye know + that I the Lord have spoken it, and performed it, saith the + Lord.'--EZEKIEL xxxvii. 1-14. + +This great vision apparently took its form from a despairing saying, +which had become a proverb among the exiles, 'Our bones are dried up, +and our hope is lost: we are clean cut off' (v. 11). Ezekiel lays hold +of the metaphor, which had been taken to express the hopeless +destruction of Israel's national existence, and even from it wrings a +message of hope. Faith has the prerogative of seeing possibilities of +life in what looks to sense hopeless death. We may look at the vision +from three points of view, considering its bearing on Israel, on the +world, and on the resurrection of the body. + +I. The saying, already referred to, puts the hopelessness of the mass of +the exiles in a forcible fashion. The only sense in which living men +could say that their bones were dried up, and they cut off, is a +figurative one, and obviously it is the national existence which they +regarded as irretrievably ended. The saying gives us a glimpse into the +despair which had settled down on the exiles, and against which Ezekiel +had to contend, as he had also to contend against its apparently +opposite and yet kindred feeling of presumptuous, misplaced hope. We +observe that he begins by accepting fully the facts which bred despair, +and even accentuating them. The true prophet never makes light of the +miseries of which he knows the cure, and does not try to comfort by +minimising the gravity of the evil. The bones _are_ very many, and they +_are_ very dry. As far as outward resources are concerned, despair was +rational, and hope as absurd as it would have been to expect that men, +dead so long that their bones had been bleached by years of exposure to +the weather, should live again. + +But while Ezekiel saw the facts of Israel's powerlessness as plainly as +the most despondent, he did not therefore despair. The question which +rose in his mind was God's question, and the very raising it let a gleam +of hope in. So he answered with that noble utterance of faith and +submission, 'O Lord God, Thou knowest.' 'With God all things are +possible.' Presumption would have said 'Yes'; Unbelief would have said +'No'; Faith says, 'Thou knowest.' + +The grand description of the process of resurrection follows the analogy +of the order in the creation of man, giving, first, the shaping of the +body, and afterwards the breathing into it of the breath which is life. +Both stages are wholly God's work. The prophet's part was to prophesy to +the bones first; and his word, in a sense, brought about the effect +which it foretold, since his ministry was the most potent means of +rekindling dying hopes, and bringing the _disjecta membra_ of the nation +together again. The vivid and gigantic imagination of the prophet gives +a picture of the rushing together of the bones, which has no superior in +any literature. He hears a noise, and sees a 'shaking' (by which is +meant the motion of the bones to each other, rather than an +'earthquake,' as the Revised Version has it, which inserts a quite +irrelevant detail), and the result of all is that the skeletons are +complete. Then follows the gradual clothing with flesh. There they lie, +a host of corpses. + +The second stage is the quickening of these bodies with life, and here +again Ezekiel, as God's messenger, has power to bring about what he +announces; for, at his command, the breath, or wind, or spirit, comes, +and the stiff corpses spring to their feet, a mighty army. The +explanation in the last verses of the text somewhat departs from the +tenor of the vision by speaking of Israel as buried, but keeps to its +substance, and point the despairing exiles to God as the source of +national resurrection. But we must not force deeper meaning on Ezekiel's +words than they properly bear. The spirit promised in them is simply the +source of life,--literally, of physical life; metaphorically, of +national life. However that national restoration was connected with +holiness, that does not enter into the prophet's vision. Israel's +restoration to its land is all that Ezekiel meant by it. True, that +restoration was to lead to clearer recognition by Israel of the name of +Jehovah, and of all that it implied in him and demanded from them. But +the proper scope of the vision is to assure despairing Israelites that +God would quicken the apparently slain national life, and replace them +in the land. + +II. We may extend the application of the vision to the condition of +humanity and the divine intervention which communicates life to a dead +world, but must remember that no such meaning was in Ezekiel's thoughts. +The valley full of dry bones is but too correct a description of the +aspect which a world 'dead in trespasses and sins' bears, when seen from +the mountain-top by pure and heavenly eyes. The activities of godless +lives mask the real spiritual death, which is the condition of every +soul that is separate from God. Galvanised corpses may have muscular +movements, but they are dead, notwithstanding their twitching. They that +live without God are dead while they live. + +Again, we may learn from the vision the preparation needful for the +prophet, who is to be the instrument of imparting divine life to a dead +world. The sorrowful sense of the widespread deadness must enter into a +man's spirit, and be ever present to him, in order to fit him for his +work. A dead world is not to be quickened on easy terms. We must see +mankind in some measure as God sees them if we are to do God's work +among them. So-called Christian teachers, who do not believe that the +race is dead in sin, or who, believing it, do not feel the tragedy of +the fact, and the power lodged in their hands to bring the true life, +may prophesy to the dry bones for ever, and there will be no shaking +among them. + +The great work of the gospel is to communicate divine life. The details +of the process in the vision are not applicable in this respect. As we +have pointed out, they are shaped after the pattern of the creation of +Adam, but the essential point is that what the world needs is the +impartation from God of His Spirit. We know more than Ezekiel did as to +the way by which that Spirit is given to men, and as to the kind of life +which it imparts, and as to the connection between that life and +holiness. It is a diviner voice than Ezekiel's which speaks to us in the +name of God, and says to us with deeper meaning than the prophet of the +Exile dreamed of, 'I will put my Spirit in you, and ye shall live.' + +But we may note that it is possible to have the outward form of a living +body, and yet to have no life. Churches and individuals may be perfectly +organised and perfectly dead. Creeds may be articulated most correctly, +every bone in its place, and yet have no vitality in them. Forms of +worship may be punctiliously proper, and have no breath of life in them. +Religion must have a body, but often the body is not so much the organ +as the sepulchre of the spirit. We have to take heed that the externals +do not kill the inward life. + +Again, we note that this great act of life-giving is God's revelation of +His name,--that is, of His character so far as men can know it. 'Ye +shall know that I am the Lord' (vs. 13, 14). God makes Himself known in +His divinest glory when He quickens dead souls. The world may learn what +He is therefrom, but they who have experienced the change, and have, as +it were, been raised from the grave to new life, have personal +experience of His power and faithfulness so sure and sweet that +henceforward they cannot doubt Him nor forget His grace. + +III. As to the bearing of the vision on the doctrine of the resurrection +little need be said. It does not necessarily presuppose the people's +acquaintance with that doctrine, for it would be quite conceivable that +the vision had revealed to the prophet the thought of a resurrection, +which had not been in his beliefs before. The vision is so entirely +figurative, that it cannot be employed as evidence that the idea of the +resurrection of the dead was part of the Jewish beliefs at this date. It +does, however, seem most natural to suppose that the exiles were +familiar with the idea, though the vision cannot be taken as a +revelation of a literal resurrection of dead men. For clear expectations +of such a resurrection we must turn to such scriptures as Daniel xii. 2, +13. + + +THE RIVER OF LIFE + + Waters issued out from under the threshold of the house ... EZEKIEL + xlvii. 1. + +Unlike most great cities, Jerusalem was not situated on a great river. +True, the inconsiderable waters of Siloam--'which flow softly' because +they were so inconsiderable--rose from a crevice in the Temple rock, and +beneath that rock stretched the valley of the Kedron, dry and bleached +in the summer, and a rainy torrent during the rainy seasons; but that +was all. So, many of the prophets, who looked forward to the better +times to come, laid their finger upon that one defect, and prophesied +that it should be cured. Thus we read in a psalm: 'There is a river, +the divisions whereof make glad the City of our God.' Faith saw what +sense saw not. Again, Isaiah says: 'There'--that is to say, in the new +Jerusalem--'the glorious Lord shall be unto us a place of broad rivers +and streams.' And so, this prophet casts his anticipations of the +abundant outpouring of blessing that shall come when God in very deed +dwells among men, into this figure of a river pouring out from beneath +the Temple-door, and spreading life and fertility wherever its waters +come. I need not remind you how our Lord Himself uses the same figure, +and modifies it, by saying that whosoever believeth on Him, 'out of him +shall flow rivers of living waters'; or how, in the very last words of +the Apocalyptic seer, we hear again the music of the ripples of the +great stream, 'the river of the water of life proceeding out of the +Throne of God and of the Lamb.' So then, all through Scripture, we may +say that we hear the murmur of the stream, and can catch the line of +verdure upon its banks. My object now is not only to deal with the words +that I have read as a starting-point, but rather to seek to draw out the +wonderful significance of this great prophetic parable. + +I. I notice, first, the source from which the river comes. + +I have already anticipated that in pointing out that it flows from the +very Temple itself. The Prophet sees it coming out of the house--that is +to say, the Sanctuary. It flows across the outer court of the house, +passes the altar, comes out under the threshold, and then pours itself +down on to the plain beneath. This is the symbolical dress of the +thought that all spiritual blessings, and every conceivable form of +human good, take their rise in the fact of God's dwelling with men. From +beneath the Temple threshold comes the water of life; and wherever it +is true that in any heart--or in any community--God dwells, there will +be heard the tinkling of its ripples, and freshness and fertility will +come from the stream. The dwelling of God with a man, like the dwelling +of God in humanity in the Incarnation of His own dear Son, is, as it +were, the opening of the fountain that it may pour out into the world. +So, if we desire to have the blessings that are possible for us, we must +comply with the conditions, and let God dwell in our hearts, and make +them His temples; and then from beneath the threshold of that temple, +too, will pour out, according to Christ's own promise, rivers of living +water which will be first for ourselves to drink of and be blessed by, +and then will refresh and gladden others. + +Another thought connected with this source of the river of life is that +all the blessings which, massed together, are included in that one word +'salvation'--which is a kind of nebula made up of many unresolved +stars--take their rise from nothing else than the deep heart of God +Himself. This river rose in the House of the Lord, and amidst the +mysteries of the Divine Presence; it took its rise, one might say, from +beneath the Mercy-seat where the brooding Cherubim sat in silence and +poured itself into a world that had not asked for it, that did not +expect it, that in many of its members did not desire it and would not +have it. The river that rose in the secret place of God symbolises for +us the great thought which is put into plainer words by the last of the +apostles when he says, 'We love Him because He first loved us.' All the +blessings of salvation rise from the unmotived, self-impelled, self-fed +divine love and purpose. Nothing moves Him to communicate Himself but +His own delight in giving Himself to His poor creatures; and it is all +of grace that it might be all through faith. + +Still further, another thought that may be suggested in connection with +the source of this river is, that that which is to bless the world must +necessarily take its rise above the world. Ezekiel has sketched, in the +last portion of his prophecy, an entirely ideal topography of the Holy +Land. He has swept away mountains and valleys, and levelled all out into +a great plain, in the midst of which rises the mountain of the Lord's +House, far higher than the Temple hill. In reality, opposite it rose the +Mount of Olives, and between the two there was the deep gorge of the +Valley of the Kedron. The Prophet smooths it all out into one great +plain, and high above all towers the Temple-mount, and from it there +rushes down on to the low levels the fertilising, life-giving flood. + +That imaginary geography tells us this, that what is to bless the world +must come from above the world. There needs a waterfall to generate +electricity; the power which is to come into humanity and deal with its +miseries must have its source high above the objects of its energy and +its compassion, and in proportion to the height from which it falls will +be the force of its impact and its power to generate the quickening +impulse. All merely human efforts at social reform, rivers that do not +rise in the Temple, are like the rivers in Mongolia, that run for a few +miles and then get sucked up by the hot sands and are lost and nobody +sees them any more. Only the perennial stream, that comes out from +beneath the Temple threshold, can sustain itself in the desert, to say +nothing of transforming the desert into a Garden of Eden. So moral and +social and intellectual and political reformers may well go to Ezekiel, +and learn that the 'river of the water of life,' which is to heal the +barren and refresh the thirsty land, must come from below the Temple +threshold. + +II. Note the rapid increase of the stream. + +The Prophet describes how his companion, the interpreter, measured down +the stream a thousand cubits--about a quarter of a mile--and the waters +were ankle-deep another thousand, making half a mile from the start, and +the water was knee-deep. Another thousand--or three-quarters of a +mile--and the water was waist-deep; another thousand--about a mile in +all--and the water was unfordable, 'waters to swim in, a river that +could not be passed over.' Where did the increase come from? There were +no tributaries. We do not hear of any side-stream flowing into the main +body. Where did the increase come from? It came from the abundant +welling-up in the sanctuary. The fountain was the mother of the +river--that is to say, God's ideal for the world, for the Church, for +the individual Christian, is rapid increase in their experience of the +depth and the force of the stream of blessings which together make up +salvation. So we come to a very sharp testing question. Will anybody +tell me that the rate at which Christianity has grown for these nineteen +centuries corresponds with Ezekiel's vision--which is God's ideal? Will +any Christian man say, 'My own growth in grace, and increase in the +depth and fulness of the flow of the river through my spirit and my life +correspond to that ideal'? A mile from the source the river is +unfordable. How many miles from the source of _our_ first experience do +we stand? How many of us, instead of having 'a river that could not be +passed over, waters to swim in,' have but a poor and all but stagnant +feeble trickle, as shallow as or shallower than it was at first? + +I was speaking a minute ago about Mongolian rivers. Australian rivers +are more like some men's lives. A chain of ponds in the dry season--nay! +not even a chain, but a series, with no connecting channel of water +between them. That is like a great many Christian people; they have +isolated times when they feel the voice of Christ's love, and yield +themselves to the powers of the world to come, and then there are long +intervals, when they feel neither the one nor the other. But the picture +that ought to be realised by each of us is God's ideal, which there is +power in the gospel to make real in the case of every one of us, the +rapid and continuous increase in the depth and in the scour of 'the +river of the water of life,' that flows through our lives. Luther used +to say, 'If you want to clean out a dunghill, turn the Elbe into it.' If +you desire to have your hearts cleansed of all their foulness, turn the +river into it. But it needs to be a progressively deepening river, or +there will be no scour in the feeble trickle, and we shall not be a bit +the holier or the purer for our potential and imperfect Christianity. + +III. Lastly, note the effects of the stream. + +These are threefold: fertility, healing, life. Fertility. In the East +one condition of fertility is water. Irrigate the desert, and you make +it a garden. Break down the aqueduct, and you make the granary of the +world into a waste. The traveller as he goes along can tell where there +is a stream of water, by the verdure along its banks. You travel along a +plateau, and it is all baked and barren. You plunge into a wady, and +immediately the ground is clothed with under-growth and shrubs, and the +birds of the air sing among the branches. And so, says Ezekiel, wherever +the river comes there springs up, as if by magic, fair trees 'on the +banks thereof, whose leaf shall not fade, neither shall the fruit +thereof be consumed.' + +Fertility comes second, the reception of the fertilising agent comes +first. It is wasted time to tinker at our characters unless we have +begun with getting into our hearts the grace of God, and the new spirit +that will be wrought out by diligent effort into all beauty of life and +character. Ezekiel seems to be copying the first psalm, or vice versa, +the Psalmist is copying Ezekiel. At any rate, there is a verbal +similarity between them, in that both dwell upon the unfading leaf of +the tree that grows planted by rivers of water. And our text goes +further, and speaks about perennial fruitfulness month by month, all the +year round. In some tropical countries you will find blossoms, buds in +their earliest stage, and ripened fruit all hanging upon one laden +branch. Such ought to be the Christian life--continuously fruitful +because dependent upon continual drawing into itself, by means of its +roots and suckers, of the water of life by which we are fructified. + +There is yet another effect of the waters--healing. As we said, Ezekiel +takes great liberties with the geography of the Holy Land, levelling it +all, so his stream makes nothing of the Mount of Olives, but flows due +east until it comes to the smitten gorge of the Jordan, and then turns +south, down into the dull, leaden waters of the Dead Sea, which it +heals. We all know how these are charged with poison. Dip up a glassful +anywhere, and you find it full of deleterious matter. They are the +symbol of humanity, with the sin that is in solution all through it. No +chemist can eliminate it, but there is One who can. 'He hath made Him to +be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness +of God in Him.' The pure river of the water of life will cast out from +humanity the malignant components that are there, and will sweeten it +all. Ay, all, and yet not all, for very solemnly the Prophet's optimism +pauses, and he says that the salt marshes by the side of the sea are not +healed. They are by the side of it. The healing is perfectly available +for them, but they are not healed. It is possible for men to reject the +influences that make for the destruction of sin and the establishment of +righteousness. And although the waters are healed, there still remain +the obstinate marshes with the white crystals efflorescing on their +surface, and bringing salt and barrenness. You can put away the healing +and remain tainted with the poison. + +And then the last thought is the life-giving influence of the river. +Everything lived whithersoever it went. Contrast Christendom with +heathendom. Admit all the hollowness and mere nominal Christianity of +large tracts of life in so-called Christian countries, and yet why is it +that on the one side you find stagnation and death, and on the other +side mental and manifold activity and progressiveness? I believe that +the difference between 'the people that _sit_ in darkness' and 'the +people that _walk_ in the light is that one has the light and the other +has not, and activity befits the light as torpor befits the darkness. + +But there is a far deeper truth than that in the figure, a truth that I +would fain lay upon the hearts of all my hearers, that unless we our own +selves have this water of life which comes from the Sanctuary and is +brought to us by Jesus Christ, 'we are dead in trespasses and sins.' The +only true life is in Christ. 'If any man thirst, let him come unto Me, +and drink. He that believeth on Me, as the Scripture hath said, out of +his heart shall flow rivers of living water.' + + * * * * * + + +THE BOOK OF DANIEL + + +YOUTHFUL CONFESSORS + + 'But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself + with the portion of the king's meat, nor with the wine which he + drank; therefore he requested of the prince of the eunuchs that he + might not defile himself. 9. Now God had brought Daniel into favour + and tender love with the prince of the eunuchs. 10. And the prince + of the eunuchs said unto Daniel, I fear my lord the king, who hath + appointed your meat and your drink; for why should he see your + faces worse liking than the children which are of your sort? then + shall ye make me endanger my head to the king. 11. Then said Daniel + to Melzar, whom the prince of the eunuchs had set over Daniel, + Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, 12. Prove thy servants, I beseech + thee, ten days; and let them give us pulse to eat, and water to + drink. 13. Then let our countenances be looked upon before thee, + and the countenance of the children that eat of the portion of the + king's meat; and as thou seest, deal with thy servants. 14. So he + consented to them in this matter, and proved them ten days. 15. And + at the end of ten days their countenances appeared fairer and + fatter in flesh than all the children which did eat the portion of + the king's meat. 16. Thus Melzar took away the portion of their + meat, and the wine that they should drink; and gave them pulse. 17. + As for these four children, God gave them knowledge and skill in + all learning and wisdom; and Daniel had understanding in all + visions and dreams. 18. Now at the end of the days that the king + had said he should bring them in, then the prince of the eunuchs + brought them in before Nebuchadnezzar. 19. And the king communed + with them; and among them all was found none like Daniel, Hananiah, + Mishael, and Azariah; therefore stood they before the king. 20. And + in all matters of wisdom and understanding, that the king enquired + of them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and + astrologers that were in all his realm. 21. And Daniel continued + even unto the first year of king Cyrus.'--DANIEL i. 8-21. + +Daniel was but a boy at the date of the Captivity, and little more at +the time of the attempt to make a Chaldean of him. The last verse says +that he 'continued even unto the first year of king Cyrus,' the date +given elsewhere as the close of the Captivity (2 Chron. xxxvi. 22; Ezra +i. 1; vi. 3). From Daniel x. 1 we learn that he lived on till Cyrus's +third year, if not later; but the date in i. 21 is probably given in +order to suggest that Daniel's career covered the whole period of the +Captivity, and burned like a star of hope for the exiles. The incident +in our passage is a noble example of religious principle applied to +small details of daily life, and shows how God crowns such conscientious +self-restraint with success. The lessons which it contains are best +gathered by following the narrative. + +I. The heroic determination of the boyish confessor is first set forth. +The plan of taking leading young men from the newly captured nation and +turning them into Babylonians was a stroke of policy as heartless and +high-handed as might be expected from a great conqueror. In some +measure, the same thing has been done by all nations who have built up a +world-wide dominion. The new names given to the youths, the attaching of +them to the court, their education in Babylonish fashion, all were meant +for the same purpose,--to denationalise them, and strip them of their +religion, and thus to make them tools for more easily governing their +countrymen. + +Most men would yield to the influences, and be so lapped in the +comforts of their new position as to become pliable as wax in the +conqueror's hands; but here and there he would come across a bit of +stiffer stuff, which would break rather than bend. Such an obstinate +piece of humanity was found in the Hebrew youth, of some fifteen years, +whose Hebrew name ('God is my judge') expressed a truth that ruled him, +when the name was exchanged for one that invoked Bel. It took some +firmness for a captive lad, without friends or influence, to take +Daniel's stand; for the motive of his desire to be excused from taking +the fare provided can only have been religious. He was determined, in +his brave young heart, not to 'defile' himself with the king's meat. The +phrase points to the pollution incurred by eating things offered to +idols, and does not imply scrupulousness like that of Pharisaic times, +nor necessarily suggest a late date for the book. Probably there had +been some kind of religious consecration of the food to Babylonian gods, +and Daniel, in his solitary faithfulness, was carrying out the same +principles which Paul afterwards laid down for Corinthian Christians as +to partaking of things offered to idols. Similar difficulties are sure +to emerge in analogous cases, and do so, on many mission fields. + +The motive here, then, is distinctly religious. Common life was so woven +in with idolatrous worship that every meal was in some sense a +sacrifice. Therefore 'Touch not, taste not, handle not,' was the +inevitable dictate for a devout heart. Daniel seems to have been the +moving spirit; but as is generally the case, he was able to infuse his +own strong convictions into his companions, and the four of them held +together in their protest. The great lesson from the incident is that +religion should regulate the smallest details of life, and that it is +not narrow over-scrupulousness, but fidelity to the highest duty, when a +man sets his foot down about any small matter, and says, 'No, I dare not +do it, little as it is, and pleasant as it might be to sense, because I +should thereby be mixed up in a practical denial of my God.' 'So did not +I, because of the fear of God' (Neh. v. 15), is a motto which will +require from many a young man abstinence from many things which it would +be much easier to accept. + +II. This young confessor was as prudent as he was brave; and the story +goes on to show how wisely he played his part, and how willing he was to +accept all working compromises which might smooth his way. He did not at +all want to pose as a martyr, and had no pleasure in making a noise. The +favour which he had won with the high officer who looked after the lads +before their formal examination (graduation we might call it), is set +down in the narrative to the divine favour; but that favour worked by +means, and no doubt the lad had done his part to win the important good +opinion of his superior. The more firm is our determination to take no +step beyond the line of duty, the more conciliatory we should be. But +many people seem to think that heroism is shown by rudeness, and that if +we are afraid that we shall some time have to say 'No' very +emphatically, we should prepare for it by a great many preliminary and +unnecessary negatives. The very stern need for parting company, when +conscience points one way and companions another, is a reason for +keeping cordially together whenever we can. + +'The prince of the eunuchs' made a very reasonable objection. He had +been appointed to see after the health of the lads, and had ample means +at his disposal; and if they lost their health in this chase after what +he could only think a superstitious fad, the despot whom he served would +think nothing of making him answer with his head. His fear gives a +striking side-light as to the conditions of service in such a court, +where no man's head was firm between his shoulders. Why should the +prince of the eunuchs have supposed that the diet asked for would not +nourish the lads? It was that of the bulk of men everywhere, and he had +only to go out into the streets or the nearest barrack in Babylon to see +what thews and muscles could be nurtured on vegetable diet and water. +But whatever the want of ground in his objection, it was enough that he +made it. Note that he puts it entirely on possible harmful results to +himself, and that silences Daniel, who had no right to ask another to +run his head into the noose, into which he was ready to put his own, if +necessary. Martyrs by proxy, who have such strong convictions that they +think it somebody else's duty to run risk for them, are by no means +unknown. + +This boy was made of other metal. So, apparently he gives up the prince +of the eunuchs, and turns to another of the friends whom he had made in +his short captivity--the person in whose more immediate charge he and +his three friends were. He is named Melzar in the Authorised Version; +but the Revised Version more accurately takes that to be a name of +office, and translates it as 'steward.' He did the catering for them, +and was sufficiently friendly to listen to Daniel's reasonable proposal +to try the vegetable diet for 'ten days'--probably meaning an indefinite +period, sufficiently long to test results, which a literal ten days +would perhaps scarcely be. So the good-natured steward let the lads have +their way, much wondering in his soul, no doubt, why they should take as +much trouble to avoid good living as most youths would have taken to get +it. + +III. The success of the experiment comes next. We do not need to suppose +a miracle as either wrought or suggested by the narrative. The issue +might have taught the steward a wholesome lesson in dietetics, which he +and a great many of us much need. 'A man's life consisteth not in the +abundance of the things which he possesseth,' and his bodily life +consisteth not in the abundance and variety of the things that he +eateth. The teaching of this lesson is, not that vegetarianism or total +abstinence is obligatory, for diet is here regarded only as part of +idolatrous worship; but certainly a secondary conclusion, fairly drawn +from the story, is that vigorous health is best kept up on very simple +fare. Many dinner-tables, over which God's blessing is formally asked, +are spread in such a fashion as it is hard to suppose deserves His +blessing. The simpler the fare, the fewer the wants: the fewer the +wants, the greater the riches; the freer the life, the more leisure for +higher pursuits, and the more sound the bodily health. + +But the rosy faces and vigorous health of Daniel and his friends may +illustrate, by a picturesque example, a large truth--that God suffers no +man to be a loser by faithfulness, and more than makes up all that is +surrendered for His sake. The blessing of God on small means makes them +fountains of truer joy than large ones unblessed. No man hath left +anything for Christ's sake but he receives a hundred-fold in this life, +if not in the actual blessings surrendered, at all events in the peace +and joy of heart of which they were supposed to be bearers. God fills +places emptied by Himself, and those emptied by us for His sake. + +IV. The conscientious abstinence of Daniel had limits. The learning of +the 'Chaldeans' was largely ritualistic, and magic, incantations, +divination, and mythology constituted a most important part of it. Did +not the conscience, which could not swallow idolatrous food, resent +being forced to assimilate idolatrous learning? No; for all that +learning could be acquired by a faithful monotheist, and could be used +against the system which gave it birth. Like Moses, or like the young +Pharisee Saul, these Jewish boys nurtured their faith by knowledge of +their enemies' belief, and used their childhood's lessons as weapons in +fighting for God's truth. It is not every man's duty to become familiar +with error, or to master anti-Christian systems. But if it become ours, +we are not to turn away from the task, nor to doubt that God will keep +His own truth alight in our minds, if we realise the danger of the +position, and seek to cling to Him. + +V. So we have the last scene in the youths' appearance before +Nebuchadnezzar. A three years' curriculum was considered necessary to +turn a Jewish boy into a Chaldean expert, fit to be a traitor to his +nation, an apostate from his God, and a tool of the tyrant. So far as +knowledge of the priestly and astronomical science went, the four +Hebrews came out at the top of the lists. The great king himself, with +that personal interference in all departments which makes a despot's +life so burdensome, put them through their paces, and was satisfied. His +object had been to get instruments with which he could work on the +Captivity, and, no doubt, also to secure servants who had no links with +anybody in Babylon. Foreigners, 'kinless loons,' are favourites with +despots, for plain reasons. But Nebuchadnezzar could not fathom the +hearts of the lads. An incarnation of unbridled will would find it +difficult to understand a life guided by conscience, and religious +scruples would have sounded as an unknown tongue to him. But yet, as he +and they stood face to face, who was stronger, the conqueror or the +youths who feared God, and none besides? They were in their right place +at the head of the examination lists. They had not said, 'We do not +believe in all this rubbish, and we are not going to trouble ourselves +to master it,' but they had set themselves determinedly to work, and +been all the more persevering because of their objection to the diet. If +a young man has to be singular by reason of his religion, let him be +singularly diligent in his work, and seek to be first, not merely for +his own glory, but for the sake of the religion which he professes. + +'Plain living and high thinking' ought to go together. England and +America have many names carved high on their annals, and written deep on +their citizens' hearts, who have nourished a sublime, studious youth in +poverty, 'cultivating literature on a little oatmeal,' and who all their +lives have 'scorned delights and lived laborious days.' It is the temper +which is most likely to succeed, but which, whether it succeeds or not, +brings the best blessings to those who cultivate it. Such a youth will +generally be followed by an honoured manhood like Daniel's, but will, at +all events, be its own reward, and have God's blessing. + +'Daniel continued unto the first year of king Cyrus.' These simple words +contain volumes. During all the troubles of the nation, from the king's +insanity, and the murders of his successors, amidst whirling intrigues, +envies, plots, and persecutions, this one man stood firm, like a pillar +amid blowing sands. So God keeps the steadfast soul which is fixed on +Him; and while the world passeth away, and the fashion thereof, he that +doeth the will of God abideth for ever. + + +THE IMAGE AND THE STONE + + 'This is the dream; and we will tell the interpretation thereof + before the king. 37. Thou, O king, art a king of kings: for the God + of heaven hath given thee a kingdom, power, and strength, and + glory. 38. And wheresoever the children of men dwell, the beasts of + the field and the fowls of the heaven hath He given into thine + hand, and hath made thee ruler over them all. Thou art this head of + gold. 39. And after thee shall arise another kingdom inferior to + thee, and another third kingdom of brass, which shall bear rule + over all the earth. 40. And the fourth kingdom shall be strong as + iron: forasmuch as iron breaketh in pieces and subdueth all + things: and as iron that breaketh all these, shall it break in + pieces and bruise. 41. And whereas thou sawest the feet and toes, + part of potters' clay, and part of iron, the kingdom shall be + divided; but there shall be in it of the strength of the iron, + forasmuch as thou sawest the iron mixed with miry clay. 42. And as + the toes of the feet were part of iron, and part of clay, so the + kingdom shall be partly strong, and partly broken. 43. And whereas + thou sawest iron mixed with miry clay, they shall mingle themselves + with the seed of men: but they shall not cleave one to another, + even as iron is not mixed with clay. 44. And in the days of these + kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never + be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, + but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it + shall stand for ever. 45. Forasmuch as thou sawest that the stone + was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it brake in + pieces the iron, the brass, the clay, the silver, and the gold; the + great God hath made known to the king what shall come to pass + hereafter: and the dream is certain, and the interpretation thereof + sure. 46. Then the king Nebuchadnezzar fell upon his face, and + worshipped Daniel, and commanded that they should offer an oblation + and sweet odours unto him. 47. The king answered unto Daniel, and + said, Of a truth it is, that your God is a God of gods, and a Lord + of kings, and a revealer of secrets, seeing thou couldest reveal + this secret. 48. Then the king made Daniel a great man, and gave + him many great gifts, and made him ruler over the whole province of + Babylon, and chief of the governors over all the wise men of + Babylon. 49. Then Daniel requested of the king, and he set + Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, over the affairs of the province + of Babylon: but Daniel sat in the gate of the king.'--DANIEL ii. + 36-49. + +The colossal image, seen by Nebuchadnezzar in his dream, was a +reproduction of those which met his waking eyes, and still remain for +our wonder in our museums. The mingled materials are paralleled in +ancient art. The substance of the dream is no less natural than its +form. The one is suggested by familiar sights; the other, by pressing +anxieties. What more likely than that, 'in the second year of his reign' +(v. 1), waking thoughts of the future of his monarchy should trouble the +warrior-king, scarcely yet firm on his throne, and should repeat +themselves in nightly visions? God spoke through the dream, and He is +not wont to answer questions before they are asked, nor to give +revelations to men on points which they have not sought to solve. We may +be sure that Nebuchadnezzar's dream met his need. + +The unreasonable demand that the 'Chaldeans' should show the dream as +well as interpret it, fits the character of the king, as an imperious +despot, intolerant of obstacles to his will, and holding human life very +cheap. Daniel's knowledge of the dream and of its meaning is given to +him in a vision by night, which is the method of divine illumination +throughout the book, and may be regarded as a lower stage thereof than +the communications to prophets of 'the word of the Lord.' + +The passage falls into two parts: the image and the stone. + +I. The Image. + +It was a human form of strangely mingled materials, of giant size no +doubt, and of majestic aspect. Barbarous enough it would have looked +beside the marble lovelinesses of Greece, but it was quite like the +coarser art which sought for impressiveness through size and costliness. +Other people than Babylonian sculptors think that bigness is greatness, +and dearness preciousness. + +This image embodied what is now called a philosophy of history. It set +forth the fruitful idea of a succession and unity in the rise and fall +of conquerors and kingdoms. The four empires represented by it are +diverse, and yet parts of a whole, and each following on the other. So +the truth is taught that history is an organic whole, however unrelated +its events may appear to a superficial eye. The writer of this book had +learned lessons far in advance of his age, and not yet fully grasped by +many so-called historians. + +But, further, the human figure of the image sets forth all these +kingdoms as being purely the work of men. Not that the overruling divine +providence is ignored, but that the play of human passions, the lust of +conquest and the like, and the use of human means, such as armies, are +emphasised. + +Again, the kingdoms are seen in their brilliancy, as they would +naturally appear to the thoughts of a conqueror, whose highest notion of +glory was earthly dominion, and who was indifferent to the suffering and +blood through which he waded to a throne. When the same kingdoms are +shown to Daniel in chapter vii. they are represented by beasts. Their +cruelty and the destruction of life which they caused were uppermost in +a prophet's view; their vulgar splendour dazzled a king's sleeping eyes, +because it had intoxicated his waking thoughts. Much worldly glory and +many of its aims appear as precious metal to dreamers, but are seen by +an illuminated sight to be bestial and destructive. + +Once more there is a steady process of deterioration in the four +kingdoms. Gold is followed by silver, and that by brass, and that by the +strange combination of iron and clay. This may simply refer to the +diminution of worldly glory, but it may also mean deterioration, morally +and otherwise. Is it not the teaching of Scripture that, unless God +interpose, society will steadily slide downwards? And has not the fact +been so, wherever the brake and lever of revelation have not arrested +the decline and effected elevation? We are told nowadays of evolution, +as if the progress of humanity were upwards; but if you withdraw the +influence of supernatural revelation, the evidence of power in manhood +to work itself clear of limitations and lower forms is very ambiguous at +the best--in reference to morals, at all events. Evil is capable of +development, as well as good; and perhaps Nebuchadnezzar's colossus is a +truer representation of the course of humanity than the dreams of modern +thinkers who see manhood becoming steadily better by its own effort, and +think that the clay and iron have inherent power to pass into fine gold. + +The question of the identification of these successive monarchies does +not fall to be discussed here. But I may observe that the definite +statement of verse 44 ('in the days of these kings') seems to date the +rise of the everlasting kingdom of God in the period of the last of the +four, and therefore that the old interpretation of the fourth kingdom as +the Roman seems the most natural. The force of that remark may, no +doubt, be weakened by the consideration that the Old Testament prophets' +perspective of the future brought the coming of Messiah into immediate +juxtaposition with the limits of their own vision; but still it has +force. + +The allocation of each part of the symbol is of less importance for us +than the lessons to be drawn from it as a whole. But the singular +amalgam of iron and clay in the fourth kingdom is worth notice. No +sculptor or metallurgist could make a strong unity out of such +materials, of which the combination could only be apparent and +superficial. The fact to which it points is the artificial unity into +which the great conquering empires of old crushed their unfortunate +subject peoples, who were hammered, not fused, together. 'They shall +mingle themselves with the seed of men' (ver. 43), may either refer to +the attempts to bring about unity by marriages among different races, or +to other vain efforts to the same end. To obliterate nationalities has +always been the conquering despot's effort, from Nebuchadnezzar to the +Czar of Russia, and it always fails. This is the weakness of these huge +empires of antiquity, which have no internal cohesion, and tumble to +pieces as soon as some external bond is loosened. There is only one +kingdom which has no disintegrating forces lodged in it, because it +unites men individually to its king, and so binds them to one another; +and that is the kingdom which Nebuchadnezzar saw in its destructive +aspect. + +II. So we have now to think of the stone cut out without hands. + +Three things are specified with regard to it: its origin, its duration, +and its destructive energy. The origin is heavenly, in sharp contrast to +the human origin of the kingdoms symbolised in the colossal man. That +idea is twice expressed: once in plain words, 'the God of heaven shall +set up a kingdom'; and once figuratively as being cut out of the +mountain without hands. By the mountain we are probably to understand +Zion, from which, according to many a prophecy, the Messiah King was to +rule the earth (Ps. ii.; Isa. ii. 3). + +The fulfilment of this prediction is found, not only in the supernatural +birth of Jesus Christ, but in the spread of the gospel without any of +the weapons and aids of human power. Twelve poor men spoke, and the +world was shaken and the kingdoms remoulded. The seer had learned the +omnipotence of ideas and the weakness of outward force. A thought from +God is stronger than all armies, and outconquers conquerors. By the +mystery of Christ's Incarnation, by the power of weakness in the +preachers of the Cross, by the energies of the transforming Spirit, the +God of heaven has set up the kingdom. 'It shall never be destroyed.' Its +divine origin guarantees its perpetual duration. The kingdoms of man's +founding, whether they be in the realm of thought or of outward +dominion, 'have their day, and cease to be,' but the kingdom of Christ +lasts as long as the eternal life of its King. He cannot die any more, +and He cannot live discrowned. Other forms of human association perish, +as new conditions come into play which antiquate them; but the kingdom +of Jesus is as flexible as it is firm, and has power to adapt to itself +all conditions in which men can live. It will outlast earth, it will +fill eternity; for when He 'shall have delivered up the kingdom to His +Father,' the kingdom, which the God of heaven set up, will still +continue. + +It 'shall not be left to other people.' By that, seems to be meant that +this kingdom will not be like those of human origin, in which dominion +passes from one race to another, but that Israel shall ever be the happy +subjects and the dominant race. We must interpret the words of the +spiritual Israel, and remember how to be Christ's subject is to belong +to a nation who are kings and priests. + +The destructive power is graphically represented. The stone, detached +from the mountain, and apparently self-moved, dashes against the +heterogeneous mass of iron and clay on which the colossus insecurely +stands, and down it comes with a crash, breaking into a thousand +fragments as it falls. 'Like the chaff of the summer threshingfloors' +(Daniel ii. 35) is the debris, which is whirled out of sight by the +wind. Christ and His kingdom have reshaped the world. These ancient, +hideous kingdoms of blood and misery are impossible now. Christ and His +gospel shattered the Roman empire, and cast Europe into another mould. +They have destructive work to do yet, and as surely as the sun rises +daily, will do it. The things that can be shaken will be shaken till +they fall, and human society will never obtain its stable form till it +is moulded throughout after the pattern of the kingdom of Christ. + +The vision of our passage has no reference to the quickening power of +the kingdom; but the best way in which it destroys is by transformation. +It slays the old and lower forms of society by substituting the purer +which flow from possession of the one Spirit. That highest glory of the +work of Christ is but partially represented here, but there is a hint in +Daniel ii. 35, which tells that the stone has a strange vitality, and +can grow, and does grow, till it becomes an earth-filling mountain. + +That issue is not reached yet; but 'the dream is certain.' The kingdom +is concentrated in its King, and the life of Jesus, diffused through His +servants, works to the increase of the empire, and will not cease till +the kingdoms of the world are the kingdoms of our God and of His Christ. +That stone has vital power, and if we build on it we receive, by +wonderful impartation, a kindred derived life, and become 'living +stones.' It is laid for a sure foundation. If a man stumble over it +while it lies there to be built upon, he will lame and maim himself. But +it will one day have motion given to it, and, falling from the height of +heaven, when He comes to judge the world which He rules and has +redeemed, it will grind to powder all who reject the rule of the +everlasting King of men. + + +HARMLESS FIRES + + 'Then Nebuchadnezzar in his rage and fury commanded to bring + Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego. Then they brought these men + before the king. 14. Nebuchadnezzar spake and said unto them, Is it + true, O Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, do not ye serve my gods, + nor worship the golden image which I have set up? 15. Now if ye be + ready that at what time ye hear the sound of the cornet, flute, + harp, sackbut, psaltery, and dulcimer, and all kinds of musick, ye + fall down and worship the image which I have made; well: but if ye + worship not, ye shall be cast the same hour into the midst of a + burning fiery furnace; and who is that God that shall deliver you + out of my hands? 16. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, answered and + said to the king, O Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer + thee in this matter. 17. If it be so, our God whom we serve is able + to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver + us out of thine hand, O king. 18. But if not, be it known unto + thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the + golden image which thou hast set up. 19. Then was Nebuchadnezzar + full of fury, and the form of his visage was changed against + Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego: therefore he spake, and commanded + that they should heat the furnace one seven times more than it was + wont to be heated. 20. And he commanded the most mighty men that + were in his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, and to + cast them into the burning fiery furnace. 21. Then these men were + bound in their coats, their hosen, and their hats, and their other + garments, and were cast into the midst of the burning fiery + furnace. 22. Therefore because the king's commandment was urgent, + and the furnace exceeding hot, the flame of the fire slew those men + that took up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego. 23. And these three + men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, fell down bound into the + midst of the burning fiery furnace. 24. Then Nebuchadnezzar the + king was astonied, and rose up in haste, and spake, and said unto + his counsellors, Did not we cast three men bound into the midst of + the fire? They answered and said unto the king, True, O king. 25. + He answered and said, Lo, I see four men loose, walking in the + midst of the fire, and they have no hurt; and the form of the + fourth is like the Son of God.'--DANIEL iii. 13-25. + +The way in which the 'Chaldeans' describe the three recusants, betrays +their motive in accusing them. 'Certain Jews whom thou hast set over the +affairs of the province of Babylon' could not but be envied and hated, +since their promotion wounded both national pride and professional +jealousy. The form of the accusation was skilfully calculated to rouse a +despot's rage. 'They have not regarded thee' is the head and front of +their offending. The inflammable temper of the king blazed up according +to expectation, as is the way with tyrants. His passion of rage is twice +mentioned (vs. 13, 19), and in one of the instances, is noted as +distorting his features. What a picture of ungoverned fury as of one who +had never been thwarted! It is the true portrait of an Eastern despot. + +Where was Daniel in this hour of danger? His absence is not accounted +for, and conjecture is useless; but the fact that he has no share in the +incident seems to raise a presumption in favour of the disputed +historical character of the Book, which, if it had been fiction, could +scarcely have left its hero out of so brilliant an instance of +faithfulness to Jehovah. + +Nebuchadnezzar's vehement address to the three culprits is very +characteristic and instructive. Fixed determination to enforce his +mandate, anger which breaks into threats that were by no means idle, and +a certain wish to build a bridge for the escape of servants who had done +their work well, are curiously mingled in it. His question, best +rendered as in the Revised Version, 'Is it of purpose ... that ye' do so +and so? seems meant to suggest that they may repair their fault by +pleading inadvertence, accident, or the like, and that He will accept +the transparent excuse. The renewed offer of an opportunity of worship +does not say what will happen should they obey; and the omission makes +the clause more emphatic, as insisting on the act, and slurring over the +self-evident result. + +On the other hand, in the next clause the act is slightly touched ('if +ye worship not'); and all the stress comes on the grim description of +the consequence. This monarch, who has been accustomed to bend men's +wills like reeds, tries to shake these three obstinate rebels by terror, +and opens the door of the furnace, as it were, to let them hear it roar. +He finishes with a flash of insolence which, if not blasphemy, at least +betrays his belief that he was stronger than any god of his conquered +subject peoples. + +But the main point to notice in this speech is the unconscious +revelation of his real motive in demanding the act of worship. The +crime of the three was not that they worshipped wrongly, but that they +disobeyed Nebuchadnezzar. He speaks of 'my gods', and of the 'image +which I have set up.' Probably it was an image of the god of the +Babylonian pantheon whom he took for his special patron, and was erected +in commemoration of some victorious campaign. + +At all events, the worship required was an act of obedience to him, and +to refuse it was rebellion. Idolatry is tolerant of any private opinions +about gods, and intolerant of any refusal to obey authority in worship. +So the early Christians were thrown to the lions, not because they +worshipped Jesus, but because they would not sacrifice at the Emperor's +command. It is not only heathen rulers who have confounded the spheres +of civil and religious obedience. Nonconformity in England was long +identified with disloyalty; and in many so-called Christian countries +to-day a man may think what he likes, and worship as he pleases in his +chamber, if only he will decently comply with authority and pretend to +unite in religious ceremonies, which those who appoint and practise them +observe with tongue in cheek. + +But we may draw another lesson from this truculent apostle of his god. +He is not the only instance of apparent religious zeal which is at +bottom nothing but masterfulness. 'You shall worship my god, not because +he is God, but because he is mine.' That is the real meaning of a great +deal which calls itself 'zeal for the Lord.' The zealot's own will, +opinions, fancies, are crammed down other people's throats, and the +insult in not thinking or worshipping as he does, is worse in his eyes +than the offence against God. + +The kind of furnace in which recusants are roasted has changed since +Nebuchadnezzar's time, and what is called persecution for religion is +out of fashion now. But every advance in the application of Christian +principle to social and civil life brings a real martyrdom on its +advocates. Every audacious refusal to bow to the habits or opinions of +the majority, is visited by consequences which only the martyr spirit +will endure. Despots have no monopoly of imperious intolerance. A +democracy is more cruel and more impatient of singularity, and +especially of religious singularity, than any despot. + +England and America have no need to fear the old forms of religious +persecution. In both, a man may profess and proclaim any kind of +religion or of no religion. But in both, the advance guard of the +Christian Church, which seeks to apply Christ's teachings more rigidly +to individual and social life, has to face obloquy, ostracism, +misrepresentation, from the world and the fossil church, for not serving +their gods, nor worshipping the golden image which they have set up. +Martyrs will be needed and persecutors will exist till the world is +Christian. + +How did the three confessors meet this rumble of thunder about their +ears? The quiet determination of their reply is very striking and +beautiful. It is perfectly loyal, and perfectly unshaken. 'We have no +need to answer thee' (Revised Version). 'It is ill sitting at Rome and +striving with the Pope.' Nebuchadnezzar's palace was not precisely the +place to dispute with Nebuchadnezzar; and as his logic was only 'Do as I +bid you, or burn,' the sole reply possible was, 'We will not do as you +bid, and we will burn.' The 'If' which is immediately spoken is already +in the minds of the speakers, when they say that _they_ do not need to +answer. They think that God will take up the taunt which ended the +king's tirade. Beautifully they are silent, and refer the blusterer to +God, whose voice they believe that He will hear in His deed. 'But Thou +shalt answer, Lord, for me,' is the true temper of humble faith, dumb +before power as a sheep before her shearers, and yet confident that the +meek will not be left unvindicated. Let us leave ourselves in God's +hands; and when conscience accuses, or the world maligns or threatens, +let us be still, and feel that we have One to speak for us, and so we +may hold our peace. + +The rendering of verse 17 is doubtful, but the general meaning is clear. +The brave speakers have hope that God will rebuke the king's taunt, and +will prove Himself to be able to deliver out of his hand. So they repeat +his very words with singular boldness, and contradict him to his face. +They have no absolute certainty of deliverance, but whether it comes or +not will make no manner of difference to them. They have absolute +certainty as to duty; and so they look the furious tyrant right in the +eyes, and quietly say, 'We will not serve thy gods.' Nothing like that +had ever been heard in those halls. + +Duty is sovereign. The obligation to resist all temptations to go +against conscience is unaffected by consequences. There may be hope that +God will not suffer us to be harmed, but whether He does or not should +make no difference to our fixed resolve. That temper of lowly faith and +inflexible faithfulness which these Hebrews showed in the supreme +moment, when they took their lives in their hands, may be as nobly +illustrated in the small difficulties of our peaceful lives. The same +laws shape the curves of the tiny ripples in a basin and of the Atlantic +rollers. No man who cannot say 'I will not' in the face of frowns and +dangers, be they what they may, and stick to it, will do his part, He +who has conquered regard for personal consequences, and does not let +them deflect his course a hairsbreadth, is lord of the world. + +How small Nebuchadnezzar was by the side of his three victims! How empty +his threats to men who cared nothing whether they burned or not, so long +as they did not apostatise! What can the world do against a man who +says, 'It is all one to me whether I live or die; I will not worship at +your shrines?' The fire of the furnace is but painted flames to such an +one. + +The savage punishment intended for the audacious rebels is abundantly +confirmed as common in Babylon by the inscriptions, which may be seen +quoted by many commentators. The narrative is exceedingly graphic. We +see the furious king, with features inflamed with passion. We hear his +hoarse, angry orders to heat the furnace seven times hotter, which he +forgot would be a mercy, as shortening the victims' agonies. We see the +swift execution of the commands, and the unresisting martyrs bound as +they stood, and dragged away by the soldiers to the near furnace, the +king following. Its shape is a matter of doubt. Probably the three were +thrown in from above, and so the soldiers were caught by the flames. + +'And these three men ... fell down bound into the midst of the burning +fiery furnace' Their helplessness and desperate condition are +pathetically suggested by that picture, which might well be supposed to +be the last of them that mortal eyes would see. Down into the glowing +mass, like chips of wood into Vesuvius, they sank. The king sitting +watching, to glut his fury by the sight of their end, had some way of +looking into the core of the flames. + +The story shifts its point of view with very picturesque abruptness +after verse 23. The vaunting king shall tell what he saw, and thereby +convict himself of insolent folly in challenging 'any god' to deliver +out of his hand. He alone seems to have seen the sight, which he tells +to his courtiers. The bonds were gone, and the men walking free in the +fire, as if it had been their element. Three went in bound, four walk +there at large; and the fourth is 'like a son of the gods,' by which +expression Nebuchadnezzar can have meant nothing more than he had +learned from his religion; namely, that the gods had offspring of +superhuman dignity. He calls the same person an angel in Daniel iii. 28. +He speaks there as the three would have spoken, and here as Babylonian +mythology spoke. + +But the great lesson to be gathered from this miracle of deliverance is +simply that men who sacrifice themselves for God find in the sacrifice +abundant blessing. They may, or may not, be delivered from the external +danger. Peter was brought out of prison the night before his intended +martyrdom; James, the brother of John, was slain with the sword, but God +was equally near to both, and both were equally delivered from 'Herod +and from all the expectation of the people of the Jews.' The disposal of +the outward event is in His hands, and is a comparatively small matter. +But no furnace into which a man goes because he will be true to God, and +will not yield up his conscience, is a tenth part so hot as it seems, +and it will do no real harm. The fire burns bonds, but not Christ's +servants, consuming many things that entangled, and setting them free. +'I will walk at liberty: for I seek Thy precepts'--even if we have to +walk in the furnace. No trials faced in obedience to God will be borne +alone. 'When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; ... +when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned.' + +The form which Nebuchadnezzar saw amid the flame, as invested with more +than human majesty, may have been but one of the ministering spirits +sent forth to minister to the martyrs--the embodiment of the divine +power which kept the flames from kindling upon them. But we have Jesus +for our Companion in all trials, and His presence makes it possible for +us to pass over hot ploughshares with unblistered feet; to bathe our +hands in fire and not feel the pain; to accept the sorest consequences +of fidelity to Him, and count them as 'not worthy to be compared with +the glory which shall be revealed,' and is made more glorious through +these light afflictions. A present Christ will never fail His servants, +and will make the furnace cool even when its fire is fiercest. + + +MENE, TEKEL, PERES + + 'Then Daniel answered and said before the king, Let thy gifts be to + thyself, and give thy rewards to another: yet I will read the + writing unto the king, and make known to him the interpretation. + 18. O thou king, the most high God gave Nebuchadnezzar thy father a + kingdom, and majesty, and glory, and honour: 19. And for the + majesty that he gave him, all people, nations, and languages, + trembled and feared before him: whom he would he slew; and whom he + would he kept alive; and whom he would he set up; and whom he would + he put down. 20. But when his heart was lifted up, and his mind + hardened in pride, he was deposed from his kingly throne, and they + took his glory from him: 21. And he was driven from the sons of + men; and his heart was made like the beasts, and his dwelling was + with the wild asses: they fed him with grass like oxen, and his + body was wet with the dew of heaven; till he knew that the most + high God ruled in the kingdom of men, and that he appointeth over + it whomsoever he will. 22. And thou his son, O Belshazzar, hast not + humbled thine heart, though thou knewest all this: 23. But hast + lifted up thyself against the Lord of Heaven: and they have brought + the vessels of his house before thee, and thou, and thy lords, thy + wives, and thy concubines, have drunk wine in them; and thou hast + praised the gods of silver, and gold, of brass, iron, wood, and + stone, which see not, nor hear, nor know: and the God in whose hand + thy breath is, and whose are all thy ways, hast thou not glorified: + 24. Then was the part of the hand sent from him; and this writing + was written. 25. And this is the writing that was written, 'MENE, + MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN.' 26. This is the interpretation of the + thing: MENE; God hath numbered thy kingdom, and finished it. 27. + TEKEL; Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting. 28. + PERES; Thy kingdom is divided, and given to the Medes and Persians. + 29. Then commanded Belshazzar, and they clothed Daniel with + scarlet, and put a chain of gold about his neck, and made a + proclamation concerning him, that he should be the third ruler in + the kingdom. 30. In that night was Belshazzar the king of the + Chaldeans slain. 31. And Darius the Median took the kingdom, being + about threescore and two years old.'--DANIEL v. 17-31. + +Belshazzar is now conceded to have been a historical personage, the son +of the last monarch of Babylon, and the other name in the narrative +which has been treated as erroneous--namely, Darius--has not been found +to be mentioned elsewhere, but is not thereby proved to be a blunder. +For why should it not be possible for Scripture to preserve a name that +secular history has not yet been ascertained to record, and why must it +always be assumed that, if Scripture and cuneiform or other documents +differ, it is Scripture that must go to the wall? + +We do not deal with the grim picture of the drunken orgy, turned into +abject terror as 'the fingers of a man's hand' came forth out of empty +air, and in the full blaze of 'the candlestick' wrote the illegible +signs. There is something blood-curdling in the visibility of but a +part of the hand and its busy writing. Whose was the body, and where was +it? No wonder if the riotous mirth was frozen into awe, and the wine +lost flavour. Nor need we do more than note the craven-hearted flattery +addressed to Daniel by the king, who apparently had never heard of him +till the queen spoke of him just before. We have to deal with the +indictment, the sentence, and the execution. + +I. The indictment. Daniel's tone is noticeably stern. He has no +reverential preface, no softening of his message. His words are as if +cut with steel on the rock. He brushes aside the promises of vulgar +decorations and honours with undisguised contempt, and goes straight to +his work of rousing a torpid conscience. + +Babylon was the embodiment and type of the godless world-power, and +Belshazzar was the incarnation of the spirit which made Babylon. So +Daniel's indictment gathers together the main forms of sin, which cleave +to every godless national or individual life. And he begins with that +feather-brained frivolity which will learn nothing by example. +Nebuchadnezzar's fate might have taught his successors what came of +God-forgetting arrogance, and attributing success to oneself; and his +restoration might have been an object-lesson to teach that devout +recognition of the Most High as sovereign was the beginning of a king's +prosperity and sanity. But Belshazzar knew all this, and ignored it all. +Was he singular in that? Is not the world full of instances of the ruin +that attends godlessness, which yet do not check one godless man in his +career? The wrecks lie thick on the shore, but their broken sides and +gaunt skeletons are not warnings sufficient to keep a thousand other +ships from steering right on to the shoals. Of these godless lives it +is true, 'This their way is their folly; yet their posterity approve +their sayings,' and their doings, and say and do them over again. +Incapacity to learn by example is a mark of godless lives. + +Further, Belshazzar 'lifted up' himself 'against the Lord of heaven,' +and 'glorified not Him in whose hand was his breath and whose were all +his ways.' The very essence of all sin is that assertion of self as +Lord, as sufficient, as the director of one's path. To make myself my +centre, to depend on myself, to enthrone my own will as sovereign, is to +fly in the face of nature and fact, and is the mother of all sin. To +live to self is to die while we live; to live to God is to live even +while we die. Nations and individuals are ever tempted thus to ignore +God, and rebelliously to say, 'Who is Lord over us?' or presumptuously +to think themselves architects of their own fortunes, and sufficient for +their own defence. Whoever yields to that temptation has let the 'prince +of the devils' in, and the inferior evil spirits will follow. Positive +acts are not needed; the negative omission to 'glorify' the God of our +life binds sin on us. + +Further, Belshazzar, the type of godlessness, had desecrated the +sacrificial vessels by using them for his drunken carouse, and therein +had done just what we do when we take the powers of heart and mind and +will, which are meant to be filled with affections, thoughts, and +purposes, that are 'an odour of a sweet smell, well-pleasing to God,' +and desecrate them by pouring from them libations before creatures. Is +not love profaned when it is lavished on men or women without one +reference to God? Is not the intellect desecrated when its force is +spent on finite objects of thought, and never a glance towards God? Is +not the will prostituted from its high vocation when it is used to drive +the wheels of a God-ignoring life? + +The coin bears the image and superscription of the true king. It is +treason to God to render it to any paltry 'Caesar' of our own coronation. +Belshazzar was an avowed idolater, but many of us are worshipping gods +'which see not, nor hear, nor know' as really as he did. We cannot but +do so, if we are not worshipping God; for men must have some person or +thing which they regard as their supreme good, to which the current of +their being sets, which, possessed, makes them blessed; and that is our +god, whether we call it so or not. + +Further, Belshazzar was carousing while the Medes and Persians were +ringing Babylon round, and his hand should have been grasping a sword, +not a wine-cup. Drunkenness and lust, which sap manhood, are notoriously +stimulated by peril, as many a shipwreck tells when desperate men break +open the spirit casks, and go down to their death intoxicated, and as +many an epidemic shows when morality is flung aside, and mad vice rules +and reels in the streets before it sinks down to die. A nation or a man +that has shaken off God will not long keep sobriety or purity. + +II. After the stern catalogue of sins comes the tremendous sentence. +Daniel speaks like an embodied conscience, or like an avenging angel, +with no word of pity, and no effort to soften or dilute the awful truth. +The day for wrapping up grim facts in muffled words was past. Now the +only thing to be done was to bare the sword, and let its sharp edge cut. +The inscription, as given in verse 25, is simply 'Numbered, numbered, +weighed and breakings.' The variation in verse 28 (Peres) is the +singular of the noun used in the plural in verse 25, with the omission +of 'U,' which is merely the copulative 'and.' The disjointed brevity +adds to the force of the words. Apparently, they were not written in a +character which 'the king's wise men' could read, and probably were in +Aramaic letters as well as language, which would be familiar to Daniel. +Of course, a play on the word 'Peres' suggests the _Persian_ as the +agent of the _breaking_. Daniel simply supplied the personal application +of the oracular writing. He fits the cap on the king's head. 'God hath +numbered _thy_ kingdom ... _thou_ art weighed ... _thy_ kingdom is +divided' (broken). + +These three fatal words carry in them the summing up of all divine +judgment, and will be rung in the ears of all who bring it on +themselves. Belshazzar is a type of the end of every godless world-power +and of every such individual life. 'Numbered'--for God allows to each +his definite time, and when its sum is complete, down falls the knife +that cuts the threads. 'Weighed'--for 'after death the judgment,' and a +godless life, when laid in the balance which His hand holds, is +'altogether lighter than vanity.' 'Breakings'--for not only will the +godless life be torn away from its possessions with much laceration of +heart and spirit, but the man himself will be broken like some earthen +vessel coming into sharp collision with an express engine. Belshazzar +saw the handwriting on the same night in which it was carried out in +act; we see it long before, and we can read it. But some of us are mad +enough to sit unconcerned at the table, and go on with the orgy, though +the legible letters are gleaming plain on the wall. + +III. The execution of the sentence need not occupy us long. Belshazzar +so little realised the facts, that he issued his order to deck out +Daniel in the tawdry pomp he had promised him, as if a man with such a +message would be delighted with purple robes and gold chains, and made +him third ruler of the kingdom which he had just declared was numbered +and ended by God. The force of folly could no further go. No wonder +that the hardy invaders swept such an Imbecile from his throne without a +struggle! His blood was red among the lees of the wine-cups, and the +ominous writing could scarcely have faded from the wall when the shouts +of the assailants were heard, the palace gates forced, and the +half-drunken king, alarmed too late, put to the sword. 'He that, being +often reproved, hardeneth his neck shall suddenly be destroyed, and that +without remedy.' + + +A TRIBUTE FROM ENEMIES + + Then said these men, We shall not find any occasion against this + Daniel, except we find it against him concerning the law of his + God.'--DANIEL vi. 5. + +Daniel was somewhere about ninety years old when he was cast to the +lions. He had been for many years the real governor of the whole empire; +and, of course, in such a position had incurred much hatred and +jealousy. He was a foreigner and a worshipper of another God, and +therefore was all the more unpopular, as a Brahmin would be in England +if he were a Cabinet Minister. He was capable and honest, and therefore +all the incompetent and all the knavish officials would recognise in him +their natural enemy. So, hostile intrigues, which grow quickly in +courts, especially in Eastern courts, sprung up round him, and his +subordinates laid their heads together in order to ruin him. They say, +in the words of my text, 'We cannot find any holes to pick. There is +only one way to put him into antagonism to the law, and that is by +making a law which shall be in antagonism to God's law.' And so they +scheme to have the mad regulation enacted, which, in the sequel of the +story, we find was enforced. + +These intriguers say, 'We shall not find any occasion against this +Daniel, except we find it against him concerning the law of his God.' + +Now, then, if we look at that confession, wrung from the lips of +malicious observers, we may, I think, get two or three lessons. + +I. First, note the very unfavourable soil in which a character of +singular beauty and devout consecration may be rooted and grow. + +What sort of a place was that court where Daniel was? Half shambles and +half pigsty. Luxury, sensuality, lust, self-seeking, idolatry, ruthless +cruelty, and the like were the environment of this man. And in the +middle of these there grew up that fair flower of a character, pure and +stainless, by the acknowledgment of enemies, and in which not even +accusers could find a speck or a spot. There are no circumstances in +which a man must have his garments spotted by the world. However deep +the filth through which he has to wade, if God sent him there, and if he +keeps hold of God's hand, his purity will be more stainless by reason of +the impurity round him. There were saints in Caesar's household, and +depend upon it, they were more saintly saints just because they were in +Caesar's household. You will always find that people who have any +goodness in them, and who live in conditions unusually opposed to +goodness, have a clearer faith, and a firmer grasp of their Master, and +a higher ideal of Christian life, just because of the foulness in which +they have to live. It may sound a paradox, but it is a deep truth that +unfavourable circumstances are the most favourable for the development +of Christian character. For that development comes, not by what we draw +from the things around, but by what we draw from the soil in which we +are rooted, even God Himself, in whom the roots find both anchorage and +nutriment. And the more we are thrown back upon Him, and the less we +find food for our best selves in the things about us, the more likely is +our religion to be robust and thorough-going, and conscious ever of His +presence. Resistance strengthens muscles, and the more there is need for +that in our Christian lives, the manlier and the stronger and the better +shall we probably be. Let no man or woman say, 'If only circumstances +were more favourable, oh, what a saint I could be; but how can I be one, +with all these unfavourable conditions? How can a man keep the purity of +his Christian life and the fervour of his Christian communion amidst the +tricks and chicanery and small things of Manchester business? How can a +woman find time to hold fellowship with God, when all day long she is +distracted in her nursery with all these children hanging on her to look +after? How can we, in our actual circumstances, reach the ideal of +Christian character?' + +Ah, brother, if the ideal's being realised depends on circumstances, it +is a poor affair. It depends on you, and he that has vitality enough +within him to keep hold of Jesus Christ, has thereby power enough within +him to turn enemies into friends, and unfavourable circumstances into +helps instead of hindrances. Your ship can sail wonderfully near to the +wind if you trim the sails rightly, and keep a good, strong grip on the +helm, and the blasts that blow all but in your face, may be made to +carry you triumphantly into the haven of your desire. Remember Daniel, +in that godless court reeking with lust and cruelty, and learn that +purity and holiness and communion with God do not depend on environment, +but upon the inmost will of the man. + +II. Notice the keen critics that all good men have to face. + +In this man's case, of course, their eyesight was mended by the +microscope of envy and malice. That is no doubt the case with some of us +too. But whether that be so or no, however unobtrusive and quiet a +Christian person's life may be, there will be some people standing +close by who, if not actually watching for his fall, are at least by no +means indisposed to make the worst of a slip, and to rejoice over an +inconsistency. + +We do not need to complain of that. It is perfectly reasonable and +perfectly right. There will always be a tendency to judge men, who by +any means profess that they are living by the highest law, with a +judgment that has very little charity in it. And it is perfectly right +that it should be so. Christian people need to be trained to be +indifferent to men's opinions, but they also need to be reminded that +they are bound, as the Apostle says, to 'provide things honest in the +sight of all men.' It is a reasonable and right requirement that they +should 'have a good report of them that are without.' Be content to be +tried by a high standard, and do not wonder, and do not forget that +there are keen eyes watching your conduct, in your home, in your +relations to your friends, in your business, in your public life, which +would weep no tears, but might gleam with malicious satisfaction, if +they saw inconsistencies in you. Remember it, and shape your lives so +that they may be disappointed. + +If a minister falls into any kind of inconsistency or sin, if a +professing Christian makes a bad failure in Manchester, what a talk +there is, and what a pointing of fingers! We sometimes think it is hard; +it is all right. It is just what should be meted out to us. Let us +remember that unslumbering tribunal which sits in judgment upon all our +professions, and is very ready to condemn, and very slow to acquit. + +III. Notice, again, the unblemished record. + +These men could find no fault, 'forasmuch as Daniel was faithful.' +Neither was there any error'--of judgment, that is,--'or +fault'--dereliction of duty, that is,--'found in him.' They were very +poor judges of his religion, and they did not try to judge that; but +they were very good judges of his conduct as prime minister, and they +did judge that. The world is a very poor critic of my Christianity, but +it is a very sufficient one of my conduct. It may not know much about +the inward emotions of the Christian life, and the experiences in which +the Christian heart expatiates and loves to dwell, but it knows what +short lengths, and light weights, and bad tempers, and dishonesty, and +selfishness are. And it is by our conduct, in the things that they and +we do together, that worldly men judge what we are in the solitary +depths where we dwell in communion with God. It is useless for +Christians to be talking, as so many of them are fond of doing, about +their spiritual experiences and their religious joy, and all the other +sweet and sacred things which belong to the silent life of the spirit in +God, unless, side by side with these, there is the doing of the common +deeds which the world is actually able to appraise in such a fashion as +to extort, even from them, the confession, 'We find no occasion against +this man.' + +You remember the pregnant, quaint old saying, 'If a Christian man is a +shoeblack, he ought to be the best shoeblack in the parish.' If we call +ourselves Christians, we are bound, by the very name, to live in such a +fashion as that men shall have no doubt of the reality of our profession +and of the depth of our fellowship with Christ. It is by our common +conduct that they judge us. And the 'Christian Endeavourer' needs to +remember, whether he or she be old or young, that the best sign of the +reality of the endeavour is the doing of common things with absolute +rightness, because they are done wholly for Christ's sake. + +It is a sharp test, and I wonder how many of us would like to go out +into the world, and say to all the irreligious people who know us, 'Now +come and tell me what the faults are that you have seen in me.' There +would be a considerable response to the invitation, and perhaps some of +us would learn to know ourselves rather better than we have been able to +do. 'We shall not find any occasion in _this_ Daniel'--I wonder if +they would find it in _that_ Daniel--'except we find it concerning +the law of his God.' There is a record for a man! + +IV. Lastly, note obedient disobedience. + +The plot goes on the calculation that, whatever happens, this man may be +trusted to do what his God tells him, no matter who tells him not to do +it. And so on that calculation the law, surely as mad a one as any +Eastern despot ever hatched, is passed that, for a given space of time, +nobody within the dominions of this king, Darius, is to make any +petition or request of any man or god, save of the king only. It was one +of the long series of laws that have been passed in order to be broken, +and being broken, might be an instrument to destroy the men that broke +it. It was passed with no intention of getting obedience, but only with +the intention of slaying one faithful man, and the plot worked according +to calculation. + +What did it matter to Daniel what was forbidden or commanded? He needed +to pray to God, and nothing shall hinder him from doing that. And so, +obediently disobedient, he brushes the preposterous law of the poor, +shadowy Darius on one side, in order that he may keep the law of his +God. + +Now I do not need to remind you how obedience to God has in the past +often had to be maintained by disobedience to law. I need not speak of +martyrs, nor of the great principle laid down so clearly by the apostle +Peter, 'We ought to obey God rather than man.' Nor need I remind you +that if a man, for conscience sake, refuses to render active obedience +to an unrighteous law, and unresistingly accepts the appointed penalty, +he is not properly regarded as a law-breaker. + +If earthly authorities command what is clearly contrary to God's law, a +Christian is absolved from obedience, and cannot be loyal unless he is a +rebel. That is how our forefathers read constitutional obligations. That +is how the noble men on the other side of the Atlantic, fifty years ago, +read their constitutional obligations in reference to that devilish +institution of slavery. And in the last resort--God forbid that we +should need to act on the principle--Christian men are set free from +allegiance when the authority over them commands what is contrary to the +will and the law of God. + +But all that does not touch us. But I will tell you what does touch us. +Obedience to God needs always to be sustained--in some cases more +markedly, in some cases less so--but always in some measure, by +disobedience to the maxims and habits of most men round about us. If +they say 'Do this,' and Jesus Christ says 'Don't,' then they may talk as +much as they like, but we are bound to turn a deaf ear to their +exhortations and threats. + + 'He is a slave that dare not be + In the right with two or three,' + +as that peaceful Quaker poet of America sings. + +And for us, in our little lives, the motto, 'This did not I, because of +the fear of the Lord,' is absolutely essential to all noble Christian +conduct. Unless you are prepared to be in the minority, and now and +then to be called 'narrow,' 'fanatic,' and to be laughed at by men +because you will not do what they do, but abstain and resist, then there +is little chance of your ever making much of your Christian profession. + +These people calculated upon Daniel, and they had a right to calculate +upon him. Could the world calculate upon us, that we would rather go to +the lions' den than conform to what God and our consciences told us to +be a sin? If not, we have not yet learned what it means to be a +disciple. The commandment comes to us absolutely, as it came to the +servants in the first miracle, 'Whatsoever He saith unto you'--that, and +that only--'whatsoever He saith unto you, do it.' + + +FAITH STOPPING THE MOUTHS OF LIONS + + 'Then the king commanded, and they brought Daniel, and cast him + into the den of lions. Now the king spake and said unto Daniel, Thy + God whom thou servest continually, He will deliver thee. 17. And a + stone was brought, and laid upon the mouth of the den; and the king + sealed it with his own signet, and with the signet of his lords; + that the purpose might not be changed concerning Daniel. 18. Then + the king went to his palace, and passed the night fasting: neither + were instruments of musick brought before him: and his sleep went + from him. 19. Then the king arose very early in the morning, and + went in haste unto the den of lions. 20. And when he came to the + den, he cried with a lamentable voice unto Daniel: and the king + spake and said to Daniel, O Daniel, servant of the living God, is + thy God, whom thou servest continually, able to deliver thee from + the lions? 21. Then said Daniel unto the king, O king, live for + ever. 22. My God hath sent His angel, and hath shut the lions' + mouths, that they have not hurt me: forasmuch as before Him + innocency was found in me; and also before thee, O king, have I + done no hurt, 23. Then was the king exceeding glad for him, and + commanded that they should take Daniel up out of the den. So + Daniel was taken up out of the den, and no manner of hurt was found + upon him, because he believed in his God. 24. And the king + commanded, and they brought those men which had accused Daniel, and + they cast them into the den of lions, them, their children, and + their wives; and the lions had the mastery of them, and brake all + their bones in pieces or ever they came at the bottom of the den. + 25. Then king Darius wrote unto all people, nations, and languages, + that dwell in all the earth; Peace be multiplied unto you. 26. I + make a decree, That in every dominion of my kingdom men tremble and + fear before the God of Daniel: for He is the living God, and + stedfast for ever, and His kingdom that which shall not be + destroyed, and His dominion shall be even unto the end. 27. He + delivereth and rescueth, and He worketh signs and wonders in heaven + and in earth, who hath delivered Daniel from the power of the + lions. 28. So this Daniel prospered in the reign of Darius, and in + the reign of Cyrus the Persian.'--DANIEL vi. 16-28. + +Daniel was verging on ninety when this great test of his faithfulness +was presented to him. He had been honoured and trusted through all the +changes in the kingdom, and, when the Medo-Persian conquest came, the +new monarch naturally found in him, as a foreigner, a more reliable +minister than in native officials. 'Envy doth merit as its shade +pursue,' and the crafty trick by which his subordinates tried to procure +his fall, was their answer to Darius's scheme of making him prime +minister. Our passage begins in the middle of the story, but the earlier +part will come into consideration in the course of our remarks. + +I. We note, first, the steadfast, silent confessor and the weak king. +Darius is a great deal more conspicuous in the narrative than Daniel. +The victim of injustice is silent. He does not seem to have been called +on to deny or defend the indictment. His deed was patent, and the breach +of the law flagrant. He, too, was 'like a sheep before the shearers,' +dumb. His silence meant, among other things, a quiet, patient, fixed +resolve to bear all, and not to deny his God. Weak men bluster. Heroic +endurance has generally little to say. Without resistance, or a word, +the old man, an hour ago the foremost in the realm, is hauled off and +flung into the pit or den. It is useless and needless to ask its form. +The entrance was sealed with two seals, one the king's, one the +conspirators', that neither party might steal a march on the other. +Fellows in iniquity do not trust each other. So, down in the dark there, +with the glittering eyeballs of the brutes round him, and their growls +in his ears, the old man sits all night long, with peace in his heart, +and looking up trustfully, through the hole in the roof, to his +Protector's stars, shining their silent message of cheer. + +The passage dwells on the pitiable weakness and consequent unrest of the +king. He had not yielded Daniel to his fate without a struggle, which +the previous narrative describes in strong language. 'Sore displeased,' +he 'set his heart' on delivering him, and 'laboured' to do so. The +curious obstacle, limiting even his power, is a rare specimen of +conservatism in its purest form. So wise were our ancestors, that +nothing of theirs shall ever be touched. Infallible legislators can make +immutable laws; the rest of us must be content to learn by blundering, +and to grow by changing. The man who says, 'I never alter my opinions,' +condemns himself as either too foolish or too proud to learn. + +But probably, if the question had been about a law that was inconvenient +to Darius himself, or to these advocates of the constitution as it has +always been, some way of getting round it would have been found out. If +the king had been bold enough to assert himself, he could have walked +through the cobweb. But this is one of the miseries of yielding to evil +counsels, that one step taken calls for another. 'In for a penny, in for +a pound.' Therefore let us all take heed of small compliances, and be +sure that we can never say about any doubtful course, 'Thus far will I +go, and no farther.' Darius was his servants' servant when once he had +put his name to the arrogant decree. He did not know the incidence of +his act, and we do not know that of ours; therefore let us take heed of +the quality of actions and motives, since we are wholly incapable of +estimating the sweep of their consequences. + +Darius's conduct to Daniel was like Herod's to John the Baptist and +Pilate's to Jesus. In all the cases the judges were convinced of the +victim's innocence, and would have saved him; but fear of others biassed +justice, and from selfish motives, they let fierce hatred have its way. +Such judges are murderers. From all come the old lessons, never too +threadbare to be dinned into the ears, especially of the young, that to +be weak is, in a world so full of temptation, the same as to be wicked, +and that he who has a sidelong eye to his supposed interest, will never +see the path of duty plainly. + +What a feeble excuse to his own conscience was Darius's parting word to +Daniel! 'Thy God, whom thou servest continually, He will deliver thee!' +And was flinging him to the lions the right way to treat a man who +served God continually? Or, what right had Darius to expect that any god +would interfere to stop the consequences of his act, which he thus +himself condemned? We are often tempted to think, as he did, that a +divine intervention will come in between our evil deeds and their +natural results. We should be wiser if we did not do the things that, +by our own confession, need God to avert their issues. + +But that weak parting word witnessed to the impression made by the +lifelong consistency of Daniel. He must be a good man who gets such a +testimony from those who are harming him. The busy minister of state had +done his political work so as to extort that tribute from one who had no +sympathy with his religion. Do we do ours in that fashion? How many of +our statesmen 'serve God continually' and obviously in their public +life? + +What a contrast between the night passed in the lions' den and the +palace! 'Stone walls do not a prison make, nor iron bars a cage,' and +soft beds and luxurious delights of sense bring no ease to troubled +consciences. Daniel is more at rest, though his 'soul is among lions,' +than Darius in his palace. Peter sleeps soundly, though the coming +morning is to be his last. Better to be the victim than the doer of +injustice! + +The verdict of nightly thoughts on daily acts is usually true, and if +our deeds do not bear thinking of 'on our beds,' the sooner we cancel +them by penitence and reversed conduct, the better. But weak men are +often prone to swift and shallow regrets, which do not influence their +future any more than a stone thrown into the sea makes a permanent gap. +Why should Darius have waited for morning, if his penitence had moved +him to a firm resolution to undo the evil done? He had better have +sprung from his bed, and gone with his guards to open the den in the +dark. Feeble lamentations are out of place when it is still time to act. + +The hurried rush to the den in the morning twilight, and the 'lamentable +voice,' so unlike royal impassiveness, indicate the agitation of an +impulsive nature, accustomed to let the feeling of the moment sway it +unchecked. Absolute power tends to make that type of man. The question +thrown into the den seems to imply that its interior was not seen. If +so, the half-belief in Daniel's survival is remarkable. It indicates, as +before, the impression of steadfast devoutness made by the old man's +life, and also a belief that his God was possibly a true and potent +divinity. + +Such a belief was quite natural, but it does not mean that Darius was +prepared to accept Daniel's God as his god. His religion was probably +elastic and hospitable enough to admit that other nations might have +other gods. But his thoughts about this 'living God' are a strange +medley. He is not sure whether He is stronger than the royal lions, and +he does not seem to feel that if a god delivers, his own act in +surrendering a favoured servant of such a god looks very black. A +half-belief blinds men to the opposition between their ways and God's, +and to the certain issue of their going in one direction and God in +another. If Daniel be delivered, what will become of Darius? But, like +most men, he is illogical, and that question does not seem to have +occurred to him. Surely this man may sit for a portrait of a weak, +passionate nature, in the feebleness of his resistance to evil, the half +hopes that wrong would be kept from turning out so badly as it promised, +the childish moanings over wickedness that might still have been mended, +and the incapacity to take in the grave, personal consequences of his +crime. + +II. We next note the great deliverance. The king does not see Daniel, +and waits in sickening doubt whether any sound but the brutes' snarl at +the disturber of their feast will be heard. There must have been a sigh +of relief when the calm accents were audible from the unseen depth. And +what dignity, respect, faith, and innocence are in them! Even in such +circumstances the usual form of reverential salutation to the king is +remembered. That night's work might have made a sullen rebel of Daniel, +and small blame to him if he had had no very amiable feelings to Darius; +but he had learned faithfulness in a good school, and no trace of +returning evil for evil was in his words or tones. + +The formal greeting was much more than a form, when it came up from +among the lions. It heaped coals of fire on the king's head, let us +hope, and taught him, if he needed the lesson, that Daniel's +disobedience had not been disloyalty. The more religion compels us to +disregard the authority and practices of others, the more scrupulously +attentive should we be to demonstrate that we cherish all due regard to +them, and wish them well. How simply, and as if he saw nothing in it to +wonder at, he tells the fact of his deliverance! 'My God has sent His +angel, and hath shut the lions' mouths.' He had not been able to say, as +the king did before the den was opened, 'Thy God will deliver thee'; but +he had gone down into it, knowing that He was able, and leaving himself +in God's care. So it was no surprise to him that he was safe. +Thankfulness, but not astonishment, filled his heart. So faith takes +God's gifts, however great and beyond natural possibility they may be; +for the greatest of them are less than the Love which faith knows to +move all things, and whatsoever faith receives is just like Him. + +Daniel did not say, as Darius did, that he served God continually, but +he did declare his own innocency in God's sight and unimpeachable +fidelity to the king. His reference is probably mainly to his official +conduct; but the characteristic tone of the Old Testament saint is +audible, which ventured on professions of uprightness, accordant with +an earlier stage of revelation and religious consciousness, but scarcely +congruous with the deeper and more inward sense of sin produced by the +full revelation in Christ. But if the tone of the latter part of verse +22 is somewhat strange to us, the historian's summary in verse 23 gives +the eternal truth of the matter: 'No manner of hurt was found upon him, +because he had trusted in his God.' That is the basis of the reference +in Hebrews xi. 33: 'Through faith ... stopped the mouths of lions.' + +Simple trust in God brings His angel to our help, and the deliverance, +which is ultimately to be ascribed to His hand muzzling the gaping +beasts of prey, may also be ascribed to the faith which sets His hand in +motion. The true cause is God, but the indispensable condition without +which God will not act, and with which He cannot but act, is our trust. +Therefore all the great things which it is said to do are due, not to +anything in it, but wholly to that of which it lays hold. A foot or two +of lead pipe is worth little, but if it is the channel through which +water flows into a city, it is priceless. + +Faith may or may not bring external deliverances, such as it brought to +Daniel; but the good cheer which this story brings us does not depend on +these. When Paul lay in Rome, shortly before his martyrdom, the +experience of Daniel was in his mind, as he thankfully wrote to Timothy, +'I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion.' He adds a hope which +contrasts strangely, at first sight, with the clear expectation of a +speedy and violent death, expressed a moment or two before ('I am +already being offered, and the time of my departure is come') when he +says, 'The Lord will deliver me from every evil work'; but he had +learned that it was possible to pass through the evil and yet to be +delivered from it, and that a man might be thrown to the lions and +devoured by them, and yet be truly shielded from all harm from them. So +he adds, 'And will save me unto His heavenly kingdom,' thereby teaching +us that the true deliverance is that which carries us into, or something +nearer towards, the eternal home. Thus understood, the miracle of +Daniel's deliverance is continually repeated to all who partake of +Daniel's faith, 'Thou hast made the Most High thy habitation ... thou +shalt tread upon the lion and adder.' + +The savage vengeance on the conspirators and the proclamation of Darius +must be left untouched. The one is a ghastly example of retributive +judgment, in which, as sometimes is the case even now, men fall into the +pit they have digged for others, and it shows the barbarous cruelty of +that gorgeous civilisation. The other is an example of how far a man may +go in perceiving and acknowledging the truth without its influencing his +heart. The decree enforces recognition of Daniel's God, in language +which even prophets do not surpass; but it is all lip-reverence, as +evanescent as superficial. It takes more than a fright caused by a +miracle to make a man a true servant of the living God. + +The final verse of the passage implies Daniel's restoration to rank, and +gives a beautiful, simple picture of the old man's closing days, which +had begun so long before, in such a different world as Nebuchadnezzar's +reign, and closed in Cyrus's, enriched with all that should accompany +old age--honour, obedience, troops of friends. 'When a man's ways please +the Lord, He maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him.' + + +A NEW YEARS MESSAGE + + 'But go thou thy way till the end be: for thou shalt rest, and + stand in thy lot at the end of the days.'--DANIEL xii. 13. + +Daniel had been receiving partial insight into the future by the visions +recorded in previous chapters. He sought for clearer knowledge, and was +told that the book of the future was sealed and closed, so that no +further enlightenment was possible for him. But duty was clear, whatever +might be dark; and there were some things in the future certain, +whatever might be problematic. So he is bidden back to the common paths +of life, and is enjoined to pursue his patient course with an eye on the +end to which it conducts, and to leave the unknown future to unfold +itself as it may. + +I do not need, I suppose, to point the application. Anticipations of +what may be before us have, no doubt, been more or less in the minds of +all of us in the last few days. The cast of them will have been very +different, according to age and present circumstances. But bright or +dark, hopes or dreads, they reveal nothing. Sometimes we think we see a +little way ahead, and then swirling mists hide all. + +So I think that the words of my text may help us not only to apprehend +the true task of the moment, but to discriminate between the things in +the unknown future that are hidden and those that stand clear. There are +three points, then, in this message--the journey, the pilgrim's +resting-place, and the final home. 'Go thou thy way till the end be: for +thou shalt rest, and stand in thy lot at the end of the days.' Let us, +then, look at these three points briefly. + +I. The journey. + +That is a threadbare metaphor for life. But threadbare as it is, its +significance is inexhaustible. But before I deal with it, note that very +significant 'but' with which my text begins. The Prophet has been asking +for a little more light to shine on the dark unknown that stretches +before him. And his request is negatived--'_But_ go thou thy way.' In +the connection that means, 'Do not waste your time in dreaming about, or +peering into, what you can never see, but fill the present with +strenuous service.' 'Go thou thy way.' Never mind the far-off issues; +the step before you is clear, and that is all that concerns you. Plod +along the path, and leave to-morrow to take care of itself. There is a +piece of plain practical wisdom, none the less necessary for us to lay +to heart because it is so obvious and commonplace. + +And then, if we turn to the emblem with which the continuity of daily +life and daily work is set forth here, as the path along which we +travel, how much wells up in the shape of suggestion, familiar, it may +be, but very needful and wholesome for us all to lay to heart! + +The figure implies perpetual change. The landscape glides past us, and +we travel on through it. How impossible it would be for us older people +to go back to the feelings, to the beliefs, to the tone and the temper +with which we used to look at life thirty or forty years ago! Strangely +and solemnly, like the silent motion of some gliding scene in a theatre, +bit by bit, inch by inch, change comes over all surroundings, and, +saddest of all, in some aspects, over ourselves. + + 'We all are changed, by still degrees, + All but the basis of the soul.' + +And it is foolish for us ever to forget that we live in a state of +things in which constant alteration is the law, as surely as, when the +train whizzes through the country, the same landscape never meets the +eye twice, as the traveller looks through the windows. Let us, then, +accept the fact that nothing abides with us, and so not be bewildered +nor swept away from our moorings, nor led to vain regrets and paralysing +retrospects when the changes that must come do come, sometimes slowly +and imperceptibly, sometimes with stunning suddenness, like a bolt out +of the blue. If life is truly represented under the figure of a journey, +nothing is more certain than that we sleep in a fresh hospice every +night, and leave behind us every day scenes that we shall never traverse +again. What madness, then, to be putting out eager and desperate hands +to clutch what must be left, and so to contradict the very law under +which we live! + +Then another of the well-worn commonplaces which are so believed by us +all that we never think about them, and therefore need to be urged, as I +am trying, poorly enough, to do now--another of the commonplaces that +spring from this image is that life is continuous. Geologists used to be +divided into two schools, one of whom explained everything by invoking +great convulsions, the other by appealing to the uniform action of laws. +There are no convulsions in life. To-morrow is the child of to-day, and +yesterday was the father of this day. What we are, springs from what we +have been, and settles what we shall be. The road leads somewhither, and +we follow it step by step. As the old nursery rhyme has it-- + + 'One foot up and one foot down, + That's the way to London town.' + +We make our characters by the continual repetition of small actions. Let +no man think of his life as if it were a heap of unconnected points. It +is a chain of links that are forged together inseparably. Let no man +say, 'I do this thing, and there shall be no evil consequences impressed +upon my life as results of it.' It cannot be. 'To-morrow _shall be_ as +this day, and much more abundant.' We shall to-morrow be more of +everything that we are to-day, unless by some strong effort of +repentance and change we break the fatal continuity, and make a new +beginning by God's grace. But let us lay to heart this, as a very solemn +truth which lifts up into mystical and unspeakable importance the things +that men idly call trifles, that life is one continuous whole, a march +towards a definite end. + +And therefore we ought to see to it that the direction in which our life +runs is one that conscience and God can approve. And, since the rapidity +with which a body falls increases as it falls, the more needful that we +give the right direction and impulses to the life. It will be a dreadful +thing if our downward course acquires strength as it travels, and being +slow at first, gains in celerity, and accrues to itself mass and weight, +like an avalanche started from an Alpine summit, which is but one or two +bits of snow and ice at first, and falls at last into the ravine, tons +of white destruction. The lives of many of us are like it. + +Further, the metaphor suggests that no life takes its fitting course +unless there is continuous effort. There will be crises when we have to +run with panting breath and strained muscles. There will be long +stretches of level commonplace where speed is not needed, but 'pegging +away' is, and the one duty is persistent continuousness in a course. But +whether the task of the moment is to 'run and not be weary,' or to +'walk and not faint,' crises and commonplace stretches of land alike +require continuous effort, if we are to 'run with patience the race that +is set before us.' + +Mark the emphasis of my text, 'Go thy way _till_ the end.' You, my +contemporaries, you older men! do not fancy that in the deepest aspect +any life has ever a period in it in which a man may 'take it easy.' You +may do that in regard to outward things, and it is the hope and the +reward of faithfulness in youth and middle age that, when the grey +hairs come to be upon us, we may slack off a little in regard to outward +activity. But in regard to all the deepest things of life, no man may +ever lessen his diligence until he has attained the goal. + +Some of you will remember how, in a stormy October night, many years +ago, the _Royal Charter_ went down when three hours from Liverpool, and +the passengers had met in the saloon and voted a testimonial to the +captain because he had brought them across the ocean in safety. Until +the anchor is down and we are inside the harbour, we may be shipwrecked, +if we are careless in our navigation. 'Go thou thy way _until the end_.' +And remember, you older people, that until that end is reached you have +to use all your power, and to labour as earnestly, and guard yourself as +carefully, as at any period before. + +And not only '_till_ the end,' but 'go thou thy way _to_ the end.' That +is to say, let the thought that the road has a termination be ever +present with us all. Now, there is a great deal of the so-called devout +contemplation of death which is anything but wholesome. People were +never meant to be always looking forward to that close. Men may think of +'the end' in a hundred different connections. One man may say, 'Let us +eat and drink, for to-morrow we die.' Another man may say, 'I have only +a little while to master this science, to make a name for myself, to win +wealth. Let me bend all my efforts in a fierce determination--made the +fiercer because of the thought of the brevity of life--to win the end.' +The mere contemplation of the shortness of our days may be an ally of +immorality, of selfishness, of meanness, of earthly ambitions, or it may +lay a cooling hand on fevered brows, and lessen the pulsations of hearts +that throb for earth. + +But whilst it is not wholesome to be always thinking of death, it is +more unwholesome still never to let the contemplation of that end come +into our calculations of the future, and to shape our lives in an +obstinate blindness to what is the one certain fact which rises up +through the whirling mists of the unknown future, like some black cliff +from the clouds that wreath around it. Is it not strange that the surest +thing is the thing that we forget most of all? It sometimes seems to me +as if the sky rained down opiates upon people, as if all mankind were in +a conspiracy of lunacy, because they, with one accord, ignore the most +prominent and forget the only certain fact about their future; and in +all their calculations do _not_' so number their days' as to 'apply' +their 'hearts unto wisdom.' 'Go thou thy way until the end,' and let thy +way be marked out with a constant eye towards the end. + +II. Note, again, the resting-place. + +'Go thou thy way, for thou shalt rest.' Now, I suppose, to most careful +readers that clearly is intended as a gracious, and what they call a +euphemistic way of speaking about death. 'Thou shalt rest'; well, that +is a thought that takes away a great deal of the grimness and the terror +with which men generally invest the close. It is a thought, of course, +the force of which is very different in different stages and conditions +of life. To you young people, eager, perhaps ambitious, full of the +consciousness of inward power, happy, and, in all human probability, +with the greater portion of your lives before you in which to do what +you desire, the thought of 'rest' comes with a very faint appeal. And +yet I do not suppose that there is any one of us who has not some burden +that is hard to carry, or who has not learned what weariness means. + +But to us older people, who have tasted disappointments, who have known +the pressure of grinding toil for a great many years, whose hearts have +been gnawed by harassments and anxieties of different kinds, whose lives +are apparently drawing nearer their end than the present moment is to +their beginning, the thought, 'Thou shalt rest,' comes with a very +different appeal from that which it makes to these others. + + 'There remaineth a rest for the people of God, + And I have had trouble enough for one,' + +says our great modern poet; and therein he echoes the deepest thoughts +of most of this congregation. That rest is the cessation of toil, but +the continuance of activity--the cessation of toil, and anxiety, and +harassment, and care, and so the darkness is made beautiful when we +think that God draws the curtain, as a careful mother does in her +child's chamber, that the light may not disturb the slumberer. + +But, dear friends, that final cessation of earthly work has a double +character. 'Thou shalt rest' was said to this man of God. But what of +people whom death takes away from the only sort of work that they are +fit to do? It will be no rest to long for the occupations which you +never can have any more. And if you have been living for this wretched +present, to be condemned to have nothing to do any more in it and with +it will be torture, and not repose. Ask yourselves how you would like to +be taken out of your shop, or your mill, or your study, or your +laboratory, or your counting-house, and never be allowed to go into it +again. Some of you know how wearisome a holiday is when you cannot get +to your daily work. You will get a very long holiday after you are dead. +And if the hungering after the withdrawn occupation persists, there will +be very little pleasure in rest. There is only one way by which we can +make that inevitable end a blessing, and turn death into the opening of +the gate of our resting-place; and that is by setting our heart's +desires and our spirit's trust on Jesus Christ, who is the 'Lord both of +the dead and of the living.' If we do that, even that last enemy will +come to us as Christ's representative, with Christ's own word upon his +lip, 'Come unto Me, ye that are weary and are heavy laden, and +I'--because He has given Me the power--'_I_ will give you rest.' + + 'Sleep, full of rest, from head to foot; + Lie still, dry dust, secure of change.' + + +III. That leads me to the last thought, the home. + +'Thou shalt stand in thy lot at the end of the days.' 'Stand'--that is +Daniel's way of preaching, what he has been preaching in several other +parts of his book, the doctrine of the resurrection. 'Thou shalt stand +in _thy lot_.' That is a reference to the ancient partition of the land +of Canaan amongst the tribes, where each man got his own portion, and +sat under his own vine and fig-tree. And so there emerge from these +symbolical words thoughts upon which, at this stage of my sermon, I can +barely touch. First comes the thought that, however sweet and blessed +that reposeful state may be, humanity has not attained its perfection +until once again the perfected spirit is mated with, and enclosed +within, its congenial servant, a perfect body. 'Corporeity is the end of +man.' Body, soul, and spirit partake of the redemption of God. + +But then, apart from that, on which I must not dwell, my text suggests +one or two thoughts. God is the true inheritance. Each man has his own +portion of the common possession, or, to put it into plainer words, in +that perfect land each individual has precisely so much of God as he is +capable of possessing. 'Thou shalt stand in thy lot,' and what +determines the lot is how we wend our way till that other end, the end +of life. 'The end of the days' is a period far beyond the end of the +life of Daniel. And as the course that terminated in repose has been, so +the possession of 'the portion of the inheritance of the saints in +light' shall be, for which that course has made men meet. Destiny is +character worked out. A man will be where he is fit for, and have what +he is fit for. Time is the lackey of eternity. His life here settles how +much of God a man shall be able to hold, when he stands in his lot at +the 'end of the days,' and his allotted portion, as it stretches around +him, will be but the issue and the outcome of his life here on earth. + +Therefore, dear brethren, tremendous importance attaches to each +fugitive moment. Therefore each act that we do is weighted with eternal +consequences. If we will put our trust in Him, 'in whom also we obtain +the inheritance,' and will travel on life's common way in cheerful +godliness, we may front all the uncertainties of the unknown future, +sure of two things--that we shall rest, and that we shall stand in our +lot. We shall all go where we have fitted ourselves, by God's grace, to +go; get what we have fitted ourselves to possess; and be what we have +made ourselves. To the Christian man the word comes, 'Thou shalt stand +in thy lot.' And the other word that was spoken about one sinner, will +be fulfilled in all whose lives have been unfitting them for heaven: +'Judas by transgression fell, that he might go to his own place.' He, +too, stands in his lot. Now settle which lot is yours. + + * * * * * + + +HOSEA + + +THE VALLEY OF ACHOR + + 'I will give her ... the valley of Achor for a door of + hope.'--HOSEA II. 15. + +The Prophet Hosea is remarkable for the frequent use which he makes of +events in the former history of his people. Their past seems to him a +mirror in which they may read their future. He believes that 'which is +to be hath already been,' the great principles of the divine government +living on through all the ages, and issuing in similar acts when the +circumstances are similar. So he foretells that there will yet be once +more a captivity and a bondage, that the old story of the wilderness +will be repeated once more. In that wilderness God will speak to the +heart of Israel. Its barrenness shall be changed into the fruitfulness +of vineyards, where the purpling clusters hang ripe for the thirsty +travellers. And not only will the sorrows that He sends thus become +sources of refreshment, but the gloomy gorge through which they +journey--the valley of Achor--will be a door of hope. + +One word is enough to explain the allusion. You remember that after the +capture of Jericho by Joshua, the people were baffled in their first +attempt to press up through the narrow defile that led from the plain of +Jordan to the highlands of Canaan. Their defeat was caused by the +covetousness of Achan, who for the sake of some miserable spoil which he +found in a tent, broke God's laws, and drew down shame on Israel's ranks +When the swift, terrible punishment on him had purged the camp, victory +again followed their assault, and Achan lying stiff and stark below his +cairn, they pressed on up the glen to their task of conquest. The rugged +valley, where that defeat and that sharp act of justice took place, was +named in memory thereof, the valley of _Achor_, that is, _trouble_; and +our Prophet's promise is that as then, so for all future ages, the +complicity of God's people with an evil world will work weakness and +defeat, but that, if they will be taught by their trouble and will purge +themselves of the accursed thing, then the disasters will make a way for +hope to come to them again. The figure which conveys this is very +expressive. The narrow gorge stretches before us, with its dark +overhanging cliffs that almost shut out the sky; the path is rough and +set with sharp pebbles; it is narrow, winding, steep; often it seems to +be barred by some huge rock that juts across it, and there is barely +room for the broken ledge yielding slippery footing between the beetling +crag above and the steep slope beneath that dips so quickly to the black +torrent below. All is gloomy, damp, hard; and if we look upwards the +glen becomes more savage as it rises, and armed foes hold the very +throat of the pass. But, however long, however barren, however rugged, +however black, however trackless, we may see if we will, a bright form +descending the rocky way with radiant eyes and calm lips, God's +messenger, Hope; and the rough rocks are like the doorway through which +she comes near to us in our weary struggle. For us all, dear friends, it +is true. In all our difficulties and sorrows, be they great or small; in +our business perplexities; in the losses that rob our homes of their +light; in the petty annoyances that diffuse their irritation through so +much of our days; it is within our power to turn them all into occasions +for a firmer grasp of God, and so to make them openings by which a +happier hope may flow into our souls. + +But the promise, like all God's promises, has its well-defined +conditions. Achan has to be killed and put safe out of the way first, or +no shining Hope will stand out against the black walls of the defile. +The tastes which knit us to the perishable world, the yearnings for +Babylonish garments and wedges of gold, must be coerced and subdued. +Swift, sharp, unrelenting justice must be done on the lust of the flesh, +and the lust of the eye, and the pride of life, if our trials are ever +to become _doors of hope._ There is no natural tendency in the mere fact +of sorrow and pain to make God's love more discernible, or to make our +hope any firmer. All depends on how we use the trial, or as I say--first +stone Achan, and then hope! + +So, the trouble which detaches us from earth gives us new hope. +Sometimes the effect of our sorrows and annoyances and difficulties is +to rivet us more firmly to earth. The eye has a curious power, which +they call persistence of vision, of retaining the impression made upon +it, and therefore of seeming to see the object for a definite time after +it has really been withdrawn. If you whirl a bit of blazing stick round, +you will see a circle of fire though there is only a point moving +rapidly in the circle. The eye has its memory like the soul. And the +soul has its power of persistence like the eye, and that power is +sometimes kindled into activity by the fact of loss. We often see our +departed joys, and gaze upon them all the more eagerly for their +departure. The loss of dear ones should stamp their image on our hearts, +and set it as in a golden glory. But it sometimes does more than that; +it sometimes makes us put the present with its duties impatiently away +from us. Vain regret, absorbed brooding over what is gone, a sorrow kept +gaping long after it should have been healed, like a grave-mound off +which desperate love has pulled turf and flowers, in the vain attempt to +clasp the cold hand below--in a word, the trouble that does not withdraw +us from the present will never be a door of hope, but rather a grim gate +for despair to come in at. + +The trouble which knits us to God gives us new hope. That bright form +which comes down the narrow valley is His messenger and herald--sent +before His face. All the light of hope is the reflection on our hearts +of the light of God. Her silver beams, which shed quietness over the +darkness of earth, come only from that great Sun. If our hope is to grow +out of our sorrow, it must be because our sorrow drives us to God. It is +only when we by faith stand in His grace, and live in the conscious +fellowship of peace with Him, that we rejoice in hope. If we would see +Hope drawing near to us, we must fix our eyes not on Jericho that lies +behind among its palm-trees, though it has memories of conquests, and +attractions of fertility and repose, nor on the corpse that lies below +that pile of stones, nor on the narrow way and the strong enemy in front +there; but higher up, on the blue sky that spreads peaceful above the +highest summits of the pass, and from the heavens we shall see the angel +coming to us. Sorrow forsakes its own nature, and leads in its own +opposite, when sorrow helps us to see God. It clears away the thick +trees, and lets the sunlight into the forest shades, and then in time +corn will grow. Hope is but the brightness that goes before God's face, +and if we would see it we must look at Him. + +The trouble which we bear rightly with God's help, gives new hope. If we +have made our sorrow an occasion for learning, by living experience, +somewhat more of His exquisitely varied and ever ready power to aid and +bless, then it will teach us firmer confidence in these inexhaustible +resources which we have thus once more proved, 'Tribulation worketh +patience, and patience experience, and experience hope.' That is the +order. You cannot put patience and experience into a parenthesis, and +omitting them, bring hope out of tribulation. But if, in my sorrow, I +have been able to keep quiet because I have had hold of God's hand, and +if in that unstruggling submission I have found that from His hand I +have been upheld, and had strength above mine own infused into me, then +my memory will give the threads with which Hope weaves her bright web. I +build upon two things--God's unchangeableness, and His help already +received; and upon these strong foundations I may wisely and safely +rear a palace of Hope, which shall never prove a castle in the air. The +past, when it is God's past, is the surest pledge for the future. +Because He has been with us in six troubles, therefore we may be sure +that in seven He will not forsake us. I said that the light of hope was +the brightness from the face of God. I may say again, that the light of +hope which fills our sky is like that which, on happy summer nights, +lives till morning in the calm west, and with its colourless, tranquil +beauty, tells of a yesterday of unclouded splendour, and prophesies a +to-morrow yet more abundant. The glow from a sun that is set, the +experience of past deliverances, is the truest light of hope to light +our way through the night of life. + +One of the psalms gives us, in different form, a metaphor and a promise +substantially the same as that of this text. 'Blessed are the men who, +passing through the valley of weeping, make it a well.' They gather +their tears, as it were, into the cisterns by the wayside, and draw +refreshment and strength from their very sorrows, and then, when thus we +in our wise husbandry have irrigated the soil with the gathered results +of our sorrows, the heavens bend over us, and weep their gracious tears, +and 'the rain also covereth it with blessings.' No chastisement for the +present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous; nevertheless, afterward it +yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness.' + +Then, dear friends, let us set ourselves with our loins girt to the +road. Never mind how hard it may be to climb. The slope of the valley of +trouble is ever upwards. Never mind how dark is the shadow of death +which stretches athwart it. If there were no sun there would be no +shadow; presently the sun will be right overhead, and there will be no +shadow then. Never mind how black it may look ahead, or how frowning the +rocks. From between their narrowest gorge you may see, if you will, the +guide whom God has sent you, and that Angel of Hope will light up all +the darkness, and will only fade away when she is lost in the sevenfold +brightness of that upper land, whereof our 'God Himself is Sun and +Moon'--the true Canaan, to whose everlasting mountains the steep way of +life has climbed at last through valleys of trouble, and of weeping, and +of the shadow of death. + + +'LET HIM ALONE' + + 'Ephraim is joined to idols: let him alone.'--HOSEA iv. 17. + +The tribe of Ephraim was the most important member of the kingdom of +Israel; consequently its name was not unnaturally sometimes used in a +wider application for the whole of the kingdom, of which it was the +principal part. Being the 'predominant partner,' its name was used alone +for that of the whole firm, just as in our own empire, we often say +'England,' meaning thereby the three kingdoms: England, Scotland, and +Ireland. So 'Ephraim' here does not mean the single tribe, but the whole +kingdom of Israel. + +Now Hosea himself was a Northerner, a subject of that kingdom; and its +iniquities and idolatries weighed heavily on his heart, and were ripped +up and brought to light with burning eloquence in his prophecies. The +words of my text have often, and terribly, been misunderstood. And I +wish now to try to bring out their true meaning and bearing. They have a +message for us quite as much as they had for the people who originally +received them. + +I. I must begin by explaining what, in my judgment, this text does not +mean. + +First, it is not what it is often taken to be, a threatening of God's +abandoning of the idolatrous nation. I dare say we have all heard grim +sermons from this text, which have taken that view of it, and have tried +to frighten men into believing now, by telling them that, perhaps, if +they do not, God will never move on their hearts, or deal with them any +more, but withdraw His grace, and leave them to insensibility. There is +not a word of that sort in the text. Plainly enough it is not so, for +this vehement utterance of the Prophet is not a declaration as to God, +and what He is going to do, but it is a commandment to some men, telling +them what _they_ are to do. 'Let him alone' does not mean the same thing +as '_I_ will let him alone'; and if people had only read with a little +more care, they would have been delivered from perpetrating a libel on +the divine loving-kindness and forbearance. + +It is clear enough, too, that such a meaning as that which has been +forced upon the words of my text, and is the common use of it, I +believe, in many evangelical circles, cannot be its real meaning, +because the very fact that Hosea was prophesying to call Ephraim from +his sin showed that God had _not_ let Ephraim alone, but was wooing him +by His prophet, and seeking to win him back by the words of his mouth. +God was doing all that He could do, rising early and sending His +messenger and calling to Ephraim: 'Turn ye! Turn ye! why will ye die?' +For Hosea, in the very act of pleading with Israel on God's behalf, to +have declared that God had abandoned it, and ceased to plead, would have +been a palpable absurdity and contradiction. + +But beyond considerations of the context, other reasons conclusively +negative such an interpretation of this text. I, for my part, do not +believe that there are any bounds or end to God's forbearing pleading +with men in this life. I take, as true, the great words of the old +Psalm, in their simplest sense--'His mercy endureth for ever'; and I +fall back upon the other words which a penitent had learned to be true +by reflecting on the greatness of his own sin: 'With Him are multitudes +of redemptions'; and I turn from psalmists and prophets to the Master +who showed us God's heart, and knew what He spake when He laid it down +as the law and the measure of human forgiveness which was moulded upon +the pattern of the divine, that it should be 'seventy times seven'--the +multiplication of both the perfect numbers into themselves--than which +there can be no grander expression for absolute innumerableness and +unfailing continuance. + +No, no! men may say to God, 'Speak no more to us'; or they may get so +far away from Him, as that they only hear God's pleading voice, dim and +faint, like a voice in a dream. But surely the history of His +progressive revelation shows us that, rather than such abandonment of +the worst, the law of the divine dealing is that the deafer the man, the +more piercing the voice beseeching and warning. The attraction of +gravitation decreases as distance increases, but the further away we are +from Him, the stronger is the attraction which issues from Him, and +would draw us to Himself. + +Clear away, then, altogether out of your minds any notion that there is +here declared what, in my judgment, is not declared anywhere in the +Bible, and never occurs in the divine dealings with men. Be sure that He +never ceases to seek to draw the most obstinate, idolatrous, and +rebellious heart to Himself. That divine charity 'suffereth long, and is +kind' ... 'hopeth all things, and beareth all things.' + +Again, let me point out that the words of my text do not enjoin the +cessation of the efforts of Christian people for the recovery of the +most deeply sunken in sin. 'Let him alone' is a commandment, and it is a +commandment to God's Church, but it is not a commandment to despair of +any that they may be brought into the fold, or to give up efforts to +that end. If our Father in heaven never ceases to bear in His heart His +prodigal children, it does not become those prodigals, who have come +back, to think that any of their brethren are too far away to be drawn +by their loving proclamation of the Father's heart of love. + +_There_ is the glory of our Gospel, that, taking far sadder, graver +views of what sin and alienation from God are, than the world's +philosophers and philanthropists do, it surpasses them just as much as +in the superb confidence with which it sets itself to the cure of the +disease as in the unflinching clearness with which it diagnoses the +disease as fatal, if it be not dealt with by the all-healing Gospel. All +other methods for the restoration and elevation of mankind are compelled +to recognise that there is an obstinate residuum that will not and +cannot be reached by their efforts. It used to be said that some old +cannon-balls, that had been brought from some of the battlefields of the +Peninsula, resisted all attempts to melt them down; so there are +'cannon-balls,' as it were, amongst the obstinate evil-doers, and the +degraded and 'dangerous' classes, which mark the despair of our modern +reformers and civilisers and elevators, for no fire in their furnaces +can melt down their hardness. No; but there is the furnace of the Lord +in Jerusalem, and the fire of God in Zion, which can melt them down, and +has done so a hundred and a thousand times, and is as able to do it +again to-day as it ever was. Despair of no human soul. That boundless +confidence in the power of the Gospel is the duty of the Christian +Church. 'The damsel is not dead, but sleepeth!' They laughed Him to +scorn, knowing that she was dead. But He put out His hand, and said unto +her '_Talitha cumi_, I say unto thee, Arise!' When we stand on one side +of the bed with your social reformers on the other, and say 'The damsel +is not dead, but sleepeth,' they laugh us to scorn, and bid us try our +Gospel upon these people in our slums, or on those heathens in the New +Hebrides. We have the right to answer, 'We have tried it, and man after +man, and woman after woman have risen from the sick-bed, like Peter's +wife's mother; and the fever has left them, and they have ministered +unto Him. There are no people in the world about whom Christians need +despair, none that Christ's Gospel cannot redeem. Whatever my text +means, it does not mean cowardly and unbelieving doubt as to the power +of the Gospel on the most degraded and sinful. + +II. So, the text enjoins on the Christian Church separation from an +idolatrous world. + +'Ephraim is joined to idols.' Do you 'let him alone.' Now, there has +been much harm done by misreading the force of the injunction of +separation from the world. There is a great deal of union and +association with the most godless people in our circle, which is +inevitable. Family bonds, business connections, civic obligations--all +these require that the Church shall not withdraw from the world. There +is the wide common ground of Politics and Art and Literature, and a +hundred other interests, on which it does Christian men no good, and the +world much harm, if the former withdraw to themselves, and on the plea +of superior sanctity, leave these great departments of interest and +influence to be occupied only by non-Christians. + +Then, besides these thoughts of necessary union and association upon +common ground, there is the other consideration that absolute separation +would defeat the very purpose for which Christian people are here. 'Ye +are the salt of the earth,' said Christ. Yes, and if you keep the meat +on one plate and the salt on another, what good will the salt be? It has +to be rubbed in particle by particle, and brought into contact over all +the surface, and down into the depths of the meat that it is to preserve +from putrefaction. And no Christian churches or individuals do their +duty, and fulfil their function on earth, unless they are thus closely +associated and intermingled with the world that they should be trying to +leaven and save. A cloistered solitude, or a proud standing apart from +the ordinary movements of the community, or a neglect, on the plea of +our higher duties, of the duties of the citizen of a free country--these +are not the ways to fulfil the exhortation of my text. 'Let the dead +bury their dead,' said Christ; but He did not mean that His Church was +to stand apart from the world, and let it go its own way. It is a bad +thing for both when little Christian coteries gather themselves +together, and talk about their own goodness and religion, and leave the +world to perish. Clotted blood is death; circulated, it is life. + +But, whilst all this is perfectly true--and there are associations that +we must not break if we are to do our work as Christian people--it is +also true that it is possible, in the closest unions with men who do not +share our faith, to do the same thing that they are doing, with a +difference which separates us from them, even whilst we are united with +them. They tell us that, however dense any material substance may seem +to be, there is always a film of air between contiguous particles. And +there should be a film between us and our Christless friends and +companions and partners, not perceptible perhaps to a superficial +observer, but most real. If we do our common work as a religious duty, +and in the exercise of all our daily occupations 'set the Lord always +before' us, however closely we may be associated with people who do not +so live, they will know the difference; never fear! And you will know +the difference, and will not be identified with them, but separate in a +wholesome fashion from them. + +And, dear brethren, if I may go a step further, I would venture to say +that it seems to me that our Christian communities want few things more +in this day than the reiteration of the old saying, 'Have no fellowship +with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them.' There +is so much in this time to break down the separation between him that +believeth in Christ and him that doth not; narrowness has come to be +thought such an enormous wickedness, and liberality is so lauded by all +sorts of superficial people, that Christian men need to be summoned back +to their standard. 'Being let go, they went to their own company'--there +is a natural affinity which should, and will, if our faith is vital, +draw us to those who, on the gravest and solemnest things, have the same +thoughts, the same hopes, the same faith. I do not urge you, God knows, +to be bigoted and narrow, and shut yourselves up in your faith, and +leave the world to go to the devil; but I do not wish, either, that +Christian people should fling themselves into the arms and nestle in the +hearts of persons who do not share with them 'like precious faith.' + +I am sure that there are many Christian people, old and young, who are +suffering in their religious life because they are neglecting this +commandment of my text. 'Let him alone.' There can be no deep affection, +and, most of all--if I may venture on such ground--no wedded love worth +the name, where there is not unanimity in regard to the deepest matters. +It does not say much for the religion of a professing Christian who +finds his heart's friends and his chosen companions in people that have +no sympathy with the religion which he professes. It does not say much +for you if it is so with you, for the Christian, whom you like least, is +nearer you in the depths of your true self than is the non-Christian +whom you love most. + +Be sure, too, that if we mix ourselves up with Ephraim, we shall find +ourselves grovelling beside him before his idols ere long. Godlessness +is infectious. Many a young woman, a professing Christian, has married a +godless man in the fond hope that she might win him. It is a great deal +more frequently the case that he perverts her than that she converts +him. Do not let us knit ourselves in these close bonds with the +worshippers of idols, lest we 'learn their ways, and get a snare into +our souls.' 'Be not unequally yoked with unbelievers. What fellowship +hath light with darkness? Wherefore, come out from among them and be ye +separate, saith the Lord. Touch not the unclean thing, and I will be a +Father unto you, and ye shall be My sons and My daughters.' + + +'PHYSICIANS OF NO VALUE' + + 'When Ephralm saw his sickness, and Judah saw his wound, then went + Ephraim to Assyria, and sent to king Jareb: but he is not able to + heal you, neither shall he cure you of your wound.'--HOSEA v. 13 + (R.V.). + +The long tragedy which ended in the destruction of the Northern Kingdom +by Assyrian invasion was already beginning to develop in Hosea's time. +The mistaken politics of the kings of Israel led them to seek an ally +where they should have dreaded an enemy. As Hosea puts it in figurative +fashion, Ephraim's discovery of his 'sickness' sent him in the vain +quest for help to the apparent source of the 'sickness,' that is to +Assyria, whose king in the text is described by a name which is not his +real name, but is a significant epithet, as the margin puts it, 'a king +that should contend'; and who, of course, was not able to heal nor to +cure the wounds which he had inflicted. Ephraim's suicidal folly is but +one illustration of a universal madness which drives men to seek for the +healing of their misery, and the alleviation of their discomfort, in +the repetition of the very acts which brought these about. The attempt +to get relief in such a fashion, of course, fails; for as the verse +before our text emphatically proclaims, it is God who has been 'as a +moth unto Ephraim,' gnawing away his strength: and it is only He who can +heal, since in reality it is He, and not the quarrelsome king of +Assyria, who has inflicted the sickness. + +Thus understood, the text carries wide lessons, and may serve us as a +starting-point for considering man's discovery of his 'sickness,' man's +mad way of seeking healing, God's way of giving it. + +I. First, then, man's discovery of his sickness. + +The greater part of most lives is spent in mechanical, unreflecting +repetition of daily duties and pleasures. We are all apt to live on the +surface, and it requires an effort, which we are too indolent to make +except under the impulse of some arresting motive, to descend into the +depths of our own souls, and there to face the solemn facts of our own +personality. The last place with which most of us are familiar, is our +innermost self. Men are dimly conscious that things within are not well +with them; but it is only one here and there that says so distinctly to +himself, and takes the further step of thoroughly investigating the +cause. But that superficial life is at the mercy of a thousand +accidents, each one of which may break through the thin film, and lay +bare the black depths. + +But there is another aspect of this discovery of sickness, far graver +than the mere consciousness of unrest. Ephraim does not see his sickness +unless he sees his sin. The greater part of every life is spent without +that deep, all-pervading sense of discord between itself and God. Small +and recurrent faults may evoke recurring remonstrances of conscience, +but that is a very different thing from the deep tones and the clear +voice of condemnation in respect to one's whole life and character which +sounds in a heart that has learned how 'deceitful and desperately +wicked' it is. Such a conviction may flash upon a man at any moment, and +from a hundred causes. A sorrow, a sunset-sky, a grave, a sermon, may +produce it. + +But even when we have come to recognise clearly our unrest, we have gone +but part of the way, we have become conscious of a symptom, not of the +disease. Why is it that man is alone among the creatures in that +discontent with externals, and that dissatisfaction with himself? 'Foxes +have holes, and the birds of the air have roosting-places': why is it +that amongst all God's happy creatures, and God's shining stars, men +stand 'strangers in a strange land,' and are cursed with a restlessness +which has not 'where to lay its head'? The consciousness of unrest is +but the agitation of the limbs which indicates disease. That disease is +the twitching paralysis of sin. Like 'the pestilence that walketh in +darkness,' it has a fell power of concealing itself, and the man whose +sins are the greatest is always the least conscious of them. He dwells +in a region where the malaria is so all-pervading that the inhabitants +do not know what the sweetness of an unpoisoned atmosphere is. If there +is a 'worst man' in the world, we may be very sure that no conscience is +less troubled than his is. + +So the question may well be urged on those so terribly numerous amongst +us, whose very unconsciousness of their true condition is the most fatal +symptom of their fatal disease. What is the worth of a peace which is +only secured by ignoring realities, and which can be shattered into +fragments by anything that compels a man to see himself as he is? In +such a fool's paradise thousands of us live. 'Use and wont,' the +continual occupation with the trifles of our daily lives, the fleeting +satisfactions of our animal nature, the shallow wisdom which bids us +'let sleeping dogs lie,' all conspire to mask, to many consciences, +their unrest and their sin. We abstain from lifting the curtain behind +which the serpent lies coiled in our hearts, because we dread to see +its loathly length, and to rouse it to lift its malignant head, and to +strike with its forked tongue. But sooner or later--may it not be too +late--we shall be set face to face with the dark recess, and discover +the foul reptile that has all the while been coiled there. + +II. Man's mad way of seeking healing. + +Can there be a more absurd course of action than that recorded in our +text? 'When Ephraim saw his sickness, then went Ephraim to Assyria.' The +Northern Kingdom sought for the healing of their national calamities +from the very cause of their national calamities, and in repetition of +their national sin. A hopeful policy, and one which speedily ended in +the only possible result! But that insanity was but a sample of the +infatuation which besets us all. When we are conscious of our unrest, +are we not all tempted to seek to conceal it with what has made it? Take +examples from the grosser forms of animal indulgence. The drunkard's +vulgar proverb recommending 'a hair of the dog that bit you,' is but a +coarse expression of a common fault. He is wretched until 'another +glass' steadies, for a moment, his trembling hand, and gives a brief +stimulus to his nerves. They say that the Styrian peasants, who +habitually eat large quantities of arsenic, show symptoms of poison if +they leave it off suddenly. These are but samples, in the physical +region, of a tendency which runs through all lire, and leads men to +drown thought by plunging into the thick of the worldly absorptions that +really cause their unrest. The least persistent of men is strangely +obstinate in his adherence to old ways, in spite of all experience of +their crooked slipperiness. We wonder at the peasants who have their +cottages and vineyards on the slopes of Vesuvius, and who build them, +and plant them, over and over again after each destructive eruption. The +tragedy of Israel is repeated in many of our lives; and the summing up +of the abortive efforts of one of its kings to recover power by +following the gods that had betrayed him, might be the epitaph of the +infatuated men who see their sickness and seek to heal it by renewed +devotion to the idols who occasioned it: 'They were the ruin of him and +of all Israel.' The experience of the woman who had 'spent all her +living on physicians, and was nothing the better, but rather the worse,' +sums up the sad story of many a life. + +But again the sense of sin sometimes seeks to conceal itself by +repetition of sin. When the dormant snake begins to stir, it is lulled +to sleep again by absorption of occupations, or by an obstinate refusal +to look inwards, and often by plunging once more into the sin which has +brought about the sickness. To seek thus for ease from the stings of +conscience, is like trying to silence a buzzing in the head by standing +beside Niagara thundering in our ears. They used to beat the drums when +a martyr died, in order to drown his testimony; and so foolish men seek +to silence the voice of conscience by letting passions shout their +loudest. It needs no words to demonstrate the incurable folly of such +conduct; but alas, it takes many words far stronger than mine to press +home the folly upon men. The condition of such a half-awakened +conscience is very critical if it is soothed by any means by which it is +weakened and its possessor worsened. In the sickness of the soul +homoeopathic treatment is a delusion. Ephraim may go to Assyria, but +there is no healing of him there. + +III. God's way of giving true healing. + +Ephraim thought that, because the wounds were inflicted by Assyria, it +was the source to which to apply for bandages and balm. If it had +realised that Assyria was but the battle-axe wherewith the hand of God +struck it, it would have learned that from God alone could come healing +and health. The unrest which betrays the presence in our souls of a +deep-seated sin, is a divine messenger. We terribly misinterpret the +true source of all that disturbs us when we attribute it only to the +occasions which bring it about; for the one purpose of all our +restlessness is to drive us nearer to God, and to wrench us away from +our Assyria. The true issue of Ephraim's sickness would have been the +penitent cry, 'Come, let us return to the Lord our God, for He hath +smitten, and He will bind us up.' It is in the consciousness of loving +nearness to Him that all our unrest is soothed, and the heaving ocean in +our hearts becomes as a summer's sea and 'birds of peace sit brooding on +the charmed waves.' It is in that same consciousness that conscience +ceases to condemn, and loses its sting. The prophet from whom our text +is taken ends his wonderful ministry, that had been full of fiery +denunciations and dark prophecies, with words that are only surpassed in +their tenderness and the outpouring of the heart of God, by the fuller +revelation in Jesus Christ: 'O Israel, return unto the Lord thy God. +Take with you words, and return unto the Lord, and say unto Him: Assyria +shall not save us, for in Thee the fatherless findeth mercy.' The divine +answer which he was commissioned to bring to the penitent Israel--'I +will heal their backslidings, I will love them freely; if Mine anger is +turned away from Me'--is, in all its wealth of forgiving love but an +imperfect prophecy of the great Physician, from the hem of whose garment +flowed out power to one who 'had spent all her living on physicians and +could not be healed of any,' and who confirmed to her the power which +she had thought to steal from Him unawares by the gracious words which +bound her to Him for ever--'Daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole; go +in peace.' + + +'FRUIT WHICH IS DEATH' + + 'Israel is an empty vine, he bringeth forth fruit unto himself: + according to the multitude of his fruit he hath increased the + altars; according to the goodness of his land they have made goodly + images. 2. Their heart is divided; now shall they be found faulty: + He shall break down their altars, He shall spoil their images. 3. + For now they shall say, We have no king, because we feared not the + Lord; what then should a king do to us? 4. They have spoken words, + swearing falsely in making a covenant: thus judgment springeth up + as hemlock in the furrows of the field. 5. The inhabitants of + Samaria shall fear because of the calves of Beth-aven: for the + people thereof shall mourn over it, and the priests thereof that + rejoiced on it, for the glory thereof, because it is departed from + it. 6. It shall be also carried unto Assyria for a present to king + Jareb: Ephraim shall receive shame, and Israel shall be ashamed of + his own counsel. 7. As for Samaria, her king is cut off as the foam + upon the water. 8. The high places also of Aven, the sin of Israel, + shall be destroyed: the thorn and the thistle shall come up on + their altars; and they shall say to the mountains, Cover us; and to + the hills, Fall on us. 9. O Israel, thou hast sinned from the days + of Gibeah: there they stood: the battle in Gibeah against the + children of iniquity did not overtake them. 10. It is in my desire + that I should chastise them; and the people shall be gathered + against them, when they shall bind themselves in their two furrows. + 11. And Ephraim is as an heifer that is taught, and loveth to tread + out the corn; but I passed over upon her fair neck: I will make + Ephraim to ride; Judah shall plow, and Jacob shall break his clods. + 12. Sow to yourselves in righteousness, reap in mercy; break up + your fallow ground: for it is time to seek the Lord, till He come + and rain righteousness upon you. 13. Ye have plowed wickedness, ye + have reaped iniquity; ye have eaten the fruit of lies: because thou + didst trust in thy way, in the multitude of thy mighty men. 14. + Therefore shall a tumult arise among thy people, and all thy + fortresses shall be spoiled, as Shalman spoiled Beth-arbel in the + day of battle: the mother was dashed in pieces upon her children. + 15. So shall Beth-el do unto you because of your great wickedness: + in a morning shall the king of Israel utterly be cut off.'--HOSEA + x. 1-15. + +The prophecy of this chapter has two themes--Israel's sin, and its +punishment. These recur again and again. Reiteration, not progress of +thought, characterises Hosea's fiery stream of inspired eloquence. +Conviction of sin and prediction of judgment are his message. We trace a +fourfold repetition of it here, and further note that in each case there +is a double reference to Israel's sin as consisting in the rebellion +which set up a king and in the schism which established the calf +worship; while there is also a double phase of the punishment +corresponding to these, in the annihilation of the kingdom and the +destruction of the idols. + +The first section may be taken to be verses 1-3. The image of a +luxuriant vine laden with fruit is as old as Jacob's blessing of the +tribes (Gen. xlix. 22), where it is applied to Joseph, whose descendants +were the strength of the Northern Kingdom. Hosea has already used it, +and here it is employed to set forth picturesquely the material +prosperity of Israel. Probably the period referred to is the successful +reign of Jeroboam II. But prosperity increased sin. The more fruit or +material wealth, the more altars; the better the harvests, the more the +obelisks or pillars to gods, falsely supposed to be the authors of the +blessings. The words are as condensed as a proverb, and are as true +to-day as ever. Israel had attributed its prosperity to Baal (Hosea ii. +8). The misuse of worldly wealth and the tendency of success to draw us +away from God, and to blind to the true source of all blessing, are as +rife now as then. + +The root of the evil was, as always, a heart divided--that is, between +God and Baal--or, perhaps, 'smooth'; that is, dissimulating and +insincere. In reality, Baal alone possesses the heart which its owner +would share between him and Jehovah. 'All in all, or not at all,' is the +law. Whether Baals or calves were set beside God, He was equally +deposed. + +Then, with a swift turn, Hosea proclaims the impending judgment, setting +himself and the people as if already in the future. He hears the first +peal of the storm, and echoes it in that abrupt 'now.' The first burst +of the judgment shatters dreams of innocence, and the cowering wretches +see their sin by the lurid light. That discovery awaits every man whose +heart has been 'divided.' To the gazers and to himself masks drop, and +the true character stands out with appalling clearness. What will that +light show us to be? An unnamed hand overthrows altars and pillars. No +need to say whose it is. One half of Israel's sin is crushed at a blow, +and the destruction of the other follows immediately. + +They themselves abjure their allegiance; for they have found out that +their king is a king Log, and can do them no good. A king, set up in +opposition to God's will, cannot save. The ruin of their projects +teaches godless men at last that they have been fools to take their own +way; for all defences, recourses, and protectors, chosen in defiance of +God, prove powerless when the strain comes. The annihilation of one half +of their sin sickens them of the other. The calves and the monarchy +stood or fell together. It is a dismal thing to have to bear the brunt +of chastisement for what we see to have been a blunder as well as a +crime. But such is the fate of those who seek other gods and another +king. + +In verse 4 Hosea recurs to Israel's crime, and appends a description of +the chastisement, substantially the same as before, but more detailed, +which continues till verse 8. The sin now is contemplated in its effects +on human relations. Before, it was regarded in relation to God. But men +who are wrong with Him cannot be right with one another. Morality is +rooted in religion, and if we lie to God, we shall not be true to our +brother. Hence, passing over all other sins for the present, Hosea fixes +upon one, the prevalence of which strikes at the very foundation of +society. What can be done with a community in which lying has become a +national characteristic, and that even in formal agreements? +Honey-combed with falsehood, it is only fit for burning. + +Sin is bound by an iron link to penalty. Therefore, says Hosea, God's +judgment springs up, like a bitter plant (the precise name of which is +unknown) in the furrows, where the farmer did not know that its seeds +lay. They little dreamed what they were sowing when they scattered +abroad their lies, but this is the fruit of these. 'Whatsoever a man +soweth, that shall he also reap'; and whatever other crop we may hope to +gather from our sins, we shall gather that bitter one which we did not +expect. The inevitable connection of sin and judgment, the bitterness of +its results, the unexpectedness of them, are all here, and to be laid to +heart by us. + +Then verses 5 and 6 dilate with keen irony on the fate of the first half +of Israel's sin--the calf. It was thought a god, but its worshippers +shall be in a fright for it. 'Calves,' says Hosea, though there was but +one at Beth-el; and he uses the feminine, as some think, depreciatingly. +'Beth-aven' or the 'house of vanity,' he says, instead of Beth-el, 'the +house of God.' A fine god whose worshippers had to be alarmed for its +safety! 'Its people'--what a contrast to the name they might have borne, +'My people'! God disowns them, and says, 'They belong to it, not to Me.' +The idolatrous priests of the calf worship will tremble when that image, +which had been shamefully their 'glory,' is carried off to Assyria, and +given as a present to 'king Jareb'--a name for the king of Assyria +meaning the fighting or quarrelsome king. The captivity of the god is +the shame of the worshippers. To be 'ashamed of their own counsel' is +the certain fate of all who depart from God; for, sooner or later, +experience will demonstrate to the blindest that their refuges of lies +can neither save themselves nor those who trust in them. But shame is +one thing and repentance another; and many a man will say, 'I have been +a great fool, and my clever policy has all crumbled to pieces,' who will +only therefore change his idols, and not return to God. + +Verse 7 recurs to the political punishment of the civil rebellion. The +image for the disappearance of the king is striking, whether we render +'foam' or 'chip,' but the former has special beauty. In the one case we +see the unsubstantial bubble, + + 'A moment white, then melts for ever'; + +and in the other, the helpless twig swept down by the stream. Either +brings vividly before us the powerlessness of Israel against the roaring +torrent of Assyrian power; and the figure may be widened out to teach +what is sure to become of all man-made and self-chosen refuges when the +floods of God's judgments sweep over the world. The captivity of the +idol and the burst bubble of the monarchy bid us all make Jehovah our +God and King. The vacant shrine and empty throne are followed by utter +and long-continued desolation. Thorns and thistles have time to grow on +the altars, and no hand cuts them down. What of the men thus stripped of +all in which they had trusted? Desperate, they implore the mountains to +fall on them, as preferring to die, and the hills to cover them, as +willing to be crushed, if only they may be hidden. That awful cry is +heard again in our Lord's predictions of judgment, and in the +Apocalypse. Therefore this prophecy foreshadows, in the destruction of +Israel's confidences and in their shame and despair, a more dreadful +coming day, in which we shall be concerned. + +Verses 9 to 11 again give the sin and its punishment. 'The days of +Gibeah' recall the hideous story of lust and crime which was the +low-water mark of the lawless days of old. That crime had been avenged +by merciless war. But its taint had lived on, and the Israel of Hosea's +day 'stood,' obstinately persistent, just where the Benjamites had been +then, and set themselves in dogged resistance, as these had done, 'that +the battle against the children of unrighteousness might not touch +them.' + +Stiff-necked setting oneself against God's merciful fighting with evil +lasts for a little while, but verse 10 tells how soon and easily it is +annihilated. God's 'desire' brushes away all defences, and the obstinate +sinners are like children, who are whipped when their father wills, let +them struggle as they may. The instruments of chastisement are foreign +armies, and the chastisement itself is described with a striking figure +as 'binding them to their two transgressions'; that is, the double sin +which is the keynote of the chapter. Punishment is yoking men to their +sins, and making them drag the burden like bullocks in harness. What +sort of load are we getting together for ourselves? When we have to drag +the consequences of our doings behind us, how shall we feel? + +The figure sets the Prophet's imagination going, and he turns it another +way, comparing Israel to a heifer, broken in, and liking the easy work +of threshing, in which the unmuzzled ox could eat its fill, but now set +to harder tasks in the fields. Judah, too, is to share in the +punishment. If men will not serve God in and because of prosperous ease, +He will try what toil and privation will do. Abused blessings are +withdrawn, and the abundance of the threshing-floor is changed for +dragging a heavy plough or harrow. + +Verse 12 still deals with the figure suggested in the close of the +previous verse. It is the only break in the clouds in this chapter. It +is a call to amendment, accompanied by a promise of acceptance. If we +'sow for righteousness'--that is, if our efforts are directed to +embodying it in our lives--we 'shall reap according to mercy.' That is +true universally, whether it is taken to mean God's mercy to us, or ours +to others. The aim after righteousness ever secures the divine favour, +and usually ensures the measure which we mete being measured to us +again. + +But sowing is not all; thorns must be grubbed up. We must not only turn +over a new leaf, but tear out the old one. The old man must be slain if +the new man is to live. The call to amend finds its warrant in the +assurance that there is still time to seek the Lord, and that, for all +His threatenings, He is ready to rain blessings upon the seekers. The +unwearying patience of God, the possibility of the worst sinner's +repentance, the conditional nature of the threatenings, the possibility +of breaking the bond between sin and sorrow, the yet deeper thought that +righteousness must come from above, are all condensed in this brief +gospel before the Gospel. + +But that bright gleam passes, and the old theme recurs. Once more we +have sin and punishment exhibited in their organic connection in verses +13 and 14. Israel's past had been just the opposite of sowing +righteousness and reaping mercy. Wickedness ploughed in, iniquity will +surely be its fruit. Sin begets sin, and is its own punishment. What +fruit have we of doing wrong? 'Lies'; that is, unfulfilled expectations +of unrealised satisfaction. No man gets the good that he aimed at in +sinning, or he gets something more that spoils it. At last the +deceitfulness of sin will be found out, but we may be sure of it now. +The root of all Israel's sin was the root of ours; namely, trust in +self, and consequent neglect of God. The first half of verse 13 is an +exhaustive analysis of the experience of every sinful life; the second, +a penetrating disclosure of the foundation of it. + +Then the whole closes with the repeated threatening, dual as before, and +illustrated by the forgotten horrors of some dreadful siege, one of the +'unhappy, far-off things,' fallen silent now. A significant variation +occurs in the final threatening, in which Beth-el is set forth as the +cause, rather than as the object, of the destruction. 'They were the +ruin of him and of all Israel.' Our vices are made the whips to scourge +us. Our idols bring us no help, but are the causes of our misery. + +The Prophet ends with the same double reference which prevails +throughout, when he once more declares the annihilation of the monarchy, +which, rather than a particular person, is meant by 'the king.' 'In the +morning' is enigmatical. It may mean 'prematurely,' or 'suddenly,' or +'in a time of apparent prosperity,' or, more probably, the Prophet +stands in vision in that future day of the Lord, and points to 'the +king' as the first victim. The force of the prophecy does not depend on +the meaning of this detail. The teaching of the whole is the certainty +that suffering dogs sin, but yet does so by no iron, impersonal law, but +according to the will of God, who will rain righteousness even on the +sinner, being penitent, and will endow with righteousness from above +every lowly soul that seeks for it. + + +DESTRUCTION AND HELP + + 'O Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself; but in Me is thine + help.'--HOSEA xiii. 9 (A.V.). + + 'It is thy destruction, O Israel, that thou art against Me, against + thy Help' (R.V.). + +These words are obscure by reason of their brevity. Literally they might +be rendered, 'Thy destruction for, in, or against Me; in, or against thy +Help.' Obviously, some words must be supplied to bring out any sense. +Our Authorised Version has chosen the supplement 'is,' which fails to +observe the second occurrence with 'thy Help' of the preposition, and is +somewhat lax in rendering the 'for' of the second clause by the neutral +'but.' It is probably better to read, as the Revised Version, with most +modern interpreters, 'Thou art against Me, against thy Help,' and to +find in the second clause the explanation, or analysis, of the +destruction announced in the first. So we have here the wail of the +parental love of God over the ruin which Israel has brought on itself, +and that parental love is setting forth Israel's true condition, in the +hope that they may discern it. Thus, even the rebuke holds enclosed a +promise and a hope. Since God is their help, to depart from Him has been +ruin, and the return to Him will be life. Hosea, or rather the Spirit +that spake through Hosea, blended wonderful tenderness with unflinching +decision in rebuke, and unwavering certainty in foretelling evil with +unfaltering hope in the promise of possible blessing. His words are set +in the same key as the still more wonderfully tender ones that Jesus +uttered as He looked across the valley from Olivet to the gleaming city +on the other side, and wailed, 'O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, how often would +I have gathered thy children together, as a hen gathereth her chickens +under her wings, and ye would not! Therefore your house is left unto you +desolate.' + +We may note here + +I. The loving discovery of ruin. + +It is strange that men should need to be told, and that with all +emphasis, the evil case in which they are; and stranger still that they +should resent the discovery and reject it. This pathetic pleading is the +voice of a divine Father trying to convince His son of misery and +danger; and the obscurity of the text is as if that voice was choked +with sobs, and could only speak in broken syllables the tragical word in +which all the evil of Israel's sin is gathered up--'his destruction,' or +'corruption.' It gathers up in one terrible picture the essential nature +of sin and the death of the soul, which is its wages--inward misery and +unrest, outward sorrows, the decay of mental and moral powers, the +spreading taint which eats its way through the whole personality of a +man who has sinned, and pauses not till it has reduced his corpse to +putrefaction. All these, and a hundred more effects of sin, are crowded +together in that one word 'thy destruction.' + +It is strange that it needs God's voice, and that in its most piercing +tones, to convince men of ruin brought by sin. A mortifying limb is +painless. There is no consciousness in the drugged sleep which becomes +heavier and heavier till it ends in death. There is no surer sign of the +reality and extent of the corruption brought about by sin, than man's +ignorance of it. There is no more tragical proof that a man is +'wretched, and miserable, and blind, and naked' than his vehement +affirmation, 'I am rich, and have gotten riches, and have need of +nothing,' and his self-complacent rejection of the counsel to 'buy +refined gold, and white garments, and eye-salve to anoint his eyes.' So +obstinately unconscious are we of our ruin that even God's voice, +whether uttered in definite words, or speaking in sharp sorrows and +punitive acts, but too often fails to pierce the thick layer of self +complacency in which we wrap ourselves, and to pierce the heart with the +arrow of conviction. Indeed we may say that the whole process of divine +education of a soul, conducted through many channels of providences, has +for its end mainly this--to convince His wandering children that to be +against Him, against their Help, is their destruction. + +But, perhaps, the strangest of all is the attitude which we often take +up of resenting the love that would reveal our ruin. It is stupid of the +ox to kick against its driver's goad; but that is wise in comparison +with the action of the man who is angry with God because He warns that +departure from Him is ruin. Many of us treat Christianity as if it had +made the mischief which it reveals, and would fain mend; and we all need +to be reminded that it is cruel kindness to conceal unpleasant truths, +and that the Gospel is no more to be blamed for the destruction which it +declares than is the signalman with his red flag responsible for the +broken-down viaduct to which the train is rushing that he tries to save. + +II. The loving appeal to conscience as to the cause. + +Israel's destruction arose from the fact of Israel having turned against +God, its Help. Sin is suicide. God is our Help, and only Help. His will +is love and blessing. His only relation to our sin is to hate it, and +fight against it. In conflict of love with lovelessness one of His +chiefest weapons is to drive home to our consciousness the conviction of +our sin. When He is driven to punish, it is our wrongdoing that forces +Him to what Isaiah calls, 'His strange act.' The Heavenly Father is +impelled by His love not to spare the rod, lest the sparing spoil the +child. An earthly father suffers more punishment than he inflicts upon +the little rebel whom, unwillingly and with tears, he may chastise; and +God's love is more tender, as it is more wise, than that of the fathers +of our flesh who corrected us. 'He doth not willingly afflict nor is +soon angry'; and of all the mercies which He bestows upon us, none is +more laden with His love than the discipline by which He would make us +know, through our painful experience, that it is 'an evil and bitter +thing to forsake the Lord, and that His fear is not in us.' In its +essence and depth, separation from God is death to the creature that +wrenches itself away from the source of life; and all the weariness and +pains of a godless life are, if we take them as He meant them, the very +angels of His presence. + +Just as the sole reason for our sorrows lies in our wrongdoing, the sole +cause of our wrongdoing is in ourselves. It is because 'Israel is +against Me' that Israel's destruction rushes down upon it. It could have +defended its hankering after Assyria and idols, by wise talk about +political exigencies and the wisdom of trying to turn possibly powerful +enemies into powerful allies, and the folly of a little nation, on a +narrow strip of territory between the desert and the sea, fancying +itself able to sustain itself uncrushed between the upper millstone of +Assyria on the north, and the under one, Egypt, on the south. But +circumstances are never the cause, though they may afford the excuse of +rebellion against our Helper, God; and all the modern talk about +environments and the like, is merely a cloak cast round, but too scanty +to conceal the ugly fact of the alienated will. All the excuses for sin, +which either modern scientific jargon about 'laws,' or hyper-Calvinistic +talk about 'divine decrees,' alleges, are alike shattered against the +plain fact of conscience, which proclaims to every evil-doer, 'Thou art +the man!' We shall get no further and no deeper than the truth of our +text: 'It is thy destruction that thou art against Me.' + +The pleading God has from the beginning spoken words as tender as they +are stern, and as stern as they are tender. His voice to the sons of men +has from of old asked the unanswerable question, 'Why should ye be +stricken any more?' and has answered it, so far as answer is possible, +by the fact, which is as mysterious as it is undeniable, 'Ye will revolt +more and more.' God calls upon man to judge between Him and His +vineyard, and asks, 'What could have been done more to My vineyard that +I have not done unto it? Wherefore, when I looked that it should bring +forth grapes, brought it forth wild grapes?' The fault lay not in the +vine-dresser, but in some evil influence that had found its way into the +life and sap of the vine, and bore fruits in an unnatural product, which +could not have been traced to the vine-dresser's action. So God stands, +as with clean hands, declaring that 'He is pure from the blood of all +men; that He has no pleasure in the death of the wicked'; and His word +to the men on whom falls the whole weight of His destroying power is, +'Thou hast procured this unto thyself.' + +III. The loving forbearance which still offers restoration. + +He still claims to be Israel's Help. Separation from Him has all but +destroyed the rebellious; but it has not in the smallest degree affected +the fulness of His power, nor the fervency of His desire to help. +However earth may be shaken by storms, or swathed in mist that darkens +all things and shuts out heaven, the sun is still in its tabernacle and +pouring down its rays through the cloudless blue that is above the +enfolding cloud. Our text has wrapped up in it the broad gospel that all +our self-inflicted destruction may be arrested, and all the evil which +brought it about swept away. God is ready to prove Himself our true and +only Helper in that, as our prophet says, 'He will ransom us from the +power of the grave'; and, even when death has laid its cold hand upon +us, will redeem us from it, and destroy the destruction which had fixed +its talons in us. All the guilt is ours; all the help is His; His work +is to conquer and cast out our sins, to heal our sicknesses, to soothe +our sorrows. And He has Himself vindicated His great name of our Help +when He has revealed Himself as 'the God and Father of our Lord and +Saviour Jesus Christ.' + + +ISRAEL RETURNING + + 'O Israel, return unto the Lord thy God; for thou hast fallen by + thine iniquity. 2. Take with you words, and turn to the Lord: say + unto Him, Take away all iniquity, and receive us graciously: so + will we render the calves of our lips. 3. Asshur shall not save us; + we will not ride upon horses: neither will we say any more to the + work of our hands, Ye are our gods: for in thee the fatherless + findeth mercy. 4. I will heal their backsliding, I will love them + freely: for mine anger is turned away from Him. 5. I will be as the + dew unto Israel: He shall grow as the lily, and cast forth His + roots as Lebanon. 6. His branches shall spread, and His beauty + shall be as the olive-tree, and His smell as Lebanon. 7. They that + dwell under His shadow shall return; they shall revive as the corn, + and grow as the vine: the scent thereof shall be as the wine of + Lebanon. 8. Ephraim shall say, What have I to do any more with + idols? I have heard Him, and observed Him: I am like a green + fir-tree. From me is thy fruit found. 9. Who is wise, and He shall + understand these things? prudent, and He shall know them? for the + ways of the Lord are right, and the just shall walk in them: but + the transgressors shall fall therein.'--HOSEA xiv. 1-9. + +Hosea is eminently the prophet of divine love and of human repentance. +Both streams of thought are at their fullest in this great chapter. In +verses 1 to 3 the very essence of true return to God is set forth in the +prayer which Israel is exhorted to offer, while in verses 4 to 8 the +forgiving love of God and its blessed results are portrayed with equal +poetical beauty and spiritual force. Verse 9 closes the chapter and the +book with a kind of epilogue. + +I. The summons to repentance. + +'Israel,' of course, here means the Northern Kingdom, with which Hosea's +prophecies are chiefly occupied. 'Thou hast fallen by thine +iniquity'--that is the lesson taught by all its history, and in a deeper +sense it is the lesson of all experience. Sin brings ruin for nations +and individuals, and the plain teachings of each man's own life exhort +each to 'return unto the Lord.' We have all proved the vanity and misery +of departing from Him; surely, if we are not drawn by His love, we might +be driven by our own unrest, to go back to God. + +The Prophet anticipates the clear accents of the New Testament call to +repentance in his expansion of what he meant by returning. He has +nothing to say about sacrifices, nor about self-reliant efforts at moral +improvement. 'Take with you _words_,' not 'the blood of bulls and +goats.' Confession is better than sacrifice. What words are they which +will avail? Hosea teaches the penitent's prayer. It must begin with the +petition for forgiveness, which implies recognition of the petitioner's +sin. The cry, 'Take away all iniquity,' does not specify sins, but +masses the whole black catalogue into one word. However varied the forms +of our transgressions, they are in principle one, and it is best to bind +them all into one ugly heap, and lay it at God's feet. We have to +confess not only sins, but sin, and the taking away of it includes +divine cleansing from its power, as well as divine forgiveness of its +guilt. Hosea bids Israel ask that God would take away all iniquity; John +pointed to 'the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.' +But beyond forgiveness and cleansing, the penitent heart will seek that +God would 'accept the good' in it, which springs up by His grace, when +the evil has been washed from it, like flowers that burst from soil off +which the matted under-growth of poisonous jungle has been cleared. Mere +negative absence of 'evil' is not all that we should desire or exhibit; +there must be positive good; and however sinful may have been the past, +we are not too bold when we ask and expect that we may be made able to +produce 'good,' which shall be fragrant as sweet incense to God. + +Petitions are followed by vows. On the one hand, the experience of +forgiveness and cleansing will put a new song in our mouths, and instead +of animal sacrifices, we shall render the praise which is better than +'calves' laid on the altar. Perhaps the Septuagint rendering of that +difficult phrase 'the calves of our lips,' which is given in Hebrews +xiii. 15, 'the fruit of our lips,' is preferable. In either case, the +same thought appears--that the penitent's experience of forgiving and +restoring love makes 'the tongue of the dumb sing,' and it will bind +men's hearts more closely to God than anything besides can do, so that +their old inclinations to false reliances and idolatries drop away from +them. The old fable tells us that the storm made the traveller wrap his +cloak closer round him, but the sunshine made him throw it off. +Judgments often make men cling more closely to their sins, but forgiving +mercy makes them 'cast off the works of darkness.' The men who had +experienced that in God, the Israel, which by its sins had brought down +the punishment of His repudiation of being its father (i. 9), had found +mercy, would no longer feel temptation to turn to Assyria for help, nor +to seek protection from Egypt's cavalry, nor to debase their manhood by +calling stocks and stones, the work of their own hands, their gods. What +earthly sweetness will tempt, or what earthly danger will affright, the +heart that is feeling the bliss of union with God? Would Judas's thirty +pieces of silver attract the disciple reclining on Jesus' bosom? We are +most firmly bound to God, not by our resolves, but by our experience of +His all-sufficient mercy. Fill the heart with that wine of the kingdom, +and bitter or poisonous draughts will find no entrance into the cup. + +II. God's welcoming answer. + +The very abruptness of its introduction, without any explanation as to +the speaker, suggests how swiftly and joyfully the Father hastens to +meet the returning prodigal while he is yet afar off. Like pent-up +waters rushing forth as soon as a barrier is taken away, God's love +pours itself out immediately. His answer ever gives more than the +penitent asks--robe and ring and shoes, and a feast to him who dared not +expect more than a place among the hired servants. He gives not by +drops, but in floods, answering the prayer for the taking away of +iniquity by the promise to heal backsliding, going beyond desires and +hopes in the gift of love which asks for no recompense, is drawn forth +by no desert, but wells up from the depths of God's heart, and +strengthens the new, tremulous trust of the penitent by the assurance +that every trace of anger is effaced from God's heart. + +The blessings consequent on the gift of God's love are described in +lovely imagery, drawn, like Hosea's other abundant similes, from nature, +and especially from trees and flowers. The source of all fruitfulness is +a divine influence, which comes silently and refreshing as the 'dew,' +or, rather, as the 'night mist,' a phenomenon occurring in Palestine in +summer, and being, accurately, rolling masses of vapour brought from +the Mediterranean, which counteract the dry heat and keep vegetation +alive. The influences which refresh and fructify our souls must fall in +many a silent hour of meditation and communion. They will effloresce +into manifold shapes of beauty and fruitfulness, of which the Prophet +signalises three. The lily may stand for beauty of purity, though +botanists differ as to the particular flower meant. Christians should +present to the world 'whatsoever things are lovely,' and see to it that +their goodness is attractive. But the fragrant, pure lily has but +shallow roots, and beauty is not all that a character needs in this +world of struggle and effort. So there are to be both the lily's blossom +and roots like Lebanon. The image may refer to the firm buttresses of +the widespread foot-hills, from which the sovereign summits of the great +mountain range rise, or, as is rather suggested by the accompanying +similes from the vegetable world, it may refer to the cedars growing +there. Their roots are anchored deep and stretch far underground; +therefore they rear towering heads, and spread broad shelves of dark +foliage, safe from any blast. Our lives must be deep rooted in God if +they are to be strong. Boots generally spread beneath the soil about as +far as branches extend above it. There should be at least as much +underground, 'hid with Christ in God,' as is visible to the world. + +But beauty and strength are not all. So Hosea thinks of yet another of +the characteristic growths of Palestine, the olive, which is not +strikingly beautiful in form, with its strangely gnarled, contorted +stem, its feeble branches, and its small, pointed, pale leaves, but has +the beauty of fruitfulriess, and is green when other trees are bare. +Such 'beauty' should be ours, and will be if the 'dew' falls on us. + +In verse 7 there are difficulties, both as to the application of the +'his,' and as to the reading and rendering of some of the words. But the +general drift is clear. It prolongs the tones of the foregoing verses, +keeping to the same class of images, and expressing fruitfulness, +abundant as the corn and precious as the grape, and fragrance like the +'bouquet' of the choicest wine. + +Verse 8 offers great difficulties on any interpretation. The supplement +'shall say' is questionable, and it is doubtful whether Ephraim is the +speaker at all, and whether, if so, he speaks all the four clauses, and +who speaks any or all of them, if not he. To the present writer, it +seems best to take the supplement as right, and possible to regard the +whole verse as spoken by Ephraim, though perhaps the last clause is +meant to be God's utterance. The meaning will then come out as follows. +The penitent Israel again speaks, after the gracious promises preceding. +The tribal name is, as usual in Hosea, equivalent to Israel, whose +penitent cry we heard at the beginning of the passage. Now we hear his +glad response to God's abundant answer. 'What have I to do any more with +idols?' He had vowed (verse 3) to have no more to do with them, and the +resolve is deepened by the rich grace held forth to him. Hosea had +lamented Ephraim's mad adherence to 'his idols' (iv. 17), but now the +union is dissolved, and by penitence and reception of God's grace, he is +joined to the Lord, and parted from them. His renunciation of idolatry +is based, in the second clause, on his experience of what God can do, +and on his having heard God's gracious voice of pardon and promise. If a +man hears God, he will not be drawn to worship at any idol's shrine. + +Further, in the third clause, Ephraim is joyfully conscious of the +change that has passed on him, in accordance with the great promises +just spoken, and with grateful astonishment that such verdure should +have burst out from the dry and rotten stump of his own sinful nature, +exclaims, 'I am like a green fir-tree.' That is another reason why he +will have no more to do with idols. They could never have made his +sapless nature break into leafage. But what of the fourth clause--'From +Me is thy fruit found'? Can we understand that to mean that Ephraim +still speaks, keeping up the image of the previous clause, and declaring +that all the new fruitfulness which he finds in himself he recognises to +be God's, both in the sense that, in reality, it is produced by Him, and +that it belongs to Him? He comes seeking fruit, and He finds it. All our +good is His, and we shall be happy, productive, and wise, in proportion +as we offer all our works to Him, and feel that, after all, they are not +ours, but the works of that Spirit which dwells in penitent and +believing hearts. Some have thought that this last clause must be taken +as spoken by God; but, even if so taken, it conveys substantially the +same thought as to the divine origin of man's fruitfulness. + +The last verse is rather a general reflection summing up the whole than +an integral part of this wonderful representation of penitence, pardon, +and fruitfulness. It declares the great truth that the knowledge of the +pardoning mercy of God, and of the ways by which He weans men from sin +and makes them fruitful of good, makes us truly wise. That knowledge is +more than intellectual apprehension; it is experience. Providence has +its mysteries, but they who keep near to God, and are 'just' because +they do, will find the opportunity of free, unfettered activity in +God's ways, and transgressors will stumble therein. Therefore wisdom and +safety lie in penitence and confession, which will ever be met by +gracious pardon and showers of blessing that will cause our hearts, +which sin has made desert, to rejoice and blossom like the rose. + + +THE DEW AND THE PLANTS + + 'I will be as the dew unto Israel: he shall grow as the lily, and + cast forth his roots as Lebanon. 6. His branches shall spread, and + his beauty shall be as the olive-tree ...'--Hosea xiv. 5, 6. + +Like his brethren, Hosea was a poet as well as a prophet. His little +prophecy is full of similes and illustrations drawn from natural +objects; scarcely any of them from cities or from the ways of men; +almost all of them from Nature, as seen in the open country, which he +evidently loved, and where he had looked upon things with a clear and +meditative eye. This whole chapter is full of emblems drawn from the +vegetable world. The lily, the cedar, the olive, are in my text. And +there follow, in the subsequent verses, the corn, and the vine, and the +green fir-tree. + +The words which I have read, no doubt originally had simply a reference +to the numerical increase of the people and their restoration to their +land, but they may be taken by us quite fairly as having a very much +deeper and more blessed reference than that. For they describe the +uniform condition of all spiritual life and growth,' I will be as the +dew unto Israel'; and then they set forth some of the manifold aspects +of that growth, and the consequences of receiving that heavenly dew, +under the various metaphors to which I have referred. It is in that +higher signification that I wish to look at them now. + +I. The first thought that comes out of the words is that for all life +and growth of the spirit there must be a bedewing from God. + +'I will be as the dew unto Israel.' Now, scholars tell us that the kind +of moisture that is meant in these words is not what we call dew, of +which, as a matter of fact, there falls, in Palestine, little or none at +the season of the year referred to in my text, but that the word really +means the heavy night-clouds that come upon the wings of the south-west +wind, to diffuse moisture and freshness over the parched plains, in the +very height and fierceness of summer. The metaphor of my text becomes +more beautiful and striking, if we note that, in the previous chapter, +where the Prophet was in his threatening mood, he predicts that 'an east +wind shall come, the wind of the Lord shall come up from the +wilderness'--the burning sirocco, with death upon its wings--'and his +spring shall become dry, and his fountain shall be dried up.' We have +then to imagine the land gaping and parched, the hot air having, as with +invisible tongue of flame, licked streams and pools dry, and having +shrunken fountains and springs. Then, all at once there comes down upon +the baking ground and on the faded, drooping flowers that lie languid +and prostrate on the ground in the darkness, borne on the wings of the +wind, from the depths of the great unfathomed sea, an unseen moisture. +You cannot call it rain, so gently does it diffuse itself; it is liker a +mist, but it brings life and freshness, and everything is changed. The +dew, or the night mist, as it might more properly be rendered, was +evidently a good deal in Hosea's mind; you may remember that he uses the +image again in a remarkably different aspect, where he speaks of men's +goodness as being like 'a morning cloud, and the early dew that passes +away.' + +The natural object which yields the emblem was all inadequate to set +forth the divine gift which is compared to it, because as soon as the +sun has risen, with burning heat, it scatters the beneficent clouds, and +the 'sunbeams like swords' threaten to slay the tender green shoots. But +this mist from God that comes down to water the earth is never dried up. +It is not transient. It may be ours, and live in our hearts. Dear +brethren, the prose of this sweet old promise is 'If I depart, I will +send Him unto you.' If we are Christian people, we have the perpetual +dew of that divine Spirit, which falls on our leaves and penetrates to +our roots, and communicates life, freshness, and power, and makes growth +possible--more than possible, certain--for us. 'I'--Myself through My +Son, and in My Spirit--'I will be'--an unconditional assurance--'as the +dew unto Israel.' + +Yes! That promise is in its depth and fulness applicable only to the +Christian Israel, and it remains true to-day and for ever. Do we see it +fulfilled? One looks round upon our congregations, and into one's own +heart, and we behold the parable of Gideon's fleece acted over +again--some places soaked with the refreshing moisture, and some as hard +as a rock and as dry as tinder and ready to catch fire from any spark +from the devil's forge and be consumed in the everlasting burnings some +day. It will do us good to ask ourselves why it is that, with a promise +like this for every Christian soul to build upon, there are so few +Christian souls that have anything like realised its fulness and its +depth. Let us be quite sure of this--God has nothing to do with the +failure of His promise, and let us take all the blame to ourselves. + +'I will be as the dew unto Israel.' Who was Israel? The man that +wrestled all night in prayer with God, and took hold of the angel and +prevailed and wept and made supplication to Him. So Hosea tells us; and +as he says in the passage where he describes the Angel's wrestling with +Jacob at Peniel, 'there He spake with us'--when He spake, He spake with +him who first bore the name. Be you Israel, and God will surely be your +dew; and life and growth will be possible. That is the first lesson of +this great promise. + +II. The second is, that a soul thus bedewed by God will spring into +purity and beauty. + +We go back to Hosea's vegetable metaphors. 'He shall grow as the lily' +is his first promise. If I were addressing a congregation of botanists, +I should have something to say about what kind of a plant is meant, but +that is quite beside the mark for my present purpose. It is sufficient +to notice that in this metaphor the emphasis is laid upon the two +attributes which I have named--beauty and purity. The figure teaches us +that ugly Christianity is not Christ's Christianity. Some of us older +people remember that it used to be a favourite phrase to describe +unattractive saints that they had 'grace grafted on a crab stick.' There +are a great many Christian people whom one would compare to any other +plant rather than a lily. Thorns and thistles and briers are a good deal +more like what some of them appear to the world. But we are bound, if we +are Christian people, by our obligations to God, and by our obligations +to men, to try to make Christianity look as beautiful in people's eyes +as we can. That is what Paul said, 'Adorn the teaching'; make it look +well, inasmuch as it has made you look attractive to men's eyes. Men +have a fairly accurate notion of beauty and goodness, whether they have +any goodness or any beauty in their own characters or not. Do you +remember the words: 'Whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are +of good report, whatsoever things are venerable ... if there be any +praise'--from men--'think on these things'? If we do not keep that as +the guiding star of our lives, then we have failed in one very distinct +duty of Christian people--namely, to grow more like a lily, and to be +graceful in the lowest sense of that word, as well as _grace full_ in +the highest sense of it. We shall not be so in the lower, unless we are +so in the higher. It may be a very modest kind of beauty, very humble, +and not at all like the flaring reds and yellows of the gorgeous flowers +that the world admires. These are often like a great sunflower, with a +disc as big as a cheese. But the Christian beauty will be modest and +unobtrusive and shy, like the violet half buried in the hedge-bank, and +unnoticed by careless eyes, accustomed to see beauty only in gaudy, +flaring blooms. But unless you, as a Christian, are in your character +arrayed in the "beauty of holiness," and the holiness of beauty, you are +not quite the Christian that Jesus Christ wants you to be; setting forth +all the gracious and sweet and refining influences of the Gospel in your +daily life and conduct. That is the second lesson of our text. + +III. The third is, that a God-bedewed soul that has been made fair and +pure by communion with God, ought also to be strong. + +He "shall cast forth his roots like Lebanon." Now I take it that simile +does not refer to the roots of that giant range that slope away down +under the depths of the Mediterranean. That is a beautiful emblem, but +it is not in line with the other images in the context. As these are all +dependent on the promise of the dew, and represent different phases of +the results of its fulfilment, it is natural to expect thus much +uniformity in their variety, that they shall all be drawn from +plant-life. If so, we must suppose a condensed metaphor here, and take +"Lebanon" to mean the forest which another prophet calls "the glory of +Lebanon." The characteristic tree in these, as we all know, was the +cedar. + +It is named in Hebrew by a word which is connected with that for +"strength." It stands as the very type and emblem of stability and +vigour. Think of its firm roots by which it is anchored deep in the +soil. Think of the shelves of massive dark foliage. Think of its +unchanged steadfastness in storm. Think of its towering height; and thus +arriving at the meaning of the emblem, let us translate it into practice +in our own lives. "He shall cast forth his roots as Lebanon." Beauty? +Yes! Purity? Yes! And braided in with them, if I may so say, the +strength which can say "No!" which can resist, which can persist, which +can overcome; power drawn from communion with God. "Strength and beauty" +should blend in the worshippers, as they do in the "sanctuary" in God +Himself. There is nothing admirable in mere force; there is often +something sickly and feeble, and therefore contemptible in mere beauty. +Many of us will cultivate the complacent and the amiable sides of the +Christian life, and be wanting in the manly "thews that throw the +world," and can fight to the death. But we have to try and bring these +two excellences of character together, and it needs an immense deal of +grace and wisdom and imitation of Jesus Christ, and a close clasp of His +hand, to enable us to do that. Speak we of strength? He is the type of +strength. Of beauty? He is the perfection of beauty. And it is only as +we keep close to Him that our lives will be all fair with the reflected +loveliness of His, and strong with the communicated power of His +grace--"strong in the Lord, and in the power of His might." + +Brethren, if we are to set forth anything, in our daily lives, of this +strength, remember that our lives must be rooted in, as well as bedewed +by, God. Hosea's emblems, beautiful and instructive as they are, do not +reach to the deep truth set forth in still holier and sweeter words; "I +am the Vine, ye are the branches." The union of Christ and His people +is closer than that between dew and plant. Our growth results from the +communication of His own life to us. Therefore is the command stringent +and obedience to it blessed, "Abide in Me, for apart from Me ye can +do"--and are--"nothing." + +Let us remember that the loftier the top of the tree and the wider the +spread of its shelves of dark foliage, if it is steadfastly to stand, +unmoved by the loud winds when they call, the deeper must its roots +strike into the firm earth. If your life is to be a fair temple-palace +worthy of God's dwelling in, if it is to be impregnable to assault, +there must be quite as much masonry underground as above, as is the case +in great old buildings and palaces. And such a life must be a life "hid +with Christ in God," then it will be strong. When we strike our roots +deep into Him, our branch also shall not wither, and our leaf shall be +green, and all that we do shall prosper. The wicked are not so. They are +like chaff--rootless, fruitless, lifeless, which the wind driveth away. + +IV. Lastly, the God-bedewed soul, beautiful, pure, strong, will bear +fruit. + +That is the last lesson from these metaphors. "His beauty shall be as +the olive-tree." Anybody that has ever seen a grove of olives knows that +their beauty is not such as strikes the eye. If it was not for the blue +sky overhead, that rays down glorifying light, they would not be much to +look at or talk about. The tree has a gnarled, grotesque trunk which +divides into insignificant branches, bearing leaves mean in shape, harsh +in texture, with a silvery underside. It gives but a quivering shade and +has no massiveness, nor symmetry. Ay! but there are olives on the +branches. And so the beauty of the humble tree is in what it grows for +man's good. After all, it is the outcome in fruitfulness which is the +main thing about us. God's meaning, in all His gifts of dew, and beauty, +and purity, and strength, is that we should be of some use in the world. + +The olive is crushed into oil, and the oil is used for smoothing and +suppling joints and flesh, for nourishing and sustaining the body as +food, for illuminating darkness as oil in the lamp. And these three +things are the three things for which we Christian people have received +all our dew, and all our beauty, and all our strength--that we may give +other people light, that we may be the means of conveying to other +people nourishment, that we may move gently in the world as lubricating, +sweetening, soothing influences, and not irritating and provoking, and +leading to strife and alienation. _The_ question after all is, Does +anybody gather fruit off us, and would anybody call _us_ 'trees of +righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified'? That +is lesson four from this text. May we all open our hearts for the dew +from heaven, and then use it to produce in ourselves beauty, purity, +strength, and fruitfulness! + + * * * * * + + +AMOS + + +A PAIR OF FRIENDS + + 'Can two walk together, except they be agreed?'-AMOS III. 8. + +They do not need to be agreed about everything. They must, however, wish +to keep each others company, and they must be going by the same road to +the same place. The application of the parable is very plain, though +there are differences of opinion as to the bearing of the whole context +which need not concern us now. The 'two,' whom the Prophet would fain +see walking together, are God and Israel, and his question suggests not +only the companionship and communion with God which are the highest form +of religion and the aim of all forms and ceremonies of worship, but also +the inexorable condition on which alone that height of communion can be +secured and sustained. Two _may_ walk together, though the one be God in +heaven and the other be I on earth. But they have to be agreed thus far, +at any rate, that both shall wish to be together, and both be going the +same road. + +I. So I ask you to look, first, at that possible blessed companionship +which may cheer a life. + +There are three phrases in the Old Testament, very like each other, and +yet presenting different facets or aspects of the same great truth. +Sometimes we read about 'walking before God' as Abraham was bid to do. +That means ordering the daily life under the continual sense that we are +'ever in the great Taskmaster's eye' Then there is 'walking after God,' +and that means conforming the will and active efforts to the rule that +He has laid down, setting our steps firm on the paths that He has +prepared that we should walk in them, and accepting His providences. +But also, high above both these conceptions of a devout life is the one +which is suggested by my text, and which, as you remember, was realised +in the case of the patriarch Enoch--'walking with God.' For to walk +before Him may have with it some tremor, and may be undertaken in the +spirit of the slave who would be glad to get away from the jealous eye +that rebukes his slothfulness; and 'walking after Him' may be a painful +and partial effort to keep His distant figure in sight; but to 'walk +with Him' implies a constant, quiet sense of His Divine Presence which +forbids that I should ever be lonely, which guides and defends, which +floods my soul and fills my life, and in which, as the companions pace +along side by side, words may be spoken by either, or blessed silence +may be eloquent of perfect trust and rest. + +But, dear brother, far above us as such experience seems to sound, such +a life is a possibility for every one of us. We may be able to say, as +truly as our Lord said it, 'I am not alone, for the Father is with me.' +It is possible that the dreariest solitude of a soul, such as is not +realised when the body is removed from men, but is felt most in the +crowded city where there is none that loves or fathoms and sympathises, +may be turned into blessed fellowship with Him. Yes, but that solitude +will not be so turned unless it is first painfully felt. As Daniel said, +'I was left alone, and I saw the great vision.' We need to feel in our +deepest hearts that loneliness on earth before we walk with God. + +If we are so walking, it is no piece of fanaticism to say that there +will be mutual communications. Do you not believe that God knows His way +into the spirits that He has endowed with conscious life? Do you not +believe that He speaks now to people as truly as He did to prophets and +Apostles of old? as truly; though the results of His speech to us of +to-day be not of the same authority for others as the words that He +spoke to a Paul or a John. The belief in God's communications as for +ever sounding in the depths of the Christian spirit does not at all +obliterate the distinction between the kind of inspiration which +produced the New Testament and that which is realised by all believing +and obedient souls. High above all our experience of hearing the words +of God in our hearts stands that of those holy men of old who heard +God's message whispered in their ears, that they might proclaim it on +the housetops to all the world through all generations. But though they +and we are on a different level, and God spoke to them for a different +purpose, He speaks in our spirits, if we will comply with the +conditions, as truly as He did in theirs. As really as it was ever true +that the Lord spoke to Abraham, or Isaiah, or Paul, it is true that He +now speaks to the man who walks with Him. Frank speech on both sides +beguiles many a weary mile, when lovers or friends foot it side by side; +and this pair of friends of whom our text speaks have mutual +intercourse. God speaks with His servant now, as of old, 'as a man +speaketh with his friend'; and we on our parts, if we are truly walking +with Him, shall feel it natural to speak frankly to God. As two friends +on the road will interchange remarks about trifles, and if they love +each other, the remarks about the trifles will be weighted with love, so +we can tell our smallest affairs to God; and if we have Him for our +Pilgrim-Companion, we do not need to lock up any troubles or concerns of +any sort, big or little, in our hearts, but may speak them all to our +Friend who goes with us. + +The two _may_ walk together. That is the end of all religion. What are +creeds for? What are services and sacraments for? What is theology for? +What is Christ's redeeming act for? All culminate in this true, constant +fellowship between men and God. And unless, in some measure, that result +is arrived at in our cases, our religion, let it be as orthodox as you +like, our faith in the redemption of Jesus Christ, let it be as real as +you will, our attendances on services and sacraments, let them be as +punctilious and regular as may be, are all 'sounding brass and tinkling +cymbal.' Get side by side with God; that is the purpose of all these, +and fellowship with Him is the climax of all religion. + +It is also the secret of all blessedness, the only thing that will make +a life absolutely sovereign over sorrow, and fixedly unperturbed by all +tempests, and invulnerable to all 'the slings and arrows of outrageous +fortune.' Hold fast by God, and you have an amulet against every evil, +and a shield against every foe, and a mighty power that will calm and +satisfy your whole being. Nothing else, nothing else will do so. As +Augustine said, 'O God! Thou hast made us for Thyself, and in Thyself +only are we at rest.' If the Shepherd is with us we will fear no evil. + +II. Now, a word, in the next place, as to the sadly incomplete reality, +in much Christian experience, which contrasts with this possibility. + +I am afraid that very, very few so-called Christian people habitually +feel, as they might do, the depth and blessedness of this communion. And +sure I am that only a very small percentage of us have anything like the +continuity of companionship which my text suggests as possible. There +may be, and therefore there should be, running unbroken through a +Christian life one long, bright line of communion with God and happy +inspiration from the sense of His presence with us. Is it a line in _my_ +life, or is there but a dot here, and a dot there, and long breaks +between? The long, embarrassed pauses in a conversation between two who +do not know much of, or care much for, each other are only too like +what occurs in many professing Christians' intercourse with God. Their +communion is like those time-worn inscriptions that archaeologists dig +up, with a word clearly cut and then a great gap, and then a letter or +two, and then another gap, and then a little bit more legible, and then +the stone broken, and all the rest gone. Did you ever read the +meteorological reports in the newspapers and observe a record like this, +'Twenty minutes' sunshine out of a possible eight hours'? Do you not +think that such a state of affairs is a little like the experience of a +great many Christian people in regard to their communion with God? It is +broken at the best, and imperfect at the completest, and shallow at the +deepest. O, dear brethren! rise to the height of your possibilities, and +live as close to God as He lets you live, and nothing will much trouble +you. + +III. And now, lastly, a word about the simple explanation of the failure +to realise this continual presence. + +'Can two walk together except they be agreed?' Certainly not. Our +fathers, in a sterner and more religious age than ours, used to be +greatly troubled how to account for a state of Christian experience +which they supposed to be due to God's withdrawing of the sense of His +presence from His children. Whether there is any such withdrawal or not, +I am quite certain that that is not the cause of the interrupted +communion between God and the average Christian man. + +I make all allowance for the ups and downs and changing moods which +necessarily affect us in this present life, and I make all allowance, +too, for the pressure of imperative duties and distracting cares which +interfere with our communion, though, if we were as strong as we might +be, they would not wile us away from, but drive us to, our Father in +heaven. But when all such allowances have been made, I come back to my +text as _the_ explanation of interrupted communion. The two are _not_ +agreed; and that is why they are not walking together. The consciousness +of God's presence with us is a very delicate thing. It is like a very +sensitive thermometer, which will drop when an iceberg is a league off +over the sea, and scarcely visible. We do not wish His company, or we +are not in harmony with His thoughts, or we are not going His road, and +therefore, of course, we part. At bottom there is only one thing that +separates a soul from God, and that is sin--sin of some sort, like tiny +grains of dust that get between two polished plates in an engine that +ought to move smoothly and closely against each other. The obstruction +may be invisible, and yet be powerful enough to cause friction, which +hinders the working of the engine and throws everything out of gear. A +light cloud that we cannot see may come between us and a star, and we +shall only know it is there, because the star is _not_ visibly there. +Similarly, many a Christian, quite unconsciously, has something or other +in his habits, or in his conduct, or in his affections, which would +reveal itself to him, if he would look, as being wrong, because it blots +out God. + +Let us remember that very little divergence will, if the two paths are +prolonged far enough, part their other ends by a world. Our way may go +off from the ways of the Lord at a very acute angle. There may be +scarcely any consciousness of parting company at the beginning. Let the +man travel on upon it far enough, and the two will be so far apart that +he cannot see God or hear Him speak. Take care of the little divergences +which are habitual, for their accumulated results will be complete +separation. There must be absolute surrender if there is to be +uninterrupted fellowship. + +Such, then, is the direction in which we are to look for the reasons for +our low and broken experiences of communion with God. Oh, dear friends! +when we do as we sometimes do, wake with a start, like a child that all +at once starts from sleep and finds that its mother is gone--when we +wake with a start to feel that we are alone, then do not let us be +afraid to go straight back. Only be sure that we leave behind us the sin +that parted us. + +You remember how Peter signalised himself on the lake, on the occasion +of the second miraculous draught of fishes, when he floundered through +the water and clasped Christ's feet. He did not say then, 'Depart from +Me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord!' He had said that before on a similar +occasion, when he felt his sin less, but now he knew that the best place +for the denier was with his head on Christ's bosom. So, if we have +parted from our Friend, there should be no time lost ere we go back. May +it be true of us that we walk with God, so that at last the great +promise may be fulfilled about us, 'that we shall walk with Him in +white,' being by His love accounted 'worthy,' and so 'follow' and keep +company with, 'the Lamb whithersoever He goeth!' + + +SMITTEN IN VAIN + + 'Come to Beth-el, and transgress; at Gilgal multiply transgression; + and bring your sacrifices every morning, and your tithes after + three years: 5. And offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving with leaven, + and proclaim and publish the free offerings; for this liketh you, O + ye children of Israel, saith the Lord God. 6. And I also have given + you cleanness of teeth in all your cities, and want of bread in all + your places; yet have ye not returned unto Me, saith the Lord. 7. + And also I have withholden the rain from you, when there were yet + three months to the harvest; and I caused it to rain upon one city, + and caused it not to rain upon another city; one piece was rained + upon, and the piece whereupon it rained not withered. 8. So two or + three cities wandered unto one city, to drink water; but they were + not satisfied; yet have ye not returned unto Me, saith the Lord. 9. + I have smitten you with blasting and mildew: when your gardens, and + your vineyards, and your fig-trees, and your olive-trees increased, + the palmerworm devoured them: yet have ye not returned unto Me, + saith the Lord. 10. I have sent among you the pestilence, after the + manner of Egypt; your young men have I slain with the sword, and + have taken away your horses; and I have made the stink of your + camps to come up unto your nostrils; yet have ye not returned unto + Me, saith the Lord. 11. I have overthrown some of you, as God + overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and ye were as a firebrand plucked + out of the burning; yet have ye not returned unto Me, saith the + Lord. 12. Therefore thus will I do unto thee, O Israel; and because + I will do this unto thee, prepare to meet thy God, O Israel. 13. + For, lo, He that formeth the mountains, and createth the wind, and + declareth unto man what is his thought, that maketh the morning + darkness, and treadeth upon the high places of the earth, The Lord, + The God of hosts, is His name.'--AMOS iv. 4-13. + +The reign of Jeroboam II. was one of brilliant military success and of +profound moral degradation. Amos was a simple, hardy shepherd from the +southern wilds of Judah, and his prophecies are redolent of his early +life, both in their homely imagery and in the wholesome indignation and +contempt for the silken-robed vice of Israel. No sterner picture of an +utterly rotten social state was ever drawn than this book gives of the +luxury, licentiousness, and oppressiveness of the ruling classes. This +passage deals rather with the religious declension underlying the moral +filth, and sets forth the self-willed idolatry of the people (vs. 4, 5), +their obstinate resistance to God's merciful chastisement (vs. 6-11), +and the heavier impending judgment (vs. 12, 13). + +I. Indignant irony flashes in that permission or command to persevere in +the calf worship. The seeming command is the strongest prohibition. +There can be no worse thing befall a man than that he should be left to +go on forwardly in the way of his heart. The real meaning is +sufficiently emphasised by that second verb, 'and _transgress_'. 'Flock +to one temple after another, and heap altars with sacrifices which you +were never bid to offer, but understand that what you do is not worship, +but sin.' That is a smiting sentence to pass upon elaborate ceremonial. +The word literally means treason or rebellion, and by it Amos at one +blow shatters the whole fabric. Note, too, that the offering of tithes +was not called for by Mosaic law, 'every three days' (Revised Version), +and that the use of leaven in burnt offerings was prohibited by it, and +also that to call for freewill offerings was to turn spontaneousness +into something like compulsion, and to bring ostentation into worship. +All these characteristics spoiled the apparent religiousness, over and +above the initial evil of disobedience, and warrant Amos's crushing +equation, 'Your worship = rebellion.' All are driven home by the last +words of verse 5, 'So ye love it.' The reason for all this prodigal +ostentatious worship was to please themselves, not to obey God. That +tainted everything, and always does. + +The lessons of this burst of sarcasm are plain. The subtle influence of +self creeps in even in worship, and makes it hollow, unreal, and +powerless to bless the worshipper. Obedience is better than costly +gifts. The beginning and end of all worship, which is not at same time +'transgression' is the submission of tastes, will, and the whole self. +Again, men will lavish gifts far more freely in apparent religious +service, which is but the worship of their reflected selves, than in +true service of God. Again, the purity of willing offerings is marred +when they are given in response to a loud call, or, when given, are +proclaimed with acclamations. Let us not suppose that all the brunt of +Amos's indignation fell only on these old devotees. The principles +involved in it have a sharp edge, turned to a great deal which is +allowed and fostered among ourselves. + +II. The blaze of indignation changes in the second part of the passage +into wounded tenderness, as the Prophet speaks in the name of God, and +recounts the dreary monotony of failure attending all God's loving +attempts to arrest Israel's departure by the mercy of judgment. Mark the +sad cadence of the fivefold refrain, 'Ye have not returned unto Me, +saith the Lord.' The 'unto' implies reaching the object to which we +turn, and is not the less forcible but more usual word found in this +phrase, which simply means 'towards' and indicates direction, without +saying anything as to how far the return has gone. So there may have +been partial moments of bethinking themselves, when the chastisement was +on Israel; but there had been no thorough 'turning,' which had landed +them at the side of God. Many a man turns _towards_ God, who, for lack +of resolved perseverance, never so turns as to get _to_ God. The +repeated complaint of the inefficacy of chastisements has in it a tone +of sorrow and of wonder which does not belong only to the Prophet. If we +remember who it was who was 'grieved at the blindness of their heart,' +and who 'wondered at their unbelief' we shall not fear to recognise here +the attribution of the same emotions to the heart of God. + +To Amos, famine, drought, blasting, locusts, pestilence, and probably +earthquake, were five messengers of God, and Amos was taught by God. If +we looked deeper, we should see more clearly. The true view of the +relation of all material things and events to God is this which the +herdsman of Tekoa proclaimed. These messengers were not 'miracles,' but +they were God's messengers all the same. Behind all phenomena stands a +personal will, and they are nearer the secret of the universe who see +God working in it all, than they who see all forces except the One which +is the only true force. 'I give cleanness of teeth. I have withholden +the rain. I have smitten. I have sent the pestilence. I have overthrown +some of you.' To the Prophet's eye the world is all aflame with a +present God. Let no scientific views, important and illuminating as +these may be, hide from us the deeper truth, which lies beyond their +region. The child who says 'God,' has got nearer the centre than the +scientist who says 'Force.' + +But Amos had another principle, that God sent physical calamities +because of moral delinquencies and for moral and religious ends. These +disasters were meant to bring Israel back to God, and were at once +punishments and reformatory methods. No doubt the connection between sin +and material evils was closer under the Old Testament than now. But if +we may not argue as Amos did, in reference to such calamities as +drought, and failures of harvests, and the like, as these affect +communities, we may, at all events, affirm that, in the case of the +individual, he is a wise man who regards all outward evil as having a +possible bearing on his bettering spiritually. 'If a drought comes, +learn to look to your irrigation, and don't cut down your forests so +wantonly,' say the wise men nowadays; 'if pestilence breaks out, see to +your drainage.' By all means. These things, too, are God's commandments, +and we have no right to interpret the consequences of infraction of +physical laws as being meant to punish nations for their breach of moral +and religious ones. If we were prophets, we might, but not else. But +still, is God so poor that He can have but one purpose in a providence? +Every sorrow, of whatever sort, is meant to produce all the good effects +which it naturally tends to produce; and since every experience of pain +and loss and grief naturally tends to wean us from earth, and to drive +us to find in God what earth can never yield, all our sorrows are His +messengers to draw us back to Him. Amos' lesson as to the purpose of +trials is not antiquated. + +But he has still another to teach us; namely, the awful power which we +have of resisting God's efforts to draw us back. 'Our wills are ours, we +know not how,' but alas! it is too often not 'to make them Thine.' This +is the true tragedy of the world that God calls, and we do refuse, even +as it is the deepest mystery of sinful manhood that God calls and we can +refuse. What infinite pathos and grieved love, thrown back upon itself, +is in that refrain, 'Ye have not returned unto Me!' How its recurrence +speaks of the long-suffering which multiplied means as others failed, and +of the divine charity, which 'suffered long, was not soon angry, and +hoped all things!' How vividly it gives the impression of the obstinacy +that to all effort opposed insensibility, and clung the more closely and +insanely to the idolatry which was its crime and its ruin! The very same +temper is deep in us all. Israel holds up the mirror in which we may see +ourselves. If blows do not break iron, they harden it. A wasted +sorrow--that is, a sorrow which does not drive us to God--leaves us less +impressible than it found us. + +III. Again the mood changes, and the issue of protracted resistance is +prophesied (vs. 12, 13). 'Therefore' sums up the instances of refusal +to be warned, and presents them as the cause of the coming evil. The +higher the dam is piled, the deeper the water that is gathered behind +it, and the surer and more destructive the flood when it bursts. +Long-delayed judgments are severe in proportion as they are slow. Note +the awful vagueness of threatening in that emphatic 'thus,' as if the +Prophet had the event before his eyes. There is no need to specify, for +there can be but one result from such obstinacy. The 'terror of the +Lord' is more moving by reason of the dimness which wraps it. The +contact of divine power with human rebellion can only end in one way, +and that is too terrible for speech. Conscience can translate 'thus.' +The thunder-cloud is all the more dreadful for the vagueness of its +outline, where its livid hues melt into formless black. What bolts lurk +in its gloom? + +The certainty of judgment is the basis of a call to repentance, which +may avert it. The meeting with God for which Israel is besought to +prepare, was, of course, not judgment after death, but the impending +destruction of the Northern Kingdom. But Amos's prophetic call is not +misapplied when directed to that final day of the Lord. Common-sense +teaches preparation for a certain future, and Amos's trumpet-note is +deepened and re-echoed by Jesus: 'Be ye ready also, for ... the Son of +man cometh.' Note, too, that Israel's peculiar relation to God is the +very ground of the certainty of its punishment, and of the appeal for +repentance. Just because He is 'thy God,' will He assuredly come to +judge, and you may assuredly prepare, by repentance, to meet Him. The +conditions of meeting the Judge, and being 'found of Him in peace,' are +that we should be 'without spot, and blameless'; and the conditions of +being so spotless and uncensurable are, what they were in Amos's day, +repentance and trust. Only we have Jesus as the brightness of the +Father's glory to trust in, and His all-sufficient work to trust to, for +pardon and purifying. + +The magnificent proclamation of the name of the Lord which closes the +passage, is meant as at once a guarantee of His judgment and an +enforcement of the call to be ready to meet Him. He in creation forms +the solid, changeless mountains and the viewless, passing wind. The most +stable and the most mobile are His work. He reads men's hearts, and can +tell them their thoughts afar off. He is the Author of all changes, both +in the physical and the moral world, bringing the daily wonder of +sunrise and the nightly shroud of darkness, and with like alternation +blending joy and sorrow in men's lives. He treads 'on the high places of +the earth,' making all created elevations the path of His feet, and +crushing down whatever exalts itself. Thus, in creation almighty, in +knowledge omniscient, in providence changing all things and Himself the +same, subjugating all, and levelling a path for His purposes across +every opposition, He manifests His name, as the living, eternal Jehovah, +the God of the Covenant, and therefore of judgment on its breakers, and +as the Commander and God of the embattled forces of the universe. Is +this a God whose coming to judge is to be lightly dealt with? Is not +this a God whom it is wise for us to be ready to meet? + + +THE SINS OF SOCIETY + + 'For thus saith the Lord unto the house of Israel, Seek ye Me, and + ye shall live: 5. But seek not Beth-el, nor enter into Gilgal, and + pass not to Beer-sheba: for Gilgal shall surely go into captivity, + and Beth-el shall come to nought. 6. Seek the Lord, and ye shall + live; lest He break out like fire in the house of Joseph, and + devour it, and there be none to quench it in Beth-el. 7. Ye who + turn judgment to wormwood, and leave off righteousness in the + earth, 8. Seek Him that maketh the seven stars and Orion, and + turneth the shadow of death into the morning, and maketh the day + dark with night: that calleth for the waters of the sea, and + poureth them out upon the face of the earth: The Lord is His name: + 9. That strengtheneth the spoiled against the strong, so that the + spoiled shall come against the fortress. 10. They hate him that + rebuketh in the gate, and they abhor him that speaketh uprightly. + 11. Forasmuch therefore as your treading is upon the poor, and ye + take from him burdens of wheat: ye have built houses of hewn stone, + but ye shall not dwell in them; ye have planted pleasant vineyards, + but ye shall not drink wine of them. 12. For I know your manifold + transgressions and your mighty sins: they afflict the just, they + take a bribe, and they turn aside the poor in the gate from their + right 13. Therefore the prudent shall keep silence in that time; + for it is an evil time. 14. Seek good, and not evil, that ye may + live: and so the Lord, the God of hosts, shall be with you, as ye + have spoken. 15. Hate the evil, and love the good, and establish + judgment in the gate: it may be that the Lord God of hosts will be + gracious unto the remnant of Joseph.'--AMOS v. 4-15. + +The reign of Jeroboam II, in which Amos prophesied, was a period of +great prosperity and of great corruption. Amos, born in the Southern +Kingdom, and accustomed to the simple life of a shepherd, blazed up in +indignation at the signs of misused wealth and selfish luxury that he +saw everywhere, in what was to him almost a foreign country. If one +fancies a godly Scottish Highlander sent to the West end of London, or a +Bible-reading New England farmer's man sent to New York's 'upper ten,' +one will have some notion of this prophet, the impressions made, and the +task laid on him. He has a message to our state of society which, in +many particulars, resembles that which he had to rebuke. + +There seems to be a slight dislocation in the order of the verses of the +passage, for verse 7 comes in awkwardly, breaking the connection between +verses 6 and 8, and itself cut off from verse 10, to which it belongs. +If we remove the intruding verse to a position after verse 9, the whole +passage is orderly and falls into three coherent parts: an exhortation +to seek Jehovah, enforced by various considerations (vs. 4-9); a +vehement denunciation of social vices (vs. 7, 10-13); and a renewed +exhortation to seek God by doing right to man (vs. 14, 15). + +Amos's first call to Israel is but the echo of God's to men, always and +everywhere. All circumstances, all inward experiences, joy and sorrow, +prosperity and disaster, our longings and our fears, they all cry aloud +to us to seek His face. That loving invitation is ever sounding in our +ears. And the promise which Amos gave, though it may have meant on his +lips the continuance of national life only, yet had, even on his lips, a +deeper meaning, which we now cannot but hear in it. For, just as to +'seek the Lord' means more to us than it did to Israel, so the +consequent life has greatened, widened, deepened into life eternal. But +Amos's narrower, more external promise is true still, and there is no +surer way of promoting true well-being than seeking God. 'With Thee is +the fountain of life,' in all senses of the word, from the lowest purely +physical to the highest, and it is only they who go thither to draw that +will carry away their pitchers full of the sparkling blessing. The +fundamental principle of Amos's teaching is an eternal truth, that to +seek God is to find Him, and to find Him is life. + +But Amos further teaches us that such seeking is not real nor able to +find, unless it is accompanied with turning away from all sinful quests +after vanities. We must give up seeking Bethel, Gilgal, or Beersheba, +seats of the calf worship, if we are to seek God to purpose. The sin of +the Northern Kingdom was that it wanted to worship Jehovah under the +symbol of the calves, thus trying to unite two discrepant things. And is +not a great deal of our Christianity of much the same quality? Too many +of us are doing just what Elijah told the crowds on Carmel that they +were doing, trying to 'shuffle along on both knees.' We would seek God, +but we would like to have an occasional visit to Bethel. It cannot be +done. There must be detachment, if there is to be any real attachment. +And the certain transiency of all creatural objects is a good reason for +not fastening ourselves to them, lest we should share their fate. +'Gilgal shall go into captivity, and Bethel shall come to nought,' +therefore let us join ourselves to the Eternal Love and we shall abide, +as it abides, for ever. + +The exhortation is next enforced by presenting the consequences of +neglecting it. To seek Him is life, not to seek Him incurs the danger of +finding Him in unwelcome ways. That is for ever true. We do not get away +from God by forgetting Him, but we run the risk of finding in Him, not +the fire which vitalises, purifies, melts, and gladdens, but that which +consumes. The fire is one, but its effects are twofold. God is for us +either that fire into which it is blessedness to be baptized, or that by +which it is death to be burned up. And what can Bethel, or calves, or +all the world do to quench it or pluck us out of it? + +Once more the exhortation is urged, if we link verse 8 with verse 6, and +supply 'Seek ye' at its beginning. Here the enforcement is drawn from +the considerations of God's workings in nature and history. The shepherd +from Tekoa had often gazed up at the silent splendours of the Pleiades +and Orion, as he kept watch over his flocks by night, and had seen the +thick darkness on the wide uplands thinning away as the morning stole op +over the mountains across the Dead Sea, and the day dying as he gathered +his sheep together. He had cowered under the torrential rains which +swept across his exposed homeland, and had heard God's voice summoning +the obedient waters of the sea, that He might pour them down in rain. +But the moral government of the world also calls on men to seek Jehovah. +'He causeth destruction to flash forth on the strong, so that +destruction cometh upon the fortress.' High things attract the +lightning. Godless strength is sure, sooner or later, to be smitten +down, and no fortress is so impregnable that He cannot capture and +overthrow it. Surely wisdom bids us seek Him that does all these +wonders, and make Him our defence and our high tower. + +The second part gives a vivid picture of the vices characteristic of a +prosperous state of society which is godless, and therefore selfishly +luxurious. First, civil justice is corrupted, turned into bitterness, +and prostrated to the ground. Then bold denouncers of national sins are +violently hated. Do we not know that phase of an ungodly and rich +society? What do the newspapers say about Christians who try to be +social reformers? Are the epithets flung at them liker bouquets or +rotten eggs? 'Fanatics and faddists' are the mildest of them. Then the +poor are trodden down and have to give large parts of their scanty +harvests to the rich. Have capital and labour just proportions of their +joint earnings? Would a sermon on verse 11 be welcome in the suburbs of +industrial centres, where the employers have their 'houses of hewn +stone'? Such houses, side by side with the poor men's huts, struck the +eye of the shepherd from Tekoa as the height of sinful luxury, and still +more sinful disproportion in the social condition of the two classes. +What would he have said if he had lived in England or America? Justice, +too, was bought and sold. A murderer could buy himself off, while the +poor man, who could not pay, lost his case. We do not bribe juries, but +(legal) justice is an expensive luxury still, and counsel's fees put it +out of the reach of poor men. + +One of the worst features of such a state of society as Amos saw is that +men are afraid to speak out in condemnation of it, and the ill weeds +grow apace for want of a scythe. Amos puts a certain sad emphasis on +'prudent,' as if he was feeling how little he could be called so, and +yet there is a touch of scorn in him too. The man who is over-careful of +his skin or his reputation will hold his tongue; even good men may +become so accustomed to the glaring corruptions of society in the midst +of which they have always lived, that they do not feel any call to +rebuke or wage war against them; but the brave man, the man who takes +his ideals from Christ, and judges society by its conformity with +Christ's standard, will not keep silence, and the more he feels that 'It +is an evil time' the more will he feel that he cannot but speak out, +whatever comes of his protest. What masquerades as prudence is very +often sinful cowardice, and such silence is treason against Christ. + +The third part repeats the exhortation to 'seek,' with a notable +difference. It is now 'good' that is to be sought, and 'evil' that is to +be turned from. These correspond respectively to 'Jehovah,' and 'Bethel, +Gilgal, and Beersheba,' in former verses. That is to say, morality is +the garb of religion, and religion is the only true source of morality. +If we are not seeking the things that are lovely and of good report, our +professions of seeking God are false; and we shall never earnestly and +successfully seek good and hate evil unless we have begun by seeking and +finding God, and holding Him in our heart of hearts. Modern social +reformers, who fancy that they can sweeten society without religion, +might do worse than go to school to Amos. + +Notable, too, is the lowered tone of confidence in the beneficial result +of obeying the Prophet's call. In the earlier exhortation the promise +had been absolute. 'Seek ye Me, and ye _shall_ live'; now it has cooled +to 'it may be.' Is Amos faltering? No; but while it is always true that +blessed life is found by the seeker after God, because He finds the very +source of life, it is not always true that the consequences of past +turnings from Him are diverted by repentance. 'It may be' that these +have to be endured, but even they become tokens of Jehovah's +graciousness, and the purified 'remnant of Joseph' will possess the true +life more abundantly because they have been exercised thereby. + + +THE CARCASS AND THE EAGLES + + 'Woe to them that are at ease in Zion, and trust in the mountain of + Samaria, which are named chief of the nations, to whom the house of + Israel came! 2. Pass ye unto Calneh, and see; and from thence go ye + to Hamath the great; then go down to Gath of the Philistines: be + they better than these kingdoms? or their border greater than your + border? 3. Ye that put far away the evil day, and cause the seat of + violence to come near; 4. That lie upon beds of ivory, and stretch + themselves upon their couches, and eat the lambs out of the flock, + and the calves out of the midst of the stall; 5. That chant to the + sound of the viol, and invent to themselves instruments of musick, + like David; 6. That drink wine in bowls, and anoint themselves with + the chief ointments: but they are not grieved for the affliction of + Joseph. 7. Therefore now shall they go captive with the first that + go captive, and the banquet of them that stretched themselves shall + be removed. 8. The Lord God hath sworn by Himself, saith the Lord + the God of hosts, I abhor the excellency of Jacob, and hate his + palaces: therefore will I deliver up the city with all that is + therein.'--AMOS vi. 1-8. + +Amos prophesied during the reign of Jeroboam, the son of Joash. +Jeroboam's reign was a time of great prosperity for Israel. Moab, +Gilead, and part of Syria were reconquered, and the usual effects of +conquest, increased luxury and vainglory, followed. Amos was not an +Israelite born, for he came from Tekoa, away down south, in the wild +country west of the Dead Sea, where he had been a simple herdsman till +the divine call sent him into the midst of the corrupt civilisation of +the Northern Kingdom. The first words of his prophecy give its whole +spirit: 'The Lord will roar from Zion.' The word rendered 'roar' is the +term specially used for the terrible cry with which a lion leaps on its +surprised prey (Amos iii. 4, 8). It is from Zion, the seat of God's +Temple, that the 'roar' proceeds, and Amos's prophecy is but the echo of +it in Israel. + +The prophecy of judgment in this passage is directed against the sins of +the upper classes in Samaria. They are described in verse 1 as the +'notable men ... to whom the house of Israel come,' which, in modern +language, is just 'conspicuous citizens,' who set the fashion, and are +looked to as authorities and leaders, whether in political or commercial +or social life. The word by which they are designated is used in Numbers +i. 17: 'Which are _expressed_ by name.' The word 'carried back the +thoughts of the degenerate aristocracy of Israel to the faith and zeal +of their forefathers' (Pusey, _Minor Prophets_, on this verse). Israel, +Amos calls 'The first of the nations.' It is singular that such a title +should be given to the nation against whose corruption his one business +is to testify, but probably there is keen irony in the word. It takes +Israel at its own estimate, and then goes on to show how rotten, and +therefore short-lived, was the prosperity which had swollen national +pride to such a pitch. The chiefs of the foremost nation in the world +should surely be something better than the heartless debauchees whom the +Prophet proceeds to paint. Anglo-Saxons on both sides of the Atlantic, +who are by no means deficient in this same complacent estimate of their +own superiority to all other peoples, may take note. The same thought is +prominent in the description of these notables as 'at ease.' They are +living in a fool's paradise, shutting their eyes to the thunder-clouds +that begin to rise slowly above the horizon, and keeping each other in +countenance in laughing at Amos and his gloomy forecasts. They 'trusted +in the mountain of Samaria,' which, they thought, made the city +impregnable to assault. No doubt they thought that the Prophet's talk +about doing right and trusting in Jehovah was very fanatical and +unpractical, just as many in England and America think that their +nations are exalted, not by righteousness, but by armies, navies, and +dollars or sovereigns. + +Verse 2 is very obscure to us from our ignorance of the facts underlying +its allusions. In fact, it has been explained in exactly opposite ways, +being taken by some to enumerate three instances of prosperous +communities, which yet are not more prosperous than Israel, and by +others to enumerate three instances of God's judgments falling on places +which, though strong, had been conquered. In the former explanation, +God's favour to Israel is made the ground of an implied appeal to their +gratitude; in the latter, His judgments on other nations are made the +ground of an appeal to their fear, lest like destruction should fall on +them. + +But the main points of the passage are the photograph of the crimes +which are bringing the judgment of God, and the solemn divine oath to +inflict the judgment. The crimes rebuked are not the false worship of +the calves, though in other parts of his prophecy Amos lashes that with +terrible invectives, nor foul breaches of morality, though these were +not wanting in Israel, but the vices peculiar to selfish, luxurious +upper classes in all times and countries, who forget the obligations of +wealth, and think only of its possibilities of self-indulgence. French +_noblesse_ before the Revolution, and English peers and commercial +magnates, and American millionaires, would yield examples of the same +sin. The hardy shepherd from Tekoa had learned 'plain living and high +thinking' before he was a prophet, and would look with wondering and +disgusted eyes at the wicked waste which he saw in Samaria. He begins +with scourging the reckless security already referred to. These notables +in Israel were 'at ease' because they 'put far away the evil day,' by +refusing to believe that it was at hand, and paying no heed to prophets' +warnings, as their fellows do still and always, and as we all are +tempted to do. They who see and declare the certain end of national or +personal sins are usually jeered at as pessimists, fanatics, alarmists, +bad patriots, or personal ill-wishers, and the men whom they try to warn +fancy that they hinder the coming of a day of retribution by +disbelieving in its coming. Incredulity is no lightning-conductor to +keep off the flash, and, listened to or not, the low growls of the +thunder are coming nearer. + +With one hand these sinners tried to push away the evil day, while with +the other they drew near to themselves that which made its coming +certain--'the seat of violence,' or, rather, 'the sitting,' or +'session.' Violence, or wrongdoing, is enthroned by them, and where men +enthrone iniquity, God's day of vengeance is not far off. + +Then follows a graphic picture of the senseless, corrupting luxury of +the Samaritan magnates, on which the Tekoan shepherd pours his scorn, +but which is simplicity itself, and almost asceticism, before what he +would see if he came to London or New York. To him it seemed effeminate +to loll on a divan at meals, and possibly it was a custom imported from +abroad. It is noted that 'the older custom in Israel was to sit while +eating.' The woodwork of the divans, inlaid with ivory, had caught his +eye in some of his peeps into the great houses, and he inveighs against +them very much as one of the Pilgrim Fathers might do if he could see +the furniture in the drawing-rooms of some of his descendants. There is +no harm in pretty things, but the aesthetic craze does sometimes indicate +and increase selfish heartlessness as to the poverty and misery, which +have not only no ivory on their divans, but no divans at all. Thus +stretched in unmanly indolence on their cushions, they feast on +delicacies. 'Lambs out of the flock' and 'calves out of the stall' seem +to mean animals too young to be used as food. These gourmands, like +their successors, prided themselves on having dainties out of season, +because they were more costly then. And their feasts had the adornment +of music, which the shepherd, who knew only the pastoral pipe that +gathered his sheep, refers to with contempt. He uses a very rare word of +uncertain meaning, which is probably best rendered in some such way as +the Revised Version does: 'They sing idle songs.' To him their +elaborate performances seemed like empty babble. Worse than that, they +'devise musical instruments like David.' But how unlike him in the use +they make of art! What a descent from the praises of God to the 'idle +songs' fit for the hot dining-halls and the guests there! Amos was +indignant at the profanation of art, and thought it best used in the +service of God. What would he have said if he had been 'fastened into a +front-row box' and treated to a modern opera? + +The revellers 'drink wine in bowls' by which larger vessels than +generally employed are intended. They drank to excess, or as we might +say, by bucketfuls. So the dainty feast, with its artistic refinement +and music, ends at last in a brutal carouse, and the heads anointed with +the most costly unguents drop in drunken slumber. A similar picture of +Samaritan manners is drawn by Isaiah (chap. xxviii.), and obviously +drunkenness was one of the besetting sins of the capital. + +But the darkest hue in the dark picture has yet to be added: 'They are +not grieved for the affliction (literally, the 'breach' or 'wound') of +Joseph.' The tribe of Ephraim, Joseph's son, being the principal tribe +of the Northern Kingdom, Joseph is often employed as a synonym for +Israel. All these pieces of luxury, corrupting and effeminate as they +are, might be permitted, but heartless indifference to the miseries +groaning at the door of the banqueting-hall goes with them. 'The +classes' are indifferent to the condition of 'the masses.' Put Amos into +modern English, and he is denouncing the heartlessness of wealth, +refinement, art, and culture, which has no ear for the complaining of +the poor, and no eyes to see either the sorrows and sins around it, or +the lowering cloud that is ready to burst in tempest. + +The inevitable issue is certain, because of the very nature of God. It +is outlined with keen irony. Amos sees in imagination the long +procession of sad captives, and marching in the front ranks, the +self-indulgent Sybarites, whose pre-eminence is now only the melancholy +prerogative of going first in the fettered train. What has become of +their revelry? It is gone, like the imaginary banquets of dreams, and +instead of luxurious lolling on silken couches, there is the weary tramp +of the captive exiles. Such result must be, since God is what He is. He +has sworn 'by Himself'; His being and character are the pledge that it +will be so as Amos has declared. How can such a God as He is do +otherwise than hate the pride of such a selfish, heartless, +God-forgetting aristocracy? How can He do otherwise than deliver up the +city? God has not changed, and though His mills grind slowly, they do +grind still; and it is as true for England and America, as it was for +Samaria, that a wealthy and leisurely upper class, which cares only for +material luxury glossed over by art, which has condescended to be its +servant, is bringing near the evil day which it hugs itself into +believing will never come. + + +RIPE FOR GATHERING + + 'Thus hath the Lord God shewed unto me: and behold a basket of + summer fruit. 2. And He said, Amos, what seest thou? And I said, A + basket of summer fruit. Then said the Lord unto me, The end is come + upon My people of Israel; I will not again pass by them any more. + 3. And the songs of the temple shall be howlings in that day, saith + the Lord God: there shall be many dead bodies in every place; they + shall cast them forth with silence. 4. Hear this, O ye that swallow + up the needy, even to make the poor of the land to fail. 5. Saying, + When will the new moon be gone, that we may sell corn? and the + sabbath, that we may set forth wheat, making the ephah small, and + the shekel great, and falsifying the balances by deceit? 6. That + we may buy the poor for silver, and the needy for a pair of shoes; + yea, and sell the refuse of the wheat? 7. The Lord hath sworn by + the excellency of Jacob, Surely I will never forget any of their + works. 8. Shall not the land tremble for this, and every one mourn + that dwelleth therein? and it shall rise up wholly as a flood; and + it shall be cast out and drowned, as by the flood of Egypt. 9. And + it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord God, that I will + cause the sun to go down at noon, and I will darken the earth in + the clear day: 10. And I w ill turn your feasts into mourning, and + all your songs into lamentation; and I will bring up sackcloth upon + all loins, and baldness upon every head; and I will make it as the + mourning of an only son, and the end thereof as a bitter day. 11. + Behold, the days come, saith the Lord God, that I will send a + famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, + but of hearing the words of the Lord: 12. And they shall wander + from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east, they shall + run to and fro to seek the word of the Lord, and shall not find it. + 13. In that day shall the fair virgins and young men faint for + thirst. 14. They that swear by the sin of Samaria, and say, Thy + God, O Dan, liveth: and, The manner of Beer-sheba liveth; even they + shall fall, and never rise up again.'--AMOS viii. 1-14. + +There are three visions in the former chapter, each beginning as verse +1. This one is therefore intended to be taken as the continuation of +these, and it is in substance a repetition of the third, only with more +detail and emphasis. An insolent attempt, by the priest of Beth-el, to +silence the Prophet, and the fiery answer which he got for his pains, +come between. The stream of Amos's prophecy flows on, uninterrupted by +the boulder which had tried to dam it up. Some courage was needed to +treat Amaziah and his blasphemous bluster as a mere parenthesis. + +We have first to note the vision and its interpretation. It is such as a +countryman, 'a dresser of sycamore trees' would naturally have. +Experience supplies forms and material for the imagination, and moulds +into which God-given revelations run. The point of the vision is rather +obscured by the rendering 'summer fruit.' 'Ripe fruit' would be better, +since the emblem represents the Northern Kingdom as ripe for the +dreadful ingathering of judgment. The word for this (_qayits_) and that +for 'the end' (_qets_) are alike in sound, but the play of words cannot +be reproduced, except by some clumsy device, such as 'the end ripens' or +'the time of ripeness comes.' The figure is frequent in other prophecies +of judgment, as, for instance, in Revelation xiv. 14-20. + +Observe the repetition, from the preceding vision, of 'I will not pass +by them any more.' The first two visions had threatened judgments, which +had been averted by the Prophet's intercession; but the third, and now +the fourth, declare that the time for prolonged impunity is passed. Just +as the mellow ripeness of the fruit fixes the time of gathering it, so +there comes a stage in national and individual corruption, when there is +nothing to be done but to smite. That period is not reached because God +changes, but because men get deeper in sin. Because 'the harvest is +ripe,' the long-delayed command, 'Put in thy sickle' is given to the +angel of judgment, and the clusters of those black grapes, whose juice +in the wine-press of the wrath of God is blood, are cut down and cast +in. It is a solemn lesson, applying to each soul as well as to +communities. By neglect of God's voice, and persistence in our own evil +ways, we can make ourselves such that we are ripe for judgment, and can +compel long-suffering to strike. Which are we ripening for--the harvest +when the wheat shall be gathered into Christ's barns, or that when the +tares shall be bound in bundles for burning? + +The tragedy of that fruit-gathering is described with extraordinary +grimness and force in the abrupt language of verse 3. The merry songs +sung in the palace (this rendering seems more appropriate here than +'temple') will be broken off, and the singers' voices will quaver into +shrill shrieks, so suddenly will the judgment be. Then comes a picture +as abrupt in its condensed terribleness as anything in Tacitus--'Many +the corpses; everywhere they fling them; hush!' We see the ghastly +masses of dead ('corpse' is in the singular, as if a collective noun), +so numerous that no burial-places could hold them; and no ceremonial +attended them, but they were rudely flung anywhere by anybody (no +nominative is given), with no accustomed voice of mourning, but in +gloomy silence. It is like Defoe's picture of the dead-cart in the +plague of London. Such is ever the end of departing from God--songs +palsied into silence or turned into wailing when the judgment bursts; +death stalking supreme, and silence brooding over all. + +The crimes that ripened men for this terrible harvest are next set +forth, in part, in verses 4 to 6. These verses partly coincide verbally +with the previous indictment in Amos ii. 6, etc., which, however, is +more comprehensive. Here only one form of sin is dealt with. And what +was the sin that deserved the bad eminence of being thus selected as the +chief sign that Israel was ripe and rotten? Precisely the one which gets +most indulgence in the Christian Church; namely, eagerness to be rich, +and sharp, unkindly dealing. These men, who were only fit to be swept +out of the land, were most punctual in their religious duties. They +would not on any account do business either on a festival or on Sabbath, +but they were very impatient till--shall we say? Monday morning +came--that they might get to their beloved work again. + +Their lineal descendants are no strangers on the exchanges, or in the +churches of London or New York. They were not only outwardly scrupulous +and inwardly weary of religious observances, but when they did get to +'business,' they gave short measure and took a long price, and knew how +to turn the scales always in their own favour. It was the expedient of +rude beginners in the sacred art of getting the best of a bargain, to +put a false bottom in the _ephah_, and to stick a piece of lead below +the shekel weight, which the purchaser had to make go up in the scale +with his silver. There are much neater ways of doing the same thing now; +and no doubt some very estimable gentlemen in high repute as Christians, +who give respectability to any church or denomination, could have taught +these early practitioners a lesson or two. + +They were as cruel as they were greedy. They bought their brethren as +slaves, and if a poor man had run into their debt for even a pair of +shoes, they would sell him up in a very literal sense. Avarice, +unbridled by the fear of God, leads by a short cut to harshness and +disregard of the claims of others. There are more ways of buying the +needy for a pair of shoes than these people practised. + +The last touch in the picture is meanness, which turned everything into +money. Even what fell through the sieve when wheat was winnowed, which +ought to have been given to anybody, was carefully scraped up, and, +dirty as it was, sold. Is not 'nothing for nothing' an approved maxim +to-day? Are not people held up as shining lights of commerce, who have +the faculty of turning everything into saleable articles? Some serious +reflections ought to be driven home to us who live in great commercial +communities, and are in manifold ways tempted to 'learn their ways, and +so get a snare unto our souls,' by this gibbeting of tempers and +customs, very common among ourselves, as the very head and front of the +sin of Israel, which determined its ripeness for destruction. + +The catalogue of sins is left incomplete (compare with chapter ii.), as +if holy indignation turned for relief to the thought of the certain +judgment. That certainly is strongly affirmed by the representation of +the oath of Jehovah. 'He can swear by no other,' therefore He 'swears by +Himself'; and the 'excellency of Jacob' cannot with propriety mean +anything else than Him who is, or ought to be, the sole ground of +confidence and occasion of 'boasting' to the nation (Hos. v. 5). He +gives His own being as the guarantee that judgment shall fall. As surely +as God is God, injustice and avarice will ruin a nation. We talk now +about necessary consequences and natural laws rendering penalties +inevitable. The Bible suggests a deeper foundation for their certain +incidence--even the very nature of God Himself. As long as He is what He +is, covetousness and its child, harshness to the needy, will be sin +against Him, and be avenged sooner or later. God has a long and a wide +memory, and the sins which He 'remembers' are those which He has not +forgiven, and will punish. + +Amos heaps image on image to deepen the impression of terror and +confusion. Everything is turned to its opposite. The solid land reels, +rises, and falls, like the Nile in flood (see Revised Version). The sun +sets at midday, and noon is darkness. Feasts change to mourning, songs +to lamentations. Rich garments are put aside for sackcloth, and flowing +locks drop off and leave bald heads. These are evidently all figures +vividly piled together to express the same thought. The crash that +destroyed their national prosperity and existence would shake the most +solid things and darken the brightest. It would come suddenly, as if the +sun plunged from the zenith to the west. It would make joy a stranger, +and bring grief as bitter as when a father or a mother mourns the death +of an only son. Besides all this, something darker beyond is dimly +hinted in that awful, vague, final threat, 'The end thereof as a bitter +day.' + +Now all these threats were fulfilled in the fall of the kingdom of +Israel; but that 'day of the Lord' was in principle a miniature +foreshadowing of the great final judgment. Some of the very features of +the description here are repeated with reference to it in the New +Testament. We cannot treat such prophecies as this as if they were +exhausted by their historical fulfilment. They disclose the eternal +course of divine judgment, which is to culminate in a future day of +judgment. The oath of God is not yet completely fulfilled. Assuredly as +He lives and is God, so surely will modern sinners have to stand their +trial; and, as of old, the chase after riches will bring down crashing +ruin. We need that vision of judgment as much as Samaria did when Amos +saw the basket of ripe fruit, craving, as it were, to be plucked. So do +obstinate sinners invite destruction. + +The last section specifies one feature of judgment, the deprivation of +the despised word of the Lord (vs. 11-14). Like Saul, whose piteous wail +in the witch's hovel was, 'God ... answereth me no more,' they who paid +no heed to the word of the Lord shall one day seek far and wearily for a +prophet, and seek in vain. The word rendered 'wander,' which is used in +the other description of people seeking for water in a literal drought +(iv. 8), means 'reel,' and gives the picture of men faint and dizzy with +thirst, yet staggering on in vain quest for a spring. They seek +everywhere, from the Dead Sea on the east to the Mediterranean on the +west, and then up to the north, and so round again to the +starting-point. Is it because Judah was south that that quarter is not +visited? Perhaps, if they had gone where the Temple was, they would have +found the stream from under its threshold, which a later prophet saw +going forth to heal the marshes and dry places. Why was the search vain? +Has not God promised to be found of those that seek, however far they +have gone away? The last verse tells why. They still were idolaters, +swearing by the 'sin of Samaria,' which is the calf of Beth-el, and by +the other at Dan, and going on idolatrous pilgrimages to Beer-sheba, far +away in the south, across the whole kingdom of Judah (Amos v. 5). It was +vain to seek for the word of the Lord with such doings and worship. + +The truth implied is universal in its application. God's message +neglected is withdrawn. Conscience stops if continually unheeded. The +Gospel may still sound in a man's ears, but have long ceased to reach +farther. There comes a time when men shall wish wasted opportunities +back, and find that they can no more return than last summer's heat. +There may be a wish for the prophet in time of distress, which means no +real desire for God's word, but only for relief from calamity. There may +be a sort of seeking for the word, which seeks in the wrong places and +in the wrong ways, and without abandoning sins. Such quest is vain. But +if, driven by need and sorrow, a poor soul, feeling the thirst after the +living God, cries from ever so distant a land of bondage, the cry will +be answered. But let us not forget that our Lord has told us to take +heed how we hear, on the very ground that 'to him that hath shall be +given; and from him that hath not, even that he hath shall be taken +away.' + + * * * * * + + +JONAH + + +GUILTY SILENCE AND ITS REWARD + + Now the word of the Lord came unto Jonah the son of Amittai, + saying, 2. Arise, go to Nineveh, that great, city, and cry against + it; for their wickedness is come up before Me. 3. But Jonah rose + up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the Lord, and went + down to Joppa; and he found a ship going to Tarshish: so he paid + the fare thereof, and went down into it, to go with them unto + Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. 4. But the Lord sent out a + great wind into the sea, and there was a mighty tempest in the sea, + so that the ship was like to be broken. 5. Then the mariners were + afraid, and cried every man unto his god, and cast forth the wares + that were in the ship into the sea, to lighten it of them. But + Jonah was gone down into the sides of the ship; and he lay, and was + fast asleep. 6. So the shipmaster came to him, and said unto him, + What meanest thou, O sleeper? arise, call upon thy God, if so be + that God will think upon us, that we perish not. 7. And they said + every one to his fellow, Come, and let us cast lots, that we may + know for whose cause this evil is upon us. So they cast lots, and + the lot fell upon Jonah. 8. Then said they unto him, Tell us, we + pray thee, for whose cause this evil is upon us; What is thine + occupation? and whence comest thou? what is thy country? and of + what people art thou? 9. And he said unto them, I am an Hebrew; and + I fear the Lord, the God of heaven, which hath made the sea and the + dry land. 10. Then were the men exceedingly afraid, and said unto + him, Why hast thou done this? For the men knew that he fled from + the presence of the Lord, because he had told them. 11. Then said + they unto him, What shall we do unto thee, that the sea may be calm + unto us? for the sea wrought, and was tempestuous. 12. And he said + unto them, Take me up, and cast me forth into the sea; so shall the + sea be calm unto you: for I know that for my sake this great + tempest is upon you. 13. Nevertheless the men rowed hard to bring + it to the land; but they could not: for the sea wrought, and was + tempestuous against them. 14. Wherefore they cried unto the Lord, + and said, We beseech thee, O Lord, we beseech thee, let us not + perish for this man's life, and lay not upon us innocent blood: for + Thou, O Lord, hast done as it pleased Thee. 15. So they took up + Jonah, and cast him forth into the sea; and the sea ceased from her + raging. 16. Then the men feared the Lord exceedingly, and offered a + sacrifice unto the Lord, and made vows. 17. Now the Lord had + prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the + belly of the fish three days and three nights.'--JONAH i. 1-17. + +Jonah was apparently an older contemporary of Hosea and Amos. The +Assyrian power was looming threateningly on the northern horizon, and a +flash or two had already broken from that cloud. No doubt terror had +wrought hate and intenser narrowness. To correct these by teaching, by +an instance drawn from Assyria itself, God's care for the Gentiles and +their susceptibility to His voice, was the purpose of Jonah's mission. +He is a prophet of Israel, because the lesson of his history was for +them, though his message was for Nineveh. He first taught by example the +truth which Jesus proclaimed in the synagogue of Nazareth, and Peter +learned on the housetop at Joppa, and Paul took as his guiding star. A +truth so unwelcome and remote from popular belief needed emphasis when +first proclaimed; and this singular story, as it were, underlines it for +the generation which heard it first. Its place would rather have been +among the narratives than the prophets, except for this aspect of it. So +regarded, Jonah becomes a kind of representative of Israel; and his +history sets forth large lessons as to its function among the nations, +its unwillingness to discharge it, the consequences of disobedience, and +the means of return to a better mind. + +Note then, first, the Prophet's unwelcome charge. There seems no +sufficient reason for doubting the historical reality of Jonah's mission +to Nineveh; for we know that intercourse was not infrequent, and the +silence of other records is, in their fragmentary condition, nothing +wonderful. But the fact that a prophet of Israel was sent to a heathen +city, and that not to denounce destruction except as a means of winning +to repentance, declared emphatically God's care for the world, and +rebuked the exclusiveness which claimed Him for Israel alone. The same +spirit haunts the Christian Church, and we have all need to ponder the +opposite truth, till our sympathies are widened to the width of God's +universal love, and we discern that we are bound to care for all men, +since He does so. + +Jonah sullenly resolved not to obey God's voice. What a glimpse into the +prophetic office that gives us! The divine Spirit could be resisted, and +the Prophet was no mere machine, but a living man who had to consent +with his devoted will to bear the burden of the Lord. One refused, and +his refusal teaches us how superb and self-sacrificing was the +faithfulness of the rest. So we have each to do in regard to God's +message intrusted to us. We must bow our wills, and sink our prejudices, +and sacrifice our tastes, and say, 'Here am I; send me.' + +Jonah represents the national feelings which he shared. Why did he +refuse to go to Nineveh? Not because he was afraid of his life, or +thought the task hopeless. He refused because he feared success. God's +goodness was being stretched rather too far, if it was going to take in +Nineveh. Jonah did not want it to escape. If he had been sent to destroy +it, he would probably have gone gladly. He grudged that heathen should +share Israel's privileges, and probably thought that gain to Nineveh +would be loss to Israel. It was exactly the spirit of the prodigal's +elder brother. There was also working in him the concern for his own +reputation, which would be damaged if the threats he uttered turned out +to be thunder without lightning, by reason of the repentance of Nineveh. + +Israel was set among the nations, not as a dark lantern, but as the +great lampstand in the Temple court proclaimed, to ray out light to all +the world. Jonah's mission was but a concrete instance of Israel's +charge. The nation was as reluctant to fulfil the reason of its +existence as the Prophet was. Both begrudged sharing privileges with +heathen dogs, both thought God's care wasted, and neither had such +feelings towards the rest of the world as to be willing to be messengers +of forgiveness to them. All sorts of religious exclusiveness, +contemptuous estimates of other nations, and that bastard patriotism +which would keep national blessings for our own country alone, are +condemned by this story. In it dawns the first faint light of that sun +which shone at its full when Jesus healed the Canaanite's daughter, or +when He said, 'Other sheep I have, which are not of this fold.' + +Note, next, the fatal consequences of refusal to obey the God-given +charge. We need not suppose that Jonah thought that he could actually +get away from God's presence. Possibly he believed in a special presence +of God in the land of Israel, or, more probably, the phrase means to +escape from service. At any rate, he determined to do his flight +thoroughly. Tarshish was, to a Hebrew, at the other end of the world +from Nineveh. The Jews were no sailors, and the choice of the sea as +means of escape indicates the obstinacy of determination in Jonah. + +The storm is described with a profusion of unusual words, all apparently +technical terms, picked up on board, just as Luke, in the only other +account of a storm in Scripture, has done. What a difference between the +two voyages! In the one, the unfaithful prophet is the cause of +disaster, and the only sluggard in the ship. In the other, the Apostle, +who has hazarded his life to proclaim his Lord, is the source of hope, +courage, vigour, and safety. Such are the consequences of silence and of +brave speech for God. No wonder that the fugitive Prophet slunk down +into some dark corner, and sat bitterly brooding there, self-accused +and condemned, till weariness and the relief of the tension of his +journey lulled him to sleep. It was a stupid and heavy sleep. Alas for +those whose only refuge from conscience is oblivion! + +Over against this picture of the insensible Prophet, all unaware of the +storm (which may suggest the parallel insensibility of Israel to the +impending divine judgments), is set the behaviour of the heathen +sailors, or 'salts,' as the story calls them. Their conduct is part of +the lesson of the book; for, heathen as they are, they have yet a sense +of dependence, and they pray; they are full of courage, battling with +the storm, jettisoning the cargo, and doing everything possible to save +the ship. Their treatment of Jonah is generous and chivalrous. Even when +they hear his crime, and know that the storm is howling like a wild +beast for him, they are unwilling to throw him overboard without one +more effort; and when at last they do it, their prayer is for +forgiveness, inasmuch as they are but carrying out the will of Jehovah. +They are so much touched by the whole incident that they offer +sacrifices to the God of the Hebrews, and are, in some sense, and +possibly but for a time, worshippers of Him. + +All this holds the mirror up to Israel, by showing how much of human +kindness and generosity, and how much of susceptibility for the truth +which Israel had to declare, lay in rude hearts beyond its pale. This +crew of heathen of various nationalities and religions were yet men who +could be kind to a renegade Prophet, peril their lives to save his, and +worship Jehovah. 'I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel,' +is the same lesson in another form. We may find abundant opportunities +for learning it; for the characters of godless men, and of some among +the heathen, may well shame many a Christian. + +Jonah's conduct in the storm is no less noble than his former conduct +had been base. The burst of the tempest blew away all the fog from his +mind, and he saw the stars again. His confession of faith; his calm +conviction that he was the cause of the storm; his quiet, unhesitating +command to throw him into the wild chaos foaming about the ship; his +willing acceptance of death as the wages of his sin, all tell how true a +saint he was in the depth of his soul. Sorrow and chastisement turn up +the subsoil. If a man has any good in him, it generally comes to the top +when he is afflicted and looks death in the face. If there is nothing +but gravel beneath, it too will be brought up by the plough. There may +be much selfish unfaithfulness overlying a real devoted heart. + +Jonah represented Israel here too, both in that the consequence of the +national unfaithfulness and greedy, exclusive grasp of their privileges +would lead to their being cast into the roaring waves of the sea of +nations, amid the tumult of the peoples, and in that, for them as for +him, the calamity would bring about a better mind, the confession of +their faith, and acknowledgment of their sin. The history of Israel was +typified in this history, and the lessons it teaches are lessons for all +churches, and for all God's children for all time. If we shirk our duty +of witnessing for Him, or any other of His plain commands, +unfaithfulness will be our ruin. The storm is sure to break where His +Jonahs try to hide, and their only hope lies in bowing to the +chastisement and consenting to be punished, and avowing whose they are +and whom they serve. If we own Him while the storm whistles round us, +the worst of it is past, and though we have to struggle amid its waves, +He will take care of us, and anything is possible rather than that we +should be lost in them. + +The miracle of rescue is the last point. Jonah's repentance saved his +life. Tossed overboard impenitent he would have been drowned. So Israel +was taught that the break-up of their national life would not be their +destruction if they turned to the Lord in their calamity. The wider +lesson of the means of making chastisement into blessing, and securing a +way of escape--namely, by owning the justice of the stroke, and +returning to duty--is meant for us all. He who sends the storm watches +its effect on us, and will not let His repentant servants be utterly +overwhelmed. That is a better use to make of the story than to discuss +whether any kind of known Mediterranean fish could swallow a man. If we +believe in miracles, the question need not trouble us. And miracle there +must be, not only in the coincidence of the fish and the Prophet being +in the same bit of sea at the same moment, but in his living for so long +in his strange 'ark of safety.' + +The ever-present providence of God, the possible safety of the nation, +even when in captivity, the preservation of every servant of God who +turns to the Lord in his chastisement, the exhibition of penitence as +the way of deliverance, are the purposes for which the miracle was +wrought and told. Flippant sarcasms are cheap. A devout insight yields a +worthy meaning. Jesus Christ employed this incident as a symbol of His +Death and Resurrection. That use of it seems hard to reconcile with any +view but that the story is true. But it does not seem necessary to +suppose that our Lord regarded it as an intended type, or to seek to +find in Jonah's history further typical prophecy of Him. The salient +point of comparison is simply the three days' entombment; and it is +rather an illustrative analogy than an intentional prophecy. The +subsequent action of the Prophet in Nineveh, and the effect of it, were +true types of the preaching of the Gospel by the risen Lord, through His +servants, to the Gentiles, and of their hearing the Word. But it +requires considerable violence in manipulation to force the bestowing +of Jonah, for safety and escape from death, in the fish's maw, into a +proper prophecy of the transcendent fact of the Resurrection. + + +'LYING VANITIES' + + 'They that observe lying vanities forsake their own mercy.'--JONAH + 11. 8. + +Jonah's refusal to obey the divine command to go to Nineveh and cry +against it is best taken, not as prosaic history, but as a poetical +representation of Israel's failure to obey the divine call of witnessing +for God. In like manner, his being cast into the sea and swallowed by +the great fish, is a poetic reproduction, for homiletical purposes, of +Israel's sufferings at the hands of the heathen whom it had failed to +warn. The song which is put into Jonah's mouth when in the fish's belly, +of which our text is a fragment, represents the result on the part of +the nation of these hard experiences. 'Lying vanities' mean idols, and +'their own mercy' means God. The text is a brief, pregnant utterance of +the great truth which had been forced home to Israel by sufferings and +exile, that to turn from Jehovah to false gods was to turn from the sure +source of tender care to lies and emptiness. That is but one case of the +wider truth that an ungodly life is the acme of stupidity, a tragic +mistake, as well as a great sin. + +In confirmation and enforcement of our text we may consider:-- + +I. The illusory vanity of the objects pursued. + +The Old Testament tone of reference to idols is one of bitter contempt. +Its rigid monotheism was intensified and embittered by the universal +prevalence of idolatry; and there is a certain hardness in its tone in +reference to the gods of the nations round about, which has little room +for pity, and finds expression in such names as those of our +text--'vanities,' 'lies,' 'nothingness,' and the like. To the Jew, +encompassed on all sides by idol-worshippers, the alternative was +vehement indignation or entire surrender. The Mohammedan in British +India exhibits much the same attitude to Vishnu and Siva as the Jew did +to Baal and Ashtoreth. It is easy to be tolerant of dead gods, but it +becomes treason to Jehovah to parley with them when they are alive. + +But the point which we desire to insist upon here is somewhat wider than +the vanity of idols. It is the emptiness of all objects of human pursuit +apart from God. These last three words need to be made very prominent; +for in itself 'every creature of God is good,' and the emptiness does +not inhere in themselves, but first appears when they are set in His +place. He, and only He, can, and does, satisfy the whole nature--is +authority for the will, peace for the conscience, love for the heart, +light for the understanding, rest for all seeking. He, and He alone, can +fill the past with the light in which is no regret, the present with a +satisfaction rounded and complete, the future with a hope certain as +experience, to which we shall ever approximate, and which we can never +exhaust and outgrow. Any, or all, the other objects of human endeavour +may be won, and yet we may be miserable. The inadequacy of all these +ought to be pressed home upon us more than it is, not only by their +limitations whilst they last, but by the transiency of them all. 'The +fashion of this world passeth away,' as the Apostle John puts it, in a +forcible expression which likens all this frame of things to a panorama +being unwound from one roller and on to another. The painted screen is +but paint at the best, and is in perpetual motion, which is not arrested +by the vain clutches of hands that would fain stop the irresistible and +tragic gliding past. + +These vanities are 'lying vanities.' There is only one aim of life +which, being pursued and attained, fulfils the promises by which it drew +man after it. It is a bald commonplace, reiterated not only by preachers +but by moralists of every kind, and confirmed by universal experience, +that a hope fulfilled is a hope disappointed. There is only one thing +more tragic than a life which has failed in its aims, and it is a life +which has perfectly succeeded in them, and has found that what promised +to be bread turns to ashes. The word of promise may be kept to the ear, +but is always broken to the hope. Many a millionaire loses the power to +enjoy his millions by the very process by which he gains them. The old +Jewish thinker was wise not only in taking as the summing up of all +worldly pursuits the sad sentence, 'All is vanity,' but in putting it +into the lips of a king who had won all he sought. The sorceress draws +us within her charmed circle by lying words and illusory charms, and +when she has so secured the captives, her mask is thrown off and her +native hideousness displayed. + +II. The hard service which lying vanities require. + +The phrase in our text is a quotation, slightly altered, from Psalm +xxxi. 6: 'I hate them that regard lying vanities; but I trust in the +Lord.' The alteration in the form of the verb as it occurs in Jonah +expresses the intensity of regard, and gives the picture of watching +with anxious solicitude, as the eyes of a servant turned to his master, +or those of a dog to its owner. The world is a very hard master, and +requires from its servants the concentration of thought, heart, and +effort. We need only recall the thousand sermons devoted to the +enforcement of 'the gospel of getting on,' which prosperous worldlings +are continually preaching. A chorus of voices on every side of us is +dinning into the ears of every young man and woman the necessity for +success in life's struggle of taking for a motto, 'This one thing I do.' +How many a man is there, who in the race after wealth or fame, has flung +away aspirations, visions of noble, truthful love to life, and a hundred +other precious things? Browning tells a hideous story of a mother +flinging, one after another, her infants to the wolves as she urged her +sledge over the snowy plain. No less hideous, and still more maiming, +are the surrenders that men make when once their hearts have been filled +with the foolish ambitions of worldly success. Let us fix it in our +minds, that nothing that time and sense can give is worth the price that +it exacts. + + 'It is only heaven that can be had for the asking; + It is only God that is given away.' + +All sin is slavery. Its yoke presses painfully on the neck, and its +burden is heavy indeed, and the rest which it promises never comes. + +III. The self-inflicted loss. + +Our text suggests that there are two ways by which we may learn the +folly of a godless life--One, the consideration of what it turns to, the +other, the thought of what it departs from. + +'They forsake their own Mercy,' that is God. The phrase is here almost +equivalent to 'His name'; and it carries the blessed thought that He has +entered into relations with every soul, so that each man of us--even if +he have turned to 'lying vanities'--can still call Him, 'my own Mercy.' +He is ours; more our own than is anything without us. He is ours, +because we are made for Him, and He is all for us. He is ours by His +love, and by His gift of Himself in the Son of His love. He is ours; if +we take Him for ours by an inward communication of Himself to us in the +innermost depths of our being. He becomes 'the Master-Light of all our +seeing.' In the mysterious inwardness of mutual possession, the soul +which has given itself to God and possesses Him, has not only communion, +but may even venture to claim as its own the deeper and more mysterious +_union_ with God. Those multiform mercies, 'which endure for ever,' and +speed on their manifold errands into every remotest region of His +universe, gather themselves together, as the diffused lights of some +nebulae concentrate themselves into a sun. That sun, like the star that +led the wise men from the East, and finally stood over one poor house in +an obscure village, will shine lambent above, and will pass into, the +humblest heart that opens for it. They who can say, as we all can if we +will, 'My God,' can never want. + +And if we turn to the alternative in our text, and consider who they are +to whom we turn when we turn from God, there should be nothing more +needed to drive home the wholesome conviction of the folly of the +wisest, who deliberately prefers shadow to substance, lying vanities to +the one true and only reality. I beseech you to take that which is your +own, and which no man can take from you. Weigh in the scales of +conscience, and in the light of the deepest necessities of your nature, +the whole pile of those emptinesses that have been telling you lies ever +since you listened to them; and place in the other scale the mercy of +God, and the Christ who brings it to you, and decide which is the +weightier, and which it becomes you to take for your pattern for ever. + + +THREEFOLD REPENTANCE + + 'And the word of the Lord came unto Jonah the second time, saying, + 2. Arise, go unto Nineveh, that great city, and preach unto it the + preaching that I bid thee. 3. So Jonah arose, and went unto + Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was an + exceeding great city of three days' journey. 4. And Jonah began to + enter into the city a day's journey, and he cried, and said, Yet + forty days, and Nineveh shall he overthrown. 5. So the people of + Ninoveh believed God, and proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, + from the greatest of them even to the least of them. 6. For word + came unto the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, and he + laid his robe from him, and covered him with sackcloth, and sat in + ashes. 7. And he caused it to be proclaimed and published through + Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying, Let + neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything; let them not + feed, nor drink water: 8. But let man and beast be covered with + sackcloth, and cry mightily unto God; yea, let them turn every one + from his evil way, and from the violence that is in their hands. 9. + Who can tell if God will turn and repent, and turn away from His + fierce anger, that we perish not? 10. And God saw their works, that + they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil, that + He had said that He would do unto them; and He did it not.'--JONAH + iii. 1-10. + +This passage falls into three parts: Jonah's renewed commission and new +obedience (vs. 1-4), the repentance of Nineveh (vs. 5-9), and the +acceptance thereof by God (ver. 10). We might almost call these three +the repentance of Jonah, of Nineveh, and of God. The evident intention +of the narrative is to parallel the Ninevites turning from their sins, +and God's turning from His anger and purpose of destruction; and if the +word 'repentance' is not applied to Jonah, his conduct sufficiently +shows the thing. + +I. Note the renewed charge to the penitent Prophet, and his new +eagerness to fulfil it. His deliverance and second commission are put as +if all but simultaneous, and his obedience was swift and glad. Jonah did +not venture to take for granted that the charge which he had shirked was +still continued to him. If God commands to take the trumpet, and we +refuse, we dare not assume that we shall still be honoured with the +delivery of the message. The punishment of dumb lips is often dumbness. +Opportunities of service, slothfully or faintheartedly neglected, are +often withdrawn. We can fancy how Jonah, brought back to the better mind +which breathes in his psalm, longed to be honoured by the trust of +preaching once more, and how rapturously his spirit would address itself +to the task. Duties once unwelcome become sweet when we have passed +through the experience of the misery that comes from neglecting them. It +is God's mercy that gives us the opportunity of effacing past +disobedience by new alacrity. + +The second charge is possibly distinguishable from the first as being +less precise. It may be that the exact nature of 'the preaching that I +bid thee' was not told Jonah till he had to open his mouth in Nineveh; +but, more probably, the second charge was identical with the first. + +The word rendered 'preach' is instructive. It means 'to cry' and +suggests the manner befitting those who bear God's message. They should +sound it out loudly, plainly, urgently, with earnestness and marks of +emotion in their voice. Languid whispers will not wake sleepers. Unless +the messenger is manifestly in earnest, the message will fall flat. Not +with bated breath, as if ashamed of it; nor with hesitation, as if not +quite sure of it; nor with coldness, as if it were of little +urgency,--is God's Word to be pealed in men's ears. The preacher is a +crier. The substance of his message, too, is set forth. 'The preaching +which I bid thee'--not his own imaginations, nor any fine things of his +own spinning. Suppose Jonah had entertained the Ninevites with +dissertations on the evidences of his prophetic authority, or submitted +for their consideration a few thoughts tending to show the agreement of +his message with their current opinions in religion, or an argument for +the existence of a retributive Governor of the world, he would not have +shaken the city. The less the Prophet shows himself, the stronger his +influence. The more simply he repeats the stern, plain, short message, +the more likely it is to impress. God's Word, faithfully set forth, will +prove itself. The preacher or teacher of this day has substantially the +same charge as Jonah had; and the more he suppresses himself, and +becomes but a voice through which God speaks, the better for himself, +his hearers, and his work. + +Nineveh, that great aggregate of cities, was full, as Eastern cities +are, of open spaces, and might well be a three days' journey in +circumference. What a task for that solitary stranger to thunder out his +loud cry among all these crowds! But he had learned to do what he was +bid; and without wasting a moment, he 'began to enter into the city a +day's journey,' and, no doubt, did not wait till the end of the day to +proclaim his message. Let us learn that there is an element of +threatening in God's most merciful message, and that the appeal to +terror and to the desire for self-preservation is part of the way to +preach the Gospel. Plain warnings of coming evil may be spoken tenderly, +and reveal love as truly as the most soothing words. The warning comes +in time. 'Forty days' of grace are granted. The gospel warns us in time +enough for escape. It warns us because God loves; and they are as +untrue messengers of His love as of His justice who slur over the +declaration of His wrath. + +II. Note the repentance of Nineveh (vs. 5-9). The impression made by +Jonah's terrible cry is perfectly credible and natural in the excitable +population of an Eastern city, in which even now any appeal to terror, +especially if associated with religious and prophetic claims, easily +sets the whole in a frenzy. Think of the grim figure of this foreign +man, with his piercing voice and half-intelligible speech, dropped from +the clouds as it were, and stalking through Nineveh, pealing out his +confident message, like that gaunt fanatic who walked Jerusalem in its +last agony, crying, 'Woe! woe unto the bloody city!' or that other, who, +with flaming fire on his head and madness in his eyes, affrighted London +in the plague. No wonder that alarm was kindled, and, being kindled, +spread like wildfire. Apparently the movement was first among the +people, who began to fast before the news penetrated to the seclusion of +the palace. But the contagion reached the king, and the popular +excitement was endorsed and fanned by a royal decree. The specified +tokens of repentance are those of ordinary mourning, such as were common +all over the East, with only the strange addition, which smacks of +heathen ideas, that the animals were made sharers in them. + +There is great significance in that 'believed God' (ver. 5). The +foundation of all true repentance is crediting God's word of +threatening, and therefore realising the danger, as well as the +disobedience, of our sin. We shall be wise if we pass by the human +instrument, and hear God speaking through the Prophet. Never mind about +Jonah, believe God. + +We learn from the Ninevites what is true repentance They brought no +sacrifices or offerings, but sorrow, self-abasement, and amendment. The +characteristic sin of a great military power would be 'violence,' and +that is the specific evil from which they vow to turn. The loftiest +lesson which prophets found Israel so slow to learn, 'A broken and a +contrite heart Thou wilt not despise,' was learned by these heathens. We +need it no less. Nineveh repented on a peradventure that their +repentance might avail. How pathetic that 'Who can tell?' (ver. 9) is! +We _know_ what they _hoped_. Their doubt might give fervour to their +cries, but our certainty should give deeper earnestness and confidence +to ours. + +The deepest meaning of the whole narrative is set forth in our Lord's +use of it, when He holds up the men of Nineveh as a condemnatory +instance to the hardened consciences of His hearers. Probably the very +purpose of the book was to show Israel that the despised and yet dreaded +heathen were more susceptible to the voice of God than they were: 'I +will provoke you to jealousy by them which are no people.' The story was +a smiting blow to the proud exclusiveness and self-complacent contempt +of prophetic warnings, which marked the entire history of God's people. +As Ezekiel was told: 'Thou are not sent ... to many peoples of a strange +speech and of an hard language.... Surely, if I sent thee to them, they +would hearken unto thee. But the house of Israel will not hearken unto +thee.' It is ever true that long familiarity with the solemn thoughts of +God's judgment and punishment of sin abates their impression on us. Our +Puritan forefathers used to talk about 'gospel-hardened sinners,' and +there are many such among us. The man who lives by Niagara does not +hear its roar as a stranger does. The men of Nineveh will rise in the +judgment with other generations than that which was 'this generation' in +Christ's time; and that which is 'this generation' to-day will, in many +of its members, be condemned by them. + +But the wave of feeling soon retired, and there is no reason to believe +that more than a transient impression was made. It does not seem certain +that the Ninevites knew what 'God' they hoped to appease. Probably their +pantheon was undisturbed, and their repentance lasted no longer than +their fear. Transient repentance leaves the heart harder than before, as +half-melted ice freezes again more dense. Let us beware of frost on the +back of a thaw. 'Repentance which is repented of' is worse than none. + +III. We note the repentance of God (ver. 10). Mark the recurrence of the +word 'turn,' employed in verses 8, 9, and 10 in reference to men and to +God. Mark the bold use of the word 'repent,' applied to God, which, +though it be not applied to the Ninevites in the previous verses, is +implied in every line of them. The same expression is found in Exodus +xxxii. 14, which may be taken as the classical passage warranting its +use. The great truth involved is one that is too often lost sight of in +dealing with prophecy; namely, that all God's promises and threatenings +are conditional. Jeremiah learned that lesson in the house of the +potter, and we need to keep it well in mind. God threatens, precisely in +order that He may not have to perform His threatenings. Jonah was sent +to Nineveh to cry, 'Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown,' in +order that it might not be overthrown. What would have been the use of +proclaiming the decree, if it had been irreversible? There is an +implied 'if' in all God's words. 'Except ye repent' underlies the most +absolute threatenings of evil. 'If we hold fast the beginning of our +confidence firm unto the end,' is presupposed in the brightest and +broadest promises of good. + +The word 'repent' is denied and affirmed to have application to God. He +is not 'a son of man, that He should repent,' inasmuch as His +immutability and steadfast purpose know no variableness. But just +because they cannot change, and He must ever be against them that do +evil, and ever bless them that turn to Him with trust, therefore He +changes His dealings with us according to our relation to Him, and +because He cannot repent, or be other than He was and is, 'repents of +the evil that He had said that He would do' unto sinners when they +repent of the evil that they have done against Him, inasmuch as He +leaves His threatening unfulfilled, and 'does it not.' + +So we might almost say that the purpose of this book of Jonah is to +teach the possibility and efficacy of repentance, and to show how the +penitent man, heathen or Jew, ever finds in God changed dealings +corresponding to his changed heart. The widest charity, the humbling +lesson for people brought up in the blaze of revelation, that dwellers +in the twilight or in the darkness are dear to God and may be more +susceptible of divine impressions than ourselves, the rebuke of all +pluming ourselves on our privileges, the boundlessness of God's mercy, +are among the other lessons of this strange book; but none of them is +more precious than its truly evangelic teaching of the blessedness of +true penitence, whether exemplified in the renegade Prophet returning +to his high mission, or the fierce Ninevites humbled and repentant, and +finding mercy from the God of the whole earth. + + * * * * * + + +MICAH + + +IS THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD STRAITENED? + + 'O thou that art named the house of Jacob, is the Spirit of the + Lord straitened? Are these His doings?'--MICAH ii. 7. + +The greater part of so-called Christendom is to-day[1] celebrating the +gift of a Divine Spirit to the Church; but it may well be asked whether +the religious condition of so-called Christendom is not a sad satire +upon Pentecost. There seems a woful contrast, very perplexing to faith, +between the bright promise at the beginning and the history of the +development in the future. How few of those who share in to-day's +services have any personal experience of such a gift! How many seem to +think that that old story is only the record of a past event, a +transient miracle which has no kind of relation to the experience of the +Christians of this day! There were a handful of believers in one of the +towns of Asia Minor, to whom an Apostle came, and was so startled at +their condition that he put to them in wonder the question that might +well be put to multitudes of so-called Christians amongst us: 'Did you +receive the Holy Ghost when you believed?' And their answer is only too +true a transcript of the experience of large masses of people who call +themselves Christians: 'We have not so much as heard whether there be +any Holy Ghost.' + +[1] Whitsunday + +I desire, then, dear brethren, to avail myself of this day's +associations in order to press upon your consciences and upon my own +some considerations naturally suggested by them, and which find voice in +those two indignant questions of the old Prophet:--'Is the Spirit of the +Lord straitened?' 'Are these'--the phenomena of existing popular +Christianity--'are these His doings?' And if we are brought sharp up +against the consciousness of a dreadful contrast, it may do us good to +ask what is the explanation of so cloudy a day following a morning so +bright. + +I. First, then, I have to ask you to think with me of the promise of the +Pentecost. + +What did it declare and hold forth for the faith of the Church? I need +not dwell at any length upon this point. The facts are familiar to you, +and the inferences drawn from them are commonplace and known to us all. +But let me just enumerate them as briefly as may be. + +'Suddenly there came a sound, as of the rushing of a mighty wind, and it +filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared cloven +tongues as of fire, and it sat upon each of them; and they were all +filled with the Holy Ghost.' + +What lay in that? First, the promise of a Divine Spirit by symbols which +express some, at all events, of the characteristics and wonderfulness of +His work. The 'rushing of a mighty wind' spoke of a power which varies +in its manifestations from the gentlest breath that scarce moves the +leaves on the summer trees to the wildest blast that casts down all +which stands in its way. + +The natural symbolism of the wind, to popular apprehension the least +material of all material forces, and of which the connection with the +immaterial part of a man's personality has been expressed in all +languages, points to a divine, to an immaterial, to a mighty, to a +life-giving power which is free to blow whither it listeth, and of which +men can mark the effects, though they are all ignorant of the force +itself. + +The other symbol of the fiery tongues which parted and sat upon each of +them speaks in like manner of the divine influence, not as destructive, +but full of quick, rejoicing energy and life, the power to transform and +to purify. Whithersoever the fire comes, it changes all things into its +own substance. Whithersoever the fire comes, there the ruddy spires +shoot upwards towards the heavens. Whithersoever the fire comes, there +all bonds and fetters are melted and consumed. And so this fire +transforms, purifies, ennobles, quickens, sets free; and where the fiery +Spirit is, there are energy, swift life, rejoicing activity, +transforming and transmuting power which changes the recipient of the +flame into flame himself. + +Then, still further, in the fact of Pentecost there is the promise of a +Divine Spirit which is to influence all the moral side of humanity. +This is the great and glorious distinction between the Christian +doctrine of inspiration and all others which have, in heathen lands, +partially reached similar conceptions--that the Gospel of Jesus Christ +has laid emphasis upon the _Holy_ Spirit, and has declared that holiness +of heart is the touchstone and test of all claims of divine inspiration. +Gifts are much, graces are more. An inspiration which makes wise is to +be coveted, an inspiration which makes holy is transcendently better. +There we find the safeguard against all the fanaticisms which have +sometimes invaded the Christian Church, namely, in the thought that the +Spirit which dwells in men, and makes them free from the obligations of +outward law and cold morality, is a Spirit that works a deeper holiness +than law dreamed, and a more spontaneous and glad conformity to all +things that are fair and good, than any legislation and outward +commandment could ever enforce. The Spirit that came at Pentecost is not +merely a Spirit of rushing might and of swift-flaming energy, but it is +a Spirit of holiness, whose most blessed and intimate work is the +production in us of all homely virtues and sweet, unpretending +goodnesses which can adorn and gladden humanity. + +Still further, the Pentecost carried in it the promise and prophecy of a +Spirit granted to all the Church. 'They were all filled with the Holy +Ghost.' This is the true democracy of Christianity, that its very basis +is laid in the thought that every member of the body is equally close to +the Head, and equally recipient of the life. There is none now who has a +Spirit which others do not possess. The ancient aspiration of the Jewish +law-giver: 'Would God that all the Lord's people were prophets, and that +the Lord would put His Spirit upon them,' is fulfilled in the +experience of Pentecost; and the handmaiden and the children, as well as +the old men and the servants, receive of that universal gift. Therefore +sacerdotal claims, special functions, privileged classes, are alien to +the spirit of Christianity, and blasphemies against the inspiring God. +If 'one is your Master, all ye are brethren,' and if we have all been +made to drink into one Spirit, then no longer hath any man dominion over +our faith nor power to intervene and to intercede with God for us. + +And still further, the promise of this early history was that of a +Spirit which should fill the whole nature of the men to whom He was +granted; filling--in the measure, of course, of their receptivity--them +as the great sea does all the creeks and indentations along the shore. +The deeper the creek, the deeper the water in it; the further inland it +runs, the further will the refreshing tide penetrate the bosom of the +continent. And so each man, according to his character, stature, +circumstances, and all the varying conditions which determine his power +of receptivity, will receive a varying measure of that gift. Yet it is +meant that all shall be full. The little vessel, the tiny cup, as well +as the great cistern and the enormous vat, each contains according to +its capacity. And if all are filled, then this quick Spirit must have +the power to influence all the provinces of human nature, must touch the +moral, must touch the spiritual. The temporary manifestations and +extraordinary signs of His power may well drop away as the flower drops +when the fruit has set. The operations of the Divine Spirit are to be +felt thrilling through all the nature, and every part of the man's being +is to be recipient of the power. Just as when you take a candle and +plunge it into a jar of oxygen it blazes up, so my poor human nature +immersed in that Divine Spirit, baptized in the Holy Ghost, shall flame +in all its parts into unsuspected and hitherto inexperienced brightness. +Such are the elements of the promise of Pentecost. + +II. And now, in the next place, look at the apparent failure of the +promise. + +'Is the Spirit of the Lord straitened?' Look at Christendom. Look at all +the churches. Look at yourselves. Will any one say that the religious +condition of any body of professed believers at this moment corresponds +to Pentecost? Is not the gap so wide that to fill it up seems almost +impossible? Is not the stained and imperfect fulfilment a miserable +satire upon the promise? 'If the Lord be with us,' said one of the +heroes of ancient Israel, 'wherefore is all this come upon us?' I am +sure that we may say the same. If the Lord be with us, what is the +meaning of the state of things which we see around us, and must +recognise in ourselves? Do any existing churches present the final +perfect form of Christianity as embodied in a society? Would not the +best thing that could happen, and the thing that will have to happen +some day, be the disintegration of the existing organisations in order +to build up a more perfect habitation of God through the Spirit? I do +not wish to exaggerate. God knows there is no need for exaggerating. The +plain, unvarnished story, without any pessimistic picking out of the +black bits and forgetting ail the light ones, is bad enough. + +Take three points on which I do not dwell and apply them to yourselves, +dear brethren, and estimate by them the condition of things around us. +First, say whether the ordinary tenor of our own religious life looks +as if we had that Divine Spirit in us which transforms everything into +its own beauty, and makes men, through all the regions of their nature, +holy and pure. Then ask yourselves the question whether the standard of +devotion and consecration in any church witnesses of the presence of a +Divine Spirit. A little handful of people, the best of them very +partially touched with the life of God, and very imperfectly consecrated +to His service, surrounded by a great mass about whom we can scarcely, +in the judgment of charity, say even so much, that is the description of +most of our congregations. 'Are these His doings?' Surely somebody +else's than His. + +Take another question. Do the relations of modern Christians and their +churches to one another attest the presence of a unifying Spirit? 'We +have all been made to drink into one Spirit,' said Paul. Alas, alas! +does it seem as if we had? Look round professing Christendom, look at +the rivalries and the jealousies between two chapels in adjoining +streets. Look at the gulfs between Christian men who differ only on some +comparative trifle of organisation and polity, and say if such things +correspond to the Pentecostal promise of one Spirit which is to make all +the members into one body? 'Is the Spirit of the Lord straitened? Are +these _His_ doings?' + +Take another branch of evidence. Look at the comparative impotence of +the Church in its conflict with the growing worldliness of the world. I +do not forget how much is being done all about us to-day, and how still +Christ's Gospel is winning triumphs, but I do not suppose that any man +can look thoughtfully and dispassionately on the condition, say, for +instance, of Manchester, or of any of our great towns, and mark how the +populace knows nothing and cares nothing about us and our Christianity, +and never comes into our places of worship, and has no share in our +hopes any more than if they lived in Central Africa, and that after +eighteen hundred years of nominal Christianity, without feeling that +some malign influence has arrested the leaping growth of the early +Church, and that somehow or other that lava stream, if I might so call +it, which poured hot from the heart of God in the old days has had its +flow checked, and over its burning bed there has spread a black and +wrinkled crust, whatsoever lingering heat there may still be at the +centre. 'If God be with us, why has all this come upon us?' + +III. And now, lastly, let us think for a moment of the solution of the +contradiction. + +The indignant questions of my text may be taken, with a little possibly +permissible violence, as expressing and dismissing some untrue +explanations. One explanation that sometimes is urged is, the Spirit of +the Lord _is_ straitened. That explanation takes two forms. Sometimes +you hear people saying, 'Christianity is effete. We have to go now to +fresh fountains of inspiration, and turn away from these broken cisterns +that can hold no water.' I am not going to argue that question. I do not +think for my part that Christianity will be effete until the world has +got up to it and beyond it in its practice, and it will be a good while +before that happens. Christianity will not be worn out until men have +copied and reduced to practice the example of Jesus Christ, and they +have not quite got that length yet. No shadow of a fear that the gospel +has lost its power, or that God's Spirit has become weak, should be +permitted to creep over our hearts. The promise is, 'I will send +another Comforter, and He shall abide with you _for ever_.' It is a +permanent gift that was given to the Church on that day. We have to +distinguish in the story between the symbols, the gift, and the +consequences of the gift. The first and the last are transient, the +second is permanent. The symbols were transient. The people who came +running together saw no tongues of fire. The consequences were +transient. The tongues and the miraculous utterances were but for a +time. The results vary according to the circumstances; but the central +thing, the gift itself, is an irrevocable gift, and once bestowed is +ever with the Church to all generations. + +Another form of the explanation is the theory that God in His +sovereignty is pleased to withhold His Spirit for reasons which we +cannot trace. But it is not true that the gift once given varies in the +degree in which it is continued. There is always the same flow from God. +There are ebbs and flows in the spiritual power of the Church. Yes! and +the tide runs out of your harbours. Is there any less water in the sea +because it does? So the gift may ebb away from a man, from a community, +from an epoch, not because God's manifestation and bestowment fluctuate, +but because our receptivity changes. So we dismiss, and are bound to +dismiss, if we are Christians, the unbelieving explanation, 'The Spirit +of the Lord is straitened,' and not to sit with our hands folded, as if +an inscrutable sovereignty, with which we have nothing to do, sometimes +sent more and sometimes less of His spiritual gifts upon a waiting +Church. It is not so. 'With Him is no variableness.' The gifts of God +are without repentance; and the Spirit that was given once, according to +the Master's own word already quoted, is given that He may abide with us +for ever. + +Therefore we have to come back to this, which is the point to which I +seek to bring you and myself, in lowly penitence and contrite +acknowledgment--that it is all our own fault and the result of evils in +ourselves that may be remedied, that we have so little of that divine +gift; and that if the churches of this country and of this day seem to +be cursed and blasted in so much of their fruitless operations and +formal worship, it is the fault of the churches, and not of the Lord of +the churches. The stream that poured forth from the throne of God has +not lost itself in the sands, nor is it shrunken in its volume. The fire +that was kindled on Pentecost has not died down into grey ashes. The +rushing of the mighty wind that woke on that morning has not calmed and +stilled itself into the stagnancy and suffocating breathlessness of +midday heat. The same fulness of the Spirit which filled the believers +on that day is available for us all. If, like that waiting Church of +old, we abide in prayer and supplication, the gift will be given to us +too, and we may repeat and reproduce, if not the miracles which we do +not need, yet the necessary inspiration of the highest and the noblest +days and saints in the history of the Church. 'If ye, being evil, know +how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your +Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him?' 'Ask and ye +shall receive,' and be filled 'with the Holy Ghost and with power.' + + +CHRIST THE BREAKER + + 'The Breaker is come up before them: they have broken up, and have + passed through the gate, and are gone out by it: and their king + shall pass before them, and the Lord on the head of them.'--MICAH + ii. 13. + +Micah was contemporary with Isaiah. The two prophets stand, to a large +extent, on the same level of prophetic knowledge. Characteristic of both +of them is the increasing clearness of the figure of the personal +Messiah, and the increasing fulness of detail with which His functions +are described. Characteristic of both of them is the presentation which +we find in this text of that Messiah's work as being the gathering +together of the scattered captive people and the leading them back in +triumph into the blessed land. + +Such is the image which underlies my text. Of course I have nothing to +do now with questions as to any narrower and nearer historical +fulfilment, because I believe that all these Messianic prophecies which +were susceptible of, and many of which obtained, a historical and +approximate fulfilment in the restoration of the Jews from the +Babylonish captivity, have a higher and broader and more real +accomplishment in that great deliverance wrought by Jesus Christ, of +which all these earlier and partial and outward manifestations were +themselves prophecies and shadows. + +So I make no apology for taking the words before us as having their only +real accomplishment in the office and working of Jesus Christ. He is +'the Breaker which is come up before us.' He it is that has broken out +the path on which we may travel, and in whom, in a manner which the +Prophet dreamed not of, 'the Lord is at the head' of us, and our King +goes before us. So that my object is simply to take that great name, the +Breaker, and to see the manifold ways in which in Scripture it is +applied to the various work of Jesus Christ in our redemption. + +I. I follow entirely the lead of corresponding passages in other +portions of Scripture, and to begin with, I ask you to think of that +great work of our Divine Redeemer by which He has broken for the +captives the prison-house of their bondage. + +The image that is here before us is either that of some foreign land in +which the scattered exiles were bound in iron captivity, or more +probably some dark and gloomy prison, with high walls, massive gates, +and barred windows, wherein they were held; and to them sitting hopeless +in the shadow of death, and bound in affliction and iron, there comes +one mysterious figure whom the Prophet could not describe more +particularly, and at His coming the gates flew apart, and the chains +dropped from their hands; and the captives had heart put into them, and +gathering themselves together into a triumphant band, they went out with +songs and everlasting joy upon their heads; freemen, and on the march to +the home of their fathers. 'The Breaker is gone up before them; they +have broken, and passed through the gate, and are gone out by it.' + +And is not that our condition? Many of us know not the bondage in which +we are held. We are held in it all the more really and sadly because we +conceit ourselves to be free. Those poor, light-hearted people in the +dreadful days of the French Revolution, used to keep up some ghastly +mockery of society and cheerfulness in their prisons; and festooned the +bars with flowers, and made believe to be carrying on their life freely +as they used to do; but for all that, day after day the tumbrils came to +the gates, and morning after morning the jailer stood at the door of the +dungeons with the fatal list in his hand, and one after another of the +triflers was dragged away to death. And so men and women are living a +life which they fancy is free, and all the while they are in bondage, +held in a prison-house. You, my brother! are chained by guilt; you are +chained by sin, you are chained by the habit of evil with a strength of +which you never know till you try to shake it off. + +And there comes to each of us a mighty Deliverer, who breaks the gates +of brass, and who cuts the bars of iron in sunder. Christ comes to us. +By His death He has borne away the guilt; by His living Spirit He will +bear away the dominion of sin from our hearts; and if the Son will make +us free we shall be free indeed. Oh! ponder that deep truth, I pray you, +which the Lord Christ has spoken in words that carry conviction in their +very simplicity to every conscience: 'He that committeth sin is the +slave of sin.' And as you feel sometimes--and you all feel +sometimes--the catch of the fetter on your wrists when you would fain +stretch out your hands to good, listen as to a true gospel to this old +word which, in its picturesque imagery, carries a truth that should be +life. To us all 'the Breaker is gone up before us,' the prison gates are +open. Follow His steps, and take the freedom which He gives; and be sure +that you 'stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made you free, +and be not entangled again with any yoke of bondage.' + +Men and women! Some of you are the slaves of your own lusts. Some of you +are the slaves of the world's maxims. Some of you are held in bondage by +some habit that you abominate, but cannot get away from. Here is freedom +for you. The dark walls of the prison are round us all. 'The Scripture +hath shut up all in sin, that He might have mercy upon all.' Blessed be +His name! As the angel came to the sleeping Apostle, and to his light +touch the iron gates swung obedient on their hinges, and Roman soldiers +who ought to have watched their prey were lulled to sleep, and fetters +that held the limbs dropped as if melted; so, silently, in His meek and +merciful strength, the Christ comes to us all, and the iron gate which +leadeth out into freedom opens of its own accord at His touch, and the +fetters fall from our limbs, and we go forth free men. 'The Breaker is +gone up before us.' + +II. Again, take another application of this same figure found in +Scripture, which sets forth Jesus Christ as being the Opener of the path +to God. + +'I am the Way and the Truth and the Life, no man cometh to the Father +but by Me,' said He. And again, 'By a new and living way which He hath +opened for us through the veil' (that is to say, His flesh), we can have +free access 'with confidence by the faith of Him.' That is to say, if we +rightly understand our natural condition, it is not only one of bondage +to evil, but it is one of separation from God. Parts of the divine +character are always beautiful and sweet to every human heart when it +thinks about them. Parts of the divine character stand frowning before a +man who knows himself for what he is; and conscience tells us that +between God and us there is a mountain of impediment piled up by our own +evil. To us Christ comes, the Path-finder and the Path; the Pioneer who +breaks the way for us through all the hindrances, and leads us up to the +presence of God. + +For we do not know God as He is except by Jesus Christ. We see +fragments, and often distorted fragments, of the divine nature and +character apart from Jesus, but the real divine nature as it is, and as +it is in its relation to me, a sinner, is only made known to me in the +face of Jesus Christ. When we see Him we see God; Christ's tears are +God's pity, Christ's gentleness is God's meekness, Christ's tender, +drawing love is not only a revelation of a most pure and sweet Brother's +heart, but a manifestation through that Brother's heart of the deepest +depths of the divine nature. Christ is the heart of God. Apart from Him, +we come to the God of our own consciences and we tremble; we come to the +God of our own fancies and we presume; we come to the God dimly guessed +at and pieced together from out of the hints and indications of His +works, and He is little more than a dead name to us. Apart from Christ +we come to a peradventure which we call a God; a shadow through which +you can see the stars shining. But we know the Father when we believe in +Christ. And so all the clouds rising from our own hearts and consciences +and fancies and misconceptions, which we have piled together between God +and ourselves, Christ clears away; and thus He opens the path to God. + +And He opens it in another way too, on which I cannot dwell. It is only +the God manifest in Jesus Christ that draws men's hearts to Him. The +attractive power of the divine nature is ail in Him who has said, 'I, if +I be lifted up, will draw all men unto Me.' The God whom men know, or +think they know, outside of the revelation of divinity in Jesus Christ, +is a God before whom they sometimes tremble, who is far more often their +terror than their love, who is their 'ghastliest doubt' still more +frequently than He is their 'dearest faith.' But the God that is in +Christ woos and wins men to Him, and from His great sweetness there +streams out, as it were, a magnetic influence that draws hearts to Him. +The God that is in Christ is the only God that humanity ever loved. +Other gods they may have worshipped with cowering terror and with +far-off lip reverence, but this God has a heart, and wins hearts because +He has. So Christ opens the way to Him. + +And still further, in a yet higher fashion, that Saviour is the +Path-breaker to the Divine Presence, in that He not only makes God known +to us, and not only makes Him so known to us as to draw us to Him, but +in that likewise He, by the fact of His Cross and passion, has borne and +borne away the impediments of our own sin and transgression which rise +for ever between us and Him, unless He shall sweep them out of the way. +He has made 'the rough places plain and the crooked things straight'; +levelled the mountains and raised the valleys, and cast up across all +the wilderness of the world a highway along which 'the wayfaring man +though a fool' may travel. Narrow understandings may know, and selfish +hearts may love, and low-pitched confessions may reach the ear of the +God who comes near to us in Christ, that we in Christ may come near to +Him. The Breaker is gone up before us; 'having therefore, brethren, +boldness to enter into the holiest of all ... by a new and living way, +which He hath consecrated for us ... let us draw near with true hearts' + +III. Then still further, another modification of this figure is found in +the frequent representations of Scripture, by which our Lord is the +Breaker, going up before us in the sense that He is the Captain of our +life's march. + +We have, in the words of my text, the image of the gladly-gathered +people flocking after the Leader. 'They have broken up, and have passed +through the gate, and are gone out by it; and their King shall pass +before them, and the Lord on the head of them.' The Prophet knew not +that the Lord their King, of whom it is enigmatically said that He too, +as well as 'the Breaker,' is to go before them, was in mysterious +fashion to dwell in that Breaker; and that those two, whom He sees +separately, are yet in a deep and mysterious sense one. The host of the +captives, returning in triumphant march through the wilderness and to +the promised land, is, in the Prophet's words, headed both by the +Breaker and by the Lord. We know that the Breaker is the Lord, the Angel +of the Covenant in whom is the name of Jehovah. + +And so we connect with all these words of my text such words as +designate our Saviour as the Captain of our salvation; such words as His +own in which He says, 'When He putteth forth His sheep He goeth before +them'--such words as His Apostle used when he said, 'Leaving us an +ensample that we should follow in His steps.' And by all there is +suggested this--that Christ, who breaks the prison of our sins, and +leads us forth on the path to God, marches at the head of our life's +journey, and is our Example and Commander; and Himself present with us +through all life's changes and its sorrows. + +Here is the great blessing and peculiarity of Christian morals that they +are all brought down to that sweet obligation: 'Do as I did.' Here is +the great blessing and strength for the Christian life in all its +difficulties--you can never go where you cannot see in the desert the +footprints, haply spotted with blood, that your Master left there before +you, and planting your trembling feet in the prints, as a child might +imitate his father's strides, may learn to recognise that all duty comes +to this: 'Follow Me'; and that all sorrow is calmed, ennobled, made +tolerable, and glorified, by the thought that He has borne it. + +The Roman matron of the legend struck the knife into her bosom, and +handed it to her husband with the words, 'It is not painful!' Christ has +gone before us in all the dreary solitude, and in all the agony and +pains of life. He has hallowed them all, and has taken the bitterness +and the pain out of each of them for them that love Him. If we feel that +the Breaker is before us, and that we are marching behind Him, then +whithersoever He leads us we may follow, and whatsoever He has passed +through we may pass through. We carry In His life the all-sufficing +pattern of duty. We have in His companionship the all-strengthening +consolation. Let us leave the direction of our road in His hands, who +never says 'Go!' but always 'Come!' This General marches in the midst of +His battalions and sets His soldiers on no enterprises or forlorn hopes +which He has not Himself dared and overcome. + +So Christ goes as our Companion before us, the true pillar of fire and +cloud in which the present Deity abode, and He is with us in real +companionship. Our joyful march through the wilderness is directed, +patterned, protected, companioned by Him, and when He 'putteth forth His +own sheep,' blessed be His name, 'He goeth before them.' + +IV. And now, lastly, there is a final application of this figure which +sets forth our Lord as the Breaker for us of the bands of death, and the +Forerunner 'entered for us into the heavens.' + +Christ's resurrection is the only solid proof of a future life. Christ's +present resurrection life is the power by partaking in which, 'though we +were dead, yet shall we live.' + +He has trodden that path, too, before us. He has entered into the great +prison-house into which the generations of men have been hounded and +hurried; and where they lie in their graves, as in their narrow cells. +He has entered there; with one blow He has struck the gates from their +hinges, and has passed out, and no soul can any longer be shut in as for +ever into that ruined and opened prison. Like Samson, He has taken the +gates which from of old barred its entrance, and borne them on His +strong shoulders to the city on the hill, and now Death's darts are +blunted, his fetters are broken, and his gaol has its doors wide open, +and there is nothing for him to do now but to fall upon his sword and to +kill himself, for his prisoners are free. 'Oh, death! I will be thy +plague; oh, grave! I will be thy destruction.' 'The Breaker has gone +up before us'; therefore it is not possible that we should be holden of +the impotent chains that He has broken. + +The Forerunner is for us entered and passed through the heavens, and +entered into the holiest of all. We are too closely knit to Him, if we +love Him and trust Him, to make it possible that we shall be where He is +not, or that He shall be where we are not. Where He has gone we shall +go. In heaven, blessed be His name! He will still be the leader of our +progress and the captain at the head of our march. For He crowns all His +other work by this, that having broken the prison-house of our sins, and +opened for us the way to God, and been the leader and the captain of our +march through all the pilgrimage of life, and the opener of the gate of +the grave for our joyful resurrection, and the opener of the gate of +heaven for our triumphal entrance, He will still as the Lamb that is in +the midst of the Throne, go before us, and lead us into green pastures +and by the still waters, and this shall be the description of the +growing blessedness and power of the saints' life above, 'These are +they which follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth.' + + +AS GOD, SO WORSHIPPER + + '... All the peoples will walk every one in the name of his god, + and we will walk in the name of the Lord our God for ever and + ever.'--MICAH iv. 5 (R.V.). + +This is a statement of a general truth which holds good of all sorts of +religion. 'To walk' is equivalent to carrying on a course of practical +activity. 'The name' of a god is his manifested character. So the +expression 'Walk in the name' means, to live and act according to, and +with reference to, and in reliance on, the character of the worshipper's +god. In the Lord's prayer the petition 'Hallowed be Thy name' precedes +the petition 'Thy will be done.' From reverent thoughts about the name +must flow life in reverent conformity to the will. + +I. A man's god is what rules his practical life. + +Religion is dependence upon a Being recognised to be perfect and +sovereign, whose will guides, and whose character moulds, the whole +life. That general statement may be broken up into parts; and we may +dwell upon the attitude of dependence, or of that of submission, or upon +that of admiration and recognition of ideal perfection, or upon that of +aspiration; but we come at last to the one thought--that the goal of +religion is likeness and the truest worship is imitation. Such a view of +the essence of religion gives point to the question, What is our god? +and makes it a very easily applied, and very searching test, of our +lives. Whatever we profess, that which we feel ourselves dependent on, +that which we invest, erroneously or rightly, with supreme attributes of +excellence, that which we aspire after as our highest good, that which +shapes and orders the current of our lives, is our god. We call +ourselves Christians. I am afraid that if we tried ourselves by such a +test, many of us would fail to pass it. It would thin the ranks of all +churches as effectually as did Gideon's ordeal by water, which brought +down a mob of ten thousand to a little steadfast band of three hundred. +No matter to what church we belong, or how flaming our professions, our +practical religion is determined by our answer to the question, What do +we most desire? What do we most eagerly pursue? England has as much need +as ever the house of Jacob had of the scathing words that poured like +molten lead from the lips of Isaiah the son of Amoz, 'Their land is full +of silver and gold, neither is there any end of their treasures. Their +land is also full of idols: they worship the work of their own hands.' +Money, knowledge, the good opinion of our fellows, success in a +political career--these, and the like, are our gods. There is a worse +idolatry than that which bows down before stocks and stones. The aims +that absorb us; our highest ideal of excellence; that which possessed, +we think would secure our blessedness; that lacking which everything +else is insipid and vain--these are our gods: and the solemn prohibition +may well be thundered in the ears of the unconscious idolaters not only +in the English world, but also in the English churches. 'Thou shalt not +give My glory to another, nor My praise to graven images.' + +II. The worshipper will resemble his god in character. + +As we have already said, the goal of religion is likeness, and the +truest worship is imitation. It is proved by the universal experience of +humanity that the level of morality will never rise above the type +enshrined in their gods; or if it does, in consequence of contact with a +higher type in a higher religion, the old gods will be flung to the +moles and the bats. 'They that make them are like unto them; so is every +one that trusteth in them.' That is a universal truth. The worshippers +were in the Prophet's thought as dumb and dead as the idols. They who +'worship vanity' inevitably 'become vain.' A Venus or a Jupiter, a Baal +or an Ashtoreth, sets the tone of morals. + +This truth is abundantly enforced by observation of the characters of +the men amongst us who are practical idolaters. They are narrowed and +lowered to correspond with their gods. Low ideals can never lead to +lofty lives. The worship of money makes the complexion yellow, like +jaundice. A man who concentrates his life's effort upon some earthly +good, the attainment of which seems to be, so long as it is unattained, +his passport to bliss, thereby blunts many a finer aspiration, and makes +himself blind to many a nobler vision. Men who are always hunting after +some paltry and perishable earthly good, become like dogs who follow +scent with their noses at the ground, and are unconscious of everything +a yard above their heads. We who live amidst the rush of a great +commercial community see many instances of lives stiffened, narrowed, +impoverished, and hardened by the fierce effort to become rich. And +wherever we look with adequate knowledge over the many idolatries of +English life, we see similar processes at work on character. Everywhere +around us 'the peoples are walking every one in the name of his god.' +That character constitutes the worshipper's ideal; it is a pattern to +which he aims to be assimilated; it is a good the possession of which he +thinks will make him blessed; it is that for which he willingly +sacrifices much which a clearer vision would teach him is far more +precious than that for which he is content to barter it. + +The idolaters walking in the name of their god is a rebuke to the +Christian men who with faltering steps and many an aberration are +seeking to walk in the name of the Lord their God. If He is in any real +and deep sense 'our God,' we shall see in Him the realised ideal of all +excellence, the fountain of all our blessedness, the supreme good for +our seeking hearts, the sovereign authority to sway our wills; the +measure of our conscious possession of Him will be the measure of our +glad imitation of Him, and our joyful spirits, enfranchised by the +assurance of our loving possession of Him who is love, will hear Him +ever whisper to us, 'Be ye perfect as your Father which is in heaven is +perfect.' The desire to reproduce in the narrow bounds of our human +spirits the infinite beauties of the Lord our God will give elevation to +our lives, and dignity to our actions attainable from no other source. +If we hallow His name, we shall do His will, and earth will become a +foretaste of heaven. + +III. The worshipper will resemble his god in fate. + +We may observe that it is only of God's people that Micah in our text +applies the words 'for ever and ever.' 'The peoples'' worship perishes. +They walk for a time in the name of their god, but what comes of it at +last is veiled in silence. It is Jehovah's worshippers who walk in His +name for ever and ever, and of whom the great words are true, 'Because I +live ye shall live also.' We may be sure of this that all the divine +attributes are pledged for our immortality; we may be sure, too, that a +soul which here follows in the footsteps of Jesus, which in its earthly +life walked in the name of the Lord its God, will continue across the +narrow bridge, and go onward 'for ever and ever' in direct progress in +the same direction in which it began on earth. The imitation, which is +the practical religion of every Christian, has for its only possible +result the climax of likeness. The partial likeness is attained on earth +by contemplation, by aspiration, and by effort; but it is perfected in +the heavens by the perfect vision of His perfect face. 'We shall be like +Him, for we shall see Him as He is.' Not till it has reached its goal +can the Christian life begun here be conceived as ended. It shall never +be said of any one who tried by God's help to walk 'in the name of the +Lord' that he was lost in the desert, and never reached his journey's +end. The peoples who walked in the name of any false god will find their +path ending as on the edge of a precipice, or in an unfathomable bog; +loss, and woe, and shame will be their portion. But 'the name of the +Lord is a strong tower,' into which whoever will may run and be safe, +and to walk in the name of the Lord is to walk on a way 'that shall be +called the Way of Holiness, whereon no ravenous beast shall go up, but +the redeemed shall walk there,' and all that are on it 'shall come with +singing to Zion, and everlasting joy shall be upon their heads.' + + +'A DEW FROM THE LORD' + + 'The remnant of Jacob shall be in the midst of many people as a dew + from the Lord, that tarrieth not for man, nor waiteth for the sons + of men.'--MICAH v. 7. + +The simple natural science of the Hebrews saw a mystery in the +production of the dew on a clear night, and their poetic imagination +found in it a fit symbol for all silent and gentle influences from +heaven that refreshed and quickened parched and dusty souls. Created by +an inscrutable process in silence and darkness, the dewdrops lay +innumerable on the dry plains and hung from every leaf and thorn, each +little globule a perfect sphere that reflected the sun, and twinkled +back the beams in its own little rainbow. Where they fell the scorched +vegetation lifted its drooping head. That is what Israel is to be in the +world, says Micah. He saw very deep into God's mind and into the +function of the nation. + +It may be a question as to whether the text refers more especially to +the place and office of Israel when planted in its own land, or when +dispersed among the nations. For, as you see, he speaks of 'the remnant +of Jacob' as if he was thinking of the survivors of some great calamity +which had swept away the greater portion of the nation. Both things are +true. When settled in its own land, Israel's office was to teach the +nations God; when dispersed among the Gentiles, its office ought to have +been the same. But be that as it may, the conception here set forth is +as true to-day as ever it was. For the prophetic teachings, rooted +though they may be in the transitory circumstances of a tiny nation, are +'not for an age, but for all time,' and we get a great deal nearer the +heart of them when we grasp the permanent truths that underlie them, +than when we learnedly exhume the dead history which was their +occasion. + +Micah's message comes to all Christians, and very eminently to English +Christians. The subject of Christian missions is before us to-day, and +some thoughts in the line of this great text may not be inappropriate. + +We have here, then, + +I. The function of each Christian in his place. + +'The remnant of Jacob shall be as a dew from the Lord in the midst of +many nations.' What made Israel 'as a dew'? One thing only; its +religion, its knowledge of God, and its consequent purer morality. It +could teach Greece no philosophy, no art, no refinement, no +sensitiveness to the beautiful. It could teach Rome no lessons of policy +or government. It could bring no wisdom to Egypt, no power or wealth to +Assyria. But God lit His candle and set it on a candlestick, that it +'might give light to all that were in the house.' The same thing is true +about Christian people. We cannot teach the world science, we cannot +teach it philosophy or art, but we can teach it God. Now the possibility +brings with it the obligation. The personal experience of Jesus Christ +in our hearts, as the dew that brings to us life and fertility, carries +with it a commission as distinct and imperative as if it had been pealed +into each single ear by a voice from heaven. That which made Israel the +'dew amidst many nations,' parched for want of it, makes Christian men +and women fit to fill the analogous office, and calls upon them to +discharge the same functions. For--in regard to all our possessions, and +therefore most eminently and imperatively in regard to the best--that +which we have, we have as stewards, and the Gospel, as the Apostle +found, was not only given to him for his own individual enjoyment, +elevation, ennobling, emancipation, salvation, but was 'committed to +his charge,' and he was 'entrusted' with it, as he says, as a sacred +deposit. + +Remember, too, that, strange as it may seem, the only way by which that +knowledge of God which was bestowed upon Israel could become the +possession of the world was by its first of all being made the +possession of a few. People talk about the unfairness, the harshness, of +the providential arrangement by which the whole world was not made +participant of the revelation which was granted to Israel. The fire is +gathered on to a hearth. Does that mean that the corners of the room are +left uncared for? No! the brazier is in the middle--as Palestine was, +even geographically in the centre of the then civilised world--that from +the centre the beneficent warmth might radiate and give heat as well as +light to 'all them that are in the house.' + +So it is in regard to all the great possessions of the race. Art, +literature, science, political wisdom, they are all intrusted to a few +who are made their apostles; and the purpose is their universal +diffusion from these human centres. It is in the line of the analogy of +all the other gifts of God to humanity, that chosen men should be raised +up in whom the life is lodged, that it may be diffused. + +So to us the message comes: 'The Lord hath need of thee.' Christ has +died; the Cross is the world's redemption. Christ lives that He may +apply the power and the benefits of His death and of His risen life to +all humanity. But the missing link between the all sufficient redemption +that is in Christ Jesus, and the actual redemption of the world, is +'the remnant of Jacob,' the Christian Church which is to be 'in the +midst of many people, as a dew from the Lord.' + +Now, that diffusion from individual centres of the life that is in Jesus +Christ is the chiefest reason--or at all events, is one chief +reason--for the strange and inextricable intertwining in modern society, +of saint and sinner, of Christian and non-Christian. The seed is sown +among the thorns; the wheat springs up amongst the tares. Their roots +are so matted together that no hand can separate them. In families, in +professions, in business relations, in civil life, in national life, +both grow together. God sows His seed thin that all the field may smile +in harvest. The salt is broken up into many minute particles and rubbed +into that which it is to preserve from corruption. The remnant of Jacob +is in the _midst_ of many peoples; and you and I are encompassed by +those who need our Christ, and who do not know Him or love Him; and one +great reason for the close intertwining is that, scattered, we may +diffuse, and that at all points the world may be in contact with those +who ought to be working to preserve it from putrefaction and decay. + +Now there are two ways by which this function may be discharged, and in +which it is incumbent upon every Christian man to make his contribution, +be it greater or smaller, to the discharge of it. The one is by direct +efforts to impart to others the knowledge of God in Jesus Christ which +we have, and which we profess to be the very root of our lives. We can +all do that if we will, and we are here to do it. Every one of us has +somebody or other close to us, bound to us, perhaps, by the tie of +kindred and love, who will listen to us more readily than to anybody +else. Christian men and women, have you utilised these channels which +God Himself, by the arrangements of society, has dug for you, that +through them you may pour upon some thirsty ground the water of life? We +could also help, and help far more than any of us do, in associated +efforts for the same purpose. The direct obligation to direct efforts to +impart the Gospel cannot be shirked, though, alas! it is far too often +ignored by us professing Christians. + +But there is another way by which 'the remnant of Jacob' is to be 'a dew +from the Lord,' and that is by trying to bring to bear Christian +thoughts and Christian principles upon all the relations of life in +which we stand, and upon all the societies, be they greater or +smaller--the family, the city, or the nation--of which we form parts. We +have heard a great deal lately about what people that know very little +about it, are pleased to call 'the Nonconformist conscience,' I take the +compliment, which is not intended, but is conveyed by the word. But I +venture to say that what is meant, is not the 'Nonconformist' +conscience, it is the _Christian_ conscience. We Nonconformists have no +monopoly, thank God, of that. Nay, rather, in some respects, our friends +in the Anglican churches are teaching some of us a lesson as to the +application of Christian principles to civic duty and to national life. +I beseech you, although I do not mean to dwell upon that point at all at +this time, to ask yourselves whether, as citizens, the vices, the +godlessness, the miseries--the removable miseries--of our great town +populations, lie upon your hearts. Have you ever lifted a finger to +abate drunkenness? Have you ever done anything to help to make it +possible that the masses of our town communities should live in places +better than the pigsties in which many of them have to wallow? Have you +any care for the dignity, the purity, the Christianity of our civic +rulers; and do you, to the extent of your ability, try to ensure that +Christ's teaching shall govern the life of our cities? And the same +question may be put yet more emphatically with regard to wider subjects, +namely, the national life and the national action, whether in regard to +war or in regard to other pressing subjects for national consideration. +I do not touch upon these; I only ask you to remember the grand ideal of +my text, which applies to the narrowest circle--the family; and to the +wider circles--the city and the nation, as well as to the world. Time +was when a bastard piety shrank back from intermeddling with these +affairs and gathered up its skirts about it in an ecstasy of unwholesome +unworldliness. There is not much danger of that now, when Christian men +are in the full swim of the currents of civic, professional, literary, +national life. But I will tell you of what there is a danger--Christian +men and women moving in their families, going into town councils, going +into Parliament, going to the polling booths, and leaving their +Christianity behind them. 'The remnant of Jacob shall be as a dew from +the Lord.' + +Now let me turn for a moment to a second point, and that is + +II. The function of English Christians in the world. + +I have suggested in an earlier part of this sermon that possibly the +application of this text originally was to the scattered remnant. Be +that as it may, wherever you go, you find the Jew and the Englishman. I +need not dwell upon the ubiquity of our race. I need not point you to +the fact that, in all probability, our language is destined to be the +world's language some day. I need do nothing more than recall the fact +that a man may go on board ship, in Liverpool or London, and go round +the world; everywhere he sees the Union Jack, and everywhere he lands +upon British soil. The ubiquity of the scattered Englishman needs no +illustration. + +But I do wish to remind you that that ubiquity has its obligation. We +hear a great deal to-day about Imperialism, about 'the Greater Britain,' +about 'the expansion of England.' And on one side all that new +atmosphere of feeling is good, for it speaks of a vivid consciousness +which is all to the good in the pulsations of the national life. But +there is another side to it that is not so good. What is the expansion +sought for? Trade? Yes! necessarily; and no man who lives in Lancashire +will speak lightly of that necessity. Vulgar greed, and earth-hunger? +_that_ is evil. Glory? that is cruel, blood-stained, empty. My text +tells us why expansion should be sought, and what are the obligations it +brings with it. 'The remnant of Jacob shall be in the midst of many +people as a dew from the Lord' There are two kinds of Imperialism: one +which regards the Empire as a thing for the advantage of us here, in +this little land, and another which regards it as a burden that God has +laid on the shoulders of the men whom John Milton, two centuries ago, +was not afraid to call 'His Englishmen.' + +Let me remind you of two contrasted pictures which will give far more +forcibly than anything I can say, the two points of view from which our +world-wide dominion may be regarded. Here is one of them: 'By the +strength of my hand I have done it, and by my wisdom, for I am prudent. +And I have removed the bounds of the people, and have robbed their +treasures, and my hand hath found as a nest the riches of the people; +and as one gathereth eggs that are left, have I gathered all the earth; +and there was none that moved a wing, or opened a mouth, or peeped.' +That is the voice of the lust for Empire for selfish advantages. And +here is the other one: 'The kings of Tarshish and of the isles shall +bring presents; yea, all kings shall fall down before Him; all nations +shall serve Him, for He shall deliver the needy when he crieth, the poor +also, and him that hath no helper. He shall redeem their soul from +deceit and violence, and precious shall their blood be in His sight.' +That is the voice that has learned: 'He that is greatest among you, let +him be your servant'; and that the dominion founded on unselfish +surrender for others is the only dominion that will last. Brethren! that +is the spirit in which alone England will keep its Empire over the +world. + +I need not remind you that the gift which we have to carry to the +heathen nations, the subject peoples who are under the aegis of our laws, +is not merely our literature, our science, our Western civilisation, +still less the products of our commerce, for all of which some of them +are asking; but it is _the_ gift that they do _not_ ask for. The dew +'waiteth not for man, nor tarrieth for the sons of men.' We have to +create the demand by bringing the supply. We have to carry Christ's +Gospel as the greatest gift that we have in our hands. + +And now, I was going to have said a word, lastly, but I see it can only +be a word, about-- + +III. The failure to fulfil the function. + +Israel failed. Pharisaism was the end of it--a hugging itself in the +possession of the gift which it did not appreciate, and a bitter +contempt of the nations, and so destruction came, and the fire on the +hearth was scattered and died out, and the vineyard was taken from them +and 'given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof.' Change the +name, as the Latin poet says, and the story is told about us. England +largely fails in this function; as witness in India godless civilians; +as witness on every palm-shaded coral beach in the South Seas, +profligate beach-combers, drunken sailors, unscrupulous traders; as +witness the dying out of races by diseases imported with profligacy and +gin from this land. 'A dew from the Lord!'; say rather a malaria from +the devil! 'By you,' said the Prophet, 'is the name of God blasphemed +among the Gentiles.' By Englishmen the missionary's efforts are, in a +hundred cases, neutralised, or hampered if not neutralised. + +We have failed because, as Christian people, we have not been adequately +in earnest. No man can say with truth that the churches of England are +awake to the imperative obligation of this missionary enterprise. 'If +God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest He spare not thee.' +Israel's religion was not diffusive, therefore it corrupted; Israel's +religion did not reach out a hand to the nations, therefore its heart +was paralysed and stricken. They who bring the Gospel to others increase +their own hold upon it. There is a joy of activity, there is a firmer +faith, as new evidences of its power are presented before them. There is +the blessing that comes down upon all faithful discharge of duty; 'If +the house be not worthy, your peace shall return to you.' After all, our +Empire rests on moral foundations, and if it is administered by us--and +we each have part of the responsibility for all that is done--on the +selfish ground of only seeking the advantage of 'the predominant +partner,' then our hold will be loosened. There is no such cement of +empire as a common religion. If we desire to make these subject peoples +loyal fellow-subjects, we must make them true fellow-worshippers. The +missionary holds India for England far more strongly than the soldier +does. If we apply Christian principles to our administration of our +Empire, then instead of its being knit together by iron bands, it will +be laced together by the intertwining tendrils of the hearts of those +who are possessors of 'like precious faith.' Brethren, there is another +saying in the Old Testament, about the dew. 'I will be as the dew unto +Israel,' says God through the Prophet. We must have Him as the dew for +our own souls first. Then only shall we be able to discharge the office +laid upon us, to be in the midst of many peoples as 'dew from the Lord.' +If our fleece is wet and we leave the ground dry, our fleece will soon +be dry, though the ground may be bedewed. + + +GOD'S REQUIREMENTS AND GOD'S GIFT + + 'What doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love + mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?'--MICAH vi. 8. + +This is the Prophet's answer to a question which he puts into the mouth +of his hearers. They had the superstitious estimate of the worth of +sacrifice, which conceives that the external offering is pleasing to +God, and can satisfy for sin. Micah, like his great contemporary Isaiah, +and the most of the prophets, wages war against that misconception of +sacrifice, but does not thereby protest against its use. To suppose that +he does so is to misunderstand his whole argument. Another misuse of the +words of my text is by no means uncommon to-day. One has heard people +say, 'We are plain men; we do not understand your theological +subtleties; we do not quite see what you mean by "Repentance toward God, +and faith in Jesus Christ." "To do justly, and to love mercy, and to +walk humbly with my God," that is my religion, and I leave all the rest +to you.' That is our religion too, but notice that word 'require.' It is +a harsh word, and if it is the last word to be said about God's relation +to men, then a great shadow has fallen upon life. + +But there is another word which Micah but dimly caught uttered amidst +the thunders of Sinai, and which you and I have heard far more clearly. +The Prophet read off rightly God's _requirements_, but he had not +anything to say about God's _gifts_. So his word is a half-truth, and +the more clearly it is seen, and the more earnestly a man tries to live +up to the standard of the requirements laid down here, the more will he +feel that there is something else needed, and the more will he see that +the great central peculiarity and glory of Christianity is not that it +reiterates or alters God's requirements, but that it brings into view +God's gifts. 'To do justly, to love mercy, to walk humbly with our God,' +is possible only through repentance towards God, and faith in our Lord +Jesus Christ. And if you suppose that these words of my text disclose +the whole truth about God's relation to men, and men's to God, you have +failed to apprehend the flaming centre of the Light that shines from +heaven. + +I. So, then, the first thing that I wish to suggest is God's +requirements. + +Now, I do not need to say more than just a word or two about the +summing-up in my text of the plain, elementary duties of morality and +religion. It covers substantially the same ground, in a condensed form, +as does the Decalogue, only that Moses began with the deepest thing and +worked outwards, as it were; laying the foundation in a true relation to +God, which is the most important, and from which will follow the true +relation to men. Micah begins at the other end, and starting with the +lesser, the more external, the purely human, works his way inwards to +that which is the centre and the source of all. + +'To do justly,' that is elementary morality in two words. Whatever a man +has a right to claim from you, give him; that is the sum of duty. And +yet not altogether so, for we all know the difference between a +righteous man and a good man, and how, if there is only rigidly +righteous action, there is something wanting to the very righteousness +of the action and to the completeness of the character. 'To do' is not +enough; we must get to the heart, and so '_love_ mercy.' Justice is not +all. If each man gets his deserts, as Shakespeare says, 'who of us shall +scape whipping?' There must be the mercy as well as the justice. In a +very deep sense no man renders to his fellows all that his fellows have +a right to expect of him, who does not render to them mercy. And so in a +very deep sense, mercy is part of justice, and you have not given any +poor creature all that that poor creature has a right to look for from +you, unless you have given him all the gracious and gentle charities of +heart and hand. Justice and mercy do, in the deepest view, run into one. + +Then Micah goes deeper. 'And to walk humbly with thy God.' Some people +would say that this summary of the divine requirements is defective, +because there is nothing in it about a man's duty to himself, which is +as much a duty as his duty to his fellows, or his duty to God. But there +is a good deal of my duty to myself crowded into that one word, +'humbly.' For I suppose we might almost say that the basis of all our +obligations to our own selves lies in this, that we shall take the right +view--that is, the lowly view--of ourselves. But I pass that. + +'To walk humbly with thy God.' 'Can two walk together unless they be +agreed?' For walking with God there must be communion, based in love, +and resulting in imitation. And that communion must be constant, and run +through all the life, like a golden thread through some web. So, then, +here is the minimum of the divine requirements, to give everybody what +he has a right to, including the mercy to which he has a right, to have +a lowly estimate of myself, and to live continually grasping the hand of +God, and conscious of His overshadowing wing at all moments, and of +conformity to His will at every step of the road. That is the minimum; +and the people who so glibly say, 'That is my religion,' have little +consciousness of how far-reaching and how deep-down-going the +requirements of this text are. The requirements result from the very +nature of God, and our relation to Him, and they are endorsed by our own +consciences, for we all know that these, and nothing less than these are +the duties that we owe to God. So much for God's requirements. + +II. Our failure. + +There is not one of us that has come up to the standard. Man after man +may be conceived of as bringing in his hands the actions of his life, +and laying them in the awful scales which God's hand holds. In the one +are God's requirements, in the other my life; and in every case down +goes the weight, and 'weighed in the balances we are altogether lighter +than vanity.' We stand before the great Master in the school, and one by +one we take up our copybooks; and there is not one of them that is not +black with blots and erasures and swarming with errors. The great cliff +stands in front of us with the victor's prize on its topmost ledge, and +man after man tries to climb, and falls bruised and broken at the base. +'There is none righteous, no, not one.' Micah's requirements come to +every man that will honestly take stock of his life and his character as +the statement of an unreached and unreachable ideal to which he never +has climbed nor ever can climb. + +Oh, brethren! if these words are all the words that are to be said about +God and me, then I know not what lies before the enlightened conscience +except shuddering despair, and a paralysing consciousness of inevitable +failure. I beseech you, take these words, and go apart with them, and +test your daily life by them. God requires me to do justly. Does there +not rise before my memory many an act in which, in regard to persons and +in regard to circumstances, I have fallen beneath that requirement? He +requires me 'to love mercy.' He requires me 'to walk humbly,' and I have +often been inflated and self-conceited and presumptuous. He requires me +to walk with Himself, and I have shaken away His hand from me, and +passed whole days without ever thinking of Him, and 'the God in whose +hands' my 'breath is, and whose are all' my 'ways,' I have 'not +glorified.' I cannot hammer this truth into your consciences. You have +to do it for yourselves. But I beseech you, recognise the fact that you +are implicated in the universal failure, and that God's requirement is +God's condemnation of each of us. + +If, then, that is true, that all have come short of the requirement, +then there should follow a universal sense of guilt, for there is the +universal fact of guilt, whether there be the sense of it or not. There +must follow, too, consequences resulting from the failure of each of us +to comply with these divine requirements, consequences very alarming, +very fatal; and there must follow a darkening of the thought of God. 'I +knew thee that thou wert an austere man, reaping where thou didst not +sow, and gathering where thou didst not straw.' That is the God of all +the people who take my text as the last word of their religion--God +'requires of me. The blessed sun in the heavens becomes a lurid ball of +fire when it is seen through the mist of such a conception of the divine +character, and its relation to men. There is nothing that so drapes the +sky in darkness, and hides out the great light of God, as the thought of +His requirements as the last thought we cherish concerning Him. + +There follows, too, upon this conception, and the failure that results +to fulfil the requirements, a hopelessness as to ever accomplishing that +which is demanded of us. Who amongst us is there that, looking back upon +his past in so far as it has been shaped by his own effort and his own +unaided strength, can look forward to a future with any hope that it +will mend the past? Brethren! experience teaches us that we have not +fulfilled, and cannot fulfil, what remains our plain duty, +notwithstanding our inability to discharge it--viz., 'To do justly, and +to love mercy, and to walk humbly with our God.' To think of God's +requirements, and of my own failure, is the sure way to paralyse all +activity; just as that man in the parable who said, 'Thou art an austere +man,' went away and hid his talent in the earth. To think of God's +requirements and my own failures, if heaven has nothing more to say to +me than this stern 'Thou shalt,' is the short way to despair. And that +is why most of us prefer to be immersed in the trivialities of daily +life rather than to think of God, and of what He asks from us. For the +only way by which some of us can keep our equanimity and our +cheerfulness is by ignoring Him and forgetting what He demands, and +never taking stock of our own lives. + +III. Lastly, my text leads us to think of God's gift. + +I said it is a half-truth, for it only tells us of what He desires us to +be, and does not tell us of how we may be it. It is meant, like the law +of which it is a condensation, to be the _pedagogue_, to lead the child +to Jesus Christ, the true Master, and the true Gift of God. + +God 'requires.' Yes, and He requires, in order that we should say to +Him, 'Lord, Thou hast a right to ask this, and it is my blessedness to +give it, but I cannot. Do Thou give me what Thou dost require, and then +I can.' + +The gift of God is Jesus Christ, and that gift meets all our failures. I +have spoken of the sense of guilt that rises from the consciousness of +failure to keep the requirements of the divine law; and the gift of God +deals with that. It comes to us as we lie wounded, bruised, conscious of +failure, alarmed for results, sensible of guilt, and dreading the +penalties, and it says to us, 'Thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin +purged.' 'God requires of thee what thou hast not done. Trust yourselves +to Me, and all iniquity is passed from your souls.' + +I spoke of the hopelessness of future performance, which results from +experience of past failures; and the gift of God deals with that. You +cannot meet the requirements. Christ will put His Spirit into your +spirits, if you will trust yourselves to Him, and then you will meet +them, for the things which are impossible with men are possible with +God. So, if led by Micah, we pass from God's requirements to His gifts, +look at the change in the aspect which God bears to us. He is no longer +standing strict to mark, and stern to judge and condemn: but bending +down graciously to help. His last word to us is not 'Thou shalt do' but +'I will give.' His utterance in the Gospel is not 'do,' but it is +'take'; and the vision of God, which shines out upon us from the life +and from the Cross of Jesus Christ, is not that of a great Taskmaster, +but that of Him who helps all our weakness, and makes it strength. A God +who 'requires' paralyses men, shuts men out from hope and joy and +fellowship; a God who gives draws men to His heart, and makes them +diligent in fulfilling all His blessed requirements. + +Think of the difference which the conception of God as giving makes to +the spirit in which we work. No longer, like the Israelites in Egypt, do +we try to make bricks without straw, and break our hearts over our +failures, or desperately abandon the attempt, and live in neglect of God +and His will; but joyfully, with the clear confidence that 'our labour +is not in vain in the Lord,' we seek to keep the commandments which we +have learned to be the expressions of His love. One of the Fathers puts +all in one lovely sentence: 'Give what Thou commandest, and command what +Thou wilt.' + +Think, too, of the difference which this conception of the giving rather +than of the requiring God brings into what we have to do. We have not to +begin with effort, we have to begin with faith. The fountain must be +filled from the spring before it can send up its crystal pillar flashing +in the sunlight; and we must receive by our trust the power to will and +to do. First fill the lamp with oil, and let the Master light it, and +then let its blaze beam forth. First, we have to go to the giving God, +with thanks 'unto Him for His unspeakable gift'; and then we have to say +to Him, 'Thou hast given me Thy Son. What dost Thou desire that I shall +give to Thee?' We have first to accept the gift, and then, moved by the +mercy of God, to ask, 'Lord I what wilt Thou have me to do?' + + * * * * * + + +HABAKKUK + + +THE IDEAL DEVOUT LIFE + + 'The Lord God is my Strength, and He will make my feet like hinds' + feet, and He will make me to walk upon mine high + places.'--HABBAKKUK iii. 19. + +So ends one of the most magnificent pieces of imaginative poetry in +Scripture or anywhere else. The singer has been describing a great +delivering manifestation of the Most High God, which, though he knew it +was for the deliverance of God's people, shed awe and terror over his +soul. Then he gathers himself together to vow that in this God, thus +manifested as the God of his salvation, he 'will rejoice,' whatever +penury or privation may attach to his outward life. Lastly, he rises, in +these final words, to the apprehension of what this God, thus rejoiced +in, will become to those who so put their trust and their gladness upon +Himself. + +The expressions are of a highly metaphorical and imaginative character, +but they admit of being brought down to very plain facts, and they tell +us the results in heart and mind of true faith and communion with God. + +It is to be noticed that a parallel saying, almost verbatim the same as +that of my text, occurs in the 18th psalm, and that there, too, it is +the last and joyous result of a tremendous manifestation of the +delivering energy of God. + +Without any attempt to do more than bring out the deep meaning of the +words, I note that the three clauses of our text present three aspects +of what our lives and ourselves may steadfastly be if we, too, will +rejoice in the God of our salvation. + +I. First, such communion with God brings God to a man for his strength. + +The 18th psalm, which is closely parallel, as I have remarked, with this +one, gives a somewhat different and inferior version of that thought +when it says, 'It is the Lord that girdeth me with strength.' But +Habakkuk, though perhaps he could not have put into dogmatic shape all +that he meant, had come farther than that with this: 'The Lord is my +strength.' He not only _gives_, as one might put a coin into the hand of +a beggar, while standing separate from him all the while, but 'He is my +strength.' + +And what does that mean? It is an anticipation of that most wonderful +and highest of all the New Testament truths which the Apostle declared +when he said: 'I can do all things in Christ which strengtheneth me +within.' It is the anticipation in experience--which always comes before +dogmatic formulas that reduce experiences into articulate utterances, of +what the Apostle recorded when he said that he had heard the voice that +declared, 'My grace is sufficient for thee, and My strength is made +perfect in weakness.' + +Ah, brother! do not let us deprive ourselves of the lofty consolations +and the mysterious influx of power which may be ours, if we will open +our eyes to see, and our hearts to receive, what is really the central +blessing of the Gospel, the communication through the same faith as +Habakkuk exercised when he said, 'I will rejoice in the God of my +salvation,' of an actual divine strength to dwell in and manifest itself +majestically and triumphantly through, our weakness. 'The Lord is my +strength,' and if we will rejoice in the Lord we shall find that +Habakkuk's experience was lower than ours, inasmuch as he knew less of +God than we do; and we shall be able to surpass his saying with the +other one of the Prophet: 'The Lord is my strength and song; He also is +become my salvation.' That is the first blessing that this ancient +believer, out of the twilight of early revelation, felt as certain to +come through communion with God. + +II. The second is like unto it. Such rejoicing communion with God will +give light-footedness in the path of life. + +'He makes my feet like hinds' feet.' The stag is, in all languages +spoken by people that have ever seen it, the very type and emblem of +elastic, springing ease, of light and bounding gracefulness, that clears +every obstacle, and sweeps swiftly over the moor. And when this singer, +or his brother psalmist in the other psalm that we have referred to, +says, 'Thou makest my feet like hinds' feet,' what he is thinking about +is that light and easy, springing, elastic gait, that swiftness of +advance. What a contrast that is to the way in which most of us get +through our day's work! Plod, plod, plod, in a heavy-footed, spiritless +grind, like that with which the ploughman toils down the sticky furrows +of a field, with a pound of clay at each heel; or like that with which a +man goes wearied home from his work at night. The monotony of trivial, +constantly recurring doings, the fluctuations in the thermometer of our +own spirits; the stiff bits of road that we have all to encounter sooner +or later; and as days go on, our diminishing buoyancy of nature, and the +love of walking a little slower than we used to do; we all know these +things, and our gait is affected by them. But then my text brings a +bright assurance, that swift and easy and springing as the course of a +stag on a free hill-side may be the gait with which we run the race set +before us. + +It is the same thought, under a somewhat different garb, which the +Apostle has when he tells us that the Christian soldier ought to have +his 'feet shod with the alacrity that comes from the gospel of peace.' +We are to be always ready to run, and to run with light hearts when we +do. That is a possible result of Christian communion, and ought, far +more than it is, to be an achieved reality with each of us. Of course +physical conditions vary. Of course our spirits go up and down. Of +course the work that we have to do one day seems easier than the same +work does another. All these fluctuations and variations, and causes of +heavy-footedness--and sometimes more sinful ones, causes of +sluggishness--will survive; but in spite of them all, and beneath them +all, it is possible that we may have ourselves thus equipped for the +road, and may rejoice in our work 'as a strong man to run a race,' and +may cheerily welcome every duty, and cast ourselves into all our tasks. +It is possible, because communion with God manifest in Christ does, as +we have been seeing, actually breathe into men a vigour, and +consequently a freshness and a buoyancy that do not belong to +themselves, and do not come from nature or from surrounding things. +Unless that is true, that Christianity gives to a man the divine +gladness which makes him ready for work, I do not know what is the good +of his Christianity to him. + +But not only is that so, but this same communion with God, which is the +opening of the heart for the influx of the divine power, brings to bear +upon all our work new motives which redeem it from being oppressive, +tedious, monotonous, trivial, too great for our endurance, or too little +for our effort. All work that is not done in fellowship with Jesus +Christ tends to become either too heavy to be tackled successfully, or +too trivial to demand our best energies, and in either case will be done +perfunctorily, and as the days go on, mechanically and wearisomely, as a +grind and a pled. 'Thou makest my feet like hinds' feet'--if I get the +new motive of love to God in Christ well into my heart so that it comes +out and influences all my actions, there will be no more tasks too +formidable to undertake, or too small to be worth an effort. There will +be nothing unwelcome. The rough places will be made plain, and the +crooked things straight, and our feet will be shod with the preparedness +of the gospel of peace. + +If we live in daily communion with God, another thought, too, will come +in, which will, in like manner, make us ready 'to run with' cheerfulness +'the race that is set before us.' We shall connect everything that +befalls us, and everything that we have to do, with the final issue, and +life will become solemn, grave, and blessed, because it is the outer +court and vestibule of the eternal life with God in Christ. They that +hold communion with Him, and only they, will, as another prophet says, +'run and not be weary,' when there come the moments that require a +special effort; and 'will walk and not faint' through the else +tediously long hours of commonplace duty and dusty road. + +III. The last of the thoughts here is--Communion with God brings +elevation. + +'He will make me to walk upon my high places.' One sees the herd on the +skyline of the mountain ridge, and at home up there, far above dangers +and attack; able to keep their footing on cliff and precipice, and +tossing their antlers in the pure air. One wave of the hand, and they +are miles away. 'He sets me upon my high places'; if we will keep +ourselves in simple, loving fellowship with God in Christ; and day by +day, even when 'the fig-tree does not blossom, and there is no fruit in +the vine,' will still 'rejoice in the God of our salvation,' He will +lift us up, and Isaiah's other clause in the verse which I have quoted +will be fulfilled: 'They shall mount up with wings as eagles.' Communion +with God does not only help us to plod and to travel, but it helps us to +soar. If we keep ourselves in touch with Him, we shall be like a weight +that is hung on to a balloon. The buoyancy of the one will lift the +leadenness of the other. If we hold fast by Christ's hand that will lift +us up to the high places, the heights of God, in so far as we may reach +them in this world; and we shall be at home up there. They will be '_my_ +high places,' that I never could have got at by my own scrambling, but +to which Thou hast lifted me up, and which, by Thy grace, have become my +natural abode. I am at home there, and walk at liberty in the loftiness, +and fear no fall amongst the cliffs. + +Are you and I familiar with these upper ranges of thought and experience +and life? Do we feel at home there more than down in the bottoms, +amongst the swamps, and the miasma, and the mists? Where is your home, +brother? The Mass begins with _Sursum corda_: 'Up with your hearts,' and +that is the word for us. But the way to get up is to keep ourselves in +touch with Jesus Christ, and then He will, even whilst our feet are +travelling along this road of earth, set us at His own right hand in the +heavenly places, and make them '_our_ high places.' It is safe up there. +The air is pure; the poison mists are down lower; the hunters do not +come there; their arrows or their rifles will not carry so far. It is +only when the herd ventures a little down the hill that it is in danger +from shots. + +But the elevation will not be such as to make us despise the low paths +on which duty--the sufficient and loftiest thing of all--lies for us. +Our souls may be like stars, and dwell apart, and yet may lay the +humblest duties upon themselves, and whilst we live in the high places, +we 'may travel on life's common way in cheerful godliness.' Communion +with Him will make us light-footed, and lift us high, and yet it will +keep us at desk, and mill, and study, and kitchen, and nursery, and +shop, and we shall find that the high places are reachable in every +life, and in every task. So we may go on until at last we shall hear the +Voice that says, 'Come up higher,' and shall he lifted to the mountain +of God, where the living waters are, and shall fear no snares or hunters +any more for ever. + + * * * * * + + +ZEPHANIAH + + +ZION'S JOY AND GOD'S + + 'Sing, O daughter of Zion; shout, O Israel; be glad and rejoice + with all the heart, O daughter of Jerusalem.... 17. He will rejoice + over thee with joy; He will rest in His love, He will joy over thee + with singing.'--ZEPHANIAH iii. 14, 17. + +What a wonderful rush of exuberant gladness there is in these words! The +swift, short clauses, the triple invocation in the former verse, the +triple promise in the latter, the heaped together synonyms, all help the +impression. The very words seem to dance with joy. But more remarkable +than this is the parallelism between the two verses. Zion is called to +rejoice in God because God rejoices in her. She is to shout for joy and +sing because God's joy too has a voice, and breaks out into singing. For +every throb of joy in man's heart, there is a wave of gladness in God's. +The notes of our praise are at once the echoes and the occasions of His. +We are to be glad because He is glad: He is glad because we are so. We +sing for joy, and He joys over us with singing because we do. + +I. God's joy over Zion. + +It is to be noticed that the former verse of our text is followed by the +assurance: 'The Lord is in the midst of thee'; and that the latter verse +is preceded by the same assurance. So, then, intimate fellowship and +communion between God and Israel lies at the root both of God's joy in +man and man's joy in God. + +We are solemnly warned by 'profound thinkers' of letting the shadow of +our emotions fall upon God. No doubt there is a real danger there; but +there is a worse danger, that of conceiving of a God who has no life and +heart; and it is better to hold fast by this--that in Him is that which +corresponds to what in us is gladness. We are often told, too, that the +Jehovah of the Old Testament is a stern and repellent God, and the +religion of the Old Testament is gloomy and servile. But such a +misconception is hard to maintain in the face of such words as these. +Zephaniah, of whom we know little, and whose words are mainly forecasts +of judgments and woes pronounced against Zion that was rebellious and +polluted, ends his prophecy with these companion pictures, like a gleam +of sunshine which often streams out at the close of a dark winter's day. +To him the judgments which he prophesied were no contradiction of the +love and gladness of God. The thought of a glad God might be a very +awful thought; such an insight as this prophet had gives a blessed +meaning to it. We may think of the joy that belongs to the divine nature +as coming from the completeness of His being, which is raised far above +all that makes of sorrow. But it is not in Himself alone that He is +glad; but it is because He loves. The exercise of love is ever +blessedness. His joy is in self-impartation; His delights are in the +sons of men: 'As the bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride, so shall thy +God rejoice over thee.' His gladness is in His children when they let +Him love them, and do not throw back His love on itself. As in man's +physical frame it is pain to have secretions dammed up, so when God's +love is forced back upon itself and prevented from flowing out in +blessing, some shadow of suffering cannot but pass across that calm sky. +He is glad when His face is mirrored in ours, and the rays from Him are +reflected from us. + +But there is another wonderfully bold and beautiful thought in this +representation of the gladness of God. Note the double form which it +assumes: 'He will rest'--literally, be silent--'in His love; He will joy +over thee with singing.' As to the former, loving hearts on earth know +that the deepest love knows no utterance, and can find none. A heart +full of love rests as having attained its desire and accomplished its +purpose. It keeps a perpetual Sabbath, and is content to be silent. + +But side by side with this picture of the repose of God's joy is set +with great poetic insight the precisely opposite image of a love which +delights in expression, and rejoices over its object with singing. The +combination of the two helps to express the depth and intensity of the +one love, which like a song-bird rises with quivering delight and pours +out as it rises an ever louder and more joyous note, and then drops, +composed and still, to its nest upon the dewy ground. + +II. Zion's joy in God. + +To the Prophet, the fact that 'the Lord is in the midst of thee' was the +guarantee for the confident assurance 'Thou shalt not fear any more'; +and this assurance was to be the occasion of exuberant gladness, which +ripples over in the very words of our first text. That great thought of +'God dwelling in the midst' is rightly a pain and a terror to rebellious +wills and alienated hearts. It needs some preparation of mind and spirit +to be glad because God is near; and they who find their satisfaction in +earthly sources, and those who seek for it in these, see no word of good +news, but rather a 'fearful looking for of judgment' in the thought that +God is in their midst. The word rendered 'rejoices' in the first verse +of our text is not the same as that so translated in the second. The +latter means literally, to move in a circle; while the former literally +means, to leap for joy. Thus the gladness of God is thought of as +expressing itself in dignified, calm movements, whilst Zion's joy is +likened in its expression to the more violent movements of the dance. +True human joy is like God's, in that He delights in us and we in Him, +and in that both He and we delight in the exercise of love. But we are +never to forget that the differences are real as the resemblances, and +that it is reserved for the higher form of our experiences in a future +life to 'enter into the joy of the Lord.' + +It becomes us to see to it that our religion is a religion of joy. Our +text is an authoritative command as well as a joyful exhortation, and we +do not fairly represent the facts of Christian faith if we do not +'rejoice in the Lord always.' In all the sadness and troubles which +necessarily accompany us, as they do all men, we ought by the effort of +faith to set the Lord always before us that we be not moved. The secret +of stable and perpetual joy still lies where Zephaniah found it--in the +assurance that the Lord is with us, and in the vision of His love +resting upon us, and rejoicing over us with singing. If thus our love +clasps His, and His joy finds its way into our hearts, it will remain +with us that our 'joy may be full'; and being guarded by Him whilst +still there is fear of stumbling, He will set us at last 'before the +presence of His glory without blemish in exceeding joy. + + * * * * * + + +HAGGAI + + +VAIN TOIL + + 'Ye have sown much, and bring in little; ye eat, but ye have not + enough; ye drink, but ye are not filled with drink; ye clothe you, + but there is none warm; and he that earneth wages earneth wages to + put it into a bag with holes.'--HAGGAI i. 6 + +A large emigration had taken place from the land of captivity to +Jerusalem. The great purpose which the returning exiles had in view was +the rebuilding of the Temple, as the centre-point of the restored +nation. With true heroism, and much noble and unselfish enthusiasm, they +began the work, postponing to it all considerations of personal +convenience. But the usual fate of all great national enthusiasms +attended this. Political difficulties, hard practical realities, came in +the way, and the task was suspended for a time. A handful remained true +to the original ideas; the rest fell away. Personal comfort, love of +ease, the claims of domestic life, the greed of gain, all the ignoble +motives which, like gravitation and friction, check such movements after +the first impulse is exhausted, came into play. Like every great cause, +this one was launched amidst high hopes and honest zeal: but by degrees +the hopes faded and became nothing better than 'godly imaginations.' The +exiles took to building their own ceiled houses, and let the House of +God lie waste. They began to think more of settling on the land than of +building the Temple. No doubt they said all the things with which men +are wont to hide their selfishness under the mask of duty:--Men must +live; we must take care of ourselves; it is mad enthusiasm to build a +temple when we have not homes; we mean to build it some time, but we are +practical men and must provide for our wants first.' + +This wisdom of theirs turned out folly, as it generally does. There +came, as we learn from this prophet, a season of distress, in which the +harvest, for which they had sacrificed their duties and their calling, +failed: and in spite of their prudent diligence, or rather, just because +of their misplaced and selfish attention to their worldly well-being, +they were poor and hungry. 'The heaven over them was stayed from dew, +and the earth from her fruit.' Haggai was sent by God to interpret the +calamity, and to urge to the fulfilment of their earlier purposes. + +His words apply to a supernatural condition of things with which he is +dealing, but they contain truths illustrated by it and true for ever. +For us all, as truly as for those Jews, the first thing, the primary, +all-embracing duty, is to serve God, to obey, love, and live with Him. +The same selfish and worldly excuses have force with us: 'We have +business to look after; men must live; we have no time to think about +religion; I have built a new mill that occupies my thoughts; I have +found a new plaything, and I must try it; I have married a wife, and +therefore I cannot come.' So God and His claims, Christ and His love, +are hustled into a corner to be attended to when opportunity serves, but +to be neglected in the meantime. And the same result follows, not by +miracle, but by natural necessity. Haggai puts these results in our text +with bitter, indignant amplification. His words are all the working out +of one idea-the unprofitableness, on the whole and in the long-run, of a +godless life. He illustrates this in the clauses of our text in various +forms, and my purpose now is simply to apply each of these to the +realities of a godless life. + +I. It is a life of fruitless toil. + +The Prophet pictures the sowing, the abundant seed thrown broadcast, the +long waiting, and then, finally, a wretched harvest--a few prematurely +yellow ears and short stalks. I remember a friend telling me that when +he was a boy he went out reaping with his father in one of our years of +great drought; and after a day's work threshed out all that he had cut, +and carried it home with him in his handkerchief. That is what Haggai +saw realised in fact, because the sowing had been without God. It is +what we may see in others and feel in ourselves. It is the very law and +curse of godless toil with its unproductive harvest. The builders set +out to build a tower whose top shall reach to heaven, and they never get +higher than a story or two. There is nothing more tragic than the +contrast between what a man actually accomplishes in his life and what +he planned when he began it. Many and many of our lives are like the +half-built houses in Pompeii, where the stones are lying that had been +all squared and polished, and have never been lifted to their place in +the unfinished walls. Much of the seed never comes up at all; and what +we gather is always less than what we expected. The prize gleams before +us; when we get it, is it as good as it looked when it hung tempting at +the unreached goal? A fox-brush is scarcely sufficient payment for +riding over half a county. Ah! but you say, there is the enthusiasm and +stir of the pursuit. Well, yes; it is something if it is _training_ you +for something, and if you can say that faculties worth the cultivating +are developed in that way: and whether that is so depends on what you +think a man is made for, and on whether these are faculties which will +last and find their scope as long as you last. Consider what you are, +what you seek; and then say whether the most fruitful harvest from which +God and His love are left out is not little. + +This fruitlessness of toil is inevitable unless it springs from a motive +which in itself is sufficient, pursues a purpose which will surely be +accomplished, and is done in hope of the world where 'our works do +follow us.' If we are allied to Christ, then whether our work be great +or small, apparently successful or frustrated, it will be all right. +Though we do not see our fruit, we know that He will bless the springing +thereof, and that no least deed done for Him but shall in the +harvest-day be found waving a nodding head of multiplied results. 'God +giveth it a body as it hath pleased Him'; and 'he that goeth forth +weeping shall doubtless return, bringing his sheaves with him.' 'Your +labour is not in vain to the Lord.' + +II. A godless life is one of unsatisfied hunger and thirst. + +The poor results of the exiles' toil did not avail to stay gnawing +hunger nor slake burning thirst, and the same result applies only too +sadly to lives lived apart from God. There are a multitude of desires +proper to the human soul besides those which belong to the bodily frame, +and these have their proper objects. Is it true that the objects are +sufficient to satisfy the desires? Does any one of the things for which +we toil feed us full when we have it? Do we not always want just a +little more? And is not that want accompanied with a real and sharp +sense of hunger? Is it not true the appetite GROWS with what it feeds +on? And even if a man schools himself to something like content, it +comes not because the desire is satisfied, but because it is somehow +bridled. Cerberus often breaks his chain, in spite of honied cakes that +have been tossed into the wide mouths of his tripled heads. What do +wealth and ambition do for their votaries? And even he who thirsts for +nobler occupations and lives for higher aims is often obliged to admit, +in weariness, that 'this also is vanity.' + +But even when the desire is satisfied, the man desiring is not. To feed +their bodies men starve their souls. How many longings are crushed or +neglected by him who pushes eagerly after any one longing! We have +either to race from one course to another, splitting life into +intolerable distractions, or we have to circumscribe and limit ourselves +in order to devote all our power to securing one; and if we secure it, +then a hundred others will bark like a kennel of hounds. + +And if you say, 'I know nothing about all this; I have my aims, and on +the whole I secure a tolerable satisfaction for them,' do you not know a +nameless unrest? If you do not, then you are so much the poorer and the +lower, and you have murdered part of yourself. Some one single tyrannous +desire sits solitary in your heart. He has slain all his brethren that +he may rule, as sultans used to do in Constantinople. One big fish in +the aquarium has eaten up all the others. + +God only satisfies the soul. It is only the 'bread which came down from +Heaven,' of which if we eat our souls shall live, and be filled as with +marrow and fatness. That One is all-sufficient in His Oneness. +Possessing Him, we know no satiety; possessing Him, we do not need to +maim any part of our nature; possessing Him, we shall not covet divers +multifarious objects. The loftiest powers of the soul find in Him their +adequate, inexhaustible, eternal object. The lowest desires may, like +the beasts of the forest, seek their meat from God. If we take Him for +our own and live on Him by faith, our blessed experience will be, 'I am +full: I have all and abound.' + +III. The godless life is one of futile defences. + +'Ye clothe you, but there is none warm.' The clothing was to guard +against the nipping air that blew shrewdly on their hills, and it failed +to keep them from the weather. We may be indulging in fancy in this +application of our text, but still raiment is as needful as food, and +its failure to answer its purpose points to a real sorrow and +insufficiency of a life lived without God. In it there is no real +defence against the manifold evils which storm upon all of us. When the +bitter, biting weather comes, what have you to shelter you from the cold +blast? Some rags of stoical resignation or proverbial commonplaces? +'What is done cannot be helped'; 'What cannot be cured must be endured'; +'It is a long lane that has no turning,' and the like. But what are +these? You may have other occupations to interest you, but these will +not heal, though they may divert your attention from, your gaping +wounds. You have friends, and the like, but though you have all these +and much beside, these will not avail. 'The covering is shorter than +that a man can wrap himself in it.' Naked and shivering, exposed to the +pelting and the pitiless storm, with rags soaked through, and chilled to +the bone, what is there but death before the man in the wild weather on +some trackless moor? And what is there for us if we have to bear the +storms and cold of life without God? No doubt most of us struggle +through somehow. Time heals much; work does a great deal; to live is so +much, that no living being can be wholly miserable. Other cares and +other occupations blossom and grow, and the brown mounds get covered +with sweet springing grass. But how many lie down and die? How many for +the rest of their lives go crushed and broken-spirited? How many carry +about with them, deep in their hearts, a sleepless sorrow? How many have +to bear passionate paroxysms of agony and bursts of angry grief, all of +which might have been softened and soothed and made to gleam with the +mellow light of hope as from a hidden sun, if only, instead of defiantly +and weakly fronting the world alone, they had found in the man Christ +the refuge from the storm and the covert from the tempest. How can a man +face all the awful possibilities and the solemn certainties of life +without God and not go mad? It is impossible to work without Him; it is +impossible to rejoice without Him; but more impossible still, if that +could be, is it to endure without Him. It is in union with Jesus Christ, +and with Him alone, that we shall receive 'the pure linen, clean and +white,' which is a surer defence than the warrior's mail, and 'being +clothed we shall not be found naked.' + +IV. A godless life is one of fleeting riches. + +In Haggai's strong metaphor, the poor day-labourer earns his small wage +and puts it into a ragged bag, or as we should say, a pocket with a hole +in it; and when he comes to look for it, it is gone, and all his toil is +for nothing. What a picture this is of the very experience that befalls +all men who work for less wages than God's 'Well done.' Take an instance +or two: here is a man who works hard for a long time, and puts his money +into some bank, and one morning he gets a letter to tell him the bank's +doors are closed, and his savings gone--a bag with holes. Here is a man +who climbs by slow degrees to the head of his profession and lives in +popular admiration, and some day he sees a younger competitor shooting +ahead of him, and all is lost--a bag with holes. Here is a man who has, +by some great discovery, established his fame or his fortune, and a new +man, standing on his shoulders, makes a greater, and his fame dwarfs and +his trade runs into other channels--a bag with holes. Here is a man who +has conquered a world, and dies on the rock of St. Helena, with his +pompous titles stripped off him, and instead of kingdoms a rood or two +of garden, and instead of his legions, half a dozen soldiers, a doctor, +and a jailer--a bag with holes. Here is a man who, having amassed his +riches and kept them without loss all his life, is dying. They cannot go +with him. That would not matter; but unfortunately he has to live +yonder, and he will have 'nothing of all his labour that he can carry +away in his hands'--a bag with holes. + +Such loss and final separation befall us all; but he who loves God loses +none of his real treasure when he parts from earthly treasures. Fortune +may turn her wheel as she pleases, his wealth cannot be taken from him. +His riches are laid up in a sure storehouse, 'where neither moth nor +rust doth corrupt.' We each live for ever. Should we not have for our +object in life that which is eternal as ourselves? Why should we fix +our hopes on that which is not abiding--on things that can perish, on +things that we must lose? Let us not run this awful risk. Do not +impoverish or darken life here; do not condemn yourselves to unfruitful +toil, to unsatisfied desires, to unguarded calamities, to unstable +possessions; but come, as sinful men ought to come, to Jesus Christ for +pardon and for life. Then, in due season, you will reap if you faint +not; and the harvest will not be little, but 'some sixty-fold and some +an hundred-fold'; then you will 'hunger no more, neither thirst any +more,' but 'He that hath mercy on you will lead you to living fountains +of water'; then you will not have to draw your poor rags round you for +warmth, but shall be clothed with the robe of righteousness and the +garment of praise; then you will never need to fear the loss of your +riches, but bear with you whilst you live your treasures beyond the +reach of change, and will find them multiplied a thousand-fold when you +die and go to God, your portion and your joy for ever. + + +BRAVE ENCOURAGEMENTS + + 'In the seventh month, in the one and twentieth day of the month, + came the word of the Lord by the prophet Haggai, saying, 2. Speak + now to Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to + Joshua the son of Josedech, the high priest, and to the residue of + the people, saying, 3. Who is left among you that saw this house in + her first glory? and how do ye see it now? is it not in your eyes + in comparison of it as nothing? 4. Yet now be strong, O Zerubbabel, + saith the Lord; and be strong, O Joshua, son of Josedech, the high + priest; and be strong, all ye people of the land, saith the Lord, + and work: for I am with you, saith the Lord of Hosts: 5. According + to the word that I covenanted with you when ye came out of Egypt, + so My Spirit remaineth among you: fear ye not. 6. For thus saith + the Lord of Hosts; Yet once, it is a little while, and I will + shake the heavens, and the earth, and the sea, and the dry land; 7. + And I will shake all nations, and the desire of all nations shall + come; and I will fill this house with glory, saith the Lord of + Hosts. 8. The silver is Mine, and the gold is Mine, saith the Lord + of Hosts. 9. The glory of this latter house shall be greater than + of the former, saith the Lord of hosts: and in this place will I + give peace, saith the Lord of Hosts.'--HAGGAI ii. 1-9. + +The second year of Darius, in which Haggai prophesied, was 520 B.C. +Political intrigues had stopped the rebuilding of the Temple, and the +enthusiasm of the first return had died away in the face of prolonged +difficulties. The two brave leaders, Zerubbabel and Joshua, still +survived, and kept alive their own zeal; but the mass of the people were +more concerned about their comforts than about the restoration of the +house of Jehovah. They had built for themselves 'ceiled houses,' and +were engrossed with their farms. + +The Book of Ezra dwells on the external hindrances to the rebuilding. +Haggai goes straight at the selfishness and worldliness of the people as +the great hindrance. We know nothing about him beyond the fact that he +was a prophet working in conjunction with Zechariah. He has been thought +to have been one of the original company who came back with Zerubbabel, +and it has been suggested, though without any certainty, that he may +have been one of the old men who remembered the former house. But these +conjectures are profitless, and all that we know is that God sent him to +rouse the slackened earnestness of the people, and that his words +exercised a powerful influence in setting forward the work of +rebuilding. This passage is the second of his four short prophecies. We +may call it a vision of the glory of the future house of Jehovah. + +The prophecy begins with fully admitting the depressing facts which were +chilling the popular enthusiasm. Compared with the former Temple, this +which they had begun to build could not but be 'as nothing.' So the +murmurers said, and Haggai allows that they are quite right. Note the +turn of his words: 'Who is left ... that saw this house in its former +glory?' There had been many eighteen years ago; but the old eyes that +had filled with tears then had been mostly closed by death in the +interval, and now but few survived. Perhaps if the eyes had not been so +dim with age, the rising house would not have looked so contemptible. +The pessimism of the aged is not always clear-sighted, nor their +comparisons of what was, and what is beginning to be, just. But it is +always wise to be frank in admitting the full strength of the opinions +that we oppose; and encouragements to work will never tell if they blink +difficulties or seek to deny plain facts. Haggai was wise when he began +with echoing the old men's disparagements, and in full view of them, +pealed out his brave incitements to the work. + +The repetition of the one exhortation, 'Be strong, be strong, be +strong,' is very impressive. The very monotony has power. In the face of +the difficulties which beset every good work the cardinal virtue is +strength. 'To be weak is to be miserable,' and is the parent of +failures. One hears in the exhortation an echo of that to Joshua, to +whom and to his people the command 'Be strong and of good courage' was +given with like repetition (Joshua i.). + +But there is nothing more futile than telling feeble men to be strong, +and trembling ones to be very courageous. Unless the exhorter can give +some means of strength and some reason for courage, his word is idle +wind. So Haggai bases his exhortation upon its sufficient ground, 'For I +am with you, saith Jehovah of hosts.' Strength is a duty, but only if we +have a source of strength available. The one basis of it is the presence +of God. His name reveals the immensity of His power, who commands all +the armies of heaven, angels, or stars, and to whom the forces of the +universe are as the ordered ranks of His disciplined army; and who is, +moreover, the Captain of earthly hosts, ever giving victory to those who +are His 'willing soldiers in the day of His power.' It is not vain to +bid a man be strong, if you can assure him that God is with him. Unless +you can, you may save your breath. + +Here is the temper for all Christian workers. Let them realise the duty +of strength; let them have recourse to the Fountain of strength; let +them mark the purpose of strength, which is 'work,' as Haggai puts it so +emphatically. We have nothing to do with the magnitude of what we may be +able to build. It may be very poor beside the great houses that greater +ages or men have been able to rear. But whether it be a temple brave +with gold and cedar, or a log, it is our business to put all our +strength into the task, and to draw that strength from the assurance +that God is with us. + +The difficulties connected with the translation of verse 5 need not +concern us here. For my purpose, the general sense resulting from any +translation is clear enough. The covenant made of old, when Israel came +from an earlier captivity, is fresh as ever, and God's Spirit is with +the people; therefore they need not fear. 'Fear ye not' is another of +the well-meant exhortations which often produce the opposite effect from +the intended one. One can fancy some of the people saying, 'It is all +very well to talk about not being afraid; but look at our feebleness, +our defencelessness, our enemies; we cannot but fear, if we open our +eyes.' Quite true; and there is only one antidote to fear, and that is +the assurance that God's covenant binds Him to take care of me. Unless +one believes that, he must be strangely blind to the facts of life if he +has not a cold dread coiled round his heart and ever ready to sting. + +The Prophet rises into grand predictions of the glory of the poor house +which the weak hands were raising. Verses 6-9 set things invisible over +against the visible. In general terms the Prophet announces a speedy +convulsion, partly symbolical and partly real, in which 'all nations' +shall be revolutionised, and as a consequence, shall become Jehovah's +worshippers, bringing their treasures to the Temple, and so filling the +house with glory. This shall be because Jehovah is the true Possessor of +all their wealth. But the scope of verse 9 seems to transcend these +promises, and to point to an undescribed 'glory,' still greater than +that of the universal flocking of the nations with their gifts, and to +reach a climax in the wide promise of peace given in the Temple, and +thence, as is implied, flowing out 'like a river' through a +tranquillised world. + +'Yet once, it is a little while.' How long did the little while last? +There were, possibly, some feeble incipient fulfilments of the prophecy +in the immediate future; for, after the exile, there were convulsions in +the political world which resulted in security to the Jews, and the +religion of Israel began to draw some scattered proselytes. But the +prophecy is not completely fulfilled even now, and it covers the entire +development of the 'kingdom that cannot be moved' until the end of time. +The writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews thus understands the prophecy +(Hebrews xii. 26, 27), and there are echoes of it in Revelation xxi., +which describes the final form of the Holy City, the New Jerusalem. So +the chronology of prophecy is not altogether that of history; and while +the events stand clear, their perspective is foreshortened. All the ages +are but 'a little while' in the calendar of heaven. In regard to the +whole of the prophetic utterances, we have often to say with the +disciples, 'What is this that he saith, a little while?' Eighteen +centuries have rolled away since the seer heard, 'Behold, I come +quickly,' and the vision still tarries. + +The old interpretation of 'the desire of all nations' as meaning Jesus +Christ gave a literal fulfilment of the prophecy by His presence in the +Temple; but that meaning of the phrase is untenable, both because the +verb is in the plural, which would be impossible if a person were meant, +and because the only interpretation which gives relevancy to verse 8 is +that the expression means the silver and gold, there declared to be +Jehovah's. That venerable explanation, then, cannot stand. There were +offerings from heathen kings, such as those from Darius recorded in Ezra +vi. 6-10, and the gifts of Artaxerxes (Ezra vii. 15), which may be +regarded as incipient accomplishments; but such facts as these cannot +exhaust the prophecy. + +It must be admitted that nothing happened during the history of that +Temple to answer to the full meaning of this prophecy. But was it +therefore a delusion that God spoke by Haggai? We must distinguish +between form and substance. The Temple was the centre point of the +kingdom of God on earth, the place of meeting between God and men, the +place of sacrifice. The fulfilment of the prophecy is not to be found in +any house made with hands, but in the true Temple which Jesus Christ has +builded. He in His own humanity was all that the Temple shadowed and +foretold. It is in Him, and in the spiritual Temple which He has reared, +that Haggai's vision will find its full realisation, which is yet +future. The powers that issue from Him shattered the Roman empire, have +ever since been casting earth's kingdoms into new moulds, and have still +destructive work to do. The 'once more' began when Jesus came, but the +final 'shaking' lies in front still. Every smaller revolution in thought +or sweeping away of institutions is a prelude to that great 'shaking' +when everything will go except the kingdom that cannot be moved. Its +result shall be that the treasures of the nations shall be poured at His +feet who is 'worthy to receive riches,' even as other prophecies have +foretold that 'men shall bring unto Thee the wealth of the nations' +(Isaiah lx. 11; Revelation xxi. 24, 26). + +In that true Temple the glory of the Shechinah, which was wanting in the +second, for ever abides, 'the glory as of the only-begotten of the +Father'; and in it dwells for ever the dove of peace, ready to glide +into every heart that enters to worship at the shrine. Jesus Christ is +not the 'desire of all nations' which shall come to the Temple, but is +the Temple to which the wealth of all nations shall be brought, in whom +the true glory of a manifested God abides, and from whom the peace of +God which passeth all understanding, and is His own peace too, shall +enter reconciled souls, and calm turbulent passions, and reconcile +contending peoples, and diffuse its calm through all the nations of the +saved who there 'walk in the light of the Lord.' + + * * * * * + + +ZECHARIAH + + +DYING MEN AND THE UNDYING WORD + + 'Your fathers, where are they? and the prophets, do they live for + ever? 6. But My words and My statutes, which I commanded My + servants the prophets, did they not take hold of your + fathers?'-Zechariah i. 5, 6. + +Zechariah was the Prophet of the Restoration. Some sixteen years before +this date a feeble band of exiles had returned from Babylon, with high +hopes of rebuilding the ruined Temple. But their designs had been +thwarted, and for long years the foundations stood unbuilded upon. The +delay had shattered their hopes and flattened their enthusiasm; and +when, with the advent of a new Persian king, a brighter day dawned, the +little band was almost too dispirited to avail itself of it. At that +crisis, two prophets 'blew soul-animating strains,' and as the narrative +says elsewhere, 'the work prospered through the prophesying of Haggai +and Zechariah.' + +My text comes from the first of Zechariah's prophecies. In it he lays +the foundation for all that he has subsequently to say. He points to +the past, and summons up the august figures of the great pre-Exilic +prophets, and reminds his contemporaries that the words which they spoke +had been verified in the experience of past generations. He puts himself +in line with these, his mighty predecessors, and declares that, though +the hearers and the speakers of that prophetic word had glided away into +the vast unknown, the word remained, lived still, and on his lips +demanded the same obedience as it had vainly demanded from the +generation that was past. + +It has sometimes been supposed that of the two questions in my text the +first is the Prophet's--'Your fathers, where are they?' and that the +second is the retort of the people--'The prophets, do they live for +ever?' 'It is true that our fathers are gone, but what about the +prophets that you are talking of? Are they any better off? Are they not +dead, too?' But though the separation of the words into dialogue gives +vivacity, it is wholly unnecessary. And it seems to me that Zechariah's +appeal is all the more impressive if we suppose that he here gathers the +mortal hearers and speakers of the immortal word into one class, and +sets over against them the Eternal Word, which lives to-day as it did +then, and has new lessons for a new generation. So it is from that point +of view that I wish to look at these words now, and try to gather from +them some of the solemn, and, as it seems to me, striking lessons which +they inculcate. I follow with absolute simplicity the Prophet's +thoughts. + +I. The mortal hearers and speakers of the abiding Word. + +'Your fathers, where are they? and the prophets, do they live for ever?' +It is all but impossible to invest that well-known thought with any +fresh force; but, perhaps, if we look at it from the special angle from +which the Prophet here regards it, we may get some new impression of the +old truth. That special angle is to bring into connection the Eternal +Word and the transient vehicles and hearers of it. + +Did you ever stand in some roofless, ruined cathedral or abbey church, +and try to gather round you the generations that had bowed and +worshipped there? Did you ever step across the threshold of some ancient +sanctuary, where the feet of vanished generations had worn down the +sand-stone steps at the entrance? It is solemn to think of the fleeting +series of men; it is still more striking to bring them into connection +with that everlasting Word which once they heard, and accepted or +rejected. + +But let me bring the thought a little closer. There is not a sitting in +our churches that has not been sat in by dead people. As I stand here +and look round I can re-people almost every pew with faces that we shall +see no more. Many of you, the older _habitues_ of this place, can do the +same, and can look and think, 'Ah! _he_ used to sit there; _she_ used to +be in that corner.' And I can remember many mouldering lips that have +stood in this place where I stand, of friends and brethren that are +gone. 'Your fathers, where are they?' 'Graves under us, silent,' is the +only answer. 'And the prophets, do they live for ever?' No memories are +shorter-lived than the memories of the preachers of God's Word. + +Take another thought, that all these past hearers and speakers of the +Word had that Word verified in their lives. 'Took it not hold of your +fathers?' Some of them neglected it, and its burdens were upon them, +little as they felt them sometimes. Some of them clave to it, and +accepted it, and its blessed promises were all fulfilled to them. Not +one of those who, for the brief period of their earthly lives, came in +contact with that divine message but realised, more or less consciously, +some blessedly and some in darkened lives and ruined careers, the solemn +truth of its promises and of its threatenings. The Word may have been +received, or it may have been neglected, by the past generations; but +whether the members thereof put out a hand to accept, or withheld their +grasp, whether they took hold of it or it took hold of them--wherever +they are now, their earthly relation to that word is a determining +factor in their condition. The syllables died away into empty air, the +messages were forgotten, but the men that ministered them are eternally +influenced by the faithfulness of their ministrations, and the men that +heard them are eternally affected by the reception or rejection of that +word. So, when we summon around us the congregation of the dead, which +is more numerous than the audience of the living to whom I now speak, +the lesson that their silent presence teaches us is, 'Wherefore we +should give the more earnest heed to the things that we have heard.' + +II. Let us note the abiding Word, which these transient generations of +hearers and speakers have had to do with. + +It is maddening to think of the sure decay and dissolution of all human +strength, beauty, wisdom, unless that thought brings with it +immediately, like a pair of coupled stars, of which the one is bright +and the other dark, the corresponding thought of that which does not +pass, and is unaffected by time and change. Just as reason requires some +unalterable substratum, below all the fleeting phenomena of the +changeful creation--a God who is the Rock-basis of all, the staple to +which all the links hang--so we are driven back and back and back, by +the very fact of the transiency of the transient, to grasp, for a refuge +and a stay, the permanency of the permanent. 'In the year that King +Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne'--the passing away of +the mortal shadow of sovereignty revealed the undying and true King. It +is blessed for us when the lesson which the fleeting of all that _can_ +flee away reads to us is that, beneath it all, there is the Unchanging. +When the leaves drop from the boughs of the trees that veil the face of +the cliff, then the steadfast rock is visible; and when the generations, +like leaves, drop and rot, then the rock background should stand out the +more clearly. + +Zechariah meant by the 'word of God' simply the prophetic utterances +about the destiny and the punishment of his nation. We ought to mean by +the 'word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever,' not merely the +written embodiment of it in the Old or New Testament, but the Personal +Word, the Incarnate Word, the everlasting Son of the Father, who came +upon earth to be God's mouthpiece and utterance, and who is for us all +_the_ Word, the Eternal Word of the living God. It is His perpetual +existence rather than the continuous duration of the written word, +declaration of Himself though it is, that is mighty for our strength and +consolation when we think of the transient generations. + +Christ lives. That is the deepest meaning of the ancient saying, 'All +flesh is grass.... The Word of the Lord endureth for ever.' He lives; +therefore we can front change and decay in all around calmly and +triumphantly. It matters not though the prophets and their hearers pass +away. Men depart; Christ abides. Luther was once surprised by some +friends sitting at a table from which a meal had been removed, and +thoughtfully tracing with his fingers upon its surface with some drop of +water or wine the one word 'Vivit'; He lives. He fell back upon that +when all around was dark. Yes, men may go; what of that? Aaron may have +to ascend to the summit of Hor, and put off his priestly garments and +die there. Moses may have to climb Pisgah, and with one look at the land +which he must never tread, die there alone by the kiss of God, as the +Rabbis say. Is the host below leaderless? The Pillar of Cloud lies still +over the Tabernacle, and burns steadfast and guiding in front of the +files of Israel. 'Your fathers, where are they? The prophets, do they +live for ever?' 'Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and to-day and for +ever.' + +Another consideration to be drawn from this contrast is, since we have +this abiding Word, let us not dread changes, however startling and +revolutionary. Jesus Christ does not change. But there is a human +element in the Church's conceptions of Jesus Christ, and still more in +its working out of the principles of the Gospel in institutions and +forms, which partakes of the transiency of the men from whom it has +come. In such a time as this, when everything is going into the +melting-pot, and a great many timid people are trembling for the Ark of +God, quite unnecessarily as it seems to me, it is of prime importance +for the calmness and the wisdom and the courage of Christian people, +that they should grasp firmly the distinction between the divine +treasure which is committed to the churches, and the earthen vessels in +which it has been enshrined. Jesus Christ, the man Jesus, the divine +person, His incarnation, His sacrifice, His resurrection, His ascension, +the gift of His Spirit to abide for ever with His Church--these are the +permanent 'things which cannot be shaken.' And creeds and churches and +formulas and forms--these are the human elements which are capable of +variation, and which need variation from time to time. No more is the +substance of that eternal Gospel affected by the changes, which are +possible on its vesture, than is the stateliness of some cathedral +touched, when the reformers go in and sweep out the rubbish and the +trumpery which have masked the fair outlines of its architecture, and +vulgarised the majesty of its stately sweep. Brethren! let us fix this +in our hearts, that nothing which is of Christ can perish, and nothing +which is of man can or should endure. The more firmly we grasp the +distinction between the permanent and the transient in existing +embodiments of Christian truth, the more calm shall we be amidst the +surges of contending opinions. 'He that believeth shall not make haste.' + +III. Lastly, the present generation and its relation to the abiding +Word. + +Zechariah did not hesitate to put himself in line with the mighty forms +of Isaiah, and Jeremiah, and Ezekiel, and Hosea. He, too, was a prophet. +We claim, of course, no such authority for present utterers of that +eternal message, but we do claim for our message a higher authority than +the authority of this ancient Prophet. He felt that the word of God that +was put into his lips was a new word, addressed to a new generation, and +with new lessons for new circumstances, fitting as close to the wants of +the little band of exiles as the former messages, which it succeeded, +had fitted to the wants of their generation. We have no such change in +the message, for Jesus Christ speaks to us all, speaks to all times and +to all circumstances, and to every generation. And so, just as Zechariah +based upon the history of the past his appeal for obedience and +acceptance, the considerations which I have been trying to dwell upon +bring with them stringent obligations to us who stand, however unworthy, +in the place of the generations that are gone, as the hearers and +ministers of the Word of God. Let me put two or three very simple and +homely exhortations. First, see to it, brother, that you accept that +Word. By acceptance I do not mean a mere negative attitude, which is +very often the result of lack of interest, the negative attitude of +simply not rejecting; but I mean the opening not only of your minds but +of your hearts to it. For if what I have been saying is true, and the +Word of God has for its highest manifestation Jesus Christ Himself, then +you cannot accept a person by pure head-work. You must open your hearts +and all your natures, and let Him come in with His love, with His pity, +with His inspiration of strength and virtue and holiness, and you must +yield yourselves wholly to Him. Think of the generations that are gone. +Think of their brief moment when the great salvation was offered to +them. Think of how, whether they received or rejected it, that Word took +hold upon them. Think of how they regard it now, wherever they are in +the dimness; and be you wise in time and be not as those of your fathers +who rejected the Word. + +Hold it fast. In this time of unrest make sure of your grasp of the +eternal, central core of Christianity, Jesus Christ Himself, the +divine-human Saviour of the world. There are too many of us whose faith +oozes out at their finger ends, simply because they have so many around +them that question and doubt and deny. Do not let the floating icebergs +bring down _your_ temperature; and have a better reason for not +believing, if you do not believe, than that so many and such influential +and authoritative men have ceased to believe. When Jesus asks, 'Will ye +also go away?' our answer should be, 'Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou +hast the words of eternal life.' + +Accept Him, hold Him fast, trust to His guidance in present day +questions. Zechariah felt that his message belonged to the generation to +whom he spoke. It was a new message. We have no new message, but there +are new truths to be evolved from the old message. The questionings and +problems, social, economical, intellectual, moral--shall I say +political?--of this day, will find their solution in that ancient word, +'God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that +whosoever believeth in Him should not perish.' There is the key to all +problems. 'In Him are hid all the treasures and wisdom of knowledge.' + +Zechariah pointed to the experiences of a past generation as the basis +of his appeal. We can point back to eighteen centuries, and say that the +experiences of these centuries confirm the truth that Jesus Christ is +the Saviour of the world. The blessedness, the purity, the power, the +peace, the hope which He has breathed into humanity, the subsidiary and +accompanying material and intellectual prosperity and blessings that +attend His message, its independence of human instruments, its +adaptation to all varieties of class, character, condition, geographical +position, its power of recuperating itself from corruptions and +distortions, its undiminished adaptedness to the needs of this +generation and of each of us--enforce the stringency of the exhortation, +and confirm the truth of the assertion: 'This is My beloved Son; hear ye +Him!' 'The voice said, Cry. And I said, What shall I cry? All flesh is +grass, and all the goodliness thereof as the flower of the field: the +grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away: but the Word of +our God shall stand for ever.' Three hundred years after Isaiah a +triumphant Apostle added, 'This is the word which by the Gospel is +preached unto you.' Eighteen hundred years after Peter we can echo his +confident declaration, and, with the history of these centuries to +support our faith, can affirm that the Christ of the Gospel and the +Gospel of the Christ are in deed and in truth the Living Word of the +Living God. + + +THE CITY WITHOUT WALLS + + 'Jerusalem shall be inhabited as towns without walls.... For I, + saith the Lord, will be unto her a wall of fire round about, and + will be the glory in the midst of her.'--ZECHARIAH ii. 4, 5. + +Zechariah was the Prophet of the returning exiles, and his great work +was to hearten them for their difficult task, with their small resources +and their many foes, and to insist that the prime condition to success, +on the part of that portion of the nation that had returned, was +holiness. So his visions, of which there is a whole series, are very +largely concerned with the building of the Temple and of the city. In +this one, he sees a man with a measuring-rod in his hand coming forth to +take the dimensions of the still un-existing city of God. The words that +I have read are the centre portion of that vision. You notice that there +are three clauses, and that the first in order is the consequence of the +other two. 'Jerusalem shall be builded as a city without walls ... for I +will be a wall of fire round about her, and the glory in the midst of +her.' + +And that exuberant promise was spoken about the Jerusalem over which +Christ wept when he foresaw its inevitable destruction. When the Romans +had cast a torch into the Temple, and the streets of the city were +running with blood, what had become of Zechariah's dream of a wall of +fire round about her? Then can the divine fire be quenched? Yes. And +who quenched it? Not the Romans, but the people that lived within that +flaming rampart. The apparent failure of the promise carries the lesson +for churches and individuals to-day, that in spite of such glowing +predictions, there may again sound the voice that the legend says was +heard within the Temple, on the night before Jerusalem fell. 'Let us +depart,' and there was a rustling of unseen wings, and on the morrow the +legionaries were in the shrine. 'If God spared not the natural branches, +take heed lest He also spare not thee.' + +Now let us look, in the simplest possible way, at these three clauses, +and the promises that are in them; keeping in mind that, like all the +divine promises, they are conditional. + +The first is this:-- + +I. 'I will be a wall of fire round about her.' + +I need not dwell on the vividness and beauty of that metaphor. These +encircling flames will consume all antagonism, and defy all approach. +But let me remind you that the conditional promise was intended for +Judaea and Jerusalem, and was fulfilled in literal fact. So long as the +city obeyed and trusted God it was impregnable, though all the nations +stood round about it, like dogs round a sheep. The fulfilment of the +promise has passed over, with all the rest that characterised Israel's +position, to the Christian Church, and to-day, in the midst of all the +agitations of opinion, and all the vauntings of men about an effete +Christianity, and dead churches, it is as true as ever it was that the +living Church of God is eternal. If it had not been that there was a God +as a wall of fire round about the Church, it would have been wiped off +the face of the earth long ago. If nothing else had killed it the faults +of its members would have done so. The continuance of the Church is a +perpetual miracle, when you take into account the weakness, and the +errors, and the follies, and the stupidities, and the narrownesses, and +the sins, of the people who in any given day represent it. That it +should stand at all, and that it should conquer, seems to me to be as +plain a demonstration of the present working of God, as is the existence +still, as a separate individuality amongst the peoples of the earth, of +His ancient people, the Jews. Who was it who said, when somebody asked +him for the best proof of the truth of Christianity, 'The Jews'? and so +we may say, if you want a demonstration that God is working in the +world, 'Look at the continuance of the Christian Church.' + +In spite of all the vauntings of people that have already discounted its +fall, and are talking as if it needed no more to be reckoned with, that +calm confidence is the spirit in which we are to look around and +forward. It does not become any Christian ever to have the smallest +scintillation of a fear that the ship that bears Jesus Christ can fail +to come to land, or can sink in the midst of the waters. There was once +a timid would-be helper who put out his hand to hold up the Ark of God. +He need not have been afraid. The oxen might stumble, and the cart roll +about, but the Ark was safe and stable. A great deal may go, but the +wall of fire will be around the Church. In regard to its existence, as +in regard to the immortal being of each of its members, the great word +remains for ever true: 'Because I live ye shall live also.' + +But do not let us forget that this great promise does not belong only to +the Church as a whole, but that we have each to bring it down to our +own individual lives, and to be quite sure of this, that in spite of all +that sense says, in spite of all that quivering hearts and weeping eyes +may seem to prove, there is a wall of fire round each of us, if we are +keeping near Jesus Christ, through which it is as impossible that any +real evil should pass and get at us, as it would be impossible that any +living thing should pass through the flaming battlements that the +Prophet saw round his ideal city. Only we have to interpret that promise +by faith and not by sense, and we have to make it possible that it shall +be fulfilled by keeping inside the wall, and trusting to it. As faith +dwindles, the fiery wall burns dim, and evil can get across its embers, +and can get at us. Keep within the battlements, and they will flame up +bright and impassable, with a fire that on the outer side consumes, but +to those within is a fire that cherishes and warms. + +II. The next point of the promise passes into a more intimate region. It +is well to have a defence from that which is without us; but it is more +needful to have, if a comparison can be made between the two, a glory +'in the midst' of us. + +The one is external defence; the other inward illumination, with all +which light symbolises--knowledge, joy, purity. + +There is even more than that meant by this great promise. For notice +that emphatic little word _the--the_ glory, not _a_ glory--in the midst +of her. Now you all know what 'the glory' was. It was that symbolic +Light that spoke of the special presence of God, and went with the +Children of Israel in their wanderings, and sat between the Cherubim. +There was no 'Shechinah,' as it is technically called, in that second +Temple. But yet the Prophet says, 'The glory'--the actual presence of +God--'shall be in the midst of her,' and the meaning of that great +promise is taught us by the very last vision in the New Testament, in +which the Seer of the Apocalypse says, 'The glory of the Lord did +lighten it' (evidently quoting Zechariah), 'and the Lamb is the light +thereof.' So the city is lit as by one central glow of radiance that +flashes its beams into every corner, and therefore 'there shall be no +night there.' + +Now this promise, too, bears on churches and on individuals. On the +Church as a whole it bears in this way: the only means by which a +Christian community can fulfil its function, and be the light of the +world, is by having the presence of God, in no metaphor, the actual +presence of the illuminating Spirit in its midst. If it has not that, it +may have anything and everything else--wealth, culture, learning, +eloquence, influence in the world--but all is of no use; it will be +darkness. We are light only in proportion as we are 'light in the Lord.' +As long as we, as communities, keep our hearts in touch with Him, so +long do we shine. Break the contact, and the light fades and flickers +out. + +The same thing is true, dear brethren, about individuals. For each of us +the secret of joy, of purity, of knowledge, is that we be holding close +communion with God. If we have Him in the depths of our hearts, then, +and only then, shall we be 'light in the Lord.' + +And now look at the last point which follows, as I have said, as the +result of the other two. + +III. 'Jerusalem shall be without walls.' + +It is to be like the defenceless villages scattered up and down over +Israel. There is no need for bulwarks of stone. The wall of fire is +round about. The Prophet has a vision of a great city, of a type unknown +in those old times, though familiar to us in our more peaceful days, +where there was no hindrance to expansion by encircling ramparts, no +crowding together of the people because they needed to hide behind the +city walls; and where the growing community could spread out into the +outer suburbs, and have fresh air and ample space. That is the vision of +the manner of city that Jerusalem was to be. It did not come true, but +the ideal was this. It has not yet come true sufficiently in regard to +the churches of to-day, but it ought to be the goal to which they are +tending. The more a Christian community is independent of external +material supports and defences the better. + +I am not going to talk about the policy or impolicy of Established +Churches, as they are called. But it seems to me that the principle that +is enshrined in this vision is their condemnation. Never mind about +stone and lime walls, trust in God and you will not need them, and you +will be strong and 'established' just in the proportion in which you are +cut loose from all dependence upon, and consequent subordination to, the +civil power. + +But there is another thought that I might suggest, though I do not know +that it is directly in the line of the Prophet's vision; and that is--a +Christian Church should neither depend on, nor be cribbed and cramped +by, men-made defences of any kind. Luther tells us somewhere, in his +parabolic way, of people that wept because there were no visible pillars +to hold up the heavens, and were afraid that the sky would fall upon +their heads. No, no, there is no fear of that happening, for an unseen +hand holds them up. A church that hides behind the fortifications of +its grandfathers' erection has no room for expansion; and if it has no +room for expansion it will not long continue as large as it is. It must +either grow greater, or grow, and deserve to grow, less. + +The same thing is true, dear brethren, about ourselves individually. +Zechariah's prophecy was never meant to prevent what he himself helped +to further, the building of the actual walls of the actual city. And our +dependence upon God is not to be so construed as that we are to waive +our own common-sense and our own effort. That is not faith; it is +fanaticism. + +We have to build ourselves round, in this world, with other things than +the 'wall of fire,' but in all our building we have to say, 'Except the +Lord build the house, they labour in vain that build it. Except the Lord +keep the city, the watchers watch in vain.' But yet neither Jerusalem +nor the Church, nor the earthly state of that believer who lives most +fully the life of faith, exhausts this promise. It waits for the day +when the city shall descend, 'like a bride adorned for her husband, +having no need of the sun nor of the moon, for the glory ... lightens +it.' Having walls, indeed, but for splendour, not for defence; and +having gates, which have only one of the functions of a gate--to stand +wide open, to the east and the west, and the north and the south, for +the nations to enter in; and never needing to be barred against enemies +by day, 'for there shall be no night there.' + + +A VISION OF JUDGEMENT AND CLEANSING + + 'And he shewed me Joshua the high priest standing before the Angel + of the Lord, and Satan standing at his right hand to resist him. 2. + And the Lord said unto Satan, The Lord rebuke thee, O Satan; even + the Lord that hath chosen Jerusalem rebuke thee: is not this a + brand plucked out of the fire? 3. Now Joshua was clothed with filthy + garments, and stood before the Angel. 4. And He answered and spake + unto those that stood before Him, saying, Take away the filthy + garments from him. And unto him He said, Behold, I have caused + thine iniquity to pass from thee, and I will clothe thee with + change of raiment. 5. And I said, Let them set a fair mitre upon + his head. So they set a fair mitre upon his head, and clothed him + with garments. And the Angel of the Lord stood by. 6. And the Angel + of the Lord protested unto Joshua, saying, 7. Thus saith the Lord + of Hosts, If thou wilt walk in My ways, and if thou wilt keep My + charge, then thou shalt also judge My house, and shalt also keep My + courts, and I will give thee places to walk among these that stand + by, 8. Hear now, O Joshua the high priest, thou, and thy fellows + that sit before thee: for they are men wondered at: for, behold, I + will bring forth My servant The BRANCH. 9. For behold the stone + that I have laid before Joshua; upon one stone shall be seven eyes: + behold, I will engrave the graving thereof, saith the Lord of + Hosts, and I will remove the iniquity of that land in one day. 10. + In that day, saith the Lord of Hosts, shall ye call every man his + neighbour under the vine and under the fig-tree.'--ZECHARIAH iii. + 1-10. + +Zechariah worked side by side with Haggai to quicken the religious life +of the people, and thus to remove the gravest hindrances to the work of +rebuilding the Temple. Inward indifference, not outward opposition, is +the real reason for slow progress in God's work, and prophets who see +visions and preach repentance are the true practical men. + +This vision followed Haggai's prophecy at the interval of a month. It +falls into two parts--a symbolical vision and a series of promises +founded on it. + +I. The Symbolical Vision (vs. 1-5).--The scene of the vision is left +undetermined, and the absence of any designation of locality gives the +picture the sublimity of indefiniteness. Three figures, seen he knows +not where, stand clear before the Prophet's inward eye. They were shown +him by an unnamed person, who is evidently Jehovah Himself. The real and +the ideal are marvellously mingled in the conception of Joshua the high +priest--the man whom the people saw every day going about +Jerusalem--standing at the bar of God, with Satan as his accuser. The +trial is in process when the Prophet is permitted to see. We do not hear +the pleadings on either side, but the sentence is solemnly recorded. The +accusations are dismissed, their bringer rebuked, and in token of +acquittal, the filthy garments which the accused had worn are changed +for the full festal attire of the high priest. + +What, then, is the meaning of this grand symbolism? The first point to +keep well in view is the representative character of the high priest. He +appears as laden not with individual but national sins. In him Israel +is, as it were, concentrated, and what befalls him is the image of what +befalls the nation. His dirty dress is the familiar symbol of sin; and +he wears it, just as he wore his sacerdotal dress, in his official +capacity, as the embodied nation. He stands before the judgment seat, +bearing not his own but the people's sins. + +Two great truths are thereby taught, which are as true to-day as ever. +The first is that representation is essential to priesthood. It was so +in shadowy and external fashion in Israel; it is so in deepest and most +blessed reality in Christ's priesthood. He stands before God as our +representative--'And the Lord hath made to meet on Him the iniquity of +us all.' If by faith we unite ourselves with Him, there ensues a +wondrous transference of characteristics, so that our sin becomes His, +and His righteousness becomes ours; and that in no mere artificial or +forensic sense, but in inmost reality. Theologians talk of a +_communicatio idiomatum_ as between the human and the divine elements in +Christ. There is an analogous passage of the attributes of either to the +other, in the relation of the believer to his Saviour. + +The second thought in this symbolic appearance of Joshua before the +angel of the Lord is that the sins of God's people are even now present +before His perfect judgment, as reasons for withdrawing from them His +favour. That is a solemn truth, which should never be forgotten. A +Christian man's sins do accuse him at the bar of God. They are all +visible there; and so far as their tendency goes, they are like wedges +driven in to rend him from God. + +But the second figure in the vision is 'the Satan,' standing in the +plaintiff's place at the Judge's right hand, to accuse Joshua. The Old +Testament teaching as to the evil spirit who 'accuses' good men is not +so developed as that of the New, which is quite natural, inasmuch as the +shadow of bright light is deeper than that of faint rays. It is most +full in the latest books, as here and in Job; but doctrinal inferences +drawn from such highly imaginative symbolism as this are precarious. No +one who accepts the authority of our Lord can well deny the existence +and activity of a malignant spirit, who would fain make the most of +men's sins, and use them as a means of separating their doers from God. +That is the conception here. + +But the main stress of the vision lies, not on the accuser or his +accusation, but on the Judge's sentence, which alone is recorded. 'The +Angel of the Lord' is named in verse 1 as the Judge, while the sentence +in verse 2 is spoken by 'the Lord.' It would lead us far away from our +purpose to inquire whether that Angel of the Lord is an earlier +manifestation of the eternal Son, who afterwards became flesh--a kind of +preluding or rehearsing of the Incarnation. But in any case, God so +dwells in Him as that what the Angel says God says and the speaker +varies as in our text. The accuser is rebuked, and God's rebuke is not a +mere word, but brings with it punishment. The malicious accusations have +failed, and their aim is to be gathered from the language which +announces their miscarriage. Obviously Satan sought to procure the +withdrawal of divine favour from Joshua, because of his sin; that is, to +depose the nation from its place as the covenant people, because of its +transgressions of the covenant. Satan here represents what might +otherwise have been called, in theological language, 'the demands of +justice.' The answer given him is deeply instructive as to the grounds +of the divine forbearance. + +Note that Joshua's guilt as the representative of the people is not +denied, but tacitly admitted and actually spoken of in verse 4. Why, +then, does not the accuser have his way? For two reasons. God has chosen +Jerusalem. His great purpose, the fruit of His undeserved mercy, is not +to be turned aside by man's sins. The thought is the same as that of +Jeremiah: 'If heaven above can be measured ... then I will also cast off +all the seed of Israel for all that they have done' (Jer. xxxi. 37). +Again, the fact that Joshua was 'a brand plucked from the burning'--that +is, that the people whom he represented had been brought unconsumed from +the furnace of captivity--is a reason with God for continuing to extend +His favour, though they have sinned. God's past mercies are a motive +with him. Creatural love is limited, and too often says, 'I have +forgiven so often, that I am wearied, and can do it no more.' He _has_, +therefore he _will_. We often come to the end of our long-suffering a +good many times short of the four hundred and ninety a day which Christ +prescribes. But God never does. True, Joshua and his people have sinned, +and that since their restoration, and Satan had a good argument in +pointing to these transgressions; but God does not say, 'I will put back +the half-burned brand in the fire again, since the evil is not burned +out of it,' but forgives again, because He has forgiven before. + +The sentence is followed by the exchange of the filthy garments +symbolical of sin, for the full array of the high priest. Ministering +angels are dimly seen in the background, and are summoned to unclothe +and clothe Joshua. The Prophet ventures to ask that the sacerdotal +attire should be completed by the turban or mitre, probably that +headdress which bore the significant writing 'Holiness to the Lord,' +expressive of the destination of Israel and of its ceremonial cleanness. +The meaning of this change of clothing is given in verse 4: 'I have +caused thine iniquity to pass from thee.' Thus the complete restoration +of the pardoned and cleansed nation to its place as a nation of priests +to Jehovah is symbolised. To us the gospel of forgiveness fills up the +outline in the vision; and we know how, when sin testifies against us, +we have an Advocate with the Father, and how the infinite love flows out +to us notwithstanding all sin, and how the stained garment of our souls +can be stripped off, and the 'fine linen clean and white,' the priestly +dress on the day of atonement, be put on us, and we be made priests unto +God. + +II. The remainder of the vision is the address of the Angel of the Lord +to Joshua, developing the blessings now made sure to him and his people +by this renewed consecration and cleansing. First (verse 7) is the +promise of continuance in office and access to God's presence, which, +however, are contingent on obedience. The forgiven man must keep God's +charge, if he is to retain his standing. On that condition, he has 'a +place of access among those that stand by'; that is, the privilege of +approach to God, like the attendant angels. This promise may be taken as +surpassing the prerogatives hitherto accorded to the high priest, who +had only the right of entrance into the holiest place once a year, but +now is promised the _entree_ to the heavenly court, as if he were one of +the bright spirits who stand there. They who have access with confidence +within the veil because Christ is there, have more than the ancient +promise of this vision. + +The main point of verse 8 is the promise of the Messiah, but the former +part of the verse is remarkable. Joshua and his fellows are summoned to +listen, 'for they are men which are a sign.' The meaning seems to be +that he and his brethren who sat as his assessors in official functions, +are collectively a sign or embodied prophecy of what is to come. Their +restoration to their offices was a shadowy prophecy of a greater act of +forgiving grace, which was to be effected by the coming of the Messiah. + +The name 'Branch' is used here as a proper name. Jeremiah (Jer. xxiii. +5; xxxiii. 15) had already employed it as a designation of Messiah, +which he had apparently learned from Isaiah iv. 2. The idea of the word +is that of the similar names used by Isaiah, 'a shoot out of the stock +of Jesse, and a Branch out of his roots' (Isaiah xi. 1), and 'a tender +plant, and as a root out of a dry ground' (Isaiah liii. 2); namely, that +of his origin from the fallen house of David, and the lowliness of his +appearance. + +The Messiah is again meant by the 'stone' in verse 9. Probably there was +some great stone taken from the ruins, to which the symbol attaches +itself. The foundation of the second Temple had been laid years before +the prophecy, but the stone may still have been visible. The Rabbis have +much to say about a great stone which had been in the first Temple, and +there used for the support of the ark, but in the second was set in the +empty place where the ark should have been. Isaiah had prophesied of the +'tried corner-stone' laid in Zion, and Psalm cxviii. 22 had sung of the +stone rejected and made the head of the corner. We go in the track, +then, of established usage, when we see in this stone the emblem of +Messiah, and associate with it all thoughts of firmness, preciousness, +support, foundation of the true Temple, basis of hope, ground of +certitude, and whatever other substratum of fixity and immovableness +men's hearts or lives need. In all possible aspects of the metaphor, +Jesus is the Foundation. + +And what are the 'seven eyes on the stone'? That may simply be a vivid +way of saying that the fulness of divine Providence would watch over the +Messiah, bringing Him when the time was ripe, and fitting Him for His +work. But if we remember the subsequent explanation (iv. 10) of the +'seven,' as 'the eyes of the Lord which run to and fro through the whole +earth,' and connect this with Revelation v. 6, we can scarcely rest +content with that meaning, but find here the deeper thought that the +fulness of the divine Spirit was given to Messiah, even as Isaiah (xi. +2) prophesies of the sevenfold Spirit. + +'I will engrave the graving thereof' is somewhat obscure. It seems to +mean that the seven eyes will be cut on the stone, like masons' marks. +If the seven eyes are the full energies of the Holy Spirit, God's +cutting of them on the stone is equivalent to His giving them to His +Son; and the fulfilment of the promise was when He gave the Holy Spirit +not 'by measure unto Him.' + +The blessed purpose of Messiah's coming and endowment with the Spirit is +gloriously stated in the last clause of verse 9: 'I will remove the +iniquity of that land in one day.' Jesus Christ has 'once for all' made +atonement, as the Epistle to the Hebrews so often says. The better +Joshua by one offering has taken away sin. 'The breadth of Thy land, O +Immanuel,' stretched far beyond the narrow bounds which Zechariah knew +for Israel's territory. It includes the whole world. As has been +beautifully said, 'That one day is the day of Golgotha.' + +The vision closes with a picture of the felicity of Messianic times, +which recalls the description of the golden age of Solomon, when 'Judah +and Israel dwelt safely, every man under his vine and under his +fig-tree' (1 Kings iv. 25). In like manner the nation, cleansed, +restored to its priestly privilege of free access to God by the Messiah +who comes with the fulness of the Spirit, shall dwell in safety, and +shall be knit together by friendship, and unenvyingly shall each share +his good with all others, recognising in every man a neighbour, and +gladly welcoming him to partake of all the blessings which the true +Solomon has brought to his house and heart. + + +THE RIGHT OF ENTRY + + 'I will give thee places to walk among these that stand + by.'--ZECHARIAH iii. 7. + +A WORD or two of explanation will probably be necessary in order to see +the full meaning of this great promise. The Prophet has just been +describing a vision of judgment which he saw, in which the high priest, +as representative of the nation, stood before the Angel of the Lord as +an unclean person. He is cleansed and clothed, his foul raiment stripped +off him, and a fair priestly garment, with 'Holiness to the Lord' +written on the front of it, put upon him. And then follow a series of +promises, of which the climax is the one that I have read. 'I will give +thee a place of access,' says the Revised Version, instead of 'places to +walk'; 'I will give thee a place of access among those that stand by'; +the attendant angels are dimly seen surrounding their Lord. And so the +promise of my text, in highly figurative fashion, is that of free and +unrestrained approach to God, of a life that is like that of the angels +that stand before His Face. + +So, then, the words suggest to us, first, what a Christian life may be. + +There are two images blended together in the great words of my text; the +one is that of a king's court, the other is that of a temple. With +regard to the former it is a privilege given to the highest nobles of a +kingdom--or it was so in old days--to have the right of _entree_, at all +moments and in all circumstances, to the monarch. With regard to the +latter, the prerogative of the high priest, who was the recipient of +this promise, as to access to the Temple, was a very restricted one. +Once a year, with the blood that prevented his annihilation by the +brightness of the Presence into which he ventured, he passed within the +veil, and stood before that mysterious Light that coruscated in the +darkness of the Holy of Holies. But this High Priest is promised an +access on all days and at all times; and that He may stand there, beside +and like the seraphim, who with one pair of wings veiled their faces in +token of the incapacity of the creature to behold the Creator; 'with +twain veiled their feet' in token of the unworthiness of creatural +activities to be set before Him, 'and with twain did fly' in token of +their willingness to serve Him with all their energies. This Priest +passes within the veil when He will. Or, to put away the two metaphors, +and to come to the reality far greater than either of them, we can, +whensoever we please, pass into the presence before which the splendours +of an earthly monarch's court shrink into vulgarity, and attain to a +real reception of the light that irradiates the true Holy Place, before +which that which shone in the earthly shrine dwindles and darkens into a +shadow. We may live with God, and in Him, and wrap a veil and 'privacy +of glorious light' about us, whilst we pilgrim upon earth, and may have +hidden lives which, notwithstanding all their surface occupation with +the distractions and duties and enjoyments of the present, deep down in +their centres are knit to God. Our lives may on the outside thus be +largely amongst the things seen and temporal, and yet all the while may +penetrate through these, and lay hold with their true roots on the +eternal. If we have any religious life at all, the measure in which we +possess it is the measure in which we may ever more dwell in the house +of the Lord, and have our hearts in the secret place of the Most High, +amid the stillnesses and the sanctities of His immediate dwelling. + +Our Master is the great Example of this, of whom it is said, not only +in reference to His mysterious and unique union of nature with the +Father in His divinity, but in reference to the humanity which He had in +common with us all, yet without sin, that the Son of Man came down from +heaven, and even in the act of coming, and when He had come, was yet the +Son of Man 'which _is in heaven_.' Thus we, too, may have 'a place of +access among them that stand by,' and not need to envy the angels and +the spirits of the just made perfect, the closeness of their communion, +and the vividness of their vision, for the same, in its degree, may be +ours. We, too, can turn all our desires into petitions, and of every +wish make a prayer. We, too can refer all our needs to His infinite +supply. We, too may consciously connect all our doings with His will and +His glory; and for us it is possible that there shall be, as if borne on +those electric wires that go striding across pathless deserts, and carry +their messages through unpeopled solitudes, between Him and us a +communication unbroken and continuous, which, by a greater wonder than +even that of the telegraph, shall carry two messages, going opposite +ways simultaneously, bearing to Him the swift aspirations and +supplications of our spirits, and bringing to us the abundant answer of +His grace. Such a conversation in heaven, and such association with the +bands of the blessed is possible even for a life upon earth. + +Secondly, let us consider this promise as a pattern for us of what +Christian life should be, and, alas! so seldom is. + +All privilege is duty, and everything that is possible for any Christian +man to become, it is imperative on him to aim at. There is no greater +sin than living beneath the possibilities of our lives, in any region, +whether religious or other it matters not. Sin is not only going +contrary to the known law of God, but also a falling beneath a divine +ideal which is capable of realisation. And in regard to our Christian +life, if God has flung open His temple-gates and said to us, 'Come in, +My child, and dwell in the secret place of the Most High, and abide +there under the shadow of the Almighty, finding protection and communion +and companionship in My worship,' there can be nothing more insulting to +Him, and nothing more fatally indicative of the alienation of our hearts +from Him, than that we should refuse to obey the merciful invitation. + +What should we say of a subject who never presented himself in the court +to which he had the right of free _entree?_ His absence would be a mark +of disloyalty, and would be taken as a warning-bell in preparation for +his rebellion. What should we say of a son or a daughter, living in the +same city with their parents, who never crossed the threshold of the +father's house, but that they had lost the spirit of a child, and that +if there was no desire to be near there could be no love? + +So, if we will ask ourselves, 'How often do I use this possibility of +communion with God, which might irradiate all my daily life?' I think we +shall need little else, in the nature of evidence, that our piety and +our religious experience are terribly stunted and dwarfed, in comparison +with what they ought to be. + +There is an old saying, 'He that can tell how often he has thought of +God in a day has thought of Him too seldom.' I dare say many of us would +have little difficulty in counting on the fingers of one hand, and +perhaps not needing them all, the number of times in which, to-day, our +thoughts have gone heavenwards. What we may be is what we ought to be, +and not to use the prerogatives of our position is the worst of sins. + +Again, my text suggests to us what every Christian life will hereafter +perfectly be. + +Some commentators take the words of my text to refer only to the +communion of saints from the earth, with the glorified angels, in and +after the Resurrection. That is a poor interpretation, for heaven is +here to-day. But still there is a truth in the interpretation which we +need not neglect. Only let us remember that nothing--so far as Scripture +teaches us--begins yonder except the full reaping of the fruits of what +has been sown here, and that if a man's feet have not learned the path +into the Temple when he was here upon earth, death will not be the guide +for him into the Father's presence. All that here has been imperfect, +fragmentary, occasional, interrupted, and marred in our communion with +God, shall one day be complete. And then, oh! then, who can tell what +undreamed-of depths and sweetnesses of renewed communion and of +intercourses begun, for the first time then, between 'those that stand +by,' and have stood there for ages, will then be realised? + +'Ye are come'--even here on earth--'to an innumerable company of angels, +to the general assembly and Church of the first-born,' but for us all +there may be the quiet hope that hereafter we shall 'dwell in the house +of the Lord for ever'; and 'in solemn troops and sweet societies' shall +learn what fellowship, and brotherhood, and human love may be. + +Lastly, notice, not from my text but from its context, how any life may +become thus privileged. + +The promise is preceded by a condition: 'If thou wilt walk in My ways, +and if thou wilt keep My charge, then ... I will give thee access among +those that stand by.' That is to say, you cannot keep the consciousness +of God's presence, nor have any blessedness of communion with Him, if +you are living in disobedience of His commandments or in neglect of +manifest duty. A thin film of vapour in our sky tonight will hide the +moon. Though the vapour itself may be invisible, it will be efficacious +as a veil. And any sin, great or small, fleecy and thin, will suffice to +shut me out from God. If we are keeping His commandments, then, and only +then, shall we have access with free hearts into His presence. + +But to lay down that condition seems the same thing as slamming the door +in every man's face. But let us remember what went before my text, the +experience of the priest to whom it was spoken in the vision. His filthy +garments were stripped off him, and the pure white robes worn on the +great Day of Atonement, the sacerdotal dress, were put upon him. It is +the _cleansed_ man that has access among 'those that stand by.' And if +you ask how the cleansing is to be effected, take the great words of the +Epistle to the Hebrews as an all-sufficient answer, coinciding with, but +transcending, what this vision taught Zechariah: 'Having, therefore, +brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest of all, by the blood of +Jesus, ... and having a High Priest over the house of God; let us draw +near with a true heart, in full assurance of faith, having our hearts +sprinkled from an evil conscience.' Cleansed by Christ, and with Him for +our Forerunner, we have boldness and 'access with confidence by the +faith of Him,' who proclaims to the whole world, 'No man cometh to the +Father but by Me.' + + +THE SOURCE OF POWER + + 'And the Angel that talked with me came again, and waked me, as a + man that is wakened out of his sleep, 2. And said unto me, What + seest thou? And I said, I have looked, and behold, a candlestick + all of gold, with a bowl upon the top of it, and his seven lamps + thereon, and seven pipes to the seven lamps which are upon the top + thereof: 3. And two olive-trees by it, one upon the right side of + the bowl, and the other upon the left side thereof. 4. So I + answered and spake to the Angel that talked with me, saying, What + are these, my Lord? 5. Then the Angel that talked with me answered + and said unto me, Knowest thou not what these be? And I said, No, + my Lord. 6. Then He answered and spake unto me, saying, This is the + word of the Lord unto Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might, nor by + power, but by My Spirit, saith the Lord of Hosts. 7. Who art thou, + O great mountain? before Zerubbabel thou shalt become a plain: and + he shall bring forth the headstone thereof with shoutings, crying, + Grace, grace unto it. 8. Moreover, the word of the Lord came unto + me, saying, 9. The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of + this house; his hands shall also finish it; and thou shalt know + that the Lord of Hosts hath sent me unto you. 10. For who hath + despised the day of small things? for they shall rejoice, and shall + see the plummet in the hand of Zerubbabel with those seven; they + are the eyes of the Lord, which run to and fro through the whole + earth.'--ZECHARIAH iv. 1-10. + +THE preceding vision had reference to Joshua the priest, and showed him +restored to his prerogative of entrance into the sanctuary. This one +concerns his colleague Zerubbabel, the representative of civil power, as +he of ecclesiastical, and promises that he shall succeed in rebuilding +the Temple. The supposition is natural that the actual work of +reconstruction was mainly in the hands of the secular ruler. + +Flesh is weak, and the Prophet had fallen into deep sleep, after the +tension of the previous vision. That had been shown him by Jehovah, but +in this vision we have the same angel interpreter who had spoken with +Zechariah before. He does not bring the vision, but simply wakes the +Prophet that he may see it, and directs his attention to it by the +question, 'What seest thou?' The best way to teach is to make the +learner put his conceptions into definite words. We see things more +clearly, and they make a deeper impression, when we tell what we see. +How many lazy looks we give at things temporal as well as at things +eternal, after which we should be unable to answer the Angel's question! +It is not every one who sees what he looks at. + +The passage has two parts--the vision and its interpretation, with +related promises. + +The vision may be briefly disposed of. Its original is the great lamp +which stood in the tabernacle, and was replaced in the Solomonic Temple +by ten smaller ones. These had been carried away at the Captivity, and +we do not read of their restoration. But the main thing to note is the +differences between this lamp and the one in the tabernacle. The +description here confines itself to these: They are three--the 'bowl' or +reservoir above the lamp, the pipes from it to the seven lights, and the +two olive-trees which stood on either side of the lamp and replenished +from their branches the supply in the reservoir. The tabernacle lamp had +no reservoir, and consequently no pipes, but was fed with oil by the +priests. The meaning of the variations, then, is plain. They were +intended to express the fuller and more immediately divine supply of +oil. If the Revised Version's rendering of the somewhat doubtful +numerals in verse 2 be accepted, each several light had seven pipes, +thus expressing the perfection of its supplies. + +Now, there can be no doubt about the symbolism of the tabernacle lamp. +It represented the true office of Israel, as it rayed out its beams into +the darkness of the desert. It meant the same thing as Christ's words, +'Ye are the light of the world,' and as the vision of the seven golden +candlesticks, in Revelation i. 12, 13, 20. The substitution of separate +lamps for one with seven lights may teach the difference between the +mere formal unity of the people of God in the Old Testament and the true +oneness, conjoined with diversity, in the New Testament Church, which is +one because Christ walks in the midst. Zechariah's lamp, then, called to +the minds of the little band of restored exiles their high vocation, and +the changed arrangements for the supply of that oil, which is the +standing emblem for divine communications fitting for service, or, to +keep to the metaphor, fitting to shine, signified the abundance of +these. + +The explanation of the vision is introduced, as at Zechariah i. 9, 19, +by the Prophet's question of its meaning. His angelic teacher is +astonished at his dullness, as indeed heavenly eyes must often be at +ours, and asks if he does not know so familiar an object. The Prophet's +'No, my Lord,' brings full explanation. Ingenuously acknowledged +ignorance never asks Heaven for enlightenment in vain. + +First, the true source of strength and success, as shown by the vision, +is declared in plain terms. What fed the lamp? Oil, which symbolises +the gift of a divine Spirit, if not in the full personal sense as in the +New Testament, yet certainly as a God-breathed influence, preparing +prophets, priests, kings, and even artificers, for their several forms +of service. Whence came the oil? From the two olive-trees, which though, +as verse 14 shows, they represented the two leaders, yet set forth the +truth that their power for their work was from God; for the Bible knows +nothing of 'nature' as a substitute for or antithesis to God, and the +growth of the olive and its yield of oil is His doing. + +This, then, was the message for Zerubbabel and his people, that God +would give such gifts as they needed, in order that the light which He +Himself had kindled should not be quenched. If the lamp was fed with +oil, it would burn, and there would be a Temple for it to stand in. If +we try to imagine the feebleness of the handful of discouraged men, and +the ring of enemies round them, we may feel the sweetness of the promise +which bade them not despond because they had little of what the world +calls might. + +We all need the lesson; for the blustering world is apt to make us +forget the true source of all real strength for holy service or for +noble living. The world's power at its mightiest is weak, and the +Church's true power, at her feeblest, is omnipotent, if only she grasps +the strength which is hers, and takes the Spirit which is given. The +eternal antithesis of man's weakness at his haughtiest, and God's +strength even in its feeblest possessors, is taught by that lamp +flaming, whatever envious hands or howling storms might seek to quench +it, because fed by oil from on high. Let us keep to God's strength, and +not corrupt His oil with mixtures of foul-smelling stuff of our own +compounding. + +Next, in the strength of that revelation of the source of might a +defiant challenge is blown to the foe. The 'great mountain' is primarily +the frowning difficulties which lifted themselves against Zerubbabel's +enterprise, and more widely the whole mass of worldly opposition +encountered by God's servants in every age. It seems to bar all advance; +but an unseen Hand crushes it down, and flattens it out into a level, on +which progress is easy. The Hebrew gives the suddenness and completeness +of the transformation with great force; for the whole clause, 'Thou +shalt become a plain,' is one word in the original. + +Such triumphant rising above difficulties is not presumption when it has +been preceded by believing gaze on the source of strength. If we have +taken to heart the former words of the Prophet, we shall not be in +danger of rash overconfidence when we calmly front obstacles in the path +of duty, assured that every mountain shall be made low. A brave scorn of +the world, both in its sweetnesses and its terrors, befits God's men, +and is apt to fulfil its own confidences; for most of these terrors are +like ghosts, who will not wait to be spoken to, but melt away if fairly +faced. Nor should we forget the other side of this thought; namely, that +it is the constant drift of Providence to abase the lofty in mind, and +to raise the lowly. What is high is sure to get many knocks which pass +over lower heads. To men of faith every mountain shall either become a +plain or be cast into the sea. + +Then follows, on the double revelation of the source of strength and the +futility of opposition, the assurance of the successful completion of +the work. The stone which is to crown the structure shall be brought +forth and set in its place amid jubilant prayers not offered in vain, +that 'grace'--that is, the protecting favour of God--may rest on it. + +The same thought is reiterated and enlarged in the next 'word,' which is +somewhat separated from the former, as if the flow of prophetic +communication had paused for a moment, and then been resumed. In verse 9 +we have the assurance, so seldom granted to God's workers, that +Zerubbabel shall be permitted to complete the task which he had begun. +It is the fate of most of us to inherit unfinished work from our +predecessors, and to bequeath the like to our successors. And in one +aspect, all human work is unfinished, as being but a fragment of the +fulfilment of the mighty purpose which runs through all the ages. Yet +some are more happy than others, in that they see an approximate +completion of their work. But whether it be so or not, our task is to +'do the little we can do, and leave the rest with God,' sure that He +will work all the fragments into a perfect whole, and content to do the +smallest bit of service for Him. Few of us are strong enough to do +separate building. We are like coral insects, whose reef is one, though +its makers are millions. + +Zerubbabel finished his task, but its end was but a new beginning of an +order of things of which he did not see the end. There are no beginnings +or endings, properly speaking, in human affairs, but all is one unbroken +flow. One man only has made a real new beginning, and that is Jesus +Christ; and He only will really carry His work to its very last issues. +He is Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending. He is the +Foundation of the true Temple, and He is also the Headstone of the +corner, the foundation on which all rests, the apex to which all runs +up. 'When He begins, He will also make an end.' + +The completion of the work is to be the token that the 'angel who spake +with me' was God's messenger. We can know that before the fulfilment, +but we cannot but know it after. Better to be sure that the message is +from God while yet the certainty is the result of faith, than to be sure +of it afterwards, when the issue has shattered and shamed our doubts. + +If we realise that God's Spirit is the guarantee for the success of work +done for God, we shall escape the vulgar error of measuring the +importance of things by their size, as, no doubt, many of these builders +were doing. No one will help on the day of great things who despises +that of small ones. They say that the seeds of the 'big trees' in +California are the smallest of all the conifers. I do not vouch for the +truth of the statement, but God's work always begins with little seeds, +as the history of the Church and of every good cause shows. 'What do +these feeble Jews?' sneered the spectators of their poor little walls, +painfully piled up, over which a fox could jump. They did very little, +but they were building the city of God, which has outlasted all the +mockers. + +Men might look with contempt on the humble beginning, but other eyes +than theirs looked at it with other emotions. The eyes which in the last +vision were spoken of as directed on the foundation stone, gaze on the +work with joy. These are the seven eyes of 'the Lord,' which are 'the +seven Spirits of God, sent forth into all the earth' (Rev. v. 6). The +Spirit is here contemplated in the manifoldness of His operations rather +than in the unity of His person. Thus the closing assurance, which +involves the success of the work, since God's eyes rest on it with +delight, comes round to the first declaration, 'Not by might, not by +power, but by My Spirit.' Note the strong contrast between 'despise' and +'rejoice.' What matter the scoffs of mockers, if God approves? What are +they but fools who look at that which moves His joy, and find in it only +food for scorn? What will become of their laughter at last? If we try to +get so near God as to see things with His eyes, we shall be saved from +many a false estimate of what is great and what is small, and may have +our own poor little doings invested with strange dignity, because He +deigns to behold and bless them. + + +THE FOUNDER AND FINISHER OF THE TEMPLE + + 'The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house; + his hands shall also finish it.'--ZECHARIAH iv. 9. + +I am afraid that Zerubbabel is very little more than a grotesque name to +most Bible-readers, so I may be allowed a word of explanation as to him +and as to the original force of my text. He was a prince of the blood +royal of Israel, and the civil leader of the first detachment of +returning exiles. With Joshua, the high priest, he came, at the head of +a little company, to Palestine, and there pathetically attempted, with +small resources, to build up some humble house that might represent the +vanished glories of Solomon's Temple. Political enmity on the part of +the surrounding tribes stopped the work for nearly twenty years. During +all that time, the hole in the ground, where the foundations had been +dug and a few courses of stones been laid, gaped desolate, a sad +reminder to the feeble band of the failure of their hopes. But with the +accession of a new Persian king, new energy sprang up, and new, +favourable circumstances developed themselves. The Prophet Zechariah +came to the front, although quite a young man, and became the mainspring +of the renewed activity in building the Temple. The words of my text +are, of course, in their plain, original meaning, the prophetic +assurance that the man, grown an old man by this time, who had been +honoured to take the first spadeful of soil out of the earth should be +the man 'to bring forth the headstone with shoutings of Grace, grace +unto it!' + +But whilst that is the original application, and whilst the words open +to us a little door into long years of constrained suspension of work +and discouraged hope, I think we shall not be wrong if we recognise in +them something deeper than a reference to the Prince of David's line, +concerning whom they were originally spoken. I take them to be, in the +true sense of the term, a Messianic prophecy; and I take it that, just +because Zerubbabel, a member of that royal house from which the Messiah +was to come, was the builder of the Temple, he was a prophetic person. +What was true about him primarily is thereby shown to have a bearing +upon the greater Son of David who was to come thereafter, and who was to +build the Temple of the Lord. In that aspect I desire to look at the +words now: 'His hands have laid the foundation of the house, and His +hands shall also finish it.' + +I. There is, then, here a large truth as to Christ, the true +Temple-builder. + +It is the same blessed message which was given from His own lips long +centuries after, when He spoke from heaven to John in Patmos, and said, +'I am Alpha and Omega, the First and the Last.' The first letter of the +Greek alphabet, and the last letter of the Greek alphabet, and all the +letters that lie between, and all the words that you can make out of the +letters--they are all from Him, and He underlies everything. + +Now that is true about creation, in the broadest and in the most +absolute sense. For what does the New Testament say, with the consenting +voice of all its writers? 'In the beginning was the Word, and the Word +was with God, and the Word was God. Without Him was not anything made +that was made.' His hands laid the foundations of this great house of +the universe, with its 'many mansions.' And what says Paul? 'He is the +Beginning, in Him all things consist' ... 'that in all things He might +have the pre-eminence.' And what says He Himself from heaven? 'I am the +First and the Last.' So, in regard to everything in the universe, Christ +is its origin, and Christ is its goal and its end. He 'has laid the +foundation, and His hands shall also finish it.' + +But, further, we turn to the application which is the more usual one, +and say that He is the Beginner and Finisher of the work of redemption, +which is His only from its inception to its accomplishment, from the +first breaking of the ground for the foundations of the Temple to the +triumphant bringing forth of the last stone that crowns the corner and +gleams on the topmost pinnacle of the completed structure. There is +nothing about Jesus Christ, as it seems to me, more manifest, unless our +eyes are blinded by prejudice, than that the Carpenter of Nazareth, who +grew up amidst the ordinary conditions of infant manhood, was trained as +other Jewish children, increased in wisdom, spoke a language that had +been moulded by man, and inherited His nation's mental and spiritual +equipment, yet stands forth on the pages of these four Gospels as a +perfectly original man, to put it on the lowest ground, and as owing +nothing to any predecessor, and not as merely one in a series, or +naturally accounted for by reference to His epoch or conditions. He +makes a new beginning; He presents a perfectly fresh thing in the +history of human nature. Just as His coming was the introduction into +the heart of humanity of a new type, the second Adam, the Lord from +heaven, so the work that He does is all His own. He does it all Himself, +for all that His servants do in carrying out the purposes dear to His +heart is done by His working in and through them, and though we are +fellow-labourers with Him, His hands alone lay every stone of the +Temple. + +Not only does my text, in its highest application, point to Jesus Christ +as the Author of redemption from its very beginning, but it also +declares that all through the ages His hand is at work. 'Shall also +finish it'--then He is labouring at it now; and we have not to think of +a Christ who once worked, and has left to us the task of developing the +consequences of His completed activity, but of a Christ who is working +on and on, steadily and persistently. The builders of some great +edifice, whilst they are laying its lower courses, are down upon our +level, and as the building rises the scaffolding rises, and sometimes +the platform where they stand is screened off by some frail canvas +stretched round it, so that we cannot see them as they ply their work +with trowel and mortar. So Christ came down to earth to lay the courses +of His Temple that had to rest upon earth, but now the scaffolding is +raised and He is working at the top stories. Though out of our sight, He +is at work as truly and energetically as He was when He was down here. +You remember how strikingly one of the Evangelists puts that thought in +the last words of his Gospel--if, indeed, they are his words. 'He was +received up into heaven, and sat at the right hand of God, and they went +everywhere, preaching the word.' Well, that looks as if there were a sad +separation between the Commander and the soldiers that He had ordered to +the front, as if He were sitting at ease on a hill overlooking the +battlefield from a safe distance and sending His men to death. But the +next words bring Him and them together--'The Lord also working with +them, and confirming the word with signs following.' And so, brethren, a +work begun, continued, and ended by the same immortal Hand, is the work +on which the redemption of the world depends. + +II. Notice, secondly, that we have here the assurance of the triumph of +the Gospel. + +No doubt, in the long-forgotten days in which my text was spoken, there +were plenty of over-prudent calculators in the little band of exiles who +said, 'What is the use of our trying to build in face of all this +opposition and with these poor resources of ours?' They would throw cold +water enough on the works of Zerubbabel, and on Zechariah who inspired +them. But there came the great word of promise to them, 'He shall bring +forth the headstone with shoutings.' The text is the cure for all such +calculations by us Christian people, and by others than Christian +people. When we begin to count up resources, and to measure these +against the work to be done, there is little wonder if good men and bad +men sometimes concur in thinking that the Gospel of Jesus Christ has +very little chance of conquering the world. And that is perfectly true, +unless you take Him into the calculation, and then the probabilities +look altogether different. We are but like a long row of ciphers, but +put one significant figure in front of the row of ciphers and it comes +to be of value. And so, if you are calculating the probabilities of the +success of Christianity in the world and forget to start with Christ, +you have left out the principal factor in the problem. Churches lose +their fervour, their members die and pass away. He renews and purifies +the corrupted Church, and He liveth for ever. Therefore, because we may +say, with calm confidence, 'His hands have laid the foundation of the +house, and His hands are at work on all the courses of it as it rises,' +we may be perfectly sure that the Temple which He founded, at which He +still toils, shall be completed, and not stand a gaunt ruin, looking on +which passers-by will mockingly say, 'This man began to build and was +not able to finish.' When Brennus conquered Rome, and the gold for the +city's ransom was being weighed, he clashed his sword into the scale to +outweigh the gold. Christ's sword is in the scale, and it weighs more +than the antagonism of the world and the active hostility of hell. 'His +hands have laid the foundation; His hands shall also finish it.' + +III. Still further, here is encouragement for despondent and timid +Christians. + +Jesus Christ is not going to leave you half way across the bog. That is +not His manner of guiding us. He began; He will finish. Remember the +words of Paul which catch up this same thought: 'Being confident of this +very thing, that He which hath begun a good work in you will perfect the +same until the day of Jesus Christ.' Brethren! if the seed of the +kingdom is in our hearts, though it be but as a grain of mustard seed, +be sure of this, that He will watch over it and bless the springing +thereof. So, although when we think of ourselves, our own slowness of +progress, our own feeble resolutions, our own wayward hearts, our own +vacillating wills, our many temptations, our many corruptions, our many +follies, we may well say to ourselves, 'Will there ever be any greater +completeness in this terribly imperfect Christian character of mine than +there is to-day?' Let us be of good cheer, and not think only of +ourselves, but much rather of Him who works on and in and for us. If we +lift up our hearts to Him, and keep ourselves near Him, and let Him +work, He will work. If we do not--like the demons in the old monastic +stories, who every night pulled down the bit of walling that the monks +had in the daytime built for their new monastery--by our own hands pull +down what He, by His hand, has built up, the structure will rise, and we +shall be 'builded together for a habitation of God through the Spirit.' +Be of good cheer, only keep near the Master, and let Him do what He +desires to do for us all. God is 'faithful who hath called us to the +fellowship of His Son,' and He also will do it. + +IV. Lastly, here is a striking contrast to the fate which attends all +human workers. + +There are very few of us who even partially seem to be happy enough to +begin and finish any task, beyond the small ones of our daily life. +Authors die, with books half finished, with sentences half finished +sometimes, where the pen has been laid down. No man starts an entirely +fresh line of action; he inherits much from his past. No man completes a +great work that he undertakes; he leaves it half-finished, and coming +generations, if it is one of the great historical works of the world, +work out its consequences for good or for evil. The originator has to be +contented with setting the thing going and handing on unfinished tasks +to his successors. That is the condition under which we live. We have to +be contented to do our little bit of work, that will fit in along with +that of a great many others, like a chain of men who stand between a +river and a burning house, and pass the buckets from end to end. How +many hands does it take to make a pin? How many did it take to make the +cloth of our dress? The shepherd out in Australia, the packer in +Melbourne, the sailors on the ship that brought the wool home, the +railwayman that took it to Bradford, the spinner, the weaver, the dyer, +the finisher, the tailor--they all had a hand in it, and the share of +none of them was fit to stand upright by itself, as it were, without +something on either side of it to hold it up. + +So it is in all our work in the world, and eminently in our Christian +work. We have to be contented with being parts of a mighty whole, to do +our small piece of service, and not to mind though it cannot be singled +out in the completed whole. What does that matter, as long as it is +there? The waters of the brook are lost in the river, and it, in turn, +in the sea. But each drop is there, though indistinguishable. + +Multiplication of joy comes from division of labour, 'One soweth and +another reapeth,' and the result is that there are two to be glad over +the harvest instead of one--'that he that soweth and he that reapeth may +rejoice together.' So it is a good thing that the hands that laid the +foundations so seldom are the hands that finish the work; for thereby +there are more admitted into the social gladness of the completed +results. The navvy that lifted the first spadeful of earth in excavating +for the railway line, and the driver of the locomotive over the +completed track, are partners in the success and in the joy. The +forgotten bishop who, I know not how many centuries ago, laid the +foundations of Cologne Cathedral, and the workmen who, a few years +since, took down the old crane that had stood for long years on the +spire, and completed it to the slender apex, were partners in one work +that reached through the ages. + +So let us do our little bit of work, and remember that whilst we do it, +He for whom we are doing it is doing it in us, and let us rejoice to +know that at the last we shall share in the 'joy of our Lord,' when He +sees of the travail of His soul and is satisfied. Though He builds all +Himself, yet He will let us have the joy of feeling that we are +labourers together with Him. 'Ye are God's building'; but the Builder +permits us to share in His task and in His triumph. + + +THE PRIEST OF THE WORLD AND KING OF MEN + + 'He shall build the Temple of the Lord ... and He shall be a Priest + upon His throne.'--ZECHARIAH vi. 13. + +A handful of feeble exiles had come back from their Captivity. 'The holy +and beautiful house' where their fathers praised Him was burned with +fire. There was no king among them, but they still possessed a +representative of the priesthood, the other great office of divine +appointment. Their first care was to rear some poor copy of the Temple; +and the usual difficulties that attend reconstruction of any sort, and +dog every movement that rests upon religious enthusiasm, beset them +--strong enemies, and half-hearted friends, and personal jealousies +weakening still more their weak forces. In this time of anarchy, of toil +at a great task with inadequate resources, of despondency that was +rapidly fulfilling its own forebodings, the Prophet, who was the spring +of the whole movement, receives a word in season from the Lord. He is +bidden to take from some of the returned exiles the tribute-money which +they had brought, and having made of it golden and silver crowns--the +sign of kingship--to set them on the high priest's head, thus uniting +the sacerdotal and regal offices, which had always been jealously +separated in Israel. This singular action is explained, by the words +which he is commanded to speak, as being a symbolic prophecy of Him who +is 'the Branch'--the well-known name which older prophets had used for +the Messiah--indicating that in Him were the reality which the +priesthood shadowed, and the rule which was partly delegated to Israel's +king as well as the power which should rear the true temple of God among +men. + +It is in accordance with the law of prophetic development from the +beginning, that the external circumstances of the nation at the moment +should supply the mould into which the promise is run. The earliest of +all Messianic predictions embraced only the existence of evil, as +represented by the serpent, and the conquest of it by one who was known +but as a son of Eve. When the history reaches the patriarchal stage, +wherein the family is the predominant conception, the prophecy +proportionately advances to the assurance, 'In thy seed shall all the +families of the earth be blessed.' When the mission of Moses had made +the people familiar with the idea of a man who was the medium of +revelation, then a further stage was reached--'a Prophet shall the Lord +your God raise up unto you, of your brethren, like unto me.' The kingdom +of David prepared the way for the prediction of the royal dignity of the +Messiah, as the peaceful reign of Solomon for the expectation of one who +should bring peace by righteousness. The approach of national disaster +and sorrow was reflected in Isaiah's vision of the suffering Messiah, +and that prophet's announcements of exile had for their counterpoise the +proclamation of Him who should bring liberty to the captive. So, here, +the kingless band of exiles, painfully striving to rear again the +tabernacle which had fallen down, are heartened for their task by the +thought of the priest-king of the nation, the builder of an imperishable +dwelling-place for God. + +To-day we need these truths not less than Zechariah's contemporaries +did. And, thank God! we can believe that, for every modern perplexity, +the blessed old words carry the same strength and consolation. If kings +seem to have perished from among men, if authorities are dying out, and +there are no names of power that can rally the world--yet there is a +Sovereign. If old institutions are crumbling, and must still further +decay ere the site for a noble structure be cleared, yet He shall build +the Temple. If priest be on some lips a name of superstitious folly, and +on others a synonym for all that is despised as effete in religion, yet +this Priest abideth for ever, the guide and the hope for the history of +humanity and for the individual spirit. Let us, then, put ourselves +under the Prophet's guidance, and consider the eternal truths which he +preaches to us too. + +I. The true hope of the world is a priest. + +The idea of priesthood is universal. It has been distorted and abused; +it has been made the foundation of spiritual tyranny. The priest has not +been the teacher nor the elevator of the people. All over the world he +has been the ally of oppression and darkness, he has hindered and +cramped social and intellectual progress. And yet, in spite of all this, +there the office stands, and wherever men go, by some strange perversity +they take with them this idea, and choose from among themselves those +who, being endowed with some sort of ceremonial and symbolic purity, +shall discharge for their brethren the double office of representing +them before God, of representing God to them. That is what the world +means, with absolute and entire unanimity, by a priest--one who shall be +sacrificer, intercessor, representative; bearer of man's worship, +channel of God's blessing. How comes it, that, in spite of all the +cruelties and lies that have gathered round the office, it lives, +indestructible, among the families of men? Why, because it springs from, +and corresponds to, real and universal wants in their nature. It is the +result of the universal consciousness of sin. Men feel that there is a +gulf betwixt them and God. They know themselves to be all foul. True, as +their knowledge of God dims and darkens, their conscience hardens and +their sense of sin lessens; but, as long as there is any notion of God +at all, there will be a parallel and corresponding conviction of moral +evil. And so, feeling that, and feeling it, as I believe, not because +they are rude and barbarous, but because, though rude and barbarous, +they still preserve some trace of their true relation to God, they lay +hold upon some of their fellows, and say, 'Here! be thou for us this +thing which we cannot be for ourselves--stand thou there in front of us, +and be at once the expression of our knowledge that we dare not come +before our gods, and likewise, if it may be, the medium by which their +gifts may come on us, unworthy.' + +That is a wide-spread and all but universally expressed instinct of +human nature. Argue about it as you like, explain it away how you +choose, charge the notions of priesthood and sacrifice with +exaggeration, immorality, barbarism, if you will--still the thing +remains. And I believe for my part that, so far from that want being one +which will be left behind, with other rude and savage desires, as men +advance in civilisation--it is as real and as permanent as the craving +of the understanding for truth, and of the heart for love. When men lose +it, it is because they are barbarised, not civilised, into forgetting +it. On that rock all systems of religion and eminently all theories of +Christianity, that leave out priest and sacrifice, will strike and +split. The Gospel for the world must be one which will meet all the +facts of man's condition. Chief among these facts is this necessity of +the conscience, as expressed by the forms in which for thousands of +years the worship of mankind has been embodied all but everywhere--an +altar, and a priest standing by its side. + +I need not pause to remind you how this Jewish people, who have at all +events taught the world the purest Theism, and led men up to the most +spiritual religion, had this same institution of a priesthood for the +very centre of its worship. Nor need I dwell at length on the fact that +the New Testament gives--in its full adhesion to the same idea. We are +told that all these sacerdotal allusions in it are only putting pure +spiritual truth in the guise of the existing stage of religious +development--the husk, not the kernel. It seems to me much rather that +the Old Testament ceremonial--Temple, priesthood, sacrifice--was +established for this along with other purposes, to be a shadow of things +to come. Christ's office is not metaphorically illustrated by reference +to the Jewish ritual; but the Jewish ritual is the metaphor, and +Christ's office the reality. He is the Priest. + +And what is the priest whom men crave? + +The first requisite is oneness with those whom he represents. Men have +ever felt that one of themselves must fill this office, and have taken +from among their brethren their medium of communication with God. And we +have a Priest who, 'in all things, is made like unto His brethren,' +having taken part of their flesh and blood, and being 'in all points +tempted like as we are.' The next requisite is that these men, who +minister at earth's altars, should, by some lustration, or abstinence, +or white robe, or other external sign, be separated from the profane +crowd, and possess, at all events, a symbolic purity--expression of the +conviction that a priest must be cleaner and closer to God than his +fellows. And we have a Priest who is holy, harmless, undefiled, radiant +in perfect purity, lustrous with the light of constant union with God. + +And again, as in nature and character, so in function, Christ +corresponds to the widely expressed wants of men, as shown in their +priesthoods. They sought for one who should offer gifts and sacrifices +on their behalf, and we have One who is 'a merciful and faithful High +Priest to make reconciliation for the sins of the people.' They sought +for a man who should pass into the awful presence, and plead for them +while they stood without, and we lift hopeful eyes of love to the +heavens, 'whither the Forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus, made an +High Priest for ever.' They sought for a man who should be the medium of +divine blessings bestowed upon the worshippers, and we know who hath +gone within the veil, having ascended up on high, that He might give +gifts unto men. + +The world needs a priest. Its many attempts to find such show how deep +is the sense of need, and what he must be who shall satisfy them. We +have the Priest that the world and ourselves require. I believe that +modern Englishmen, with the latest results of civilisation colouring +their minds and moulding their characters, stand upon the very same +level, so far as this matter is concerned, as the veriest savage in +African wilds, who has darkened even the fragment of truth which he +possesses, till it has become a lie and the parent of lies. You and I, +and all our brethren, alike need a brother who shall be holy and close +to God, who shall offer sacrifices for us, and bring God to us. For you +and me, and all our brethren alike, the good news is true, 'we have a +great High Priest that is passed into the heavens, Jesus, the Son of +God.' That message quenches the fire on every other altar, and strips +the mitre from every other head. It, and it alone, meets fully and for +ever that strange craving, which, though it has been productive of so +many miseries and so many errors, though it has led to grinding tyranny +and dark superstitions, though it has never anywhere found what it longs +for, remains deep in the soul, indestructible and hungry, till it is +vindicated and enlightened and satisfied by the coming of the true +Priest,' made not after the law of a carnal commandment, but after the +power of an endless life.' + +II. Our text tells us, secondly, that 'the priest of the world is the +king of men.' 'He shall be a Priest upon His throne.' + +In Israel these two offices were jealously kept apart, and when one +monarch, in a fit of overweening self-importance, tried to unite in his +own person the kingly and the priestly functions, 'the leprosy rose up +in his forehead,' even as he stood with the censer in his hand, and +'Uzziah the king was a leper unto the day of his death.' And the history +of the world is full of instances, in which the struggles of the +temporal and spiritual power have caused calamities only less +intolerable than those which flowed from that alliance of priests and +kings which has so often made monarchy a grinding tyranny, and religion +a mere instrument of statecraft. History being witness, it would seem to +be a very doubtful blessing for the world that one man should wield both +forms of control without check or limitation, and be at once king and +priest. If the words before us refer to any one but to Christ, the +prophet had an altogether mistaken notion about what would be good for +men, politically and ecclesiastically, and we may be thankful that his +dream has never come true. But if they point to the Son of David who has +died for us, and declare that because He is Priest, He is therefore +King--oh! then they are full of blessed truth concerning the basis and +the nature and the purpose of His dominion, which may well make us lift +up our heads and rejoice that in the midst of tyranny and anarchy, of +sovereignties whose ultimate resort is force, there is another +kingdom--the most absolute of despotisms and yet the most perfect +democracy, whose law is love, whose subjects are every one the children +of a King, the kingdom of that Priest-ruler on whose head is Aaron's +mitre, and more than David's crown. + +He does rule. 'The kingdom of Christ' is no unreal fanciful phrase. Take +the lowest ground. Who is it that, by the words He spoke, by the deeds +He did, by the life He lived, has shaped the whole form of moral and +religious thought and life in the civilised world? Is there One among +the great of old, the dead yet sceptred sovereigns, who still rule our +spirits from their urns, whose living power over thought and heart and +deed among the dominant races of the earth is to be compared with His? +And beyond that, we believe that, as the result of His mighty work on +earth, the dominion of the whole creation is His, and He is King of +kings, and Lord of lords, that His will is sovereign and His voice is +absolute law, to which all the powers of nature, all the confusions of +earth's politics, all the unruly wills of men, all the pale kingdoms of +the dead, and all the glorious companies of the heavens, do bow in real +though it be sometimes unconscious and sometimes reluctant obedience. + +The foundation of His rule is His sacrifice; or in other words--no truer +though a little more modern in their sound--men will do anything for Him +who does _that_ for them. Men will yield their whole souls to the warmth +and light that stream from the Cross, as the sunflower turns itself to +the sun. He that can give an anodyne which is not an opiate, to my +conscience--He that can appeal to my heart and will, and say, 'I have +given Myself for thee,' will never speak in vain to those who accept His +gift, when He says, 'Now give thyself to Me.' + +Brethren! it is not the thinker who is the true king of men, as we +sometimes hear it proudly said. We need One who will not only show but +be the Truth; who will not only point, but open and be, the Way; who +will not only communicate thought, but give, because He is, the Life. +Not the rabbi's pulpit, nor the teacher's desk, still less the gilded +chairs of earthly monarchs, least of all the tents of conquerors, are +the throne of the true King. He rules from the Cross. The one dominion +worth naming, that over men's inmost spirits, springs from the one +sacrifice which alone calms and quickens men's inmost spirits. 'Thou art +the King of Glory, O Christ,' for Thou art 'the Lamb of God, which +taketh away the sin of the world.' + +His rule is wielded In gentleness. Priestly dominion has ever been +fierce, suspicious, tyrannous. 'His words were softer than oil, yet were +they drawn swords.' But the sway of this merciful and faithful High +Priest is full of tenderness. His sceptre is not the warrior's mace, nor +the jewelled rod of gold, but the reed--emblem of the lowliness of His +heart, and of authority guided by love. And all His rule is for the +blessing of His subjects, and the end of it is that they may be made +free by obedience, emancipated in and for service, crowned as kings by +submission to the King of kings, consecrated as priests by their +reliance on the only Priest over the house of God, whose loving will +rests not until it has made all His people like Himself. + +Then, dear brethren! amid all the anarchic chaos of this day, when old +institutions are crumbling or crashing into decay, when the whole +civilised world seems slowly and painfully parting from its old +moorings, and like some unwieldy raft, is creaking and straining at its +chains as it feels the impulse of the swift current that is bearing it +to an unknown sea, when venerable names cease to have power, when old +truths are flouted as antiquated, and the new ones seem so long in +making their appearance, when a perfect Babel of voices stuns us, and on +every side are pretenders to the throne which they fancy vacant, let us +joyfully welcome all change, and hopefully anticipate the future. +Lifting our eyes from the world, let us fix them on the likeness of a +throne above the firmament that is above the cherubs, and rejoice since +there we behold 'the likeness as the appearance of a man upon it.' +'Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem; behold, thy King cometh unto thee.' + +III. Our text still further reminds us that the Priest-King of men +builds among men the Temple of God. + +The Prophet and his companions had become familiar in their captivity +with the gigantic palaces and temples which Assyrian and Babylonian +monarchs had a passion for rearing. They had learned to regard the king +as equally magnified by his conquests and by his buildings. Zechariah +foretells that the true King shall rear a temple more lasting than +Solomon's, more magnificent than those which towered on their +marble-faced platforms over the Chaldean plain. + +Christ is Himself the true Temple of God. Whatsoever that shadowed +Christ is or gives. In Him dwelt all the fulness of the Godhead. 'The +glory' which once dwelt between the cherubim, 'tabernacled among us' in +His flesh. As the place of sacrifice, as the place where men meet God, +as the seat of revelation of the divine will, the true tabernacle which +the Lord hath pitched is the Manhood of our Lord. + +Christ builds the temple. By faith, the individual soul becomes the +abode of God, and into our desecrated spirits there comes the King of +Glory. 'Know ye not that ye are the temples of God?' By faith, the whole +body of believing men 'are builded together for an habitation of God +through the Spirit.' + +Christ builds this temple because He is the Temple. By His incarnation +and work, He makes our communion with God and God's dwelling in us +possible. By His death and sacrifice He draws men to Himself, and blends +them in a living unity. By the gift of His Spirit and His life, He +hallows their wills, and makes them partakers of His own likeness; so +that 'coming to Him, we also are built up a spiritual house.' + +Christ builds the temple, and uses us as His servants in the work. Our +prophecy was given to encourage faint-hearted toilers, not to supply an +excuse for indolence. Underlying all our poor labours, and blessing them +all, is the power of Christ. We may well work diligently who work in the +line of His purposes, after the pattern of His labours, in the strength +of His power, under the watchfulness of His eye. The little band may be +few and feeble; let them not be fearful, for He, the throned Priest, +even _He_, and not they with their inadequate resources, shall build the +temple. + +Christ builds on through all the ages, and the prophecy of our text is +yet unfulfilled. Its fulfilment is the meaning and end of all history. +For the present, there has to be much destructive as well as +constructive work done. Many a wretched hovel, the abode of sorrow and +want, many a den of infamy, many a palace of pride, many a temple of +idols, will have to be pulled down yet, and men's eyes will be blinded +by the dust, and their hearts will ache as they look at the ruins. Be +it so. The finished structure will obliterate the remembrance of poor +buildings that cumbered its site. This Emperor of ours may indeed say, +that He found the city of brick and made it marble. Have patience if His +work is slow; mourn not if it is destructive; doubt not, though the +unfinished walls, and corridors that seem to lead nowhere, and all the +confusion of unfinished toils puzzle you, when you try to make out the +plan. See to it, my brother, that you lend a hand and help to rear the +true temple, which is rising slowly through the ages, at which +successive generations toil, and from whose unfinished glories they +dying depart, but which shall be completed, because the true Builder +'ever liveth,' and is 'a priest for ever after the order of +Melchizedek.' Above all, brethren! take heed that you are yourselves +builded in that temple. Travellers sometimes find in lonely quarries +long abandoned or once worked by a vanished race, great blocks squared +and dressed, that seem to have been meant for palace or shrine. But +there they lie, neglected and forgotten, and the building for which they +were hewn has been reared without them. Beware lest God's grand temple +should be built up without you, and you be left to desolation and decay. +Trust your souls to Christ, and He will set you in the spiritual house +which the King greater than Solomon is building still. + +In one of the mosques of Damascus, which has been a Christian church, +and before that was a heathen temple, the portal bears, deep cut in +Greek characters, the inscription, 'Thy kingdom, O Christ, is an +everlasting kingdom, and Thy dominion endureth throughout all +generations.' The confident words seem contradicted by the twelve +centuries of Mohammedanism on which they have looked down. But though +their silent prophecy is unheeded and unheard by the worshippers below, +it shall be proved true one day, and the crescent shall wane before the +steady light of the Sun of Righteousness. The words are carven deep over +the portals of the temple which Christ rears; and though men may not be +able to read them, and may not believe them if they do, though for +centuries traffickers have defiled its courts, and base-born usurpers +have set up their petty thrones, yet the writing stands sure, a dumb +witness against the transient lies, a patient prophet of the eternal +truth. And when all false faiths, and their priests who have oppressed +men and traduced God, have vanished; and when kings that have +prostituted their great and godlike office to personal advancement and +dynastic ambition are forgotten; and when every shrine reared for +obscene and bloody rites, or for superficial and formal worship, has +been cast to the ground, then from out of the confusion and desolation +shall gleam the temple of God, which is the refuge of men, and on the +one throne of the universe shall sit the Eternal Priest--our Brother, +Jesus the Christ. + + * * * * * + + +MALACHI + + +A DIALOGUE WITH GOD + + 'A son honoureth his father, and a servant his master: if then I be + a Father, where is Mine honour? and if I be a master, where is My + fear? saith the Lord of Hosts unto you, O priests, that despise My + Name. And ye say, Wherein have we despised Thy Name? 7. Ye offer + polluted bread upon Mine altar. And ye say, Wherein have we + polluted Thee?'--MALACHI i. 6, 7. + +A charactistic of this latest of the prophets is the vivacious dialogue +of which our text affords one example. God speaks and the people +question His word, which in reply He reiterates still more strongly. The +other instances of its occurrence may here be briefly noted, and we +shall find that they cover all the aspects of the divine speech to men, +whether He charges sin home upon them or pronounces threatenings of +judgment, or invites by gracious promises the penitent to return. His +charges of sin are repelled in our text and in the following verse by +the indignant question, 'Wherein have we polluted Thee?' And similarly +in the next chapter the divine accusation, 'Ye have wearied the Lord +with your words,' is thrown back with the contemptuous retort, 'Wherein +have we wearied Him?' And in like manner in the third chapter, 'Ye have +robbed Me,' calls forth no confession but only the defiant answer,' +Wherein have we robbed Thee?' And in a later verse, the accusation, +'Your words have been stout against Me,' is traversed by the question, +'What have we spoken so much against Thee?' Similarly the threatening of +judgment that the Lord will 'cut off' the men that 'profane the holiness +of the Lord' calls forth only the rebutting question, 'Wherefore?' (ii. +14). And even the gracious invitation, 'Return unto Me, and I will +return unto you,' evokes not penitence, but the stiff-necked reply, +'Wherein shall we return?' (iii. 7). In this sermon we may deal with the +first of these three cases, and consider, God's Indictment, and man's +plea of 'Not guilty.' + +I. God's Indictment. + +The precise nature of the charge is to be carefully considered. The Name +is the sum of the revealed character, and that Name has been despised. +The charge is not that it has been blasphemed, but that it has been +neglected, or under-estimated, or cared little about. The pollution of +the table of the Lord is the overt act by which the attitude of mind and +heart expressed in despising His Name is manifested; but the overt act +is secondary and not primary--a symptom of a deeper-lying disease. And +herein our Prophet is true to the whole tenor of the Old Testament +teaching, which draws its indictment against men primarily in regard to +their attitude, and only as a manifestation of that, to their acts. The +same deed may be, if estimated in relation to human law, a crime: if +estimated in relation to godless ethics, a wrong; and if estimated in +the only right way, namely, the attitude towards God which it reveals, a +sin. 'The despising of His Name' may be taken as the very definition of +sin. It is usual with men to-day to say that 'Sin is selfishness'; but +that statement does not go deep enough unless it be recognised that +self-regard only becomes sin when it rears its puny self in opposition +to, or in disregard of, the plain will of God. The 'New Theology,' of +course, minimises, even where it does not, as it to be consistent +should, deny the possibility of sin: for, if God is all and all is God, +there can be no opposition, there can be no divine will to be opposed, +and no human will to oppose it. But the fact of sin certified by men's +own consciences is the rock on which Pantheism must always strike and +sink. A superficial view of human history and of human nature may try to +explain away the fact of sin by shallow talk about 'heredity' and +'environment,' or about 'ignorance' and 'mistakes'; but after all such +euphemistic attempts to rechristen the ugly thing by beguiling names, +the fact remains, and conscience bears sometimes unwilling witness to +its existence, that men do set their own inclinations against God's +commands, and that there is in them that which is 'not subject to the +law of God, neither indeed can be.' The root of all sin is the +despising of His Name. + +And as sin has but one root, it has many branches, and as working +backwards from deed to motive, we find one common element in all the +various acts; so working outwards from motive to deed, we have to see +one common character stamped upon a tragical variety of acts. The +poison-water is exhibited in many variously coloured and tasted +draughts, but however unlike each other they may be, it is always the +same. + +The great effort of God's love is to press home this consciousness of +despising His Name upon all hearts. The sorrows, losses, and +disappointments which come to us all are not meant only to make us +suffer, but through suffering to lead us to recognise how far we have +wandered from our Father, and to bring us back to His heart and our +home. The beginning of all good in us is the contrite acknowledgment of +our evil. Christ's first preaching was the continuation of John's +message, 'Repent ye, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand'; and His +tenderest revelation of the divine love incarnated in Himself was meant +to arouse the penitent confession, 'I am no more worthy to be called Thy +son,' and the quickening resolve, 'I will arise and go to my Father.' +There is no way to God but through the narrow gate of repentance. There +is no true reception of the gift of Christ which does not begin with a +vivid and heart-broken consciousness of my own sin. We can pass into, +and abide in, the large room of joyous acceptance and fellowship, but we +must reach it by a narrow path walled in by gloomy rocks and trodden +with bleeding feet. The penitent knowledge of oar sin is the first step +towards the triumphant knowledge of Christ's righteousness as ours. Only +they who have called out in the agony of their souls, 'Lord, save us, we +perish,' have truly learned the love of God, and truly possess the +salvation that is in Christ. + +II. Man's plea of 'Not Guilty.' + +That such an answer should be given to such a charge is a strange, +solemn fact, which tragically confirms the true indictment. The effect +of all sin is to make us less conscious of its presence, as persons in +an unventilated room are not aware of its closeness. It is with profound +truth that the Apostle speaks of being hardened by the 'deceitfulness' +of sin. It comes to us in a cloud and enfolds us in obscure mist. Like +white ants, it never works in the open, but makes a tunnel or burrows +under ground, and, hidden in some piece of furniture, eats away all its +substance whilst it seems perfectly solid. The man's perception of the +standard of duty is enfeebled. We lose our sense of the moral character +of any habitual action, just as a man who has lived all his life in a +slum sees little of its hideousness, and knows nothing of green fields +and fresh air. Conscience is silenced by being neglected. It can be +wrongly educated and perverted, so that it may regard sin as doing God's +service; and the only judgment in which it can be absolutely trusted is +the declaration that it is right to do right, while all its other +decisions as to what is right may be biassed by self-interest; but the +force with which it pronounces its only unalterable decision depends on +the whole tenor of the life of the man. The sins which are most in +accordance with our characters, and are therefore most deeply rooted in +us, are those which we are least likely to recognise as sins. So, the +more sinful we are, the less we know it; therefore there is need for a +fixed standard outside of us. The light on the deck cannot guide us; +there must be the lighthouse on the rock. This sad answer of the heart +untouched by God's appeal prevents all further access of God's love to +that heart. That love can only enter when the reply to its indictment +is, 'I have despised Thy name.' + +Let us not forget the New Testament modification of the divine +accusation. 'In Christ' is the Name of God fully and finally revealed to +men. For us who live in the blaze of the ineffable brightness of the +revelation, our attitude towards Him who brings it is the test of our +'hallowing of the Name' which He brings. He Himself has varied Malachi's +indictment when He said, 'He that despiseth Me despiseth Him that sent +Me.' Our sin is now to be measured by our under-estimate and neglect of +Him, and chiefly of His Cross. That Cross prevents our consciousness of +sin from becoming despair of pardon. Judas went out, and with bitter +weeping, himself ended his traitorous life. If God's last word to us +were, 'Ye have despised My Name,' and it sank into our souls, there +would be no hope for any of us. But the message which begins with the +universal indictment of sin passes into the message which holds forth +forgiveness and freedom as universal as the sin, and 'God hath concluded +all in unbelief that He may have mercy upon all.' + + +BLEMISHED OFFERINGS + + 'Offer it now unto thy governor; will he be pleased with thee, or + accept thy person? saith the Lord of Hosts.'--MALACHI i. 8. + +A word of explanation may indicate my purpose in selecting this, I am +afraid, unfamiliar text. The Prophet has been vehemently rebuking a +characteristic mean practice of the priests, who were offering maimed +and diseased animals in sacrifice. They were probably dishonest as well +as mean, because the worshippers would bring sound beasts, and the +priests, for their own profit, slipped in a worthless animal, and kept +the valuable one for themselves. They had become so habituated to this +piece of economical religion, that they saw no harm in it, and when they +offered the lame and the sick and the blind for sacrifice they said to +themselves, 'It is not evil.' And so Malachi, with the sudden sharp +thrust of my text, tries to rouse their torpid consciences. He says to +them: 'Take that diseased creature that you are not ashamed to lay on +God's altar, and try what the governor'--the official appointed by the +Persian Kings to rule over the returned exiles--'will think about it. +Will an offering of that sort be considered a compliment or an insult? +Do you think it will smooth your way or help your suit with him? Surely +God deserves as much reverence as the deputy of Artaxerxes. Surely what +is not good enough for a Persian satrap is not good enough for the Lord +of Hosts. Offer it to the governor, will he be pleased with it? Will he +accept thy person?' + +Now, it seems to me that this cheap religion of the priests, and this +scathing irony of the Prophet's counsel need little modification to fit +us very closely. You will bear me witness, I think, that I do not often +speak to you about money. But I am going to try to bring out something +about the great subject of Christian administration of earthly +possessions from this text, because I believe that the Christian +consciousness of this generation does need a great deal of rousing and +instructing about this matter. + +I. We note the startling and strange contrast which the text suggests. + +The diseased lamb was laid without scruple or hesitation on God's altar, +and not one of these tricky priests durst have taken it to Court in +order to secure favour there. Generalise that, and it comes to this--the +gifts that we lavish on men are the condemnation of the gifts that we +bring to God; and further, we should be ashamed to offer to men what we +are not in the least ashamed to bring to God. Let me illustrate in one +or two points. + +Let us contrast in our own consciences, for instance, the sort of love +that we give to one another with the sort of love that we bring to Him. +How strong, how perennially active, how delighting in sacrifice and +service, what a felt source of blessedness is the love that knits many +husbands and wives, many parents and children, many lovers and friends +together! And in dreadful contrast, how languid, how sporadic and +interrupted, how reluctant when called upon for service and sacrifice, +how little operative in our lives is the love we bring to God! We durst +not lay upon the altar of family affection, of wedded love, of true +friendship, a love of such a sort as we take to God and expect Him to he +satisfied with. It would be an insult if offered to 'the governor,' but +we think it good enough for the King of kings. Here a gushing flood, +there a straitened trickle coming drop by drop; here a glowing flame +that fills life with warmth and light, there a few dying embers. Measure +and contrast the love that is lavished by men upon one another, and the +love that is coldly brought to Him. And I think we must all bow our +heads penitently. + +Contrast the trust that we put in one another, and the trust that we +direct to Him. In the one case it is absolute. 'I am as sure as I am of +my own existence that so-and-so will always be as true as steel to me, +and will never fail me, and whatever he, or she, does, or fails to do, +no shadow of suspicion, or mist of doubt, will creep across the sunshine +of our sky.' And in contrast to the firm grasp with which we clasp an +infirm human hand, there is a tremulous touch, scarcely a grasp at all, +which we lay upon the one Hand that is strong enough always to be +outstretched for our defence and our blessing. Contrast your confidence +in men, and your confidence in God. Are we not all committing the +absurdity of absolutely trusting that which has no stability or stay, +and refusing so to trust that which is the Rock of Ages? God's +faithfulness is absolute, our faith in it is tremulous. Men's +faithfulness is uncertain, our faith in it is entire. + +We might contrast the submission and obedience with which we follow +those who have secured our confidence and evoked our love, as contrasted +with the rebellion, the reluctance, the self-will, which come in to +break and mar our submission to God. Men that will not take Jesus Christ +for their Master, and refuse to follow Him when He speaks, will bind +themselves to some human teacher, and enrol themselves as disciples in +some school of thought or science or philosophy, with a submission so +entire, that it puts to shame the submission which Christians render to +the Incarnate Truth Himself. + +And so I might go on, all round the horizon of our human nature, and +signalise the difference that exists between the blemished sacrifices +which each part of our being dares to bring to God and expects Him to +accept, and the sacrifices, unblemished and spotless, which we carry to +one another. + +But let me say a word more directly about the subject of which Malachi +is speaking. It seems to me that we may well take a very condemnatory +contrast between what we offer to God in regard to our administration of +earthly good, and what we offer on other altars. Contrast what you give, +for directly beneficent and Christian purposes, with what you spend, +without two thoughts, on your own comfort, indulgence, recreation, +tastes--sometimes doubtful tastes--and the like. Contrast England's +drink bill and England's missionary contribution. We spend L10,000,000 +on some wretched war, and some of you think it is cheap at the price, +and the whole contributions of English Christians to missionary purposes +in a twelvemonth do not amount to a tenth of that sum. You offer that to +the spread of Christ's kingdom. 'Offer it to your Government,' and try +to compound for your share of the ten millions that you are going to +spend in shells and gunpowder by the amount you give to Christian +missions, and you will very soon have the tax-gatherer down on you. +'Will he be pleased with it?' + +This one Missionary Society with which we are nominally connected has an +income of L70,000 a year. I suppose that is about a shilling per head +from the members of our congregations. Of this congregation there are +many that never give us a farthing, except, perhaps, the smallest coin +in their pockets when the collecting-box comes round. I do not suppose +that there is one of us that applies the underlying principle in our +text, of giving God our best, to this work. I am not going to urge you. +It is my business now simply to state, as boldly and strongly as I can, +the fact; and I say with all sadness, with self-condemnation, as well as +bringing an indictment against my brethren, but with the clearest +conviction that I am not exaggerating in the smallest degree, that the +contrast between what we lavish on other things and what we give for +God's work in the world, is a shameful contrast, like that other which +the Prophet gibbeted with his indignant eloquence. + +II. And now let me come to another point--viz., that we have here +suggested and implied the true law and principle on which all Christian +giving of all sorts is to be regulated. + +And that is--give the best. The diseased animal was no more fit for the +altar of God than it was for the shambles of the viceroy. It was the +entire and unblemished one that would be accepted in either case. But +for us Christian people that general principle has to be expanded. Let +me do it in two or three sentences. + +The foundation of all is 'the unspeakable Gift.' Jesus Christ has given +Himself, God has given His Son. And Jesus Christ and God, in giving, +gave up that we might receive. Do you believe that? Do you believe it +about yourself? If you do, then the next step becomes certain. That +gift, truly received by any man, will infallibly lead to a kindred +(though infinitely inferior) self-surrender. If once we come within the +circle of the attraction of that great Sun, if I might so say, it will +sweep us clean out of our orbit, and turn us into satellites reflecting +His light. To have self for our centre is death and misery, to have +Christ for our centre is life and blessedness. And the one power that +decentralises a man, and sweeps him into an orbit around Jesus, is the +faithful acceptance of His great gift. Just as some little State will +give up its independence in order to be blessedly absorbed into a great +Empire, on the frontiers of which it maintains a precarious existence, +so a man is never so strong, never so blessed, never so truly himself, +as when the might of Christ's sacrifice has melted down all his +selfishness, and has made it flow out in rivers of self-surrender, +self-absorption, self-annihilation, and so self-preservation. 'He that +loseth his life shall find it.' + +Then the next step is that this self-surrender, consequent upon my +faithful acceptance of the Lord's surrender for me, changes my whole +conception as to what I call my possessions. If I, in the depths of my +soul, have yielded myself to Jesus Christ, which I shall have done if I +have truly accepted Him as yielding Himself for me, then the yielding of +self draws after it, necessarily, and without a question, a new relation +between me and all that I have and all that I can do. Capacities, +faculties, means, opportunities, powers of brain and heart and mind, and +everything else--they all belong to Him. As in old times a nobleman came +and put his hands between the King's hands, and kneeling before him +surrendered his lands, and all his property, to the over-lord, and got +them back again for his own, so we shall do, in the measure in which we +have accepted Christ as our Saviour and our Guide. And so, because am +His, I shall feel that I am His steward to administer what He gives me, +not for myself, but for men and for God. + +Then there follows another thing, and that is, that Christian giving, +not of money only, but of money in a very eminent degree, is only right +and truly Christian when you give yourself with your gift. A great many +of us put our sixpence, or our half-crown, or our sovereign, into the +plate, and no part of ourselves goes with it, except a little twinge of +unwillingness to part with it. That is how they fling bones to dogs. +That is not how you have to give your money and your efforts to God and +God's cause. Farmers nowadays sow their seed-corn out of a machine with +a number of little conical receptacles at the back of it and a small +hole in the bottom of each, and as the thing goes bumping along over the +furrows, out they fall. That drill does as well as, and better than, the +hand of the sower scattering the seed, but it does not do near as well +in the Christian agriculture in sowing the seed of the Kingdom. +Machine-work will not do there; we have to have the sower's hand, and +the sower's heart with his hand, as he scatters the seed. Brethren! +apply the lesson to yourselves, and let your sympathies and your prayers +and your wishes to help go along with your gifts, if you intend them to +be of any good. + +And there is another thing, and that is that, somehow or other, if not +in the individual gifts, at all events in their aggregate, there must be +present the fact of sacrifice. 'I will not offer unto the Lord burnt +offerings of that which doth cost me nothing,' said the old king. And we +do not give as we ought, unless our gifts involve some measure of +sacrifice. From many a subscription list some of the biggest donations +would disappear, like the top-writing in one of those old manuscripts +where the Gospel has been half-erased and written over with some foolish +legend, which vanishes when the detergent liquid is applied to the +parchment, if that thought were brought to bear upon it. God asks how +much is kept, not how much is given. + +Now, dear friends, these are all threadbare, elementary, 'A.B.C.' +truths. Are they the alphabet of our stewardship and administration of +our possessions? + +III. One last suggestion I would make on this text is that it brings +before us the possible blessing and possible grave results of right or +wrong Christian giving. + +'Will he be pleased with it? Or will he accept thy person?' Will the +governor think the hobbling creature, blind of an eye, and infected with +some sickness, to be a beautiful addition to his flock? Will it help +your suit with him? No! + +It is New Testament teaching that our faithfulness in the administration +of earthly possessions of all sorts has a bearing on our spiritual life. +Remember our Lord's triple illustration of this principle, when He +speaks about faithfulness 'in that which is least,' leading on to the +possession of that which is the greatest; when He speaks of faithfulness +in regard to 'the unrighteous Mammon' leading on to being intrusted with +the true riches; when He speaks of faithfulness in our administration of +that which is another's--alien to ourselves, and which may pass into the +possession of a thousand more--leading on to our firmer hold, and our +deeper and fuller possession of the riches which, in the deepest sense +of the word, are our own. One very important element in the development +and advance of the religious life is our right use of these earthly +things. I have seen many a case in which a man was far better when he +was a poor man than he was when a rich one, in which slowly, stealthily, +certainly, the love of wealth has closed round a man like an iron band +round a sapling, and has hindered the growth of his Christian character, +and robbed him of the best things. And, God be thanked! one has seen +cases, too, in which, by their Christian use of outward possessions, men +have weakened the dominion of self upon themselves, have learned the +subordinate value of the wealth that can be counted and detached from +its possessor, and have grown in the grace and knowledge of the Lord and +Saviour Jesus Christ. Dear friends, God has given all of us something in +charge, the faithful use of which is a potent factor in the growth of +our Christian characters. + +It is New Testament teaching that our faithful administration of earthly +possessions has a bearing on the future. Remember what Jesus Christ +said, 'That when ye fail they may receive you into everlasting +habitations.' Remember what His Apostle says, 'Laying up in store for +themselves a good foundation against the time to come, that they may lay +hold on eternal life.' Let no fear of imperilling the great truth of +salvation by faith lead us to forget that the faith which saves +manifests its vitality and genuineness, by its effects upon our lives, +and that no small part of our lives is concerned with the right +acquisition and right use of these perishable outward gifts. And let us +take care that we do not, in our dread of damaging the free grace of +God, forget that although we do not earn blessedness, here or hereafter, +by gifts whilst we are living or legacies when we are dead, the +administration of money has an important part to play in shaping +Christian character, and the Christian character which we acquire here +settles our hereafter. + +Brethren! we all need to revise our scale of giving, especially in +regard to missionary operations. And if we will do that at the foot of +the Cross, then we shall join the chorus, 'Worthy is the Lamb that was +slain to receive _riches_,' and we shall come to Him 'bringing our +silver and our gold with us,' rejoicing that He gives us the possibility +of sharing His blessedness, 'according to the word of the Lord Jesus +which He spake, It is more blessed to give than to receive.' + + +A DIALOGUE WITH GOD + + 'The Lord will cut off the man that doeth this ... out of the tents + of Jacob, ... 14. Yet ye say, Wherefore? Because the Lord hath been + witness between thee and the wife of thy youth.'--MALACHI ii. 12, + 14 (R.V.). + +It is obvious from the whole context that divorce and foreign +inter-marriage were becoming increasingly prevalent in Malachi's time. +The conditions in these respects were nearly similar to that prevailing +in the times of Ezra and Nehemiah. It is these sins which the Prophet is +here vehemently condemning, and for which he threatens to cut off the +transgressors out of the tents of Jacob, and to regard no more their +offerings and simulated worship. They might cover 'the altar of the Lord +with tears,' but the sacrifice which they laid upon it was polluted by +the sins of their daily domestic life, and therefore was not 'regarded +by Him any more.' Malachi is true to the prophetic spirit when he +denounces a religion which has the form of godliness without its power +over the practical life. But his sharp accusations have their edge +turned by the question, 'Wherefore?' which again calls out from the +Prophet's lips a more sharply-pointed accusation, and a solemner warning +that none should 'deal treacherously against the wife of his youth,' +'for I hate putting away, saith the Lord.' We may dismiss any further +reference to the circumstances of the text, and regard it as but one +instance of man's way of treating the voice of God when it warns of the +consequences of the sin of man. Looked at from such a point of view the +words of our text bring before us God's merciful threatenings and man's +incredulous rejection of them. + +I. God's merciful threatenings. + +The fact of sin affects God's relation to and dealings with the sinner. +It does not prevent the flowing forth of His love, which is not drawn +out by anything in us, but wells up from the depths of His being, like +the Jordan from its source at Dan, a broad stream gushing forth from +the rock. But that love which is the outgoing of perfect moral purity +must necessarily become perfect opposition to its own opposite in the +sinfulness of man. The divine character is many-sided, and whilst 'to +the pure' it 'shows itself pure,' it cannot but be that 'to the froward' +it 'will show itself froward.' Man's sin has for its most certain and +dreadful consequence that, if we may so say, it forces God to present +the stern side of His nature which hates evil. But not merely does sin +thus modify the fact of the divine relation to men, but it throws men +into opposition in which they can see only the darkness which dwells in +the light of God. To the eye looking through a red tinted medium all +things are red, and even the crystal sea before the throne is 'a sea of +glass mingled with fire.' + +No sin can stay our reception of a multitude of good gifts appealing to +our hearts and revealing the patient love of our Father in heaven, but +every sin draws after it as certainly as the shadow follows the +substance, evil consequences which work themselves out on the large +scale in nations and communities, and in the smaller spheres of +individual life. And surely it is the voice of love and not of anger +that comes to warn us of the death which is the wages of sin. It is not +God who has ordained that 'the soul that sinneth it shall die,' but it +is God who tells us so. The train is rushing full steam ahead to the +broken bridge, and will crash down the gulph and be huddled, a hideous +ruin, on the rocks; surely it is care for life that holds out the red +flag of danger, and surely God is not to be blamed if in spite of the +flag full speed is kept up and the crash comes. + +The miseries and sufferings which follow our sins are self-inflicted, +and for the most part automatic. 'Whatsoever a man soweth, that'--and +not some other crop--'will he also reap.' The wages of sin are paid in +ready money; and it is as just to lay them at God's door as it would be +to charge Him with inflicting the disease which the dissolute man brings +upon himself. It is no arbitrary appointment of God's that 'he that +soweth to the flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption'; nor is it His +will acting as that of a jealous despot which makes it inevitably true +that here and hereafter, 'Every transgression and disobedience shall +receive its just recompense of reward,' and that to be parted from Him +is death. + +If then we rightly understand the connection between sin and suffering, +and the fact that the sorrows which are but the echoes of preceding sins +have all a distinctly moral and restorative purpose, we are prepared +rightly to estimate how tenderly the God who warns us against our sins +by what men call threatenings loves us while He speaks. + +II. Man's rejection of God's merciful threatenings. + +It is the great mystery and tragedy of life that men oppose themselves +to God's merciful warnings that all sin is a bitter, because it is an +evil, thing. He has to lament, 'I have smitten your children, and they +have received no correction.' The question 'Wherefore?' is asked in very +various tones, but none of them has in it the accent of true conviction; +and there is a whole world of difference between the lowly petition, +'Show me wherefore Thou contendest with me,' and the curt, +self-complacent brushing aside of God's merciful threatenings in the +text. The last thing which most of us think of as the cause of our +misfortunes is ourselves; and we resent as almost an insult the word, +which if we were wise, we should welcome as the crowning proof of the +seeking love of our Father in heaven. We are more obstinate and foolish +than Balaam, who persisted in his purpose when the angel with the drawn +sword in his hand would have barred his way, not to the tree of life, +but to death. The awful mystery that a human will can, and the yet +sadder mystery that it does, set itself against the divine, is never +more unintelligible, never so stupid, and never so tragic as when God +says, 'Turn ye, turn ye, why will ye die?' and we say, 'Why need I die? +I will not turn.' + +The 'Wherefore?' of our text is widely asked in the present day as an +expression of utter bewilderment at the miseries of humanity, both in +the wide area of this disordered world and in the narrower field of +individual lives. There are whole schools of so-called political and +social thinkers who have yet to learn that the one thing which the world +and the individual need is not a change of conditions or environment, +but redemption from sin. Man's sorrows are but a symptom of his disease, +and he is no more to be healed by tinkering with these than a +fever-stricken patient can be restored to health by treating the +blotches on his skin which tell of the disease that courses through his +veins. + +But sometimes the question is more than an expression of bewilderment; +it conceals an arraignment of God's justice, or even a denial that there +is a God at all. There are men among us who hesitate not to avow that +the miseries of the world have rooted out of their minds a belief in +Him; and who point to all the ills under which humanity staggers as +conclusive against the ancient faith of a God of love. They, too, forget +that that love is righteousness, and that if there be sin in the world +and God above it, He must necessarily war against it and hate it. + +Our right response to God's merciful threatenings is to ask this +question in the right spirit. We are not wise if we turn a deaf ear to +His warnings, or go on in a headlong course which He by His providences +declared to be dangerous and fatal. We use them as wise men should, only +if our 'Wherefore?' is asked in order to learn our evil, and having +learned it, to purge our bosoms of the perilous stuff by confession and +to seek pardon and victory in Christ. Then we shall 'know the secret of +the Lord' which is 'with them that fear Him'; and the mysteries that +still hang over our own histories and the world's destiny will have +shining down upon them the steadfast light of that love which seeks to +make men blessed by making them good. + + +THE LAST WORD OF PROPHECY + + 'Behold, I will send My messenger, and he shall prepare the way + before Me: and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to His + temple, even the Messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in: + behold, He shall come, saith the Lord of Hosts. 2. But who may + abide the day of His coming? and who shall stand when He appeareth? + for He is like a refiner's fire, and like fullers' soap: 3. And He + shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: and He shall purify + the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may + offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness. 4. Then shall the + offering of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant unto the Lord, as in + the days of old, and as in former years. 5. And I will come near to + you to judgment; and I will be a swift Witness against the + sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against false swearers, + and against those that oppress the hireling in his wages, the + widow, and the fatherless, and that turn aside the stranger from + his right, and fear not Me, saith the Lord of Hosts. 6. For I am + the Lord, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not + consumed. 7. Even from the days of your fathers ye are gone away + from mine ordinances, and have not kept them. Return unto Me, and I + will return unto you, saith the Lord of Hosts. But ye said, Wherein + shall we return? 8. Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed Me. + But ye say, Wherein have we robbed Thee? In tithes and offerings. + 9. Ye are cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed Me, even this + whole nation. 10. Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that + there may be meat in Mine house, and prove Me now herewith, saith + the Lord of Hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, + and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to + receive it. 11. And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and + he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground; neither shall your + vine cast her fruit before the time in the field, saith the Lord of + Hosts. 12. And all nations shall call you blessed: for ye shall be + a delightsome land, saith the Lord of Hosts.'--MALACHI iii. 1-12. + +Deep obscurity surrounds the person of this last of the prophets. It is +questioned whether Malachi is a proper name at all. It is the Hebrew +word rendered in verse 1 of our passage 'My messenger,' and this has led +many authorities to contend that the prophecy is in fact anonymous, the +name being only a designation of office. Whether this is so or not, the +name, if it is a name, is all that we know about him. The tenor of his +prophecy shows that he lived after the restoration of the Temple and its +worship, and the sins which he castigates are substantially those with +which Ezra and Nehemiah had to fight. One ancient Jewish authority +asserts that he was Ezra; but the statement has no confirmation, and if +it had been correct, we should not have expected that such an author +would have been anonymous. This dim figure, then, is the last of the +mighty line of prophets, and gives strong utterance to the 'hope of +Israel'! One clear voice, coming from we scarcely know whose lips, +proclaims for the last time, 'He comes! He comes!' and then all is +silence for four hundred years. Modern critics, indeed, hold that the +bulk of the Psalter is of later date; but that contention has much to do +before it can be regarded as established. + +The first point worthy of notice in this passage, then, is the +concentration, in this last prophetic utterance, of that element of +forward-looking expectancy which marked all the earlier revelation. From +the beginning, the selectest spirits in Israel had set their faces and +pointed their fingers to a great future, which gathered distinctness as +the ages rolled, and culminated in the King from David's line, of whom +many psalms sung, and in the suffering Servant of the Lord, who shines +out from the pages of the second part of Isaiah's prophecy. This +Messianic hope runs through all the Old Testament, like a broadening +river. 'They that went before cried, Hosanna! Blessed is He that +cometh.' + +That hope gives unity to the Old Testament, whatever criticism may have +to teach about the process of its production. The most important thing +about the book is that one purpose informs it all; and the student who +misses the truth that 'the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy' +has a less accurate conception of the meaning and inter-relations of the +Old Testament than the unlearned who has accepted that great truth. We +should be willing to learn all that modern scholarship has to teach +about the course of revelation. But we should take care that the new +knowledge does not darken the old certainty that the prophets 'testified +beforehand of the sufferings of Christ and of the glory that should +follow,' Here, at the very end, stands Malachi, reiterating the +assurance which had come down through the centuries. The prophets, as it +were, had lit a beacon which flamed through the darkness. Hand after +hand had flung new fuel on it when it burned low. It had lighted up many +a stormy night of exile and distress. Now we can dimly see one more, the +last of his order, casting his brand on the fire, which leaps up again; +and then he too passes into the darkness, but the beacon burns on. + +The next point to note is the clear prophecy of a forerunner. 'My +messenger' is to come, and to 'prepare the way before Me.' Isaiah had +heard a voice calling, 'Prepare the way of the Lord,' and Malachi quotes +his words, and ascribes the same office to the 'messenger.' In the last +verses of his prophecy he calls this messenger 'Elijah the prophet.' +Here, then, we have a remarkable instance of a historical detail set +forth in prophecy. The coming of the Lord is to be immediately preceded +by the appearance of a prophet, whose function is to effect a moral and +religious reformation, which shall prepare a path for Him. This is no +vague ideal, but definite announcement of a definite fact, to be +realised in a historical personality. How came this half-anonymous Jew, +four hundred years beforehand, to hit upon the fact that the next +prophet in Israel would herald the immediate coming of the Lord? There +ought to be but one answer possible. + +Another point to note is the peculiar relation between Jehovah and Him +who comes. Emphatically and broadly it is declared that Jehovah Himself +'shall suddenly come to His temple'; and then the prophecy immediately +passes on to speak of the coming of 'the Messenger of the covenant,' +and dwells for a time exclusively on his work of purifying; and then +again it glides, without conscious breach of continuity or mark of +transition, into, 'And _I_ will come near to you in judgment.' A +mysterious relationship of oneness and yet distinctness is here +shadowed, of which the solution is only found in the Christian truth +that the Word, which was Grod, and was in the beginning with God, became +flesh, and that in Him Jehovah in very deed tabernacled among men. The +expression 'the Messenger (or Angel) of the covenant' is connected with +the remarkable representations in other parts of the Old Testament, of +'the Angel of Jehovah,' in whom many commentators recognise a +pre-incarnate manifestation of the eternal Word. That 'Angel' had +redeemed Israel from Egypt, had led them through the desert, had been +the 'Captain of the Lord's host.' The name of Jehovah was 'in Him.' He +it is whose coming is here prophesied, and in His coming Jehovah comes +to His temple. + +We next note the aspect of the coming which is prominent here. Not the +kingly, nor the redemptive, but the judicial, is uppermost. With keen +irony the Prophet contrasts the professed eagerness of the people for +the appearance of Jehovah and their shrinking terror when He does come. +He is 'the Lord whom ye seek'; the Messenger of the covenant is He 'whom +ye delight in.' But all that superficial and partially insincere longing +will turn into dread and unwillingness to abide His scrutiny. The images +of the refiner's fire and the fullers' soap imply painful processes, of +which the intention is to burn out the dross and beat out the filth. It +sounds like a prolongation of Malachi's voice when John the Baptist +peals out his herald cry of one whose 'fan was in His hand,' and who +should plunge men into a fiery baptism, and consume with fire that +destroyed what would not submit to be cast into the fire that cleansed. +Nor should we forget that our Lord has said, 'For judgment am I come +into the world.' He came to 'purify'; but if men would not let Him do +what He came for, He could not but be their bane instead of their +blessing. + +The stone is laid. If we build on it, it is a sure foundation; if we +stumble over it, we are broken. The double aspect and effect of the +gospel, which was meant only to have the single operation of blessing, +are clearly set forth in this prophecy, which first promises purging +from sin, so that not only the 'sons of Levi' shall offer in +righteousness, but that the 'offerings of Judah and Jerusalem shall be +pleasant,' and then passes immediately to foretell that God will come in +judgment and witness against evil-doers. Judgment is the shadow of +salvation, and constantly attends on it. Neither Malachi nor the Baptist +gives a complete view of Messiah's work, but still less do they give an +erroneous one; for the central portion of both prophecies is His +purifying energy which both liken to cleansing fire. + +That real and inward cleansing is the great work of Christ. It was +wrought on as many of His contemporaries as believed on Him, and for +such as did not He was a swift Witness against them. Nor are we to +forget that the prophecy is not exhausted yet; for there remains another +'day of His coming' for judgment. The prophets did not see the +perspective of the future, and often bring together events widely +separated in time, just as, to a spectator on a mountain, distances +between points far away towards the horizon are not measurable. We have +to allow for foreshortening. + +This blending of events historically widely apart is to be kept in view +in interpreting Malachi's prediction that the coming would result in +Judah's and Israel's offerings being 'pleasant unto the Lord as in +former years.' That prediction is not yet fulfilled, whether we regard +the name of Israel and the relation expressed in it as having passed +over to the Christian Church, or whether we look forward to that +bringing in of all Israel which Paul says will be as 'life from the +dead.' But by slow degrees it is being fulfilled, and by Christ men are +being led to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God. + +The more directly Messianic part of this prophecy is closed in verse 6 +by a great saying, which at once gives the reason for the coming and for +its severe aspect of witness against sin. The unchangeableness of God, +which is declared in His very name, guarantees the continued existence +of Israel. As Paul says in regard to the same subject, 'The calling of +God is without change of purpose' (on His part). But it is as impossible +that God should leave them to their sins, which would destroy them, as +that He should Himself consume them. Therefore He will surely come; and +coming, will deliver from evil. But they who refuse to be so delivered +will forfeit that title and the pledge of preservation which it implies. + +A new paragraph begins with verse 7, which is not closely connected with +the promises preceding. It recurs to the prevailing tone of Malachi, the +rebuke of negligence in attending to the legal obligations of worship. +That negligence is declared to be a reason for God's withdrawal from +them. But the 'return,' which is promised on condition of their renewed +obedience, can scarcely be identified with the coming just foretold. +That coming was to bring about offerings of righteousness which should +be pleasant to the Lord. This section (vs. 7-12) promises blessings as +results of such offerings, and a 'return' of Jehovah to His people +contingent upon their return to Him. If the two sections of this passage +are taken as closely connected, this one must describe the consequences +of the coming. But, more probably, this accusation of negligence and +promise of blessing on a change of conduct are independent of the +previous verses. We, however, may fairly take them as exhibiting the +obligations of those who have received that great gift of purifying from +Jesus Christ, and are thereby consecrated as His priests. + +The key-word of the Christian life is 'sacrifice'--surrender, and that +to God. That is to be stamped on the inmost selves, and by the act of +the will, on the body as well. 'Yield yourselves to God, and your +members as instruments of righteousness to Him.' It is to be written on +possessions. Malachi necessarily keeps within the limits of the +sacrificial system, but his impetuous eloquence hits us no less. It is +still possible to 'rob God.' We do so when we keep anything as our own, +and use it at our own will, for our own purposes. Only when we recognise +His ownership of ourselves, and consequently of all that we call 'ours,' +do we give Him His due. All the slave's chattels belong to the owner to +whom he belongs. Such thorough-going surrender is the secret of thorough +possession. The true way to enjoy worldly goods is to give them to God. + +The lattices of heaven are opened, not to pour down, as of old, fiery +destruction, but to make way for the gentle descent of God's blessing, +which will more than fill every vessel set to receive it. This is the +universal law, not always fulfilled in increase of outward goods, but in +the better riches of communion and of larger possession in God Himself. +He suffers no man to be His creditor, but more than returns our gifts, +as legends tell of some peasant who brought his king a poor tribute of +fruits of his fields, and went away from the presence-chamber with a +jewel in his hand. + + +THE UNCHANGING LORD + + 'I am the Lord, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not + consumed.' MALACHI iii. 6. + +The scriptural revelations of the divine Name are always the basis of +intensely practical admonition. The Bible does not think it worth while +to proclaim the Name of God without building on the proclamation +promises or commandments. There is no 'mere theology' in Scripture; and +it does not speak of 'attributes,' nor give dry abstractions of +infinitude, eternity, omniscience, unchangeableness, but lays stress on +the personality of God, which is so apt to escape us in these abstract +conceptions, and thus teaches us to think of this personal God our +Father, as infinite, eternal, knowing all things, and never changing. +There is all the difference in our attitude towards the very same truth +if we think of the unchangeableness of God, or if we think that our +Father God is unchangeable. In our text the thought of Him as unchanging +comes into view as the foundation of the continuance of the unfaithful +sons of Jacob in their privileges and in their very lives. 'I am the +Lord,' Jehovah, the Self-existent, the Eternal whose being is not under +the limitations of succession and time. 'Because I am Jehovah, I change +not'; and because Jehovah changes not, therefore our finite and mortal +selves abide, and our infinite and sinful selves are still the objects +of His steadfast love. + +Let us consider, first, the unchangeable God, and second, the unchanging +God as the foundation of our changeful lives. + +I. The unchangeable God. + +In the great covenant-name Jehovah there is revealed an existence which +reverses all that we know of finite and progressive being, or finite and +mortal being, or finite and variable nature. With us there are mutations +arising from physical nature. The material must needs be subject to laws +of growth and decadence. Our spiritual nature is subject to changes +arising from the advancement in knowledge. Our moral nature is subject +to fluctuations; circumstances play upon us, and 'nothing continueth in +one stay.' Change is the condition of life. It means growth and +happiness; it belongs to the perfection of creatures. But the +unchangeableness of God is the negation of all imperfection, it is the +negation of all dependence on circumstances, it is the negation of all +possibility of decay or exhaustion, it is the negation of all caprice. +It is the assurance that His is an underived, self-dependent being, and +that with Him is the fountain of light; it is the assurance that, raised +above the limits of time and the succession of events, He is in the +eternal present, where all things that were and are, and are to come, +stand naked and open. It is the assurance that the calm might of His +eternal will acts, not in spasms of successive volitions preceded by a +period of indecision and equilibrium between contending motives, but is +one continuous uniform energy, never beginning, never bending, never +ending; that the purpose of His will is 'the eternal purpose which He +hath purposed in Himself.' It is the assurance that the clear vision of +His infinite knowledge, from the heat of which nothing is hid, has no +stages of advancement, and no events lying nebulous in a dim horizon by +reason of distance, or growing in clearness as they draw nearer, but +which pierces the mists of futurity and the veils of the past and the +infinities of the present, and 'from the beginning to the end knoweth +all things.' It is the assurance that the mighty stream of love from the +heart of God is not contingent on the variations of our character and +the fluctuations of our poor hearts, but rises from His deep well, and +flows on for ever, 'the river of God' which 'is full of water.' It is +the assurance that round all the majesty and the mercy which He has +revealed for our adoration and our trust there is the consecration of +permanence, that we might have a rock on which to build and never be +confounded. Is there anywhere in the past an act of His power, a word of +His lip, a revelation of His heart which has been a strength or a joy or +a light to any man? It is valid for me, and is intended for my use. 'He +fainteth not, nor is weary.' The bush burns and is not consumed. 'I will +not alter the thing that has gone out of my lips.' 'By two immutable +things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we have strong +consolation.' + +II. The unchanging God as the foundation of our changeful lives. + +In the most literal sense our text is true. Because He lives we live +also. He is the same for ever, therefore we are not consumed. The +foundation of our being lies beyond and beneath all the mutable things +from which we are tempted to believe that we draw our lives, and is in +God. The true lesson to be drawn from the mutable phenomena of earth +is--heaven. The many links in the chain must have a staple. Reason +requires that behind all the fleeting shall be the permanent. There must +be a basis which does not partake of change. The lesson from all the +mutable creation is the immutable God. + +Since God changes not, the life of our spirits is not at the mercy of +changing events. We look back on a lifetime of changing scenes through +which we have passed, and forward to a similar succession, and this +mutability is sad to many of us, and in some aspects sad to all, so +powerless we are to fix and arrest any of our blessings. Which we shall +keep we know not; we only know that, as certainly as buds and blossoms +of spring drop, and the fervid summer darkens to November fogs and +December frosts, so certainly we shall have to part with much in our +passage through life. But if we let God speak to us, the necessary +changes that come to us will not be harmful but blessed, for the lesson +that the mutability of the mutual is meant to impress upon us is, the +permanency of the divine, and our dependence, not on them, but on Him. +We may look upon all the world of time and chance and think that He who +Himself is unchanging changeth all. The eye of the tempest is a point of +rest. The point in the heavens towards which, according to some +astronomers, the whole of the solar system is drifting, is a fixed +point. If we depend on Him, then change is not all sad; it cannot take +God away, but it may bring us nearer to Him. We cannot be desolate as +long as we have Him. We know not what shall be on the morrow. Be it so; +it will be God's to-morrow. When the leaves drop we can see the rock on +which the trees grow; and when changes strip the world for us of some of +its waving beauty and leafy shade, we may discern more clearly the firm +foundation on which our hopes rest. All else changes. Be it so; that +will not kill us, nor leave us utterly forlorn as long as we hear the +voice which says, 'I am the Lord; I change not; therefore ye are not +consumed.' + +God's purposes and promises change not, therefore our faith may rest on +Him, notwithstanding our own sins and fluctuations. It is this aspect of +the divine immutability which is the thought of our text. God does not +turn from His love, nor cancel His promises, nor alter His purposes of +mercy because of our sins. If God could have changed, the godless +forgetfulness of, and departure from, Him of 'the Sons of Jacob' would +have driven Him to abandon His purposes; but they still live--living +evidences of His long-suffering. And in that preservation of them God +would have them see the basis of hope for the future. So this is the +confidence with which we should cheer ourselves when we look upon the +past, and when we anticipate the future. The sins that have been in our +past have deserved that we should have been swept away, but we are here +still. Why are we? Why do we yet live? Because we have to do with an +unchanging love, with a faithfulness that never departs from its word, +with a purpose of blessing that will not be turned aside. So let us look +back with this thought and be thankful; let us look forward with it and +be of good cheer. Trust yourself, weak and sinful as you are, to that +unchanging love. The future will have in it faults and failures, sins +and shortcomings, but rise from yourself to God. Look beyond the light +and shade of your own characters, or of earthly events to the central +light, where there is no glimmering twilight, no night, 'no variableness +nor shadow of turning.' Let us live in God, and be strong in hope. +Forward, not backward, let us look and strive; so our souls, fixed and +steadied by faith in Him, will become in a manner partakers of His +unchangeableness; and we too in our degree will be able to say, 'The +Lord is at my side; I shall not be moved.' + + +A DIALOGUE WITH GOD + + 'Return unto Me, and I will return unto you, saith the Lord of + Hosts. But ye say, Wherein shall we return?'--MALACHI iii. 7 + (R.V.). + +In previous sermons we have considered God's indictment of man's sin met +by man's plea of 'not guilty,' and God's threatenings brushed aside by +man's question. Here we have the climax of self-revealing and patient +love in God's wooing voice to draw the wanderer back, met by man's +refusing answer. These three divine utterances taken together cover the +whole ground of His speech to us; and, alas! these three human +utterances but too truly represent for the most part our answers to Him. + +I. God's invitation to His wandering child. + +The gracious invitation of our text presupposes a state of departure. +The child who is tenderly recalled has first gone away. There has been a +breach of love. Dependence has been unwelcome, and cast off with the +vain hope of a larger freedom in the far-off land; and this is the true +charge against us. It is not so much individual acts of sin but the +going away in heart and spirit from our Father God which describes the +inmost essence of our true condition, and is itself the source of all +our acts of sin. Conscience confirms the description. We know that we +have departed from Him in mind, having wasted our thoughts on many +things and not having had Him in the multitude of them in us. We have +departed from Him in heart, having squandered our love and dissipated +our desires on many objects, and sought in the multiplicity of many +pearls--some of them only paste--a substitute for the all-sufficient +simplicity of the One of great price. We have departed from Him in will, +having reared up puny inclinations and fleeting passions against His +calm and eternal purpose, and so bringing about the shock of a collision +as destructive to us as when a torpedo-boat crashes in the dark against +a battleship, and, cut in two, sinks. + +The gracious invitation of our text follows, 'I am the Lord, I change +not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.' Threatenings, and the +execution of these in acts of judgment, are no indication of a change in +the loving heart of God; and because it is the same, however we have +sinned against it and departed from it, there is ever an invitation and +a welcome. We may depart from Him, but He never departs from us. Nor +does He wait for us to originate the movement of return, but He invites +us back. By all His words in His threatenings and in His commandments, +as in the acts of His providence, we can hear His call to return. The +fathers of our flesh never cease to long for their prodigal child's +return; and their patient persistence of hope is but brief and broken +when contrasted with the infinite long-suffering of the Father of +spirits. We have heard of a mother who for long empty years has nightly +set a candle in her cottage window to guide her wandering boy back to +her heart; and God has bade us think more loftily of the +unchangeableness of His love than that of a woman who may forget, that +she should not have compassion upon the son of her womb. + +II. Man's answer to God's invitation. + +It is a refusal which is half-veiled and none the less real. There is +no unwillingness to obey professed, but it is concealed under a mask of +desiring a little more light as to how a return is to be accomplished. +There are not many of us who are rooted enough in evil as to be able to +blurt out a curt 'I will not' in answer to His call. Conscience often +bars the way to such a plain and unmannerly reply; but there are many +who try to cheat God, and who do to some extent cheat themselves, by +professing ignorance of the way which would lead them to His heart. Some +of us have learned only too well to raise questions about the method of +salvation instead of accepting it, and to dabble in theology instead of +making sure work of return. Some of us would fain substitute a host of +isolated actions, or apparent moral or religious observance, for the +return of will and heart to God; and all who in their consciences answer +God's call by saying, 'Wherein shall we return?' with such a meaning are +playing tricks with themselves, and trying to hoodwink God. + +But the question of our text has often a nobler origin, and comes from +the depths of a troubled heart. Not seldom does God's loving invitation +rouse the dormant conscience to the sense of sin. The man, lying broken +at the foot of the cliff down which he has fallen, and seeing the +brightness of God far above, has his heart racked with the question: How +am I, with lame limbs, to struggle back to the heights above? 'How shall +man be just with God?' All the religions of the world, with their +offerings and penances and weary toils, are vain attempts to make a way +back to the God from whom men have wandered, and that question, 'Wherein +shall we return?' is really the meaning of the world's vain seeking and +profitless effort. + +God has answered man's question; for Christ is at once the way back to +God, and the motive which draws us to walk in it. He draws us back by +the magnetism of His love and sacrifice. We return to God when we cling +to Jesus. He is the highest, the tenderest utterance of the divine +voice; and when we yield to His invitation to Himself we return to God. +He calls to each of us, 'Come unto Me, and I will give you rest.' What +can we reply but, 'I come; let me never wander from Thee'? + + +'STOUT WORDS,' AND THEIR CONFUTATION + + 'Your words have been stout against Me, saith the Lord: yet ye say, + What have we spoken so much against Thee? 14. Ye have said, It is + vain to serve God; and what profit is it that we have kept His + ordinance, and that we have walked mournfully before the Lord of + Hosts? 15. And now we call the proud happy; yea, they that work + wickedness are set up; yea, they that tempt God are even delivered. + 16. Then they that feared the Lord spake often one to another: and + the Lord hearkened, and heard it; and a book of remembrance was + written before Him for them that feared the Lord, and that thought + upon His name. 17. And they shall be Mine, saith the Lord of Hosts, + in that day when I make up My jewels; and I will spare them, as a + man spareth his own son that serveth him. 18. Then shall ye return, + and discern between the righteous and the wicked; between him that + serveth God and him that serveth Him not. IV. 1. For, behold, the + day cometh that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and + all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh + shall burn them up, saith the Lord of Hosts, that it shall leave + them neither root nor branch. 2. But unto you that fear My Name + shall the sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and + ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall. 3. And ye + shall tread down the wicked; for they shall be ashes under the + soles of your feet, in the day that I shall do this, saith the Lord + of Hosts. 4. Remember ye the law of Moses My servant, which I + commanded unto him in Horeb for all Israel, with the statutes and + judgments. 5. Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the + coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord: 6. And he shall + turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the + children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a + curse.'--MALACHI iii. 13-18; iv. 1-6. + +This passage falls into three parts,--the 'stout words' against God +which the Prophet sets himself to confute (verses 13-15); the prophecy +of the day which will show their falsehood (verse 16 to iv. 3); and the +closing exhortation and prediction (iv. 4-6). + +I. The returning exiles had not had the prosperity which they had hoped. +So many of them, even of those who had served God, began to let doubts +darken their trust, and to listen to the whispers of their own hearts, +reinforced by the mutterings of others, and to ask: 'What is the use of +religion? Does it make any difference to a man's condition?' Here had +they been keeping God's charge, and going in black garments 'before the +Lord,' in token of penitence, and no good had come to them, while +arrogant neglect of His commandments did not seem to hinder happiness, +and 'they that work wickedness are built up.' Sinful lives appeared to +have a firm foundation, and to rise high and palace-like, while +righteous ones were like huts. Goodness seemed to spell ruin. + +What was wrong in these 'stout words'? It was wrong to attach such worth +to external acts of devotion, as if these were deserving of reward. It +was wrong to suspend the duty of worship on the prosperity resulting +from it, and to seek 'profit' from 'keeping his charge.' Such religion +was shallow and selfish, and had the evils of the later Pharisaism in +germ in it. It was wrong to yield to the doubts which the apparently +unequal distribution of worldly prosperity stirred in their hearts. But +the doubts themselves were almost certain to press on Old Testament +believers, as well as on Old Testament scoffers, especially under the +circumstances of Malachi's time. The fuller light of Christianity has +eased their pressure, but not removed it, and we have all had to face +them, both when our own hearts have ached with sorrow and when pondering +on the perplexities of this confused world. We look around, and, like +the psalmist, see 'the prosperity of the wicked,' and, like him, have to +confess that our 'steps had wellnigh slipped' at the sight. The old, old +question is ever starting up. 'Doth God know?' The mystery of suffering +and the mystery of its distribution, the apparent utter want of +connection between righteousness and well-being, are still formidable +difficulties in the way of believing in a loving, all-knowing, and +all-powerful God, and are stock arguments of the unbeliever and +perplexities of humble faith. Never to have felt the force of the +difficulty is not so much the sign of steadfast faith as of scant +reflection. To yield to it, and still more, to let it drive us to cast +religion aside, is not merely folly, but sin. So thinks Malachi. + +II. To the stout words of the doubters is opposed the conversation of +the godly. '_Then_ they that feared the Lord spake one with another,' +nourishing their faith by believing speech with like-minded. The more +the truths by which we believe are contradicted, the more should we +commune with fellow-believers. Attempts to rob us should make us hold +our treasure the faster. Bold avowal of the faith is especially called +for when many potent voices deny it. And, whoever does not hear, God +hears. Faithful words may seem lost, but they and every faithful act are +written in His remembrance and will be recompensed one day. If our names +and acts are written there, we may well be content to accept scanty +measures of earthly good, and not be 'envious of the foolish' in their +prosperity. + +Malachi's answer to the doubters leaves all other considerations which +might remove the difficulty unmentioned, and fixes on the one, the +prophecy of a future which will show that it is not all the same whether +a man is good or bad. It was said of an English statesman that he called +a new world into existence to redress the balance of the old, and that +is what the Prophet does. Christianity has taught us many other ways of +meeting the doubters' difficulty, but the sheet anchor of faith in that +storm is the unconquerable assurance that a day comes when the +righteousness of providence will be vindicated, and the eternal +difference between good and evil manifested in the fates of men. The +Prophet is declaring what will be a fact one day, but he does not know +when. Probably he never asked himself whether 'the day of the Lord' was +near or far off, to dawn on earth or to lie beyond mortal life. But this +he knew--that God was righteous, and that sometime and somewhere +character would settle destiny, and even outwardly it would be good to +be good. He first declares this conviction in general terms, and then +passes on to a magnificent and terrible picture of that great day. + +The promise, which lay at the foundation of Israel's national existence, +included the recognition of it as 'a peculiar treasure unto Me above all +people,' and Malachi looks forward to that day as the epoch when God +will show by His acts how precious the righteous are in His sight. Not +the whole Israel, but the righteous among them, are the heirs of the old +promise. It is an anticipation of the teaching that 'they are not all +Israel which are of Israel,' And it bids us look for the fulfilment of +every promise of God's to that great day of the Lord which lies still +before us all, when the gulf between the righteous and the wicked shall +be solemnly visible, wide, and profound. There have been many 'days +which I make' in the world's history, and in a measure each of them has +re-established the apparently tottering truth that there is a God who +judgeth in the earth, but the day of days is yet to come. + +No grander vision of judgment exists than Malachi's picture of 'the +day,' lurid, on the one hand, with the fierce flame, before which the +wicked are as stubble that crackles for a moment and then is grey ashes, +or as a tree in a forest fire, which stands for a little while, a pillar +of flame, and then falls with a crash, shaking the woods; and on the +otherhand, radiant with the early beams of healing sunshine, in whose +sweet morning light the cattle, let out from their pent-up stalls, +gambol in glee. But let us not forget while we admire the noble poetry +of its form that this is God's oracle, nor that we have each to settle +for ourselves whether that day shall be for us a furnace to destroy or a +sun to cheer and enlighten. + +We can only note in a sentence the recurrence in verse 1 of the phrases +'the proud' and they 'that work wickedness,' from verse 15 of chapter +iii. The end of those whom the world called happy, and who seemed stable +and elevated, is to be as stubble before the fire. We must also point +out that 'the sun of righteousness' means the sun which is +righteousness, and is not a designation of the Messiah. Nor can we dwell +on the picture of the righteous treading down the wicked, which seems to +prolong the previous metaphor of the leaping young cattle. Then shall +'the upright have dominion over them in the morning.' + +III. The final exhortation and promise point backwards and forwards, +summing up duty in obedience to the law, and fixing hope on a future +reappearance of the leader of the prophets. Moses and Elijah are the two +giant figures which dominate the history of Israel. Law and prophecy are +the two forms in which God spoke to the fathers. The former is of +perpetual obligation, the latter will flash up again in power on the +threshold of the day. Jesus has interpreted this closing word for us. +John came 'in the spirit and power of Elijah,' and the purpose of his +coming was to 'turn the hearts of the fathers to the children' (Luke i. +16, 17); that is, to bring back the devout dispositions of the +patriarchs to the existing generations, and so to bring the 'hearts of +the children to their fathers,' as united with them in devout obedience. +If John's mission had succeeded, the 'curse' which smote Israel would +have been stayed. God has done all that He can do to keep us from being +consumed by the fire of that day. The Incarnation, Life, and Death of +Jesus Christ made a day of the Lord which has the twofold character of +that in Malachi's vision, for He is a 'saviour of life unto life' or +'of death unto death,' and must be one or other to us. But another day +of the Lord is still to come, and for each of us it will come burning as +a furnace or bright as sunrise. Then the universe shall 'discern between +the righteous and the wicked, between him that serveth God and him that +serveth Him not.' + + +THE LAST WORDS OF THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS + + 'Lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.'--MALACHI iv. 6. + + 'The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. + Amen.'--REVELATION xxii. 21. + +It is of course only an accident that these words close the Old and the +New Testaments. In the Hebrew Bible Malachi's prophecies do not stand at +the end; but he was the last of the Old Testament prophets, and after +him there were 'four centuries of silence.' We seem to hear in his words +the dying echoes of the rolling thunders of Sinai. They gather up the +whole burden of the Law and of the prophets; of the former in their +declaration of a coming retribution, of the latter in the hope that that +retribution may be averted. + +Then, in regard to John's words, of course as they stand they are simply +the parting benediction with which he takes leave of his readers; but it +is fitting that the Book of which they are the close should seal up the +canon, because it stands as the one prophetic book of the New Testament, +and so reaches forward into the coming ages, even to the consummation of +all things. And just as Christ in His Ascension was taken from them +whilst His hands were lifted up in the act of blessing, so it is fitting +that the revelation of which He is the centre and the theme should part +from us as He did, shedding with its final words the dew of benediction +on our upturned heads. + +I venture, then, to look at these significant closing words of the two +Testaments as conveying the spirit of each, and suggesting some thoughts +about the contrast and the harmony and the order that subsist between +them. + +I. I ask you, first, to notice the apparent contrast and the real +harmony and unity of these two texts. + +'Lest I come and smite the land with a curse.' That last awful word does +not convey, in the original, quite the idea of our English word 'curse.' +It refers to a somewhat singular institution in the Mosaic Law according +to which things devoted, in a certain sense, to God were deprived of +life. And the reference historically is to the judgments that were +inflicted upon the nations that occupied the land before the Israelitish +invasion, those Canaanites and others who were put under 'the ban' and +devoted to utter destruction. So, says my text, Israel, which has +stepped into their places, may bring down upon its head the same +devastation; and as they were swept off the face of the land that they +had polluted with their iniquities, so an apostate and God-forgetting +Judah may again experience the same utter destruction falling upon them. +If instead of the word 'curse' we were to substitute the word +'destruction,' we should get the true idea of the passage. + +And the thought that I want to insist upon is this, that here we have +distinctly gathered up the whole spirit of millenniums of divine +revelation, all of which declare this one thing, that as certainly as +there is a God, every transgression and disobedience receives, and must +receive, its just recompense of reward. + +That is the spirit of law, for law has nothing to say, except, 'Do this, +and thou shalt live; do not this, and thou shalt die.' + +And then turn to the other. 'The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with +you all.' What has become of the thunder? All melted into dewy rain of +love and pity and compassion. Grace is love that stoops; grace is love +that foregoes its claims, and forgives sins against itself. Grace is +love that imparts, and this grace, thus stooping, thus pardoning, thus +bestowing, is a universal gift. The Apostolic benediction is the +declaration of the divine purpose, and the inmost heart and loftiest +meaning of all the words which from the beginning God hath spoken is +that His condescending, pardoning, self-bestowing mercy may fall upon +all hearts, and gladden every soul. + +So there seems to emerge, and there is, a very real and a very +significant contrast. 'I come and smite the earth with a curse' sounds +strangely unlike 'The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.' +And, of course, in this generation there is a strong tendency to dwell +upon that contrast and to exaggerate it, and to assert that the more +recent has antiquated the more ancient, and that now the day when we +have to think of and to dread the curse that smites the earth is past, +'because the true Light now shineth.' + +So I ask you to notice that beneath this apparent contrast there is a +real harmony, and that these two utterances, though they seem to be so +diverse, are quite consistent at bottom, and must both be taken into +account if we would grasp the whole truth. For, as a matter of fact, +nowhere are there more tender utterances and sweeter revelations of a +divine mercy than in that ancient law with its attendant prophets. And +as a matter of fact, nowhere, through all the thunderings and lightnings +of Sinai, are there such solemn words of retribution as dropped from the +lips of the Incarnate Love. There is nothing anywhere so dreadful as +Christ's own words about what comes, and must come, to sinful men. Is +there any depth of darkness in the Old Testament teaching of retribution +half as deep, half as black, and as terrible, as the gulf that Christ +opens at your feet and mine? Is there anything so awful as the +threatenings of Infinite Love? + +And the same blending of the widest proclamation of, and the most +perfect rejoicing confidence in, the universal and all-forgiving love of +God, with the teaching of the sharpest retribution, lies in the writings +of this very Apostle about whose words I am speaking. There are nowhere +in Scripture more solemn pictures than those in that book of the +Apocalypse, of the inevitable consequences of departure from the love +and the faith of God, and John, the Apostle of love, is the preacher of +judgment as none of the other writers of the New Testament are. + +Such is the fact, and there is a necessity for it. There must be this +blending; for if you take away from your conception of God the absolute +holiness which hates sin, and the rigid righteousness which apportions +to all evil its bitter fruits, you have left a maimed God that has not +power to love but is nothing but weak, good-natured indulgence. Impunity +is not mercy, and punishment is never the negation of perfect love, but +rather, if you destroy the one you hopelessly maim the other. The two +halves are needed in order to give full emphasis to either. Each note +alone is untrue; blended, they make the perfect chord. + +II. And now, let me ask you to look with me at another point, and that +is, the relation of the grace to the punishment. + +Is it not love which proclaims judgment? Are not the words of my first +text, if you take them all, merciful, however they wear a surface of +threatening? 'Lest I come.' Then He speaks that He may not come, and +declares the issue of sin in order that that issue may never need to be +experienced by us that listen to Him. Brethren! both in regard to the +Bible and in regard to human ministrations of the Gospel, it is +all-important, as it seems to me at present, to insist that it is the +cruellest kindness to keep back the threatenings for fear of darkening +the grace; and that, on the other hand, it is the truest tenderness to +warn and to proclaim them. It is love that threatens; 'tis mercy to tell +us that the wrath will come. + +And just as one relation between the grace and the retribution is that +the proclamation of the retribution is the work of the grace, so there +is another relation--the grace is manifested in bearing the punishment, +and in bearing it away by bearing it. Oh! there is no adequate measure +of what the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ is except the measure of the +smiting destruction from which He frees us. It is because every +transgression receives its just recompense of reward, because the wages +of sin is death, because God cannot but hate and punish the evil, that +we get our truest standard of what Christ's love is to every soul of us. +For on Him have met all the converging rays of the divine retribution, +and burnt the penal fire into His very heart. He has come between every +one of us, if we will, and that certain incidence of retribution for our +evil, taking upon Himself the whole burden of our sin and of our guilt, +and bearing that awful death which consists not in the mere dissolution +of the tie between soul and body, but in the separation of the conscious +spirit from God, in order that we may stand peaceful, serene, untouched, +when the hail and the fire of the divine judgment are falling from the +heavens and running along the earth. The grace depends for all our +conceptions of its glory, its tenderness, and its depth, on our estimate +of the wrath from which it delivers. + +So, dear brethren, remember, if you tamper with the one you destroy the +other; if there be no fearful judgment from which men need to be +delivered, Christ has borne nothing for us that entitles Him to demand +our hearts; and all the ascriptions of praise and adoration to Him, and +all the surrender of loving hearts, in utter self-abandonment, to Him +that has borne the curse for us, fade and are silent. If you strike out +the truth of Christ's bearing the results of sin from your theology, you +do not thereby exalt, but you fatally lower the love; and in the +interests of the loftiest conceptions of a divine loving-kindness and +mercy that ever have blessed the world, I beseech you, be on your guard +against all teachings that diminish the sinfulness of sin, and that ask +again the question which first of all came from lips that do not commend +it to us--'_Hath_ God said?' or advance to the assertion--'Ye shall +_not_ surely die.' If 'I come to smite the earth with a curse' ceases to +be a truth to you, 'the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ' will fade away +for you likewise. + +III. Now, still further, let me ask you to consider, lastly, the +alternative which these texts open for us. + +I believe that the order in which they stand in Scripture is the order +in which men generally come to believe them, and to feel them. I am +old-fashioned enough and narrow enough to believe in conversion; and to +believe further that, as a rule, the course through which the soul +passes from darkness into light is the course which divine revelation +took: first, the unveiling of sin and its issues, and then the glad +leaping up of the trustful heart to the conception of redeeming grace. + +But what I seek briefly to suggest now is, not only the order of +manifestation as brought out in these words, but also the alternative +which they present to us, one branch or other of which every soul of you +will have to experience. You must have either the destruction or the +grace. And, more wonderful still, the same coming of the same Lord will +be to one man the destruction, and to another the manifestation and +reception of His perfect grace. As it was in the Lord's first coming, +'He is set for the rise and the fall of many in Israel.' The same heat +softens some substances and bakes others into hardness. A bit of wax and +a bit of clay put into the same fire--one becomes liquefied and the +other solidified. The same light is joy to one eye and torture to +another. The same pillar of cloud was light to the hosts of Israel, and +darkness and dismay to the armies of Egypt. The same Gospel is 'a savour +of life unto life, or of death unto death,' by the giving forth of the +same influences killing the one and reviving the other; the same Christ +is a Stone to build upon or a Stone of stumbling; and when He cometh at +the last, Prince, King, Judge, to you and me, His coming shall be +prepared as the morning; and ye 'shall have a song as when one cometh +with a pipe to the mountain of the Lord'; or else it shall be a day of +darkness and not of light. He comes to me, to you; He comes to smite or +He comes to glorify. + +Oh, brethren! do not believe that God's threatenings are wind and words; +do not let teachings that sap the very foundations of morality and eat +all the power out of the Gospel persuade you that the solemn words, 'The +soul that sinneth it shall die,' are not simple verity. + +And then, my brethren, oh! then, do you turn yourselves to that dear +Lord whose grace is magnified in this most chiefly, that 'He hath borne +our sins and carried our sorrows'; and taking Him for your Saviour, your +King, your Shield, your All, when He cometh it will be life to you; and +the grace that He imparts will be heaven for ever more. + + * * * * * + + + + +ST. MATTHEW + +_Chaps. I to VIII_ + + + + +CONTENTS + + MATTHEW'S GENEALOGY OF JESUS CHRIST (Matt. i. 1-16) + THE NATIVITY (Matt. i. 18-25) + THE NAME ABOVE EVERY NAME (Matt. i. 21) + THE FIRST-FRUITS OF THE GENTILES (Matt. ii. 1-12) + THE KING IN EXILE (Matt. ii. 13-23) + THE HERALD OF THE KING (Matt. iii. 1-12) + THE BAPTISM IN FIRE (Matt. iii. 11) + THE BAPTISM OF JESUS (Matt. iii. 13-17) + THE DOVE OF GOD (Matt. in. 16) + THE VICTORY OF THE KING (Matt. iv. 1-11) + THE SPRINGING OF THE GREAT LIGHT (Matt. iv. 12-16) + THE EARLY WELCOME AND THE FIRST MINISTERS OF THE KING + (Matt. iv. 17-25) + THE NEW SINAI (Matt. v. 1-16) + THE FIRST BEATITUDE (Matt. v. 3) + THE SECOND BEATITUDE (Matt. v. 4) + THE THIRD BEATITUDE (Matt. v. 5) + THE FOURTH BEATITUDE (Matt. v. 6) + THE FIFTH BEATITUDE (Matt. v. 7) + THE SIXTH BEATITUDE (Matt. v. 8) + THE SEVENTH BEATITUDE (Matt. v. 9) + THE EIGHTH BEATITUDE (Matt. v. 10) + SALT WITHOUT SAVOUR (Matt. v. 13) + THE LAMP AND THE BUSHEL (Matt. v. 14-16) + THE NEW FORM OF THE OLD LAW (Matt. v. 17-26) + 'SWEAR NOT AT ALL' (Matt. v. 33-37) + NON-RESISTANCE (Matt. v. 38-42) + THE LAW OF LOVE (Matt. v. 43-48) + TRUMPETS AND STREET CORNERS (Matt. vi. 1-5) + SOLITARY PRAYER (Matt. vi. 6) + THE STRUCTURE OF THE LORD'S PRAYER (Matt. vi. 9) + 'OUR FATHER' (Matt. vi. 9) + 'HALLOWED BE THY NAME' (Matt. vi. 9) + 'THY KINGDOM COME' (Matt. vi. 10) + 'THY WILL BE DONE' (Matt. vi. 10) + THE CRY FOR BREAD (Matt. vi. 11) + 'FORGIVE US OUR DEBTS' (Matt. vi. 12) + 'LEAD US NOT INTO TEMPTATION' (Matt. vi. 13) + 'DELIVER US FROM EVIL' (Matt. vi. 13) + 'THINE IS THE KINGDOM' (Matt. vi. 13) + FASTING (Matt. vi. 16-18) + TWO KINDS OF TREASURE (Matt. vi. 10-20) + HEARTS AND TREASURES (Matt. vi. 21) + ANXIOUS CARE (Matt. vi. 24-25) + JUDGING, ASKING, AND GIVING (Matt. vii. 1-12) + OUR KNOCKING (Matt. vii. 7) + THE TWO PATHS (Matt, vii. 1344) + THE TWO HOUSES (Matt. vii. 24-26) + THE CHRIST OF THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT (Matt. vii. 28-29) + THE TOUCH THAT CLEANSES (Matt. viii. 14) + THE FAITH WHICH CHRIST PRAISES (Matt. viii. 8-9) + SWIFT HEALING AND IMMEDIATE SERVICE (Matt. viii. 14-15) + THE HEALING CHRIST (Matt. viii. 17) + CHRIST REPRESSING RASH DISCIPLESHIP (Matt. viii. 19-20) + CHRIST STIMULATING SLUGGISH DISCIPLESHIP (Matt. viii. 21-22) + THE PEACE-BRINGER IN THE NATURAL WORLD (Matt, viii. 23-27) + THE PEACE-BRINGER IN THE SPIRITUAL WORLD (Matt. viii. 28-34) + + + * * * * * + + +MATTHEW'S GENEALOGY OF JESUS CHRIST + + 'The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the + son of Abraham. 2. Abraham begat Isaac; and Isaac begat Jacob; and + Jacob begat Judas and his brethren; 3. And Judas begat Phares and + Zara of Thamar; and Phares begat Esrom; and Esrom begat Aram; 4. + And Aram begat Aminadab; and Aminadab begat Naasson; and Naasson + begat Salmon; 5. And Salmon begat Booz of Rachab; and Booz begat + Obed of Ruth; and Obed begat Jesse; 6. And Jesse begat David the + king; and David the king begat Solomon of her that had been the + wife of Urias; 7. And Solomon begat Roboam; and Roboam begat Abia; + and Abia begat Asa; 8. And Asa begat Josaphat; and Josaphat begat + Joram; and Joram begat Ozias; 9. And Ozias begat Joatham; and + Joatham begat Achaz; and Achaz begat Ezekias; 10. And Ezekias begat + Manasses; and Manasses begat Amon; and Amon begat Josias; 11. And + Josias begat Jechonias and his brethren, about the time they were + carried away to Babylon: 12. And after they were brought to + Babylon, Jechonias begat Salathiel; and Salathiel begat Zorobabel; + 13. And Zorobabel begat Abiud; and Abiud begat Eliakim; and Eliakim + begat Azor; 14. And Azor begat Sadoc; and Sadoc begat Achim; and + Achim begat Eliud; 15. And Eliud begat Eleazar; and Eleazar begat + Matthan; and Matthan begat Jacob; 16. And Jacob begat Joseph the + husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called + Christ.'--MATT. 1. 1-16. + +To begin a Gospel with a genealogy strikes us modern Westerns as +singular, to say the least of it. To preface the Life of Jesus with an +elaborate table of descents through forty-one generations, and then to +show that the forty-second had no real connection with the forty-first, +strikes us as irrelevant. Clause after clause comes the monotonous +'begat,' till the very last, when it fails, and we read instead: 'Jacob +begat Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus.' So, then, +whoever drew up this genealogy knew that Jesus was not Joseph's son. +Why, then, was he at the pains to compile it, and why did the writer of +the Gospel, if he was not the compiler, think it important enough to +open his narrative? The answer lies in two considerations: the ruling +idea of the whole Gospel, that Jesus is the promised Jewish Messiah, +David's son and Israel's king; and the characteristic ancient idea that +the full rights of sonship were given by adoption as completely as by +actual descent. Joseph was 'of the house and lineage of David,' and +Joseph took Mary's first-born as his own child, thereby giving Him +inheritance of all his own status and claims. Incidentally we may remark +that this presentation of Jesus as Joseph's heir seems to favour the +probability that He was regarded as His reputed father's first-born +child, and so disfavours the contention that the 'brethren' of Jesus +were Joseph's children by an earlier marriage. But, apart from that, the +place of this table of descent at the beginning of the Gospel makes it +clear that the prophecies of the Messiah as David's son were by the +Hebrew mind regarded as adequately fulfilled by Jesus being by adoption +the son of Joseph, and that such fulfilment was regarded as important by +the evangelist, not only for strengthening his own faith, but for urging +his Lord's claims on his fellow-countrymen, whom he had chiefly in view +in writing. Such external 'fulfilment' goes but for little with us, who +rest Jesus' claims to be our King on more inward and spiritual grounds, +but it stands on the same level as other similar fulfilments of prophecy +which meet us in the Gospels; such as the royal entry into Jerusalem, +'riding upon an ass,' in which the outward, literal correspondence is +but a finger-post, pointing to far deeper and truer realisation of the +prophetic ideal in Jesus. + +What, then, did the evangelist desire to make prominent by the +genealogy? The first verse answers the question. We need not discuss +whether the title, 'The book of the generations of Jesus Christ,' +applies to the table of descent only, or to the whole chapter. The +former seems the more probable conclusion, but the point to note is that +two facts are made prominent in the title; viz. that Jesus was a true +Jew, 'forasmuch as He also is a son of Abraham,' and was the true king +of Israel, being the 'Son of David,' of whom prophets had spoken such +great things. If we would take in the full significance of Matthew's +starting-point, we must set by the side of it those of the other three +evangelists. Mark plunges at once, without preface or allusion to +earlier days, into the stir and stress of Christ's work, slightly +touching on the preliminaries of John's mission, the baptism and +temptation, and hurrying on to the call of the fishermen, and the busy +scenes on the Sabbath in Capernaum. Luke has his genealogy as well as +Matthew, but, in accordance with his universalistic, humanist tone, he +traces the descent from far behind Abraham, even to 'Adam, which was the +son of God,' and he works in the reverse order to Matthew, going upwards +from Joseph instead of downwards to him. John soars high above all +earthly birth, and begins away back in the Eternities before the world +was, for his theme is not so much the son of Joseph who was the son of +David and the son of Abraham, or the son of Adam who was the son of God, +as the Eternal 'Word' who 'was with God,' and entered into history and +time when He 'became flesh.' We must take all these points of view +together if we would understand any of them, for they are not +contradictory, but complementary. + +The purpose of Matthew's genealogy is further brought out by its +symmetrical arrangement into three groups of fourteen generations +each--an arrangement not arrived at without some free manipulating of +the links. The sacred number is doubled in each case, which implies +eminent completeness. Each of the three groups makes a whole in which a +tendency runs out to its goal, and becomes, as it were, the +starting-point for a new epoch. So the first group is pre-monarchical, +and culminates in David the King. Israel's history is regarded as all +tending towards that consummation. He is thought of as the first King, +for Saul was a Benjamite, and had been deposed by divine authority. The +second group is monarchical, and it, too, has a drift, as it were, which +is tragically marked by the way in which its last stage is described: +'Josias begat Jechonias and his brethren, about the time that they were +carried away to Babylon.' Josiah had four successors, all of them +phantom kings;--Jehoahaz, who reigned for three months and was taken +captive to Egypt; his brother Jehoiakim, a puppet set up by Egypt, +knocked down by Babylon; his son Jehoiachin, who reigned eleven years +and was carried captive to Babylon; and last, Zedekiah, Josiah's son, +under whom the ruin of the kingdom was completed. The genealogy does not +mention the names of these ill-starred 'brethren,' partly because it +traces the line of descent through 'Jeconias' or Jehoiachin, partly +because it despises them too much. A line that begins with David and +ends with such a quartet! This was what the monarchy had run out to: +David at the one end and Zedekiah at the other, a bright fountain +pouring out a stream that darkened as it flowed through the ages, and +crept at last into a stagnant pond, foul and evil-smelling. Then comes +the third group, and it too has a drift. Unknown as the names in it are, +it is the epoch of restoration, and its 'bright consummate flower' is +'Jesus who is called the Christ.' He will be a better David, will +burnish again the tarnished lustre of the monarchy, will be all that +earlier kings were meant to be and failed of being, and will more than +bring the day which Abraham desired to see, and realise the ideal to +which 'prophets and righteous men' unconsciously were tending, when as +yet there was no king in Israel. + +A very significant feature of this genealogical table is the insertion +in it, in four cases, of the names of the mothers. The four women +mentioned are Thamar a harlot, Rachab another, Ruth the Moabitess, and +Bathsheba; three of them tainted in regard to womanly purity, and the +fourth, though morally sweet and noble, yet mingling alien blood in the +stream. Why are pains taken to show these 'blots in the scutcheon'? May +we not reasonably answer--in order to suggest Christ's relation to the +stained and sinful, and to all who are 'strangers from the covenants of +promise.' He is to be a King with pity and pardon for harlots, with a +heart and arms open to welcome all those who were afar off among the +Gentiles. The shadowy forms of these four dead women beckon, as it were, +to all their sisters, be they stained however darkly or distant however +remotely, and assure them of welcome into the kingdom of the king who, +by Jewish custom, could claim to be their descendant. + +The ruling idea of the genealogy is clearly though unostentatiously +shown by the employment of the names 'Jesus Christ' and 'Christ,' while +throughout the rest of this Gospel the name used habitually is Jesus. +In verse 1 we have the full title proclaimed at the very beginning; then +in verse 16, 'Jesus who is called Christ' repeats the proclamation at +the end of the genealogy proper, while verse 17 again presents the three +names with which it began as towering like mountain peaks, Abraham, +David, and--supreme above the other two, the dominant summit to which +they led up, we have once more 'Christ.' Similarly the narrative that +follows is of 'the birth of Jesus Christ.' That name is never used again +in this Gospel, except in one case where the reading is doubtful; and as +for the form 'Jesus who is called Christ,' by which He is designated in +the genealogy itself, the only other instance of it is on the mocking +lips of Pilate, while the uniform use of Jesus in the body of this +Gospel is broken only by Peter in his great confession, and in, at most, +four other instances. Could the purpose to assert and establish, at the +very outset, His Messianic, regal dignity, as the necessary +pre-supposition to all that follows, be more clearly shown? We must +begin our study of His life and works with the knowledge that He, of +whom these things are about to be told, is the King of Israel. + + +THE NATIVITY + + 'Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When as His mother + Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was + found with child of the Holy Ghost. 19. Then Joseph her husband, + being a just man, and not willing to make her a publick example, + was minded to put her away privily. 20. But while he thought on + these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a + dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto + thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the + Holy Ghost. 21. And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt + call His name JESUS: for He shall save His people from their sins. + 22. Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was + spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, 23. Behold, a virgin + shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall + call His name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us. + 24. Then Joseph being raised from sleep did as the angel of the + Lord had bidden him, and took unto him his wife: 25. And knew her + not till she had brought forth her first-born son: and he called His + name JESUS.'--MATT. 1.18-25. + +Matthew's account of the Nativity sets Joseph in the foreground. His +pain and hesitation, his consideration for Mary, the divine +communication to him, and his obedience to it, embarrassing as his +position must have been, take up larger space than the miracle of the +birth itself. Probably in all this we have an unconscious disclosure of +the source of the evangelist's information. At all events, he speaks as +if from Joseph's point of view. Luke, on the other hand, has most to say +about Mary's maidenly wonder and meek submission, her swift hurrying to +find help from a woman's sympathy, as soon as the Angel of the +Annunciation had spoken, and the hymn of exultation which Elisabeth's +salutation heartened her to pour forth. Surely that narrative could have +come from none but her meek and faithful lips? The two accounts +beautifully supplement each other, and give two vivid pictures of these +two devout souls, each sharply tried in a different fashion, each richly +blessed by variously moulded obedience. Joseph took up his burden, and +Mary hers, because God had spoken and they believed. + +The shock to Joseph of the sudden discovery, crashing in on him after he +was bound to Mary, and in what would else have been the sweet interval +of love and longing 'before they came together,' is delicately and +unconsciously brought out in verse 18. 'She was found'--how the +remembrance of the sudden disclosure, blinding and startling as a +lightning flash, lives in that word! And how the agony of perplexity as +to the right thing to do in such a cruel dilemma is hinted at in the two +clauses that pull in opposite directions! As a 'just man' and 'her +husband,' Joseph owed it to righteousness and to himself not to ignore +his betrothed's condition; but as her lover and her husband, how could +he put her, who was still so dear to him, to public shame, some of which +would cloud his own name? To 'put her away' was the only course +possible, though it racked his soul, and to do it 'privily' was the +last gift that his wounded love could give her. No wonder that 'these +things' kept him brooding sadly on them, nor that his day's troubled +thinkings coloured his sleeping hours! The divine guidance, which is +ever given to waiting minds, was given to him by the way of a dream, +which is one of the Old Testament media of divine communications, and +occurs with striking frequency in this and the following chapter, there +being three recorded as sent to Joseph and one to the Magi. It is +observable, however, that to Joseph it is always '_the_'or 'an angel of +the Lord' who appears in the dream, whereas the dream only is mentioned +in the case of the Magi. The difference of expression may imply a +difference in the manner of communication. But in any case, we need not +wonder that divine communications were abundant at such an hour, nor +shall we be startled, if we believe in the great miracle of the Word's +becoming flesh, that a flight of subsidiary miracles, like a bevy of +attendant angels, clustered round it. + +The most stupendous fact in history is announced by the angel chiefly as +the reason for Joseph's going on with his marriage. Surely that strange +inversion of the apparent importance of the two things speaks for the +historical reliableness of the narrative. The purpose in hand is mainly +to remove his hesitation and point his course, and he is to take Mary as +his wife, _for_ 'that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost.' +Could 'the superstitious veneration of a later age', which is supposed +to have originated the story of a supernatural birth, have spoken so? As +addressed to Joseph, tortured with doubts of Mary and hesitations as to +his duty, the sequence of the two things is beautifully appropriate, +otherwise it is monstrous. The great mystery, which lies at the +foundation of Christianity, is declared in the fewest and simplest +words. That He who is to show God to men, and to save them from their +sins, must be born of a woman, is plainly necessary. Because 'the +children are partakers of flesh and blood,' He also must 'take part of +the same.' That He must be free from the taint in nature, which passes +down to all 'who are born of the will of the flesh or of man,' is no +less obviously requisite. Both requirements are met in the supernatural +birth of Jesus, and unless both have been met, He is not, and cannot be, +the world's saviour. Nor is that supernatural birth less needful to +explain His manifestly sinless character than it is to qualify Him for +His unique office. The world acknowledges that in Him it finds a man +without blemish and without spot. How comes He to be free from the flaws +which, like black streaks in Parian marble, spoil the noblest +characters? Surely if, after millions of links in the chain, which have +all been of mingled metal, there comes one of pure gold, it cannot have +had the same origin as the others. It is part of the chain, 'the Word +was made flesh'; but it has been cast and moulded in another forge, for +it is 'that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost.' + +'She shall bring forth a son.' The angel does not say, 'a son to thee,' +but yet Joseph was to assume the position of father, and by naming the +child to acknowledge it as his. The name of Jesus or Joshua was borne by +many a Jewish child then. There was a Jesus among Paul's _entourage_. It +recalled the warrior leader, and, no doubt, was often given to children +in these days of foreign dominion by fathers who hoped that Israel might +again fight for freedom. But holier thoughts were to be Joseph's, and +the salvation from God which was expressed by the name was to be of +another kind than Joshua had brought. It was to be salvation from sin +and from sins. This child was to be a leader too, a conqueror and a +king, and the mention of 'His people,' taken in connection with Joseph's +having been addressed as 'the son of David,' is most significant. He, +too, is to have a subject people, and the deliverance which He is to +bring is not political or to be wrested from Rome by the sword, but +inward, moral, and spiritual, and therefore to be effected by moral and +spiritual weapons. + +It is the evangelist, not the angel, who points to Isaiah's prophecy. He +does so with a certain awe, as he thinks of the greatness of 'all these +things'. Undoubtedly the Hebrew word rendered in Matthew, after the +Septuagint, 'virgin', does not necessarily imply the full meaning of +that word; and as undoubtedly the prophecy, as it stands in Isaiah, +pointed to an event to occur in the immediate future; yet it is clear, +from the further development of the prophecy by Isaiah, and especially +from the fourfold name given to the child in Isaiah ix. 6, and the +glorious dominion there foretold for Him, that Isaiah conceives of Him +as the Messiah. And, since any 'fulfilment' of the glowing prophecies +attached to the Child were, in Isaiah's time, but poor and partial, the +great Messianic hope was necessarily trained to look further down the +stream of time. He who should fill the _role_ set forth was yet to come. +Matthew believed that it was completely filled by Jesus, and we know +that he was right. The fulfilment does not depend on the question +whether or not the idea of Virginity is contained in the Hebrew word, +but on the correspondence between the figure seen by the prophet in the +golden haze of his divinely quickened imagination, and the person to be +described in the gospel, and we know that the correspondence is +complete. The name Immanuel, to be given to the prophetic child, +breathed the certainty that in 'God with us' Israel would find the +secret of its charmed existence, even while an Ahaz was on the throne. +The name takes on a deeper meaning when applied to Him to whom alone it +in fullest truth belongs. It proclaims that in Jesus God dwells among +us, and it lays bare the ground of the historical name Jesus, for only +by a man who is one of ourselves, and in whom God is with us, can we be +saved from our sins. The one Name is the deep, solid foundation, the +other is the fortress refuge built upon it. He is Jesus, because He is +Immanuel. + +How different the world and his own life looked to Joseph when he woke! +Hesitations and agonising doubts of his betrothed's purity had vanished +with the night, and, instead of the dread that her child would be the +offspring of shame, had come a divinely given certainty that it was 'a +holy thing.' In the rush of the sudden revulsion, all that was involved +would not be clear, but the duty that lay nearest him was clear, and his +obedience was as swift as it was glad. He believed, and his faith took +the burden off him, and brought back the sweet relations which had +seemed to be rent for ever. The Birth was foretold by the angel in a +single clause, it is recorded by the evangelist in another. In both +cases, Mary's part and Joseph's are set side by side ('she shall bring +forth ... and thou shalt call: she had brought forth ... and he +called'), and the birth itself is in verse 25 recorded mainly in its +bearing on Joseph's marital relations. Could such a perspective in the +narrative be conceived of from any other point of view than Joseph's? + +We do not enter on the controversy as to whether that 'till' and the +expression 'first-born' shut us up to the conclusion that Joseph and Mary +had children. The words are not decisive, and probably opinions will +always differ on the point. Mediaevally-minded persons will reject with +horror the notion that Jesus had brethren in the proper sense of the +word, while those who believe that the perfect woman is a happy wife and +mother, will not feel that it detracts from Mary's sacredness, nor from +her purity, to believe that she had other children than 'her first-born +Son'. + + +THE NAME ABOVE EVERY NAME + + '... Thou shalt call His name JESUS: for He shall save His people + from their sins'.--MATT. 1. 21. + +I. THE historical associations of the name. + +It was a very common Jewish name, and of course was given in memory of +the great leader who brought the hosts of Israel to rest in the promised +land. + +There is no sharper contrast conceivable than between Joshua and Jesus. +The contrast and the parallel are both most significant. + +(a) The contrast. + +Joshua is perhaps one of the least interesting of the Old Testament men; +a mere soldier, fit for the fierce work which he had to do, rough and +hard, ready and prompt, of an iron will and a brave heart. The one +exhortation given him when he comes to the leadership is 'be strong and +of a good courage,' and that seems to have been the main virtue of his +character. The task he had to do was a bloody one, and thoroughly he did +it. The difficulties that have been found in the extermination of the +Canaanites may be met by considerations of the changed atmosphere +between then and now, and of their moral putrescence. But no explanation +can make the deed other than terrible, or the man that did it other than +fierce and stern. No traits of chivalrous generosity are told of him, +nothing that softens the dreadfulness of war. He showed no touch of pity +or compunction, no lofty, statesmanlike qualities, nothing constructive; +he was simply a rough soldier, with an iron hand and an iron heel, who +burned and slew and settled down his men in the land they had +devastated. + +The very sharpness of the contrast in character is intended to be felt +by us. Put by the side of this man the image of Jesus Christ, in all His +meekness and gentleness. + +Does not this speak to us of the profound change which He comes to +establish among men? + +The highest ideal of character is no longer the rough soldier, the +strong man, but the man of meekness, and gentleness, and patience. + +How far the world yet is from understanding all that is meant in the +contrast between the first and the second bearers of the name! + +We have done with force, and are come into the region of love. There is +no place in Christ's kingdom for arms and vulgar warfare. + +The strongest thing is love, armed with celestial armour. 'Truth and +meekness and righteousness' are our keenest-edged weapons--this is true +for _Christian morals_; and for _politics_ in a measure which the world +has not yet learned. + +'Put up thy sword into its sheath,' + +(b) The parallel. + +It is not to be forgotten that the work which the soldier did in type is +the work which Christ does. He is the true Moses who leads us through +the wilderness. But also He is the Captain who will bring us into the +mountain of His inheritance. + +But besides this, we too often forget the soldier-like virtues in the +character of Christ. + +We have lost sight of these very much, but certainly they are present +and most conspicuous. If only we will look at our Lord's life as a real +human one, and apply the same tests and terms to it which we do to +others, we shall see these characteristics plainly enough. + +What do we call persistence which, in spite of all opposition, goes +right on to the end, and is true to conscience and duty, even to death? +What do we call the calmness which forgets self even in the agonies of +pain on the cross? What do we call the virtue which rebukes evil in high +places and never blanches nor falters in the utterance of unwelcome +truths? + +Daring courage. | +Promptness of action. | All conspicuous in Jesus. +Iron will. | + +It has become a commonplace thing now to say that the bravery which +dares to do right in the face of all opposition is higher than that of +the soldier who flings away his life on the battlefield. The soldiers of +peace are known now to deserve the laurel no less than the heroes of +war. + +But who can tell how much of the modern world's estimate of the +superiority of moral courage to mere brute force is owing to the history +of the life of Christ? + +We find a further parallel in the warfare through which He conquers for +us the land. + +His own struggle ('I have overcome'), and the lesson that we too must +fight, and that all our religious life is to be a conflict. It is easy +to run off into mere rhetorical metaphor, but it is a very solemn and a +very practical truth which is taught us, if we ponder that name of the +warrior Leader borne by our Master as explained to us by Himself in His +words, 'In the world ye shall have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I +have overcome the world.' + +Ps. cx. 'Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power, in the +beauties of holiness from the womb of the morning: thou hast the dew of +thy youth.' + +II. The significance of the name. + +Joshua means God is Saviour. As borne by the Israelitish leader, it +pointed both him and the people away from him to the unseen and +omnipotent source of their victory, and was in one word an explanation +of their whole history, with all its miracles of deliverance and +preservation of that handful of people against the powerful nations +around. It taught the leader that he was only the lieutenant of an +unseen Captain. It taught the soldiers that 'they got not the land in +possession by their own arms, but because He had a favour unto them.' + +1. God as Saviour appears in highest manifestation in Jesus. + +I do not now mean in regard to the nature of the salvation, but in +regard to the relation between the human and the divine. Joshua was the +human agent through which the divine will effected deliverance, but, as +in all helpers and teachers, he was but the instrument. He could not +have said, 'I lead you, I give you victory.' His name taught him that he +was not to come in his own name. But '_he_ shall save'--not merely God +shall save through him. And '_his_ people'--not 'the people of _God_' + +All this but points to the broad distinction between Christ and all +others, in that God, the Saviour, is manifest in Him as in none other. + +We are not detracting from the glory of God when we say that Christ +saves us. + +Christ's consciousness of being Himself Salvation is expressed in many +of His words. He makes claims and puts forward His own personality in a +fashion that would be blasphemy in any other man, and yet all the while +is true to His name, 'God is the Saviour.' + +The paradox which lies in these earliest words, the great gulf between +the name and the interpretation on the angel's lips, is only solved when +we accept the teaching which tells us that in that Word made flesh and +dwelling among us, we behold 'God manifest in the flesh,' and 'in Christ +reconciling the world unto Himself.' + +The name guards us, too, from that very common error of thinking of +Christ as if He were more our Saviour than God is. We are not without +need of this warning. Christ does not bend the divine will to love, is +not more tender than our Father God. + +2. The Salvation brought by Jesus is in its nature the loftiest. + +It is with strong emphasis that the angel defines the sphere of +salvation as being 'their sins.' The Messianic expectation had been +degraded as it flowed through the generations, as some pure stream loses +its early sparkle, and gathers scum on its surface from filth flung into +it by men. Mere deliverance from the Roman yoke was all the salvation +that the mass wanted or expected, and the tragedy of the Cross was +foreshadowed in this prophecy which declares an inward emancipation from +sin as the true work of Mary's unborn Son. + +We can discern the Jewish error in externalising and materialising the +conception of salvation, but many of us repeat it in essence. What is +the difference between the Jew who thought that salvation was +deliverance from Rome, and the 'Christian' who thinks that it is +deliverance not from sin but from its punishment? + +We have to think of a liberation from sin itself, not merely from its +penalties. This thought has been often obscured by preachers, and often +neglected by Christians, in whom selfishness and an imperfect +understanding of the gospel have too often made salvation appear as +merely a means of escape from impending suffering. All deep knowledge of +what _Sin_ is teaches us that it is its own punishment, and that the +hell of hell is to be under the dominion of evil. + +3. God's people are His people. + +Israel was _God's_ portion--and Joshua was but their leader for a time. +But the people of God are the people of Christ. + +The way by which we become the people of Jesus is simply by faith in +Him. + +III. The usage of the name. + +It was a common Jewish name, but seems to have been almost abandoned +since then by Jews from abhorrence, by Christians from reverence. + +The Jewish fanatic who during the siege stalked through Jerusalem +shrieking, 'Woe to the city', and, as he fell mortally wounded, added, +'and to myself also,' was a Jesus. There is a Jesus in Colossians. + +We find it as the usual appellation in the Gospels, as is natural. But +in the Epistles it is comparatively rare alone. + +The reason, of course, is that it brings mainly before us the human +personality of Jesus. So when used alone in later books it emphasises +this: 'This same Jesus shall so come'. 'We see Jesus, made a little, +etc.' + +Found in frequent use by two classes of religionists--_Unitarian_ and +_Sentimental_. + +We should seek to get all the blessing out of it, and to dwell, taught +by it, on the thoughts of His true manhood, tempted, our brother, bone +of our bone. + +We should beware of confining our thoughts to what is taught us by that +name. Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. Even with thoughts of His +lovely human character let us blend thoughts of His Messianic office and +of His divine nature. We shall not see all the beauty of Jesus unless we +know Him as the Christ, the Son of the Highest. + +And besides the name written on His vesture and his thigh, He bears a +name which no man knoweth but Himself. Beyond our grasp is His +uncommunicable name, His deep character, but near to us for our love and +for our faith is all we need to know. That name which He bore in His +humiliation He bears still in His glory, and the name which is above +every name, and at which every knee shall bow, is the name by which +Jewish mothers called their children, and through eternity we shall call +His name Jesus because He hath finally and fully saved us from our +sins. + + +THE FIRST-FRUITS OF THE GENTILES + + 'Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod + the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, + 2. Saying, Where is He that is born King of the Jews? for we have + seen His star in the east, and are come to worship Him. 3. When + Herod the king had heard these things, he was troubled, and all + Jerusalem with him. 4. And when he had gathered all the chief + priests and scribes of the people together, he demanded of them + where Christ should be born. 5. And they said unto him, In + Bethlehem of Judaea: for thus it is written by the prophet, 6. And + thou Bethlehem, in the land of Juda, art not the least among the + princes of Juda: for out of thee shall come a Governor, that shall + rule my people Israel. 7. Then Herod, when he had privily called + the wise men, enquired of them diligently what time the star + appeared. 8. And he sent them to Bethlehem, and said, Go and search + diligently for the young child; and when ye have found Him, bring + me word again, that I may come and worship Him also. 9. When they + had heard the king, they departed; and, lo, the star, which they + saw in the east, went before them, till it came and stood over + where the young child was. 10. When they saw the star, they + rejoiced with exceeding great joy. 11. And when they were come into + the house, they saw the young child with Mary His mother, and fell + down, and worshipped Him: and when they had opened their treasures, + they presented unto Him gifts; gold, and frankincense, and myrrh. + 31. And being warned of God in a dream that they should not return + to Herod, they departed into their own country another way.'--MATT. + ii. 1-12. + +Matthew's Gospel is the gospel of the King. It has a distinctly Jewish +colouring. All the more remarkable, therefore, is this narrative, which +we should rather have looked for in Luke, the evangelist who delights to +emphasise the universality of Christ's work. But the gathering of the +Gentiles to the light of Israel was an essential part of true Judaism, +and could not but be represented in the Gospel which set forth the +glories of the King. There is something extremely striking and +stimulating to the imagination in the vagueness of the description of +these Eastern pilgrims. Where they came from, how long they had been in +travelling, how many they were, what was their rank, whither they +went,--all these questions are left unsolved. They glide into the story, +present their silent adoration, and as silently steal away.' The +tasteless mediaeval tradition knows all about them: they were three; they +were kings. It knows their names; and, if we choose to pay the fee, we +can see their bones to-day in the shrine behind the high altar in +Cologne Cathedral. How much more impressive is the indefiniteness of our +narrative! How much more the half sometimes is than the whole! + +I. We see here heathen wisdom led by God to the cradle of Christ. It is +futile to attempt to determine the nationality of the wise men. Possibly +they were Persian magi, whose astronomy was half astrology and wholly +observation, or they may have travelled from some place even deeper in +the mysterious East; but, in any case, they were led by God through +their science, such as it was. The great lesson which they teach remains +the same, however subordinate questions about the nature of the star and +the like may be settled. The sign in the heavens and its explanation +were both of God, whether the one was a natural astronomical phenomenon +or a supernatural light, and the other the conclusions of their science +or the inbreathing of His wisdom. So they stand as representatives of +the great truth, that, outside the limits of the people of revelation, +God moved on hearts and led seeking souls to the light in divers +manners. These silent strangers at the cradle carry on the line of +recipients of divine messages outside of Israel which is headed by the +mysterious Melchizedek, and includes that seer who saw a star arise out +of Jacob, and which, in a wider sense, includes many a 'poet of their +own' and many a patient seeker after truth. Human wisdom, as it is +called, is God's gift. In itself, it is incomplete. It raises more +questions than it solves. Its highest function is to lead to Jesus. He +is Lord of the sciences, as of all that belongs to man; and +notwithstanding all the appearances to the contrary at present, we may +be sure that the true scope of all knowledge, and its certain end, is to +lead to the recognition of Him. + +May we not see in these Magi, too, a type of the inmost meaning of +heathen religions? These faiths have in them points of contact with +Christianity. Besides their falsehoods and abhorrent dark cruelties and +lustfulnesses, they enshrine confessions of wants which the King in the +cradle alone can supply. Modern unbelieving teachers tell us that +Christianity and they are alike products of man's own religious faculty. +But the truth is that they are confessions of need, and Christianity is +the supply of the need. At bottom, their language is the question of the +wise men, 'Where is He?' Their sacrifices proclaim man's need of +reconciliation. Their stories of the gods coming down in the likeness of +men, speak of his longing for a manifestation of God in the flesh. The +cradle and the cross are Heaven's answer to their sad questions. + +II. The contrast of these Gentiles' joyful eagerness to worship the King +of Israel, with the alarm of his own people at the whisper of his name, +is a prelude of the tragedy of his rejection, and the passing over of +the kingdom to the Gentiles. Notice the bitter and scornful emphasis of +that 'Herod the _king_' coming twice in the story in immediate +connection with the mention of the true King. He was a usurper, +caricaturing the true Monarch. Like most kings who have had 'great' +tacked to their names, his greatness consisted mainly in supreme +wickedness. Fierce, lustful, cunning, he had ruled without mercy; and +now he was passing through the last stages of an old age without love, +and ringed round by the fears born of his misdeeds. He trembles for his +throne, as well he may, when he hears of these strangers. Probably he +does not suppose them mixed up with any attempt to unseat him, or he +would have made short work of them; unless, indeed, his craft led him to +dissemble until he had sucked them dry and had used them to lead him to +the infant rival, after which he may have meant to murder them too. But +he recognises in their question the familiar tones of the Messianic +hope, which he knew was ever lying like glowing embers in the breast of +the nation, ready to be blown into a flame. His creatures in the capital +might disown it, but he knew in his secret heart that he was a usurper, +and that at any moment that smouldering hatred and hope might burn up +him and his upstart monarchy. An evil conscience is full of fears, and +shrinks from the good news that the King of all is at hand. His coming +should be joy, as is that of the bursting spring or the rosy dawn; but +our own sin makes the day of the Lord darkness and not light, and sends +us cowering into our corners to escape these searching eyes. + +Nor less tragic and perverted is the trouble which 'all Jerusalem' +shared with Herod. The Magi had naturally made straight for the capital, +expecting to find the new-born King there, and His city jubilant at His +birth. But they traverse its streets only to meet none who know anything +about Him. They must have felt like men who see, gleaming from far on +some hill-side, a brightness which has all vanished when they reach the +spot, or like some of our mission converts brought to our 'Christian +country,' and seeing how little our people care for the Christ whom they +have learned to know. Their question indicates utter bewilderment at the +contrast between what they had seen in the East and what they found in +Jerusalem. They must have been still more perplexed if they observed the +effect of their question. Nobody in Jerusalem knew anything about their +King. That was strange enough. But nobody wanted Him. That was stranger +still. A prophet had long ago called on 'Zion' to 'rejoice greatly' +because 'thy King cometh'; but now anxiety and terror cloud all faces. +It was partly because self-interest bound many to Herod, and partly +because they all feared that any outburst of Messianic hopes would lead +to fresh cruelties inflicted by the relentless, trembling tyrant. So the +Magi, who represented the eagerness of Gentile hearts grasping the new +hopes, and claiming some share in Israel's Messiah, saw His own people +careless, and, if moved from their apathy, alarmed at the unwelcome +tidings that the promise which had shone as a great light through dreary +centuries was at last on the eve of fulfilment. So the first page on the +gospel history anticipates the sad issue: 'They shall come from the +east, and from the west,' and you yourselves shall be thrust out. + +III. Then followed the council of the theologians, with its solemn +illustration of the difference between orthodoxy and life, and of the +utter hollowness of mere knowledge, however accurate, of the letter of +Scripture. The questions as to the composition of this gathering of +authorities, and of the variations between the quotation of Micah in the +text and its form in the Hebrew, do not concern us now. We may remark on +the evident purpose of God to draw forth the distinct testimony of the +ecclesiastical rulers to the place of Messiah's birth, and on the fact +that this, the most ancient interpretation of the prophecy, is vouched +to us by existing Jewish sources as having been the traditional one +until the exigencies of controversy with Christians pushed it aside +Notice the different conduct of Herod, the Magi, and the scribes. The +first is entangled in a ludicrous contradiction. He believes that +Messiah is to be born in Bethlehem, and yet he determines to set himself +against the carrying out of what he must, in some sense, believe to be +God's purpose. 'If this infant is God's Messiah, I will kill Him,' is +surely as strange a piece of policy gone mad as ever the world heard +of. But it is perhaps not more insane than much of our own action, when +we set ourselves against what we know to be God's will, and consciously +seek to thwart it. A child trying to stop a train by pushing against the +locomotive has as much chance of success. The scribes, again, are quite +sure where Messiah is to be born; but they do not care to go and see if +He is born. These strangers, to whom the hope of Israel is new, may rush +away, in their enthusiasm, to Bethlehem; but they, to whom it had lost +all gloss, and become a commonplace, would take no such trouble. Does +not familiarity with the gospel produce much the same effect on many of +us? Might not the joy and the devotion, however ignorant if compared +with our better knowledge of the letter, which mark converts from +heathenism, shame the tepid zeal and unruffled composure of us, who have +heard all about Christ, till it has become wearisome? Here on the very +threshold of the gospel story is the first instance of the lesson taught +over and over again in it, namely, the worthlessness of head knowledge, +and the constant temptation of substituting it for that submission of +the will and that trust of the heart, which alone make religion. The +most impenetrable armour against the gospel is the familiar and lifelong +knowledge of the gospel. + +The Magi, on their part, accept with implici confidence the information. +They have followed the star; they have now a more sure word, and they +will follow that. They were led by their science to contact with the +true guide. He that is faithful in his use of the dimmest light will +find his light brighten. The office of science is not to lead to Christ +by a road discovered by itself, but to lead to the Word of God which +guides to Him. Not by accident, nor without profound meaning, did both +methods of direction unite to point these earnest seekers, who were +ready to follow every form of guidance, to the Monarch whom they sought. + +IV. Herod's crafty counsel need not detain us. We have already remarked +on its absurdity. If the child were not Messiah, he need not have been +alarmed; if it were, his efforts were fruitless. But he does not see +this, and so plots and works underground in the approved fashion of +kingcraft. His reason for questioning the Magi as to the time was, of +course, to get an approximate age of the infant, that he might know how +widely to fling his net. He did it privately, so as to keep any inkling +of his plot secret till he had secured the further information which he +hoped to delude them into bringing. Like other students and recluses fed +upon great thoughts, the Magi were very easily deceived. Good, simple +people, they were no match for Herod, and told him all without +suspicion, and set off to look for the child, quite convinced of his +good faith; while he, no doubt, breathed more freely when he had got +them out of Jerusalem, and congratulated himself on having done a good +stroke of business in making them his spies. He was probably within a +few months of his death. The world was already beginning to slip from +him. But before he passed to his account, he too was brought within +sight of the Christ, and summoned to yield his usurped dominion to the +true King How different this old man's reception of the tidings of the +nativity from Simeon's! His hostility, in its cruelty, its blundering +cunning and its impotence, is a type of the relations of the world-power +to Christ. 'The rulers take counsel together, ... against His anointed. +... He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh.' + +V. We have next the discovery of the King. The reappearing star becomes +the guide to the humble house. It cannot have been an ordinary star, for +no such could have pointed the precise house among all the homes of +Bethlehem. The burst of joy at its reappearance vividly suggests the +perplexity of the recent days, and the support given by its welcome beam +to the faith which had accepted, not perhaps without some misgivings +caused by the indifference of the teachers, the teaching of the +prophecy. Surely that faith would be more than ever tried by the humble +poverty in which they found the King. The great paradox of Christianity, +the manifestation of divinest power in uttermost weakness, was forced +upon them in its most startling form. 'This child on His mother's lap, +with none to do Him homage, and in poverty which makes our costly gifts +seem out of place,--this is the King, whose coming set stars ablaze and +drew us hither. Is this all?' Their Eastern religions were not +unfamiliar with the idea of incarnation. Their Eastern monarchies were +splendid. They must have felt a shock at the contrast between what they +expected and what they found. They learned the lesson which all have to +learn, that Christ disappoints as well as fulfils the expectations of +men, that the mightiest power is robed in lowliness, and the highest +manifestation of God begins with a helpless infant on His mother's knee. +These wise men were not repelled. Our modern 'wise men are not all as +wise as they. + +VI. Adoration and offering follow discovery. The 'worship' of the Magi +cannot have been adoration in the strict sense. We attribute too much to +them if we suppose them aware of Christ's divinity. But it was clearly +more than mere reverence for an earthly King. It hovered on the +border-line, and meant an indefinite submission and homage to a +partially discerned superiority, in which the presence of God was in +some sort special. The old mediaeval interpretation of the offered gold +as signifying recognition of His kingship, the frankincense of His +deity, and the myrrh of His death, is so beautiful that one would fain +wish it true. But it cannot pretend to be more than a fancy. We are on +surer ground when we see in the gifts the choicest products of the land +of the Magi, and learn the lesson that the true recognition of Christ +will ever be attended by the spontaneous surrender to Him of our best. +These gifts would not be of much use to Mary. If there had been a +'practical man' among the Magi, he might have said, 'What is the use of +giving such things to such a household?' And it would have been +difficult to have answered. But love does not calculate, and the impulse +which leads to consecrate the best we have to Him is acceptable in His +sight. + +This earliest page in the gospel history is a prophecy of the latest. +These are the first-fruits of the Gentiles unto Christ. They bear 'in +their hands a glass which showeth many more,' who at last will come like +them to the King of the whole earth. 'They shall bring gold and incense; +and they shall show forth the praises of the Lord.' There were Gentiles +at the cradle and at the cross. The Magi learned the lessons which the +East especially needed, of power in weakness, royalty in lowliness. +Incarnation not in monstrous forms or with destructive attributes, but +in feeble infancy which passes through the ordinary stages of +development. The Greeks who sought to see Jesus when near the hour of +His death, learned the lesson for want of which their nation's culture +rotted away, 'Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it +abideth alone' So these two groups, one at the beginning, the other at +the end, one from the mysterious East, the other from the progressive +and cultured West, received each a half of the completed truth, the +gospel of Incarnation and Sacrifice, and witness to the sufficiency of +Christ for all human needs, and to the coming of the time when all the +races of men shall gather round the throne to which cradle and cross +have exalted Him, and shall recognise in Him the Prince of all the kings +of the earth, and the Lamb slain for the sins of the world. + + +THE KING IN EXILE + + 'And when they were departed, behold, the angel of the Lord + appeareth to Joseph in a dream, saying, Arise, and take the young + child and His mother, and flee into Egypt, and be thou there until + I bring thee word: for Herod will seek the young child to destroy + Him. 14. When he arose, he took the young child and His mother by + night, and departed into Egypt; 15. And was there until the death + of Herod; that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord + by the prophet, saying, Out of Egypt have I called My son. 16. Then + Herod, when he saw that he was mocked of the wise men, was + exceeding wroth, and sent forth, and slew all the children that + were in Bethlehem, and in all the coasts thereof, from two years + old and under, according to the time which he had diligently + enquired of the wise men. 17. Then was fulfilled that which was + spoken by Jeremy the prophet, saying, 18. In Rama was there a voice + heard, lamentation, and weeping, and great mourning, Rachel weeping + for her children, and would not be comforted, because they are not. + 19. But when Herod was dead, behold, an angel of the Lord appeareth + to a dream to Joseph in Egypt, 20. Saying, Arise, and take the + young child and His mother, and go into the land of Israel; for + they are dead which sought the young child's life. 21. And he + arose, and took the young child and His mother, and came into the + land of Israel. 22. But when he heard that Archelaus did reign in + Judaea in the room of his father Herod, he was afraid to go thither; + notwithstanding, being warned of God in a dream, he turned aside + into the parts of Galilee: 23. And he came and dwelt in a city + called Nazareth: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the + prophets, He shall be called a Nazarene.'--MATT. ii. 13-23. + +Delitzsch, in his _New Investigations into the Origin and Plan of the +Canonical Gospels_, tries to show that Matthew is constructed on the +plan of the Pentateuch. The analogy is somewhat strained, but there are +some striking points of correspondence. He regards Matthew i. to ii. 15 +as answering to Genesis. It begins with the 'genesis of Jesus,' and, as +the Old Testament book ends with the migration of Israel to Egypt, so +this section of the Gospel ends with the flight of the Holy Family to +the same land. The section from ii. 15 to the end of the Sermon on the +Mount answers to Exodus, and here the parallels are striking. The murder +of the innocents at Bethlehem by Herod answers to Pharaoh's slaughter of +Hebrew children; the Exodus, to the return to Nazareth; the call of +Moses at the bush, to the baptism of Jesus; the forty years in the +wilderness, to the forty days' desert hunger and temptation; and the +giving of the law from Sinai, to the Sermon on the Mount, which contains +the new law for the kingdom of God. Without supposing that the +evangelist moulded his Gospel on the plan of the Pentateuch, we cannot +but see that there is a real parallel between the beginnings of the +national life of Israel and the commencement of the life of Christ. Our +present text brings this parallel into great prominence. It is divided +into three sections, each of which has for its centre an Old Testament +prophecy. + +I. We have first the flight into Egypt and the prophecy fulfilled +therein. The appearance of the angel seems to have followed immediately +on the departure of the Magi. They were succeeded by a loftier visitor +from a more distant land, coming to lay richer gifts and a more absolute +homage at the infant's feet. The angel of the Lord, who had already +eased Joseph's honest and troubled heart by disclosing the secret of +Mary's child, comes again. To Mary he had appeared waking; her meek eyes +could look on him, and her obedient ears hear his voice. But Joseph, who +stood on a lower spiritual level, needed the lower form of revelation by +dream, which betokens less susceptibility in the recipient and less +importance in the communication. It is the only form appropriate to his +power of receiving, and four times it is mentioned as granted to him. +The warning to the wise men was also conveyed in a dream. We can +scarcely help recalling the similar prominence of dreams in the history +of the earlier Joseph, whose life was moulded in order to bring Israel +into Egypt. + +The angel speaks of 'the young child and His mother,' reversing the +order of nature, as if he bowed before the infant, 'Lord of men as well +as angels,' and would deepen the lesson which so many signs gathering +round the cradle were teaching the silent Joseph,--that Mary and he were +but humble ministers of the child's. The partial instruction given, and +the darkness left lying over the future, are in accordance with the +methods of God's leading, which always gives light enough for the next +duty, and never for the one after that. The prompt and precise obedience +of Joseph to the heavenly vision is emphatically expressed by the verbal +repetition of the command in the account of its fulfilment. There was no +hesitation, no reluctance, no delay. On the very night, as it appears, +of the dream, he rose up; the simple preparations were quickly made; the +wise men's gifts would help to sustain their modest wants, and before +the day broke they were on their road. How strangely blended in our +Lord's life, from the very dawning, are dignity and lowliness, glory and +reproach! How soon His brows are crowned with thorns! The adoration of +the Magi witnesses to Him as the King of Israel and the hope of the +world. The flight of which that adoration was the direct cause witnesses +no less clearly to Him as despised and rejected, tasting sorrow in His +earliest food, and not having where to lay His head. + +But the most important part of the story is the connection which Matthew +discerns between it and Hosea's words. In their original place they are +not a prophecy at all, but simply a part of a tender historical _resume_ +of God's dealings with Israel, by which the prophet would touch his +contemporaries' hearts into penitence and trust. How, then, is the +evangelist justified in regarding them as prophetic, and in looking on +Christ's flight as their fulfilment? The answer is to be found in that +analogy between the national and the personal Israel which runs through +all the Old Testament, and reaches its greatest clearness in the second +part of Isaiah's prophecies. Jesus Christ was what Israel was destined +and failed to be, the true Servant of God, His Anointed, His Son, the +medium of conveying His name to the world. The ideal of the nation was +realised in Him. His brief stay in Egypt served the very same purpose in +His life which their four hundred years there did in theirs,--it +sheltered Him from enemies, and gave Him room to grow. Just as the +infant nation was unawares fostered in the very lap of the country which +was the symbol of the world hostile to God, so the infant Christ was +guarded and grew there. The prophecy is a prophecy just because it is +history; for the history was all a shadow of the future, and He is the +true Israel and the Son of God. It would have been fulfilled quite as +really, that is to say, the parallel between Christ and the nation would +have been as fully carried out, if His place of refuge had been in some +other land; but the precise outward identity helps to point the parallel +to unobservant eyes. The great truth taught by it of the typical +relation between the nation and the Person is the key to large regions +of Old Testament history and prophecy. Rightly, therefore, does Matthew +call our attention to this pregnant fact, and bid us see in the divine +selection of the place where the young life of God manifest in the flesh +was sheltered, a fulfilment of prophecy. Egypt was the natural asylum of +every fugitive from Palestine, but a deeper reason bent the steps of the +Holy Family to the shelter of its palms and temples. + +II. The slaughter of the innocents, and the prophecy fulfilled +therein.--Herod's fierce rage, enflamed by the dim suspicion that these +wily Easterns have gone away laughing in their sleeves at having tricked +him, and by the dread that they may be stirring up armed defenders of +the infant King, is in full accord with all that we know of him. The +critics who find the story of the massacre 'unhistorical,' because +Josephus does not mention it, must surely be very anxious to discredit +the evangelist, and very hard pressed for grounds to do so, or they +would not commit themselves to the extraordinary assumption that nothing +is to be believed outside of the pages of Josephus. A splash or two of +'blood of poor innocents,' more or less, found on the Idumean tyrant's +bloody skirts, could be of little consequence in the eyes of those who +knew what a long saturnalia of horrors his reign had been; and the +number of the infants under two years old in such a tiny place as +Bethlehem would be small, so that their feeble wail might well fail to +reach the ears even of contemporaries. But there is no reason for +questioning the simple truth of a story so like the frantic cruelty and +sleepless suspicion of the grey-headed tyrant, who was stirred to more +ferocity as the shades of death gathered about him, and power slipped +from his rotting hands. Of all the tragic pictures which Scripture gives +of a godless old age, burning with unquenchable hatred to goodness and +condemned to failure in all its antagonism, none is touched with more +lurid hues than this. What a contrast between the king _de jure_, the +cradled infant; and the king _de facto_, going down to his loathsome +death, which all but he longed for! He may well stand as a symbol of the +futility of all opposition to Christ the King. + +The fate of these few infants is a strange one. In their brief lives +they have won immortal fame. They died for the Christ whom they never +knew. These lambs were slain for the sake of the Lamb who lived while + + 'Little flowers of martyrdom, + Roses by the whirlwind shorn,' + +That quotation, from Jeremiah xxxi. 16, requires a brief consideration. +The original is still less a prophecy than was the passage in Hosea. It +is a highly imaginative and grandly weird personification of the mighty +mother of three of the tribes, stirring in her tomb, and lifting up the +shrill lamentation of Eastern grief over her children carried away to +captivity. That hopeless wail from the grave by Bethlehem is heard as +far north as Ramah, beyond Jerusalem. Once again, says Matthew, the +same grief might have been imaginatively heard from the long-silent tomb +so near the scene of this pitiful tragedy. And the second ancestral +weeping was fuller of woe than the bitterness of that first lament; for +this bewailed the actual slaughter of innocents, and wept the miseries +that so soon gathered round the coming of the King, so long waited for. +Seeing that the prophet's words do not describe a fact, but are a +poetical personification to convey simply the idea of calamity, which +might make the dead mother weep, the word 'fulfilled' can obviously be +applied to them only in a modified and somewhat elastic sense, and is +sufficiently defended if we recognise in the slaughter of these children +a woe which, though small in itself, yet, when considered in reference +to its inflicter, a usurping king of the Jews, and in reference to its +occasion, the desire to slay the God-sent King, and in reference to its +innocent victims, and in reference to its place as first of the tragic +series of martyrdoms for Messiah, was heavy with a sorer burden of +national disaster, when seen by eyes made wise by death, than even the +captivity which seemed to falsify the promises of God and the hopes of a +thousand years. + +III. The return to Nazareth, and the prophecy fulfilled therein.--They +who patiently wait for guidance, and move not till the cloud moves, are +never disappointed, nor left undirected. Joseph is a pattern of +self-abnegating submission, and an example of its rewards. The angel +ever comes again to those who have once obeyed him and continue to wait. +This third appearance is described in the same words as the former. His +coming was the appearance of a familiar presence His command begins by a +verbal repetition of the former summons, 'Arise and take the young +child and His mother, and go,' and then passes to a singular allusion to +that command to Moses which was the first step towards the former +calling of God's son--the nation--out of Egypt. 'All the men are dead +which sought thy life,' was the encouragement to Moses to go back. 'They +are dead that sought the young child's life,' is the encouragement to +Joseph. It sums up in one sentence the failure of the first attempt, and +is like an epitaph cut on a tombstone for a man yet living,--a prophecy +of the end of all succeeding efforts to crush Christ and thwart His +work. 'The dreaded infant's hand' is mightier than all mailed fists, or +fingers that hold a pen. Christ lives and grows; Herod rots and dies. + +Apparently Joseph's intention was to return to Bethlehem. He may have +thought that Nazareth would scarcely satisfy the angel's injunction to +go to the 'Land of Israel,' or that David's city was the right home for +David's heir. At all events, his perplexity appeals to Heaven for +direction; and, for the fourth time, his course is marked for him by a +dream, whether through the instrumentality of the angel who knew the way +to his couch so well, we are not told, Archelaus, Herod's son, who had +received Judaea on the partition at his father's death, was a smaller +Herod, as cruel and less able. There was more security in the obscurity +of Nazareth, under the less sanguinary sway of Antipas, whose share of +his father's vices was his lust, rather than his ferocity. So, after so +many wanderings, and with such strange new experience and thoughts, the +silent, steadfast Joseph and the meek mother bring back their mysterious +charge and secret to the humble old home. Matthew does not seem to have +known that it had formerly been their home, but his account is no +contradiction of Luke's. + +Again he is reminded of a prophecy, or perhaps, rather, of many +prophecies, for he uses the plural 'prophets,' as if he were summing up +the tenor of more than one utterance. The words which he gives are not +found in any prophet. But we know that to call a man 'a Nazarene' was +the same thing as to call him lowly and despised. The scoff of the +Pharisee to Nicodemus's timid appeal on Christ's behalf, and the +guileless Nathaniel's quest ion, show that. The fact that Christ by His +residence in Nazareth became known as the 'Nazarene,' and so shared in +the contempt attaching to all Galileans, and especially to the +inhabitants of that village, is a kind of concentration of all the +obscurity and ignominy of His lot. The name was nailed over His head on +the cross as a scornful _reductio ad absurdum_ of His claims to be King +of Israel This explanation of the evangelist's meaning does not exclude +a reference in his mind to the prophecy in Isaiah xi. 1, where Messiah +is called 'a branch' or more properly, 'a shoot' for which the Hebrew +word is _netzer_. The name Nazareth is probably etymologically connected +with that word, and may have been given to the little village +contemptuously to express its insignificance. The meaning of the +prophecy is that the offspring of David, who should come when the +Davidic house was in the lowest depths of obscurity, like a tree of +which only the stump is left, should not appear in royal pomp, or in a +lofty condition, but as insignificant, feeble, and of no account. Such +prophecy was fulfilled in the very fact that He was all His life known +as 'of Nazareth' and the verbal assonance between that name, 'the shoot' +and the word 'Nazarene' is a finger-post pointing to the meaning of the +place of abode chosen for Him. The mere fact of residence there, and the +consequent contempt, do not exhaust the prophecies to which reference is +made. These might have been fulfilled without such a literal and +external fulfilment. But it serves, like the literal riding upon an ass, +and many other instances in Christ's life, to lead dull apprehensions to +perceive more plainly that He is the theme of all prophecy, and that in +His life the trivial is significant and nothing is accidental. + + +THE HERALD OF THE KING + + 'In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness + of Judaea, 2. And saying, Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at + hand. 3. For this is He that was spoken of by the prophet Esaias, + saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the + way of the Lord, make His paths straight. 4. And the same John had + his raiment of camel's hair, and a leathern girdle about his loins; + and his meat was locusts and wild honey. 5. Then went out to him + Jerusalem, and all Judaea, and all the region round about Jordan, 6. + And were baptized of him in Jordan, confessing their sins. 7. But + when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his + baptism, he said unto them, O generation of vipers, who hath warned + you to flee from the wrath to come? 8. Bring forth therefore fruits + meet for repentance: 9. And think not to say within yourselves, We + have Abraham to our father: for I say unto you, that God is able of + these stones to raise up children unto Abraham. 10. And now also + the axe is laid unto the root of the trees: therefore every tree + which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the + fire, 11. I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he + that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not + worthy to clean he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with + fire: 12. Whose fan is in His hand, and He will throughly purge His + floor, and gather His wheat into the garner; but He will burn up + the chaff with unquenchable fire.'--MATT. iii. 1-12. + +Matthew's Gospel is emphatically the Gospel of the kingdom. The keynote +sounded in the story of the Magi dominates the whole. We have stood by +the cradle of the King, and seen the homage and the dread which +surrounded it. We have seen the usurper's hatred and the divine +guardianship. Now we hear the voice of the herald of the King. This +section may be conveniently treated as falling into two parts: the +first, from verse 1 to verse 6, a general outline of the Baptist's +person and work; the second, from verse 7 to end, a more detailed +account of his preaching. + +I. We have an outline sketch of the herald and of his work. The voice of +prophecy had fallen silent for four hundred years. Now, when it is once +more heard, it sounds in exactly the same key as when it ceased. Its +last word had been the prediction of the day of the Lord, and of the +coming of Elijah once more. John was Elijah over again. There were the +same garb, the same isolation, the same fearlessness, the same grim, +gaunt strength, the same fiery energy of rebuke which bearded kings in +the full fury of their self-will. Elijah, Ahab, and Jezebel have their +doubles in John, Herod, and Herodias. The closing words of Malachi, +which Matthew, singularly enough, does not quote, are the best +explication of the character and work of the Baptist. His portrait is +flung on the canvas with the same startling abruptness with which Elijah +is introduced. Matthew makes no allusion to his relationship to Jesus, +has nothing to say about his birth or long seclusion in the desert. He +gives no hint that his vague expression 'in these days' covers thirty +years. John leaps, as it were, into the arena full grown and full armed. +His work is described by one word--'preaching'; out of which all modern +associations, which have too often made it a synonym for long-winded +tediousness and toothless platitudes, must be removed. It means +proclaiming, or acting as a herald, and implies the uplifted voice and +the brief, urgent message of one who runs before the chariot, and +shouts, 'The king! the king!' + +His message is summed up in two sentences, two blasts of the trumpet: +the call to repentance, and the rousing proclamation that the kingdom of +heaven is at hand. In the former he but reproduces the tone of earlier +prophecy, when he insists on a thorough change of disposition and a true +sorrow for sin. But he advances far beyond his precursors in the latter, +which is the reason for repentance. They had seen the vision of the +kingdom and the King, 'but not nigh.' He has to peal into the drowsy +ears of a generation which had almost forgotten the ancient hope, that +it was at the very threshold. Like some solitary stern crag which +catches the light of the sun yet unrisen but hastening upwards, long +before the shadowed valleys, John flamed above his generation all aglow +with the light, as the witness that in another moment it would spring +above the eastern horizon. But he sees that this is no joyful message to +them. Nothing is more remarkable in his preaching than the sombre hues +with which his expectation of the day of the Lord is coloured. 'To what +purpose is the day of the Lord to you? It is darkness and not light'; it +is to be judgment, therefore repentance is the preparation. + +The gleam and purity of lofty spiritual ideas are soon darkened, as a +film forms on quicksilver after short exposure. John's contemporaries +thought that the kingdom of heaven meant exclusive privileges, and their +rule over the heathen. They had all but lost the thought that it meant +first God's rule over their wills, and their harmony with the glad +obedience of heaven. They had to be rudely shaken out of their +self-complacency and taught that the livery of the King was purity, and +the preparation for His coming, penitence. + +The next touch in this outline sketch is John's fulfilment of prophecy. +Matthew probably knew that wonderfully touching and lowly answer of his +to the deputation from the ecclesiastical authorities, which at once +claimed prophetic authority and disclaimed personal importance, 'I am +the voice of one crying in the wilderness.' The prophecy in its original +application refers to the preparation of a path in the desert, for +Jehovah coming to redeem His people from captivity. The use made of it +by Matthew, and endorsed by all the evangelists, rests on the principle, +without which we have no clue to the significance of the Old Testament, +that the history of Israel is prophetic, and that the bondage and +deliverance are types of the sorer captivity from which Christ redeems, +and of the grander deliverance which He effects. + +Our evangelist gives a vivid picture of the asceticism of John, which +was one secret, as our Lord pointed out, of his hold on the people. The +more luxuriously self-indulgent men are, the more are they fascinated by +religious self-denial. A man 'clothed in soft raiment' would have drawn +no crowds. A religious teacher must be clearly free from sensual +appetites and love of ease, if he is to stir the multitude. John's rough +garb and coarse food were not assumed by him to create an impression. He +was no mere imitator of the old prophets, though he wore a robe like +Elijah's. His asceticism was the expression of his severe, solitary +spirit, detached from the delights of sense, and even from the softer +play of loves, because the coming kingdom flamed ever before him, and +the age seemed to him to be rotting and ready for the fire. There is no +need to bring in irrelevant learning about Essenes to account for his +mode of life. The thoughts which burned in him drove him into the +wilderness. He who was possessed with them could not 'come eating and +drinking,' and might well seem to sense-bound wonderers as if some +demonic force, other than ordinary motives, tyrannised over him. + +The last point in this brief _resume_ of John's work is the universal +excitement which it produced. He did not come out of the desert with his +message. If men would hear it, they must go to him. And they went. All +the southern portion of the country seemed to empty itself into the +wilderness. Sleeping national hopes revived, the awe of the coming +judgment seized all classes. It was so long since a fiery soul had +scattered flaming words, and religious teachers had for so many +centuries been mumbling the old well-worn formulas, and splitting hairs, +that it was an apocalypse to hear once more the accent of conviction +from a man who really believed every word he said, and himself thrilled +with the solemn truths which he thundered. Wherever a religious teacher +shows that he has John's qualities, as our Lord in His eulogium analysed +them--namely, unalterable resolution, like an iron pillar, and not like +a reed shaken with the wind, conspicuous superiority to considerations +of ease and comfort, a direct vision of the unseen, and a message from +God, the crowds will go out to see him; and even if the enthusiasm be +shallow and transient, some spasm of conviction will pass across many a +conscience, and some will be pointed by him to the King. + +II. The second portion of this section is a more detailed account of +John's preaching, which Matthew gives as addressed to the Pharisees and +Sadducees. We are not to suppose that at any time John had a +congregation exclusively made up of such; nor that these words were +addressed to them only. What is emphasised is the fact that among the +crowds were many of both these parties, the religious aristocrats who +represented two tendencies of mind bitterly antagonistic, and each +unlikely to be drawn to the prophet. Self-righteous pedants who had +turned religion into a jumble of petty precepts, and very superior +persons who keenly appreciated the good things of this world, and were +too enlightened to have much belief in anything, and too comfortable to +be enthusiasts, were not hopeful material. If they were drawn into the +current, it must have run strong indeed. These representatives of the +highest and coldest classes of the nation had the very same red-hot +words flung at them as the mob had. Luke tells us that the first words +in this summary were spoken to the people. Both representations are +true. All fared alike. So they should, and so they always will, if a +real prophet has to talk to them. John's salutation is excessively rough +and rude. Honeyed words were not in his line; he had not lived in the +desert for all these years, and held converse with God and his own +heart, without having learned that his business was to smite on +conscience with a strong hand, and to tear away the masks which hid men +from themselves. The whole spirit of the old prophets was revived in his +brusque, almost fierce, address to such very learned, religious, and +distinguished personages. Isaiah in his day had called their +predecessors 'rulers of Sodom'; John was not scolding when he called his +hearers 'ye offspring of vipers' but charging them with moral corruption +and creeping earthliness. + +The summary of his preaching is like a succession of lightning flashes. +We can but note in a word or two each flash as it flames and strikes. +The remarkable thing about his teaching is that, in his hands, the great +hope of Israel became a message of terror, the proclamation of the +impending kingdom passed into a denunciation of 'the wrath to come,' set +forth with a tremendous wealth of imagery as the axe lying at the root +of the trees, the fan winnowing the wheat from the chaff, the destroying +fire. That wrath was inseparable from the coming of the King; for His +righteous reign necessarily meant punishment of unrighteousness. So all +the older prophets had said, and John was but carrying on their +testimony. So Christ has said. No more terrible warnings of the certain +judgment of evil which is involved in His merciful work, have ever been +given, than fell from the lips into which grace was poured. We need +to-day a clearer discernment of the truth which flamed before John's +eyes, that the full proclamation of the kingdom of heaven must include +the plain teaching of 'the wrath to come.' + +Next comes the urgent demand for reformation of life as the sign of real +repentance. John's exhortation does not touch the deepest ground for +repentance which is laid in the heart-softening love of God manifested +in the sacrifice of His Son, but is based wholly on the certainty of +judgment. So far, it is incomplete; but the demand for righteous living +as the only test of religious emotion is fully Christian, and needed in +this generation as much as it ever was. All preachers and others +concerned in 'revivals' may well learn a lesson, and while they follow +John in seeking to arouse torpid consciences by the terrors which are a +part of the gospel, should not forget to demand, not merely an emotional +repentance, but the solid fruits which alone guarantee the worth of the +emotion. + +The next flash strikes the lofty structure of confidence in their +descent. John knows that every man in that listening crowd believes that +his birth secured him joy and dominion when Messiah came. So he wrenches +away this shield against which his sharpest arrows were blunted. What a +murmur of angry denial must have met his contemptuous, audacious denial +of their trusted privilege! The pebbles on the Jordan beach, or the +loose rocks scattered so plentifully over the desert, could be made as +good sons of Abraham as they. A glimpse of the transference of the +kingdom to the despised Gentiles passed across his vision. And in these +far-reaching words lay the anticipation, not only of the destruction of +all Jewish exclusiveness, but of the miracles of quickening to be +wrought on the stony hearts of those beyond its pale. + +Once more with a new emblem the immediate beginning of the judgment is +proclaimed, and its principles and issues are declared. The sharp axe +lies at the roots of the tree, ready to be lifted and buried in its +bark. The woodman's eye is looking over the forest; he marks with the +fatal red line the worthless trees, and at once the swinging blows come +down, and the timber is carted away to be burned. The trees are men. The +judgment is an individualising one, and all-embracing. Nothing but +actual righteousness of life will endure. All else will be destroyed. + +The coming of the kingdom implied the coming of the King. John knew that +the King was a man, and that He was at the door. So his sermon reaches +its climax in the ringing proclamation of His advent. The first +noticeable feature in it is the utter humility of the dauntless prophet +before the yet veiled Sovereign. All the fiery force, the righteous +scorn and anger, the unflinching bravery, melt into meek submission. He +knows the limits of his own power, and gladly recognises the infinite +superiority of the coming One. He never moved from that lowly attitude. +Even when his followers tried to stir up base jealousy in him at being +distanced by the Christ, who, as they suggested, owed His first +recognition to him, all that his immovable self-abnegation cared to +answer was, 'He must increase, but I must decrease.' He was glad 'to +fade in the light of the Sun that he loved.' What a wealth of suppressed +emotion and lowly love there is in the words so pathetic from the lips +of the lonely ascetic, whom no home joys had ever cheered: 'He that +hath the bride is the bridegroom.... My joy is fulfilled'! + +Note, too, the grand conception of the gifts of the King. John knew that +his baptism was, like the water in which he immersed, cold, and +incapable of giving life. It symbolised, but did not effect, cleansing, +any more than his preaching righteousness could produce righteousness. +But the King would come, bringing with Him the gift of a mighty Spirit, +whose quick energy, transforming dead matter into its own likeness, +burning out the foul stains from character, and melting cold hearts into +radiant warmth, should do all that his poor, cold, outward baptism only +shadowed. Form and substance of this great promise gather up many Old +Testament utterances. From of old, fire had been the emblem of the +divine nature, not only, nor chiefly, as destructive, but rather as +life-giving, cleansing, gladdening, fructifying, transforming. From of +old, the promise of a divine Spirit poured out on all flesh had been +connected with the kingdom of Messiah; and John but reiterates the +uniform voice of prophecy, even as he anticipates the crowning gift of +the gospel, in this saying. + +Note, further, the renewed prophecy of judgment. There is something very +solemn in the stern refrain at the end of each of three consecutive +verses,--'with fire.' The first and the third refer to the destructive +fire; the second, to the cleansing Spirit. But the fire that destroys is +not unconnected with that which purifies. And the very same divine +flame, if welcomed and yielded to, works purity, and if repelled and +scorned, consumes. The rustic simplicity of the figures of the +husbandman with his winnowing-shovel, the threshing-floor exposed to +every wind, the stored wheat, the rootless, lifeless, worthless chaff, +and the fierce fire in some corner of the autumn field where it is +utterly burned up--needs no comment. They add nothing but another vivid +picture to the thoughts already dealt with. But the question arises as +to the whole of the representation of judgment here: Does it look beyond +the present world? I see no reason for supposing that John was speaking +about anything but the sifting and destroying which would attend the +coming of the looked-for kingdom on earth. The principles which he laid +down are, no doubt, true for both worlds; but the application of them +which his prophetic mission embraced, lies on this side of the grave. + +Note, further, the limitations in John's knowledge of the King. His +prophecy unites, as contemporaneous, events which, in fact, are widely +separate,--the coming of Christ, and the judgments which He executes, +whether on Israel or in the final 'great day of the Lord.' There is no +perspective in prophecy. The future is foreshortened, and great gulfs of +centuries are passed over, as, standing on a plain, we see it as +continuous, though it may really be cleft by deep ravines. He did not +know 'what manner of time' the spirit which was in him did 'signify.' No +doubt his expectations were correct, in so far as Christ's coming really +sifted and separated, and was the rising and the falling of many; but it +was not attended by such tokens as John inferred. Hence we can +understand his doubts when in prison, and learn that a prophet was often +mistaken as to the meaning of his message. + +Again, while we have here a clear prediction of the Spirit as bestowed +by Christ, we find no hint of His work as the sacrifice for sin, through +whom the guilt which no repentance and no outward baptism could touch +was taken away. The Gospel of John gives us later utterances of the +Baptist's, by which we learn that he advanced beyond the point at which +he stood here. 'Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the +world,' was his message after Christ's baptism. It is the last, highest +voice of prophecy. The proclamation of a kingdom of heaven, of a king +mighty and righteous, whose coming kindled a fire of judgment, and a +blessed fire of purifying, into one or other of which all men must be +plunged, contained elements of terror, as well as of hope. It needed +completion by that later word. + +When John stretched out his forefinger, and with awe-struck voice bade +his hearers look at Jesus coming to him, prophecy had done its work. The +promise had been gradually concentrated on the nation, the tribe, the +house, and now it falls on the person. The dove narrows its circling +flight till it lights on His head. The goal has been reached, too, in +the clear declaration of Messiah's work. He is King, Giver of the +Spirit, Judge, but He is before all else the Sacrifice for the world's +sins. Therefore he to whom it was given to utter that great saying was a +prophet, and more than a prophet; and when he had spoken it, there was +nothing more for him to do but to decrease. He was like the breeze +before sunrise, which springs up, as crying 'The dawn! the dawn!' and +dies away. + + +THE BAPTISM IN FIRE + + 'He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire.'--MATT. + iii. 11 + +There is no more pathetic figure in Scripture than that of the +forerunner of our Lord. Lonely and ascetic, charged to light against all +the social order of which he was a part, seeing many of his disciples +leave him for another master; then changing the free wilderness for a +prison cell, and tortured by morbid doubts; finally murdered as the +victim of a profligate woman's hate and a profligate man's perverse +sense of honour: he had indeed to bear 'the burden of the Lord.' But +perhaps most pathetic of all is the combination in his character of +gaunt strength and absolute humility. How he confronts these people whom +he had to rebuke, and yet how, in a moment, the flashing eye sinks in +lowest self-abasement before 'Him that cometh after me'! How true, +amidst many temptations, he was to his own description of himself: 'I am +a voice'--nothing more. His sinewy arm was ever pointed to the 'Lamb of +God.' It is given to very few to know so clearly their limits, and to +still fewer--and these, men who keep very near God--to abide so +contentedly within them, and to acquiesce so thankfully in the +brightening glories of One whom self-importance and ambition would +prompt to take for a rival and an enemy. + +The words before us signalise at once John's lofty conception of the +worth of his work, and his humble consciousness of its worthlessness as +compared with Christ's. 'I indeed baptize you with water, but He with +fire.' As is the difference between the two elements, so is the +difference between His ministry and mine--the one effecting an outward +cleansing, the other being an inward penetrating power, which shall +search men through and through, and, burning, shall purge away dross and +filth. The text comes in the midst of a triple representation of our +Lord's work in its relation to his, each portion of which ends with the +refrain, 'the fire.' But these three fires have not the same effects. +The first and last destroy, the second cleanses. These are threatenings, +but this is altogether a promise. There is a fire that consumes the +barren tree and the light chaff that is whirled from the threshing-floor +by the wind of His fan; but there is also a fire that, like the genial +heat in some greenhouse, makes even the barren tree glow with blossom +and loads its branches with precious fruit. His coming may kindle fire +that will destroy, but its merciful purpose is to plunge us into that +fiery baptism of the Holy Ghost, whereof the result is cleansing and +life. Looking at the words before us, then, they lead us to think of +that emblem of the Spirit of God, of Christ as bestowing it, and of its +effects on us. I venture to offer a few considerations now on each of +these points. + +I. The Holy Spirit is fire. + +It would scarcely be necessary to spend any time in illustrating that +truth, but for the strange misapprehension of the words of our text +which I believe to be not uncommon. People sometimes read them as if the +first portion referred to those who trust in Christ, and who therefore +receive the blessings of His sanctifying energy, whilst the latter +words, on the other hand, were a threatening against unbelievers. Now, +whatever may be the meaning of the emblem in the preceding and +subsequent clauses, it can have but one meaning in our text itself--and +that is, the purifying influence of the Spirit of God. Baptism with the +Holy Ghost is not one thing and baptism with fire another, but the +former is the reality of which the latter is the symbol. + +It may be worth while to dwell briefly on the force of the emblem, which +is often misunderstood. Fire, then, all over the world has been taken to +represent the divine energy. Even in heathendom, side by side with the +worship of light was the worship of fire. Even that cruel +Moloch-worship, with all its abominations rested upon the notion that +the swift power and ruddy blaze of fire were symbols of glorious +attributes. Though the thought was darkened and marred, wrongly +apprehended and ferociously worked out in ritual, it was a true thought +for all that. And Scripture has from the beginning used it. It would +carry us too far to enumerate the instances which might be adduced. But +we may quote a few. When the covenant was made between God and Abraham, +upon which all the subsequent revelation reposed, the divine presence +was represented by a smoking furnace, and a lamp of fire that passed +between the divided pieces of the sacrifice. When the great revelation +of the divine Name was given to Moses, which prepared for the great +deliverance from Egypt, the sign of it was a thorn-bush--one of the many +dotted over the desert--burning and unconsumed. Surely the ordinary +interpretation, which sees, in that undying flame, an emblem of Israel +undestroyed in the furnace of bondage, is less natural than that which +sees in it a sign having the same purpose and the same meaning as the +deep words, 'I am that I am.' The Name, the revelation proper, is +accompanied by the sign which expresses in figure the very same +truth--the unwearied power, the undecaying life of the great +self-existent God, who wills and does not change, who acts and does not +faint, who gives and is none the poorer, who fills the universe and is +Himself the same, who burns and is not consumed--the 'I am.' Further, we +remember how to Israel the pledge and sacramental seal of God's +guardianship and guidance was the pillar which, in the fervid light of +the noonday sun, seemed to be but a column of wavering smoke, but which, +when the darkness fell, glowed at the heart and blazed across the +sleeping camp, a fiery guard. 'Who among us,' says the prophet, 'shall +dwell with everlasting burnings?' The answer is a parallel to the +description given in one of the Psalms in reply to the question, 'Lord, +who shall abide in Thy tabernacle?' From which parallelism, as well as +from the whole tone of the passage, the conclusion is unavoidable that +to Isaiah 'everlasting burnings' was a symbolic designation of God. And, +passing by all other references, we remember that our Lord Himself used +the same emblem, as John does, with apparently the same meaning, when, +yearning for the fulfilment of His work, He said,' I am come to send +fire on earth--oh that it were already kindled!' The day of Pentecost +teaches the same lesson by its fiery tongues; and the Seer in Patmos +beheld, burning before the throne, the sevenfold lamps of fire which are +'the seven spirits of God.' + +Thus, then, there is a continuous chain of symbolism according to which +some aspect of the divine nature, and especially of the Spirit of God, +is set forth for us by fire. The question, then, comes to be--what is +that aspect? In answer, I would remind you that the attributes and +offices of the Spirit of God are never in Scripture represented as being +destructive, and are only punitive, in so far as the convictions of sin, +which He works in the heart, may be regarded as being punishments. The +fire of God's _Spirit_, at all events, is not a wrathful energy, +working pain and death, but a merciful omnipotence, bringing light and +joy and peace. The Spirit which is fire is a Spirit which giveth life. +So the symbol, in the special reference in the text, has nothing of +terror or destruction but is full of hope and bright with promise. + +Even in its more general application to the divine nature, the same +thing is to a large extent true. The common impression is the reverse of +this. The interpretation which most readers unconsciously supply to the +passages of Scripture where God is spoken of as flaming fire, is that +God's terrible wrath is revealed in them. I am very far from denying +that the punitive and destructive side of the divine character is in the +symbol, but certainly that is not its exclusive meaning, nor does it +seem to me to be its principal one. The emblem is employed over and over +again, in connections where it must mean chiefly the blessed and joyous +aspect of God's Name to men. It is unquestionably part of the felicity +of the symbol that there should be in it this double force--for so is it +the fitter to show forth Him who, by the very same attributes, is the +life of those who love Him and the death of those who turn from Him. +But, still, though it is true that the bright and the awful aspects of +that Name are in themselves one, and that their difference arises from +the difference of the eyes which behold them, yet we are justified, I +think, in saying that this emblem of fire regards mainly the former of +these and not the latter. The principal ideas in it seem to be swift +energy and penetrating power, which cleanses and transforms. It is fire +as the source of light and heat; it is fire, not so much as burning up +what it seizes into ashes, but rather as laying hold upon cold dead +matter, making it sparkle and blaze, and turning it into the likeness of +its own leaping brightness; it is fire as springing heavenwards, and +bearing up earthly particles in its shooting spires; it is fire, as +least gross of visible things;--in a word, it is fire as life, and not +as death, that is the symbol of God. It speaks of the might of His +transforming power, the melting, cleansing, vitalising influence of His +communicated grace, the warmth of His conquering love. It has, indeed, +an under side of possible judgment, punishment, and destruction, but it +has a face of blessing, of life-giving, of sanctifying power. And +therefore the Baptist spake glad tidings when he said, 'He shall baptize +you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire.' + +II. Christ plunges us into this divine fire. + +I presume that scarcely any one will deny that our version weakens the +force of John's words by translating '_with_ water, _with_ the Holy +Ghost,' instead of 'in water, in the Holy Ghost.' One of the most +accurate of recent commentators,[2] for instance, in his remarks on this +verse, says that the preposition here 'is to be understood in accordance +with the idea of baptism that is immersion, not as expressing the +instrument with which, but as meaning "in," and expressing the element +in which the immersion takes place.' I suppose that very few persons +would hesitate to agree with that statement. If it is correct, what a +grand idea is conveyed by that metaphor of the completeness of the +contact with the Spirit of God into which we are brought! How it +represents all our being as flooded with that transforming power! But, +apart from the intensity communicated to the promise by such a figure, +there is another important matter brought distinctly before us by the +words, and that is Christ's personal agency in effecting this saturating +of man's coldness with the fire from God. This testimony of John's is in +full accord with Christ's claims for Himself, and with the whole tenor +of Scripture on the subject. He is the Lord of the Spirit. He is come to +scatter that fire on the earth. He brings the ruddy gift from heaven to +mortals, carrying it in the bruised reed of His humanity; and, in +pursuance of His merciful design, He is bound and suffers for our sakes, +but, loosed at last from the bands by which it was not possible that He +should be holden, and 'being by the right hand of God exalted, He hath +shed forth this.' His mighty work opens the way for the life-giving +power of the Spirit to dwell as an habitual principle, and not as a mere +occasional gift, among men, sanctifying their characters from the +foundation, and not merely, as of old, bestowing special powers for +special functions. He claims to send us the Comforter. We know but +little of such high themes, but we can clearly see that, while there may +be many other reasons for the full bestowment of the Spirit of God +having to be preceded by the gift of Christ, one reason must be that the +measure of individual and subjective inspiration varies according to the +amount of objective revelation. The truth revealed is the condition and +the instrument of the Spirit's working. The sharper that sword of the +Spirit is, the mightier will be His power. Hence, only when the +revelation of God is complete by the message of His Son, His life, +death, resurrection, and ascension, was the full, permanent gift of the +Spirit possible, not to make new revelations, but to unfold all that lay +in the Word spoken once for all, in whom the whole Name of God is +contained. + +[2] Meyer. + +However that may be, the main thing for us, dear friends, is this--that +Christ gives the Spirit. In and by Jesus, you and I are brought into +real contact with this cleansing fire. Without His work, it would never +have burned on earth; without our faith in His work it will never purify +our souls. The Spirit of God is not a synonym for the moral influence +which the principles of Christianity exert on men who believe them; but +these principles, the truths revealed in Jesus Christ, are the means by +which the Spirit works its noblest work. Our acceptance of these truths, +then, our faith in Him whom these truths reveal, is absolutely essential +to our possession of that cleansing power. The promise is of 'that +Spirit which they that believe on Him should receive.' If we have no +faith in Jesus, then, however we may fancy that the gift of God can be +ours by other means, the stern answer comes to our fond delusions and +mistaken efforts, 'Thou hast neither part nor lot in this matter.' Oh! +you who are seeking for spiritual elevation, for intellectual +enlightenment, for the fire of a noble enthusiasm, for the consecration +of pure hearts, anywhere but in Christ your Lord, will you not listen to +the majestic and yet lowly voice, which blends in its tones grave and +loving rebuke, gentle pity, wonder and sorrow at our blindness, earnest +entreaty, and divine authority--'If thou knewest the gift of God, and +who it is that speaketh to thee, thou wouldst have asked of Him, and He +would have given thee living water'? + +Here are we cold, foul, dark, dead: there is that fire of God able to +cleanse, to enlighten, to give life. How is true contact to be effected +between our great need and His all-sufficient energy? One voice brings +the answer for every Christian soul, '_I_ will send the Comforter.' +Brethren, let us cleave to Him, and in humble faith ask Him to plunge us +into that fiery stream which, for all its fire, is yet a river of water +of life proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. '_He_ +shall baptize you in the Holy Ghost and in fire.' + +III. That fiery baptism quickens and cleanses. + +In John's mind, the difference between the two baptisms, his and the +Christ's, expresses accurately the difference between the two ministries +and their effects. As has been truly and beautifully said, he is +conscious of something 'cold and negative' in his own teaching, of which +the water of his baptism is a fit representation. His message is divine +and true, but it is hard: 'Repent, do what you ought, wait for the +Kingdom and its King.' And, when his command has been obeyed, his +disciples come up out of Jordan, at the best but superficially cleansed, +and needing that the process begun in them should be perfected by +mightier powers than any which his message wields. They need more than +that outward washing--they need an inward cleansing; they need more than +the preaching of repentance and morality--they need a gift of life; they +need a new power poured into their souls, the fiery steam of which, as +it rolls along, like a lava current through mountain forests, shall +seize and burn every growth of evil in their natures. They need not +water, but Spirit; not water, but Fire. They need what shall be life to +their truest life, and death to all the death within, that separates +them from the life of God. + +So the two main effects expressed here are these: quickening and +cleansing. + +Fire gives warmth. We talk about ardent desires, warm hearts, the glow +of love, the fire of enthusiasm, and even the flame of life. We draw the +contrast with cold natures, which are loveless and unemotional, hard to +stir and quicken; we talk about thawing reserve, about an icy torpor, +and so on. The same general strain of allusion is undoubtedly to be +traced in our text. Whatever more it means, it surely means this, that +Christ comes to kindle in men's souls a blaze of enthusiastic, divine +love, such as the world never saw, and to set them aflame with fervent +earnestness, which shall melt all their icy hardness of heart, and turn +cold self-regard into self-forgetting consecration. + +Here, then, our text touches upon one of the very profoundest +characteristics of Christianity considered as a power in human life. The +contrast between it and all other religions and systems of ethics lies, +amongst other things, in the stress which it lays upon love and on the +earnestness which comes from love; whereas these are scarcely regarded +as elements in virtue according to the world, and have certainly no +place at all in the world's notion of 'temperate religion.' Christ gives +fervour by giving His Spirit. Christ gives fervour by bringing the +warmth of His own love to bear upon our hearts through the Spirit, and +that kindles ours. Where His great work for men is believed and trusted +in, there, and there only, is there excited an intensity of consequent +affection to Him which glows throughout the life. It is not enough to +say that Christianity is singular among religious and moral systems in +exalting fervour into a virtue. Its peculiarity lies deeper--in its +method of producing that fervour. It is kindled by that Spirit using as +His means the truth of the dying love of Christ. The secret of the +Gospel is not solved by saying that Christ excites love in our souls. +_The_ question yet remains--how? There is but one answer to that. He +loved us to the death. That truth laid on hearts by the Spirit, who +takes of Christ's and shows them to us, and that truth alone, makes +fire burst from their coldness. + +Here is the power that produces that inner fervour without which virtue +is a name and religion a yoke. Here is the contrast, not only to John's +baptism, but to all worldly religion, to all formalism and decent +deadness of external propriety. Here is the consecration of +enthusiasm--not a lurid, sullen heat of ignorant fanaticism, but a +living glow of an enkindled nature, which flames because kindled by the +inextinguishable blaze of His love who gave Himself for us. 'He shall +baptize you in fire.' + +Then, dear brethren, if we profess to have come into personal contact +with Jesus Christ, here is a sharp test for us, and a solemn rebuke to +much of our lives. For a Christian to be cold is sin. Our coldness can +only come from our neglecting to stir up the gift that is in us. People +reproach us with extravagant emotion: let us confess that we have never +deserved that reproach half as much as we ought. The world's ideal of +religion is decorous coldness--has not the world's ideal been our +practice? We are afraid to be fervent, but our true danger is icy +torpor. We sit frost-bitten and almost dead among the snows, and all the +while the gracious sunshine is pouring down, that is able to melt the +white death that covers us, and to free us from the bonds that hold us +prisoned in their benumbing clasp. + +No evil is more marked among the Christian Churches of this day than +precisely the absence of this 'spirit of burning.' There is plenty of +liberality and effort, there is much interest in religious questions, +there is genial tolerance and wide culture, there is a high standard of +morality, and, on the whole, a tolerable adherence to it--but there is +little love, and little fervour. 'I have somewhat against thee, that +thou hast left thy first love.' + +Where is that Spirit which was poured out on Pentecost? Where are the +cloven tongues of fire, where the flame which Christ died to light up? +Has it burned down to grey ashes, or, like some house-fire, lit and left +untended, has it gone out after a little ineffectual crackling among the +lighter pieces of wood and paper, without ever reaching the solid mass +of obstinate coal? Where? The question is not difficult to answer. His +promise remains faithful. He does send the Spirit, who is fire. But our +sin, our negligence, our eager absorption with worldly cares, and our +withdrawal of mind and heart from the patient contemplation of His +truth, have gone far to quench the Spirit. Is it not so? Are our souls +on fire with the love of God, aglow with the ardour caught from Christ's +love? Does that love which fills our hearts coruscate and flame in our +lives, making us lights in the darkness, as some firebrand caught up +from the hearth will serve for a torch and blaze out into the night? 'He +shall baptize with fire.' + + 'O Thou that earnest from above, + The pure celestial fire to impart, + Kindle a flame of sacred love + On the mean altar of my heart.' + +Then there is another thought expressed by this symbol, namely, that +this baptism gives cleansing as well as warmth, or rather gives +cleansing by warmth. Fire purifies. That Spirit, which is fire, +produces holiness in heart and character, by this most chiefly among all +His manifold operations, that He excites the flame of love to God, which +burns our souls clear with its white fervours. This is the Christian +method of making men good,--first, know His love, then believe it, then +love Him back again, and then let that genial heat permeate all your +life, and it will woo forth everywhere blossoms of beauty and fruits of +holiness, that shall clothe the pastures of the wilderness with +gladness. Did you ever see a blast-furnace? How long would it take a +man, think you, with hammer and chisel, or by chemical means, to get the +bits of ore out from the stony matrix? But fling them into the great +cylinder, and pile the fire and let the strong draught roar through the +burning mass, and by evening you can run off a golden stream of pure and +fluid metal, from which all the dross and rubbish is parted, which has +been charmed out of all its sullen hardness, and will take the shape of +any mould into which you like to run it. The fire has conquered, has +melted, has purified. So with us. Love 'shed abroad in our hearts by the +Holy Ghost given unto us,' love that answers to Christ's, love that is +fixed upon Him who is pure and separate from sinners, will purify us and +sever us from our sins. Nothing else will. All other cleansing is +superficial, like the water of John's baptism. Moralities and the +externals of religion will wash away the foulness which lies on the +surface, but stains that have sunk deep into the very substance of the +soul, and have dyed every thread in warp and woof to its centre, are not +to be got rid of so. The awful words which our great dramatist puts into +the mouth of the queenly murderess are heavy with the weight of most +solemn truth. After all vain attempts to cleanse away the stains, we, +like her, have to say, 'There's the smell of the blood still--will +these hands ne'er be clean?' No, never; unless there be something +mightier, more inward in its power, than the water with which we can +wash them, some better gospel than 'Repent and reform.' God be thanked, +there is a mightier detergent than all these--even that divine Spirit +which Christ gives, and that divine forgiveness which Christ brings. +There, and there alone, dear brethren, we can lose all the guilt of our +faultful past, and receive a new and better life which will mould our +future into growing likeness to His great purity. Oh do not resist that +merciful searching fire, which is ready to penetrate our very bones and +marrow, and burn up the seeds of death which lurk in the inmost intents +of the heart! Let Him plunge you into that gracious baptism, as we put +some poor piece of foul clay into the fire, and like it, as you glow you +will whiten, and all the spots will melt away before the conquering +tongues of the cleansing flame. In that furnace, heated seven times +hotter than any earthly power could achieve, they who walk live by the +presence of the Son of Man, and nothing is consumed but the bonds that +held them. His Spirit is fire, and that Spirit of fire is, therefore, +the Spirit of holiness. + +But take one warning word in conclusion. The alternative for every man +is to be baptized in the fire or to be consumed by it. The symbol of +which we have been speaking sets forth the double thought of purifying +and destruction. Nothing which we have said as to the former in the +least weakens the completing truth that there is in it an under side of +possible terror. One of the felicities of the emblem is its capacity to +set forth this twofold idea. There is that in the divine nature which +the Bible calls wrath, the necessary displeasure and aversion of holy +love from sin and wrong-doers. There is in the divine procedure even +now and here, the manifestation of that aversion in punishment. 'The +light of Israel becomes a flaming fire.' + +I have no panorama of hell to exhibit, and I would speak with all +reticence on matters so awful; but this much, at any rate, is clear, +that the very same revelation of God, thankfully accepted and submitted +to, is the medium of cleansing and the source of joyful life, and, +rejected, becomes the source of sorrow and the occasion of death. Every +man sees that aspect of God's face which he has made himself fit to see. +Every gift of God is to men either a savour of life unto life, or a +savour of death unto death. Most chiefly is this so in regard to Christ +and His gospel, who, though He came not to judge but to save, yet by +reason of that very universal purpose of salvation, becomes a judge in +the act of saving, and a condemnation to those in whom, by their own +faults, that purpose is not fulfilled. + +The same pillar of fire which gladdened the ranks of Israel as they +camped by the Red Sea, shone baleful and terrible to the Egyptian hosts. +The same Ark of the Covenant whose presence blessed the house of +Obed-edom, and hallowed Zion, and saved Jerusalem, smote the +Philistines, and struck down their bestial gods. Christ and His gospel +even here hurt the men whom they do not save. + +And we have only to carry that process onwards into another world, and +suppose it made more energetic there, as it will be, to feel dimly in +how awful a sense it may be that the same fire which gives life may be +the occasion of death--and how profound a truth lies in the words-- + + 'What maketh Heaven, that maketh Hell.' + +Yes, verily; to be salted with fire or to be consumed by it, to be +baptized in it or to be cast into it, is the choice offered to us all; +to thee, my brother, and to me. Israel made its choice, and in seventy +years, the Roman standards on Zion and the flames leaping round the +Temple, interpreted John's words in one of their halves, while the +growing energy of the fire that was lit on Pentecost fulfilled them in +the other. Many a nation and Church has made its choice since then. You +have to make yours. 'The fire shall try every man's work, of what sort +it is.' Shall our work be gold, and silver, and precious stones which +shall gleam and flash in the light, or wood, hay, and stubble which +shall writhe for a moment in the blaze and perish? 'Our God is a +consuming fire.' Shall that be the ground of my confidence that I shall +one day be pure from all my sins, or shall it be the parent of my +ghastliest fear that I may be, like the chaff, destroyed by contact with +a holy love rejected, with a Saviour disbelieved, with a Spirit grieved +and quenched? Choose which. + + +THE BAPTISM OF JESUS + + 'Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to Jordan unto John, to be baptized + of him. 14. But John forbad Him, saying, I have need to be baptized + of Thee, and comest Thou to me? 15. And Jesus answering said unto + him, Suffer it to be so now: for thus it becometh us to fulfil all + righteousness. Then he suffered Him. 16. And Jesus, when He was + baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the + heavens were opened unto Him, and He saw the Spirit of God + descending like a dove, and lighting upon Him: 17. And lo a voice + from heaven, saying, This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well + pleased.'--MATT. iii. 13-17. + +When Jesus set out from Galilee to seek baptism from John, He took the +first step on His path of public work; and it is noteworthy that He took +it, apparently, from self-originated impulse, and not, as in the case of +the prophets of old, from obedience to a 'prophetic call.' 'The Word of +the Lord came to' them; His Messianic consciousness needed no external +stimulus to kindle it into flame. What did He mean by seeking baptism? +John recognised the incongruity of His submitting to a rite which +professed repentance and promised cleansing. It does not follow that +John recognised His Messianic character, but only that he knew His +blameless life. The remonstrance witnesses at once to John's humble +consciousness of sin and to Jesus' acknowledged purity. Christ's answer +has a sound of authority, even in its gentle lowliness, and it confirms +the belief in His sinlessness by the absence of any reference to +repentance, and by regarding His baptism, not as a token of repented +transgression to be washed away, but as an act which completed the +perfect circle of righteousness, which His life had hitherto drawn. He +submitted to the appointed rite, because He would be one with His +brethren in all obedience. So, then, the principle underlying His +baptism is the principle underlying His incarnation, His life of +obedience and identification of Himself with us, and His death. 'He also +Himself likewise took part of' whatsoever His brethren were partakers +of, and therefore He was 'numbered with the transgressors' in that, +needing no repentance, He submitted to the baptism of repentance, and +cleansed the cleansing water by being plunged in it. + +What was the significance of the descent of the Spirit on Him? Matthew's +account implies that the appearance of the descending dove was to Jesus. +John i. 32 states that it was also visible to John. The accompanying +voice is as if principally directed to John, according to Matthew, while +Mark and Luke represent it as addressed to Jesus. Both appearance and +voice were the tokens of the Father's approval, and acceptance of the +Son's consecration of Himself to the Messianic work. The dove descending +on Him was the token that henceforward His manhood should be anointed +with the unbroken influences of the divine Spirit, and possess the +unbroken consciousness of the Father's good pleasure, lying like +sunshine on the stormy sea on which He had launched. How different the +conception of the Spirit as a dove, which was Jesus' experience of it, +from the Baptist's, which was that of fire! Jesus is in this incident, +as in all, our pattern and example, teaching us that we too must yield +ourselves to do the Father's will, and must identify ourselves with +sinners, if we are to help them and to have the Father's approval +sounding in our hearts, and the dove of God nestling there, and teaching +us, too, that gentleness is the divinest and strongest power to win men +from evil and for God. + + +THE DOVE OF GOD + + 'He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon + Him.' MATT. iii. 16. + +This Gospel of Matthew is emphatically the gospel of the Kingdom. It +sets forth Jesus as the long-promised Messiah, the Son of David. And +this conception of Him and of His work, whilst it runs through the whole +of the Gospel, is more obviously influential in shaping the selection of +incidents and colouring the cast of the language, in the early portion. +Hence the genealogy with which the Gospel begins dwells with emphasis on +His royal descent from David. Hence the story of the wise men of the +East is given, who came to do their homage to the new-born King of the +Jews, whose innocent poverty and infancy are set in contrast with the +court and character of the cruel Herod who had for an hour usurped the +title. Hence, also, the mission of John the Baptist is all summed up in +his proclamation: 'The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.' He is the herald +that runs before the chariot of the advancing Monarch, and shouts to a +slumbering nation, 'The King! the King!' + +Preserving the same reference to the royal dignity of Jesus, we may look +at His baptism as being His public assumption of His Messianic office, +and at this descent of the Holy Spirit as the anointing or coronation of +the King. As His meek head rose, glistening from the waters of the +baptism, there fluttered down upon Him the gentle token of the manifest +designation from the Heavens, which solemnly declared Him to be the Son +of God, anointed Messias, King of Israel and of the world. + +So in looking at this incident, I take simply two points of view, and +consider its bearing on Jesus, and on us. + +I. As to the former, we have here the Coronation of the King. + +We need not spend time upon the question which we have no materials for +answering, viz.--What was the 'objective material reality' here? We do +not know enough about what constitutes 'objective material reality,' nor +about what are the laws of prophetic ecstasy and vision, to discuss such +a question as that. Nor is there any need to moot it. It does not matter +one rush whether bystanders would have seen anything or not. It does not +matter in the least whether there was any actual excitation of auditory +or visual nerves. It does not matter whether there was anything which +people are contented to call _material_--a word which covers a depth of +ignorance. Enough for us that this was no fancy, born in a man's brain, +but an actual manifestation, whether through sense or apart from sense, +to consciousness, of a divine outpouring and communication. Enough for +us that the voice which spoke was God's, and that that which descended +was the Spirit of God. As to all other questions, they may be amusing +and interesting, but they are insoluble, and therefore unimportant. + +Well, then, taking that point of view, the next question that arises is +as to the purpose of this descent of the Spirit. Plainly, as I have +said, it was the coronation and anointing of the Monarch. But a man is +king before he is crowned. Coronation is the consequence and not the +cause of his royalty. It is but the official and solemn announcement of +a previous fact. No additional power, no fresh authority, comes of the +crowning. And so the first purpose of this great fact is distinctly +stated, in John's Gospel, as having been the solemn, divine pointing out +of Messiah to the Baptist primarily, but in order that he might bear +witness of Him to others. The words which follow are a commentary on, +and part of the explanation of, the descent of the Holy Spirit. They +are God's finger, pointing to Jesus and saying, 'Arise, anoint Him, for +this is He.' + +But it must be remembered always that this was neither the beginning of +that divine Spirit's operation upon Jesus, nor the beginning of His +Messianic nature and consciousness; nor the beginning of His Sonship. +That day was not in deepest truth the 'day' on which the Son was +'begotten.' Before the baptism there was the consciousness of +Messiahship witnessed in these words, so singularly compacted of +humility and authority: 'Suffer it to be so now, for thus it becometh us +to fulfil all righteousness'; and before His baptism, and even before +His birth, that divine Spirit wrought His manhood, and ere the heavens +opened, or the dove fluttered down upon His head, He from everlasting +was the Son in the bosom of the Father. + +So we see here, I think, if we follow the lead of the Scriptural +teaching, not the beginning of powers or communications, but an advance +in these. Christ's baptism was an epoch in His human development, +inasmuch as it was the public official assumption of His Messianic +office. He came from out of the sheltering obscurity of the Galilean +village nestling among its hills. He had now put His foot upon the path, +set with knives and hot ploughshares, along which He had to walk to the +Cross. Inasmuch as it was an epoch in His development (for His manhood +was capable of growth and maturing), and inasmuch as new tasks needed +increase of gifts, and inasmuch as His man's nature was subject to the +conditions of time, and capable of expansion and increase of capacity, +therefore, I believe that when Christ rose from the waters of baptism, +no new gift indeed was His, but such an advance in the communication to +His manhood of the sustaining Spirit, as fully equipped Him for the new +calls of His Messianic work. + +His manhood needed, as ours does, the continual communication of the +divine Spirit, and His manhood, because it was sinless, was capable of a +complete reception of that Spirit. Sinless though He knew Himself to be, +as His own words declare, He yet bowed His head to the baptism of +repentance, which He needed not for Himself, just as He afterwards bowed +His head to a darker, a sadder baptism, which He had to be baptized +with, though it likewise He needed not for Himself, because in both the +one and the other He would make Himself one with His brethren. The +Spirit of God had shaped His manhood ere His birth. The Spirit of God +had been abiding in His holy infancy and growing youth, but now it came +in larger measure for new needs and His Messiah's work. + +So, dear friends, we see in Christ, baptized with the Spirit of God, the +realised ideal of manhood, ever dependent, ever needing for its purity +that holy influence, and receiving at every pore that divine gift. What +a contrast to our limited partial reception, broken and interrupted so +often! All the doors that are barred in our hearts by sin, all the +windows that are darkened in our souls by vice and self, in Him stood +open to the day, and brilliantly receptive of the illumination. And so +'the Father giveth not the Spirit by measure unto Him.' + +Notice, too, the meaning of the symbol. Think of what John, with his +incomplete though not inaccurate conceptions, expected in the Messiah +whom he proclaimed. To him the coming of the King was first and chiefly +a coming to judgment. There is nothing more remarkable than the aspect +of terror which drapes the old hope of Israel as it comes from John's +lips. He believes that the King is coming, that His coming is to be an +awful thing. Judgment is to go before Him, He bears 'His fan in His +hand,' and kindles 'unquenchable fire,' into which the leafy trees that +have no fruit upon them are to be flung, there to shrivel and crackle +and disappear. This is what he expects at the worst, and at the best a +baptism in the Holy Ghost, from Messiah's hands, which, however, is +likewise to be fiery even whilst it quickens, and searching and +destructive even whilst it gladdens. When, then, his carpenter cousin is +designated as Messiah, John sees two wonders: that this is the Christ, +and that the Spirit which he had thought of as searching and consuming, +should come fluttering down upon His head in the likeness of a dove. Old +Testament symbols and natural poetry unite in giving felicity to that +emblem. 'The Spirit of God brooded on the face of the deep,' says +Genesis; and the word employed describes accurately the action of the +mother-bird, with her soft breast and outstretched wings quickening the +life that lies beneath. The dove was pure and allowed for sacrifice. All +nations have made it the symbol of meekness, gentleness, faithfulness. +All these associations determined the form which the descending +Benediction took. + +What then does it proclaim as to the character of the King? Purity is +the very foundation of His royalty. Meekness and gentleness are the very +weapons of His conquest and the sceptre of His rule. The dove will +outfly all Rome's eagles and all rapacious, unclean feeders, with their +strong wings, and curved talons, and sharp beaks. The lesson as to the +true nature of the true Kingdom, which was taught of old when the +prophet said 'Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion, thy King cometh unto +thee, meek, riding on an ass,' and not upon the warhorse of secular +force; the lesson which was taught unwittingly, as to the true nature of +the true Kingdom, when the scoffers, speaking a deeper truth than they +understood, put upon His brow the crown of thorns, and forced into His +hand the sceptre of reed, was taught here--the lesson that meekness +conquers, and that His kingdom is founded in suffering, and wielded in +gentleness. The lesson of the ancient psalm, which in rapture of +prophetic vision beheld the coming of the Bridegroom, and said with +strange blending of images of war and of peace: 'Thine arrows are sharp +in the heart of the King's enemies; in Thy majesty ride prosperously, +because of meekness; and Thy right hand shall teach Thee terrible +things';--that same lesson was taught when the King was crowned, and in +the day of His coronation, that which fell upon His bowed, glistening +head, was the Dove from Heaven, the proclamation that meekness and +gentleness are the garment of Omnipotence. + +II. Consider this incident as showing us the gifts of the King to His +subjects. + +Christ has nothing which He keeps to Himself. Christ received the Spirit +that He might diffuse it through the whole world. Whatsoever He has +received of the Father He gives unto us. This conception of the gift +that Christ has to bestow upon men, as being the very life-spirit that +dwelt in His manhood, and made and kept it pure, is the highest thought +that we can have of what the gospel does for us. You do not understand +its meaning if you content yourself with thinking of it as simply the +means of escape from wrath. You do not understand its meaning--though, +blessed be God! that is the first part of its mercy to us--if you think +of Christ's gift as only pardon by means of His sacrifice on the Cross. +We must rise higher than that; we must feel, if we would understand the +'unspeakable gift,' that it is the gift of Himself to dwell within us by +His Spirit as the very spirit of our lives. Assimilation by reception of +a supernatural life from Him, is the teaching of Pentecost. Christ is +our life; 'the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made us +free from the law of sin and death.' + +Therefore, all Christian men are spoken of in the New Testament in the +same language which is used in reference to their Master. Is He the Son +of God? They are sons through Him. Is He the High Priest? They are +priests unto God. Is He the Light of the World? They are, in their +places, kindled and derived lights. Is He the Christ, the Messias, the +Anointed? 'Ye have an unction from the Holy One,' and He hath anointed +us in Him. So that it is no arrogance, though it may be a questionably +wise form of expression, when we say that the object of Christ's coming +is to make us all Christs, God's anointed, and to make us so because He +Himself in His Spirit dwells in us. + +Christ can do that. He can give this Spirit. That is the very thing that +all other teachers cannot do. They can teach tricks of imitation, they +can galvanise men, for a little while, into some kind of copy of their +characteristics. They can give them the principles which they themselves +have been living on, but to repeat and to continue the spirit of the +Teacher is the very thing that cannot be done. 'Let a double portion +fall upon me,' said Elisha; and Elijah, knowing the limits of the human +relationship between master and disciple, could only shake his head in +doubt and say, 'Thou askest a hard thing; perhaps thou wilt get it, +perhaps thou wilt not, but it will not be I that will give it you.' But +Christ says: 'I give My Spirit to you all.' + +And let us remember, too, how full of blessed teaching, of rebuke, and +of instruction that symbol is, in reference to ourselves. To all of us +there is offered, if we like to have it, this dove-like Spirit. What +does that mean? Let us for a moment dwell upon the various uses of the +emblem, for they all carry important lessons. Our hearts are like that +wild chaos which preceded the present ordered state of things. And over +the seething darkness, full of all formless horrors and half-discerned +dead monstrosities, over all the chaos of disordered wills, rebellious +appetites, stinging conscience, darkened perceptions, there will come, +if we will (and we may will by His help, which is never far away from +us), gently, but quickening us into life and reducing confusion into +order, and flooding our cloudy night with light, that divine Spirit. The +dove that brooded over Chaos and made it Cosmos, will brood over your +nature, and re-create the whole. 'If any man be in Christ, he is a new +creation.' 'The old things are passed away.' Creator Spirit! create a +clean heart in me. + +And then again let me remind you that this emblem brings to us another +cognate and yet distinct hope, inasmuch as the dove was the emblem of +purity and clean for sacrifice. This is the characteristic of the +scriptural doctrine of inspiration, by which it is distinguished from +all heathen and secular conceptions of a similar sort, viz., that it +puts the moral in the foreground, and that the Spirit, which is the +Spirit of truth, and of wisdom and of power, is first and foremost the +Spirit of holiness. So that if a man is not clean, no matter what his +gifts, no matter what his wisdom, no matter what his intellectual force, +no matter what his supernatural and miraculous power, he has not the +Spirit of God in him. The Dove comes, and where it comes there is peace, +there is purity, there is sacrifice. If any man have not the Spirit of +holiness he is none of Christ's. + +So, brethren, remember that not in shining faculty, not in piercing +vision into mystery, not in the eloquence of honeyed tongue, nor the +power of a swift hand, not in any of the lesser and subordinate gifts +which the world exclusively honours as inspiration, is the power of the +indwelling Spirit to be manifested. If the Spirit of God is in you, it +is making you clean. + +Still further, remember how, as for the King so for His subjects, the +Dove that crowns Him and that dwells in them is the Spirit of meekness +and of gentleness. That is the true force. Light, which is silent, is +mightier than all lightnings. The Spirit, which is the 'Spirit of love,' +is therefore 'the Spirit of power.' The true type of Christian +character, which the gospel has brought into being, looks modest, +inconspicuous and humdrum, by the side of the more brilliant and vulgar +beauties of the world's ideals. Just as the iridescent hues on a dove's +neck, and the quiet blue of its plumage, look modest and Quaker-like +beside gaudy parroquets and other bedizened birds, so the Christian type +of character, patient, meek, gentle, not self-asserting, seems pale and +sober-tinted beside the world's heroes. But gentleness is the mightiest +and will conquer at last. For Christ and Christ's followers go forth, +through universal love to universal power. + +And the last suggestion that I offer to you about the significance of +this symbol is one that I freely admit to be fanciful, and yet it +strikes me as being very beautiful. Noah's dove came back to the ark +with one leaf in his beak. That was the prophecy and the foretaste of a +whole world of beauty and of verdure. The dove that comes to us, bearing +with it some leaf plucked from the tree of life, which is in the midst +of the paradise of God, is the earnest of our inheritance until the day +of redemption. All the gifts of that divine Spirit, gifts of holiness, +of gentleness, of wisdom, of truth--all these are forecasts and +anticipations of the perfectness of the heavens. To us, sailing over a +dismal sea, the Spirit comes bearing with it a message that tells us of +the far-off land and the fair garden of God in which the blessed shall +walk. + +Dear friends, remember the one condition on which is suspended our +possession of the Spirit of God. It is that we shall have Christ for our +very own by our humble faith. If we are trusting in Him, He will come +and put His Spirit within our hearts. Without Him these hearts are cages +of unclean and hateful birds. But the meek presence of the dove of God +will drive out the obscene, twilight-loving creatures that build and +scream there, and will fill our hearts with the tranquillity, the +purity, the gentleness, the hope, which are 'the fruit of the Spirit.' + + +THE VICTORY OF THE KING + + 'Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be + tempted of the devil. 2. And when He had fasted forty days and + forty nights, He was afterward an hungred. 3. And when the tempter + came to Him, he said, If Thou be the Son of God, command that these + stones be made bread. 4. But He answered and said, It is written, + Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that + proceedeth out of the mouth of God. 5. Then the devil taketh Him up + into the holy city, and setteth Him on a pinnacle of the temple, 6. + And saith unto Him, If Thou be the Son of God, cast Thyself down: + for it is written, He shall give His angels charge concerning Thee: + and in their hands they shall bear Thee up, lest at any time Thou + dash Thy foot against a stone. 7. Jesus said unto him, It is + written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. 8. Again, the + devil taketh Him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth + Him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them; 9. And + saith unto Him, All these things will I give Thee, if Thou wilt + fall down and worship me. 10. Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee + hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy + God, and Him only shalt thou serve. 11. Then the devil leaveth Him, + and, behold, angels came and ministered unto Him.'--MATT. iv. 1-11. + +Every word of the first verses of this narrative is full of meaning. +'Then' marks the immediate connection, not only in time but in +causation, between the baptism and the temptation. The latter followed +necessarily on the former. 'Of the Spirit'--then God does lead His Son +into temptation. For us all, as for Christ, it is true that, though God +does not tempt as wishing us to fall, He does so order our lives that +they carry us into places where the metal of our religion is tried. 'To +be tempted'--then a pure, sinless human nature is capable of temptation, +and the King has to begin his career by a battle. 'Of the devil'--then +there is a dark kingdom of evil, and a personal head of it, the prince +of darkness. He knows His rival, and yet He knows him but partially. He +strides out to meet him in desperate duel, as Goliath did the stripling +whom he despised; and both hosts pause and gaze. To a sinless nature no +temptation can arise from within, but must be presented from without. + +We leave untouched the question as to the manner of this temptation, +which remains equally real, whether we conceive that the tempter +appeared in bodily form, and actually carried the body of our Lord from +place to place, or whether we suppose that, during it all, Christ sat +silent, and apparently alone in the wilderness. We only divert attention +from the true importance of the incident by giving prominence to +picturesque or questionable externals of it. + +I. The first assault and repulse, in the desert. + +Unlike John the Baptist, whose austere spirit was unfolded in the +desert, Jesus grew up among men, passing through and sanctifying +childhood and youth, home duties, and innocent pleasures. But ere He +enters on His work, the need which every soul appointed to high and hard +tasks has felt, namely, the need for seclusion and communion with God in +solitude, was felt by Him. As it had been for Moses and Elijah, the +wilderness was His school; and as the collective Israel, so the personal +Son of God, has to be led into the wilderness, that there God may 'speak +to His heart.' So deep and rapt was the communion, that, for forty days, +spirit so mastered flesh that the need and desire for food were +suspended. But when He touched earth again, the pinch of hunger began. +Analogous cases of the power of high emotion to hold physical wants in +abeyance are sufficiently familiar to make so extreme an instance +explicable. + +We have to distinguish in the first temptation between the sphere in +which it moves, the act suggested, and the true nature of the act as +dragged to light in Christ's answer. The sphere is that of the physical +nature. Hunger has nothing to do with right or wrong. It asserts itself +independent of all considerations. In itself neutral, it may, like all +physical cravings, lead to sin. Most men are most tempted by fleshly +desires. Satan had tried the same bait before on the first Adam. It had +answered so well then, that he thinks himself wise in bringing it out +once more. Adam, in his garden, surrounded by all that sense needed, had +yielded, and thereby had turned the garden into desert; Christ, in the +desert, pressed by hunger, does not yield, and thereby turns the desert +into a garden again. At the beginning of His course He is tempted by the +innocent desire to secure physical support; at its close He is tempted +by the innocent desire to avoid physical pain. He overcomes both, and by +His victories in the wilderness so unlike the garden, and in Gethsemane, +another garden, so unlike the first, He brings 'a statelier Eden back to +man.' + +The act suggested seems not only innocent, but in accordance with His +dignity. It was a strange anomaly for 'the Son of God,' on whose head +the dove had descended, and in whose ears the voice had sounded, to be +at the point of starving. What more unbecoming than that one possessed +of His mysterious closeness to God should be suffering from such ignoble +necessities? What more foolish than to continue to hunger, when a word +could spread a table in the wilderness? John had said that God could +make children of Abraham out of these stones. Could He not make bread +out of them? The suggestion sounds benevolent, sensible, almost +religious. The need is real, the remedy possible and easy; the result +desirable as preserving valuable life, and putting an end to an anomaly, +and the objections apparently _nil_. The bait is skilfully wound over +the barbed hook. + +Christ's answer tears it away, and discloses the sharp points. He will +not discuss with Satan whether He is Son of God or no. To the Jews He +was wont to answer, 'I say unto you'; to Satan He answers, 'It is +written.' He puts honour on 'the sword of the Spirit, which is the word +of God,' and sets us an example of how to wield it. The words quoted are +found in the account of Israel's miraculous sustenance in the desert by +the manna, and are applied by Christ to Himself, not as Son of God, but +as simple man. They contain the great truth that God can feed men, in +their physical life, by bread or without bread. When He does it by bread +or other ordinary means, it is even then not the material substance in +itself, but His will operating through it, which feeds. He can abolish +all the outward means, and still keep a man alive. There is no reference +to the truth which is sometimes forcibly inserted into this saying, that +man has a higher than bodily life, and needs more than material bread to +feed the hunger of the soul. The whole scope of the words is to state +the law of physical nourishment as dependent at last on the divine will, +and therefore equally capable of being accomplished with or without +bread, by ordinary means or apart from these. + +The bearing of the words on Christ's hunger is twofold: First, He will +not use His miraculous powers to provide food, for that would be to +distrust God, and so to cast off His filial dependence; second, He will +not separate Himself from His brethren, and provide for Himself by a way +not open to them, for that would really be to reverse the very purpose +of His incarnation and to defeat His whole work. He has come to bear all +man's burdens, and shall He begin by separating Himself from them? +Therefore He answers in words which declare the law for 'man,' and +thereby merges all that was distinctive in His position in a loving +participation in our lot. If the Captain of our Salvation had begun by +refusing to share the privations of the rank and file, and had provided +dainties for Himself, what would have become of His making common cause +with them? The temptation addressed to Christ's physical nature was, to +put it roughly, 'Look out for yourself.' His answer was, 'As Son of God, +I hold by My filial dependence. As man, I share My brethren's lot, and +am content to live as they live.' + +II. The second assault and repulse, on the temple. + +We need not touch on the questions as to whether our Lord's body was +really transported to the temple, and, if so, to what part of it. But we +may point out that there is nothing in the narrative to warrant the +usual interpretation of this temptation, as being addressed to the +desire of recognition, and as equivalent to the suggestion that our Lord +should show Himself, by a stupendous miracle before the multitude, as +the Messiah. There is nothing about spectators, and no sign that the +dread solitude wrapping these two was broken by others. We must seek +for the point of the second temptation in another direction. + +The very locality chosen for it helps us to the right understanding of +it. There were plenty of cliffs in the desert, down which a fall would +have been fatal. Why not choose one of them? The temple was God's house, +the fitting scene for an attempt to work disaster by the abuse of +religious ideas. The former temptation underlies this. That had sought +to move Jesus to cast off His filial confidence; this seeks to pervert +that confidence, and through it to lead Him to cast off filial +obedience. Therefore 'the Devil quotes Scripture for his purpose.' What +could be more religious than an act of daring based upon faith, which +again was based on a word which proceeded 'out of the mouth of God'? It +is not in the suppression of certain words in the quotation that Satan's +error lies. The omitted words are not material. What did he hope to +accomplish by this suggestion? If Jesus was, in bodily reality, standing +on the summit of the temple, the tempter, profoundly disbelieving the +promise, may have thought that the leap would end his anxieties by the +death of his rival. But, at any rate, he sought to lead His faith into +wrong paths, and to incite to what was really sinful self-will under the +guise of absolute trust. + +Our Lord's answer, again drawn from Deuteronomy, strips off the disguise +from the action which seemed so trustful. He changes the plural verb of +the original passage into the singular, thus at once taking as His own +personal obligation the general command, and pointing a sharp arrow at +His foe, who was now knowingly or unknowingly so flagrantly breaking +that law. If God had bidden Jesus cast Himself down, to do it would have +been right. As He had not, to do it was not faith, but self-will. To +cast Himself into dangers needlessly, and then to trust God (whom He had +not consulted about going into them) to get Him out, was to 'tempt God.' +True faith is ever accompanied with true docility. He had come to do His +Father's will. A divine 'must' ruled His life. Was He to begin His +career by throwing off His allegiance on pretext of trust? If the +Captain of our Salvation commences the campaign by rebellion, how can He +lead the rank and file to that surrender of their own wills which is +victory? + +The lessons for us from the second temptation are weighty. Faith may be +perverted. It may even lead to abandoning filial submission. God's +promised protection is available, not in paths of our own choosing, but +only where He has sent us. If we take the leap without His command, we +shall fall mangled on the very temple pavement. It is when we are 'in +the way' which He has prescribed that 'the angels of God' whom He has +promised 'meet' us. How many scandals in the falls of good men would +have been avoided, and how many mad enterprises would have been +unattempted, and how much more clearly would the relations of filial +faith and filial obedience have been understood, if the teaching of this +second temptation had been laid to heart! + +III. The final assault and repulse, on the mountain. + +Again the scene changes, because the stress of the temptation is +different. The 'exceeding high mountain' is not to be looked for in our +atlases. The manner in which all the glories of the world's kingdoms +were flashed in one dazzling panorama, like an instantaneous photograph, +before Christ's eyes, is beyond our knowledge. We note that Satan has no +more to say about 'the Son of God.' He has been foiled in both his +assaults on Christ in that character. If He stood firm in filial trust +and in filial submission, there was no more to be done. So the tempter +tries new weapons, and seeks to pervert the desire for that dominion +over the world which was to be a consequence of the sonship. He has not +been able to touch Him as Son; can he not spoil Him as King? They are +rivals: can they not strike up a treaty? Jesus thinks that He is going +to reign as God's viceroy; can He not be induced, as a much quicker way +of getting to His end, to become Satan's? Such a scheme sounds very +stupid; but Satan is very stupid, for all his wisdom, and the hopeless +folly of his proposal is typical of the absurdities which lie in all +sins. There is an old play, the title of which would be coarse if it +were not so true, 'The Devil is an Ass.' + +His boast, like all his wiles, is a little truth and a great lie. It is +true that his servants do often manage to climb into thrones and other +high places. It is true that beggars and worse than beggars on +horseback, and princes and better than princes walking, is often the +rule. It is true that the crowned saints of the world might be counted +on the fingers. But, for all that, the Father of lies was like himself +in this promise. He did not say that, if he gives a kingdom to one of +his servants, he takes it from another. He did not say that his gifts +are shams, and fade away when the daylight comes. He did not say that +he and his are, after all, tools in God's hands. + +What was it that he thought he was appealing to in Christ? Ambition? He +knew that Jesus was destined to be King of the earth, and he blunders to +the conclusion that His reign is to be such as he could help Him to. How +impossible it is for Satan to penetrate the depths of that loving heart! +How mole-blind evil is to the radiant light of goodness! How hate fails +when it tries to fathom love! If all that Satan meant by 'the glory' of +the world had been Christ's, He would have been no nearer His heart's +desire. + +The temptation was not only to fling away the ideal of His kingdom, but +to reverse the means for its establishment. Neither temptation could +originate within Christ's heart, but both beset Him all His life. The +cravings of His followers, the expectations of His race, the certainty +of an enthusiastic response if He would put Himself at their head, and +the equal certainty of death if He would not, were always urging Him to +the very same thing. + +'There is nothing weaker,' says an old school-man, 'than the Devil +stripped naked.' The mask is thrown off at last, and swift and smiting +comes the gesture and the word of abhorrence, 'Get thee hence, +Satan,'--now revealed in thy true colours. Jesus still couches His +refusal in Scripture words, as if sheltering Himself behind their broad +shield. It is safest to meet temptation, not by our own reasonings and +thoughts, but by the words which cannot lie. As He had held unmoved, by +His filial trust and His filial submission, now He clings to the +foundation principle of all religion,--the exclusive worship and service +of God. His kingdom is to be a kingdom of priests; therefore to begin it +by such an act would be suicide. It is to be the victorious antagonist +of Satan's kingdom, because it is to lead all men to worship God alone; +therefore enmity, not alliance, is to be between these two. Christ's +last words are not only His final refusal of all the baits, but the +ringing proclamation of war to the death, and that a war which will end +in victory. The enemy's quiver is empty. He feels that he has met more +than his match, so he skulks from the field, beaten for the first time +by having encountered a heart which all his fiery darts failed to +inflame, and dimly foreseeing yet more utter defeat. + +The last temptation teaches us both the nature of Christ's kingdom and +the means of its establishment. It is a rule over men's hearts and +wills, swaying them to goodness and the exclusive worship and service of +God. That being so, the way to found it follows of course. It can only +be set up by suffering, utter self-sacrifice, gentleness, and goodness. +Christ is King of all because He is servant of all. His cross is His +throne. His realm is of hearts softened, cleansed, made gladly obedient, +and growingly like Himself. For such a king, weapons of force are +impossible, and for His subjects the same law holds. They have often +tried to fight for Christ with the Devil's weapons, to make compliance +with him for ends which they thought good, to keep terms with evil, or +to adopt worldly policy, craft, or force. They have never succeeded, +and, thank God! they never will. + +That duel was fought for us. There we all conquered, if we will hold +fast by Him who conquered then, and thereby taught our 'hands to war' +and our 'fingers to fight.' The strong man is bound. The spoiling of his +house follows of course, and is but a question of time. + + +THE SPRINGING OF THE GREAT LIGHT + + 'Now when Jesus had heard that John was cast into prison, He + departed into Galilee; 13. And leaving Nazareth, He came and dwelt + in Capernaum, which is upon the sea coast, in the borders of + Zabulon and Nephthalim: 14. That it might be fulfilled which was + spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying, 15. The land of Zabulon, and + the land of Nephthalim, by the way of the sea, beyond Jordan, + Galilee of the Gentiles; 16. The people which sat in darkness saw + great light; and to them which sat in the region and shadow of + death light is sprung up.'--MATT. iv. 12-16. + +Though the narrative of the Temptation is immediately followed by the +notice of Jesus' return to Galilee, there was a space between wide +enough to hold all that John's Gospel tells of the gathering of the +first disciples, the brief stay in Galilee, the Jerusalem ministry, and +the journey through Samaria. John i. 43 refers to the same point of time +as verses 12-16 of this chapter. It is rash to conclude Matthew's +ignorance from his silence, and it is plain, from his own words, that he +did not suppose that the return to Galilee followed the Temptation as +closely in time as it does in his narrative. For he does link the +Temptation to the Baptism immediately, by '_Then_ was Jesus led up of +the Spirit' (verse 1), and so some interval of time must be allowed, +during which Jesus left the wilderness, and went to some place where He +could hear of John's imprisonment. A gap is necessary. Its extent is not +indicated, nor are the reasons for silence as to its contents. But we +may as reasonably conjecture that Matthew's eagerness to get to his main +subject, the Galilean ministry, led him to regard the short visit to +Jerusalem as an episode from which little came, as put his silence down +to a very improbable ignorance. The same explanation may account for the +slight mention made of His 'leaving Nazareth,' of which Luke has given +the memorable story. + +John was silenced, and that moved Jesus to go back to Galilee and take +up His ministry there. His reason has been thought to have been the wish +to avoid a similar fate, but He was safer from Herod in Jerusalem than +in Capernaum, within reach of the tyrant's arm, stretched out from +Tiberias close by, and the supposition is more probable, as well as more +worthy, that a directly opposite motive impelled Him. The voice that had +cried, 'After me cometh a greater than I,' was stifled in a dungeon. It +was fitting that He, of whom John had spoken, should at once stand +forth. There must be no interval between the ringing proclamation by the +herald and the appearance of the king, lest men should say that one more +hope had been dashed, and one more prophet proved a dreamer. And is +there not a lesson for all times in the fact that when John is silenced, +Jesus begins to speak? Is not the quenching of a light kindled to bear +witness to the true Light, ever the occasion for that unkindled and +unquenchable Light to burn the more brightly, though tear-dimmed eyes +often fail to see it? + +The choice of Capernaum as a residence suggested to Matthew Isaiah's +prophecy, which he quotes freely, fusing into one sentence the +geographical terms, in verse 15, which, in the Hebrew, are the close of +one paragraph, and the prophecy in verse 16 which, in the Hebrew, begins +another. The territory of Zabulon lay in what is now called Lower +Galilee, stretching right across from the northern end of the Sea of +Gennesaret to the coast of the Mediterranean, while that of Naphtali lay +further north. 'The way of the sea' is here not the designation of +another district, but a specification of those named in the preceding +clauses, and may be rendered 'towards the sea,' while 'beyond Jordan' is +the almost heathen territory on the east bank of the river, and 'Galilee +of the Gentiles' is the general name for all three, the two tribal +territories and the trans-Jordanic district. These are all smelted into +one designation, 'the people which sat in darkness,' and thus the whole +of verse 15 and the first clause of verse 16 make the nominative of the +verb 'saw.' There is something very impressive in that long-drawn-out +accumulation of geographical names, and in their being all massed in the +one sad description of their inert darkness, and then equally massed as +seeing the great light that springs up. The intense pathos of that +description and its sad truth to experience should not be unnoticed. +They sit in the dark--the attitude of listless languor and constrained +inaction, too true an emblem of the paralysis which falls on all the +highest activities of the spirit, if the light from God has been +quenched. It is only wild beasts that are active in the night. The lower +parts of man's nature may work energetically in that darkness, but all +that makes his glory is torpid in it. Christ's light has been the great +impulse to progress. Races without it sit and do not march. But that is +not all, for the sad picture is sketched again with blacker shadows in +the next clause, which substitutes for 'darkness' the still more tragic +words, 'the region and shadow of death.' The realm of darkness is the +region of death. That dread figure is the lord of it, and, grimly +enough, its very intensity of blackness has power to throw a shadow even +there where there is no light, and to deepen the gloom. The second +clause advances on the first in another respect, for while the former +spoke only of 'seeing' the light, the latter tells of the blessed +suddenness with which it 'sprung up.' The one clause speaks of the human +perception, the other of the divine revelation which precedes it and +makes it possible. + +But had Matthew any right to see in Jesus' Galilean ministry the +fulfilment of a prophecy which, as spoken, was simply a promise that the +northern parts of Israel which, by geographical position, had to bear +the first and worst brunt of Assyrian invasion, should have deliverance +from the oppressor? Yes; for Isaiah's vision of the light rising on +Israel, crushed beneath foreign oppression, was based on a distinctly +Messianic prediction. It was because Messiah should come that he +expected Assyria to be flung off and Israel to be set free, and he was +right in the expectation, for though the Messiah did not come visibly +then, His coming was the guarantee, and in some sense the cause, of +Israel's deliverance. Nor was Matthew less right in seeing in that +earlier deliverance but a germinant accomplishment of the prophecy, +which, by its very transiency, outwardness, and incompleteness, pointed +onwards to a better spring of the Light, and a fuller deliverance from +a murkier darkness and a more mortal death. 'The life was the light of +men,' the teacher of all knowledge of God, the source of all light of +true joy, the giver of all light of white purity, and He has risen on a +world sitting in darkness that all men may walk in the light, and be +children of the light. + + +THE EARLY WELCOME AND THE FIRST MINISTERS OF THE KING + + 'From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the + kingdom of heaven is at hand. 18. And Jesus, walking by the sea of + Galilee, saw two brethren, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his + brother, casting a net into the sea: for they were fishers. 19. And + He saith unto them, Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men. + 20. And they straightway left their nets, and followed Him. 21. And + going on from thence, He saw other two brethren, James the son of + Zebedee, and John his brother, in a ship with Zebedee their father, + mending their nets: and He called them. 22. And they immediately + left the ship and their father, and followed Him. 23. And Jesus + went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching + the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and + all manner of disease among the people. 24. And His fame went + throughout all Syria: and they brought unto Him all sick people + that were taken with divers diseases and torments, and those which + were possessed with devils, and those which were lunatick, and + those that had the palsy; and He healed them. 25. And there + followed Him great multitudes of people from Galilee, and from + Decapolis, and from Jerusalem, and from Judaea, and from beyond + Jordan.'--MATT. iv. 17-25. + +In these verses we have a summary of our Lord's early Galilean +ministry. The events are so presented and combined as to give an +impression as of a triumphal progress of the newly anointed monarch. He +sweeps through the northern regions, everywhere exercising the twofold +office of teaching and healing, and everywhere followed by eager crowds. +This joyous burst of the new power, like some strong fountain leaping +into the sunshine, and this rush of popular enthusiasm, are meant to +heighten the impression of the subsequent hostility of the people. The +King welcomed at first is crucified at last. It was 'roses, roses, all +the way' in these early days, but they withered soon. There are three +points in these verses: the King acting as His own herald; the King +calling His first servants; and the King wielding His power and welcomed +by His subjects. + +I. In verse 17 we have a striking picture of the King as His own herald. +The word rendered 'preach' of course means, literally, to proclaim as a +herald does. It is remarkable that this earliest phase of our Lord's +teaching is described in the same words as John's preaching. The stern +voice was silenced. Instead of the free wilderness, John had now the +gloomy walls of Machaeus for the bound of his activity. But Jesus takes +up his message, though with a difference. The severe imagery of the axe, +the fan, the fire, is not repeated, as it would seem. Sterner words than +John's could fall hot from the lips into which grace was poured; but the +time for these was not yet come. It may seem singular that Christ should +have spoken of the kingdom, and been silent concerning the King. But +such silence was only of a piece with the reticence which marked His +whole teaching, and was a sign of His wise adaptation of His words to +the capacity of His hearers, as well as of His lowliness. He veiled His +royalty by deigning to be His own herald; by substituting the +proclamation of the abstract, the kingdom, for the concrete, the King; +by seeming to careless hearers to be but the continuer of the +forerunner's message; by the simple, remote region which He chose for +His earliest work. The belief that the kingdom was at hand was equally +necessary, and repentance equally indispensable as preparation for it, +whoever the King might be. The same law of congruity between message and +hearers, which He enjoined on His followers, when He bade them be +careful where they flung their pearls, and which governed His own +fullest final revelations to His truest friends, when He said, 'I have +yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot carry them now,' moulded +His first words to the excited but ignorant crowds. + +II. The King's mandate summoning His servants. The call of the first +four disciples is so told as to make prominent these points: the +brotherhood of the two pairs; their occupation at the moment of their +call; the brief, authoritative word of Christ; His investiture of them +with new functions, which yet in some sense were the prolongation of the +old; their unhesitating, instantaneous obedience and willing abandonment +of their all. These points all help the impression of regal power, and +do something to explain the nature of the kingdom and the heart of the +King. Matthew does not seem to have known of the previous intercourse of +the four with Jesus, as recorded In John 1. His narrative, taken alone, +would lay stress on the strange influence wielded by Jesus over these +busy fishermen. But that influence is no less remarkable, and becomes +more explicable, on taking John's supplemental account into +consideration. It tells us that one brother of each pair--namely Andrew, +and probably John--had sought Jesus on the Baptist's testimony, and in +that never-to-be-forgotten night had acquired the conviction that He was +the King of Israel. It tells us, too, that Andrew first found his own +brother, Simon; from which we may infer that the other one of the two +next found his brother James, and that each brought his own brother to +Jesus. The bond of discipleship was then riveted. But apparently, when +Jesus went up to Jerusalem on that first journey recorded only in John's +Gospel, the four went back to their fishing, and waited for His further +call. It came in the manner which Matthew describes. The background, +which John enables us to fill in, shows us that their following was no +sudden blind impulse, but the deliberate surrender of men who knew well +what they were doing, though they had not fathomed the whole truth as to +His kingdom and their place in it. They knew, at any rate, that He was +the Messiah and that they were called by a voice, which they ought to +obey, to be His soldiers and partisans. They could not but know that the +call meant danger, hardship, conflict. They rallied to the call, as +soldiers might when the commander honours them by reading out their +names, as picked for leaders of the storming-party. + +Was this the same incident which St. Luke narrates as following the +first miraculous draught of fishes? That is one of the difficulties in +harmonising the synoptic narratives which will always divide opinions. +On the whole, I incline to think it most natural to answer 'no.' The +reasons would take us too far afield. But accepting that view, we may +note through how many stages Jesus led this group of His disciples +before they were fully recognised as apostles. First there was their +attachment to Him as disciples, which in no degree interfered with their +trade. Then came this call to more close attendance on Him, which, +however, was probably still somewhat intermittent. Then followed the +call recorded by Luke, which finally tore them from their homes; and, +last of all, their appointment as apostles. At each stage they 'might +have had opportunity to have returned.' Their vocation in the kingdom +dawns on them slowly. They and we are led on, by little and little and +little, to posts and tasks of which we do not dream at the beginning. +Duty opens before the docile heart bit by bit. Abram is led to Harran, +and only there learns his ultimate destination. Obedience is rewarded by +the summons to more complete surrender, which is also fuller possession +of Him for whom the surrender is made. + +'The word of a king is with power.' Christ's call is authoritative in +its brevity. All duty lies in 'Come ye after Me.' He does not need to +use arguments. From the very first this meek and lowly man assumes a +tone which on other lips we call arrogant. His style is royal. His mouth +is autocratic. He knows that He has the right to command. And, strangely +enough, the world admits the right, and finds nothing unworthy of His +meekness--a meekness of which He was fully conscious, which is another +paradox--in this unconditional claim of absolute submission to his curt +orders. What is the explanation of this tone of authority? How comes it +that the kingdom which is liberty is, from its very foundation, an +absolute despotism? That same peremptory summons reaches beyond these +four fishermen to us all. They were the first to hear it, and continued +to hold pre-eminence among the disciples, for they make up the first +group of the three quaternions into which the list of the apostles is +always divided. But the very same voice speaks to us, and we are as +truly summoned by the King to be His servants and soldiers as were they. + +Their prompt self-surrendering response is the witness of the power over +their hearts which Jesus had won. The one pair of brothers left their +nets floating in the water; the other left their father with the mesh +and the twine in his old hands. It was not much wealth to leave. But he +surrenders much who surrenders all, however little that all may be; and +he surrenders nothing who keeps back anything. One sweet portion of +their earthly happiness He left them to enjoy, heightened by +discipleship, for each had his brother by his side, and natural +affection was ennobled by common faith and service. If Zebedee was left, +John still had James. True, Herod's sword cut their union asunder, and +James died first, and John last, of the twelve; but years of happy +brotherhood were to come before then. So both the surrender which +outwardly gives up possessions or friends, and that which keeps them, +sanctified by being held and used as for and from Him, were exemplified +in the swift obedience of these four to the call of the King. + +'I will make you fishers of men.' That shows a kindly wish to make as +little as may be of the change of occupation. Their old craft is to be +theirs still, only in nobler form. The patience, the brave facing of the +storm and the night, the observance of the indications which taught +where to cast, the perseverance which toiled all night though not a fin +glistened in the net, would all find place in their new career. Nor are +these words less royal than was the call. They contain profound hints as +to the nature of the kingdom which could scarcely be apprehended at +first. But this at least would be clear, that Jesus summoned them to +service, to gather in men out of the dreary waves of worldly care and +toil into a kingdom of stable rest, and that by summoning them to +service He endowed them with power. So He does still. All whom He +summons to follow Him are meant by Him to be fishers of men. It was not +as apostles, but as simple disciples, that these four received this +charge and ability. The same command and fitness are given to all +Christians. Following Christ, surrender, the obligation of effort to win +others, capacity to do so, belong to all the subjects of Christ's +kingdom. + +III. The triumphal progress of the King. Our evangelist evidently masses +together without regard to chronological order the broad features of the +early Galilean ministry. He paints it as a time of joyful activity, of +universal recognition, of swift and far-spreading fame. We do not +exaggerate the impression of victorious publicity which they give, when +we call these closing verses the record of the King's triumphal progress +through His dominions. Observe the reiterated use of 'all,'--all +Galilee, all manner of sickness and all manner of disease, all Syria, +all that were sick. Matthew labours to convey the feeling of universal +stir and wide-reaching, 'full-throated' welcome. Observe, too, that the +activity of Christ is confined to Galilee, but the fame of Him crosses +the border into heathendom. The King stays on His own territory, but He +conquers beyond the frontier. Syria and the mostly heathen Decapolis, +and Peraea ('beyond Jordan'), are moved. The odour of the ointment not +only fills the house, but enriches the scentless outside air. The +prophecy contained in the coming of the Magi is beginning to be +fulfilled. From its first preaching, the kingdom is diffusive. Note, +too, the contrast between John's ministry and Christ's, in that the +former stayed in one spot, and the crowds had to go out to him, while +the very genius of Christ's mission expressed itself in that this +shepherd king sought the sad and sick, and 'went about in all Galilee.' +Observe, too, that He teaches and preaches the good news of the kingdom, +before He heals. John's proclamation of the kingdom had been so charged +with threatenings and mingled with fire that it could scarcely be called +a 'gospel'; but here that joyous word, used for the first time, is in +place. As the tidings came from Christ's lips, they were good tidings, +and to proclaim them was His first task. The miracles of healing came +second. They were not 'the bell before the sermon,' but the benediction +after it. They flowed from Christ in rich abundance. The eager +receptiveness of the people, ignorant as it was, was greater then than +ever afterwards. Therefore the flow of miraculous power was more +unimpeded. But it may be questioned whether we generally have an +adequate notion of the immense number of Christ's miracles. Those +recorded are but a small proportion of those done. There were more +grapes in the vineyards of Eshcol than the messengers brought in +evidence to the camp. Our Lord's miracles are told by units; they seem +to have been wrought by scores. These early ones were not only +attestations of His claim to be the King, but illustrations of the +nature of His kingdom He had conquered and bound the strong man, and now +He was 'spoiling his house.' They were parables of His higher work on +men's souls, which He comes to cleanse from the oppression of demons, +from the foamings of epilepsy, from impotence as to doing right. They +were tokens of the inexhaustible fountain of power, and of the swift and +equally inexhaustible treasures of sympathy, which dwelt in Him. They +were His first trophies in His holy war, His first gifts to His +subjects. + +Thus compassed with enthusiasm, and shedding on the wearied new hopes, +and on the sick unwonted health, and stirring in sluggish souls some +aspirations that greatened and inspired, the King appeared. But no +illusions deceived His calm prescience. From the beginning He knew the +path which stretched before Him; and while the transient loyalty of the +ignorant shouted hosannas around His steps, He saw the cross at the end, +and the sight did not make Him falter. + + +THE NEW SINAI + + 'And seeing the multitudes, He went up into a mountain: and when He + was set, His disciples came unto Him: 2. And He opened his mouth, + and taught them, saying, 3. Blessed are the poor in spirit: for + theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 4. Blessed are they that mourn: + for they shall be comforted. 5. Blessed are the meek: for they + shall inherit the earth. 6. Blessed are they which do hunger and + thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled. 7. Blessed + are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy. 8. Blessed are the + pure in heart: for they shall see God. 9. Blessed are the + peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God, 10. + Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake: for + theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 11. Blessed are ye, when men shall + revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil + against you falsely, for My sake. 12. Rejoice, and be exceeding + glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they + the prophets which were before you. 13. Ye are the salt of the + earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be + salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and + to be trodden under foot of men. 14. Ye are the light of the world. + A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. 15. Neither do men + light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; + and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. 16. Let your + light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and + glorify your Father which is in heaven.'--MATT. v. 1-16. + +An unnamed mountain somewhere on the Sea of Galilee is the Sinai of the +new covenant. The contrast between the savage desolation of the +wilderness and the smiling beauty of the sunny slope near the haunts of +men symbolises the contrast in the genius of the two codes, given from +each. There God came down in majesty, and the cloud hid Him from the +people's gaze; here Jesus sits amidst His followers, God with us. The +King proclaims the fundamental laws of His kingdom, and reveals much of +its nature by the fact that He begins by describing the characteristics +of its subjects, as well as by the fact that the description is cast in +the form of beatitudes. + +We must leave unsettled the question as to the relation between the +Sermon on the Mount and the shorter edition of part of it given by Luke, +only pointing out that in this first part of Matthew's Gospel we are +evidently presented with general summaries; as, for example, the summary +of the Galilean ministry in the previous verses, and the grand +procession of miracles which follows in chapters viii. and ix. It is +therefore no violent supposition that here too the evangelist has +brought together, as specimens of our Lord's preaching, words which were +not all spoken at the same time. His description of the Galilean +ministry in ch. iv. 23, as 'teaching' and 'healing,' governs the +arrangement of his materials from chapter v. to the end of chapter ix. +First comes the sermon, then the miracles follow. + +The Beatitudes, as a whole, are a set of paradoxes to the 'mind of the +flesh.' They were meant to tear away the foolish illusions of the +multitude as to the nature of the kingdom; and they must have disgusted +and turned back many would-be sharers in it. They are like a dash of +cold water on the fiery, impure enthusiasms which were eager for a +kingdom of gross delights and vulgar conquest. And, no doubt, Jesus +intended them to act like Gideon's test, and to sift out those whose +appetite for carnal good was uppermost. But they were tests simply +because they embodied everlasting truths as to the characters of His +subjects. Our narrow space allows of only the most superficial treatment +of these deep words. + +I. The foundation of all is laid in poverty of spirit. The word rendered +'poor' does not only signify one in a condition of want, but rather one +who is aware of the condition, and seeks relief. If we may refer to +Latin words here, it is mendicus rather than _pauper_, a beggar rather +than a poor man, who is meant. So that to be poor in spirit is to be in +inmost reality conscious of need, of emptiness, of dependence on God, of +demerit; the true estimate of self, as blind, evil, weak, is intended; +the characteristic tone of feeling pointed to is self-abnegation, like +that of the publican smiting his breast, or that of the +disease-weakened, hunger-tortured prodigal, or that of the once +self-righteous Paul, 'O wretched man that I am!' People who do not like +evangelical teaching sometimes say, 'Give me the Sermon on the Mount.' +So say I. Only let us take all of it; and if we do, we shall come, as we +shall have frequent occasion to point out, in subsequent passages, to +something uncommonly like the evangelical theology to which it is +sometimes set up as antithetic. For Christ begins His portraiture of a +citizen of the kingdom with the consciousness of want and sin. All the +rest of the morality of the Sermon is founded on this. It is the root of +all that is heavenly and divine in character. So this teaching is dead +against the modern pagan doctrine of self-reliance, and really embodies +the very principle for the supposed omission of which some folk like +this Sermon; namely, that our proud self-confidence must be broken down +before God can do any good with us, or we can enter His kingdom. + +The promises attached to the Beatitudes are in each case the results +which flow from the quality, rather than the rewards arbitrarily given +for it. So here, the possession of the kingdom comes by consequence from +poverty of spirit. Of course, such a kingdom as could be so inherited +was the opposite of that which the narrow and fleshly nationalism of the +Jews wanted, and these first words must have cooled many incipient +disciples. The 'kingdom of heaven' is the rule of God through Christ. It +is present wherever wills bow to Him; it is future, as to complete +realisation, in the heaven from which it comes, and to which, like its +King, it belongs even while on earth. Obviously, its subjects can only +be those who feel their dependence, and in poverty of spirit have cast +off self-will and self-reliance. 'Theirs is the kingdom' does not mean +'they shall rule,' but 'of them shall be its subjects.' True, they shall +rule in the perfected form of it; but the first, and in a real sense the +only, blessedness is to obey God; and that blessedness can only come +when we have learned poverty of spirit, because we see ourselves as in +need of all things. + +II. Each Beatitude springs from the preceding, and all twined together +make an ornament of grace upon the neck, a chain of jewels. The second +sounds a more violent paradox than even the first. Sorrowing is blessed. +This, of course, cannot mean mere sorrow as such. That may or may not +be a blessing. Grief makes men worse quite as often as it makes them +better. Its waves often flow over us like the sea over marshes, leaving +them as salt and barren as it found them. Nor is sorrow always sure of +comfort. We must necessarily understand the word here so as to bring it +into harmony with the context, and link it with the former Beatitude as +flowing from it, as well as with the succeeding. The only intelligible +explanation is that this sorrow arises from the contemplation of the +same facts concerning self as lead to poverty of spirit, and is, in +fact, the emotional side of the same disposition. He who takes the true +measure of himself cannot but sorrow over the frightful gulf between +what he should and might be and what he is, for he knows that there is +more than misfortune or unavoidable creatural weakness at work. The grim +reality of sin has to be reckoned in. Personal responsibility and guilt +are facts. The soul that has once seen its own past as it is, and looked +steadily down into the depths of its own being, cannot choose but +'mourn.' Such contrition underlies all moral progress. The ethical +teaching of the Sermon on the Mount puts these two, poverty of spirit +and tears for sin, at the foundation. Do its admirers lay that fact to +heart? This is Christ's account of discipleship. We have to creep +through a narrow gate, which we shall not pass but on our knees and +leaving all our treasures outside. But once through, we are in a great +temple with far-reaching aisles and lofty roof. Such sorrow is sure of +comfort. Other sorrow is not. The comfort it needs is the assurance of +forgiveness and cleansing, and that assurance has never been sought from +the King in vain. The comfort is filtered to us in drops here; it pours +in a flood hereafter. Blessed the sorrow which leads to experience of +the tender touch of the hand that wipes away tears from the face, and +plucks evil from the heart! Blessed the mourning, which prepares for the +festal garland and the oil of gladness and the robe of praise, instead +of ashes on the head and sackcloth on the spirit! + +III. Meekness here seems to be considered principally as exercised to +men, and it thus constitutes the first of the social virtues, which +henceforward alternate with those having exclusive reference to God. It +is the grace which opposes patient gentleness to hatred, injury, or +antagonism. The prominence given to it in Christ's teaching is one of +the peculiarities of Christian morals, and is a standing condemnation of +much so-called Christianity. Pride and anger and self-assertion and +retaliation flaunt in fine names, and are called manly virtues. Meekness +is smiled at, or trampled on, and the men who exercise it are called +'Quakers' and 'poor-spirited' and 'chicken-hearted' and the like. Social +life among us is in flagrant contradiction of this Beatitude; and as for +national life, all 'Christian nations' agree that to apply Christ's +precept to it would be absurd and suicidal. He said that the meek should +inherit the earth; statesmen say that the only way to keep a country is +to be armed to the teeth, and let no man insult its flag with impunity. +There does not seem much room for 'a spirited foreign policy' or for +'proper regard to one's own dignity' inside this Beatitude, does there? +But notice that this meekness naturally follows the preceding +dispositions. He who knows himself and has learned the depth of his own +evil will not be swift to blaze up at slights or wrongs. The true +meekness is not mere natural disposition, but the direct outcome of +poverty of spirit and the consequent sorrow. So, it is a test of their +reality. Many a man will indulge in confessions of sin, and crackle up +in sputtering heat of indignation at some slight or offence. If he +does, his lowly words have had little meaning, and the benediction of +these promises will come scantily to his heart. + +Does Christ mean merely to say that meek men will acquire landed +properly? Is there not a present inheritance of the earth by them, +though they may not own a foot of it? They have the world who enjoy it, +whom it helps nearer God, who see Him in it, to whom it is the field for +service and the means for growing character. But in the future the +kingdom of heaven will be a kingdom of the earth, and the meek saints +shall reign with the King who is meek and lowly of heart. + +IV. Righteousness is conformity to the will of God, or moral perfection. +Hunger and thirst are energetic metaphors for passionate desire, and +imply that righteousness is the true nourishment of the Spirit. Every +longing of a noble spirit is blessed. Aspiration after the unreached is +the salt of all lofty life. It is better to be conscious of want than to +be content. There are hungers which are all unblessed, greedy appetites +for the swine's husks, which are misery when unsatisfied, and disgust +when satiated. But we are meant to be righteous, and shall not in vain +desire to be so. God never sends mouths but He sends meat to fill them. +Such longings prophesy their fruition. + +Notice that this hunger follows the experience of the former Beatitudes. +It is the issue of poverty of spirit and of that blessed sorrow. +Observe, too, that the desire after, and not the possession or +achievement of, righteousness is blessed. Is not this the first hint of +the Christian teaching that we do not work out or win but receive it? +God gives it. Our attitude towards that gift should be earnest longing. +Such a blessed hungerer shall 'receive ... righteousness from the God of +his salvation.' The certainty that he will do so rests at last on the +faithfulness of God, who cannot but respond to all desires which He +inspires. They are premonitions of His purposes, like rosy clouds that +run before the chariot of the sunrise. The desire to be righteous is +already righteousness in heart and will, and reveals the true bent of +the soul. Its realisation in life is a question of time. The progressive +fulfilment here points to completeness in heaven, when we shall behold +His face in righteousness, and be satisfied when we awake in His +likeness. + +V. Again we have a grace which is exercised to men. Mercy is more than +meekness. That implied opposition, and was largely negative. This does +not regard the conduct of others at all, and is really love in exercise +to the needy, especially the unworthy. It embraces pity, charitable +forbearance, beneficence, and is revealed in acts, in words, in tears. +It is blessed in itself. A life of selfishness is hell; a life of mercy +is sweet with some savour of heaven. It is the consequence of mercy +received from God. Poverty of spirit, sorrow, hunger after righteousness +bring deep experiences of God's gentle forbearance and bestowing love, +and will make us like Him in proportion as they are real. Our +mercifulness, then, is a reflection from His. His ought to be the +measure and pattern of ours in depth, scope, extent of self-sacrifice, +and freeness of its gifts. A stringent requirement! + +Our exercise of mercy is the condition of our receiving it. On the +whole, the world gives us back, as a mirror does, the reflection of our +own faces; and merciful men generally get what they give. But that is a +law with many exceptions, and Jesus means more than that. Merciful men +get mercy from God--not, of course, that we deserve mercy by being +merciful. That is a contradiction in terms; for mercy is precisely that +which we do not deserve. The place of mercy in this series shows that +Jesus regarded it as the consequence, not the cause, of our experience +of God's mercy. But He teaches over and over again that a hard, +unmerciful heart forfeits the divine mercy. It does so, because such a +disposition tends to obscure the very state of mind to which alone God's +mercy can be given. Such a man must have forgotten his poverty and +sorrow, his longings and their rich reward, and so must have, for the +time, passed from the place where he can take in God's gift. A life +inconsistent with Christian motives will rob a Christian of Christian +privileges. The hand on his brother's throat destroys the servant's own +forgiveness. He cannot be at once a rapacious creditor and a discharged +bankrupt. + +VI. If detached from its connection, there is little blessedness in the +next Beatitude. What is the use of telling us how happy purity of heart +will make us? It only provokes the despairing question, 'And how am I to +be pure?' But when we set this word in its place here, it does bring +hope. For it teaches that purity is the result of all that has gone +before, and comes from that purifying which is the sure answer of God to +our poverty, mourning, and longing. Such purity is plainly progressive, +and as it increases, so does the vision of God grow. The more the +glasses of the telescope are cleansed, the brighter does the great star +shine to the gazer. 'No man hath seen God,' nor can see Him, either +amid the mists of earth or in the cloudless sky of heaven, if by seeing +we mean perceiving by sense, or full, direct comprehension by spirit. +But seeing Him is possible even now, if by it we understand the +knowledge of His character, the assurance of His presence, the sense of +communion with Him. Our earthly consciousness of God may become so +clear, direct, real, and certain, that it deserves the name of vision. +Such blessed intuition of Him is the prerogative of those whose hearts +Christ has cleansed, and whose inward eye is therefore able to behold +God, because it is like Him. 'Unless the eye were sunlike, how could it +see the sun?' We can blind ourselves to Him, by wallowing in filth. +Impurity unfits for seeing purity. Swedenborg profoundly said that the +wicked see only blackness where the sun is. + +Like all these Beatitudes, this has a double fulfilment, as the kingdom +has two stages of here and hereafter. Purity of heart is the condition +of the vision of God in heaven. Without holiness, 'no man shall see the +Lord.' The sight makes us pure, and purity makes us see. Thus heaven +will be a state of ever-increasing, reciprocally acting sight and +holiness. Like Him because we see Him, we shall see Him more because we +have assimilated what we see, as the sunshine opens the petals, and +tints the flower with its own colours the more deeply, the wider it +opens. + +VII. Once more we have the alternation of a grace exercised to men. If +we give due weight to the order of these Beatitudes, we shall feel that +Christ's peacemaker must be something more than a mere composer of men's +quarrels. For he has to be trained by all the preceding experiences, and +has to be emptied of self, penitent, hungering for and filled with +righteousness, and therefore pure in heart as well as, in regard to men, +meek and merciful, ere he can hope to fill this part. That +apprenticeship deepens the conception of the peace which Christ's +subjects are to diffuse. It is, first and chiefly, the peace which +enters the soul that has traversed all these stages; that is to say, the +Christian peacemaker is first to seek to bring about peace between men +and God, by beseeching them to be reconciled to Him, and then +afterwards, as a consequence of this, is to seek to diffuse through all +human relations the blessed unity and amity which flow most surely from +the common possession of the peace of God. Of course, the relation which +the subjects of the true King bear to all wars and fightings, to all +discord and strife, is not excluded, but is grounded on this deeper +meaning. The centuries that have passed since the words were spoken, +have not yet brought up the Christian conscience to the full perception +of their meaning and obligation. Too many of us still believe that +'great doors and effectual' can be blown open with gunpowder, and regard +this Beatitude as a counsel of perfection, rather than as one of the +fundamental laws of the kingdom. + +The Christian who moves thus among men seeking to diffuse everywhere the +peace with God which fills his own soul, and the peace with all men +which they only who have the higher peace can preserve unbroken in their +quiet, meek hearts, will be more or less recognised as God-like by men, +and will have in his own heart the witness that he is called by God His +child. He will bear visibly the image of his Father, and will hear the +voice that speaks to him too as unto a son. + +VIII. The last Beatitude crowns all the paradoxes of the series with +what sounds to flesh as a stark contradiction. The persecuted are +blessed. The previous seven sayings have perfected the portraiture of +what a child of the kingdom is to be. This appends a calm prophecy, +which must have shattered many a rosy dream among the listeners, of what +his reception by the world will certainly turn out. Jesus is not +summoning men to dominion, honour, and victory; but to scorn and +suffering. His own crown, He knew, was first to be twisted of thorns, +and copies of it were to wound His followers' brows. Yet even that fate +was blessed; for to suffer for righteousness, which is to suffer for +Him, brings elevation of spirit, a solemn joy, secret supplies of +strength, and sweet intimacies of communion else unknown. The noble army +of martyrs rose before His thoughts as He spoke; and now, eighteen +hundred years after, heaven is crowded with those who by axe and stake +and gibbet have entered there. 'The glory dies not, and the grief is +past.' They stoop from their thrones to witness to us that Christ is +true, and that the light affliction has wrought an eternal weight of +glory. + + +THE FIRST BEATITUDE + + 'Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of + Heaven.'--MATT. v. 2. + +'Ye are not come unto the mount that burned with fire, nor unto the +sound of a trumpet, and the voice of "awful" words.' With such +accompaniments the old law was promulgated, but here, in this Sermon on +the Mount, as it is called, the laws of the Kingdom are proclaimed by +the King Himself; and He does not lay them down with the sternness of +those written on tables of stone. No rigid 'thou shalt' compels, no iron +'thou shalt not' forbids; but each precept is linked with a blessing, +and every characteristic that is required is enforced by the thought +that it contributes to our highest good. It fitted well Christ's +character and the lips 'into which grace is poured,' that He spake His +laws under the guise of these Beatitudes. + +This, the first of them, is dead in the teeth of flesh and sense, a +paradox to the men who judge good and evil by things external and +visible, but deeply, everlastingly, unconditionally, and inwardly true. +All that the world commends and pats on the back, Christ condemns, and +all that the world shrinks from and dreads, Christ bids us make our own, +and assures us that in it we shall find our true blessing. 'The poor in +spirit,' they are the happy men. + +The reason for the benediction is as foreign to law and earthly thoughts +as is the benediction of which it is the reason--'for theirs is the +Kingdom of Heaven.' Poverty of spirit will not further earthly designs, +nor be an instrument for what the world calls success and prosperity. +But it will give us something better than earth, it will give us heaven. +Do you think that that _is_ better than earth, and should you be +disposed to acquiesce in the benediction of those who may lose the +world's gifts but are sure to have heaven's felicities? + +Now, I think I shall best deal with these words by considering, most +simply, the fundamental characteristic of a disciple of Jesus Christ, +and the blessed issues of that character. + +I. First, then, the fundamental characteristic of Christ's disciples. + +Now it is to be noticed that Luke's version of the Sermon on the Mount, +which is much briefer than Matthew's, omits the words 'in spirit,' and +so seems at first sight to be an encomium and benediction upon the +outward condition of earthly poverty. Matthew, on the other hand, says +'poor in spirit.' And the difference between the two evangelists has +given occasion to some to maintain that one or the other of them +misunderstood Christ's meaning, and modified His expression either by +omission or enlargement. But if you will notice another difference +between the two forms of the saying in the two Gospels, you will, I +think, find an explanation of the one already referred to; for Matthew's +Beatitudes are general statements, 'Blessed are'; and Luke's are +addressed to the circle of the disciples, 'Blessed are ye.' And if we +duly consider that difference, we shall see that the general statement +necessarily required the explanation which Matthew's version appends to +it, in order to prevent the misunderstanding that our Lord was setting +so much store by earthly conditions as to suppose that virtue and +blessedness were uniformly attached to any of these. Jesus Christ was no +vulgar demagogue flattering the poor and inveighing against the rich. +Luke's 'ye poor' shows at once that Christ was not speaking about all +the poor in outward condition, but about a certain class of such. No +doubt the bulk of His disciples were poor men who had been drawn or +driven by their sense of need to open their hearts to Him. Outward +poverty is a blessing if it drives men to God; it is not a blessing if, +as is often the case, it drives men from Him; or if, as is still oftener +the case, it leaves men negligent of Him. So that Matthew's enlargement +is identical in meaning with Luke's condensed form, regard being had to +the difference in the structure of the two Beatitudes. + +And so we come just to this question--What is this poverty of spirit? I +do not need to waste your time in saying what it is not. To me it seems +to be a lowly and just estimate of ourselves, our character, our +achievements, based upon a clear recognition of our own necessities, +weaknesses, and sins. + +The 'poor in spirit.'--I wonder if it would be very reasonable for a +moth that flits about the light, or a gnat that dances its hour in the +sunbeam, to be proud because it had longer wings, or prettier markings +on them, than some of its fellows? Is it much more reasonable for us to +plume ourselves on, and set much store by, anything that we are or have +done? Two or three plain questions, to which the answers are quite as +plain, ought to rip up this swollen bladder of self-esteem which we are +all apt to blow. 'What hast thou that thou hast not received?' Where did +you get it? How came you by it? How long is it going to last? Is it such +a very big thing after all? You have written a book; you are clever as +an operator, an experimenter; you are a successful student. You have +made a pile of money; you have been prosperous in your earthly career, +and can afford to look upon men that are failures and beneath you in +social position with a smile of pity or of contempt, as the case may be. +Well! I suppose the distance to the nearest fixed star is pretty much +the same from the top of one ant-hill in a wood as from the top of the +next one, though the one may be a foot higher than the other. I suppose +that we have all come out of nothing, and are anything, simply because +God is everything. If He were to withhold His upholding and inbreathing +power from any of us for one moment, we should shrivel into nothingness +like a piece of paper calcined in the fire, and go back into that +vacuity out of which His fiat, and His fiat alone, called us. And yet +here we are, setting great store, some of us, by our qualities or +belongings, and thinking ever so much of ourselves because we possess +them, and all the while we are but great emptinesses; and the things of +which we are so proud are what God has poured into us. + +You think that is all commonplace. Bring it into your lives, brethren; +apply it to your estimate of yourselves, and your expectations from +other people, and you will be delivered from a large part of the +annoyances and the miseries of your present. + +But the deepest reason for a habitual and fixed lowly opinion of +ourselves lies in a sadder fact. We are not only recipient +nothingnesses; we have something that is our own, and that is our will, +and we have lifted it up against God. And if a man's position as a +dependent creature should take all lofty looks and high spirit out of +him, his condition as a sinful man before God should lay him flat on his +face in the presence of that Majesty; and should make him put his hand +on his lips and say, from behind the covering, 'Unclean! unclean!' Oh, +brethren, if we would only go down into the depths of our own hearts, +every one of us would find there more than enough to make all +self-complacency and self-conceit utterly impossible, as it ought to be, +for us for ever. I have no wish, and God knows I have no need, to +exaggerate about this matter; but we all know that if we were turned +inside out, and every foul, creeping thing, and every blotch and spot +upon these hearts of ours spread in the light, we could not face one +another; we could scarcely face ourselves. If you or I were set, as they +used to set criminals, up in a pillory with a board hanging round our +necks, telling all the world what we were, and what we had done, there +would be no need for rotten eggs to be flung at us; we should abhor +ourselves. You know that is so. I know that it is so about myself, 'and +heart answereth to heart as in a glass.' And are we the people to perk +ourselves up amongst our fellows, and say, 'I am rich and increased with +goods, and have need of nothing'? Do we not know that we are poor and +miserable and blind and naked? Oh, brethren, the proud old saying of the +Greeks, 'Know thyself,' if it were followed out unflinchingly and +honestly by the purest saint this side heaven, would result in this +profound abnegation of all claims, in this poverty of spirit. + +So little has the world been influenced by Christ's teaching that it +uses 'poor-spirited creature' as a term of opprobrium and depreciation. +It ought to be the very opposite; for only the man who has been down +into the dungeons of his own character, and has cried unto God out of +the depths, will be able to make the house of his soul a fabric which +may be a temple of God, and with its shining apex may pierce the clouds +and seem almost to touch the heavens. A great poet has told us that the +things which lead life to sovereign power are self-knowledge, +self-reverence, and self-control. And in a noble sense it is true, but +the deepest self-knowledge will lead to self-abhorrence rather than to +self-reverence; and self-control is only possible when, knowing our own +inability to cope with our own evil, we cast ourselves on that Lamb of +God who beareth away the sin of the world, and ask Him to guide and to +keep us. The right attitude for us is, 'He did not so much as lift up +his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful +to me a sinner.' And then, sweeter than angels' voices fluttering down +amid the blue, there will come that gracious word, 'Blessed are the poor +in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.' + +II. Turn, now, to the blessed issues of this characteristic. + +Christ does not say 'joyful,' 'mirthful,' 'glad.' These are poor, vulgar +words by the side of the depth and calmness and permanence which are +involved in that great word 'blessed.' It is far more than joy, which +may be turbulent and is often impure. It is far deeper than any gladness +which has its sources in the outer world, and it abides when joys have +vanished, and all the song-birds of the spring are silent in the winter +of the soul. 'Blessed are the poor ... for theirs is the Kingdom of +Heaven.' + +The bulk of the remaining Beatitudes point onward to a future; this +deals with the present. It does not say '_shall be_,' but '_is_ the +Kingdom.' It is an all-comprehensive promise, holding the succeeding +ones within itself, for they are but diverse aspects--modified according +to the necessities which they supply--of that one encyclopaedia of +blessings, the possession of the Kingdom of Heaven. + +Now the Kingdom of Heaven (or of God) is a state in which the will of +God is absolutely and perfectly obeyed. It is capable of partial +realisation here, and is sure of complete fulfilment hereafter. To the +early hearers of these words the phrase would necessarily suggest the +idea which bulked so large in prophecy and in Judaism, of the Messianic +Kingdom; and we may well lay hold of that thought to suggest the first +of the elements of this blessedness. That poverty of spirit is blessed +because it is an indispensable condition of becoming Christ's men and +subjects. I believe, dear friends, for my part, that the main reason why +so many of us are not out-and-out Christian men and women, having +entered really into that Kingdom which is obedience to God in Christ, is +because we have a superficial knowledge, or no knowledge at all, of our +own sinful condition, and of the gravity of that fact. Intellectually, I +take it that an under-estimate of the universality and of the awfulness +of sin has a great deal to do in shaping all the maimed, imperfect, +partial views of Christ, His character and nature, which afflict the +world. It is the mother of most of our heresies. And, practically, if +you do not feel any burden, you do not care to hear about One who will +carry it. If you have no sense of need, the message that there is a +supply will fall perfectly ineffectual upon your ears. If you have not +realised the truth that whatever else you may be, of which you might be +proud--wise, clever, beautiful, accomplished, rich, prosperous--you have +this to take all the self-conceit out of you, that you are a sinful +man--if you have not realised that, it will be no gospel to you that +Jesus Christ has died, the just for the unjust, and lives to cleanse us. + +Brethren, there is only one way into the true and full possession of +Christ's salvation, and that is through poverty of spirit. It is the +narrow door, like the mere low slits in the wall which in ancient times +were the access to some wealth-adorned palace or stately +structure--narrow openings that a man had to stoop his lofty crest in +order to enter. If you have never been down on your knees before God, +feeling what a wicked man or woman you are, I doubt hugely whether you +will ever stand with radiant face before God, and praise Him through +eternity for His mercy to you. If you wish to have Christ for yours, you +must begin, where He begins His Beatitudes, with poverty of spirit. + +It is blessed because it invites the riches of God to come and make us +wealthy. It draws towards itself communication of God's infinite self, +with all His quickening and cleansing and humbling powers. Grace is +attracted by the sense of need, just as the lifted finger of the +lightning rod brings down fire from heaven. The heights are barren; it +is in the valleys that rivers run, and flowers bloom. 'God resisteth the +proud, and giveth grace to the humble.' If we desire to have Him, who is +the one source of all blessedness, in our hearts, as a true possession, +we must open the door for His entrance by poverty of spirit. Desire +brings fulfilment; and they who know their wants, and only they, will +truly long that they may be supplied. + +This poverty of spirit is blessed because it is its own reward. All +self-esteem and self-complacency are like a hedgehog, as some one has +said, 'rolled up the wrong way, tormenting itself with its prickles.' +And the man that is always, or often, thinking how much above A, B, or C +he is, and how much A, B, or C ought to offer of incense to him, is sure +to get more cuffs than compliments, more enmity than affection; and will +be sore all over with wounded vanities of all sorts. But if we have +learned ourselves, and have departed from these lofty thoughts, then to +be humble in spirit is to be wise, cheerful, contented, simple, restful +in all circumstances. You remember John Bunyan's shepherd boy, down in +the valley of humiliation. _Heart's-ease_ grew there, and his song was, +'He that is low need fear no fall.' If we have this true, deep-rooted +poverty of spirit, we shall be below the tempest, which will go clean +over our heads. The oaks catch the lightnings; the grass and the +primroses are unscorched. 'The day of the Lord shall be upon all high +things, and the loftiness of men shall be brought low.' + +So, dear brethren, blessedness is not to be found outside us. We need +not ask 'who shall go up into the heavens, or who shall descend into the +deep,' to bring it. It is in thee, if at all. Christ teaches us that the +sources of all true blessedness are within us; there or nowhere is +Eden. If we have the tempers and dispositions set forth in these +Beatitudes, condition matters but very little. If the source of all +blessedness is within us, the first step to it all is poverty of spirit. +'Be ye clothed with humility.' The Master girt Himself with the +servant's towel, and His disciples are to copy Him who said: 'Take My +yoke upon you.... I am meek and lowly in heart ... and ye shall find +rest'--and is not that blessedness?--'ye shall find rest unto your +souls.' + + +THE SECOND BEATITUDE + + 'Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.'--MATT. + v. 4. + +An ordinary superficial view of these so-called Beatitudes is that they +are simply a collection of unrelated sayings. But they are a great deal +more than that. There is a vital connection and progress in them. The +jewels are not flung down in a heap; they are wreathed into a chain, +which whosoever wears shall have 'an ornament of grace about his neck.' +They are an outgrowth from a common root; stages in the evolution of +Christian character. + +Now, I tried to show in the former sermon how the root of them all is +the poverty of spirit which is spoken of in the preceding verse; and how +it really does lie at the foundation of the highest type of human +character, and in its very self is sure of possessing the Kingdom of +Heaven. And now I turn to the second of these Beatitudes. Like all the +others, it is a paradox, for it starts from a wholly different +conception from the common one, of what is man's chief good. If the aims +which usually engross us are really the true aims of life, then there is +no meaning in this saying of our Lord, for then it had been better not +to sorrow at all than to sorrow and be comforted. But if the true +purpose for which we are all gifted with this solemn gift of life is +that we may become 'imitators of God as dear children,' then there are +few things for which men should be more thankful than the sacred sorrow, +than which there are few instruments more powerful for creating the type +of character which we are set here to make our own. All lofty, +dignified, serious thinkers and poets (who for the most of men are the +best teachers) had spoken this same thought as well as Christ. But He +speaks it with a difference all His own, which deepens incalculably its +solemnity, and sets the truth of the otherwise sentimental saying, which +flies often in the face of human nature, upon immovable foundations. + +Let me ask you, then, to look with me, in the simplest possible way, at +the two thoughts of our text, as to who are the mourners that are +'blessed,' and as to what is the consolation that they receive. + +I. The mourners who are blessed. + +'Blessed are they that mourn.' Ah! that is not a universal bliss. All +mourners are _not_ blessed. It would be good news, indeed, to a world so +full of miseries that men sometimes think it were better not to be, and +holding so many wrecked and broken hearts, if every sorrow had its +benediction. But just as we saw in the preceding discourse that the +poverty which Christ pronounced blessed is not mere straitness of +circumstances, or lack of material wealth, so here the sorrow, round the +head of which He casts this halo of glory, is not that which springs +from the mere alteration of external circumstances, or from any natural +causes. The influence of the first saying runs through all the +Beatitudes, and since it is 'the poor in spirit' who are there +pronounced happy, so here we must go far deeper than mere outward +condition, in order to find the ground of the benediction pronounced. +Let us be sure, to begin with, of this, that no condition, be it of +wealth or woe, is absolutely and necessarily good, but that the seat of +all true blessedness lies within, in the disposition which rightly meets +the conditions which God sends. + +So I would say, first, that the mourners whom Christ pronounces +'blessed' are those who are 'poor in spirit.' The mourning is the +emotion which follows upon that poverty. The one is the recognition of +the true estimate of our own characters and failings; the other is the +feeling that follows upon that recognition. The one is the prophet's +clear-sighted 'I am a man of unclean lips'; the other is the same +prophet's contemporaneous wail, 'Woe is me, for I am undone!' + +And surely, brethren, if you and I have ever had anything like a glimpse +of what we really are, and have brought ourselves into the light of +God's face, and have pondered upon our characters and our doings in +that--not 'fierce' but all-searching, 'light' that flashes from Him, +there can be no attitude, no disposition, more becoming the best, the +purest, the noblest of us, than that 'Woe is me, for I am undone!' + +Oh, dear friends, if--not as a theological term, but as a clinging, +personal fact--we realise what sin against God is, what must necessarily +come from it, what aggravations His gentleness, His graciousness, His +constant beneficence cause, how facilely we do the evil thing and then +wipe our lips and say, 'We have done no harm,' we should be more +familiar than we are with the depths of this experience of mourning for +sin. + +I cannot too strongly urge upon you my own conviction--it may be worth +little, but I am bound to speak it--that there are few things which the +so-called Christianity of this day needs more than an intenser +realisation of the fact, and the gravity of the fact, of personal +sinfulness. There lies the root of the shallowness of so much that calls +itself Christianity in the world to-day. It is the source of almost all +the evils under which the Church is groaning. And sure I am that if +millions of the people that complacently put themselves down in the +census as Christians could but once see themselves as they are, and +connect their conduct with God's thought about it, they would get shocks +that would sober them. And sure I am that if they do not thus see +themselves here and now, they will one day get shocks that will stupefy +them. And so, dear friends, I urge upon you, as I would upon myself, as +the foundation and first step towards all the sunny heights of +God-likeness and blessedness, to go down, down deep into the hidden +corners, and see how, like the elders of Israel whom the prophet beheld +in the dark chamber, we worship creeping things, abominable things, +lustful things, in the recesses within. And then we shall possess more +of that poverty of spirit, and the conscious recognition of our own true +character will merge into the mourning which is altogether blessed. + +Now, note, again, how such sorrow will refine and ennoble character. How +different our claims upon other men would be if we possessed this sober, +saddened estimate of what we really are! How our petulance, and +arrogance, and insisting upon what is due to us of respect and homage +and deference would all disappear! How much more rigid would be our +guard upon ourselves, our own emotions, our own inclinations and tastes! +How much more lenient would be our judgment of the openly and +confessedly naughty ones, who have gone a little further in act, but not +an inch further in essence, than we have done! How different our +attitude to our fellows; and how lowly our attitude to God! Such sorrow +would sober us, would deliver us from our lusting after the gauds of +earth, would make us serious and reflective, would bring us to that +'sad, wise valour' which is the conquering characteristic of humanity. + +There is nothing more contemptible than the lives which, for want of +this self-knowledge, foam away in idle mirth, and effervesce in what the +world calls 'high spirits.' + + 'There is no music in the life + That sounds with idiot laughter solely, + There's not a string attuned to mirth + But has its chords in melancholy.' + +So said one whose reputation in English literature is mainly that of a +humorist. He had learned that the only noble humanity is that in which +the fountains of laughter and of tears lie so close together that their +waters intermingle. I beseech you not to confound the 'laughter of +fools,' which is the 'crackling of thorns under the pot,' with the true, +solemn, ennobling gladness which lives along with this sorrow of my +text. + +Further, such mourning infused into the sorrow that comes from external +disasters will make it blessed too. As I have said, there is nothing in +any condition of life which necessarily and universally makes it +blessed. Though poets and moralists and Christian people have talked a +great deal, and beautifully and truly, about the sanctifying and +sweetening influences of calamity, do not let us forget that there are +perhaps as many people made worse by their sorrows as are made better by +them. There is such a thing as being made sullen, hard, selfish, +negligent of duty, resentful against God, hopeless, by the pressure of +our calamities. Blessed be God, there is such a thing as being drawn to +Him by them! Then they, too, come within the sweep of this benediction +of the Master, and outward distress is glorified into the sorrow which +is blessed. A drop or two of this tincture, the mourning which comes +from poverty of spirit, slipped into the cup of affliction, clears and +sweetens the waters, and makes them a tonic bitter. Brethren, if our +outward losses and disappointments and pains help us to apprehend, and +are accepted by us in the remembrance of, our own unworthiness, then +these, too, are God's sweet gifts to us. + +One word more. This mourning is perfectly compatible with, and indeed is +experienced in its purest form only along with, the highest and purest +joy. I have been speaking about the indispensable necessity of such +sadness for all noble life. But let us remember, on the other hand, that +no one has so much reason to be glad as he has who, in poverty of +spirit, has clasped and possesses the wealth of the Kingdom. And if a +man, side by side with this profound and saddened sense of his own +sinfulness, has not a hold of the higher thing--Christ's righteousness +given to penitence and faith--then his knowledge of his own unworthiness +is still too shallow to inherit a benediction. There is no reason why, +side by side in the Christian heart, there should not lie--there is +every reason why there should lie--these two emotions, not mutually +discrepant and contradictory, but capable of being blended together--the +mourning which is blessed, and the joy which is unspeakable and full of +glory. + +II. And now a word or two with regard to the consolation which such +mourning is sure to receive. + +It is not true, whatever sentimentalists may say, that all sorrow is +comforted and therefore blessed. It may be forgotten. Pain may sting +less; men may betake themselves to trivial, or false, unworthy, low +alleviations, and fancy that they are comforted when they are only +diverted. But the sorrow meant in my text necessarily ensures for every +man who possesses it the consolation which follows. That consolation is +both present and future. + +As for the present, the mourning which is based, as our text bases it, +on poverty of spirit, will certainly bring after it the consolation of +forgiveness arid of cleansing. Christ's gentle hand laid upon us, to +cause our guilt to pass away, and the inveterate habits of inclination +towards evil to melt out of our nature, is His answer to His child's +cry, 'Woe is me, for I am undone!' And anything is more probable than +that Christ, hearing a man thus complain of himself before Him, should +fail to send His swift answer. + +Ah, brethren! you will never know how deep and ineffably precious are +the consolations which Christ can give, unless you have learned despair +of self, and have come helpless, hopeless, and yet confident, to that +great Lord. Make your hearts empty, and He will fill them; recognise +your desperate condition, and He will lift you up. The deeper down we go +into the depths, the surer is the rebound and the higher the soaring to +the zenith. It is they who have poverty of spirit, and mourning based +upon it, and only they, who pass into the sweetest, sacredest, secretest +recesses of Christ's heart, and there find all-sufficient consolation. + +In like manner, that consolation will come in its noblest and most +sufficing form to those who take their outward sorrows and link them +with this sense of their own ill-desert. Oh, dear friends, if I am +speaking to any one who to-day has a burdened heart, let such be sure of +this, that the way to consolation lies through submission; and that the +way to submission lies through recognition of our own sin. If we will +only 'lie still, let Him strike home, and bless the rod,' the rod will +blossom and bear fruit. The water of the cataract would not flash into +rainbow tints against the sunshine, unless it had been dashed into spray +against black rocks. And if we will but say with good old Dr. Watts, + + 'When His strokes are felt, + His strokes are fewer than our crimes, + And lighter than our guilt,' + +it will not be hard to bow down and say, 'Thy will be done,' and with +submission consolation will be ours. + +Is there anything to say about that future consolation? Very little, for +we know very little. But 'God Himself shall wipe away all tears from +their eyes.' The hope of that consolation is itself consolation, and +the hope becomes all the more bright when we know and measure the depths +of our own evil. Earth needs to be darkened in order that the magic, +ethereal beauty of the glow in the western heavens may be truly seen. +The sorrow of earth is the background on which the light of heaven is +painted. + +So, dear friends, be sure of this, that the one thing which ought to +move a man to sadness is his own character. For all other causes of +grief are instruments for good. And be sure of this, too, that the one +thing which can ensure consolation adequate to the grief is bringing the +grief to the Lord Christ and asking Him to deal with it. His first word +of ministry ran parallel with these two Beatitudes. When He spoke them +He began with poverty of spirit, and passed to mourning and consolation, +and when He opened His lips in the synagogue of Nazareth He began with, +'The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He hath anointed Me to +preach good tidings unto the poor, to give unto them that mourn in Zion +a diadem for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise +for the spirit of heaviness.' + + +THE THIRD BEATITUDE + + 'Blessed are the meek! for they shall inherit the earth,'--MATT, v. + 5. + +The originality of Christ's moral teaching lies not so much in the +novelty of His precepts as in the new relation in which He sets them, +the deepening which He gives them, the motives on which He bases them, +and the power which He communicates to keep them. Others before Him had +pronounced a benediction on the meek, but our Lord means far more than +they did, and, both in His description of the character and in the +promise which He attaches to it, He vindicates the uniqueness of His +notion of a perfect man. + +The world's ideal is, on the whole, very different from His. It inclines +to the more conspicuous and so-called heroic virtues; it prefers a +great, flaring, yellow sunflower to the violet hiding among the grass, +and making its presence known only by fragrance. 'Blessed are the +strong, who can hold their own,' says the world. 'Blessed are the meek,' +says Christ. + +The Psalmist had said it before Him, and had attached verbally the same +promise to the word. But our Lord means more than David did when he +said, 'The meek shall inherit the earth.' I ask you to think with me +now, first, what this Christian meekness is; then, whence it issues; and +then, whither it leads. + +I. What Christian meekness is. + +Now, the ordinary use of the word is to describe an attitude, or more +properly a disposition, in regard to men, especially in regard to those +who depreciate, or wrong, or harm us. But the Christian conception of +meekness, whilst it includes that, goes far deeper; and, primarily, has +reference to our attitude, or rather our disposition, towards God. And +in that aspect, what is it? Meek endurance and meek obedience, the +accepting of His dealings, of whatever complexion they are, and however +they may tear or desolate our hearts, without murmuring, without +sulking, without rebellion or resistance, is the deepest conception of +the meekness which Christ pronounces blessed. When sorrow comes upon us, +unless we have something more than natural strength bestowed upon us, we +are all but certain, like fractious children when beaten, to kick and +plunge and scream, or to take the infliction of the sorrow as being an +affront and an injury. If we have any claim to this benediction, we must +earn it by accepting our sorrows; then the accepted sorrow becomes a +solemn joy, or almost akin thereto. The ox that kicks against the goads +only does two things thereby; it does not get away from them, but it +wounds its own hocks, and it drives the sharp points deeper into the +ragged wounds. Let Him strike, dear friend, for when He strikes He cuts +clean; and there is no poison on the edge of His knife. Meekness towards +God is, first, patient endurance of His Will. + +And, in reference to Him, it is, next, unquestioning docility and +obedience. Its seat is in the will. When the will is bowed, a man is far +on his road to perfection; and the meaning of all that God does with +us--joys and sorrows, light and darkness, when His hand gives, and when +His hand withdraws, as when His authoritative voice commands, and the +sweet impulses of His love graciously constrain--is that our wills may +be made plastic and flexible, like a piece of wrought leather, to every +touch of His hand. True meekness goes far deeper down than any attitude +towards men. It lays hold on the sovereign will of God as our supreme +good, and delights in absolutely and perfectly conforming itself +thereto. + +And then there follows, as a matter of course, that which is usually the +whole significance of the word, the meekness which is displayed in our +attitude towards men. The truly meek heart remains unprovoked amidst all +provocation. Most men are like dogs that answer bark for bark, and only +make night hideous and themselves hoarse thereby. But it is our business +to meet evil with good; and the more we are depreciated, the more we are +harmed, the more we are circled about by malice and by scorn, the more +patiently and persistently to love on. + +Ah, brethren, it is easy to say and hard to do thus; but it is a plain +Christian duty. Old-fashioned people believe that the sun puts out the +fire. I know not how that may be, but sure I am that the one thing that +puts out the fire of antagonism and wrath and malice in those who +dislike or would harm us is that we should persistently shine upon, and +perchance overcome, evil with good. Provoked, we remain, if we are truly +meek, masters of ourselves and calm and equable, and so are blessed in +ourselves. Meekness makes no claims upon others. Plenty of people are +sore all over with the irritation caused by not getting what they +consider due respect. They howl and whine because they are not +appreciated. Do not expect much of men. Make no demands, if for no +better reason than because the more you demand the less you will get; +and the less you seem to think to be your due, the more likely you are +to receive what you desire. + +But that is a poor, shallow ground. The true exhortation is, 'Be ye +imitators of God, as dear children.' + +Ah, what a different world we should live in if the people that say, +'Oh, the Sermon on the Mount is my religion,' really made it their +religion! How much friction would be taken out of all our lives; how all +society would be revolutionised, and earth would become a Paradise! + +But there is another thing to be taken into account in the description +of meekness. That grace, as the example of our Lord shows, harmonises +with undaunted bravery and strenuous resistance to the evil in the +world. On our own personal account, there are to be no bounds to our +patient acceptance of personal wrong; on the world's account, there are +to be no bounds to our militant attitude against public evils. Only let +us remember that 'the wrath of men worketh not the righteousness of +God.' If contending theologians, and angry philanthropists, and social +reformers, that are ready to fly at each other's throats for the sacred +cause of humanity, would only remember that there is no good to be done +except in this spirit, there would be more likelihood of the errors and +miseries of mankind being redressed than, alas! there is to-day. +Gentleness is the strongest force in the world, and the soldiers of +Christ are to be priests, and to fight the battles of the Kingdom, +robed, not in jingling, shining armour or with sharp swords, nor with +fierce and eager bitterness of controversy, but in the meekness which +overcomes. You may take all the steam-hammers that ever were forged and +batter at an iceberg, and, except for the comparatively little heat that +is developed by the blows and melts some smell portion, it will be ice +still, though pulverised instead of whole. But let it get into the +silent drift of the Arctic current, and let it move quietly down to the +southward, then the sunbeams smite its coldness to death, and it is +dissipated in the warm ocean. Meekness is conqueror. 'Be not overcome of +evil, but overcome evil with good.' + +II. Notice whence this Christian meekness flows. + +You observe the place which this Beatitude holds in the linked series of +these precious sayings. It follows upon 'poverty of spirit' and +'mourning.' And it follows, too, upon the 'comfort' which the mourner is +promised that he will receive. It is the conduct and disposition towards +God and man which follows from the inward experience described in the +two former Beatitudes, which had relation only to ourselves. + +The only thing that can be relied upon as an adequate cold water +_douche_ to our sparks of anger, resentment, retaliation, and rebellion +is that we shall have passed through the previous experiences, have +learned a just and lowly estimate of ourselves, have learned to come to +God with penitence in our hearts, and have been raised by His gracious +hand from the dust where we lay at His feet, and been welcomed to His +embrace. He who thus has learned himself, and has felt repentance, and +has received the comfort of forgiveness and cleansing, he, and he only, +is the man who, under all provocation and in any and every circumstance, +can be absolutely trusted to live in the spirit of meekness. + +If I have found out anything of my own sin, if my eyes have been filled +with tears and my heart with conscious unworthiness before Him, oh, +then, surely I shall not kick or murmur against discipline of which the +main purpose is to rid me of the evil which is slaying me; but rather I +shall recognise in the sorrows that do fall upon me, in the losses and +disappointments and empty places in my life and heart, one way of God's +fulfilling His great promise, 'From all your filthiness, and from all +your idols, I will cleanse you.' The man who has thus learned the +purpose, the highest purpose, of sorrow, is not likely to remonstrate +with God for giving him too much of the cleansing medium. + +In like manner, if we have, in any real way, received for our own the +comfort which God gives to the penitent heart, we shall be easily +pleased with anything that He sends. And if we have measured ourselves, +not against ourselves, but against His law, and have found out how much +we owe unto our Lord, it is not likely that we shall take our brother by +the throat and say, 'Pay me that thou owest.' If any treat me badly, try +to rob me, harm me, sneer at me, or turn the cold shoulder to me, who am +I that I should resent that? Oh, brethren, we need, for our right +relation to our fellows, a deeper conviction of our sinfulness before +Him. Many of us are blessed with natural tendencies to meekness, but +these are insufficient. Many of us seek to cultivate this grace from +true and right, though not the deepest, motives. Let us reinforce them +by that which comes from the consideration of the place which this +Beatitude holds in the wreathed chain, and remember that 'poverty of +spirit' and 'mourning' must precede it. + +Now, _there_ is a sharp test for us Christian people. If I have learned +myself, and have penitently received God's pardon, I shall be meek with +God and with man. If I am not meek with God and with man, have I +received God's pardon? One great reason why so many of you Christian +people have so little consciousness of God's forgiving mercy, as a +constant joy in your lives, is because you have so little obeyed the +commandment, 'Be ye imitators of God, and walk in love, as God hath +forgiven and loved us.' + +III. And now, lastly, note whither this meekness leads. + +'They shall inherit the earth.' The words are quoted, as I have already +said, from one of the psalms, and in the Psalmist's mouth they had, I +suppose, especial reference to Israel's peaceful possession of the +promised land, which in that Old Dispensation was made contingent on the +people's faithfulness. In that aspect, and looking at this Sermon on the +Mount as the programme of the King Himself, what a bucket of cold water +such words as these must have poured on the hot Messianic expectations +of the carnal Jew! Here was a King that did not expect to win back the +land by armed rebellion against the Roman legions, but said, 'Be meek, +and you will truly possess it, whether there is a Pilate in the +procurator's house at Caesarea or not.' + +But for us the words have a double reference, as all the promises +annexed to these Beatitudes have. They apply to the present; they apply +to the future. And that is no mere looseness of interpretation, eking +out an insufficient verification of them here upon earth by some dim +hopes of a future fulfilment, but it flows from the plain fact that the +gifts which a man receives on condition of his being a true disciple are +one and the same in essence, and only differ in degree, here and +hereafter. Circumstances alter, no doubt, and there will be much in that +heavenly state unlike that which we experience here. But the essence of +Christian blessedness is the same in this world and in the furthest +reach of the shining but dim eternity beyond. And so we take the double +reference of these words to be inherent in the facts of the case, and +not to be a makeshift of interpretation. + +There is a present inheritance of the earth which goes, as certainly as +the shadow with the sunshine, with the meekness spoken of in our text. +Not literal, of course, for it is not true that this Christian grace +has in it any tendency whatever to draw to itself material good of any +sort. The world in outward possession belongs to the strong men, to the +men of faculty, of force and push and ambition. If you want to get +through a crowd, make your elbows as sharp, and your feet upon the toes +of your neighbours as heavy as you can, and a road will be made for you; +but, in the majority of cases, the meek man on the edge of the crowd +will stop there. + +Nor is it true that there would be any real blessedness, though the +earth were ours in that outward sense. For you cannot measure happiness +by the acre, nor does an outward condition of the most full-fed +abundance, and of wealth beyond the dreams of avarice, and above the +gnawings of care, ensure to any man even the shabby blessedness that the +world knows, to say nothing of the solid beatitude that Christ +proclaims. + +So we must go deeper than that for the meaning of 'inherit.' Whatever +are our circumstances, it is true that this calm, equable, submissive +acceptance of the divine will and obedience to it, and this loving and +unresentful attitude towards men, bring with them necessarily a +peacefulness of heart which gets the highest good out of the modicum of +material supplies which God's providence may send us. It used to be the +idea that gods and beatified spirits were nourished, not by the gross, +material flesh of the sacrifices, but by a certain subtle aroma and +essence that went up in the incense smoke. So Christ's meek men do live +and thrive, and are blessed in a true possession of earthly good, even +though their outward portion of it may be very small. 'Better is a +little that a righteous man hath than the riches of many wicked.' + +And, beyond that, there is a further fulfilment of this promise, upon +which I venture to say but very little. It seems to me very probable +that our Lord's words here fall in with what appears to be a general +stream of representation throughout Scripture, to the effect that the +perfected form of the Kingdom of God is to be realised in this renovated +earth, when it becomes the 'new earth in which dwelleth righteousness.' +Whether that be so or no, at all events we may fairly gather from the +words the thought that in the ultimate state of assimilation and +fellowship with God and Christ to which Christian people have a right to +look forward, there will be an external universe on which they will +exercise their activities, and from which they will draw as yet +unimagined delights. + +But, at all events, dear brethren, we may be sure of this blessed +thought, that they who meekly live, knowing and mourning their sin, and +who meekly take to their hearts as their only hope the comfort of +Christ's pardon and cleansing, who are meekly recipient, meekly +enduring, meekly obedient, shall have in their hearts, even here, a +quiet fountain of peace which shall make the wilderness rejoice and +blossom as the rose, and hereafter shall be crowned with the lordship of +all. Meekness overcomes, 'and he that overcometh shall inherit all +things.' + + +THE FOURTH BEATITUDE + + 'Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: + for they shall be filled.'--MATT. v. 6. + +Two preliminary remarks will give us the point of view from which I +desire to consider these words now. First, we have seen, in previous +sermons, that these paradoxes of the Christian life which we call the +Beatitudes are a linked chain, or, rather, an outgrowth from a common +root. Each presupposes all the preceding. Now, of course, it is a +mistake to expect uniformity in the process of building up character, +and stages which are separable and successive in thought may be +simultaneous and coalesce in fact. But none the less is our Lord here +outlining successive stages in the growth of a true Christian life. I +shall have more to say about the place in the series which this +Beatitude holds, but for the present I simply ask you to remember that +it has a background and set of previous experiences, out of which it +springs, and that we shall not understand the depth of Christ's meaning +if we isolate it from these and regard it as standing alone. + +Then, another consideration is the remarkable divergence in this +Beatitude from the others. The 'meek,' the 'merciful,' the 'pure in +heart' the 'peacemakers,' have all attained to certain characteristics. +But this is not a benediction pronounced upon those who have attained to +righteousness, but upon those who long after it. Desire, which has +reached such a pitch as to be comparable to the physical craving of a +hungry man for food or to the imperious thirst of parched throats, seems +a strange kind of blessedness; but it is better to long for a +higher--though it be unattained--good than to be content with a lower +which is possessed. Better to climb, though the summit be far and the +path be steep, than to browse amongst the herds in the fat valleys. +Aspiration is blessedness when it is worthily directed. Let us, then, +look at these two points of this Beatitude; this divine hunger of the +soul, and its satisfaction which is sure. + +I. Note, then, the hunger which is blessed. + +Now 'righteousness' has come to be a kind of theological term which +people use without attaching any very distinct meaning to it. And it +would be little improvement to substitute for 'righteousness' the +abstraction of moral conformity to the will of God. Suppose we try to +turn the words of my text into modern English, and instead of saying, +'Blessed are those that hunger and thirst after righteousness,' say, +Blessed are the men and women that long more than for anything else to +be good. Does not that sound a little more near our daily lives than the +well-worn and threadbare word of my text? Righteousness is neither more +nor less than in spirit a will submitted to God, and in conduct the +practice of whatsoever things are noble and lovely and of good report. + +The production of such a character, the aiming after the perfection of +spirit and of conduct, is the highest aim that a man can set before him. +There are plenty of other hungers of the soul that are legitimate. There +are many of them that are bracing and ennobling and elevating. It is +impossible not to hunger for the supply of physical necessities. It is +good to long for love, for wisdom. It is better to long most to be good +men and women. For what are we here for? To enjoy? To work? To know? +Yes! But it is not conduct, and it is still less thought, and it is +least of all enjoyment, in any of its forms, which is the purpose of +life, and ought to be our aim here upon earth. We are here to learn to +_be_; and the cultivation and production of characters that lie parallel +with the will of God is the Omega of all our life in the flesh. All +these other things, even the highest of them, the yearning desire + + 'To follow knowledge, like a sinking star, + Beyond the furthest bounds of human thought,' + +ought to be subordinate to this further purpose of being good men and +women. All these are scaffolding; the building is a character conformed +to God's will and assimilated to Christ's likeness. + +That commends itself as a statement of man's chief end to all reasonable +and thoughtful men in their deepest and truest moments. And so, whilst +we must let our desires go out on the lower levels, and seek to draw to +ourselves the various gifts that are necessary for the various phases +and sides of our being, here is one that a man's own conscience tells +him should stand clearly supreme and dominant--the hunger and thirst +after righteousness. + +Still further, notice how this desire, on which our Lord pronounces His +benediction, comes in a series. I know that all men have latent, and +sometimes partially and fragmentarily operative in their lives and +manifest on the surface, sporadic desires after goodness. The existence +of these draws the line between man and devil. And there is no soul on +earth which has not sometimes felt the longing to be better than it is, +to its own consciousness, to-day. But the yearning which our Lord +blesses comes after, and is the result of, the previous characteristics +which He has described. There must be the poverty of spirit which +recognises our own insufficiency and unworthiness; or, to put it into +simpler words, we must know ourselves to be sinners. There must be the +mourning which follows upon that revelation of ourselves; the penitence +which does not wash away sin, but which makes us capable of receiving +forgiveness. There must be the comfort which comes from pardon received; +and there must be the yielding of ourselves to the Supreme Will, which +is the true root of all meekness, in the face of antagonism from +creatures and of opposition from circumstances. When thus a man's +self-conceit is beaten out of him, and he knows how far he is from the +possession of any real, deep righteousness of his own; and when, +further, his heart has glowed with the consciousness of forgiveness; and +when, further, his will has bowed itself before the Father in heaven, +then there will spring in his heart a hungering and thirsting, deeper +far and far more certain of fruition, than ever can be realised in +another heart, a stranger to such experiences. Brethren, if we are ever +to possess the righteousness which is itself blessed, it must be because +we have the hunger and the thirst which are sharpened and accentuated by +profound discovery of our own evil, lowly penitence before God, and glad +assurance of free and full forgiveness. + +Then note, still further, how that which is pronounced blessed is not +the realisation of a desire, but the desire itself. And that is so, not +only because, as I said, all noble aspiration is good, fulfilled or +unfulfilled, and aim is of more importance than achievement, and what a +man strongly wishes is often the revelation of his deepest self, and the +prophecy of what he will be; but Christ puts the _desire_ for a certain +quality here as in line with the _possession_ of a number of other +qualities attained, because He would hint to us that such a +righteousness as shall satisfy the immortal hunger and thirst of our +souls is one to be received in answer to longing, and not to be +manufactured by our own efforts. + +It is a gift; and the condition of receiving the gift is to wish it +honestly, earnestly, deeply, continually. The Psalmist had a glimpse of +the same truth when he crowned his description of the man who was fit to +ascend the hill of the Lord, and to stand in His holy place, with, 'he +shall _receive_ the blessing from the Lord, and _righteousness_ from the +God of his salvation.' + +Of course, in saying that the first step towards the possession of this +divinely bestowed and divinely blessed righteousness is not effort but +longing, I do not forget that the retention of it, and the working of it +into our characters, and out in our conduct, must be the result of our +own continual diligence. But it is effort based on faith; and it is +mainly, as I believe, the effort to keep open the line of communication +between us and God, the great Giver, which ensures our possession of +this gift of God. Dear friends, the righteousness that avails for us is +not of our making, but of God's giving, through Jesus Christ. + +So, before I pass to the other thoughts of my text, may I pause here for +a moment? 'Blessed are they that hunger and thirst'--think of the +picture that that suggests--the ravenous desire of a starving man, the +almost fierce longing of a parched throat. Is that a picture of the +intensity, of the depth, of our desires to be good? Do we professing +Christian men and women long to be delivered from our evils and to be +clothed in righteousness, with an honesty and an earnestness and a +continuity of longing which would make such words as these of my text +anything else, if applied to us, than the bitterest irony? Oh, one looks +out over the Christian Church, and one looks--which is more to the +purpose--into one's own heart, and contrasts the tepid, the lazy, the +occasional, and, I am afraid, the only half-sincere wishes to be better, +with the unmistakable earnestness and reality of our longings to be +rich, or wise, or prosperous, or famous, or happy in our domestic +relationships, and the like. Alas! alas! that the whole current of the +great river of so many professing Christians' desires runs towards earth +and creatures, and the tiniest little trickle is taken off, like a lade +for a mill, from the great stream, and directed towards higher things. +It is hunger and thirst after righteousness that is blessed. You and I +can tell whether our desires deserve such a name as that. + +II. And now, secondly, the satisfying of this divine hunger of the soul. + +'They shall be filled,' says our Lord. Now all these promises appended +to the Beatitudes have a double reference--to the certainty of the +present, and to the perfection of the future. That there is such a +double reference may be made very obvious if we notice that the first of +the promises, which includes them all, and of which the others are but +aspects and phases, is cast into the present tense, whilst the remainder +stand in the future. 'Theirs _is_ the Kingdom of Heaven,' not _shall +be_--'they _shall be_ comforted,' they '_shall_ inherit the earth,' and +so on. So, then, we are warranted, indeed we are obliged, to regard this +great promise in the text as having two epochs of fulfilment--one +partially here upon earth, one complete hereafter. And these two differ, +not in kind, but in degree. + +So then, with regard even to the present, 'they shall be filled.' Should +not that be a gospel to the seeking spirit of man, who knows so well +what it is to be crucified with the pangs of a vain desire, and to set +his heart upon that which never comes into his hands? There is one +region in which nothing is so impossible as that any desire should be in +vain, or any wish should be unfulfilled, and it is the region into which +Christ points us in these great words of my text. Turn away from earth, +where fulfilled desires and unfulfilled are often equally disappointed +ones. Turn away from the questionable satisfactions which come to those +whose hearts go out in longing for love, wisdom, wealth, transitory +felicity; and be sure of this, that the one longing which never will be +disappointed, nor, when answered, will prove to have given us but ashes +instead of bread, is the longing to be like God and like Christ. That +desire alone is sure to be fulfilled, and, being fulfilled, is sure to +be blessed. + +It is not true that all desires after righteousness are fulfilled. Those +which spring up, as I have said, in men's hearts sporadically, and apart +from the background of the experiences of my text, are not always, not +often, even partially accomplished. There are in every land, no doubt, +souls that thirst after righteousness, as they are able to discern it. +And we are sure of this, that no such effort and longing passes +unnoticed by Him 'who hears the young ravens when they cry,' and is not +deaf to the prayer of men who long to be good. But the experience of the +bulk of us, apart from Jesus Christ, is 'the things that I would not, +these I do, and the things that I would, these I do not.' The hunger +and thirst after righteousness, imperfect as they are, which are felt +at intervals by all men, do not avail to break the awful continuity of +their conduct as evil in the sight of God and of their own consciences. +And so, just because every man knows something of the sting of this +desire after righteousness, which yet remains for the most part +unfulfilled, the world is full of sadness. 'Oh, wretched man that I am, +who shall deliver me from the body of this death?' comes to be the +expression of the noblest amongst us. Then this great Gospel comes to +us, and the Nazarene confidently fronts a world dimly conscious of its +need, and sometimes miserable because it is bad, and says: 'Ho! every +one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters.... Come to Me, and drink.' + +What right had He to stand thus and promise that every desire after +goodness should be fulfilled in Him? He had the right, because He +Himself had the power and the purpose to fulfil it. For this is the very +heart of His Gospel: that He will give to every one who asks it that +spirit of life which was His own, and which 'shall make us free from the +law of sin and death.' + +Thus, dear friends, we have to be content to take the place of +recipients, and to accept, not to work out for ourselves, this +righteousness for which, more or less feebly, and all of us too feebly, +we do sometimes long. Oh, believe me, away from Him you will never +receive into your characters a goodness that will satisfy yourselves. +Siberian prisoners sometimes break their chains and escape for some +distance. They are generally taken back and again shut up in their +captivity. If we are able, as we are in some measure, to break the +bondage of evil in ourselves, we are not able to complete our +emancipation by any skill, effort, or act of ours. We must be content to +receive the blessing. There is no loom of earth which can weave, and no +needle that man's hands can use which can stitch together, the pure +garment that befits a soul. We must be content to take the robe of +righteousness which Jesus Christ has wrought, and to strip off, by His +help, the ancient self, splashed with the filth of the world, and +spotted by the flesh: and to 'put on the new man,' which Christ, and +Christ alone, bestows. + +As for the future fulfilment of this promise--desire will live in +heaven, desire will dilate the spirit, the dilated spirit will be +capable of fuller gifts of God-likeness, and increased capacity will +ensure increased reception. Thus, through eternity, in blessed +alternation, we shall experience the desire that brings new gifts and +the satisfying that produces new desires. + +Dear friends, all that I have been trying to say in this sermon is +gathered up into the one word--'that I may be found in Him, not having +my own righteousness, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the +righteousness which is of God by faith.' + + +THE FIFTH BEATITUDE + + 'Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.'--MATT. v. + 7. + +THE divine simplicity of the Beatitudes covers a divine depth, both in +regard to the single precepts and to the sequence of the whole. I have +already pointed out that the first of the series Is to be regarded as +the root and germ of all the subsequent ones. If for a moment we set it +aside and consider only the fruits which are successively developed from +it, we shall see that the remaining members of the sequence are arranged +in pairs, of which each contains, first, a characteristic more inward +and relating to the deep things of individual religion; and, second, a +characteristic which has its field of action in our relations to men. +For example, the 'mourners' and the 'meek' are paired. Those who 'hunger +and thirst after righteousness' and the 'merciful' are paired. 'The pure +in heart' and 'the peacemakers' are paired. + +Now that sequence can scarcely be accidental. It is the application in +detail of the great principle which our Lord endorsed in its Old +Testament form when He said that the first great commandment, the love +of God, had a companion consequent on and like unto it, the love of our +neighbour. Religion without beneficence, and beneficence without +religion, are equally maimed. The one is a root without fruit, and the +other a fruit without a root. The selectest emotions, the lowliest +faith, the loftiest aspirations, the deepest consciousness of one's own +unworthiness--these priceless elements of personal religion--are of +little worth unless there are inseparably linked with them meekness, +mercifulness, and peacemaking. 'What God hath joined together, let not +man put asunder.' If any Christian people have neglected the service of +man for the worship of God, they are flying in the face of Christ's +teaching. If any antagonists of Christianity attack it on the ground +that it fosters such neglect, they mistake the system that they +criticise, and are judging it by the imperfect practice of the disciples +instead of by the perfect precepts of the Master. + +So, then, here we have a characteristic lodged in the very heart of this +series of Beatitudes which refers wholly to our demeanour to one +another. My remarks now will, therefore, be of a very homely, +commonplace, and practical kind. + +I. Note the characteristic on which our Lord here pours out His +blessing--Mercy. + +Now, like all the other members of this sequence, with the exception, +perhaps, of the last, this quality refers to disposition much rather +than to action. Conduct is included, of course; but conduct only +secondarily. Jesus Christ always puts conduct second, as all wise and +great teachers do. 'As a man thinketh in his heart so is he.' That is +the keynote of all noble morality. And none has ever carried it out more +thoroughly than has the morality of the Gospel. It is a poor translation +and limitation of this great word which puts in the foreground merely +merciful actions. The mercifulness of my text is, first and foremost, a +certain habitual way of looking at and feeling towards men, especially +to men in suffering and need, and most especially to men who have proved +themselves bad and blameworthy. It is implied that a rigid retribution +would lead to severer methods of judgment and of action. + +Therefore the first characteristic of the merciful man is that he is +merciful in his judgments; not making the worst of people, no Devil's +Advocate in his estimates of his fellows; but, endlessly, and, as the +world calls it, foolishly and incredibly, gentle in his censures, and +ever ready to take the charitable--which is generally the +truer--construction of acts and motives. That is a very threadbare +thought, brother, but the way to invest commonplace with startling power +is to bring it into immediate connection with our own life and conduct. +And if you will try to walk by this threadbare commonplace for a week, +I am mistaken if you do not find out that it has teeth to bite and a +firm grip to lay upon you. Threadbare truth is not effete until it is +obeyed, and when we try to obey it, it ceases to be commonplace. + +Again, I may remind you that this mercifulness, which is primarily an +inward emotion, and a way, as I said, of thinking of, and of looking at, +unworthy people, must necessarily, of course, find its manifestation in +our outward conduct. And there will be, what I need not dilate upon, a +readiness to help, to give, to forgive not only offences against society +and morality, but offences against ourselves. + +I need not dwell longer upon this first part of my subject. I wished +mainly to emphasise that to begin with action, in our understanding of +mercifulness, is a mistake; and that we must clear our hearts of +antipathies, and antagonisms, and cynical suspicions, if we would +inherit the blessings of our text. + +Before I go further, I would point out the connection between this +incumbent duty of mercifulness and the preceding virtue of meekness. It +is hard enough to bear 'the spurns that patient merit of the unworthy +takes,' without one spot of red in the cheek, one perturbation or flush +of anger in the heart; and to do that might task us all to the utmost. +But that is not all that Christ's ethics require of us. It is not +sufficient to exercise the passive virtue of meekness; there must be the +active one of mercifulness. And to call for that is to lay an additional +weight upon our consciences, and to strain and stretch still further the +obligation under which we come. We have not done what the worst men and +our most malicious enemies have a right to receive from us when we say, +with the cowardly insincerity of the world, 'I can forgive but I cannot +forget.' That is no forgiveness, and that is no mercifulness It is not +enough to stand still, unresisting. There must be a hand of helpfulness +stretched out, and a gush of pity and mercifulness in the heart, if we +are to do what our Master has done for us all, and what our Master +requires us to do for one another. Mercifulness is the active side of +the passive meekness. + +Further, in a word, I would note here another thing, and that is--what a +sad, stern, true view of the condition of men in the world results from +noticing that the only three qualities in regard to our relation to them +which Christ sets in this sevenfold tiara of diamonds are meekness in +the face of hatred and injustice; mercifulness in the face of weakness +and wickedness; peacemaking in the face of hostility and wrangling. What +a world in which we have to live, where the crowning graces are those +which presuppose such vices as do these! Ah! dear friends, 'as sheep in +the midst of wolves' is true to-day. And the one conquering power is +patient gentleness, which recompenses all evil with good, and is the +sole means of transforming and thus overcoming it. + +People talk a great deal, and a good deal of it very insincerely, about +their admiration for these precepts gathered together in this chapter. +If they would try to live them for a fortnight, they would perhaps pause +a little longer than some of them do before they said, as do people that +detest the theology of the New Testament, 'The Sermon on the Mount is +_my_ religion.' Is it? It does not look very like it. At all events, if +it is, it is a religion behind which practice most wofully limps. + +II. Let me ask you to look at what I have already in part referred +to--the place in this series which Mercifulness holds. + +Now, of course, I know, and nothing that I say now is to be taken for a +moment as questioning or underestimating it, that, altogether apart from +religion, there is interwoven into the structure of human nature that +sentiment of mercifulness which our Lord here crowns with His +benediction. But it is not that natural, instinctive sentiment--which is +partially unreliable, and has little power apart from the reinforcement +of higher thoughts to carry itself consistently through life--that our +Lord is here speaking about; but it is a mercifulness which is more than +an instinct, more than a sentiment, more than the natural answer of the +human heart to the sight of compassion and distress, which is, in fact, +the product of all that has preceded it in this linked chain of +characteristics and their blessings. + +And so I ask you to recall these. 'Poor in spirit,' 'mourning,' 'meek,' +'hungering and thirsting after righteousness'--these are the springs +that feed the flow of this river; and if it be not fed from them, but +from the surface-waters of human sentiment and instinct, it will dry up +long before it has availed to refresh barren places, and to cool thirsty +lips. And note also the preceding promises, 'theirs is the kingdom of +heaven'; 'they shall be comforted'; 'they shall inherit the earth; 'they +shall be filled.' These are experiences which, again, are another +collection of the head-waters of this stream. + +That is to say, the true, lasting, reliable, conquering mercifulness has +a double source. The consciousness of our own weakness, the sadness that +creeps over the heart when it makes the discovery of its own sin, the +bowed submission primarily to the will of God, and secondarily to the +antagonisms which, in subservience to that will, we may meet in life, +and the yearning desire for a fuller righteousness and a more lustrous +purity in our own lives and characters--these are the experiences which +will make a man gentle in his judgment of his brother, and full of +melting charity in all his dealings with him. If I know how dark my own +nature is, how prone to uncommitted evils, how little I have to thank +myself for the virtues that I have practised, which are largely due to +my exemption from temptation and to my opportunities, and how little I +have in my own self that I can venture to bring to the stern judgment +which I am tempted to apply to other people, then the words of censure +will falter on my tongue, and the bitter construction of my brother's +conduct and character will be muffled in silence. 'Except as to open +outbreakings,' said one of the very saintliest of men, 'I want nothing +of what Judas and Cain had.' If we feel this, we shall ask ourselves, +'Who art thou that judgest another man's servant?' and the condemnation +of others will stick in our throats when we try to utter it. + +And, on the other hand, if I, through these paths of self-knowledge, and +lowly estimate of self, and penitent confession of sin, and flexibility +of will to God, and yearning, as for my highest food and good, after a +righteousness which I feel I do not possess, have come into the position +in which my poverty is, by His gift, made rich, and the tears are wiped +away from off my face by His gracious hand, and a full possession of +large blessings bestowed on my humble will, and the righteousness for +which I long imparted to me, shall I not have learned how divine a thing +it is to give to the unworthy, and so be impelled to communicate what I +have already received? 'Be ye therefore imitators of God, as beloved +children; and walk in love as Christ also hath loved us.' They only are +deeply, through and through, universally and always merciful who have +received mercy. The light is reflected at the same angle as it falls, +and the only way by which there can come from our faces and lives a +glory that shall lighten many dark hearts, and make sunshine in many a +shady place, is that these hearts shall have turned full to the very +fountain itself of heavenly radiance, and so 'have received of the Lord +that which also' they 'deliver' unto men. + +And so, brethren, there are two plain, practical exhortations from these +thoughts. One is, let us Christian people learn the fruits of God's +mercy, and be sure of this, that our own mercifulness in regard to men +is an accurate measure of the amount of the divine mercy which we have +received. The other is, let all of us learn the root of man's mercy to +men. There is plenty, of a sort, of philanthropy and beneficent and +benevolent work and feeling to-day, entirely apart from all perception +of, and all faith in, the Gospel of Jesus Christ, in so far as the +individuals who exercise that beneficence are concerned. I, for my part, +am narrow enough to believe that the streams of non-Christian +charitableness, which run in our land and in other lands to-day, have +been fed from Christ's fountain, though the supply has come underground, +and bursts into light apparently unconnected with its source. If there +had been no New Testament there would have been very little of the +beneficence which flouts the New Testament to-day. Historically, it is +the great truths, which we conveniently summarise as being evangelical +Christianity, that have been mother to the new charity that, since +Christ, has been breathed over the world. I, for my part, believe that +if you strike out the doctrine of universal sinfulness, if you cover +over the Cross of Christ, if you do not find in it the manifestation of +a God who is endlessly merciful to the most unworthy, you have destroyed +the basis on which true and operative benevolence will rest. So then, +dear brethren, let us all seek to get a humbler and a truer conception +of what we ourselves are, and a loftier and truer faith of what God in +Christ is; and then to remember that if we have these, we are bound to, +and we shall, show that we have them, by making that which is the anchor +of our hope the pattern of our lives. + +III. Lastly, notice the requital, 'They shall obtain mercy.' + +Now, it is a wretched weakening of that great thought to suppose that it +means that if A. is merciful to B., B. will be merciful to A. +That is sometimes true, and sometimes it is not. It does not so very +much matter whether it is true or not; that is not what Jesus Christ +means. All these Beatitudes are God's gifts, and this is God's gift too. +It is His mercy which the merciful man obtains. + +But you say: 'Have you not just been telling us that this sense and +experience of God's mercy must precede my mercy, and now you say that my +mercy must precede God's?' No; I do not say that it must precede it; I +do say that my mercifulness is, as it were, lodged between the segments +of a golden circle, and has on one side the experience of the divine +mercy which quickens mine by thankfulness and imitation; on the other +side, the larger experience of the divine mercy which follows upon my +walking after the example of my Lord. + +This is only one case of the broad general principle, 'to him that hath +shall be given, and from him that hath not shall be taken even that +which he hath.' Salvation is no such irreversible gift as that once +bestowed a man can go on anyhow and it will continue; but it is given in +such a fashion as that, for its retention, and still more for its +increase, there must be a certain line of feeling and of action. + +Our Lord does not mean to say, of course, that this one isolated member +of a series carries with it the whole power of bringing down upon a man +the blessings which are only due to the combination of the whole series, +but that it stands as one of that linked band which shall receive the +blessing from on high. And the blessing here is stated in accordance +with the particular Grace in question, according to that great law of +retaliation which brings life unto life and death unto death. + +No man who, having received the mercy of God, lives harsh, hard, +self-absorbed, implacable, and uncommunicative, will keep that mercy in +any vivid consciousness or to any blessed issue. The servant took his +fellow-servant by the throat, and said, 'Pay me that thou owest,' and +his master said, 'Deliver him to the tormentors until he pay the +uttermost farthing.' You receive your salvation as a free gift; you keep +it by feelings and conduct correspondent to the gift. + +Though benevolence which has an eye to self is no benevolence, it is +perfectly legitimate, and indeed absolutely necessary, that whilst the +motive for mercifulness is mercy received, the encouragement to +mercifulness should be mercy still to be given. 'Walk in love, as Christ +also hath loved us'; and when you think of your own unworthiness, and of +the great gifts which a gracious God has given, let these impel you to +move amongst men as copies of God, and be sure that you deepen your +spiritual life, not only by meditation and by faith, but by practical +work, and by showing towards all men mercy like the mercy which God has +bestowed upon you. + + +THE SIXTH BEATITUDE + + 'Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.'--MATT. v. + 8. + +AT first hearing one scarcely knows whether the character described in +this great saying, or the promise held out, is the more inaccessible to +men. 'The pure in heart': who may they be? Is there one of us that can +imagine himself possessed of a character fitting him for the vision of +God, or such as to make him bear with delight that dazzling blaze? 'They +shall see God,' whom 'no man hath seen at any time, nor can see.' Surely +the requirement is impossible, and the promise not less so. But does +Jesus Christ mock us with demands that cannot be satisfied, and dangle +before us hopes that can never be realised? There have been many +moralists and would-be teachers who have done that. What would be the +use of saying to a man lying on a battlefield sore wounded, and with +both legs shot off, 'If you will only get up and run, you will be safe'? +What would be the use of telling men how blessed they would be if they +were the opposite of what they are? But that is not Christ's way. + +These words, lofty and remote as they seem, are in truth amongst the +most hopeful and radiant that ever came from even His lips. For they +offer the realisation of an apparently impossible character, they +promise the possession of an apparently impossible vision; and they +soothe fears, and tell us that the sight from which, were it possible, +we should sometimes fain shrink, is the source of our purest gladness. +So there are three things, it seems to me, worth our notice in these +great words--How hearts can be made pure; how the pure heart can see +God; and how the sight can be simple blessedness. + +I. How hearts can be made pure. + +Now, the key which has unlocked for us, in previous sermons, the +treasures of meaning in these Beatitudes, is especially necessary here. +For, as I have said, if you take this to be a mere isolated saying, it +becomes a mockery and a pain. But if you connect it, as our Lord would +have us connect it, with all the preceding links of this wreathed chain +describing the characteristics of a devout soul, then it assumes an +altogether different appearance. 'The pure in heart' are they who have +exercised and received the previous qualifications and bestowments from +God. That is to say, there must precede all such purity as is capable of +the divine vision, the poverty of spirit which recognises its true +condition, the mourning which rightly feels the gravity and awfulness of +that condition, the desire for its opposite, which will never be the +'hunger and thirst' of a soul, except it is preceded by a profound sense +of sin and the penitence that ensues thereupon. + +But when these things have gone before, and when they have been +accompanied, as they surely will be, with the results that flow from +them without an interval of time--viz. enrichment with possession of the +kingdom, the comforting and drying of the tears of penitence, and the +possession of a righteousness bestowed because it is desired, and not +won because it is worked for--then, and only then, will the heart be +purged and defecated from its evils and its self-regard, and its eyes +opened and couched and strengthened to behold undazzled the eternal +light of God. The word of my text, standing alone, ministers despair. +Regarded where Christ set it, as one of the series of characteristics +which He has been describing, it kindles the brightest and surest hope. + +'Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots?' No; but +God can change them; and the implication of my text, regarded in its due +relation to these other Beatitudes, is just that the requisite purity is +not of man's working, but is God's gift. The same truth which here +results from the study of the place of our text in this series is +condensed into a briefer, but substantially equivalent, form in the +saying of another part of the New Testament, about 'purifying their +hearts by faith.' + +Dear brethren, we come back to the old truth--all a man's hope of, and +effort after, reformation and self-improvement must begin with the +consciousness of sin, the lament over it, the longing for divine +goodness, the opening of the heart for the reception thereof; and only +then can we rise to these serene heights of purity of heart. This, and +this alone, is the way by which 'a clean thing' can be brought 'out of +an unclean one.' and men stained and foul with evil, and bound under the +chains of that which is the mother of all evil, the undue making +themselves the centres of their lives, can be washed and cleansed and +emancipated, and God be made the end and the aim, the motive and the +goal, the power and the reward, of all their work. Righteousness is a +gift to begin with, and it is a gift bestowed on condition of +'repentance toward God, and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.' We all have +longings after purity, suppressed, dashed, contradicted a thousand times +in our lives day by day, but there they are; and the only way by which +they can be fully satisfied is when we go with our foul hands, empty as +well as foul, and lift them up to God, and say, 'Give what Thou +commandest, even the clean heart, and we shall be clean.' + +But then, do not let us forget, either, that this gift bestowed not once +and for ever, but continuously if there be continuous desire, is to be +utilised, appropriated, worked into our characters, and worked out in +our lives, by our own efforts, as well as by our own faith. 'Having, +therefore, these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from +all filthiniess of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of +the Lord.' 'Every man that hath this' gift bestowed, 'purifieth +_himself_ even as He is pure.' He that brings to us the gift of +regeneration, by which we receive the new nature which is free from sin, +calls to each of us as He presents to us the basin with the cleansing +water, 'Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings; ... +cease to do evil, learn to do well.' 'What God hath joined together let +not man put asunder,' viz. the act of faith by which we receive, the act +of diligence by which we use, the purifying power. + +II. Note how the pure heart sees God. + +One is tempted to plunge into mystical depths when speaking upon such a +text as this, but I wish to resist the temptation now, and to deal with +it in a plain, practical fashion. Of course I need not remind you, or +do more than simply remind you, that the matter in question here is no +perception by sense of Him who is invisible, nor is it, either, an +adequate and direct knowledge and comprehension of Him who is infinite, +and whom a man can no more comprehend than he can stretch his short arms +round the flaming orb of the central sun. But still, there is a relation +to God possible for sinful men when they have been purified through the +faith that is in Jesus Christ, which is so direct, so immediate, that it +deserves the name of vision; and which, as I believe, is the ground of a +firmer certitude, and of a no less clear apprehension, than is the sense +from which the name is borrowed. For the illusions of sense have no +place in the sight which the pure heart has of its Father, God. + +Only, remember that here, and in the interpretation of all such +Scriptural words, we have ever to be guided and governed by the great +principle which our Lord laid down, under very solemn circumstances, +when He said: 'He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father.' Jesus Christ, +whose name from eternity is the Word, is, from eternity to eternity, +that which the name indicates--viz. the revealing activity of the +eternal God. And, as I believe, wherever there have been kindled in +men's hearts, either by the contemplation of nature and providence, or +by the intuitions of their own spirits, any glints or glimpses of a God, +there has been the operation of 'the Light that lighteth every man that +cometh into the world.' And far beyond the limits of historical +Revelation within Israel, as recorded in Scripture, that Eternal Word +has been unveiling, as men's dim eyes were capable of perceiving it, the +light of the knowledge of the glory of God. But for us who stand in the +full blaze of that historical manifestation in the character and work of +Jesus Christ our Saviour, our vision of God is neither more nor less +than the apprehension and the realisation of Christ as 'God manifest in +the flesh.' + +Whether you call it the vision of God, or whether you call it communion +with God in Jesus Christ, or whether you fall back upon the other +metaphor of God dwelling in us and we dwelling in God, it all comes to +the same thing, the consciousness of His presence, the realisation of +His character, the blessed assurance of loving relations with Him, and +the communion in mind, heart, will, and conduct, with God who has come +near to us all in Jesus Christ. + +Now, I need not remind you, I suppose, that for such a realisation and +active, real communion, purity of heart is indispensable. That is no +arbitrary requirement, but inherent, as we all know, in the very nature +of the case. If we think of what He is, we shall feel that only the pure +in heart can really pass into loving fellowship with Him. 'How can two +walk together except they be agreed?' And if we reflect upon the history +of our own feelings and realisation of God's presence with us, we shall +see that impurity always drew a membrane over the eye of our souls, or +cast a mist of invisibility over the heavens. The smallest sin hides God +from us. A very, very little grain of dye stuff will darken miles of a +river, and make it incapable of reflecting the blue sky and the +sparkling stars. The least evil done and loved blurs and blots, if it +does not eclipse, for us the doers the very Sun of Righteousness +Himself. No sinful men can walk in the midst of that fiery furnace and +not be consumed. 'The pure in heart'--and only they--'shall see God.' + +Nor need I remind you, I suppose, that in this, as in all these +Beatitudes, the germinal fulfilment in the present life is not to be +parted off by a great gap from the perfect fulfilment in the life which +is to come. And so I do not dwell so much on the differences, great and +wonderful as these must necessarily be, between the manner of +apprehension and communion with God which it is reserved for heaven to +bestow upon us, and the manner of those which we may enjoy here; but I +rather would point to the blessed thought that in essence they are one, +however in degree they may be different. No doubt, changed +circumstances, new capacities, the withdrawal of time and sense, the +dropping away of the veil of flesh, which is the barrier between us and +the unseen order of things in which 'we live and move and have our +being,' will induce changes and progresses in the manner and in the +degree of that vision about which it would be folly for us to speak. If +there were anything here with which we could compare the state of the +blessed in heaven, in so far as it differs from their state on earth, we +could form some conception of these differences; but if there were +anything here with which we could compare it, it would be less glorious +than it is. It is well that we should have to say, 'Eye hath not seen, +nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things +that God hath prepared.' So let us be thankful that 'it doth not yet +appear what we shall be'; and let us never allow our ignorance of the +manner to make us doubt or neglect the fact, seeing that we know 'that +when He shall appear ... we shall see Him as He is.' + +III. Lastly, notice how this sight brings blessedness. + +There is nothing else that will 'satisfy the eye with seeing.' The +vision of God, even in that incipient and imperfect form which is +possible upon earth, is the one thing that will calm our distractions, +that will supply our needs, that will lift our lives to a level of +serene power and blessedness, unattainable by any other way. Such a +sight will dim all the dazzling illusions of earth, as, when the sun +leaps into the heavens, the stars hide their faces and faint into +invisibility. It will make us lords of ourselves, masters of the world, +kings over time and sense and the universe. Everything will be different +when 'earth is crammed with heaven, and every common bush afire with +God.' That is what is possible for a Christian holding fast by Jesus +Christ, and in Him having communion with the Father and the Holy Spirit. + +Brethren, I venture to say no word about the blessedness of that future. +Heaven's golden gates keep their secret well. Even the purest joys of +earth, about which poets have sung for untold centuries, after all +singing need to be tasted before they are conceived of; and all our +imaginings about the blessedness yonder is but like what a chrysalis +might dream in its tomb as to the life of the radiant winged creature +which it would one day become. Let us be content to be ignorant, and +believe with confidence that we shall find that the vision of God is the +heaven of heavens. + +We shall owe that eternal vision to the eternal Revealer; for, as I +believe, Scripture teaches us that it is only in Him that the glorified +saints see the Father, as it is only in Him that here on earth we have +the vision of God. That sight is not, like the bodily sense to which it +is compared, a far-off perception of an ungrasped brightness, but it is +the actual possession of what we behold. We see God when we have God. +When we have God we have enough. + +But I dare not close without one other word. There _is_ a vision of God +possible to an impure heart, in which there is no blessedness. There +comes a day in which 'they shall call upon the rocks to fall and cover +them from the face of Him that sits upon the throne.' The alternative is +before each of us, dear friends--either 'every eye shall see Him, and +they also which pierced Him; and all kindreds of the earth shall wail +because of Him'; or, 'I shall behold Thy face in righteousness. I shall +be satisfied, when I awake, with Thy likeness.' If we cry, 'Create a +clean heart in me, O God!' He will answer, 'I will give you a new heart, +and take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a +heart of flesh, and I will pour clean water upon you, and ye shall be +clean.' + + +THE SEVENTH BEATITUDE + + 'Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children + of God.' MATT. v. 9. + +This is the last Beatitude descriptive of the character of the +Christian. There follows one more, which describes his reception by the +world. But this one sets the top stone, the shining apex, upon the whole +temple-structure which the previous Beatitudes had been gradually +building up. You may remember that I have pointed out in previous +sermons how all these various traits of the Christian life are deduced +from the root of poverty of spirit. You may also remember how I have had +occasion to show that if we consider that first Beatitude, 'Blessed are +the poor in spirit,' as the root and mother of all the rest, the +remainder are so arranged as that we have alternately a grace which +regards mainly the man himself and his relations to God, and one which +also includes his relations to man. + +Now there are three of these which look out into the world, and these +three are consummated by this one of my text. These are 'the meek,' +which describes a man's attitude to opposition and hatred; 'the +merciful,' which describes his indulgence in judgment and his +pitifulness in action; and 'the peacemakers.' For Christian people are +not merely to bear injuries and to recompense them with pity and with +love, but they are actively to try to bring about a wholesomer and purer +state of humanity, and to breathe the peace of God, which passes +understanding, over all the janglings and struggles of this world. + +So, I think, if we give a due depth of significance to that name +'peacemaker,' we shall find that this grace worthily completes the whole +linked series, and is the very jewel which clasps the whole chain of +Christian and Christ-like characteristics. + +I. How are Christ's peacemakers made? + +Now there are certain people whose natural disposition has in it a fine +element, which diffuses soothing and concord all around them. I dare say +we all have known such--perhaps some good woman, without any very +shining gifts of intellect, who yet dwelt in such peace of heart herself +that conflict and jangling were rebuked in her presence. And there are +other people who love peace, and seek after it in the cowardly fashion +of letting things alone; whose 'peacemaking' has no nobler source than +hatred of trouble, and a wish to let sleeping dogs lie. These, instead +of being peacemakers, are war-makers, for they are laying up materials +for a tremendous explosion some day. + +But it is a very different temper that Jesus Christ has in view here, +and I need only ask you to do again what we have had occasion to do in +the previous sermons of this series--to link this characteristic with +those that go before it, of which it is regarded as being the bright and +consummate flower and final outcome. No man can bring to others that +which he does not possess. Vainly will he whose own heart is torn by +contending passions, whose own life is full of animosities and +unreconciled outstanding causes of alienation and divergence between him +and God, between him and duty, between him and himself, ever seek to +shed any deep or real peace amongst men. He may superficially solder +some external quarrels, but that is not all that Jesus Christ means. His +peacemakers are created by having passed through all the previous +experiences which the preceding verses bring out. They have learned the +poverty of their own spirits. They have wept tears, if not real and +literal, yet those which are far more agonising--tears of spirit and +conscience--when they have thought of their own demerits and foulnesses. +They have bowed in humble submission to the will of God, and even to +that will as expressed by the antagonisms of man. They have yearned +after the possession of a fuller and nobler righteousness than they have +attained. They have learned to judge others with a gentle judgment +because they know how much they themselves need it, and to extend to +others a helping hand because they are aware of their own impotence and +need of succour. They have been led through all these, often painful, +experiences into a purity of heart which has been blessed by some +measure of vision of God; and, having thus been equipped and prepared, +they are fit to go out into the world and say, in the presence of all +its tempests, 'Peace! be still.' Something of the miracle-working energy +of the Master whom they serve will be shed upon those who serve Him. + +Brethren, the peacemaker who is worthy of the name must have gone +through these deep spiritual experiences. I do not say that they are to +come in regular stages, separable from each other. That is not the way +in which a character mounts towards God. It does so not by a flight of +steps, at distinctly different elevations, but rather by an ascending +slope. And, although these various Christian graces which precede that +of my text are separable in thought, and are linked in the fashion that +our Lord sets forth in experience, they may be, and often are, +contemporaneous. + +But whether separated from one another in time or not, whether this +life-preparation, of which the previous verses give us the outline, has +been realised drop by drop, or whether it has been all flooded on to the +soul at once, as it quite possibly has, in some fashion or other it must +precede our being the sort of peacemakers that Christ desires and +blesses. + +There is only one more point that I would make here before I go on, and +that is, that it is well to notice that the climax of Christian +character, according to Jesus Christ Himself, is found in our relations +to men, and not in our relation to God. Worship of heart and spirit, +devout emotions of the sacredest, sweetest, most hallowed and hallowing +sort, are absolutely indispensable, as I have tried to show you. But +equally, if not more, important is it for us to remember that the purest +communion with God, and the selectest emotional experiences of the +Christian life, are meant to be the bases of active service; and that, +if such service does not follow these, there is good reason for +supposing that these are spurious, and worth very little. The service of +man is the outcome of the love of God. He who begins with poverty of +spirit is perfected when, forgetting himself, and coming down from the +mountain-top, where the Shekinah cloud of the Glory and the audible +voice are, he plunges into the struggles of the multitude below, and +frees the devil-ridden boy from the demon that possesses him. Begin by +all means with poverty of spirit, or you will never get to +this--'Blessed are the peacemakers.' But see to it that poverty of +spirit leads to the meekness, the mercifulness, the peace-bringing +influence which Christ has pronounced blessed. + +II. What is the peace which Christ's peacemakers bring? + +This is a very favourite text with people that know very little of the +depths of Christianity. They fancy that it appeals to common sense and +men's natural consciences, apart altogether from minutenesses of +doctrine or of Christian experience. They are very much mistaken. No +doubt there is a surface of truth, but only a surface, in the +application that is generally given to these words of our text, as if it +meant nothing more than 'he is a good man that goes about and tries to +make contending people give up their quarrels, and produces a healing +atmosphere of tranquillity wherever he goes.' That is perfectly true, +but there is a great deal more in the text than that. If we consider the +Scriptural usage of this great word 'peace,' and all the ground that it +covers in human experience; if we remember that it enters as an element +into Christ's own name, the 'Peace-Bringer,' the 'Prince of Peace'; and +if we notice, as I have already done, the place which this Beatitude +occupies in the series, we shall be obliged to look for some far deeper +meaning before we can understand the sweep of our Lord's intention here. + +I do not think that I am going one inch too far, or forcing meanings +into His words which they are not intended to bear, when I say that the +first characteristic of the peace, which His disciples have been passed +through their apprenticeship in order to fit them to bring, is the peace +of reconciliation with God. The cause of all the other fightings in the +world is that men's relation to the Father in heaven is disturbed, and +that, whilst there flow out from Him only amity and love, these are met +by us with antagonism often, with opposition of will often, with +alienation of heart often, and with indifference and forgetfulness +almost uniformly. So the first thing to be done to make men at peace +with one another and with themselves is to rectify their relation to +God, and bring peace there. + +We often hear in these days complaints of Christian Churches and +Christian people because they do not fling themselves, with sufficient +energy to please the censors, into movements which are intended to bring +about happier relations in society. The longest way round is sometimes +the shortest way home. It does not belong to all of us Christians, and I +doubt whether it belongs to the Christian Church as such at all, to +fling itself into the movements to which I have referred. But if a man +go and carry to men the great message of a reconciled and a reconciling +God manifest in Jesus Christ, and bringing peace between men and God, he +will have done more to sweeten society and put an end to hostility than +I think he will be likely to do by any other method. Christian men and +women, whatever else you and I are here for, we are here mainly that we +may preach, by lip and life, the great message that in Christ is our +peace, and that God 'was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself.' + +We are not to leave out, of course, that which is so often taken as +being the sole meaning of the great word of my text. There is much that +we are all bound to do to carry the tranquillising and soothing +influences of Gospel principles and of Christ's example into the +littlenesses of daily life. Any fool can stick a lucifer match into a +haystack and make a blaze. It is easy to promote strife. There is a +malicious love of it in us all; and ill-natured gossip has a great deal +to do in bringing it about. But it takes something more to put the fire +out than it did to light it, and there is no nobler office for +Christians than to seek to damp down all these devil's flames of envy +and jealousy and mutual animosity. We have to do it, first, by making +very sure that we do not answer scorn with scorn, gibes with gibes, hate +with hate, but 'seek to overcome evil with good.' It takes two to make a +quarrel, and your most hostile antagonist cannot break the peace unless +you help him. If you are resolved to keep it, kept it will be. + +May I say another word? I think that our text, though it goes a good +deal deeper, does also very plainly tell us Christian folk what is our +duty in relation to literal warfare. There is no need for me to discuss +here the question as to whether actual fighting with armies and swords +is ever legitimate or not. It is a curious kind of Christian duty +certainly, if it ever gets to be one. And when one thinks of the +militarism that is crushing Europe and driving her ignorant classes to +wild schemes of revolution; and when one thinks of the hell of +battlefields, of the miseries of the wounded, of mourning widows, of +ruined peaceful peasants, of the devil's passions that war sets loose, +some of us find it extremely hard to believe that all that is ever in +accordance with the mind of Christ. But whether you agree with me in +that or no, surely my text points to the duty of the Christian Church to +take up a very much more decisive position in reference to the military +spirit than, alas! it ever has done. Certainly it does seem to be not +very obviously in accordance with Christ's teachings that men-of-war +should be launched with a religious service, or that _Te Deums_ should +be sung because thousands have been killed. It certainly does seem to be +something like a satire on European Christianity that one of the chief +lessons we have taught the East is that we have instructed the Japanese +how to use Western weapons to fight their enemies. Surely, surely, if +Christian churches laid to heart as they ought these plain words of the +Master, they would bring their united influence to bear against that +demon of war, and that pinchbeck, spurious glory which is connected with +it. 'Blessed are the peacemakers': let us try to earn the benediction. + +III. Lastly, note the issue of this peacemaking. + +'They shall be called the sons of God.' Called? By whom? Christ does not +say, but it should not be difficult to ascertain. It seems to me that to +suppose that it is by men degrades this promise, instead of making it +the climax of the whole series. Besides, it is not true that if a +Christian man lives as I have been trying to describe, protesting +against certain evils, trying to diffuse an atmosphere of peace round +about him; and, above all, seeking to make known the Name of the great +Peacemaker, men will generally call him a 'son of God.' The next verse +but one tells us what they will call him. 'Blessed are ye when men shall +revile you, and persecute you, and say all manner of evil against you +falsely for My sake.' They are a great deal more likely to have stones +and rotten eggs flung at them than to be pelted with bouquets of scented +roses of popular approval. No! no! it is not man's judgment that is +meant here. It matters very little what men call us. It matters +everything what God calls us. It is He who will call them 'sons of God.' +So the Apostle John thought that Christ meant, for he very beautifully +and touchingly quotes this passage when he says, 'Beloved! behold what +manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be +called the sons of God.' + +God's calling is a recognition of men for what they are. God owns the +man that lives in the fashion that we have been trying to outline--God +owns him for His child; manifestly a son, because he has the Father's +likeness. 'Be ye therefore imitators of God as beloved children, and +walk in love.' God in Christ is the first Peacemaker, and they who go +about the world proclaiming His peace and making peace, bear the image +of the heavenly, and are owned by God as His sons. + +What does that owning mean? Well, it means a great deal which has yet to +be disclosed, but it means this, too, that the whisper of the Voice +which owns us for children will be heard by ourselves. The Spirit which +cries, 'Abba, Father!' will open our ears to hear Him say, 'Thou art My +beloved Son.' Or, to put it into plain English, there is no surer way by +which we can come to the calm, happy, continual consciousness of being +the children of God than by this living like Him, to spread the peace +of God over all hearts. + +I have said in former sermons that all these promises, which are but the +natural outcome of the characteristics to which they are attached, have +a double reference, being fulfilled in germ here, and in maturity +hereafter. Like the rest, this one has that double reference. For the +consciousness, here and now, that we are the children of God is but, as +it were, the morning twilight of what shall hereafter be an typesetting +meridian sunshine. What depths of divine assimilation, what mysteries of +calm, peaceful, filial fellowship, what riches beyond count of divine +inheritance, lie in the name of son, the possession of these alone can +tell. For the same Apostle, whose comment upon these words we have +already quoted, goes on to say, 'It doth not yet appear what we shall +be.' + +Only we have one assurance, wide enough for all anticipation, and firm +enough for solid hope: 'If children, then heirs; heirs of God, and +joint-heirs with Christ.' He must make us sons before we can be called +sons of God. He must give us peace with God, with ourselves, with men, +with circumstances, before we can go forth effectually to bring peace to +others. If He has given us these good things, He has bound us to spread +them. Let us do so. And if our peace ever is spoken in vain as regards +others, it will come back to us again; and we shall be kept in perfect +peace, even in the midst of strife, until we enter at last into the city +of peace and serve the King of Peace for ever. + + +THE EIGHTH BEATITUDE + + 'Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake: for + theirs is the kingdom of heaven.'--MATT. v. 10. + +We have seen the description of the true subjects of the kingdom growing +into form and completeness before our eyes in the preceding verses, +which tell us what they are in their own consciousness, what they are in +their longings, what they become in inward nature by God's gift of +purity, how they move among men as angels of God, meek, merciful, +peace-bringing. Is anything more needed for complete portraiture, any +added touch to the picture? Yes--what the world is to them, what are its +wages for such work, what its perception of such characters. Their +relations to it are those of peace-bringers, reconcilers; its to them +are those of hostility and dislike. Blessed are the persecuted for +righteousness' sake. + +I take these words to be as universal and permanent in their application +as any which have preceded them. This characteristic is, like all the +others, the result of those which go before it and presupposes their +continuous operation. The benediction which is attached is not an +arbitrary promise, but stands in as close a relation of consequence to +the characteristic as do the others. And it is marked out as the last in +the series by being a repetition of the first, to express the idea of +completeness, a rounded whole; to suggest that all the others are but +elements of this, and that the initial blessing given to the poor in +spirit is identical with that which is the reward of the highest +Christian character, the one possessing implicitly what the other has in +full development. + +1. The world's recompense to the peace-bringers. + +It may be thought that this clause, at all events, has reference to +special epochs only, and especially to the first founding of +Christianity. Such a reference, of course, there is. And very +remarkable is it how clearly and honestly Christ always warned would-be +disciples of what they would earn in this world by following Him. + +But He seems to take especial pains to show that He here proclaims a +principle of equal generality with the others, by separating the +application of it to His immediate hearers which follows in the next +verse, from the universal statement in the text. Their individual +experience was but to illustrate the general rule, not to exhaust it. +And you remember how frequently the same thought is set forth in +Scripture in the most perfectly general terms. + +1. Notice that antagonism is inevitable between a true Christian and the +world. + +Take the character as it is sketched in verses preceding. Point by point +it is alien from the sympathies and habits of irreligious men. The +principles are different, the practices are different. + +A true Christian ought to be a standing rebuke to the world, an +incarnate conscience. + +There are but two ways of ending that antagonism: either by bringing the +world up to Christian character, or letting Christian character down to +the world. + +2. The certain and uniform result is opposition and dislike--persecution +in its reality. + +Darkness hateth light. + +Some will, no doubt, be touched; there is that in all men which +acknowledges how awful goodness is. But the loftier character is not +loved by the lower which if loves. + +Aristides 'the Just.' Christ Himself. + +As to practice--a righteous life will not make a man 'popular.' And as +for 'opinions'--earnest religious opinions of any sort are distasteful. +Not the profession of them, but the reality of them--especially those +which seem in any way new or strange--make the average man angrily +intolerant of an earnest Christianity which takes its creed seriously +and insists on testing conventional life by it. Indolence, +self-complacency, and inborn conservatism join forces in resenting the +presence of such inconvenient enthusiasts, who upset everything and want +to 'turn the world upside down.' + + 'The moping owl doth to the moon complain + Of such as, wandering near her ivy tower. + Molest her ancient, solitary reign.' + +The seeds of the persecuting temper are in human nature, and they +germinate in the storms which Christianity brings with it. + +3. The phases vary according to circumstances. + +We have not to look for the more severe and gross kinds of persecution. + +The tendency of the age is to visit no man with penalties for his +belief, but to allow the utmost freedom of thought. + +The effect of Christianity upon popular morality has been to bring men +up towards the standard of Christ's righteousness. + +The long proclamation of Christian truth in England has the effect of +making mere profession of it a perfectly safe and even proper thing. + +But the antagonism remains at bottom the same. + +Let a man earnestly accept even the creeds of established religion and +live by them, and he will find that out. Let him seek to proclaim and +enforce some of those truths of Christianity whose bearing upon social +and economical and ecclesiastical questions is but partially understood. +Let him set up and stick to a high standard of Christian morality and +see what comes of it, in business, say, or in social life. + +'All that will live godly will suffer persecution.' + +4. The present forms are perhaps not less hard to bear than the old +ones. + +They are, no doubt, very small in contrast with the lions in the arena +or the fires of Smithfield. The curled lip, the civil scorn, the +alienation of some whose good opinion we would fain have, or, if we +stand in some public position, the poisonous slanders of the press, and +the contumacious epithets, are trivial but very real tokens of dislike. +We have the assassin's tongue instead of the assassin's dagger. But yet +such things may call for as much heroism as braving a rack, and the +spirit that shoots out the tongue may be as bad as the spirit that +yelled, _'Christianos ad leones.'_ + +5. The great reason why professing Christians now know so little about +persecution is because there is so little real antagonism. 'If ye were +of the world, the world would love his own.' The Church has leavened the +world, but the world has also leavened the Church; and it seems agreed +by common consent that there is to be no fanatical goodness of the early +primitive pattern. Of course, then, there will be no persecution, where +religion goes in silver slippers, and you find Christian men running +neck and neck with others, and no man can tell which is which. + +Then, again, many escape by avoiding plain Christian duty, shutting +themselves up in their own little coteries. + +(a) Let us be sure that we never flinch from our Christian character to +buy anybody's good opinion. + +It is not for us to lower our flags to whoever fires across our bows. Do +you never feel it an effort to avow your principles? Do you never feel +that they are being smiled away in society? Are you not flattered by +being shown that this religion of yours is the one thing that stands +between you and cordial reception by these people? + +(b) Let us be sure that it is righteousness and Christ which are the +grounds of anything of the sort we have to bear, and not our own faults +of temper and character. + +(c) Let us be sure that we are not persecutors our selves. + +To be so is inherent in human nature. + +Men have often been both confessors and inquisitors. The spirit of +censorious judgment, of fierce hate, of impatient intolerance, has +often disgraced Christian men. It is for us to be only and always meek, +merciful peace-bringers; and if men will not accept truth, to seek to +win and woo them, not to be angry. + +It is very hard to be both firm and tolerant, not letting the foolish +heart expand into a lazy glow of benevolence to all beliefs, and so +perilling one's own, nor letting intense adherence to our own +convictions darken into impotent wrath against their harshest opponents. +But let us remember that as God is our great example of mercy, so Christ +is our great example of patience, both under the world's unbelief and +the world's persecution. + +II. God's Gift to the persecuted. + +'The kingdom of heaven.' + +This last promise is the same as the first--to express completeness, a +rounded whole. All the others are but elements of this. + +That highest reward given to the perfectest saint is but the fuller +possession of what is given in germ to the humblest and sinfullest at +the very first. The poor in spirit gets it at the beginning. + +It is not implied by this promise that a Christian man's blessedness +depends on the accident of some other person's behaviour to him, or that +martyrs have a place which none others can reach. But theirs is the +kingdom of heaven as a natural result of the character which brings +about persecution, and as a natural result of the development of that +character which persecution brings about. This promise, like all the +others, has its twofold fulfilment. + +There is a present recompense. + +Persecution is the result of a character which brings Christians into +the kingdom. Theirs is the kingdom--they are subjects. To them it is +given to enter. + +Persecution makes the present consciousness of the possession of the +kingdom more vivid and joyous. It brings the enforced sense of a +vocation separate from the hostile world's. As Thomas Fuller puts it +somewhere, in troublous times the Church builds high, just as the men do +in cities where there is little room to expand on the ground level. + +Persecution brightens and solidifies hope, and thus may become +infinitely sweet and blessed. How often it has been given to the martyr, +as it was given to Stephen, to see heaven opened and Jesus standing at +the right hand of God, as if risen to His feet to uphold as well as to +receive His servant. Paul and Silas made the prison walls ring with +their praises, though their backs were livid with wales and stained with +blood. And we, in our far smaller trials for Christ's sake, may have the +same more conscious possession of the kingdom and brightened hope of yet +fuller possession of it. + +There is a future recompense in the perfect kingdom, where men are +rewarded according to their capacities. And if the way in which we have +met the world's evil has been right, then that will have made us fit for +a fuller possession. + +In closing we recur to the thought of all these Beatitudes as a chain +and the beginning of all as being penitence and faith. + +Many a poor man, or many a little child, may have a higher place in +heaven than some who have died at the stake for their Lord, for not our +history, but our character, determines our place there, and all the +fulness of the kingdom belongs to every one who with penitent heart +comes to God in Christ, and then by slow degrees from that root brings +forth first the blade, then the ear, then the full corn in the ear. + +Here is Jesus' ideal of character--poor in spirit, mourning, meek, +hungering and thirsting after righteousness, merciful, pure in heart, +peacemakers, persecuted for righteousness' sake. To be these is to be +blessed. And here is Jesus' ideal of what, over and above the inherent +blessedness of such a character, constitutes the true blessedness of a +soul--the possession of the kingdom of heaven, comfort from God, the +inheritance of the earth of which the inheritor may not own a yard, full +satisfaction of the longing after righteousness, the obtaining of mercy +from God, the name of sons of God, and, last as first, the possession of +the kingdom of heaven. Is Jesus' ideal yours? Do you believe that such a +character is the highest that a man can attain, that in itself it is +truly blessed, and will bring about results in contrast with which all +baser-born joys are coarse and false? Happy will you be if you so +believe, and if so believing you make the ideal which He paints your +aim, and therefore secure the blessedness which He attaches to it as +your exceeding great reward. + + +SALT WITHOUT SAVOUR + + 'Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his + savour, wherewith shall it be salted? It is thenceforth good for + nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of + men.'--MATT. v. 13. + +These words must have seemed ridiculously presumptuous when they were +first spoken, and they have too often seemed mere mockery and irony in +the ages since. A Galilean peasant, with a few of his rude countrymen +who had gathered round him, stands up there on the mountain, and says to +them, 'You, a handful, are the people who are to keep the world from +rotting, and to bring it to all its best light.' Strange when we think +that Christ believed that these men were able to do these grand +functions because they drew their power from Himself! Stranger still to +think that, notwithstanding all the miserable inconsistencies of the +professing Church ever since, yet, on the whole, the experience of +history has verified these words! And although some wise men may curl +their lips with a sneer as they say about us Christians, '_Ye_ are the +salt of the earth!' yet the most progressive, and the most enlightened, +and the most moral portion of humanity has derived its impulse to +progress, its enlightenment as to the loftiest truths, and the purest +portion of its morality, from the men who received their power to impart +these from Jesus Christ. + +And so, dear brethren, I have to say two or three things now, which I +hope will be plain and earnest and searching, about the function of the +Christian Church, and of each individual member of it, as set forth in +these words; about the solemn possibility that the qualification for +that function may go away from a man; about the grave question as to +whether such a loss can ever be repaired; and about the certain end of +the saltless salt. + +I. First, then, as to the high task of Christ's disciples as here set +forth. + +'Ye are the salt of the earth'! The metaphor wants very little +explanation, however much enforcement it may require. It involves two +things: a grave judgment as to the actual state of society, and a lofty +claim as to what Christ's followers are able to do to it. + +A grave judgment as to the actual state of society--it is corrupt and +tending to corruption. You do not salt a living thing. You salt a dead +one that it may not be a rotting one. And, Christ says by implication +here, what He says plainly more than once in other places:--'Human +society, without My influence, is a carcass that is rotting away and +disintegrating; and you, faithful handful, who have partially +apprehended the meaning of My mission, and have caught something of the +spirit of My life, you are to be rubbed into that rotting mass to +sweeten it, to arrest decomposition, to stay corruption, to give flavour +to its insipidity, and to save it from falling to pieces of its own +wickedness. Ye are the _salt_ of the earth.' + +Now, it is not merely because we are the bearers of a truth that will do +all this that we are thus spoken of, but we Christian men are to do it +by the influence of conduct and character. + +There are two or three thoughts suggested by this metaphor. The chief +one is that of our power, and therefore our obligation, to arrest the +corruption round us, by our own purity. The presence of a good man +hinders the devil from having elbow-room to do his work. Do you and I +exercise a repressive influence (if we do not do anything better), so +that evil and low-toned life is ashamed to show itself in our presence, +and skulks back as do wrong-doers from the bull's-eye of a policeman's +lantern? It is not a high function, but it is a very necessary one, and +it is one that all Christian men and women ought to discharge--that of +rebuking and hindering the operation of corruption, even if they have +not the power to breathe a better spirit into the dead mass. + +But the example of Christian men is not only repressive. It ought to +tempt forth all that is best and purest and highest in the people with +whom they come in contact. Every man who does right helps to make public +opinion in favour of doing right; and every man who lowers the standard +of morality in his own life helps to lower it in the community of which +he is a part. And so in a thousand ways that I have no need to dwell +upon here, the men that have Christ in their hearts and something of +Christ's conduct and character repeated in theirs are to be the +preserving and purifying influence in the midst of this corrupt world. + +There are two other points that I name, and do not enlarge upon. The +first of them is--salt does its work by being brought into close contact +with the substance upon which it is to work. And so we, brought into +contact as we are with much evil and wickedness, by many common +relations of friendship, of kindred, of business, of proximity, of +citizenship, and the like,--we are not to seek to withdraw ourselves +from contact with the evil. The only way by which the salt can purify is +by being rubbed into the corrupted thing. + +And once more, salt does its work silently, inconspicuously, gradually. +'Ye are the light of the world,' says Christ in the next verse. Light is +far-reaching and brilliant, flashing that it may be seen. That is one +side of Christian work, the side that most of us like best, the +conspicuous kind of it. Ay! but there is a very much humbler, and, as I +fancy, a very much more useful, kind of work that we have all to do. We +shall never be the 'light of the world,' except on condition of being +'the salt of the earth.' You have to play the humble, inconspicuous, +silent part of checking corruption by a pure example before you can +aspire to play the other part of raying out light into the darkness, and +so drawing men to Christ Himself. + +Now, brethren, why do I repeat all these common, threadbare platitudes, +as I know they are? Simply in order to plant upon them this one question +to the heart and conscience of you Christian men and women:--Is there +anything in your life that makes this text, in its application to you, +other else than the bitterest mockery? + +II. The grave possibility of the salt losing its savour. + +There is no need for asking the question whether such loss is a physical +fact or not, whether in the natural realm it is possible for any forms +of matter that have saline taste to lose it by any cause. That does not +at all concern us. The point is that it is possible for us, who call +ourselves--and are--Christians, to lose our penetrating pungency, which +stays corruption; to lose all that distinguishes us from the men that we +are to better. + +Now I think that nobody can look upon the present condition of +professing Christendom; or, in a narrower aspect, upon the present +condition of English Christianity; or in a still narrower, nobody can +look round upon this congregation; or in the narrowest view, none of us +can look into our own hearts--without feeling that this saying comes +perilously near being true of us. And I beg you, dear Christian friends, +while I try to dwell on this point, to ask yourselves this +question--Lord, is it I? and not to be thinking of other people whom you +may suppose the cap will fit. + +There is, then, manifest on every side--first of all, the obliteration +of the distinction between the salt and the mass into which it is +inserted, or to put it into other words, Christian men and women swallow +down bodily, and practise thoroughly, the maxims of the world, as to +life, as to what is pleasant and what is desirable, and as to the +application of morality to business. There is not a hair of difference +in that respect between hundreds and thousands of professing Christian +men, and the irreligious man that has his office up the same staircase. +I know, of course, that there are in every communion saintly men and +women who are labouring to keep themselves unspotted from the world, but +I know too that in every communion there are those, whose religion has +next to no influence on their general conduct, and does not even keep +them from corruption, to say nothing of making them sources of purifying +influence. You cannot lay the flattering unction to your souls that the +reason why there is so little difference between the Church and the +world to-day is because the world has grown so much better. I know that +to a large extent the principles of Christian ethics have permeated the +consciousness of a country like this, and have found their way even +amongst people who make no profession at all of being Christians. Thank +God for it; but that does not explain it all. + +If you take a red-hot ball out of a furnace and lay it down upon a +frosty moor, two processes will go on--the ball will lose heat and the +surrounding atmosphere will gain it. There are two ways by which you +equalise the temperature of a hotter and a colder body: the one is by +the hot one getting cold, and the other is by the cold one getting hot. +If you are not heating the world, the world is freezing you. Every man +influences all men round him, and receives influences from them, and if +there be not more exports than imports, if there be not more influences +and mightier influences raying out from him than are coming into him, he +is a poor creature, and at the mercy of circumstances. 'Men must either +be hammers or anvil';--must either give blows or receive them. I am +afraid that a great many of us who call ourselves Christians get a great +deal more harm from the world than we ever dream of doing good to it. +Remember this, 'you are the salt of the earth,' and if you do not salt +the world, the world will rot you. + +Is there any difference between your ideal of happiness and the +irreligious one? Is there any difference between your notion of what is +pleasure, and the irreligious one? Is there any difference in your +application of the rules of morality to daily life, any difference in +your general way of looking at things from the way of the ungodly world? +Yes, or No? Is the salt being infected by the carcass, or is it +purifying the corruption? Answer the question, brother, as before God +and your own conscience. + +Then there is another thing. There can be no doubt but that all round +and shared by us, there are instances of the cooling of the fervour of +Christian devotion. That is the reason for the small distinction in +character and conduct between the world and the Church to-day. An Arctic +climate will not grow tropical fruits, and if the heat have been let +down, as it has been let down, you cannot expect the glories of +character and the pure unworldliness of conduct that you would have had +at a higher temperature. Nor is there any doubt but that the present +temperature is, with some of us, a distinct _loss_ of heat. It was +not always so low. The thermometer has gone down. + +There are, no doubt, some among us who had once a far more vigorous +Christian life than they have to-day; who were once far more aflame with +the love of God than they are now. And although I know, of course, that +as years go on emotion will become less vivid, and feeling may give +place to principle, yet I know no reason why, as years go on, fervour +should become less, or the warmth of our love to our Master should +decline. There will be less spluttering and crackling when the fire +burns up; there may be fewer flames; but there will be a hotter glow of +ruddy, unflaming heat. That is what ought to be in our Christian +experience. + +Nor can there be any doubt, I think, but that the partial obliteration +of the distinction between the Church and the world, and the decay of +the fervour of devotion which leads to it, are both to be traced to a +yet deeper cause, and that is the loss or diminution of actual +fellowship with Jesus Christ. It was that which made these early +disciples 'salt.' It was that which made them 'light.' It is that, and +that alone, which makes devotion burn fervid, and which makes characters +glow with the strange saintliness that rebukes iniquity, and works for +the purifying of the world. And so I would remind you that fellowship +with Jesus Christ is no vague exercise of the mind but is to be +cultivated by three things, which I fear me are becoming less and less +habitual amongst professing Christians:--Meditation, the study of the +Bible, private prayer. If you have not these--and you know best whether +you have them or not--no power in heaven or earth can prevent you from +losing the savour that makes you salt. + +III. Now I come to the next point, and that is the solemn question: Is +there a possibility of re-salting the saltless salt, of restoring the +lost savour? + +'Wherewithal shall it be salted?' says the Master. That is plain enough, +but do not let us push it too far. If the Church is meant for the +purifying of the world, and the Church itself needs purifying, is there +any power in the world that will do it? If the army joins the rebels, is +there any force that will bring back the army to submission? Our Lord is +speaking about ordinary means and agencies. He is saying in effect, if +the one thing that is intended to preserve the meat loses its power, is +there anything lying about that will salt that? So far, then, the answer +seems to be--No. + +But Christ has no intention that these words should be pushed to the +extreme of asserting that if salt loses its savour, if a man loses the +pungency of his Christian life, he cannot win it back, by going again to +the source from which he received it at first. There is no such +implication in these words. There is no obstacle in the way of a +penitent returning to the fountain of all power and purity, nor of the +full restoration of the lost savour, if a man will only bring about a +full reunion of himself with the source of the savour. + +Dear brethren, the message is to each of us; the same pleading words, +which the Apocalyptic seer heard from Heaven, come to you and me: +'Remember, therefore, from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do +the first works.' And all the savour and the sweetness that flow from +fellowship with Jesus Christ will come back to us in larger measure than +ever, if we will come back to the Lord. Repentance and returning will +bring back the saltness to the salt, and the brilliancy to the light. + +IV. But one last word warns us what is the certain end of the saltless +salt. + +As the other Evangelist puts it: 'It is neither good for the land nor +for the dunghill.' You cannot put it upon the soil; there is no +fertilising virtue in it. You cannot even fling it into the +rubbish-heap; it will do mischief there. Pitch it out into the road; it +will stop a cranny somewhere between the stones when once it is well +trodden down by men's heels. That is all it is fit for. God has no use +for it, man has no use for it. If it has failed in doing the only thing +it was created for, it has failed altogether. Like a knife that will not +cut, or a lamp that will not burn, which may have a beautiful handle, or +a beautiful stem, and may be highly artistic and decorated; but the +question is, Does it cut, does it burn? If not, it is a failure +altogether, and in this world there is no room for failures. The poorest +living thing of the lowest type will jostle the dead thing out of the +way. And so, for the salt that has lost its savour, there is only one +thing to be done with it--cast it out, and tread it under foot. + +Yes; where are the Churches of Asia Minor, the patriarchates of +Alexandria, of Antioch, of Constantinople; the whole of that early +Syrian, Palestinian Christianity: where are they? Where is the Church of +North Africa, the Church of Augustine? 'Trodden under foot of men!' Over +the archway of a mosque in Damascus you can read the half-obliterated +inscription--'Thy Kingdom, O Christ, is an everlasting Kingdom,' and +above it--'There is no God but God, and Mohammed is His prophet!' The +salt has lost his savour, and been cast out. + +And does any one believe that the Churches of Christendom are eternal in +their present shape? I see everywhere the signs of disintegration in the +existing embodiments and organisations that set forth Christian life. +And I am sure of this, that in the days that are coming to us, the storm +in which we are already caught, all dead branches will be whirled out of +the tree. So much the better for the tree! And a great deal that calls +itself organised Christianity will have to go down because there is not +vitality enough in it to stand. For you know it is low vitality that +catches all the diseases that are going; and it is out of the sick +sheep's eyeholes that the ravens peck the eyes. And it will be the +feeble types of spiritual life, the inconsistent Christianities of our +churches, that will yield the crop of apostates and heretics and +renegades, and that will fall before temptation. + +Brethren, remember this: Unless you go back close to your Lord, you will +go further away from Him. The deadness will deepen, the coldness will +become icier and icier; you will lose more and more of the life, and +show less and less of the likeness, and purity, of Jesus Christ until +you come to this--I pray God that none of us come to it--'Thou hast a +name that thou livest, and art dead.' Dead! + +My brother, let us return unto the Lord our God, and keep nearer Him +than we ever have done, and bring our hearts more under the influence of +His grace, and cultivate the habit of communion with Him; and pray and +trust, and leave ourselves in His hands, that His power may come into +us, and that we in the beauty of our characters, and the purity of our +lives, and the elevation of our spirits, may witness to all men that we +have been with Christ; and may, in some measure, check the corruption +that is in the world through lust. + + +THE LAMP AND THE BUSHEL + + 'Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill + cannot be hid. 15. Neither do men light a candle, and put it under + a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that + are in the house. 16. Let your light so shine before men, that they + may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in + heaven.'--Matt. v. 14-16. + +The conception of the office of Christ's disciples contained in these +words is a still bolder one than that expressed by the preceding +metaphor, which we considered in the last sermon. 'Ye are the salt of +the earth' implied superior moral purity and power to arrest corruption. +'Ye are the light of the world' implies superior spiritual illumination, +and power to scatter ignorance. + +That is not all the meaning of the words, but that is certainly in them. +So then, our Lord here gives His solemn judgment that the world, without +Him and those who have learned from Him, is in a state of darkness; and +that His followers have that to impart which will bring certitude and +clearness of knowledge, together with purity and joy and all the other +blessed things which are 'the fruit of the light.' + +That high claim is illustrated by a very homely metaphor. In every +humble house from which His peasant-followers came, there would be a +lamp--some earthen saucer with a little oil in it, in which a wick +floated, a rude stand to put it upon, a meal-chest or a flour-bin, and a +humble pallet on which to lie. These simple pieces of furniture are +taken to point this solemn lesson. 'When you light your lamp you put it +on the stand, do you not? You light it in order that it may give light; +you do not put it under the meal-measure or the bed. So I have kindled +you that you may shine, and put you where you are that you may give +light.' + +And the same thought, with a slightly different turn in the application, +lies in that other metaphor, which is enclosed in the middle of this +parable about the light: 'a city that is set on an hill cannot be hid.' +Where they stood on the mountain, no doubt they could see some village +perched upon a ridge for safety, with its white walls gleaming in the +strong Syrian sunlight; a landmark for many a mile round. So says +Christ: 'The City which I found, the true Jerusalem, like its prototype +in the Psalm, is to be conspicuous for situation, that it may be the joy +of the whole earth.' + +I take all this somewhat long text now because all the parts of it hold +so closely together, and converge upon the one solemn exhortation with +which it closes, and which I desire to lay upon your hearts and +consciences, 'Let your light so shine before men.' I make no pretensions +to anything like an artificial arrangement of my remarks, but simply +follow the words in the order in which they lie before us. + +I. First, just a word about the great conception of a Christian man's +office which is set forth in that metaphor, 'Ye are the light of the +world.' + +That expression is wide, 'generic,' as they say. Then in the unfolding +of this little parable our Lord goes on to explain what kind of a light +it is to which He would compare His people--the light of a lamp kindled. +Now that is the first point that I wish to deal with. Christian men +individually, and the Christian Church as a whole, shine by derived +light. There is but One who is light in Himself. He who said, 'I am the +light of the world, he that followeth Me shall not walk in darkness,' +was comparing Himself to the sunshine, whereas when He said to us, 'Ye +are the light of the world; men do not light a lamp and put it under a +bushel,' He was comparing us to the kindled light of the lamp, which had +a beginning and will have an end. + +Before, and independent of, His historical manifestation in the flesh, +the Eternal Word of God, who from the beginning was the Life, was also +the light of men; and all the light of reason and of conscience, all +which guides and illumines, comes from that one source, the Everlasting +Word, by whom all things came to be and consist. 'He was the true light +which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.' And further, the +historic Christ, the Incarnate Word, is the source for men of all true +revelation of God and themselves, and of the relations between them; the +Incarnate Ideal of humanity, the Perfect Pattern of conduct, who alone +sheds beams of certainty on the darkness of life, who has left a long +trail of light as He has passed into the dim regions beyond the grave. +In both these senses He is the light, and we gather our radiance from +Him. + +We shall be 'light' if we are 'in the Lord.' It is by union with Jesus +Christ that we partake of His illumination. A sunbeam has no more power +to shine if it be severed from the sun than a man has to give light in +this dark world if He be parted from Jesus Christ. Cut the current and +the electric light dies; slacken the engine and the electric arc becomes +dim, quicken it and it burns bright. So the condition of my being light +is my keeping unbroken my communication with Jesus Christ; and every +variation in the extent to which I receive into my heart the influx of +His power and of His love is correctly measured and represented by the +greater or the lesser brilliancy of the light with which I reflect His +radiance. Ye were some time darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord.' +Keep near to Him, and a firm hold of His hand, and then you will be +light. + +And now I need not dwell for more than a moment or two upon what I have +already said is included in this conception of the Christian man as +being light. There are two sides to it: one is that all Christian people +who have learned to know Jesus Christ and have been truly taught of Him, +do possess a certitude and clearness of knowledge which make them the +lights of the world. We advance no claims to any illumination as to +other than moral or religious truth. We leave all the other fields +uncontested. We bow humbly with confessed ignorance and with unfeigned +gratitude and admiration before those who have laboured in them, as +before our teachers, but if we are true to our Master, and true to the +position in which He has placed us, we shall not be ashamed to say that +we believe ourselves to know the truth, in so far as men can ever know +it, about the all-important subject of God and man, and the bond between +them. + +To-day there is need, I think, that Christian men and women should not +be reasoned or sophisticated or cowed out of their confidence that they +have the light because they do know God. It is proclaimed as the +ultimate word of modern thought that we stand in the presence of a power +which certainly is, but of which we can know nothing except that it is +altogether different from ourselves, and that it ever tempts us to +believe that we can know it, and ever repels us into despair. Our answer +is Yes! we could have told you that long ago, though not altogether in +your sense; you have got hold of half a truth, and here is the whole of +it:--'No man hath seen God at any time, nor can see Him!' (a Gospel of +despair, verified by the last words of modern thinkers), 'the only +begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared +Him.' + +Christian men and women, 'Ye are the light of the world.' Darkness in +yourselves, ignorant about many things, ungifted with lofty talent, you +have possession of the deepest truth; do not be ashamed to stand up and +say, even in the presence of Mars' Hill, with all its Stoics and +Epicureans:--'Whom ye ignorantly'--alas! not 'worship'--'Whom ye +ignorantly speak of, Him declare we unto you.' + +And then there is the other side, which I only name, moral purity. Light +is the emblem of purity as well as the emblem of knowledge, and if we +are Christians we have within us, by virtue of our possession of an +indwelling Christ, a power which teaches and enables us to practise a +morality high above the theories and doings of the world. But upon this +there is the less need to dwell, as it was involved in our consideration +of the previous figure of the salt. + +II. And now the next point that I would make is this, following the +words before us--the certainty that if we are light we shall shine. + +The nature and property of light is to radiate. It cannot choose but +shine; and in like manner the little village perched upon a hill there, +glittering and twinkling in the sunlight, cannot choose but be seen. So, +says Christ, 'If you have Christian character in you, if you have Me in +you, such is the nature of the Christian life that it will certainly +manifest itself.' Let us dwell upon that for a moment or two. Take two +thoughts: All earnest Christian conviction will demand expression; and +all deep experience of the purifying power of Christ upon character will +show itself in conduct. + +All earnest conviction will demand expression. Everything that a man +believes has a tendency to convert its believer into its apostle. That +is not so in regard to common every-day truths, nor in regard even to +truths of science, but it is so in regard to all moral truth. For +example, if a man gets a vivid and intense conviction of the evils of +intemperance and the blessings of abstinence, look what a fiery +vehemence of propagandism is at once set to work. And so all round the +horizon of moral truth which is intended to affect conduct; it is of +such a sort that a man cannot get it into brain and heart without +causing him before long to say--'This thing has mastered me, and turned +me into its slave; and I must speak according to my convictions.' + +That experience works most mightily in regard to Christian truth, as the +highest. What shall we say, then, of the condition of Christian men and +women if they have not such an instinctive need of utterance? Do you +ever feel this in your heart:--'Thy word shut up in my bones was like a +fire. I was weary of forbearing, and I could not stay'? Professing +Christians, do you know anything of the longing to speak your deepest +convictions, the feeling that the fire within you is burning through all +envelopings, and will be out? What shall we say of the men that have it +not? God forbid I should say there is no fire, but I do say that if the +fountain never rises into the sunlight above the dead level of the pool, +there can be very little pressure at the main; that if a man has not the +longing to speak his religious convictions, those convictions must be +very hesitating and very feeble; that if you never felt 'I must say to +somebody I have found the Messias,' you have not found Him in any very +deep sense, and that if the light that is in you can be buried under a +bushel, it is not much of a light after all, and needs a great deal of +feeding and trimming before it can be what it ought to be. + +On the other hand, all deep experience of the purifying power of Christ +upon character will show itself in conduct. It is all very well for +people to profess that they have received the forgiveness of sins and +the inner sanctification of God's Spirit. If you have, let us see it, +and let us see it in the commonest, pettiest affairs of daily life. The +communication between the inmost experience and the outermost conduct is +such as that if there be any real revolution deep down, it will manifest +itself in the daily life. I make all allowance for the loss of power in +transmission, for the loss of power in friction. I am glad to believe +that you and I, and all our imperfect brethren, are a great deal better +in heart than we ever manage to show ourselves to be in life. Thank God +for the consolation that may come out of that thought--but +notwithstanding I press on you my point that, making all such allowance, +and setting up no impossible standard of absolute identity between duty +and conduct in this present life, yet, on the whole, if we are Christian +people with any deep central experience of the cleansing power and +influence of Christ and His grace, we shall show it in life and in +conduct. Or, to put it into the graphic and plain image of my text, If +we are light we shall shine. + +III. Again, and very briefly, this obligation of giving light is still +further enforced by the thought that that was Christ's very purpose in +all that He has done with us and for us. + +The homely figure here implies that _He_ has not kindled the lamp to put +it under the bushel, but that _His_ purpose in lighting it was that it +might give light. God has made us partakers of His grace, and has given +to us to be light in the Lord, for this among other purposes, that we +should impart that light to others. No creature is so small that it has +not the right to expect that its happiness and welfare shall be regarded +by God as an end in His dealings with it; but no creature is so great +that it has the right to expect that its happiness or well-being shall +be regarded by God and itself as God's only end in His dealings with it. +He gives us His grace, His pardon, His love, the quickening of His +Spirit by our union with Jesus Christ; He gives us our knowledge of Him, +and our likeness to Him--what for? 'For my own salvation, for my +happiness and well-being,' you say. Certainly, blessed be His name for +His love and goodness! But is that all His purpose? Paul did not think +so when he said, 'God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness +hath shined into our hearts that we might give to others the light of +the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.' And +Christ did not think so when He said, 'Men do not light a candle and put +it under a bushel, but that it may give light to all that are in the +house.' 'Heaven doth with us as we with torches do: not light them for +themselves.' The purpose of God is that we may shine. The lamp is +kindled not to illumine itself, but that it may 'give light to all that +are in the house.' + +Consider again, that whilst all these things are true, there is yet a +solemn possibility that men--even good men--may stifle and smother and +shroud their light. You can do, and I am afraid a very large number of +you do do, this; by two ways. You can bury the light of a holy character +under a whole mountain of inconsistencies. If one were to be fanciful, +one might say that the bushel or meal-chest meant material well-being, +and the bed, indolence and love of ease. I wonder how many of us +Christian men and women have buried their light under the flour-bin and +the bed, so interpreted? How many of us have drowned our consecration +and devotion in foul waters of worldly lusts, and have let the love of +earth's goods, of wealth and pleasure and creature love, come like a +poisonous atmosphere round the lamp of our Christian character, making +it burn dim and blue? + +And we can bury the light of the Word under cowardly and sheepish and +indifferent silence. I wonder how many of us have done that? Like +blue-ribbon men that button their great-coats over their blue ribbons +when they go into company where they are afraid to show them, there are +many Christian people that are devout Christians at the Communion Table, +but would be ashamed to say they were so in the miscellaneous company of +a railway carriage or a _table d'hote_. There are professing Christians +who have gone through life in their relationships to their fathers, +sisters, wives, children, friends, kindred, their servants and +dependants, and have never spoken a loving word for their Master. That +is a sinful hiding of your light under the bushel and the bed. + +IV. And so the last word, into which all this converges, is the plain +duty: If you are light, shine! + +'Let your light so shine before men,' nays the text, 'that they may see +your good works and glorify your Father which is in Heaven.' In the next +chapter our Lord says: 'Take heed that ye do not your alms before men to +be seen of them. Thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are; for they love +to pray standing in the synagogues that they may be seen of men.' What +is the difference between the two sets of men and the two kinds of +conduct? The motive makes the difference for one thing, and for another +thing, 'Let your light so shine' does not mean 'take precautions that +your goodness may come out into public,' but it means 'Shine!' You find +the light, and the world will find the eyes, no fear of that! You do not +need to seek 'to be seen of men,' but you do need to shine that men may +see. + +The lighthouse keeper takes no pains that the ships tossing away out at +sea may behold the beam that shines from his lamp; all that he does is +to feed it and tend it. And that is all that you and I have to do--tend +the light, and do not, like cowards, cover it up. Modestly, but yet +bravely, carry out your Christianity, and men will see it. Do not be as +a dark lantern, burning with the slides down and illuminating nothing +and nobody. Live your Christianity, and it will be beheld. + +And remember, candles are not lit to be looked at. Candles are lit that +something else may be seen by them. Men may see God through your words, +through your conduct, who never would have beheld Him otherwise, because +His beams are too bright for their dim eyes. And it is an awful thing to +think that the world always--_always_--takes its conception of +Christianity from the Church, and neither from the Bible nor from +Christ; and that it is you and your like, you inconsistent Christians, +you people that say your sins are forgiven and yet are doing the old +sins day by day which you say are pardoned, you low-toned, unpraying, +worldly Christian men, who have no elevation of character and no +self-restraint of life and no purity of conduct above the men in your +own profession and in your own circumstances all round you--it is you +that are hindering the coming of Christ's Kingdom, it is you that are +the standing disgraces of the Church, and the weaknesses and diseases of +Christendom. I speak strongly, not half as strongly as the facts of the +case would warrant; but I lay it upon all your consciences as professing +Christian people to see to it that no longer your frivolities, or +doubtful commercial practices, or low, unspiritual tone of life, your +self-indulgence in household arrangements, and a dozen other things that +I might name--that no longer do they mar the clearness of your testimony +for your Master, and disturb with envious streaks of darkness the light +that shines from His followers. + +How effectual such a witness may be none who have not seen its power can +suppose. Example does tell. A holy life curbs evil, ashamed to show +itself in that pure presence. A good man or woman reveals the ugliness +of evil by showing the beauty of holiness. More converts would be made +by a Christ-like Church than by many sermons. Oh! if you professing +Christians knew your power and would use it, if you would come closer to +Christ, and catch more of the light from His face, you might walk among +men like very angels, and at your bright presence darkness would flee +away, ignorance would grow wise, impurity be abashed, and sorrow +comforted. + +Be not content, I pray you, till your own hearts are fully illumined by +Christ, having no part dark--and then live as remembering that you have +been made light that you may shine. 'Arise, shine, for thy light is +come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee.' + + +THE NEW FORM OF THE OLD LAW + + 'Think not that I am come to destroy the law or the prophets: I am + not come to destroy, but to fulfil. 18. For verily I say unto you, + Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise + pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. 19. Whosoever therefore + shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men + so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but + whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great + in the kingdom of heaven. 20. For I say unto you, That except your + righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and + Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven. + 21. Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt + not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the + judgment: 22. But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his + brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment; and + whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the + council; but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of + hell-fire. 23. Therefore, if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and + there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee; 24. + Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be + reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift. 25. + Agree with thine adversary quickly, whiles thou art in the way with + him; lest at any time the adversary deliver thee to the judge, and + the judge deliver thee to the officer, and thou be cast into + prison. 26. Verily I say unto thee, Thou shalt by no means come out + thence, till thou hast paid the uttermost farthing.'--MATT. v. + 17-26. + +This passage falls naturally into two parts--the former extending from +verse 17 to 20 inclusive; the latter, from verse 21 to the end. In the +former, the King of the true kingdom lays down the general principles of +the relation between its laws and the earlier revelation of the divine +will; in the latter, He exemplifies this relation in one case, which is +followed, in the remainder of the chapter, by three other illustrative +examples. + +I. The King laying down the law of His kingdom in its relation to the +older law of God. + +The four verses included in this section give a regular sequence of +thought: verse 17 declaring our Lord's personal relation to the former +revelation as fulfilling it; verse 18 basing that statement of the +purpose of His coming on the essential permanence of the old law; verses +19 and 20 deducing thence the relation of His disciples to that law, and +that in such a way that verse 19 corresponds to verse 18, and affirms +that this permanent law is binding in its minutest details on His +subjects, while verse 20 corresponds to verse 17, and requires their +deepened righteousness as answering to His fulfilment of the law. + +The first thing that strikes one in looking at these verses is their +authoritative tone. There may, even thus early in Christ's career, have +been some murmurs that He was taking up a position of antagonism to +Mosaism, which may account for the 'think not' which introduces the +section. But however that may be, the swift transition from the +Beatitudes to speak of Himself and of the meaning of His work is all of +a piece with His whole manner; for certainly never did religious teacher +open his mouth, who spoke so perpetually about Himself as did the meek +Jesus. 'I came' declares that He is 'the coming One,' and is really a +claim to have voluntarily appeared among men, as well as to be the +long-expected Messiah. With absolute decisiveness He states the purpose +of His coming. He knows the meaning of His own work, which so few of us +do, and it is safe to take His own account of what He intends, as it so +seldom is. His opening declaration is singularly composed of blended +humility and majesty. Its humility lies in His placing Himself, as it +were, in line with previous messengers, and representing Himself as +carrying on the sequence of divine revelation. It would not have been +humble for anybody but Him to say that, but it was so for Him. Its +majesty lies in His claim to 'fulfil' all former utterances from God. +His fulfilment of the law properly so called is twofold: first, in His +own proper person and life, He completes obedience to it, realises its +ideal; second, in His exposition of it, both by lip and life, He deepens +and intensifies its meaning, changing it from a letter which regulates +the actions, to a spirit which moves the inward man. + +So these first words point to the peculiarity of His coming as being His +own act, and make two daring assertions, as to His character, which He +claims to be sinless, and as to His teaching, which he claims to be an +advance upon all the former divine revelation. As to the former, He +speaks here as He did to John, 'thus it becometh us to fulfil all +righteousness.' No trace of consciousness of sin or defect appears in +any words or acts of His. The calmest conviction that He was perfectly +righteous is always manifest. How comes it that we are not repelled by +such a tone? We do not usually admire self-complacent religious +teachers. Why has nobody ever given Christ the lie, or pointed to His +unconsciousness of faults as itself the gravest fault? Strange inaugural +discourse for a humble sage and saint to assert his own immaculate +perfection, stranger still that a listening world has said, 'Amen!' +Note, too, the royal style here. In this part of the 'Sermon' our Lord +twice uses the phrase, 'I say unto you,' which He once introduces with +His characteristic 'verily.' Once He employs it to give solemnity to the +asseveration which stretches forward to the end of this solid-seeming +world, and once He introduces by it the stringent demand for His +followers' loftier righteousness. His unsupported word is given us as +our surest light in the dark future, His bare command as the most +imperative authority. This style goes kingly; it calls for absolute +credence and unhesitating submission. When He speaks, even if we have +nothing but His word, it is ours neither 'to make reply' nor 'to reason +why,' but simply to believe, and swiftly to do. Rabbis might split hairs +and quote other rabbis by the hour; philosophers may argue and base +their teachings on elaborate demonstrations; moralists may seek to sway +the conscience through reason; legislators to appeal to fear and hope. +He speaks, and it is done; He commands, and it stands fast. There is +nothing else in the world the least like the superb and mysterious +authority with which He fronts the world, and, as Fountain of knowledge +and Source of obligation, summons us all to submit and believe, by that +'Verily, I say unto you.' + +Verse 18. Next we have to notice the exuberant testimony to the +permanence of the law. Not the smallest of its letters, not even the +little marks which distinguished some of them, or the flourishes at the +top of some of them, should pass,--as we might say, not even the stroke +across a written 't,' which shows that it is not 'l.' The law shall last +as long as the world. It shall last till it be accomplished. And what +then? The righteousness which it requires can never be so realised that +we shall not need to realise it any more, and in the new heavens +righteousness dwelleth. But in a very real sense law shall cease when +fulfilled. There is no law to him who can say, 'Thy law is within my +heart.' When law has become both 'law and impulse,' it has ceased to be +law, in so far as it no longer stands over against the doer as an +external constraint. + +Verse 19. On this permanence of the law Christ builds its imperative +authority in His kingdom. Obviously, the 'kingdom of heaven' in verse 19 +means the earthly form of that kingdom. The King republishes, as it +were, the old code, and adopts it as the basis of His law. He thus +assumes the absolute right of determining precedence and dignity in that +kingdom. The sovereign is the 'fountain of honour,' whose word ennobles. +Observe the merciful accuracy of the language. The breach of the +commandments either in theory or in practice does not exclude from the +kingdom, for it is, while realised on earth, a kingdom of sinful men +aiming after holiness; but the smallest deflection from the law of +right, in theory or in practice, does lower a man's standing therein, +inasmuch as it makes him less capable of that conformity to the King, +and consequent nearness to Him, which determines greatness and smallness +there. Dignity in the kingdom depends on Christ-likeness, and +Christ-likeness depends on fulfilling, as He did, all righteousness. +Small flaws are most dangerous because least noticeable. More Christian +men lose their chance of promotion in the kingdom by a multitude of +little sins than by single great ones. + +Verse 20. As the King has Himself by His perfect obedience fulfilled the +law, His subjects likewise must, in their obedience, transcend the +righteousness of those who best knew and most punctiliously kept it. The +scribes and Pharisees are not here regarded as hypocrites, but taken as +types of the highest conformity with the law which the old dispensation +afforded. The new kingdom demands a higher, namely a more spiritual and +inward righteousness, one corresponding to the profounder meaning which +the King gives to the old commandment. And this loftier fulfilment is +not merely the condition of dignity in, but of entrance at all into, the +kingdom. Inward holiness is the essence of the character of all its +subjects. How that holiness is to be ours is not here told, except in so +far as it is hinted by the fact that it is regarded as the issue of the +King's fulfilling the law. These last words would have been terrible and +excluding if they had stood alone. When they follow 'I am come to +fulfil,' they are a veiled gospel, implying that by His fulfilment the +righteousness of the law is fulfilled in us. + +II. We have an illustrative example in the case of the old commandment +against murder. This part of the passage falls into three +divisions--each occupying two verses. First we have the deepening and +expansion of the commandment. This part begins with the royal style +again. 'What was said to them of old' is left in its full authority. +'But I say unto you' represents Jesus as possessing co-ordinate +authority with that law, of which the speaker is unnamed, perhaps +because the same Word of God which now spoke in Him had spoken it. We +need but refer here to the Jewish courts and Sanhedrim, and to that +valley of Hinnom, where the offal of Jerusalem and the corpses of +criminals were burned, nor need we discuss the precise force of 'Raca' +and 'thou fool.' The main points to be observed are, the distinct +extension of the conception of 'killing' to embrace malevolent anger, +whether it find vent or is kept close in the heart; the clear +recognition that, whilst the emotion which is the source of the overt +act is of the same nature as the act, and that therefore he who 'hateth +his brother is a murderer,' there are degrees in criminality, according +as the anger remains unexpressed, or finds utterance in more or less +bitter and contemptuous language; that consequently there are degrees in +the severity of the punishment which is administered by no earthly +tribunal; and that, finally, this stern sentence has hidden in it the +possibility of forgiveness, inasmuch as the consequence of the sin is +liability to punishment, but not necessarily suffering of it. The old +law had no such mitigation of its sentence. + +Verses 23, 24. The second part of this illustrative example intensifies +the command by putting obedience to it before acts of external worship. +The language is vividly picturesque. We see a worshipper standing at the +very altar while the priest is offering his sacrifice. In that sacred +moment, while he is confessing his sins, a flash across his memory shows +him a brother offended,--rightly or wrongly it matters not. The solemn +sacrifice is to pause while he seeks the offended one, and, whatever the +other man's reception of his advances may be, he cleanses his own bosom +of its perilous stuff; then he may come back and go on with the +interrupted worship. Nothing could put in a clearer light the prime +importance of the command than this setting aside of sacred religious +acts for its sake. 'Obedience is better than sacrifice.' And the little +word 'therefore,' at the beginning of verse 23, points to the terrible +penalties as the reason for this urgency. If such destruction may light +on the angry man, nothing should come between him and the conquest of +his anger. Such self-conquest, which will often seem like degradation, +is more acceptable service to the King, and truer worship, than all +words or ceremonial acts. Deep truths as to the relations between +worship, strictly so called, and life, lie in these words, which may +well be taken to heart by those whose altar is Calvary, and their gift +the thank-offering of themselves. + +Verses 25, 26. The third part is a further exhortation to the same +swiftness in casting out anger from the heart, thrown into a parabolic +form. When you quarrel with a man, says Christ in effect, prudence +enjoins to make it up as soon as possible, before he sets the law in +motion. If once he, as plaintiff, has brought you before the judge, the +law will go on mechanically through the stages of trial, condemnation, +surrender to the prison authorities, and confinement till the last +farthing has been paid. So, if you are conscious that you have an +adversary,--and any man that you hate is your adversary, for he will +appear against you at that solemn judgment to come,--agree with him, +put away the anger out of your heart at once. In the special case in +hand, the 'adversary' is the man with whom we are angry. In the general +application of the precept to the whole series of offences against the +law, the adversary may be regarded as the law itself. In either +interpretation, the stages of appearing before the judge and so on up +till the shutting up in prison are the stages of the judgment before the +tribunal, not of earth, but of the kingdom of heaven. They point to the +same dread realities as are presented in the previous verses under the +imagery of the Jewish courts and the foul fires of the valley of Hinnom. +Christ closes the grave parable with His solemn 'Verily I say unto +thee'--as looking on the future judgment, and telling us what His eyes +saw. The words have no bearing on the question of the duration of the +imprisonment, for He does not tell us whether the last farthing could +ever be paid or not; but they do teach this lesson, that, if once we +fall under the punishments of the kingdom, there is no end to them until +the last tittle of the consequences of our breach of its law has been +paid. To delay obedience, and still more to delay abandoning +disobedience, is madness, in view of the storm that may at any moment +burst on the heads of the rebels. + +Thus He deepens and fulfils one precept of the old law by extending the +sweep of its prohibition from acts to thoughts, by setting obedience to +it above sacrifice and worship, and by picturing in solemn tones of +parabolic warning the consequences of having the disobeyed precept as +our unreconciled adversary. In this one case we have a specimen of His +mode of dealing with the whole law, every jot of which He expanded in +His teaching, and perfectly observed in His life. + +A gospel is hidden even in these warnings, for it is distinctly taught +that the offended law may cease to be our adversary, and that we may be +reconciled with it, ere yet it has accused us to the judge. It was not +yet time to proclaim that the King 'fulfilled' the law, not only by +life, but by death, and that therefore all His believing subjects 'are +justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the +law,' as well as endowed with the righteousness by which they fulfil +that law in deeper reality, and fairer completeness, than did those 'of +old time,' who loved it most. + + +'SWEAR NOT AT ALL' + + 'Again, ye have heard that it hath been said by them of old time, + Thou shalt not forswear thyself, but shalt perform unto the Lord + thine oaths: 34. But I say unto you, Swear not at all; neither by + heaven; for it is God's throne: 35. Nor by the earth; for it is His + footstool; neither by Jerusalem; for it is the city of the great + King. 36. Neither shalt thou swear by thy head, because thou canst + not make one hair white or black. 37. But let your communication + be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay: for whatsoever is more than these cometh of + evil.'--MATT. v. 33-37. + +In His treatment of the sixth and seventh commandments, Jesus deepened +them by bringing the inner man of feeling and desire under their +control. In His treatment of the old commandments as to oaths, He +expands them by extending the prohibitions from one kind of oath to all +kinds. The movement in the former case is downwards and inwards; in the +latter it is outwards, the compass sweeping a wider circle. Perjury, a +false oath, was all that had been forbidden. He forbids all. We may note +that the forms of colloquial swearing, which our Lord specifies, are not +to be taken as an exhaustive enumeration of what is forbidden. They are +in the nature of a parenthesis, and the sentence runs on continuously +without them--'Swear not at all ... but let your communication be Yea, +yea; Nay, nay.' The reason appended is equally universal, for it +suggests the deep thought that 'whatsoever is more than these' that is +to say, any form of speech that seeks to strengthen a simple, grave +asseveration by such oaths as He has just quoted, 'cometh of evil' +inasmuch as it springs from, and reveals, the melancholy fact that his +bare word is not felt binding by a man, and is not accepted as +conclusive by others. If lies were not so common, oaths would be +needless. And oaths increase the evil from which they come, by +confirming the notion that there is no sin in a lie unless it is sworn +to. + +The oaths specified are all colloquial, which were and are continually +and offensively mingled with common speech in the East. Nowhere are +there such habitual liars, and nowhere are there so many oaths. Every +traveller there knows that, and sees how true is Christ's filiation of +the custom of swearing from the custom of falsehood. But these poisonous +weeds of speech not only tended to degrade plain veracity in the popular +mind, but were themselves parents of immoral evasions, for it was the +teaching of some Rabbis, at all events, that an oath 'by heaven' or 'by +earth' or 'by Jerusalem' or 'by my head' did not bind. That further +relaxation of the obligation of truthfulness was grounded on the words +quoted in verse 33, for, said the immoral quibblers, 'it is "thine oaths +to the Lord" that thou "shalt perform," and for these others you may do +as you like' Therefore our Lord insists that every oath, even these +mutilated, colloquial ones which avoid His name, is in essence an appeal +to God, and has no sense unless it is. To swear such a truncated oath, +then, has the still further condemnation that it is certainly an +irreverence, and probably a quibble, and meant to be broken. It must be +fully admitted that there is little in common between such pieces of +senseless profanity as these oaths, or the modern equivalents which +pollute so many lips to-day, and the oath administered in a court of +justice, and it may further be allowed weight that Jesus does not +specifically prohibit the oath 'by the Lord,' but it is difficult to see +how the principles on which He condemns are to be kept from touching +even judicial oaths. For they, too, are administered on the ground of +the false idea that they add to the obligation of veracity, and give a +guarantee of truthfulness which a simple affirmation does not give. Nor +can any one, who knows the perfunctory formality and indifference with +which such oaths are administered and taken, and what a farce 'kissing +the book' has become, doubt that even judicial oaths tend to weaken the +popular conception of the sin of a lie and the reliance to be placed +upon the simple 'Yea, yea; Nay, nay.' + + +NON-RESISTANCE + + 'Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a + tooth for a tooth: 39. But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: + but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the + other also. 40. And if any man will sue thee at the law, and take + away thy coat, let him have thy cloke also. 41. And whosoever shall + compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain. 42. Give to him that + asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of thee turn not thou + away.'--MATT. v. 38-42. + +The old law directed judges to inflict penalties precisely equivalent to +offences--'an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth' (Exod. xxi. 24), +but that direction was not for the guidance of individuals. It was +suited for the stage of civilisation in which it was given, and probably +was then a restriction, rather than a sanction, of the wild law of +retaliation. Jesus sweeps it away entirely, and goes much further than +even its abrogation. For He forbids not only retaliation but even +resistance. It is unfortunate that in this, as in so many instances, +controversy as to the range of Christ's words has so largely hustled +obedience to them out of the field, that the first thought suggested to +a modern reader by the command 'Resist not evil' (or, an evil man) is +apt to be, Is the Quaker doctrine of uniform non-resistance right or +wrong, instead of, Do I obey this precept? If we first try to understand +its meaning, we shall be in a position to consider whether it has +limits, springing from its own deepest significance, or not. What, then, +is it not to resist? Our Lord gives three concrete illustrations of what +He enjoins, the first of which refers to insults such as contumelious +blows on the cheek, which are perhaps the hardest not to meet with a +flash of anger and a returning stroke; the second of which refers to +assaults on property, such as an attempt at legal robbery of a man's +undergarment; the third of which refers to forced labour, such as +impressing a peasant to carry military or official baggage or +documents--a form of oppression only too well known under Roman rule in +Christ's days. In regard to all three cases, He bids His disciples +submit to the indignity, yield the coat, and go the mile. But such +yielding without resistance is not to be all. The other cheek is to be +given to the smiter; the more costly and ample outer garment is to be +yielded up; the load is to be carried for two miles. The disciple is to +meet evil with a manifestation, not of anger, hatred, or intent to +inflict retribution, but of readiness to submit to more. It is a hard +lesson, but clearly here, as always, the chief stress is to be laid, not +on the outward action, but on the disposition, and on the action mainly +as the outcome and exhibition of that. If the cheek is turned, or the +cloak yielded, or the second mile trudged with a lowering brow, and hate +or anger boiling in the heart, the commandment is broken. If the inner +man rises in hot indignation against the evil and its doer, he is +resisting evil more harmfully to himself than is many a man who makes +his adversary's cheeks tingle before his own have ceased to be reddened. +We have to get down into the depths of the soul, before we understand +the meaning of non-resistance. It would have been better if the eager +controversy about the breadth of this commandment had oftener become a +study of its depth, and if, instead of asking, 'Are we ever warranted in +resisting?' men had asked, 'What in its full meaning is non-resistance?' +The truest answer is that it is a form of Love,--love in the face of +insults, wrongs, and domineering tyranny, such as are illustrated in +Christ's examples. This article of Christ's New Law comes last but one +in the series of instances in which His transfiguring touch is laid on +the Old Law, and the last of the series is that to which He has been +steadily advancing from the first--namely, the great Commandment of +Love. This precept stands immediately before that, and prepares for it. +It is, as suffused with the light of the sun that is all but risen, +'Resist not evil,' for 'Love beareth all things.' + +It is but a shallow stream that is worried into foam and made angry and +noisy by the stones in its bed; a deep river flows smooth and silent +above them. Nothing will enable us to meet 'evil' with a patient +yielding love which does not bring the faintest tinge of anger even into +the cheek reddened by a rude hand, but the 'love of God shed abroad in +the heart,' and when that love fills a man, 'out of him will flow a +river of living water,' which will bury evil below its clear, gentle +abundance, and, perchance, wash it of its foulness. The 'quality of' +this non-resistance 'is twice blessed,' 'it blesseth him that gives and +him that takes.' For the disciple who submits in love, there is the gain +of freedom from the perturbations of passion, and of steadfast abiding +in the peace of a great charity, the deliverance from the temptation of +descending to the level of the wrong-doer, and of losing hold of God and +all high visions. The tempest-ruffled sea mirrors no stars by night, nor +is blued by day. If we are to have real communion with God, we must not +flush with indignation at evil, nor pant with desire to shoot the arrow +back to him that aimed it at us. And in regard to the evil-doer, the +most effectual resistance is, in many cases, not to resist. There is +something hid away somewhere in most men's hearts which makes them +ashamed of smiting the offered left cheek, and then ashamed of having +smitten the right one. 'It is a shame to hit him, since he does not +defend himself,' comes into many a ruffian's mind. The safest way to +travel in savage countries is to show oneself quite unarmed. He that +meets evil with evil is 'overcome of evil'; he that meets it with +patient love is likely in most cases to 'overcome evil with good.' And +even if he fails, he has, at all events, used the only weapon that has +any chance of beating down the evil, and it is better to be defeated +when fighting hate with love than to be victorious when fighting it with +itself, or demanding an eye for an eye. + +But, if we take the right view of this precept, its limitations are in +itself. Since it is love confronting, and seeking to transform evil into +its own likeness, it may sometimes be obliged by its own self not to +yield. If turning the other cheek would but make the assaulter more +angry, or if yielding the cloak would but make the legal robber more +greedy, or if going the second mile would but make the press-gang more +severe and exacting, resistance becomes a form of love and a duty for +the sake of the wrong-doer. It may also become a duty for the sake of +others, who are also objects of love, such as helpless persons who +otherwise would be exposed to evil, or society as a whole. But while +clearly that limit is prescribed by the very nature of the precept, the +resistance which it permits must have love to the culprit or to others +as its motive, and not be tainted by the least suspicion of passion or +vengeance. Would that professing Christians would try more to purge +their own hearts, and bring this solemn precept into their daily lives, +instead of discussing whether there are cases in which it does not +apply! There are great tracts in the lives of all of us to which it +should apply and is not applied; and we had better seek to bring these +under its dominion first, and then it will be time enough to debate as +to whether any circumstances are outside its dominion or not. + + +THE LAW OF LOVE + + 'Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy + neighbour, and hate thine enemy. 44. But I say unto you, Love your + enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, + and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; + 45. That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: + for He maketh His sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and + sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. 46. For if ye love them + which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the + same? 47. And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than + others! do not even the publicans so? 48. Be ye therefore perfect, + even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.'--MATT. v. + 43-48. + +The last of the five instances of our Lord's extending and deepening and +spiritualising the old law is also the climax of them. We may either +call it the highest or the deepest, according to our point of view. His +transfiguring touch invests all the commandments with which He has been +dealing with new inwardness, sweep, and spirituality, and finally He +proclaims the supreme, all-including commandment of universal love. 'It +hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour'--that comes from Lev. +xix. 18; but where does 'and hate thine enemy' come from? Not from +Scripture, but in the passage in Leviticus 'neighbour' is co-extensive +with 'children of thy people,' and the hatred and contempt of all men +outside Israel which grew upon the Jews found a foothold there. 'Who is +my neighbour?' was apparently a well-discussed question in the schools +of the Rabbis, and, whether any of these teachers ever committed +themselves to plainly formulating the principle or not, practically the +duty of love was restricted to a narrow circle, and the rest of the wide +world left out in the cold. But not only was the circumference of love's +circle drawn in, but to hate an enemy was elevated almost into a duty. +It is the worst form of retaliation. 'An eye for an eye' is bad enough, +but hate for hate plunges men far deeper in the devil's mire. To flash +back from the mirror of the heart the hostile looks which are flung at +us, is our natural impulse; but why should we always leave it to the +other man to pitch the keynote of our relations with him? Why should we +echo only his tones? Cannot we leave his discord to die into silence and +reply to it by something more musical? Two thunder-clouds may cast +lightnings at each other, but they waste themselves in the process. +Better to shine meekly and victoriously on as the moon does on piled +masses of darkness till it silvers them with its quiet light. So Jesus +bids us do. We are to suppress the natural inclination to pay back in +the enemy's own coin, to 'give him as good as he gave us,' to 'show +proper spirit,' and all the other fine phrases with which the world +whitewashes hatred and revenge. We are not only to allow no stirring of +malice in our feelings, but we are to let kindly emotions bear fruit in +words blessing the cursers, and in deeds of goodness, and, highest of +all, in prayers for those whose hate is bitterest, being founded on +religion, and who are carrying it into action in persecution. We cannot +hate a man if we pray for him; we cannot pray for him if we hate him. +Our weakness often feels it so hard not to hate our enemies, that our +only way to get strength to keep this highest, hardest commandment is to +begin by trying to pray for the foe, and then we gradually feel the +infernal fires dying down in our temper, and come to be able to meet his +evil with good, and his curses with blessings. It is a difficult lesson +that Jesus sets us. It is a blessed possibility that Jesus opens for +us, that our kindly emotions towards men need not be at the mercy of +theirs to us. It is a fair ideal that He paints, which, if Christians +deliberately and continuously took it for their aim to realise, would +revolutionise society, and make the fellowship of man with man a +continual joy. Think of what any community, great or small, would be, if +enmity were met by love only and always. Its fire would die for want of +fuel. If the hater found no answering hate increasing his hate, he would +often come to answer love with love. There is an old legend spread +through many lands, which tells how a princess who had been changed by +enchantment into a loathly serpent, was set free by being thrice kissed +by a knight, who thereby won a fair bride with whom he lived in love and +joy. The only way to change the serpent of hate into the fair form of a +friend is to kiss it out of its enchantment. + +No doubt, partial anticipations of this precept may be found, buried +under much ethical rubbish, elsewhere than in the Sermon on the Mount, +and more plainly in Old Testament teaching, and in Rabbinical sayings; +but Christ's 'originality' as a moral teacher lies not so much in the +absolute novelty of His commandments, as in the perspective in which He +sets them, and in the motives on which He bases them, and most of all in +His being more than a teacher, namely, the Giver of power to fulfil what +He enjoins. Christian ethics not merely recognises the duty of love to +men, but sets it as the foundation of all other duties. It is root and +trunk, all others are but the branches into which it ramifies. Christian +ethics not merely recognises the duty, but takes a man by the hand, +leads him up to his Father God, and says: There, that is your pattern, +and a child who loves his Father will try to copy his ways and be made +like Him by his love. So Morality passes into Religion, and through the +transition receives power beyond its own. The perfection of worship is +imitation, and when men 'call Him Father' whom they adore, imitation +becomes the natural action of a child who loves. + +A dew-drop and a planet are both spheres, moulded by the same law of +gravitation. The tiny round of our little drops of love may be not all +unlike the colossal completeness of that Love, which owns the sun as +'His sun,' and rays down light and distils rain over the broad world. +God loves all men apart altogether from any regard to character, +therefore He gives to all men all the good gifts that they can receive +apart from character, and if evil men do not get His best gifts, it is +not because He withholds, but because they cannot take. There are human +love-gifts which cannot be bestowed on enemies or evil persons. It is +not possible, nor fit, that a Christian should feel to such as he does +to those who share his faith and sympathies; but it is possible, and +therefore incumbent, that he should not only negatively clear his heart +of malice and hatred, but that he should positively exercise such active +beneficence as they will receive. That is God's way, and it should be +His children's. + +The thought of the divine pattern naturally brings up the contrast +between it and that which goes by the name of love among men. Just +because Christians are to take God as their example of love, they must +transcend human examples. Here again Jesus strikes the note with which +He began His teaching of His disciples' 'righteousness'; but very +significantly He does not now point to Pharisees, but to publicans, as +those who were to be surpassed. The former, no doubt, were models of +'righteousness' after a rigid, whitewashed-sepulchre sort, but the +latter had bigger hearts, and, bad as they were and were reputed to be, +they loved better than the others. Jesus is glad to see and point to +even imperfect sparks of goodness in a justly condemned class. No doubt, +publicans in their own homes, with wife and children round them, let +their hearts out, and could be tender and gentle, however gruff and +harsh in public. When Jesus says '_even_ the publicans,' He is not +speaking in contempt, but in recognition of the love that did find some +soil to grow on, even in that rocky ground. But is not the bringing in +of the 'reward' as a motive a woful downcome? and is love that loves for +the sake of reward, love at all? The criticism and questions forget that +the true motive has just been set forth, and that the thought of +'reward' comes in, only as secondary encouragement to a duty which is +based upon another ground. To love because we shall gain something, +either in this world or in the next, is not love but long-sighted +selfishness; but to be helped in our endeavours to widen our love so as +to take in all men, by the vision of the reward, is not selfishness but +a legitimate strengthening of our weakness. Especially is that so, in +view of the fact that 'the reward' contemplated is nothing else than the +growth of likeness to the Father in heaven, and the increase of filial +consciousness, and the clearer, deeper cry, 'Abba, Father.' If longing +for, and having regard to, that 'recompense of reward' is selfishness, +and if the teaching which permits it is immoral, may God send the world +more of such selfishness and of teachers of it! + +But the reference to the shrunken love-streams that flow among men +passes again swiftly to the former thought of likeness to God as the +great pattern. Like a bird glancing downwards for a moment to earth, and +then up again and away into the blue, our Lord's words re-soar, and +settle at last by the throne of God. The command, 'Be ye perfect, even +as your Father which is in heaven is perfect,' may be intended to refer +only to the immediately preceding section, but one is inclined to regard +it rather as the summing up of the whole of the preceding series of +commandments from verse 20 onwards. The sum of religion is to imitate +the God whom we worship. The ideal which draws us to aim at its +realisation must be absolutely perfect, however imperfect may be all our +attempts to reproduce it. We sometimes hear it said that to set up +perfection as our goal is to smite effort dead and to enthrone despair. +But to set up an incomplete ideal is the surest way to take the heart +out of effort after it. It is the Christian's prerogative to have ever +gleaming before him an unattained aim, to which he is progressively +approximating, and which, unreached, beckons, feeds hope of endless +approach, and guarantees immortality. + + +TRUMPETS AND STREET CORNERS + + 'Take heed that ye do nob your alms before men, to be seen of them: + otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven. 2. + Therefore, when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet + before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues, and in the + streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, + They have their reward. 3. But when thou doest alms, let not thy + left hand know what thy right hand doeth; 4. That thine alms may be + in secret: and thy Father, which seeth in secret, Himself shall + reward thee openly. 5. And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as + the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the + synagogues, and in the corners of the streets, that they may be + seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.'--MATT. + vi. 1-5. + +Our Lord follows His exposition of the deepened sense which the old law +assumes in His kingdom, by a warning against the most subtle foes of +true righteousness. He first gives the warning in general terms in verse +1, and then flashes its light into three dark corners, and shows how +hankering after men's praise corrupts the beneficence which is our duty +to our neighbour, the devotion which is our duty to God, and the +abstinence which is our duty to ourselves. We deal now with the two +former. + +We have first the general warning, given out like the text of a sermon, +or the musical phrase which underlies the various harmonies of some +concerto. The first word implies that the evil is a subtle and seducing +one. 'Take heed' as of something which may steal into and mar the +noblest lives. The serpent lies coiled under the leaves, and may sting +and poison the unwary hand. The generality of the warning, and the +logical propriety of the whole section, require the adoption of the +reading of the Revised Version, namely, 'righteousness.' The thing to be +taken heed of is not the doing it 'before men,' which will often be +obligatory, often necessary, and never in itself wrong, but the doing it +'to be seen of them.' Not the number of spectators, but the furtive +glance of our eyes to see if they are looking at us, makes the sin. We +are to let our good works shine, that men may glorify our Father. Pious +souls are to shine, and yet to be hid,--a paradox which can be easily +solved by the obedient. If our motive is to make God's glory more +visible, we shall not be seeking to be ourselves admired. The +harp-string's swift vibrations, as it gives out its note, make it +unseen. + +The reason for the warning goes on two principles: one that +righteousness is to be rewarded, over and above its own inherent +blessedness; another, that the prospect of the reward is a legitimate +stimulus, over and above the prime reason for righteousness, namely, +that it is righteous. The New Testament morality is not good enough for +some very superfine people, who are pleased to call it selfish because +it lets a martyr brace himself in the fire by the vision of the crown +athwart the smoke. Somehow or other, however, that selfish morality gets +itself put in practice, and turns out more unselfish people than its +assailants manage to produce. Perhaps the motive which they attack may +be part of the reason. + +The mingling of regard for man's approbation with apparently righteous +acts absolutely disqualifies them for receiving God's reward, for it +changes their whole character, and they are no longer what they seem. +Charity given from that motive is not charity, nor prayer offered from +it devotion. + +I. The general warning is applied to three cases, of which we have to +deal with two. Our Lord speaks first of ostentatious almsgiving. Note +that we are not to take 'blowing the trumpets' as actual fact. Nobody +would do that in a synagogue. The meaning of all attempts, however +concealed, to draw attention to one's beneficence, is just what the +ear-splitting blast would be; and the incongruity of startling the +worshippers with the harsh notes is like the incongruity of doing good +and trying to attract notice. I think Christ's ear catches the screech +of the brazen abomination in a good many of the ways of raising and +giving money, which find favour in the Church to-day. This is an +advertising age, and flowers that used to blush unseen are forced now +under glass for exhibition. No one needs to blow his own trumpet +nowadays. We have improved on the ruder methods of the Pharisees, and +newspapers and collectors will blow lustily and loud for us, and defend +the noise on the ground that a good example stimulates others. Perhaps +so, though it may be a question what it stimulates to, and whether B's +gift, drawn from him in imitation or emulation of A's, is any liker +Christ's idea of gifts than was A's, given that B might hear of it. To +a very large extent, the money getting and giving arrangements of the +modern Church are neither more nor less than the attempt to draw +Christ's chariot with the devil's traces. Christ condemned ostentation. +His followers too often try to make use of it. 'They have their reward.' +Observe that _have_ means _have received in full_, and note the emphasis +of that _their_. It is all the reward that they will ever get, and all +that they are capable of. The pure and lasting crown, which is a fuller +possession of God Himself, has no charms for them, and could not be +given. And what a poor thing it is which they seek--the praise of men, a +breath, as unsubstantial and short-lived as the blast of the trumpet +which they blew before their selfish benevolence. Their charity was no +charity, for what they did was not to give, but to buy. Their gift was a +speculation. They invested in charity, and looked for a profit of +praise. How can they get God's reward? True benevolence will even hide +the giving right hand from the idle left, and, as far as may be, will +dismiss the deed from the doer's consciousness. Such alms, given wholly +out of pity and desire to be like the all-giving Father, can be +rewarded, and will be, with that richer acquaintance with Him and more +complete victory over self, which is the heaven of heaven and the +foretaste of it now. + +In its coarsest forms, this ostentation is out and out hypocrisy, which +consciously assumes a virtue which it has not. But far more common and +dangerous is the subtle, unconscious mingling of it with real +charity--the eye wandering from the poor, whom the hand is helping, to +the bystanders--and it is this mingling which we have therefore to take +most heed to avoid. One drop of this sour stuff will curdle whole +gallons of the milk of human kindness. The hypocrisy which hoodwinks +ourselves is more common and perilous than that which blinds others. + +II. We need not dwell at length on the second application of the general +warning--to prayer; as the words are almost, and the thoughts entirely, +identical with those of the former verses. If there be any action of the +spirit which requires the complete exclusion of thoughts of men, it is +prayer, which is the communion of the soul alone with God. It is as +impossible to pray, and at the same time to think of men, as to look up +and down at once. If we think of prayer, as formalists in all times have +done, as so many words, then it will not seem incongruous to choose the +places where men are thickest for 'saying our prayers,' and we shall do +it with all the more spirit if we have spectators. That accounts for a +great deal of the 'devotion' in Mohammedan and Roman Catholic countries +which travellers with no love for Protestant Christianity are so fond of +praising. But if we think of prayer as Christ did, as being the yearning +of the soul to God, we shall feel that the inmost chamber and the closed +door are its fitting accompaniments. Of course, our Lord is not +forbidding united prayer; for each of the assembled worshippers may be +holding communion with God, which is none the less solitary though +shared by others, and none the less united though in it each is alone +with God. + +III. Our Lord passes for a time from the more immediate subject of +ostentation to add other teaching about prayer, which still farther +unfolds its true conception. Another corruption arising from the error +of thinking that prayer is an outward act, is 'vain repetition,' +characteristic of all heathen religion, and resting upon a profound +disbelief in the loving willingness of God to help. Of course, earnest, +reiterated prayer is not vain repetition. Jesus is not here condemning +His own agony in Gethsemane when He thrice 'said the same words.' The +persistence in prayer, which is the child of faith, is no relation to +the parrot-like repetition which is the child of disbelief, nor does the +condemnation of the one touch the other. The frenzied priests who +yelled, 'O Baal, hear us!' all the long day; the Buddhists who repeat +the sacred invocation till they are stupefied; the poor devotee who +thinks merit is proportioned to the number of Paternosters and Aves, are +all instances of this gross mechanical conception of prayer. Are there +no similar superstitions nearer home? Are there no ministers or +congregations that we ever heard of, who have a regulation length for +their prayers, and would scarcely think they had prayed at all if their +devotions were as short as most of the prayers in the Bible? Are we in +no danger of believing what Christ here tells us is pure +heathenism--that many words may move God? + +The only real remedy against such degradation of the very idea of prayer +lies in the deeper conceptions of God and of it which Christ here gives. +He knows our needs before we ask. Then what is prayer for? Not to inform +Him, nor to move Him, unwilling, to have mercy, as if, like some proud +prince, He required a certain amount of recognition of His greatness as +the price of His favours, but to fit our own hearts by conscious need +and true desire and dependence, to receive the gifts which He is ever +willing to give, but we are not always fit to receive. As St. Augustine +has it, the empty vessel is by prayer carried to the full fountain. + + +SOLITARY PRAYER + + 'Enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to + thy Father which is in secret,'--MATT. vi. 6. + +An old heathen who had come to a certain extent under the influence of +Christ, called prayer 'the flight of the solitary to the Solitary.' +There is a deep truth in that, though not all the truth. + +Prayer is not only the most intensely individual act that a man can +perform, but it is also the highest social act. Christ came not to carry +solitary souls by a solitary pathway to heaven, but to set the solitary +in families and to rear up a church. Of that church the highest function +is united worship. + +No one is likely to fall into the mistake of supposing that this passage +before us condemns praying in the synagogues, or even, if need were, at +the street corners. It does not, of course, interdict social public +prayer, though it enjoins solitary secret communion with the solitary, +secret God. + +I. What is the practice here enjoined? + +Since 'that they may be seen of men' constitutes the evil, we may fairly +say that Christ is not here prescribing the place where, but the spirit +in which, we ought to pray; that what He condemns is not the fact of +praying where we can be seen, but of picking out the place in order that +we may be seen; that, in a word, the contrast here is between +ostentation and sincerity. A man that has sidelong looks at the +passers-by in his devotions has not much devotion. + +But then, as a material help to this, we need solitude and secrecy; they +are not indispensable, but almost so. And in that solitude what is to be +our occupation? One word answers the question--Communion. We are to be +alone that we may more fully and thrillingly feel that we are with God. +That communion will have an intellectual element in which we try to rise +to perception of the high truths as to God, or in meditation gaze on +Him, and a petitionary element in which we ask for the communication of +His grace according to our needs. + +II. What is the special worth of such a habit? + +1. The truths that we profess to believe are in their nature such as can +only be vividly realised by such an exercise. They are all matters of +faith, not of sense. God is a spirit, and is felt near by none but still +and waiting spirits. Our religion has to do with the Unseen, the Solemn, +the Profound, the Remote. These are not to be fully felt hastily. They +are like mountains that grow on us as we gaze, like a fair scene that we +must be alone in, rightly to feel. They must be allowed to saturate the +soul. The eye must be slowly accustomed to the light. + +2. The pressure of the world can only be resisted by such an exercise. + +Our business as Christians is to keep ourselves free from it. + +3. The tone and balance of our own minds can only be preserved and +restored thus. Solitude is the mother-country of the strong. 'I was left +alone, and I saw this great vision.' We get hot and fevered, interested +and absorbed, and we need solitude as a counterpoise. + +4. What is the connection of this with other kinds of worship and with +our life's work? It has a function of its own. + +These cannot be substituted for it--public worship, reading Christian +books, bring a different class of feelings altogether into play. + +They are not to be excluded by it. They find their true foundation in +it. A tree's branches stretch to the same circumference as its roots. + +5. What is the special need of this precept for this age? + +It is neglected in our modern life. The evils of our modern +Christianity, the low tone of religion, the small grasp of Christian +truth, the irreligious cast of religious work. + +The thought of being alone with God will be a joy--or a terror. + + +THE STRUCTURE OF THE LORD'S PRAYER + + 'After this manner therefore pray ye.'--MATT. vi. 9. + +'After this manner' may or may not imply that Christ meant this prayer +to be a form, but He certainly meant it for a model. And they who drink +in its spirit, and pray, seeking God's glory before their own +satisfaction, and, while trustfully asking from His hand their daily +bread, rise quickly to implore the supply of their spiritual hunger, do +pray after this manner,' whether they use these words or no. + +All begins with the recognition of the Fatherhood of God. The clear and +fixed contemplation of God is the beginning of all true prayer, and that +contemplation does not fasten on His remote and partially intelligible +attributes, nor strive to climb to behold Him as in Himself, but grasps +Him as related to us. The Fatherhood of God implies His communication of +life, His tenderness, and our kindred. This is the prayer of the +children of the kingdom, and can only be truly offered by those who, by +faith in the Son, have received the adoption of sons. It gathers all +such into a family, so delivering their prayer from selfish absorption +in their own joys or needs. As our Father 'in Heaven,' He is lifted +clear above earth's limitations, changes, and imperfections. So +childlike familiarity is sublimed into reverence, our hearts are drawn +upward, and freed from the oppressive and narrowing attachment to earth +and sense. + +The perfect sevenfold petitions of the prayer fall into two halves, +corresponding roughly to the first and second tables of the decalogue. +The first half consists of three petitions, which refer to God and His +kingdom. They are three, in accordance with the symbolism of numbers +which, in the Old Testament, always regards three as the sacred number +of completeness and of divinity. The second half consists of four +petitions, which refer to ourselves. They are four--the number which +symbolises the creature. The lessons taught by the order in which these +two halves occur do not need to be dwelt upon. God first and man second, +His glory before our wants--that is the true order. For how few of us is +it the spontaneous order! Do we first rise to God, and only secondly +descend to ourselves? + +Note, too, the sequence in each of these halves. In the first we may say +that we begin from above and come down, or from within and come +outwards. In the second, the process is the opposite. We begin on the +lowest level with our external needs, and go upwards and inwards to +removal of sin, exemption from temptation, and complete deliverance from +evil. The first half gives us the beginning, middle, and end of God's +purposes for the world. The recognition of His name is the basis of His +kingdom, and His kingdom is the sphere in which alone His will is done. +The second half, in like manner, gives us the beginning, middle, and end +of His dealings with the individual, the common mercies of daily bread, +forgiveness, guidance, protection in conflict, and final deliverance. + +The 'name' of God is His revealed character. He hallows it when He so +acts as to make His holiness manifest. We hallow it when we regard it as +the holy thing which it is. That petition is first, because the +knowledge of God as He is self-revealed is the deepest want of men, and +the spread of that knowledge and reverence is the way by which His +kingdom comes. + +God's kingdom is His rule over men's hearts. Christ began His ministry +by proclaiming its near approach, and in effect brought it to earth. But +it spreads slowly in the individual heart, and in the world. Therefore, +this second petition is ever in place, until the consummation. God's +rule is established through the hallowing of His name; for it is a rule +which works on men through their understandings, and seeks no ignorant +submission. + +The sum of this first half is, 'Thy will be done, as in Heaven, so on +earth.' Obedience to that will is the end of God's self-revelation. It +makes all the difference whether we begin with the thought of the name +or of the will. In the latter case, religion will be slavish and +submission sullen. There is no more horrible and paralysing conception +of God than that of mere sovereign will. But if we think of Him as +desiring that we should know His name, and as gathering all its +syllables into the one perfect 'Word of God'; then we are sure that His +will must be intelligible and good. Obedience becomes delight, and the +surrender of our wills to His the glad expression of love. He who begins +with 'Thy will be done' is a slave, and never really does the will at +all; he who begins with 'Our Father, hallowed be Thy name,' is a son, +and his will, gladly yielding, is free in surrender, strong in +self-abnegation, and restful in putting the reins into God's hands. + +The two halves make a whole. The second, which deals with our needs, +starts with the cry for bread, and climbs up slowly through the ills of +life, from bodily hunger to trespasses and human unkindness and personal +weakness, and a world of temptation, and the double evil of sin and of +sorrow, and so regains at last the starting-point of the first half, +Heaven and God. The probable meaning of the difficult word rendered +'daily' seems to be 'sufficient for our need.' The lessons of the +petition are that God's children have a claim for the supply of their +wants, since He is bound, as a faithful Creator, not to send mouths +without sending meat to fill them, but that our desires should be +limited to our actual necessities, and our cravings, as well as our +efforts for the bread that perishes, made into prayers. Such a prayer +rightly used would put an end to much wicked luxury among Christians, +and to many questionable ways of getting wealth. 'Bless my cheating, my +sharp practice, my half lies!' If we dare not pray this prayer over what +we do in 'earning our living,' we had better ask ourselves whether we +are not rather earning our death. + +Sin is debt Incurred to God. So Christ taught in the previous chapter by +His parable of agreeing with the adversary; and in the other parables +of the two debtors (Luke vii. 41) and of the unmerciful servant (Matt. +xviii. 23). As universal as the need for bread is the need for pardon. +It is the first want of the spiritual nature, but it is a constantly +recurring want, as this petition teaches us. Forgiveness is the +cancelling of a debt; but we must not forget that it is a Father's +forgiveness, and therefore does not merely, or even chiefly, imply the +removal of penalty, but much rather the unimpeded flow of the Father's +love, and consequently the removal of the miserable consciousness of +separation from Him. The appended comparison 'as we have forgiven' does +not mean that our forgiveness is the reason for God's forgiveness of us. +The ground of our pardon is Christ's work, the condition of it our +faith; but, as we saw in considering the Beatitudes, the condition on +which the children of the kingdom can retain the blessing of the divine +pardon is their imitation of it. + +The next petition is the expression of conscious weakness. The forgiven +man, though in his deepest soul hating sin, is still surrounded with +sparks which may fire the combustibles in his heart. If we ask not to be +led into temptation, because we want a smooth and easy road, we are +wrong. If we do so from self-distrust and fear lest we fall, then it is +allowable. But perhaps we may draw a distinction between being tempted +and being led into temptation. The former may mean the presentation of +an inducement to do evil which we cannot hope to escape, and which it is +not well that we should escape. The latter may mean the further step of +embracing or being entangled in it by consenting to it. We do not need +to dread the entrance into the Valley of the Shadow of Death, for if the +Lord be with us we shall pass through it. Our prayer may mean, lead us, +not into, but through, the trial. It is the plaint of conscious +weakness, the recognition of God as ordering our path, the cry of a +heart which desires holiness most of all, and which trusts in God's +upholding hand in the hour of trial. + +'Deliver us from evil' is a petition which, in its width, fits the close +of the prayer better than does the translation of the Revised Version. +There seems an echo of the words in Paul's noble confidence while the +headsman's axe was so near, 'The Lord will deliver me from every evil +work.' Entire exemption from evil of every sort, whether sin or sorrow, +is the true end of our prayers, as it is the crown of God's purpose. +Nothing less can satisfy our yearnings; nothing less can fulfil the +divine desire for us. Nothing less should be the goal of our faith and +hope. To the height of meek assurance, and the reaching out of our souls +in desire which is the pledge of its own fulfilment, Christ would have +us attain on the wings of prayer. _They_ can have no narrower bonds +to the horizon of their hopes, nor any lesser blessing for the +satisfaction of their longings, whose prayer begins with 'Our Father +which art in heaven'; for where the Father is, the child must wish to +be, and some day will be, to go out no more. + + +'OUR FATHER' + + 'Our Father which art in heaven.'--Matt. vi. 9. + +The words of Christ, like the works of God, are inexhaustible. Their +depth is concealed beneath an apparent simplicity which the child and +the savage can understand. But as we gaze upon them and try to fathom +all their meaning, they open as the skies above us do when we look +steadily into their blue chambers, or as the sea at our feet does when +we bend over to pierce its clear obscure. The poorest and weakest learns +from them the lesson of divine love and a mighty helper; the reverent, +loving contemplation of the profoundest souls, and the experience of all +the ages discern ever new depths in them and feel that much remains +unlearned. 'They did all eat and were filled, men, women, and +children--and they took up of fragments that were left five baskets +full.' + +This is especially true about the Lord's Prayer. We teach it to our +children, and its divine simplicity becomes their lisping tongues and +little folded hands. But the more we ponder it, and try to make it the +model of our prayers, the more wonderful does its fulness of meaning +appear, the more hard does it become to pray 'after this manner.' There +is everything in it: the loftiest revelation of God in His relations to +us and in His purposes with the world; the setting forth of all our +relations to Him, to His purposes, and to one another; the grandest +vision of the future for mankind; the care for the smallest wants of +each day. + +As a theology, it smites into fragments all false, unworthy human +thoughts of God. As an exposition of religion, the man who has drunk in +its spirit has ceased from self-will and sin. As a foundation of social +morals it lays deep the only basis for true human brotherhood, and he +who lives in its atmosphere will live in charity and helpfulness with +all mankind. As a guide for personal life, it gives us authoritatively +the order and relative worth of all human desires, and with these the +order and subordination of our pursuits and life's aims. As a prayer it +is all comprehensive and intended to be so, holding within the perfect +seven of its petitions, all for which we should come to God, and resting +them all on His divine name, and closing them all with a chorus of +thanksgiving. As a prophecy it opens the loftiest vision, beyond which +none is possible, of the final transformation of this world into the +kingdom in which God's will shall be perfectly done, and of the final +deliverance from, all evil of the struggling, sinning, sorrowing souls +of His children. + +I desire to try in a series of sermons to set forth what little I can +see of the depth and comprehensiveness of this model of all prayer, and +of its ever fresh applicability to the wants and difficulties of our +days as of all days. But before dealing with that great invocation of +the divine name on which all rests, a word or two must be said touching +the introductory clause. + +'After this manner pray ye.' The question which is usually made +prominent in thinking of these words is really a very subordinate one. +Did Christ intend to establish a form, or only to give an example? +Churchmen say, a form; Dissenters generally say, an example. But it +would be better for both Churchmen and Dissenters to try to realise for +themselves what 'this manner' is. + +Unquestionably, whether our Lord is giving us a form or not, His chief +object was not to prescribe words. To pray is not to repeat petitions, +and His commandment has for its chief meaning a much deeper one than +that He was giving us either a form which we are to incorporate verbally +with our prayers, or an outline according to which our spoken +supplications are to be shaped. Whether in addition to this we are to +regard the very words as to be used by us, will be determined by each +man and church according as he regards the use of set forms in prayer as +being the true and noblest manner of prayer. Such use is certainly not +inconsistent with the utmost spirituality, but the habitual use of +forms, especially their exclusive use, seems to many of us to be +dangerous, regard being had to the tendency of human nature to rest in +them. And it is not without significance that this very prayer of our +Lord's, which was given as the corrective of vain repetitions and idle, +heathenish chattering of forms of prayer, has itself come to be the +saddest instance in all Christendom of these very faults, while the +beads slip through the fingers of the mechanical repeater of muttered +Paternosters. Instead of wrangling about this subordinate question, let +us try to pray after this manner. We shall find it hard, but blessed. Be +sure that every prayer not after this manner is after a wrong manner. + +This prayer helps to reverse our foolish desire to make earth foremost. +The true end of prayer is to get our wills harmonised with His, not to +bend His to ours. Surely if self-denial and submission be the very heart +of Christianity, that should be most expressed in prayer which is the +very sanctuary of religion. The prayers that are to be offered after +this manner will not be passionate, petulant pleadings or prescriptions +to God to do this or that, but in them God and His glory will be first, +I second, and through Him and as He wills. + +Ah, brethren! this is an awful requirement of Christ's. Who dare take +such holy words into his lips? It is a hard matter to pray as Christ +taught us. The prayer seems to move in a height of unapproachable +elevation, and the air there is too thin and pure for our gross lungs. +For be it remembered, we are not praying after this manner unless our +lives in some sort repeat and confirm our prayers. Do our hearts seek +first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness? Are our energies given +to this, as their noblest aim, to hallow God's name; or does the very +blood in our hearts throb hot, passionate desires for worldly things, +and God's name and kingdom and will seem dreamy and far-off objects +which kindle no desire in our souls and rule no effort of our lives, +like suns far away which shed little light upon the earth and sway not +its rolling tides, that are obedient to the nearer but borrowed light of +the changeful moon? If so, no matter whether we use this form or not, we +are not praying after this manner. + +Look, now, at this first clause, which is the basis of all. + +I. The divine Name which is the ground and object of all our prayers. It +is not merely a formula of address, like the superscription on a letter, +but the reality of His character as revealed before us. There is +inseparable from all prayer the effort to conceive worthily of Him to +whom we speak; to raise our souls to that height. + +How much of our prayer, even while truest, fails here! We may be +distinctly conscious of our wants; our wishes may be right, and our +confidence may be firm that God will give us what we ask; yet how often +there is no vivid thought of Him filling the mind! How often our prayers +are offered to a mere name! How seldom through the cloud-wrack beneath +His feet do we see His face! + +This absorbed contemplation is the necessary preliminary of all real +prayer, and there is a truth in the thought that such losing of self in +gazing on God is the highest form of prayer. We should feel as some +peasant come to court who stands on the threshold of the +presence-chamber, and forgetting his grievances and his embassy, gazes +entranced on the splendour and benignity of his sovereign. + +Look, then, at this Name: what it expresses. It is not new. The Jews +dimly had it, and even Greek and other paganisms knew of a 'father of +Gods and men.' The name of Father carries with it primarily the idea of +the Source of life ('we also are His offspring'), and also, secondarily, +that of loving care. + +How wonderful, how beautiful, that that earthly relation should find its +deepest reality in God! God be thanked that, 'like as a father pitieth +his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear Him.' + +But the true Christian idea of God's fatherhood is more than all this. +This is a prayer for disciples, for those who alone can really pray. All +men are God's children because all draw their life from Him, were made +in His image, and are objects of His love. But there is a fatherhood and +a sonship which are not universal, and for which another birth is +necessary. Its conditions are plainly laid down by the Evangelist: 'To +as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become sons of God,' +and by the Apostle, 'Ye are the children of God through faith in Christ +Jesus.' + +We are made sons through Jesus. We are made sons by faith. + +And now, how should this Fatherhood affect our prayers? We shall come +with hope and familiar confidence, for 'your heavenly Father knoweth +what things ye have need of.' Does a father love to have his children +about him? Does a child shrink from telling its wishes to a father? Also +we must bend our wills to His--to a Father. + +Contrast that conception with the ideas of God which we are all tempted +to cherish, the slavish one which dwells upon the gulf between God and +man, with the cold deity of 'natural religion,' with the Epicurean +notion of Him which divorces Him from all living interest in His +creation. + +Contrast it with the ghastly image which our consciences and our fears +frame, the heathen notion of an avenger and cruel. We do not need to +seek to avert His anger. This mighty word shatters all cowering terror +and abject prostration. + +And it is a vow as well as an Invocation, binding us to supreme love to +Him, to obedience to Him, to moral conformity with Him. Be ye perfect as +your Father which is in heaven is perfect. The noblest prayer is 'Abba, +Father.' + +II. The loftiness and perfectness of that divine Name. + +'In heaven.' Not fact, but symbol, to express His exaltation above the +earth, and so suggesting all ideas of remoteness from creatures, from +earth's limitations and conditions, changes and imperfection, and +showing the gulf between man and God. + +1. The thought that He is in heaven deepens our reverence, love casting +out fear, but making us more lowly. It leads to familiar yet +awe-stricken approach. + +2. It exalts the preciousness of the Fatherhood, as being free from all +weakness and all change. It reveals a better Father than we can know +here; one not narrow of view, infirm of purpose, weak in tenderness, +bounded in power. As the heavens stretch calm and serene above us, far +from all our trouble and noise, unvexed, pitying, and dropping rain and +dew on earth, so is He. + +3. It draws our hearts and hopes to our Father's home. + +4. It delivers us from worship of the visible and from worship by means +of the visible. So the Name guards against placing stress on externals +and secondary forms, places, times of worship. + +III. The Community of Brotherhood of the Worshippers. + +_Our_ Father. + +1. All true enjoyment of blessings depends on our being willing to share +them. To keep for ourselves is to lose. We enter by faith into a great +community. + +2. The effect of this on our prayers: to destroy their selfishness. We +bow to Him of whom the whole family is named. + +3. Effect on our lives. + +Dare we rise from our knees to plan and plot for ourselves? How we are +tempted to forget our brotherhood in personal animosities, vanity, and +self-interest, competing with others! Our differences of ideas arising +from differences of race, training, occupation, country, fling us apart. +Our differences of wealth and position alienate us. Our differences of +conception of Christianity often separate and embitter us. But do these +not crumble when we say '_Our_ Father'? + +Think of the generations who have gone to the grave saying this prayer. +What a prophecy of the heaven, where all shall be gathered and each feel +his sense of Fatherhood increased by his brethren! + +And this is the only possible basis for true fraternity among men. + +Opinion? Men are not thinking machines. + +Interest? Men are not ruled by calculations, and such union is the +destruction of true unity. + +Common aims?--shallow. + +Nation or race?--artificial and not capable of universality. + +There is no brotherhood but that which rests on God's Fatherhood, +Christ's Sonship. For the world Christ has come, therefore we are no +more 'strangers and foreigners.' + +Therefore, listening to His voice, and trusting in Him who has made us +heirs together with Him, let us lift up our voices, 'Our Father,' and +therein proclaim that God who loves every soul of man, who knows each +man's wants, who bends over him in pitying tenderness, who can neither +die nor change, and who will gather into His eternal home all His +prodigal children and keep them blessed by His side for evermore. + + +'HALLOWED BE THY NAME' + + 'Hallowed be Thy name.'--Matt. vi. 9. + +Name is character so far as revealed. + +I. What is meaning of Petition? + +Hallowed means to make holy; or to show as holy; or to regard as holy. +The second of these is God's hallowing of His Name. The third is men's. + +The prayer asks that God would so act as to show the holiness of His +character, and that men, one and all, may see the holiness of His +character. + +i.e. Hallowed by divine self-revelation. + +Hallowed by human recognition. + +Hallowed by human adoration and appropriate sentiments. + +Hallowed by human action. + +II. On what it rests: + +On the Fatherhood of God. + +On the confidence that God wills that His Name should be known. In +other words, the petition rests on the assurance of God's fatherly love, +which cannot but will that His children should know their Father as He +is. + +On the fact that men need the knowledge of the Name. + +On the conviction that men cannot attain it for themselves. + +That Christ is the great means of His hallowing His Name. + +His finished work does not render this prayer unnecessary. + +'I have declared Thy name, and will declare it.' + +That this is to be issue of all. A grand prophecy. + +III. Why put first. + +Singular, that so remote a petition should stand at beginning. We should +begin not with ourselves, but with God; not with temporal wants, not +even with our own spiritual ones. + +We begin not with men, but with God. + +It is God's glory even more than men's knowledge of Him that the +petition contemplates. And though the two things coincide, which of them +is foremost in our minds makes an infinite difference. + +Then in regard to God, we first ask not that His law may be kept, but +that His nature may be known. + +The place of this petition in the prayer is explained by considerations +which suggest very important thoughts for ourselves and all men. + +That true knowledge of God is the deepest and fundamental necessity for +all men. + +That the knowledge will affect their whole scheme of thought and life. + +That the most important of all questions is, How does a man think of +God? + +That the Inward comes before the Outward. + +That knowledge is the guide of emotions and of practical life, as set +forth here in the order of petitions. + +This sequence of petitions corrects many errors into which we are apt to +fall. + +(a) That religion is chiefly to give us forgiveness. + +(b) That accurate knowledge of God and His will matters comparatively +little if we have devout emotions and experiences. + +(c) That plans for the reformation of men should begin with the +exterior, leaving theological subtleties to themselves. + +But this is not a theological subtlety. + +'Seek ye first the kingdom of God,' is a maxim for social reformation as +well as for individual life. + +IV. To what practical life this prayer binds us. + +Following in our estimates, aims, and practice the sequence which it +prescribes. Desiring for world most of all that it may hallow the Name. + +Seeking for ourselves to hallow it. + +Seeking for ourselves that we may be the means of others doing so. + +The ever-present remembrance, that the name of God is blasphemed or +hallowed, that God is glorified or disgraced, by us. + +That to be like His name is true way to commend it. Do you know this +name? + + +'THY KINGDOM COME' + + 'Thy kingdom come.--MATT. vi. 10. + +'The Lord reigneth, let the earth be glad'; 'The Lord reigneth, let the +people tremble,' was the burden of Jewish psalmist and prophet from the +first to the last. They have no doubt of His present dominion. Neither +man's forgetfulness and man's rebellion, nor all the dark crosses and +woes of the world, can disturb their conviction that He is then and for +ever the sole Lord. + +The kingdom is come, then. Yet John the Baptist broke the slumbers of +that degenerate people with the trumpet-call, 'Repent, for the kingdom +is at hand.' It is not come, then--but coming. And the Master said, 'If +I by the finger of God cast out devils, no doubt the kingdom of God is +come nigh unto you.' It is come, then, in Him. This prayer throws it +forward again into the future, and far down on the stream of prophecy; +we hear borne up to us through the darkness the shouts that shall hail a +future day when here on earth the kingdoms of this world shall become +the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ. It is a kingdom, then, that +has ever been, and yet has stages of progress, a kingdom that was +established in Jesus; a kingdom that has a past, a present, and a future +on earth. It is after this world that the words are said, 'Come, ye +blessed, enter into the kingdom.' It is a kingdom, then, manifested on +earth, and yet a kingdom into which death, who keeps the keys of all +secrets, admits us. + +Once more--the kingdom of God is within you. 'The kingdom of God is +righteousness, and peace, and joy.' But there is beyond earth to be a +manifestation of the kingdom in a more perfect form. It is 'the kingdom +of heaven,' not only because the King is 'Our Father which art in +heaven,' but because we cannot completely come into it, or it into us, +till we pass out of earth by death, and enter through that gate into the +city. He has translated us into the kingdom of His dear Son. + +It is a dominion, then, over heart and soul, having its realm within, +standing not so much in outward institutions as in inner experiences; +and yet a kingdom which, though like leaven hid, shall like leaven be +seen in its effects; though like a seed buried deep, shall like a seed +blossom into a mighty tree; though it cometh not with observation, yet +is like to the lightning that flashes with a kind of omnipresence in its +rapid course from end to end, everywhere at once; which though it be +within, yet clearly is meant to rule over all outward acts, and one day +to have all kings bowing down before it. + +These are the varieties with which the one thought of the kingdom of +God, or of heaven, is presented in Scripture. It is eternal yet revealed +in time, ever here but ever coming, ever coming but never come on earth, +but entered when we go yonder, ruling us man by man, inward, spiritual, +unseen, and yet moulding nations and institutions, outward and visible, +compelling sight and filling all the earth. + +But these varieties are not contradictions, still less are they the +effects of a vague and imperfect notion which means anything or +everything according to the fancy of the writer. The conception is clear +and well defined. The kingdom of God is an organised community which is +subject to the will of the personal God. The elements of subordination +and society are both there. On the one hand there is the Ruler, on the +other there is the mass of subjects. The whole of the varieties in the +use of the term can be all reconciled in the one simple central notion, +but we cannot afford to lose sight of any of them if we would understand +what is meant by this prayer. + +Let us take these thoughts which I have suggested, as expressing the +Scriptural meaning of this phrase, and by their help try to ascertain +what this prayer suggests. + +I. God reigns, yet we pray for the coming of His kingdom. + +That is to acknowledge that the world has departed from Him. It is at +once to separate ourselves from those who see in it no signs of +departure and rebellion. It is to confess that, Lord as He is whether +men believe it or no, whether men will it or no, yet that the relation +of common subordination as to a supreme Lord which we hold with all +creatures is not all that we are fit for, not all that we should be. +That dominion which the psalmist saw making the sea and the fulness +thereof rejoice, which is at once the control and the upholding, the +sustaining and the commanding, of all orders of being, is not the whole +of the dominion which can be exercised over man. The rule, which we +share with the trees of the field and the tribes of life, is not all; +and the unwilling control which the thought of an overruling Providence +demands that we shall believe that God exercises over all the workings +of men--that is not enough. And the terrible bending of men into +unconscious instruments, by which He that sitteth in the heavens laughs +at princes' and rulers' counsel, speaking to the tyrant as the rod of +His anger, using men as the axe with which He hews, and the staff in His +hand, and then casting away the tool into the fire--that is not the +kingdom that men are made to be. Something more, even the loving, +willing submission of heart and life to Him is possible, is needed, +unless, indeed, it is true that a man hath no pre-eminence over a beast. +Enough for them that He feedeth them when they cry; enough for them that +led they know not how, and fed by they know not whom, they live they +know not why, do they know not what, and die they know not when. But 'be +ye not as the horse or the mule which have no understanding'; it is our +prerogative to be led by His eye speaking to the heart, not by His +bridle appealing to the sense; to do Him loyal service, to understand +His purposes, to sympathise with them, and sympathising to execute. This +our prayer gives us the clear distinction, then, between mere blind +obedience and the true goal of man. The kingdom is other and better than +the creature-wide dominion. + +And then, this prayer reposes on the confession that that higher, better +form of obedience is not yet attained. In a word, it can only be prayed +aright by a man who feels that the world has gone away from God and His +commandments. We separate ourselves by it from all who think that this +present state is the natural condition of men, the order into which they +were born, the kind of world which God intended; and we assert, in sight +of all the evils and sore sorrows that fill the world, that this is not +God's intention. People tell us that the doctrine of a fall, an earth +which has departed from God, a race which has rebelled, is a gloomy and +dark one, covering the face of life with sackcloth. But it seems to me +that instead of being so, it is the only conviction that can make a man +bear to see the world as it is. Brethren, which of these two is the +gloomy--the creed that says, Look at all these men dying--in dumb +ignorance, living in brutal sin; look at blood, rapine, lies, +battlefields, broken hearts, hopes that never set to fruit but died in +the bud, the stream of sad groans, and sadder curses, and wild mirth, +saddest of all. Look at it all, coming to pass on this fair earth amid +the pomp of sunsets and the calm beauty of autumn, and beneath the cold +stars, in a world where the noblest creature is the saddest, and accept +for explanation that it is the necessary road for the perfecting of the +creature; that it is all for the best, that it is exactly what God meant +the world to be;--or the creed which sees the same things and says: +'This is not what God intended: an enemy hath done this'? Sin hath +entered into the world, and death by sin. + +The Christian doctrine does not make the facts, but only the Christian +doctrine can explain them. It seems to me that if I believed that life +as I see it in the world, and as I feel it in myself, is life as God +meant it to be, I should either go mad or be a wise man, not a fool, if +I were to look up at the unpitying stars that could sing for joy over +such a creation, and say, _There is no God_. It is a refuge from such +possible horrors, not an aggravation of them, which this prayer teaches +us when it teaches us to pray for a kingdom yet to come, from which men +have departed, and in departing have worked for themselves all this woe +and ruin. + +II. The kingdom for the coming of which we pray is established already. + +Christ has established it. His name is King of kings and Lord of lords. +He is Prince of all the kings of the earth. He is crowned with glory and +honour. By Him, that is to say, it becomes possible for men to serve God +with the energies of their will, and by Him it becomes possible for men +to take the pardon which God gives in Him. He founds the kingdom, and He +exercises the dominion. On an eternal relation and on an historical fact +that dominion of His is grounded,--on an eternal relation inasmuch as +He, the everlasting Word of God, has from the beginning been the Lord +and King of the world; on an historical fact inasmuch as that eternal +Word has been manifested on earth, and tasted death for every man. +Christ founds the kingdom, for He by His Incarnation and Sacrifice sets +forth the weightiest motives for service; He opens the path to return; +He brings God's forgiveness to men, and so shall rule over them for +ever--a King and Priest upon His throne: the Prince of all the kings of +the earth, both because He has from everlasting been the anointed King, +and because in time He has been, and will for ever be, the faithful and +true witness, and the first begotten from the dead. The foundation is +thus laid, the dominion established, the kingdom is come; but we are to +pray for its perfecting as the one hope of the world. + +Then let us remember that we are thus guarded from the error that is +always rife, of looking for some new thing as the one deliverance for +earth. It is sad to mark how undying that tendency is. Age after age, +men have had the heartache of seeing hopes blasted, and fair schemes for +the regeneration of the world knocked to pieces about the ears of their +projectors, and yet they hope on. Every period, as every man, has its +times of credulity, its firm conviction that it has found the one thing +needful, and the shout of Eureka goes ever up. Alas, alas! time after +time the old experience is repeated, and the gratulations die down into +gloomy silence. Yet men hope on. What a strange testimony at once of the +futility of all the past attempts, and of the indestructible conviction +that men have of the certainty that the world will be better and +brighter some day, that undying expectation is! It is sorrowful and yet +ennobling to think of the persistency of the expectation, and the +disappointment of it. + +God forbid that I should say a word to seem to disparage it! Not so. I +say the expectations are of God, and if men give them false shapes, and +scarcely understand them when they utter them, that does not in any +degree make the expectation less noble or less true. But what I wish to +urge is this, that the Christian attitude towards all such hopes should +not be unsympathising. Rather we are bound to say 'yes, it is so, and we +know how.' We are bound to proclaim that it is not any new thing that we +expect, but only the working out of the old. God be thanked that it is +not! The evils are not new, they have been from the beginning; and God +has surely not been so cruel to the world as to leave it till now in the +dark. Our hopes are not set on any new, untried remedy. This bridge +across the Infinite for us is not a frail plank on which no one has yet +walked, and which may crack and break when the timid foot of the first +passenger is on the centre, but it is a tried structure upon which ages +have walked. + +Then if I have any hearers who are fancying that the gospel is worn out, +any who are glowing with the anticipation of great new things, who +scarcely know how, but believe that somehow, the ills that have in all +ages cursed humanity are to be exorcised by some new methods of social +organisation or the like--I pray them to ponder this prayer and to +receive its lesson. Do not say, you are but adding one more to the Babel +of opinions which confound us. Not so. We are not arguing for an +opinion, we are proclaiming a fact. We are not ventilating a nostrum, we +are preaching a divine revelation, a divine revealer. We are not setting +forth our notion of the evil, and our idea of what may be a remedy. We +are telling men God's word about both. We are preaching an old, old +truth: not man's opinion, but God's act; not man's device, but Christ's +power. We proclaim that the kingdom of God is nigh you, and while a +Babel, as you say, of private opinions, of passionate complaints, of +despairing cries afflicts the silence, one serene voice rises, 'Come +unto Me, all ye that are weary and heavy laden,' and after that sole +voice rings out the twofold choral anthem--of praise, 'Rejoice, O earth, +for thy King is come'; and of prayer, 'Thy kingdom come.' + +III. We pray for the coming of a kingdom which is inward and spiritual. + +I do not mean to weary you with any proofs that this is so. The whole +language of Christ, the whole tenor of Scripture, the common sense of +the case, the testimony of our own souls as to what we want most, +confirm this. But it is enough to note the admitted fact; to enforce the +thought that thus the kingdom assumes a purely individual character, and +that thus its power over individuals is the pledge of its power over +masses, and is its way of exercising universal sway. 'We have all of us +one human heart, and therefore what the kingdom can do and has done for +me or for any oilier man, it can do for all. + +Let me remind you of two or three consequences that flow from this +thought. + +1. Lessons for politicians, for all men, as to the true way to cure the +evils of the world: Not by external arrangements; not by better laws; +not by education; not by progress in arts; not by trade, etc. + +You must go deeper than these 'pills to cure an earthquake'--it is the +soul, the individual will that is diseased; and the one cure for the +world's evil is that it should be right with God; and that loyal, hearty +obedience by Christ should be in it. + +2. Lessons for Christian men as to hasty externalising of the kingdom: + +_Theocracies_, State Churches, and the like. + +3. We pray for a kingdom that will be external. If spirit, then body; if +individuals, then communities. + +It is to be all-comprehensive governing:--institutions, arts, sciences. +All spheres of human life are capable of sanctification and will receive +it. A prophet had a vision of a day when the very bells of the horses +should bear the same inscription of 'holiness to the Lord' as was +engraved on the High Priest's mitre, and when every pot and pan in the +kitchens of Jerusalem should be sacred as the vessels of the Temple. + +The fault of Christians in losing sight of this--how all the aspects are +reconciled--and how this must be the completion--the point to which all +tends; how clearly maimed the gospel would be if such were not the goal. + +So much, then, the prayer assumes:--the certainty that the world is +wrong; the certainty that the kingdom is the only thing to set it right; +the certainty that it can set it all right; the certainty that it will. + +4. We pray for a kingdom to come which cannot be fully realised on this +side the grave. Large as are the capabilities of this scene, they are +not large enough for the full display of all the blessedness that lies +in that kingdom. And so it is not all a mistake when men say, 'Ah, this +world can never do for us'; it is not all an unhealthy dream that says, +'I am weary of this; let me die.' + +Think of the chorus of voices that present this prayer--the unconscious +cries that have gone up; the voices of sorrow and want. The cry hath +entered into the ears of the Lord God of Sabaoth; the creature groaneth +and travaileth; all men unconsciously pray this prayer when they weep +and when they hope. Christian men pray it when they mourn their +rebellious wilfulness and when they feel the weight of all this anarchic +world, or when their work in bringing it back to its King seems almost +vain, the souls underneath the altar pray it when they cry, 'How long, O +Lord, how long?' + +And ah, dear friends--there should come a sadder, humbler cry from us, +each feeling his own sinful heart. To me the glory of that coming, and +the life from the dead which it shall be to the world, will be as +nothing unless I know the King and trust Him. Let us each re-echo the +cry of that dying thief, which He cannot refuse to answer, 'Lord, +remember me when Thou comest in Thy kingdom.' + + +'THY WILL BE DONE' + + 'Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.'--MATT. vi. 10. + +It makes all the difference whether the thought of the name, or that of +the will, of God be the prominent one. If men begin with the will, then +their religion will be slavish, a dull, sullen resignation, or a +painful, weary round of unwelcome duties and reluctant abstainings. The +will of an unknown God will be in their thoughts a dark and tyrannous +necessity, a mysterious, inscrutable force, which rules by virtue of +being stronger, and demands only obedience. There is no more horrible +conception of God than that which makes Him merely or mainly sovereign +will. + +But when we think first of God as desiring that His name should be +known, and to that end mirroring Himself in all the great and beautiful, +the ordered whole of creation, and energising through all the +complexities of human affairs, and gathering the scattered syllables of +His name into one full and articulate utterance in the Word of God, then +our thoughts of His will become reverent and loving; we are sure that +the will of the self-revealing God must be intelligible, we are sure +that the will of the loving God must be good. Then our obedience becomes +different, and instead of being slavish is filial; instead of being +reluctant submission to a mightier force, is glad conformity to the +fountain of love and goodness; instead of being sullen resignation, is +trustful reliance; instead of being painful execution of unwelcome +duties, is spontaneous expression in acts which are easy of the +indwelling love. He who begins with 'Thy will be done' is a slave, and +never really does the will at all; he who begins with 'Our Father, +hallowed,' is a son, and obeys from the heart. + +This, then, is one reason for the order in which the clauses of the +prayer follow each other, perhaps the chief reason. + +Let us consider-- + +I. Obedience is here set forth as the end of all divine revelation. + +II. As the issue in man of all religious thought and emotion. + +III. As the sum of all Christ's and our desires for men. + +IV. As the bond which unites all creation into one. + +I. Obedience to the will of God is the end of all divine revelation. + +God's name is made known before His will is proclaimed. That order +suggests as to God's will-- + +1. That it is not mere naked omnipotent authority. + +2. That it is not inscrutable. + +3. That its scope and direction are to be determined by His name. All +these thoughts are included in this, that it is the will of a loving, +good God, the will of a Father. + +How that destroys all harsh, awful ideas such as those of a stony fate, +or a cold necessity, or an omnipotent tyrant, or an inscrutable +sovereign. + +How Christianity has been affected by these ideas--extreme Calvinism, +for instance; but it is more profitable to think how the tendency to +them lies in us all. + +II. Obedience is the issue of all religion. + +The knowledge of the name, and the hallowing of it must go first. Note-- + +1. How inward the nature of obedience is. This sequence of petitions +shifts the centre from without to within, from actions to dispositions. + +2. How nothing is obedience that is not cheerful and loving. Not +constrained, not sullen, not task-work. + +3. How naturally dominant over all life the principles of God's truth +are. Let them be known, and all the rest will follow. They have power to +control all acts, great and small. + +4. How impossible practical righteousness is without religion. The Name +is the true basis of morality. We hear a great deal about life rather +than creed; the Gospel is both. The one foundation of theoretical and +practical morals is the will of God. + +5. How maimed and spurious is religion without practical obedience. + +Religion in the form of thought and of emotion is intended to influence +life. + +The ultimate result of God's revelation of Himself and of God's kingdom +among men is the conformity of our life and actions with the Will of +God. That is the test of our religion. Character and conduct are all +important. Here is a lesson for us all as to what the final issue of +religious profession ought to be. Knowledge of God, true reverent +thoughts of Him, submission in spirit to His kingdom--all these have for +their final sphere the full sanctification of the nature and the free, +spontaneous obedience of the life. We are all tempted to separate +between our consciousness and emotions of a religious nature, and our +daily life. Many a man is a good Christian in his heart, with real +religious feeling, but when you get him into the field of the world he +is full of sins. There must always be a disproportion in this world +between convictions, resolutions, and actions; we imperfectly live out +our principles; the force of gravity pulls down the arrow, and however +true the bow and careful the aim and strong the hand, its course will be +a curve, not a straight line. + +Our machinery does not work in vacuo, and the force of friction and +atmosphere opposes it and brings it to a standstill. This must be; but +the discrepancy may be indefinitely lessened, and this prayer is a +prophecy and kindles a hope. + +III. Obedience is the sum of all Christ's desires for the world. + +This is the last loftiest petition, beyond that there is nothing, for if +our wills are conformed to God's, then we are perfect and blessed. + +1. The loftiest dignity of man is to obey. We have will: God has will. +Ours is evidently meant to submit, His to rule. He only is what he ought +to be whose whole soul bows to the divine command. + +2. The will submitted to God is free, strong, restful. He does not +desire that it should be crushed or absorbed, but freely acting in +obedience. That will is truly free which is delivered from bondage, and +the burden of sin and evil. Submission to God strengthens the will. Sin +overbears it, as we all know. Obedience braces and nerves it. Submission +to God makes it restful. It is the conflict of self-will which troubles +us. Peace is to will as God does; so He flows through us, and He is 'the +living will that shall endure.' + +3. The results of obedience will be perfect blessedness. + +God's will is only for our good. His will for men and nations observed +would change the face of the world. + +Then this prayer includes everything that ardent lovers of their kind +would desire. + +How Christianity reforms from within, giving new life and letting that +work on laws and institutions. Here is a lesson for all social reformers +and for Christian men to see to it that they, for the world, try to +spread the knowledge of His name, and for themselves, seek to be +harmonised with His will. + +But this petition sets forth an apparently unattainable example as our +pattern of obedience. 'As in heaven,' refers perhaps to the visible +universe, which has always left on thoughtful minds the impression of +beauty and order, and is the great revelation in nature of the +omnipotent will of God. There clouds float on in peacefulness obeying +Him, there stars burn and planets roll on their mighty revolutions. +'These all continue this day, according to Thine ordinance.' + +But that is by no means the exhaustive idea of this clause. We should +not desire, were it possible, that men should be lowered to the level of +the stars, doing a will which they know not, and swayed by a force which +they have no eyes to discern. The obedience, the only true obedience, is +that of spiritual beings who know God and can turn themselves to +contemplate the will which rules their currents, as the sea looks up to +the moon that sways its tides. So the reference is obviously to higher +orders of beings, either higher by creation as angels, or higher because +they have died, and are glorious saints before the Throne. + +This petition, then, is a revelation as well. For the doing of God's +will there must be spiritual beings, like ourselves. If our doing it +like them is the highest last desire which He who came to do that will +can form for us, and is the ultimate goal which, if reached, the world's +history would be crowned, then these spiritual beings must do it +perfectly. Their obedience must be complete. There can be no +interruption to it from sin, no effort in it because of weakness, no +resistance because of temptation, no flaw because of ignorance, no pause +because of weariness, no pain because of rebellious will. Their +obedience must be free, constant, spontaneous, happy. It must cover all +their lives. Their whole being must be a sacrifice and service to the +God whom they behold, and their life must be a life of activity. It is +not the knowledge that floods the perfect spirits in heaven that is +proposed for our example, nor their blessedness, but their service. So +the thoughts of those who regard that heavenly existence only as +idleness are corrected, and we are taught that, while we know little as +to that future life, the conformity to the will of God, which in its +present partial attainment is the secret of the purest blessedness, in +its perfection will be the heaven of heaven. + +Then again, there is here the grand idea that the whole creation will be +bound into a unity by obedience to one will. We and they now form one +whole, because now we serve the one Lord. And there comes a time when +there shall be one Lord and His name one; when the omnipresent energy of +His will in the physical universe shall be but a faint shadow of the +universal dominion of His loving will in all His creatures. Then indeed +it will be true, 'Thou doest according to Thy will in the armies of +heaven and the inhabitants of earth.' + +What glorious harmonies will sound then, when all co-operate with God +and with one another, and one purpose, and one will, and one love fills +the whole creation! + +The petition has a bearing of this upon the dreams of moralists and +reformers. They were true, they shall be more than fulfilled. Earth will +be no longer separated from heaven, but united with it, and from one +extremity of creation to another will be no creature which does not obey +and rejoice. + + +THE CRY FOR BREAD + + 'Give us this day our daily bread.'--MATT. vi. 11. + +What a contrast there is between the two consecutive petitions, Thy will +be done, and Give us this day! The one is so comprehensive, the other so +narrow; the one loses self in the wide prospect of an obedient world, +the other is engrossed with personal wants; the one rises to such a +lofty, ideal height, the other is dragged down to the lowest animal +wants. + +And yet this apparent bathos is apparent only, and the fact that so +narrow and earthly a petition has its place in the pattern of all prayer +is full of instruction. No less instructive is the place which it has. A +single word about that place may constitute a fitting introduction to +our remarks now. We have already seen how the former petitions +constitute together a great whole. That first part of the prayer +expresses the desires which should ever be foremost in a good man's +soul--those which have to do with God, and point to the advancement of +His glory. It begins, as I said, with the inward, and advances to the +outward, as must ever be the law of progress in the sanctifying of human +souls and life. It begins with heaven and brings heaven down to earth, +that earth may become like heaven, and both 'according well may make one +music.' Then, in the second part of the prayer we come to individual +wants. These have their legitimate place in our approaches to God. +Prayer is not merely communion with God, not merely reverent +contemplation of His fatherly and holy name, though that should always +be first and chiefest in it. It is not merely the expression of absorbed +contemplation, but of a nature that desires and is dependent. Nor is it +only the utterance of world-wide desires, and the expression of a being +that has conquered self. The perfection of man is not to have no +desires, or to be petrified or absorbed into a state without a will and +without a wish, still less to be elevated into a condition of absolute +possession of all he seeks, without a want. And the perfection of prayer +is not that it should be the utterance of that impossible emotion, +'disinterested love' to God, but that it should be the recognition of +our dependence on God, the expression of our many wants, and the frank +telling Him, with wills submitted, or rather conformed, to His, what we +need. To pray is to adore; to pray is also to ask. We have to say Our +Father, and we have also to say, Give us, being sure that if we, being +evil, know how to give good gifts to our children, much more does He +know how to give good things to them that ask Him. + +So much for the general considerations applicable to the whole of this +second part. + +As to the connection of its several petitions with each other, it may be +noticed that it is the exact opposite of the former part. That began +with the highest and came downwards; this begins with the lowest and +goes upwards. That began with the inward and worked outwards; this +begins with the outward and passes inwards. That set forth the heavenly +order in its gradual self-revelation, working the transformation of +earth; this sets forth the earthly order in its gradual appropriation of +Heaven's gifts. The former declares, that foremost in importance and in +God's order are the spiritual blessings which come from knowledge of +His name; the latter, beginning with the prayer for bread, and thence +advancing to deeper necessities, reminds us, that in the order of time +the least important is still the condition of all the rest. The loftiest +pinnacles looking out to the morning sky must have their foundations +rooted in common earth. 'That was not first which is spiritual, but that +which is natural, and afterwards that which is spiritual.' This order, +then, is in symmetrical opposition to that of the previous part. There +is a rhythmical correspondence in inverted movement, like the expansion +and contraction of the heart, or the rise and fall of a fountain. + +It is worth noticing how these two opposed halves make one whole; and as +the former begins with contemplation of the fatherly greatness in the +heavens, so the latter part, starting with the cry for bread, climbs +slowly up through all the ills of life, and passing from want to +trespass, human unkindness and hatred, and again to personal weakness +and a tempting world, and the evil of sin and the evil of sorrow, +reaches once more after cries and tears the point from which all began, +and rises to heaven and God. The doxology comes circling round to the +invocation, and the prayer, which has winged its weary way through all +weltering floods of human sorrow and want, comes back like Noah's dove, +with peace born of its flight, to its home in God, and ends where it +began. They whose prayer and whose lives start with 'Our Father which +art in Heaven,' will end with the confidence and the praise, 'Thine is +the kingdom and the honour.' + +Now looking at this petition in itself, I note-- + +I. The prayer for Bread. + +This contains first an important lesson as to what may be legitimately +the subject of our prayers. + +The Lord by this juxtaposition condemns the overstrained and fantastic +spiritualism which tramples down earthly wants and condemns desires +rooted in our physical nature as sin. It is a wonderful testimony from +Jesus of the worth of common gifts, that the desire for them should here +stand beside that great one for the doing of God's will. There is +nothing here of the false asceticism which undervalues the life which +now is, nothing of the morbid tone of feeling which despises and +condemns as sinful the due appreciation of and desire for the blessings +of this life. To give predominance to material wants and earthly good is +heathen and unchristian, therefore the petition for these follows the +others. But to despise them and pretend to be indifferent to them is +heathen and unchristian too; therefore the prayer for them finds its +place among the others. So the right understanding of this prayer is a +barrier against the opposite evils of a false sensuousness which forgets +the spirit that is in the flesh, and of a false spirituality which +forgets the flesh that is around the spirit. He who made us desire truth +in the inward parts, made us also to desire our daily bread, and we +observe His order when we do both, and seek the Kingdom of God, not +exclusively, but first. + +And not only is this petition the vindication of a healthy naturalism, +but it also shows us that we may rightly make prayers of our desires for +earthly things. + +We sometimes hear it said that we have only a right to ask God for such +gifts as holiness and conformity to His will. This has a truth, a great +truth, in it. But it may be overstrained. We are to subdue our wishes, +we are to be more anxious for our soul's health than for our bodily +wants. We are to present our desires concerning all things in this life, +with an implied 'if it be Thy will,' but while all that is true, we are +also to ask Him for these lower blessings. Our prayers should include +all which we desire, all which we need. Our desires should be such as we +can turn into prayers. If we dare not ask God for a thing, do not let us +seek for it. But whatever we do want, let us go to Him for it, and be +sure that He does not wish lip homage and fine-sounding petitions for +things for which we do not really care, but that He does desire that we +should be frank with Him, making a prayer of every wish, and seeing that +we have neither wishes which we dare not make prayers, nor prayers which +are not really wishes. Let our supplications cover all the ground of our +daily wants, and be true to our own souls. If any man lack anything, let +him ask of God, who giveth to all men life and breath and all things. + +Then still further--the prayer is the recognition of God as the Giver of +daily bread. + +'Thou openest Thine hand,' says the old psalm, 'and satisfiest the +desire of every living thing.' There is no part of the divine dealings +of which the Bible speaks more frequently and more lovingly than His +supply of all creatures' wants. It is a grand thought, 'Who feedeth the +young ravens when they cry, who maketh the grass to grow on the +mountains. The eyes of all wait upon Thee.' There is a magnificent verse +in the 104th Psalm, which regards even the roar of the lion prowling for +its prey in midnight forests as a cry to God--'The young lions seek +their meat from God.' As Luther says somewhere in his rough prose--'Even +to feed the sparrows God spends more than the revenues of the French +king would buy.' And that universal bounty applies truly to those whose +lot is 'In the sweat of thy brow shalt thou eat bread.' For us it is +true. God feeds _us_. 'Thou givest meat to them that fear Thee, Thou +wilt ever be mindful of Thy covenant.' In giving us our daily bread, His +hand is hid under second causes, but these should not mask the truth +from us. + +God is the life of nature. His will is the power whose orderly working +we call nature's laws. Force is the sign manual of God. There would be +no harvest, no growth, unless to each seed God gave a body as it hath +pleased Him. The existence of bread is the effect of His work. 'He hath +not left Himself without witness in that He giveth rain from heaven and +fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness.' as Paul +said to the rough farmer folk of Lycaonia. + +The distribution of the bread is of God. + +By second causes, our work and other means. + +Be it so. Here is a steam engine, in one room away at one end of your +mill; here is a spindle whirring five hundred yards off. What then? Who +thinks that that bit of belting moves the drum round which it turns, or +that the cog-wheel that carries the motion originates it? The motion +here has force at the other end, the effect here has its cause in God. + +The nourishment by bread is of God. + +'Man doth not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out +of the mouth of God.' + +The reason why any natural substance has properties is by reason of +present will of God; they reside not in itself, but in Him. + +All this we say that we believe when we pray this prayer. + +How much it conflicts with our modern habit of putting God as far away +from daily life as we can! + +The prayer is the consecration of our work for bread. + +The indirect way by which it is answered is a great blessing, and it +pledges us to labour. + +_Orare est laborare._ Not, as it is sometimes quoted, as if toil was to +do instead of prayer, but that active life may be consecrated to God, +and all our efforts which terminate in gaining bread for ourselves and +for those we love may become prayer, and be offered to God. + +How can we pray for God to give us our daily bread, and then go to seek +it by means which we dare not avow or defend in our prayers? Bless my +cheating, bless my sharp practice, bless my half-heartedness. It is no +part of my business to apply principles to details of conduct, but it is +my business to say--take this prayer for a test, and if you dare not pray +it over what you do in earning your living, ask yourself whether you are +not rather earning your _death_. + +Then the prayer is a pledge of thankful recognition of God in our +blessings. + +Ah! dear friends, are we not all guilty in this? How utterly heathenish +is our oblivion of God in our daily life! How far we have come from that +temper which recognises Him in all joys, and begins every new day with +Him! Daily mercies demand daily songs of praise. His love wakens us +morning by morning. It follows us all the day long with its fatherly +benefits. It reveals itself anew every time He spreads our table, every +time He gives us teaching or joy. And our thanksgiving and consciousness +of His presence should be as constant as are His gifts. 'My voice shalt +thou hear in the morning.' 'They walk all the day long in the light of +Thy countenance.' 'I will both lay me down in peace and sleep.' 'They +ate their meat with gladness and singleness of heart.' + +II. The union with our brethren in our prayer. + +'Give _us_.' The struggle for existence is represented by many as the +very law of human life. The fight for bread is the great antagonist of +brotherly regard for our fellows. Trade is said to be warfare; and then +others starting from that conception that one man's gains are some other +man's losses, proclaim with undoubted truth on these premises 'property +is robbery.' But surely this clause of our prayer teaches us a more +excellent way. We are not to be like stiff-necked men who fight with one +another for the drop of brackish water caught in the corner of a sail, +but we are to be as children bowing down together before a great Father, +all sitting at His table where nothing wants, and where even the pet +dogs below it eat of the crumbs. + +The main thing is to note how our Lord teaches us here to identify +ourselves with others, to make common cause with them in our petition +for bread. He who rightly enters into the meaning of this prayer, and +feels the unity which it supposes, can scarcely regard his possessions +as given to himself alone, or to be held without regard to other people. +We are all one in need; high and low, rich and poor, we all hang on God +for the same supplies. We are all one in reception of His gifts. Is it +becoming in one who is a member of such a whole, to clasp his portion in +both his hands and carry it off to a corner where he gnaws it by +himself? That is how wolves feast, with one foot on their bone and a +watchful eye all round for thieves, not how men, brethren, should feast. + +I am not here to deal with economical questions, or to apply principles +to details, but surely one may say that this petition contemplates as +possible a better state of things than 'each for himself,' whether God +is for us all or no, and that it does teach that at all events a man is +part of a whole which has a claim on his possessions. 'Neither said any +man that aught which he possessed was his own.' + +The Christian doctrine of property does not seem to be communism. You +have your property. It is your own. You have the power, and as far as +law is concerned, the right, to do with it none but selfish acts. You +have it, but you are not an owner--only a steward. You have it, but you +hold it not for your own sake, but as a trustee. You have it as a member +of a family, a great community. You have it that you may dispense to +others, you have it that you may help to multiply the bonds of affection +to benefactors and of love to the great Giver. + +And this liberality is founded, according to this petition, in our +common relation to God. We do not want charity--we want justice. The +needy cannot enforce their claims, but their cry enters into the ears of +the Lord, and what is withheld from them is 'kept back by fraud.' The +Bible always puts benevolence and liberality on the ground of their +being a debt. 'Withhold not good from him to whom it is due.' + +So how, beside this prayer, does it look to see two men who have united +in it, the one being Dives clothed and faring sumptuously, and the other +Lazarus with scraps for his food and dogs for his doctors? There is many +a contrast like that to-day. All I have to say is--that such contrasts +are not meant as the product of Christianity and civilisation and +commerce for eighteen hundred years, and that one chief way of ending +them is that we shall learn to feel and live the true communism which +traces all a man's possessions to God, and feels that he has received +them as a member of a community for the blessing of all, even as Christ +taught when He bid us say, 'Give us our daily bread.' + +III. The prayer for bread for to-day. + +This carries with it precious truths as to the manner of the divine +gifts and the limit of our cares and anxieties. + +God gives not all at once, but continuously, and in portions sufficient +for the day. + +As with the manna fresh gathered every morning, so all our gifts from +Him are given according to the present exigencies. + +Note the beauty and blessedness of this method of supplying our wants. +It gives to each moment its own special character, it gives to each the +glory of having in it a fresh gift of God. It binds all together in one +long line of brightness made up of an infinite number of points, each a +separate act of divine love, each a glittering sign of His presence. It +brings God very near to all life. It draws us closer to Him, by giving +us at each moment opportunity and need for feeling our dependence upon +Him, by bringing us once again to His throne that our wants may be +supplied. And as each moment, so each day, comes with its new duties and +its new wants. Yesterday's food nourishes us not to-day. To-day's +strength must come from this day's God and His new supplies. And thus +the monotony of life is somewhat broken, and there come to us all the +fresh vigour and the new hope of each returning day, and the merciful +wall of the night's slumber is built up between us and yesterday with +its tasks and its weariness. And fresh elastic hopes, along with renewed +dependence on God, should waken us morning by morning, as we look into +the unknown hours and say, 'Give us this day our daily bread.' + +Then, again, let us learn not to try to abrogate this wise ordinance by +onward-looking anxieties. We have to exercise forethought, and not to +possess it is to be a poor creature, below the ant and the bee. No man +is in a favourable position for intellectual or moral growth who has not +some certainty in his life, and a reasonable prospect of such perpetuity +as is compatible with this changeful state. But that is a very different +thing from the careful, anxious forebodings in which we are all so prone +to indulge. These are profitless and harmful, robbing us of strength and +contributing nothing to our wisdom or to our security. They are contrary +to this law of the divine dealings that we shall get our rations as we +need them, no sooner; that the path will be opened when we come to it, +not till then. God knows the line of march, and will issue our route +each morning. God looks after the commissariat and saves us the trouble +of carrying it. + +Let us try not to be 'over-inquisitive to cast the fashion of uncertain +evils,' nor magnify trouble in the fog of our own thoughts, but limit +our cares to to-day, and let to-morrow alone, for our God will be in it +as He has been in the past. He will never take us where He will not go +with us. Each day will have its own brightness, as each place its own +rainbow. If we are led into dry lands, there will be a fountain opened +in the desert, and He will feed us by His ravens ere we shall want. +Bread shall be given and water made sure. To-morrow shall be as this +day. Then let the veil still hang, nor try to lift it with the hand of +forecasting thought, nor be over-careful to make the future sure by +earthly means, but let present blessings be parents of bright hopes. +Remember Him who is the same yesterday, and to-day, and for ever. In Him +the past is unwept for and the future sure. Accept the merciful +limitations on His gifts, and let them be the limitations which you set +to your own desires while you pray, 'Give us this day our daily bread.' + +IV. The prayer for bread suited to our needs. + +'_Daily_ bread' clearly cannot be the right rendering, for after 'this +day' that would be weak repetition. + +The word is difficult, for it only occurs here and there in Luke. + +It may be rendered 'for the coming (day),' but that can scarcely be +supposed to be our Lord's meaning, when His precept to take no thought +for the morrow is remembered. A more satisfactory rendering is, +'sufficient for our subsistence,' the bread which we need to sustain us. + +Such a petition points to desires limited by our necessities. What we +should wish, and what we have a right to ask from God, is what we +_need_--no more and no less. + +This does not reduce us all to one level, but leaves Him to settle what +we do want. How different this prayer in the mouth of a king and of a +pauper! But it does rebuke immoderate and unbridled desires. God does +not limit us to mere naked necessaries--He giveth liberally, and means +life to be beautiful and adorned. That which is over and above bread is +to a large extent that which makes life graceful and refined, and I have +no wish to preach a crusade against it; but I have just as little +hesitation in declaring what it is not left to pulpit moralists to say, +that the falsely luxurious style of living among us looks very strange +by the side of this petition. So much luxury which does not mean +refinement; so much ostentatious expenditure which does not represent +increased culture or pleasure or anything but a resolve to be on a level +with somebody else; so much which is so ludicrously unlike the poor +little shrimp of a man or woman that sits in the centre of it all! + +'Plain living and high thinking are no more.' + +'My riches consist not in the abundance of my possessions, but in the +fewness of my wants.' + +'The less a man needs, the nearer is he to the gods.' + +So, what a lesson for us all in this age, where everyone of us is +tempted to adopt a scale of what is necessary very far beyond the truth. + +Young and old--dare, if need be, to be poor. 'Having food and raiment, +let us therewith be content.' + +We cannot all become rich, but let us learn to bring down our desires +to, and bound them by, our true wants. + +Christ has taught us here to put this petition after these loftier ones, +and He has taught us to pass quickly by it to the more noble and higher +needs of the soul. Do we treat it thus, making it a secondary element in +our wishes? If so, then our days will be blessed, each filled with fresh +gifts from God, and each leading us to Him who is the true Bread that +came down from Heaven. + + +'FORGIVE US OUR DEBTS' + + 'Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.'--MATT. vi. 12. + +The sequence of the petitions in the second half of the Lord's Prayer +suggests that every man who needs to pray for daily bread needs also to +pray for daily forgiveness. The supplication for the supply of our +bodily needs precedes the others, because it deals with a need which is +fundamental indeed, but of less importance than those which prompt the +subsequent petitions. God made us to need bread, we have made ourselves +to need pardon. The answer to the later petition is as certain as that +to the earlier. He who gives meat will not withhold forgiveness. _Give_ +and _forgive_ refer to our deepest wants, but how many who feel the one +are all unconscious of the other! + +I. The consciousness of sin, of which this petition is the expression. + +'Debt' and 'duty' are one word. 'Owe' and 'ought' are one word. Duty is +what is due. Ought is what we owe--to some one or other. We are under +obligations all round, which conscience tells us that we have not +fulfilled. The unfulfilled obligation or duty becomes a debt. We divide +our obligations into duties to God, our neighbours, and ourselves; but +the division is superficial, for whatever we owe to ourselves or to men, +we owe also to God, and the non-fulfilment of our obligations to Him is +sin. 'No man liveth to himself, ... we live unto God.' Our consciences +accuse us of undone duties to ourselves, the indulgence of evil tempers, +a slack hand over ourselves, a careless husbandry which leaves furrows +full of weeds, failure to bend the bow to the uttermost, to keep the +mirror bright. It accuses us of undone duties to our neighbours, +unkindness, neglect of opportunities of service, and many another ugly +fault. Duties undone are debts not only to ourselves or to our fellows, +but to God. The great Over-lord reckons offences against His vassals as +crimes against Himself. + +That graver aspect of our faults as being sins may seem a gloomy +thought, but it is really one full of blessing, for it lodges the true +power of remission of our burdensome debts in the hands of the one true +creditor, whom the prayer has taught us to call 'Our Father.' + +That consciousness of sin should be as universal as the sense of bodily +hunger; but, alas! it is too often dormant. It is especially needful to +try to awake it in this generation, when the natural tendency of the +heart to ignore it is strengthened by talk of heredity and environment, +and by the disposition to think of sin with pity rather than +reprobation. Men are apt to regard a consciousness of sin as morbid. +They will acknowledge failure or imperfection, but there is little +realisation of sin, and therefore little sense of the need for a +deliverer. If men are ever to be brought to a saving grip of Jesus +Christ, they must have learned a far more heart-piercing consciousness +of their sin than this morally relaxed age possesses. + +II. The cry to which that consciousness gives voice. + +We often ask for forgiveness; have we any definite notion of what we are +asking for? When we forgive one another, he who forgives puts away +alienation of heart, every cloud of suspicion from his mind, and his +feeling and his conduct are as if there had never been a jar or an +offence, or are more tender and loving because of the offence that is +now forgiven. He who is forgiven has, on his part, a deeper shame for +the offence, which looks far darker now, when it is blotted out, than it +did before forgiveness. Both are eager to show love, not in order to +erase the past, but because the past is erased. + +When a father forgives his child, does that merely or chiefly mean that +he spares the rod; or does it not much rather mean that he lets his love +flow out to the little culprit, undammed back by the child's fault? And +when God forgives He does so, not so much as a judge but rather as the +Father. It is the father's heart that the child craves when it cries for +pardon. The remission of punishment is an element, but by no means the +chief element, in man's forgiveness, and that is still more true as to +God's. There are present, and for the most part outward, consequences of +a forgiven man's sin which are not averted by forgiveness, and which it +is for his good that he should not escape. But when the assurance of +God's unhindered love rests on a pardoned soul, those consequences of +its sins which it has to reap cease to be penal and become educative, +cease to be the expressions only of God's hatred of evil, and become +expressions of His love to the forgiven evil-doer. 'I will be his +Father, and he shall be My son. If he commit iniquity, I will chasten +him with the rod of men ... but My mercy shall not depart from him.' + +III. The startling addition to the cry. + +'_As_ we forgive.' Is, then, our poor forgiveness the measure or +condition of God's? At first sight that addition seems to impose a limit +on His pardon which might well plunge us into despair. But reflection on +the words brings to light more comforting, though solemnly warning, +thoughts. + +We learn that our human forgiveness is the faint reflection of the light +of His. We have a right to infer His gentleness, forbearance, and +forgiveness from the existence of such gracious qualities in ourselves. +God is all that is good in men. 'Whatsoever things are reverend, +whatsoever things are honourable, whatsoever things are lovely--all +these are in Him, and all as they are seen in men are from Him. 'He that +formed the eye, shall not He see?' We forgive, and will not He? + +In a very real sense our forgiving is the condition of our being +forgiven. We are accustomed to hear that faith and repentance are +conditions of receiving the divine forgiveness. But the very same +disposition which, when directed to God, produces faith and repentance, +when directed to men, produces a forgiving temper. A deep sense of my +own unworthiness, and of having no ground of right to stand on, will +surely lead me to be lenient and placable to others. We cannot cut our +lives into halves, and be inwardly filled with contrition, and outwardly +full of assertion of our rights. We cannot plead with God to do for us +what we will not do for others. Our prayer for forgiveness must, if it +is real, influence our whole behaviour; and if it is not real, it will +not be answered. + +The possession of God's forgiveness will make us forgiving. 'Forgiving +one another, even as also God in Christ hath forgiven you. Be ye +therefore imitators of God, as beloved children.' + +Our continuous possession and conscious enjoyment of God's forgiveness +will be contingent on our forgivingness. He who took his fellow-servant +by the throat and half choked him in his determination to exact the last +farthing of his debt was, by the act, cancelling his own discharge and +piling up a mountain of debt, against himself. Our consciousness of +forgiveness will be most clear and satisfying when we are forgiving +those who trespass against us. We shall pardon most spontaneously and +fully when our hearts are warm with the beams of God's pardon. + + +'LEAD US NOT INTO TEMPTATION' + + 'And lead us not into temptation.'--MATT. vi. 13. + +The petition of the previous clause has to do with the past, this with +the future; the one is the confession of sin, the other the supplication +which comes from the consciousness of weakness. The best man needs both. +Forgiveness does not break the bonds of evil by which we are held. But +forgiveness increases our consciousness of weakness, and in the new +desire which comes from it to walk in holiness, we are first rightly +aware of the strength and frequency of inducements to sin. A man may by +mere natural conscience know something of what temptation is, but only +he understands its strength who resists it. + +The sense of forgiveness and the new desires and love thereby developed, +lead to the falling of the mask from the deceitful forms that gleam +around us. He who is forgiven has his eyesight purged, and can see that +these are not what they seem, but demons that lure us to our +destruction. It is true that the sign of the Cross compels the foul +thing to appear in its own true form. 'Then started up in his own shape +the fiend.' The love which comes from forgiveness and the new sympathies +which it engenders are the Ithuriel's spear. What a wonderful change +passes upon the siren tempters when we believe that Christ has pardoned +us, and have learned to love Him! Then the fishtail is seen below the +sunlit waters. + +Forgiveness is one of the chief means of teaching us our sin. The +removal of all dread of personal consequences, which it effects, leaves +us free to contemplate with calmed hearts the moral character of our +actions. The revelation of God's love which is made in forgiveness +quickens our consciences as well as purges them, and our standard of +purity is raised. The effort to live rightly, which is the sure result +of God's love believed, first teaches us thoroughly how wrong we are. We +know the strength of the current when we try to pull against it. +Looking to God as our Father, our blackness shows blacker against the +radiant purity of His white light. + +Forgiveness does not at once and wholly annihilate the tendency to +transgress. True, the belief that God has forgiven supplies the +strongest motives for holiness, and the new life which comes to every +man who so believes will by degrees conquer all the lingering garrisons +of the Philistines which hold scattered strong-posts in the land. But +though this be so, still the purifying process is a slow and gradual +one, and evil may be forced out of the heart while yet it is in the +blood. The central will may be cleansed while yet habits continue to be +strong, and the power of resistance, new-born as it is, may be weak in +act though omnipotent in nature. All sin leaves some tendency to +recurrence. The path which one avalanche has hollowed lies ready for +another. It is true, on the one side, that no purity is so bright and no +obedience so steadfast as that of the man who has been cleansed and +reclaimed from rebellion. But it is also true that, on the road to that +ultimate purity, a pardoned man has to struggle daily with the bitter +relics of his old self, to wage war against evils the force of which he +never knew till he tried to resist them, against sins which were all +sleek, and velvety, and purring, as long as he fondled and stroked them, +but which flash out sharp claws when he would fling them from their dens +in his heart. Forgiveness does not at once conquer sin, and forgiveness +leads to deeper consciousness of sin. Hence the order of petitions here. +Following on the prayer for pardon, comes that for shelter from and in +temptation which arises from deep consciousness of our own weakness and +liability to fall. + +Temptation has two parts in it--the circumstances which lead to sin, the +desire which is addressed by them. There must be tinder as well as +spark, if there is to be flame. Fire falling on water or upon bare rock +will kindle nothing. God sends the one, we make the other. + +The Prayer:-- + +I. Expresses our recognition of God as ordering all circumstances. + +There is the general faith that His Providence orders our lot, and the +specific that God orders and brings about temptations. + +To tempt is to present inducements to sin, but a secondary significance +is to do so maliciously, and with desire that we should fall. It is in +this secondary sense that James denies that God tempts any man. We tempt +ourselves, or evil tempts us. But God does tempt in so far as He +presents outward circumstances which become occasions of falling or of +standing, as we take them. He sends temptations, He sends trials, and +the two only differ in name, and in what is implied in the word, of the +disposition of the sender. Christ was led into the wilderness by the +Spirit to be tempted. If God does not in malice tempt, still He does in +mercy try. God sends trials; we make them temptations. + +II. Implies that our chiefest wish is holiness, our greatest dread sin. + +This is the only negative petition. + +What would be _our_ deprecatory prayers? Lead us not into sorrow, loss, +poverty, disease, death? + +How we fill our prayers with womanish shriekings and fears! + +This petition can come only from a man whose will is resigned and fixed +on God. One thing he fears, and that is to sin. + +The one thing to be desired is not outward well-being, but inward +character. + +Think of our lives: what do we dread most? + +III. Expresses our self-distrust. + +It is from consciousness of our weakness that we pray thus. The language +at first sight seems to breathe only a wish to be exempt from +temptation. If that were its meaning, it were contrary to Christ's +teaching and to the whole tenor of Scripture. But such a wish _is_ +included in it, and corresponds to one tone of mind, and to what ought +always to be our feeling. We rightly shrink from temptation because we +know our own weakness. That is the only allowable ground; if we do it +from indolence, or dread of trouble, we are wrong. If flesh shrinks from +pain, we are 'carnal and walk as men.' If we desire simply to have a +smooth path, then we have yet to learn what our Master meant when He +said, 'In the world ye shall have tribulation.' His servants should +'count it all joy when they fall into divers temptations.' + +But if we rightly understand our own weakness, we shall dread to meet +the enemy, because we know how often circumstances make all the +difference between saint and sinner. + +IV. Expresses our reliance on God if temptation comes. + +I take to be 'tempted' as being presentation of inducement to sin. I +take to 'enter into temptation' as the further step of consenting to it. + +Perhaps there may be hovering in the words of the petition a +half-conscious allusion to a captive being led into a prison. + +What we should chiefly desire is that God would lead us not _into_, but +_through_ and _out of_, temptation. To pray simply for exemption from +trial is-- + +1. To ask what is impossible. + +All scenes of life, all stages, both sexes, all relations, all +professions, are and ever will be full of inducements to sin. + +Whether any given circumstance will tempt you or not depends on what you +are. If there is nothing adhesive on you, it will not stick. + +2. To ask what would not be for our good. + +Effect of conquered temptation on the Christian life. + +Effect on character. The old belief that the strength of a slain enemy +passed into his slayer is true in regard to a Christian's overcome +temptations. + +Effect on grasp of truth. + +Effect on consciousness of relation to God. + +Effect on Future. + +So then we ought to desire not so much exemption from temptation, as +strength in it. + +And He will always be at our side to grant us this. + +We should seek not freedom from furnace, but His presence in it; not to +be guided away from the dark valley, but through it. His prayer is our +model; His life is our pattern, who was tempted 'though He were the +Son'; His strength is our hope. He is 'able to succour them that are +tempted.' + +We identify ourselves in such a prayer with all who have sinned, and +knowing that we are men of like passions, and that we may fall like +them, we cry 'lead _us_ not.' + +He who offers this prayer from such motives will best and most willingly +meet temptation when it comes. The soldier who goes into the field with +careful circumspection, knowing the enemy's strength and his own +weakness, is the most likely to conquer. It is the presumptuous men, +confident in their own strength, who are sure to get beaten. + + +'DELIVER US FROM EVIL' + + 'But deliver us from evil.'--MATT. vi. 13. + +The two halves of this prayer are like a calm sky with stars shining +silently in its steadfast blue, and a troubled earth beneath, where +storms sweep, and changes come, and tears are ever being shed. The one +is so tranquil, the other so full of woe and want. What a dark picture +of human conditions lies beneath the petitions of this second half! +Hunger and sin and temptation, and wider still, that tragic word which +includes them all--evil. Forgiveness and defence and deliverance--what +sorrows these presuppose! Each step of these latter supplications seems +to carry us deeper into the shadow and the darkness, each to present a +darker aspect of what human life really is; and now that we have reached +the last, we have an all-comprehensive cry which holds within its +meaning every ill that flesh is heir to. + +But seeing that we have to do with a prayer, we have also to do with a +prophecy. We know that if we ask anything according to His will, He +heareth us, and therefore the sadder the want which is expressed, the +fuller of hope is the prayer. This petition gives a dark picture of +human wants, but whatsoever thing we pray about or against, we thereby +profess to believe to be contrary to God's will, and to be certain of +removal by Him; and when our Lord commanded us to say 'Our Father, ... +deliver us from evil,' He gave us the lively hope that all which is +included in that terribly wide word should be swept away, and that He +would break every yoke and let His oppressed go free. The whole sum of +human sorrow is gathered into one petition, that we may all feel that +every item of it is capable of attenuation and extinction; and so our +prayer, in the very clause which seems to sound the lowest depth, really +rises to the loftiest height, and the words which sound likest a wail +over all the misery that is done under the sun, have in them the notes +of triumph. 'The sweetest songs are those which tell of saddest +thought.' The most jubilant and confident prayer is that which feels +most keenly the burden of evil, and 'falling with its weight of sins +'upon the great world's altar-stairs,' cries to God for deliverance. + +Consider, then:-- + +I. The width of this petition. + +What is evil? + +Well, we leave God to decide what it is, but also we have no reason that +I can see for limiting the impressive width of the word. It is a +profound insight into the nature of evil which, in our own language and +in other tongues, uses one word to express both what we call sin, and +what we call sorrow. And I know not why we should suppose that our Lord +does not include both of these here. There is what we call physical +evil, pain, sorrow, meaning thereby whatever wars against our well-being +and happiness. There is what we call moral evil, sin, meaning thereby +whatever wars against our purity. Both are evil. Men's consciences tell +them so of the one. Men's sensibilities tell them so of the other. + +You cannot sophisticate a man into believing that he is not suffering +when his flesh is racked or his heart wounded. It is evil to be in pain. +It is evil to carry a heavy heart. It is evil to be stripped of what we +have long been accustomed to lean upon. It is evil to be crushed down by +loss and want. It is evil to stand by the black hole that swallows the +coffin that holds the light of our eyes. It is evil to have the arrows +of calumny or hate sticking in our quivering spirits. It is evil to be +battered with the shocks of change and doom in the world, to have to +toil at ungrateful tasks beyond our strength. The life which turns the +child's rounded features into the thin face lined and wrinkled, and the +child's elastic run into the slow, heavy tread, is after all a life +which in its outward aspects is a life of evil. + +And many a man who has had little sympathy with what seem to him the +hazy platitudes of the rest of the prayer, learns to pray this clause, +and is always ready to pray it. For we may be sure of this, that they +who make the world their all are they who feel its evils most keenly. +From how many lips unused to prayer are cries every hour going up in +this sorrowful world which really mean, 'deliver us from evil'! + +But it is not only these external evils which the prayer includes. It +means every kind of sin, all dominion of what is contrary to God's will. + +And the petition is 'deliver,' pull us out, drag us from. It is a cry +for the _entire_ emancipation or _utter_ extinction of evil in its +effect upon us. + +So this petition in its clear recognition of evil sets forth man's +condition distinctly, and is opposed to that false stoicism which tries +to argue men out of their senses, and convince them that the fire which +burns them is only a painted fire. Christianity has nothing in common +with that insensibility to suffering which it is sometimes supposed to +teach. Christ wept, and bade the daughters of Jerusalem weep also. + +Christianity has deep words to say about evil and pain as being salutary +and for our good, and about submission to God's will as being better +than wild wishes to be delivered now and at once from all pain and +sorrow. But it begins with full admission that evil is evil, and all its +teachings presuppose that. Job was tormented by the well-meaning +platitudes of his friends, who lifted up their hands in holy horror that +he did not lie on his dunghill, as if it had been a bed of roses; and +Job, who felt all the sorrow of his losses and ground out many a wrong +saying between his teeth, was justified because he had held by the truth +that his senses taught him, that pain was bitter and bad, and by the +other which his faith taught him, that God must be good. He could not +reconcile them. We can in part; but our Lord has taught us in this +prayer that it is not to be done by denying or sophisticating facts. +Then let us use this prayer in all its breadth, and feel that it covers +all which makes our hearts heavy, and all which makes our consciences +sore. + +'From all evil and mischief--plague, pestilence, and famine, as well as +envy, hatred, and hypocrisy--from sin, from the crafts and assaults of +the devil,--Good Lord, deliver us.' 'In all time of our tribulation; in +all time of our wealth, in the hour of death, and in the day of +judgment,--Good Lord, deliver us.' + +II. The unity and source of the evil. + +The singular number suggests that all evil, multiform as it seems, is at +bottom one. It is a great weltering coil, but wilderness and tangle as +it appears, there is a tap root from which it all comes, like a +close-clinging mass of ivy which is choking the life out of an elm-tree. +If that root were grubbed up, all would fall. It is like some huge sea +monster 'floating many a rood,' but there is only one life in it. The +hydra has a hundred heads, but one heart. And the place in the prayer in +which this clause comes suggests what that is--sin. + +That place implies that all human sorrows and sufferings are +consequences of human evil. And that is true inasmuch as many of them +are distinctly and naturally its results. Disease is often the result of +dissipation, poverty of indolence, friendlessness of selfishness. How +many of the miseries of our great cities, how many of the miseries of +nations, result from criminal neglect and injustice! 'Man's inhumanity +to man makes countless thousands mourn.' Ah! if all men were saying from +the heart, 'Thy will be done,' how many of their griefs would be at an +end! And it is true that sorrows are the consequences of sin inasmuch as +suffering has been introduced by God into the world because of sin. He +has been forced by our rebellion to use judgments, and that to bring us +back. + +And it is true that sorrows are the consequences of sin inasmuch as the +sting is taken out of them when our sins are forgiven and we love God. +Then they so change their characters as scarcely to deserve to be called +by their old name, and the paradox, 'sorrowful yet always rejoicing,' +becomes a sober fact of experience. + +III. The divine opposition to evil. + +This prayer implies that all evil is contrary to His will. The one kind +is so, absolutely and always. The other is a method to which He has had +recourse, but not that which, if things had gone right, He would have +adopted. + +So this prayer breathes confidence that God will overcome both kinds. + +How much there is to make us believe that evil is eternal. + +How apt we are to fall into despair, to lose heart for ourselves and our +fellows; to say that it has always been so, and it always will be so. + +For all social reformers here is encouragement. + +For ourselves, when we seem to do so little in setting ourselves right, +here is confidence. + +But it must be _God_ who conquers the world's evil. + +Our most potent weapon in the struggle with our own and the world's evil +is the earnest offering of this petition. + +Think of the failure of godless schemes; how often we have been on the +verge of political and other millenniums. + +Only the God, who cures sin, can cure the world's ills. + +We are not to substitute praying for working. God may answer our prayer +by setting us to work. + +Remember that you pledge yourselves to work for your fellows by that +_Us_, and to try to reduce, were it by ever so little, the sum of human +misery. + +IV. The manner of God's deliverance from evil. God delivers us by +Christ, that is the sum of all. + +He delivers us from sin by His answers to the previous petitions. + +He delivers us from suffering by teaching us how to bear it, and by +showing us the meaning of it. The evil in evil is taken away. There +shines a brightness round about the devouring fire (Ezek. i. 4). 'All +things work together for good.' + +Finally, He delivers by taking us to Himself. + +This prayer goes beyond present experience. It is the yearning for full +redemption. It is the last which is answered. But there lies in it a not +indistinct prophecy of that great and blessed time when we shall be like +Him, and delivered from all evil. + +For ourselves and for the world it carries the assurance that neither +sorrow nor sin shall be permitted to deform for ever the face of this +fair creation; but that the day comes when God's name being everywhere +hallowed, and His will done on earth, and His kingdom set up, and all +our wants supplied, and all our sins forgiven, and all temptations taken +out of the way, evil of every kind shall be scourged out of God's +universe, and 'the ransomed of the Lord shall return with joy upon their +heads, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.' + +Then shall this mighty prayer be answered, the prayer of God's children +in all ages, the prayer which He offers before the Throne who on earth +prayed, 'Not that Thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that +Thou shouldest keep them from the evil'; the prayer which the +white-robed souls offer when they cry, 'How long, O Lord, how long?' the +prayer which, all unconsciously, the sobs, and cries, and sorrows of six +thousand years have been offering; the prayer which is every hour being +answered in hourly mercies, and multitudes of forgivenesses and gracious +guiding; the prayer which has been steadily tending towards its +fulfilment, through all the ages during which God's name has been +growing in men's love, and His will more and more obeyed, and His +kingdom more and more fully come; the prayer which will be at last +completely realised when all His children shall stand before His Throne +happy and good, and the noise of earth's evil shall sound only in the +ear of memory, like the murmur of some far-off sea heard from the sacred +mountain, or the remembrance of the tempest when all the winds are +still. + +If our prayer is, 'Deliver us from evil,' our life's experience will be +that 'He delivered us from so great a death and will deliver,' our dying +word will be thanksgiving to 'the angel who delivered us from all evil,' +and our death will bring the full deliverance for which while here we +pray, and admit us into that region of unmingled good and blessing and +purity, whose distant brightness we, tossing on the unquiet sea, behold +from afar and long to possess. 'After this manner pray ye,' and to you +the promise will be blessedly fulfilled, 'Because he hath set his love +upon Me, therefore will I deliver him. I will set him on high, because +he hath known My name' (Ps. xci. 14). + + +'THINE IS THE KINGDOM' + + 'Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. + Amen.' MATT. vi. 13. + +There is no reason to suppose that this doxology was spoken by Christ. +It does not occur in any of the oldest and most authoritative +manuscripts of Matthew's Gospel. It does not seem to have been known to +the earliest Christian writers. Long association has for us intertwined +the words inextricably with our Lord's Prayer, and it is a wound to +reverential feeling to strike out what so many generations have used in +their common supplications. No doubt this doxology is appropriate as a +conclusion, and serves to give an aspect of completeness. It sounds cold +and cheerless to end our prayer with 'evil.' But the question is not one +of feeling or of our notions of fitness, but purely one of criticism, +and the only evidence which has any right to be heard in settling the +text of the New Testament is dead against this clause. If we regard that +evidence, we are obliged to say that the doxology has no business here. +How it stands here is a question which may be answered satisfactorily. +When the Lord's Prayer came to be used in public worship, it was natural +to append to it a doxology, just as in chanting the psalms it became the +habit to repeat at the end of each the Gloria. This doxology, originally +written on the margin of the gospel, would gradually creep into the +text, and once there, was naturally retained. + +It does not follow that, because Christ did not speak it, we ought not +to use it. It should not be in the Bible, but it may well be in our +prayers. If we think that our Lord gave us a pattern rather than a form, +we are quite justified in extending that pattern by any additions which +harmonise with its spirit. If we think He gave us a form to be repeated +_verbatim_, then we ought not to add to it this doxology. + +At first sight it seems as if the prayer without it were incomplete. It +contains loving desires, lowly dependence, humble penitence, earnest +wishes for cleansing, but there appears none of that rapturous praise +which is also an element in all true devotion. And this may have been +one reason for the addition of the doxology. But I think that that +absence of praise and joy is only apparent; the first clause of the +prayer expresses the highest form of both. The doxology, if you will +think of it, adds nothing to the contemplation of the divine character +which the prayer has already taught us. It is only a repetition at the +close of what we had at the beginning, and its conception, lofty and +grand as it is, falls beneath that of 'Our Father.' We might almost say +that the doxology is incongruous with the prayer as presenting a less +blessed, spiritual, distinctively Christian thought of God. That would +be going too far, but I cannot but feel a certain change in tone, a +dropping from the loftiest elevation down to the celebration of the +lower aspects of the divine. 'Kingdom, power, and glory' are grand, but +they do not reach the height of ascription of praise which sounds in the +very first words of the prayer. + +Properly speaking, too, this doxology is not a part of the prayer. It +expresses two things: the devout contemplation of God which the whole +course of the petitions has excited in the soul--and in that aspect it +is the Church's echo to the Lord's Prayer; and the confidence with which +we pray--and in that aspect it is rather the utterance of meditative +reflection asking of itself its reasons for hope and stirring itself up +to lay hold on God. + +Notice, then-- + +I. The meaning of the doxology. + +Kingdom, power, and glory correspond to kingdom, will, and hallowing in +the first part. The order is not the same, but it is still substantially +identical. + +'Thine the kingdom.' All earthly things, the whole fates of men here, +are ruled by Him. The prayer asked that it might be so; here we declare +that it is so already, not, of course, in the deepest sense, but that +even now and here He rules with authority. 'Thy kingdom is an +everlasting kingdom,' and this conviction is inseparable from our +Christianity. How hard it is to believe it at all times, from what we +see around us! The temptation is to think that the kingdom is men's, or +belongs to blind fate, or chance, and our own evil hearts ever suggest +that the kingdom is our own. Satan said, 'All is mine, and I will give +it Thee.' + +The affairs of the world seem so far from God, we are so tempted to +believe that He is remote from it, that nations and their rulers and the +field of politics are void of Him. We see craft and force and villainy +ruling, we see kingdoms far from any perception that society is for man +and from God. We see _Dei gratia_ on our coins, and 'by the grace of the +Devil' for real motto. We see long tracks of godless crime and mean +intrigue, and here and there a divine gleam falling from some heroic +deed of sacrifice. We see king and priest playing into each other's +hands, and the people destroyed, whatever be the feud. But we are to +believe that the world is the kingdom of God; to learn whence comes all +human rule, and to be sure that even here and now 'Thy kingdom is an +everlasting kingdom.' + +'Thine the Power.' Not merely has He authority over, but He works indeed +through all--the whole world and all creatures are the field of the ever +present energy of God. That is a simple truth, deep but clear, that all +power comes from Him. He is the cause of all changes, physical and all +other. Force is the garment of the present God, and among men all power +is from Him. His will is the creative word. + +'Thine the Glory.' God's glory is the praise which comes from the +accomplishment of His purpose and will. This is the end of all Creation +and Manifestation. The thought of Scripture is that all things are for +the greater glory of God. It may be a most cold-blooded and cruel +doctrine, or it may be a most blessed one. All depends on what is our +conception of the character of the God whose self-revelation is His +glory. + +An almighty Devil is the God of many people. But we have learned to say +'Our Father,' and hence this thought is blessed. Unless we had so +learned, the thought that His end was His glory would make Him a selfish +tyrant. But since we know Him to be our Father, we know that His Glory +is the revelation of His Love, His Fatherhood; that when we say that He +does all things for His own glory, we say that He does all things that +men may know His character as it is, and 'to know Him is life eternal.' + +'Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory': whatsoever we may +have lost and suffered in the past; whatsoever fiery baptism and strife +of arms or of principles we may yet have to go through; whatsoever +shocks of loss and sorrow may strike upon our own hearts; whatsoever +untraversed seas our nation or our race may have to embark upon, One +abides, the same One remains ours and is ever with us. We may have to +face storm and cloud, and 'neither sun nor stars may appear'; we may +have to fling out the best anchors we can find, if haply they may hold +on anything, and may wearily 'wish for the day.' But 'the Lord sitteth +upon the flood,' and in the thickest of the night, when we lift our +wearied eyes, we shall see Him coming to us across the storm, and the +surges smoothing themselves to rest for His pavement, and the waves +subside into their caves at His voice. + +'Thine is the Kingdom, and the power, and the glory.' Then the world and +we shall be guided right and kept safe, and whatsoever is true and good +shall rule, and the weak cause shall be the conquering, and all false +fame shall fade like morning mist, and every honest desire and effort +for man's blessedness shall have eternal honour. God is King; God is +mighty; God's name shall have glory; then for us there is Hope +invincible in spite of all evil. Courage to stand by His truth and His +will, endless patience and endless charity, are our fitting robes, the +livery of our King. Because He is our Father, He will deliver us and our +brethren from all evil, and by His all-powerful Love will found His +universal kingdom and get the glory due unto His name, the glory of +loving and being loved by all His children. + +II. The force of the doxology in its place here. + +It reminds us that the ground of our confidence is in God's own +character. We do not need to make ourselves worthy to receive. We cannot +move Him, but He is self-moved, and so we do not need to be afraid. Nor +is our prayer to be an attempt to bend His will. + +Our confidence digs deep down to build on the rock of the ever-living +God, whose 'is the Kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever.' We +flee to Him for a refuge against ourselves. We bring nothing. We look to +His own character, which will always be the same, and to His past, which +is the type and prophecy for all His future. He is His own reason, His +own motive, His own end. + +When we ground our prayers on Him, then we touch ground, and in whatever +weltering sea of trouble we may be buffeted, we have found the bottom +and can stand firm. + +But the 'Amen' which closes the doxology is not the empty form which it +has now become. It means not only, So may it be! but also, So will it +be! It is not only the last breathing of desire, but also the expression +of assured expectancy and confidence; not merely be it so, but confident +expression of assurance that it will be so. + +How much of our prayer flies off into empty air because there is no +expectation in it! How much which has no certainty of being answered in +it! How much which is followed by no marking of the future to discern +the answer! We should stand praying like some Grecian statue of an +archer, with hand extended and lips parted and eye following the arrow +of our prayer on its flight till it touches the mark. We have a right +to be confident that we shall be heard. We should apply the Amen to all +the petitions of the prayer. So it becomes a prophecy, and the Christian +man is to live in the calm expectation that all the petitions will be +accomplished. For the world they will be, for us they may be. It is for +each of us to decide for ourselves whether they will be answered in and +for us. + +The place of the doxology here suggests that all prayer should lead to +thankful contemplation of God's character. + +We have seen how the prayer begins with contemplation, and then passes +into supplication. Thus all prayer should end as it began. It has a +circular motion, and starting from the highest heavens and coming down +to earth, is thither drawn again and rests at the throne of God, whence +it set out, like the strong Spirits before His throne who veil their +faces while they gaze upon the glory, and then fly forth to help human +sorrows and satisfy human hearts, and then on unwearied pinions winging +their way to their first station, meekly sink their wings of flight, and +veil their faces again with their wings. The rivers that flow through +broad lands, bringing blessing and doing humble service in drinking-cup +and domestic vessel, came in soft rain from heaven, and though their +bright waves are browned with soil and made opaque with many a stain, +yet their work done, they rest in the great ocean, and thence are drawn +up once more to the clouds of heaven. So with our prayers; they ought to +start from the contemplation of our God, and they ought to return +thither again. + +And as this is the last word of our prayers, so may we not say that it +represents the perpetual form of fellowship with God? Prayers for bread, +and pardon, and help, and deliverance, are for the wilderness. Prayers +for the hallowing of His name, and the coming of His kingdom, and the +doing of His will, are out of date when they are fulfilled; but for ever +this voice shall rise before His throne, and that last new song, which +shall ring with might as of thunder and sweetness as of many harps from +the thousand times ten thousand, shall be but the expansion and the +deepening of the praise of earth. Then 'every creature which is in +heaven, and on the earth and under the earth and in the sea, shall be +heard saying, "Blessing, and honour, and glory, and power, be unto Him +that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever."' + +So we finish these meditations. I have felt all along how poorly my +words served me to say even what I saw, and how poorly my vision saw +into the clear depths of the divine prayer. But I hope that they may +have helped you half as much as they have myself, to feel more strongly +how all-comprehensive it is. I said at the beginning, and I repeat with +more emphasis now, that there is everything in this prayer--God's +relations to man, man's to God and his fellows, the foundation stones of +Christian theology, of Christian morals, of Christian society, of +Christian politics. There is help for the smallest wants and light for +daily duties; there is strength for the hour of death and the day of +judgment. There is the revelation of the timeless depths of our Father's +heart; there is the prophecy of the furthest future for ourselves and +our brethren. No man can exhaust it. Every age may find in its simple +syllables lessons for their new perplexities and duties. It will not be +outgrown in heaven. But, thank God, we do not need to exhaust its +meaning in order to use it aright. Jesus interprets our prayers, and +many a dumb yearning, and many a broken sob, and many a passionate +fragment of a cry, and many an ignorant desire that may appear to us +very unlike His pattern for all ages, will be accepted by Him. He +inspires, presents and answers every prayer offered through Him to the +Father in heaven. He counts the poorest prayer to be 'after this +manner,' if it comes from a heart seeking the Father, owning its sin, +longing dimly for deliverance and purity, and hoping through its tears +in the great and loving tenderness of the Father in heaven who has sent +His Son, that through Him we might cry Abba, Father. + + +FASTING + + 'Moreover, when ye fast, be not, as the hypocrites, of a sad + countenance: for they disfigure their faces, that they may appear + unto men to fast. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. + 17. But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thine head, and wash thy + face; 18. That thou appear not unto men to fast, but unto thy + Father which is in secret: and thy Father, which seeth in secret, + shall reward thee openly.'--MATT. vi. 16-18. + +Fasting has gone out of fashion now, but in Christ's time it went along +with almsgiving and prayers, as a recognised expression of a religious +life. The step from expression to ostentation is a short one, and the +triple repetition here of almost the same words in regard to each of the +three corruptions of religion, witnesses to our Lord's estimate of their +commonness. We are exposed to them just as the Pharisees of His day +were. If there is less fasting now than then, Christians still need to +take care that they do not get up a certain 'sad countenance' for the +sake of being seen of men, and because such is understood to be the +proper thing for a religious man. They have to take care, too, not to +parade the feelings, of which fasting used to be the expression, as, for +instance, a sense of their own sinfulness, and sorrow for the nation's +or the world's sins and sorrows. There are deep and sorrowful emotions +in every real Christian heart, but the less the world is called in to +see them, the purer and more blessed and purifying they will be. The man +who has a sidelong eye to spectators in expressing his Christian (or any +other) emotion, is very near being a hypocrite. Expressing emotion with +reference to bystanders, is separated by a very thin line from feigning +emotion. The sidelong glance will soon become a fixed gaze, seeing +nothing else, and the purpose of fasting will slip out of sight. The man +who only wishes to attract attention easily succeeds in that shabby aim, +and has his reward, but misses all the true results, which are only +capable of being realised when he who fasts is thinking of nothing but +his own sin and his forgiving God. + + +TWO KINDS OF TREASURE + + 'Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and + rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: 20. + But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven.'--MATT. vi. 19-20. + +The connection with the previous part is twofold. + +The warning against hypocritical fastings and formalism leads to the +warning against worldly-mindedness and avarice. For what +worldly-mindedness is greater than that which prostitutes even religious +acts to worldly advantage, and is laying up treasure of men's good +opinion on earth even while it shams to be praying to God? And there is +a close connection which the history of every age has illustrated +between formal religious profession and the love of money, which is the +vice of the Church. Again, the promise of rewarding openly naturally +leads on to the positive exhortation to make that reward our great +object. + +The connection with what follows is remarkable. The injunction and +prohibition of the text refer to two species of the same genus, one the +vice of avarice, the other the vice of anxiety. + +I. The Two Treasures. + +These are--on earth, all things which a man can possess;--in heaven, +primarily God Himself, the reward which has been spoken of in previous +verses, viz. God's love and approbation, a holy character, and all those +spiritual and personal graces, beauties, perfections and joys which come +to the good man from above. + +This command and prohibition require of Christ's disciples-- + +1. A rectification of their judgment as to what is the true good of man. + +(a) Sense and flesh tend to make us think the visible and material the +best. + +(b) Our peculiar position here in a great commercial centre powerfully +reinforces this tendency. + +(c) The prevailing current of this age is all in the same direction. +The growth of luxury, the increase of wealth, and set of thought, +threaten us with a period when not only religious thought will fail, but +when all faith, enthusiasm, all poetry and philosophy, the very +conception of God and duty, all idealism, all that is unseen, will be +scouted among men. Naturalism does not fulfil its own boast of dealing +with facts; there are more facts than can be seen. So the first thing is +to settle it in our minds, in opposition to our own selves and to +prevailing tendencies, that truth is better than money, that pure +affections and moderate desires and a heart set on God are richer wealth +than all external possessions. + +2. Desire that follows the corrected judgment. It is one thing to know +all this, another to wrench our wishes loose from earth. + +3. A practical life that obeys the impulse of the desire. Christ's +command and prohibition here do not refer only to a certain course of +action, but to a certain motive and purpose in action, and to actions +drawn from these. If we obey Christ we shall lead lives obviously +different from those which are based upon an estimate which we are to +reject; but the main thing is to live and work with an eye to the +eternal, not the temporal, results of our doings. We are to administer +our lives as God does His providence, using the temporal only as means +to an end, the eternal. We are to live to be God-like, to love God, and +be loved by Him. + +There is here the idea of which we are somewhat too much afraid, that +our life on earth adds to the rewards of blessedness in heaven. The idea +of reward is emphatically and often inculcated in Scripture, however +much a mistaken jealousy for 'the doctrines of Grace' may be chary of +it. We need only recall such words as 'They shall walk with Me in white, +for they are worthy'; or, 'Laying up in store for themselves a good +foundation'; or, 'Thou shalt have treasure in heaven.' If people would +only think of heaven less carnally, and would regard it as the +perfection of holiness, there would be no difficulty in the notion of +reward. Men get there what they have made themselves fit for here. +'Their works do follow them.' + +II. The foes of the earthly, which are powerless against the heavenly. + +The imagery implies a comparatively simple state of society and +primitive treasures. Moths gnaw rich garments. Rust, or more properly +corruption, would get into a man's barns and vineyards, hay-crops and +fruits. Thieves would steal the hoard that he had laid by, for want of +better investment. Or to generalise, corruption, the natural process of +wearing away, natural enemies proper to each kind of possession, human +agency which takes away all external possessions--these multifarious +agents co-operate to render impossible the permanent possession of any +'treasure on earth.' + +On the other hand, what a man has laid up in heaven, and what he is +partially here, have no tendency to grow old. Men never weary of God, +never find Him failing, never exhaust truth, never drink the love of God +to the dregs, never find purity palling upon the taste, 'Age cannot +wither, nor custom stale, "their" infinite variety.' + +'Treasure in heaven' has no enemies which destroy it. Every earthly +possession has its own foes, every earthly joy has its own destructive +opposite; but nothing touches this treasure in heaven. + +It has nothing to fear from men. Nobody can take it out of a man's soul +but himself. The inmost circle of our life is inviolable. It is +incorruptible and undefiled and fadeth not away, for it all comes from +the eternal God and our eternal union to Him. He is our portion for +ever. + +III. The madness of fastening the heart down to earth. + +The heart must be in heaven in order to find its true home. It is +unnatural, contrary to the constitution of the 'heart' that it should be +fettered to earth. + +If it is, it will be restless and unsatisfied. + +If it is, it will be at the mercy of all these enemies. + +If it is, what will happen when the man is no longer on earth? 'What +shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his own soul?' + + +HEARTS AND TREASURES + + 'For where your treasure is, there will your heart be + also.'--MATT. vi. 21. + +'Your treasure' is probably not the same as your neighbour's. It is +yours, whether you possess it or not, because you love it. For what our +Lord means here by 'treasure' is not merely money, or material good, but +whatever each man thinks best, that which he most eagerly strives to +attain, that which he most dreads to lose, that which, if he has, he +thinks he will be blessed, that which, if he has it not, he knows he is +discontented. + +Now, if that is the meaning of 'treasure,' then this great saying of nay +text is, as a matter of course, true. For what in each case makes the +treasure is precisely the going out of the heart to grapple it, and it +is just because the heart is there that a thing is the treasure. + +Now, I need not do more than remind you, I suppose, that in Scripture +'heart' means a great deal more than it does in our modern usage, for we +employ it as an expression for the affections, whereas the Bible takes +it as including the whole inner man. For instance, we read, 'As a man +_thinketh_ in his heart, so is he'; and of 'the thoughts and intents of +the heart.' So then the affections, as with us, but also thoughts, +purposes, volitions, are all included in the word; and as one passage of +Scripture says, 'Out of it are the issues of life.' It is the central +reservoir, the central personality, the indivisible unit of the +thinking, willing, feeling, loving person which I call 'myself.' So what +Christ says is that where a man's treasure lies, not merely his +affections will twine round it, but his whole self will be, as it were, +implicated and intertwisted with it, so as that what befalls it will +befall him. + +Now, further, notice that this saying, so obviously true, is introduced +by a 'for,' and that it is the broad basis on which rest the obligation +and the wisdom of the double counsel which has preceded, on the one +hand, the warning against choosing perishable and uncertain good for our +treasure, and mixing ourselves up with that, and on the other the loving +counsel to choose for ourselves the wealth which is perpetual, +unprecarious, and certain. + +So I think we may look at these words from a threefold point of view, +and see in them a mirror that will show us ourselves, a dissuasive and a +persuasive. Let us take these three aspects. + +I. Here, then, is a mirror that a man may hold up before himself, and +find out something about himself by it. + +For, like other general statements of the same sort, you can turn this +saying round about, and take it the other way, and not only say, as the +text says, 'where your treasure is, there will your heart be also,' but, +'where your heart is, there is your treasure.' A man's real god is the +thing that he counts best, and for which he works most earnestly, and +which, as I said, he most longs to have, and trembles to think he will +lose. That is his god, and his treasure, whatever his professions may +be. Where your heart is, there is your treasure. + +Now, of course, for the larger part of the lives of all of us, there are +certain lines laid down by our circumstances, our trades, our various +duties, on which the train of our thoughts and efforts must run. But the +question is, When I am set free from the constraint of my daily +avocations and pressing duties, and am at liberty to go as I like, where +do I go? When the weight is taken off the sapling in the nursery garden, +which has been hung on it to turn it into a weeping-tree, its elastic +stem springs to the erect position. Where do I spring to when the +weights are taken off? The mother bird will hover over her nest. Where +her treasure is, there is her maternal instinct. The needle follows the +drawing of the pole-star; the sunflower turns to the sun. 'Being let go, +they went to their own company.' Where do _you_ go? The reins laid upon +the horse's neck, it will trot straight home to its stable; 'the ox +knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's crib,' and our instincts are +not less sure than theirs. You go 'home' when you are left to +yourselves; where do you go? + +We call ourselves Christians. If our treasure is in Christ, our hearts +will turn to Him. And what does that mean? 'Hearts,' as I said, mean +thoughts. Now, can you and I say, 'In the multitude of my thoughts +within me, Thy comforts delight my soul'? Does there come stealing into +my mind often and often the blessed contemplation of my wealth in Jesus +Christ? The river of thought brings down, in its continual flow, much +mire and sand. Does it bring any gold? Do I think about Christ, and find +it to be my refreshment to do so? An old mystic said, 'If I can tell how +often I have thought of God to-day, I have not thought of Him often +enough.' 'Where your treasure is, there will your thoughts be also.' + +The heart means love. Where do my affections turn when I am set free? +The heart means the will. Is my will all saturated with, and so made +pliant by, the will and commandment of Jesus Christ? If He is my +treasure, then thoughts, affection, obedience will all turn to Him, and +the current of my being, whatever may be the surface-ripple--ay, or the +surface-storm--will be ever sliding surely, though it may be silently, +towards Himself. Ah! brethren, if we would be honest with ourselves and +look into this mirror, we should have cause to be ashamed, some of us, +of our very profession of being Christians, and all of us to feel that +we have far too much heaped up for ourselves other treasures and +forgotten our true wealth, and we should all have to pray, 'Unite my +heart to fear Thy name.' The Assyrians had a superstition that a demon, +if he saw his own reflection in a mirror, would fly. I think if some of +us professing Christians saw ourselves, as the looking-glass of my text +might give us to see ourselves, we should shudderingly depart from that +self, and seek to have a better self formed within us. 'Where your +treasure is, there will your heart be also.' + +II. Now let me ask you to look at this saying, in the connection in +which our Lord adduced it, as being a dissuasive. + +He applies it to both branches of His previous advice. He had just said, +'Lay not up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust doth +corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal.' These are very +primitive methods of depriving men of their treasures, arguing a +comparatively simple state of society. The moth is that which destroys +wealth in garments, which was a great part of ancient Eastern wealth. +Rust rather means corrosion, or corruption, and applies to the other +great kind of primitive wealth, in food and the stores of the harvest. +And the thieves who dig through the mud wall of the house, and carry +away the owners' little hoard of gold and silver, point also to a +primitive condition of society. But whatever may be the special force of +these different words, they suggest to us this, that all that is here +has its own particular and special enemy which wars against its +permanence. There are _bacteria_ of all sorts, every vegetable has its +own kind. Every growth has to fear the gnawing of some foe. And so every +treasure that I can gather into my heart, excepting one, is threatened +by some kind of danger. + +No man can have lived as long in a great commercial community, as some +of us have done, without knowing that there are a great many besides +professional and so-called thieves in it, that take away the gold and +silver. How many instances I can look back upon, of lords of the +exchange and magnates of trade, who carved their names, as they thought, +in imperishable marble on the doors of their warehouses, and then became +bankrupt and fugitive, and were lost sight of. We all know the +uncertainty of riches. + +And are the other kinds of treasure that we cleave to more reliable? +Have they not their moths and their rusts? Is it pleasure? Well, I say +nothing about the diseases that fill the bones of many a young man who +flings himself into dissipation; but I remind you of just this one +thing, that all that pleasure tends to become flat, stale, and +unprofitable. That which the poet said of his own class, that it 'begins +in gladness, and thereof cometh in the end despondency and madness,' is +true of every delight of sense, ay! and of more than sense, of taste +and of intellect. As the Book of Proverbs has it, 'the end of that mirth +is heaviness.' + +Brethren, the moth and the rust claim as their prey all treasures except +one. Is it love-pure, blessed, soul-filling, soul-resting as it is? Yes, +and on a hundred walls in any city there hangs, and in a thousand hearts +there hangs, that great picture where the feeble form of Love is trying +to repel from entrance into the rose-covered portal of the home the +inevitable and mighty shrouded form of Death. Is it culture? 'Whether +there be tongues they shall cease; whether there be knowledge it shall +vanish away.' The last illuminator and teacher, which is Death, +antiquates and brushes aside, as of no use in the new conditions, most +of the knowledge which men, wisely in a measure, but foolishly if +exclusively, have sought to acquire for themselves here below. + +And when the moth and the rust come, and the separating, bony fingers of +the skeleton Death filch away at last your treasure, what about you who +are wrapped up with it, implicated in it; so grown into it, and it into +you, that to wrench you from it opens your veins, and you bleed to +death? There is a pathetic inscription in one of the rural churches of +this country, in which two parents record the death of their only child, +and add, 'All our hopes were in this frail bark, and the shipwreck is +total.' I have heard of a man that might have been saved from a +foundering ship, but he lashed his money-bags round him, and he sank +along with them. 'Where your treasure is, there will your heart be +also,' pierced by all the wounds, gnawed by all the moths, rotted by all +the corruption that affects it, and when the thief, the last great thief +of all, comes, you will only have to say, 'They have taken away my +gods, and what have I more?' And the answer out of the waste places of +an echoing universe will be, 'Nothing! Nothing!' + +III. Now, lastly, let me show you the persuasive in my text. + +'Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also,' therefore, says +Christ, 'lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth +nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through and +steal.' If my treasure is in heaven it is secure. And oh! brethren, we +need for our blessedness, we need for our rest, we need for our peace +and joy, to know that the thing which we count best shall never be taken +away from us, and we cannot have that certainty in regard to any +treasure except the treasure that is in God. All outward things which we +say we possess are incompletely possessed, because they remain outside +us. However intertwined with them, we are separate from them, and we are +just so much intertwined with them that the separation from them is +agony, even if it is not death. What we need is to be so incorporated +with, and infused into, what is our treasure, that we are quite sure +that as long as we last it will last, and that nothing can rend it from +us. 'I bear all my goods with me,' said the old heathen. We should be +able to say more than that. I carry all my good in me, because my good +is God, who is in the heavens, and though in the heavens, dwells in the +hearts that love Him. Then in all changes, 'life, or death, or things +present or things to come, height or depth, or any other creature,' we +can afford to smile on, and say: 'You cannot take my wealth from me, for +I am in God, and God is in me.' + +Further, if our hearts are in heaven, then heaven will be in our hearts, +and here we shall know the joy and the peace that come from 'sitting in +heavenly places in Christ Jesus,' even whilst on earth. There is no +blessedness, no stable repose, no victorious independence of the buffets +and blows of life, except this, that my heart is lifted above them all, +and, I was going to say, is inhaled and sucked into the life of Jesus +Christ. Then if my heart is where my treasure is, and He is my +treasure,' my life is hid with Christ in God.' If my heart is in heaven, +heaven is in my heart. + +Further, my text is a promise as well as a statement of a present fact. +Where your treasure now is there will your whole self one day be. A man +who has by God's grace, through faith and love and the wise use of +things temporal, chosen God his chief good, and possessed in some degree +the good which he has chosen, even Jesus Christ in his heart, that man +bears in himself the pledge and the foretaste of eternal life. So the +old psalmist found out, who lived in a time when that future world was +shrouded in far thicker clouds of darkness than it is to us, for when he +had risen to the height of saying, 'My flesh and my heart faileth, but +God is the strength of my heart and my portion for ever,' he immediately +sprang to this assurance--an assurance of faith before it was a fact +certified by Revelation--'Thou wilt guide me by Thy counsel, and +afterwards receive me to glory.' The possession of Christ for our +treasure, which possession always follows on our estimating Him as such, +and desiring to have Him, that possession bears in its bosom the germ of +the assurance that, whatever befalls my physical life, I shall not be +less immortal than my treasure, and that where my heart to-day, by +aspiration and desire and faith and love, has built its nest, thither I +shall follow in His own time. They that have laid up treasure in heaven +will at last be brought to the enjoyment of the treasure that they have +laid up, and to the possession of 'the inheritance that is incorruptible +and undefiled, and that fadeth not away.' + + +ANXIOUS CARE + + 'Ye cannot serve God and Mammon. 25. Therefore I say unto you. Take + no thought for your life.'--Matt. vi. 24-25. + +Foresight and foreboding are two very different things. It is not that +the one is the exaggeration of the other, but the one is opposed to the +other. The more a man looks forward in the exercise of foresight, the +less he does so in the exercise of foreboding. And the more he is +tortured by anxious thoughts about a possible future, the less clear +vision has he of a likely future, and the less power to influence it. +When Christ here, therefore, enjoins the abstinence from thought for our +life and for the future, it is not for the sake of getting away from the +pressure of a very unpleasant command that we say, He does not mean to +prevent the exercise of wise and provident foresight and preparation for +what is to come. When this English version of ours was made, the phrase +'taking thought' meant solicitous anxiety, and that is the true +rendering and proper meaning of the original. The idea is, therefore, +that here there is forbidden for a Christian, not the careful +preparation for what is likely to come, not the foresight of the storm +and taking in sail while yet there is time, but the constant occupation +and distraction of the heart with gazing forward, and fearing and being +weakened thereby; or to come back to words already used, foresight is +commanded, and, _therefore_, foreboding is forbidden. My object now +is to endeavour to gather together by their link of connection, the +whole of those precepts which follow my text to the close of the +chapter; and to try to set before you, in the order in which they stand, +and in their organic connection with each other, the reasons which +Christ gives for the absence of anxious care from our minds. + +I mass them all into three. If you notice, the whole section, to the end +of the chapter, is divided into three parts, by the threefold repetition +of the injunction, 'Take no thought.' 'Take no thought for your life, +what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what +ye shall put on.' The reason for the command as given in this first +section follows:--Is not the life more than meat, and the body than +raiment?' The expansion of that thought runs on to the close of the +thirtieth verse. Then there follows another division or section of the +whole, marked by the repetition of the command, 'Take no +thought,'--saying, 'What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, +Wherewithal shall we be clothed?' The reason given for the command in +this second section is--'(for after all these things do the Gentiles +seek): for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these +things. But seek ye first the kingdom of God.' And then follows a third +section, marked by the third repetition of the command, 'Take no +thought--for the morrow.' The reason given for the command in this third +section is--'for the morrow shall take thought for the things of +itself.' + +Now if we try to generalise the lessons that lie in these three great +divisions of the section, we get, I think, first,--anxious thought is +contrary to all the lessons of nature, which show it to be unnecessary. +That is the first, the longest section. Then, secondly, anxious thought +is contrary to all the lessons of revelation or religion, which show it +to be heathenish. And lastly, anxious thought is contrary to the whole +scheme of Providence, which shows it to be futile. You do not _need_ to +be anxious. It is _wicked_ to be anxious. It is _of no use_ to be +anxious. These are the three points,--anxious care is contrary to the +lessons of Nature; contrary to the great principles of the Gospel; and +contrary to the scheme of Providence. Let us try now simply to follow +the course of thought in our Lord's illustration of these three +principles. + +I. The first is the consideration of the teaching of Nature. 'Take no +thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor +yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, +and the body than raiment?' And then comes the illustration of the fowls +of the air and the lilies of the field. + +The whole of these verses fall into these general thoughts: You are +obliged to trust God for your body, for its structure, for its form, for +its habitudes, and for the length of your being; you are obliged to +trust Him for the foundation--trust Him for the superstructure. You are +obliged to trust Him, whether you will or not, for the greater--trust +Him gladly for the less. You cannot help being dependent. After all your +anxiety, it is only directed to the providing of the things that are +needful for the life; the life itself, though it is a natural thing, +comes direct from God's hand; and all that you can do, with all your +carking cares, and laborious days, and sleepless nights, is but to adorn +a little more beautifully or a little less beautifully, the allotted +span--but to feed a little more delicately or a little less delicately, +the body which God has given you. What is the use of being careful for +food and raiment, when down below these necessities there lies the awful +question--for the answer to which you have to hang helpless, in +implicit, powerless dependence upon God,--Shall I live, or shall I die? +shall I have a body instinct with vitality, or a body crumbling amidst +the clods of the valley? After all your work, your anxiety gets but such +a little way down; like some passing shower of rain, that only softens +an inch of the hard-baked surface of the soil, and has no power to +fructify the seed that lies feet below the reach of its useless +moisture. Anxious care is foolish; for far beyond the region within +which your anxieties move, there is the greater region in which there +must be entire dependence upon God. 'Is not the life more than meat? Is +not the body more than raiment?' You _must_ trust Him for these; +you may as well trust Him for all the rest. + +Then, again, there comes up this other thought: Not only are you +compelled to exercise unanxious dependence in regard to a matter which +you cannot influence--the life of the body--and that is the greater; +but, still further, _God gives you that_. Very well: God gives you +the greater; and God's great gifts are always inclusive of God's little +gifts. When He bestows a thing, He bestows all the consequences of the +thing as well. When He gives a life, He swears by the gift, that He will +give what is needful to sustain it. God does not stop half way in any of +His bestowments. He gives royally and liberally, honestly and +sincerely, logically and completely. When He bestows a life, therefore, +you may be quite sure that He is not going to stultify His own gift by +retaining unbestowed anything that is wanted for its blessing and its +power. You have had to trust Him for the greater; trust Him for the +less. He has given you the greater--no doubt He will give you the less. +'The life is more than meat, and the body than raiment.' 'Which of you, +by taking thought, can add one cubit unto his stature? And why take ye +thought for raiment?' + +Then there is another thought. Look at God's ways of doing with all His +creatures. The animate and the inanimate creation are appealed to, the +fowls of the air and the lilies of the field, the one in reference to +food and the other in reference to clothing, which are the two great +wants already spoken of by Christ in the previous verses. I am not going +to linger at all on the exquisite beauty of these illustrations. Every +sensitive heart and pure eye dwell upon them with delight. The 'fowls of +the air,' the lilies of the field,' 'they toil not, neither do they +spin'; and then, with what an eye for the beauty of God's +universe,--'Solomon, in all his glory, was not arrayed like one of +these!' Now, what is the force of this consideration? It is +this--_There_ is a specimen, in an inferior creation, of the divine care +which _you_ can _trust_, you men who are 'better than they.' And not +only that:--_There_ is an instance, not only of God's giving things that +are necessary, but of God's giving more, lavishing beauty upon the +flowers of the field. I do not think that we sufficiently dwell upon the +moral and spiritual uses of beauty in God's universe. That everywhere +His loving, wooing hand should touch the flower into grace, and deck all +barren places with glory and with fairness--what does that reveal to us +about Him? It says to us, He does not give scantily: it is not the mere +measure of what is wanted, absolutely needed, to support a bare +existence, that God bestows. He 'taketh pleasure in the prosperity of +His servants.' Joy, and love, and beauty, belong to Him; and the smile +upon His face that comes from the contemplation of His own fairness +flung out into His glorious creation, is a prophecy of the gladness that +comes into His heart from His own holiness and more ethereal beauty +adorning the spiritual creatures whom He has made to flash back His +likeness. The flowers of the field are so clothed that we may learn the +lesson that it is a fair Spirit, and a loving Spirit, and a bountiful +Spirit, and a royal Heart, that presides over the bestowments of +creation, and allots gifts to men. + +But notice further, how much of the force of what Christ says here +depends on the consideration of the inferiority of these creatures who +are thus blessed; and also notice what are the particulars of that +inferiority. We read that verse, 'They sow not, neither do they reap, +nor gather into barns,' as if it marked out a particular in which their +free and untoilsome lives were superior to ours. It is the very +opposite. It is part of the characteristics that mark them as lower than +we, that they have not to work for the future. They reap not, they sow +not, they gather not;--are ye not much better than they? Better in this, +amongst other things, that God has given us the privilege of influencing +the future by our faithful toil, by the sweat of our brow and the labour +of our hands. These creatures labour not, and yet they are fed. And the +lesson for us is--much more may we, whom God has blessed with the power +of work, and gifted with force to mould the future, be sure that He will +bless the exercise of the prerogative by which He exalts us above +inferior creatures, and makes us capable of toil. You can influence +to-morrow. What you can influence by work, fret not about, for you _can_ +work. What you cannot influence by work, fret not about, for it is vain. +'They toil not, neither do they spin.' You are lifted above them because +God has given you hands that can grasp the tool or the pen. Man's crown +of glory, as well as man's curse and punishment, is, 'In the sweat of +thy brow shalt thou eat bread.' So learn what you have to do with that +great power of anticipation. It is meant to be the guide of wise work. +It is meant to be the support for far-reaching, strenuous action. It is +meant to elevate us above mere living from hand to mouth; to ennoble our +whole being by leading to and directing toil that is blessed because +there is no anxiety in it, labour that will be successful since it is +according to the will of that God who has endowed us with the power of +putting it forth. + +Then there comes another inferiority. 'Your heavenly Father feedeth +them.' They cannot say '_Father!_' and yet they are fed. You are above +them by the prerogative of toil. You are above them by the nearer +relation which you sustain to your Father in heaven. He is their Maker, +and lavishes His goodness upon them: He is your Father, and He will not +forget His child. They cannot trust: you can. They might be anxious, if +they could look forward, for they know not the hand that feeds them; but +you can turn round, and recognise the source of all blessings. So, +doubly ought you to be guarded from care by the lesson of that free +joyful Nature that lies round about you, and to say, 'I have no fear of +famine, nor of poverty, nor of want; for He feedeth the ravens when they +cry. There is no reason for distrust. Shame on me if I am anxious, for +every lily of the field blows its beauty, and every bird of the air +carols its song without sorrowful foreboding, and yet there is no +Father in heaven to them!' + +And the last Inferiority is this; 'To-day it is, and to-morrow it is +cast into the oven.' Their little life is thus blessed and brightened. +Oh, how much greater will be the mercies that belong to them who have a +longer life upon earth, and who never die! The lesson is not--These are +the plebeians in God's universe, and you are the aristocracy, and you +may trust Him; but it is--They, by their inferior place, have lesser and +lower wants, wants but for a bounded being, wants that stretch not +beyond earthly existence, and that for a brief span. They are blessed in +the present, for the oven to-morrow saddens not the blossoming to-day. +You have nobler necessities and higher longings, wants that belong to a +soul that never dies, to a nature which may glow with the consciousness +that God is your Father, wants which 'look before and after,' therefore, +you are 'better than they'; and 'shall He not much more clothe you, O ye +of little faith?' + +II. And now, in the second place, there is here another general line of +considerations tending to dispel all anxious care--the thought that it +is contrary to all the lessons of Religion, or Revelation, which show it +to be heathenish. + +There are three clauses devoted to the illustration of this thought: +'After all these things do the Gentiles seek'; 'your heavenly Father +knoweth that ye have need of all these things'; 'seek ye first the +kingdom of God, and His righteousness, and all these things shall be +added unto you.' + +The first clause contains the principle, that solicitude for the future +is at bottom heathen worldly-mindedness. The heathen tendency in us all +leads to an overestimate of material good, and it is a question of +circumstances whether that shall show itself in heaping up earthly +treasures, or in anxious care. These are the same plant, only the one is +growing in the tropics of sunny prosperity, and the other in the arctic +zone of chill penury. The one is the sin of the worldly-minded rich man, +the other is the sin of the worldly-minded poor man. The character is +the same in both, turned inside out! And, therefore, the words, 'ye +cannot serve God and Mammon,' stand in this chapter in the centre +between our Lord's warning against laying up treasures on earth, and His +warning against being full of cares for earth. He would show us thereby +that these two apparently opposite states of mind in reality spring from +that one root, and are equally, though differently, 'serving Mammon.' We +do not sufficiently reflect upon that. We say, perhaps, this intense +solicitude of ours is a matter of temperament, or of circumstances. So +it may be: but the Gospel was sent to help us to cure worldly +temperaments, and to master circumstances. But _the_ reason why we are +troubled and careful about the things of this life lies here, that our +hearts have taken an earthly direction, that we are at bottom heathenish +in our lives and in our desires. It is the very characteristic of the +Gentile (that is to say, of the heathen) that earth should bound his +horizon. It is the very characteristic of the worldly man that all his +anxieties on the one hand, and all his joys on the other, should be +'cribbed, cabined and confined' within the narrow sphere of the visible. +When a Christian is living in the foreboding of some earthly sorrow +coming down upon him, and is feeling as if there would be nothing left +if some earthly treasure were swept away, is that not, in the very root +of it, idolatry--worldly-mindedness? Is it not clean contrary to all +our profession that for us 'there is none upon earth that we desire +besides Thee'? Anxious care rests upon a basis of heathen +worldly-mindedness. + +Anxious care rests upon a basis, too, of heathen misunderstanding of the +character of God. 'Your heavenly Father knoweth that you have need of +all these things.' The heathen thought of God is that He is far removed +from our perplexities, either ignorant of our struggles, or +unsympathising with them. The Christian has the double armour against +anxiety--the name of the Father, and the conviction that the Father's +knowledge is co-extensive with the Father's love. He who calls us His +children thoroughly understands what His children want. And so, anxiety +is contrary to the very name by which we have learned to call God, and +to the pledge of pitying care and perfect knowledge of our frame which +lies in the words 'our Father.' Our Father is the name of God, and our +Father intensely cares for us, and lovingly does all things for us. + +And then, still further, Christ points out here, not only what is +the real root of this solicitous care--something very like +worldly-mindedness, heathen worldly-mindedness; but He points out what +is the one counterpoise of it--'seek first the kingdom of God.' It is of +no use only to tell men that they ought to trust, that the birds of the +air might teach them to trust, that the flowers of the field might +preach resignation and confidence to them. It is of no use to attempt to +scold them into trust, by telling them that distrust is heathenish. You +must fill the heart with a supreme and transcendent desire after the +one supreme object, and then there will be no room or leisure left for +anxious care after the lesser. Have inwrought into your being, Christian +man, the opposite of that heathen over-regard for earthly things. 'Seek +first the kingdom of God.' Let all your spirit be stretching itself out +towards that divine and blessed reality, longing to be a subject of that +kingdom, and a possessor of that righteousness; and 'the cares that +infest the day' will steal away from out of the sacred pavilion of your +believing spirit. Fill your heart with desires after what is worthy of +desire; and the greater having entered in, all lesser objects will rank +themselves in the right place, and the 'glory that excelleth' will +outshine the seducing brightness of the paltry present. Oh! it is want +of love, it is want of earnest desire, it is want of firm conviction +that God, God only, God by Himself, is enough for me, that makes me +careful and troubled. And therefore, if I could only attain unto that +sublime and calm height of perfect conviction, that He is sufficient for +me, that He is with me for ever,--the satisfying object of my desires +and the glorious reward of my searchings,--let life and death come as +they may, let riches, poverty, health, sickness, all the antitheses of +human circumstances storm down upon me in quick alternation, yet in them +all I shall be content and peaceful. God is beside me, and His presence +brings in its train whatsoever things I need. You cannot cast out the +sin of foreboding thoughts by any power short of the entrance of Christ +and His love. The blessings of faith and felt communion leave no room +nor leisure for anxiety. + +III. Finally, Christ here tells us, that thought for the morrow is +contrary to all the scheme of Providence, which shows it to be vain. +'The morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto +the day is the evil thereof.' + +I interpret these two clauses as meaning this: To-morrow has anxieties +enough of its own, alter and in spite of all the anxieties about it +to-day by which you try to free it from care when it comes. _Every_ +day--every day will have its evil, have it to the end. And every day +will have evil enough to task all the strength that a man has to cope +with it. So that it just comes to this: Anxiety,--it is all vain. After +all your careful watching for the corner of the heaven where the cloud +is to come from, there will be a cloud, and it will rise somewhere, but +you never know beforehand from what quarter. The morrow shall have its +own anxieties. After all your fortifying of the castle of your life, +there will be some little postern left unguarded, some little weak place +in the wall left uncommanded by a battery; and there, where you never +looked for him, the inevitable invader will come in. After all the +plunging of the hero in the fabled waters that made him invulnerable, +there was the little spot on the heel, and the arrow found its way +_there_? There is nothing certain to happen, says the proverb, but +the unforeseen. To-morrow _will have_ its cares, spite of anything +that anxiety and foreboding can do. It is God's law of Providence that a +man shall be disciplined by sorrow; and to try to escape from that law +by any forecasting prudence, is utterly hopeless, and madness. + +And what does your anxiety do? It does not empty to-morrow, brother, of +its sorrows; but, ah! it empties to-day of its strength. It does not +enable you to escape the evil, it makes you unfit to cope with it when +it comes. It does not bless to-morrow, but it robs to-day. For every +day has its own burden. Sufficient for each day is the evil which +properly belongs to it. Do not add to-morrow's to to-day's. Do not drag +the future into the present. The present has enough to do with its own +proper concerns. We have always strength to bear the evil when it comes. +We have not strength to bear the foreboding of it. 'As thy day, thy +strength shall be.' In strict proportion to the existing exigencies will +be the God-given power; but if you cram and condense to-day's sorrows by +experience, and to-morrow's sorrows by anticipation, into the narrow +round of the one four-and-twenty hours, there is no promise that 'as +_that_ day thy strength shall be.' God gives us (His name be +praised!)--God gives us power to bear all the sorrows of His making; but +He does not give us power to bear the sorrows of our own making, which +the anticipation of sorrow most assuredly is. + +Then: contrary to the lessons of Nature, contrary to the teachings of +Religion, contrary to the scheme of Providence; weakening your strength, +distracting your mind, sucking the sunshine out of every landscape, and +casting a shadow over all the beauty--the curse of our lives is that +heathenish, blind, useless, faithless, needless anxiety in which we do +indulge. Look forward, my brother, for God has given you that royal and +wonderful gift of dwelling in the future, and bringing all its glories +around your present. Look forward, not for life, but for heaven; not for +food and raiment, but for the righteousness after which it is blessed to +hunger and thirst, and wherewith it is blessed to be clothed. Not for +earth, but for heaven, let your forecasting gift of prophecy come into +play. Fill the present with quiet faith, with patient waiting, with +honest work, with wise reading of God's lessons of nature, of +providence, and of grace, all of which say to us, Live in God's future, +that the present may be bright: work in the present, that the future may +be certain! _They_ may well look around in expectation, sunny and +unclouded, of a blessed time to come, whose hearts are already 'fixed, +trusting in the Lord.' He to whom there are a present Christ, and a +present Spirit, and a present Father, and a present forgiveness, and a +present redemption, may well live expatiating in all the glorious +distance of the unknown to come, sending out (if I may use such a +figure) from his placid heart over all the weltering waters of this +lower world, the peaceful seeking dove, his meek hope, that shall come +back again from its flight with some palm-branch broken from the trees +of Paradise between its bill. And he that has no such present has a +future dark, chaotic, a heaving, destructive ocean; and over it there +goes for ever--black-pinioned, winging its solitary and hopeless +flight--the raven of his anxious thoughts, which finds no place to rest, +and comes back again to the desolate ark with its foreboding croak of +evil in the present and evil in the future. Live in Christ, 'the same +yesterday, and to-day, and for ever'; and _His_ presence shall make all +_your_ past, present, and future--memory, enjoyment, and hope--to be +bright and beautiful, because all are centred in Him. + + +JUDGING, ASKING, AND GIVING + + 'Judge not, that ye be not judged. 2. For with what judgment ye + judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall + be measured to you again. 3. And why beholdest thou the mote that + is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in + thine own eye? 4. Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull + out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own + eye! 5. Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own + eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of + thy brother's eye. 6. Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, + neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them + under their feet, and turn again and rend you. 7. Ask, and it shall + be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be + opened unto you: 8. For every one that asketh receiveth; and he + that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened. + 9. Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he + give him a stone? 10. Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a + serpent? 11. If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts + unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in + heaven give good things to them that ask Him? 12. Therefore all + things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so + to them: for this is the law and the prophets.'--MATT. vii. 1-12. + +I. How can we help 'judging,' and why should we not 'judge'? The power +of seeing into character is to be coveted and cultivated, and the +absence of it makes simpletons, not saints. Quite true: but seeing into +character is not what Jesus is condemning here. The 'judging' of which +He speaks sees motes in a brother's eye. That is to say, it is +one-sided, and fixes on faults, which it magnifies, passing by virtues. +Carrion flies that buzz with a sickening hum of satisfaction over sores, +and prefer corruption to soundness, are as good judges of meat as such +critics are of character. That Mephistophelean spirit of detraction has +wide scope in this day. Literature and politics, as well as social life +with its rivalries, are infested by it, and it finds its way into the +church and threatens us all. The race of fault-finders we have always +with us, blind as moles to beauties and goodness, but lynx-eyed for +failings, and finding meat and drink in proclaiming them in tones of +affected sorrow. How flagrant a breach of the laws of the kingdom this +temper implies, and how grave an evil it is, though thought little of, +or even admired as cleverness and a mark of a very superior person, +Christ shows us by this earnest warning, embedded among His fundamental +moral teachings. + +He points out first how certainly that disposition provokes retaliation. +Who is the Judge that judges us as we do others? Perhaps it is best to +say that both the divine and the human estimates are included in the +purposely undefined expression. Certainly both are included in fact. For +a carping spirit of eager fault-finding necessarily tinges people's +feelings towards its possessor, and he cannot complain if the severe +tests which he applied to others are used on his own conduct. A cynical +critic cannot expect his victims to be profoundly attached to him, or +ready to be lenient to his failings. If he chooses to fight with a +tomahawk, he will be scalped some day, and the bystanders will not +lament profusely. But a more righteous tribunal than that of his victims +condemns him. For in God's eyes the man who covers not his neighbour's +faults with the mantle of charity has not his own blotted out by divine +forgiveness. + +This spirit is always accompanied by ignorance of one's own faults, +which makes him who indulges in it ludicrous. So our Lord would seem to +intend by the figure of the mote and the beam. It takes a great deal of +close peering to see a mote; but the censorious man sees only the mote, +and sees it out of scale. No matter how bright the eye, though it be +clear as a hawk's, its beauty is of no moment to him. The mote +magnified, and nothing but the mote, is his object; and he calls this +one-sided exaggeration 'criticism,' and prides himself on the accuracy +of his judgment. He makes just the opposite mistake in his estimate of +his own faults, if he sees them at all. We look at our neighbour's +errors with a microscope, and at our own through the wrong end of a +telescope. We see neither in their real magnitude, and the former +mistake is sure to lead to the latter. We have two sets of weights and +measures: one for home use, the other for foreign. Every vice has two +names; and we call it by its flattering and minimising one when we +commit it, and by its ugly one when our neighbour does it. Everybody can +see the hump on his friend's shoulders, but it takes some effort to see +our own. David was angry enough at the man who stole his neighbour's ewe +lamb, but quite unaware that he was guilty of a meaner, crueller theft. +The mote can be seen; but the beam, big though it is, needs to be +'considered.' So it often escapes notice, and will surely do so, if we +are yielding to the temptation of harsh judgment of others. Every one +may be aware of faults of his own very much bigger than any that he can +see in another, for each of us may fathom the depth of our own +sinfulness in motive and unspoken, unacted thought, while we can see +only the surface acts of others. + +Our Lord points out, in verse 4, a still more subtle form of this harsh +judgment, when it assumes the appearance of solicitude for the +improvement of others, and He thus teaches us that all honest desire to +help in the moral reformation of our neighbours must be preceded by +earnest efforts at mending our own conduct. If we have grave faults of +our own undetected and unconquered, we are incapable either of judging +or of helping our brethren. Such efforts will be hypocritical, for they +pretend to come from genuine zeal for righteousness and care for +another's good, whereas their real root is simply censorious +exaggeration of a neighbour's faults; they imply that the person +affected with such a tender care for another's eyes has his own in good +condition. A blind guide is bad enough, but a blind oculist is a still +more ridiculous anomaly. Note, too, that the result of clearing our own +vision is beautifully put as being, not ability to see, but ability to +cure, our fellows. It is only the experience of the pain of casting out +a darling evil, and the consciousness of God's pitying mercy as given +to us, that makes the eye keen enough, and the hand steady and gentle +enough, to pull out the mote. It is a delicate operation, and one which +a clumsy operator may make very painful, and useless, after all. A rough +finger or a harsh spirit makes success impossible. + +II. Verse 6 comes in singular juxtaposition with the preceding warning +against uncharitable judgments. Christ's calling men dogs and swine does +not sound like obeying His own precept. But the very shock which the +words give at first hearing is part of their value. There are men whom +Jesus, for all His gentleness, has to estimate thus. His pitying eyes +were not blind to truth. It was no breach of infinite charity in Him to +see facts, and to give them their right names; and His previous precept +does not bid us shut our eyes, or give up the use of common sense. This +verse limits the application of the preceding one, and inculcates +prudence, tact, and discernment of character, as no less essential to +His servants than the sweet charity, slow to suspect and sorrowful to +expose a brother's fault. The fact that His gentle lips used such words +may well make us shudder as we think of the deforming of human nature +into pure animalism which some men achieve, and which is possible for +all. + +The inculcation of discretion in the presentation of the truth may +easily be exaggerated into a doctrine of reserve which is more +Jesuitical than Christian. Even when guarded and limited, it may seem +scarcely in harmony with the commission to preach the gospel to every +creature, or with the sublime confidence that God's word finds something +to appeal to in every heart, and has power to subdue the animal in every +man. But the divergence is only apparent. The most expansive zeal is to +be guided by prudence, and the most enthusiastic confidence in the +universal power of the gospel does not take leave of common sense. There +are people who will certainly be repelled, and perhaps stirred to +furious antagonism to the gospel and its messengers, if they are not +approached with discretion. It is bad to hide the treasure in a napkin; +it is quite as bad to fling it down before some people without +preparation. Jesus Himself locked His lips before Herod, although the +curious ruler asked many questions; and we have sometimes to remember +that there are people who 'will not hear the word,' and who must first +'be won without the word.' Heavy rains run off hard-baked earth. It must +first be softened by a gentle drizzle. Luther once told this fable: 'The +lion made a great feast, and he invited all the beasts, and among the +rest, a sow. When all manner of costly dishes were set before the +guests, the sow asked, "Have you no bran?" Even so, said he, we +preachers set forth the most dainty dishes,--the forgiveness of sins, +and the grace of God; but they turn up their snouts, and grub for +guilders.' + +This precept is one side of the truth. The other is the adaptation of +the gospel to all men, and the obligation on us to preach it to all. We +can only tell most men's disposition towards it by offering it to them, +and we are not to be in a hurry to conclude that men are dogs and swine. + +III. It may be a question whether, in verse 8, the emphasis is to be +laid on 'every one' or on 'that asketh,' or, in other words, whether the +saying is an assurance that the universal law will be followed in our +case, or a statement of the universal condition without which no +receiving is possible, and, least of all, the receiving of the gifts of +the kingdom by its subjects. In either case, this verse gives the reason +for the preceding exhortation. Then follows the tender illustration in +which the dim-sighted love of earthly fathers is taken as a parable of +the all-wise tenderness and desire to bestow which move the hand of the +giving God. There is some resemblance between an Eastern loaf and a +stone, and some between a fish and a serpent. However imperfect a +father's love, he will neither be cruel enough to cheat his unsuspecting +child with what looks like an answer to his wish but is useless or +hurtful, nor foolish enough to make a mistake. All human relationships +are in some measure marred by the faults of those who sustain them. What +a solemn attestation of universal sinfulness is in these words of +Christ's, and how calmly He separates Himself by His sinlessness from +us! I do not know that there is anywhere a stronger scriptural proof of +these two truths than this one incidental clause, 'ye, being evil.' I +wonder whether the people who pit the Sermon on the Mount against +evangelical Christianity are ready to take this part of it into their +creeds. It is noteworthy, also, that the emphasis is laid, not on the +earthly father's willingness, but on his knowing how to give good gifts. +Our Lord seems to think that He need not assure us of the plain truth +that of course our Father in heaven is willing, just because He is our +Father, to give us all good; but He heartens us with the assurance that +His love is wisdom, and that He cannot make any mistakes. There are no +stones mingled with our bread, nor any serpents among the fish. He gives +good, and nothing but good. + +IV. The great precept which closes the section is not only to be taken +as an inference from the immediately preceding context, but as the +summing up of all the duties to our neighbours, in which Christ has +been laying down the law of the kingdom from Matthew v. 17. This general +reference of the 'therefore' is confirmed by the subsequent clause, +'this is the law and the prophets'; the summing up of the whole past +revelation of the divine will, and therefore in accordance with our +Lord's previous exposition of the relation between His new law and that +former one. As Luther puts it in his vigorous, homely way, 'With these +words He now closes His instructions given in these three chapters, and +ties it all up in a little bundle.' + +But a connection may also be traced with the preceding paragraph. There +our desires were treated as securing God's corresponding gifts. Here our +desires, when turned to men, are regarded, not as securing their +corresponding conduct, but as obliging us to action. By taking our +wishes as the rule of our dealings with others, we shall be like God, +who in regard to His best gifts takes our wishes as the rule of His +dealings with us. Our desires sent heavenward procure blessings for us; +sent earthward, they prescribe our blessing of others. That is a +startling turn to give to our claims on our fellows. It rests on the +principle that every man has equal rights, therefore we ought not to +look for anything from others which we are not prepared to extend to +others. A. should give B. whatever A. thinks B. should give him. Our +error is in making ourselves our own centre, and thinking more of our +claims on others than of our obligations to them. Christ teaches us that +these are one. Such a principle applied to our lives would wonderfully +pull down our expectations and lift up our obligations. It is really but +another way of putting the law of loving our neighbours as ourselves. If +observed, it would revolutionise society. Nothing short of it is the law +of the kingdom, and the duty of all who call themselves Christ's +subjects. + +This is the inmost meaning, says Jesus, of the law and the prophets. All +former revelations of the divine will in regard to men's relations to +men are summed in this. Of course, this does not mean, as some people +would like to make it mean, that morality is to take the place of +religion, but simply that all the precepts touching conduct to men are +gathered up, for the subjects of the kingdom, in this one. 'Love worketh +no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.' + + +OUR KNOCKING + + 'Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, + and it shall be opened unto you.'--MATT, vii. 7. + +In the letter to the church at Laodicea, we read, 'Behold, I stand at +the door and knock.' The image is there employed to set forth the +tenderness and patience of the exalted Christ, who condescends to sue +for entrance into every human heart, and comes in with His hands full of +blessing. Now, it is very striking, I think, that the same symbol is +employed in this text in reference to _our_ duty. There is such a thing +as our knocking at some door for entrance and blessing. What is that +knocking? + +The answer which is popularly given, I suppose, is that all these three +injunctions in our text, 'Ask--seek--knock,' are but diverse aspects of +the one exhortation to prayerfulness. And that may, perhaps, exhaust +their meaning; but I am rather disposed to think that it is possible to +trace a difference and a climax in them. _To ask_ is obviously to apply +to a person who can give, and that is prayer. _To seek_ is not, as I +think, quite the same thing, but rather expresses the idea of effort, +the personal effort which ought to accompany and will accompany all real +prayer. And _to knock_ possibly adds to the conception of prayer and of +effort, the idea, as common to both of them, of a certain persistency +and continuity born of earnestness. So that we have here, as I think, a +threefold statement of the conditions under which certain great +blessings are given, and a threefold exhortation as to our Christian +duty. + +I. In considering these words I would first inquire to whom such +exhortations are rightly addressed. + +Now, it is to be remembered that these words occur in that great +discourse of our Lord's which is called the Sermon on the Mount. And for +the right understanding of that great embodiment of Christian morality, +and of its relations to the whole body of Christian truth, it is, I +think, very needful to remember that the Sermon on the Mount is +addressed to Christ's disciples, that it is the promulgation of the laws +of the kingdom by the King for His subjects; that it presupposes +discipleship and entrance into the kingdom, and has not a word to say +about the method of entrance. So that, though very many of its +exhortations are but the republication in nobler form of the common laws +of morality which are binding upon all men, and may be addressed to all +men, the form in which they appear in that Sermon, the connection in +which they stand, the height to which they are elevated, and the +motives by which they are enforced, all limit their application to men +who are truly followers and disciples of Jesus Christ. And this +consideration especially bears on these words of our text. + +The first exhortation which Christianity addresses to a man is not +'ask.' The first duty that a man has to discharge in regard to Christ +and His grace, and the revelation that is in Him, is neither to seek nor +to knock, but it is to take and to open. Christ knocks first, and when +He knocks we should say, 'Come in, Thou blessed of the Lord.' + +To bid a man pray, when he should be exhorted to believe, is to darken +the clearness of the divine counsel, and to narrow the fulness of the +divine grace. God does not wait to be asked for His mercy and His +pardon. Like the dew on the grass, He 'tarrieth not for man, nor waiteth +for the sons of men.' Before we call, He answers; and to say to people, +'Pray!' 'Seek!' 'Knock!' when the one thing to say is 'Take the gifts +that God sent you before you asked for them,' is folly, and has often +led to a course of painful and profitless struggling, which was all +unnecessary and wide of the mark. It is like telling a man to pray for +rain when the reservoirs at his side are full, and every flower is +bending its chalice, charged with the blessing. It is needless to tell a +man to seek for the treasure that is lying there at his side, and to +which he has only to turn his eyes and stretch out his hands. It is +folly to exhort a man to beat at a door that is standing wide open. The +door of God's grace is thus wide open, and the treasure of God's mercy +has come down, and the rain of God's forgiving love has dropped upon all +of us, and made the wilderness to rejoice. + +And so my message to some of you, dear brethren, is to say that you +have nothing whatever to do, primarily, with this text. You have neither +to ask, nor to seek, nor to knock, but to listen to Him, whose gentle +hand knocks at your hearts, and to open the door and let Him come in +with His grace and mercy. + +II. And now, in the next place, let me ask you to consider in what +region of life these promises are true. + +They sound at first as if they were dead in the teeth of the facts of +life. Is there any region of experience in which to ask is to receive, +to seek is to find, and in which every door flies open at our touch? If +there be, it is not in the ordinary work-a-day world in which you and I +live, where we all have to put up with a great many bitter +disappointments and refused requests, where we have all searched long +and sorely for some things that we have not found, and the search has +aged and saddened us. + +It seems to be perfectly certain that the distinct purpose which our +Lord here has in view, is to assert that the law of His Kingdom is the +direct opposite of the law of earthly life, and that the sad discrepancy +between desire and possession, between wish and fact, is done away with +for His followers. 'Be it unto thee even as thou wilt,' is the charter +of His Kingdom. + +Now, dear brethren, it does not want much wisdom to know that that would +be a very questionable blessing indeed, if it were taken to apply to the +outward circumstances of our lives. There are a good many people, in all +ages, and there are some people in this day, who set themselves up for +very lofty and spiritual Christians who have made deep discoveries as +to the power of prayer, and who seem to understand by it just exactly +this, that if a man will only pray for what he wishes instead of working +for it, he will get what he wishes. And I make bold to say that all +forms of so-called higher experience which involve anything like that +thought are, instead of being an exaltation, a degradation, of the very +idea of Christian prayer. For the meaning of prayer is not that I shall +force my will upon God, but that I shall bend my will to His. + +There is one region, and one only, in which it is true, absolutely, +unconditionally, without limitation, and always, that what we ask we +get, what we seek we find, and that the door at which we knock shall be +opened unto us; and that is not the region of outward, questionable, and +changeful good. + +Why, the very context of these words shows us that. It dwells upon the +discrimination of an earthly father in answering his child's requests; +and says: 'he knows how to give good gifts,' and 'so will your heavenly +Father.' And it takes an illustration which we may extend in that same +direction when it says, 'If a child ask a loaf, will the father give him +a stone? or if he ask for a fish, will he give him a serpent?' We may +turn the question and say: If the child ask for a serpent because he +fancies that it is a fish, will his father give him that? Or if he cast +his eye upon a thing which he imagines to be a loaf when it is only a +stone, will his father let him break his teeth upon that? Surely no! He +knows how to give good gifts, and an essential condition of that divine +knowledge of how to give good gifts is the knowledge of how to refuse +mistaken and foolish wishes. + +So let us be thankful that His divine providence does not spoil His +children, and make them, as all spoiled children are, a curse and a +misery to themselves and to everybody round about them; but He +disciplines them by a gracious 'No' as well as by a frank, glad 'Yes,' +and often refuses the petition and grants the deeper-lying meaning of +the same. + +Therefore, I say that the region in which this great and liberal charter +of entire response to our desires has force is simply and only the +spiritual region in which the highest good is. You may grow as Christian +men just as fast and just as far as you choose. A fuller knowledge of +God's truth, a more entire conformity to Christ's pattern, a deeper +communion with God--they are all possible for every one of us in any +measure to which we choose to set our expectations, and to shape our +desires and our actions. 'Open thy mouth wide and I will fill it.' The +stretch of the jaws determines the size of the portion that is put into +them; and He Himself who is the only real limit of His gifts, in His +endless fulness, always imparts to you and me just as much of Himself as +we like and wish to take. 'Ye are not straitened in Me, ye are +straitened in yourselves.' + +And oh! brethren, what a solemn light such thoughts as that throw on the +low attainments of our average Christianity! So many of us, like +Gideon's fleece, dry in the midst of the dew that comes down from +heaven! So many of us in the midst of the blessed sunshine of His grace, +standing like deep gorges on a mountain in cold shadow! How much you +have lying at hand; how little of it you take for your own! + +Suppose one of those old Spanish explorers in the sixteenth century had +been led into some of those rich Mexican treasure-houses, where all +round him were massive bars of gold and gleaming diamonds and precious +stones, and had come out from the abundance with sixpence-worth in His +palm, when he might have loaded himself with ingots of pure and +priceless metal. That is what some of you do, when Jesus Christ puts the +key of His storehouse in your hands and says to you, 'Go in and help +yourselves,' You stop as soon as you are within the threshold. You do +little more than take some insignificant corner nibbled off the great +solid mass of riches that might belong to you, and bear that away. The +only conclusion is that you do not care much about His wealth. Dear +brethren, you professing Christian people that are listening to me, if +life is scant in your veins, if your faith is, as it is with many of +you, all but dead, if your Christian character is very little better +than the character of the people round you, if your religion does not +give you any happiness, nor do other people much good, if your love is +so cold that it has almost expired, and your hopes dim, there is no +creature in heaven or earth or hell that is to blame for it but +yourselves. 'Ye have not because ye ask not; ye ask and have not because +ye ask amiss.' + +III. And that brings me to the last question, namely, on what conditions +these promises depend. + +'Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it +shall be opened.' I said at the beginning of these remarks that I traced +a difference between these three commands, and I take that difference +for granted now as the basis of the few words I have to say. The first +condition is--desires presented to Him who can grant them. To ask +implies the will of a person that will hear and respond and has the +power to bestow. That Person is God in Christ. Go and ask Him. We all +know that prayer is essential, and so I do not need to dwell upon it; go +and ask Him, and you will get what you need. + +Do you ever pray, you professing Christian people? I do not mean with +your mouths, but with your hearts; do you ever pray to be made less +worldly? Do you ever wish to be so? Do you ever really desire that your +love of this present should be diminished? Have you any appetite for +righteousness? Does it seem to you to be a good thing that you should +have less pleasure in the present and more joys in the future? Would you +like to be a devouter Christian than you are? I very much question it +about many of you. I am not hitting at individuals, but I am speaking +about the average type of professing Christians in this generation. + +If you desire it you will ask it. Is there any place in any of your +rooms where there is a little bit of carpet worn white by your knees? Or +do you pray when you are half asleep at night, and before you are well +awake in the morning, and scramble through a prayer as the necessary +preliminary to going to the work that really interests you, the work of +your trade or business? 'Ask, and ye shall receive.' + +The second condition is effort. 'Seek, and ye shall find.' There are a +great many things in this world that cannot be given to a wish. There +are a great many things in the Kingdom of Grace that Jesus Christ cannot +give to a mere wish. There must be my own personal effort if I am to +secure that which I desire. That is the reason why so many prayers seem +to go unanswered. Think of the thousands of supplications that will go +up in churches and chapels to-day for spiritual blessings. How comes it +that such an enormous proportion of these prayers will never be answered +at all? Well, if a man stand at the butts and shoot his arrow at a +target, and does not care enough for its fate to stand there long enough +to see whether it hits the bull's eye, the probability is that it will +never reach its aim. And if men pray, and pray, and pray, in public, and +then come out of their churches and chapels and not only forget all +about their prayers but never expect an answer to them, and do nothing +in their lives in accordance therewith, is there any wonder that they +are not answered? Men repeat the Lord's Prayer every morning, and ask +God day by day 'lead us not into temptation,' and then go out into daily +life, and are willing to fling themselves into temptation, and go +through the very thick of the fire of it, if there is a ten pound note +on the other side of the flame. And men ask God that He will help them +to 'grow in grace' and Christian character, and seldom do a single thing +that they know will promote that growth. All such prayer is vain and +unresponded to. With prayer there must go effort. + +And then, lastly, the third condition is continuity or persistence. +'Knock, and it shall be opened unto you,' 'Then there is such a thing as +a delay in these answers that you have been speaking about,' you say. +No! there is no delay, but there is such a thing as the beginning of a +long task; and therefore there is such a thing as the necessity for +persistent and continuous perseverance even in the offering of the +desires, which to express is to have satisfied; and in putting forth of +the efforts in which to seek is to find. ''Tis a lifelong task ere the +lump be leavened.' Eternal life is a gift, but the building of a +Christian character is the result of patient, continuous, well-directed +efforts to the appropriation and employment of the gift that we have +received. 'Forty-and-six years was this temple in building,' they said, +and it was not finished then. It will take more than forty-and-six years +to build up in my poor heart, full of rubbish and of evil, a temple to +the Holy Ghost. + +I need not insist upon the virtue of perseverance; that is a commonplace +written on the head of all copybooks, but let me remind you that in the +Christian life, as much as in any other, that virtue is needful, and +unless a man is content to do as Abraham Lincoln said, 'Keep pegging +away' at the duties of Christian life with continual effort, there is no +promise and no possibility that that man shall grow in grace. + +Now, two last words: one is, we want nothing more for the largest and +most blessed possession of the true riches and eternal joys of the +kingdom than the application to our Christian life of the very same +qualities, virtues, excellences, which we need for the successful +prosecution of our daily business. Dear brethren, draw for yourselves +the contrast between the eagerness with which you pursue that, and the +tepidity with which you pursue this. You know that effort and +perseverance are wanted there, and you do not grudge them; they are +wanted just as much here. Do you put them forth? Some of you are all +fire in the one place, and are all frost in the other. You Christian men +and women, give the kingdom as much as you give the world, and you will +be strong and growing Christians; but if you will not, do not wonder +that you are so feeble as you are. + +And the last remark I make is--this great symbol of my text which is +used in reference to our Lord's condescending beseechings for the +entrance into our hearts, and is also used, as we have seen, in +reference to our own continuity of prayerful effort, is used in another +and very solemn application, in words of His 'Many will seek to enter +in, and shall not be able, when once the Master of the house is risen +up, and hath shut to the door; and will begin to stand without and to +knock at the door, saying, Lord! Lord! open to us; and He'--He who said +'Knock, and it shall be opened'--'He shall answer and say to you, I know +you not whence ye are.' That you may escape that repulse, oh my friend! +do you open your heart now to the knocking Christ, and then, then, and +not till then, 'Ask!' that you may be filled with the treasures of His +love, 'seek!' that you may find the rich provision He has laid up for us +all, 'knock!' that door after door in the many mansions of the Father's +House may be opened unto you; until at last an entrance is ministered +abundantly into the everlasting kingdom, and you go in with the King to +the eternal feast. + + +THE TWO PATHS + + 'Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is + the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in + thereat: 14. Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, + which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.'--MATT. + vii. 13-14. + +A frank statement of the hardships and difficulties involved in a course +of conduct does not seem a very likely way to induce men to adopt it, +but it often proves so. There is something in human nature which +responds to the bracing tonic of the exhortation: 'By doing thus you +will have to face many hardships and many difficulties which you may +avoid by leaving it alone; but do it, because it is best in the long +run, being right from the beginning.' So the story of the martyrs' fires +has lighted many a man to the faith for which the martyr was burned. +Many a youth has been led to take the shilling and enlist by reading +accounts of wounds and battles and sufferings. + +Our Lord will have no soldiers in His army on false pretences. They +shall know exactly what they have to reckon on if they take service with +Him. And thus, in the solemn and familiar words of my text, He enjoins +each of us to become His disciples; and that not only because--as is +sometimes supposed--of the blessing that lies at the end for His +servants, but because of the very things on the road to the end which, +at first sight, seemed difficulties. For you will observe that in my +text the exhortation, 'Enter ye in at the strait gate,' is followed by +two clauses, each of which begins with a 'for'; the one being a +description of the road that is to be shunned; the other, an account of +the path that is to be followed. In each description there are four +contrasted particulars: the gate, strait or wide; the road, narrow or +broad; the travellers, many or few; and the ends, life or destruction. + +Now, people generally read these words as if our Lord was saying, +'_Though_ the one path is narrow and rugged and steep and unfrequented, +yet walk on it, because it leads to life; and _though_ the other +presents the opposite of all these characteristics, yet avoid it, +because pleasant and popular as it is, its end is destruction.' But that +is not what He says. All four things are reasons for avoiding the one +and following the other; which, being turned into plain English, is just +this, that we ought to be Christian people precisely because there are +difficulties and pains and sacrifices in being so, which we may ignobly +shirk if we like. It is not, _Though_ the road be narrow it leads to +life, therefore enter it; but _Because_ it is narrow, and leads to life, +therefore blessed are the feet that are set upon it. + +Let us, then, look at these four characteristics, and note how they all +enforce the merciful summons which our Lord is addressing to each of us, +as truly as He did to the hearers gathered around Him on the mountain: +'Enter ye in at the strait gate.' + +I. The gates. + +The gate is in view here merely as a means of access to the road, and +the metaphor simply comes to this, that it is more difficult to be a +Christian man than not to be one, and therefore you ought to be one. + +Now, what makes a Christian? We do not need to go further than this +Sermon on the Mount for answer. The two first of our Lord's Beatitudes, +as they are called, are 'Blessed are the poor in spirit,' and 'Blessed +are they that mourn.' These two carry the conditions of entrance on the +Christian life. There must be consciousness of our own emptiness, +weakness, and need; there must be penitent recognition of our own +ill-desert and lamentation over that. These two things, the +consciousness of emptiness, and the sorrow for sin, make--I was going to +say--the two door-posts of the narrow gate through which a man has to +press. It is too narrow for any of his dignities or honours. A camel +cannot go through the eye of a needle, not only because of its own bulk, +but because of the burdens which flap on either side of it, and catch +against the jambs. All my self-confidence, and reputation, and +righteousness, will be rubbed off when I try to press through that +narrow aperture. You may find on a lonely moor low, contracted openings +that lead into tortuous passages--the approaches to some of the ancient +'Picts' houses,' where a feeble folk dwelt, and secured themselves from +their enemies. The only way to get into them is to go down upon your +knees; and the only way to get into this road--the way of +righteousness--is by taking the same attitude. No man can enter +unless--like that German Emperor whom a Pope kept standing in the snow +for three days outside the gate of Canossa--he is stripped of +everything, down to the hair-shirt of penitence. And that is not easy. +Naaman wanted to be healed as a great man in the court of Damascus. He +had to strip himself of his offices, and dignities, and pride, and to +come down to the level of any other leper. You and I, dear brother, have +to go through the same process of stripping ourselves of all the +adventitious accretions that have clung to us, and to know ourselves +naked and helpless, before we can pass through the gate. + +Further, we have to go in one by one. Two cannot pass the turnstile at +the same time. We have to enter singly, as we shall have to pass through +the other 'dark gates, across the wild which no man knows,' at the end +of life. + +Because it is strait, it is a great deal easier to stop outside, as so +many of those to whom I speak are doing. For that, you have nothing to +do but to drift and let things drift. No decision nor effort is needed; +no coming out of yourselves. It is all as easy as it is for a wild +animal to enter in between the broadly extending palisades that converge +as they come nearer the trap, so that the creature is snared before he +knows. The gate is wide: that is the sure condemnation of it. It is +always easy to begin bad and unworthy things, of all sorts. And there is +nothing easier than to keep in the negative position which so many of my +audience, I fear me, are in, of not being a Christian. + +But, on the other side, it is not so hard as it looks to go in, and it +is not so easy as it seems to stop out. For there are two men in every +man--a better and a worse; and what pleases the one disgusts the other. +The choice which each of us has to make is whether we shall do the +things that are easiest to our worst self, or those that are easiest to +our best self. For in either case there will be difficulties; in either +case there will be antagonisms. + +But it is good for us to make the effort, apart altogether from the end. +If there were no life eternal at the far end of the road which at this +end has the narrow gate, it would contribute to all that is noblest and +best in our characters, and to the repression of all that is ignoble and +worst, that we should take that lowly position which Christ requires, +and by the heroism of a self-abandoning faith, fling ourselves into His +arms. + +Remember, too, that the strait gate, by reason of its very straitness, +is in the noblest sense wide. If there were anything else required of a +man than simply self-distrust and reliance on Jesus Christ, then this +great Gospel that I am feebly trying to preach would be a more +sectional and narrower thing than it is. But its glory is that it +requires nothing which any man is unable to bring, that it has no +invitation for sections, classes, grades of culture or intelligence or +morality, but that in its great cosmopolitanism and universality it +comes to every man; because it treats all as on one level, and requires +from each only what all can bring--knowledge of themselves as sinners, +and humble trust in Jesus Christ as a Saviour. It is narrow because +there is no room for sin or self-righteousness to go in; it is wide as +the world, and, like the capacious portals of some vast cathedral, ample +enough to receive without hustling, and to accommodate without +inconvenience, every soul of man. + +II. Notice the contrast of the two roads, which, in like manner, points +the exhortation to choose the better. + +The one is broad; the other is narrow. Which, being turned into plain +English, is just this--that the Christian course has limitations which +do not hamper the godless man; and that on the path of godlessness or +Christlessness there is a deceptive appearance of freedom and +independence which attracts many. + +'Narrow is the road.' Yes, if you are to be a Christian, you must have +your whole life concentrated on, and consecrated to, one thing; and, +just as the vagrant rays of sunshine have to be collected into a focus +before they burn, so the wandering manifoldnesses of our aims and +purposes have all to be brought to a point, 'This one thing I do,' and +whatsoever we do we have to do it as in God, and for God, and by God, +and with God. Therefore the road is narrow because, being directed to +one aim, it has to exclude great tracts on either side, in which people +that have a less absorbing and lofty purpose wander and expatiate at +will. As on some narrow path in Eastern lands, with high, prickly-pear +hedges on either side, and vineyards stretching beyond them, with +luscious grapes in abundance, a traveller has to keep on the road, +within the prickly fences, dusty though it may be, and though his +thirsty lips may be cracking. + +I remember once going to that strange island-fortress off the Normandy +coast, which stands on an isolated rock in the midst of a wide bay. One +narrow causeway leads across the sands. Does a traveller complain of +having to keep it? It is safety and life, for on either side stretches +the tremulous sand, on which, if a foot is planted, the pedestrian is +engulfed. So the narrow way on which we have to journey is a highway +cast up, on which no evil will befall us, while on each hand away out +to the horizon lie the treacherous quicksands. Narrowness is sometimes +safety. If the road is narrow it is the better guide, and they who +travel along it travel safely. Restrictions and limitations are of the +essence of all nobleness and virtue. 'So did not I because of the fear +of the Lord.' + +Set side by side with that the competing path. Wide? Yes! 'Do as you +like'--that is sufficiently wide. And even where that gospel of the +animal has not become the guide to a man, there are many occupations, +pursuits, recreations which men who lack the supreme concentration and +consecration that come through over mastering love to Jesus Christ who +has redeemed them, may legitimately in their own estimation do, but +which no Christian man should do. + +But, as I said before about the gates, it is not so easy as it looks to +walk the broad road, nor so hard as it seems to tread the narrow one. +For 'her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace'; +and, on the other hand, licentiousness and liberty are not the same +thing, and true freedom is not to do as you like, but to like to do as +you ought. Besides, the path which looks attractive, and tempts to the +indulgence of many appetites and habits which a Christian man must +rigidly subdue, does not continue so attractive. Earthly pleasures have +a strange knack of losing their charm, and, at the same time, increasing +their hold, with familiarity. Many a man who has plunged into some kind +of dissipation because of the titillation of his senses which he found +in it, discovers that the titillation diminishes and the tyranny grows; +and that when he thought that he had bought a joy, he has sold himself +slave to a master. + +So, dear friends, and especially you young people, let me beseech you +to be suspicious of courses of conduct which come to you with the +whisper, 'pleasant, sweet.' If you have two things before you, one of +which is easy and the other hard, ninety times out of a hundred it will +be safe for you to choose the hard one, and the odd ten times it will be +at least as well for you to choose it. 'Thus we travel to the stars.' As +one of our poets has it, 'the path of duty is the way of glory,' and +those that 'scorn delights and live laborious days,' and listen not to +the voices that say 'Come and enjoy this,' but to the sterner voice that +says 'Come and bear this'--these will + + 'Find the stubborn thistles bursting + Into glossy purples that outredden + All voluptuous garden roses.' + +So, because the road is narrow, therefore choose it. Because the other +path is wide, I beseech you to avoid it. + +III. Note the travellers. + +On the one road there are 'few,' on the other, by comparison,'many.' +That was true in Christ's time, and although the world is better since, +and many feet have trodden the narrow way, and have found that it leads +to life, yet I am afraid it is so still. + +Now, did you ever think, or do you believe, that the fact of a course of +conduct, or of an opinion, being the conduct or the opinion of a +majority, is _pro tanto_ against it? 'What _every_body says must be +true,' says the old proverb, and I do not dispute it. What _most_ +people say is, I think, most often false. And that is true about +conduct, as well as about opinion. It is very unsafe to take the general +sense of a community for your direction. It is unsafe in regard to +matters of opinion, it is even more unsafe in regard to matters of +conduct. That there are many on a road is no sign that the road is a +right one; but it is rather an argument the other way; looking at the +gregariousness of human nature, and how much people like to save +themselves the trouble of thinking and decision, and to run in ruts; +just as a cab-driver will get upon the tram-lines when he can, because +his vehicle runs easier there. So the fact that, if you are going to be +Christ-like Christians, you will be in the minority, is a reason for +being such. + +You young men in warehouses, and all of you in your different spheres +and circles, do not be afraid of being singular. And remember that Jesus +Christ, and one man with Him, though it is _Athanasius contra +mundum_, are always in the majority. + +Now that is good, bracing teaching, apart altogether from Christianity. +But I wish to bring it to bear especially in that direction. And so I +would remind you that after all, the solitude in which a man may have to +walk, if he sets Christ before him, and tries to follow Him with His +cross upon his shoulders, is only an apparent solitude. For, look, whose +footsteps are these on my path, not without spots of blood, where the +tender feet have trod upon thorns and briars? There has been Somebody +here before me. Who? 'Let him take up his cross and follow _Me_.' +And if we follow Him, the solitude will be like that in which the two +sad disciples walked on the Resurrection day, when a third came and +joined Himself to them. So a second will come to each of us, if we are +alone, and our hearts will burn within us. Nor shall we need to wait +till the repose of the evening and the breaking of bread, before we know +that 'it is the Lord'; nor, known and recognised, will He vanish from +our sides. + +Dear brethren, because 'few there be that go in thereat,' and walk +thereon, I beseech _you_ to go in through the door of faith, and to +walk in the way of Christ, who has left us an ensample that we should +follow in His steps. If of thee it can be said, as the great Puritan +poet said of one virgin pure, that thou + + '--Wisely hast shunned the broad way and the green, + And with those few art eminently seen + That labour up the hill of heavenly truth,'-- + +his assurance to her will be applicable to thee, and + + '--Thou, when the Bridegroom, with His feastful friends, + Passes to bliss at the mid-hour of night, + Hast gained thy entrance.' + +IV. That leads me to the last point--viz. the contrasted ends of these +two paths. + +Christ assumes the right to speak decisively and authoritatively with +regard to the ultimate issues of human conduct, in a way which, as I +believe, marks His divinity, and which no man can venture upon without +presumption. Of the one path He declares without hesitation that it +leads to life; of the other He affirms uncompromisingly that it 'leads +to destruction.' Now, I dare not dwell upon these solemn thoughts with +any enfeebling expansion by my own words, but I beseech you to lay them +to heart--only take the simple remark, as a commentary and an exposition +of the solemn meaning of these issues, that life does not mean mere +continuous existence, but, as it generally does upon His lips, means +that which alone He recognises as being the true life of such a creature +as man--viz. existence in union with Himself, the Source of life; and +that, conversely, destruction does not mean merely the cessation of +being, or what we call the destruction of consciousness and the +annihilation of a soul, but that it means the continued consciousness of +a soul rent away from Him in whom alone is life, and which therefore has +made shipwreck of everything, and has destroyed itself. + +There are the issues, then, before us, and I dare not blur the clear +distinction which Jesus Christ draws. I listen to Him, and accept His +word, and I press upon you, dear brethren, that the main thing about a +road is, after all, where it leads us; and I ask you to remember that +your life-path--as I try to remember that mine--is tending to one or +other of these two issues. The one path may be, and is, rough and steep +though its delights are nobler, more poignant, and more permanent than +any that can be found elsewhere. Steadily climbing like some mountain +railway, it reaches at last the short tunnel on the summit level, and +then dashes out into the blinding blaze of a new sunshine. The other +goes merrily enough, at first, downhill, but at last it comes to the +edge of the abyss, and there _it_ stops, but the traveller does +not. He goes over; and nobody can see the darkness into which he falls. + +Dear friends, Christ says, 'I am the Way.' Do you go to Him and cry, +'See if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me into the way +everlasting.' + + +THE TWO HOUSES + + 'Therefore, whosoever heareth these sayings of Mine, and doeth + them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon + a rock.... 25. And every one that heareth these sayings of Mine, + and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which + built his house upon the sand.'--Matt. vii. 24, 25. + +Our Lord closes the so-called Sermon on the Mount, which is really the +King's proclamation of the law of His Kingdom, with three pairs of +contrasts, all meant to sway us to obedience. The first is that of the +two ways: one broad, and leading down to abysses of destruction; the +other narrow, and leading up to shining heights of life. The second is +that of the two trees, one good and one bad, each bearing fruit +according to its nature; by which our Lord would teach us that conduct +is the outcome and revelation of character, and the test of being a +follower of His. The third is that of our text, the two houses on the +two foundations, and their fate before the one storm; by which our Lord +would teach us that the only foundation on which can be built a life +that will stand the blast of final judgment is His sayings and Himself. + +Now, there are many very important and profound links of connection and +relation between these three contrasted pictures, but I only point to +one thing here, and that is that in all of them Jesus Christ most +decisively divides all His hearers--for it is about them that He is +speaking--into two classes: either on the broad road or on the narrow, +not a foot in each; either the good tree or the bad; either the house +on the sand or the house on the rock. Such a sharp division is said +nowadays to be narrow, and to be contradicted by the facts of life, in +which the great mass of men are neither very white nor very black, but a +kind of neutral grey. Yes, they are--on the surface. But if you go down +to the bottom, and grasp the life in its inmost principles and essential +nature, I fancy that Jesus Christ's narrowness is true to fact. At all +events, there it is. + +Now, following out the imagery of our text, I wish to bring before you +the two foundations, the two houses, the one storm, the two endings. + +I. The two foundations: Rock, Sand. + +Now, to build on the Rock, Jesus Christ Himself explains to us as being +the same thing as to hear and do His sayings. The one representation is +plain fact, the other is metaphor which points precisely in the same +direction. It is scarcely a digression if I pause for a moment, and +point you to the singular and unique attitude which this Carpenter's Son +of Nazareth takes up here, fronting the whole race with that +'whosoever,' and alleging that _His_ sayings are an infallible law +for conduct, and that _He_ has the right absolutely to command +every man, woman, and child of the sons and daughters of Adam. And the +strange thing is that the best men have admitted His claim, have +recognised that He had the right, and have seen that His precepts are +the very ideal of human conduct, and, if they have ventured to criticise +at all, their criticism has only been that the precepts are too good to +be obeyed, and contemplate an ideal that is unreachable in human +society. Be that as it may, there stands the fact that this Man, in this +Sermon on the Mount, which so many people say has no doctrinal teaching +in it, assumes an attitude which nothing can warrant and nothing explain +except the full-toned belief that in Him we have God manifest in the +flesh. + +But what I desire to point to now is the significance of this demand +that He makes, that we shall take His sayings as the foundation of our +lives. The metaphor is a very plain one, by which the principles that +underlie or dominate and mould our conduct are regarded as the +foundation upon which we build the structure of our lives. But the +Sermon on the Mount is not all of these 'sayings of Mine.' It is +fashionable in certain quarters to-day to isolate these precepts, and to +regard them as being the part of Christian Revelation by which men who +set little store by theological subtleties, and reject the mysteries of +the Incarnation and the Atonement, may still abide. But I would have you +notice that it is absurd to isolate this Sermon on the Mount, or to deal +with it as if it were the very centre of the Christian Revelation. It is +nothing of the sort. Beautiful as it is, wonderful as it is as a high +ideal of human conduct, it is a law still, though it is a perfect law; +and it has all the impotences and all the deficiencies that attach to a +law, if you take it and rend it out of its place, and insist upon +dealing with it as if it stood alone. There is not a word in it that +tells you how to keep its precepts. There is no power in it, or raying +from it, to make a man obey any one of its commandments. It comes +radiant and beautiful, but imperative, and just because no man keeps it +to the full, its very beauty becomes menacing, and it stands there over +against us, showing us what we ought to be, and, by consequence, what we +are not. And is that all that Jesus Christ came into the world to do? +God forbid! If He had only spoken this Sermon on the Mount--which some +of you take for the _Alpha_ and the _Omega_ of Christianity as far as +you are concerned--He would not have been different in essence from +other teachers,--though high above them in degree,--who speak to us of +the shining heights of duty that we are to scale, but leave us +grovelling in the mire. + +The Sermon on the Mount, with its stringent requirements, absolutely +demands to be completed by other thoughts and other 'sayings of Mine.' +And so I remind you, not only that there are other 'sayings of Mine' to +be kept than it, but also that there is no keeping of it without keeping +other sayings first. For the highest of Christ's commandments is +'Believe also in Me,' and you have to take Him as your Redeemer and +Saviour from death before you will ever thoroughly accept Him as your +Guide and Pattern for life. We must first draw near to Him in humble +penitence and lowly faith, and then there comes into our hearts a power +which makes it possible and delightsome to keep even the loftiest, and +in other aspects the hardest, of 'those sayings of Mine.' So, brethren, +the obedience of which this text speaks is second, and the building of +ourselves on Jesus Christ Himself, by faith in Him, is first. Only when +we build on Him as our Saviour shall we build our lives upon Him in +obedience to His commands. + +'Behold! I lay in Zion for a foundation, a stone, a tried corner-stone, +a sure foundation, and he that believeth shall not make haste'; and long +after the prophet said that, the Apostle catches up the same thought +when he says, 'Other foundation can no man lay than that is laid. Let +every man take heed how he buildeth thereon.' Jesus Christ is the +foundation of our lives, if we have any true life at all. He ought to be +the foundation of all our thinking. His word should be the absolute +truth, His life the final all-satisfying, perfect revelation of God, to +our hearts. 'In Him are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.' +The facts of His Incarnation, earthly life, Death, Resurrection, +Ascension, and present Sovereignty--these facts, with the truths that +are deduced from them, and the great glimpses which they afford into the +heart of God and the depths of things, are the foundations of all true +thinking on moral and social and religious questions, and on not a few +other questions besides. Christ in His Revelation gives us the ultimate +truth on which we have to build. + +He is also the foundation of all our hope, the foundation of all our +security, the foundation of all our effort and aspiration. His Cross +goes before the nations and leads them, His Cross stands by the +individual, and anodynes the sense of guilt, and breaks the bondage and +captivity of sin, and stirs to all lofty emotions and holy living, and +moves ever in the van like the pillar of cloud and fire, the Pattern of +our lives and the Guide of our pilgrimage. It is Christ Himself who is +the foundation, and His death and sacrifice which are the sure basis of +our hope, safety, and blessedness; and it is only because He Himself is +the Foundation, and what He has done for us is the basis of hope and +blessedness, that He has the right to come to us and say, 'Take My +commandments as the foundation on which you build your lives.' + +The Rock of Ages cleft for us, is the Rock on which we build if we are +Christians; the other man built his house upon the sand. That is to say, +shifting inclinations, short-lived appetites, transitory aims, varying +judgments of men, the fashions of the day in morality, the changing +judgments of our own consciences--these are the things on which men +build, if they are not building upon Jesus Christ. Like a vessel that +has a raw hand at the helm, you sometimes head one way, and then the +puff of wind that fills your sails dies down, or the sails that were +flat as a board belly out a little, or you are caught in some current, +and round goes the bowsprit on another tack altogether. How many of us +are pursuing the objects which we pursued five-and-twenty years ago, if +we have numbered so many years? What has become of aims that were +everything to us then? We have won some of them, and they have turned +out not half as good as we thought they would be. The hare is never so +big when it is in the bag as when it is hurrying across the fields. We +have missed some of them, and we scarcely remember that we once wanted +them. We have outlived a great many, and they lie away behind us, hull +down on the horizon, and we are making for some other point that, in +like manner, if we reach it, will be left behind and be lost. There is +nothing that lasts but God and Christ, and the people that build their +lives upon them. + +I press upon all your hearts that one simple thought--what an absurdity +it is for us to choose for our life's object anything that is +shorter-lived than ourselves!--and how long-lived you are you know. They +tell us that sand makes a very good foundation under certain +circumstances. I believe it does, but what if the water gets in? What +about it then? But in regard to all these transitory aims and +short-lived purposes on which some of you are building your lives, there +is a certainty that the water will come in some day. So, friend, dig +deeper down, even to the Eternal Rock. That is the only foundation on +which an immortal man or woman like you is wise to build your life. Are +you doing it? + +II. Let me say a word, in the next place, about the two houses. + +The one is built upon the rock. That just means, of course--and I need +not enlarge upon that--a life which is based upon, and shaped after, the +commandments of Jesus Christ, His Pattern and Example. And that life +will stand. Now, of course, the ideal would be that the whole of His +sayings should enter into the whole of our lives, that no commandment of +that dear Lord should be left unobeyed, and that no action of ours +should be unaffected by His known will. That is the ideal, and for us +the task of wisdom is daily to draw nearer and nearer to that ideal, and +to bring the whole of our lives more and more under the sway and +sanctifying influence of the whole sum of Christ's precepts. Of course, +on the other side, the life that is built on the sand is the life which +is not thus regulated by Christ's will and known commandments. + +But I desire rather to bring out, in a word or two, some of the lessons +that may be gathered from this general metaphor of a man's life as a +house. And the first that I would suggest is this:--Have you ever +thought of your life as being a whole, with a definite moral +characteristic stamped upon it? I look upon the men and women that I +come across in the world, and I cannot help seeing that a great many of +them have never got into their heads the idea that their life is a +whole. A house? No. A cartload of bricks, tumbled down at random, would +be a better metaphor. A chain? No! A heap of links not linked. Many of +you live from hand to mouth. Many of you have such unity in your life as +comes from the pressure of the external circumstances of your trade or +profession. But for anything like the living consciousness that life is +a whole, with a definite moral character for which you are responsible, +it has never dawned upon your mind. And so you go on haphazard, never +bringing reflection to bear upon the trend and drift of your days; doing +what you must do because your occupation is this, that, or the other +thing; doing what you incline to do in the matter of recreation; now and +then sporadically, and for a minute or two, bringing conscience to bear, +and being very uncomfortable sometimes when you do. But as for +recognising the mystic solemnity of all these days of yours in that they +are welded together, and are all tending to one end, and that each +passing moment contributes its infinitesimal share to the awful solemn +whole--that has seldom entered your minds, and for a great many of you +it has never had any effect in restraining or stimulating or regulating +your conduct. + +Then there is another consideration which this metaphor suggests--viz. +that the house is built up by slow degrees, brick upon brick, course by +course, day by day, and moment by moment. It is slow work, but certain +work. 'Let every man take heed how he buildeth,' and never despise the +little things. Very small bricks make a large house. + +Then there is another consideration that I would suggest, and that is, +you have to live in the house that you build. Your deeds make the house +that Christ is here speaking of. Like the chrysalis that spins out of +its own entrails the cocoon in which it lies, so are you spinning, to +vary the metaphor, what you lodge in, until you eat your way through it, +and pass into the next stage of being. Our deeds seem transient, but +although we are building on the sand we are building for Eternity, +because, though the deeds are transient in appearance, they abide. + +They abide in memory. Some of you know how true that is. Black memories +haunt some of us, and there could be for some no worse hell than that +God should say, 'Son, remember.' You have to live in the house that you +build. The deeds abide in habit. They abide in limiting and determining +what we can be and do in the future; and in a hundred other ways that I +must not touch upon. Only, I bring to you this question, and I pray God +that you may listen to it and answer it: What are you building? A shop? +That is a noble ambition, is it not? A pleasure-house? That is worse. A +prison? Some of you are rearing for your incarceration a jail where you +will be tied and held by the cords of your sins, and whence you will be +unable to break out. Or are you building a temple? If you are building +on Christ it is all right. Only take heed _what_ you build on that +foundation. + +III. Now let me say a word, in the next place, about the storm. + +I need not dwell upon the picturesque force of our Lord's description, +so true to the sudden inundations of Eastern lands, and as true to the +sudden floods of Northern countries when the snows melt. The house is +attacked on all sides. From above, the rain comes down to beat on the +roof, the wind rages round the walls, the flood comes swirling round the +eaves from beneath, and if the house stands upon a cliff, the polished +rock turns the flood off innocuous, but if it stands upon sand, the +furious rush of waters eats a way beneath and undermines the whole. + +But you will notice that the description of the storm is repeated in +both cases, and is _verbatim_ the same in each. And the lesson from that +is just this--let no Christian man fancy that he is not going to be +judged according to his works, for he is. The storm that comes, which I +take distinctly to mean the final judgment which falls upon all men, +beats against the house that is built upon the rock. For every one of +us, Christian or not Christian, 'must all appear before the Judgment +Seat of Christ, that we may receive according to the deeds done in the +body.' Christian people, do not fancy that the great doctrine of +forgiveness of sins and acceptance in the Beloved, means that you have +not to stand His judgment according to your works. According to the +other metaphor of the Apostle, working out the same idea with some +changes in figure, the Christian man who builds 'upon the foundation +gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble,' has his 'work tried +by fire.' So all of us have to face that prospect, and I beseech you to +face it wisely. A sensible builder calculates the strain to which his +work will be exposed before he begins to put it up. Or if he does not +there will befall it the same fate that years ago befell that +unfortunate Tay Bridge, where, by reason of girders too feeble, and +piers not solid enough, and rivets left out where they should have been +put in, one December night the whole thing went over into the water +below. You have to stand the hurtling black storm. Take into account the +strain which your building will have to resist, and build accordingly. + +IV. And now, lastly, one word about the two endings. + +'It stood'; 'it fell'; that is all. A life of obedience to Christ is +stable, a life not based on Christ vanishes; and these two statements +are true because whatsoever a man does for himself, apart from God in +Christ, he is sowing to corruption, and he will reap corruption. As I +said, nothing lasts but God, and what is done according to the will of +God. And when the storm comes, whether the builder was a Christian man +or not, all which was not thus built on Christ will be swept away, as +the flimsy habitation of Eastern people, made of bamboos and oiled +paper, are whirled away before the typhoon. All that was not built upon +Christ--and much of you Christian people's lives is not built on +Christ--will have to go. + +And what about the builders? 'If any man's work abide he will receive a +reward.' 'Their works do follow them.' 'If any man's work is burned, he +himself shall be saved, yet so as by fire.' And if any man has reared a +structure of a life ignoring Jesus Christ, and with no connection with +Him, then house and builder will perish together. + +Jesus Christ does not speak in my text about the righteousness or the +unrighteousness of these two courses of conduct. He does not say, 'a +_good_ man does so-and-so, or a _bad_ man does the other thing,' but he +says: A _wise_ man builds his house on the Rock, and a _foolish_ man +builds his on the sand. To live by faith and obedience is supreme +wisdom. Every life which is not built upon Christ is the perfection of +folly. + + +THE CHRIST OF THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT + + 'And it came to pass, when Jesus had ended these sayings, the + people were astonished at His doctrine: 29. For He taught them as + one having authority, and not as the scribes.'--MATT. vii. 28-29. + +It appears, then, from these words, that the first impression made on +the masses by the Sermon on the Mount was not so much an appreciation of +its high morality, as a feeling of the personal authority with which +Christ spoke. Had the scribes, then, no authority? They ruled the whole +life of the nation with tyrannical power. They sat in Moses' seat, and +claimed all manner of sway and control. And yet when people listened to +Jesus, they heard something ringing in His voice that they missed in the +rabbis. They only set themselves up, in their highest claims, as being +commentators upon, and the expositors of, the Law. Their language was +'Moses commanded'; 'Rabbi _this_ said _so-and-so_; Rabbi _that_ said +_such-and-such_.' But as even the crowd that listened to Him detected, +Jesus Christ, in these great laws of His kingdom, adduced no authority +but His own; stood forth as a Legislator, not as a commentator; and +commanded, and prohibited, and repealed, and promised, on His own bare +word. That is a characteristic of all Christ's teaching; and, as we see +from my text, to the apprehension of the first auditors, it was deeply +stamped on the Sermon on the Mount. + +I purpose to turn to that Sermon now, and try if we can make out the +points in it which impressed these people, who first heard it, with the +sense that they were in the presence of an autocratic Voice that had a +right to speak, and which did speak, with absolute and unexampled +authority. + +And I do that the more readily because I dare say you have all heard +people that said 'Oh! I do not care about the dogmas of Christianity; +give me the Sermon on the Mount and its sublime morality; that is +Christianity enough for me.' Well, I should be disposed to say so pretty +nearly too, if you will take _all_ the Sermon on the Mount, and not go +picking and choosing bits out of it. For I am sure that if you will take +the whole of its teaching you will find yourself next door to, if not in +the very inmost chamber of, the mysticism of the Gospel of John and the +theology of Paul. + +I. I ask you, then, to note that the Sermon claims for Jesus Christ the +authority of supremacy above all former revelation and revealers. + +'Think not,' says He, 'that I am come to destroy the law or the +prophets; I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.' And then He goes on, +in five cases, to illustrate, in a very remarkable way, the authority +that He claimed over the former Law, moulding it according to His will. + +Now I do not propose to do more than suggest, in a sentence, two points +that I think of importance. Observe that remarkable form of speech, 'I +am come.' May we not fairly say that it implies that He existed before +birth, and that His appearance among men was the result of His own act? +Does it not imply that He was not merely born, but _came_, choosing to +be born just as He chose to die? In what sense can we understand the +Apostle's view that it was an infinite and stupendous act of +condescension in Christ to 'be found in fashion as a man,' unless we +believe that by His own will and act He came forth from the Father and +entered into the world, just as by His own will and act He left the +world and went unto the Father? + +But I do not dwell upon that, nor upon another very important +consideration. Why was it that Jesus Christ, at the very beginning of +His mission, felt Himself bound to disclaim any intention of destroying +the law or the prophets? Must not the people have begun to feel that +there was something revolutionary and novel about His teaching, and that +it was threatening to disturb what had been consecrated by ages? So that +it was needful that He should begin His career with this disclaimer of +the intention of destruction. Strange for a divine messenger, if He +simply stood as one in the line and sequence of divine revelation, to +begin His work by saying, 'Now, I do not mean to annihilate all that is +behind Me!' The question arises how anybody should have supposed that He +did, and why it should ever have been needful for Him to say that He did +not. + +But I pass by all that, and ask you to think how much lies in these +words of our Lord: 'I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.' They imply +a claim that His life was a complete embodiment of God's law. Here is a +man beginning His ministry as a religious teacher, with the assertion, +stupendous, and, upon any other lips but His, insane arrogance, that He +had come to do everything which God demanded, and to set forth before +the world a living Pattern of the whole obedience of a human nature to +the whole law of God. Who is He that said that? And how do we account +for the fact that nineteen centuries have passed, and, excepting in the +case of here and there a bitter foe whose hostility had robbed him of +his common sense, no lip has ventured to say that He claimed too much +for Himself when He said, 'I am come to fulfil the law'; or that He +falsely read the facts of His own experience and consciousness when He +declared, 'I have finished the work which Thou gavest Me to do.' + +Still further, here our Lord claims specifically and expressly to fulfil +not only law but prophets. That is to say, He sets Himself forth as the +Reality which had filled the imaginations and the hearts of a whole +nation for centuries; as the living Reality which had been meant by all +those lofty words of seers and prophets in the past. He declares that +all those rapturous forecastings, all those dim anticipations, all those +triumphant promises, were not left to swing _in vacuo_, or to float +about unfulfilled, but that He stood there, the actual Realisation of +them all; and in Him, wrapped up as in a seed, the Kingdom of Heaven was +among men. + +And still further, He claims not only personal purity and completeness, +and the fulfilment of all prior and prophetic anticipation, but also He +claims to have, and He exercises, the power of moulding, expanding, +interpreting, and in some cases brushing aside, laws which He and they +alike knew to be the laws of God. I do not need to specify in detail the +instances which are contained in this Sermon on the Mount. But I simply +ask you to consider the formula with which our Lord introduces each of +His references to that subject. 'Ye have heard that it hath been said to +them of old time' so-and-so,--and then follows a command of the Mosaic +law; but '_I_ say unto you' so-and-so,--and then follows a deepening or +a modification or a repeal, of statutes acknowledged by Him and His +hearers to be divine. He certainly claims to speak with the same right +and authority as the old Law did. He as certainly claims to speak with +incomparably higher authority than Moses did, for the latter never +professed to give precepts of his own. He was not the Lawgiver, as he is +often called, but only the messenger of the Lawgiver. But Christ is +Himself the fountain of the laws of His Kingdom. Nor only so, but He +puts Himself without apology or explanation in front of Moses and +asserts power to modify, to set aside, or to re-enact with new +stringency, the precepts of the divine law. + +One supposition alone accounts for Christ's attitude to law and prophets +in this Sermon, and that is that the Eternal Wisdom and Personal Word of +God, which at sundry times and in 'divers manners' spake to the old +world by Moses, itself at last, in human form and personal guise, came +here on earth and spake to us men. It is the same Voice that breathed +through the prophets of old, and that spake on the lips of the Christ of +Nazareth; the same Eternal Word who manifested Himself in a 'fiery law' +on Sinai, and in words of no less majesty and of deepened gentleness, +when He gathered the people round about Him, and said to them, 'It hath +been said to them of old time, ... but _I_ say unto you ...' + +Here is the sum and climax of all revelation, the last word of the +divine mind and will and heart, to the world. Moses and Elias stand +beside Him on the Mount of Transfiguration, witnesses of His superiority +and servants at His feet, and they vanish into mist and darkness, and +leave there, erect, white-robed, solitary, the unique figure of the One +Lawgiver and the perfect Revealer of God to men. + +And this is the authority which struck even on the unsusceptible hearts +of the listening crowds. + +II. Still further, let me ask you to consider how, in this same great +Sermon, He claims the authority of One who is unique in His relation to +the Father. + +You will find that in it there occurs very frequently the expression, +'_your_ Father which is in Heaven'; or sometimes with the +variation,'_thy_ Father which is in Heaven,' or, 'which seeth in +secret.' But you will also find that whilst our Lord speaks about '_My_ +Father which is in Heaven,' He never says '_our_ Father'; excepting in +the exception which proves the rule when He is putting into the lips of +His disciples the great formula of prayer which we call the 'Lord's +Prayer'; and there speaking as through their consciousness, and teaching +them their lesson, He says '_Our_ Father,' not as if He Himself were +praying, but as if He were telling them how to pray. But when He speaks +out of His own consciousness He speaks of '_My_ Father' and '_your_ +Father,' never of '_our_ Father.' + +And that corresponds with other phenomena in Scripture in our Lord's own +language where you find that always He draws this broad distinction. He +never associates Himself with us in His Sonship. He ever asserts that He +is _the_ Son of God. Even when He wishes to speak with the utmost +tenderness, He bids the weeping Mary hear the message, 'I go unto My +Father and your Father.' This doctrine is thought by many to be one of +those which they get rid of by professing the Christianity of the Sermon +on the Mount. But it is there as plainly as in other parts of Scripture. +If we accept all which it teaches, we cannot escape from the belief that +He is the only begotten and well-beloved Son of the Father; and also +that through Him and in Him we, too, may receive the adoption of sons. + +Dear friends, I press this upon you as no mere piece of hard theological +doctrine, but as containing in it the very essentials of all spiritual +life for each of us, that all our spiritual life must come by +participation in Christ, and that we enter into an altogether new and +blessed relation to God when, laying our humble and penitent hands on +the head of that dear Sacrifice that died on the Cross for as, we +through Him cease to be children of wrath and become heirs of God. 'To +as many as received Him, to them gave He authority to become the +children of God, even to them that believe in His name,' but His Sonship +stands unique and unapproachable, though it is the foundation from which +flows all the sonship of the whole family in heaven and in earth. Moses +and the prophets, teachers and guides, Apostles and Helpers, they are +all but the servants of the family; this is the Son through whom we +receive the adoption of sons. + +III. We have in this great discourse the authority of One who is +absolute Lord and Master over men. + +'Not every one that saith unto me, Lord! Lord! shall enter into the +Kingdom of Heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, Lord! Lord! have we +not prophesied in Thy name, and in Thy name done many wonderful works?' +'Whoso heareth these sayings of Mine, and doeth them, I will liken him +to a wise man, which built his house upon a rock.' + +Jesus Christ here comes before the whole race, and claims an absolute +submission. His word is to control, with authoritative and +all-comprehensive scrutiny and power, every aim of our lives, and every +action. In His name we may be strong, in His name we may cast out +devils, in His name we may do many wonderful works. If we build upon Him +we build upon a rock; if we build anywhere else we build upon the sand. + +Strange, outrageous claims for a _man_ to make! 'Give me the Sermon on +the Mount, and keep your doctrinal theology,' say people. But I want to +know what kind of morality it is that is all traceable up to this--'Do +as I bid you, My will is your law; My smile is your reward; to obey Me +is perfection.' I think that takes you a good long way into 'theology.' +I think that the Man who said that--and you all know that He said +it--must he either a good deal more or a good deal less than a perfect +man. If He is only that He is not that; for if He is only that, He has +no business to tell me to obey Him. He has no business to substitute His +will for every other law; and you have no business--and it will be at +the peril of your manhood if you do--to take any man, the Man Christ or +any other, as an absolute example and pattern and master. + +My brethren, Christ's claim to absolute obedience rests upon His divine +nature and on His redeeming work. He has delivered us from our enemies, +and therefore He commands us. He has given Himself for us, and therefore +He has a right to say, 'Give yourselves to Me.' He is God manifest in +the flesh, and therefore absolute power becomes His lips, and utter +submission is our dignity. To say to Him 'Lord, Lord,' carries us whole +universes beyond saying to Him, 'Rabbi, Rabbi.' + +IV. And now, lastly, we have in this great discourse the authority of +our Lord set forth as being the authority of Him who is to be the Judge +of the world. + +'Then will _I_ profess unto you I never knew you; depart from _Me_, ye +that work iniquity.' He, the meek, the humble, who never claimed for +Himself anything except what His consciousness compelled Him to assert, +who desired only that men should know Him for what He was, because it +was their life so to know Him, here declares that the whole world is to +be judged by Him, that He has such knowledge of men as will pierce +beneath the surface of professions and will be undazzled by the most +stupendous miracles, and beneath the eloquent words of many a preacher +and the wonderful works of many a so-called Christian philanthropist, +will see the hidden rottenness that they never saw, and, tearing down +the veil, will reveal men at the last to themselves. + +That is no human function, that is no work that belongs to a mere +teacher, pattern, martyr, sage, philosopher, or saint. That is a divine +work; and the authority of Him whose final word to each of us will +settle beyond appeal our fate, and reveal beyond cavil our character, is +a divine authority. He has a right to command because He is going to +judge; and the lips that declare the law are the lips that will read the +sentence. + +So, my brethren, do you take the whole Christ for yours, the Son of God, +the crown and end of revelation, the sinless and the perfect, who died +on the Cross for our salvation, and loves and pities, and is ready to +help every one of us; who, therefore, commands us with an absolute +authority, and who one day comes to be our Judge? If you turn to Him and +ask Him, 'Art Thou He that should come?' let Him speak for Himself, and +He will answer you: 'I that speak unto thee am He.' When He asks each of +us, as He does now, 'Whom sayest thou that I am?' oh that we may all +answer, with the assent of our understandings, with the love of our +hearts, with the submission of our wills, 'Thou art the Christ, the Son +of the living God.' + + +THE TOUCH THAT CLEANSES + + 'When He was come down from the mountain, great multitudes followed + Him. 1. And, behold, there came a leper and worshipped Him, saying, + Lord, if Thou wilt, Thou canst make me clean. 3. And Jesus put + forth His hand, and touched him, saying, I will; he thou clean. And + immediately his leprosy was cleansed. 4. And Jesus saith unto him, + See thou tell no man; but go thy way, shew thyself to the priest, + and offer the gift that Moses commanded, for a testimony unto + them.'--MATT. viii. 14. + +THE great collection of Jesus' sayings, which we call the Sermon on the +Mount, is followed by a similar collection of Jesus' doings, which we +call miracles. It is significant that Matthew puts the words first and +the works second, as if to teach us the relative importance of the two. +Some one has said that miracles are 'the bell rung before the sermon,' +but Matthew thinks that the sermon comes first. He masses together nine +miracles (the raising of Jairus' daughter and the healing of the woman +with the bloody issue being so closely connected that they may be +regarded as one) which are divided into three groups of three each, and +are separated by three sections of more general character, like three +landings in a broad flight of stairs, or three breaks in a procession +(ch. viii. 18-22; ix. 9-17, 35-38). + +The first triplet comprises miracles of bodily healing, and shows Jesus +as the great physician, curing leprosy, palsy, and fever, three types of +disease which have their analogues in the moral world. The cure of the +leper comes first, apparently not from chronological reasons, but +because leprosy had been made by the Old Testament legislation the +symbol of sin. The story is found in all the Synoptic Gospels, with +slight variations, which make more impressive their verbal identity in +reporting the leper's appeal and the Lord's answer. + +A leper had to keep apart from men and was shunned by them, but this one +ventured to mingle with the 'great multitudes' that 'followed' Jesus, +till he reached His side. He must have known something of Christ to have +approached Him with a flicker of long-absent hope in his heart. No doubt +he had heard of some of the earlier miracles; and no doubt the crowd +recoiled from him so that he could easily reach Jesus. When he got there +he worshipped, or, as Luke puts it, 'fell on his face,' and made his +appeal. It would be all the more piteous, because it was spoken in that +feeble, hoarse voice characteristic of leprosy, and it was in itself +most pathetic. The poor creature has won his way to a surprising +confidence, dashed with a yet more surprising diffidence and doubt. He +is sure of the power, but not of the willingness, of this wonderful +healer. 'Thou canst,' does not make him confident, because it is +weakened by 'If Thou wilt.' Faith, desire, humility, and submissiveness +are beautifully smelted together in the wistful words, which are all the +more prevalent a prayer, because they do not venture to take the form of +prayer. To tell Jesus that His will was all that was needed to heal him +was, as it were, to throw the responsibility for this continued misery +on Him who could so easily deliver, if He only willed to do it. But the +hope which gleamed before his poor eyes was only a gleam, obscured by +his ignorance of Jesus' disposition towards him. The lowly acquiescence, +with which he leaves Jesus to decide whether he is to be freed from his +horrible, living death, is very beautiful, and speaks of a patient, +disciplined spirit, as well as of a profound insight into our Lord's +authority. The leper does cling to the hope that Jesus does will to heal +him, but he will not rebel if he is left shut up in his prison-house. +Surely in such a blending of trust, yearning, and acceptance of that +Will, whatever it involved, there was the germ of discipleship. Surely +there was, at least, the beginning of a living union with Jesus, which +would heal more than the leprosy of the flesh. + +Mark gives the precious addition to the narrative, of a glimpse into the +heart of Jesus, when he tells us that, 'moved with compassion,' He 'put +forth His hand and touched him.' Swift and, we may almost say, +instinctive was the outgoing of pity from the heart, which was so +pitiful because it was so pure, and laid on itself every man's sorrow +because it carried no burden of its own sin or self-regard. That touch +had deep meaning, but it was not done for the sake of a meaning. It was +the spontaneous expression of love, and revealed the delicate quickness +of perception of another's feelings which flows from love only. The +leper had almost forgotten what the touch of a hand felt like. He had +lived, ever since his disease was manifest, apart from others, had +perhaps lost the embraces of wife and children, had walked alone in +crowds, and had a heart-chilling circle cleared round him everywhere. +But now this Man stretches His hand across the dreary gulf, and lets him +feel once more the sweetness of a warm and gentle touch. It was half +the cure; it was the complete clearing away of the last film of the +cloud of doubt as to the will of Jesus. It answered the 'if' by +something that spoke louder than any word. And, though it was not meant +for anything but the silent voice of pity and love, we do not rob it of +its beautiful spontaneity when we see, in the touch of that pure hand on +the rotting feculence of leprosy, a parable of the Incarnation, in which +He lays hold on our flesh of sin and is yet without sin--contracts no +defilement by contact, but by touching cleanses the foulness on which He +lays His white fingers. By that touch He proclaimed Himself the priest, +to whom the Law gave the office of laying his hand on the leper. + +But the great word accompanying the touch is majestic in its brevity and +absolute claim to absolute power. Jesus accepts the leper's lofty +conception of His omnipotent will, as He always accepted the highest +conceptions that any formed of His person or authority. The sovereign +utterance, 'I will,' claims possession of the divine prerogative of +affecting dead matter by the mere outgoing of His volition. Not only is +it true of Him that 'He spake and it was done,' but He willed and it was +done; and these are the hall-marks of divine power. Neither the touch of +His hand nor the word of His lips cleansed the leper, but simply the +exercise of His will, of which word and touch were but audible and +visible tokens for sense to grasp. The form of the poor husky croak for +help determined the form of the answer, and the correspondence is marked +by all the evangelists as a striking instance of Christ's loving way of +echoing our petitions in His replies, and moulding His gifts to match +our desires. Thunder in heaven wakes echoes on earth, but more wonderful +is it that the thin voice of our supplications, when we scarcely dare to +shape them into prayers, should wake a voice from the throne, which, +though it is mighty as 'the voice of many waters' and sweet as that of +'harpers harping with their harps,' deigns to echo our poor cries. + +The prohibition to speak of the cure till the priests had pronounced it +real and complete is more stringent in Mark, who also tells how utterly +it was disregarded. Its reason was obviously the wish to comply with the +law, and also the wish to get the official seal to the cure. Jesus did +desire the miracle to be known, but not till it was authoritatively +certified by the priest whose business it was to pronounce a sufferer +clean. It was for the leper's advantage, too, that he should have the +official certificate, since he would not be restored to society without +it. One does not wonder that the prohibition was disregarded in the +uncontrollable delight and wonder at such an experience. The leper was +eloquent, as we all can be, when our hearts are engaged, and his +blessing refused to be hid. Alas, how many of us, who profess to have +been cleansed from a worse defilement, find no such impulse to speak +welling up in ourselves! Alas, how superfluous is the injunction to +hundreds of Christ's disciples: 'See thou say nothing to any man'! + + +THE FAITH WHICH CHRIST PRAISES + + 'The centurion answered and said: Lord, I am not worthy that Thou + shouldest come under my roof, but speak the word only, and my + servant shall be healed. 9. For I am a man under authority, having + soldiers under me: and I say to this man, Go! and he goeth; and to + another, Come I and he cometh; and to my servant, Do this; and he + doeth it.'--MATT. viii. 8-9. + +This miracle of the healing of the centurion's servant is the second of +the great series which Matthew gives us. It is perhaps not accidental +that both the first and the second miracles in his collection point out +our Lord's relation to outcasts from Israel. The first of them deals +with a leper, the second with the prayer of a heathen. And so they both +contribute to the great purpose of Matthew's Gospel, the bringing out of +the nature of the kingdom and the glory of the King. + +My object now is to deal with the whole of the incident of which I have +read the most important part. We have in the story three things: the man +and his faith; Christ's eulogium upon the faith, and declaration of its +place in His kingdom; and the answer to the faith. Look, then, at these +three in succession. + +I. We consider, first, the man and his faith. + +He was a heathen and a Gentile. The Herod, who then ruled over Galilee, +had a little army, officered by Romans, of whom probably this centurion +was one; the commander, perhaps, of some small garrison of a hundred +men, the sixtieth part of a legion, which was stationed in Capernaum. If +we look at all the features of his character which come out in the +story, we get a very lovable picture of a much more tender heart than +might have been supposed to beat under the armour of a mercenary soldier +set to overawe a sullen people. 'He loveth our nation,' say the elders +of the Jews,--not certainly because of their amiability, but because of +the revelation which they possessed. Like a great many others in that +strange, restless era when our Lord came, this man seems to have become +tired of the hollowness of heathenism, and to have been groping for the +light. His military service brought him into contact with Judaism and +its monotheism, and his heart sprang to that as the thing he had been +seeking. 'He hath built us a synagogue,' thereby expressing his adhesion +to, or at least his lofty estimate of, the worship which was there +carried on. Just as, if an English officer in India were, in some little +village or other, to repair a ruined temple, he would win the hearts of +all the people, because they would think he was coming over to +Brahminism; so this soldier was felt to be nearer to the Jews than his +official position might have suggested. + +Then, there was in him a beautiful human kindliness, which neither the +rough military life, nor that carelessness about a slave--which is one +of the worst fruits of slavery, had been able to sour or destroy. He was +tenderly anxious about his servant, who, according to Luke's expression, +was 'dear to him.' Then we get as the crown of all the beauty of his +character, the lowliness of spirit which the 'little brief authority' in +which he 'was dressed' had not puffed up. 'I am not worthy that Thou +shouldest come under my roof.' That lowliness is emphasised in Luke's +version of the story, which is more detailed and particularly accurate +than Matthew's summary account. By it we learn that he did not venture +to come himself, but sent His messengers to Jesus. If we take Matthew's +version, there is another lovely trait. He does not ask Christ to do +anything. He simply spreads the necessity before Him, in the confidence +that His pitying love lies so near the surface that it was sure to flow +forth, even at that light touch. He will not prescribe, he tells the +story, and leaves all to Him. Christ's answer, 'I will come and heal +him,' throbs with the consciousness of power, and is gentle with +tenderness, quick to interpret unspoken wishes, and not slow to answer, +unless it is for the wisher's good to be refused. When He was asked to +go, because the asker considered that His presence was necessary for His +power to have effect, He refused; when He is not asked to go, He +volunteers to do so. He is moved to apparently opposite actions by the +same motive, the good of the petitioner, whose weak faith He strengthens +by refusal, whose strong faith He confirms by acquiescence. And that is +the law of His conduct always, and you and I may trust it absolutely, He +may give, or retain ungiven, what we desire; in either case, He will be +acting in order that our trust in Him may be deepened. + +That brings us to the remarkable and unique conception of our Lord's +manner of working and power to which this centurion gives utterance. 'I +also' (for the true text of Matthew has that 'also,' as the Revised +Version shows), 'I also am a man under authority, having soldiers under +me, and I say to this man, Go, and he goeth; to another, Come, and he +cometh; to my servant, Do this, and he doeth it. Speak thou with a word +only and my servant shall be healed.' A centurion was likely to +understand the power of a word of command. His whole training had taught +him the omnipotence of the uttered will of the authoritative general, +and although he was but an officer over a poor sixtieth part of a +legion, yet in some limited measure the same power lay in him, and his +word could secure unhesitating submission. One good thing about the +devilish trade of war is that it teaches the might of authority and the +virtue of absolute obedience. And even his profession, with all its +roughness and wickedness, had taught the centurion this precious lesson, +a jewel that he had found in a dunghill, the lesson that, given the +authoritative lip, a word is omnipotent. The commander speaks and the +legion goes, though it be to dash itself to death. + +So he turns to Christ. Does he mean to parallel or to contrast his +subordination and Christ's position? The 'also,' which, as I remarked, +the Revised Version has rightly replaced in the text here, is in favour +of the former supposition, that he means to parallel Christ's position +with his own. And it is much more natural to suppose that a heathen man, +with little knowledge of Christ and of the depths of the divine +revelation in the past, should have attained to the conception of Jesus +as possessing a real but subordinate and derived authority, than to +suppose that he had grasped, at that early stage, the truth which +Christ's nearest friends took long years to understand, and which some +of them do not understand yet, viz. that Christ possessed as His own the +power which He wielded. + +But if we take this point of view, and consider that the centurion's +conception falls beneath the lofty Christian ideal of Christ's power in +the universe, as it is set forth to us in the New Testament, even then +His words set forth a truth. For if we believe on the one hand in the +divinity of our Lord and Saviour, we also believe that 'the Son is +subject to the Father' and listen to His own words when He says, 'All +power is _given_ unto Me in heaven and in earth.' So that whatever +difference there may be between His relation to the power which He +wields and that of a prophet or miracle-worker, who derives his power +from Him, this is true, that Christ's power, too, is a power given to +Him. But the other side is one that I desire to emphasise in a few +words, viz. that the centurion's conception falls short of the truth, +inasmuch as, if we believe in Christ's witness to Himself, we must +believe that the power which acted through His word, dwelt in Him, in an +altogether different relation to His person from that in which an +analogous power may have dwelt in any other man. 'He spake and it was +done, He commanded and it stood fast.' Diseases fled at His word. 'By +the breath of His mouth He slew' these enemies of men. He rebuked the +storm, and the howling of the wind and the dashing of the waves were +less loud than His calm voice. He flung a word into the depths of the +grave, strangely speaking to, and yet more strangely heard by, the dull +cold ear of death, and Lazarus, dazzled, stumbles out into the light. +Who is this, that commandeth the waves, and the seas, and the +sicknesses, and they obey Him? My brother, I pray that you and I, in +these days of hesitation, when many a truth is clouded by doubt, may be +able to answer with the full assent and consent of understanding and +heart, 'this is God manifest in the flesh.' + +And remember that this prerogative of dealing with physical nature, by +the bare forth-putting of His word, is not only a doctrine of +Christianity, but that more and more physical investigation is coming to +the unifying of all forces in one, and to the resolving of that one into +the force of a will, and that all that will, as the Christian scheme +teaches us, is lodged in Jesus Christ. His lip speaks, and it is power. +He moves in nature, in providence, in history, in grace, because in Him +abides now in the form of a man, that same everlasting Word which was +with the Father, and by whom all things were made. The centurion bows +before the Commander, and the Christ says, 'as Captain of the Lord's +host am I now come.' Such, then, is the faith of this soldier taught him +by the Legion. + +II. Now a word next as to our Lord's eulogium on his faith. + +Jesus Christ accepts and endorses the centurion's estimate of Him, as He +always accepts the highest place offered Him. No one ever proffered to +Jesus Christ honours that He put by. No one ever brought to Him a trust +which He said was either excessive or misdirected. 'Speak the word and +my servant shall be healed,' said the centurion. Contrast Christ's +acceptance of this confidence in his power with Elijah's 'Am I a God, to +kill and to make alive, that they send this man to me to recover him of +his leprosy?' Or contrast it with Peter's 'Why look ye so earnestly on +us, as though by our own power or holiness we had made this man to +walk?' Christ takes as His due all the honour, love, and trust, which +any man can give Him--either an exorbitant appetite for adulation, or +the manifestation of conscious divinity. + +'And He marvelled.' Twice we read in Scripture that Christ +wondered--once at this heathen's faith, so strongly grown, with so few +advantages of culture; once at Jewish unbelief, so feeble and fruitless, +after so much expenditure of patience and care. But passing from that, +notice how much lies in these sad and yet astonished words of His: +'Verily I say unto you, I have not _found_ so great faith, no, not in +Israel.' Then, He came _seeking_ faith from this people whom God had +cared for during centuries. The one fruit that He desired was trust in +Him. That is what He is seeking for in us--not lives of profession, not +orthodoxy of conception, not even fruits in work, but before all this, +and productive of all that is good in any of them, He desires to find in +our hearts the child's trust that casts itself wholly on His Omnipotent +word, and is sure of an answer. This man's faith was great, great in the +rapidity of its growth, great in the difficulties which it had overcome, +great in the clearness of its conception, great in the firmness of its +affiance, great in the humility with which it was accompanied. Such a +faith He seeks as the thirsty traveller seeks grapes in the wilderness, +and when He finds it growing in our hearts, then He is satisfied and +glad. + +Still further, there is brought out the dignity of faith as being not +only the great desire of Christ's heart for each of us, but also as +being the one means of admission into the kingdom. 'I say unto you, many +shall come from the east and the west, and shall sit down with Abraham +and Isaac and Jacob, in the Kingdom of Heaven; but the children of the +Kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness.' Strange that Matthew's, +the Jewish gospel, should record that saying. Strange that Luke's, the +universal human gospel, should omit it. But it was relevant to Matthew's +great purpose to make very plain this truth--which the nation were +forgetting, and which was gall and wormwood to them,--that hereditary +descent and outward privileges had no power to open the door of Christ's +Kingdom to any man, and that the one thing which had, was the one thing +which the centurion possessed and the Jews did not, a simple trust in +that divine Lord. + +My brethren, there are many of us who attach precisely the same value as +these Jews did, in slightly different forms, to external connection with +religion and religious institutions. What blunts the sharpest words that +come from pulpits, and prevents them from getting to hearts and +consciences, is just that pestilent old Jewish error, that because men +have always had a kind of outward hold on the Kingdom, therefore they do +not need the teaching that the publicans and the harlots want. + +My dear friend, nothing binds a man to Christ but trust. Nothing opens +the doors of His Kingdom, either here on earth or yonder, but reliance +upon Him. And although you were steeped to the eye-brows in religious +privileges, and high in place in His church, it would avail nothing. The +Kingdom of Christ is a Kingdom into which faith, and faith only, admits +a man. Therefore from the furthest corners of the world Christ's sad +prescience saw the Gentiles flocking, and the Jews who trusted in +externals, cast out. + +I need not dwell on the two halves of the picture here, the radiant glow +of the one, the tragic darkness of the other. The feast expresses +abundance, joy, rest, companionship. 'They shall come' says Christ; then +He is there, and sitting at the head of the table; and the Master's +welcome makes the feast. On the other hand, that which is without the +banqueting hall is dark. That darkness is but the making visible of the +nature of the men. Hell comes out of a man before it surrounds him. They +'were sometime darkness,' and now they are in the darkness. I say no +more about that, I dare not; but I pray you to remember that the lips +which said this 'spake that He did know'; and to take heed lest, +speculating and arguing, and sometimes quarrelling, about the nature and +the duration of future retribution, we should lose our sense of the +awfulness and certainty of the fact. + +III. So one word lastly as to the answer that faith brings. + +'Go thy way; as thou hast believed, so be it done unto thee.' He heals +at a distance, and shapes His gift by the man's desire. The form of the +vase that is dipped into the sea settles the quantity and the shape of +the water that is taken out. There is a wide truth in that, on which I +do not now enlarge. The measure of my faith is the measure of my +possession of Christ. He puts the key of the treasure-house into our +hands and says, 'Go in, and take as much as you like'; and some of us +come out with a halfpenny as all that we care to bring away. You are +starving, some of you, whilst you are sitting in a granary bursting with +plenty. Suppose a proclamation were made, 'There will be given away gold +to anybody that likes to come. Let them bring a purse, and it will be +filled.' How large a purse do you think you would like to take? A sack, +I should think. Christ says that to you; and you bring a tiny thing like +what they keep sovereigns in, that will scarcely hold a farthing, with +such a narrow throat is it provided, and so small its interior +accommodation. 'Ye have not because ye ask not.' 'Open thy mouth wide +and I will fill it.' + + +SWIFT HEALING AND IMMEDIATE SERVICE + + 'And when Jesus was come into Peter's house, He saw his wife's + mother laid, and sick of a fever. 15. And He touched her hand, and + the fever left her: and she arose and ministered unto them.'--MATT. + viii. 14-15. + +Other accounts give a few additional points. + +Mark:-- + +That the house was that of Peter and Andrew. + +That Christ went with James and John. + +That He was told of the sickness. + +That He lifted her up. + +Luke, physician-like, diagnoses the fever as 'great.' He also tells us +that the sick woman's friends _besought_ Jesus and did not merely 'tell' +Him of her. May we infer that to His ear the telling of His servants' +woes is a prayer for His help? He does not mention Christ's touch, +which Mark here and elsewhere delights to record, and which Matthew also +specifies. He fixes attention on the all-powerful word which was the +vehicle of Christ's healing might. + +Both evangelists put this miracle in its chronological order, from which +it appears that it was done on the Sabbath day, which explains our verse +16, 'when the _even_ was come.' + +I. The scene of the miracle. + +The domestic privacy of the great event seems to have struck the +evangelists. It stands between the narrative of Christ's public work in +the synagogue, and the story of the eager crowds who came round the +doors. So it gives us a glimpse of the uniformity of that life of +blessing as being the same in public and in private. + +Again, it suggests the characteristic absence of all ostentation in His +works. We can scarcely suppose this miracle done for the sake of showing +His divinity. It was pure goodness and sympathy which moved Him. + +It occurred in a household of His disciples. There, too, sorrow will +come. But there, if they tell Him of it, His help will not be far away. +This is one of the few miracles wrought on one of His more immediate +followers. The Resurrection of Lazarus, so like this in many respects, +is the only other. + +This scene of the healing Christ in His disciples' household suggests +the whole subject of the effect on domestic life of Christianity, or +more truly of Christ Himself. It is scarcely too much to say that the +home, as many of us blessedly know, is the creation of Christ. Cana of +Galilee--The household at Bethany. + +II. The time. + +After His long day's toil--the unwearied mercy. On the Sabbath--the Lord +of the Sabbath. + +III. The person. + +The woman. How Christianity embodies the true emancipation of women. +They are participants in an equal gift, honoured by admission to equal +service. + +IV. The effect. + +'She ministered'; testimony of the completeness of the cure. Which +completeness is also real in the spiritual region. + +How the basis of all our service must be His healing. Ours second, not +first. + +How the end of His healing is our service. We are bound to render it: He +desires it. How each one's character and circumstances determine his +service. How common duties may be sanctified. He accepts our service +whatever it be. + +The Sabbath. The services of love come before ritual observance, in +Jesus and in the cured woman. + + +THE HEALING CHRIST + + 'Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses.'--MATT. + viii. 17. + +You will remember, probably, that in our Old Testament translation of +these words they are made to refer to man's mental and spiritual evils: +'He bare our griefs and carried our sorrows.' Our evangelist takes them +to refer, certainly not exclusively, but in part, to men's corporeal +evils--'our infirmities' (bodily weaknesses, that is) 'and our +sicknesses.' He was distinctly justified in so doing, both by the +meaning of the original words, which are perfectly general and capable +of either application, and by the true and deep view of the +comprehensiveness of our Lord's mission and purpose. Christ is the +antagonist of all the evils that affect man's life, whether his +corporeal or his spiritual; and no less true is it that, in His deep +sympathy, 'He bare our sicknesses' than that, in the mystery of His +atoning death, 'He was wounded for our transgressions.' + +It is, therefore, this point of view of Christ, as the Healer, which I +desire to bring before you now. + +I. First, I ask you to look at the plain facts as to our Lord's ministry +which are contained in these words:--'Himself took our infirmities, and +bare our sicknesses.' + +Now, there are two points that I desire to emphasise very briefly. One +is the prominence in Christ's life which is given to His healing energy. +We are accustomed to think of His cures as miracles. We are accustomed +to think of them in that aspect as evidences of His mission, or as +difficulties and stumbling-blocks, as the case may be. But I ask you to +put away all such thoughts for a minute, and think about the miracles +simply as being cures. Remember how enormous a proportion of our Lord's +time and pains and sympathy and thoughts was directed to that one +purpose of healing people of their bodily infirmities. We may almost say +that to an outsider He would look a great deal liker a man who, as the +Apostle Peter painted Him in one of his earliest addresses, 'went about +doing good and healing,' than as a teacher of divine wisdom, to say +nothing of an incarnation of the divine nature. His miracles of healing +were certainly the most conspicuous part of His life's work. + +And then, remember, that whilst the great proportion of our Lord's +miracles are miracles of healing, we are sure that the whole of the +recorded miraculous works of our Lord are the smallest fraction of what +He really did. You remember how there crop up, here and there, in the +Gospels, general _resumes_ of our Lord's work, of such a kind as +this:--'And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, +and preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom, and healing all manner of +sickness and all manner of disease among the people. And they brought +unto Him all sick people that were taken with divers diseases and +torments, and those which were possessed with devils, and those which +were lunatic, and those that had the palsy and He healed them.' Or, +again:--'And Jesus departed from thence, and came nigh unto the sea of +Galilee, and went up into a mountain, and sat down there. And great +multitudes came unto Him, having those that were lame, blind, dumb, +maimed, and many others, and cast them down at Jesus' feet, and He +healed them.' Now these are but specimens of the occasional +generalisations which we find in the Gospels, which warrant us in saying +that, according to the New Testament record, Christ's works of healing +were to be numbered, not by tens, but by hundreds, and perhaps by +thousands. + +That is the first fact calling for notice. The words of our text suggest +a second thought as to the cost at which these cures were wrought. +'Himself took and bare' does not mean only 'took away.' It includes +that, as a consequence, but it points to something before the removal of +the sicknesses. It points to the fact that Christ in some real sense +endured the loads which He removed. Of course, His cross is the highest +exemplification of the great law which runs through His whole life, that +He identifies Himself with all the evil which He takes away, and is able +to take it away only because He identifies Himself with it. But whilst +the cross is the highest exemplification of this, every miracle of mercy +which He wrought is an illustration of the same principle in its +appropriate fashion, and upon a lower level. And although we cannot say +that the physical sufferings which He alleviated were physically laid +upon Him, yet we can say that He so identified Himself with all +sufferers by His swift sympathy as that He bore, and therefore bore +away, the diseases as well as the sins of the men for whose healing He +lived, and for whose redemption He died. + +The proof of this crops up now and then. What did it mean that, when He +stood beside one poor sufferer, before He could utter from His +authoritative lips the divine word of power, 'Ephphatha, be opened,' the +same lips had to shape themselves for the utterance of an altogether +human and brotherly sigh? Did it not mean that the condition of His +healing power was sympathy, that He must bring Himself to feel the +burden that He will roll away? That sigh proves that His cures were the +works, not without cost to the doer, of a sympathising heart, and not +the mere passionless acts of a miracle-monger. + +In like manner, what meant that strange tempest of agitation that swept +across the pacific ocean of His nature ere He stood by the grave of +Lazarus? Why that being 'troubled in Himself' before He raised him? +Wherefore the tears that heralded the restoration of the man to life? +They could not be shed for the loss that was so soon to be repaired. +They can only have been the emotion and tears of One who saw, as massed +in one black whole, the entire sorrows that affected physical humanity, +and rose in a holy passion of indignation and of sorrow at the sight of +that enemy, Death, with whose beginnings He had wrestled in many a +miracle of restoration, and whose sceptre He was now about to pluck from +his bony clutch. Therefore I say that Christ the healer bore, and +thereby bore away, the sicknesses and the infirmities of men. + +Amidst mountains of rubbish and chaff, the Rabbis have a grain of wheat +in their legend which tells us that Messias is to come as a leper, and +to be found sitting amongst the lepers at the city's gate; which is a +picturesque and symbolical way of declaring the same truth that I am now +insisting upon, the participation by the Redeemer in all burdens and +sorrows of body and of spirit which He takes away. + +II. And now with these facts--for I take them to be such--for the basis +of our thoughts, let me ask you to turn, in the second place, to some +plain practical conclusions that come from them. + +The first of these that I would suggest is the lesson as to the proper +sweep and sphere of Christian beneficence. As I said in my introductory +remarks, we do not rightly measure the whole circumference of Christ's +work unless we regard it as covering and including all forms of human +evil. He is the antagonist of everything that is antagonistic to +man--pain, misery, sickness, death itself. All these are excrescences on +the divine design, transient accompaniments of disordered relations +between God and man. And this great physician of souls fights the +disease and does not neglect the symptoms; deals with the central evil +and is not so absorbed with that as to omit from His view or His +treatment the merely superficial manifestations of it. + +So that if Christian people, individually and as Churches, are justly +exposed, in any measure, to the sarcasm which is freely cast upon them, +that they neglect the temporal well-being of men in order to attend +exclusively to their spiritual wants, they have not learned the example +of such partial treatment from their Master; nor have they taken in the +significance and the power of His life in its relation to human sorrow. +All that makes the heart bleed Christ comes to take away. 'All the ills +that _flesh_ is heir to,' as well as those which each spirit, by +rebellion, brings upon itself--are the foes with whom Christ has left +His Church in the world in order to wage incessant warfare. If we +Christians, oppressed with the sense of the depth and central nature of +the evil of man's sin, have so devoted ourselves to preaching and +evangelising, that we are, in any measure, rightly chargeable with +neglecting hospitals and infirmaries and other forms of relief for +temporal necessities, just in that proportion have we departed from our +Master's spirit. But I do not, for my part, much believe, either in the +good faith of the accusers or in the applicability of the charge which +men, who never do anything for the religious improvement of their +fellows, are apt to bring against us. My little experience, I think, +teaches me that the folk who say to us 'Do not waste your money on +Bibles and missionaries, give it to hospitals and schools,' are not +usually the people that 'waste their money' on either; and that the +largest portion of all the work that is done in England to-day, for the +temporal well-being of men, comes from the Christians who also do work +for their spiritual well-being. + +But let us learn the lesson, if we need it, from our enemies and our +critics; and see to it that the more we feel the lofty and transcendent +importance of carrying Christ's salvation to men's souls, the more we +endeavour, likewise, to live amongst them as He did, the embodiment of +pity, wide-eyed and comprehensive, for every evil that racks their +hearts and every pain that tortures their nerves. As a fact, hospitals +are found within the limits of Christianity, and not outside it; and so +far, Christendom, though it is largely professing Christendom only, has +learned that it follows a Christ who is the Saviour of the body and the +Physician of the soul. + +In the next place, another practical lesson which I would draw from this +is, as to the sole conditions upon which any form of Christian help can +be rendered. The condition for the elevation of men is that the lever +which lifts them must have its point below them. That is to say, you +have to go down if you would heave up. You have to go amongst if you +would deliver; you have to make your own, by a sympathy which you have +learned of your Master, the sorrows and the sins of humanity, if you +would effectually remedy them. A guinea to an hospital is not your +contribution to the Christ-like relief of human suffering. It wants, and +He wants, your heart, your sympathy. Think for a moment of the universe +of anguish that may lie within the narrow limits of one human body--that +awful mystery of pain which holds in its red-hot pincers hundreds and +thousands of men and women in this city at this moment. Try to imagine +the mass of bodily agony, an enormous percentage of which is utterly +innocent, and a still larger percentage of it perfectly remediable, +which at this hour, whilst we sit here, is torturing mankind. And oh! +brethren, do not let any thought of the transcendent importance of +Christ's gospel, and what it does to men's hearts, make us careless +about these real, though lesser, evils which lie beside us, and which we +can remedy and help. + +Only, remember the condition of help for them all. The newspapers went +into raptures some years since, and wisely, over a Roman Catholic priest +who shut himself up in a little island with a colony of lepers. Some +Protestant martyrs have done the same before him, without any chorus of +newspaper praise. Whoever did it had penetrated to the secret of +Christian help--identification with the evil. If we would take away any +misery or sin, we must act like that doctor who shut himself up in the +wards of an hospital, and kept a diary of the symptoms of his disease, +till the pen dropped from his fingers and the film came over his eyes. +Are we ready to do anything like that for our brethren? Until we are, we +have yet to learn and to practise the pattern which He has set, 'Who, +though He was rich, for our sins became poor': and who, 'forasmuch as +the children were partakers of flesh and blood, Himself likewise'--in +their own fashion of weakness, and weariness, and sorrow, and pain, and +ultimately death--'took part of the same.' 'He bore our sicknesses,' +therefore He bore them away, and, in so doing, taught us the law of +Christian help. + +And lastly, let me not pass from this subject without leaving on your +hearts, dear friends, the other thought, of the connection and the +relative importance of these two hemispheres of Christ's work. The +sicknesses are symbols of the sins; the removal of the bodily pain and +disease is a prophecy and a visible parable proclaiming the removal of +all the harassment and abnormal action that afflict intellect, will, or +spirit. Christ Himself has taught us to regard His miracles of healing +as the making visible, in the outward sphere, of the analogous miracles +of healing in the spiritual realm. And although I have been saying a +great deal about the preciousness and the sacredness of the curative +influences which flow from Christ, and deal with outward diseases and +evils, let us not forget that a sound body is of small worth as compared +with a sound mind; that the body is the servant of the spirit, meant +mainly to do its behests, bring it knowledge, and express its will; and +that high above, and pointed to by, the lower, though precious work of +healing men's sicknesses, towers that work which we all of us need, and +the robustest of us, perhaps, need most, the healing of our sick souls +and their deliverance from death. + +Every one of these manifold miracles which the Saviour wrought may be +taken as parabolical. You and I grope in darkness as the blind. You and +I have ears deaf to hear, and lips dumb to speak, the praises and the +love and the word of God. We are lame in the powers of mind and spirit +to run in the way of His commandments, and to walk unfainting in the +paths of duty. The fever of hot, passionate, foolish desires burns in +the veins of us all with its poison. The paralysis of a will that is +slothful to good infests and hinders us all. But there comes to us that +great hope and promise that Christ has the Spirit of the Lord upon Him +to bring liberty to the captive, sight to the blind, hearing to the +deaf, healing to the fevered, vigour to the palsied, activity to the +lame. Only let us set our trust in Him, carry our weaknesses to Him, +acknowledge our sins to Him, seek the touch of His healing and +quickening hand, and the miracle shall be wrought. + +The old-fashioned surgery used to believe in the transfusion of blood +from a sound to a diseased person, and the consequent expulsion of +disease. That is the fact about our relation to Christ. Put your arm +side by side with His by simple faith in Him. Come into contact with +Him, and the blood of Jesus Christ, the 'law of the spirit of life that +was in Him,' will pass into the veins of your spirits, and make you +whole of whatsoever disease you have. 'Then shall the eyes of the blind +be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped; then shall the +lame man leap as a hart, and the tongue of the dumb shall sing.' And so +shall you begin that course of healing and purifying, which will know no +pause nor natural termination until, redeemed in body, soul, and spirit, +you reach the land 'where the inhabitant thereof shall no more say, I am +sick,'--'and there shall be no more death, neither shall there be any +more pain.' + + +CHRIST REPRESSING RASH DISCIPLESHIP + + 'And a certain scribe came, and said unto Him, Master, I will + follow Thee whithersoever Thou goest. 20. And Jesus saith unto him, + The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the + Son of Man hath not where to lay His head.'--MATT. viii. 19-20. + +Our Lord was just on the point of leaving Capernaum for the other side +of the lake. His intended departure from the city, in which He had spent +so long a time, and wrought so many miracles, produced precisely +opposite effects on two of the crowd around Him, both of whom seem to +have been, in the loose sense of the word, disciples. One was this +scribe, whom the prospect of losing the Master from his side, hurried +into a too lightly formed and too confidently expressed undertaking. The +other presented exactly the opposite fault. That other man in the crowd, +at the prospect of losing sight of the Christ, began to think that there +were imperative duties at home which would prevent his following the +Master, and said, 'Suffer me first to go and bury my father.' A sacred +obligation, and one which Christ would not have desired him to suspend, +unless there had been something more behind it! + +These two men, then, represent the two opposite poles of weakness, the +one too swift, the other too slow, to take a decisive step. And Christ's +treatment of them is, in like manner, a representation of the two +opposite methods which He adopts for curing opposite diseases, and +bringing both back to the same state of health. He stimulates the too +sluggish, He represses the too willing (if such a paradox may be +allowed). His treatment is at once spur and bridle. To the one man He +administers a sobering representation of what he is undertaking with so +light a heart; to the other He gives the commandment that sounds so +stern: 'Leave the highest duty, if you cannot do it without conflicting +with your higher to Me.' + +And so I think that Matthew's arrangement of this pair of companion +pictures is to be preferred to that which we find in Luke, who +localises the incident in a different part of our Lord's ministry, and +on a different occasion. I deal now only with the first of these two +contrasted pictures, and consider the lightly-made vow, and Christ's +sobering treatment of it. + +I. The too lightly uttered vow. + +There is a certain almost jaunty air of self-complacence about the man +and his facile promise. What he promised was no more than what Christ +requires from each of us, no more than what Christ was infinitely glad +to have laid at His feet. And he promised it with absolute sincerity, +meaning every word that he said, and believing that he could fulfil it +all. What was the fault? There were three: taking counsel of a +transitory feeling; making a vow with a very slight knowledge of what it +meant; and relying with foolish confidence on his own strength. + +Vows which rest on no firmer foundation than these are sure to sink and +topple over into ruin. Discipleship which is the result of mere emotion +must be evanescent, for all emotion is so. Effervescence cannot last, +and when the cause ceases the effect ceases too. Discipleship which +enlists in Christ's army, in ignorance of the hard marching and fighting +which have to be gone through, will very soon be skulking in the rear or +deserting the flag altogether. Discipleship which offers faithful +following because it relies on its own fervour and force will, sooner or +later, feel its unthinkingly undertaken obligations too heavy, and be +glad to shake off the yoke which it was so eager to put on. + +These three things, singly or combined, are the explanations, as they +are the causes, of half the stagnant Christianity that chokes our +churches. Men have vowed, and did not know what they were vowing, +pledging themselves, in a moment of excitement, to what after years +discover to them to be a hard and uncongenial course of life. They have +been carried into the position of professed disciples on the top of a +wave of emotion which has long since broken and retreated, leaving them +stranded and motionless in a place where they have no business to be. +Every community of professing Christians is weakened, and its vitality +is lowered, by the presence and influence of members who have said, 'I +will follow Thee whithersoever Thou goest,' but whose vow was but a +flash in the pan, and never meant anything. They did not know what they +were saying. They had not stopped to think why they were saying it, +still less did they take the advice of the Master to count their forces +before they went into the battle, and see whether their ten thousand +could meet him that would come against them with twenty thousand. + +I do not suppose that much of our modern religionism is in great danger +from too fervid emotion. That, certainly, is not the side on which our +average Christianity is defective. No feeling can be too fervid which +has been kindled by profound contemplation and hearty acceptance of +Christ's redeeming love. The facts to which sound religious emotion +looks, warrant, and the work in the Christian life which it has to do, +needs that it shall be at white-heat, if it is to be worthy of its +object and equal to its tasks. But there very often is emotion which is +too fervid for the convictions which are presumed to kindle it, and +which burns itself out quickly because it neither comes from principle +nor leads to action. No resolution to follow Christ can be too +enthusiastic, nor any renunciation for His sake too absolute, to +correspond to His supreme authority. But there may very easily be brave +words much too great for the real determination which is in them. A +half-empty bottle makes more noise, if you shake it, than a full one. We +cannot estimate the hindrances of the Christian life too lightly; if we +do so knowing them, and thinking little of them because we think so +joyfully of Christ our helper. But there may very easily be a +presumptuous contempt of these, which is only the result of ignorance +and self-confidence, and will soon be abased into dread of them, and +probably end in desertion of Him. + +A sadly large number of professing Christians may see their own faces in +this mirror. How many of us are exactly like this man? Long, long ago we +vowed to follow Christ. Have we advanced a yard on the Christian course +since then, or do we stand very much at the same point as on that +far-off day? Some of us, who spent no breath in saying what we were +going to do, but used it in the prayer, 'Draw me, and I will run after +Thee,' have followed the Captain. Some of us have been like clumsy +recruits, who have only been marking time all the while, one foot up and +the other down, but always in the same place. That is the kind of +advance that the lightly formed resolution--formed in ignorance of what +it involved, and in foolish confidence in the resolver's strength--is +too apt to lead to. Is it not so in all life? No caravan ever starts +from a port on the coast to go up-country, but there is a percentage of +deserters in the first week. There are always, in every good work, +adherents, easily moved, pushing themselves into the front, full of +resolves in the beginning, and then, when the tug comes, they drop out +of the ranks and leave the quiet ones, that did not say, 'I am going to +do it,' but thought to themselves, 'I should uncommonly like to _try_ +whether I can.' to bear the burden and heat of the march. A sad, wise, +self-distrustful valour is the temper that wins. + +Let us see to it, dear brethren, not that our fervour be less--I do not +know how the fervour of some of you could be less and keep alive at +all--but that our principle be more; not that our resolutions be less +noble, but that they be more deeply engrained. You can light a fire of +the chips and paper in an instant, and the flimsier the material the +more quickly it will crackle; it takes a longer time to get coals in a +blaze, and they will last longer. Be your resolves slow to begin and +never-ending,' especially when you say, as we are all bound to say, +'Lord! I will follow Thee whithersoever Thou goest.' + +II. Note our Lord's treatment of this too lightly uttered vow. + +It is wonderfully gentle and lenient. He speaks no rebuke. He does not +reject the proffered devotion. He does not even say that there was +anything defective in it, but simply answers by a quiet statement of +what the vow was pledging the rash utterer to do. Christ's words are a +douche of cold water to condense the steam which was so noisily +escaping, to turn the vaporous enthusiasm into something more solid, +with the particles nearer each other. His object was not to repel, but +to turn an ignorant, somewhat bragging vow into a calm, humble +determination, with a silent 'God helping me' for its foundation. To +repel is sometimes the way to attract. Jesus Christ would not have any +one coming after Him on a misunderstanding of where he is going, or +what he will have to do. It shall be all fair and above board, and the +difficulties and sacrifices and necessary restrictions and +inconveniences shall all be stated. He does not need to hide from His +recruits the black side of the war for which He seeks to enlist them, +but He tells it all to them to begin with, and then waits--and He only +knows how longingly He waits--for their repeating, with full knowledge +and humble determination, the vow that sprang so lightly to their lips +when they did not understand what they were saying. Of course our Lord's +words had literal truth, and their original intention was to bring +clearly before this man the hard fact that following Jesus meant +homelessness. It is as if He had said, 'You are ready to follow Me +wherever I go--are you? You will have to go far, and to be always going. +Creatures have their burrows and their roosting-places, but I, the Lord +of creatures, the Son of Man, whose kingdom prophets proclaimed, am +houseless in My own realm, and My followers must share My wandering +life. Are you ready for that?' Jesus was homeless. He was born in a +hired stable, cradled in a manger, owed shelter to faithful friends, was +buried in a borrowed grave; He had 'not where to lay His head,' living +or dying. And His servants, in literal truth, had to tramp after Him, +through the length and breadth of the land. And if this man was meaning +to follow Him whithersoever He went, he had not before him a little +pleasure-journey across the lake, to come back again in a day or two, +but he was enlisting for a term of service, that extended over a life. + +But then, beyond that, there is a deeper lesson here. 'The Son of Man' +on our Lord's lips not only expressed His dignity as Messiah, but His +relation to the whole race of men; and declared that He was what we +nowadays call ideal manhood. And that is the point, as I take it, of the +contrast between the restful lives of the lower creatures, who all have +a place fitted to them, where they curl themselves up, and go to sleep, +and are comfortable, and the higher life of men, which is homeless in +the deepest sense. 'The Son of Man,' He in whom the whole essence of +humanity is, as it were, concentrated; and who, in His own person, +presents the very type and perfection of manhood, cannot but be +homeless. + +Ah, yes I man's prerogative is unrest, and he should recognise it as a +blessing. It is the condition of all noble life; it is the condition of +all growth. 'The foxes have holes,' and the fox's hole fits it, and +therefore the hole of the fox to-day is what it was in the beginning, +and ever shall be. Man has no such abode, therefore he grows. Man is +blessed with that great 'discourse that looks before and after,' and his +thoughts wander through eternity, and therefore he is capable of endless +advance, and if he is in the path where his Maker has meant him to be, +sure of endless growth. The more a man gets like a beast, the more has +he of the beast's lot of happy contentment in this world. And the more +he gets like a man, like the 'Son of Man,' the more has he to realise +that he is a pilgrim and a sojourner, as all his fathers were. + +And so, dear friends, because disciples must follow the Son of Man who +is the King, and whose life is the perfect mirror of manhood, restless +homelessness is our lot, if we are His disciples. Ay! and it is our +blessing. It is better to sleep beneath the stars than beneath golden +canopies, and to lay the head upon a stone than upon a lace pillow, if +the ladder is at our side and the face of God above it. Better be out in +the fields, a homeless stranger with the Lord, than huddling together +and perfectly comfortable in houses of clay that perish before the +moth. + +Do not let us repine; let us be thankful that we cannot, if we are +Christ's, but be strangers here; for all the bitterness and pain of +unrest and homelessness pass away, and all sweetness and gladness is +breathed into them, when we can say, 'I am a sojourner and a stranger +_with Thee_,' and when in our unrest we are 'following the Lamb +whithersoever He goeth.' + + +CHRIST STIMULATING SLUGGISH DISCIPLESHIP + + 'And another of His disciples said unto Him, Lord, suffer me first + to go and bury my father. 22. But Jesus said unto him, Follow Me; + and let the dead bury their dead.'--MATT. viii. 21-22. + +The very first words of these verses, 'And another of His disciples,' +show us that the incident recorded in them is only half of a whole. We +have already considered the other half, and supplement our former +remarks by a glance at the remaining portion now. The two men, whose +treatment by Christ is narrated, are the antipodes of each other. The +former is a type of well-meaning, lightly formed, and so, probably, +swiftly abandoned purposes. This man is one of the people who always see +something else to be done first, when any plain duty comes before them. +Sluggish, hesitating, keenly conscious of other possibilities and +demands, he needs precisely the opposite treatment from his +light-hearted and light-purposed brother. Some plants want putting into +a cold house to be checked, some into a greenhouse to be forwarded. +Diversity of treatment, even when it amounts to opposition of treatment, +comes from the same single purpose. And so here the spur is applied, +whilst in the former incident it was the rein that was needed. + +I. Note, then, first of all, this apparently most laudable and +reasonable request. + +'Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father.' Nature says 'Go,' and +religion enjoins it, and everything seems to say that it is the right +thing for a man to do. The man was perfectly sincere in his petition, +and perfectly sincere in the implied promise that, as soon as the +funeral was over, he would come back. He meant it, out and out. If he +had not, he would have received different treatment; and if he had not, +he would have ceased to be the valuable example and lesson that he is to +us. So we have here a disciple quite sincere, who believes himself to +have already obeyed in spirit and only to be hindered from obeying in +outward act by an imperative duty that even a barbarian would know to be +imperative. + +And yet Jesus Christ read him better than he read himself; and by His +answer lets us see that the tone of mind into which we are all tempted +to drop, and which is the characteristic natural tendency of some of us, +that of being hindered from doing the plain thing that lies before us, +because something else crops up, which we also think is imperative upon +us, is full of danger, and may be the cover of a great deal of +self-deception; and, at any rate, is not in consonance with Christ's +supreme and pressing and immediate claims. + +The temper which says, 'Suffer me first to go and bury my father,' is +full of danger. One never knows but that, after he has got his father +buried, there will be something else turning up equally important. +There was the will to be read afterwards, and if he was, as probably he +was, the eldest son, he would most likely be the executor. There would +be all sorts of affairs to settle up before he might feel that it was +his duty to leave everything and follow the Master. + +And so it always is. 'Suffer me _first_, and when we get to the top of +that hill, there is another one beyond. And so we go on from step to +step, getting ready to do the duties that we know are most imperative +upon us, by sweeping preliminaries out of the way, and so we go on until +our dying day, when somebody else buries us. Like some backwoodsman in +the American forests who should say to himself, 'Now, I will not sow a +grain of wheat until I have cleared all the land that belongs to me. I +will do that first and then begin to reap,' he would be a great deal +wiser if he cleared and sowed a little bit first, and lived upon it, and +then cleared a little bit more. Mark the plain lesson that comes out of +this incident, that the habit, for it is a habit with some of us, of +putting other pressing duties forward, before we attend to the highest +claims of Christ, is full of danger, because there will be no end to +them if we once admit the principle. And this is true not only in regard +to Christianity, but in regard to everything that is worth doing in this +world. Whenever some great and noble task presents itself with its +solemn call for consecration, some dwarf of an apparent duty thrusts +itself in between and perks up in our faces with its demand, 'Attend to +me first, and then I will let you go on to that other.' + +But morally, this plea, however sincerely urged, is more or less +unconscious self-deception. The person who says 'Suffer me first' is +usually hoodwinking conscience, and covering over, if not a +determination not to do, at least a reluctance to determine to do, the +postponed duty. And although we may think ourselves quite resolved in +spirit, and only needing the fitting vacant space to show that we are +ready to act, in the majority of cases the man who says 'Suffer me +first' means, though he often does not know it, 'I do not think I will +do it, after all, even then.' Now there are a great many good people +who, when urged to some of the plain duties of discipleship--such as +Christian work, Christian beneficence, the consecration of themselves to +the service of their Master--have always something else very important, +and of immediate, pressing urgency, that has to be done first. And then +and then, ay? and then,--something else, and then--something else. And +so some of you go on, and will go on, unless by God's grace you shake +off the evil habit, to the end of your days, fancying yourselves +disciples, and yet all the while delaying really to follow the Master +until the close. And 'all your yesterdays will be but lighting you, with +unfulfilled purposes, to dusty death.' + +II. Now look at the apparently harsh and unreasonable refusal of this +reasonable request. + +It is extremely unlike Jesus Christ in substance and in tone. It is +unlike Him to put any barrier in the way of a son's yielding to the +impulses of his heart and attending to the last duties to his father. It +is extremely unlike Him to couch His refusal in words that sound, at +first hearing, so harsh and contemptuous, and that seem to say, 'Let the +dead world go as it will; never you mind it, do you not go after it at +all or care about it.' + +But if we remember that it is Jesus Christ, who came to bring life into +the dead world, who says this, then, I think, we shall understand better +what He means. I do not need to explain, I suppose, that by the one +'dead' here is meant the physical and natural 'dead,' and by the other +the morally and religiously 'dead'; and that what Christ says, in the +picturesque way that He so often affected in order to bring great truths +home in concrete form to sluggish understandings, is in effect, 'Nay! +For the men in the world that are separated from God, and so are dead in +their selfhood and their sin, burying other dead people is appropriate +work. But your business, as living by Me, is to carry life, and let the +burying alone, to be done by the dead people that can do nothing else.' + +Now the spirit of our Lord's answer may be put thus:--It must always be +Christ first, and every one else second; and it must therefore sometimes +be Christ _only_, and no one else. 'Let me bury my father and then I +will come.' 'No,' says Christ; 'first your duty to Me': first in order +and time, because first in order of importance. And this is His habitual +tone, 'He that loveth father or mother more than Me is not worthy of +Me.' + +Did you ever think of what a strange claim that is for a _man_ to make +upon others? This Jesus Christ comes to you and me, and to every man, +and says, 'I demand, and I have a right to demand, thy supreme affection +and thy first obedience. All other relations are subordinate to thy +relation to Me. All other persons ought to be less dear to thee than I +am. No other duty can be so imperative as the duty of following Me.' +What right has He to speak thus to us? On what does such a tremendous +claim rest? Who is it that fronts humanity and says, 'He that loveth +father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me'? He had a right to +say it, because He is more than they, and has done more than they, +because He is the Son of God manifest in the flesh, and because on the +Cross He has died for all men. Therefore all other claims dwindle and +sink into nothingness before His. Therefore His will is supreme, and our +relation to Him is the dominant fact in our whole moral and religious +character. He must be first, whoever comes second, and between the first +and the second there is a great gulf fixed. + +Remember that this postponing of all other duties, relationships, and +claims to Christ's claims and relationships, and to our duties to Him, +lifts them up, and does not lower them; exalts, and does not degrade, +the earthly affections. They are nobler and loftier, being second, than +when perversely, and, in the literal sense, _preposterously_, they +assume to be first. The little hills in the foreground are never so +green and fair as when they are looked at in connection with the great +white Alps that tower behind them; and all earthly loves and +relationships catch a tinge of more ethereal beauty, and are lifted into +a loftier region, when they are rigidly subordinated to our love to Him. +Being second, they are more than when they bragged that they were first. + +Again, if it must be Christ first, and everybody and everything besides +second, then to carry that out, it will often have to be Christ only, +and no one else. There will come in every man's life the need for a +sharp decision between conflicting allegiances. Life is full of harsh +alternatives, and it is of no use to kick against the pricks. The +divine order is Jesus first and all things second. But we sometimes +break that order, and then it comes to be, 'Very well, then, if you +cannot keep the lower in their right places, you must learn to do +without them altogether; and if you will not have Him first and them +second, you must not have them at all.' 'If thine eye offend thee, pluck +it out,' it would be far better for thee to keep it without offence. 'If +thine hand offend thee,' put it down on the block, and take the cleaver +in the other hand, and off with it, it would be better for thee to go +into life whole than maimed, but it is better to go into life maimed, +than to go into destruction whole. The abandonment of the father's bier +is second best; but it is sometimes imperative. When you find a taste, a +pursuit, a study, an occupation, a recreation coming between you and +Jesus Christ--when you do not know how it is, but, somehow or other, the +sky that was blue a minute or two ago has a doleful veil of grey +creeping all over it, be sure that something or other which ought to be +under has got topmost, and you will have to get rid of it in order to +come right again. If this man would certainly have come back had Jesus +let him go, he would have been let go; but because Jesus knew that he +would not come back, therefore He said, 'You must deny your natural +affection, because it is coming between you and Me.' + +So, dear brethren, when we find that earthly duties, pursuits, +occupations of any kind, affections, pure and beautiful as in themselves +they may be, are hindering our following the Master, then, if they are +things of which we can denude ourselves, though it be at a distinct +sacrifice, we are bound to do so; or else we are not loving the Master +more than all besides. + +Let me remind you in closing of the variation in this story which the +evangelist Luke gives us. He interprets Christ's commandment, 'Follow +Me,' and expands it into 'preach the Gospel,' which was involved in it. +There are many of you who are busily engaged in legitimate occupations, +and devoting yourselves in various degrees to various forms of +beneficence touching the secular condition of the people around us. May +I hint to such, 'Let the dead bury their dead; preach thou the gospel?' +A Christian man's first business is to witness for Jesus Christ, and no +amount of diligence in legitimate occupations or in work for the good +of others will absolve him from the charge of having turned duties +upside down, if he says, 'I cannot witness for Jesus Christ, for I am so +busy about these other things.' This command has a special application +to us ministers. There are hosts of admirable things that we are tempted +to engage in nowadays, with the enlarged opportunities that we have of +influencing men, socially, politically, intellectually, and it wants +rigid concentration for us to keep out of the paths which might hinder +our usefulness, or, at all events, dissipate our strength. Let us hear +that ringing voice ringing always in our ears, 'Preach thou the gospel +of the kingdom.' + + +THE PEACE-BRINGER IN THE NATURAL WORLD + + 'And when He was entered into a ship, His disciples followed Him. + 24. And, behold, there arose a great tempest in the sea, insomuch + that the ship was covered with the waves; but He was asleep. 25. + And His disciples came to Him, and awoke Him, saying, Lord, save + us: we perish. 26. And He saith unto them, Why are ye fearful, O ye + of little faith? Then he arose, and rebuked the winds and the sea, + and there was a great calm. 27. But the men marvelled, saying, What + manner of man la this, that even the winds and the sea obey + him!'--MATT. viii. 23-27. + +The second group of miracles in these chapters shows us Christ as the +Prince of Peace, and that in three regions--the material, the +superhuman, and the moral. He stills the tempest, casts out demons, and +forgives sins, thus quieting nature, spirit, and conscience. + +Mountain-girdled lakes are exposed to sudden storms from the wind +sweeping down the glens. Such a one comes roaring down as the little +boat, probably belonging to James and John, is labouring across the six +or seven miles to the eastern side. Matthew describes the boat as it +would appear from shore, as being 'covered' and lost to sight by the +breaking waves. Mark, who is Peter's mouthpiece, describes the desperate +plight as one on board knew it, and says the boat was 'filling.' It must +have been a serious gale which frightened a crew who had spent all their +lives on the lake. + +Note Christ's sleep in the storm. His calm slumber is contrasted with +the hurly-burly of the tempest and the alarm of the crew. It was the +sleep of physical exhaustion after a hard day's work. He was too tired +to keep awake, or to be disturbed by the tumult. His fatigue is a sign +of His true manhood, of His toil up to the very edge of His strength; a +characteristic of His life of service, which we do not make as prominent +in our thoughts as we should. It is also a sign of His calm conscience +and pure heart. Jonah slept through the storm because his conscience was +stupefied; but Christ, as a tired child laying its head on its mother's +lap. + +That sleep may have a symbolical meaning for us. Though Christ is +present, the storm comes, and He sleeps through it. Lazarus dies, and He +makes no sign of sympathy. Peter lies in prison, and not till the +hammers of the carpenters putting up the gibbet for to-morrow are heard, +does deliverance come. He delays His help, that He may try our faith and +quicken our prayers. The boat may be covered with the waves, and He +sleeps on, but He will wake before it sinks. He sleeps, but He never +over-sleeps, and there are no too-lates with Him. + +Note next the awaking cry of fear. The broken abruptness of their appeal +reveals the urgency of the case in the experienced eyes of these +fishermen. Their summons is a curious mixture of fear and faith. 'Save +us' is the language of faith; 'we perish' is that of fear. That strange +blending of opposites is often repeated by us. The office of faith is to +suppress fear. But the origin of faith is often in fear, and we are +driven to trust just because we are so much afraid. A faith which does +not wholly suppress fear may still be most real; and the highest faith +has ever the consciousness that unless Christ help, and that speedily, +we perish. + +So note next the gentle remonstrance. There is something very majestic +in the tranquillity of our Lord's awaking, and, if we follow Matthew's +order, in His addressing Himself first to the disciples' weakness, and +letting the storm rage on. It can do no harm, and for the present may +blow as it listeth, while He gives the trembling disciples a lesson. +Observe how lovingly our Lord meets an imperfect faith. He has no rebuke +for their rude awaking of Him. He does not find fault with them for +being 'fearful,' but for being 'so fearful' as to let fear cover faith, +just as the waves were doing the boat. He pityingly recognises the +struggle in their souls, and their possession of some spark of faith +which He would fain blow into a flame. He shows them and us the reason +for overwhelming fear as being a deficiency in faith. And He casts all +into the form of a question, thus softening rebuke, and calming their +terrors by the appeal to their common sense. Fear is irrational if we +can exercise faith. It is mere bravado to say 'I will not be afraid,' +for this awful universe is full of occasions for just terror; but it is +the voice of sober reason which says 'I will trust, and not be afraid.' +Christ answers His own question in the act of putting it,--ye are of +little faith, that is why ye are so fearful. + +Note, next, the word that calms the storm. Christ yields to the cry of +an imperfect faith, and so strengthens it. If He did not, what would +become of any of us? He does not quench the dimly burning wick, but +tends it and feeds it with oil--by His inward gifts and by His answers +to prayer--till it burns up clear and smokeless, a faith without fear. +Even smoke needs but a higher temperature to flame; and fear which is +mingled with faith needs but a little more heat to be converted into +radiance of trust. That is precisely what Christ does by this miracle. +His royal word is all-powerful. We see Him rising in the stern of the +fishing-boat, and sending His voice into the howling darkness, and wind +and waves cower at His feet like dogs that know their master. As in the +healing of the centurion's servant, we have the token of divinity in +that His bare word is able to produce effects in the natural realm. As +He lay asleep He showed the weakness of manhood; but He woke to manifest +the power of indwelling divinity. So it is always in His life, where, +side by side with the signs of humiliation and participation in man's +weakness, we ever have tokens of His divinity breaking through the veil. +All this power is put forth at the cry of timid men. The storm was meant +to move to terror; terror was meant to evoke the miracle--the result was +complete and immediate. No after-swell disturbed the placid waters when +the wind dropped. There had been 'a great tempest,' and now there was 'a +great calm,' as the fishermen floated peacefully to their landing-place +beneath the shadow of the hills. The wilder the tempest, the profounder +the subsequent repose. + +All this is a true symbol of our individual lives, as well as of the +history of the Church. Storms will come, and He may seem to be heedless. +He is ever awakened by our cry, which needs not to be pure faith in +order to bring the answer, but may be strangely intertwined of faith and +fear. 'The Lord will help ... and that right early,' and the peace that +He brings is peace indeed. So it may be with us amid the struggles of +life. So may it be with us when the voyage on this storm-tossed sea of +time is done! 'They cry unto the Lord in their trouble. He maketh the +storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are still. Then are they glad +because they be quiet; so He bringeth them unto their desired haven.' + + +THE PEACE-BRINGER IN THE SPIRITUAL WORLD + + 'And when He was come to the other side into the country of the + Gergesenes, there met Him two possessed with devils, coming out of + the tombs, exceeding fierce, so that no man might pass by that way. + 29. And, behold, they cried out, saying, What have we to do with + Thee, Jesus, thou Son of God? art Thou come hither to torment us + before the time? 30. And there was a good way off from them an herd + of many swine feeding. 31. So the devils besought Him, saying, If + Thou cast us out, suffer us to go away into the herd of swine. 32. + And He said unto them, Go. And when they were come out, they went + into the herd of swine: and, behold, the whole herd of swine ran + violently down a steep place into the sea, and perished in the + waters. 33. And they that kept them fled, and went their ways into + the city, and told every thing, and what was befallen to the + possessed of the devils. 34. And, behold, the whole city came out + to meet Jesus: and when they saw Him, they besought Him that He + would depart out of their coasts.'--MATT. viii. 28-34. + +Matthew keeps to chronological order in the first and second miracles of +the second triplet, but probably His reason for bringing them together +was rather similarity in their contents than proximity in their time. +For one cannot but feel that the stilling of the storm, which manifested +Jesus as the Peace-bringer in the realm of the Natural, is fitly +followed by the casting out of demons, which showed Him as the Lord of +still wider and darker realms, and the Peace-bringer to spirits tortured +and torn by a mysterious tyranny. His meek power sways all creatures; +His 'word runneth very swiftly.' Winds and seas and demons hearken and +obey. Cheap ridicule has been plentifully flung at this miracle, and +some defenders of the Gospels have tried to explain it away, and have +almost apologised for it, but, while it raises difficult problems in its +details, the total effect of it is to present a sublime conception of +Jesus and of His absolute, universal authority. The conception is +heightened in sublimity when the two adjacent miracles are contemplated +in connection. + +There is singular variation in the readings of the name of the scene of +the miracle in the three evangelists. According to the reading of the +Authorised Version, Matthew locates it in the 'country of the +Gergesenes'; Mark and Luke, in the 'country of the Gadarenes'; whereas +the Revised Version, following the general consensus of textual critics, +reads 'Gadarenes' in Matthew and 'Gerasenes' in Mark and Luke. Now, +Gadara is over six miles from the lake, and the deep gorge of a river +lies between, so that it is out of the question as the scene of the +miracle. But the only Gerasa known, till lately, is even more +impossible, for it is far to the east of the lake. But some years since, +Thomson found ruins bearing the name of Khersa or Gersa, 'at the only +portion of that coast on which the steep hills come down to the shore' +(Smith, Historical Geography of the Holy Land, p. 459). This is probably +the site of the miracle, and may have been included in the territory +dependent on Gadara, and so have been rightly described as in 'the +country of the Gadarenes.' + +Matthew again abbreviates, omitting many of the most striking and solemn +features of the narrative as given by the other two evangelists, and he +also diverges from them in mentioning two demoniacs instead of one. That +is not contradiction, for if there were two, there was one, but it is +divergence, due to more accurate information. Whether they were meant so +or no, the abbreviations have the striking result that Jesus speaks but +one word, the permissive 'Go,' and that thus His simple presence is the +potent spell before which the demons cower and flee. They know Him as +'the Son of God'; a name which, on their lips, must be taken in its full +significance. If demoniacal possession is a fact, there is no difficulty +in accounting for the name here given to Jesus, nor for the sudden +change from the fierce purpose of barring an intruder's path to abject +submission. If it is not a fact, to make a plausible explanation of +either circumstance will be a task needing many contortions, as is seen +by the attempts to achieve it. For example, we are told that the +demoniacs were afraid of Jesus, because He 'was not afraid of them,' and +they knew Him, because 'men with shattered reason also felt the spell, +while the wise and the strong-minded often used their intellect, under +the force of passion or prejudice, to resist the force of truth.' +Possibly the last clause goes as far to explain some critics' +non-recognition of demoniacal possession as the first does to explain +the demoniacs' recognition of Jesus! + +To the demonic nature Christ's coming brought torture, as the sunbeam, +which gives life to many, also gives death to ugly creatures that crawl +and swarm in the dark. Turn up a stone, and the creeping things hurry +out of the penetrating glare so unwelcome. 'What maketh heaven, that +maketh hell,' and the same presence is life or death, joy or agony. The +dear perception of divine purity and the shuddering recoil of impotent +hatred from it are surely of the very essence of the demonic nature, and +every man, who looks into the depths of his own spirit, knows that the +possibilities of such a state are in him. + +Our Lord discriminated between healing the sick and casting out demons. +He distinguished between forms of disease due to possession and the same +diseases when dissociated from it, as, for example, cases of dumbness. +His whole attitude, both in His actual dealing with the possessed and in +His referring to the subject, gave His complete adhesion to the reality +of the awful thing. It is vain to say that He humoured the delusions of +insanity in order to cure them. That theory does not adequately explain +any of the facts and does not touch some of them. It is perilous to try +to weaken the force of the narrative by saying that the evangelists were +under the influence of popular notions (which are quietly assumed to +have been wrong), and hence that their prepossessions coloured their +representations. If the mirror was so distorted, what reliance can be +placed on any part of its reflection of Jesus? There can be no doubt +that the Gospel narrative asserts and assumes the reality of demoniacal +possession, and if the representation that Jesus also assumed it is due +to the evangelists, what trust can be reposed in authorities which +misrepresent Him in such a matter? On the other hand, if they do not +misrepresent Him, and He blundered, confounding mere insanity with +possession by a demon, what reliance can be reposed in Him as our +Teacher of the Unseen World? The issues involved are very grave and +far-reaching, and raillery or sarcasm is out of place. + +But the question is pertinent: By what right do we allege that +demoniacal possession is an exploded figment and an impossibility? Do we +know ourselves or our fellows so thoroughly as to be warranted in +denying that deep down in the mysterious 'subliminal consciousness' +there is a gate through which spiritual beings may come into contact +with human personalities? He would be bold, to the verge of presumption +or somewhat further, who should take up such a position. And have we any +better right to assume that we know so much of the universe as to be +sure that there are no evil spirits there, who can come into contact +with human spirits and wield an alien tyranny over them? The Christian +attitude is not that of such far-reaching denial which outruns our +knowledge, but that of calm belief that Jesus is the head of all +principality and power, and that to Him all are subject. It is taken for +granted that the supposed possession is insanity. But may it not rather +be that to-day some of the supposed insanity is possession? Be that as +it may--and perhaps those who have the widest experience of 'lunatics' +would be the least ready to dismiss the possibility,--Jesus recognised +the reality that there were souls oppressed by a real personality, which +had settled itself in the house of life, and none of us has wide and +deep enough knowledge to contradict Him. Might it not be better to +accept His witness in this, as in other matters beyond our ken, as true, +and to ponder it? + +The demons' petition, according to the Received Text, takes the form, +'Suffer us to go,' while the reading adopted by most modern editors is +'Send us.' The former reading seems to be taken from Luke (viii. 32), +while Mark has 'Send' (not the same word as now read in Matthew). But +Mark goes on to say, not that Jesus sent them, but that He 'suffered +them' or 'gave them leave' (the same word as in Matthew, according to +the Received Text). Thus, Jesus' part in the transaction is simply +permissive, and the one word which He speaks is authoritative indeed in +its curtness, and means simply 'away,' or 'begone.' It casts them out +but does not send them in. He did not send them into the herd, but out +of the men, and did not prevent their entrance into the swine. It should +further be noted that nothing in the narrative suggests that the +destruction of the herd was designed even by the demons, much less by +Jesus. The maddened brutes rushed straight before them, not knowing why +or where; the steep slope was in front, and the sea was at its foot, and +their terrified, short gallop ended there. The last thing the demons +would have done would have been to banish themselves, as the death of +the swine did banish them, from their new shelter. There is no need, +then, to invent justifications for Christ's destroying the herd, for He +did not destroy it. No doubt, keeping swine was a breach of Jewish law; +no doubt the two demoniacs and the bystanders would be more convinced of +the reality of the exorcism by the fate of the swine, but these +apologies are needless. + +The narrative suggests some affinity between the demoniac and the animal +nature, and though it is easy to ridicule, it is impossible to disprove, +the suggestion. We know too little about either to do that, and what we +cannot disprove it is somewhat venturesome hardily to deny. There are +depths in the one nature, which we cannot fathom though its possessors +are close to us; the other is removed from our investigation altogether. +Where we are so utterly ignorant we had better neither affirm nor deny. +But we may take a homiletical use out of that apparent affinity, and +recognise that a spirit in rebellion against God necessarily gravitates +downwards, and becomes more or less bestialised. + +No wonder that the swineherds fled, but, surely, it is a wonder that +eagerness to be rid of Jesus was the sole result of the miracle. Perhaps +the reason was the loss of the swine, which would bulk largest in their +keepers' excited story; perhaps the reason was a fear that He would find +out and rebuke other instances of breach of strict Jewish propriety, +perhaps it was simply the shrinking from any close contact with the +heavenly, or apparently supernatural, which is so instinctive in us, and +witnesses to a dormant consciousness of discord with Heaven. 'Depart +from me, for I am a sinful man,' is the cry of the roused conscience. +And, alas! it has power to send away Him whom we need, and who comes to +us, just because we are sinful, and just that He may deliver us from our +sin. + + +END OF VOL. I + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Expositions of Holy Scripture +by Alexander Maclaren + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK EXPOSITIONS OF HOLY SCRIPTURE *** + +***** This file should be named 15836.txt or 15836.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/5/8/3/15836/ + +Produced by Charles Franks, Don Kretz and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team. + + +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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