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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/18369-h.zip b/18369-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..fed69b3 --- /dev/null +++ b/18369-h.zip diff --git a/18369-h/18369-h.htm b/18369-h/18369-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..bdac965 --- /dev/null +++ b/18369-h/18369-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,8422 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html + PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> +<html> +<head> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=US-ASCII" /> +<title>Westminster Sermons</title> + <style type="text/css"> +/*<![CDATA[ XML blockout */ +<!-- + P { margin-top: .75em; + margin-bottom: .75em; + } + H1, H2 { + text-align: center; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + } + H3, H4 { + text-align: left; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-bottom: 1em; + } + BODY{margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + } + .blkquot {margin-left: 4em; margin-right: 4em;} /* block indent */ + + .smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + + .pagenum {position: absolute; + left: 92%; + font-size: smaller; + text-align: right; + color: gray;} + + // --> + /* XML end ]]>*/ + </style> +</head> +<body> +<h2> +<a href="#startoftext">Westminster Sermons, by Charles Kingsley</a> +</h2> +<pre> +The Project Gutenberg eBook, Westminster Sermons, by Charles Kingsley + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: Westminster Sermons + with a Preface + + +Author: Charles Kingsley + + + +Release Date: May 10, 2006 [eBook #18369] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WESTMINSTER SERMONS*** +</pre> +<p><a name="startoftext"></a></p> +<p>Transcribed from the 1881 Macmillan and Co. edition by David Price, +ccx074@pglaf.org</p> +<h1><b>WESTMINSTER SERMONS.</b></h1> +<p style="text-align: center">WITH A PREFACE.</p> +<p style="text-align: center"><span class="smcap">by</span><br /> +CHARLES KINGSLEY.</p> +<p style="text-align: center">London:<br /> +MACMILLAN AND CO.<br /> +1881.</p> +<p style="text-align: center"><i>The Right of Translation is Reserved</i>.</p> +<h2><b><!-- page v--><a name="pagev"></a><span class="pagenum">p. v</span>PREFACE.</b></h2> +<p>I venture to preface these Sermons—which were preached either +at Westminster Abbey, or at one of the Chapels Royal—by a Paper +read at Sion College, in 1871; and for this reason. Even when +they deal with what is usually, and rightly, called “vital” +and “experimental” religion, they are comments on, and developments +of, the idea which pervades that paper; namely—That facts, whether +of physical nature, or of the human heart and reason, do not contradict, +but coincide with, the doctrines and formulas of the Church of England, +as by law established.</p> +<p>* * * * *</p> +<p>Natural Theology, I said, is a subject which seems to me more and +more important; and one which is just now somewhat forgotten. +I therefore desire to say a few words on it. I do not pretend +to teach: but only to suggest; to point out certain problems of natural +Theology, the further solution of which ought, I think, to be soon attempted.</p> +<p>I wish to speak, be it remembered, not on natural religion, but on +natural Theology. By the first, I understand what can be learned +from the physical universe of man’s duty to God and to his neighbour; +by the <!-- page vi--><a name="pagevi"></a><span class="pagenum">p. vi</span>latter, +I understand what can be learned concerning God Himself. Of natural +religion I shall say nothing. I do not even affirm that a natural +religion is possible: but I do very earnestly believe that a natural +Theology is possible; and I earnestly believe also that it is most important +that natural Theology should, in every age, keep pace with doctrinal +or ecclesiastical Theology.</p> +<p>Bishop Butler certainly held this belief. His <i>Analogy of +Religion</i>, <i>Natural and Revealed</i>, <i>to the Constitution and +Course of Nature</i>—a book for which I entertain the most profound +respect—is based on a belief that the God of nature and the God +of grace are one; and that therefore, the God who satisfies our conscience +ought more or less to satisfy our reason also. To teach that was +Butler’s mission; and he fulfilled it well. But it is a +mission which has to be re-fulfilled again and again, as human thought +changes, and human science develops; for if, in any age or country, +the God who seems to be revealed by nature seems also different from +the God who is revealed by the then popular religion: then that God, +and the religion which tells of that God, will gradually cease to be +believed in.</p> +<p>For the demands of Reason—as none knew better than good Bishop +Butler—must be and ought to be satisfied. And therefore; +when a popular war arises between the reason of any generation and its +Theology: then it behoves the ministers of religion to inquire, with +all humility and godly fear, on which side lies the fault; <!-- page vii--><a name="pagevii"></a><span class="pagenum">p. vii</span>whether +the Theology which they expound is all that it should be, or whether +the reason of those who impugn it is all that it should be.</p> +<p>For me, as—I trust—an orthodox priest of the Church of +England, I believe the Theology of the National Church of England, as +by law established, to be eminently rational as well as scriptural. +It is not, therefore, surprising to me that the clergy of the Church +of England, since the foundation of the Royal Society in the seventeenth +century, have done more for sound physical science than the clergy of +any other denomination; or that the three greatest natural theologians +with which I, at least, am acquainted—Berkeley, Butler, and Paley—should +have belonged to our Church. I am not unaware of what the Germans +of the eighteenth century have done. I consider Goethe’s +claims to have advanced natural Theology very much over-rated: but I +do recommend to young clergymen Herder’s <i>Outlines of the Philosophy +of the History of Man</i> as a book—in spite of certain defects—full +of sound and precious wisdom. Meanwhile it seems to me that English +natural Theology in the eighteenth century stood more secure than that +of any other nation, on the foundation which Berkeley, Butler, and Paley +had laid; and that if our orthodox thinkers for the last hundred years +had followed steadily in their steps, we should not be deploring now +a wide, and as some think increasing, divorce between Science and Christianity.</p> +<p><!-- page viii--><a name="pageviii"></a><span class="pagenum">p. viii</span>But +it was not so to be. The impulse given by Wesley and Whitfield +turned—and not before it was needed—the earnest minds of +England almost exclusively to questions of personal religion; and that +impulse, under many unexpected forms, has continued ever since. +I only state the fact: I do not deplore it; God forbid. Wisdom +is justified of all her children; and as, according to the wise American, +“it takes all sorts to make a world,” so it takes all sorts +to make a living Church. But that the religious temper of England +for the last two or three generations has been unfavourable to a sound +and scientific development of natural Theology, there can be no doubt.</p> +<p>We have only, if we need proof, to look at the hymns—many of +them very pure, pious, and beautiful—which are used at this day +in churches and chapels by persons of every shade of opinion. +How often is the tone in which they speak of the natural world one of +dissatisfaction, distrust, almost contempt. “Change and +decay in all around I see,” is their key-note, rather than “O +all ye works of the Lord, bless Him, praise Him, and magnify Him for +ever.” There lingers about them a savour of the old monastic +theory, that this earth is the devil’s planet, fallen, accursed, +goblin-haunted, needing to be exorcised at every turn before it is useful +or even safe for man. An age which has adopted as its most popular +hymn a paraphrase of the mediæval monk’s “Hic breve +vivitur,” and in which <!-- page ix--><a name="pageix"></a><span class="pagenum">p. ix</span>stalwart +public-school boys are bidden in their chapel-worship to tell the Almighty +God of Truth that they lie awake weeping at night for joy at the thought +that they will die and see “Jerusalem the Golden,” is doubtless +a pious and devout age: but not—at least as yet—an age in +which natural Theology is likely to attain a high, a healthy, or a scriptural +development.</p> +<p>Not a scriptural development. Let me press on you, my clerical +brethren, most earnestly this one point. It is time that we should +make up our minds what tone Scripture does take toward nature, natural +science, natural Theology. Most of you, I doubt not, have made +up your minds already; and in consequence have no fear of natural science, +no fear for natural Theology. But I cannot deny that I find still +lingering here and there certain of the old views of nature of which +I used to hear but too much some five-and-thirty years ago—and +that from better men than I shall ever hope to be—who used to +consider natural Theology as useless, fallacious, impossible; on the +ground that this Earth did not reveal the will and character of God, +because it was cursed and fallen; and that its facts, in consequence, +were not to be respected or relied on. This, I was told, was the +doctrine of Scripture, and was therefore true. But when, longing +to reconcile my conscience and my reason on a question so awful to a +young student of natural science, I went to my Bible, what did I find? +No word of all this. Much—thank God, I may say one continuous +<!-- page x--><a name="pagex"></a><span class="pagenum">p. x</span>undercurrent—of +the very opposite of all this. I pray you bear with me, even though +I may seem impertinent. But what do we find in the Bible, with +the exception of that first curse? That, remember, cannot mean +any alteration in the laws of nature by which man’s labour should +only produce for him henceforth thorns and thistles. For, in the +first place, any such curse is formally abrogated in the eighth chapter +and 21st verse of the very same document—“I will not again +curse the earth any more for man’s sake. While the earth +remaineth, seed-time and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, +day and night, shall not cease.” And next: the fact is not +so; for if you root up the thorns and thistles, and keep your land clean, +then assuredly you will grow fruit-trees and not thorns, wheat and not +thistles, according to those laws of nature which are the voice of God +expressed in facts.</p> +<p>And yet the words are true. There is a curse upon the earth: +though not one which, by altering the laws of nature, has made natural +facts untrustworthy. There is a curse on the earth; such a curse +as is expressed, I believe, in the old Hebrew text, where the word “<i>admah</i>”—correctly +translated in our version “the ground”—signifies, +as I am told, not this planet, but simply the soil from whence we get +our food; such a curse as certainly is expressed by the Septuagint and +the Vulgate versions: “Cursed is the earth”—εν +τοις ερyοις +σου; “in opere tuo,” “in thy +works.” Man’s work is too often the curse of <!-- page xi--><a name="pagexi"></a><span class="pagenum">p. xi</span>the +very planet which he misuses. None should know that better than +the botanist, who sees whole regions desolate, and given up to sterility +and literal thorns and thistles, on account of man’s sin and folly, +ignorance and greedy waste. Well said that veteran botanist, the +venerable Elias Fries, of Lund:—</p> +<p>“A broad band of waste land follows gradually in the steps +of cultivation. If it expands, its centre and its cradle dies, +and on the outer borders only do we find green shoots. But it +is not impossible, only difficult, for man, without renouncing the advantage +of culture itself, one day to make reparation for the injury which he +has inflicted: he is appointed lord of creation. True it is that +thorns and thistles, ill-favoured and poisonous plants, well named by +botanists rubbish plants, mark the track which man has proudly traversed +through the earth. Before him lay original nature in her wild +but sublime beauty. Behind him he leaves a desert, a deformed +and ruined land; for childish desire of destruction, or thoughtless +squandering of vegetable treasures, has destroyed the character of nature; +and, terrified, man himself flies from the arena of his actions, leaving +the impoverished earth to barbarous races or to animals, so long as +yet another spot in virgin beauty smiles before him. Here again, +in selfish pursuit of profit, and consciously or unconsciously following +the abominable principle of the great moral vileness which one man has +expressed—‘Après nous le Déluge,’—he +begins anew the work of destruction. Thus <!-- page xii--><a name="pagexii"></a><span class="pagenum">p. xii</span>did +cultivation, driven out, leave the East, and perhaps the deserts long +ago robbed of their coverings; like the wild hordes of old over beautiful +Greece, thus rolls this conquest with fearful rapidity from East to +West through America; and the planter now often leaves the already exhausted +land, and the eastern climate, become infertile through the demolition +of the forests, to introduce a similar revolution into the Far West.”</p> +<p>As we proceed, we find nothing in the general tone of Scripture which +can hinder our natural Theology being at once scriptural and scientific.</p> +<p>If it is to be scientific, it must begin by approaching Nature at +once with a cheerful and reverent spirit, as a noble, healthy, and trustworthy +thing; and what is that, save the spirit of those who wrote the 104th, +147th, and 148th Psalms; the spirit, too, of him who wrote that Song +of the Three Children, which is, as it were, the flower and crown of +the Old Testament, the summing up of all that is most true and eternal +in the old Jewish faith; and which, as long as it is sung in our churches, +is the charter and title-deed of all Christian students of those works +of the Lord, which it calls on to bless Him, praise Him, and magnify +Him for ever?</p> +<p>What next will be demanded of us by physical science? Belief, +certainly, just now, in the permanence of natural laws. That is +taken for granted, I hold, throughout the Bible. I cannot see +how our Lord’s parables, drawn from the birds and the flowers, +the seasons and the weather, <!-- page xiii--><a name="pagexiii"></a><span class="pagenum">p. xiii</span>have +any logical weight, or can be considered as aught but capricious and +fanciful “illustrations”—which God forbid—unless +we look at them as instances of laws of the natural world, which find +their analogues in the laws of the spiritual world, the kingdom of God. +I cannot conceive a man’s writing that 104th Psalm who had not +the most deep, the most earnest sense of the permanence of natural law. +But more: the fact is expressly asserted again and again. “They +continue this day according to Thine ordinance, for all things serve +Thee.” “Thou hast made them fast for ever and ever. +Thou hast given them a law which shall not be broken—”</p> +<p>Let us pass on. There is no more to be said about this matter.</p> +<p>But next: it will be demanded of us that natural Theology shall set +forth a God whose character is consistent with all the facts of nature, +and not only with those which are pleasant and beautiful. That +challenge was accepted, and I think victoriously, by Bishop Butler, +as far as the Christian religion is concerned. As far as the Scripture +is concerned, we may answer thus—</p> +<p>It is said to us—I know that it is said—You tell us of +a God of love, a God of flowers and sunshine, of singing birds and little +children. But there are more facts in nature than these. +There is premature death, pestilence, famine. And if you answer—Man +has control over these; they are caused by man’s ignorance and +sin, and by his breaking of natural laws:—What will you make of +those <!-- page xiv--><a name="pagexiv"></a><span class="pagenum">p. xiv</span>destructive +powers over which he has no control; of the hurricane and the earthquake; +of poisons, vegetable and mineral; of those parasitic Entozoa whose +awful abundance, and awful destructiveness, in man and beast, science +is just revealing—a new page of danger and loathsomeness? +How does that suit your conception of a God of love?</p> +<p>We can answer—Whether or not it suits our conception of a God +of love, it suits Scripture’s conception of Him. For nothing +is more clear—nay, is it not urged again and again, as a blot +on Scripture?—that it reveals a God not merely of love, but of +sternness; a God in whose eyes physical pain is not the worst of evils, +nor animal life—too often miscalled human life—the most +precious of objects; a God who destroys, when it seems fit to Him, and +that wholesale, and seemingly without either pity or discrimination, +man, woman, and child, visiting the sins of the fathers on the children, +making the land empty and bare, and destroying from off it man and beast? +This is the God of the Old Testament. And if any say—as +is too often rashly said—This is not the God of the New: I answer, +But have you read your New Testament? Have you read the latter +chapters of St Matthew? Have you read the opening of the Epistle +to the Romans? Have you read the Book of Revelation? If +so, will you say that the God of the New Testament is, compared with +the God of the Old, less awful, less destructive, and therefore less +like the Being—granting <!-- page xv--><a name="pagexv"></a><span class="pagenum">p. xv</span>always +that there is such a Being—who presides over nature and her destructive +powers? It is an awful problem. But the writers of the Bible +have faced it valiantly. Physical science is facing it valiantly +now. Therefore natural Theology may face it likewise. Remember +Carlyle’s great words about poor Francesca in the Inferno: “Infinite +pity: yet also infinite rigour of law. It is so Nature is made. +It is so Dante discerned that she was made.”</p> +<p>There are two other points on which I must beg leave to say a few +words. Physical science will demand of our natural theologians +that they should be aware of their importance, and let—as Mr Matthew +Arnold would say—their thoughts play freely round them. +I mean questions of Embryology, and questions of Race.</p> +<p>On the first there may be much to be said, which is, for the present, +best left unsaid, even here. I only ask you to recollect how often +in Scripture those two plain old words—beget and bring forth—occur; +and in what important passages. And I ask you to remember that +marvellous essay on Natural Theology—if I may so call it in all +reverence—namely, the 119th Psalm; and judge for yourself whether +he who wrote that did not consider the study of Embryology as important, +as significant, as worthy of his deepest attention, as an Owen, a Huxley, +or a Darwin. Nay, I will go further still, and say, that in those +great words—“Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being +imperfect; and in Thy book all my members were written, which in continuance +were <!-- page xvi--><a name="pagexvi"></a><span class="pagenum">p. xvi</span>fashioned, +when as yet there was none of them,”—in those words, I say, +the Psalmist has anticipated that realistic view of embryological questions +to which our most modern philosophers are, it seems to me, slowly, half +unconsciously, but still inevitably, returning.</p> +<p>Next, as to Race. Some persons now have a nervous fear of that +word, and of allowing any importance to difference of races. Some +dislike it, because they think that it endangers the modern notions +of democratic equality. Others because they fear that it may be +proved that the Negro is not a man and a brother. I think the +fears of both parties groundless.</p> +<p>As for the Negro, I not only believe him to be of the same race as +myself, but that—if Mr Darwin’s theories are true—science +has proved that he must be such. I should have thought, as a humble +student of such questions, that the one fact of the unique distribution +of the hair in all races of human beings, was full moral proof that +they had all had one common ancestor. But this is not matter of +natural Theology. What is matter thereof, is this.</p> +<p>Physical science is proving more and more the immense importance +of Race; the importance of hereditary powers, hereditary organs, hereditary +habits, in all organized beings, from the lowest plant to the highest +animal. She is proving more and more the omnipresent action of +the differences between races: how the more “favoured” race—she +cannot avoid using the epithet—<!-- page xvii--><a name="pagexvii"></a><span class="pagenum">p. xvii</span>exterminates +the less favoured; or at least expels it, and forces it, under penalty +of death, to adapt itself to new circumstances; and, in a word, that +competition between every race and every individual of that race, and +reward according to deserts, is, as far as we can see, an universal +law of living things. And she says—for the facts of History +prove it—that as it is among the races of plants and animals, +so it has been unto this day among the races of men.</p> +<p>The natural Theology of the future must take count of these tremendous +and even painful facts. She may take count of them. For +Scripture has taken count of them already. It talks continually—it +has been blamed for talking so much—of races; of families; of +their wars, their struggles, their exterminations; of races favoured, +of races rejected; of remnants being saved, to continue the race; of +hereditary tendencies, hereditary excellencies, hereditary guilt. +Its sense of the reality and importance of descent is so intense, that +it speaks of a whole tribe or a whole family by the name of its common +ancestor; and the whole nation of the Jews is Israel, to the end. +And if I be told this is true of the Old Testament, but not of the New: +I must answer,—What? Does not St Paul hold the identity +of the whole Jewish race with Israel their forefather, as strongly as +any prophet of the Old Testament? And what is the central historic +fact, save One, of the New Testament, but the conquest of Jerusalem; +the dispersion, all but <!-- page xviii--><a name="pagexviii"></a><span class="pagenum">p. xviii</span>destruction +of a race, not by miracle, but by invasion, because found wanting when +weighed in the stern balances of natural and social law?</p> +<p>Think over this. I only suggest the thought: but I do not suggest +it in haste. Think over it, by the light which our Lord’s +parables, His analogies between the physical and social constitution +of the world, afford; and consider whether those awful words—fulfilled +then, and fulfilled so often since—“The kingdom of God shall +be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof,” +may not be the supreme instance, the most complex development, of a +law which runs through all created things, down to the moss which struggles +for existence on the rock.</p> +<p>Do I say that this is all? That man is merely a part of nature, +the puppet of circumstances and hereditary tendencies? That brute +competition is the one law of his life? That he is doomed for +ever to be the slave of his own needs, enforced by an internecine struggle +for existence? God forbid. I believe not only in nature, +but in Grace. I believe that this is man’s fate only as +long as he sows to the flesh, and of the flesh reaps corruption. +I believe that if he will</p> +<blockquote><p>Strive upward, working out the beast,<br /> +And let the ape and tiger die;</p> +</blockquote> +<p>if he will be even as wise as the social animals; as the ant and +the bee, who have risen, if not to the virtue of all-embracing charity, +at least to the virtues of self-sacrifice <!-- page xix--><a name="pagexix"></a><span class="pagenum">p. xix</span>and +patriotism: then he will rise towards a higher sphere; towards that +kingdom of God of which it is written—“He that dwelleth +in love, dwelleth in God, and God in him.”</p> +<p>Whether that be matter of natural Theology, I cannot tell as yet. +But as for all the former questions; and all that St Paul means when +he talks of the law, and how the works of the flesh bring men under +the law, stern and terrible and destructive, though holy and just and +good,—they are matter of natural Theology; and I believe that +here, as elsewhere, Scripture and Science will be ultimately found to +coincide.</p> +<p>But here we have to face an objection which you will often hear now +from scientific men, and still oftener from non-scientific men; who +will say—It matters not to us whether Scripture contradicts or +does not contradict a scientific natural Theology; for we hold such +a science to be impossible and naught. The old Jews put a God +into nature; and therefore of course they could see, as you see, what +they had already put there. But we see no God in nature. +We do not deny the existence of a God. We merely say that scientific +research does not reveal Him to us. We see no marks of design +in physical phenomena. What used to be considered as marks of +design can be better explained by considering them as the results of +evolution according to necessary laws; and you and Scripture make a +mere assumption when you ascribe them to the operation of a mind like +the human mind.</p> +<p><!-- page xx--><a name="pagexx"></a><span class="pagenum">p. xx</span>Now +on this point I believe we may answer fearlessly—If you cannot +see it, we cannot help you. If the heavens do not declare to you +the glory of God, nor the firmament show you His handy-work, then our +poor arguments will not show them. “The eye can only see +that which it brings with it the power of seeing.” We can +only reassert that we see design everywhere; and that the vast majority +of the human race in every age and clime has seen it. Analogy +from experience, sound induction—as we hold—from the works +not only of men but of animals, has made it an all but self-evident +truth to us, that wherever there is arrangement, there must be an arranger; +wherever there is adaptation of means to an end, there must be an adapter; +wherever an organization, there must be an organizer. The existence +of a designing God is no more demonstrable from nature than the existence +of other human beings independent of ourselves; or, indeed, than the +existence of our own bodies. But, like the belief in them, the +belief in Him has become an article of our common sense. And that +this designing mind is, in some respects, similar to the human mind, +is proved to us—as Sir John Herschel well puts it—by the +mere fact that we can discover and comprehend the processes of nature.</p> +<p>But here again, if we be contradicted, we can only reassert. +If the old words, “He that made the eye, shall he not see? he +that planted the ear, shall he not hear?” do not at once commend +themselves to the <!-- page xxi--><a name="pagexxi"></a><span class="pagenum">p. xxi</span>intellect +of any person, we shall never convince that person by any arguments +drawn from the absurdity of conceiving the invention of optics by a +blind man, or of music by a deaf one.</p> +<p>So we will assert our own old-fashioned notion boldly: and more; +we will say, in spite of ridicule—That if such a God exists, final +causes must exist also. That the whole universe must be one chain +of final causes. That if there be a Supreme Reason, he must have +reason, and that a good reason, for every physical phenomenon.</p> +<p>We will tell the modern scientific man—You are nervously afraid +of the mention of final causes. You quote against them Bacon’s +saying, that they are barren virgins; that no physical fact was ever +discovered or explained by them. You are right: as far as regards +yourselves. You have no business with final causes; because final +causes are moral causes: and you are physical students only. We, +the natural Theologians, have business with them. Your duty is +to find out the How of things: ours, to find out the Why. If you +rejoin that we shall never find out the Why, unless we first learn something +of the How, we shall not deny that. It may be most useful, I had +almost said necessary, that the clergy should have some scientific training. +It may be most useful—I sometimes dream of a day when it will +be considered necessary—that every candidate for Ordination should +be required to have passed creditably in at least one branch of physical +science, if it be only <!-- page xxii--><a name="pagexxii"></a><span class="pagenum">p. xxii</span>to +teach him the method of sound scientific thought. But our having +learnt the How, will not make it needless, much less impossible, for +us to study the Why. It will merely make more clear to us the +things of which we have to study the Why; and enable us to keep the +How and the Why more religiously apart from each other.</p> +<p>But if it be said—After all, there is no Why. The doctrine +of evolution, by doing away with the theory of creation, does away with +that of final causes,—Let us answer boldly,—Not in the least. +We might accept all that Mr Darwin, all that Professor Huxley, all that +other most able men, have so learnedly and so acutely written on physical +science, and yet preserve our natural Theology on exactly the same basis +as that on which Butler and Paley left it. That we should have +to develop it, I do not deny. That we should have to relinquish +it, I do.</p> +<p>Let me press this thought earnestly on you. I know that many +wiser and better men than I have fears on this point. I cannot +share in them.</p> +<p>All, it seems to me, that the new doctrines of evolution demand is +this:—We all agree—for the fact is patent—that our +own bodies, and indeed the body of every living creature, are evolved +from a seemingly simple germ by natural laws, without visible action +of any designing will or mind, into the full organization of a human +or other creature. Yet we do not say on that account—God +did not create me: I only grew. We <!-- page xxiii--><a name="pagexxiii"></a><span class="pagenum">p. xxiii</span>hold +in this case to our old idea, and say—If there be evolution, there +must be an evolver. Now the new physical theories only ask us, +it seems to me, to extend this conception to the whole universe; to +believe that not individuals merely, but whole varieties and races; +the total organized life on this planet; and, it may be, the total organization +of the universe, have been evolved just as our bodies are, by natural +laws acting through circumstance. This may be true, or may be +false. But all its truth can do to the natural Theologian will +be to make him believe that the Creator bears the same relation to the +whole universe, as that Creator undeniably bears to every individual +human body.</p> +<p>I entreat you to weigh these words, which have not been written in +haste; and I entreat you also, if you wish to see how little the new +theory, that species may have been gradually created by variation, natural +selection, and so forth, interferes with the old theory of design, contrivance, +and adaptation, nay, with the fullest admission of benevolent final +causes—I entreat you, I say, to study Darwin’s “Fertilization +of Orchids”—a book which, whether his main theory be true +or not, will still remain a most valuable addition to natural Theology.</p> +<p>For suppose that all the species of Orchids, and not only they, but +their congeners—the Gingers, the Arrowroots, the Bananas—are +all the descendants of one original form, which was most probably nearly +allied <!-- page xxiv--><a name="pagexxiv"></a><span class="pagenum">p. xxiv</span>to +the Snowdrop and the Iris. What then? Would that be one +whit more wonderful, more unworthy of the wisdom and power of God, than +if they were, as most believe, created each and all at once, with their +minute and often imaginary shades of difference? What would the +natural Theologian have to say, were the first theory true, save that +God’s works are even more wonderful that he always believed them +to be? As for the theory being impossible: we must leave the discussion +of that to physical students. It is not for us clergymen to limit +the power of God. “Is anything too hard for the Lord?” +asked the prophet of old; and we have a right to ask it as long as time +shall last. If it be said that natural selection is too simple +a cause to produce such fantastic variety: that, again, is a question +to be settled exclusively by physical students. All we have to +say on the matter is—That we always knew that God works by very +simple, or seemingly simple, means; that the whole universe, as far +as we could discern it, was one concatenation of the most simple means; +that it was wonderful, yea, miraculous, in our eyes, that a child should +resemble its parents, that the raindrops should make the grass grow, +that the grass should become flesh, and the flesh sustenance for the +thinking brain of man. Ought God to seem less or more august in +our eyes, when we are told that His means are even more simple than +we supposed? We held him to be Almighty and All-wise. Are +we to reverence Him less or more, if <!-- page xxv--><a name="pagexxv"></a><span class="pagenum">p. xxv</span>we +hear that His might is greater, His wisdom deeper, than we ever dreamed? +We believed that His care was over all His works; that His Providence +watched perpetually over the whole universe. We were taught—some +of us at least—by Holy Scripture, to believe that the whole history +of the universe was made up of special Providences. If, then, +that should be true which Mr Darwin eloquently writes—“It +may be metaphorically said that natural selection is daily and hourly +scrutinizing, throughout the world, every variation, even the slightest; +rejecting that which is bad, preserving and adding up that which is +good, silently and incessantly working whenever and wherever opportunity +offers at the improvement of every organic being,”—if that, +I say, were proven to be true: ought God’s care and God’s +providence to seem less or more magnificent in our eyes? Of old +it was said by Him without whom nothing is made, “My Father worketh +hitherto, and I work.” Shall we quarrel with Science, if +she should show how those words are true? What, in one word, should +we have to say but this?—We knew of old that God was so wise that +He could make all things: but, behold, He is so much wiser than even +that, that He can make all things make themselves.</p> +<p>But it may be said—These notions are contrary to Scripture. +I must beg very humbly, but very firmly, to demur to that opinion. +Scripture says that God created. But it nowhere defines that term. +The means, the How, <!-- page xxvi--><a name="pagexxvi"></a><span class="pagenum">p. xxvi</span>of +Creation is nowhere specified. Scripture, again, says that organized +beings were produced, each according to their kind. But it nowhere +defines that term. What a kind includes; whether it includes or +not the capacity of varying—which is just the question in point—is +nowhere specified. And I think it a most important rule in Scriptural +exegesis, to be most cautious as to limiting the meaning of any term +which Scripture itself has not limited, lest we find ourselves putting +into the teaching of Scripture our own human theories or prejudices. +And consider—Is not man a kind? And has not mankind varied, +physically, intellectually, spiritually? Is not the Bible, from +beginning to end, a history of the variations of mankind, for worse +or for better, from their original type? Let us rather look with +calmness, and even with hope and goodwill, on these new theories; for, +correct or incorrect, they surely mark a tendency towards a more, not +a less, Scriptural view of Nature. Are they not attempts, whether +successful or unsuccessful, to escape from that shallow mechanical notion +of the universe and its Creator which was too much in vogue in the eighteenth +century among divines as well as philosophers; the theory which Goethe, +to do him justice—and after him Mr Thomas Carlyle—have treated +with such noble scorn; the theory, I mean, that God has wound up the +universe like a clock, and left it to tick by itself till it runs down, +never troubling Himself with it; save possibly—for even that was +only half believed—<!-- page xxvii--><a name="pagexxvii"></a><span class="pagenum">p. xxvii</span>by +rare miraculous interferences with the laws which He Himself had made? +Out of that chilling dream of a dead universe ungoverned by an absent +God, the human mind, in Germany especially, tried during the early part +of this century to escape by strange roads; roads by which there was +no escape, because they were not laid down on the firm ground of scientific +facts. Then, in despair, men turned to the facts which they had +neglected; and said—We are weary of philosophy: we will study +you, and you alone. As for God, who can find Him? And they +have worked at the facts like gallant and honest men; and their work, +like all good work, has produced, in the last fifty years, results more +enormous than they even dreamed. But what are they finding, more +and more, below their facts, below all phenomena which the scalpel and +the microscope can show? A something nameless, invisible, imponderable, +yet seemingly omnipresent and omnipotent, retreating before them deeper +and deeper, the deeper they delve: namely, the life which shapes and +makes; that which the old schoolmen called “forma formativa,” +which they call vital force and what not—metaphors all, or rather +counters to mark an unknown quantity, as if they should call it <i>x</i> +or <i>y</i>. One says—It is all vibrations: but his reason, +unsatisfied, asks—And what makes the vibrations vibrate? +Another—It is all physiological units: but his reason asks—What +is the “physis,” the nature and innate tendency of the units? +A third—It may be all caused by infinitely numerous <!-- page xxviii--><a name="pagexxviii"></a><span class="pagenum">p. xxviii</span>“gemmules:” +but his reason asks him—What puts infinite order into these gemmules, +instead of infinite anarchy? I mention these theories not to laugh +at them. I have all due respect for those who have put them forth. +Nor would it interfere with my theological creed, if any or all of them +were proven to be true to-morrow. I mention them only to show +that beneath all these theories, true or false, still lies that unknown +<i>x</i>. Scientific men are becoming more and more aware of it; +I had almost said, ready to worship it. More and more the noblest-minded +of them are engrossed by the mystery of that unknown and truly miraculous +element in Nature, which is always escaping them, though they cannot +escape it. How should they escape it? Was it not written +of old—“Whither shall I go from Thy presence, or whither +shall I flee from Thy Spirit?”</p> +<p>Ah that we clergymen would summon up courage to tell them that! +Courage to tell them, what need not hamper for a moment the freedom +of their investigations, what will add to them a sanction—I may +say a sanctity—that the unknown <i>x</i> which lies below all +phenomena, which is for ever at work on all phenomena, on the whole +and on every part of the whole, down to the colouring of every leaf +and the curdling of every cell of protoplasm, is none other than that +which the old Hebrews called—by a metaphor, no doubt: for how +can man speak of the unseen, save in metaphors drawn from the seen?—but +by the only metaphor adequate to express the perpetual and <!-- page xxix--><a name="pagexxix"></a><span class="pagenum">p. xxix</span>omnipresent +miracle; The Breath of God; The Spirit who is The Lord, and The Giver +of Life.</p> +<p>In the rest, let us too think, and let us too observe. For +if we are ignorant, not merely of the results of experimental science, +but of the methods thereof: then we and the men of science shall have +no common ground whereon to stretch out kindly hands to each other.</p> +<p>But let us have patience and faith; and not suppose in haste, that +when those hands are stretched out it will be needful for us to leave +our standing-ground, or to cast ourselves down from the pinnacle of +the temple to earn popularity; above all, from earnest students who +are too high-minded to care for popularity themselves.</p> +<p>True, if we have an intelligent belief in those Creeds and those +Scriptures which are committed to our keeping, then our philosophy cannot +be that which is just now in vogue. But all we have to do, I believe, +is to wait. Nominalism, and that “Sensationalism” +which has sprung from Nominalism, are running fast to seed; Comtism +seems to me its supreme effort: after which the whirligig of Time may +bring round its revenges: and Realism, and we who hold the Realist creeds, +may have our turn. Only wait. When a grave, able, and authoritative +philosopher explains a mother’s love of her newborn babe, as Professor +Bain has done, in a really eloquent passage of his book on the <i>Emotions +and the Will</i>, <a name="citation0a"></a><a href="#footnote0a">{0a}</a> +then the end of that philosophy is very near; and an older, simpler, +more human, <!-- page xxx--><a name="pagexxx"></a><span class="pagenum">p. xxx</span>and, +as I hold, more philosophic explanation of that natural phenomenon, +and of all others, may get a hearing.</p> +<p>Only wait: and fret not yourselves; else shall you be moved to do +evil. Remember the saying of the wise man—“Go not +after the world. She turns on her axis; and if thou stand still +long enough, she will turn round to thee.”</p> +<h2><b><!-- page 1--><a name="page1"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 1</span>SERMON +I. THE MYSTERY OF THE CROSS. A GOOD FRIDAY SERMON.</b></h2> +<p style="text-align: center"><span class="smcap">Philippians ii</span>. +5-8.</p> +<blockquote><p>Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: +who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with +God: but made Himself of no reputation, and took upon Him the form of +a slave, and was made in the likeness of men: and being found in fashion +as a man, He humbled Himself, and became obedient unto death, even the +death of the Cross.</p> +</blockquote> +<p>The second Lesson for this morning’s service, and the chapter +which follows it, describe the Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ, both +God and Man. They give us the facts, in language most awful from +its perfect calmness, most pathetic from its perfect simplicity. +But the passage of St Paul which I have chosen for my text gives us +an explanation of those facts which is utterly amazing. That He +who stooped to die upon the Cross is Very God of Very God, the Creator +and Sustainer of the Universe, is a thought so overwhelming, whenever +we try to comprehend even a part of it in our small imaginations, that +it is no wonder if, in all ages, many a pious soul, as it contemplated +the Cross of <!-- page 2--><a name="page2"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 2</span>Christ, +has been rapt itself into a passion of gratitude, an ecstasy of wonder +and of love, which is beautiful, honourable, just, and in the deepest +sense most rational, whenever it is spontaneous and natural.</p> +<p>But there have been thousands, as there may be many here to-day, +of colder temperament; who would distrust in themselves, even while +they respected in others, any violence of religious emotion: yet they +too have found, and you too may find, in contemplating the Passion of +Christ, a satisfaction deeper than that of any emotion; a satisfaction +not to the heart, still less to the brain, but to that far deeper and +diviner faculty within us all—our moral sense; that God-given +instinct which makes us discern and sympathise with all that is beautiful +and true and good.</p> +<p>And so it has befallen, for eighteen hundred years, that thousands +who have thought earnestly and carefully on God and on the character +of God, on man and on the universe, and on their relation to Him who +made them both, have found in the Incarnation and the Passion of the +Son of God the perfect satisfaction of their moral wants; the surest +key to the facts of the spiritual world; the complete assurance that, +in spite of all seeming difficulties and contradictions, the Maker of +the world was a Righteous Being, who had founded the world in righteousness; +that the Father of Spirits was a perfect Father, who in His only-begotten +Son had shewn forth His perfectness, in such a shape and by such acts +that men might not only adore it, but sympathise with it; not only thank +Him for it, but copy it; and become, <!-- page 3--><a name="page3"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 3</span>though +at an infinite distance, perfect as their Father in heaven is perfect, +and full of grace and truth, like that Son who is the brightness of +His Father’s glory, and the express image of His person. +Such a satisfaction have they found in looking upon the triumphal entry +into Jerusalem of Him who knew that it would be followed by the revolt +of the fickle mob, and the desertion of His disciples, and the Cross +of Calvary, and all the hideous circumstances of a Roman malefactor’s +death.</p> +<p>But there have been those, and there are still, who have found no +such satisfaction in the story which the Gospel tells, and still less +in the explanation which the Epistle gives; who have, as St Paul says, +stumbled at the stumblingblock of the Cross.</p> +<p>It would be easy to ignore such persons, were they scoffers or profligates: +but when they number among their ranks men of virtuous lives, of earnest +and most benevolent purposes, of careful and learned thought, and of +a real reverence for God, or for those theories of the universe which +some of them are inclined to substitute for God, they must at least +be listened to patiently, and answered charitably, as men who, however +faulty their opinions may be, prove, by their virtue and their desire +to do good, that if they have lost sight of Christ, Christ has not lost +sight of them.</p> +<p>To such men the idea of the Incarnation, and still more, that of +the Passion, is derogatory to the very notion of a God. That a +God should suffer, and that a God should die, is shocking—and, +to do them justice, I believe they speak sincerely—to their notions +of the <!-- page 4--><a name="page4"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 4</span>absolute +majesty, the undisturbed serenity, of the Author of the universe; of +Him in whom all things live and move and have their being; who dwells +in the light to which none may approach. And therefore they have, +in every age, tried various expedients to escape from a doctrine which +seemed repugnant to that most precious part of them, their moral sense. +In the earlier centuries of the Church they tried to shew that St John +and St Paul spoke, not of one who was Very God of Very God, but of some +highest and most primeval of all creatures, Emanation, Æon, or +what not. In these later times, when the belief in such beings, +and even their very names, have become dim and dead, men have tried +to shew that the words of Scripture apply to a mere man. They +have seen in Christ—and they have reverenced and loved Him for +what they have seen in Him—the noblest and purest, the wisest +and the most loving of all human beings; and have attributed such language +as that in the text, which—translate it as you will—ascribes +absolute divinity, and nothing less, to our Lord Jesus Christ—they +have attributed it, I say, to some fondness for Oriental hyperbole, +and mystic Theosophy, in the minds of the Apostles. Others, again, +have gone further, and been, I think, more logically honest. They +have perceived that our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, as His words are +reported, attributed divinity to Himself, just as much as did His Apostles. +Such a saying as that one, “Before Abraham was, I am,” and +others beside it, could be escaped from only by one of two methods. +To the first of them I <!-- page 5--><a name="page5"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 5</span>shall +not allude in this sacred place, popular as a late work has made it +in its native France, and I fear in England likewise. The other +alternative, more reverent indeed, but, as I believe, just as mistaken, +is to suppose that the words were never uttered at all; that Christ—it +is not I who say it—possibly never existed at all; that His whole +story was gradually built up, like certain fabulous legends of Romish +saints, out of the moral consciousness of various devout persons during +the first three centuries; each of whom added to the portrait, as it +grew more and more lovely under the hands of succeeding generations, +some new touch of beauty, some fresh trait, half invented, half traditional, +of purity, love, nobleness, majesty; till men at last became fascinated +with the ideal to which they themselves had contributed; and fell down +and worshipped their own humanity; and christened that The Son of God.</p> +<p>If I believed that theory, or either of the others, I need not say +that I should not be preaching here. I will go further, and say, +that if I believed either of those theories, or any save that which +stands out in the text, sharp-cut and colossal like some old Egyptian +Memnon, and like that statue, with a smile of sweetness on its lips +which tempers the royal majesty of its looks,—if I did not believe +that, I say—I should be inclined to confess with Homer of old, +that man is the most miserable of all the beasts of the field.</p> +<p>For consider but this one argument. It is no new one; it has +lain, I believe, unspoken and instinctive, yet most potent and inspiring, +in many a mind, in many <!-- page 6--><a name="page6"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 6</span>an +age. If there be a God, must He not be the best of all beings? +But if He who suffered on Calvary were not God, but a mere creature; +then—as I hold—there must have been a creature in the universe +better than God Himself. Or if He who suffered on Calvary had +not the character which is attributed to Him,—if Christ’s +love, condescension, self-sacrifice, be a mere imagination, built up +by the fancy of man; then has Christendom for 1800 years been fancying +for itself a better God than Him who really exists.</p> +<p>Thousands of the best men and women in the world through all the +ages of Christendom have agreed with this argument, under some shape +or other. Thousands there have been, and I trust there will be +thousands hereafter, who have felt, as they looked upon the Cross of +the Son of God, not that it was derogatory to Christ to believe that +He had suffered, but derogatory to Him to believe that He had not suffered: +for only by suffering, as far as we can conceive, could He perfectly +manifest His glory and His Father’s glory; and shew that it was +full of grace.</p> +<p>Full of grace. Think, I beg you, over that one word.</p> +<p>We all agree that God is good; all at least do so, who worship Him +in spirit and in truth. We adore His majesty, because it is the +moral and spiritual majesty of perfect goodness. We give thanks +to Him for His great glory, because it is the glory, not merely of perfect +power, wisdom, order, justice; but of perfect love, of perfect magnanimity, +beneficence, activity, condescension, pity—in one word, of perfect +grace.</p> +<p><!-- page 7--><a name="page7"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 7</span>But +how much must that last word comprehend, as long as there is misery +and evil in this world, or in any other corner of the whole universe? +Grace, to be perfect, must shew itself by graciously forgiving penitents. +Pity, to be perfect, must shew itself by helping the miserable. +Beneficence, to be perfect, must shew itself by delivering the oppressed.</p> +<p>The old prophets and psalmists saw as much as this; and preached +that this too was part of the essence and character of God.</p> +<p>They saw that the Lord was gracious and merciful, slow to anger, +and of great kindness, and repented Him of the evil. They saw +that the Lord helped them to right who suffered wrong, and fed the hungry; +that the Lord loosed men out of prison, the Lord gave sight to the blind; +that the Lord helped the fallen, and defended the fatherless and widow. +They saw too a further truth, and a more awful one. They saw that +the Lord was actually and practically King of kings and Lord of lords: +that as such He could come, and did come at times, rewarding the loyal, +putting down the rebellious, and holding high assize from place to place, +that He might execute judgment and justice; beholding all the wrong +that was done on earth, and coming, as it were, out of His place, at +each historic crisis, each revolution in the fortunes of mankind, to +make inquisition for blood, to trample His enemies beneath His feet, +and to inaugurate some progress toward that new heaven and new earth, +wherein dwelleth righteousness, and righteousness alone. That +vision, in whatsoever metaphors it <!-- page 8--><a name="page8"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 8</span>may +be wrapped up, is real and true, and will be so as long as evil exists +within this universe. Were it not true, there would be something +wanting to the perfect justice and the perfect benevolence of God.</p> +<p>But is this all? If this be all, what have we Christians learnt +from the New Testament which is not already taught us in the Old? +Where is that new, deeper, higher revelation of the goodness of God, +which Jesus of Nazareth preached, and which John and Paul and all the +apostles believed that they had found in Jesus Himself? They believed, +and all those who accepted their gospel believed, that they had found +for that word “grace,” a deeper meaning than had ever been +revealed to the prophets of old time; that grace and goodness, if they +were perfect, involved self-sacrifice.</p> +<p>And does not our own highest reason tell us that they were right? +Does not our own highest reason, which is our moral sense, tell us that +perfect goodness requires, not merely that we should pity our fellow-creatures, +not merely that we should help them, not merely that we should right +them magisterially and royally, without danger or injury to ourselves: +but that we should toil for them, suffer for them, and if need be, as +the highest act of goodness, die for them at last? Is not this +the very element of goodness which we all confess to be most noble, +beautiful, pure, heroical, divine? Divine even in sinful and fallen +man, who must forgive because he needs to be forgiven; who must help +others because he needs help himself; who, if he suffers for others, +deserves to suffer, and probably will suffer, in himself. But +how <!-- page 9--><a name="page9"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 9</span>much +more heroical, and how much more divine in a Being who needs neither +forgiveness nor help, and who is as far from deserving as He is from +needing to suffer! And shall this noblest form of goodness be +possible to sinful man, and yet impossible to a perfectly good God? +Shall we say that the martyr at the stake, the patriot dying for his +country, the missionary spending his life for the good of heathens; +ay more, shall we say that those women, martyrs by the pang without +the palm, who in secret chambers, in lowly cottages, have sacrificed +and do still sacrifice self and all the joys of life for the sake of +simple duties, little charities, kindness unnoticed and unknown by all, +save God—shall we say that all who have from the beginning of +the world shewn forth the beauty of self-sacrifice have had no divine +prototype in heaven?—That they have been exercising a higher grace, +a nobler form of holiness, than He who made them, and who, as they believe, +and we ought to believe, inspired them with that spirit of unselfishness, +which if it be not the Spirit of God, whose spirit can it be? +Shall we say this, and so suppose them holier than their own Maker? +Shall we say this, and suppose that they, when they attributed self-sacrifice +to God, made indeed a God in their own image, but a God of greater love, +greater pity, greater graciousness because of greater unselfishness, +than Him who really exists?</p> +<p>Shall we say this, the very words whereof confute themselves and +shock alike our reason and our conscience? Or shall we say with +St John and with St Paul, that if men can be so good, God must be infinitely +<!-- page 10--><a name="page10"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 10</span>better; +that if man can love so much, God must love more; if man, by shaking +off the selfishness which is his bane, can do such deeds, then God, +in whom is no selfishness at all, may at least have done a deed as far +above theirs as the heavens are above the earth? Shall we not +confess that man’s self-sacrifice is but a poor and dim reflection +of the self-sacrifice of God, and say with St John, “Herein is +love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son +to be the propitiation for our sins;” and with St Paul, “Scarcely +for a righteous man would one die, but God commendeth His love to us +in this, that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us”? +Shall we not say this: and find, as thousands have found ere now, in +the Cross of Calvary the perfect satisfaction of our highest moral instincts, +the realization in act and fact of the highest idea which we can form +of perfect condescension, namely, self-sacrifice exercised by a Being +of whom perfect condescension, love and self-sacrifice were not required +by aught in heaven or earth, save by the necessity of His own perfect +and inconceivable goodness?</p> +<p>We reverence, and rightly, the majesty of God. How can that +infinite majesty be proved more perfectly than by condescension equally +infinite? We adore, and justly, the serenity of God, who has neither +parts nor passions. How can that serenity be proved more perfectly, +than by passing, still serene, through all the storm and crowd of circumstance +which disturb the weak serenity of man; by passing through poverty, +helplessness, temptation, desertion, shame, torture, death; and passing +through them all <!-- page 11--><a name="page11"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 11</span>victorious +and magnificent; with a moral calm as undisturbed, a moral purity as +unspotted, as it had been from all eternity, as it will be to all eternity, +in that abysmal source of being, which we call the Bosom of the Father? +It is the moral majesty of God, as shewn on Calvary, which I uphold. +Shew that Calvary was not inconsistent with that; shew that Calvary +was not inconsistent with the goodness of God, but rather the perfection +of that goodness shewn forth in time and space: then all other arguments +connected with God’s majesty may go for nought, provided that +God’s moral majesty be safe. Provided God be proved to be +morally infinite—that is, in plain English, infinitely good; provided +God be proved to be morally absolute—that is, absolutely unable +to have His goodness affected by any circumstance outside Him, even +by the death upon the Cross: then let the rest go. All words about +absoluteness and infinity and majesty, beyond that, are physical—metaphors +drawn from matter, which have nothing to do with God who is a Spirit.</p> +<p>But God’s infinite power too often means, in the minds of men, +only some abstract notion of boundless bodily strength. God’s +omniscience too often means, only some physical fancy of innumerable +telescopic or microscopic eyes. God’s infinite wisdom too +often means, only some abstract notion of boundless acuteness of brain. +And lastly—I am sorry to have to say it, but it must be said,—God’s +infinite majesty too often means, in the minds of some superstitious +people, mere pride, and obstinacy, and cruelty, as of the blind will +of some <!-- page 12--><a name="page12"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 12</span>enormous +animal which does what it chooses, whether right or wrong.</p> +<p>If the mystery of the Cross contradict any of these carnal or material +notions, so much the more glory to the mystery of the Cross. One +spiritual infinite, one spiritual absolute, it does not contradict: +and that is the infinite and absolute goodness of God.</p> +<p>Let all the rest remain a mystery, so long as the mystery of the +Cross gives us faith for all the rest.</p> +<p>Faith, I say. The mystery of evil, of sorrow, of death, the +Gospel does not pretend to solve: but it tells us that the mystery is +proved to be soluble. For God Himself has taken on Himself the +task of solving it; and has proved by His own act, that if there be +evil in the world, it is none of His; for He hates it, and fights against +it, and has fought against it to the death.</p> +<p>It simply says—Have faith in God. Ask no more of Him—Why +hast Thou made me thus? Ask no more—Why do the wicked prosper +on the earth? Ask no more—Whence pain and death, war and +famine, earthquake and tempest, and all the ills to which flesh is heir?</p> +<p>All fruitless questionings, all peevish repinings, are precluded +henceforth by the passion and death of Christ.</p> +<p>Dost thou suffer? Thou canst not suffer more than the Son of +God. Dost thou sympathize with thy fellow-men? Thou canst +not sympathize more than the Son of God. Dost thou long to right +them, to deliver them, even at the price of thine own blood? Thou +canst not <!-- page 13--><a name="page13"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 13</span>long +more ardently than the Son of God, who carried His longing into act, +and died for them and thee. What if the end be not yet? +What if evil still endure? What if the medicine have not yet conquered +the disease? Have patience, have faith, have hope, as thou standest +at the foot of Christ’s Cross, and holdest fast to it, the anchor +of the soul and reason, as well as of the heart. For however ill +the world may go, or seem to go, the Cross is the everlasting token +that God so loved the world, that He spared not His only-begotten Son, +but freely gave Him for it. Whatsoever else is doubtful, this +at least is sure,—that good must conquer, because God is good; +that evil must perish, because God hates evil, even to the death.</p> +<h2><b><!-- page 14--><a name="page14"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 14</span>SERMON +II. THE PERFECT LOVE.</b></h2> +<p style="text-align: center">1 <span class="smcap">John iv</span>. +10.</p> +<blockquote><p>Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved +us, and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.</p> +</blockquote> +<p>This is Passion-week; the week in which, according to ancient and +most wholesome rule, we are bidden to think of the Passion of Jesus +Christ our Lord. To think of that, however happy and comfortable, +however busy and eager, however covetous and ambitious, however giddy +and frivolous, however free, or at least desirous to be free, from suffering +of any kind, we are ourselves. To think of the sufferings of Christ, +and learn how grand it is to suffer for the Right.</p> +<p>And why?</p> +<p>Passion-week gives but one answer: but that answer is the one best +worth listening to.</p> +<p>It is grand and good to suffer for the Right, because God, in Christ, +has suffered for the Right.</p> +<p>Let us consider this awhile.</p> +<p>It is a first axiom in sound theology, that there is nothing good +in man, which was not first in God.</p> +<p><!-- page 15--><a name="page15"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 15</span>Now +we all, I trust, hold God to be supremely good. We ascribe to +Him, in perfection, every kind of goodness of which we can conceive +in man. We say God is just; God is truthful; God is pure; God +is bountiful; God is merciful; and, in one word, God is Love.</p> +<p>God is Love. But if we say that, do we not say that God is +good with a fresh form of goodness, which is not justice, nor truthfulness, +nor purity, bounty, nor mercy, though without them—never forget +that—it cannot exist? And is not that fresh goodness, which +we have not defined yet, the very kind of goodness which we prize most +in human beings? The very kind of goodness which makes us prize +and admire love, because without it there is no true love, no love worth +calling by that sacred and heavenly name? And what is that?</p> +<p>What—save self-sacrifice? For what is the love worth +which does not shew itself in action; and more, which does not shew +itself in Passion, in the true sense of that word, which this week teaches +us: namely, in suffering? Not merely in acting for, but in daring, +in struggling, in grieving, in agonizing, and, if need be, in dying +for, the object of its love?</p> +<p>Every mother in this church will give but one answer to that question; +for mothers give it among the very animals; and the deer who fights +for her fawn, the bird who toils for her nestlings, the spider who will +rather die than drop her bag of eggs, know at least that love is not +worth calling love, unless it can dare and suffer for the thing it loves. +The most gracious of all virtues, therefore, is self-sacrifice; and +is there no like grace in <!-- page 16--><a name="page16"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 16</span>God, +the fount of grace? Has God, whose name is Love, never dared, +never suffered, even to the death, in the mightiness of a perfect Love?</p> +<p>We Christians say that He has. We say so, because it has been +revealed to us, not by flesh and blood, not by brain or nerves, not +by logic or emotions, but by the Spirit of God, to whom our inmost spirits +and highest reasons have made answer—A God who has suffered for +man? That is so beautiful, that it must be true.</p> +<p>For otherwise we should be left—as I have argued at length +elsewhere—in this strange paradox:—that man has fancied +to himself for 1800 years a more beautiful God, a nobler God, a better +God than the God who actually exists. It must be so, if God is +not capable of that highest virtue of self-sacrifice, while man has +been believing that He is, and that upon the first Good Friday He sacrificed +Himself for man, out of the intensity of a boundless Love. A better +God imagined by man, than the actual God who made man? We have +only to state that absurdity, I trust, to laugh it to scorn.</p> +<p>Let us confess, then, that the Passion of Christ, and the mystery +of Good Friday, is as reasonable a belief to the truly wise, as it is +comfortable to the weary and the suffering; let us agree that one of +the wisest of Englishmen, of late gone to his rest, spoke well when +he said, “As long as women and sorrow exist on earth, so long +will the gospel of Christianity find an echo in the human heart.” +Let it find an echo in yours. But it will only find one, in as +far as you can enter into the mystery of Passion-week; in as far as +you can learn <!-- page 17--><a name="page17"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 17</span>from +Passion-week the truest and highest theology; and see what God is like, +and therefore what you must try to be like likewise.</p> +<p>Let us think, then, awhile of the mystery of Passion-week; the mystery +of the Cross of Christ. Christ Himself was looking on the coming +Cross, during this Passion-week; ay, and for many a week before. +Nay rather, had He not looked on it from all eternity? For is +He not the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world? Therefore +we may well look on it with Him. It may seem, at first, a painful +bight. But shall it cast over our minds only gloom and darkness? +Or shall we not see on the Cross the full revelation of Light; of the +Light which lightens every man that comes into the world: and find that +painful, not because of its darkness, but as the blaze of full sunshine +is painful, from unbearable intensity of warmth and light? Let +us see.</p> +<p>On the Cross of Calvary, then, God the Father shewed His own character +and the character of His co-equal and co-eternal Son, and of The Spirit +which proceeds from both. For there He spared not His only-begotten +Son, but freely gave Him for us. On the Cross of Calvary, not +by the will of man, but by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge +of God, was offered before God the one and only full, perfect, and sufficient +sacrifice, oblation, and satisfaction for the sin of the whole world. +God Himself did this. It was not done by any other being to alter +His will; it was done to fulfil His will. It was not done to satisfy +God’s anger; it was done to satisfy God’s love. Therefore +<!-- page 18--><a name="page18"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 18</span>Good +Friday was well and wisely called by our forefathers Good Friday; because +it shews, as no other day can do, that God is good; that God’s +will to men, in spite of all their sins, is a good will; that so boundless, +so utterly unselfish and condescending, is the eternal love of God, +that when an insignificant race in a small and remote planet fell, and +went wrong, and was in danger of ruin, there was nothing that God would +not dare, God would not suffer, for the sake of even such as us, vile +earth and miserable sinners.</p> +<p>Yes, this is the good news of Passion-week; a gospel which men are +too apt to forget, even to try to forget, as long as they are comfortable +and prosperous, lazy and selfish. The comfortable prosperous man +shrinks from the thought of Christ on His Cross. It tells him +that better men than he have had to suffer; that The Son of God Himself +had to suffer. And he does not like suffering; he prefers comfort. +The lazy, selfish man shrinks from the sight of Christ on His Cross; +for it rebukes his laziness and selfishness. Christ’s Cross +says to him—Thou art ignoble and base, as long as thou art lazy +and selfish. Rise up, do something, dare something, suffer something, +if need be, for the sake of thy fellow-creatures. Be of use. +Take trouble. Face discomfort, contradiction, loss of worldly +advantage, if it must be, for the sake of speaking truth and doing right. +If thou wilt not do as much as that, then the simplest soldier who goes +to die in battle for his duty, is a better man than thou, a nobler man +than thou, more like Christ and more like God. That is what Christ’s +Cross preaches to the lazy, selfish man; and he <!-- page 19--><a name="page19"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 19</span>feels +in his heart that the sermon is true: but he does not like it. +He turns from it, and says in his heart—Oh! Christ’s Cross +is a painful subject, and Passion-week and Good Friday a painful time. +I will think of something more genial, more peaceful, more agreeable +than sorrow, and shame, and agony, and death; Good Friday is too sad +a day for me.</p> +<p>Yes, so a man says too often, as long as the fine weather lasts, +and all is smooth and bright. But when the tempest comes; when +poverty comes, affliction, anxiety, shame, sickness, bereavement, and +still more, when persecution comes on a man; when he tries to speak +truth and do right; and finds, as he will too often find, that people, +instead of loving him and praising him for speaking truth and doing +right, hate him and persecute him for it: then, then indeed Passion-week +begins to mean something to a man; and just because it is the saddest +of all times, it looks to him the brightest of all times. For +in his misery and confusion he looks up to heaven and asks—Is +there any one in heaven who understands all this? Does God understand +my trouble? Does God feel for my trouble? Does God care +for my trouble? Does God know what trouble means? Or must +I fight the battle of life alone, without sympathy or help from God +who made me, and has put me here? Then, then does the Cross of +Christ bring a message to that man such as no other thing or being on +earth can bring. For it says to him—God does understand +thee utterly. For Christ understands thee. Christ feels +for thee. Christ feels with thee. Christ has suffered for +thee, <!-- page 20--><a name="page20"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 20</span>and +suffered with thee. Thou canst go through nothing which Christ +has not gone through. He, the Son of God, endured poverty, fear, +shame, agony, death for thee, that He might be touched with the feeling +of thine infirmity, and help thee to endure, and bring thee safe through +all to victory and peace.</p> +<p>But again, Passion-week, and above all Good Friday, is a good time, +because it teaches us, above all days, what it is to be good, and what +goodness means. Therefore remember this, all of you, and take +it home with you for the year to come. He who has learnt the lesson +of Passion-week, and practises it; he and he only is a good man.</p> +<p>Nay more, Passion-week tells us, I believe, what is the law according +to which the whole world of man and of things, yea, the whole universe, +sun, moon, and stars, is made: and that is, the law of self-sacrifice; +that nothing lives merely for itself; that each thing is ordained by +God to help the things around it, even at its own expense. That +is a hard saying: and yet it must be true. The soundest Theology +and the highest Reason tell us that it must be so. For there cannot +be two Holy Spirits. Now the Spirit by which the Lord Jesus Christ +sacrificed himself upon the Cross is The Holy Spirit. And the +Spirit by which the Lord Jesus Christ made all worlds is The Holy Spirit. +But the spirit by which He sacrificed Himself on the Cross is the spirit +of self-sacrifice. And therefore the spirit by which He made the +world is the spirit of self-sacrifice likewise; and self-sacrifice is +the law and rule on which the universe is <!-- page 21--><a name="page21"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 21</span>founded. +At least, that is the true Catholic faith, as far as my poor intellect +can conceive it; and in that faith I will live and die.</p> +<p>There are those who, now-a-days, will laugh at such a notion, and +say—Self-sacrifice? It is not self-sacrifice which keeps +the world going among men, or animals, or even the plants under our +feet: but selfishness. Competition, they say, is the law of the +universe. Everything has to take care of itself, fight for itself, +compete freely and pitilessly with everything round it, till the weak +are killed off, and only the strong survive; and so, out of the free +play of the self-interest of each, you get the greatest possible happiness +of the greatest possible number.</p> +<p>Do we indeed? I should have thought that unbridled selfishness, +and the internecine struggle of opposing interests, had already reduced +many nations, and seemed likely to reduce all mankind, if it went on, +to that state of the greatest possible misery of the greatest number, +from which our blessed Lord, as in this very week, died to deliver us. +At all events, if that is to be the condition of man, and of society, +then man is not made in the likeness of God, and has no need to be led +by the Spirit of God. For what the likeness of God and the Spirit +of God are, Passion-week tells us—namely, Love which knows no +self-interest; Love which cares not for itself; Love which throws its +own life away, that it may save those who have hated it, rebelled against +it, put it to a felon’s death.</p> +<p>My good friends, instead of believing the carnal and <!-- page 22--><a name="page22"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 22</span>selfish +philosophy which cries, Every man for himself—I will not finish +the proverb in this Holy place, awfully and literally true as the latter +half of it is—instead of believing that, believe the message of +Passion-week, which speaks rather thus: telling us that not selfishness, +but unselfishness, mutual help and usefulness, is the law and will of +God; and that therefore the whole universe, and all that God has made, +is very good. And what does Passion-week say to men?</p> +<blockquote><p>“Could we but crush that ever-craving lust<br /> +For bliss, which kills all bliss; and lose our life,<br /> +Our barren unit life, to find again<br /> +A thousand lives in those for whom we die:<br /> +So were we men and women, and should hold<br /> +Our rightful place in God’s great universe,<br /> +Wherein, in heaven and earth, by will or nature,<br /> +Nought lives for self. All, all, from crown to footstool.<br /> +The Lamb, before the world’s foundation slain;<br /> +The angels, ministers to God’s elect;<br /> +The sun, who only shines to light a world;<br /> +The clouds, whose glory is to die in showers;<br /> +The fleeting streams, who in their ocean graves<br /> +Flee the decay of stagnant self-content;<br /> +The oak, ennobled by the shipwright’s axe;<br /> +The soil, which yields its marrow to the flower;<br /> +The flower which breeds a thousand velvet worms,<br /> +Born only to be prey to every bird—<br /> +All spend themselves on others; and shall man,<br /> +Whose twofold being is the mystic knot<br /> +Which couples earth and heaven—doubly bound,<br /> +As being both worm and angel, to that service<br /> +By which both worms and angels hold their lives—<br /> +Shall he, whose very breath is debt on debt,<br /> +<!-- page 23--><a name="page23"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 23</span>Refuse, +forsooth, to see what God has made him?<br /> +No, let him shew himself the creatures’ lord<br /> +By freewill gift of that self-sacrifice<br /> +Which they, perforce, by nature’s law must suffer;<br /> +Take up his cross, and follow Christ the Lord.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>And thus Passion-week tells all men in what true goodness lies. +In self-sacrifice. In it Christ on His Cross shewed men what was +the likeness of God, the goodness of God, the glory of God—to +suffer for sinful man.</p> +<p>On this day Christ said—ay, and His Cross says still, and will +say to all eternity—Wouldest thou be good? Wouldest thou +be like God? Then work, and dare, and, if need be, suffer, for +thy fellow-men. On this day Christ consecrated, and, as it were, +offered up to the Father in His own body on the Cross, all loving actions, +unselfish actions, merciful actions, generous actions, heroic actions, +which man has done, or ever will do. From Him, from His Spirit, +their strength came; and therefore He is not ashamed to call them brethren. +He is the King of the noble army of martyrs; of all who suffer for love, +and truth, and justice’ sake; and to all such he says—Thou +hast put on my likeness, and followed my footsteps; thou hast suffered +for my sake, and I too have suffered for thy sake, and enabled thee +to suffer in like wise; and in Me thou too art a son of God, in whom +the Father is well pleased.</p> +<p>Oh, let us contemplate this week Christ on His Cross, sacrificing +Himself for us and all mankind; and may that sight help to cast out +of us all laziness and <!-- page 24--><a name="page24"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 24</span>selfishness, +and make us vow obedience to the spirit of self-sacrifice, the Spirit +of Christ and of God, which was given to us at our baptism. And +let us give, as we are most bound, in all humility and contrition of +heart, thanks, praise, and adoration, to that immortal Lamb, who abideth +for ever in the midst of the throne of God, the Lamb slain before the +foundation of the world, by Whom all things consist; and Who in this +week died on the Cross in mortal flesh and blood, that He might make +this a good week to all mankind, and teach selfish man that only by +being unselfish can he too be good; and only by self-sacrifice become +perfect, even as The Father in heaven is perfect.</p> +<h2><b><!-- page 25--><a name="page25"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 25</span>SERMON +III. THE SPIRIT OF WHITSUNTIDE.</b></h2> +<p style="text-align: center"><span class="smcap">Isaiah xi</span>. +2.</p> +<blockquote><p>The spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him; the spirit +of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit +of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord.</p> +</blockquote> +<p>This is Isaiah’s description of the Spirit of Whitsuntide; +the royal Spirit which was to descend, and did descend without measure, +on the ideal and perfect King, even on Jesus Christ our Lord, the only-begotten +Son of God.</p> +<p>That Spirit is the Spirit of God; and therefore the Spirit of Christ.</p> +<p>Let us consider a while what that Spirit is.</p> +<p>He is the Spirit of love. For God is love; and He is the Spirit +of God. Of that there can be no doubt.</p> +<p>He is the Spirit of boundless love and charity, which is the Spirit +of the Father, and the Spirit of the Son likewise. For when by +that Spirit of love the Father sent the Son into the world that the +world through Him might be saved, then the Son, by the same Spirit of +love, came into the world, and humbled Himself, and took on Him the +form of a slave, and was obedient unto death, even the death of the +Cross.</p> +<p><!-- page 26--><a name="page26"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 26</span>The +Spirit of God, then, is the Spirit of love.</p> +<p>But the text describes this Spirit in different words. According +to Isaiah, the Spirit of the Lord is the spirit of wisdom and understanding, +the spirit of Counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the +fear of the Lord—in one word, that I may put it as simply as I +can—the spirit of wisdom.</p> +<p>Now, is the spirit of wisdom the same as the spirit of love?</p> +<p>Sound theology, which is the highest reason, tells us that it must +be so. For consider:</p> +<p>If the spirit of love is the Spirit of God, and the spirit of wisdom +is the Spirit of God, then they must be the same spirit. For if +they be two different spirits, then there must be two Holy Spirits; +for any and every Spirit of God must be holy,—what else can He +be? Unholy? I leave you to answer that.</p> +<p>But two Holy Spirits there cannot be; for holiness, which is wisdom, +justice, and love, is one and indivisible; and as the Athanasian Creed +tells us, and as our highest reason ought to tell us, there is but one +Holy Spirit, who must be at once a spirit of wisdom and a spirit of +love.</p> +<p>To suppose anything else; to suppose that God’s wisdom and +God’s love, or that God’s justice and God’s love, +are different from each other, or limit each other, or oppose each other, +or are anything but one and the same eternally, is to divide God’s +substance; to deny that God is One: which is forbidden us, rightly, +and according to the highest reason, by the Athanasian Creed.</p> +<p><!-- page 27--><a name="page27"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 27</span>But +more; experience will shew us that the spirit of love is the same as +the spirit of wisdom; that if any man wishes to be truly wise and prudent, +his best way—I may say his only way—is to be loving and +charitable.</p> +<p>The experience of the apostles proves it. They were, I presume, +the most perfectly loving and charitable of men; they sacrificed all +for the sake of doing good; they counted not their own lives dear to +them; they endured—what did they not endure?—for the one +object of doing good to men; and—what is harder, still harder, +for any human being, because it requires not merely enthusiasm, but +charity, they made themselves (St Paul at least) all things to all men, +if by any means they might save some.</p> +<p>But were they wise in so doing? We may judge of a man’s +wisdom, my friends, by his success. We English are very apt to +do so. We like practical men. We say—I will tell you +what a man is, by what he can do.</p> +<p>Now, judged by that rule, surely the apostles’ method of winning +men by love proved itself a wise method. What did the apostles +do? They had the most enormous practical success that men ever +had. They, twelve poor men, set out to convert mankind by loving +them: and they succeeded.</p> +<p>Remember, moreover, that the text speaks of this Spirit of the Lord +being given to One who was to be a King, a Ruler, a Guide, and a Judge +of men; who was to exercise influence over men for their good. +This prophecy was fulfilled first in the King of kings, our Lord Jesus +Christ: but it was fulfilled also in His <!-- page 28--><a name="page28"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 28</span>apostles, +who were, in their own way and measure, kings of men, exercising a vast +influence over them. And how? By the royal Spirit of love. +In the apostles the Spirit of love and charity proved Himself to be +also the Spirit of wisdom and understanding. He gave them such +a converting, subduing, alluring power over men’s hearts, as no +men have had, before or since. And He will prove Himself to have +the same power in us. Our own experience will be the same as the +apostles’ experience.</p> +<p>I say this deliberately. The older we grow, the more we understand +our own lives and histories, the more we shall see that the spirit of +wisdom is the spirit of love; that the true way to gain influence over +our fellow-men, is to have charity towards them.</p> +<p>That is a hard lesson to learn; and those who learn it at all, generally +learn it late; almost—God forgive us—too late.</p> +<p>Our reason, if we would let the Spirit of God enlighten it, would +teach us this beforehand. But we do not usually listen to our +reason, or to God’s Spirit speaking to it. And therefore +we have to learn the lesson by experience, often by very sad and shameful +experience. And even that very experience we cannot understand, +unless the Spirit of God interpret it to us: and blessed are they who, +having been chastised, hearken to His interpretation.</p> +<p>Our reason, I say, should teach us that the spirit of wisdom is none +other than the spirit of love. For consider—how does the +text describe this Spirit?</p> +<p><!-- page 29--><a name="page29"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 29</span>As +the spirit of wisdom and understanding; that is, as the knowledge of +human nature, the understanding of men and their ways. If we do +not understand our fellow-creatures, we shall never love them.</p> +<p>But it is equally true that if we do not love them, we shall never +understand them. Want of charity, want of sympathy, want of good-feeling +and fellow-feeling—what does it, what can it breed, but endless +mistakes and ignorances, both of men’s characters and men’s +circumstances?</p> +<p>Be sure that no one knows so little of his fellow-men, as the cynical, +misanthropic man, who walks in darkness, because he hates his brother. +Be sure that the truly wise and understanding man is he who by sympathy +puts himself in his neighbours’ place; feels with them and for +them; sees with their eyes, hears with their ears; and therefore understands +them, makes allowances for them, and is merciful to them, even as his +Father in heaven is merciful.</p> +<p>And next; this royal Spirit is described as “the spirit of +counsel and might,” that is, the spirit of prudence and practical +power; the spirit which sees how to deal with human beings, and has +the practical power of making them obey.</p> +<p>Now that power, again, can only be got by loving human beings. +There is nothing so blind as hardness, nothing so weak as violence. +I, of course, can only speak from my own experience; and my experience +is this: that whensoever in my past life I have been angry and scornful, +I have said or done an unwise thing; I have more or less injured my +own cause; weakened my <!-- page 30--><a name="page30"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 30</span>own +influence on my fellow-men; repelled them instead of attracting them; +made them rebel against me, rather than obey me. By patience, +courtesy, and gentleness, we not only make ourselves stronger; we not +only attract our fellow-men, and make them help us and follow us willingly +and joyfully: but we make ourselves wiser; we give ourselves time and +light to see what we ought to do, and how to do it.</p> +<p>And next; this Spirit is also “the spirit of knowledge, and +of the fear of the Lord.” Ay, they, indeed, both begin in +love, and end in love. If you wish for knowledge, you must begin +by loving knowledge for its own sake. And the more knowledge you +gain, the more you will long to know, and more, and yet more for ever. +You cannot succeed in a study, unless you love that study. Men +of science must begin with an interest in, a love for, an enthusiasm, +in the very deepest sense of the word, for the phænomena which +they study. But the more they learn of them, the more their love +increases; as they see more and more of their wonder, of their beauty, +of the unspeakable wisdom and power of God, shewn forth in every blade +of grass which grows in the sunshine and the rain.</p> +<p>And if this be true of things earthly and temporary, how much more +of things heavenly and eternal? We must begin by loving whatsoever +things are true, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, +honest, and of good report. We must begin, I say, by loving them +with a sort of child’s love, without understanding them; by that +simple instinct and longing after what is <!-- page 31--><a name="page31"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 31</span>good +and beautiful and true, which is indeed the inspiration of the Spirit +of God. But as we go on, as St Paul bids us, to meditate on them; +and “if there be any virtue and if there be any praise, to think +on such things,” and feed our minds daily with purifying, elevating, +sobering, humanizing, enlightening thoughts: then we shall get to love +goodness with a reasonable and manly love; to see the beauty of holiness; +the strength of self-sacrifice; the glory of justice; the divineness +of love; and in a word—To love God for His own sake, and to give +Him thanks for His great glory, which is: That He is a good God.</p> +<p>This thought—remember it, I pray—brings me to the last +point. This Spirit is also the spirit of the fear of the Lord. +And that too, my friends, must be a spirit of love not only to God, +but to our fellow-creatures. For if we but consider that God the +Father loves all; that His mercy is over all His works; and that He +hateth nothing that He has made: then how dare we hate anything that +He has made, as long as we have any rational fear of Him, awe and respect +for Him, true faith in His infinite majesty and power? If we but +consider that God the Son actually came down on earth to die, and to +die too on the cross, for all mankind: then how dare we hate a human +being for whom He died: at least if we have true honour, gratitude, +loyalty, reverence, and godly fear in our hearts toward Him, our risen +Lord?</p> +<p>Oh let us open our eyes this Whitsuntide to the experience of our +past lives. Let us see now—what we shall certainly see at +the day of judgment—that whenever we have failed to be loving, +we have also failed to be <!-- page 32--><a name="page32"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 32</span>wise; +that whenever we have been blind to our neighbours’ interests, +we have also been blind to our own; whenever we have hurt others, we +have hurt ourselves still more. Let us, at this blessed Whitsuntide, +ask forgiveness of God for all acts of malice and uncharitableness, +blindness and hardness of heart; and pray for the spirit of true charity, +which alone is true wisdom. And let us come to Holy Communion +in charity with each other and with all; determined henceforth to feel +for each other and with each other; to put ourselves in our neighbours’ +places; to see with their eyes, and feel with their hearts, as far as +God shall give us that great grace; determined to make allowances for +their mistakes and failings; to give and forgive, live and let live, +even as God gives and forgives, lives and lets live for ever: that so +we may be indeed the children of our Father in heaven, whose name is +Love. Then we shall indeed discern the Lord’s body—that +it is a body of union, sympathy, mutual trust, help, affection. +Then we shall, with all contrition and humility, but still in spirit +and in truth, claim and obtain our share in the body and the blood, +in the spirit and in the mind, of Him Who sacrificed Himself for a rebellious +world.</p> +<h2><b><!-- page 33--><a name="page33"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 33</span>SERMON +IV. PRAYER.</b></h2> +<p style="text-align: center"><span class="smcap">Psalm lxv</span>. +2.</p> +<blockquote><p>Thou that hearest prayer, unto Thee shall all flesh come.</p> +</blockquote> +<p>Next Friday, the 20th of December, 1871, will be marked in most churches +of this province of Canterbury by a special ceremony. Prayers +will be offered to God for the increase of missionary labourers in the +Church of England. To many persons—I hope I may say, to +all in this congregation—this ceremony will seem eminently rational. +We shall not ask God to suspend the laws of nature, nor alter the courses +of the seasons, for any wants, real or fancied, of our own. We +shall ask Him to make us and our countrymen wiser and better, in order +that we may make other human beings wiser and better: and an eminently +rational request I assert that to be.</p> +<p>For no one will deny that it is good for heathens and savages, even +if there were no life after death, to be wiser and better than they +are. It is good, I presume, that they should give up cannibalism, +slave-trading, witchcraft, child-murder, and a host of other abominations; +and that <!-- page 34--><a name="page34"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 34</span>they +should be made to give them up not from mere fear of European cannon, +but of their own wills and consciences, seeing that such habits are +wrong and ruinous, and loathing them accordingly; in a word, that instead +of living as they do, and finding in a hundred ways that the wages of +sin are death, they should be converted—that is, change their +ways—and live.</p> +<p>Now that this is the will of God—assuming that there is a God, +and a good God—is plain at least to our reason, and to our common +sense; and it is equally plain to our reason and to our common sense +that, as God has not taught these poor wretches to improve themselves, +or sent superior beings to improve them from some other world, He therefore +means their improvement to be brought about, as moral improvements are +usually brought about, by the influence of their fellow-men, and specially +by us who have put ourselves in contact with them in our world-wide +search for wealth; and who are certain, as we know by sad experience, +to make the heathen worse, if we do not make them better. And +as we find from experience that our missionaries, wherever they are +brought in contact with these savages, do make them wiser and happier, +we ask God to inspire more persons with the desire of improving the +heathen, and to teach them how to improve them. I say, how to +improve them. All sneers, whether at the failure of missionary +labours, or at the small results in return for the vast sums spent on +missions—all such sneers, I say, instead of deterring us from +praying to God on this matter, ought to make us pray the more earnestly +in <!-- page 35--><a name="page35"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 35</span>proportion +as they are deserved. For they ought to remind us that we possibly +may not have gone to work as yet altogether in the right way; that there +may be mistakes and deficiencies in our method of dealing with the heathen. +And if so, it seems all the more reason for asking God to set us and +others right, in case we should be wrong; and to make us and others +strong, in case we should be weak.</p> +<p>We thus commit the matter to God. We do not ask God to raise +up such missionary labourers as we think fit: but such as He thinks +fit. We do not pray Him to alter His will concerning the heathen: +but to enable us to do what we know already to be His will. And +this course seems to me eminently rational; provided always, of course, +that it is rational to believe that there is a God who answers prayer; +and that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.</p> +<p>Now the older I grow, and the more I see of the chances and changes +of this mortal life, and of the needs and longings of the human heart, +the more important seems this question, and all words concerning it, +whether in the Bible or out of the Bible—</p> +<p>Is there anywhere in the universe any being who can hear our prayers? +Is prayer a superfluous folly, or the highest prudence?</p> +<p>I say—Is there a being who can even hear our prayers? +I do not say, a being who will always answer them, and give us all we +ask: but one who will at least hear, who will listen; consider whether +what we ask is fit to be granted or not; and grant or refuse accordingly.</p> +<p><!-- page 36--><a name="page36"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 36</span>You +say—What is the need of asking such a question? Of course +we believe that. Of course we pray, else why are we in church +to-day?</p> +<p>Well, my friends, God grant that you may all believe it in spirit +and in truth. But you must remember that if so, you are in the +minority; that the majority of civilized men, like the majority of mere +savages, do not pray, whatever the women may do; and that prayer among +thinking and civilized white men has been becoming, for the last 100 +years at least, more and more unfashionable; and is likely, to judge +from the signs of the times, to become more unfashionable still: after +which reign of degrading ungodliness, I presume—from the experience +of all history—that our children or grandchildren will see a revulsion +to some degrading superstition, and the latter end be worse than the +beginning. But it is notorious that men are doubting more and +more of the efficacy of prayer; that philosophers so-called, for true +philosophers they are not—even though they may be true, able, +and worthy students of merely physical science—are getting a hearing +more and more readily, when they tell men they need not pray.</p> +<p>They say; and here they say rightly—The world is ruled by laws. +But some say further; and there they say wrongly;—For that reason +prayer is of no use; the laws will not be altered to please you. +You yourself are but tiny parts of a great machine, which will grind +on in spite of you, though it grind you to powder; and there is no use +in asking the machine to stop. So, they say, prayer is an impertinence. +I would that they stopped <!-- page 37--><a name="page37"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 37</span>there. +For then we who deny that the world is a machine, or anything like a +machine, might argue fairly with them on the common ground of a common +belief in God.</p> +<p>But some go further still, and say—A God? We do not deny +that there may be a God: but we do not deny that there may not be one. +This we say—If He exists, we know nothing of Him: and what is +more, you know nothing of Him. No man can know aught of Him. +No man can know whether there be a God or not. A living God, an +acting God, a God of providence, a God who hears prayer, a God such +as your Bible tells you of, is an inconceivable Being; and what you +cannot conceive, that you must not believe: and therefore prayer is +not merely an impertinence, it is a mistake; for it is speaking to a +Being who only exists in your own imagination. I need not say, +my friends, that all this, to my mind, is only a train of sophistry +and false reasoning, which—so I at least hold—has been answered +and refuted again and again. And I trust in God and in Christ +sufficiently to believe that He will raise up sound divines and true +philosophers in His Church, who will refute it once more. But +meanwhile I can only appeal to your common sense; to the true and higher +reason, which lies in men’s hearts, not in their heads; and ask—And +is it come to this? Is this the last outcome of civilization, +the last discovery of the human intellect, the last good news for man? +That the soundest thinkers—they who have the truest and clearest +notion of the universe are the savage who knows nothing but what his +five senses <!-- page 38--><a name="page38"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 38</span>teach +him, and the ungodly who makes boast of his own desire, and speaks good +of the covetous whom God abhorreth, while he says, “Tush, God +hath forgotten. He hideth away his face, and God will never see +it”?</p> +<p>True: these so-called philosophers would say that the savage makes +a mistake in his sensuality, and the worldling in his covetousness and +his tyranny; that from an imperfect conception of their own true self-interest, +they carry their philosophy to conclusions which the philosopher in +his study must regret. But as to their philosophy being correct: +there can be no question that if providence, and prayer, and the living +God, be phantoms of man’s imagination, then the cynical worldling +at one end of the social scale, and the brutal savage at the other, +are wiser than apostles and prophets, and sages and divines.</p> +<p>These men talk of facts, the facts of human nature. Why do +they ask us to ignore the most striking fact of human nature, that man, +even if he were a mere animal, is alone of all animals—a praying +animal? Is that strange instinct of worship, which rises in the +heart of man as soon as he begins to think, to become a civilized being +and not a savage, to be disregarded as a childish dream when he rises +to a higher civilization still? Is the experience of men, heathen +as well as Christian, for all these ages to go for nought? Has +it mattered nought whether men cried to Baal or to God; for with both +alike there has been neither sound nor voice, nor any that answered? +Has every utterance that has ever gone up from suffering and doubting +humanity, gone up in vain? Have the prayers of saints, the hymns +of psalmists, the agonies of <!-- page 39--><a name="page39"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 39</span>martyrs, +the aspirations of poets, the thoughts of sages, the cries of the oppressed, +the pleadings of the mother for her child, the maiden praying in her +chamber for her lover upon the distant battle-field, the soldier answering +her prayer from afar off with, “Sleep quiet, I am in God’s +hands”—those very utterances of humanity which seemed to +us most noble, most pure, most beautiful, most divine, been all in vain?—impertinences; +the babblings of fair dreams, poured forth into nowhere, to no thing, +and in vain? Has every suffering, searching soul which ever gazed +up into the darkness of the unknown, in hopes of catching even a glimpse +of a divine eye, beholding all, and ordering all, and pitying all, gazed +up in vain? For at the ground of the universe is “<i>not +a divine eye</i>, <i>but only a blank bottomless eye-socket</i>;” +<a name="citation39"></a><a href="#footnote39">{39}</a> and man has +no Father in heaven; and Christ revealed Him not, because He was not +there to reveal; and there was no hope, no remedy, no deliverance, for +the miserable among the sons of men?</p> +<p>Oh, my friends, those who believe, or fancy that they believe such +things, must be able to do so only through some peculiar conformation +either of brain or heart. Only want of imagination to conceive +the consequences of such doctrines can enable them, if they have any +love and pity for their fellow-men, to preach those doctrines without +pity and horror. They know not, they know not, of what they rob +a mankind already but too miserable by its own folly and its own sin; +a mankind which, if it have not hope in God and in Christ, is truly—as +Homer <!-- page 40--><a name="page40"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 40</span>said +of old—more miserable than the beasts of the field. If their +unconscious conceit did not make them unintentionally cruel, they would +surely be silent for pity’s sake; they would let men go on in +the pleasant delusion that there is a living God, and a Word of God +who has revealed Him to men; and would hide from their fellow-creatures +the dreadful secret which they think they have discovered—That +there is none that heareth prayer, and therefore to Him need no flesh +come.</p> +<p>Men take up with such notions, I believe, most generally in days +of comfort, ease, safety. They find the world so well ordered +outwardly, that it seems able enough to go on its way without a God. +They have themselves so few sorrows, struggles, doubts, that they never +feel that sense of helplessness, of danger, of ignorance, which has +made the hearts of men, in every age, yearn for an unseen helper, an +unseen deliverer, an unseen teacher.</p> +<p>And so it is—and shameful it is that so it should be—that +the more God gives to men, the less they thank Him, the less they fancy +that they need Him: but take His bounties, as they take the air they +breathe, unconsciously, and as a matter of course.</p> +<p>And therefore adversity is wholesome, danger is wholesome; so wholesome, +that in all ages, as far as I can find, the godliest, the most moral, +the most manful, and therefore the really happiest and most successful +nations or communities of men, have been those who were in perpetual +danger, difficulty, struggle; and who have thereby had their faith in +God called out; who have <!-- page 41--><a name="page41"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 41</span>learned +in the depth, to cry out of the depth to God; to lift up their eyes +unto the Lord, and know that their help comes from Him.</p> +<p>I know a village down in the far West, where the 121st Psalm which +I just quoted, was a favourite, and more than a favourite. Whenever +it was given out in church—and the congregation used often to +ask for it—all joined in singing it, young and old, men and maidens, +with an earnestness, a fervour, a passion, such as I never heard elsewhere; +such as shewed how intensely they felt that the psalm was true, and +true for them. Of all congregational singing I ever heard, never +have I heard any so touching as those voices, when they joined in the +old words they loved so well.</p> +<blockquote><p>Sheltered beneath the Almighty wings<br /> +Thou shall securely rest,<br /> +Where neither sun nor moon shall thee<br /> +By day or night molest.<br /> +At home, abroad, in peace, in war,<br /> +Thy God shall thee defend;<br /> +Conduct thee through life’s pilgrimage<br /> +Safe to thy journey’s end.</p> +</blockquote> +<p>Do you fancy these people were specially comfortable, prosperous +folk, who had no sorrows, and lived safe from all danger, and therefore +knew that God protected them from all ill?</p> +<p>Nothing less, my friends, nothing less. There was hardly a +man who joined in that psalm, but knew that he carried his life in his +hand from year to year, that any day might see him a corpse—drowned +at sea. Hardly <!-- page 42--><a name="page42"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 42</span>a +woman who sang that psalm but had lost a husband, a father, a brother, +a kinsman—drowned at sea. And yet they believed that God +preserved them. They were fishers and sailors, earning an uncertain +livelihood, on a wild and rocky coast. A sudden shift of wind +might make, as I knew it once to make, 60 widows and orphans in a single +night. The fishery for the year might fail, and all the expense +of boats and nets be thrown away. Or in default of work at home, +the young men would go out on voyages to foreign parts: and often never +came back again, dying far from home, of fever, of wreck, of some of +the hundred accidents which befal seafaring men. And yet they +believed that God preserved them. Surely their faith was tried, +if ever faith was tried. But as surely their faith failed not, +for—if I may so say—they dared not let it fail. If +they ceased to trust God, what had they to trust in? Not in their +own skill in seamanship, though it was great: they knew how weak it +was, on which to lean. Not in the so-called laws of nature; the +treacherous sea, the wild wind, the uncertain shoals of fish, the chances +and changes of a long foreign voyage. Without trust in God, their +lives must have been lives of doubt and of terror, for ever anxious +about the morrow: or else of blind recklessness, saying, “Let +us eat and drink, for to-morrow we die.” Because they kept +their faith in God, their lives were for the most part lives of hardy +and hopeful enterprise; cheerful always, in bad luck as in good; thankful +when their labours were blest with success; and when calamity and failure +came, saying with noble resignation—“I have received <!-- page 43--><a name="page43"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 43</span>good +from the hand of the Lord, and shall I not receive evil? Though +He slay me, yet will I trust in Him.”</p> +<p>It is a life like theirs, mixed with danger and uncertainty, which +most calls out faith in God. It is the life of safety and comfort, +in which our wants are all supplied ready to our hand, which calls it +out least. And therefore it is that life in cities, just because +it is most safe and most comfortable, is so often, alas, most ungodly, +at least among the men. Less common, thank God, is this ungodliness +among the women. The nursing of the sick; the cares of a family, +often too sorrows, manifold and bitter, put them continually in mind +of human weakness, and of their own weakness likewise. Yes. +It is sorrow, my friends, sorrow and failure, which forces men to believe +that there is One who heareth prayer, forces them to lift up their eyes +to One from whom cometh their help. Before the terrible realities +of danger, death, bereavement, disappointment, shame, ruin—and +most of all before deserved shame, deserved ruin—all the arguments +of the conceited sophist melt away like the maxims of the comfortable +worldling; and the man or woman who was but too ready a day before to +say, “Tush, God will never see, and will never hear,” begins +to hope passionately that God does see, that God does hear. In +the hour of darkness; when there is no comfort in man nor help in man, +when he has no place to flee unto, and no man careth for his soul: then +the most awful, the most blessed of all questions is: But is there no +one higher than man to whom I can flee? No one higher than <!-- page 44--><a name="page44"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 44</span>man +who cares for my soul and for the souls of those who are dearer to me +than my own soul? No friend? No helper? No deliverer? +No counsellor? Even no judge? No punisher? No God, +even though He be a consuming fire? Am I and my misery alone together +in the universe? Is my misery without any meaning, and I without +hope? If there be no God: then all that is left for me is despair +and death. But if there be, then I can hope that there is a meaning +in my misery; that it comes to me not without cause, even though that +cause be my own fault. I can plead with God like poor Job of old, +even though in wild words like Job; and ask—What is the meaning +of this sorrow? What have I done? What should I do? +“I will say unto God, Do not condemn me; shew me wherefore thou +contendest with me. Surely I would speak unto the Almighty, and +desire to reason with God.”</p> +<p>“I would speak unto the Almighty, and desire to reason with +God.” Oh my friends, a man, I believe, can gain courage +and wisdom to say that, only by the inspiration of the Spirit of God.</p> +<p>But when once he has said that from his heart, he begins to be justified +by faith. For he has had faith in God; he has trusted God enough +to speak to God who made him; and so he has put himself, so far at least, +into his just and right place, as a spiritual and rational being, made +in the image of God.</p> +<p>But more, he has justified God. He has confessed that God is +not a mere force or law of nature; nor a mere tyrant and tormentor: +but a reasonable being, who <!-- page 45--><a name="page45"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 45</span>will +hear reason, and a just being, who will do justice by the creatures +whom He has made.</p> +<p>And so the very act of prayer justifies God, and honours God, and +gives glory to God; for it confesses that God is what He is, a good +God, to whom the humblest and the most fallen of His creatures dare +speak out the depths of their abasement, and acknowledge that His glory +is this—That in spite of all His majesty, He is one who heareth +prayer; a being as magnificent in His justice, as He is magnificent +in His majesty and His might.</p> +<p>All this is argued out, as it never has been argued out before or +since, in the book of Job: and for seeing so much as this, was Job approved +by God. But there is a further question, to which the book of +Job gives no answer; and to which indeed all the Old Testament gives +but a partial answer. And that is this—This just and magnificent +God, has He also human pity, tenderness, charity, condescension, love? +In one word, have we not only a God in heaven, but a Father in heaven?</p> +<p>That question could only be answered by the coming of our Lord Jesus +Christ. Truly He said—No one cometh to the Father, but by +me. No man hath seen God at any time: but the only-begotten Son, +who is in the bosom of the Father, He hath revealed Him. He revealed +Him in part to Abraham, in part to Moses, to Job, to David, to the prophets. +But He revealed Him perfectly when He said—I and the Father are +one. He that hath seen me hath seen the Father. Yes. +Now we can find boundless comfort in the words, “Such as <!-- page 46--><a name="page46"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 46</span>the +Father is, such is the Son, and such is the Holy Ghost”—Love +and condescension without bounds. Now we know that there is A +Man in the midst of the throne of God, who is the brightness of God’s +glory and the express image of His character; a high priest who can +be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, seeing that He was tempted +in all things like as we are, yet without sin.</p> +<p>To Him we can cry, with human passion and in human words; because +we know that His human heart will respond to our human hearts, and that +His human heart again will respond to His divine Spirit, and that His +divine Spirit is the same as the divine Spirit of His Father; for their +wills and minds are one; and their will and their mind is—boundless +love to sinful man.</p> +<p>Yes, we can look up by faith into the sacred face of Christ, and +take refuge by faith within His sacred heart, saying—If it be +good for me, He will give what I ask: and if He gives it not, it is +because that too is good for me, and for others beside me. In +all the chances and changes of this mortal life we can say to Him, as +He said in that supreme hour—“If it be possible, let this +cup pass from me; nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done,” +sure that He will present that prayer to His Father, and to our Father, +and to His God and to our God; and that whatsoever be the answer vouchsafed +by Him whose ways are not as our ways, nor His thoughts as our thoughts, +the prayer will not have gone up to Christ in vain.</p> +<p>And in such a case as this of missions to the heathen—<!-- page 47--><a name="page47"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 47</span>If +we believe that Christ died for these poor heathen; if we believe that +Christ loves these poor heathen infinitely more than we, or than the +most devoted missionary who ever lived or died for them: shall we say—Then +we may leave them in Christ’s hands to follow their own nature. +If He is satisfied with their degradation, so may we be? Shall +we not rather say—Their misery and degradation must pain His sacred +heart, far more than our sinful hearts; and if He does not come down +again on earth to help them Himself, it must be because He means to +help them through us, His disciples? Let us ask Him to teach us +and others how to help them; to enable us and others to help them. +Let us pray to Him the one prayer which, unless prayer be a dream, is +certain to be answered, because it is certainly according to God’s +will; the prayer to be taught and helped to do our duty by our fellow-men. +And for the rest: let us pray in the words of that most noble of all +collects, to pray which is to take refuge from our own ignorance in +the boundless wisdom of God’s love—“Thou who knowest +our necessities before we ask, and our ignorance in asking: Have compassion +on our infirmities, and those things which for our unworthiness we dare +not, and for our blindness we cannot ask, condescend to give us, for +the worthiness of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.”</p> +<h2><b><!-- page 48--><a name="page48"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 48</span>SERMON +V. THE DEAF AND DUMB.</b></h2> +<p style="text-align: center"><span class="smcap">St Mark vii</span>. +32-37.</p> +<blockquote><p>And they bring unto Jesus one that was deaf, and had +an impediment in his speech; and they beseech Him to put His hand upon +him. And He took him aside from the multitude, and put His fingers +into his ears, and He spit, and touched his tongue; and looking up to +heaven, He sighed, and said, Ephphatha, that is, Be opened. And +straightway his ears were opened, and the string of his tongue was loosed, +and he spake plain. . . . And they were beyond measure astonished, saying, +He hath done all things well: He maketh both the deaf to hear, and the +dumb to speak.</p> +</blockquote> +<p>Our greatest living philologer has said, and said truly—“If +wonder arises from ignorance, it is from that conscious ignorance which, +if we look back at the history of most of our sciences, has been the +mother of all human knowledge. Till men began to wonder at the +stratification of rocks, and the fossilization of shells, there was +no science of Geology. Till they began to wonder at the words +which were perpetually in their mouths, there was no science of Language.”</p> +<p>He might have added, that till men began to wonder at the organization +of their own bodies, there was no <!-- page 49--><a name="page49"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 49</span>science +of healing; that in proportion as the common fact of health became mysterious +and marvellous in their eyes, just in that proportion did they become +able to explain and to conquer disease. For there is a deep difference +between the wonder of the uneducated or half-educated man, and the wonder +of the educated man.</p> +<p>The ignorant in all ages have wondered at the exception; the wise, +in proportion as they have become wise, have wondered at the rule. +Pestilences, prodigies, portents, the results of seeming accidents, +excite the vulgar mind. Only the abnormal or casual is worthy +of their attention. The man of science finds a deeper and more +awful charm in contemplating the results of law; in watching, not what +seem to be occasional failures in nature: but what is a perpetual and +calm success.</p> +<p>The savage knows not, I am told, what wonder means, save from some +prodigy. Seeing no marvel in the daily glory of the sunlight, +he is startled out of his usual stupidity and carelessness by the occurrence +of an eclipse, an earthquake, a thunderbolt. The uneducated, whatever +their rank may be, are apt to be more interested by the sight of deformities, +and defects or excesses in nature, than by that of the most perfect +normal and natural beauty.</p> +<p>Those, in the same way, who in the infancy of European science, thought +it worth while to register natural phenomena, registered exclusively +the exceptions. Eclipses, meteors, auroras, earthquakes, storms, +and especially monstrosities, animal or vegetable, exercised their barbaric +wonder. The mystery and miracle which <!-- page 50--><a name="page50"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 50</span>underlies +the unfolding of every bud, the development of every embryo, the growth +of every atom of tissue, in any organism, animal or vegetable—to +all this their intellectual eye was blind. How different from +such a state of mind, that calm and constant wonder, humbling and yet +inspiring, with which the modern man of science searches into the “open +mystery” of the universe; and sees that the true marvel lies, +not in the infringement of law, but in its permanence; not in the imperfect, +but in the perfect; not in disease, but in health; not in deformity, +but in beauty.</p> +<p>These words are true of all nature; and specially true, it seems +to me, of our outward senses and faculties; true of sight, hearing, +speech. The wonder, I think, with the wise man will be, not that +there are deaf and dumb persons to be found here and there among us: +but that the average, nay, the majority of mankind, are not deaf and +dumb. Paradoxical as this assertion may seem at first, a little +thought I believe will prove it to be reasonable.</p> +<p>Whatever view you take of the origin of sight, hearing, voice, the +wonder to a thoughtful mind is just the same; how, under the storm of +circumstances, and through the lapse of ages, those faculties have not +been lost again and again, by countless individuals, nay, by the whole +species. For we must confess that those faculties are gradually +developed in each individual; that every animal and every human being +which is born into the world, has built up, unconsciously, involuntarily, +and as it were out of nothing, those delicate and complex organs, by +which he afterwards learns to see, hear, and utter sounds. Is +<!-- page 51--><a name="page51"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 51</span>not +the wonder, that he should, in the majority of cases, succeed without +any effort of his own?</p> +<p>And if I am answered, that the success is owing to hereditary tendencies, +and to the laws by which the offspring resembles the parents, I answer: +Is not that a greater wonder still? A wonder which all the discoveries +of the scalpel and the microscope have been as yet unable, and will +be, I believe, to the last unable, to unravel, even to touch? +A wonder which can be explained by no theories of vibratory atoms, vital +forces, plastic powers of nature, or other such phrases, which are but +metaphysical abstractions, having no counterpart in fact, and only hiding +from us our ignorance of the vast and venerable unknown. The physiologist, +when he considers the manifold combination of innumerable microscopic +circumstances which are required to bring any one creature into the +world with a perfectly hearing ear, ought to confess that the chances—if +the world were governed by chance—are infinitely greater in favour +of a child’s being born with an imperfect ear rather than with +a perfect one. And if he should evade the difficulty; and try +to explain the usual success by saying that nature is governed by law: +I answer—What is nature? What is law? You never saw +nature nor law either under the microscope. They too are metaphysical +abstractions, necessary notions and conceptions of your own brain. +You have seen nothing but the fact and the custom; and all you can do, +if you be strictly rational, is with a certain modern school to say, +with a despairing humility, which I deplore while I respect—deploring +it because it is <!-- page 52--><a name="page52"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 52</span>needless +despair, and yet respecting it because it is humility, which is the +path out of despair and darkness into hope and light—to say with +them, “Man can know nothing of causes, he can only register positive +facts.” This, I say, is one path—one which I trust +none here will tread. The only other path, I believe, is, to go +back to the lessons which we ought to have learnt in our childhood, +for those to whom the human race owes most learnt them thousands of +years ago; and to ascribe the ever successful miracles of nature to +a Will, to a Mind, to a Providence so like that which each of us exercises +in his own petty sphere, that we are not only able to understand in +part the works of God, but to know from the very fact of being able +to understand them—as one of our greatest astronomers has so well +said lately—that we are made in the image of God. To say +with the old Psalmist, that the universe is governed by “a law +which cannot be broken:” but why? Because God has given +it that law. To say “All things continue as they were at +the beginning:” but why? Because all things serve Him in +whom we live and move and have our being. To confess the mystery +and miracle of our mortal bodies, and say with David, “I am fearfully +and wonderfully made; such knowledge is too wonderful and excellent +for me, I cannot attain unto it:” but to add the one only rational +explanation of the mystery which, thank God, common sense has taught, +though it may be often in confused and defective forms, to the vast +majority of the human race in all times and all lands—that He +who grasps the mystery and works the miracle is God; that “His +eye <!-- page 53--><a name="page53"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 53</span>sees +our substances yet being imperfect; and in His book are all our members +written, which day by day were fashioned, when as yet there were none +of them.”</p> +<p>And then to go forward with the Psalmist, and with the common sense +of humanity; to conclude that if there be a Creator, there must also +be a Providence; that that life-giving Spirit which presided over the +creation of each organism presides also over its growth, its circumstances, +its fortunes; and to say with David, “Whither shall I go then +from Thy Spirit, or whither shall I flee from Thy presence? If +I climb up to heaven, Thou art there. If I go down to hell, Thou +art there also. If I take the wings of the morning, and remain +in the uttermost parts of the sea; even there Thy hand shall lead me; +Thy right hand shall hold me still.”</p> +<p>Yes. To this—to faith and adoration—ought right +and reason to lead the physical philosopher. And to what ought +it to lead us, who are most of us, I presume, not physical philosophers? +To gratitude, surely, not unmixed with fear and trembling; till we say +to ourselves—Who am I, to boast? Who am I, to pride myself +on possessing a single faculty which one of my neighbours may want? +What have I, that I did not receive? Considering the endless chances +of failure, if the world were left to chance; and I may say, the absolute +certainty of failures, if the world were left to the blind competition +of merely physical laws, is it not only of the Lord’s mercies +that we are not failures too? that we have not been born crippled, blind, +deaf, dumb—what not?—by the effect of circumstances over +which <!-- page 54--><a name="page54"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 54</span>we +have had no control; which have been working, it may be, for generations +past, in the organizations of our ancestors?</p> +<p>But what shall we say of those who have not received what we have +received? What shall we say of those who, like the deaf and dumb, +are, in some respects at least, failures—instances in which the +laws which regulate our organization have not succeeded in effecting +a full development?</p> +<p>We can say this, at least, without entangling and dazzling ourselves +in speculations about final causes; without attempting to pry into the +mystery of evil.</p> +<p>We can say this: That if there be a God—as there is a God—these +failures are not according to His will. The highest reason should +teach us that; for it must tell us that in the work of the Divine Artist, +as in the work of the human, imperfection, impotence, disorder of any +kind, must be contrary to the mind and will of the Creator. The +highest reason, I say, teaches us this. And Scripture teaches +it like wise. For if we believe our Lord to have been as He was—the +express image of the Almighty Father; if we believe that He came—as +He did come—to reveal to men His Father’s will, His Father’s +mind, His Father’s character: then we must believe that He acted +according to that will and according to that character, when He made +the healing of disease, and the curing of imperfections of this very +kind, an important and an integral part of His work on earth.</p> +<p>“And they brought unto Jesus one that was deaf, <!-- page 55--><a name="page55"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 55</span>and +had an impediment in his speech, and besought Him to put His hand upon +him. And Jesus took him aside from the multitude, and put His +fingers into his ears; and He spit, and touched his tongue; and looking +up to heaven, He sighed, and said unto him, Ephphatha, that is, Be opened. +And straightway his ears were opened, and the string of his tongue was +loosed, and he spake plain . . . And they were beyond measure astonished, +saying, He hath done all things well: He maketh both the deaf to hear, +and the dumb to speak.”</p> +<p>Consider this story awhile. He healed the man miraculously, +by means at which we cannot guess, which we cannot even conceive. +But the healing signified at least two things—that the man could +be healed, and that the man ought to be healed; that his bodily defect—the +retribution of no sin of his own—was contrary to the will of that +Father in Heaven, who willeth not that one little one should perish.</p> +<p>But Jesus sighed likewise. There was in Him a sorrow, a compassion, +most human and most divine.</p> +<p>It may have been—may He forgive me if I dare rashly to impute +motives or thoughts to Him—that there was something too of a divine +weariness—I dare not say impatience, seeing how patient He was +then and how patient He has been since for more than 1800 years—of +the folly and ignorance of man, who brings on himself and on his descendants +these and a hundred other preventible miseries, simply because he will +not study and obey the physical laws of the universe; simply because +he will not see that those laws which concern the welfare <!-- page 56--><a name="page56"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 56</span>of +his body, are as surely the will of God as those which concern the welfare +of his soul; and that therefore it is not merely his interest but his +solemn duty to study and to obey them, lest he bear the punishment of +his own neglect and disobedience.</p> +<p>It is not for man even to guess what thoughts may have passed through +the mind of Christ when He sighed over the very defect which He was +healing. But it is surely not irreverent in us to say that our +Lord had cause enough to sigh, if He foresaw the follies of mankind +during an age which was too soon to come.—How men, instead of +taking the spirit of His miracles and acting on it, would counterfeit +the mere outward signs of them, to feed the vanity or the superstition +of a few devotees. How, instead of looking on His miracles as +rebukes to their own ignorance and imbecility; instead of perceiving +that their bodily afflictions were contrary to the will of God, and +therefore curable; instead of setting themselves to work manfully, in +the light of God, and by the help of God, to discover and correct the +errors which produced them, mankind would idle away precious centuries +in barbaric wonder at seeming prodigies and seeming miracles, and would +neglect utterly the study of those far more wondrous laws of nature +which Christ had proved to be under His government and His guidance, +and had therefore proved to be working for the good of those for whom +He came to die. Christ had indeed sown good seed in His field. +He had taught men by His miracles, as He had taught them by His parables, +to Whom nature belonged, and Whose laws nature obeyed. <!-- page 57--><a name="page57"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 57</span>And +the cessation of miracles after the time of Christ and His Apostles +had taught, or ought to have taught, mankind a further lesson; the lesson +that henceforth they were to carry on for themselves, by the faculties +which God had given them, that work of healing and deliverance which +He had begun. Miracles, like prophecies, like tongues, like supernatural +knowledge, were to cease and vanish away: but charity, charity which +devotes itself for the welfare of the human race, was to abide for ever.</p> +<p>Christ, as I said, had sown good seed: but an enemy—we know +not whence or when—certainly within the three first centuries +of the Church—came and sowed tares among that wheat. Then +began men to believe that devils, and not their Father in Heaven, were, +to all practical intents, the lords of nature. Then began they +to believe that man’s body was the property of Satan, and his +soul only the property of God. Then began they to fancy that man +was to be delivered from his manifold earthly miseries, not by purity +and virtue, reason and knowledge, but by magic, masked under the sacred +name of religion. No wonder if, in such a temper of mind, the +physical amelioration of the human race stood still. How could +it be otherwise, while men refused to see in facts the acted will of +God; and sought not in God’s universe, but in the dreams of their +own brains, for glimpses of that divine and wonderful order by which +The eternal Father and The eternal Son are working together for ever +through The eternal Spirit for the welfare of the universe?</p> +<p><!-- page 58--><a name="page58"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 58</span>We +boast, my friends, at times, of the rapid triumphs of modern science. +Were we but aware of the vast amount of preventible misery around us, +and of the vast possibility of removing it, which lies in the little +science which we know already, we should rather bewail the slow departure +of modern barbarism.</p> +<p>There has been no period of the world for centuries back, I believe, +in which man might not have been infinitely healthier, happier, more +prosperous, more long-lived than he has been, if he had only believed +that disease, misery, and premature death were not the will of God and +of Christ; and that God had endowed him with an intellect which could +understand the laws of the universe, in order that he might use those +laws for his own health, wealth, and life. Very late is society +in commencing that rational course on which it ought to have entered +centuries ago; and therefore very culpable. And it is not too +much to say, that to the average of persons suffering under preventible +disease or defect, even though it be hereditary, society owes a sacred +debt, which it is bound to pay by making those innocent sufferers from +other’s sins as happy as possible; where it has not yet learnt—as +it will learn, please God, some day—to cure them.</p> +<p>There is, thank God, a healthier feeling than of old abroad of late +upon this point. Men are learning more and more to regard such +sufferers not as the victims of God’s wrath, but of human ignorance, +vice, or folly. And it was with deep satisfaction that I read +in the last Report of the Schools for the Deaf and Dumb a statement +<!-- page 59--><a name="page59"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 59</span>of +what were considered the most probable physical causes of deafness and +dumbness, and a hope that it would be possible, hereafter, to prevent +as well as cure those diseases.</p> +<p>Whether the causes assigned in that Report are the true ones, is +a point of inferior importance for the moment. The really important +point is, that the principle should be allowed, the question raised, +by a society, composed of religious men, and teaching to those poor +deaf and dumb as almost their primary work that true religion which +they are just as capable of receiving as we. The right path has +been entered—the path which is certain in due time to lead to +success. And meanwhile our duty is, while we confess that it is +the fault of society and not of God, that these afflicted ones exist +among us—it is our duty, I say, to cultivate and to develop to +the highest every faculty, instinct, and power, in them which God’s +order has preserved from the effects of man’s disorder; to feed +the eye with fair and noble sights, though the ear be shut to soothing +and inspiring sounds; to cultivate the intellect to such a pitch that +it may be able to perform practical work, and if possible to earn a +sufficient livelihood, even though the want of speech makes it impossible +for them, deaf and dumb, to compete on equal terms with their fellow-men; +to awaken in them, by religious training, teaching and worship, those +purer and more unselfish emotions by which their hearts may become a +field ready and prepared for God’s grace. To do this; and +to regard them, whenever we come in contact with them; not merely <!-- page 60--><a name="page60"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 60</span>with +pity, while we remember how much their intellects lose, in losing the +whole world of sound; but with hope, when we see that through the one +sense which is left they take in fully not only the meaning of the voluble +hands which teach them, but more, the meaning of that meaning—the +spiritual truths and feelings which signs express; with wonder, not +at the defect, but at the innate health which almost compensates for +the want of hearing by concentrating its powers upon the sight; and +lastly, with admiration for that humanity which, as it were imprisoned, +fettered, maimed, yet can, by the God-given force of the immortal spirit, +so burst its prison-bars, and rise, through hindrances which seem to +us impassable, to the tenderest, the noblest, the purest, and most devout +emotions.</p> +<h2><b><!-- page 61--><a name="page61"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 61</span>SERMON +VI. THE FRUITS OF THE SPIRIT.</b></h2> +<p style="text-align: center"><span class="smcap">St John iii</span>. +8,</p> +<blockquote><p>The wind bloweth whither it listeth, and thou hearest +the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, or whither it +goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.</p> +</blockquote> +<p>It is often asked—men have a right to ask—what would +the world have been by now without Christianity? without the Christian +religion? without the Church?</p> +<p>But before these questions can be answered, we must define, it is +discovered, what we mean by Christianity, the Christian religion, the +Church.</p> +<p>And it is found—or I at least believe it will be found—more +safe and wise to ask a deeper and yet a simpler question still: What +would the world have been without that influence on which Christianity, +and religion, and the Church depend? What would the world have +been without the Holy Spirit of God?</p> +<p>But some will say: This is a more abstruse question still. +How can you define, how can you analyse, the Spirit of God? Nay, +more, how can you prove its <!-- page 62--><a name="page62"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 62</span>existence?—Such +questioners have been, as it were, baptized unto John’s baptism. +They are very glad to see people do right, and not do wrong, from any +well-calculated motives, or wholesome and pleasant emotions. But +they have not as yet heard whether there be any Holy Spirit.</p> +<p>We can only answer, Just so. This Holy Spirit in Whom we believe +defies all analysis, all definition whatsoever. His nature can +be brought under no terms derived from human emotions or motives. +He is literally invisible; as invisible to the conception of the brain +as He is to the bodily eye. His presence is proved only by its +effects. The Spirit bloweth whither it listeth, and thou hearest +the sound thereof, but thou canst not tell whence it cometh, nor whither +it goeth.</p> +<p>Such words must sound as dreams to those analytical philosophers +who allow nothing in man below the sphere of consciousness, actual or +possible; who have dissected the human mind till they find in it no +personal will, no indestructible and spiritual self, but a character +which is only the net result of innumerable states of consciousness; +who hold that man’s outward actions, and also his inmost instincts, +are all the result either of calculations about profit and loss, pleasure +and pain, or of emotions, whether hereditary or acquired. Ignoring +the deep and ancient distinction, which no one ever brought out so clearly +as St Paul, between the flesh and the spirit, they hold that man is +flesh, and can be nothing more; that each person is not really a person, +but is the consequence of his brain and nerves; and having <!-- page 63--><a name="page63"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 63</span>thus, +by logical analysis, got rid of the spirit of man, their reason and +their conscience quite honestly and consistently see no need for, or +possibility of, a Spirit of God, to ennoble and enable the human spirit. +Why need there be, if the difference between an animal and a man be +one of degree alone, and not of kind?</p> +<p>We answer: That there is a flesh in man, brain and nerves, emotions +and passions, identical with that of animals, we do not deny. +We should be fools if we did deny it; for the fact is hideously and +shamefully patent. None knew that better than St Paul, who gave +a list of the works of the flesh, the things which a man does who is +the slave of his own brain and nerves—and a very ugly list it +is—beginning with adultery and ending with drunkenness, after +passing through all the seven deadly sins. And neither St Paul +nor we deny, that in this fleshly, carnal and animal state the vast +majority of the human race has lived, and lives still, to its own infinite +misery and confusion; and that it has a perpetual tendency, whenever +lifted out of that state, to fall back into it again, and perish.</p> +<p>But St Paul says, and we say: That crushed under this animal nature +there is in man a spirit. We say: That below all his consciousness +lies a nobler element; a divine spark, or at least a divine fuel, which +must be kindled into life by the divine Spirit, the Spirit of God. +And we say that in proportion as that Spirit of God kindles the spirit +of man, he begins to act after a fashion for which he can give no logical +reason; that by instinct, and without calculation of profit or loss, +pleasure or <!-- page 64--><a name="page64"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 64</span>pain, +he begins to act on what he calls duty, honour, love, self-sacrifice. +But what these are he cannot analyse. Mere words cannot define +them. He can only obey that which prompts him, he knows not what +nor whence; and say with Luther of old: “I can do no otherwise. +God help me.”</p> +<p>And we say that such men and women are the salt of the earth, who +keep society from rotting; that by such men and women, and by their +example and influence, direct and indirect, has Christendom been raised +up out of the accursed slough into which Europe and, indeed, the whole +known world, had fallen during the early Roman Empire; and that to this +influence, and therefore to the Holy Spirit of God alone, and not to +any prudential calculations, combined experiences, or so-called philosophies +of men, is owing all which keeps Europe from being a hell on earth. +And we say, moreover, that those who deny this, and dream of a morality +and a civilization without The Spirit of God, are unconsciously throwing +down the ladder by which they themselves have climbed, and sawing off +the very bough to which they cling.</p> +<p>Duty, honour, love, self-sacrifice—these are the fruits of +The Spirit; unknown to, and unobeyed by, the savage, or by the civilized +man who—as has too often happened—as is happening now in +too many lands, on both sides of the Atlantic, is sinking back into +inward savagery, amid an outward and material civilization.</p> +<p>Moreover—and this appears to us a fair experimental proof that +our old-fashioned belief in A Spirit of God, <!-- page 65--><a name="page65"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 65</span>which +acts upon the spirit of man, is a true belief—moreover, I say: +It is a patent fact, that wherever and whenever there has been a revival +of the Christian religion; whenever, that is, amid whatsoever confusions +and errors, men have begun to feel the need of the Holy Spirit of God, +and to pray for that Spirit, a moral revival has accompanied the religious +one. Men and women have not only become better themselves; and +that often suddenly and in very truth miraculously better: but the yearning +has awoke in them to make others better likewise. The grace of +God, as they have called it, has made them gracious to their fellow-creatures; +and duty, honour, love, self-sacrifice, call it by what name we will, +has said to them, with a still small voice more potent than all the +thunders of the law: Go, and seek and save that which is lost.</p> +<p>In no case has this instinctive tendency to practical benevolence +been more striking, than in the case of that great religious revival +throughout England at the beginning of this century, which issued in +the rise of the Evangelical school: a school rightly so called, because +its members did try to obey the precepts of the Gospel, according to +their understanding of them, in spirit and in truth.</p> +<p>The doctrines which they held are a matter not for us, but for God +and their own souls. The deeds which they did are matter for us, +and for all England; for they have left their mark on the length and +breadth of the land. They were inspired—cultivated, highborn, +and wealthy folk many of them—with a strange new instinct <!-- page 66--><a name="page66"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 66</span>that +God had bidden them to feed the hungry, to clothe the naked, to visit +the prisoner and the sick, to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim +liberty to the captives, and to preach good tidings to the meek. +A strange new instinct: and from what cause, save from the same cause +as that which Isaiah assigned to his own like deeds?—Because “The +Spirit of the Lord was upon him.”</p> +<p>Yes, if those gracious men, those gracious women, did not shew forth +the Spirit and grace of God with power, then there is either no Spirit +of God, no grace of God; or those who deny to them the name of saints +forget the words of Him Who said: By their fruits ye shall know them; +of Him Who said, too: That the unpardonable sin, the sin which shewed +complete moral perversion, the sin against the Holy Spirit of God, was +to attribute good deeds to bad motives, and say: He casteth out devils +by Beelzebub, the prince of the devils.</p> +<p>Yes, that old Evangelical School may now have passed its prime. +It may now be verging toward old age; and other schools, younger and +stronger, with broader and clearer knowledge of dogma, of history, civil +and ecclesiastical, of the value of ceremonial, of the needs of the +human intellect and emotions, may have passed it in a noble rivalry, +and snatched, as it were, from the hands of the old Evangelical School +the lamp of truth, to bear it further forward in the race. But +God forbid that the spiritual children should be ungrateful to their +spiritual parents, though God may have taught them things which their +parents did not know.</p> +<p><!-- page 67--><a name="page67"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 67</span>And +they were our spiritual parents, those old Evangelicals. No just +and well-informed man who has passed middle age, but must confess, that +to them we owe whatsoever vital religion exists at this moment in any +school or party of the Church of England; that to them we owe the germs +at least, and in many cases the full organization and the final success, +of a hundred schemes of practical benevolence and practical justice, +without which this country, in its haste to grow rich at all risks and +by all means, might have plunged itself ere now into anarchy and revolution. +And he must confess, too, if he is one who has seen much of his fellow-creatures +and their characters, that that school numbered among its disciples—and, +thank God, they are not all yet gone home to their rest—some of +the loveliest human souls, whose converse has chastened and ennobled +his own soul. Ah, well—</p> +<blockquote><p>The old order changeth, giving place to the new;<br /> +And God fulfils Himself in many ways,<br /> +Lest one good custom should corrupt the world.</p> +</blockquote> +<p>And new methods and new institutions have arisen, and will yet arise, +for seeking and saving that which is lost. God’s blessing +on them all, to whatsoever party, church, or sect they may belong! +Whosoever cast out devils in Christ’s name, Christ has forbidden +us to forbid them, whether they follow us or not. But yet shall +we not still honour and love the old Evangelical School, and many an +Institution which it has left behind, as heirlooms to some of us, at +least, from our mothers, or from women to whom we owed, in long past +years, our earliest influences <!-- page 68--><a name="page68"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 68</span>for +good, our earliest examples of a practical Christian life, our earliest +proofs that there was indeed a Spirit of God, a gracious Spirit, Who +gave grace to the hearts, the deeds, the very looks and voices of those +in whom He dwelt; Institutions, which are too likely some of them to +die, simply from the loss of old friends?</p> +<p>The loss of old friends. Yes, so it is always in this world. +The old earnest hearts go home one by one to their rest; and the young +earnest hearts—and who shall blame them?—go elsewhere; and +try new fashions of doing good, which are more graceful and more agreeable +to them. For the religious world, like all other forms of the +world, has its fashions; and of them too stands true the saying of the +apostle: That this world and the fashion thereof pass away. Many +a good work, which once was somewhat fashionable in its way, has become +somewhat unfashionable, and something else is fashionable in its place; +and five-and-twenty years hence something else will have become fashionable; +and our children will look back on our ways of doing good with pity, +if not with contempt, as narrow and unenlightened, just as we are too +apt to look back on our fathers’ ways. And all the while, +what can they teach worth teaching, what can we teach worth teaching, +save what our fathers and mothers taught, what the Spirit of God taught +them, and has taught to all who would listen since the foundation of +the world, “shewing man what was good:” and what was that—“What +doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, +and to walk humbly with thy God?”</p> +<p><!-- page 69--><a name="page69"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 69</span>Ah! +why do we, even in religious and moral matters, even in the doing good +to the souls and bodies of our fellow-creatures, allow ourselves to +be the puppets of fashions? Of fashions which even when harmless, +even beautiful, are but the garments, or rather stage-properties, in +which we dress up the high instincts which God’s Spirit bestows +on us, in order to make them agreeable enough for our own prejudices, +or pretty enough for our own tastes. How little do we perceive +our own danger—so little that we yield to it every day—the +danger of mistaking our fashion of doing good for the good done; aye, +for the very Spirit of God Who inspires that good; mistaking the garment +for the person who wears it, the outward and visible sign for the inward +and spiritual grace; and so in our hearts falling actually into that +very error of transubstantiation, of which we repudiate the name!</p> +<p>Why, ah why, will we not take refuge from fashions in Him in Whom +are no fashions—even in the Holy Spirit of God, Who is unchangeable +and eternal as the Father and the Son from Whom He proceeds; Who has +spoken words in sundry and divers manners to all the elect of God; Who +has inspired every good thought and feeling which was ever thought or +felt in earth or heaven; but Whose message of inspiration has been, +and will be, for ever the same—“Do justly, love mercy, walk +humbly with thy God”?</p> +<p>Could we but utterly trust Him, and utterly believe in His presence: +then we should welcome all truth, under whatever outward forms of the +mere intellect it was uttered; then we should bless every good deed, +by <!-- page 70--><a name="page70"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 70</span>whomsoever +and howsoever it was done; then we should rise above all party strifes, +party cries, party fashions and shibboleths, to the contemplation of +the One supreme good Spirit—the Spirit of Jesus Christ, the same +yesterday, to-day, and for ever; and hold to the One Fashion of Almighty +God, which never changes, for it is eternal by the necessity of His +own eternal character; namely,—To be perfect, even as our Father +in Heaven is perfect; because He causes His sun to shine on the evil +and on the good, and His rain to fall on the just and on the unjust.</p> +<h2><b><!-- page 71--><a name="page71"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 71</span>SERMON +VII. CONFUSION.</b></h2> +<p style="text-align: center"><span class="smcap">Psalm cxix</span>. +31.</p> +<blockquote><p>I have stuck unto thy testimonies: O Lord, confound me +not.</p> +</blockquote> +<p>What is the meaning of this text? What is this which the Psalmist +and prophets call being confounded; being put to shame and confusion +of face? What is it? It is something which they dread more +than death; which they dread as much as hell. Nay, it seems in +the mind of some of them to be part and parcel of hell itself; one of +the very worst things which could happen to them after death: for what +is written in the Book of the Prophet Daniel?—“Many of them +that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting +life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.”</p> +<p>And we Christians are excusable if we dread it likewise. How +often does St Paul speak of shame as an evil to be dreaded; just as +he speaks, even more often, of glory and honour as a thing to be longed +for and striven after. That one word, “ashamed,” occurs +twelve times and more in the New Testament, beside St John’s warning, +which alone is enough to prove what I allege, <!-- page 72--><a name="page72"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 72</span>“that +we have not to be ashamed before Christ at his coming.”</p> +<p>And how does the Te Deum—the noblest hymn written by man since +St John finished his Book of Revelations—how does that end, but +with the same old cry as that of the Psalmist in the 119th Psalm—</p> +<p>“O Lord, in thee have I trusted, let me never be confounded”?</p> +<p>Now it is difficult to tell men what being confounded means; difficult +and almost needless; for there are those who know what it means without +being told; and those who do not know what it means without being told, +are not likely to know by my telling, or any man’s telling. +No, not if an angel from heaven came and told them what being confounded +meant would they understand him, at least till they were confounded +themselves; and then they would know by bitter experience—perhaps +when it was too late.</p> +<p>And who are they? What sort of people are they?</p> +<p>First, silly persons; whom Solomon calls fools—though they +often think themselves refined and clever enough—luxurious and +“fashionable” people, who do not care to learn, who think +nothing worth learning save how to enjoy themselves; who call it “bad +form” to be earnest, and turn off all serious questions with a +jest. These are they of whom Wisdom says—“How long, +ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity, and the scorners delight in +their scorning, and fools hate knowledge? I also will laugh at +your calamity, and mock when your fear cometh.”</p> +<p><!-- page 73--><a name="page73"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 73</span>Next, +mean and truly vulgar persons; who are shameless; who do not care if +they are caught out in a lie or in a trick. These are they of +whom it is written that outside of God’s kingdom, in the outer +darkness wherein are weeping and gnashing of teeth, are dogs, and whosoever +loveth and maketh a lie.</p> +<p>And next, and worst of all, self-conceited people. These are +they of whom Solomon says, “Seest thou a man who is wise in his +own conceit? There is more hope of a fool than of him.” +They are the people who will not see when they are going wrong; who +will not hear reason, nor take advice, no, nor even take scorn and contempt; +who will not see that they are making fools of themselves, but, while +all the world is laughing at them, walk on serenely self-satisfied, +certain that they, and they only, know what the world is made of, and +how to manage the world. These are they of whom it is written—“He +that being often reproved, hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed, +and that without remedy.” Then they will learn, and with +a vengeance, what being confounded means by being confounded themselves, +and finding themselves utterly wrong, where they thought themselves +utterly right. Yet no. I do not think that even that would +cure some people. There are those, I verily believe, who would +not confess that they were in the wrong even in the bottomless pit, +but, like Satan and his fallen angels in Milton’s poem, would +have excellent arguments to prove that they were injured and ill-used, +deceived and betrayed, and lay the blame of <!-- page 74--><a name="page74"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 74</span>their +misery on God, on man, on anything but their own infallible selves.</p> +<p>Who, then, are the people who know what being confounded means; who +are afraid, and terribly afraid, of being brought to shame and confusion +efface?</p> +<p>I should say, all human beings in proportion as they are truly human +beings, are not brutal; in proportion, that is, as they are good or +have the capacity of goodness in them; that is, in proportion as the +Spirit of God is working in them, giving them the tender heart, the +quick feelings, the earnestness, the modesty, the conscientiousness, +the reverence for the good opinion of their fellow-men, which is the +beginning of eternal life. Do you not see it in the young? +Modesty, bashfulness, shame-facedness—as the good old English +word was—that is the very beginning of all goodness in boys and +girls. It is the very material out of which all other goodness +is made; and those who laugh at, or torment, young people for being +modest and bashful, are doing the devil’s work, and putting themselves +under the curse which God, by the mouth of Solomon the wise, pronounced +against the scorners who love scorning, and the fools who hate knowledge.</p> +<p>This is the rule with dumb animals likewise. The more intelligent, +the more high-bred they are, the more they are capable of feeling shame; +and the more they are liable to be confounded, to lose their heads, +and become frantic with doubt and fear. Who that has watched dogs +does not know that the cleverer they are, the more they are capable +of being actually ashamed of themselves, as <!-- page 75--><a name="page75"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 75</span>human +beings are, or ought to be? Who that has trained horses does not +know that the stupid horse is never vicious, never takes fright? +The failing which high-bred horses have of becoming utterly unmanageable, +not so much from bodily fear, as from being confounded, not knowing +what people want them to do—that is the very sign, the very effect, +of their superior organization: and more shame to those who ill-use +such horses. If God, my friends, dealt with us as cruelly and +as clumsily as too many men deal with their horses, He would not be +long in driving us mad with terror and shame and confusion. But +He remembers our frame; He knoweth whereof we are made, and remembereth +that we are but dust: else the spirit would fail before Him, and the +souls which He hath made. And to Him we can cry, even when we +know that we have made fools of ourselves—Father who made me, +Christ who died for me, Holy Spirit who teachest me, have patience with +my stupidity and my ignorance. Lord, in thee have I trusted, let +me never be confounded.</p> +<p>But some will tell us—It is a sign of weakness to feel shame. +Why should you care for the opinion of your fellow-men? If you +are doing right, what matter what they say of you?</p> +<p>Yes, my friends, if you are doing right. But if you are not +doing right—What then?</p> +<p>If you have only been fancying that you are doing right, and suspect +suddenly that you have been very likely doing wrong—What then?</p> +<p>When a man tells me that he does not care what <!-- page 76--><a name="page76"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 76</span>people +think of him; that they cannot shame him: in the first place, I do not +quite believe that he is speaking truth; and in the next place, I hope +he is <i>not</i> speaking truth. I hope—for his own sake—that +he does care what people think of him: or else I must suspect him of +being very dull or very conceited.</p> +<p>And if he tells me that the old prophets, and holy, and just, and +heroic men in all ages, never cared for people’s laughing at them +and despising them, provided they were doing right according to their +own conscience: I answer—That he knows nothing about the matter; +that he has not honestly read the writings of these men. I say +that the Psalmist who wrote Ps. 119, was a man, on his own shewing, +intensely open to the feeling of shame, and felt intensely what men +said of him; felt intensely slander and insult. We talk of independent +and true patriots now-a-days. I will tell you of four of the noblest +patriots the world ever saw, who were men of that stamp. I say +that Isaiah was such a man; that Jeremiah was such a man; that Ezekiel +was such a man; that their writings shew that they felt intensely the +rebukes and the contempt which they had to endure from those whom they +tried to warn and save. I say again that St Paul, as may be seen +from his own epistles, was such a man; a man who was intensely sensitive +of what men thought and said of him; yearning after the love and approbation +of his fellow-men, and above all of his fellow-countrymen, his own flesh +and blood; and that that feeling in him, which may have been hurtful +to him before he was converted, was of the greatest use to him after +his conversion; <!-- page 77--><a name="page77"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 77</span>that +it enabled him to win all hearts, because he felt with men and for men; +and gained him over the hearts of men such a power as no mere human +being ever had before or since.</p> +<p>And I say that of all men the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of Man, +had that feeling; that longing for the love and appreciation of men—and +above all, for the love and appreciation of His countrymen according +to the flesh, the Jews, He had—strange as it may seem, yet there +it is in the Gospels, written for ever and undeniable—that capacity +of shame which is the mark of true nobleness of soul.</p> +<p>He endured the cross, despising the shame. Yes: but there are +too many on earth who endure shame with brazen faces, just because they +do not feel it. If He had not felt the shame, what merit in despising +it? It was His glory that He felt the shame; and yet conquered +the shame, and crushed it down by the might of His love for fallen man.</p> +<p>Do you fancy that in His agony in the garden, when His sweat was +as great drops of blood, that it was only bodily fear of pain and death +which crushed Him for the moment? He felt that, I doubt not; as +He had to taste death for every man, and feel all human weakness, yet +without sin. But it was a deeper, more painful, and yet more noble +feeling than mere fear which then convulsed His sacred heart; even the +feeling of shame—the mockery of the crowd—the—But +I dare not enlarge on anything so awful; at least I will say this—That +he had to cry as none ever cried <!-- page 78--><a name="page78"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 78</span>before +or since, “O God, in thee have I trusted, let me never be confounded;” +for he had, it seems, actually, at one supreme moment, to feel confounded; +and to say, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” +That was the highest and most precious jewel of all his self-sacrifice. +Of it let us only say—</p> +<p>Our Lord and Saviour stooped to be confounded for a moment, that +we might not be confounded to all eternity.</p> +<p>And therefore our blessed Lord is to us an example. As he did, +so must we try to do. He entered into glory, by suffering shame, +and yet despising it. He submitted to be confounded before men, +that He might not be confounded in the sight of God His Father. +And so must we, sometimes, at least. Every man who makes up his +mind to do right and to be good, must expect ridicule now and then. +Rich or poor, boy or man, if you try to keep your hands clean, and your +path straight, the world will think you a fool, and will be ready enough +to tell you so; for it is cruel and insolent enough. And the more +tender your heart; the more you wish for the love and approbation of +your fellow-men; the more of noble and modest self-distrust there is +in you, the more painful will that be to you; the more you will be tempted +to obey man, and not God, and to follow after the multitude to do evil, +merely to keep the peace, and live a quiet life, and not be laughed +at and tormented. And thus the fear of man brings a snare; and +naught can deliver you out of that snare, save the opposite fear—the +fear of God, which is the same as trust in God.</p> +<p><!-- page 79--><a name="page79"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 79</span>Joseph +of old feared God when he was tempted; and said, “How can I do +this great wickedness, and sin against God?” But I doubt +not there were plenty in Egypt who would have called him a fool for +his pains. There are hundreds of gay youths in any great city—there +may be a few in this Abbey now for aught I know—who would have +laughed loudly enough at Joseph for throwing away the opportunity of +what certain foolish French have learnt to call, as its proper name, +a “bonne fortune”—a piece of good luck.—As if +breaking the 7th Commandment could be aught but bad fortune, and the +cause of endless miseries in this life and the life to come.</p> +<p>And it may be, as Joseph was all but confounded and brought to shame, +at least from man, when he found that all that he gained by fearing +God was—a false accusation, the very shame and contempt from which +he most shrank, danger of death, imprisonment in a dungeon.</p> +<p>But he was true to God, and God was true to him. He trusted +in God; and therefore he feared God: for he trusted that God’s +laws were just and good, and worth obeying; and therefore he was afraid +to break them. He trusted in God; and therefore he hoped in God; +for he trusted that God was strong enough and good enough to deliver +him out of prison, and make his righteousness as clear as the light +and his just dealing as the noonday. He cried out of his prison, +doubt it not, many a time and oft—“O God, in thee have I +trusted; let me never be confounded.”</p> +<p><!-- page 80--><a name="page80"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 80</span>And +he was not confounded. He came into Egypt a slave. He was +cast into prison on a shameful accusation: but he came out of prison +to be a ruler and a prince, honoured and obeyed by the greatest nation +of the old world. He trusted in God, and he was not confounded +for ever; even as the Lord Christ trusted in God and was not confounded +for ever; even as we, if we do not wish to be confounded for ever, must +trust in God; and instead of being scornful, careless, conceited, must +fear Him, and say, “My flesh trembleth because of Thy righteous +judgments.” And then the laughter of fools will end, where +it began, in harmless noise, like (says Solomon) the crackling of thorns +under a pot. Then, whosoever may scorn you on earth, the great +God in heaven will not scorn you. You may be confounded for a +moment here on earth. Worldly people may take advantage of your +misfortunes, and cry over you—There, there, so would we have it. +Take him and persecute him, for there is none to deliver him; where +is now his God? So it may be with you; for as surely as you fall, +many a cur will spring up and bark at you, who dared not open his mouth +at you while you stood safe. Or—worse by far than that—the +world may take hold of your really weak points, of your inconsistencies, +of your faults and failings; and cry—Fie on thee, fie on thee. +We saw it with our eyes. For all his high professions, for all +his talk of truth and justice, he is no better than the rest of the +world. And that scoff does go very near to confound a man; because +he feels that it is half true, half deserved, and is afraid that it +may be <!-- page 81--><a name="page81"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 81</span>quite +true and quite deserved: and then confounded indeed he would be, by +his own conscience and by God, as well as by man. All he can do +is, to cry to God, like him who wrote the 119th Psalm,—I have +stuck unto thy testimonies: O Lord, confound me not. I know I +am weak, ignorant, unsuccessful; full of faults too, and failings, which +make me ashamed of myself every day of my life. I have gone astray +like a sheep that is lost. But seek thy servant, O Lord, for I +do not forget thy commandments. I am trying to learn my duty. +I am trying to do my duty. I have stuck unto thy testimonies: +O Lord, confound me not. Man may confound me. But do not +thou, of thy mercy and pity, O Lord. Do not let me find, when +I die, or before I die, that all my labour has been in vain; that I +am not a better man, not a wiser man, not a more useful man after all. +Do not let my grey hairs go down with sorrow to the grave. Do +not let me die with the miserable thought that, in spite of all my struggles +to do my duty, my life has been a failure, and I a fool. Do not +let me wake in the next life, like Dives in the torment, to be utterly +confounded; to find that I was all wrong, and have nothing left but +everlasting disappointment and confusion of face. O Lord, who +didst endure all shame for me, save me from that most utter shame. +O God, in thee have I trusted; let me never be confounded.</p> +<p>Wake in the next life to find oneself confounded? Alas! alas! +Many a man wakes in this life to find himself that; and really sometimes +by no fault, seemingly, of his own: so that all he can do is to be dumb, +and not to <!-- page 82--><a name="page82"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 82</span>open +his mouth, for it is God’s doing. For a man’s worst +miseries and sorrows are, too often, caused not by himself, but by those +whom he loves.</p> +<p>Consider the one case of vice, or even of mere ingratitude, in those +nearest and dearest to a man’s heart; and of being so confounded +through them, and by them, in spite of all love, care, strictness, tenderness, +teaching, prayers—what not—and all in vain.</p> +<p>No wonder that, under that bitterest blow, valiant and virtuous men, +ere now, have never lifted up their heads again, but turned their faces +to the wall, and died: and may the Lord have mercy on them. Confounded +they have been in this world; confounded they will not be, we must trust, +in the world to come. The Lord of all pity will pity them, and +pour His oil and wine into their aching wounds, and bring them to His +own inn, and to His secret dwelling-place, where the wicked cease from +troubling, and the weary are at rest.</p> +<p>One word more, and I have done. Do you wish to pray, with hope +that you may be heard,—O Lord, confound me not, and bring me not +to shame? Then hold to one commandment of Christ’s. +Do to others as you would they should do to you. For with what +measure you measure to your fellow-men, it shall be measured to you +again. Have charity, have patience, have mercy. Never bring +a human being, however silly, ignorant, or weak, above all any little +child, to shame and confusion of face. Never, by cruelty, by petulance, +by suspicion, by ridicule, even by selfish and silly haste; never, above +all, by indulging in the devilish pleasure of a sneer, crush <!-- page 83--><a name="page83"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 83</span>what +is finest, and rouse up what is coarsest in the heart of any fellow-creature. +Never confound any human soul in the hour of its weakness. For +then, it may be, in the hour of thy weakness, Christ will not confound +thee.</p> +<h2><b><!-- page 84--><a name="page84"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 84</span>SERMON +VIII. THE SHAKING OF THE HEAVENS AND THE EARTH.</b></h2> +<p style="text-align: center"><span class="smcap">Hebrews xii</span>. +26-29.</p> +<blockquote><p>Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven. +And this word, Yet once more, signifieth the removing of those things +that are shaken, as of things that are made, that those things which +cannot be shaken may remain. Wherefore we receiving a kingdom +which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably +with reverence and godly fear: for our God is a consuming fire.</p> +</blockquote> +<p>This is one of the Royal texts of Scripture. It is inexhaustible, +like the God who inspired it. It has fulfilled itself again and +again, at different epochs. It fulfilled itself specially and +notoriously in the first century. But it fulfilled itself again +in the fifth century; and again at the Crusades; and again at the Reformation +in the sixteenth century. And it may be that it is fulfilling +itself at this very day; that in this century, both in the time of our +fathers and in our own, the Lord has been shaking the heavens and the +earth, that those things which can be shaken may be removed, as things +that are made, while those things which cannot be shaken may remain.</p> +<p>All confess this to be true, each in his own words. They talk +of this age as one of change; of rapid progress, for good or evil; of +unexpected discoveries; of revolutions, intellectual, moral, social, +as well as political. <!-- page 85--><a name="page85"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 85</span>Our +notions of the physical universe are rapidly altering, with the new +discoveries of science; and our notions of ethics and theology are altering +as rapidly. The era assumes a different aspect to different minds, +just as did the first century after Christ, according as men look forward +to the future with hope, or back to the past with regret. Some +glory in the nineteenth century as one of rapid progress for good; as +the commencement of a new era for humanity; as the inauguration of a +Reformation as grand as that of the sixteenth century. Others +bewail it as an age of rapid decay; in which the old landmarks are being +removed, the old paths lost; in which we are rushing headlong into scepticism +and atheism; in which the world and the Church are both in danger; and +the last day is at hand.</p> +<p>Both parties may be right; and yet both may be wrong. Men have +always talked thus, at great crises in the world’s life. +They talked thus in the first century; and in the fifth, and in the +eleventh; and again in the sixteenth; and then both parties were partially +right and partially wrong; and so they may be now. What they meant +to say, what they wanted to say, what we mean and want to say, has been +said already for us in far deeper, wider, and more accurate words, by +him who wrote this wonderful Epistle to the Hebrews, when he told the +Jews of his time that the Lord was shaking the heavens and the earth, +that those things which were shaken might be removed, as things that +are made—cosmogonies, systems, theories, prejudices, fashions, +of man’s invention: while those things which could not be shaken +might remain, <!-- page 86--><a name="page86"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 86</span>because +they were according to the mind and will of God, eternal as that source +from whence they came forth, even the bosom of God the Father.</p> +<p>“Yet once more I shake, not the earth only, but also heaven.”</p> +<p>How has the earth been shaken in our days; and the heaven likewise. +How rapidly have our conceptions of both altered. How easy, simple, +certain, it all looked to our forefathers in the middle age. How +difficult, complex, uncertain, it all looks to us. With increased +knowledge has come—not increased doubt: that I deny utterly. +I deny, once and for all, that this age is an irreverent age. +I say that an irreverent age is one like the age of the Schoolmen; when +men defined and explained all heaven and earth by à priori theories, +and cosmogonies invented in the cloister; and dared, poor, simple, ignorant +mortals, to fancy that they could comprehend and gauge the ways of Him +Whom the heaven and the heaven of heavens could not contain. This, +this is irreverence: but it is neither irreverence nor want of faith, +if a man, awed by the mystery which encompasses him from the cradle +to the grave, shall lay his hand upon his mouth, with Job, and obey +the voice which cries to him from earth and heaven—“Be still, +and know that as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways +higher than thy ways, and my thoughts higher than thine.”</p> +<p>But it was all easy, and simple, and certain enough to our forefathers. +The earth, according to the popular notion, was a flat plane; or, if +it were, as the wiser held, a sphere, yet antipodes were an unscriptural +heresy. <!-- page 87--><a name="page87"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 87</span>Above +it were the heavens, in which the stars were fixed, or wandered; and +above them heaven after heaven, each tenanted by its own orders of beings, +up to that heaven of heavens in which Deity—and by Him, be it +always remembered, the mother of Deity—was enthroned.</p> +<p>And if above the earth was the kingdom of light, and purity, and +holiness, what could be more plain, than that below it was the kingdom +of darkness, and impurity, and sin? That was no theory to our +forefathers: it was a physical fact. Had not even the heathens +believed as much, and said so, by the mouth of the poet Virgil? +He had declared that the mouth of Tartarus lay in Italy, hard by the +volcanic lake Avernus; and after the unexpected eruption of Vesuvius +in the first century, nothing seemed more clear than that Virgil was +right; and that men were justified in talking of Tartarus, Styx, and +Phlegethon as indisputable Christian entities. Etna, Stromboli, +Hecla, were (according to this cosmogony) in like wise mouths of hell; +and there were not wanting holy hermits, who had heard, from within +those craters, shrieks, and clanking chains, and the howls of demons +tormenting the souls of the endlessly lost.</p> +<p>Our forefathers were not aware that, centuries before the Incarnation +of our Lord, the Buddhist priests had held exactly the same theory of +moral retribution; and that, painted on the walls of Buddhist temples, +might be seen horrors identical with those which adorned the walls of +many a Christian Church, in the days when men believed in this Tartarology +as firmly as they now believe in the results of chemistry or of astronomy.</p> +<p><!-- page 88--><a name="page88"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 88</span>And +now—How is the earth shaken, and the heavens likewise, in that +very sense in which the expression is used by him who wrote to the Hebrews? +Our conceptions of them are shaken. How much of that mediæval +cosmogony do educated men believe, in the sense in which they believe +that the three angles of a triangle are equal to two right angles, or +that if they steal their neighbour’s goods they commit a sin?</p> +<p>The earth has been shaken for us, more and more violently, as the +years have rolled on. It was shaken when Astronomy told us that +the earth was not the centre of the universe, but a tiny planet revolving +round a sun in a remote region thereof.</p> +<p>It was shaken when Geology told us that the earth had endured for +countless ages, during which continents had become oceans, and oceans +continents, again and again. And even now, it is being shaken +by researches into the antiquity of man, into the origin and permanence +of species, which—let the result be what it will—must in +the meanwhile shake for us theories and dogmas which have been undisputed +for 1500 years.</p> +<p>And with the rest of our cosmogony, that conception of a physical +Tartarus below the earth has been shaken likewise, till good men have +been fain to find a fresh place for it in the sun, or in a comet; or +to patronize the probable, but as yet unproved theory of a central fire +within the earth; not on any scientific grounds, but simply if by any +means they can assign a region in space, wherein material torment can +be inflicted on the spirits of the lost.</p> +<p><!-- page 89--><a name="page89"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 89</span>And +meanwhile the heavens, the spiritual world, is being shaken no less. +More and more frequently, more and more loudly, men are asking—not +sceptics merely, but pious men, men who wish to be, and who believe +themselves to be, orthodox Christians—more and more loudly are +such men asking questions which demand an answer, with a learning and +an eloquence, as well as with a devoutness and a reverence for Scripture, +which—whether rightly or wrongly employed—is certain to +command attention.</p> +<p>Rightly or wrongly, these men are asking, whether the actual and +literal words of Scripture really involve the mediæval theory +of an endless Tartarus.</p> +<p>They are saying, “It is not we who deny, but you who assert, +endless torments, who are playing fast and loose with the letter of +Scripture. You are reading into it conceptions borrowed from Virgil, +Dante, Milton, when you translate into the formula ‘endless torment’ +such phrases as ‘the outer darkness,’ ‘the fire of +Gehenna,’ ‘the worm that dieth not;’ which, according +to all just laws of interpretation, refer not to the next life, but +to this life, and specially to the approaching catastrophe of the Jewish +nation; or when you say that eternal death really means eternal life—only +life in torture.”</p> +<p>Rightly or wrongly, they are saying this; and then they add, “We +do not yield to you in love and esteem for Scripture. We demand +not a looser, but a stricter; not a more metaphoric, but a more literal; +not a more contemptuous, but a more reverent interpretation thereof.”</p> +<p><!-- page 90--><a name="page90"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 90</span>So +these men speak, rightly or wrongly. And for good or for evil, +they will be heard.</p> +<p>And with these questions others have arisen, not new at all—say +these men—but to be found, amid many contradictions, in the writings +of all the best divines, when they have given up for a moment systems +and theories, and listened to the voice of their own hearts; questions +natural enough to an age which abhors cruelty, has abolished torture, +labours for the reformation of criminals, and debates—rightly +or wrongly—about abolishing capital punishment. Men are +asking questions about the heaven—the spiritual world—and +saying—“The spiritual world? Is it only another material +world which happens to be invisible now, but which may become visible +hereafter: or is it not rather the moral world—the world of right +and wrong? Heaven? Is not the true and real heaven the kingdom +of love, justice, purity, beneficence? Is not that the eternal +heaven wherein God abides for ever, and with Him those who are like +God? And hell? Is it not rather the anarchy of hate, injustice, +impurity, uselessness; wherein abides all that is opposed to God?”</p> +<p>And with those thoughts come others about moral retribution—“What +is its purpose? Can it—can any punishment have any right +purpose save the correction, or the annihilation, of the criminal? +Can God, in this respect, be at once less merciful and less powerful +than man? Is He so controlled by necessity that He is forced to +bring into the world beings whom He knows to be incorrigible, and doomed +to endless misery? And <!-- page 91--><a name="page91"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 91</span>if +not so controlled, is not the alternative as to His character even more +fearful? He bids us copy His justice, His love. Is that +His justice, that His love, which if we copied, we should call each +other, and deservedly, utterly unjust and unloving? Can there +be one morality for God, and another for man, made in the image of God? +Are these dark dogmas worthy of a Father who hateth nothing that He +hath made, and is perfect in this—that He makes His sun shine +on the evil and on the good, and His rain fall on the just and on the +unjust, and is good to the unthankful and to the evil? Are they +worthy of a Son who, in the fire of His divine charity, stooped from +heaven to earth, to toil, to suffer, to die on the Cross, that the world +by Him might be saved? Are they worthy of that Spirit which proceeds +from the Father and the Son, even that Spirit of boundless charity, +and fervent love, by which the Son offered Himself to the Father, a +sacrifice for the sins of the whole world—and surely not in vain?”</p> +<p>So men are asking—rightly or wrongly; and they are guarding +themselves, at the same time, from the imputation of disbelief in moral +retribution; of fancying God to be a careless, epicurean deity, cruelly +indulgent to sin, and therefore, in so far, immoral.</p> +<p>They say—“We believe firmly enough in moral retribution. +How can we help believing in it, while we see it working around us, +in many a fearful shape, here, now, in this life? And we believe +that it may work on, in still more fearful shapes, in the life to come. +We believe that as long as a sinner is impenitent, he must be miserable; +<!-- page 92--><a name="page92"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 92</span>that +if he goes on impenitent for ever, he must go on making himself miserable—ay, +it may be more and more miserable for ever. Only do not tell us +that he must go on. That his impenitence, and therefore his punishment, +is irremediable, necessary, endless; and thereby destroy the whole purpose, +and we should say, the whole morality, of his punishment. If that +punishment be corrective, our moral sense is not shocked by any severity, +by any duration: but if it is irremediable, it cannot be corrective; +and then, what it is, or why it is, we cannot—or rather dare not—say. +We, too, believe in an eternal fire. But because we believe also +the Athanasian Creed, which tells us that there is but One Eternal, +we believe that that fire must be the fire of God, and therefore, like +all that is in God and of God, good and not evil, a blessing and not +a curse. We believe that that fire is for ever burning, though +men are for ever trying to quench it all day long; and that it has been +and will be in every age burning up all the chaff and stubble of man’s +inventions; the folly, the falsehood, the ignorance, the vice of this +sinful world; and we praise God for it; and give thanks to Him for His +great glory, that He is the everlasting and triumphant foe of evil and +misery, of whom it is written, that our God is a consuming fire.” +Such words are being spoken, right or wrong.</p> +<p>Such words will bear their fruit, for good or evil. I do not +pronounce how much of them is true or false. It is not my place +to dogmatize and define, where the Church of England, as by law established, +has declined to do so. Neither is it for you to settle these questions. +It is <!-- page 93--><a name="page93"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 93</span>rather +a matter for your children. A generation more, it may be, of earnest +thought will be required, ere the true answer has been found. +But it is your duty, if you be educated and thoughtful persons, to face +these questions; to consider seriously what these men would have you +consider—whether you are believing the exact words of the Bible, +and the conclusions of your own reason and moral sense; or whether you +are merely believing that cosmogony elaborated in the cloister, that +theory of moral retribution pardonable in the middle age, which Dante +and Milton sang.</p> +<p>But this I do not hesitate to say—That if we of the clergy +can find no other answers to these doubts than those which were reasonable +and popular in an age when men racked women, burned heretics, and believed +that every Mussulman killed in a crusade went straight to Tartarus—then +very serious times are at hand, both for the Christian clergy and for +Christianity itself.</p> +<p>What, then, are we to believe and do? Shall we degenerate into +a lazy scepticism, which believes that everything is a little true, +and everything a little false—in plain words, believes nothing +at all? Or shall we degenerate into faithless fears, and unmanly +wailings that the flood of infidelity is irresistible, and that Christ +has left His Church?</p> +<p>We shall do neither, if we believe the text. That tells us +of a firm standing-ground amid the wreck of fashions and opinions. +Of a kingdom which cannot be moved, though the heavens pass away like +a scroll, and the earth be burnt up with fervent heat.</p> +<p><!-- page 94--><a name="page94"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 94</span>And +it tells us that the King of that kingdom is He, who is called Jesus +Christ—the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever.</p> +<p>An eternal and changeless kingdom, and an eternal and changeless +King. These the Epistle to the Hebrews preaches to all generations.</p> +<p>It does not say that we have an unchangeable cosmogony, an unchangeable +eschatology, an unchangeable theory of moral retribution, an unchangeable +dogmatic system: not to these does it point the Jews, while their own +nation and worship were in their very death-agony, and the world was +rocking and reeling round them, decay and birth going on side by side, +in a chaos such as man had never seen before. Not to these does +the Epistle point the Hebrews: but to the changeless kingdom and to +the changeless King.</p> +<p>My friends, do you really believe in that kingdom, and in that King? +Do you believe that you are now actually in a kingdom of heaven, which +cannot be moved; and that the living, acting, guiding, practical, real +King thereof is Christ who died on the Cross?</p> +<p>These are days in which a preacher is bound to ask his congregation—and +still more to ask himself—whether he really believes in that kingdom, +and in that King; and to bid himself and them, if they have not believed +earnestly enough therein, to repent, in this time of Lent, of that at +least; to repent of having neglected that most cardinal doctrine of +Scripture and of the Christian faith.</p> +<p>But if we really believe in that changeless kingdom and in that changeless +King, shall we not—considering <!-- page 95--><a name="page95"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 95</span>who +Christ is, the co-equal and co-eternal Son of God—believe also, +that if the heavens and the earth are being shaken, then Christ Himself +may be shaking them? That if opinions be changing, then Christ +Himself may be changing them? That if new truths are being discovered, +Christ Himself may be revealing them? That if some of those truths +seem to contradict those which He has revealed already, they do not +really contradict them? That, as in the sixteenth century, Christ +is burning up the wood and stubble with which men have built on His +foundation, that the pure gold of His truth may alone be left? +It is at least possible; it is probable, if we believe that Christ is +a living, acting King, to whom all power is given in heaven and earth, +and who is actually exercising that power; and educating Christendom, +and through Christendom the whole human race, to a knowledge of Himself, +and through Himself of God their Father in heaven.</p> +<p>Should we not say—We know that Christ has been so doing, for +centuries and for ages? Through Abraham, through Moses, through +the prophets, through the Greeks, through the Romans, and at last through +Himself, He gave men juster and wider views of themselves, of the universe, +and of God. And even then He did not stop. How could He, +who said of Himself, “My Father worketh hitherto, and I work”? +How could He, if He be the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever? +Through the Apostles, and specially through St Paul, He enlarged, while +He confirmed, His own teaching. And did He not do the same in +the sixteenth century? Did He not then sweep from the <!-- page 96--><a name="page96"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 96</span>minds +and hearts of half Christendom beliefs which had been held sacred and +indubitable for a thousand years? Why should He not be doing so +now? If it be answered, that the Reformation of the sixteenth +century was only a return to simpler and purer Apostolic truth—why, +again, should it not be so now? Why should He not be perfecting +His work one step more, and sweeping away more of man’s inventions, +which are not integral and necessary elements of the one Catholic faith, +but have been left behind, in pardonable human weakness, by our great +Reformers? Great they were, and good: giants on the earth, while +we are but as dwarfs beside them. But, as the hackneyed proverb +says, the dwarf on the giant’s shoulders may see further than +the giant himself: and so may we.</p> +<p>Oh! that men would approach new truth in something of that spirit; +in the spirit of reverence and Godly fear, which springs from a living +belief in Christ the living King, which is—as the text tells us—the +spirit in which we can serve God acceptably. Oh! that they would +serve God; waiting reverently and anxiously, as servants standing in +the presence of their Lord, for the slightest sign or hint of His will. +Then they would have grace; by which they would receive new thought +with grace; gracefully, courteously, fairly, charitably, reverently; +believing that, however strange or startling, it may come from Him whose +ways are not as our ways, nor His thoughts as our thoughts; and that +he who fights against it, may haply be fighting against God.</p> +<p>True, they would receive all new thought with caution, <!-- page 97--><a name="page97"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 97</span>that +conservative spirit, which is the duty of every Christian; which is +the peculiar strength of the Englishman, because it enables him calmly +and slowly to take in the new, without losing the old which his forefathers +have already won for him. So they would be cautious, even anxious, +lest in grasping too greedily at seeming improvements, they let go some +precious knowledge which they had already attained: but they would be +on the look out for improvements; because they would consider themselves, +and their generation, as under a divine education. They would +prove all things fairly and boldly, and hold fast that which is good; +all that which is beautiful, noble, improving and elevating to human +souls, minds, or bodies; all that increases the amount of justice, mercy, +knowledge, refinement; all that lessens the amount of vice, cruelty, +ignorance, barbarism. That at least must come from Christ. +That at least must be the inspiration of the Spirit of God: unless the +Pharisees were right after all when they said, that evil spirits could +be cast out by the prince of the devils.</p> +<p>Be these things as they may, one comfort it will give us, to believe +firmly and actively in the changeless kingdom, and in the changeless +King. It will give us calm, patience, faith and hope, though the +heavens and the earth be shaken around us. For then we shall see +that the Kingdom, of which we are citizens, is a kingdom of light, and +not of darkness; of truth, and not of falsehood; of freedom, and not +of slavery; of bounty and mercy, and not of wrath and fear; that we +live and move and have our being not in a “Deus quidam <!-- page 98--><a name="page98"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 98</span>deceptor” +who grudges his children wisdom, but in a Father of Light, from whom +comes every good and perfect gift; who willeth that all men should be +saved, and come to the knowledge of the truth. In His kingdom +we are; and in the King whom He has set over it we can have the most +perfect trust. For us that King stooped from heaven to earth; +for us He was born, for us He toiled, for us He suffered, for us He +died, for us He rose, for us He sits for ever at God’s right hand. +And can we not trust Him? Let Him do what He will. Let Him +lead us whither He will. Wheresoever He leads must be the way +of truth and life. Whatsoever He does, must be in harmony with +that infinite love which He displayed for us upon the Cross. Whatsoever +He does, must be in harmony with that eternal purpose by which He reveals +to men God their Father. Therefore, though the heaven and the +earth be shaken around us, we will trust in Him. For we know that +He is the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever; and that His will and +promise is, to lead those who trust in Him into all truth.</p> +<h2><b><!-- page 99--><a name="page99"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 99</span>SERMON +IX. THE KINGDOM OF GOD.</b></h2> +<p style="text-align: center"><span class="smcap">Luke xxi</span>. 29-33.</p> +<blockquote><p>And Jesus spake to them a parable; Behold the fig tree, +and all the trees; when they now shoot forth, ye see and know of your +own selves that summer is now nigh at hand. So likewise ye, when +ye see these things come to pass, know ye that the kingdom of God is +nigh at hand. Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not +pass away, till all be fulfilled. Heaven and earth shall pass +away: but my words shall not pass away.</p> +</blockquote> +<p>The question which naturally suggests itself when we hear these words, +is—When were these things to take place?</p> +<p>If we heard one whom we regarded as at least a person of perfect +virtue, truthfulness, and earnestness, foretell that the city in which +we now stand should be destroyed. If he told us, that when we +saw it encompassed with armies, we were to know that its desolation +was at hand. If he told us that then those who were in the surrounding +country were to flee to the mountains, and those in the city to come +out of it. If he pronounced woe in that day on mothers and weak +women who could not escape. If he told us, nevertheless, that +when these <!-- page 100--><a name="page100"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 100</span>things +came to pass we were to rejoice and lift up our heads, for our redemption +was drawing nigh. If he told us to look at the trees in spring; +for, as surely as their budding was a sign that summer was nigh, so +was the coming to pass of these terrible woes a sign that something +was nigh, which he called the Kingdom of God. If he told us, with +a solemn asseveration, that this generation should not pass away till +all had happened. If he went on to warn us against profligacy, +frivolity, worldliness, lest that day should come upon us unaware. +If he bade us keep awake always, that we might be found worthy to escape +all that was coming, and to stand before Him, The Son of Man. +If he used throughout his address the second person, speaking to us, +but never mentioning our descendants; giving the signs, the warnings, +the counsels to us only, should we not, even if he had not solemnly +told us that the present generation should not pass away till all was +fulfilled—should we not, I say, suppose naturally that he spoke +of events which in his opinion our own eyes would see; which would, +in his opinion, occur during our lifetime?</p> +<p>Whether he were right in his expectation, or wrong, still it would +be clear that such was his expectation; that he considered the danger +as imminent, the warning as addressed personally to us who heard him +speak.</p> +<p>We should leave his presence with that impression, in fear and anxiety. +But if we afterwards discovered that our fear and anxiety were superfluous; +that the events of which he spoke—the most awful and wonderful +of them at least—were not to occur for many centuries <!-- page 101--><a name="page101"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 101</span>to +come; that, even if some calamity were imminent, the immediate future +and the very distant future were so intermingled in his discourse, that +it would require the labours of commentator after commentator, for many +hundred years, to disentangle them, and that their labours would be +in vain; that the coming of the Son of Man, and of the Kingdom of God, +of which he had spoken, were to be referred to a time thousands of years +hence; though we were told in the same breath to look to the fig-tree +and all the trees as a sign that it was coming immediately, and that +our own generation would not pass away before all had taken place:—would +not such a discovery raise in us thoughts and feelings neither wholesome +for us nor honourable to the prophet?</p> +<p>I cannot think otherwise. We may be aware of the difficulties +which beset this, and any other, interpretation of our Lord’s +prophecies in Matthew, Mark, and Luke: we may have the deepest respect +for those learned and pious divines who from time to time have tried +to part the prophecies relating to the fall of Jerusalem from those +relating to the end of the world and the day of Judgment. Yet, +in the face of such a passage as the text, especially when we cannot +agree with those who would make this “generation” mean this +“race” or “nation,” we may—we have a right +to—decline to separate the two sets of passages. We have +a right to say,—He who spake as man never spake, and therefore +knew the force of words; He who knew what was in man—and therefore +what effect His words would produce on His hearers—did deliver +a discourse—indeed, many discourses—<!-- page 102--><a name="page102"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 102</span>which +asserted, as far as plain words could be understood by plain men, that +the Kingdom of God was at hand; and that the coming of the Son of Man +would take place before that generation passed away.</p> +<p>And that all His disciples, and St Paul as much as any, put that +meaning upon His words, is a matter of fact and of history, to be seen +plainly in Holy Scripture.</p> +<p>But, while the text compels us to believe that the destruction of +Jerusalem by the Romans was a coming of the Son of Man—a manifestation +of the Kingdom of God—a day of Judgment, in the strictest and +most awful sense; yet we are not compelled to limit the meaning of the +text to the destruction of Jerusalem.</p> +<p>No prophecy of Scripture is of private interpretation. Prophets, +apostles—how much more our Lord Himself—do not merely indulge +in presages; they lay down laws—laws moral, spiritual, eternal—which +have been fulfilling themselves from the beginning; which are fulfilling +themselves now; which will go on fulfilling themselves to the end of +time.</p> +<p>So said our Lord Jesus of His own prophecies concerning the destruction +of Jerusalem. It was but one example—a most awful one—of +the laws of His kingdom. Not in Judæa only, but wherever +the carcase was, there would the eagles be gathered together. +In the moral, as in the physical word, there were beasts of prey—the +scavengers of God—ready to devour out of His kingdom nations, +institutions, opinions, which had become dead, and decayed, and ready +to infect the air. Many a time since the Roman eagles flocked +to Jerusalem has that <!-- page 103--><a name="page103"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 103</span>prophecy +been fulfilled; and many a time will it be fulfilled once more, and +yet once more.</p> +<p>And what else, if we look at them carefully and reverently, is the +meaning of the words in this my text, “Heaven and earth shall +pass away, but My words shall not pass away”?</p> +<p>Shall we translate this,—Heaven and earth shall not come true: +but My words shall come true? By so doing we may put some little +meaning into the latter half of the verse; but none into the former. +Surely there is a deeper meaning in the words than that of merely coming +true. Surely they mean that His words are eternal, perpetual; +for ever present, possible, imminent; for ever coming true. So, +indeed, they would not pass away. So they would be like the heavens +and the earth, and the laws thereof; like heat, gravitation, electricity, +what not—always here, always working, always asserting themselves—with +this difference, that when the physical laws of the heavens and the +earth, which began in time, in time have perished, the spiritual laws +of God’s kingdom, of Christ’s moral government of moral +beings, shall endure for ever and for ever, eternal as that God whose +essence they reflect.</p> +<p>Therefore I mean nothing less than that the great and final day of +Judgment is past; or that we are not to look for that second coming +of our Lord Jesus Christ which, as our forefathers taught us to hope, +shall set right all the wrong of this diseased world.</p> +<p>God forbid! For most miserable were the world, most miserable +were mankind, if all that our Lord prophesied <!-- page 104--><a name="page104"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 104</span>had +happened, once and for all, at the destruction of Jerusalem by the Roman +armies. But most miserable, also, would this world be, and most +miserable would be mankind, if these words were not to be fulfilled +till some future Last Day, and day of Judgment, for which the Church +has now been waiting for more than eighteen centuries—and, as +far as we can judge, may wait for as many centuries more. Most +miserable, if the Son of Man has never come since He ascended into heaven +from Olivet. Most miserable, if the kingdom of God has never been +at hand, since He gave that one short gleam of hope to men in Judæa +long ago. Most miserable, if there be no kingdom of God among +us even now: in one word, if God and Christ be not our King; but the +devil, as some fancy; or Man himself, as others fancy, be the only king +of this world and of its destinies; if there be no order in this mad +world, save what man invents; no justice, save what he executes; no +law, save what he finds convenient to lay upon himself for the protection +of his person and property. Most miserable, if the human race +have no guide, save its own instincts and tendencies; no history, save +that of its own greed, ignorance and crime, varied only by fruitless +struggles after a happiness to which it never attains. Most miserable +world, and miserable man, if that be true after all which to the old +Hebrew prophet seemed incredible and horrible—if God does look +on while men deal treacherously, and does hold His peace when the wicked +devours the man who is more righteous than he; and has made men as the +fishes of the sea, as the creeping things that have no ruler over them.</p> +<p><!-- page 105--><a name="page105"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 105</span>I +said—Most miserable, in that case, was the world and man. +I did not say that they would consider themselves miserable. I +did not say that they would think it a Gospel, and good news, that Christ +was their King, and that His Kingdom was always at hand. They +never thought that good news. When the prophets told them of it, +they stoned them. When the Lord Himself told them, they crucified +Him. Worldly men dislike the message now, probably, as much as +they ever did. But they escape from it, either by treating it +as a self-evident commonplace which no Christian denies, and therefore +no Christian need think of; or by smiling at it as an exploded superstition, +at least as a “Semitic” form of thought, with which we have +nothing to do. They confound it, often I fear purposely, with +those fancied miraculous interpositions, those paltry special providences, +which fanatics in all ages have believed to be worked for their own +special behoof. Altogether they dislike, and express very openly +their dislike, of the least allusion to a Divine Providence “interfering,” +as they strangely term it, with them and their affairs.</p> +<p>And they are wise, doubtless, in their generation. The news +that Christ is the King of men and of the world must be unpleasant, +even offensive, to too many, both of those who fancy that they are managing +this world, and of those who fancy that they could manage the world +still better, if they only had their rights. It must be unpleasant +to be told that they are not managing the world, and cannot manage it: +that it is being managed and ruled <!-- page 106--><a name="page106"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 106</span>by +an unseen King, whose ways are far above their ways, and His thoughts +above their thoughts.</p> +<p>For then: Prudence might demand of them, that they should find out +what are that King’s ways, thoughts and laws, and obey them—an +enquiry so troublesome, that many very highly educated persons consider +it, now-a-days, quite impossible; and tell us that, for practical purposes, +God’s laws can neither be discovered, nor obeyed.</p> +<p>Moreover, their scheme of this world is one which would work—so +they fancy—just as well if there was no God. Unpleasant +therefore it must be for them to hear, not merely that there is a God, +but that He has His own scheme of the world; and that it is working, +whether they like or not; that God, and not they, is making history; +God, and not they, appointing the bounds and the times of nations; God, +and not they, or any man or men, distributing good and evil among mankind.</p> +<p>They do not object, of course, to the existence of a God. They +only object to His being what the Hebrew prophets called Him—a +living God; a God who executes justice and judgment by His Son Jesus +Christ, to whom He has committed all power both in heaven and earth. +They are ready sometimes to allow even that, provided they may relegate +it into the past, or into the future. They are ready to allow +that God and Christ exerted power over men at the first Advent 1800 +years ago, and that they will exert power over men at the second Advent—none +knows how long hence. But that God and Christ are exerting power +now—in an ever-present and perpetual Advent—in this nineteenth +century just <!-- page 107--><a name="page107"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 107</span>as +much as in any century before or since—that they had rather not +believe. Their creed is, that though heaven and earth have not +passed away; though the laws of nature are working for ever as at the +beginning: yet Christ’s words have passed away, and fallen into +abeyance for many centuries past, to remain in abeyance for many centuries +to come.</p> +<p>In one word—while they believe more or less in a past God, +and a future God, yet as to the existence of a present God, in any practical +and real sense—they believe—how little, I dare not say.</p> +<p>Whether this generation will awaken out of that sleep of practical +Atheism, which is creeping on them more and more, who can tell? +That they are uneasy in the sleep, there are many signs. For in +their sleep dreams come of another world, of which their five senses +tell them nought. Then do some fly to mediæval superstitions, +which give them at least elaborate and agreeable substitutes for a living +God. Some fly to impostors, who pretend by juggling tricks to +put them in communication with that unseen world which they have so +long denied. Some, again, play with unfulfilled prophecy; and +fancy that it is for them, though it was not for the apostles, to know +the times and seasons which the Father has put in His own power, and +the day and hour of which no man knoweth, no not the angels in heaven, +nor the Son, but the Father only.</p> +<p>Better that, than that they should believe that there is nothing, +and never will be anything, in the world, beyond what their five senses +can apprehend.</p> +<p><!-- page 108--><a name="page108"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 108</span>But +whether they awake or not out of their sleep, their blindness does not +alter the eternal fact, whether men believe it or not. That is +true what the Psalmist said of old: “The Lord is King, be the +people never so impatient. He sitteth upon His throne, though +the earth be never so unquiet.”</p> +<p>The utterances of the old Psalmists and prophets concerning the ever-present +kingdom of God are facts, not dreams. Whether men believe it or +not, it is true that the power, glory, and righteousness of His kingdom +may be known unto men; that His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and +His dominion endureth throughout all ages; that The Lord upholds all +such as fall, and lifts up those that are down; that the eyes of all +wait on Him, that He may give them their meat in due season; that He +opens His hand, and filleth all things living with plenteousness; that +the Lord is righteous in all His ways, and holy in all His works; that +He is nigh to them that call upon Him, yea to all who call upon Him +faithfully. He that planted the ear, shall He not hear? +He that made the eye, shall He not see? He that chastiseth the +nations; it is He that teacheth man knowledge: shall He not punish?</p> +<p>Whether men believe it or not, that is true which the Psalmist said—Whither +shall I flee from His Spirit, or whither shall I go from His presence? +If I climb up to heaven, He is there; if I go down to hell, He is there +also. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost +part of the sea, even there shall His hand lead me, His right hand hold +me still.</p> +<p><!-- page 109--><a name="page109"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 109</span>Whether +men believe it or not, that is true which Christ spake on earth—That +the Father hath committed all judgment to Him, because He is the Son +of man; that to Him is given all power in heaven and earth; and that +He is with us, even to the end of the world.</p> +<p>Whether men believe it or not, that is true which S. Paul spake on +Mars’ hill, saying that the Lord is not far from any one of us, +for in Him we live and move and have our being; and that He hath appointed +a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness, by that Man +whom He hath ordained, and raised from the dead.</p> +<p>Whether men believe it or not, that is true which Christ spake—Heaven +and earth shall pass away; but My words shall not pass away; at least +till He has put down all rule and all authority and power, and delivered +up the kingdom to God, even the Father, that God may be all in all.</p> +<p>“That one far-off divine event, toward which the whole creation +moves,” will be, not the resumption, but the triumph, of Christ’s +rule; of a rule which began before the world, which has endured through +all the ages, which endures now, punishing or rewarding each and every +one of us, and of our children’s children, as long as there shall +be a man upon the earth. For by Christ’s will alone the +world of man consists; in Christ’s laws alone is true life, health, +wealth, possible for any man, family or nation; out of His kingdom He +casts, sooner or later, all things which offend, and whosoever loveth +and maketh a lie. He said of Himself—Whosoever falleth on +this rock shall be broken; but on whomsoever it shall fall, it shall +grind him to powder.</p> +<h2><b><!-- page 110--><a name="page110"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 110</span>SERMON +X. THE LAW OF THE LORD.</b></h2> +<p style="text-align: center"><span class="smcap">Psalm i</span>. 1,2.</p> +<blockquote><p>Blessed is the man who hath not walked in the counsel +of the ungodly, nor stood in the path of sinners, nor sat in the seat +of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the Lord; and +in his law will he exercise himself day and night.</p> +</blockquote> +<p>The first and second Psalms, taken together, are the key to all the +Psalms; I may almost say to the whole Bible. I will say a few +words on them this morning, especially to those who are coming to the +Holy Communion, to shew their allegiance to that Lord, in whose law +alone is life, and who sits on the throne of the universe, King of kings, +and Lord of lords: but I say it to the whole congregation likewise; +nay, if there were an infidel or a heathen in the Church, I should say +it to them. For in this case what is true of one man is true of +every man, whether he knows it or not.</p> +<p>We all should like to be blessed. We all should like to be, +as the Psalm says, like trees planted by the waterside, whose leaves +never wither, and who bring forth their fruit in due season. We +should all wish to have it said of us—Whatsoever he doeth it shall +prosper. <!-- page 111--><a name="page111"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 111</span>Then +here is the way to inherit that blessing—“<i>Blessed is +the man whose delight is in the law of the Lord</i>, <i>and who exercises +himself in His law day and night</i>.” The Psalmist is not +speaking of Moses’ Law, nor of any other law of forms and ceremonies. +He says expressly “The law of the Lord”—that is, the +law according to which the Lord has made him and all the world; and +according to which the Lord rules him and all the world. The Psalms—you +must remember—say very little about Moses’ law; and when +they do, speak of it almost slightingly, as if to draw men’s minds +away from it to a deeper, nobler, more eternal law. In one Psalm +God asks, “Thinkest thou that I will eat bulls’ flesh, and +drink the blood of goats?” And in another Psalm some one +answers, “Sacrifice and burnt-offering thou wouldest not. +Then said I, Lo I come, to do thy will, O God. Thy law is within +my heart.” This is that true and eternal law of which Solomon +speaks in his proverbs, as the Wisdom by which God made the heavens, +and laid the foundation of the earth; and tells us that that Wisdom +is a tree of life to all who can lay hold of her; that in her right +hand is length of days, and in her left hand riches and honour; that +her ways are ways of pleasantness; and all her paths are peace.</p> +<p>This is that law, of which the Prophet says—that God will put +it into men’s hearts, and write it in their minds; and they shall +be His people, and He will be their God. This is that law, which +the inspired Philosopher—for a philosopher he was indeed—who +wrote the 119th Psalm, continually prayed and strove to learn, <!-- page 112--><a name="page112"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 112</span>intreating +the Lord to teach him His law, and make him remember His everlasting +judgments. This is that law, which our Lord Jesus Christ perfectly +fulfilled, because the law was His Father’s law, and therefore +His own law, and therefore he perfectly comprehended the law, and perfectly +loved the law; and said with His whole heart—I delight to do Thy +will, O God.</p> +<p>The will of God. For in one word, this Law, which we have to +learn, and by keeping which we shall be blessed, is nothing else than +God’s Will. God’s Will about us. What God has +willed and chosen we should be. What God has willed and chosen +we should do. The greatest philosopher of the 18th century said +that every rational being had to answer four questions—Where am +I? What can I know? What must I do? Whither am I going? +And he knew well that—as the Bible tells us throughout—the +only way to get any answer to those four tremendous questions is—To +delight in the law of the Lord; to struggle, think, pray, till we get +some understanding of God’s will; of God’s will about ourselves +and about the world; and so be blessed indeed.</p> +<p>But to do that, it is plain that we must heed the warning which the +first verse of the Psalm gives us—“Blessed is the man that +hath not walked in the counsel of the ungodly.” For it is +plain that a man will never learn God’s will if he takes counsel +from ungodly men who care nothing for God’s will, and do not believe +that God’s will governs the world. Neither must he, as the +Psalm says, ‘stand in the way of sinners’—of profligate +and dishonest <!-- page 113--><a name="page113"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 113</span>men +who break God’s law. For if he follows their ways, and breaks +God’s law himself, it is plain that he will learn little or nothing +about God’s law, save in the way of bitter punishment. For +let him but break God’s law a little too long, and then—as +the 2nd Psalm says—‘God will rule him with a rod of iron, +and break him in pieces like a potter’s vessel.’ But +there is even more hope for him—for he may repent and amend—than +if he sits in the seat of the scorners. The scorners; the sneering, +the frivolous, the unearnest, the unbelieving, the envious, who laugh +down what they call enthusiasm and romance; who delight in finding fault, +and in blackening those who seem purer or nobler than themselves. +These are the men who cannot by any possibility learn anything of the +law of God; for they will not even look for it. They have cast +away the likeness of rational men, and have taken upon themselves the +likeness of the sneering accusing Satan, who asks in the book of Job—“Doth +Job serve God for nought?” When the greatest poet of our +days tried to picture his idea of a fiend tempting a man to his ruin, +he gave his fiend just such a character as this; a very clever, courteous, +agreeable man of the world, and yet a being who could not love any one, +could not believe in any one; who mocked not only at man but at God +and tempted and ruined man, not out of hatred to him, hardly out of +envy; but in mere sport, as a cruel child may torment an insect;—in +one word, a scorner. And so true was his conception felt to be, +that men of that character are now often called by the very name which +he gave to his Satan—Mephistopheles. Beware therefore of +the scornful <!-- page 114--><a name="page114"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 114</span>spirit, +as well as of the openly sinful or of the ungodly. If you wish +to learn the law of the Lord, keep your souls pious, pure, reverent, +and earnest; for it is only the pure in heart who shall see God; and +only those who do God’s will as far as they know it, who will +know concerning any doctrine whether it be true or false; in one word, +whether it be of God.</p> +<p>And now bear in mind secondly, that this law is the law of the Lord. +You cannot have a law without a lawgiver who makes the law, and also +without a judge who enforces the law; and the lawgiver and the judge +of the law of the Lord is the Lord Himself, our Lord Jesus Christ.</p> +<p>Remembering Him, and that He is King, we can understand the fervour +of indignation and pity, with which the writer of the 2nd Psalm bursts +out—“Why do the heathen rage, and why do the people imagine +a vain thing? The kings of the earth stand up, and the rulers +take counsel together, against the Lord, and against His Anointed—</p> +<p>“Let us break their bonds asunder and cast away their cords +from us.”</p> +<p>For the great majority of mankind, in every age and country, will +not believe that there is a Law of the Lord, to which they must conform +themselves. Kings, and governments, and peoples, are too often +all alike in that. They must needs have their own way. Their +will is to be law. Their voice is to be the voice of God. +They are they who ought to speak; who is Lord over them? And because +the Lord is patient and long-suffering, and does <!-- page 115--><a name="page115"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 115</span>not +punish their presumption on the spot by lightning or earthquake, they +fancy that He takes no notice of them, and of their crimes and follies; +and say—“Tush, shall God perceive it? Is there knowledge +in the most High?” But sooner or later, either by sudden +and terrible catastrophes, or by slow decay, brought on sometimes by +their own blind presumption, sometimes by their own luxury, they find +out their mistake when it is too late. And then—</p> +<p>“He that dwelleth in heaven shall laugh them to scorn. +The Lord shall have them in derision. For He has set His King +upon the throne” of all the universe.</p> +<p>Yes, Christ the Lord rules, and knows that He rules; whether we know +it or not. Christ’s law still hangs over our head, ready +to lead us to light and life and peace and wealth, or ready to fall +on us and grind us to powder, whether we choose to look up and see it +or not. The Lord liveth; though we may be too dead to feel Him. +The Lord sees us; though we may be too blind to see Him. Man can +abolish many things; and does both—wisely and unwisely—in +these restless days of change. But let him try as long as he will—for +he has often tried, and will try again—he cannot abolish Christ +the Lord.</p> +<p>For Christ is set upon the throne of the universe. The Father +of all—if we may dare to hint even in Scriptural words at mysteries +which are in themselves unspeakable—is eternally saying to Him—Thou +art my Son, this day have I begotten Thee. And Christ answers +eternally—I come to do Thy will, O God. The nations <!-- page 116--><a name="page116"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 116</span>are +Christ’s inheritance; and the utmost parts of the earth are His +possession, now, already; whether we or they think so or not.</p> +<p>And there are times—there are times, my friends—when +the awful words which follow come true likewise—“Thou shalt +bruise them with a rod of iron, and break them in pieces like a potter’s +vessel.”</p> +<p>For as to this world in which we live, so to the God who created +that world, there is a terrible aspect. There is calm: but there +is storm also. There is fertilizing sunshine: but there is also +the destroying thunderbolt. There is the solid and fruitful earth, +where man can till and build; but there is the earthquake and the flood +likewise, which destroy in a moment the works of man. So there +is in God boundless love, and boundless mercy: but there is, too, a +wrath of God, and a fire of God which burns eternally against all evil +and falsehood. And woe to those who fall under that wrath; who +are even scorched for a moment by that fire.</p> +<p>“It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the Living +God.”</p> +<p>We are all ready enough to forget this; ready enough to think only +of God’s goodness, and never of His severity. Ready enough +to talk of Christ as gentle and suffering; because we flatter ourselves +that if He is gentle, He may be also indulgent; if He be suffering, +He may be also weak. We like to forget that He is, and was, and +ever will be—Lord of heaven and earth; and to think of Him only +in His humiliation in Judæa 1800 years ago, forgetting that during +that very humiliation, <!-- page 117--><a name="page117"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 117</span>while +He was shewing love, and mercy, and miracles of healing, and sympathy +and compassion for every form of human sorrow and weakness, He did not +shrink from shewing to men the awful side of His character; did not +shrink from saying, “Woe unto you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites. +Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation +of hell?”—did not shrink from declaring that He was coming +again, even before that very generation had passed away, to destroy, +unless it repented, the wicked city of Jerusalem, with an utter and +horrible destruction.</p> +<p>Think of these things, my friends: for true they are, and true they +will remain, whether you think of them or not. And take the warning +of the second Psalm, which is needed now as much as it was ever needed—“Be +wise now therefore, O ye kings, be learned, ye that are judges of the +earth. Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice unto Him with reverence. +Worship the Son, lest He be angry, and so ye perish from the right way. +If His wrath be kindled, yea, but a little, blessed are all they that +put their trust in Him.”</p> +<p>But you are no kings, you are no judges. Is it so? And +yet you boast yourselves to be free men, in a free country. Not +so. Every man who is a free man is a king or a judge, whether +he knows it or not. Every one who has a duty, is a king over his +duty. Every one who has a work to do, is a judge whether he does +his work well or not. He who farms, is a king and a judge over +his land. He who keeps a shop, a king and a judge over his business. +He who has a family, a king <!-- page 118--><a name="page118"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 118</span>and +a judge over his household. Let each be wise, and serve the Lord +in fear; knowing that according as he obeys the law of the Lord, he +will receive for the deeds done in the body, whether good or evil.</p> +<p>Not kings? not judges? Is not each and every human being who +is not a madman, a king over his own actions, a judge over his own heart +and conscience? Let him govern himself, govern his own thoughts +and words, his own life and actions, according to the law of the Lord +who created him; and he will be able to say with the poet,</p> +<blockquote><p>My mind to me a kingdom is;<br /> +Such perfect joy therein I find<br /> +As far exceeds all earthly bliss.</p> +</blockquote> +<p>But if he governs himself according to his own fancy, which is no +law, but lawlessness: then he will find himself rebelling against himself, +weakened by passions, torn by vain desires, and miserable by reason +of the lusts which war in his members; and so will taste, here in this +life, of that anger of the Lord of which it is written; “If His +wrath be kindled, yea, but a little, ye shall perish from the right +way.”</p> +<p>Therefore let each and all of us, high and low, take the warning +of the last verse, and worship the Son of God. Bow low before +Him—for that is the true meaning of the words—as subjects +before an absolute monarch, who can dispose of us, body and soul, according +to His will: but who can be trusted to dispose of us well: because His +will is a good will, and the only <!-- page 119--><a name="page119"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 119</span>reason +why He is angry when we break His laws, is, that His laws are the Eternal +Laws of God, wherein alone is life for all rational beings; and to break +them is to injure our fellow-creatures, and to ruin ourselves, and perish +from that right way, to bring us back to which He condescended, of His +boundless love, to die on the Cross for all mankind.</p> +<h2><b><!-- page 120--><a name="page120"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 120</span>SERMON +XI. GOD THE TEACHER.</b></h2> +<p style="text-align: center"><span class="smcap">Psalm cxix</span>. +33, 34.</p> +<blockquote><p>Teach me, O Lord, the way of Thy statutes, and I shall +keep it unto the end. Give me understanding, and I shall keep +Thy Law; yea, I shall observe it with my whole heart.</p> +</blockquote> +<p>This 119th Psalm has been valued for many centuries, by the wisest +and most devout Christians, as one of the most instructive in the Bible; +as the experimental psalm. And it is that, and more. It +is specially a psalm about education. That is on the face of the +text. Teach me, O Lord, Thy statutes, and I shall keep them to +the end. These are the words of a man who wishes to be taught, +and therefore to learn; and to learn not mere book-learning and instruction, +but to acquire a practical education, which he can keep to the end, +and carry out in his whole life.</p> +<p>But it is more. It is, to my mind, as much a theological psalm +as it is an experimental psalm; and it is just as valuable for what +it tells us concerning the changeless and serene essence of God, as +for what it tells us concerning the changing and struggling soul of +man.</p> +<p><!-- page 121--><a name="page121"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 121</span>Let +us think a little this morning—and, please God, hereafter also—of +the Psalm, and what it says. For it is just as true now as ever +it was, and just as precious to those who long to educate themselves +with the true education, which makes a man perfect, even as his Father +in heaven is perfect.</p> +<p>The Psalm is a prayer, or collection of short prayers, written by +some one who had two thoughts in his mind, and who was so full of those +two thoughts that he repeated them over and over again, in many different +forms, like one who, having an air of music in his head, repeats it +in different keys, with variation after variation; yet keeps true always +to the original air, and returns to it always at the last.</p> +<p>Now what two thoughts were in the Psalmist’s mind?</p> +<p>First: that there was something in the world which he must learn, +and would learn; for everything in this life and the next depended on +his learning it. And this thing which he wants to learn he calls +God’s statutes, God’s law, God’s testimonies, God’s +commandments, God’s everlasting judgments. That is what +he feels he must learn, or else come to utter grief, both body and soul.</p> +<p>Secondly: that if he is to learn them, God Himself must teach them +to him. I beg you not to overlook this side of the Psalm. +That is what makes it not only a psalm, but a prayer also. The +man wants to know something. But beside that, he prays God to +teach it to him.</p> +<p>He was not like too many now-a-days, who look on <!-- page 122--><a name="page122"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 122</span>prayer, +and on inspiration, as old-fashioned superstitions; who believe that +a man can find out all he needs to know by his own unassisted intellect, +and then do it by his own unassisted will. Where they get their +proofs of that theory, I know not; certainly not from the history of +mankind, and certainly not from their own experience, unless it be very +different from mine. Be that as it may, this old Psalmist would +not have agreed with them; for he held an utterly opposite belief. +He held that a man could see nothing, unless God shewed it to him. +He held that a man could learn nothing unless God taught him; and taught +him, moreover, in two ways. First taught him what he ought to +do, and then taught him how to do it.</p> +<p>Surely this man was, at least, a reasonable and prudent man, and +shewed his common-sense. I say—common-sense.</p> +<p>For suppose that you were set adrift in a ship at sea, to shift for +yourself, would it not be mere common-sense to try and learn how to +manage that ship, that you might keep her afloat and get her safe to +land? You would try to learn the statutes, laws, and commandments, +and testimonies, and judgments concerning the ship, lest by your own +ignorance you should sink her, and be drowned. You would try to +learn the laws about the ship; namely the laws of floatation, by fulfilling +which vessels swim, and by breaking which vessels sink.</p> +<p>You would try to learn the commandments about her. They would +be any books which you could find of rules of navigation, and instruction +in seamanship.</p> +<p><!-- page 123--><a name="page123"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 123</span>You +would try to learn the testimonies about the ship. And what would +they be? The witness, of course, which the ship bore to herself. +The experience which you or others got, from seeing how she behaved—as +they say—at sea.</p> +<p>And from whom would you try to learn all this? from yourself? +Out of your own brain and fancy? Would you invent theories of +navigation and shipbuilding for yourself, without practice or experience? +I trust not. You would go to the shipbuilder and the shipmaster +for your information. Just as—if you be a reasonable man—you +will go for your information about this world to the builder and maker +of the world—God himself.</p> +<p>And lastly; you would try to learn the judgments about the ship: +and what would they be? The results of good or bad seamanship; +what happens to ships, when they are well-managed or ill-managed.</p> +<p>It would be too hard to have to learn that by experience; for the +price which you would have to pay would be, probably, that you would +be wrecked and drowned. But if you saw other ships wrecked near +you, you would form judgments from their fate of what you ought to do. +If you could find accounts of shipwrecks, you would study them with +the most intense interest; lest you too should be wrecked, and so judgment +overtake you for your bad seamanship.</p> +<p>For God’s judgment of any matter is not, as superstitious people +fancy, that God grows suddenly angry, and goes out of His way to punish +those who do wrong, as by a miracle. God judges all things in +heaven and <!-- page 124--><a name="page124"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 124</span>earth +without anger—ay, with boundless pity: but with no indulgence. +The soul that sinneth, it shall die. The ship that cannot swim, +it must sink. That is the law of the judgments of God. But +He is merciful in this; that He rewardeth every man according to his +work. His judgment may be favourable, as well as unfavourable. +He may acquit, or He may condemn. But whether He acquits or condemns, +we can only know by the event; by the result. If a ship sinks, +for want of good sailing or other defect, that is a judgment of God +about the ship. He has condemned her. She is not seaworthy. +But if the ship arrives safe in port, that too is God’s judgment. +He has tried her and acquitted her. She is seaworthy; and she +has her reward.</p> +<p>How simple this is. And yet men will not believe it, will not +understand it, and therefore they wreck so often each man his own ship—his +own life and immortal soul, and sink and perish, for lack of knowledge.</p> +<p>For each one of us is at sea, each in his own ship; and each must +sail her and steer her, as best he can, or sink and drown for ever.</p> +<p>For the sea which each of us is sailing over is this world, and the +ship in which each of us sails, is our own nature and character; what +St Paul, like a truly scientific man, calls our flesh; and what modern +scientific men, and rightly, call our organisation. And the land +to which we are sailing is eternal Life. Shall we make a prosperous +voyage? Shall we fail, or shall we succeed? Shall we founder +and drown at sea, and sink to eternal death? Or shall we, as the +clergyman prayed for us when we were <!-- page 125--><a name="page125"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 125</span>baptized, +so pass through the waves of this troublesome world, that finally we +may come to the land of everlasting life? Which shall it be, my +friends? Shall we sink, or shall we swim? Certain is one +thing—that we shall sink, and not swim, if we do not learn and +keep the law, and commandments, and testimonies, and judgments of God, +concerning this our mortal life. If we do not, then we shall go +through life, without knowing how to go through life, ignorantly and +blindly; and the end of that will be failure, and ruin, and death to +our souls. If we do not know and keep the Laws of God, the Laws +of God will keep themselves, in spite of us, and grind us to powder. +Do not fancy that you may do wrong without being punished; and break +God’s Law, because you are not under the law, but under grace. +You are only under grace, as long as you keep clear of God’s Law. +The moment you do wrong you put yourself under the Law, and the Law +will punish you. Suppose that you went into a mill; and that the +owner of that mill was your best friend, even your father. Would +that prevent your being crushed by the machinery, if you got entangled +in it through ignorance or heedlessness? I think not. Even +so, though God be your best of friends, ay, your Father in heaven, that +will not prevent your being injured, it may be ruined, not only by wilful +sins, but by mere folly and ignorance. Therefore your only chance +for safety in this life and for ever, is to learn God’s laws and +statutes about your life, that you may pass through it justly, honourably, +virtuously, successfully. And the man who wrote the 119th Psalm +knew that, and said, “Oh that <!-- page 126--><a name="page126"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 126</span>my +ways were made so direct, that I might keep thy statutes.”</p> +<p>But moreover, you must learn God’s commandments. He has +laid down certain commands, certain positive rules which must be kept +if you do not intend to die the eternal death. So says our Lord. +“If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments.” +“Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and soul, +and thy neighbour as thyself.” There the ten commandments +are, and kept they must be; and if you break one of them, it will punish +you, and you cannot escape. And the man who wrote the 119th Psalm +knew that, and said, “With my whole heart have I sought thee: +oh let me not go wrong out of Thy commandments.”</p> +<p>Moreover, you must learn God’s testimonies: what He has witnessed +and declared about Himself, and His own character, His power and His +goodness, His severity and His love. And where will you learn +that, as in the Bible? The Bible is full of testimonies of God +in Christ about Himself; who He is, what He does, what He requires; +and of testimonies of holy men of old, concerning God and concerning +duty; concerning God’s dealings with their souls, and with other +men, and with all the nations of the old world, and with all nations +likewise to the end of time. And if people will not read and study +their Bibles, they cannot expect to know the way to eternal life. +That too the man who wrote the 119th Psalm knew, and said, “I +have had as great delight in Thy testimonies, as in all manner of riches.”</p> +<p>Moreover, you must learn God’s judgments; the way <!-- page 127--><a name="page127"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 127</span>in +which He rewards and punishes men. And those too you will learn +in the Bible, which is full of accounts of the just and merciful judgments +of God. And you may learn them too from your own experience in +life; from seeing what actually happens to those whom you know, when +they do right things; and what happens again, when they do wrong things. +If any man will open his eyes to what is going on around him in a single +city, or in the mere private circle of his own kinsfolk and acquaintance; +if he will but use his common sense, and look how righteousness is rewarded, +and sin is punished, all day long, then he might learn enough and to +spare about God’s judgments: but men will not. A man will +see his neighbour do wrong, and suffer for it: and then go and do exactly +the same thing himself; as if there were no living God; no judgments +of God; as if all was accident and chance; as if he was to escape scot-free, +while his neighbour next door has brought shame and misery on himself +by doing the same thing. For it was well written of old, “The +fool hath said in his heart—though he is afraid to say it with +his lips—There is no God.” And the man who wrote the +119th Psalm knew that, and said, “I remembered Thine everlasting +judgments, O Lord, and received comfort; for I was horribly afraid for +the ungodly who forsake Thy law.”</p> +<p>I say again: that the only way to attain eternal life is to know, +and keep, and profit by God’s laws, God’s commandments, +God’s testimonies, God’s judgments; and therefore it is +that the Psalmists say so often, that these laws and commandments are +Life. Not merely <!-- page 128--><a name="page128"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 128</span>the +way to eternal life; but the Life itself, as it is written in the Prayer-Book, +“O God, whom truly to know is everlasting life.”</p> +<p>But some will say, How shall I learn? I am very stupid, and +I confess that freely. And when I have learnt, how shall I act +up to my lesson? For I am very weak; and that I confess freely +likewise.</p> +<p>How indeed, my friends? Stupid we are, the cleverest of us; +and weak we are, the strongest of us. And if God left us to find +out for ourselves, and to take care of ourselves, we should not sail +far on the voyage of life without being wrecked; and going down body +and soul to hell.</p> +<p>But, blessed be God, He has not left us to ourselves. He has +not only commanded us to learn: He has promised to teach. And—as +I said in the beginning of my Sermon—he who wrote the 119th Psalm +knew that well. He knew that God would teach him and strengthen +him; enlightening his dull understanding, and quickening his dull will; +and therefore his Psalm, as I said, is a prayer, a prayer for teaching, +and a prayer for light; and he cries to God—My soul cleaveth to +the dust. I am low-minded, stupid, and earthly at the best. +Oh quicken Thou me; that is—Oh give me life—more life—according +to Thy word.</p> +<p>Thy Word. The Word of God, of whom the Psalmist says—O +Lord, Thy Word endureth for ever in heaven. Even the Word of God, +Jesus Christ our Lord, the Son of Man who is in heaven; and who, because +He is in heaven, both God and man, can and will give us light and life, +now and for ever.</p> +<p><!-- page 129--><a name="page129"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 129</span>And +now take home with you this one thought. There is one education +which we must all get; one thing which we must all learn, and learn +to obey, or come to utter shame and ruin, either in this world or the +world to come; and that is the laws, and commandments, and testimonies +of God,—God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit; +for only by keeping them can we enter into eternal life. And if +we wish to know them, God himself will teach us them. And if we +wish, to keep them, God himself will give us strength to keep them. +Amen.</p> +<h2><b><!-- page 130--><a name="page130"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 130</span>SERMON +XII. THE REASONABLE PRAYER.</b></h2> +<p style="text-align: center"><span class="smcap">Psalm cxix</span>. +33, 94.</p> +<blockquote><p>O Lord, teach me Thy statutes, and I shall keep them +to the end. I am Thine, O save me; for I have kept Thy commandments.</p> +</blockquote> +<p>Some who heard me last Sunday, both morning and afternoon, may have +remarked an apparent contradiction between my two sermons. I hope +they have done so. For then I shall hope that they are facing +one of the most difficult, and yet most necessary, of all problems; +namely the difference between the Law and the Gospel. In my morning +sermon I spoke of the eternal law of God—how it was unchangeable +even as God its author, rigid, awful, inevitable by every soul of man, +and certain, if he kept it, to lead him into all good, for body, soul, +and spirit: but certain, too, if he broke it, to grind him to powder.</p> +<p>And in the afternoon, I spoke of the Gospel and Free Grace of God—how +that too was unchangeable, even as God its author; full of compassion +and tender mercy, and forgiveness of sins; willing not the death <!-- page 131--><a name="page131"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 131</span>of +a sinner; but rather that he should be converted, and live.</p> +<p>But how are these two statements, both scriptural; both—as +I hold from practical experience, true to the uttermost, and not to +be compromised or explained away—how are they to be reconciled, +I say? By these two texts. By taking them both together, +and never one without the other; and by taking them, also, in the order +in which you find them, and never—as too many do—the second +before the first. At least this was the opinion of the Psalmist. +He first seeks God’s commandments and statutes, and prays—Give +me understanding and I shall keep Thy law, yea, I shall keep it with +my whole heart. Make me to go in the path of Thy commandments; +for therein is my desire. And then, only then, finding himself +in trouble, anxiety, even in danger of death, he feels he has a sort +of right to cry to God to help him out of his trouble, and prays—I +am Thine, oh save me!</p> +<p>And why? What reason can he give why God should save him? +Because, he says, I have sought Thy commandments.</p> +<p>Now let all rational persons lay this to heart; and consider it well. +There are very few, heathens and savages, as well as Christians, who +will not cry, when they find themselves in trouble—Oh save me. +The instinct of every man is, to cry to some unseen persons or powers +to help him. If he does not cry to the true and good God, he will +cry to some false or bad God; or to some idol, material or intellectual, +of his own <!-- page 132--><a name="page132"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 132</span>invention. +But that is no reason why his prayers should be heard. We read +of old heathens at Rome, who prayed to Mercury, the god of money-making—“Da +mihi fallere,”—Help me to cheat my neighbours: while the +philosophers, heathen though they were, laughed, with just contempt, +at such men and their prayers, and asked—Do you suppose that any +God, if he be worth calling a God, will answer such a request as that? +Nay, in our own times, have not the brigands of Naples been in the habit +of carrying a leaden image of St Januarius in their hats, and praying +to it to protect them in their trade of robbery and murder? I +leave you to guess what answer good St Januarius, and much more He who +made St Januarius, and all heaven and earth, was likely to give to such +a prayer as that.</p> +<p>So it is not all prayers for help that are heard, or deserve to be +heard. And indeed—I do not wish to be hard, but the truth +must be spoken—there are too many people in the world who pray +to God to help them, when they are in difficulties or in danger, or +in fear of death and of hell, but never pray at any other time, or for +any other thing. They pray to be helped out of what is disagreeable. +But they never pray to be made good. They are not good, and they +do not care to become good. All they care for, is to escape death, +or pain, or poverty, or shame, when they see it staring them in the +face: and God knows I do not blame them. We are all children, +and, like children, we cry out when we are hurt; and that is no sin +to us. But that is no part of godliness, not even of mere religion.</p> +<p><!-- page 133--><a name="page133"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 133</span>But +worse—it is still more sad to have to say it, but it is true—most +people’s notions of the next world, and of salvation, as they +call it, are just as childish, material, selfish as their notions of +this world.</p> +<p>They all wish and pray to be “saved.” What do they +mean? To be saved from bodily pain in the next life, and to have +bodily pleasure instead. Pain and pleasure are the only gods which +they really worship. They call the former—hell. They +call the latter—heaven. But they know as little of one as +of the other; and their notions of both are equally worthy of—Shall +I say it? Must I say it?—equally worthy of the savage in +the forest. They believe that they must either go to heaven or +to hell. They have, of course, no wish to go to the latter place; +for whatever else there is likely to be there—some of which might +not be quite unpleasant or new to them, such as evil-speaking, lying, +and slandering, envy, hatred, malice and all uncharitableness, bigotry +included—there will be certainly there—they have reason +to believe—bodily pain; the thing which they, being mostly comfortable +people, dread most, and avoid most: contrary, you will remember, to +the opinion of the blessed martyrs, who dreaded bodily pain least, and +avoided it least, of all the ills which could befal them. Wherefore +they are, in the sight of God, and of all true men unto this day—the +blessed martyrs.</p> +<p>But these people—and there are too many of them by hundreds +of thousands—do not want to be blessed. They only want to +be comfortable in this world, and in the next. As for blessedness, +they do not even know <!-- page 134--><a name="page134"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 134</span>what +it means; and our Lord’s seven beatitudes, which begin—“Blessed +are the poor in spirit”—are not at all to their mind; even, +alas! alas! to the mind of many who call themselves religious and orthodox; +at least till they are so explained away, that they shall mean anything, +or nothing, save—I trust I am poor in spirit: and nevertheless +I am right, and everyone who differs from me is wrong.</p> +<p>The plain truth is—when all fine words, whether said in prayers +or sung in hymns, are stript off—that they do not wish to go to +hell and pain; and therefore prefer, very naturally, though not very +spiritually, to go to heaven and pleasure; and so sing of “crossing +over Jordan to Canaan’s shore,” or of “Jerusalem the +golden, with milk and honey blest,” and so forth, without any +clear notion of what they mean thereby, save selfish comfort without +end; they really know not what; they really care not where. And +that they may arrive there or at a far better place; and have their +wish, and more than their wish: I for one heartily desire. But +whether they arrive there, or not; and indeed, whether they arrive at +some place infinitely better or infinitely worse, depends on whether +they will give up selfish calculations of loss and gain, selfish choosing +between mere pain and pleasure: and choose this; choose, whatever it +may cost them, between being good and being bad, or even being only +half good; as little good as they can afford to be without the pains +of hell into the bargain.</p> +<p>My friends—What if Christ should answer such people—I +do not say that He does always answer them <!-- page 135--><a name="page135"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 135</span>so, +for He is very pitiful, and of tender mercy;—but what if He were +to answer them, Save you? Help you? O presumptuous mortal, +what have you done that Christ should save or help you? You are +afraid of being ruined. Why should you not be ruined? What +good will it be to your fellow-men if you keep your money, instead of +losing it? You are making nothing but a bad use of your money. +Why should Christ help you to keep it, and misuse it still more?</p> +<p>You are afraid of death. You do not wish to die. But +why should you not die? Why should Christ save you from death? +Of what use is your life to Christ, or to any human being? If +you are living a bad life, your life is a bad thing, and does harm not +only to yourself, but to your neighbours. Why should Christ keep +you alive to hurt and corrupt your neighbours, and to set a bad example +to your children? If you are not doing your duty where Christ +has put you, you are of no use, a cumberer of the ground. What +reason can you shew why He should not take you away, and put some one +in your place who <i>will</i> do his duty? You are afraid of being +lost—why should you <i>not</i> be lost? You are offensive, +and an injury to the universe. You are an actual nuisance on Christ’s +earth and in Christ’s Kingdom. Why should He not—as +He has sworn—cast out of His Kingdom all things which offend, +and you among the rest? Why should He not get rid of you, as you +get rid of vermin, as you get rid of weeds; and cast you into the fire, +to be burned up with all evil things? Answer that: before you +ask Christ to save you, and deliver <!-- page 136--><a name="page136"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 136</span>you +from danger, and from death, and from the hell which you so much—and +perhaps so justly—fear.</p> +<p>And how that question is to be answered, I cannot see.</p> +<p>Certainly the selfish man cannot answer it. The idle man cannot +answer it. The profligate man cannot answer it. They are +doing nothing for Christ; or for their neighbours, or for the human +race; and they cannot expect Christ to do anything for them.</p> +<p>The only men who can answer it; the only men, it seems to me, who +can have any hope of their prayers being heard, are those who, like +the Psalmist, are trying to do something for Christ, and their neighbours, +and the human race; who are, in a word, trying to be good. Those, +I mean, who have already prayed, earnestly and often, the first prayer, +“Teach me, O Lord, Thy statutes, and I shall keep them to the +end.” They have—not a right: no one has a right against +Christ, no, not the angels and archangels in heaven—not a right, +but a hope, through Christ’s most precious and undeserved promises, +that their prayers will be heard; and that Christ will save them from +destruction, because they are, at least, likely to become worth saving; +because they are likely to be of use in Christ’s world, and to +do some little work in Christ’s kingdom.</p> +<p>They are God’s: they are soldiers in Christ’s army. +They are labourers in Christ’s garden. They are on God’s +side in the battle of life, which is the battle of Christ and of all +good men, against evil, against sin and ignorance, and the numberless +miseries which sin and <!-- page 137--><a name="page137"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 137</span>ignorance +produce. They are not the profligate; they are not the selfish, +the idle; they are not the frivolous, the insolent; they are not the +wilfully ignorant who do not care to learn, and do not even—so +brutish are they—think that there is anything worth learning in +the world, save how to turn sixpence into a shilling, and then spend +it on themselves. Not such are those who may hope to have their +prayers heard, because they are worth hearing, and worth helping. +But they are the people who say to themselves, not once in their lives, +not once a week on Sundays, but every day and all day long—I must +be good; I will be good. I must be of use; I must be doing some +work for God; and therefore I must learn. I must learn God’s +laws, and statutes, and commandments, about my station, and calling, +and business in life. Else how can I do it aright? I dare +no more be ignorant, than I dare be idle. I must learn. +But how shall I learn? Stupid I am, and ignorant, and the more +I try to learn, the more I discover how stupid I am. The more +I do actually learn, the more I discover how ignorant I am. There +is so much to be learned; and how to learn it passes my understanding. +Who will teach me? How shall I get understanding? How shall +I get knowledge? And if I get them, how shall I be sure that they +are true understanding, and true knowledge? Mad people have understanding +enough; and so have some who are not mad, but merely fools. Wit +enough they have, active and rapid brains: but their understanding is +of no use, for it is only misunderstanding; and therefore the more clever +they are, the <!-- page 138--><a name="page138"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 138</span>more +foolish they are, and the more dangerous to themselves and their fellow-creatures. +Knowledge, too—how shall I be sure that my knowledge, if I get +it, is true knowledge, and not false knowledge, knowledge which is not +really according to facts? I see too many who have knowledge for +which I care little enough. Some know a thousand things which +are of no use to them, or to any human being. Others know a thousand +things: but know them in a shallow, inaccurate fashion; and so cannot +make use of them for any practical purpose. Others know a thousand +things: but know them all in a prejudiced and one-sided fashion; till +they see things not as things are, but as they are not, and as they +never will be; and therefore their knowledge, instead of leading them, +misleads them, and they misjudge facts, misjudge men, and earth, and +heaven, just as much as the man who should misjudge the sunlight of +heaven and fancy it to be green or blue, because he looked at it through +a green or blue glass. How then shall I get true knowledge? +Knowledge which will be really useful, really worth knowing? Knowledge +which I shall know accurately, and practically too, so that I can use +it in daily life, for myself and my fellow-men? Knowledge, too, +which shall be clear knowledge, not warped or coloured by my own fancies, +passions, prejudices, but pure, and calm, and sound; Siccum Lumen, “Dry +Light,” as the greatest of English Philosophers called it of old?</p> +<p>To all such, who long for light, that by the light they may see to +live the life, God answers, through His only-begotten <!-- page 139--><a name="page139"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 139</span>Son, +The Word who endureth for ever in heaven:—</p> +<p>“Ask, and ye shall receive; seek, and ye shall find; knock, +and it shall be opened to you. For if ye, being evil, know how +to give good gifts to your children, much more will your heavenly Father +give His Holy Spirit to those who ask Him.”</p> +<p>Yes, ask for that Holy Spirit of God, that He may lead you into all +truth; into all truth, that is, which is necessary for you to know, +in order to see your way through the world, and through your duty in +the world. Ask for that Holy Spirit; that He may give you eyes +to see things as they are, and courage to feel things as they are, and +to do your work in them, and by them, whether they be pleasant or unpleasant, +prosperous or adverse. Ask Him; and He will give you true knowledge +to know what a serious position you are in, what a serious thing life +is, death is, judgment is, eternity is; that you may be no trifler nor +idler, nor mere scraper together of gain which you must leave behind +you when you die: but a truly serious man, seriously intent on your +duty; seriously intent on working God’s work in the place and +station to which He has called you, before the night comes in which +no man can work.</p> +<p>If a man is doing that; if he is earnestly trying to learn what is +true, in order that he may do what is right; then he has—I do +not say a right—but at least a reason, or a shadow of reason, +when he cries to God in his trouble—</p> +<p><!-- page 140--><a name="page140"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 140</span>“I +am Thine, oh save me, for I have sought thy commandments.”</p> +<p>“I am Thine.” Not merely God’s creature: +the very birds, and bees, and flowers are that; and do their duty far +better than I—God forgive me—do mine.</p> +<p>“I am Thine.” Not merely God’s child: the +sinners and the thoughtless are that, though—God help them—they +care not for Him, nor for His laws, nor for themselves and their glorious +inheritance as children of God.</p> +<p>And I too am God’s child: but I trust that I am more. +I am God’s school-child. O Lord Jesus Christ, I claim Thy +help as my schoolmaster, as well as my Lord and Saviour. I am +the least of Thy school-children; and it may be the most ignorant and +most stupid. I do not pretend to be a scholar, a divine, a philosopher, +a saint. I am a very weak, foolish, insufficient personage; sitting +on the lowest form in Thy great school-house, which is the whole world; +and trying to spell out the mere letters of Thy alphabet, in hope that +hereafter I may be able to make out whole words, and whole sentences, +of Thy commandments, and having learnt them, do them. For if Thou +wilt but teach me Thy statutes, O Lord, then I will try to keep them +to the end. For I long to be on Thy side, and about Thy work. +I long to help—if it be ever so little—in making myself +better, and my neighbours better. I long to be useful, and not +useless; a benefit, and not a nuisance; a fruit-bearing tree, and not +a noxious weed, in Thy garden; and therefore I hope that Thou wilt not +cut me down, nor root me up, nor let foul creatures trample me under +<!-- page 141--><a name="page141"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 141</span>foot. +Have mercy on me, O Lord, in my trouble, for the sake of the truth which +I long to learn, and for the good which I long to do. Poor little +weak plant though I may be, I am still a plant of Thy planting, which +is doing its best to grow, and flower, and bear fruit to eternal life; +and Thou wilt not despise the work of Thine own hands, O Lord, who died +that I might live? Thou wilt not let me perish? I have stuck +unto Thy testimonies: O Lord, confound me not.</p> +<p>Therefore remember this. If you wish to have reasonable hope +when you have to pray—“Lord, save me:” pray first, +and pray continually—“Teach me, O Lord, Thy statutes, and +I will keep them to the end.”</p> +<h2><b><!-- page 142--><a name="page142"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 142</span>SERMON +XIII. THE ONE ESCAPE.</b></h2> +<p style="text-align: center"><span class="smcap">Psalm cxix</span>. +67.</p> +<blockquote><p>Before I was troubled, I went wrong: but now have I kept +Thy Word.</p> +</blockquote> +<p>Let me speak this afternoon once more about the 119th Psalm, and +the man who wrote it.</p> +<p>And first: he was certainly of a different opinion from nine persons +out of ten, I fear from ninety-nine out of a hundred, of every country, +every age, and every religion.</p> +<p>For, he says—Before I was troubled, I went wrong: but now have +I kept Thy Word. Whereas nine people out of ten would say to God, +if they dared—Before I was troubled, I kept Thy Word. But +now that I am troubled; of course I cannot help going wrong.</p> +<p>He makes his troubles a reason for doing right. They make their +troubles an excuse for doing wrong.</p> +<p>Is it not so? Do we not hear people saying, whenever they are +blamed for doing what they know to be wrong—I could not help it? +I was forced into it. What would you have a man do? One +must live; and so forth. <!-- page 143--><a name="page143"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 143</span>One +finds himself in danger, and tries to lie himself out of it. Another +finds himself in difficulties, and begins playing ugly tricks in money +matters. Another finds himself in want, and steals. The +general opinion of the world is, that right-doing, justice, truth, and +honesty, are very graceful luxuries for those who can afford them; very +good things when a man is easy, prosperous, and well off, and without +much serious business on hand: but not for the real hard work of life; +not for times of ambition and struggle, any more than of distress and +anxiety, or of danger and difficulty. In such times, if a man +may not lie a little, cheat a little, do a questionable stroke of business +now and then; how is he to live? So it is in the world, so it +always was; and so it always will be. From statesmen ruling nations, +and men of business “conducting great financial operations,” +as the saying is now, down to the beggar-woman who comes to ask charity, +the rule of the world is, that honesty is <i>not</i> the best policy; +that falsehood and cunning are not only profitable, but necessary; that +in proportion as a man is in trouble, in that proportion he has a right +to go wrong.</p> +<p>A right to go wrong. A right to make bad worse. A right +to break God’s laws, because we are too stupid or too hasty to +find out what God’s laws are. A right, as the wise man puts +it, to draw bills on nature which she will <i>not</i> honour; but return +them on a man’s hands with “No effects” written across +them, leaving the man to pay after all, in misery and shame. Truly +said Solomon of old—The foolishness of fools is folly.</p> +<p>But the Psalmist, because he was inspired by the <!-- page 144--><a name="page144"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 144</span>Spirit +of God, was of quite the opposite opinion. So far from thinking +that his trouble gave him a right to go wrong, he thought that his trouble +laid on him a duty to go right, more right than he had ever gone before; +and that going right was the only possible way of getting out of his +troubles.</p> +<p>“Take from me,” he cries, “the way of lying, and +cause Thou me to make much of Thy law.</p> +<p>“I have chosen the way of truth, and Thy judgments have I laid +before me.</p> +<p>“Incline mine heart unto Thy testimonies, and not unto covetousness.</p> +<p>“Oh turn away mine eyes, lest they behold vanity, and quicken +Thou me in Thy way.</p> +<p>“Thy word is my comfort in my trouble; for Thy word hath quickened +me.</p> +<p>“The proud have had me exceedingly in derision, yet have I +not shrunk from Thy law.</p> +<p>“For I remembered Thine everlasting judgments, O God, and received +comfort.</p> +<p>“Thy statutes have been my songs, in the house of my pilgrimage.</p> +<p>“I have thought upon Thy name, O Lord, in the night-season, +and have kept Thy law.”</p> +<p>This was the Psalmist’s plan for delivering himself out of +trouble. A very singular plan, which very few persons try, either +now, or in any age. And therefore it is, that so many persons +are not delivered out of their troubles, but sink deeper and deeper +into them, heaping <!-- page 145--><a name="page145"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 145</span>new +troubles on old ones, till they are crushed beneath the weight of their +own sins.</p> +<p>What the special trouble was, in which the Psalmist found himself, +we are not told. But it is plain from his words, that it was just +that very sort of trouble, in which the world is most ready to excuse +a man for lying, cringing, plotting, and acting on the old devil’s +maxim that “Cunning is the natural weapon of the weak.” +For the Psalmist was weak, oppressed and persecuted by the great and +powerful. But his method of defending himself against them was +certainly not the way of the world.</p> +<p>Princes, he says, sat and spoke against him. But; instead of +fawning on them, excusing himself, entreating their mercy: he was occupied +in God’s statutes.</p> +<p>The proud had him exceedingly in derision—as I am afraid too +many worldly men, poor as well as rich, working men as well as idlers, +would do now—seeing him occupied in God’s statutes, when +he might have been occupied in winning money, and place, and renown +for himself.</p> +<p>But he did not shrink from God’s law. If it was true, +he could afford to be laughed at for obeying it.</p> +<p>The congregation of the ungodly robbed him. But he did not +forget God’s law. If they did wrong, that was no reason +why he should do wrong likewise.</p> +<p>The proud imagined a lie against him. But he would keep God’s +commandments with his whole heart, instead of breaking God’s commandments, +and justifying their slander, and making their lie true.</p> +<p>Still, it went very hard with him. His honour and <!-- page 146--><a name="page146"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 146</span>his +faith were sorely tried. He was dried up like a bottle in the +smoke. It seems to have been with him at times a question of life +and death; till he had hardly any hope left. He had to ask, almost +in despair—How many are the days of Thy servant? When wilt +Thou be avenged of them that persecute me? The proud dug pits +for him, contrary to the law of God; contrary to honour and justice; +and almost made an end of him upon earth. The ungodly laid wait +to destroy him.</p> +<p>But against them all he had but one weapon, and one defence. +However much afraid he might be of his enemies, he was still more afraid +of doing wrong. His flesh, he said, trembled for fear of God; +and he was afraid of God’s judgments. Therefore his only +safety was, in pleasing God, and not men. I deal, he says, with +the thing that is lawful and right. Oh give me not over to my +oppressors. Make Thy servant to delight in what is good, that +the proud do me no wrong. If he could but keep right, he would +be safe at last.</p> +<p>I will consider Thy testimonies, O Lord. I see that all things +come to an end. Bad times, and bad chances, and still more bad +men, and bad ways for escaping out of trouble—they all come to +an end. But Thy commandment is exceeding broad. Exceeding +broad. There are depths below depths of meaning in that true saying; +depths which you will find true, if you will but read your Bibles, and +obey your Bibles. For in them, I tell you openly, you will find +rules to guide you in every chance and change of this mortal life. +Truly said the good man that there were in the Bible “shallows +where <!-- page 147--><a name="page147"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 147</span>a +lamb may drink, and deeps wherein an elephant may swim.”</p> +<p>There are no possible circumstances, good or bad, pleasant or unpleasant, +in which you can find yourselves, be you rich or poor, young or old, +without finding in the Bible sound advice, and a clear rule, as to how +God would have you behave under those circumstances. For God’s +commandments are exceeding broad, and take in all cases of conscience, +all details of duty; saying to each and every one of us, at every turn—“This +is the way, walk ye in it.”</p> +<p>At least this is the teaching, this is the testimony, this is the +life-experience, of a true hero, namely, the man who wrote the 119th +Psalm; a hero according to God, but not according to the world, and +the pomp and glory of the world.</p> +<p>No great statesman was he, nor conqueror, nor merchant, nor financier +passing millions of money through his hands yearly; and all fancying +that they, and not God, govern the nations upon earth, and decide the +fate of empires.</p> +<p>He was a man who made no noise in the world: though the world, it +seems, made a little noise at him in his time, as it does often bark +and yell at those who will not go its way; as it barked at poor Christian, +when he went through Vanity Fair, and would not buy its wares, or join +in its frivolities. Such a man was this Psalmist; for whom the +world had nothing but scorn first, and then forgetfulness. We +do not know his name, or where he lived. We do not even know, +within a few hundred <!-- page 148--><a name="page148"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 148</span>years, +when he lived. I picture him to myself always as a poor, shrivelled, +stooping, mean-looking old man; his visage marred more than any man, +and his figure more than the sons of men; no form nor comeliness in +him, nor beauty that men should desire him; despised and rejected of +men: a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief, even as his Master +was after him.</p> +<p>And all that he has left behind him—as far as we can tell—is +this one psalm which he wrote, as may be guessed from its arrangement, +slowly, and with exceeding care, as the very pith and marrow of an experience +spread over many painful years of struggle and of humiliation.</p> +<p>I say of humiliation. For there is not a taint of self-conceit, +not even of self-satisfaction, in him. He only sees his own weakness, +and want of life, of spirit, of manfulness, of power. His soul +cleaveth to the dust. He is tempted, of course, again and again, +to give way; to become low-minded, cowardly, time-serving, covetous, +worldly. But he dares not. He feels that his only chance +is to keep his honour unspotted; and he cries—Whatever happens,—I +must do right. I must learn to do right. Teach me to do +right. Teach me, O Lord, teach me; and strengthen me, O Lord, +strengthen me, and then all must come right at last. That was +his cry. And, be you sure, he did not cry in vain.</p> +<p>For this man had one precious possession; which he determined not +to lose, not though he died in trying to hold it fast; namely, the Eternal +Spirit of God; the <!-- page 149--><a name="page149"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 149</span>Spirit +of Righteousness, and Truth, and Justice, which leads men into all truth. +By that Spirit he saw into the Eternal Laws of God. By that Spirit +he saw who made and who administers those Eternal Laws, even the Eternal +Word of God, who endureth for ever in heaven. By that Spirit he +saw that his only hope was to keep those eternal laws. By that +Spirit he vowed to keep them. By that Spirit he had strength to +keep them. By that Spirit, when he failed he tried again; when +he fell he rose and fought on once more, to keep the commandments of +the Lord.</p> +<p>And where is he now? Where is he now? Where those will +never come—let false preachers and false priests flatter them +as they may—who fancy that they can get to heaven without being +good and doing good. Where those will never come, likewise, who, +when they find themselves in trouble, try to help themselves out of +it by false and mean methods; and so begin worshipping the devil, just +when they have most need to worship God. He is where the fearful +and unbelievers and all liars can never come. He is with the Word +of the Lord, who endureth for ever in heaven.</p> +<p>With the Word of the Lord, who endured awhile on earth, even as he +the Psalmist endured. Who before Pontius Pilate witnessed a good +confession, and endured the cross, despising the shame, because He cared +neither for riches, nor for pleasure, for power, nor for glory; but +simply for His Father’s will, and His Father’s law, that +He might do to the uttermost the will of His Father who sent Him, and +keep to the uttermost that Law of which <!-- page 150--><a name="page150"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 150</span>His +Father says to Him for ever—“Thou art my Son, to-day have +I begotten Thee.”</p> +<p>Into His presence may we all come at last! But we shall never +come thither, unless we keep our honour bright, our courage unbroken, +and ourselves unspotted from the world. For so only will be fulfilled +in us the sixth Beatitude—Blessed are the pure in heart, for they +shall see God. Unto which may God of His free mercy bring us all. +Amen.</p> +<h2><b><!-- page 151--><a name="page151"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 151</span>SERMON +XIV. THE WORD OF GOD.</b></h2> +<p style="text-align: center"><span class="smcap">Psalm cxix</span>. +89-96.</p> +<blockquote><p>O Lord, Thy word endureth for ever in heaven. Thy +truth also remaineth from one generation to another: Thou hast laid +the foundation of the earth, and it abideth. They continue this +day according to Thine ordinance: for all things serve Thee. If +my delight had not been in Thy law, I should have perished in my trouble. +I will never forget Thy commandments: for with them Thou hast quickened +me. I am Thine, oh save me: for I have sought Thy commandments. +The ungodly laid wait for me to destroy me: but I will consider Thy +testimonies. I see that all things come to an end: but Thy commandment +is exceeding broad.</p> +</blockquote> +<p>This text is of infinite importance, to you, and me, and all mankind. +For if the text is not true; if there is not a Word of God, who endures +and is settled for ever in heaven: then this world is a miserable and +a mad place; and the best thing, it seems to me, that we poor ignorant +human beings can do, is to eat and drink, for to morrow we die.</p> +<p>But that is not the best thing we can do; but the very worst thing. +The best thing that we can do, and the <!-- page 152--><a name="page152"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 152</span>only +thing worth doing is, to be good, and do good, at all risks and all +costs, trusting to the Word of God, who endures for ever in heaven.</p> +<p>But who is this Word of God? I say who, not what. We +often call the Bible the Word of God: and so it is in one sense, because +it tells us, from beginning to end, about this other Word of God. +It is, so to speak, God’s word or message about this Word. +But it is plain that the Psalmist is not speaking here of the Bible; +for he says—</p> +<p>“Thy Word endureth for ever in Heaven:” and the Bible +is not in heaven, but on earth.</p> +<p>But in the Bible, usually, this Word of the Lord means not only the +message which God sends, but Him by whom God sends it. The Word +of God, Word of the Lord, is spoken of again and again, not as a thing, +but as a person, a living rational being, who comes to men, and speaks +to them, and teaches them; sometimes, seemingly, by actual word of mouth; +sometimes again, by putting thoughts into their minds, and words into +their mouths.</p> +<p>Recollect Samuel: how when he was young the Word of the Lord was +precious—that is, uncommon, and almost unknown in those days; +and how the Lord came and called Samuel, Samuel; and put a word into +his mouth against Eli. And so the Lord appeared again in Shiloh; +for the Lord revealed Himself to Samuel in Shiloh by The Word of the +Lord. In Samuel’s case, there was, it seems, an actual voice, +which fell on Samuel’s ears. In the case of the later prophets, +we do not read that they usually heard any actual voice, or saw any +actual appearance. It seems that the Word <!-- page 153--><a name="page153"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 153</span>of +the Lord who came to them inspired their minds with true thoughts, and +inspired their lips to speak those thoughts in noble words, often in +regular poetry. But He was The Word of the Lord, nevertheless. +Again and again, we read in those grand old prophets, “The Word +of the Lord came unto me, saying,”—or again, “The +Word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying.” It is +not the Bible which is meant by such words as these—I am sorry +to have to remind a nineteenth century congregation of this fact—but +a living being, putting thoughts into the prophets’ minds, and +words into their mouths, and a divine passion too, into their hearts, +which they could not resist; like poor Jeremiah of old, when he was +reproached and derided about The Word of the Lord, and said, “I +will not make mention of Him, nor speak any more in His name. +But He was in my heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I +was weary with forbearing, and I could not hold my peace.”</p> +<p>But now, what words are these which we read of this same Word of +the Lord, in the first chapter of St John’s Gospel? “In +the beginning was The Word: and The Word was with God, and The Word +was God. By Him all things were made, and without Him was not +anything made that was made. And in Him was life, and the life +was the light of men.”</p> +<p>Thus—as always—the Old Testament and the New, the Psalmist +and St John, agree together.</p> +<p>This is the gospel and good news, which the Psalmist saw in part, +but which St John saw fully and perfectly. <!-- page 154--><a name="page154"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 154</span>But +because the Psalmist saw it even in part, he saw that The Word of the +Lord endured for ever in heaven; and that therefore his only hope of +safety was to listen eagerly and reverently for what that Word might +choose to say to him.</p> +<p>But why does the Psalmist seemingly go out of his way, as it were, +to say, “Thou hast laid the foundation of the earth, and it abideth. +They continue this day according to Thine ordinance, for all things +serve Thee”?</p> +<p>For the very same reason that St John goes, seemingly, out of his +way to say, “All things were made by The Word, and without Him +was not anything made that was made.”</p> +<p>Why is this?</p> +<p>Look at it thus: What an important question it is, whether This Word +of God is a being of order; a regular being; a law-abiding being; a +being on whose actions men can count; who can be trusted, and depended +on, not to alter His own ways, not to deceive us poor mortal men.</p> +<p>The Psalmist wants to know his way through this world, and his duty +in this mortal life. Therefore he must learn the laws and rules +of this world. And he has the sense to see, that no one can teach +him the rules of the world, but the Ruler of the world, and the Maker +of the world.</p> +<p>Then comes the terrible question—too many, alas! have not got +it answered rightly yet—</p> +<p>But are there any rules at all in the world? Does <!-- page 155--><a name="page155"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 155</span>The +Lord manage the world by rules and laws? Or does He let things +go by chance and accident, and take no care about them? Is there +such a thing as God’s Providence: or is there not? To that +the Psalmist answers firmly, because he is inspired by the Spirit of +God—</p> +<p>O Lord, Thy Word endureth—is settled—for ever in heaven. +In Thee is no carelessness, neglect, slothfulness, nor caprice. +Thou hast no variableness, neither shadow of turning. Thou hast +laid the foundation of the earth, and it abideth. They continue +this day according to Thine ordinance; for all things serve Thee. +The world is full of settled and enduring rules and laws; and God keeps +to them. The Psalmist looks at the sun, moon and stars over his +head, each keeping its settled course, and its settled season: and he +sees them all obeying law. He looks at summer and winter, seedtime +and harvest: and he sees them obeying law. He looks at birth and +growth, at decay and death; and sees them too, obeying law. He +looks at the very flowers beneath his feet, and the buds in the woodland, +and all the crowd of living things about him, animal, vegetable and +mineral: and they too obey law; each after their kind. The world, +he says, is full of law. It is a settled world, an orderly world, +made and governed by a Lord of order, who makes laws and enforces laws; +a Lord whose Word endures for ever in heaven. Therefore—he +feels—I can trust that Lord. If He has laws for the beasts +and birds, He must have, much more, laws for men. If He has laws +for men’s bodies, much more has <!-- page 156--><a name="page156"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 156</span>He +laws for their souls. What I have to do, is to ask Him to teach +me those laws, that I may live.</p> +<p>But then comes another, and even a more awful question—If I +ask Him, will He teach me? Alas! alas! too many have not found +the answer yet; too many of those who know most about the Laws of Nature, +and reverence those laws most: and all honour to them for so doing; +for, even though they know it not, they are preparing the way of the +Lord, and making His paths straight. But they have not found the +right answer to that question yet. Still there the question is; +and you and I, and every soul of man, must get some reasonable answer +or other to it, if we wish to be men indeed, men in spirit and in truth; +and it is this—</p> +<p>If I ask this Word of God to teach me His Laws—Will He teach +me? Will He hear me? Can He hear: or is He Himself a mere +brute force, a law of nature and necessity? And even if not, will +He hear? Or is He, too, like those Epicurean gods, of whom our +great poet sings—a sad and hopeless song:—</p> +<blockquote><p>They lie beside their nectar, and the bolts are hurled<br /> +Far below them in the valleys, and the clouds are lightly curled<br /> +Round their golden houses, girdled with the gleaming world,<br /> +Where they smile in secret, looking over wasted lands,<br /> +Blight and famine, plague and earthquake, roaring deeps and fiery sands,<br /> +Clanging fights, and flaming towns, and sinking ships, <i>and praying +hands</i>.</p> +</blockquote> +<p><i>And praying hands</i>. Oh, my friends, is not the question +of all questions for such poor mortal souls as <!-- page 157--><a name="page157"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 157</span>you +and me, beset by ignorance and weakness, and passions which are our +own worst enemies, and chances and catastrophes which we cannot avert—Is +not the question of all questions for such as us—Will this same +Word of God—will any unseen being out of the infinite void which +surrounds our little speck of a planet, take any notice of our praying +hands? Will He hear us, teach us, when we cry? Or is God, +and The Word of God, like those old heathen gods? Is He a God +who hides Himself, and leaves us to despair and chance: or is He a God +who hears, and gives us even a single ray of hope? Is He a gracious +God, who will hear every man’s tale, however clumsily told, and +judge it according to its merits: or even—for that is better than +dead silence and carelessness—according to its demerits? +Is He a just God? Or has He likes and dislikes, favourites and +victims; as human rulers and statesmen, and human parties too, and mobs, +are wont to have? May He not, even, like those Epicurean gods, +despise men? find a proud satisfaction in deceiving them; or at least +letting them deceive themselves?—in playing with their ignorance, +and leaving them to reap the fruits of their own childishness?</p> +<p>To that the Psalmist answers—and I know not how he learnt to +answer so, save by the inspiration of the Spirit of God; for I know +well that neither flesh and blood, the experience of his own brain, +thoughts, and emotions, nor the world around him, either of nature or +of man, would ever have revealed that to him—to that he answers +confidently, in spite of all appearances—</p> +<p><!-- page 158--><a name="page158"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 158</span>Thy +truth, O Lord, abideth from one generation to another. Thou art +a truthful God, a faithful God, whose word can be taken. A God +in whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning; who keepeth His +promise for ever; true, as man can be true; and truer than the truest +man. And I know it, says he, by experience. God has actually +taught me His law: for if my delight had not been in it, I should have +perished in my trouble. I will never forget His commandments; +for by them He has given me life; has taught me what to do, and enabled +me to do it, to prevent the death and ruin of my body, and soul, and +spirit.</p> +<p>Now for the very same reason it is, that St John is so careful, first +to tell us that The Word of God made all things; and then to tell us +that He is full of grace and truth.</p> +<p>He tells us that The Word made all things, that we may be sure that +He is a God of order, because all things which He has made are full +of order; a God who acts by rules and laws which we may trust. +He tells us that The Word made all things, that we may be sure that +all things, being His handy-work, will bear witness of Him and teach +us about Him, and shew forth His glory.</p> +<p>But he tells us moreover—Oh gospel, and good news for blind +and weak humanity!—that The Word’s glory is full of grace; +gracious; ready to condescend; ready to teach us, and give us light +to see our way through this world which He has made.</p> +<p>He tells us that The Word’s glory is full of truth; that He +is truthful, accurate, and to be depended on; <!-- page 159--><a name="page159"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 159</span>and +will tell us nothing but what is true. That He is a true Word +of God, and when He speaks to us of His Father and of our Father, He +tells the truth.</p> +<p>And so do St John and the Psalmist agree in the same gospel, and +good news, of the mystery of Christ The Word.</p> +<p>There is an eternal Being in heaven, who is called The Word of God; +because He speaks of, and reveals—that is, unveils and shews—to +men, and angels, and archangels, and all created beings, that God whom +no man hath seen, or can see; a Word who dwells for ever in the bosom +of The Father, in the light which no man can approach unto: but who +for ever comes forth from thence to proclaim to all created beings—There +is a God, and The Word is His likeness; the brightness of His glory, +and the express image of His person. None hath seen the Father +at any time: but the only-begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, +He hath declared Him. None cometh to the Father, but through Him. +But he who hath seen Him, hath seen the Father; and He is none other +than Jesus Christ our Lord.</p> +<p>He is The Word of God, who speaks to men God’s words, because +He speaks not His own words but His Father’s, and does not His +own will but His Father’s who sends Him.</p> +<p>He speaks to us and to all men, in many ways; and to each according +to his needs. To all men, Christ speaks through their consciences, +shewing them what is good, and warning them of what is evil; for He +is the Light that lighteth every man that cometh into the <!-- page 160--><a name="page160"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 160</span>world. +To Christians Christ speaks in many ways—to which, alas, too few +give heed—through the Bible, through the sacraments, through sermons, +through the thoughts and words of all wise and holy men. To the +good He speaks with gracious encouragement; to the wicked with awful +severity. To the hypocrites He says at times, “Ye serpents, +ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?” +To the self-satisfied and bigoted He says, “If ye had been blind, +ye had had no sin: but now ye say, We see; therefore your sin remaineth.” +To the careless and worldly He says, “I know thy works, that thou +art neither cold nor hot. Thou sayest, I am rich and increased +with goods, I have need of nothing: and knowest not that thou art wretched, +and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked.”</p> +<p>To those who are ruining themselves by their own folly He says, “Why +will ye die? I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth, +saith the Lord: but rather that he should be converted, and live.” +To those who are tormented by their own passions He says, “Take +My yoke upon you and learn of Me, for I am meek and lowly of heart, +and ye shall find rest unto your souls.” To those who are +wearied with the burden of their own sins He says, “Come unto +Me, all ye that are weary, and heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”</p> +<p>To those who are struggling, however weakly, to do what is right +He says, “I know thy works. Behold, I have set before thee +an open door, and none can shut it; for thou hast a little strength, +and hast kept My word, <!-- page 161--><a name="page161"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 161</span>and +hast not denied My name. Because thou hast kept the word of My +patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation.”</p> +<p>And to those who mourn for those whom they have loved and lost He +says, “Fear not, I am the first and the last, I am He that liveth, +and was dead; and behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the +keys of hell and of death. He that believeth in Me, though he +die, yet shall he live; and he that liveth and believeth in Me shall +never die.”</p> +<p>For every one of us, according to his character and his needs, Christ +speaks a fitting word from God, because He is The Word of God; and every +word which He speaks to us is true, and sure, and eternal, according +to the laws of God His Father. For He is The Word who endures +for ever in heaven; and though heaven and earth may pass away, His words +cannot pass away.</p> +<p>Yes; Christ The Word speaks to all: but most of all to children: +to the children, of whom He said—“Suffer the little children +to come to me, and forbid them not;”—of whom He said to +grown-up people, not—Except these children be converted and become +as you—He left that message for the Pharisees of His own time, +and of every age and creed: but—Except you grown people be converted +and become as little children, you, and not they, shall in no wise enter +into the kingdom of heaven.</p> +<p>Let us tell children that—that Christ Himself is speaking to +them. That The Word of God is educating them. That the Light +who lightens every man who comes into the world is labouring to enlighten +them, <!-- page 162--><a name="page162"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 162</span>their +intellect and memory, their emotions and their consciences. Let +that be the ground of all our education of children. Then it will +matter little to us who teaches them what is miscalled secular knowledge. +For we shall tell our children—In it, too, Christ is teaching +you. The understanding by which you understand the world about +you is Christ’s gift. The world which you are to understand +is Christ’s world; for He laid the foundation of the earth, and +it abideth. The physical laws of the universe are Christ’s +laws; for all things serve Him, and continue this day according to His +ordinance. Every natural object is a result of Christ’s +will, and its organization a product of Christ’s mind; for without +Him was not anything made that was made. The whole course of events, +great and small, is Christ’s providence; for to Him all power +is given in heaven and earth. So far, therefore, from being afraid +to teach our children Natural Science, we shall hold it a sacred duty +to teach it; for it is the will and mind of Christ, The Word of God.</p> +<p>And as for morality—we shall be ready to teach that, as far +as the prudential and paying virtues are concerned, as boldly and on +the very same grounds as the merest Utilitarian. For we shall +teach honesty, courtesy, decency, self-restraint, patience, foresight, +on the warrant of the Bible; which is, that Christ has made the world +so well, that sooner or later every wise and just act rewards itself, +every foolish and unjust act punishes itself, by the very constitution +of nature and society, which again are laid down by Christ. But +what of the nobler, the non-prudential, and non-paying virtues?—call +them rather <!-- page 163--><a name="page163"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 163</span>graces.—Them +we shall teach our children—as I believe we can only teach them +rationally and logically, either to children or to grown-up people—by +pointing them to Christ upon His cross, and saying to them, “Behold +your God!”</p> +<p>For so we shall be able to train them in the orthodox doctrine of +morals, which is—</p> +<p>That there is nothing good in man which is not first in God.</p> +<p>We shall be able to make them comprehend what we mean when we tell +them that they are members of Christ, and must live the Life of Christ; +that they are children of God, and as such must imitate their Father, +and become perfect, even as their Father in heaven is perfect.</p> +<p>For we shall say—The pure and perfect graces, the disinterested +virtues, the unselfish virtues—obedience, mercy, chivalry, beneficence, +magnanimity, heroism,—in one word, self-sacrifice—beautiful +these are: but are they necessary? are they mere ornaments? or are they +sacred duties? The duty which dares and suffers for the thing +it ought to do; the love which dares and suffers for the thing it loves; +the unselfish spirit which looks for no reward:—why should these +dwell in man? To that we shall answer—Because they dwell +for ever in God. If we are asked—Why are they beautiful +in man? we shall answer—Because they are the very beauty and glory +of God; the glory which the Incarnate Word of God manifested to men, +when He hung on the cross of Calvary; and was more utterly then, if +possible, than ever, The Word of God: because He then declared most +<!-- page 164--><a name="page164"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 164</span>utterly +to men the character and essence of God. Love which is not content—as +what true love is?—to be a passive sentiment, a self-contained +possibility, but which must go out of itself, pitying, yearning, agonizing, +to seek, to struggle, to suffer, and, if need be, to die for the creature +which it loves, even if that creature love it not again.</p> +<p>We need not say this to children. We need only point them to +Christ upon His cross, and trust Christ to say it to them, in their +heart of hearts, through instincts too deep for words. All we +need say to our children is—“Behold your God! He it +is who inspires you with every dutiful, generous, and unselfish impulse +you have ever felt; for they are the fruits of His Spirit. By +that Spirit He was once unselfish even to the death. By that Spirit +He will enable you to carry out in action, as He did, the unselfish +instincts which He has given you; and to live the noble life, the heroic +life, the life of self-sacrifice; the life of God; the life of the Father, +and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit; and therefore the only life +fit for those who are baptized into that Holy Name.”</p> +<p>This is the ground and method on which we should educate our children; +for it is the ground and method on which The Word of God is educating +us.</p> +<h2><b><!-- page 165--><a name="page165"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 165</span>SERMON +XV. I.</b></h2> +<p style="text-align: center"><span class="smcap">Psalm cxix</span>. +94.</p> +<blockquote><p>I am Thine, oh save me.</p> +</blockquote> +<p>Let us think seriously this afternoon of one word; the word which +is the key-note of this psalm. A very short word; for in our language +there is but one letter in it. A very common word; for we are +using it all day long when we are awake, and even at night in our dreams; +and yet a very wonderful word, for though we know well whom it means, +yet what it means we do not know, and cannot understand, no, nor can +the wisest philosopher who ever lived; and a most important word too; +for we cannot get rid of it, we cannot help thinking of it, cannot help +saying it all our life long from childhood to the grave. After +death, too, we shall probably be saying that word to ourselves, each +of us, for ever and ever. If the whole universe, sun, moon, and +stars, and all that we ever thought of, or can think of, were destroyed +and became nothing, that word would probably be left; and we should +be left alone with it; and on what we meant by that little word would +depend our everlasting happiness <!-- page 166--><a name="page166"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 166</span>or +misery. And what is this wonderful little word? What but +the word I? Each one of us says I—I think, I know, I feel, +I ought, I ought not, I did that, and cannot undo it: and why? +Because we are not things, nor mere animals, but persons, living souls, +though our bodies are like the bodies of animals, only more perfect, +that they may be fit dwelling-places for more perfect souls. The +animals, as far as we know, do not think of themselves each as I. +Little children do not at first. They call themselves by names +by which they hear others call them: not in the first but in the third +person. After a while there grows up in them the wonderful thought +that they are persons, different from any other person round them, and +they begin to say—I want this, I like that. I trust that +I shall not seem to you as one who dreams when I say that I believe +that is a revelation from God to each child, and just what makes the +difference between him and an animal; that God teaches each child to +say I; to know that it is not a mere thing, but a person, a living soul, +with a will of its own, and a duty of its own; responsible for itself; +which ought to do some things, and ought not to do other things. +And what a solemn and awful revelation that is, we shall see more clearly, +the more we think of it.</p> +<p>It may be a very dreadful and tormenting thought. It does not +torment the mere savage, who has no sense of right and wrong; who follows +his own appetites and passions, and has never learnt to say, “I +ought,” and “I ought not.” But it does torment +the heathen when they begin to be civilized, and to think; it has tormented +<!-- page 167--><a name="page167"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 167</span>them +in all ages. It tormented the old Greeks and Romans; it torments +some Eastern peoples still—that terrible thought—I am I +myself, and cannot be any one else. I am answerable for all that +I ever did, or shall do; and no one can be answerable for me. +All the bad deeds I ever did, the bad thoughts I ever thought, are mine, +parts of me, and will be for ever. I can no more escape from them +than I can spring off my own shadow. But men have been always +trying to escape; to escape from the burden of their own self, and the +dread of an evil conscience; and have invented religion after religion, +often fantastic enough, often pathetic enough likewise, in hopes of +hiding from themselves the secret thought—I am I, and must be +myself for ever. But I am not what I ought to be, and therefore +I may be wrong, and miserable for ever. And how many people, in +this Christian land, are saying at this very moment to themselves, “Oh +that I could get rid of this I myself in me, which is so discontented +and unhappy! Oh that I had no conscience! Oh that I could +forget myself!” And they try to forget themselves by dissipation, +by gaming, by drinking, by taking narcotic drugs, even sometimes by +suicide, as a last desperate attempt to escape from themselves, they +know not and care not whither. It is all in vain. There +is no escape from self. As the pious poet whose bust stands beneath +yonder tower has said:</p> +<blockquote><p>Each in his separate sphere of joy and woe<br /> +Our hermit spirits dwell, and range apart.</p> +</blockquote> +<p>I must be I, thou must be thou, he must be he, she must be she, and +no one else, throughout our mortal lives, and, <!-- page 168--><a name="page168"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 168</span>for +aught we can tell, for ever; alone, each of us, with our own souls, +our own thoughts, our own actions, our own hopes, our own fears, our +own deservings. Stay alone:—with all these? Yes, and +alone with one more. Each of us is alone with God. Face +to face with God, seen by Him through and through, and directly answerable +to Him at every moment of our lives, for every deed, and word, and thought. +And is that not a more terrible thought than any? Ah! my friends, +it may be. But it may be also the most comforting of all thoughts, +the only really comforting thought, if we will but look at the question +as the Psalmist looks at it, and cry with him to God, “I am Thine, +oh save the me whom Thou hast made.”</p> +<p>There are those, and those who deserve a respectful hearing, who +will differ from all that I have been saying, and indeed from the beliefs +of 999 out of 1000 of the human race in every age. They will say—This +fancy that you are an I, a self, individual and indivisible, is but +a fancy; one of the many idols which man creates for himself, by bestowing +reality and personality on mere abstractions like this I and self. +Each man is not one indivisible, much less indestructible, thing or +being. He is really many things. He is the net result of +all the organic cells of his body, and of all the forces which act through +them within, and of all the circumstances which influence them from +without, ay, and of all the forces and circumstances which have influenced +his ancestors ever since man appeared on the earth. But because +he remembers many states of consciousness, many moments in which he +was aware of sensations within him, and of <!-- page 169--><a name="page169"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 169</span>circumstances +without him, therefore he strings all these together, and talks of them +as one thing which he calls I; and speaks of them as his remembrances +of himself, when really the many things are but links of a chain which +is perpetually growing at one end and dropping off at the other. +To say, therefore, that he is the same person as he was when a child, +or as he would be when an old man,—is, when we know that every +atom of his physical frame has changed again and again during the course +of years, a popular delusion, or at least a misnomer used for convenience’ +sake; as when we say that the sun rises and sets, when we know that +the earth moves, and not the sun. A man, therefore, according +to this school, is really no more a person, one and indivisible, than +is the coral with its million polypes, the tree with its million buds, +or even the thunderstorm with its million vesicles of attracting and +repelling vapour.</p> +<p>Now that a truth underlies such a theory as this, I am the last to +deny. How much of the character of each man is inherited, how +much of it depends on his actual bodily organization; how much of it, +alas! on the circumstances of his youth; how much of it changes with +the mere physical change from youth to old age—who does not know +all this, who has ever needed to fight for himself the battle of life? +Only, I say, this is but half the truth; and these philosophers cannot +state their half-truth, without employing the very words which they +repudiate; without using the very personal pronouns, the I and me, the +thou and thee, the he and him, to which they deny any real existence. +Beside, I ask—Is the <!-- page 170--><a name="page170"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 170</span>experience +and the conclusion of the vast majority of all mankind to go for nothing? +For if there be one point on which human beings have been, and are still, +agreed, it is this—that each of them is, to his joy or his sorrow, +an I; a separate person. And, I should have said, this conviction +becomes stronger and stronger in each of them, the more human they become, +civilized, and worthy of the respect and affection of their fellow-men.</p> +<p>For what rises in them, or seems to rise, more and more painfully +and fiercely? What but that protest, that battle, between the +everlasting I within them, and their own passions, and motives, and +circumstances; which St Paul of old called the battle between the spirit +on one side, and the flesh and the world on the other. The nobler, +surely, and healthier, even for a moment, the manhood of any man is, +the more intense is that inward struggle, which man alone of all the +animals endures. Is it in moments of brave endeavour, whether +to improve our own character, or to benefit our fellow-men: or is it +in moments of depression, disappointment, bodily sickness, that we are +tempted to say?—I will fight no more. I cannot mend myself, +or the world. I am what nature has made me; and what I am, I must +remain. I, and all I know, and all I love, are things, not persons; +parts of nature, even as the birds upon the bough, only more miserable, +because tormented by a hope which never will be fulfilled; an empty +pageant of mere phenomena, blown onward toward decay, like dying autumn +leaves, before the “everlasting storm which no one guides.” +Is this the inward voice of health and strength? or <!-- page 171--><a name="page171"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 171</span>rather, +for evil or for good, that voice which bids the man, the woman, in the +mysterious might of the free I within, trample on their own passions, +defy their own circumstances, even to the death; fall back, in utter +need, on the absolute instinct of self; and even though all seem lost, +say with Medea in the tragedy—</p> +<blockquote><p>Che resta? Io!</p> +</blockquote> +<p>Medea?—Some one will ask, and have a right to ask—Is +that the model which you set before us? The imperious sorceress, +who from the first has known no law but self, her own passions, her +own intellect; who, at last, maddened by a grievous wrong, asserts that +self by the murder of her own babes? You might as well set before +us as a model Milton’s Satan.</p> +<p>Just so. Remember first, nevertheless, the old maxim, that +the best, when corrupted, is the worst; that the higher the nature, +when used aright in its right place, the baser it becomes when used +wrongly, in its wrong place. When Satan fell from his right place, +said the old Jews, he became, remember, not a mere brute: but worse, +a fiend. There is a deep and true philosophy in that. As +long as he was what he was meant to be—the servant of God—he +was an archangel and more; the fairest of all the sons of the morning. +When he rebelled; when in pride and self-will he tore himself—his +person—away from that God in whom he lived and moved and had his +being: the personality remained; he could still, like Medea, fall back, +even when he knew that he had rebelled against his Creator, on his indomitable +self, and reign a self-sufficing king, even in the depths of hell.</p> +<p><!-- page 172--><a name="page172"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 172</span>But +the very strength and richness of that personality made him, like Medea, +only the more capable of evil. He stood, that is, his moral health +endured, only by loyalty to God. When he lost that, he fell; to +moral disease: disease the vaster, the vaster were his own capacities.</p> +<p>And so it is with you, and me, and every soul of man. Only +by loyalty to God can this undying I, this self, this person, which +each of us has—or rather which each of us is—be anything +but a torment and a curse; the more terrible to us, and those around +us, the stronger and the richer are the nature and faculties through +which it works.</p> +<p>Wouldest thou not be a curse unto thy self? Then cry with him +who wrote the 119th Psalm—I am Thine. Oh save the me, whom +Thou, O God, hast made.</p> +<p>For he who wrote that psalm had an intense conviction of his own +personality. I, and me, are words for ever in his mouth: but not +in self-satisfied conceit; nor in self-tormenting superstition, crying +perpetually, Shall I be saved? shall I be lost? No. Faith +in God delivers him from either of these follies. He is forced +to think of self. Sad, persecuted, seemingly friendless, he is +alone with self: yet not alone. For at every moment he is referring +himself to his true place in the universe; to God; God’s law, +God’s help. The burden of self—of mingled responsibility +and weakness—is to him past bearing. It would be utterly +past bearing, if he could not cast it down, at least at moments, at +the foot of the throne of God, and cry, I am Thine. Oh save me.</p> +<p><!-- page 173--><a name="page173"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 173</span>And +if any should ask—as has been asked ere now—But is there +not in this tone of mind something undignified, something even abject? +thus to cry for help, instead of helping oneself? thus to depend on +another being, instead of bearing stoically with manly independence? +I answer—The Psalmist does bear stoically, just because he cries +for help. For the old Stoics cried for help; the earlier and truer-hearted +of them, at least. Some here, surely, have read Epictetus, the +heathen whose thought most exactly coincides with that of the Psalmist. +If so, do they not see what enabled him, the slave of Nero’s minion, +to assert himself, and his own unconquerable personality; to defy circumstance; +and to preserve his own calm, his own honour, his own purity, amid a +degradation which might well have driven a good man to suicide? +And was it not this—The intensity of his faith in God? In +God the helper, God the guide?</p> +<p>If any man here have learnt, to his own loss, to undervalue the experience +of prophets, psalmists, apostles: then let him turn to Epictetus the +heathen; and learn from that heroic slave, that the true dignity of +man lies in true faith in God.</p> +<p>Nay more. It is a serious question, whether ungodliness—by +which I mean, as the Psalmist means, the assertion of self, independent +of God—whether ungodliness, I say, is ever dignified; whether, +as has been often said, Milton’s still dignified Satan is not +an impossible character; whether Goethe’s utterly undignified +Mephistopheles is not the true ideal of an utterly evil spirit. +Ungodliness, as we see it manifested in human beings, <!-- page 174--><a name="page174"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 174</span>may +be repulsive, as in the mere ruffian, whose mouth is filled with cursing, +and his feet swift to shed blood. It may, again, be pitiable, +as in those human butterflies, who live only to enjoy, or to minister +to, what they call luxury and fashion. And it may be again—when +it calmly and deliberately asserts itself to be a philosophy, and an +explanation of man and of the universe, and gives itself magisterial +airs, however courteously and kindly—it may be then, I dare to +think, a little ludicrous.</p> +<p>But as for its dignity, I leave to you to say which of the two beings +is the more dignified, which the more abject—a little organism +of flesh and blood, at most not more than six feet high, liable to be +destroyed by a tile off the roof, or a blast of foul gas, or a hundred +other accidents; standing self-poised and self-complacent in the centre +of such an universe as this, and asserting that it acknowledges no superior, +and needs no guide—or the same being, awakened to the mystery +of his own actual weakness, his possible strength; his own actual ignorance, +his possible wisdom; his own actual sinfulness, his possible holiness: +and then; by a humility which is the highest daring; by a self-distrust +which is the truest self-assertion, vindicating the divine element within, +by taking personal and voluntary service under no less a personage than +Him who made him; and crying directly to the Creator of sun and stars +and all the universe—I am Thine. Oh save the me which Thou +hast made?</p> +<p>Make up your own minds, make up your minds, which of the two figures +is the more abject, which the <!-- page 175--><a name="page175"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 175</span>more +dignified. For me, I have had too good cause, long since, to make +up mine.</p> +<p>And if you wish to judge further for yourselves, whether the teaching +of the Psalmist is more likely to produce an abject or a dignified character, +I advise you to ponder carefully a certain singular—I had almost +said unique—educational document, written by men who had thoroughly +imbibed the teaching of this psalm; a document which, the oftener I +peruse it, arouses in me more and more admiration; not only for its +theology, but for its knowledge of human nature; and not only for what +it does, but for what it does not, say. I mean the Catechism of +the Church of England.</p> +<p>You will remark at first sight, that it does not affect to teach +the child; with one remarkable exception to be hereafter noticed. +It does not tell the child—You should do this, you should not +do that.</p> +<p>It is strictly an Educational Catechism. It tries to educe—that +is, draw out—what is in the child already; its own native instincts +and native conscience. Therefore it makes the child speak for +itself. It makes each child feel that he or she is an I; a person, +a responsible soul. It begins—What is your name? It +makes the child confess that it has a name, as a sign that it is a person, +a self, a soul, different from all other persons in earth or heaven; +and that its name was given it at baptism, for a sign that God made +it a person, and wishes it to know that it is a person, and will teach +it how to be a true person, and a good person. It teaches the +child to say—I, and me, not in fear and dread, <!-- page 176--><a name="page176"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 176</span>like +those heathen of whom I spoke just now, but with manly confidence, and +self-respect, and gratitude to God who has made it a person, and an +immortal soul.</p> +<p>To say—I am a person; and in order that I might be a right +kind of person, and not a wrong kind, I was made a member of Christ, +a child of God, and an inheritor of the kingdom of heaven.</p> +<p>To say—I am a person; and that I may be a right kind of person, +I must know and believe certain things concerning God Himself, Father, +Son, and Holy Ghost. I am a person; and that I may be a right +kind of person, I must keep certain commandments and do certain duties +toward God, and my parents, and my Queen, and my country, and my neighbour, +and all toward whom I am responsible for right behaviour.</p> +<p>And then, and only then, after it has made the child say all this +for itself and about itself, the Catechism does begin to teach; and +in a few very short words, tell the child about that which is not itself—</p> +<p>“My good child, know this, that thou art not able to do these +things of thyself, nor to walk in the Commandments of God, and to serve +Him, without His special grace; which thou must learn at all times to +call for by diligent prayer.”</p> +<p>Now consider these words. There is comfort and strength in +them; comfort for the child; comfort for you, and me, and every human +being who has awakened to the sense of his own personal responsibility, +and finds it too often a burden heavier than he—and, alas, often, +she—can bear.</p> +<p><!-- page 177--><a name="page177"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 177</span>The +Catechism tells the child that it must not merely know doctrines about +God, or do duties to God; but more: that it is alone with God Himself, +face to face with God Himself day and night. But that therefore +it is to dread God, and look up to God as a taskmaster and tyrant, and +try to hide from God’s awful eye, and forget God, and forget itself—if +it can?—God forbid; God forbid. The Catechism leaves such +teaching for those Pharisees who tell little children that unless they +are converted, and become as them, they shall in no wise enter into +the kingdom of heaven. The Catechism says, My good child—not, +My bad child—know this. Know that thou art weak: but know +that God is strong; and look up to Him as the Father of all fathers, +the Teacher of all teachers, the Helper of all helpers, the Friend of +all friends, who has I called thee unto His kingdom of grace, that He +might shew thee graciousness; and make thee gracious and graceful in +all thy thoughts, and works, and ways: and, therefore, far from trying +to hide from Him, call on Him with diligent prayer. For the Father +of all fathers is the Father of thy soul, the Son of all sons died for +thee upon the Cross, the Holy Spirit of all holy spirits will make thee +a holy spirit and person, even as He is a Holy Spirit and Person Himself.</p> +<p>Believing those words, no one will dare to forget to say his prayers. +For when he prays, he is indeed a person. He is himself; and not +ashamed, however sinful, to be himself; and to tell God about himself. +Oh, think of that. You, each of you, have a right, as God’s +children, to speak to the God who made the <!-- page 178--><a name="page178"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 178</span>universe. +Therefore be sure, that when you dislike to say your prayers, it is +because you do not like to be what you are, a person; and prefer—ah +foolish soul—to be a thing, and an animal.</p> +<p>Believing those words, no man need long to forget himself, to escape +from himself. He can lift up himself to God who made him, with +reverence, and fear, and yet with gratitude and trust, and say—</p> +<p>I, Lord, am I; and what I am—a very poor, pitiful, sinful person. +But Thou, Lord, art Thou; and what Thou art—happily for me, and +for the whole universe—Perfect. Thou art what Thou oughtest +to be—Goodness itself. And therefore Thou canst, and Thou +wilt, make me what I ought to be at last, a good person. To thee, +O Lord, I can bring the burden of this undying I, which I carry with +me, too often in shame and sadness, and ask Thee to help me to bear +it; saying—“Thou knowest, Lord, the secrets of our hearts. +Shut not Thy merciful ears to our prayers: but spare us, O Lord most +Holy, O God most Mighty, Thou worthy Judge Eternal, and suffer us not, +for any temptation of the world, the flesh or the devil, to fall from +Thee.” Guide me, teach me, strengthen me, till I become +such a person as Thou wouldst have me be; pure and gentle, truthful +and high-minded, brave and able, courteous and generous, dutiful and +useful, like Thy Son Jesus Christ when He increased not only in stature, +but in favour with God and man.</p> +<p>To which may God in His mercy bring us all! Amen.</p> +<h2><b><!-- page 179--><a name="page179"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 179</span>SERMON +XVI. THE CEDARS OF LEBANON.</b></h2> +<p style="text-align: center"><span class="smcap">Psalm civ</span>. +16.</p> +<blockquote><p>The trees of the Lord are full of sap; the cedars of +Lebanon, which He hath planted.</p> +</blockquote> +<p>Let me say a few words this afternoon about the noble 104th Psalm, +which was read this afternoon, as it is now in many churches, and most +wisely and rightly, as the Harvest Psalm. It is a fit psalm for +a service in which we thank God for such harvest as He has thought best +to send us, whether it be above or below the average. But it is +also a fit psalm to be thought earnestly over just now, considering +the turn which men’s minds are taking more and more in these times +in which it has pleased God that we should live. For we have lost, +all of us, unlearned as well as learned, the old superstitious notions +about this world around us which our forefathers held for many hundred +years. No rational person now believes that witches can blight +crops or cattle, or that evil spirits cause storms. No one now +believes that nymphs and fairies live in fountains or in trees; or that +the spirits of the planets rule the fates of men. That <!-- page 180--><a name="page180"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 180</span>old +belief is gone, for good and for evil, and it was good that it should +go; for it was false: and falsehoods can do no good, but only harm, +to any man, in body and in soul alike. It has died out quickly +and strangely. Some say that modern science has destroyed it. +I can hardly agree to that: for it has died out—and that almost +since my own recollection and under my own eyes—in the minds of +country people, who know nothing of science. I had rather say—as +I presume the man who wrote the 104th Psalm would have said—The +Lord has taken the belief out of men’s hearts and minds. +And I cannot but hope that He has taken it away, and allows us to believe +no more in demons and fairies ruling the world around us, in order that +we may believe in Him, and nothing but Him, the true Ruler of the world; +in Him of whom it is written, “Him shalt thou worship, and Him +only shalt thou serve;” even God the Father, of whom are all things, +and God the Son, by whom are all things, and God the Holy Spirit, who +is the Lord and Giver of life, alike to sun and stars over our heads, +and to the meanest weed and insect under our feet; the Lord and Giver +of life alike to matter and spirit, soul and body, worm and man, and +angel and archangel before the throne of God. I hope it is so. +I trust it is so. For we never had more need than now to believe +with all our hearts in the living God; to take into all our hearts the +teaching of the 104th Psalm. For now that we have given up believing +in superstitions, we are in danger of going to the other extreme, and +believing in nothing at all which we cannot see with our eyes, and <!-- page 181--><a name="page181"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 181</span>handle +with our hands. Now that we have given up believing in the fabled +supernatural; in ghosts, fairies, demons, witches, and such-like: we +are in danger of giving up believing in the true and eternal supernatural, +which is the Holy Spirit of God, by whom the whole creation is kept +alive and sound. We are in danger of falling into a low, stupid, +brutish view of this wonderful world of God in which we live; in danger +of thinking of nature—that is, of the things which we can see +and handle—only as something of which we can make use—till +we fall as low as that poor ruffian, of whom the poet says:</p> +<blockquote><p>A primrose on the river’s brim<br /> +A yellow primrose was to him,<br /> + And it was nothing more.</p> +</blockquote> +<p>Lower, that is, than even our own children, whom God has at least +taught to admire and love the primroses for their beauty—as something +precious and divine, quite independent of their own emotions about them. +Men in these days are but too likely to fall into the humour of those +poor savages, of whom one who knows them well said to me once—bitterly +but truly—that when a savage sees anything new, however wonderful +or beautiful, he has but two thoughts about it; first—Will it +hurt me? and next—Can I eat it? And from that truly brutish +view of God’s world, we shall be delivered, I believe, only by +taking in with our whole hearts the teaching of the 104th Psalm; which +is indeed the teaching of all Holy Scripture throughout.</p> +<p>The Psalmist, in the passage which I have chosen, is <!-- page 182--><a name="page182"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 182</span>talking +of the circulation of water on the earth; how wisely and well it is +ordered; how the vapours rise off the sea, till the waters stand above +the mountain-tops, to be brought down in thunder-storms—for in +his country, as in many hot ones, thunder was generally needed, at the +end of the dry season, to bring down the rain; how it forms springs +in the highland, and flows down from thence in brooks and rivers, making +the whole lowland green and fertile. Well—all very true, +you may say. But that is simply a matter of science, or indeed +of common observation and common sense. It is not a subject for +a psalm or for a sermon.</p> +<p>True: in the words in which I have purposely put it. But not +in the words in which the Psalmist puts it; and which I purposely left +out, to shew you just the difference between even the soundest science, +and faith. He brings in another element, which is the true cause +of the circulation of water; and that is, none other but Almighty God.</p> +<p>This is the way in which the inspired Psalmist puts it; and this +is the truth of it all; this is the very kernel and marrow and life +and soul of it all: while the facts which I told you just now are the +mere shell and dead skeleton of it—“<i>Thou</i> sendest +the springs into the rivers.”</p> +<p>Thou art the Lord of the lightning and of the clouds, the Lord of +the highlands and of the lowlands, and the Lord of the rainfall and +of the drought, the Lord of good seasons and of bad, of rich harvests +and of scanty. They, like all things, obey Thine everlasting laws; +and of them, <!-- page 183--><a name="page183"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 183</span>whatever +may befal, poor purblind man can say in faith and hope—“It +is the Lord, let Him do what seemeth Him good.”</p> +<p>Yes. He was not of course a man of science, in the modern sense +of the word, this old Psalmist. But this I know, that he was a +man of science in the soundest and deepest sense; an inspired philosopher, +as well as an inspired poet; and had the highest of all sciences, which +is the science and knowledge of the living God. For he saw God +in everything and everything in God.</p> +<p>But—he says—the trees of the Lord are full of sap; even +the cedars of Lebanon which He hath planted. Why should he say +that specially of the cedars? Did not God make all trees? +Does He not plant all wild trees, and every flower and seed? My +dear friends, happy are you if you believe that in spirit and in truth. +But let me tell you that I think you would not have believed that, unless +the Psalmist, and others who wrote the Holy Scriptures, had told you +about trees of God, and rivers of God, and winds of God, and had taught +you that the earth is the Lord’s and the fulness thereof. +You do not know—none of us can know—how much we owe to the +Bible for just and rational, as well as orthodox and Christian, notions +of the world around us. We, and—thank God—our forefathers +for hundreds of years, have drunk in Bible thoughts, as it were, with +our mother’s milk; till much that we have really learnt from the +Bible we take as a matter of course, as self-evident truths which we +have found out for ourselves by common sense.</p> +<p><!-- page 184--><a name="page184"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 184</span>And +yet, so far from that being the case, if it had not been for the Bible, +we might be believing at this moment, that one god made one tree, and +another another; that one tree was sacred to one god, and another flower +to another goddess, as the old Greeks believed; and that the wheat and +barley were the gift, and therefore the property, of some special deity; +and be crying now in fear and trembling to the sun-god, or the rain-god, +or some other deified power of nature, because we fancied that they +were angry with us, and had therefore sent us too much rain and a short +harvest.</p> +<p>It is difficult, now-a-days, to make even cultivated people understand +the follies of those who, like the heathen round the Jews, worshipped +many gods: and all the more because our modern folly runs in a different +channel; because we are tempted, not to believe in many gods, but in +no God at all; to believe not that one god made one thing and another +another, but that all things have made themselves.</p> +<p>When Hiram, king of Tyre, sent down timber cut from the cedars of +Lebanon, to build the temple of God for Solomon; his heathen workmen, +probably, were angry and terrified at what they were doing. They +said among themselves—“These cedars belong to Baal, or to +Melkart, the gods of Tyre. Our king has no right to send them +to build the temple of Jehovah, the God of the Jews. It is a robbery, +and a sacrilege; and Baal will be angry with us; and curse us with drought +and blight.”</p> +<p>But now-a-days men say—“The cedars of Lebanon are not +God’s trees, nor are any other trees. They <!-- page 185--><a name="page185"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 185</span>belong +to nature.” Now I believe in nature no more than I do in +Baal. Nature is merely things—a great many things it is +true, but only things—and when I add them all up together, and +call them nature, as if they were one thing, I make an abstraction of +them. There is no harm in that: but if I treat that abstraction +as if it really existed, and did anything, then I make of it an idol, +the which I have no mind to do. I believe, I say, in nature no +more than I do in Baal. Both words were at first symbols; and +both have become in due course of time mere idols. But those who +worship nature and not God, say now—God did not make trees; they +were made by the laws of nature and nothing else. Well: I believe +that the so-called philosophers who say that, will be proved at last +to be no more right, and no more rational, than those heathen workmen +of Tyre. But meanwhile, what the Psalmist says, and what the Bible +says, is—Those trees belong to God. He made them, He made +all things; the sap—the mysterious life in them, by which each +grows and seeds according to its kind—is His gift. Their +growth is ordered by Him; and so are all things in earth and heaven.</p> +<p>Then why speak of them especially as trees of God? Because, +my friends, we can only find out that something is true of many things, +by finding out that it is true of one thing; and that we usually find +out by some striking instance; some case about which there can be no +mistake. And these cedars of Lebanon were, and are still, such +a striking instance, which there was no mistaking. Upon the slopes +of the great snow-mountain of Lebanon <!-- page 186--><a name="page186"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 186</span>stood +those gigantic cedar-trees—whole forests of them then—now +only one or two small groups, but awful, travellers tell us, even in +their decay. Whence did they come? There are no trees like +them for hundreds, I had almost said for thousands, of miles. +There are but two other patches of them left now on the whole earth, +one in the Atlas, one in the Himalaya. The Jews certainly knew +of no trees like them; and no trees either of their size. There +were trees among them then, probably, two and three hundred feet in +height; trees whose tops were as those minster towers; whose shafts +were like yonder pillars; and their branches like yonder vaults. +No king, however mighty, could have planted them up there upon the lofty +mountain slopes. The Jew, when he entered beneath the awful darkness +of these cedars; the cedars with a shadowy shroud—as the Scripture +says—the cedars high and lifted up, whose tops were among the +thick boughs, and their height exalted above all the trees of the field; +fair in their greatness; their boughs multiplied, and their branches +long—for it is in such words of awe and admiration that the Bible +talks always of the cedars—then the Jew said, “God has planted +these, and God alone.” And when he thought, not merely of +their grandeur and their beauty, but of their use; of their fragrant +and incorruptible timber, fit to build the palaces of kings, and the +temples of gods; he said—and what could he say better?—“These +are trees of God;” wonderful and glorious works of a wonderful +and a glorious Creator. If he had not, he would have had less +reason in him, and less knowledge of God, than the Hindoos of old; who +<!-- page 187--><a name="page187"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 187</span>when +they saw the other variety of the cedar growing, in like grandeur, on +the slopes of the Himalaya, called them the Deodara—which means, +in the old Sanscrit tongue, neither more nor less than “the timber +of God,” “the lance of God”—and what better +could they have said?</p> +<p>My friends, I speak on this matter from the fulness of my heart. +It has happened to me—through the bounty of God, for which I shall +be ever grateful—to have spent days in primeval forests, as grand, +and far stranger and far richer than that of Lebanon and its cedars; +amid trees beside which the hugest tree in Britain would be but as a +sapling; gorgeous too with flowers, rich with fruits, timbers, precious +gums, and all the yet unknown wealth of a tropic wilderness. And +as I looked up, awestruck and bewildered, at those minsters not made +by hands, I found the words of Scripture rising again and again unawares +to my lips, and said—Yes: the Bible words are the best words, +the only words for such a sight as this. These too are trees of +God which are full of sap. These, too, are trees, which God, not +man, has planted. Mind, I do not say that I should have said so, +if I had not learnt to say so from the Bible. Without the Bible +I should have been, I presume, either an idolater or an atheist. +And mind, also, that I do not say that the Psalmist learnt to call the +cedars trees of God by his own unassisted reason. I believe the +very opposite. I believe that no man can see the truth of a thing +unless God shews it him; that no man can find out God, in earth or heaven, +unless God condescends to reveal Himself to that man. But I believe +that God did reveal Himself to <!-- page 188--><a name="page188"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 188</span>the +Psalmist; did enlighten his reason by the inspiration of His Holy Spirit; +did teach him, as we teach a child, what to call those cedars; and, +as it were, whispered to him, though with no audible voice: “Thou +wishest to know what name is most worthy whereby to call those mighty +trees: then call them trees of God. Know that there is but one +God, of whom are all things; and that they are His trees; and that He +planted them, to shew forth His wisdom, His power, and His good will +to man.”</p> +<p>And do you fancy that because the Jew called the great cedars trees +of God, that therefore he thought that the lentiscs and oleanders, by +the brook outside, were not God’s shrubs; or the lilies and anemones +upon the down below were not God’s flowers? Some folk have +fancied so.—It seems to me most unreasonably. I should have +thought that here the rule stood true; that that which is greater contains +the less; that if the Psalmist knew God to be mighty enough to make +and plant the cedars, he would think Him also mighty enough to make +and plant the smallest flower at his feet. I think so. For +I know it was so with me. My feeling that those enormous trees +over my head were God’s trees, did not take away in the least +from my feeling of God’s wisdom and power in the tiniest herb +at their feet. Nay rather, it increased my feeling that God was +filling all things with life and beauty; till the whole forest,—if +I may so speak in all humility, but in all honesty—from the highest +to the lowest, from the hugest to the smallest, and every leaf and bud +therein, seemed full of the glory of God. And if I could feel +that,—<!-- page 189--><a name="page189"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 189</span>being +the thing I am—how much more must the inspired Psalmist have felt +it? You see by this very psalm that he did feel it. The +grass for the use of cattle, and the green herb for men, and the corn +and the wine and the oil, he says, are just as much God’s making, +and God’s gift. The earth is “filled,” he says, +“with the fruit of God’s works.” Filled: not +dotted over here and there with a few grand and wonderful things which +God cares for, while He cares for nothing else: but filled. Let +us take the words of Scripture honestly in their whole strength; and +believe that if the Psalmist saw God’s work in the great cedars, +he saw it everywhere else likewise.</p> +<p>Nay, more: I will say this. That I believe it was such teaching +as that of this very 104th Psalm—teaching which runs, my friends, +throughout the Old Testament, especially through the Psalmists and the +Prophets—which enabled the Jews to understand our Lord’s +homely parables about the flowers of the field and the birds of the +air. Those of them at least who were Israelites indeed; those +who did understand, and had treasured up in their hearts, the old revelation +of Moses, and the Psalmists, and the Prophets; those who did still believe +that the cedars were the trees of God, and that God brought forth grass +for the cattle, and green herb for the service of men; and who could +see God’s hand, God’s laws, God’s love, working in +them—those men and women, be sure, were the very ones who understood +our Lord, when He said, “Consider the lilies of the field, how +they grow. They toil not, neither do they spin. And <!-- page 190--><a name="page190"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 190</span>yet +I say unto you, that Solomon in all his glory was not compared unto +one of these.”</p> +<p>And why should it not be so with you, townsfolk though you are? +Every Londoner has now, in the public parks and gardens, the privilege +of looking on plants and flowers, more rich, more curious, more varied +than meet the eye of any average countryman. Then when you next +avail yourselves of that real boon of our modern civilization, let me +beg you not to forget the lesson which I have been trying to teach you.</p> +<p>You may feel—you ought to feel—that those strange and +stately semitropic forms are indeed plants of God; the work of a creative +Spirit who delights to employ His Almighty power in producing ever fresh +shapes of beauty—seemingly unnecessary, seemingly superfluous, +seemingly created for the sake of their beauty alone—in order +that the Lord may delight Himself in His works. Let that sight +make you admire and reverence more, not less, the meanest weed beneath +your feet. Remember that the very weeds in your own garden are +actually more highly organized; have cost—if I may so say, with +all reverence, but I can only speak of the infinite in clumsy terms +of the finite—the Creator more thought, more pains, than the giant +cedars of Lebanon, and the giant cypresses of California. Remember +that the smallest moss or lichen which clings upon the wall, is full +of wonders and beauties, as inexplicable as unexpected; and that of +every flower on your own window-sill the words of Christ stand literally +true—that Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed as one of these: +and bow your <!-- page 191--><a name="page191"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 191</span>hearts +and souls before the magnificent prodigality, the exquisite perfection +of His work, who can be, as often as He will, greatest in that which +is least, because to His infinity nothing is great, and nothing small; +who hath created all things, and for His pleasure they are, and were +created; who rejoices for ever in His own works, because He beholds +for ever all that He makes, and it is very good.</p> +<p>And then refresh your hearts as well as your brains—tired it +may be, too often, with the drudgery of some mechanical, or merely calculating, +occupation—refresh your hearts, I say, by lifting them up unto +the Lord, in truly spiritual, truly heavenly thoughts; which bring nobleness, +and trust, and peace, to the humblest and the most hardworked man.</p> +<p>For you can say in your hearts—All the things which I see, +are God’s things. They are thoughts of God. God gives +them law, and life, and use. My heavenly Father made them. +My Saviour redeemed them with His most precious blood, and rules and +orders them for ever. The Holy Spirit of God, which was given +me at my baptism, gives them life and power to grow and breed after +their kinds. The divine, miraculous, and supernatural power of +God Himself is working on them, and for them, perpetually: and how much +more on me, and for me, and all my children, and fellow-creatures for +whom Christ died. Without my Father in heaven not a sparrow falls +to the ground: and am I not of more value than many sparrows? +God feeds the birds: and will He not feed me? God clothes the +lilies of the field: and will He not <!-- page 192--><a name="page192"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 192</span>clothe +me? Ah, me of little faith, who forget daily that in God I live, +and move, and have my being, and am, in spite of all my sins, the child +of God. Him I can trust in prosperous times, and in disastrous +times; in good harvests and in bad harvests; in life and in death, in +time and in eternity. For He has given all things a law which +cannot be broken. And they continue this day as at the beginning, +serving Him. And if I serve Him likewise, then shall I be in harmony +with God, and with God’s laws, and with God’s creatures, +great and small. The whole powers of nature as well as of spirit +will be arrayed on my side in the struggle for existence; and all things +will work together for good to those who love God.</p> +<h2><b><!-- page 193--><a name="page193"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 193</span>SERMON +XVII. LIFE.</b></h2> +<p style="text-align: center"><span class="smcap">Psalm civ</span>. +24, 28-30.</p> +<blockquote><p>O Lord, how manifold are Thy works! in wisdom hast Thou +made them all: the earth is full of Thy riches.</p> +<p>That Thou givest them they gather. Thou openest Thine hand, +they are filled with good. Thou hidest Thy face, they are troubled. +Thou takest away their breath, they die, and return to their dust. +Thou sendest forth Thy Spirit, they are created: and Thou renewest the +face of the earth.</p> +</blockquote> +<p>What is the most important thing to you, and me, and every man?</p> +<p>I suppose that most, if they answered honestly, would say—Life. +I will give anything I have for my life.</p> +<p>And if some among you answered—as I doubt not some would—No: +not life: but honour and duty. There is many a thing which I would +rather die than do—then you would answer like valiant and righteous +folk; and may God give you grace to keep in the same mind, and to hold +your good resolution to the last. But you, too, will agree that, +except doing your duty, life is the most important thing you have. +The mother, <!-- page 194--><a name="page194"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 194</span>when +she sacrifices her life to save her child, shews thereby how valuable +she holds the child’s life to be; so valuable that she will give +up even her own to save it.</p> +<p>But did you never consider, again—and a very solemn and awful +thought it is—that this so important thing called life is the +thing, above all other earthly things, of which we know least—ay, +of which we know nothing?</p> +<p>We do not know what death is. We send a shot through a bird, +and it falls dead—that is, lies still, and after a while decays +again into the dust of the earth, and the gases of the air. But +what has happened to it? How does it die? How does it decay? +What is this life which is gone out of it? No man knows. +Men of science, by dissecting and making experiments, which they do +with a skill and patience which deserve not only our belief, but our +admiration, will describe to us the phenomena, or outward appearances, +which accompany death, and follow death. But death itself—for +want of what the animal has died—what has gone out of it—they +cannot tell. No man can tell; for that is invisible, and not to +be discovered by the senses. They are therefore forced to explain +death by theories, which may be true, or false: but which are after +all not death itself, but their own thoughts about death put into their +own words. Death no man can see: but only the phenomena and effects +of death; and still more, life no man can see: but only the phenomena +and effects of life.</p> +<p><!-- page 195--><a name="page195"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 195</span>For +if we cannot tell what death is, still more we cannot tell what life +is. How life begins; how it organizes each living thing according +to its kind; and makes it grow; how it gives it the power of feeding +on other things, and keeping up its own body thereby: of this all experiments +tell us as yet nothing. Experiment gives us, here again, the phenomena—the +visible effects. But the causes it sees not, and cannot see.</p> +<p>This is not a matter to be discussed here. But this I say, +that scientific men, in the last generation or two, have learnt, to +their great honour, and to the great good of mankind—everything, +or almost everything, about it—except the thing itself; and that, +below all facts, below all experiments, below all that the eye or brain +of man can discover, lies always a something nameless, invisible, imponderable, +yet seemingly omnipresent and omnipotent; retreating before the man +of science deeper and deeper, the deeper he delves: namely, the life, +which shapes and makes all phenomena, and all facts. Scientific +men are becoming more and more aware of this unknown force, I had almost +said, ready to worship it. More and more the noblest minded of +them are becoming engrossed with that truly miraculous element in nature +which is always escaping them, though they cannot escape it. How +should they escape it? Was it not written of old—Whither +shall I go from Thy presence? and whither shall I flee from Thy Spirit?</p> +<p>What then can we know of this same life, which is so precious in +most men’s eyes?</p> +<p>My friends, it was once said—That man’s instinct <!-- page 196--><a name="page196"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 196</span>was +in all unknown matters to take refuge in God. The words were meant +as a sneer. I, as a Christian, glory in them; and ask, Where else +should man take refuge, save in God? When man sees anything—as +he must see hundreds of things—which he cannot account for; things +mysterious, and seemingly beyond the power of his mind to explain: what +safer, what wiser word can he say than—This is the Lord’s +doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes? God understands it: though +I do not. Be it what it may, it is a work of God. From God +it comes: by God it is ruled and ordered. That at least I know: +and let that be enough for me. And so we may say of life. +When we are awed, and all but terrified, by the unfathomable mystery +of life, we can at least take refuge in God. And if we be wise, +we shall take refuge in God. Whatever we can or cannot know about +it, this we know; that it is the gift of God. So thought the old +Jewish Prophets and Psalmists; and spoke of a breath of God, a vapour, +a Spirit of God, which breathed life into all things. It was but +a figure of speech, of course: but if a better one has yet been found, +let the words in which it has been written or spoken be shewn to me. +For to me, at least, they are yet unknown. I have read, as yet, +no wiser words about the matter than those of the old Jewish sages, +who told how, at the making of the world, the Spirit, or breath, of +God moved on the face of the waters, quickening all things to life; +or how God breathed into man’s nostrils the breath or spirit of +life, and man became a living soul.</p> +<p><!-- page 197--><a name="page197"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 197</span>And +in the same temper does that true philosopher and truly inspired Psalmist, +who wrote the 139th Psalm, speak of the Spirit or breath of God. +He considers his own body: how fearfully and wonderfully it is made; +how God did see his substance, yet being imperfect; and in God’s +book were all his members written, which day by day were fashioned, +while as yet there was none of them. “Thou,” he says, +“O God, hast fashioned me behind and before, and laid Thine hand +upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful and excellent for me; +I cannot attain to it.” “But,” he says to himself, +“there is One Who has attained to it; Who does know; for He has +done it all, and is doing it still: and that is God and the Spirit of +God. Whither”—he asks—“shall I go then +from God’s Spirit? Whither shall I flee from God’s +presence?” And so he sees by faith—and by the highest +reason likewise—The Spirit of God, as a living, thinking, acting +being, who quickens and shapes, and orders, not his mortal body merely, +but all things; giving life, law, and form to all created things, from +the heights of heaven to the depths of hell; and ready to lead him and +hold him, if he took the wings of the morning and fled into the uttermost +parts of the sea.</p> +<p>And so speaks again he who wrote the 104th Psalm, and the text which +I have chosen. To him, too, the mystery of death, and still more +the mystery of life, could be explained only by faith in God, and in +the Spirit of God. If things died, it was because God took away +their breath, and therefore they returned to their dust. And if +things lived, it was because the Spirit of <!-- page 198--><a name="page198"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 198</span>God, +breathed forth, and proceeding, from God, gave them life. He pictured +to himself, I dare to fancy, what we may picture to ourselves—for +such places have often been, and are now, in this world—some new +and barren land, even as the very gravel on which we stand was once, +just risen from the icy sea, all waste and lifeless, without a growing +weed, an insect, even a moss. Then, gradually, seeds float thither +across the sea, or are wafted by the winds, and grow; and after them +come insects; then birds; then trees grow up; and larger animals arrive +to feed beneath their shade; till the once barren land has become fertile +and rich with life, and the face of the earth is renewed. But +by what? “God,” says the Psalmist, “has renewed +the face of the earth.” True, the seeds, the animals came +by natural causes: but who was the Cause of those causes? Who +sent the things thither, save God? And who gave them life? +Who kept the life in floating seeds, in flying spores? Who made +that life, when they reached the barren shore, grow and thrive in each +after their kind? Who, but the Spirit of God, the Lord and Giver +of life? God let His Spirit proceed and go forth from Himself +upon them; and they were made; and so He renewed the face of the earth.</p> +<p>That, my good friends, is not only according to Scripture, but according +to true philosophy. Men are slow to believe it now: and no wonder. +They have been always slow to believe in the living God; and have made +themselves instead dead gods—if not of wood and stone, still out +of their own thoughts and imaginations; and talk of laws of nature, +and long abstractions ending in ation <!-- page 199--><a name="page199"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 199</span>and +ality, like that “Evolution” with which so many are in love +just now; and worship them as gods; mere words, the work of their own +brains, though not of their own hands—even though they be—as +many of them are—Evolution, I hold, among the rest—true +and fair approximations to actual laws of God. But before them, +and behind them, and above them and below them, lives the Author of +Evolution, and of everything else. For God lives, and reigns, +and works for ever. The Spirit of God proceedeth from the Father +and the Son, giving, evolving, and ruling the life of all created things; +and what we call nature, and this world, and the whole universe, is +an unfathomable mystery, and a perpetual miracle, The one Author and +Ruler of which is the ever-blessed Trinity, of whom it is written—“The +glorious majesty of the Lord shall endure for ever: the Lord shall rejoice +in His works.”</p> +<p>I believe, therefore, that the Psalmist in the text is speaking, +not merely sound doctrine but sound philosophy. I believe that +the simplest and the most rational account of the mystery of life is +that which is given by the Christian faith; and that the Nicene Creed +speaks truth and fact, when it bids us call the Holy Spirit of God the +Lord and Giver of life.</p> +<p>That this is according to the orthodox Catholic Faith there is no +doubt. Many mistakes were made on this matter, in the early times +of the Church, even by most learned and holy divines; as was to be expected, +considering the mysteriousness of the subject. They were inclined, +often, to what is called Pantheism—that is, to <!-- page 200--><a name="page200"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 200</span>fancy +that all living things are parts of God; that God’s Spirit is +in them, as our soul is in our body, or as heat is in a heated matter; +and to speak of God’s Spirit as the soul and life of the world.</p> +<p>But this is exactly what the Nicene Creed does not do. It does +not say that the Holy Spirit is life: but that He is the Lord and Giver +of life—a seemingly small difference in words: but a most vast +and important difference in meaning and in truth.</p> +<p>The true doctrine, it seems to me, is laid down most clearly by the +famous bishop, Cyril of Alexandria; who, whatever personal faults he +had—and they were many—had doubtless dialectic intellect +enough for this, and even deeper questions. And he says—“The +Holy Spirit moves all things that are moved; and holds together, and +animates, and makes alive, the whole universe. Nor is He another +Nature different from the Father and the Son: but as He is in us; of +the same nature and the same essence as they.” And so says +another divine, Eneas of Gaza—“The Father, with the Son, +sends forth the Holy Spirit; and inspiring with this Spirit all things, +beyond sense and of sense—invisible and visible—fills them +with power, and holds them together, and draws them to Himself.” +And he prays thus to the Holy Spirit a prayer which is to my mind as +noble as it is true—“O Holy Spirit, by whom God inspires, +and holds together, and preserves all things, and leads them to perfection.” +I quote such words to shew you that I am not giving you new fancies +of my own: but simply what I believe to be the ancient, orthodox and +honest meaning <!-- page 201--><a name="page201"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 201</span>of +that same Nicene Creed, which you just new heard; where it says that +the Holy Spirit is the Lord and Giver of life; and the meaning of the +104th Psalm also, where it says—“Thou lettest Thy breath—Thy +Spirit—go forth, and they shall be made, and Thou shall renew +the face of the earth.”</p> +<p>And now—if anyone shall say—This may be all very true. +But what is it to me? You are talking about nature; about animals +and plants, and lands and seas. What I come to church to hear +of, is about my own soul—</p> +<p>I should answer such a man—My good friend, you come to church +to hear about God as well as about what you call your soul. And +any sound knowledge which you can learn about God, must be—believe +me—of use to your immortal soul. For if you have wrong notions +concerning God: how can you avoid having wrong notions concerning your +soul, which lives and moves and has its being in God?</p> +<p>But look at it thus. At least I have been speaking of the works +of God. And are not you, too, a work of God? The Lord shall +rejoice in His works, even to the tiniest gnat that dances in the sun. +Is the Lord rejoicing in you? I have said—Whither shall +a man go from God’s presence? Are you forgetting or remembering +God’s presence? And—Whither shall a man flee from +God’s Spirit? Are you, O man, fleeing from God’s Spirit, +and forgetting His gracious inspirations; all pure and holy, and noble, +and just and lovely and truly human, thoughts, in the whirl of pleasure, +or covetousness, <!-- page 202--><a name="page202"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 202</span>or +ambition, or actual sin? If so, look at the tiniest gnat which +dances in the air, the meanest flower beneath your feet; and be ashamed, +and fear, and tremble before the Living God, and before His Spirit. +For the gnat and the flower are doing their duty, and pleasing the Holy +Spirit of God; and you are not doing your duty, and are grieving the +Holy Spirit of God. For simply: because that Spirit is the Spirit +of God, He is a Holy Spirit, who tries to make you—O man and not +animal—holy; a moral, and spiritual, and good being. Because +you are a moral and spiritual being, God’s Spirit exercises over +you a moral power which He does not exercise over the plants and animals. +He works not merely on your body and your brain: but on your heart and +immortal soul. But if you choose to be immoral, when He is trying +to keep you moral; if you choose to be carnal like the brutes, while +He is trying to make you spiritual, like Jesus Christ, from whom He +proceeds: then, oh then, tremble, and beware, and be ashamed before +the very flowers which grow in your own garden-bed; for they fulfil +the law which God has given them. They are what they ought to +be, each after its kind. But you are not what you ought to be, +after your kind; which is a good man, or a good woman, or a good child.</p> +<p>Oh beware lest the Lord should fulfil in you the awful words of this +Psalm; lest He should hide His face from you, and you be troubled; and +lest when He takes away your breath you should die, and turn again to +your dust; and find, too late, that the wages of sin are death—death +not merely of the body, but of the soul. Rather <!-- page 203--><a name="page203"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 203</span>repent, +and amend, and remember that most blessed, and yet most awful fact—that +God’s Spirit is with you from your baptism until now, putting +into your heart good desires, and ready to enable you—if you will—to +bring those good desires to good effect: instead of leaving them only +as good intentions, with which, says the too true proverb, hell is paved.</p> +<p>So will be fulfilled in you the blessed words of the next verse—When +Thou lettest Thy Spirit go forth, they shall be made; and Thou shalt +renew the face of the earth—words which St Augustine of old applied +to the work of God’s Spirit on the souls of men.</p> +<p>For well it is with us—as St Augustine says—when God +takes away from us our own spirit, the spirit of pride and self-will +and self-righteousness; and we see that we are but dust and ashes; worse +than the animals, in that we have sinned, and they have not. Confess—he +says—thy weakness and thy dust: and then listen to what follows:—Thou +shalt take away from them their own spirit; but Thou shalt send forth +Thy Spirit on them, and they shall be made and created anew. As +the Apostle says, “We are God’s own workmanship, created +in Christ Jesus unto good works.” And so—he says—God +will indeed renew the face of the earth with converted and renewed men, +who confess that they are not righteous in themselves, but made righteous +by the grace of the Spirit of God; and so the Lord shall rejoice in +His works; you will be indeed His work, and He will rejoice in you.</p> +<p>Yes. God will indeed rejoice in us, if we obey the <!-- page 204--><a name="page204"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 204</span>godly +inspirations of His Spirit. But again, we shall rejoice in God; +if we be but led by His Spirit into all truth, and thence into all righteousness. +Then we shall be in harmony with God, and with the whole universe of +God. We shall have our share in that perpetual worship which is +celebrated throughout the universe by all creatures, rational and irrational, +who are obeying the laws of their being; the laws of the Spirit of God, +the Lord and Giver of life. We shall take our part in that perpetual +Hymn which calls on all the works of the Lord, from angels and powers, +sun and stars, winds and seasons, seas and floods, trees and flowers, +beasts and cattle, to the children of men, and the servants of the Lord, +and the spirits and souls of the righteous, and the holy and humble +men of heart—“O all ye works of the Lord, bless ye the Lord, +praise Him and magnify Him for ever.”</p> +<h2><b><!-- page 205--><a name="page205"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 205</span>SERMON +XVIII. DEATH.</b></h2> +<p style="text-align: center"><span class="smcap">Psalm civ</span>. +20, 21.</p> +<blockquote><p>Thou makest darkness, and it is night: wherein all the +beasts of the forest do creep forth. The lions roar after their +prey, and seek their meat from God.</p> +</blockquote> +<p>Let me say a few words on this text. It is one which has been +a comfort to me again and again. It is one which, if rightly understood, +ought to give comfort to pitiful and tender-hearted persons.</p> +<p>Have you never been touched by, never been even shocked by, the mystery +of pain and death? I do not speak now of pain and death among +human beings: but only of that pain and death among the dumb and irrational +creatures, which from one point of view is more pitiful than pain and +death among human beings.</p> +<p>For pain, suffering, and death, we know, may be of use to human beings. +It may make them happier and better in this life, or in the life to +come; if they are the Christians which they ought to be. But of +what use can suffering and death be to dumb animals? How can it +make them better in this life, and happier in the life to <!-- page 206--><a name="page206"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 206</span>come? +It seems, in the case of animals, to be only so much superfluous misery +thrown away. Would to God that people would remember that, when +they unnecessarily torment dumb creatures, and then excuse themselves +by saying—Oh, they are not human beings; they are not Christians; +and therefore it does not matter so much. I should have thought +that therefore it mattered all the more: and that just because dumb +animals have, as far as we know, only this mortal life, therefore we +should allow them the fuller enjoyment of their brief mortality.</p> +<p>And yet, how much suffering, how much violent death, there is among +animals. How much? The world is full of it, and has been +full of it for ages. I dare to say, that of the millions on millions +of living creatures in the earth, the air, the sea, full one-half live +by eating each other. In the sea, indeed, almost every kind of +creature feeds on some other creature: and what an amount of pain, of +terror, of violent death that means, or seems to mean!</p> +<p>We here, in a cultivated country, are slow to take in this thought. +We have not here, as in India, Africa, America, lion and tiger, bear +and wolf, jaguar and puma, perpetually prowling round the farms, and +taking their tithe of our sheep and cattle. We have never heard, +as the Psalmist had, the roar of the lion round the village at night, +or seen all the animals, down to the very dogs, crowding together in +terror, knowing but too well what that roar meant. If we had; +and had been like the Psalmist, thoughtful men: then it would have been +a very solemn question to us—From whom the lion was asking <!-- page 207--><a name="page207"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 207</span>for +his nightly meal; whether from God, or from some devil as cruel as himself?</p> +<p>But even here the same slaughter of animals by animals goes on. +The hawk feeds on the small birds, the small birds on the insects, the +insects, many of them, on each other. Even our most delicate and +seemingly harmless songsters, like the nightingale, feed entirely on +living creatures—each one of which, however small, has cost God +as much pains—if I may so speak in all reverence—to make +as the nightingale itself; and thus, from the top to the bottom of creation, +is one chain of destruction, and pain, and death.</p> +<p>What is the meaning of it all? Ought it to be so, or ought +it not? Is it God’s will and law, or is it not? That +is a solemn question; and one which has tried many a thoughtful, and +tender, and virtuous soul ere now, both Christian and heathen; and has +driven them to find strange answers to it, which have been, often enough, +not according to Scripture, or to the Catholic Faith.</p> +<p>Some used to say, in old times; and they may say again—This +world, so full of pain and death, is a very ill-made world. We +will not believe that it was made by the good God. It must have +been made by some evil being, or at least by some stupid and clumsy +being—the Demiurgus, they called him—or the world-maker—some +inferior God, whom the good God would conquer and depose, and so do +away with pain, and misery, and death. A pardonable mistake: but, +as we are bound to believe, a mistake nevertheless.</p> +<p>Others, again, good Christians and good men likewise, <!-- page 208--><a name="page208"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 208</span>have +invented another answer to the mystery—like that which Milton +gives in his ‘Paradise Lost.’ They have said—Before +Adam fell there was no pain or death in the world. It was only +after Adam’s fall that the animals began to destroy and devour +each other. Ever since then there has been a curse on the earth, +and this is one of the fruits thereof.</p> +<p>Now I say distinctly, as I have said elsewhere, that we are not bound +to believe this or anything like it. The book of Genesis does +not say that the animals began to devour each other at Adam’s +fall. It does not even say that the ground is cursed for man’s +sake now, much less the animals. For we read in Genesis ix. 21—“And +the Lord said, I will not any more curse the ground for man’s +sake.” Neither do the Psalmists and Prophets give the least +hint of any such doctrine. Surely, if we found it anywhere, we +should find it in this very 104th Psalm, and somewhere near the very +verse which I have taken for my text. But this Psalm gives no +hint of it. So far from saying that God has cursed His own works, +or looks on them as cursed: it says—“The Lord shall rejoice +in His works.”</p> +<p>Others will tell us that St Paul has said so, where he says that +“by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin.” +But I must very humbly, but very firmly, demur to that. St Paul +shews that when he speaks of the world he means the world of men; for +he goes on to say, “And so death passed upon all men, in that +all have sinned.” By mentioning men, he excludes the animals; +he excludes all who have not sinned: according to a <!-- page 209--><a name="page209"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 209</span>sound +rule of logic which lawyers know well. What St Paul meant, I believe, +is most probably this: that Adam, by sinning, lost his heavenly birthright; +and put on the carnal and fleshly likeness of the animals, instead of +the likeness of God in which he was created; and therefore, sowing to +the flesh, of the flesh reaped corruption; and became subject to death +even as the dumb beasts are.</p> +<p>Be that as it may, we know—as certainly as we can know anything +from the use of our own eyes and common sense—that long ages before +Adam, long ages before men existed on this earth, the animals destroyed +and ate each other, even as they are doing now. We know that ages +ago, in old worlds, long before this present world in which we live, +the seas swarmed with sharks and other monsters, who not only died as +animals do now, but who did devour—for there is actual proof of +it—other living creatures; and that the same process went on on +the land likewise. The rocks and soils, for miles beneath our +feet, are one vast graveyard, full of the skeletons of creatures, almost +all unlike any living now, who, long before the days of Adam, and still +more before the days of Noah, lived and died, generation after generation; +and sought their meat—from whom—if not from God?</p> +<p>Yes, that last is the answer—the only answer which can give +a thoughtful and tender-hearted soul comfort, at the sight of so much +pain and death on earth—In every unknown question, to take refuge +in God. And that is the answer which the inspired Psalmist gives, +in the 104th Psalm—“The lions roaring after their prey do +seek their meat from God.” And if they seek it from <!-- page 210--><a name="page210"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 210</span>God, +all must be right: we know not how; but He who made them knows.</p> +<p>Consider, with respect and admiration, the manful, cheerful view +of pain and death, and indeed of the whole creation, which the Psalmist +has, because he has faith. There is in him no sentimentalism, +no complaining of God, no impious, or at least weak and peevish, cry +of “Why hast Thou made things thus?” He sees the mystery +of pain and death. He does not attempt to explain it: but he faces +it; faces it cheerfully and manfully, in the strength of his faith, +saying—This too, mysterious, painful, terrible as it may seem, +is as it should be; for it is of the law and will of God, from whom +come all good things; of The God in whom is light, and in Him is no +darkness at all. Therefore to the Psalmist the earth is a noble +sight; filled, to his eyes, with the fruit of God’s works. +And so is the great and wide sea likewise. He looks upon it; “full +of things creeping innumerable, both small and great beasts,” +for ever dying, for ever devouring each other. And yet it does +not seem to him a dreadful and a shocking place. What impresses +his mind is just what would impress the mind of a modern poet, a modern +man of science; namely, the wonderful variety, richness, and strangeness +of its living things. Their natures and their names he knows not. +It was not given to his race to know. It is enough for him that +known unto God are all His works from the foundation of the world. +But one thing more important than their natures and their names he does +know; for he perceives it with the instinct of a true poet and a true +philosopher—<!-- page 211--><a name="page211"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 211</span>“These +all wait upon thee, O God, that Thou mayest give them meat in due season.”</p> +<p>But more.—“There go the ships;” things specially +wonderful and significant to him, the landsman of the Judæan hills, +as they were afterward to Muhammed, the landsman of the Arabian deserts. +And he has talked with sailors from those ships; from Tarshish and the +far Atlantic, or from Ezion-geber and the Indian seas. And he +has heard from them of mightier monsters than his own Mediterranean +breeds; of the Leviathan, the whale, larger than the largest ship which +he has ever seen, rolling and spouting among the ocean billows, far +out of sight of land, and swallowing, at every gape of its huge jaws, +hundreds of living creatures for its food. But he does not talk +of it as a cruel and devouring monster, formed by a cruel and destroying +deity, such as the old Canaanites imagined, when—so the legend +ran—they offered up Andromeda to the sea-monster, upon that very +rock at Joppa, which the Psalmist, doubtless, knew full well. +No. This psalm is an inspired philosopher’s rebuke to that +very superstition; it is the justification of the noble old Greek tale, +which delivers Andromeda by the help of a hero, taught by the Gods who +love to teach Mankind.</p> +<p>For what strikes the Psalmist is, again, exactly what would strike +a modern poet, or a modern man of science: the strength and ease of +the vast beast; its enjoyment of its own life and power. It is +to him the Leviathan, whom “God has made to play in the sea;” +“to take his pastime therein.”</p> +<p><!-- page 212--><a name="page212"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 212</span>Truly +this was a healthy-minded man; as all will be, and only they, who have +full faith in the one good God, of whom are all things, both in earth +and heaven.</p> +<p>Then he goes further still. He has looked into the face of +life innumerable. Now he looks into the face of innumerable death; +and sees there too the Spirit and the work of God.</p> +<blockquote><p>Thou givest to them; they gather:<br /> +Thou openest thy hand; they are filled with good:<br /> +Thou hidest thy face; they are troubled:<br /> +Thou takest away their breath; they die, and are turned again to their +dust.</p> +</blockquote> +<p>Poetry? Yes: but, like all highest poetry, highest philosophy; +and soundest truth likewise. Nay, he goes further still—further, +it may be, than most of us would dare to go, had he not gone before +us in the courage of his faith. He dares to say, of such a world +as this—“The glory of the Lord shall endure for ever. +The Lord shall rejoice in His works.”</p> +<p>The glory of the Lord, then, is shewn forth, and endures for ever, +in these animals of whom the Psalmist has been speaking, though they +devour each other day and night. The Lord rejoices in His works, +even though His works live by each other’s death. The Lord +shall rejoice in His works—says this great poet and philosopher.</p> +<p>But what Lord, and what God? Ah, my friends, all depends on +the answer to that question. “There be,” says St Paul, +“lords many, and gods many:” and since his time, men have +made fresh lords and gods for themselves, <!-- page 213--><a name="page213"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 213</span>and +believed in them, and worshipped them, while they fancied that they +were believing in the one true God, in the same God in whom the man +believed who wrote the 104th Psalm.</p> +<p>Do we truly believe in that one true God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit?</p> +<p>Let me beg you to consider that question earnestly. The Psalmist, +when he talked of the Lord, did not mean merely what some people call +the Deity, or the Supreme Being, or the Creator. You will remark +that I said—What. I do not care to say, Whom, of such a +notion; that is, of a God who made the world, and set it going once +for all, but has never meddled with it; never, so to speak, looked at +it since: so that the world would go on just the same, and just as well, +if God thenceforth had ceased to be. No: that is a dead God; an +absentee God—as one said bitterly once. But the Psalmist +believed in the living God, and a present God, in whom we live and move +and have our being; in a God who does not leave the world alone for +a moment, nor in the smallest matter, but is always interested in it, +attending to it, enforcing His own laws, working—if I may so speak +in all reverence—and using the most pitifully insufficient analogy—working—I +say—His own machinery; making all things work together for good, +at least to those who love God; a God without whom not a sparrow falls +to the ground, and in whose sight all the hairs of our heads are numbered.</p> +<p>In one word, he believed in a living God. If anyone had said +to the Psalmist, as I have heard men say now-a-days—Of <!-- page 214--><a name="page214"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 214</span>course +we believe, with you, in a general Providence of God over the whole +universe. But you do not surely believe in special Providences? +That would be superstition. God governs the world by law, and +not by special Providences. Then I believe that the Psalmist would +have answered—Laws? I believe in them as much as you, and +perhaps more than you. But as for special Providences, I believe +in them so much, that I believe that the whole universe, and all that +has ever happened in it from the beginning, has happened by special +Providences; that not an organic being has assumed its present form, +after long ages and generations, save by a continuous series of special +Providences; that not a weed grows in a particular spot, without a special +Providence of God that it should grow there, and nowhere else; then, +and nowhen else. I believe that every step I take, every person +I meet, every thought which comes into my mind—which is not sinful—comes +and happens by the perpetual special Providence of God, watching for +ever with Fatherly care over me, and each separate thing that He has +made.</p> +<p>And if a modern philosopher—or one so called—had said +to him,—‘This is unthinkable and inconceivable, and therefore +cannot be. I cannot “think of”—I cannot conceive +a mind—or as I call it—“a series of states of consciousness,” +as antecedent to the infinity of processes simultaneously going on in +all the plants that cover the globe, from scattered polar lichens to +crowded tropical palms, and in all the millions of animals which roam +among them, and the millions of millions of insects <!-- page 215--><a name="page215"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 215</span>which +buzz among them:’—Then the Psalmist would have answered +him, I believe,—‘If you cannot, my friend, I can. +And you must not make your power of thought and conception the measure +of the universe, or even of other men’s intellects; or say—“Because +I cannot conceive a thing, therefore no man can conceive it, and therefore +it does not exist.” But pray, O philosopher, if you cannot +think and conceive of the omnipresence and omnipotence of God, what +can you think and conceive?’</p> +<p>Then if that philosopher had answered him—as some would now-a-days—‘I +can conceive that the properties of very different elements,—and +therefore the infinite variety and richness of nature which I cannot +conceive as caused by a God—that the properties—I say—of +different elements result from differences of arrangement arising by +the compounding and recompounding of ultimate homogeneous units’—Then, +I think, the Psalmist would have replied, as soon as he had—like +Socrates of old in a like case—recovered from the ‘dizziness’ +caused by an eloquence so unlike his own—‘Why, this proposition +is far more “unthinkable” to me, and will be to 999 of 1000 +of the human race, than mine about a God and a Providence. Alas! +for the vagaries of the mind of man. When it wants to prove a +pet theory of its own, it will strain at any gnat, and swallow any camel.’</p> +<p>But again—if a philosopher of more reasonable mood had said +to him—as he very likely would say—‘This is a grand +conception of God: but what proof have you of it? How do you know +that God does interfere, by special <!-- page 216--><a name="page216"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 216</span>Providences, +in the world around us; not only, as you say, perpetually: but even +now and then, and at all?’</p> +<p>Then the Psalmist, like all true Jews, would have gone back to a +certain old story which is to me the most precious story, save one, +that ever was written on earth; and have taken his stand on that. +He would have gone back—as the Scripture always goes back—to +the story of Moses and the Israelites in Egypt, and have said—‘Whatever +I know or do not know about the Laws of nature, this I know—That +God can use them as He chooses, to punish the wicked, and to help the +miserable. For He did so by my forefathers. When we Jews +were a poor, small, despised tribe of slaves in Egypt, The God who made +heaven and earth shewed Himself at once the God of nature, and the God +of grace. For He took the powers of nature; and fought with them +against proud Pharaoh and all his hosts; and shewed that they belonged +to Him; and that He could handle them all to do His work. He shewed +that He was Lord, not only of the powers of nature which give life and +health, but of those which give death and disease. Nothing was +too grand, nor too mean, for Him to use. He took the lightning +and the hail, and the pestilence, and the darkness, and the East wind, +and the springtides of the Red sea; and He took also the locust-swarms, +and the frogs, and the lice, and the loathsome skin-diseases of Egypt, +and the microscopic atomies which turn whole rivers into blood, and +kill the fish; and with them He fought against Pharaoh the man-God, +<!-- page 217--><a name="page217"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 217</span>the +tyrant ruling at his own will in the name of his father the sun-God +and of the powers of nature; till Egypt was destroyed, and Pharaoh’s +host drowned in the sea; And He brought out my forefathers with a mighty +hand and an outstretched arm, because He had heard their cry in Egypt, +and saw their oppression under cruel taskmasters, and pitied them, and +had mercy on them in their slavery and degradation.’ That +is my God—the old Psalmist would have said. Not merely a +strong God, or a wise God; but a good God, and a gracious God, and a +just God likewise; a God who not only made heaven and earth, the sea, +and all that therein is, but who keepeth His promise for ever; who helpeth +them to right who suffer wrong, and feedeth the hungry.</p> +<p>Yes, my friends, it is this magnificent conception of God’s +living and actual goodness and justice, which the Psalmist had, which +made him trust God about all the strange and painful things which he +saw in the world—about, for instance, the suffering and death +of animals; and say—‘If the lion roaring after his prey +seeks his meat, he seeks his meat from God: and therefore he ought to +seek it, and he will find it. It is all well: I know not why: +but well it is, for it is the law and will of the good and righteous +and gracious God, who brought His people out of the land of Egypt. +And that is enough for me.’</p> +<p>Enough for him? and should it not be enough for us, and more than +enough?—We know what the Psalmist knew not. We know God +to be more good, more righteous, more gracious than any Prophet or Psalmist +could <!-- page 218--><a name="page218"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 218</span>know. +We know that God so loved the world, that He spared not His only-begotten +Son, but freely gave Him for us. We know that the only-begotten +Son Jesus Christ so loved the world that He stooped to be born and suffer +as mortal man, and to die on the cross, even while He was telling men +that not a sparrow fell to the ground without the knowledge of their +heavenly Father, and bidding them see how God fed the birds and clothed +the lilies of the field. Ah, my friends, in this case, as in all +cases, rest and comfort for our doubts and fears is to be found in one +and the same place—at the foot of the Cross of Christ. If +we believe that He who hung upon that Cross is—as He is—the +maker and ruler of the universe, the same from day to day and for ever: +then we can trust Him in darkness as well as in light; in doubt as well +as in certainty; in the face of pain, disease, and death, as well as +in the face of joy, health, and life; and say—Lord, we know not, +but Thou knowest. Lord, we believe, help Thou our unbelief. +Make us sure that Thou, Lord, shalt save both man and beast. For +great are Thy mercies, O Lord; and the children of men shall put their +trust under the shadow of Thy wings.</p> +<p>Yes, my friends, this is, after all, a strange world, a solemn world, +a world full of sad mysteries, past our understanding. As was +said once by the holiest of modern Englishmen, now gone home to his +rest—whose bust stands worthily in yonder chapel—This is +a world in which men must be sometimes sad who love God, and care for +their fellow-men.</p> +<p><!-- page 219--><a name="page219"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 219</span>But +it is not over the dumb animals that we must mourn. For they fulfil +the laws of their being; and whatever meat they seek, they seek their +meat from God.</p> +<p>Rather must we mourn over those human beings who, being made in the +likeness of God, and redeemed again into that likeness by our Lord Jesus +Christ, and baptized into that likeness by the Holy Spirit, put on again +of their own will the likeness of the beasts which perish; and find +too often, alas! too late, that the wages of sin are death.</p> +<p>Rather must we mourn for those human beings who do not fulfil the +laws of their being: but break those laws by sin; till they are ground +by them to powder.</p> +<p>Rather must we mourn for those who seek their meat, not from God, +but from the world and the flesh; and neglect the bread which cometh +down from heaven, and the meat which endureth to eternal life, whereof +the Lord who gives it said—Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and +His righteousness, and all other things shall be added unto you.</p> +<p>Rather must we pray for ourselves, and for all we love, that God’s +Spirit of eternal life would raise us up, more and more day by day, +out of the likeness of the old Adam, who was of the earth, earthy; of +whom it is written that—like the animals—dust he was, and +unto dust he must return; and would mould us into the likeness of the +new Adam, who is the Lord from heaven, into the likeness of which it +is written, that it is created after God’s image, in righteousness +and true holiness; <!-- page 220--><a name="page220"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 220</span>the +end of which is not death, but everlasting life through Jesus Christ +our Lord.</p> +<p>And so will be fulfilled in us the saying of the Psalmist; and the +Lord shall rejoice in His works: for we too, not only body and soul, +but spirit also, shall be the work of God; and God will rejoice in us, +and we in God.</p> +<h2><b><!-- page 221--><a name="page221"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 221</span>SERMON +XIX. SIGNS AND WONDERS.</b></h2> +<p style="text-align: center"><span class="smcap">John iv</span>. 48-50.</p> +<blockquote><p>Then said Jesus unto him, Except ye see signs and wonders, +ye will not believe. The nobleman saith unto him, Sir, come down +ere my child die. Jesus saith unto him, Go thy way; thy son liveth.</p> +</blockquote> +<p>These words of our Lord are found in the Gospel for this day. +They are a rebuke, though a gentle one. He reproved the nobleman, +seemingly, for his want of faith: but He worked the miracle, and saved +the life of the child.</p> +<p>We do not know enough of the circumstances of this case, to know +exactly why our Lord reproved the nobleman; and what want of faith He +saw in him. Some think that the man’s fault was his mean +notion of our Lord’s power; his wish that He should come down +the hills to Capernaum, and see the boy Himself, in order to cure him; +whereas he ought to have known that our Lord could cure him—as +He did—at a distance, and by a mere wish, which was no less than +a command to nature, and to that universe which He had made.</p> +<p><!-- page 222--><a name="page222"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 222</span>I +cannot tell how this may be: but of one thing I think we may be sure—That +this saying of our Lord’s is very deep, and very wide; and applies +to many people, in many times—perhaps to us in these modern times.</p> +<p>We must recollect one thing—That our Lord did not put forward +the mere power of His miracles as the chief sign of His being the Son +of God. Not so: He declared His almighty power most chiefly by +shewing mercy and pity. Twice He refused to give the Scribes and +Pharisees a sign from heaven. “An evil and adulterous generation,” +He said, “seeketh after a sign: but there shall be no sign given +them, but the sign of the prophet Jonas.” And what was that,—but +a warning to repent, and mend their ways, ere it was too late?</p> +<p>Now the slightest use of our common sense must tell us, that our +Lord could have given a sign of His almighty power if He had chosen; +and such a sign as no man, even the dullest, could have mistaken. +What prodigy could He not have performed, before Scribes and Pharisees, +Herod, and Pontius Pilate? “Thinkest thou,” He said +Himself, “that I cannot now pray to My Father, and He will send +Me presently more than twelve legions of angels?” Yet how +did our Lord use that miraculous and almighty power of His? Sparingly, +and secretly. Sparingly; for He used it almost entirely in curing +the diseases of poor people; and secretly; for He used it almost entirely +in remote places. Jerusalem itself, recollect, was at best a remote +city compared with any of the great cities of the Roman empire. +And even there He refused to cast Himself down from a pinnacle <!-- page 223--><a name="page223"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 223</span>of +the temple, for a sign and wonder to the Jews. If He, the Lord +of the world, had meant to convert the world by prodigious miracles, +He would surely have gone to Rome itself, the very heart and centre +of the civilized world, and have shewn such signs and wonders therein, +as would have made the Cæsar himself come down from his throne, +and worship Him, the Lord of all.</p> +<p>But no. Our Lord wished for the obedience, not of men’s +lips, but of their hearts. It was their hearts which He wished +to win, that they might love Him—and be loyal to Him—for +the sake of His goodness; and not fear and tremble before Him for the +sake of His power. And therefore He kept, so to speak, His power +in the background, and put His goodness foremost; only shewing His power +in miracles of healing and mercy; that so poor neglected, oppressed, +hardworked souls might understand that whoever did not care for them, +Christ their Lord did; and that their disease and misery were not His +will; nor the will of His Father and their Father in heaven.</p> +<p>But because, also, Christ was Lord of heaven and earth; therefore—if +I may make so bold as to guess at the reason for anything which He did—He +seems to have interfered as little as possible with those regular rules +and customs of this world about us, which we now call the Laws of Nature. +He did not offer—as the magicians of His time did offer—and +as too many have pretended since to do—to change the courses of +the elements, to bring down tempests or thunderbolts, to shew prodigies +in the heaven above, and in the earth <!-- page 224--><a name="page224"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 224</span>beneath. +Why should He? Heaven and earth, moon and stars, fire and tempest, +and all the physical forces in the universe, were fulfilling His will +already; doing their work right well according to the law which He had +given them from the beginning. He had no need to disturb them, +no need to disturb the growth of a single flower at His feet.</p> +<p>Rather He loved to tell men to look at them, and see how they went +well, because His Father in heaven cared for them. To tell people +to look, not at prodigies, comets, earthquakes, and the seeming exceptions +of God’s rule: but at the common, regular, simple, peaceful work +of God, which is going on around us all day long in every blade of grass, +and flower, and singing bird, and sunbeam, and shower. To consider +the lilies of the field how they grow: which toil not, neither do they +spin: and yet I say unto you, that Solomon in all his glory was not +arrayed like one of these.—And the birds of the air: They sow +not, neither reap, nor gather into barns; and yet your heavenly Father +feedeth them. How much more will He feed you, who can sow, and +reap, and gather into barns?—O ye of little faith, who fancy always +that besides sowing and reaping honestly, you must covet, and cheat, +and lie, and break God’s laws instead of obeying them; or else, +forsooth, you cannot earn your living? To see that the signs of +God’s Kingdom are not astonishing convulsions, terrible catastrophes +and disorders: but order, and peace, and usefulness, in creatures which +are happy, because they live according to the law which God has given +them, <!-- page 225--><a name="page225"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 225</span>and +do their duty—that duty, of which the great poet of the English +Church has sung—</p> +<blockquote><p> Stern Lawgiver! +Thou yet dost wear<br /> + The Godhead’s +most benignant grace<br /> + Nor know we anything so fair<br /> + As is the smile upon +thy face.<br /> + Flowers laugh before thee on their beds,<br /> + And fragrance in thy footing treads;<br /> + Thou dost preserve the stars from wrong,<br /> +And the most ancient heavens, through thee, are fresh and strong.</p> +</blockquote> +<p>But men would not believe that in our Lord’s time; neither +would they believe it after His time. Will they believe it even +now? They craved after signs and wonders; they saw God’s +hand, not in the common sights of this beautiful world; not in seed-time +and harvest, summer and winter; not in the blossoming of flowers, and +the song of birds: but only in strange portents, absurd and lying miracles, +which they pretended had happened, because they fancied that they ought +to have happened: and so built up a whole literature of <i>un</i>reason, +which remains to this day, a doleful monument of human folly and superstition.</p> +<p>But is not this too true of some at least of us in this very day? +Must not people now see signs and wonders before they believe in God?</p> +<p>Do they not consider whatever is strange and inexplicable, as coming +immediately from God? While whatever they are accustomed to, or +fancy that they can explain, they consider comes in what they call the +course <!-- page 226--><a name="page226"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 226</span>of +nature, without God’s having anything to do with it?</p> +<p>If a man drops down dead, they say he died “by the hand of +God,” or “by the visitation of God:” as if any created +thing or being could die, or live either, save by the will and presence +of God: as if a sparrow could fall to the ground without our Father’s +knowledge. But so it is; because men’s hearts are far from +God.</p> +<p>If an earthquake swallowed up half London this very day, how many +would be ready to cry, “Here is a visitation of God. Here +is the immediate hand of God. Perhaps Christ is coming, and the +end of the world at hand.” And yet they will not see the +true visitation, the immediate hand of God, in every drop of rain which +comes down from heaven; and returneth not again void, but gives seed +to the sower and bread to the eater. But so it always has been. +Men used to see God and His power and glory almost exclusively in comets, +auroras, earthquakes. It was not so very long ago, that the birth +of monstrous or misshapen animals, and all other prodigies, as they +were called, were carefully noted down, and talked of far and wide, +as signs of God’s anger, presages of some coming calamity.—Atheists +while they are in safety, superstitious when they are in danger—Requiring +signs and wonders to make them believe—Interested only in what +is uncommon and seems to break God’s laws—Careless about +what is common, and far more wonderful, because it fulfils God’s +laws—Such have most men been for ages, and will be, perhaps, to +the end; <!-- page 227--><a name="page227"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 227</span>shewing +themselves, in that respect, carnal and no wiser than dumb animals.</p> +<p>For it is carnal, animal and brutish, and a sign of want of true +civilization, as well as of true faith, only to be interested and surprised +by what is strange; like dumb beasts, who, if they see anything new, +are attracted by it and frightened by it, at the same time: but who, +when once they are accustomed to it, and have found out that it will +do them no harm, are too stupid to feel any curiosity or interest about +it, though it were the most beautiful or the most wonderful object on +earth.</p> +<p>But I will tell you of a man after God’s own heart, who was +not like the dumb animals, nor like the ungodly and superstitious; because +he was taught by the Spirit of God, and spoke by the Spirit of God. +One who saw no signs and wonders, and yet believed in God—namely, +the man who wrote the 139th Psalm. He needed no prodigies to make +him believe. The thought of his own body, how fearfully and wonderfully +it was made, was enough to make him do that. He looked on the +perfect order and law which ruled over the development of his own organization, +and said—“I will praise Thee. For I am fearfully and +wonderfully made. Marvellous are Thy works, and that my soul knoweth +right well. Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being imperfect; +and in Thy Book were all my members written, which day by day were fashioned, +when as yet there was none of them. How dear are Thy counsels +unto me, O God! how great is the sum of them!”</p> +<p>And I will tell you of another man who needed no <!-- page 228--><a name="page228"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 228</span>signs +and wonders to make him believe—the man, namely, who wrote the +19th Psalm. He looked upon the perfect order and law of the heavens +over his head, and the mere sight of the sun and moon and stars was +enough for him; and he said—“The heavens declare the glory +of God, the firmament sheweth His handy-work. One day telleth +another, and one night certifieth another. There is neither speech +nor language, where their voice is not heard among them.”</p> +<p>And I will tell you of yet another man who needed no signs and wonders +to make him believe—namely, the man who wrote the 104th Psalm. +He looked on the perfect order and law of the world about his feet; +and said,—“O Lord, how manifold are Thy works. In +wisdom hast Thou made them all: the earth is full of Thy riches. +So is the great and wide sea also, wherein are things creeping innumerable, +both small and great beasts. These all wait upon Thee, that Thou +mayest give them their meat in due season. Thou givest to them; +they gather. Thou openest Thy hand; they are filled with good. +Thou hidest Thy face; they are troubled. Thou takest away their +breath, they die, and return to their dust. Thou sendest forth +Thy breath, they are created; and Thou renewest the face of the earth. +The glory of the Lord shall endure for ever. The Lord shall rejoice +in His works.”</p> +<p>My friends, let us all pray to God and to Christ, that They will +put into our hearts the Spirit by which those psalms were written: that +They will take from us the evil heart of unbelief, which must needs +have signs and <!-- page 229--><a name="page229"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 229</span>wonders, +and forgets that in God we live and move and have our being. For +are we not all—even the very best of us—apt to tempt our +Lord in this very matter?</p> +<p>When all things go on in a common-place way with us—that is, +in this well-made world, comfortably, easily, prosperously—how +apt we all are—God forgive us—to forget God. How we +forget that on Him we depend for every breath we draw; that Christ is +guarding us daily from a hundred dangers, a hundred sorrows, it may +be from a hundred disgraces, of which we, in our own self-satisfied +blindness, never dream. How dull our prayers become, and how short. +We almost think, at times, that there is no use in praying, for we get +all we want without asking for it, in what we choose to call the course +of circumstances and nature.—God forgive us, indeed.</p> +<p>But when sorrow comes, anxiety, danger, how changed we are all of +a sudden. How gracious we are when pangs come upon us—like +the wicked queen-mother in Jerusalem of old, when the invaders drove +her out of her cedar palace. How we cry to the Lord then, and +get us to our God right humbly. Then, indeed, we feel the need +of prayer. Then we try to wrestle with God, and cry to Him—and +what else can we do?—like children lost in the dark; entreat Him, +if there be mercy in Him—as there is, in spite of all our folly—to +grant some special providence, to give us some answer to our bitter +entreaties. If He will but do for us this one thing, then we will +believe indeed. Then we will trust Him, obey Him, serve Him, as +we never did before.</p> +<p>Ah, if there were in Christ any touch of pride or <!-- page 230--><a name="page230"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 230</span>malice! +Ah, if there were in Christ aught but a magnanimity and a generosity +altogether boundless! Ah, if He were to deal with us as we have +dealt with Him! Ah, if He were to deal with us after our sins, +and reward us according to our iniquities!</p> +<p>If He refused to hear us; if He said to us,—You forgot me in +your prosperity, why should I not forget you in your adversity?—What +could we answer? Would that answer not be just? Would it +not be deserved, however terrible? But our hope and trust is, +that He will not answer us so; because He is not our God only, but our +Saviour; that He will deal with us as one who seeks and saves that which +is lost, whether it knows that it is lost or not.</p> +<p>Our hope is, that the Lord is very pitiful and of tender mercy; that +because He is man, as well as God, He can be touched with the feeling +of our infirmities; that He knoweth our frame, He remembereth of what +we are made: else the spirit would fail before Him, and the souls which +He has made. So we can have hope, that, though Christ rebuke us, +He will yet hear us, if our prayers are reasonable, and therefore according +to His will. And surely, surely, surely, if our prayers are for +the improvement of any human being; if we are praying that we, or any +human being, may be made better men and truer Christians at last, and +saved from the temptations of the world, the flesh, and the devil—oh +then, then shall we not be heard? The Lord may keep us long waiting, +as He kept St Monica of old, when she wept over St Augustine’s +youthful sins and follies. But <!-- page 231--><a name="page231"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 231</span>He +may answer us, as He answered her by the good bishop—“Be +of good cheer. It is impossible that the son of so many prayers +should perish.” And so, though He may shame us, in our inmost +heart, by the rebuke—“Except ye see signs and wonders, ye +will not believe”—He will in the same breath grant our prayer, +undeserved though His condescension be, and say—“Go in peace, +thy son liveth.”</p> +<h2><b><!-- page 232--><a name="page232"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 232</span>SERMON +XX. THE JUDGMENTS OF GOD.</b></h2> +<p style="text-align: center"><span class="smcap">Luke xiii</span>. +1-5.</p> +<blockquote><p>There were present at that season some that told him +of the Galilæans, whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. +And Jesus answering said unto them, Suppose ye that these Galilæans +were sinners above all the Galilæans, because they suffered such +things? I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise +perish. Or those eighteen, upon whom the tower in Siloam fell, +and slew them, think ye that they were sinners above all men that dwelt +in Jerusalem? I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall +all likewise perish.</p> +</blockquote> +<p>This story is often used, it seems to me, for a purpose exactly opposite +to that for which it is told. It is said that because these Galilæans, +whom Pilate slew, and these eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell, +were no worse than the people round them, that therefore similar calamities +must not be considered judgments and punishments of God; that it is +an offence against Christian charity to say that such sufferers are +the objects of God’s anger; that it is an offence against good +manners to introduce the name of God, or the theory of a Divine Providence, +in speaking of historical events. They must <!-- page 233--><a name="page233"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 233</span>be +ascribed to certain brute forces of nature; to certain inevitable laws +of history; to the passions of men, to chance, to fate, to anything +and everything: rather than to the will of God.</p> +<p>No man disagrees more utterly than I do with the latter part of this +language. But I cannot be astonished at its popularity. +It cannot be denied that the theory of a Divine Providence has been +much misstated; that the doctrine of final causes has been much abused; +that, in plain English, God’s name has been too often taken in +vain, about calamities, private and public. Rational men of the +world, therefore, may be excused for begging at times not to hear any +more of Divine Providence; excused for doubting the existence of final +causes; excused for shrinking, whenever they hear a preacher begin to +interpret the will of God about this event or that. They dread +a repetition of the mistake—to call it by the very gentlest term—which +priests, in all ages, have been but too ready to commit. For all +priesthoods—whether heathen or Christian, whether calling themselves +priests, or merely ministers and preachers—have been in all ages +tempted to talk as if Divine Providence was exercised solely on their +behalf; in favour of their class, their needs, their health and comfort; +as if the thunders of Jove never fell save when the priesthood needed, +I had almost said commanded, them. Thus they have too often arrogated +to themselves a right to define who was cursed by God, which has too +soon, again and again, degenerated into a right to curse men in God’s +name; while they have too often taught men to believe only <!-- page 234--><a name="page234"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 234</span>in +a Providence who interfered now and then on behalf of certain favoured +persons, instead of a Providence who rules, always and everywhere, over +all mankind. But men have again and again reversed their judgments. +They have had to say—The facts are against you. You prophesied +destruction to such and such persons; and behold: they have not been +destroyed, but live and thrive. You said that such and such persons’ +calamities were a proof of God’s anger for their sins. We +find them, on the contrary, to have been innocent and virtuous persons; +often martyrs for truth, for humanity, for God. The facts, we +say, are against you. If there be a Providence, it is not such +as you describe. If there be judgments of God, you have not found +out the laws by which He judges: and rather than believe in your theory +of Providence, your theory of judgments, we will believe in none.</p> +<p>Thus, in age after age, in land after land, has fanaticism and bigotry +brought forth, by a natural revulsion, its usual fruit of unbelief.</p> +<p>But—let men believe or disbelieve as they choose—the +warning of the Psalmist still stands true—“Be wise. +Take heed, ye unwise among the people. He that nurtureth the heathen; +it is He that teacheth man knowledge, shall He not punish?” +For as surely as there is a God, so surely does that God judge the earth; +and every individual, family, institution, and nation on the face thereof; +and judge them all in righteousness by His Son Jesus Christ, whom He +hath appointed heir of all things, and given Him all power in heaven +and earth; <!-- page 235--><a name="page235"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 235</span>who +reigns and will reign till He hath put all enemies under His feet.</p> +<p>This is the good news of Advent. And therefore it is well that +in Advent, if we believe that Christ is ruling us, we should look somewhat +into the laws of His kingdom, as far as He has revealed them to us; +and among others, into the law which—as I think—He laid +down in the text.</p> +<p>Now I beg you to remark that the text, taken fully and fairly, means +the very opposite to that popular notion of which I spoke in the beginning +of my sermon.</p> +<p>Our Lord does not say—Those Galilæans were not sinners +at all. Their sins had nothing to do with their death. Those +on whom the tower fell were innocent men. He rather implies the +very opposite.</p> +<p>We know nothing of the circumstances of either calamity: but this +we know—That our Lord warned the rest of the Jews, that unless +they repented—that is, changed their mind, and therefore their +conduct, they would all perish in the same way. And we know that +that warning was fulfilled, within forty years, so hideously, and so +awfully, that the destruction of Jerusalem remains, as one of the most +terrible cases of wholesale ruin and horror recorded in history; and—as +I believe—a key to many a calamity before and since. Like +the taking of Babylon, the fall of Rome, and the French Revolution, +it stands out in lurid splendour, as of the nether pit itself, forcing +all who believe to say in fear and trembling—Verily there is a +God that judgeth the earth—and a <!-- page 236--><a name="page236"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 236</span>warning +to every man, class, institution, and nation on earth, to set their +houses in order betimes, and bear fruit meet for repentance, lest the +day come when they too shall be weighed in the balance of God’s +eternal justice, and found wanting.</p> +<p>But another lesson we may learn from the text, which I wish to impress +earnestly on your minds. These Galilæans, it seems, were +no worse than the other Galilæans: yet they were singled out as +examples: as warnings to the rest.</p> +<p>Believing—as I do—that our Lord was always teaching the +universal through the particular, and in each parable, nay in each comment +on passing events, laying down world-wide laws of His own kingdom, enduring +through all time—I presume that this also is one of the laws of +the kingdom of God. And I think that facts—to which after +all is the only safe appeal—prove that it is so; that we see the +same law at work around us every day. I think that pestilences, +conflagrations, accidents of any kind which destroy life wholesale, +even earthquakes and storms, are instances of this law; warnings from +God; judgments of God, in the very strictest sense; by which He tells +men, in a voice awful enough to the few, but merciful and beneficent +to the many, to be prudent and wise; to learn henceforth either not +to interfere with the physical laws of His universe, or to master and +to wield them by reason and by science.</p> +<p>I would gladly say more on this point, did time allow: but I had +rather now ask you to consider, whether <!-- page 237--><a name="page237"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 237</span>this +same law does not reveal itself throughout history; in many great national +changes, or even calamities; and in the fall of many an ancient and +time-honoured institution. I believe that the law does reveal +itself; and in forms which, rightly studied, may at once teach us Christian +charity, and give us faith and comfort, as we see that God, however +severe, is still just.</p> +<p>I mean this—The more we read, in history, of the fall of great +dynasties, or of the ruin of whole classes, or whole nations, the more +we feel—however much we may acquiesce with the judgment as a whole—sympathy +with the fallen. It is not the worst, but often the best, specimens +of a class or of a system, who are swallowed up by the moral earthquake, +which has been accumulating its forces, perhaps for centuries. +Innocent and estimable on the whole, as persons, they are involved in +the ruin which falls on the system to which they belong. So far +from being sinners above all around them, they are often better people +than those around them. It is as if they were punished, not for +being who they were, but for being what they were.</p> +<p>History is full of such instances; instances of which we say and +cannot help saying—What have they done above all others, that +on them above all others the thunderbolt should fall?</p> +<p>Was Charles the First, for example, the worst, or the best, of the +Stuarts; and Louis the Sixteenth, of the Bourbons? Look, again, +at the fate of Sir Thomas More, Bishop Fisher, and the hapless monks +of the Charterhouse. Were they sinners above all who upheld <!-- page 238--><a name="page238"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 238</span>the +Romish system in England? Were they not rather among the righteous +men who ought to have saved it, if it could have been saved? And +yet on them—the purest and the holiest of their party—and +not on hypocrites and profligates, fell the thunderbolt.</p> +<p>What is the meaning of these things?—for a meaning there must +be; and we, I dare to believe, must be meant to discover it; for we +are the children of God, into whose hearts, because we are human beings +and not mere animals, He has implanted the inextinguishable longing +to ascertain final causes; to seek not merely the means of things, but +the reason of things; to ask not merely How? but Why?</p> +<p>May not the reason be—I speak with all timidity and reverence, +as one who shrinks from pretending to thrust himself into the counsels +of the Almighty—But may not the reason be that God has wished +thereby to condemn not the persons, but the systems? That He has +punished them, not for their private, but for their public faults? +It is not the men who are judged, it is the state of things which they +represent; and for that very reason may not God have made an example, +a warning, not of the worst, but of the very best, specimens of a doomed +class or system, which has been weighed in His balance, and found wanting?</p> +<p>Therefore we need not suppose that these sufferers themselves were +the objects of God’s wrath. We may believe that of them, +too, stands true the great Law, “Whom the Lord loveth, He chasteneth, +and scourgeth every son whom He receiveth.” We may believe +that <!-- page 239--><a name="page239"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 239</span>of +them, too, stands true St Paul’s great parable in 1 Cor. xii., +which, though a parable, is the expression of a perpetually active law. +They have built, it may be, on the true foundation: but they have built +on it wood, hay, stubble, instead of gold and precious stone. +And the fire of God, which burns for ever against the falsehoods and +follies of the world, has tried their work, and it is burned and lost. +But they themselves are saved; yet as through fire.</p> +<p>Looking at history in this light, we may justify God for many a heavy +blow, and fearful judgment, which seems to the unbeliever a wanton cruelty +of chance or fate; while at the same time we may feel deep sympathy +with—often deep admiration for—many a noble spirit, who +has been defeated, and justly defeated, by those irreversible laws of +God’s kingdom, of which it is written—“On whomsoever +that stone shall fall, it will grind him to powder.” We +may look with reverence, as well as pity, on many figures in history, +such as Sir Thomas More’s; on persons who, placed by no fault +of their own in some unnatural and unrighteous position; involved in +some decaying and unworkable system; conscious more or less of their +false position; conscious, too, of coming danger, have done their best, +according to their light, to work like men, before the night came in +which no man could work; to do what of their duty seemed still plain +and possible; and to set right that which would never come right more: +forgetting that, alas, the crooked cannot be made straight, and that +which is wanting cannot be numbered; till the flood came and <!-- page 240--><a name="page240"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 240</span>swept +them away, standing bravely to the last at a post long since untenable, +but still—all honour to them—standing at their post.</p> +<p>When we consider such sad figures on the page of history, we may +have, I say, all respect for their private virtues. We may accept +every excuse for their public mistakes. And yet we may feel a +solemn satisfaction at their downfall, when we see it to have been necessary +for the progress of mankind, and according to those laws and that will +of God and of Christ, by which alone the human race is ruled. +We may look back on old orders of things with admiration; even with +a touch of pardonable, though sentimental, regret. But we shall +not forget that the old order changes, giving place to the new;</p> +<blockquote><p>And God fulfils Himself in many ways,<br /> +Lest one good custom should corrupt the world.</p> +</blockquote> +<p>And we shall believe, too, if we be wise, that all these things were +written for our example, that we may see, and fear, and be turned to +the Lord, each asking himself solemnly, What is the system on which +I am governing my actions? Is it according to the laws and will +of God, as revealed in facts? Let me discover that in time: lest, +when it becomes bankrupt in God’s books, I be involved—I +cannot guess how far—in the common ruin of my compeers.</p> +<p>What is my duty? Let me go and work at it, lest a night come, +in which I cannot work. What fruit am I expected to bring forth? +Let me train and cultivate <!-- page 241--><a name="page241"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 241</span>my +mind, heart, whole humanity to bring it forth, lest the great Husbandman +come seeking fruit on me, and find none. And if I see a man who +falls in the battle of life, let me not count him a worse sinner than +myself; but let me judge myself in fear and trembling; lest God judge +me, and I perish in like wise.</p> +<h2><b><!-- page 242--><a name="page242"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 242</span>SERMON +XXI. THE WAR IN HEAVEN.</b></h2> +<p style="text-align: center"><span class="smcap">Rev. xix</span>. 11-16.</p> +<blockquote><p>And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and +he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness +he doth judge and make war. His eyes were as a flame of fire, +and on his head were many crowns; and he had a name written, that no +man knew, but he himself. And he was clothed with a vesture dipped +in blood: and his name is called The Word of God. And the armies +which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine +linen, white and clean. And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, +that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with +a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath +of Almighty God. And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a +name written, <span class="smcap">King of kings, and Lord of lords</span>.</p> +</blockquote> +<p>Let me ask you to consider seriously this noble passage. It +was never more worth men’s while to consider it than now, when +various selfish and sentimental religions—call them rather superstitions—have +made men altogether forget the awful reality of Christ’s kingdom; +the awful fact that Christ reigns, and will reign, till He has put all +enemies under His feet.</p> +<p><!-- page 243--><a name="page243"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 243</span>Who, +then, is He of whom the text speaks? Who is this personage, who +appears eternally in heaven as a warrior, with His garments stained +with blood, the leader of armies, smiting the nations, and ruling them +with a rod of iron?</p> +<p>St John tells us that He had one name which none knew save Himself. +But he tells us that He was called Faithful and True; and he tells us, +too, that He had another name which St John did know; and that is, “The +Word of God.”</p> +<p>Now who the Word of God is, all are bound to know who call themselves +Christians; even Jesus Christ our Lord, who was born of the Virgin Mary, +crucified under Pontius Pilate, rose again the third day, ascended into +heaven, and sitteth at the right hand of God.</p> +<p>He it is who makes everlasting war as King of kings and Lord of lords. +But against what does He make war? His name tells us that. +For it is—Faithful and True; and therefore He makes war against +all things and beings who are unfaithful and false. He Himself +is full of chivalry, full of fidelity; and therefore all that is unchivalrous +and treacherous is hateful in His eyes; and that which He hates, He +is both able and willing to destroy.</p> +<p>Moreover, He makes war in righteousness. And therefore all +men and things which are unrighteous and unjust are on the opposite +side to Him; His enemies, which He will trample under His feet. +The only hope for them, and indeed for all mankind, is that He does +make war in righteousness, and that He Himself is faithful <!-- page 244--><a name="page244"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 244</span>and +true, whoever else is not; that He is always just, always fair, always +honourable and courteous; that He always keeps His word; and governs +according to fixed and certain laws, which men may observe and calculate +upon, and shape their conduct accordingly, sure that Christ’s +laws will not change for any soul on earth or in heaven. But, +within those honourable and courteous conditions, He will, as often +as He sees fit, smite the nations, and rule them with a rod of iron; +and tread the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.</p> +<p>And if any say—as too many in these luxurious unbelieving days +will say—What words are these? Threatening, terrible, cruel? +My answer is,—The words are not mine. I did not put them +into the Bible. I find them there, and thousands like them, in +the New Testament as well as in the Old, in the Gospels and Epistles +as well as in the Revelation of St John. If you do not like them, +your quarrel must be, not with me, but with the whole Bible, and especially +with St John the Apostle, who said—“Little children, love +one another;” and who therefore was likely to have as much love +and pity in his heart as any philanthropic, or sentimental, or superstitious, +or bigoted, personage of modern days.</p> +<p>And if any one say,—But you must mistake the meaning of the +text. It must be understood spiritually. The meek and gentle +Jesus, who is nothing but love and mercy, cannot be such an awful and +destroying being as you would make Him out to be. Then I must +<!-- page 245--><a name="page245"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 245</span>answer—That +our Lord was meek and gentle when on earth, and therefore is meek and +gentle for ever and ever, there can be no doubt. “I am meek +and lowly of heart,” He said of Himself. But with that meekness +and lowliness, and not in contradiction to it, there was, when He was +upon earth, and therefore there is now and for ever, a burning indignation +against all wrong and falsehood; and especially against that worst form +of falsehood—hypocrisy; and that worst form of hypocrisy—covetousness +which shelters itself under religion.</p> +<p>When our Lord saw men buying and selling in the temple, He made a +scourge of cords, and drove them out, and overthrew the tables of the +money-changers, and said,—“It is written, my Father’s +house is a house of prayer, but ye have made it a den of thieves.”</p> +<p>When He faced the Pharisees, who were covetous, He had no meek and +gentle words for them: but, “Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, +how can ye escape the damnation of hell?”</p> +<p>And because His character is perfect and eternal: because He is the +same yesterday, to-day, and for ever, we are bound by the Christian +faith to believe that He has now, and will have for ever, the same Divine +indignation against wrong, the same determination to put it down: and +to cast out of His kingdom, which is simply the whole universe, all +that offends, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie.</p> +<p>And if any say, as some say now-a-days—“Ah, but you cannot +suppose that our Lord would propagate His Gospel by the sword, or wish +Christians to do so.” <!-- page 246--><a name="page246"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 246</span>My +friends, this chapter and this sermon has nothing to do with the propagation +of the Gospel, in the popular sense; nothing to do with converting heathens +or others to Christianity. It has to do with that awful government +of the world, of which the Bible preaches from beginning to end; that +moral and providential kingdom of God, which rules over the destiny +of every kingdom, every nation, every tribe, every family, nay, over +the destiny of each human being; ay, of each horde of Tartars on the +furthest Siberian steppe, and each group of savages in the furthest +island of the Pacific; rendering to each man according to his works, +rewarding the good, punishing the bad, and exterminating evildoers, +even wholesale and seemingly without discrimination, when the measure +of their iniquity is full. Christ’s herald in this noble +chapter calls men, not to repentance, but to inevitable doom. +His angel—His messenger—stands in the sun, the source of +light and life; above this petty planet, its fashions, its politics, +its sentimentalities, its notions of how the universe ought to have +been made and managed; and calls to whom?—to all the fowl that +fly in the firmament of heaven—“Come and gather yourselves +together, to the feast of the great God, that ye may eat the flesh of +kings, and of captains, and of mighty men; and the flesh of horses and +of them that sit on them; and the flesh of all men, both free and slave, +both small and great.”</p> +<p>What those awful words may mean I cannot say. But this I say, +that the Apostle would never have used such words, conveying so plain +and so terrible a meaning to <!-- page 247--><a name="page247"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 247</span>anyone +who has ever seen or heard of a battle-field, if he had really meant +by them nothing like a battle-field at all.</p> +<p>It may be that these words have fulfilled themselves many times—at +the fall of Jerusalem—at the wars which convulsed the Roman empire +during the first century after Christ—at the final fall of the +Roman empire before the lances of our German ancestors—in many +another great war, and national calamity, in many a land since then. +It may be, too, that, as learned divines have thought, they will have +their complete fulfilment in some war of all wars, some battle of all +battles; in which all the powers of evil, and all those who love a lie, +shall be arrayed against all the powers of good, and all those who fear +God and keep His commandments: to fight it out, if the controversy can +be settled by no reason, no persuasion; a battle in which the whole +world shall discover that, even in an appeal to brute force, the good +are stronger than the bad; because they have moral force also on their +side; because God and the laws of His whole universe are fighting for +them, against those who transgress law, and outrage reason.</p> +<p>The wisest of living Britons has said,—“Infinite Pity, +yet infinite rigour of Law. It is so that the world is made.” +I should add, It is so the world must be made, because it is made by +Jesus Christ our Lord, and its laws are the likeness of His character; +pitiful, because Christ is pitiful; and rigorous, because He is rigorous. +So pitiful is Christ, that He did not hesitate to be slain for men, +that mankind through Him might be <!-- page 248--><a name="page248"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 248</span>saved. +But so rigorous is Christ, that He does not hesitate to slay men, if +needful, that mankind thereby may be saved. War and bloodshed, +pestilence and famine, earthquake and tempest—all of them, as +sure as there is a God, are the servants of God, doing His awful but +necessary work, for the final benefit of the whole human race.</p> +<p>It may be difficult to believe this: at least to believe it with +the same intense faith with which prophets and apostles of old believed +it, and cried—“When Thy judgments, O Lord, are abroad in +the earth, then shall the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness.” +But we must believe it: or we shall be driven to believe in no God at +all; and that will be worse for us than all the evil that has happened +to us from our youth up until now.</p> +<p>But most people find it very difficult to believe in such a God as +the Scripture sets forth—a God of boundless tenderness; and yet +a God of boundless indignation.</p> +<p>The covetous and luxurious find it very difficult to understand such +a being. Their usual notion of tenderness is a selfish dislike +of seeing any one else uncomfortable, because it makes them uncomfortable +likewise. Their usual notion of indignation is a selfish desire +of revenge against anyone who interferes with their comfort. And +therefore they have no wholesome indignation against wrong and wrong-doers, +and a great deal of unwholesome tenderness for them. They are +afraid of any one’s being punished; probably from a fellow-feeling; +a <!-- page 249--><a name="page249"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 249</span>suspicion +that they deserve to be punished themselves. They hate and dread +honest severity, and stern exercise of lawful power. They are +indulgent to the bad, severe upon the good; till, as has been bitterly +but too truly said,—“Public opinion will allow a man to +do anything, except his duty.”</p> +<p>Now this is a humour which cannot last. It breeds weakness, +anarchy, and at last ruin to society. And then the effeminate +and luxurious, terrified for their money and their comfort, fly from +an unwholesome tenderness to an unwholesome indignation; break out into +a panic of selfish rage; and become, as cowards are apt to do, blindly +and wantonly cruel; and those who fancied God too indulgent to punish +His enemies, will be the very first to punish their own.</p> +<p>But there are those left, I thank God, in this land, who have a clear +understanding of what they ought to be, and an honest desire to be it; +who know that a manful indignation against wrong-doing, a hearty hatred +of falsehood and meanness, a rigorous determination to do their duty +at all risks, and to repress evil with all severity, may dwell in the +same heart with gentleness, forgiveness, tenderness to women and children; +active pity to the weak, the sick, the homeless; and courtesy to all +mankind, even to their enemies.</p> +<p>God grant that that spirit may remain alive among us. For without +it we shall not long be a strong nation; not indeed long a nation at +all. And it is alive among us. Not that we, any of us, have +enough of it—God forgive us for all our shortcomings. And +God grant it may <!-- page 250--><a name="page250"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 250</span>remain +alive among us; for it is, as far as it goes, the likeness of Christ, +the Maker and Ruler of the world.</p> +<p>“Christian,” said a great genius and a great divine,</p> +<blockquote><p>“If thou wouldst learn to love,<br /> +Thou first must learn to hate.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>And if any one answer—“Hate? Even God hateth nothing +that He has made.” The rejoinder is,—And for that +very reason God hates evil; because He has not made it, and it is ruinous +to all that He has made.</p> +<p>Go you and do likewise. Hate what is wrong with all your heart, +and mind, and soul, and strength. For so, and so only, you will +shew that you love God with all your heart, and mind, and soul, and +strength, likewise.</p> +<p>Oh pray—and that not once for all merely, but day by day, ay, +almost hour by hour—Strengthen me, O Lord, to hate what Thou hatest, +and love what Thou lovest; and therefore, whenever I see an opportunity, +to put down what Thou hatest, and to help what Thou lovest—That +so, at the last dread day, when every man shall be rewarded according +to his works, you may have some answer to give to the awful question—On +whose side wert thou in the battle of life? On the side of good +men and of God, or on the side of bad men and the devil? Lest +you find yourselves forced to reply—as too many will be forced—with +surprise, and something like shame and confusion of face—I really +do not know. I never thought about the matter at all. I +never knew that there was any battle of life.</p> +<p>Never knew that there was any battle of life? And yet <!-- page 251--><a name="page251"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 251</span>you +were christened, and signed with the sign of the Cross, in token that +you should fight manfully under Christ’s banner against sin, the +world, and the devil, and continue Christ’s faithful soldier and +servant to your life’s end. Did it never occur to you that +those words might possibly mean something? And you used to sing +hymns, too, on earth, about “Soldiers of Christ, arise, And put +your armour on.” What prophets, and apostles, and martyrs, +and confessors meant by those words, you should know well enough. +Did it never occur to you that they might possibly mean something to +you? That as long as the world was no better than it is, there +was still a battle of life; and that you too were sworn to fight in +it? How many will answer—Yes—Yes—But I thought +that these words only meant having my soul saved, and going to heaven +when I died. And how did you expect to do that? By believing +certain doctrines which you were told were true; and leading a tolerably +respectable life, without which you would not have been received into +society? Was that all which was needed to go to heaven? +And was that all that was meant by fighting manfully under Christ’s +banner against sin, the world, and the devil? Why, Cyrus and his +old Persians, 2,400 years ago, were nearer to the kingdom of God than +that. They had a clearer notion of what the battle of life meant +than that, when they said that not only the man who did a merciful or +just deed, but the man who drained a swamp, tilled a field, made any +little corner of the earth somewhat better than he found it, was fighting +against Ahriman the evil spirit of darkness, on the side <!-- page 252--><a name="page252"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 252</span>of +Ormuzd the good god of light; and that as he had taken his part in Ormuzd’s +battle, he should share in Ormuzd’s triumph.</p> +<p>Oh be at least able to say in that day,—Lord, I am no hero. +I have been careless, cowardly, sometimes all but mutinous. Punishment +I have deserved, I deny it not. But a traitor I have never been; +a deserter I have never been. I have tried to fight on Thy side +in Thy battle against evil. I have tried to do the duty which +lay nearest me; and to leave whatever Thou didst commit to my charge +a little better than I found it. I have not been good: but I have +at least tried to be good. I have not done good, it may be, either: +but I have at least tried to do good. Take the will for the deed, +good Lord. Accept the partial self-sacrifice which Thou didst +inspire, for the sake of the one perfect self-sacrifice which Thou didst +fulfil upon the Cross. Pardon my faults, out of Thine own boundless +pity for human weakness. Strike not my unworthy name off the roll-call +of the noble and victorious army, which is the blessed company of all +faithful people; and let me, too, be found written in the Book of Life: +even though I stand the lowest and last upon its list. Amen.</p> +<h2><b><!-- page 253--><a name="page253"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 253</span>SERMON +XXII. NOBLE COMPANY.</b></h2> +<p style="text-align: center"><span class="smcap">Hebrews xii</span>. +22, 23.</p> +<blockquote><p>Ye are come to the city of the living God, and to the +spirits of just men made perfect.</p> +</blockquote> +<p>I have quoted only part of the passage of Scripture in which these +words occur. If you want a good employment for All Saints’ +Day, read the whole passage, the whole chapter; and no less, the 11th +chapter, which comes before it: so will you understand better the meaning +of All Saints’ Day. But sufficient for the day is the good +thereof, as well as the evil; and the good which I have to say this +morning is—You are come to the spirits of just men made perfect; +for this is All Saints’ Day.</p> +<p>Into the presence of this noble company we have come: even nobler +company, remember, than that which was spoken of in the text. +For more than 1800 years have passed since the Epistle to the Hebrews +was written: and how many thousands of just men and women, pure, noble, +tender, wise, beneficent, have graced the earth since then, and left +their mark upon mankind, and helped forward the hallowing of our heavenly +Father’s <!-- page 254--><a name="page254"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 254</span>name, +the coming of His kingdom, the doing of His will on earth as it is done +in heaven; and helped therefore to abolish the superstition, the misrule, +the vice, and therefore the misery of this struggling, moaning world. +How many such has Christ sent on this earth during the last 1800 years. +How many before that; before His own coming, for many a century and +age. We know not, and we need not know. The records of Holy +Scripture and of history strike with light an isolated mountain peak, +or group of peaks, here and here through the ages; but between and beyond +all is dark to us now. But it may not have been dark always. +Scripture and history likewise hint to us of great hills far away, once +brilliant in the one true sunshine which comes from God, now shrouded +in the mist of ages, or literally turned away beyond our horizon by +the revolution of our planet: and of lesser hills, too, once bright +and green and fair, giving pasture to lonely flocks, sending down fertilizing +streams into now forgotten valleys; themselves all but forgotten now, +save by the God who made and blessed them.</p> +<p>Yes: many a holy soul, many a useful soul, many a saint who is now +at God’s right hand, has lived and worked, and been a blessing, +himself blest, of whom the world, and even the Church, has never heard, +who will never be seen or known again, till the day in which the Lord +counteth up His jewels.</p> +<p>Let us rejoice in that thought on this day, above all days in the +year. On this day we give special thanks to God for all His servants +departed this life in His faith <!-- page 255--><a name="page255"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 255</span>and +fear. Let us rejoice in the thought that we know not how many +they are; only that they are an innumerable company, out of all tongues +and nations, whom no man can number. Let us rejoice that Christ’s +grace is richer, and not poorer, than our weak imaginations can conceive, +or our narrow systems account for. Let us rejoice that the goodly +company in whose presence we stand, can be limited and defined by no +mortal man, or school of men: but only by Him from whom, with the Father, +proceeds for ever the Holy Spirit, the inspirer of all good; and who +said of that Spirit—“The wind bloweth where it listeth, +and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, +and whither it goeth. So is every one who is born of the Spirit”—and +who said again, “John came neither eating nor drinking, and ye +said, He hath a devil. The Son of man came eating and drinking, +and ye say, Behold a man gluttonous and a winebibber, a friend of publicans +and sinners. But I say unto you, Verily wisdom is justified of +all her children”—and who said again—when John said +to Him, “Master, we saw one casting out devils in Thy name, and +he followeth not us”—“Forbid him not. For I +say to you, that he that doeth a miracle in My name will not lightly +speak evil of Me”—and who said, lastly—and most awfully—that +the unpardonable sin, either in this life or the life to come, was to +attribute beneficent deeds to a bad origin, because they were performed +by one who differed from us in opinion; and to say, “He casteth +out devils by Beelzebub, prince of the devils.”</p> +<p><!-- page 256--><a name="page256"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 256</span>These +are words of our Lord, which we are specially bound to keep in our minds, +with reverence and godly fear, on All Saints’ Day, lest by arranging +our calendar of saints according to our own notions of who ought to +be a saint, and who ought not—that is, who agrees with our notions +of perfection, and who does not—we exclude ourselves, by fastidiousness, +from much unquestionably good company; and possibly mix ourselves up +with not a little which is, to say the least, questionable.</p> +<p>Men in all ages, Churchmen or others, have fallen into this mistake. +They have been but too ready to limit their calendar of saints; to narrow +the thanksgivings which they offer to God on All Saints’ Day.</p> +<p>The Romish Church has been especially faulty on this point. +It has assumed, as necessary preliminaries for saintship—at least +after the Christian era—the practice of, or at least the longing +after, celibacy; and after the separation of the Eastern and Western +Churches, unconditional submission to the Church of Rome. But +how has this injured, if not spoiled, their exclusive calendar of saints. +Amid apostles, martyrs, divines, who must be always looked on as among +the very heroes and heroines of humanity, we find more than one fanatic +persecutor; more than two or three clearly insane personages; and too +many who all but justify the terrible sneer—that the Romish Calendar +is the “Pantheon of Hysteria.”</p> +<p>And Protestants, too—How have they narrowed the number of the +spirits of just men made perfect; and confined the Pæan which +should go up from the human race <!-- page 257--><a name="page257"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 257</span>on +All Saints’ Day, till a “saint” has too often meant +with them only a person who has gone through certain emotional experiences, +and assented to certain subjective formulas, neither of which, according +to the opinion of some of the soundest divines, both of the Romish, +Greek, and Anglican communions, are to be found in the letter of Scripture +as necessary to salvation; and who have, moreover, finished their course—doubtless +often a holy, beneficent, and beautiful course—by a rapturous +death-bed scene, which is more rare in the actual experience of clergymen, +and, indeed, in the conscience and experience of human beings in general, +than in the imaginations of the writers of religious romances.</p> +<p>But we of the Church of England, as by law established—and +I recognize and obey, and shall hereafter recognize and obey, no other—have +no need so to narrow our All Saints’ Day; our joy in all that +is noble and good which man has said or done in any age or clime. +We have no need to define where formularies have not defined; to shut +where they have opened; to curse where they either bless, or are humbly, +charitably, and therefore divinely, silent. With a magnificent +faith in the justice of the Father, and in the grace of Christ, and +in the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, our Church bids us—Judge +not the dead, lest ye be judged. Condemn not the dead, lest ye +be condemned. For she bids us commit to the earth the corpses +of all who die not “unbaptized,” “excommunicate,” +or wilful suicides, and who are willing to lie in our consecrated ground; +giving thanks to God that our dear brother has been delivered from the +miseries of this sinful <!-- page 258--><a name="page258"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 258</span>world, +and in sure and certain hope of the resurrection to eternal life.</p> +<p>At least: we of the Abbey of Westminster have a right to hold this; +for we, thank God, act on it, and have acted on it for many a year. +We have a right to our wide, free, charitable, and truly catholic conception +of All Saints’ Day. Ay, if we did not use our right, these +walls would use it for us; and in us would our Lord’s words be +fulfilled—If we were silent, the very stones beneath our feet +would cry out.</p> +<p>For hither we gather, as far as is permitted us, and hither we gather +proudly, the mortal dust of every noble soul who has done good work +for the British nation; accepting each and all of them as gifts from +the Father of lights, from whom proceedeth every good and perfect gift, +as sent to this nation by that Lord Jesus Christ who is the King of +all the nations upon earth; and acknowledging—for fear of falling +into that Pelagian heresy, which is too near the heart of every living +man—that all wise words which they have spoken, all noble deeds +which they have done, have come, must have come, from The One eternal +source of wisdom, of nobleness, of every form of good; even from the +Holy Spirit of God.</p> +<p>We make no severe or minute inquiries here. We leave them, +if they must be made, to God the Judge of all things, and Christ who +knows the secrets of the hearts; to Him who is merciful in this: that +He rewardeth every man according to his works.</p> +<p>All we ask is—and all we dare ask—of divine or statesman, +poet or warrior, musician or engineer—of <!-- page 259--><a name="page259"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 259</span>Dryden +or of Handel—of Isaac Watts or of Charles Dickens—but why +go on with the splendid diversities of the splendid catalogue?—What +was your work? Did we admire you for it? Did we love you +for it? And why? Because you made us in some way or other +better men. Because you helped us somewhat toward whatsoever things +are pure, true, just, honourable, of good report. Because, if +there was any virtue—that is, true valour and manhood; if there +was any praise—that is, just honour in the sight of men, and therefore +surely in the sight of the Son of man, who died for men; you helped +us to think on such things. You, in one word, helped to make us +better men.</p> +<p>Welcome then, friends unknown—and, alas! friends known, and +loved, and lost—welcome into England’s Pantheon, not of +superstitious and selfish hysteria, but of beneficent and healthy manhood.</p> +<p>Your words and your achievements have gone out into all lands, and +your sound unto the ends of the world; and let them go, and prosper +in that for which the Lord of man has sent them. Our duty is, +to guard your sacred dust. Our duty is, to point out your busts, +your monuments around these ancient walls, to all who come, of every +race and creed; as proofs that the ancient spirit is not dead; that +Christ has not deserted the nation of England, while He sends into it +such men as you; that Christ has not deserted the Church of England, +while He gives her grace to recognize and honour such men as you, and +to pray Christ that He would keep up the sacred succession of virtue, +talent, beneficence, <!-- page 260--><a name="page260"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 260</span>patriotism; +and make us, most unworthy, at last worthy, one at least here and there, +of the noble dead, above whose dust we now serve God.</p> +<p>Yes, so ought we in Westminster to keep our All Saints’ Day; +in giving thanks to God for the spirits of just men made perfect. +Not only for those just men and women innumerable, who—as I said +at first—have graced this earth during the long ages of the past: +but specially for those who lie around us here; with whom we can enter, +and have entered already, often, into spiritual communion closer than +that, almost, of child with parent; whose writings we can read, whose +deeds we can admire, whose virtues we can copy, and to whom we owe a +debt of gratitude, we and our children after us, which never can be +repaid.</p> +<p>And if ever the thought comes over us—But these men had their +faults, mistakes—Oh, what of that?</p> +<blockquote><p>Nothing is left of them<br /> +Now, but pure manly.</p> +</blockquote> +<p>Let us think of them: not as they were, compassed round with infirmities—as +who is not?—knowing in part, and seeing in part, as St Paul himself, +in the zenith of his inspiration, said that he knew; and saw, as through +a glass, darkly.</p> +<p>Let us think of them not as they were, the spirits of just men imperfect: +but as the spirits of just men made, or to be made hereafter, perfect; +when, as St Paul says, “that which is in part is done away, and +that which is perfect is come.” And let us trust Christ +for them, as <!-- page 261--><a name="page261"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 261</span>we +would trust Him for ourselves; sure “that the path of the just +is as a shining light, which shineth more and more unto the perfect +day.”</p> +<p>Ah, how many lie in this Abbey, to meet whom in the world to come, +would be an honour most undeserved!</p> +<p>How many more worthy, and therefore more likely, than any of us here, +to behold that endless All Saints’ Day, to which may God in His +mercy, in spite of all our shortcomings, bring us all. Amen.</p> +<h2><b><!-- page 262--><a name="page262"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 262</span>SERMON +XXIII. DE PROFUNDIS.</b></h2> +<p style="text-align: center"><span class="smcap">Psalm cxxx</span>.</p> +<blockquote><p>Out of the deep have I called unto Thee, O Lord: Lord, +hear my voice. O let Thine ears consider well the voice of my +complaint. If Thou, Lord, wilt be extreme to mark what is done +amiss, O Lord, who may abide it? For there is mercy with Thee, +therefore shall Thou be feared. I look for the Lord; my soul doth +wait for Him: in His word is my trust. My soul fleeth unto the +Lord before the morning watch: I say, before the morning watch. +O Israel, trust in the Lord: for with the Lord there is mercy, and with +Him is plenteous redemption. And He shall redeem Israel from all +his sins.</p> +</blockquote> +<p>Let us consider this psalm awhile, for it is a precious heirloom +to mankind. It has been a guide and a comfort to thousands and +tens of thousands. Rich and poor, old and young, Jews and Christians, +Romans, Greeks, and Protestants, have been taught by it the character +of God; and taught to love Him, and trust in Him, in whom is mercy, +therefore He shall be feared.</p> +<p>The Psalmist cries out of the deep; out of the deep of sorrow, perhaps, +and bereavement, and loneliness; or out of the deep of poverty; or out +of the deep of persecution and ill-usage; or out of the deep of sin, +and <!-- page 263--><a name="page263"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 263</span>shame, +and weakness which he hates yet cannot conquer; or out of the deep of +doubt, and anxiety—and ah! how common is that deep; and how many +there are in it that swim hard for their lives: may God help them and +bring them safe to land;—or out of the deep of overwork, so common +now-a-days, when duty lies sore on aching shoulders, a burden too heavy +to be borne.</p> +<p>Out of some one of the many deeps into which poor souls fall at times, +and find themselves in deep water where no ground is, and in the mire +wherein they are ready to sink, the Psalmist cries. But out of +the deep he cries—to God. To God, and to none else.</p> +<p>He goes to the fountain-head, to the fount of deliverance, and of +forgiveness. For he feels that he needs, not only deliverance, +but forgiveness likewise. His sorrow may not be altogether his +own fault. What we call in our folly “accident” and +“chance,” and “fortune,”—but which is +really the wise providence and loving will of God—may have brought +him low into the deep. Or the injustice, cruelty, and oppression +of men may have brought him low; or many another evil hap. But +be that as it may, he dares not justify himself. He cannot lift +up altogether clean hands. He cannot say that his sorrow is none +of his own fault, and his mishap altogether undeserved. If Thou, +Lord, wert extreme to mark what is done amiss, O Lord, who could abide +it? “Not I,” says the Psalmist. “Not I,” +says every human being who knows himself; and knows too well that—“If +we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in +us.”</p> +<p><!-- page 264--><a name="page264"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 264</span>But +the Psalmist says likewise, “There is forgiveness with Thee, therefore +shall Thou be feared.”</p> +<p>My friends, consider this; the key of the whole psalm; the gospel +and good news, for the sake of which the psalm has been preserved in +Holy Scripture, and handed down to us.</p> +<p>God is to be feared, because He is merciful. It is worth while +to fear Him, because He is merciful, and of great kindness, and hateth +nothing that He hath made; and willeth not the death of a sinner, but +rather that he should turn from his wickedness and live.</p> +<p>Superstitious people, in all ages, heathens always, and sometimes, +I am sorry to say, Christians likewise, have had a very different reason, +an opposite reason, for fearing God.</p> +<p>They have said: Not—there is mercy: but there is anger with +God: therefore shall He be feared. They have said—We must +fear God, because He is wrathful, and terrible, and ready to punish; +and is extreme to mark what is done amiss, and willeth the death of +a sinner: and therefore they have not believed, when Holy Scripture +told them, that God was love, and that God so loved the world, that +He gave His only-begotten Son, and sent Him to visit the world in great +humility, that the world through Him might be saved.</p> +<p>God has seemed to them only a proud, stern, and formidable being; +a condemning judge, and not a merciful Father; and therefore, when they +have found themselves in the deep of misery, they have cried out of +it to saints, angels, the Virgin Mary; or even to sun, <!-- page 265--><a name="page265"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 265</span>moon, +and stars, and all the powers of nature; or even, again—what is +more foolish still,—to astrologers, wizards, mediums, and quacks +of every shape and hue; to any one and any thing, rather than to God.</p> +<p>But do not you do so, my friends. Fix it in your hearts and +minds; and fix it now, before you fall into the deep, as most are apt +to do before they die; lest, when the dark day comes, you have no time +to learn in adversity the lesson which you should have learnt in prosperity. +Fix in your hearts and minds the blessed Gospel and good news—“There +is mercy with Thee, O God; therefore shall Thou be feared.” +There is mercy with Him, pity, tenderness, sympathy; a heart which can +be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; which knoweth what is +in man; which despiseth not the work of His own hands; which remembereth +our weak frame, and knoweth that we are but dust: else the spirit would +fail before Him, and the souls which He has made. Think of God +as that which He is—a compassionate God, a long-suffering God, +a generous God, a magnanimous God, a truly royal God; in one word, a +Perfect God; who causeth His sun to shine on the evil and on the good, +and sendeth His rain on the just and on the unjust; a God who cannot +despise, cannot neglect, cannot lose His patience with any poor soul +of man; who sets Himself against none but the insolent, the proud, the +malicious, the mean, the wilfully stupid and ignorant and frivolous. +Against those who exalt themselves, whether as terrible tyrants or merely +contemptible boasters, He exalts Himself; and will shew them, sooner +or later, <!-- page 266--><a name="page266"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 266</span>whether +He or they be the stronger; whether He or they be the wiser. But +for the poor soul who is abased, who is down, and in the depth; who +feels his own weakness, folly, ignorance, sinfulness, and out of that +deep cries to God as a lost child crying after its father—even +a lost lamb bleating after the ewe—of that poor soul, be his prayers +never so confused, stupid and ill-expressed—of him it is written: +“The Lord helpeth them that fall, and lifteth up all those that +are down. He is nigh to all that call on Him, yea, to all that +call upon Him faithfully. He will fulfil the desire of those that +fear Him, He also will hear their cry and will help them.”</p> +<p>Yes. To all such does God the Father, God who made heaven and +earth, hold up, as it were, His only-begotten Son, Christ, hanging on +the Cross for us; and say: Behold thy God. Behold the brightness +of God’s glory, and the express image of God’s person. +Behold what God gave for thee, even His only-begotten Son. Behold +that in which God the Father was well pleased: in His Son; not condemning +you, not destroying you, but humbling Himself, dying Himself awhile, +that you may live for ever. Look; and by seeing the Son, see the +Father also—your Father, and the Father of the spirits of all +flesh; and know that His essence and His name is—Love.</p> +<p>Therefore, when you are in the deep of sorrow, whatever that depth +may be, cry to God. To God Himself; and to none but God. +If you can go to the pure fountain-head, why drink of the stream, which +must have <!-- page 267--><a name="page267"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 267</span>gathered +something of defilement as it flows? If you can get light from +the sun itself, why take lamp or candle in place of his clear rays? +If you can go to God Himself, why go to any of God’s creatures, +however holy pure, and loving? Go to God, who is light of light, +and life of life; the source of all light, the source of all life, all +love, all goodness, all mercy. From Him all goodness flows. +All goodness which ever has been, shall be, or can be, is His alone, +the fruit of His Spirit. Go then to Him Himself. Out of +the depth, however deep, cry unto God and God Himself. If David, +the Jew of old, could do so, much more can we, who are baptized into +Christ; much more can we, who have access by one Spirit to the Father; +much more can we, who—if we know who we are and where we are—should +come boldly to the throne of grace, to find mercy and grace to help +us in the time of need.</p> +<p>Boldness. That is a bold word: but it is St Paul’s, not +mine. And by shewing that boldness, we shall shew that we indeed +fear God. We shall shew that we reverence God. We shall +shew that we trust God. For so, and so only, we shall obey God. +If a sovereign or a sage should bid you come to him, would you shew +reverence by staying away? Would you shew reverence by refusing +his condescension? You may shew that you are afraid of him; that +you do not trust him: but that is not to shew reverence, but irreverence.</p> +<p>If God calls, you are bound by reverence to come, however unworthy. +If He bids you, you must obey, however much afraid. You must trust +Him; you must <!-- page 268--><a name="page268"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 268</span>take +Him at His word; you must confide in His goodness, in His justice, in +His wisdom: and since He bids you, go boldly to His throne, and find +Him what He is, a gracious Lord.</p> +<p>My friends, to you, every one of you—however weak, however +ignorant, ay, however sinful, if you desire to be delivered from those +sins—this grace is given; liberty to cry out of the depth to God +Himself, who made sun and stars, all heaven and earth; liberty to stand +face to face with the Father of the spirits of all flesh, and cling +to the one Being who can never fail nor change; even to the one immortal +eternal God, of whom it is written, “Thou, Lord, in the beginning +hast laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the work +of Thy hands. They shall perish, but Thou shalt endure. +They all shall wax old, like a garment, and as a vesture shalt Thou +change them, and they shall be changed. But Thou art the same, +and Thy years shall not fail.”</p> +<p>But it is written again, “My soul waits for the Lord.” +Yes, if you can trust in the God who cannot change, you can afford to +wait; you need not be impatient; as it is written—“Fret +not thyself, lest thou be moved to do evil;” and again—“He +that believeth shall not make haste.” For God, in whom you +trust, is not a man that He should lie, nor a son of man that He should +repent. Hath He promised, and shall He not do it? His word +is like the rain and dew, which fall from heaven, and return not to +it again useless, but give seed to the sower and bread to the eater. +So is every man that trusteth in Him. His kingdom, says the Lord, +is as if a man <!-- page 269--><a name="page269"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 269</span>should +put seed into the ground, and sleep and wake, and the seed should grow +up, he knoweth not how. So the seed which we sow—the seed +of repentance, the seed of humility, the seed of sorrowful prayers for +help—it too shall take root, and grow, and bring forth fruit, +we know not how, in the good time of God, who cannot change. We +may be sad; we may be weary; our eyes may wait and watch for the Lord +as the Psalmist says; more than they that watch for the morning: but +it must be as those who watch for the morning, for the morning which +must and will come, for the sun which will surely rise, and the day +which will surely dawn, and the Saviour who will surely deliver, and +the God who is merciful in this—that He rewardeth every man according +to his work.</p> +<p>“Oh trust in the Lord. For with the Lord there is mercy, +and with Him is plenteous redemption; and He shall deliver His people +from all their sins.”</p> +<p>From their sins. Not merely from the punishment of their sins; +not always from the punishment of their sins in this life: but, what +is better far, from the sins themselves; from the sins which bring them +into fresh and needless troubles; and which make the old troubles, which +cannot now be escaped, intolerable.</p> +<p>From all their sins. Not only from the great sins, which, if +persisted in, will surely destroy both body and soul in hell: but from +the little sins which do so easily beset us; from little bad habits, +tempers, lazinesses, weaknesses, ignorances, which hamper and hinder +us all every day when we try to do our duty. From all these will +the Lord deliver us, by the blood of Christ, and by <!-- page 270--><a name="page270"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 270</span>the +inspiration of His Holy Spirit, that we may be able at last to say to +children and friends, and all whom we love and leave behind us—</p> +<p>“Oh taste and see that the Lord is gracious. Blessed +is the man that trusteth in Him.”</p> +<p>Yes. This at least we may do—Trust in our God, and thank +God that we may do it; for if men may not do that, then is that true +of them which Homer said of old—that man is more miserable than +all the beasts of the field. For the animals look neither forward +nor back. They live but for the present moment; and pain and grief, +being but for the moment, fall lightly upon them. But we—we +who have the fearful power of looking back, and looking forward—we +who can feel regret and remorse for the past, anxiety and terror for +the future—to us at times life would be scarce worth having, if +we had not a right to cry with all our hearts—</p> +<p>“O God, in Thee have I trusted, let me never be confounded.”</p> +<h2><b><!-- page 271--><a name="page271"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 271</span>SERMON +XXIV. THE BLESSING AND THE CURSE.</b></h2> +<p>Preached on Whit-Sunday.</p> +<p style="text-align: center"><span class="smcap">Deut. xxx</span>. +19, 20.</p> +<blockquote><p>I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, +that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore +choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live: that thou mayest +love the Lord thy God, and that thou mayest obey His voice, and that +thou mayest cleave unto Him: for He is thy life, and the length of thy +days: that thou mayest dwell in the land which the Lord sware unto thy +fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.</p> +</blockquote> +<p>These words, the book of Deuteronomy says, were spoken by Moses to +all the Israelites shortly before his death. He had led them out +of Egypt, and through the wilderness. They were in sight of the +rich land of Canaan, where they were to settle and to dwell for many +hundred years. Moses, the book says, went over again with them +all the Law, the admirable and divine Law, which they were to obey, +and by which they were to govern and order themselves in the land of +Canaan. He had told them that they owed all to God Himself; that +God had delivered them out of slavery in Egypt; God <!-- page 272--><a name="page272"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 272</span>had +led them to the land of Canaan; God had given them just laws and right +statutes, which if they kept, they would live long in their new home, +and become a great and mighty nation. Then he calls heaven and +earth to witness that he had set before them life and death, blessing +and cursing. If they trusted in the one true God, and served Him, +and lived as men should, who believed that a just and loving God cared +for them, then they would live; then a blessing would come on them, +and their children, on their flocks and herds, on their land and all +in it. But if they forgot God, and began to worship the sun, and +the moon, and the stars, the earth and the weather, like the nations +round them, then they would die; they would grow superstitious, cowardly, +lazy, and profligate, and therefore weak and miserable, like the wretched +Canaanites whom they were going to drive out; and then they would die. +Their souls would die in them, and they would become less than men, +and at last—as the Canaanites had become—worse than brutes, +till their numbers would diminish, and they would be left, Moses says, +few in number and at last perish out of the good land which God had +given them.</p> +<p>So, he says, you know how to live, and you know how to die. +Choose between them this day.</p> +<p>They knew the road to wealth, health, prosperity and order, peace +and happiness, and life: and they knew the road to ruin, poverty, weakness, +disease, shame and death.</p> +<p>They knew both roads; for God had set them before them.</p> +<p><!-- page 273--><a name="page273"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 273</span>And +you know both roads; for God has set them before you.</p> +<p>Then he says—I call heaven and earth to witness against you +this day, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing.</p> +<p>He called heaven and earth to witness. That was no empty figure +of speech. If you will recollect the story of the Israelites, +you will see plainly enough what Moses meant.</p> +<p>The heaven would witness against them. The same stars which +would look down on their freedom and prosperity in Canaan, had looked +down on all their slavery and misery in Egypt, hundreds of years before. +Those same stars had looked down on their simple forefathers, Abraham, +Isaac, and Jacob, wandering with their flocks and herds out of the mountains +of the far north. That heaven had seen God’s mercies and +care of them, for now five hundred years. Everything had changed +round them: but those stars, that sun, that moon, were the same still, +and would be the same for ever. They were witnesses to them of +the unchangeable God, those heavens above. They would seem to +say—Just as the heavens above you are the same, wherever you go, +and whatever you are like, so is the God who dwells above the heaven; +unchangeable, everlasting, faithful, and true, full of light and love; +from whom comes down every good and perfect gift, in whom is neither +variableness nor shadow of turning. Do you turn to Him continually, +and as often as you turn away from Him: and <!-- page 274--><a name="page274"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 274</span>you +shall find Him still the same; governing you by unchangeable law, keeping +His promise for ever.</p> +<p>And the earth would witness against them. That fair land of +Canaan whither they were going, with its streams and wells spreading +freshness and health around; its rich corn valleys, its uplands covered +with vines, its sweet mountain pastures, a very garden of the Lord, +cut off and defended from all the countries round by sandy deserts and +dreary wildernesses; that land would be a witness to them, at their +daily work, of God’s love and mercy to their forefathers. +The ruins of the old Canaanite cities would be a witness to them, and +say—Because of their sins the Lord drove out these old heathens +from before you. Copy their sins, and you will share their ruin. +Do as they did, and you will surely die like them. God has given +you life, here in this fair land of Canaan; beware how you choose death, +as the Canaanites chose it. They died the death which comes by +sin; and God has given you life, the life which is by righteousness. +Be righteous men, and just, and God-fearing, if you wish to keep this +land, you, and your children after you.</p> +<p>And now, my dear friends, if Moses could call heaven and earth to +witness against those old Jews, that he had set before them life and +death, a blessing and a curse, may we not do the same? Does not +the heaven above our heads, and the earth beneath our feet, witness +against us here? Do they not say to us—God has given you +life and blessing. If you throw that away, and choose instead +death and a curse; it is your own fault, not God’s?</p> +<p><!-- page 275--><a name="page275"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 275</span>Look +at the heaven above us. Does not that witness against us? +Has it not seen, for now fifteen hundred years and more, God’s +goodness to us, and to our forefathers? All things have changed; +language, manners, customs, religion. We have changed our place, +as the Israelites did; and dwell in a different land from our forefathers: +but that sky abides for ever. That same sun, that moon, those +stars shone down upon our heathen forefathers, when the Lord chose them, +and brought them out of the German forests into this good land of England, +that they might learn to worship no more the sun, and the moon, and +the storm, and the thunder-cloud, but to worship Him, the living God +who made all heaven and earth. That sky looked down upon our forefathers, +when the first missionaries baptized them into the Church of Christ, +and England became a Christian land, and made a covenant with God and +Christ for ever to walk in His laws which He has set before us. +From that heaven, ever since, hath God been sending rain and fruitful +seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness, for a witness of +His love and fostering care; prospering us, whensoever we have kept +His laws, above all other nations upon earth. Shall not that heaven +witness against us? Into that heaven ascended Christ the Lord, +that He might fill all things with His power and His rule, and might +send from thence on us His Holy Spirit, the Spirit whom we worship this +day, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and +might, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. By that +same Spirit, and by none other, have been thought all <!-- page 276--><a name="page276"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 276</span>the +noble thoughts which Englishmen ever thought. By that Spirit have +been spoken all the noble words which Englishmen ever spoke. By +that Spirit have been done all the noble deeds which Englishmen have +ever done. To that Spirit we owe all that is truly noble, truly +strong, truly stable, in our English life. It is He that has given +us power to get wealth, to keep wealth, to use wealth. And if +we begin to deny that, as we are inclined to do now-a-days; if we lay +our grand success and prosperity to the account of our own cleverness, +our own ability; if we say, as Moses warned the Israelites they would +say, in the days of their success and prosperity, not—“It +is God who has given us power to get wealth,” but—“Mine +arm, and the might of my hand, has gotten me this wealth;”—in +plain words—If we begin to do what we are all too apt to do just +now, to worship our own brains instead of God: then the heaven above +us will witness against us, this Whitsuntide above all seasons in the +year; and say—Into heaven the Lord ascended who died for you on +the Cross. From heaven He sent down gifts for you, and your forefathers, +even while you were His enemies, that the Lord God might dwell among +you. And behold, instead of thanking God, fearing God, and confessing +that you are nothing, and God is all, you talk as if you were the arbiters +of your own futures, the makers of your own gifts. Instead of +giving God the glory, you take the glory to yourselves. Instead +of declaring the glory of God, like the heavens, and shewing his handiwork, +like the stars, you shew forth your own glory and boast of your own +handiwork. Beware, <!-- page 277--><a name="page277"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 277</span>and +fear; as your forefathers feared, and lived, because they gave the glory +to God.</p> +<p>And shall not the earth witness against us? Look round, when +you go out of church, upon this noble English land. Why is it +not, as many a land far richer in soil and climate is now, a desolate +wilderness; the land lying waste, and few men left in it, and those +who are left robbing and murdering each other, every man’s hand +against his fellow, till the wild beasts of the field increase upon +them? In that miserable state now is many a noble land, once the +very gardens of the world—Judæa, and almost all the East, +which was once the very garden of the Lord, as thick with living men +as a hive is with bees, and vast sheets both of North Africa, and of +South and of North America. Why is not England thus? Why, +but because the Lord set before our forefathers life and death, blessing +and cursing; and our forefathers chose life, and lived; and it was well +with them in the land which God gave to them, because they chose blessing, +and God blessed them accordingly? In spite of many mistakes and +shortcomings—for they were sinful mortal men, as we are—they +chose life and a blessing; and clave unto the Lord their God, and kept +His covenant; and they left behind, for us their children, these churches, +these cathedrals, for an everlasting sign that the Lord was with us, +as He had been with them, and would be with our children after us.</p> +<p>Ah, my friends, while we look round us over the face of this good +land, and see everywhere the churches pointing up to heaven, each amid +towns and villages <!-- page 278--><a name="page278"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 278</span>which +have never seen war or famine for now long centuries, all thriving and +improving year by year, and which never for 800 years have been trodden +by the foot of an invading enemy, one ought to feel, if one has a thoughtful +and God-fearing heart—Verily God has set before us life and blessing, +and prospered us above all nations upon earth; and if we do not cleave +to Him, we shall shew ourselves fools above all nations upon earth.</p> +<p>And then when one reads the history of England; when one thinks over +the history of any one city, even one country parish; above all, when +one looks into the history of one’s own foolish heart: one sees +how often, though God has given us freely life and blessing, we have +been on the point of choosing death and the curse instead; of saying—We +will go our own way and not God’s way. The land is ours, +not God’s; the houses are our own, not God’s; our souls +are our own, not God’s. We are masters, and who is master +over us? That is the way to choose death, and the curse, shame +and poverty and ruin, my friends; and how often we have been on the +point of choosing it. What has saved us? What has kept us +from it? Certainly not our own righteousness, nor our own wisdom, +nor our own faith. After reading the history of England; or after +recollecting our own lives—the less we say of them the better.</p> +<p>What has kept us from ruin so long? We are all day long forgetting +the noble things which God did for our forefathers. Why does not +God in return remember our sins, and the sins of our forefathers? +Why is He not angry with us for ever? Why, in spite of all <!-- page 279--><a name="page279"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 279</span>our +shortcomings and backslidings, are we prospering here this day?</p> +<p>I know not, my friends, unless it be for this one reason, That into +that heaven which witnesses against us, the merciful and loving Christ +is ascended; that He is ever making intercession for us, a High-priest +who can be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; and that He +has received gifts for men, even for His enemies—as we have too +often been—that the Lord God might dwell among us. Yes. +He ascended on high that He might send down His Holy Spirit; and that +Spirit is among us, working patiently and lovingly in many hearts—would +that I could say in all—giving men right judgments; putting good +desires into their hearts; and enabling them to put them into good practice.</p> +<p>The Holy Spirit is the life of England, and of the Church of England, +and of every man, whether he belongs to the Church or not, who loves +the good, and desires to do it, and to see it done. And those +in whom the Holy Spirit dwells, are the salt of England, which keeps +it from decay. They are those who have chosen life and blessing, +and found them. Oh may God increase their number more and more; +till all know Him from the least unto the greatest; and the land be +filled with the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.</p> +<p>And then shall all days be Whit-Sundays; and the Name of the Father +be hallowed indeed, and His kingdom come, and His will be done on earth, +as it is in heaven.</p> +<h2><b><!-- page 280--><a name="page280"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 280</span>SERMON +XXV. THE SILENCE OF FAITH.</b></h2> +<p style="text-align: center"><span class="smcap">Psalm cxxxi</span>.</p> +<blockquote><p>Lord, my heart is not haughty, nor mine eyes lofty: neither +do I exercise myself in great matters, or in things too high for me. +Surely I have behaved and quieted myself, as a child that is weaned +of his mother: my soul is even as a weaned child. Let Israel hope +in the Lord from henceforth and for ever.</p> +</blockquote> +<p>We know not at what period of David’s life this psalm was written. +We know not what matters they were which were too high for him to meddle +with; matters about which he had to refrain his soul; to quiet his feelings; +to suspend his judgment; to check his curiosity, and say about them +simply—Trust in the Lord.</p> +<p>We do not know, I say, what these great matters, these mysteries +were. But that concerns us little. Human life, human fortune, +human history, human agony—nay, the whole universe, the more we +know of it, is full of such mysteries. Only the shallow and the +conceited are unaware of their presence. Only the shallow and +the conceited pretend to explain them, and have a Why ready for every +How. David was not like them. His was too great a mind to +be high-minded; too deep a <!-- page 281--><a name="page281"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 281</span>heart +to have proud looks, and to pretend, to himself or to others, that he +knew the whole counsel of God.</p> +<p>Solomon his son had the same experience. For him, too, in spite +of all his wisdom, the mystery of Providence was too dark. Though +a man laboured to seek it, yet should he not find it out. All +things seemed, at least, to come alike to all. There was one event +to the righteous and to the wicked; to the clean and to the unclean. +Vanity of vanity; all was vanity. Of making books there was no +end, and much study was a weariness to the flesh. And the conclusion +of the whole matter was—Fear God, and keep His commandments. +That—and not to pry into the unfathomable will of God—was +the whole duty of man.</p> +<p>Job, too: what is the moral of the whole book of Job, save that God’s +ways are unsearchable, and His paths past finding out? The Lord, +be it remembered, in the closing scene of the book, vouchsafes to Job +no explanation whatsoever of his affliction. Instead of telling +him why he has been so sorely smitten; instead of bidding him even look +up and trust, He silences Job by the mere plea of His own power. +Where wast thou when I laid the foundation of the earth? Declare, +if thou hast understanding. When the morning stars sang together; +and all the sons of God shouted for joy. Shall he that contendeth +with The Almighty instruct Him? He that reproveth God, let him +answer.</p> +<p>But, it may be said, these are Old Testament sayings. The Patriarchs +and Prophets had not that full light of knowledge of the mind of God +which the Evangelists and <!-- page 282--><a name="page282"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 282</span>Apostles +had. What do the latter, the writers of the New Testament, say, +with that fuller knowledge of God, which they gained through Jesus Christ +our Lord?</p> +<p>My friends—This is not, I trust, by God’s great goodness, +the last time that I am to preach in this Abbey. What the Evangelists +and Apostles taught, which the Prophets and Psalmists did not teach, +I hope to tell you, as far as I know, hereafter.</p> +<p>But this I am bound to tell you beforehand—That there are no +truer words in the Articles of the Church of England than those in the +VIIth Article—that the Old Testament is not contrary to the New; +for both in the Old and New Testament everlasting life is offered to +mankind by Christ, the only Mediator between God and man, being both +God and man.</p> +<p>Yes. That the Old Testament is not contrary to the New, I believe +with my whole heart and soul. And therefore to those who say that +the Apostles had solved the whole mystery of human life, its sins, its +sorrows, its destinies, I must reply that such is not the case, at least +with the most gifted of all the writers of the New Testament. +We may think fit to claim omniscience for St Paul: but he certainly +does not claim it for himself.</p> +<p>When he is vouchsafed a glimpse of the high counsels of God, he exclaims, +as one dazzled—“Oh the depth of the riches both of the wisdom +and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments, and +His ways past finding out! For who hath known the mind of the +Lord, or who hath been His counsellor?”—While of himself +he speaks in a very different tone—“Even though he have +been,” <!-- page 283--><a name="page283"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 283</span>as +he says, “caught up into the third heaven, and heard words unspeakable, +which it is not lawful for a man to utter,” yet “he knows,” +he says, “in part; he prophesies in part; but when that which +is perfect comes, that which is partial shall be done away.” +He is as the child to the full-grown man, into which he hopes to develop +in the future life. He “sees as in a glass darkly, but then +face to face.” He “knows now in part.” +Then—but not till then—will he “know even as he is +known.” Nay, more. In the ninth chapter of his Epistle +to the Romans, he does not hesitate to push to the utmost that plea +of God’s absolute sovereignty which we found in the book of Job.</p> +<p>“He has mercy on whom He will have mercy; and whom He will +He hardeneth.” And if any say, “Why doth He then find +fault? For who hath resisted His will?” “Who +art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say +to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus? Hath not the +potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel to honour, +and another to dishonour?”</p> +<p>What those words may mean, or may not mean, I do not intend to argue +now. I only quote them to shew you that St Paul, just as much +as any Old Testament thinker, believed that there were often mysteries, +ay, tragedies, in the lives, not only of individuals, nor of families, +but of whole races, to which we shortsighted mortals could assign no +rational or moral final cause, but must simply do that which Spinoza +forbade us to do, namely—“In every unknown case, flee unto +God;” and say—“It is <!-- page 284--><a name="page284"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 284</span>the +Lord, let Him do what seemeth Him good;”—certain of this, +which the Cross and Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ shewed forth as +nothing else in heaven or earth could shew—that the will of God +toward man is an utterly good will; and that therefore what seemeth +good to Him, will be good in act and fact.</p> +<p>It is this faith, and I believe this faith alone, which can enable +truly feeling spirits to keep anything like equanimity, if they dwell +long and earnestly on the miseries of mankind; on sorrow, pain, bereavement; +on the fate of many a widow and orphan; on sudden, premature, and often +agonizing death—but why pain you with a catalogue of ills, which +all, save—thank God—the youngest, know too well?</p> +<p>And it is that want of faith in the will and character of a living +God, which makes, and will always make, infidelity a sad state of mind—a +theory of man and the universe, which contains no gospel or good news +for man.</p> +<p>I do not speak now of atheism, dogmatic, self-satisfied, insolent +cynic. I speak especially to-night of a form of unbelief far more +attractive, which is spreading, I believe, among people often of high +intellect, often of virtuous life, often of great attainments in art, +science, or literature. Such repudiate, and justly, the name of +theists: but they decline, and justly, the name of atheists. They +would—the finest and purest spirits among them—accept only +too heartily the whole of the Psalm which I have chosen for my text, +save its ascription and the last verse. We too—they would +say—do not <!-- page 285--><a name="page285"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 285</span>wish +to be high-minded, and dogmatize, and assert, and condemn. We +too do not wish to meddle with matters too high for us, or for any human +intellect. We too wish to refrain ourselves from asserting what—however +pleasant—we cannot prove; and to wean ourselves—however +really painful the process—from the milk, the mere child’s +food, on which Mother Church has brought up the nations of Europe for +the last 1500 years. But for that very reason, as for asking us +to trust in The Lord, either for this life, or an eternal life to come, +do not ask that of us.</p> +<p>We do not say that there is no God; no Providence of God; no life +beyond the grave: only we say, that we cannot find them. They +may exist: or they may not. But to us; and as we believe to all +mankind if they used their reason aright, they are unthinkable, and +therefore unknowable. God we see not: but this we see—Man, +tortured by a thousand ills; and then, alas, perishing just as the dumb +beasts perish. We see death, decay, pain, sorrow, bereavement, +weakness; and these produced, not merely by laws of nature, in which, +however terrible, we could stoically acquiesce; but worse still, by +accident—the sports of seeming chances—and those often so +slight and mean. Man in his fullest power, woman in her highest +usefulness, the victim not merely of the tempest or the thunderstroke, +but of a fallen match, a stumbling horse.</p> +<p>Therefore the sight of so much human woe, without a purpose, and +without a cause, is too much for them: as, without faith in God, it +ought to be too much for us.</p> +<p><!-- page 286--><a name="page286"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 286</span>And +therefore in their poetry and in their prose—and they are masters, +some of them, both of poetry and of prose—there is a weary sadness, +a tender despair, which one must not praise: yet which one cannot watch +without sympathy and affection. For the mystery of human vanity +and vexation of spirit; the mystery which weighed down the soul of David, +and of Solomon, and of him who sang the song of Job, and of St Paul, +and of St Augustine, and all the great Theologians of old time, is to +them nought but utter darkness. For they see not yet, as our great +modern poet says,</p> +<blockquote><p> Hands<br /> +Athwart the darkness, shaping man.</p> +</blockquote> +<p>They see not yet athwart the darkness a face, most human yet divine, +of utter sympathy and love; and hear not yet—oh let me say once +more not yet of such fine souls—the only words which can bring +true comfort to one who feels for his fellow-men, amid the terrible +chances and changes of this mortal life—</p> +<p>“Let not your heart be troubled. Believe in God, and +believe also in Me.”</p> +<p>“All power is given to Me in heaven and in earth.” +“Lo I am with you even to the end of the world.” Oh +let us, to whom God has given that most undeserved grace, by the confession +of a true faith to acknowledge the glory of the eternal Trinity, and +in the power of the Divine Majesty to worship the Unity—Let us, +I say, beseech God that He would give to them, as well as to us, that +comfortable and wholesome faith; <!-- page 287--><a name="page287"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 287</span>and +evermore defend them and us—if it seem good in His gracious sight—from +all adversity.</p> +<p>And surely we need that faith—those of us at least who know +what we have lost—in the face of such a catastrophe as was announced +in this Abbey on this day week; which thrilled this congregation with +the awful news—That one of the most gifted men in Europe; the +most eloquent of all our preachers—the most energetic of all our +prelates; the delight of so many of the most refined and cultivated; +the comforter of so many pious souls, not only by his sermons, not only +by his secret counsels, but by those exquisite Confirmation addresses, +to have lost which is a spiritual loss incalculable—those Confirmation +addresses which touched and ennobled the hearts alike of children and +of parents, and made so many spirits, young and old, indebted to him +from thenceforth for ever—That this man, with his enormous capacity +and will for doing his duty like a valiant man, and doing each duty +better than any of us his clergy had ever seen it done before—with +his genius too, now so rare, and yet so needed, for governing his fellow-men—That +he, in the fulness of his power, his health, his practical example, +his practical success, should vanish in a moment: and that immense natural +vitality, that organism of forces so various and so delicate, just as +it was developing to perfection under long and careful self-education, +should be lost for ever to this earth: leaving England, and her colonies, +and indeed all Christendom, so much the poorer, so much the more weak; +and inflicting—forget not that—a bitter pang on hundreds +of <!-- page 288--><a name="page288"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 288</span>loving +hearts: and all by reason of the stumbling of a horse.</p> +<p>And why? Our reason, our conscience, our moral sense; that, +by virtue of which we are not brutes, but men, forces us to ask that +question: even if no answer be found to it in earth or heaven. +What was the important <i>why</i> which lay hid behind that little how?—The +means were so paltry: the effect was so vast—There must have been +a final cause, a purpose, for that death: or the fact would be altogether +hideous—a scribble without a meaning—a skeleton without +a soul. Why did he die?</p> +<p>“I became dumb and opened not my mouth; for it was Thy doing.”</p> +<p>So says the Burial psalm. So let us say likewise.</p> +<p>“I became dumb:” not with rage, not with despair; but +because it was Thy doing; and therefore it was done well. It was +the deed, not of chance, not of necessity: for had it been, then those +who loved him might have been excused had they cursed chance, cursed +necessity, cursed the day in which they entered a universe so cruel, +so capricious. Not so. For it was the deed of The Father, +without whom a sparrow falls not to the ground; of The Son, who died +upon the Cross in the utterness of His desire to save; of The Holy Ghost, +who is the Lord and Giver of life to all created things.</p> +<p>It was the deed of One who delights in life and not in death; in +bliss and not in woe; in light and not in darkness; in order and not +in anarchy; in good and not in evil. It had a final cause, a meaning, +a purpose: and <!-- page 289--><a name="page289"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 289</span>that +purpose is very good. What it is, we know not: and we need not +know. To guess at it would be indeed to meddle with matters too +high for us. So let us be dumb: but dumb not from despair, but +from faith; dumb not like a wretch weary with calling for help which +does not come, but dumb like a child sitting at its mother’s feet; +and looking up into her face, and watching her doings; understanding +none of them as yet, but certain that they all are done in Love.</p> +<h2><b><!-- page 290--><a name="page290"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 290</span>SERMON +XXVI. GOD AND MAMMON.</b></h2> +<p style="text-align: center"><span class="smcap">Matthew vi</span>. +24.</p> +<blockquote><p>Ye cannot serve God and Mammon.</p> +</blockquote> +<p>This is part of the Gospel for this Sunday; and a specially fit text +for this day, which happens to be St Matthew’s Day.</p> +<p>On this day we commemorate one who made up his mind, once and for +all, that whoever could serve God and money at once, he could not: and +who therefore threw up all his prospects in life—which were those +of a peculiarly lucrative profession, that of a farmer of Roman taxes—in +order to become the wandering disciple of a reputed carpenter’s +son. He became, it is true, in due time, an Apostle, an Evangelist, +and a Martyr; and if posthumous fame be worth the ambition of any man, +Matthew the publican—Saint Matthew as we call him—has his +share thereof, because he discovered, like a wise man, that he could +not serve God and money; and therefore, when Jesus saw him sitting at +the receipt of custom, and bade him “Follow Me,” he rose +up, and <!-- page 291--><a name="page291"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 291</span>left +his money-bags, and followed Him, whom he afterwards discovered to be +no less than God made man. “Ye cannot serve God and Mammon.” +It is very difficult to make men believe these words. So difficult, +that our Lord Himself could not make the Jews believe them, especially +the rich and comfortable religious people among them. When He +told them that they could not serve two masters; that they could not +worship God and money at the same time, the Pharisees, who were covetous, +derided Him. They laughed to scorn the notion that they could +not be very religious, and respectable, and so forth, and yet set their +hearts on making money all the while. They thought that they could +have their treasure on earth and in heaven also; and they went their +way, in spite of our Lord’s warnings; and made money, honestly +no doubt, if they could, but if not, why then dishonestly; for money +must be made, at all risks.</p> +<p>St Paul warned them, by his disciple Timothy, of their danger. +He told them that the love of money is the root of all evil; and that +those who will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many +foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition.</p> +<p>St James warned them even more sternly; and told the rich men among +the Jews of his day to weep and howl for the miseries which were coming +on them. They had heaped up treasure for the last days, when it +would be of no use to them. They were fattening their hearts—he +told them—against a day of slaughter.</p> +<p><!-- page 292--><a name="page292"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 292</span>But +they listened to St Paul and St James no more than they did to our Lord. +After the fall of Jerusalem, even more than before, they became the +money-makers and the money-lenders of the whole world. And what +befel them? Their wealth stirred up the envy and the suspicion +of the Gentiles. They were persecuted, robbed, slaughtered, again +and again for the sake of their money. And yet they would not +give up their ruinous passion. Throughout all the middle ages, +here in England, just as much as on the Continent, they lent money at +exorbitant interest; and then their debtors, to escape payment, turned +on them for not being Christians; accused them of poisoning the wells, +and what not; massacred them, burnt them alive, and committed the most +horrible atrocities; fulfilling the warnings of our Lord and His Apostles, +only too terribly and brutally, again and again.</p> +<p>Do I say this to make any man dislike or despise the Jews? +God forbid. The Jews have noble qualities in them, by which they +have prospered, and for the sake of which—as I believe—God’s +blessing rests on them to this day. They have prospered: not by +their love of money, not even by their extraordinary courage, persistence, +and intellectual power; but by their keeping two at least of the commandments, +as no other people on earth has kept them. They have kept the +second commandment; and hated idolatry, and any approach to it, with +a stern and noble hatred, which would God that all who call themselves +Christians would imitate. They have kept, likewise, the fifth +commandment; and have honoured their parents, as no other people on +earth have <!-- page 293--><a name="page293"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 293</span>done, +except it may be the Chinese, who prosper still, in spite of many sins. +Their family affections are so intense, their family life is so pure +and sound, that they put to shame too many Christians; and where the +family life is sound, the heart of a people is sure to be sound likewise; +and all will come right with them at last: and meanwhile the days of +the Jews will be long in whatsoever land the Lord their God shall give +them, till the day of which St Paul prophesied, when the veil shall +be taken off their hearts, and they shall acknowledge that Christ, whom +their forefathers crucified in their blindness, for their King, and +Lord, and God; and so all Israel shall be saved. Amen. Amen.</p> +<p>And meanwhile, who are we that we should complain of the Jews now, +or the Jews of our Lord’s time, for being too fond of money? +Is anything more certain, than that we English are becoming given up, +more and more, to the passion for making money at all risks, and by +all means fair or foul? Our covetousness is—alas! that it +should be so—become a by-word among foreign nations; while our +old English commercial honesty—which was once our strength, and +protected us from, and all but atoned for, our covetousness—is +going fast; and leaving us, feared indeed for our power; but suspected +for our chicanery; and odious for our arrogance.</p> +<p>And it is most sad, but most certain, that we are like those Pharisees +of old in this also, that we too have made up our mind that we can serve +God and Mammon at once; that the very classes among us who are most +utterly given up to money-making, are the very classes <!-- page 294--><a name="page294"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 294</span>which, +in all denominations, make the loudest religious profession; that our +churches and chapels are crowded on Sundays by people whose souls are +set, the whole week through, upon gain and nothing but gain; who pretend +to reverence Scripture, while they despise the warning of Scripture, +that the love of money is the root of all evil.</p> +<p>Have we not seen in our own days persons of the highest religious +profession, whose names were the foremost on every charitable subscription +list, so devoured by this mad love for money for its own sake, that +though they had already more money than they could spend, or enjoy in +any way soever, save by saying to themselves—I have got it, I +have got it—they must needs, in the mere lust for becoming richer +still, ruin themselves and others by frantic speculations? Have +we not seen—but why should I defile myself, and you, and this +holy place by telling you what I have seen; and what I hope, and hope +alas! in vain, that I shall never see again, among those who must needs +serve God and Mammon? Has not the love of money become such a +chronic disease among us, that we can actually calculate, now, when +the disease will come to a head; and relieve itself for a while: though +alas! only for a while?</p> +<p>About every eleven years, I am informed, we are to expect a commercial +crisis; panics, bankruptcies, and misery and ruin to hundreds; a sort +of terrible but beneficent thunderstorm, which clears the foul atmosphere +of our commercial system at the expense, alas! not merely of the guilty, +but of the innocent; involving <!-- page 295--><a name="page295"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 295</span>the +widow and the orphan, the poor and the simple, in the same fate as the +rich and powerful whom they have trusted to their own ruin. And +yet we boast of our civilization and of our Christianity; and hardly +one, here and there, lays the lesson to heart, but each man, like a +moth about a candle, unwarned by the fate of his fellows, fancies that +he at least can flutter round the flames and not be burned; that whoever +else cannot serve God and Mammon, he can do it; and holds, by virtue +of his superior prudence, a special dispensation from the plain warnings +of Holy Scripture.</p> +<p>But every reasonable man knows what advantages money, and nothing +but money, will obtain, not only for a man himself but for his children; +and answers me—If I wish to rise in life, if I wish my children +to rise in life, how can I do it, without making money?</p> +<p>God forbid that I should check an honourable ambition, and a desire +to rise in life. We all ought to rise in life, and to rise far +higher than most of us are likely to rise. But I ask you to consider +very seriously what you mean by rising in life.</p> +<p>Do you mean by rising in life, merely becoming a richer man; living +in a larger house, eating, drinking, clothing, better; having more servants, +carriages, plate? Is that to be the highest triumph of all your +labours? Is that your notion of rising in life? If it is, +you are not singular in your notion. There are thousands who call +themselves civilized and Christians, and yet have no higher notion of +what man’s highest good may be. But do you mean by rising +in life, simply becoming a nobler, <!-- page 296--><a name="page296"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 296</span>because +a better man? For if you mean that latter, I seriously advise +you to hearken to what the Creator and Governor of all heaven and earth, +Jesus Christ our Lord, has told you on that matter, when He said—“Seek +ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness, and all these things +shall be added unto you.”</p> +<p>Seek ye first the kingdom of God. Alas! this money-making generation +talks a great deal about religion and saving their souls, being quite +indifferent to the serious question—whether their souls are worth +saving or not: but as for the kingdom of God, of which our Lord and +His Apostles speak so often, they have forgotten altogether what it +is. They talk too, a great deal, about the righteousness of Christ: +but they have forgotten also what the righteousness of Christ, which +is also the righteousness of God, is like.</p> +<p>The kingdom of God; the government of God; the laws and rules by +which Christ, King of kings, and King, too, of every nation and man +on earth, whether they know it or not, governs mankind, that is what +you have to seek, because it is there already. You are in Christ’s +kingdom. If you wish to prosper in it, find out what its laws +are. That will be true wisdom. For in keeping the commandments +of God, and in obeying His laws; in that alone is life; life for body +and soul; life for time and for eternity.</p> +<p>And the righteousness of God, which is the righteousness of Christ;—find +out what that is, and pray to Christ to give it to you; for so alone +will you be what a man should be, created after God in righteousness +and true <!-- page 297--><a name="page297"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 297</span>holiness, +and renewed into the image and likeness of God. You will find +plenty of persons now, as in all times, who will tell you that you need +not do that; that all you need, for this world or the world to come, +is some righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees; calling that—oh +shame that such a glorious and eternal truth should be so caricatured +and degraded by man—justification by faith: while all they mean +is, justification not by faith, but by mere assent; assenting to certain +doctrines; keeping certain religious watch-words in your mouth, and, +over and above, leading a tolerably respectable life. But what +says our Lord? “Except your righteousness exceed the righteousness +of the Scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no wise enter into the kingdom +of heaven.” Not merely—not dwell in it for ever, but +not even enter it, not even get through the very gate, and cross the +very threshold, of it. The merely assenting, merely respectable, +even the so-called religious and orthodox life will not let you into +the kingdom of heaven, either in this life or the life to come. +No. That requires the noble life, the pure life, the just life, +the gentle life, the generous life, the heroic life, the Godlike life, +which is perfect even as our Father in heaven is perfect, because He +lets His sun shine on the evil and on the good, and His rain fall on +the just and on the unjust. But how will this help you to rise +in life? Our Lord Himself answers—and our Lord should surely +know—“Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, +and all these things shall be added to you.” Have faith +in God, and in His promise; and your faith in God shall be rewarded. +You shall find <!-- page 298--><a name="page298"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 298</span>that +your heavenly Father knows that you have need of all these things; and +has arranged His kingdom, and the whole universe, accordingly. +The very good things of this world—wealth, honour, power, and +the rest, for the sake of which worldly men quarrel, and envy, and slander, +and bully, and cringe, and commit all basenesses and crimes—all +these shall come to you of their own accord by the providence of your +Father in heaven and by His everlasting Laws, if you will but learn +and do God’s will, and lead the Christlike and the Godlike life. +Honour and power, wealth and prosperity, as much of them as is justly +good for you, and as much of them as you deserve—that is, earn +and merit by your own ability and self-control—shall come to you +by the very laws of the universe and by the very providence of God. +You shall find that godliness hath the promise of this life, as well +as of the life which is to come. You shall find that God’s +kingdom is a well-made and well-ordered kingdom; and that His laws are +life, and are far more worth trusting in than the maxims of that ill-made +and ill-ordered world of man, which you all renounced at your baptism. +You shall find that the promises of Scripture are no dreams, but actual +practical living truths, which come true, and fulfil themselves, in +the lives and histories of men.</p> +<p>Choose, young men; choose now; and make up your minds which way you +will rise in life; by merely getting money; or by getting wisdom and +honour and virtue. The Psalmists of old, yea our Lord Himself, +tell you what will happen in each case. If you want <!-- page 299--><a name="page299"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 299</span>only +to be rich, why then be rich; if you are clever enough. The Lord +may give you what you want, in this evil world. He may give you +your portion in this life, and fill you with His hid treasure. +He may let you heap up money which you do not know how to spend, and +be a laughing-stock to others while you live; and after you die, your +children will probably squander what you have hoarded; while you will +carry away nothing when you die, neither will your pomp follow you: +and take care lest you wake, after all, like Dives in the torment, to +hear the fearful but most reasonable words—“Son, thou in +thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and therefore thou art tormented.” +Those words too, I fear, will come true, in this very generation, of +many a wretched soul who while he lived counted himself a happy man; +and had all men speaking well of him, because he did well unto himself. +On whose souls may God have mercy.</p> +<p>Choose, young men: choose; now in the golden days of youth, and strength, +and honour, ere you have laid a yoke on your own shoulders—even +the yoke of money-worship;—not light and easy, like the yoke of +Christ, but heavier and heavier as the years roll on, while you, with +fading intellect, fading hopes, and it may be fading credit, and certainly +fading power of any rational enjoyment, have still, like the doomed +souls in Dante’s Inferno, to roll up hill the money-bags which +are perpetually slipping back. I have seen that, and more than +once or twice; and it is, I think, the saddest sight on earth—save +one. Choose, I say again, then, young men, before you <!-- page 300--><a name="page300"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 300</span>have +spread a net round your own feet, which, as in disturbed dreams, grows +and tangles more and more each time you move—even the net of greed +and craft, which men set for their neighbours; and are but too apt, +ere all is done, to be taken in themselves; the net of truly bad society, +of the society of men who have set their hearts on making money, somehow +or other; and with whom, if you cast in your lot, you may descend—O +God, I know full well what I am saying—to depths from which your +young spirits now would shrink; till your higher nature be subdued to +the element in which it works; and the poet’s curse on all who +bind themselves to natures lower than their own come true of you—</p> +<blockquote><p>Thou shall lower to their level, day by day,<br /> +All that once was fine within thee growing coarse to sympathize with +clay.</p> +</blockquote> +<p>Or you may choose—God grant that you may choose—the other +path; the path of the law of Christ, and of the Spirit of Christ; the +kingdom of God and His righteousness. And then shall come true +of you, as far as God shall see good for your immortal soul, those other +promises—</p> +<p>“Come, ye children, and hearken unto me, and I will teach you +the fear of the Lord. What man is he that loves life, and would +fain see good days? Let him keep his tongue from evil, and his +lips that they speak no deceit. Let him eschew evil and do good; +let him seek peace and pursue it. For the eyes of the Lord are +over the righteous, and His ears are open to their prayers. . . <!-- page 301--><a name="page301"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 301</span>For +the Lord ordereth a good man’s going, and maketh his way acceptable +to Himself. Though he fall he shall not be cast away, for the +Lord upholdeth him with His hand . . . I have been young, and now am +old, and yet never saw I the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging +their bread. Flee from evil, and do the thing that is good, and +dwell for evermore. For the Lord loveth the thing that is righteous. +He forsaketh not His that be godly, but they are preserved for ever.”</p> +<p>Choose that; the better part which shall not be taken from you; for +it is according to the true laws of political and social economy, which +are the laws of the Maker of the Universe, and of the Redeemer of Mankind. +And then, whether or not you leave your children wealth, you will, at +all events, leave them an example by which they, and their children’s +children, must prosper to the world’s end. And your prayer +will be, more and more, as you grow old and weary with the hard work +of life—</p> +<p>“I will go forth in the strength of the Lord God, and make +mention of His righteousness only. Thou, O God, hast taught me +from my youth up until now. Therefore will I tell of Thy wondrous +works. Forsake me not, O Lord, in my old age, when I am grey-headed, +till I have shewn Thy strength unto this generation; and Thy power unto +those that are yet to come.”</p> +<p>To which end may Christ bring us all, of His infinite mercy. +Amen.</p> +<h2><b><!-- page 302--><a name="page302"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 302</span>SERMON +XXVII. THE BEATIFIC VISION.</b></h2> +<p style="text-align: center"><span class="smcap">Psalm lvii</span>.</p> +<blockquote><p><i>A Psalm of David when he fled from Saul in the cave</i>.</p> +<p>Be merciful unto me, O God, be merciful unto me, for my soul trusteth +in Thee, and under the shadow of Thy wings shall be my refuge, until +this tyranny be over-past. I will call unto the most high God, +even unto the God that shall perform the cause which I have in hand. +He shall send from heaven, and save me from the reproof of him that +would eat me up. God shall send forth His mercy and truth: my +soul is among lions. And I lie even among the children of men, +that are set on fire, whose teeth are spears and arrows, and their tongue +a sharp sword. Set up Thyself, O God, above the heavens, and Thy +glory above all the earth. They have laid a net for my feet, and +pressed down my soul: they have digged a pit before me, and are fallen +into the midst of it themselves. My heart is fixed, O God, my +heart is fixed: I will sing, and give praise. Awake up, my glory; +awake, lute and harp: I myself will awake right early. I will +give thanks unto Thee, O Lord, among the people, and I will sing unto +Thee among the nations. For the greatness of Thy mercy reacheth +unto the heavens, and Thy truth unto the clouds. Set up Thyself, +O God, above the heavens, and Thy glory above all the earth.</p> +</blockquote> +<p>Some people now-a-days would call this poetry; and so it is. +But what poetry! They would call it a Hebrew song, a Hebrew lyric; +and so it is. But what a song! <!-- page 303--><a name="page303"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 303</span>There +is something in us, if we be truly delicate and high-minded people, +which will surely make us feel a deep difference between it and common +poetry, or common songs; which made our forefathers read or chant it +in church, and use it, as many a pious soul has ere now, in private +devotion.</p> +<p>David did not compose it in church or in temple. He never meant +it, perhaps, to be sung in public worship. He little dreamed that +we, and millions more, in lands of which he had never heard, should +be repeating his words in a foreign tongue in our most sacred acts of +worship. He was thinking, when he composed it, mainly of himself +and his own sorrows and dangers. He intends, he says, to awake +early, and sing it to lute and harp. Perhaps he had composed it +in the night, as he lay either in the cave of Adullam or Engedi, hiding +from Saul among the cliffs of the wild goats; and meant to go forth +to the cave’s mouth, and there, before the sun rose over the downs, +he would, to translate his words exactly, “awake the dawning” +with his song in the free air and the clear sky, singing to his little +band of men.</p> +<p>And to some one more than man, my friends. For his poetry was +poetry concerning God. His song was a song to God. He does +not sing of his own sorrows to himself, as too many poets have done +ere now. He does not sing to his men; though he no doubt wished +them to hear him, and learn from him, and gain faith and comfort and +courage from his song. He sings of his sorrows to God Himself; +to the God who made heaven <!-- page 304--><a name="page304"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 304</span>and +earth; the God who is above the heavens, and His glory above all the +earth.</p> +<p>This is the secret, the virtue, the charm of the song; that it sings +to God. This is why it has passed into many lands, into many languages, +through hundreds and hundreds of years, and is as fresh, and mighty, +and full of meaning and of power, now, here, to us in England, as it +was to David, when he was a poor outlaw, wandering in the hills of the +little country of Judæa, more than 2000 years ago.</p> +<p>The poet says,</p> +<blockquote><p>A thing of beauty is a joy for ever,</p> +</blockquote> +<p>and this psalm is most beautiful, and a joy for ever to delicate +and noble intellects. But more, a thing of truth is a help for +ever. And this psalm is most true, and a help for ever to all +sorrowing and weary hearts. For the Spirit of truth it was, who +put this psalm into David’s heart and brain; and taught him to +know and say what was true for him, and true for all men; what was true +then, and will be true for ever.</p> +<p>And what in it is true for ever? The very figures, the metaphors +of the psalm are true for ever. “Under the shadow of Thy +wings shall be my refuge”—that is a noble figure; can we +not feel its beauty? And more. Do none of us know that it +is true? David did not believe any more than we do, that God had +actual wings. But David knew—and it may be some of us know +too—that God does at times strangely and lovingly hide us; keep +us out of temptation; keep us out of harm’s way; <!-- page 305--><a name="page305"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 305</span>as +it is written, “Thou shall hide them privately in Thy presence +from the provoking of all men. Thou shall keep them in Thy tabernacle +from the strife of tongues.” Ah, my dear friends, in such +a time as this, when the strife of tongues is only too loud, have you +never had reason to thank God for being, by some seemingly mere accident, +kept out of the strife of tongues and out of your chance of striving +too, and of making a fool of yourself like too many others? The +image of the mother bird, hiding her brood under her wings, seemed to +David just to express that act of God’s fatherly love, in words +which will be true for ever, as long as a brooding bird is left on the +earth, to remind us of David’s song; and of One greater than David, +too, who said—“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, how often would I +have gathered thy children, as a hen gathereth her chickens under her +wings, and thou wouldest not.” God grant that we all may +do, when our time comes, that which those violent conceited Jews would +not do; and therefore paid the awful penalty of their folly.</p> +<p>And the darker and more painful figures of the psalm: are they not +true still? Is not a man’s soul, even in this just and peaceful +land, and far oftener in lands which are still neither just nor peaceful—Is +not a man’s soul, I say, sometimes among lions?—among greedy, +violent, tyrannous persons, who are ready to entangle him in a quarrel, +shout him down, ay, or shoot him down; literally ready to eat him up? +Are not the children of men still too often set on fire; on fire with +wild party cries, with superstitions which they do not half <!-- page 306--><a name="page306"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 306</span>understand, +with brute excitements which pander to their basest passions, running +like fire from head to head, and heart to heart, till whole classes, +whole nations sometimes, are on fire, ready like fire to consume and +destroy all they touch; and like fire, to consume and destroy themselves +likewise?</p> +<p>Are there none now, too, whose teeth are spears and arrows, and their +tongue a sharp sword? Such use the pen now, rather than the tongue: +but they know, as well as those whom David met, how to handle the spears +and arrows of slander, and the sharp sword of insult. Are there +none left, who set nets for their neighbours’ feet, by gambling, +swindling, puffing, by tricks of trade and tricks of party?—none +who, like the Scribes of old, try to entangle men in their talk, and +make them offenders for a word; and who, like David’s enemies, +fall now and then into the very pit which they have digged, and ruin +themselves in trying to ruin others?</p> +<p>My friends, such men will be, as long as there is sin upon the earth. +Their weapons are very different now from what they were in David’s +time: but their hearts are the same as they were then. “The +works of the flesh they do, which are manifest;” and a very ugly +list they make; as all who read St Paul’s Epistles know full well.</p> +<p>But such men have their wages. God is merciful in this; that +He rewards every man according to his work. And He is merciful +to the whole human race, in rewarding such men according to their work. +To the flesh they sow, and of the flesh they shall reap corruption. +Of old it was written—“The wages of sin <!-- page 307--><a name="page307"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 307</span>are +death;” and that, like all God’s words, is a Gospel and +good news to poor human beings. For if the wages of sin were not +death, what end could there be to sin, and therefore to misery?</p> +<p>But while such men exist, how shall a man escape them? How +shall he defend himself from them? Not by craft and falsehood, +not by angry replies, not by fighting them with their own weapons. +The honest man is no match for them with those. The man who has +a conscience is no match for the man who has none. The man who +has no conscience does what he wills; everything is fair to him in war; +and there—in his unscrupulousness—lies his evil strength. +The man who has a conscience dares not do what he likes. His scruples—in +plain words, his fear of God—hamper him, and put him at a disadvantage, +which will always defeat him, as often as he borrows the devil’s +tools to do God’s work withal.</p> +<p>He must give up those weapons, as David threw off Saul’s armour, +when he went to fight the giant. It was strong enough, doubt not: +but he could not go in it, he said; he was not accustomed to it. +He would take simpler weapons, to which he was accustomed; and fight +his battle with them, trusting not in armour, but in the name of the +living God.</p> +<p>In the name of the living God. That is the only sure weapon, +and the only sure defence. In that David trusted, when he went +to fight the giant. In that he trusted, when he was hid in the +cave. And because he trusted in God, he prayed to God. He +spoke to <!-- page 308--><a name="page308"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 308</span>God. +Remember that, and understand how much it means. David, the simple +yeoman’s son, the outlaw, the wanderer, despised and rejected +by men, one who was no scholar either, who very probably could neither +read nor write, and knew neither sciences nor arts, save how to play, +in some simple way, upon his harp—this man found out that, however +oppressed, miserable, ignorant he was in many respects, he had a right +to speak face to face with the Almighty and Infinite God, who had made +heaven and earth. He found out that that great God cared for him, +protected him, and would be true to him, if only he would be true to +God and to himself. What a discovery was that! Worth all +the wealth and power, ay, worth all the learning and science in the +world.—To have found the pearl of great price, the secret of all +secrets; I, David, may speak to God.</p> +<p>Ah, my friends, consider the meaning of that. Consider it, +I say. For when that great thought has once flashed across a man’s +mind, he is a new creature thenceforth. He need speak to no father-confessor +or director; to no saints or angels; to no sages or philosophers. +For he can speak to God Himself, and he need speak to no one else. +Nay, at times he dare speak to no one else. If he can tell his +story to God, why tell it to any of God’s creatures?</p> +<p>He is in the presence of God Himself, God his Father, God his Saviour, +God his Comforter; Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. God is listening +to him. To God he can tell all his sorrows, all his wrongs, all +his doubts, all his sins, all his weaknesses, as David told his; <!-- page 309--><a name="page309"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 309</span>and +God will hear him; and instead of striking him dead for his presumption +or for his sinfulness, will comfort him; comfort him with a feeling +of peace, of freedom, of being right, and of being safe, such as he +never had before; till all the troubles and dangers of this life shall +seem light to him. Let the world rage. Let the foolish people +deal foolishly, and the treacherous ones treacherously. For if +God be with a man, who can be against him? He has no fears left +now. He has nothing to do, save to thank God for his boundless +condescension; and to trust on. To trust on. If he has set +his heart on the Lord, he need not fear what man will do to him. +If his heart is fixed; if he is sure that God cares for him, he will, +as it were by instinct, sing and give praise to God, as the bird sings +when the rain is past, and the sun shines out once more.</p> +<p>But I think that when a man has reached that state of mind, as David +reached it, he will rise, as David rose, to a higher state of mind still. +He will rise, as David rises in this psalm, from thoughts about his +own soul, to thoughts about God. In one word, he will rise from +religion to that which is above even religion, namely theology.</p> +<p>His first cry to God was somewhat selfish. He went to God about +himself; about his own sorrows and troubles. That is natural and +harmless. The child in pain and terror cries to its mother selfishly +to be helped out of its own little woes. But when it is helped, +and comforted, and safe in its mother’s bosom, and its <!-- page 310--><a name="page310"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 310</span>sobbing +is over, then it forgets itself, and looks up into its mother’s +face, and thinks of her, and her alone.</p> +<p>And so it should be with the man whom God has comforted. When +the deliverance has come; when the peace of mind has come; then surely, +if he be worthy of the name of man, he will forget himself, and his +own petty sorrows; and look up to God, to God Himself, and say within +his heart—This great awful Being, eternal, infinite, omnipotent, +who yet condescends to take care of a tiny creature like me, who am, +in comparison with Him, less than the worm which crawls upon the ground, +less than the fly which lives but for an hour—This God, so mighty +and yet so merciful: who is He? What is He like? He is good +to me. Is He not good to all? He is merciful to me. +Is not His mercy over all His works? Nay, is he not good in Himself? +The One Good? Must not God be The One Good, who is the cause and +the fountain of all other goodness in man, in angels, in all heaven +and earth? But if so—what a glorious Being He must be. +Not merely a powerful, not merely a wise, but a glorious, because perfect, +God. Then will he cry, as David cries in this very psalm—“Oh +that men could see that. Oh that men could understand that. +Oh that they would do God justice; and confess His glorious Name. +Oh that He would teach them His Name, and shew them His glory, that +they might be dazzled by the beauty of it, awed by the splendour of +it. Oh that He would gladden their souls by the beatific vision +of Himself, till they loved Him, worshipped Him, <!-- page 311--><a name="page311"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 311</span>obeyed +Him, for His own sake; not for anything which they might obtain from +Him, but solely because He is The perfectly Good. Oh that God +would set up Himself above the heavens, and His glory above all the +earth; and that men would lift up their eyes above the earth, and above +the heavens likewise, to God who made heaven and earth; and would cry—Thou +art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power; for Thou +hast made all things, and for Thy pleasure they are and were created; +and Thy pleasure is, Peace on Earth, and Goodwill toward men. +Thou art the High and Holy One, who inhabitest eternity. Yet Thou +dwellest with him that is of a contrite spirit, to revive the heart +of the feeble, and to comfort the heart of the contrite. We adore +the glory of Thy power; we adore the glory of Thy wisdom: but most of +all we adore the glory of Thy justice, the glory of Thy condescension, +the glory of Thy love.”</p> +<p>And now, friends—almost all friends unknown—and alas! +never to be known by me—you who are to me as people floating down +a river; while I the preacher stand upon the bank, and call, in hope +that some of you may catch some word of mine, ere the great stream shall +bear you out of sight—oh catch, at least, catch this one word—the +last which I shall speak here for many months, and which sums up all +which I have been trying to say to you of late.</p> +<p>Fix in your minds—or rather, ask God to fix in your minds—this +one idea of an absolutely good God; good with all forms of goodness +which you respect and love <!-- page 312--><a name="page312"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 312</span>in +man; good as you, and I, and every honest man, understand the plain +word good. Slowly you will acquire that grand and all-illuminating +idea; slowly, and most imperfectly at best: for who is mortal man that +he should conceive and comprehend the goodness of the infinitely good +God? But see then whether, in the light of that one idea, all +the old-fashioned Christian ideas about the relations of God to man; +whether a Providence, Prayer, Inspiration, Revelation; the Incarnation, +the Passion, and the final triumph, of the Son of God—whether +all these, I say, do not begin to seem to you, not merely beautiful, +not merely probable; but rational, and logical, and necessary, moral +consequences from the one idea of An Absolute and Eternal Goodness, +the Living Parent of the Universe.</p> +<p>And so I leave you to the Grace of God.</p> +<h2><b>Footnotes:</b></h2> +<p><a name="footnote0a"></a><a href="#citation0a">{0a}</a> Second +edition, pp. 78, 79.</p> +<p><a name="footnote39"></a><a href="#citation39">{39}</a> J. +P. Richter.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">cambridge</span>. <span class="smcap">printed +by c. j. clay</span>, <span class="smcap">m.a. at the university press</span>.</p> +<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WESTMINSTER SERMONS***</p> +<pre> + + +***** This file should be named 18369-h.htm or 18369-h.zip****** + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/8/3/6/18369 + + + +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. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. 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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: Westminster Sermons + with a Preface + + +Author: Charles Kingsley + + + +Release Date: May 10, 2006 [eBook #18369] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WESTMINSTER SERMONS*** + + + + + +Transcribed from the 1881 Macmillan and Co. edition by David Price, +ccx074@pglaf.org + + + + + +WESTMINSTER SERMONS. + + +WITH A PREFACE. + +BY +CHARLES KINGSLEY. + +London: +MACMILLAN AND CO. +1881. + +_The Right of Translation is Reserved_. + + + + +PREFACE. + + +I venture to preface these Sermons--which were preached either at +Westminster Abbey, or at one of the Chapels Royal--by a Paper read at +Sion College, in 1871; and for this reason. Even when they deal with +what is usually, and rightly, called "vital" and "experimental" religion, +they are comments on, and developments of, the idea which pervades that +paper; namely--That facts, whether of physical nature, or of the human +heart and reason, do not contradict, but coincide with, the doctrines and +formulas of the Church of England, as by law established. + +* * * * * + +Natural Theology, I said, is a subject which seems to me more and more +important; and one which is just now somewhat forgotten. I therefore +desire to say a few words on it. I do not pretend to teach: but only to +suggest; to point out certain problems of natural Theology, the further +solution of which ought, I think, to be soon attempted. + +I wish to speak, be it remembered, not on natural religion, but on +natural Theology. By the first, I understand what can be learned from +the physical universe of man's duty to God and to his neighbour; by the +latter, I understand what can be learned concerning God Himself. Of +natural religion I shall say nothing. I do not even affirm that a +natural religion is possible: but I do very earnestly believe that a +natural Theology is possible; and I earnestly believe also that it is +most important that natural Theology should, in every age, keep pace with +doctrinal or ecclesiastical Theology. + +Bishop Butler certainly held this belief. His _Analogy of Religion_, +_Natural and Revealed_, _to the Constitution and Course of Nature_--a +book for which I entertain the most profound respect--is based on a +belief that the God of nature and the God of grace are one; and that +therefore, the God who satisfies our conscience ought more or less to +satisfy our reason also. To teach that was Butler's mission; and he +fulfilled it well. But it is a mission which has to be re-fulfilled +again and again, as human thought changes, and human science develops; +for if, in any age or country, the God who seems to be revealed by nature +seems also different from the God who is revealed by the then popular +religion: then that God, and the religion which tells of that God, will +gradually cease to be believed in. + +For the demands of Reason--as none knew better than good Bishop +Butler--must be and ought to be satisfied. And therefore; when a popular +war arises between the reason of any generation and its Theology: then it +behoves the ministers of religion to inquire, with all humility and godly +fear, on which side lies the fault; whether the Theology which they +expound is all that it should be, or whether the reason of those who +impugn it is all that it should be. + +For me, as--I trust--an orthodox priest of the Church of England, I +believe the Theology of the National Church of England, as by law +established, to be eminently rational as well as scriptural. It is not, +therefore, surprising to me that the clergy of the Church of England, +since the foundation of the Royal Society in the seventeenth century, +have done more for sound physical science than the clergy of any other +denomination; or that the three greatest natural theologians with which +I, at least, am acquainted--Berkeley, Butler, and Paley--should have +belonged to our Church. I am not unaware of what the Germans of the +eighteenth century have done. I consider Goethe's claims to have +advanced natural Theology very much over-rated: but I do recommend to +young clergymen Herder's _Outlines of the Philosophy of the History of +Man_ as a book--in spite of certain defects--full of sound and precious +wisdom. Meanwhile it seems to me that English natural Theology in the +eighteenth century stood more secure than that of any other nation, on +the foundation which Berkeley, Butler, and Paley had laid; and that if +our orthodox thinkers for the last hundred years had followed steadily in +their steps, we should not be deploring now a wide, and as some think +increasing, divorce between Science and Christianity. + +But it was not so to be. The impulse given by Wesley and Whitfield +turned--and not before it was needed--the earnest minds of England almost +exclusively to questions of personal religion; and that impulse, under +many unexpected forms, has continued ever since. I only state the fact: +I do not deplore it; God forbid. Wisdom is justified of all her +children; and as, according to the wise American, "it takes all sorts to +make a world," so it takes all sorts to make a living Church. But that +the religious temper of England for the last two or three generations has +been unfavourable to a sound and scientific development of natural +Theology, there can be no doubt. + +We have only, if we need proof, to look at the hymns--many of them very +pure, pious, and beautiful--which are used at this day in churches and +chapels by persons of every shade of opinion. How often is the tone in +which they speak of the natural world one of dissatisfaction, distrust, +almost contempt. "Change and decay in all around I see," is their key- +note, rather than "O all ye works of the Lord, bless Him, praise Him, and +magnify Him for ever." There lingers about them a savour of the old +monastic theory, that this earth is the devil's planet, fallen, accursed, +goblin-haunted, needing to be exorcised at every turn before it is useful +or even safe for man. An age which has adopted as its most popular hymn +a paraphrase of the mediaeval monk's "Hic breve vivitur," and in which +stalwart public-school boys are bidden in their chapel-worship to tell +the Almighty God of Truth that they lie awake weeping at night for joy at +the thought that they will die and see "Jerusalem the Golden," is +doubtless a pious and devout age: but not--at least as yet--an age in +which natural Theology is likely to attain a high, a healthy, or a +scriptural development. + +Not a scriptural development. Let me press on you, my clerical brethren, +most earnestly this one point. It is time that we should make up our +minds what tone Scripture does take toward nature, natural science, +natural Theology. Most of you, I doubt not, have made up your minds +already; and in consequence have no fear of natural science, no fear for +natural Theology. But I cannot deny that I find still lingering here and +there certain of the old views of nature of which I used to hear but too +much some five-and-thirty years ago--and that from better men than I +shall ever hope to be--who used to consider natural Theology as useless, +fallacious, impossible; on the ground that this Earth did not reveal the +will and character of God, because it was cursed and fallen; and that its +facts, in consequence, were not to be respected or relied on. This, I +was told, was the doctrine of Scripture, and was therefore true. But +when, longing to reconcile my conscience and my reason on a question so +awful to a young student of natural science, I went to my Bible, what did +I find? No word of all this. Much--thank God, I may say one continuous +undercurrent--of the very opposite of all this. I pray you bear with me, +even though I may seem impertinent. But what do we find in the Bible, +with the exception of that first curse? That, remember, cannot mean any +alteration in the laws of nature by which man's labour should only +produce for him henceforth thorns and thistles. For, in the first place, +any such curse is formally abrogated in the eighth chapter and 21st verse +of the very same document--"I will not again curse the earth any more for +man's sake. While the earth remaineth, seed-time and harvest, cold and +heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease." And next: the +fact is not so; for if you root up the thorns and thistles, and keep your +land clean, then assuredly you will grow fruit-trees and not thorns, +wheat and not thistles, according to those laws of nature which are the +voice of God expressed in facts. + +And yet the words are true. There is a curse upon the earth: though not +one which, by altering the laws of nature, has made natural facts +untrustworthy. There is a curse on the earth; such a curse as is +expressed, I believe, in the old Hebrew text, where the word +"_admah_"--correctly translated in our version "the ground"--signifies, +as I am told, not this planet, but simply the soil from whence we get our +food; such a curse as certainly is expressed by the Septuagint and the +Vulgate versions: "Cursed is the earth"--[Greek text]; "in opere tuo," +"in thy works." Man's work is too often the curse of the very planet +which he misuses. None should know that better than the botanist, who +sees whole regions desolate, and given up to sterility and literal thorns +and thistles, on account of man's sin and folly, ignorance and greedy +waste. Well said that veteran botanist, the venerable Elias Fries, of +Lund:-- + +"A broad band of waste land follows gradually in the steps of +cultivation. If it expands, its centre and its cradle dies, and on the +outer borders only do we find green shoots. But it is not impossible, +only difficult, for man, without renouncing the advantage of culture +itself, one day to make reparation for the injury which he has inflicted: +he is appointed lord of creation. True it is that thorns and thistles, +ill-favoured and poisonous plants, well named by botanists rubbish +plants, mark the track which man has proudly traversed through the earth. +Before him lay original nature in her wild but sublime beauty. Behind +him he leaves a desert, a deformed and ruined land; for childish desire +of destruction, or thoughtless squandering of vegetable treasures, has +destroyed the character of nature; and, terrified, man himself flies from +the arena of his actions, leaving the impoverished earth to barbarous +races or to animals, so long as yet another spot in virgin beauty smiles +before him. Here again, in selfish pursuit of profit, and consciously or +unconsciously following the abominable principle of the great moral +vileness which one man has expressed--'Apres nous le Deluge,'--he begins +anew the work of destruction. Thus did cultivation, driven out, leave +the East, and perhaps the deserts long ago robbed of their coverings; +like the wild hordes of old over beautiful Greece, thus rolls this +conquest with fearful rapidity from East to West through America; and the +planter now often leaves the already exhausted land, and the eastern +climate, become infertile through the demolition of the forests, to +introduce a similar revolution into the Far West." + +As we proceed, we find nothing in the general tone of Scripture which can +hinder our natural Theology being at once scriptural and scientific. + +If it is to be scientific, it must begin by approaching Nature at once +with a cheerful and reverent spirit, as a noble, healthy, and trustworthy +thing; and what is that, save the spirit of those who wrote the 104th, +147th, and 148th Psalms; the spirit, too, of him who wrote that Song of +the Three Children, which is, as it were, the flower and crown of the Old +Testament, the summing up of all that is most true and eternal in the old +Jewish faith; and which, as long as it is sung in our churches, is the +charter and title-deed of all Christian students of those works of the +Lord, which it calls on to bless Him, praise Him, and magnify Him for +ever? + +What next will be demanded of us by physical science? Belief, certainly, +just now, in the permanence of natural laws. That is taken for granted, +I hold, throughout the Bible. I cannot see how our Lord's parables, +drawn from the birds and the flowers, the seasons and the weather, have +any logical weight, or can be considered as aught but capricious and +fanciful "illustrations"--which God forbid--unless we look at them as +instances of laws of the natural world, which find their analogues in the +laws of the spiritual world, the kingdom of God. I cannot conceive a +man's writing that 104th Psalm who had not the most deep, the most +earnest sense of the permanence of natural law. But more: the fact is +expressly asserted again and again. "They continue this day according to +Thine ordinance, for all things serve Thee." "Thou hast made them fast +for ever and ever. Thou hast given them a law which shall not be +broken--" + +Let us pass on. There is no more to be said about this matter. + +But next: it will be demanded of us that natural Theology shall set forth +a God whose character is consistent with all the facts of nature, and not +only with those which are pleasant and beautiful. That challenge was +accepted, and I think victoriously, by Bishop Butler, as far as the +Christian religion is concerned. As far as the Scripture is concerned, +we may answer thus-- + +It is said to us--I know that it is said--You tell us of a God of love, a +God of flowers and sunshine, of singing birds and little children. But +there are more facts in nature than these. There is premature death, +pestilence, famine. And if you answer--Man has control over these; they +are caused by man's ignorance and sin, and by his breaking of natural +laws:--What will you make of those destructive powers over which he has +no control; of the hurricane and the earthquake; of poisons, vegetable +and mineral; of those parasitic Entozoa whose awful abundance, and awful +destructiveness, in man and beast, science is just revealing--a new page +of danger and loathsomeness? How does that suit your conception of a God +of love? + +We can answer--Whether or not it suits our conception of a God of love, +it suits Scripture's conception of Him. For nothing is more clear--nay, +is it not urged again and again, as a blot on Scripture?--that it reveals +a God not merely of love, but of sternness; a God in whose eyes physical +pain is not the worst of evils, nor animal life--too often miscalled +human life--the most precious of objects; a God who destroys, when it +seems fit to Him, and that wholesale, and seemingly without either pity +or discrimination, man, woman, and child, visiting the sins of the +fathers on the children, making the land empty and bare, and destroying +from off it man and beast? This is the God of the Old Testament. And if +any say--as is too often rashly said--This is not the God of the New: I +answer, But have you read your New Testament? Have you read the latter +chapters of St Matthew? Have you read the opening of the Epistle to the +Romans? Have you read the Book of Revelation? If so, will you say that +the God of the New Testament is, compared with the God of the Old, less +awful, less destructive, and therefore less like the Being--granting +always that there is such a Being--who presides over nature and her +destructive powers? It is an awful problem. But the writers of the +Bible have faced it valiantly. Physical science is facing it valiantly +now. Therefore natural Theology may face it likewise. Remember +Carlyle's great words about poor Francesca in the Inferno: "Infinite +pity: yet also infinite rigour of law. It is so Nature is made. It is +so Dante discerned that she was made." + +There are two other points on which I must beg leave to say a few words. +Physical science will demand of our natural theologians that they should +be aware of their importance, and let--as Mr Matthew Arnold would +say--their thoughts play freely round them. I mean questions of +Embryology, and questions of Race. + +On the first there may be much to be said, which is, for the present, +best left unsaid, even here. I only ask you to recollect how often in +Scripture those two plain old words--beget and bring forth--occur; and in +what important passages. And I ask you to remember that marvellous essay +on Natural Theology--if I may so call it in all reverence--namely, the +119th Psalm; and judge for yourself whether he who wrote that did not +consider the study of Embryology as important, as significant, as worthy +of his deepest attention, as an Owen, a Huxley, or a Darwin. Nay, I will +go further still, and say, that in those great words--"Thine eyes did see +my substance, yet being imperfect; and in Thy book all my members were +written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none +of them,"--in those words, I say, the Psalmist has anticipated that +realistic view of embryological questions to which our most modern +philosophers are, it seems to me, slowly, half unconsciously, but still +inevitably, returning. + +Next, as to Race. Some persons now have a nervous fear of that word, and +of allowing any importance to difference of races. Some dislike it, +because they think that it endangers the modern notions of democratic +equality. Others because they fear that it may be proved that the Negro +is not a man and a brother. I think the fears of both parties +groundless. + +As for the Negro, I not only believe him to be of the same race as +myself, but that--if Mr Darwin's theories are true--science has proved +that he must be such. I should have thought, as a humble student of such +questions, that the one fact of the unique distribution of the hair in +all races of human beings, was full moral proof that they had all had one +common ancestor. But this is not matter of natural Theology. What is +matter thereof, is this. + +Physical science is proving more and more the immense importance of Race; +the importance of hereditary powers, hereditary organs, hereditary +habits, in all organized beings, from the lowest plant to the highest +animal. She is proving more and more the omnipresent action of the +differences between races: how the more "favoured" race--she cannot avoid +using the epithet--exterminates the less favoured; or at least expels it, +and forces it, under penalty of death, to adapt itself to new +circumstances; and, in a word, that competition between every race and +every individual of that race, and reward according to deserts, is, as +far as we can see, an universal law of living things. And she says--for +the facts of History prove it--that as it is among the races of plants +and animals, so it has been unto this day among the races of men. + +The natural Theology of the future must take count of these tremendous +and even painful facts. She may take count of them. For Scripture has +taken count of them already. It talks continually--it has been blamed +for talking so much--of races; of families; of their wars, their +struggles, their exterminations; of races favoured, of races rejected; of +remnants being saved, to continue the race; of hereditary tendencies, +hereditary excellencies, hereditary guilt. Its sense of the reality and +importance of descent is so intense, that it speaks of a whole tribe or a +whole family by the name of its common ancestor; and the whole nation of +the Jews is Israel, to the end. And if I be told this is true of the Old +Testament, but not of the New: I must answer,--What? Does not St Paul +hold the identity of the whole Jewish race with Israel their forefather, +as strongly as any prophet of the Old Testament? And what is the central +historic fact, save One, of the New Testament, but the conquest of +Jerusalem; the dispersion, all but destruction of a race, not by miracle, +but by invasion, because found wanting when weighed in the stern balances +of natural and social law? + +Think over this. I only suggest the thought: but I do not suggest it in +haste. Think over it, by the light which our Lord's parables, His +analogies between the physical and social constitution of the world, +afford; and consider whether those awful words--fulfilled then, and +fulfilled so often since--"The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, +and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof," may not be the +supreme instance, the most complex development, of a law which runs +through all created things, down to the moss which struggles for +existence on the rock. + +Do I say that this is all? That man is merely a part of nature, the +puppet of circumstances and hereditary tendencies? That brute +competition is the one law of his life? That he is doomed for ever to be +the slave of his own needs, enforced by an internecine struggle for +existence? God forbid. I believe not only in nature, but in Grace. I +believe that this is man's fate only as long as he sows to the flesh, and +of the flesh reaps corruption. I believe that if he will + + Strive upward, working out the beast, + And let the ape and tiger die; + +if he will be even as wise as the social animals; as the ant and the bee, +who have risen, if not to the virtue of all-embracing charity, at least +to the virtues of self-sacrifice and patriotism: then he will rise +towards a higher sphere; towards that kingdom of God of which it is +written--"He that dwelleth in love, dwelleth in God, and God in him." + +Whether that be matter of natural Theology, I cannot tell as yet. But as +for all the former questions; and all that St Paul means when he talks of +the law, and how the works of the flesh bring men under the law, stern +and terrible and destructive, though holy and just and good,--they are +matter of natural Theology; and I believe that here, as elsewhere, +Scripture and Science will be ultimately found to coincide. + +But here we have to face an objection which you will often hear now from +scientific men, and still oftener from non-scientific men; who will +say--It matters not to us whether Scripture contradicts or does not +contradict a scientific natural Theology; for we hold such a science to +be impossible and naught. The old Jews put a God into nature; and +therefore of course they could see, as you see, what they had already put +there. But we see no God in nature. We do not deny the existence of a +God. We merely say that scientific research does not reveal Him to us. +We see no marks of design in physical phenomena. What used to be +considered as marks of design can be better explained by considering them +as the results of evolution according to necessary laws; and you and +Scripture make a mere assumption when you ascribe them to the operation +of a mind like the human mind. + +Now on this point I believe we may answer fearlessly--If you cannot see +it, we cannot help you. If the heavens do not declare to you the glory +of God, nor the firmament show you His handy-work, then our poor +arguments will not show them. "The eye can only see that which it brings +with it the power of seeing." We can only reassert that we see design +everywhere; and that the vast majority of the human race in every age and +clime has seen it. Analogy from experience, sound induction--as we +hold--from the works not only of men but of animals, has made it an all +but self-evident truth to us, that wherever there is arrangement, there +must be an arranger; wherever there is adaptation of means to an end, +there must be an adapter; wherever an organization, there must be an +organizer. The existence of a designing God is no more demonstrable from +nature than the existence of other human beings independent of ourselves; +or, indeed, than the existence of our own bodies. But, like the belief +in them, the belief in Him has become an article of our common sense. And +that this designing mind is, in some respects, similar to the human mind, +is proved to us--as Sir John Herschel well puts it--by the mere fact that +we can discover and comprehend the processes of nature. + +But here again, if we be contradicted, we can only reassert. If the old +words, "He that made the eye, shall he not see? he that planted the ear, +shall he not hear?" do not at once commend themselves to the intellect of +any person, we shall never convince that person by any arguments drawn +from the absurdity of conceiving the invention of optics by a blind man, +or of music by a deaf one. + +So we will assert our own old-fashioned notion boldly: and more; we will +say, in spite of ridicule--That if such a God exists, final causes must +exist also. That the whole universe must be one chain of final causes. +That if there be a Supreme Reason, he must have reason, and that a good +reason, for every physical phenomenon. + +We will tell the modern scientific man--You are nervously afraid of the +mention of final causes. You quote against them Bacon's saying, that +they are barren virgins; that no physical fact was ever discovered or +explained by them. You are right: as far as regards yourselves. You +have no business with final causes; because final causes are moral +causes: and you are physical students only. We, the natural Theologians, +have business with them. Your duty is to find out the How of things: +ours, to find out the Why. If you rejoin that we shall never find out +the Why, unless we first learn something of the How, we shall not deny +that. It may be most useful, I had almost said necessary, that the +clergy should have some scientific training. It may be most useful--I +sometimes dream of a day when it will be considered necessary--that every +candidate for Ordination should be required to have passed creditably in +at least one branch of physical science, if it be only to teach him the +method of sound scientific thought. But our having learnt the How, will +not make it needless, much less impossible, for us to study the Why. It +will merely make more clear to us the things of which we have to study +the Why; and enable us to keep the How and the Why more religiously apart +from each other. + +But if it be said--After all, there is no Why. The doctrine of +evolution, by doing away with the theory of creation, does away with that +of final causes,--Let us answer boldly,--Not in the least. We might +accept all that Mr Darwin, all that Professor Huxley, all that other most +able men, have so learnedly and so acutely written on physical science, +and yet preserve our natural Theology on exactly the same basis as that +on which Butler and Paley left it. That we should have to develop it, I +do not deny. That we should have to relinquish it, I do. + +Let me press this thought earnestly on you. I know that many wiser and +better men than I have fears on this point. I cannot share in them. + +All, it seems to me, that the new doctrines of evolution demand is +this:--We all agree--for the fact is patent--that our own bodies, and +indeed the body of every living creature, are evolved from a seemingly +simple germ by natural laws, without visible action of any designing will +or mind, into the full organization of a human or other creature. Yet we +do not say on that account--God did not create me: I only grew. We hold +in this case to our old idea, and say--If there be evolution, there must +be an evolver. Now the new physical theories only ask us, it seems to +me, to extend this conception to the whole universe; to believe that not +individuals merely, but whole varieties and races; the total organized +life on this planet; and, it may be, the total organization of the +universe, have been evolved just as our bodies are, by natural laws +acting through circumstance. This may be true, or may be false. But all +its truth can do to the natural Theologian will be to make him believe +that the Creator bears the same relation to the whole universe, as that +Creator undeniably bears to every individual human body. + +I entreat you to weigh these words, which have not been written in haste; +and I entreat you also, if you wish to see how little the new theory, +that species may have been gradually created by variation, natural +selection, and so forth, interferes with the old theory of design, +contrivance, and adaptation, nay, with the fullest admission of +benevolent final causes--I entreat you, I say, to study Darwin's +"Fertilization of Orchids"--a book which, whether his main theory be true +or not, will still remain a most valuable addition to natural Theology. + +For suppose that all the species of Orchids, and not only they, but their +congeners--the Gingers, the Arrowroots, the Bananas--are all the +descendants of one original form, which was most probably nearly allied +to the Snowdrop and the Iris. What then? Would that be one whit more +wonderful, more unworthy of the wisdom and power of God, than if they +were, as most believe, created each and all at once, with their minute +and often imaginary shades of difference? What would the natural +Theologian have to say, were the first theory true, save that God's works +are even more wonderful that he always believed them to be? As for the +theory being impossible: we must leave the discussion of that to physical +students. It is not for us clergymen to limit the power of God. "Is +anything too hard for the Lord?" asked the prophet of old; and we have a +right to ask it as long as time shall last. If it be said that natural +selection is too simple a cause to produce such fantastic variety: that, +again, is a question to be settled exclusively by physical students. All +we have to say on the matter is--That we always knew that God works by +very simple, or seemingly simple, means; that the whole universe, as far +as we could discern it, was one concatenation of the most simple means; +that it was wonderful, yea, miraculous, in our eyes, that a child should +resemble its parents, that the raindrops should make the grass grow, that +the grass should become flesh, and the flesh sustenance for the thinking +brain of man. Ought God to seem less or more august in our eyes, when we +are told that His means are even more simple than we supposed? We held +him to be Almighty and All-wise. Are we to reverence Him less or more, +if we hear that His might is greater, His wisdom deeper, than we ever +dreamed? We believed that His care was over all His works; that His +Providence watched perpetually over the whole universe. We were +taught--some of us at least--by Holy Scripture, to believe that the whole +history of the universe was made up of special Providences. If, then, +that should be true which Mr Darwin eloquently writes--"It may be +metaphorically said that natural selection is daily and hourly +scrutinizing, throughout the world, every variation, even the slightest; +rejecting that which is bad, preserving and adding up that which is good, +silently and incessantly working whenever and wherever opportunity offers +at the improvement of every organic being,"--if that, I say, were proven +to be true: ought God's care and God's providence to seem less or more +magnificent in our eyes? Of old it was said by Him without whom nothing +is made, "My Father worketh hitherto, and I work." Shall we quarrel with +Science, if she should show how those words are true? What, in one word, +should we have to say but this?--We knew of old that God was so wise that +He could make all things: but, behold, He is so much wiser than even +that, that He can make all things make themselves. + +But it may be said--These notions are contrary to Scripture. I must beg +very humbly, but very firmly, to demur to that opinion. Scripture says +that God created. But it nowhere defines that term. The means, the How, +of Creation is nowhere specified. Scripture, again, says that organized +beings were produced, each according to their kind. But it nowhere +defines that term. What a kind includes; whether it includes or not the +capacity of varying--which is just the question in point--is nowhere +specified. And I think it a most important rule in Scriptural exegesis, +to be most cautious as to limiting the meaning of any term which +Scripture itself has not limited, lest we find ourselves putting into the +teaching of Scripture our own human theories or prejudices. And +consider--Is not man a kind? And has not mankind varied, physically, +intellectually, spiritually? Is not the Bible, from beginning to end, a +history of the variations of mankind, for worse or for better, from their +original type? Let us rather look with calmness, and even with hope and +goodwill, on these new theories; for, correct or incorrect, they surely +mark a tendency towards a more, not a less, Scriptural view of Nature. +Are they not attempts, whether successful or unsuccessful, to escape from +that shallow mechanical notion of the universe and its Creator which was +too much in vogue in the eighteenth century among divines as well as +philosophers; the theory which Goethe, to do him justice--and after him +Mr Thomas Carlyle--have treated with such noble scorn; the theory, I +mean, that God has wound up the universe like a clock, and left it to +tick by itself till it runs down, never troubling Himself with it; save +possibly--for even that was only half believed--by rare miraculous +interferences with the laws which He Himself had made? Out of that +chilling dream of a dead universe ungoverned by an absent God, the human +mind, in Germany especially, tried during the early part of this century +to escape by strange roads; roads by which there was no escape, because +they were not laid down on the firm ground of scientific facts. Then, in +despair, men turned to the facts which they had neglected; and said--We +are weary of philosophy: we will study you, and you alone. As for God, +who can find Him? And they have worked at the facts like gallant and +honest men; and their work, like all good work, has produced, in the last +fifty years, results more enormous than they even dreamed. But what are +they finding, more and more, below their facts, below all phenomena which +the scalpel and the microscope can show? A something nameless, +invisible, imponderable, yet seemingly omnipresent and omnipotent, +retreating before them deeper and deeper, the deeper they delve: namely, +the life which shapes and makes; that which the old schoolmen called +"forma formativa," which they call vital force and what not--metaphors +all, or rather counters to mark an unknown quantity, as if they should +call it _x_ or _y_. One says--It is all vibrations: but his reason, +unsatisfied, asks--And what makes the vibrations vibrate? Another--It is +all physiological units: but his reason asks--What is the "physis," the +nature and innate tendency of the units? A third--It may be all caused +by infinitely numerous "gemmules:" but his reason asks him--What puts +infinite order into these gemmules, instead of infinite anarchy? I +mention these theories not to laugh at them. I have all due respect for +those who have put them forth. Nor would it interfere with my +theological creed, if any or all of them were proven to be true +to-morrow. I mention them only to show that beneath all these theories, +true or false, still lies that unknown _x_. Scientific men are becoming +more and more aware of it; I had almost said, ready to worship it. More +and more the noblest-minded of them are engrossed by the mystery of that +unknown and truly miraculous element in Nature, which is always escaping +them, though they cannot escape it. How should they escape it? Was it +not written of old--"Whither shall I go from Thy presence, or whither +shall I flee from Thy Spirit?" + +Ah that we clergymen would summon up courage to tell them that! Courage +to tell them, what need not hamper for a moment the freedom of their +investigations, what will add to them a sanction--I may say a +sanctity--that the unknown _x_ which lies below all phenomena, which is +for ever at work on all phenomena, on the whole and on every part of the +whole, down to the colouring of every leaf and the curdling of every cell +of protoplasm, is none other than that which the old Hebrews called--by a +metaphor, no doubt: for how can man speak of the unseen, save in +metaphors drawn from the seen?--but by the only metaphor adequate to +express the perpetual and omnipresent miracle; The Breath of God; The +Spirit who is The Lord, and The Giver of Life. + +In the rest, let us too think, and let us too observe. For if we are +ignorant, not merely of the results of experimental science, but of the +methods thereof: then we and the men of science shall have no common +ground whereon to stretch out kindly hands to each other. + +But let us have patience and faith; and not suppose in haste, that when +those hands are stretched out it will be needful for us to leave our +standing-ground, or to cast ourselves down from the pinnacle of the +temple to earn popularity; above all, from earnest students who are too +high-minded to care for popularity themselves. + +True, if we have an intelligent belief in those Creeds and those +Scriptures which are committed to our keeping, then our philosophy cannot +be that which is just now in vogue. But all we have to do, I believe, is +to wait. Nominalism, and that "Sensationalism" which has sprung from +Nominalism, are running fast to seed; Comtism seems to me its supreme +effort: after which the whirligig of Time may bring round its revenges: +and Realism, and we who hold the Realist creeds, may have our turn. Only +wait. When a grave, able, and authoritative philosopher explains a +mother's love of her newborn babe, as Professor Bain has done, in a +really eloquent passage of his book on the _Emotions and the Will_, {0a} +then the end of that philosophy is very near; and an older, simpler, more +human, and, as I hold, more philosophic explanation of that natural +phenomenon, and of all others, may get a hearing. + +Only wait: and fret not yourselves; else shall you be moved to do evil. +Remember the saying of the wise man--"Go not after the world. She turns +on her axis; and if thou stand still long enough, she will turn round to +thee." + + + + +SERMON I. THE MYSTERY OF THE CROSS. A GOOD FRIDAY SERMON. + + +PHILIPPIANS II. 5-8. + + Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: who, being in + the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: but made + Himself of no reputation, and took upon Him the form of a slave, and + was made in the likeness of men: and being found in fashion as a man, + He humbled Himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of + the Cross. + +The second Lesson for this morning's service, and the chapter which +follows it, describe the Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ, both God and +Man. They give us the facts, in language most awful from its perfect +calmness, most pathetic from its perfect simplicity. But the passage of +St Paul which I have chosen for my text gives us an explanation of those +facts which is utterly amazing. That He who stooped to die upon the +Cross is Very God of Very God, the Creator and Sustainer of the Universe, +is a thought so overwhelming, whenever we try to comprehend even a part +of it in our small imaginations, that it is no wonder if, in all ages, +many a pious soul, as it contemplated the Cross of Christ, has been rapt +itself into a passion of gratitude, an ecstasy of wonder and of love, +which is beautiful, honourable, just, and in the deepest sense most +rational, whenever it is spontaneous and natural. + +But there have been thousands, as there may be many here to-day, of +colder temperament; who would distrust in themselves, even while they +respected in others, any violence of religious emotion: yet they too have +found, and you too may find, in contemplating the Passion of Christ, a +satisfaction deeper than that of any emotion; a satisfaction not to the +heart, still less to the brain, but to that far deeper and diviner +faculty within us all--our moral sense; that God-given instinct which +makes us discern and sympathise with all that is beautiful and true and +good. + +And so it has befallen, for eighteen hundred years, that thousands who +have thought earnestly and carefully on God and on the character of God, +on man and on the universe, and on their relation to Him who made them +both, have found in the Incarnation and the Passion of the Son of God the +perfect satisfaction of their moral wants; the surest key to the facts of +the spiritual world; the complete assurance that, in spite of all seeming +difficulties and contradictions, the Maker of the world was a Righteous +Being, who had founded the world in righteousness; that the Father of +Spirits was a perfect Father, who in His only-begotten Son had shewn +forth His perfectness, in such a shape and by such acts that men might +not only adore it, but sympathise with it; not only thank Him for it, but +copy it; and become, though at an infinite distance, perfect as their +Father in heaven is perfect, and full of grace and truth, like that Son +who is the brightness of His Father's glory, and the express image of His +person. Such a satisfaction have they found in looking upon the +triumphal entry into Jerusalem of Him who knew that it would be followed +by the revolt of the fickle mob, and the desertion of His disciples, and +the Cross of Calvary, and all the hideous circumstances of a Roman +malefactor's death. + +But there have been those, and there are still, who have found no such +satisfaction in the story which the Gospel tells, and still less in the +explanation which the Epistle gives; who have, as St Paul says, stumbled +at the stumblingblock of the Cross. + +It would be easy to ignore such persons, were they scoffers or +profligates: but when they number among their ranks men of virtuous +lives, of earnest and most benevolent purposes, of careful and learned +thought, and of a real reverence for God, or for those theories of the +universe which some of them are inclined to substitute for God, they must +at least be listened to patiently, and answered charitably, as men who, +however faulty their opinions may be, prove, by their virtue and their +desire to do good, that if they have lost sight of Christ, Christ has not +lost sight of them. + +To such men the idea of the Incarnation, and still more, that of the +Passion, is derogatory to the very notion of a God. That a God should +suffer, and that a God should die, is shocking--and, to do them justice, +I believe they speak sincerely--to their notions of the absolute majesty, +the undisturbed serenity, of the Author of the universe; of Him in whom +all things live and move and have their being; who dwells in the light to +which none may approach. And therefore they have, in every age, tried +various expedients to escape from a doctrine which seemed repugnant to +that most precious part of them, their moral sense. In the earlier +centuries of the Church they tried to shew that St John and St Paul +spoke, not of one who was Very God of Very God, but of some highest and +most primeval of all creatures, Emanation, AEon, or what not. In these +later times, when the belief in such beings, and even their very names, +have become dim and dead, men have tried to shew that the words of +Scripture apply to a mere man. They have seen in Christ--and they have +reverenced and loved Him for what they have seen in Him--the noblest and +purest, the wisest and the most loving of all human beings; and have +attributed such language as that in the text, which--translate it as you +will--ascribes absolute divinity, and nothing less, to our Lord Jesus +Christ--they have attributed it, I say, to some fondness for Oriental +hyperbole, and mystic Theosophy, in the minds of the Apostles. Others, +again, have gone further, and been, I think, more logically honest. They +have perceived that our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, as His words are +reported, attributed divinity to Himself, just as much as did His +Apostles. Such a saying as that one, "Before Abraham was, I am," and +others beside it, could be escaped from only by one of two methods. To +the first of them I shall not allude in this sacred place, popular as a +late work has made it in its native France, and I fear in England +likewise. The other alternative, more reverent indeed, but, as I +believe, just as mistaken, is to suppose that the words were never +uttered at all; that Christ--it is not I who say it--possibly never +existed at all; that His whole story was gradually built up, like certain +fabulous legends of Romish saints, out of the moral consciousness of +various devout persons during the first three centuries; each of whom +added to the portrait, as it grew more and more lovely under the hands of +succeeding generations, some new touch of beauty, some fresh trait, half +invented, half traditional, of purity, love, nobleness, majesty; till men +at last became fascinated with the ideal to which they themselves had +contributed; and fell down and worshipped their own humanity; and +christened that The Son of God. + +If I believed that theory, or either of the others, I need not say that I +should not be preaching here. I will go further, and say, that if I +believed either of those theories, or any save that which stands out in +the text, sharp-cut and colossal like some old Egyptian Memnon, and like +that statue, with a smile of sweetness on its lips which tempers the +royal majesty of its looks,--if I did not believe that, I say--I should +be inclined to confess with Homer of old, that man is the most miserable +of all the beasts of the field. + +For consider but this one argument. It is no new one; it has lain, I +believe, unspoken and instinctive, yet most potent and inspiring, in many +a mind, in many an age. If there be a God, must He not be the best of +all beings? But if He who suffered on Calvary were not God, but a mere +creature; then--as I hold--there must have been a creature in the +universe better than God Himself. Or if He who suffered on Calvary had +not the character which is attributed to Him,--if Christ's love, +condescension, self-sacrifice, be a mere imagination, built up by the +fancy of man; then has Christendom for 1800 years been fancying for +itself a better God than Him who really exists. + +Thousands of the best men and women in the world through all the ages of +Christendom have agreed with this argument, under some shape or other. +Thousands there have been, and I trust there will be thousands hereafter, +who have felt, as they looked upon the Cross of the Son of God, not that +it was derogatory to Christ to believe that He had suffered, but +derogatory to Him to believe that He had not suffered: for only by +suffering, as far as we can conceive, could He perfectly manifest His +glory and His Father's glory; and shew that it was full of grace. + +Full of grace. Think, I beg you, over that one word. + +We all agree that God is good; all at least do so, who worship Him in +spirit and in truth. We adore His majesty, because it is the moral and +spiritual majesty of perfect goodness. We give thanks to Him for His +great glory, because it is the glory, not merely of perfect power, +wisdom, order, justice; but of perfect love, of perfect magnanimity, +beneficence, activity, condescension, pity--in one word, of perfect +grace. + +But how much must that last word comprehend, as long as there is misery +and evil in this world, or in any other corner of the whole universe? +Grace, to be perfect, must shew itself by graciously forgiving penitents. +Pity, to be perfect, must shew itself by helping the miserable. +Beneficence, to be perfect, must shew itself by delivering the oppressed. + +The old prophets and psalmists saw as much as this; and preached that +this too was part of the essence and character of God. + +They saw that the Lord was gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of +great kindness, and repented Him of the evil. They saw that the Lord +helped them to right who suffered wrong, and fed the hungry; that the +Lord loosed men out of prison, the Lord gave sight to the blind; that the +Lord helped the fallen, and defended the fatherless and widow. They saw +too a further truth, and a more awful one. They saw that the Lord was +actually and practically King of kings and Lord of lords: that as such He +could come, and did come at times, rewarding the loyal, putting down the +rebellious, and holding high assize from place to place, that He might +execute judgment and justice; beholding all the wrong that was done on +earth, and coming, as it were, out of His place, at each historic crisis, +each revolution in the fortunes of mankind, to make inquisition for +blood, to trample His enemies beneath His feet, and to inaugurate some +progress toward that new heaven and new earth, wherein dwelleth +righteousness, and righteousness alone. That vision, in whatsoever +metaphors it may be wrapped up, is real and true, and will be so as long +as evil exists within this universe. Were it not true, there would be +something wanting to the perfect justice and the perfect benevolence of +God. + +But is this all? If this be all, what have we Christians learnt from the +New Testament which is not already taught us in the Old? Where is that +new, deeper, higher revelation of the goodness of God, which Jesus of +Nazareth preached, and which John and Paul and all the apostles believed +that they had found in Jesus Himself? They believed, and all those who +accepted their gospel believed, that they had found for that word +"grace," a deeper meaning than had ever been revealed to the prophets of +old time; that grace and goodness, if they were perfect, involved self- +sacrifice. + +And does not our own highest reason tell us that they were right? Does +not our own highest reason, which is our moral sense, tell us that +perfect goodness requires, not merely that we should pity our +fellow-creatures, not merely that we should help them, not merely that we +should right them magisterially and royally, without danger or injury to +ourselves: but that we should toil for them, suffer for them, and if need +be, as the highest act of goodness, die for them at last? Is not this +the very element of goodness which we all confess to be most noble, +beautiful, pure, heroical, divine? Divine even in sinful and fallen man, +who must forgive because he needs to be forgiven; who must help others +because he needs help himself; who, if he suffers for others, deserves to +suffer, and probably will suffer, in himself. But how much more +heroical, and how much more divine in a Being who needs neither +forgiveness nor help, and who is as far from deserving as He is from +needing to suffer! And shall this noblest form of goodness be possible +to sinful man, and yet impossible to a perfectly good God? Shall we say +that the martyr at the stake, the patriot dying for his country, the +missionary spending his life for the good of heathens; ay more, shall we +say that those women, martyrs by the pang without the palm, who in secret +chambers, in lowly cottages, have sacrificed and do still sacrifice self +and all the joys of life for the sake of simple duties, little charities, +kindness unnoticed and unknown by all, save God--shall we say that all +who have from the beginning of the world shewn forth the beauty of self- +sacrifice have had no divine prototype in heaven?--That they have been +exercising a higher grace, a nobler form of holiness, than He who made +them, and who, as they believe, and we ought to believe, inspired them +with that spirit of unselfishness, which if it be not the Spirit of God, +whose spirit can it be? Shall we say this, and so suppose them holier +than their own Maker? Shall we say this, and suppose that they, when +they attributed self-sacrifice to God, made indeed a God in their own +image, but a God of greater love, greater pity, greater graciousness +because of greater unselfishness, than Him who really exists? + +Shall we say this, the very words whereof confute themselves and shock +alike our reason and our conscience? Or shall we say with St John and +with St Paul, that if men can be so good, God must be infinitely better; +that if man can love so much, God must love more; if man, by shaking off +the selfishness which is his bane, can do such deeds, then God, in whom +is no selfishness at all, may at least have done a deed as far above +theirs as the heavens are above the earth? Shall we not confess that +man's self-sacrifice is but a poor and dim reflection of the +self-sacrifice of God, and say with St John, "Herein is love, not that we +loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son to be the propitiation +for our sins;" and with St Paul, "Scarcely for a righteous man would one +die, but God commendeth His love to us in this, that while we were yet +sinners, Christ died for us"? Shall we not say this: and find, as +thousands have found ere now, in the Cross of Calvary the perfect +satisfaction of our highest moral instincts, the realization in act and +fact of the highest idea which we can form of perfect condescension, +namely, self-sacrifice exercised by a Being of whom perfect +condescension, love and self-sacrifice were not required by aught in +heaven or earth, save by the necessity of His own perfect and +inconceivable goodness? + +We reverence, and rightly, the majesty of God. How can that infinite +majesty be proved more perfectly than by condescension equally infinite? +We adore, and justly, the serenity of God, who has neither parts nor +passions. How can that serenity be proved more perfectly, than by +passing, still serene, through all the storm and crowd of circumstance +which disturb the weak serenity of man; by passing through poverty, +helplessness, temptation, desertion, shame, torture, death; and passing +through them all victorious and magnificent; with a moral calm as +undisturbed, a moral purity as unspotted, as it had been from all +eternity, as it will be to all eternity, in that abysmal source of being, +which we call the Bosom of the Father? It is the moral majesty of God, +as shewn on Calvary, which I uphold. Shew that Calvary was not +inconsistent with that; shew that Calvary was not inconsistent with the +goodness of God, but rather the perfection of that goodness shewn forth +in time and space: then all other arguments connected with God's majesty +may go for nought, provided that God's moral majesty be safe. Provided +God be proved to be morally infinite--that is, in plain English, +infinitely good; provided God be proved to be morally absolute--that is, +absolutely unable to have His goodness affected by any circumstance +outside Him, even by the death upon the Cross: then let the rest go. All +words about absoluteness and infinity and majesty, beyond that, are +physical--metaphors drawn from matter, which have nothing to do with God +who is a Spirit. + +But God's infinite power too often means, in the minds of men, only some +abstract notion of boundless bodily strength. God's omniscience too +often means, only some physical fancy of innumerable telescopic or +microscopic eyes. God's infinite wisdom too often means, only some +abstract notion of boundless acuteness of brain. And lastly--I am sorry +to have to say it, but it must be said,--God's infinite majesty too often +means, in the minds of some superstitious people, mere pride, and +obstinacy, and cruelty, as of the blind will of some enormous animal +which does what it chooses, whether right or wrong. + +If the mystery of the Cross contradict any of these carnal or material +notions, so much the more glory to the mystery of the Cross. One +spiritual infinite, one spiritual absolute, it does not contradict: and +that is the infinite and absolute goodness of God. + +Let all the rest remain a mystery, so long as the mystery of the Cross +gives us faith for all the rest. + +Faith, I say. The mystery of evil, of sorrow, of death, the Gospel does +not pretend to solve: but it tells us that the mystery is proved to be +soluble. For God Himself has taken on Himself the task of solving it; +and has proved by His own act, that if there be evil in the world, it is +none of His; for He hates it, and fights against it, and has fought +against it to the death. + +It simply says--Have faith in God. Ask no more of Him--Why hast Thou +made me thus? Ask no more--Why do the wicked prosper on the earth? Ask +no more--Whence pain and death, war and famine, earthquake and tempest, +and all the ills to which flesh is heir? + +All fruitless questionings, all peevish repinings, are precluded +henceforth by the passion and death of Christ. + +Dost thou suffer? Thou canst not suffer more than the Son of God. Dost +thou sympathize with thy fellow-men? Thou canst not sympathize more than +the Son of God. Dost thou long to right them, to deliver them, even at +the price of thine own blood? Thou canst not long more ardently than the +Son of God, who carried His longing into act, and died for them and thee. +What if the end be not yet? What if evil still endure? What if the +medicine have not yet conquered the disease? Have patience, have faith, +have hope, as thou standest at the foot of Christ's Cross, and holdest +fast to it, the anchor of the soul and reason, as well as of the heart. +For however ill the world may go, or seem to go, the Cross is the +everlasting token that God so loved the world, that He spared not His +only-begotten Son, but freely gave Him for it. Whatsoever else is +doubtful, this at least is sure,--that good must conquer, because God is +good; that evil must perish, because God hates evil, even to the death. + + + + +SERMON II. THE PERFECT LOVE. + + +1 JOHN IV. 10. + + Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent + His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. + +This is Passion-week; the week in which, according to ancient and most +wholesome rule, we are bidden to think of the Passion of Jesus Christ our +Lord. To think of that, however happy and comfortable, however busy and +eager, however covetous and ambitious, however giddy and frivolous, +however free, or at least desirous to be free, from suffering of any +kind, we are ourselves. To think of the sufferings of Christ, and learn +how grand it is to suffer for the Right. + +And why? + +Passion-week gives but one answer: but that answer is the one best worth +listening to. + +It is grand and good to suffer for the Right, because God, in Christ, has +suffered for the Right. + +Let us consider this awhile. + +It is a first axiom in sound theology, that there is nothing good in man, +which was not first in God. + +Now we all, I trust, hold God to be supremely good. We ascribe to Him, +in perfection, every kind of goodness of which we can conceive in man. We +say God is just; God is truthful; God is pure; God is bountiful; God is +merciful; and, in one word, God is Love. + +God is Love. But if we say that, do we not say that God is good with a +fresh form of goodness, which is not justice, nor truthfulness, nor +purity, bounty, nor mercy, though without them--never forget that--it +cannot exist? And is not that fresh goodness, which we have not defined +yet, the very kind of goodness which we prize most in human beings? The +very kind of goodness which makes us prize and admire love, because +without it there is no true love, no love worth calling by that sacred +and heavenly name? And what is that? + +What--save self-sacrifice? For what is the love worth which does not +shew itself in action; and more, which does not shew itself in Passion, +in the true sense of that word, which this week teaches us: namely, in +suffering? Not merely in acting for, but in daring, in struggling, in +grieving, in agonizing, and, if need be, in dying for, the object of its +love? + +Every mother in this church will give but one answer to that question; +for mothers give it among the very animals; and the deer who fights for +her fawn, the bird who toils for her nestlings, the spider who will +rather die than drop her bag of eggs, know at least that love is not +worth calling love, unless it can dare and suffer for the thing it loves. +The most gracious of all virtues, therefore, is self-sacrifice; and is +there no like grace in God, the fount of grace? Has God, whose name is +Love, never dared, never suffered, even to the death, in the mightiness +of a perfect Love? + +We Christians say that He has. We say so, because it has been revealed +to us, not by flesh and blood, not by brain or nerves, not by logic or +emotions, but by the Spirit of God, to whom our inmost spirits and +highest reasons have made answer--A God who has suffered for man? That +is so beautiful, that it must be true. + +For otherwise we should be left--as I have argued at length elsewhere--in +this strange paradox:--that man has fancied to himself for 1800 years a +more beautiful God, a nobler God, a better God than the God who actually +exists. It must be so, if God is not capable of that highest virtue of +self-sacrifice, while man has been believing that He is, and that upon +the first Good Friday He sacrificed Himself for man, out of the intensity +of a boundless Love. A better God imagined by man, than the actual God +who made man? We have only to state that absurdity, I trust, to laugh it +to scorn. + +Let us confess, then, that the Passion of Christ, and the mystery of Good +Friday, is as reasonable a belief to the truly wise, as it is comfortable +to the weary and the suffering; let us agree that one of the wisest of +Englishmen, of late gone to his rest, spoke well when he said, "As long +as women and sorrow exist on earth, so long will the gospel of +Christianity find an echo in the human heart." Let it find an echo in +yours. But it will only find one, in as far as you can enter into the +mystery of Passion-week; in as far as you can learn from Passion-week the +truest and highest theology; and see what God is like, and therefore what +you must try to be like likewise. + +Let us think, then, awhile of the mystery of Passion-week; the mystery of +the Cross of Christ. Christ Himself was looking on the coming Cross, +during this Passion-week; ay, and for many a week before. Nay rather, +had He not looked on it from all eternity? For is He not the Lamb slain +from the foundation of the world? Therefore we may well look on it with +Him. It may seem, at first, a painful bight. But shall it cast over our +minds only gloom and darkness? Or shall we not see on the Cross the full +revelation of Light; of the Light which lightens every man that comes +into the world: and find that painful, not because of its darkness, but +as the blaze of full sunshine is painful, from unbearable intensity of +warmth and light? Let us see. + +On the Cross of Calvary, then, God the Father shewed His own character +and the character of His co-equal and co-eternal Son, and of The Spirit +which proceeds from both. For there He spared not His only-begotten Son, +but freely gave Him for us. On the Cross of Calvary, not by the will of +man, but by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, was offered +before God the one and only full, perfect, and sufficient sacrifice, +oblation, and satisfaction for the sin of the whole world. God Himself +did this. It was not done by any other being to alter His will; it was +done to fulfil His will. It was not done to satisfy God's anger; it was +done to satisfy God's love. Therefore Good Friday was well and wisely +called by our forefathers Good Friday; because it shews, as no other day +can do, that God is good; that God's will to men, in spite of all their +sins, is a good will; that so boundless, so utterly unselfish and +condescending, is the eternal love of God, that when an insignificant +race in a small and remote planet fell, and went wrong, and was in danger +of ruin, there was nothing that God would not dare, God would not suffer, +for the sake of even such as us, vile earth and miserable sinners. + +Yes, this is the good news of Passion-week; a gospel which men are too +apt to forget, even to try to forget, as long as they are comfortable and +prosperous, lazy and selfish. The comfortable prosperous man shrinks +from the thought of Christ on His Cross. It tells him that better men +than he have had to suffer; that The Son of God Himself had to suffer. +And he does not like suffering; he prefers comfort. The lazy, selfish +man shrinks from the sight of Christ on His Cross; for it rebukes his +laziness and selfishness. Christ's Cross says to him--Thou art ignoble +and base, as long as thou art lazy and selfish. Rise up, do something, +dare something, suffer something, if need be, for the sake of thy fellow- +creatures. Be of use. Take trouble. Face discomfort, contradiction, +loss of worldly advantage, if it must be, for the sake of speaking truth +and doing right. If thou wilt not do as much as that, then the simplest +soldier who goes to die in battle for his duty, is a better man than +thou, a nobler man than thou, more like Christ and more like God. That +is what Christ's Cross preaches to the lazy, selfish man; and he feels in +his heart that the sermon is true: but he does not like it. He turns +from it, and says in his heart--Oh! Christ's Cross is a painful subject, +and Passion-week and Good Friday a painful time. I will think of +something more genial, more peaceful, more agreeable than sorrow, and +shame, and agony, and death; Good Friday is too sad a day for me. + +Yes, so a man says too often, as long as the fine weather lasts, and all +is smooth and bright. But when the tempest comes; when poverty comes, +affliction, anxiety, shame, sickness, bereavement, and still more, when +persecution comes on a man; when he tries to speak truth and do right; +and finds, as he will too often find, that people, instead of loving him +and praising him for speaking truth and doing right, hate him and +persecute him for it: then, then indeed Passion-week begins to mean +something to a man; and just because it is the saddest of all times, it +looks to him the brightest of all times. For in his misery and confusion +he looks up to heaven and asks--Is there any one in heaven who +understands all this? Does God understand my trouble? Does God feel for +my trouble? Does God care for my trouble? Does God know what trouble +means? Or must I fight the battle of life alone, without sympathy or +help from God who made me, and has put me here? Then, then does the +Cross of Christ bring a message to that man such as no other thing or +being on earth can bring. For it says to him--God does understand thee +utterly. For Christ understands thee. Christ feels for thee. Christ +feels with thee. Christ has suffered for thee, and suffered with thee. +Thou canst go through nothing which Christ has not gone through. He, the +Son of God, endured poverty, fear, shame, agony, death for thee, that He +might be touched with the feeling of thine infirmity, and help thee to +endure, and bring thee safe through all to victory and peace. + +But again, Passion-week, and above all Good Friday, is a good time, +because it teaches us, above all days, what it is to be good, and what +goodness means. Therefore remember this, all of you, and take it home +with you for the year to come. He who has learnt the lesson of Passion- +week, and practises it; he and he only is a good man. + +Nay more, Passion-week tells us, I believe, what is the law according to +which the whole world of man and of things, yea, the whole universe, sun, +moon, and stars, is made: and that is, the law of self-sacrifice; that +nothing lives merely for itself; that each thing is ordained by God to +help the things around it, even at its own expense. That is a hard +saying: and yet it must be true. The soundest Theology and the highest +Reason tell us that it must be so. For there cannot be two Holy Spirits. +Now the Spirit by which the Lord Jesus Christ sacrificed himself upon the +Cross is The Holy Spirit. And the Spirit by which the Lord Jesus Christ +made all worlds is The Holy Spirit. But the spirit by which He +sacrificed Himself on the Cross is the spirit of self-sacrifice. And +therefore the spirit by which He made the world is the spirit of self- +sacrifice likewise; and self-sacrifice is the law and rule on which the +universe is founded. At least, that is the true Catholic faith, as far +as my poor intellect can conceive it; and in that faith I will live and +die. + +There are those who, now-a-days, will laugh at such a notion, and +say--Self-sacrifice? It is not self-sacrifice which keeps the world +going among men, or animals, or even the plants under our feet: but +selfishness. Competition, they say, is the law of the universe. +Everything has to take care of itself, fight for itself, compete freely +and pitilessly with everything round it, till the weak are killed off, +and only the strong survive; and so, out of the free play of the self- +interest of each, you get the greatest possible happiness of the greatest +possible number. + +Do we indeed? I should have thought that unbridled selfishness, and the +internecine struggle of opposing interests, had already reduced many +nations, and seemed likely to reduce all mankind, if it went on, to that +state of the greatest possible misery of the greatest number, from which +our blessed Lord, as in this very week, died to deliver us. At all +events, if that is to be the condition of man, and of society, then man +is not made in the likeness of God, and has no need to be led by the +Spirit of God. For what the likeness of God and the Spirit of God are, +Passion-week tells us--namely, Love which knows no self-interest; Love +which cares not for itself; Love which throws its own life away, that it +may save those who have hated it, rebelled against it, put it to a +felon's death. + +My good friends, instead of believing the carnal and selfish philosophy +which cries, Every man for himself--I will not finish the proverb in this +Holy place, awfully and literally true as the latter half of it +is--instead of believing that, believe the message of Passion-week, which +speaks rather thus: telling us that not selfishness, but unselfishness, +mutual help and usefulness, is the law and will of God; and that +therefore the whole universe, and all that God has made, is very good. +And what does Passion-week say to men? + + "Could we but crush that ever-craving lust + For bliss, which kills all bliss; and lose our life, + Our barren unit life, to find again + A thousand lives in those for whom we die: + So were we men and women, and should hold + Our rightful place in God's great universe, + Wherein, in heaven and earth, by will or nature, + Nought lives for self. All, all, from crown to footstool. + The Lamb, before the world's foundation slain; + The angels, ministers to God's elect; + The sun, who only shines to light a world; + The clouds, whose glory is to die in showers; + The fleeting streams, who in their ocean graves + Flee the decay of stagnant self-content; + The oak, ennobled by the shipwright's axe; + The soil, which yields its marrow to the flower; + The flower which breeds a thousand velvet worms, + Born only to be prey to every bird-- + All spend themselves on others; and shall man, + Whose twofold being is the mystic knot + Which couples earth and heaven--doubly bound, + As being both worm and angel, to that service + By which both worms and angels hold their lives-- + Shall he, whose very breath is debt on debt, + Refuse, forsooth, to see what God has made him? + No, let him shew himself the creatures' lord + By freewill gift of that self-sacrifice + Which they, perforce, by nature's law must suffer; + Take up his cross, and follow Christ the Lord." + +And thus Passion-week tells all men in what true goodness lies. In self- +sacrifice. In it Christ on His Cross shewed men what was the likeness of +God, the goodness of God, the glory of God--to suffer for sinful man. + +On this day Christ said--ay, and His Cross says still, and will say to +all eternity--Wouldest thou be good? Wouldest thou be like God? Then +work, and dare, and, if need be, suffer, for thy fellow-men. On this day +Christ consecrated, and, as it were, offered up to the Father in His own +body on the Cross, all loving actions, unselfish actions, merciful +actions, generous actions, heroic actions, which man has done, or ever +will do. From Him, from His Spirit, their strength came; and therefore +He is not ashamed to call them brethren. He is the King of the noble +army of martyrs; of all who suffer for love, and truth, and justice' +sake; and to all such he says--Thou hast put on my likeness, and followed +my footsteps; thou hast suffered for my sake, and I too have suffered for +thy sake, and enabled thee to suffer in like wise; and in Me thou too art +a son of God, in whom the Father is well pleased. + +Oh, let us contemplate this week Christ on His Cross, sacrificing Himself +for us and all mankind; and may that sight help to cast out of us all +laziness and selfishness, and make us vow obedience to the spirit of self- +sacrifice, the Spirit of Christ and of God, which was given to us at our +baptism. And let us give, as we are most bound, in all humility and +contrition of heart, thanks, praise, and adoration, to that immortal +Lamb, who abideth for ever in the midst of the throne of God, the Lamb +slain before the foundation of the world, by Whom all things consist; and +Who in this week died on the Cross in mortal flesh and blood, that He +might make this a good week to all mankind, and teach selfish man that +only by being unselfish can he too be good; and only by self-sacrifice +become perfect, even as The Father in heaven is perfect. + + + + +SERMON III. THE SPIRIT OF WHITSUNTIDE. + + +ISAIAH XI. 2. + + The spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him; the spirit of wisdom and + understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of + knowledge and of the fear of the Lord. + +This is Isaiah's description of the Spirit of Whitsuntide; the royal +Spirit which was to descend, and did descend without measure, on the +ideal and perfect King, even on Jesus Christ our Lord, the only-begotten +Son of God. + +That Spirit is the Spirit of God; and therefore the Spirit of Christ. + +Let us consider a while what that Spirit is. + +He is the Spirit of love. For God is love; and He is the Spirit of God. +Of that there can be no doubt. + +He is the Spirit of boundless love and charity, which is the Spirit of +the Father, and the Spirit of the Son likewise. For when by that Spirit +of love the Father sent the Son into the world that the world through Him +might be saved, then the Son, by the same Spirit of love, came into the +world, and humbled Himself, and took on Him the form of a slave, and was +obedient unto death, even the death of the Cross. + +The Spirit of God, then, is the Spirit of love. + +But the text describes this Spirit in different words. According to +Isaiah, the Spirit of the Lord is the spirit of wisdom and understanding, +the spirit of Counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear +of the Lord--in one word, that I may put it as simply as I can--the +spirit of wisdom. + +Now, is the spirit of wisdom the same as the spirit of love? + +Sound theology, which is the highest reason, tells us that it must be so. +For consider: + +If the spirit of love is the Spirit of God, and the spirit of wisdom is +the Spirit of God, then they must be the same spirit. For if they be two +different spirits, then there must be two Holy Spirits; for any and every +Spirit of God must be holy,--what else can He be? Unholy? I leave you +to answer that. + +But two Holy Spirits there cannot be; for holiness, which is wisdom, +justice, and love, is one and indivisible; and as the Athanasian Creed +tells us, and as our highest reason ought to tell us, there is but one +Holy Spirit, who must be at once a spirit of wisdom and a spirit of love. + +To suppose anything else; to suppose that God's wisdom and God's love, or +that God's justice and God's love, are different from each other, or +limit each other, or oppose each other, or are anything but one and the +same eternally, is to divide God's substance; to deny that God is One: +which is forbidden us, rightly, and according to the highest reason, by +the Athanasian Creed. + +But more; experience will shew us that the spirit of love is the same as +the spirit of wisdom; that if any man wishes to be truly wise and +prudent, his best way--I may say his only way--is to be loving and +charitable. + +The experience of the apostles proves it. They were, I presume, the most +perfectly loving and charitable of men; they sacrificed all for the sake +of doing good; they counted not their own lives dear to them; they +endured--what did they not endure?--for the one object of doing good to +men; and--what is harder, still harder, for any human being, because it +requires not merely enthusiasm, but charity, they made themselves (St +Paul at least) all things to all men, if by any means they might save +some. + +But were they wise in so doing? We may judge of a man's wisdom, my +friends, by his success. We English are very apt to do so. We like +practical men. We say--I will tell you what a man is, by what he can do. + +Now, judged by that rule, surely the apostles' method of winning men by +love proved itself a wise method. What did the apostles do? They had +the most enormous practical success that men ever had. They, twelve poor +men, set out to convert mankind by loving them: and they succeeded. + +Remember, moreover, that the text speaks of this Spirit of the Lord being +given to One who was to be a King, a Ruler, a Guide, and a Judge of men; +who was to exercise influence over men for their good. This prophecy was +fulfilled first in the King of kings, our Lord Jesus Christ: but it was +fulfilled also in His apostles, who were, in their own way and measure, +kings of men, exercising a vast influence over them. And how? By the +royal Spirit of love. In the apostles the Spirit of love and charity +proved Himself to be also the Spirit of wisdom and understanding. He +gave them such a converting, subduing, alluring power over men's hearts, +as no men have had, before or since. And He will prove Himself to have +the same power in us. Our own experience will be the same as the +apostles' experience. + +I say this deliberately. The older we grow, the more we understand our +own lives and histories, the more we shall see that the spirit of wisdom +is the spirit of love; that the true way to gain influence over our +fellow-men, is to have charity towards them. + +That is a hard lesson to learn; and those who learn it at all, generally +learn it late; almost--God forgive us--too late. + +Our reason, if we would let the Spirit of God enlighten it, would teach +us this beforehand. But we do not usually listen to our reason, or to +God's Spirit speaking to it. And therefore we have to learn the lesson +by experience, often by very sad and shameful experience. And even that +very experience we cannot understand, unless the Spirit of God interpret +it to us: and blessed are they who, having been chastised, hearken to His +interpretation. + +Our reason, I say, should teach us that the spirit of wisdom is none +other than the spirit of love. For consider--how does the text describe +this Spirit? + +As the spirit of wisdom and understanding; that is, as the knowledge of +human nature, the understanding of men and their ways. If we do not +understand our fellow-creatures, we shall never love them. + +But it is equally true that if we do not love them, we shall never +understand them. Want of charity, want of sympathy, want of good-feeling +and fellow-feeling--what does it, what can it breed, but endless mistakes +and ignorances, both of men's characters and men's circumstances? + +Be sure that no one knows so little of his fellow-men, as the cynical, +misanthropic man, who walks in darkness, because he hates his brother. Be +sure that the truly wise and understanding man is he who by sympathy puts +himself in his neighbours' place; feels with them and for them; sees with +their eyes, hears with their ears; and therefore understands them, makes +allowances for them, and is merciful to them, even as his Father in +heaven is merciful. + +And next; this royal Spirit is described as "the spirit of counsel and +might," that is, the spirit of prudence and practical power; the spirit +which sees how to deal with human beings, and has the practical power of +making them obey. + +Now that power, again, can only be got by loving human beings. There is +nothing so blind as hardness, nothing so weak as violence. I, of course, +can only speak from my own experience; and my experience is this: that +whensoever in my past life I have been angry and scornful, I have said or +done an unwise thing; I have more or less injured my own cause; weakened +my own influence on my fellow-men; repelled them instead of attracting +them; made them rebel against me, rather than obey me. By patience, +courtesy, and gentleness, we not only make ourselves stronger; we not +only attract our fellow-men, and make them help us and follow us +willingly and joyfully: but we make ourselves wiser; we give ourselves +time and light to see what we ought to do, and how to do it. + +And next; this Spirit is also "the spirit of knowledge, and of the fear +of the Lord." Ay, they, indeed, both begin in love, and end in love. If +you wish for knowledge, you must begin by loving knowledge for its own +sake. And the more knowledge you gain, the more you will long to know, +and more, and yet more for ever. You cannot succeed in a study, unless +you love that study. Men of science must begin with an interest in, a +love for, an enthusiasm, in the very deepest sense of the word, for the +phaenomena which they study. But the more they learn of them, the more +their love increases; as they see more and more of their wonder, of their +beauty, of the unspeakable wisdom and power of God, shewn forth in every +blade of grass which grows in the sunshine and the rain. + +And if this be true of things earthly and temporary, how much more of +things heavenly and eternal? We must begin by loving whatsoever things +are true, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, honest, +and of good report. We must begin, I say, by loving them with a sort of +child's love, without understanding them; by that simple instinct and +longing after what is good and beautiful and true, which is indeed the +inspiration of the Spirit of God. But as we go on, as St Paul bids us, +to meditate on them; and "if there be any virtue and if there be any +praise, to think on such things," and feed our minds daily with +purifying, elevating, sobering, humanizing, enlightening thoughts: then +we shall get to love goodness with a reasonable and manly love; to see +the beauty of holiness; the strength of self-sacrifice; the glory of +justice; the divineness of love; and in a word--To love God for His own +sake, and to give Him thanks for His great glory, which is: That He is a +good God. + +This thought--remember it, I pray--brings me to the last point. This +Spirit is also the spirit of the fear of the Lord. And that too, my +friends, must be a spirit of love not only to God, but to our +fellow-creatures. For if we but consider that God the Father loves all; +that His mercy is over all His works; and that He hateth nothing that He +has made: then how dare we hate anything that He has made, as long as we +have any rational fear of Him, awe and respect for Him, true faith in His +infinite majesty and power? If we but consider that God the Son actually +came down on earth to die, and to die too on the cross, for all mankind: +then how dare we hate a human being for whom He died: at least if we have +true honour, gratitude, loyalty, reverence, and godly fear in our hearts +toward Him, our risen Lord? + +Oh let us open our eyes this Whitsuntide to the experience of our past +lives. Let us see now--what we shall certainly see at the day of +judgment--that whenever we have failed to be loving, we have also failed +to be wise; that whenever we have been blind to our neighbours' +interests, we have also been blind to our own; whenever we have hurt +others, we have hurt ourselves still more. Let us, at this blessed +Whitsuntide, ask forgiveness of God for all acts of malice and +uncharitableness, blindness and hardness of heart; and pray for the +spirit of true charity, which alone is true wisdom. And let us come to +Holy Communion in charity with each other and with all; determined +henceforth to feel for each other and with each other; to put ourselves +in our neighbours' places; to see with their eyes, and feel with their +hearts, as far as God shall give us that great grace; determined to make +allowances for their mistakes and failings; to give and forgive, live and +let live, even as God gives and forgives, lives and lets live for ever: +that so we may be indeed the children of our Father in heaven, whose name +is Love. Then we shall indeed discern the Lord's body--that it is a body +of union, sympathy, mutual trust, help, affection. Then we shall, with +all contrition and humility, but still in spirit and in truth, claim and +obtain our share in the body and the blood, in the spirit and in the +mind, of Him Who sacrificed Himself for a rebellious world. + + + + +SERMON IV. PRAYER. + + +PSALM LXV. 2. + + Thou that hearest prayer, unto Thee shall all flesh come. + +Next Friday, the 20th of December, 1871, will be marked in most churches +of this province of Canterbury by a special ceremony. Prayers will be +offered to God for the increase of missionary labourers in the Church of +England. To many persons--I hope I may say, to all in this +congregation--this ceremony will seem eminently rational. We shall not +ask God to suspend the laws of nature, nor alter the courses of the +seasons, for any wants, real or fancied, of our own. We shall ask Him to +make us and our countrymen wiser and better, in order that we may make +other human beings wiser and better: and an eminently rational request I +assert that to be. + +For no one will deny that it is good for heathens and savages, even if +there were no life after death, to be wiser and better than they are. It +is good, I presume, that they should give up cannibalism, slave-trading, +witchcraft, child-murder, and a host of other abominations; and that they +should be made to give them up not from mere fear of European cannon, but +of their own wills and consciences, seeing that such habits are wrong and +ruinous, and loathing them accordingly; in a word, that instead of living +as they do, and finding in a hundred ways that the wages of sin are +death, they should be converted--that is, change their ways--and live. + +Now that this is the will of God--assuming that there is a God, and a +good God--is plain at least to our reason, and to our common sense; and +it is equally plain to our reason and to our common sense that, as God +has not taught these poor wretches to improve themselves, or sent +superior beings to improve them from some other world, He therefore means +their improvement to be brought about, as moral improvements are usually +brought about, by the influence of their fellow-men, and specially by us +who have put ourselves in contact with them in our world-wide search for +wealth; and who are certain, as we know by sad experience, to make the +heathen worse, if we do not make them better. And as we find from +experience that our missionaries, wherever they are brought in contact +with these savages, do make them wiser and happier, we ask God to inspire +more persons with the desire of improving the heathen, and to teach them +how to improve them. I say, how to improve them. All sneers, whether at +the failure of missionary labours, or at the small results in return for +the vast sums spent on missions--all such sneers, I say, instead of +deterring us from praying to God on this matter, ought to make us pray +the more earnestly in proportion as they are deserved. For they ought to +remind us that we possibly may not have gone to work as yet altogether in +the right way; that there may be mistakes and deficiencies in our method +of dealing with the heathen. And if so, it seems all the more reason for +asking God to set us and others right, in case we should be wrong; and to +make us and others strong, in case we should be weak. + +We thus commit the matter to God. We do not ask God to raise up such +missionary labourers as we think fit: but such as He thinks fit. We do +not pray Him to alter His will concerning the heathen: but to enable us +to do what we know already to be His will. And this course seems to me +eminently rational; provided always, of course, that it is rational to +believe that there is a God who answers prayer; and that if we ask +anything according to His will, He hears us. + +Now the older I grow, and the more I see of the chances and changes of +this mortal life, and of the needs and longings of the human heart, the +more important seems this question, and all words concerning it, whether +in the Bible or out of the Bible-- + +Is there anywhere in the universe any being who can hear our prayers? Is +prayer a superfluous folly, or the highest prudence? + +I say--Is there a being who can even hear our prayers? I do not say, a +being who will always answer them, and give us all we ask: but one who +will at least hear, who will listen; consider whether what we ask is fit +to be granted or not; and grant or refuse accordingly. + +You say--What is the need of asking such a question? Of course we +believe that. Of course we pray, else why are we in church to-day? + +Well, my friends, God grant that you may all believe it in spirit and in +truth. But you must remember that if so, you are in the minority; that +the majority of civilized men, like the majority of mere savages, do not +pray, whatever the women may do; and that prayer among thinking and +civilized white men has been becoming, for the last 100 years at least, +more and more unfashionable; and is likely, to judge from the signs of +the times, to become more unfashionable still: after which reign of +degrading ungodliness, I presume--from the experience of all history--that +our children or grandchildren will see a revulsion to some degrading +superstition, and the latter end be worse than the beginning. But it is +notorious that men are doubting more and more of the efficacy of prayer; +that philosophers so-called, for true philosophers they are not--even +though they may be true, able, and worthy students of merely physical +science--are getting a hearing more and more readily, when they tell men +they need not pray. + +They say; and here they say rightly--The world is ruled by laws. But +some say further; and there they say wrongly;--For that reason prayer is +of no use; the laws will not be altered to please you. You yourself are +but tiny parts of a great machine, which will grind on in spite of you, +though it grind you to powder; and there is no use in asking the machine +to stop. So, they say, prayer is an impertinence. I would that they +stopped there. For then we who deny that the world is a machine, or +anything like a machine, might argue fairly with them on the common +ground of a common belief in God. + +But some go further still, and say--A God? We do not deny that there may +be a God: but we do not deny that there may not be one. This we say--If +He exists, we know nothing of Him: and what is more, you know nothing of +Him. No man can know aught of Him. No man can know whether there be a +God or not. A living God, an acting God, a God of providence, a God who +hears prayer, a God such as your Bible tells you of, is an inconceivable +Being; and what you cannot conceive, that you must not believe: and +therefore prayer is not merely an impertinence, it is a mistake; for it +is speaking to a Being who only exists in your own imagination. I need +not say, my friends, that all this, to my mind, is only a train of +sophistry and false reasoning, which--so I at least hold--has been +answered and refuted again and again. And I trust in God and in Christ +sufficiently to believe that He will raise up sound divines and true +philosophers in His Church, who will refute it once more. But meanwhile +I can only appeal to your common sense; to the true and higher reason, +which lies in men's hearts, not in their heads; and ask--And is it come +to this? Is this the last outcome of civilization, the last discovery of +the human intellect, the last good news for man? That the soundest +thinkers--they who have the truest and clearest notion of the universe +are the savage who knows nothing but what his five senses teach him, and +the ungodly who makes boast of his own desire, and speaks good of the +covetous whom God abhorreth, while he says, "Tush, God hath forgotten. He +hideth away his face, and God will never see it"? + +True: these so-called philosophers would say that the savage makes a +mistake in his sensuality, and the worldling in his covetousness and his +tyranny; that from an imperfect conception of their own true +self-interest, they carry their philosophy to conclusions which the +philosopher in his study must regret. But as to their philosophy being +correct: there can be no question that if providence, and prayer, and the +living God, be phantoms of man's imagination, then the cynical worldling +at one end of the social scale, and the brutal savage at the other, are +wiser than apostles and prophets, and sages and divines. + +These men talk of facts, the facts of human nature. Why do they ask us +to ignore the most striking fact of human nature, that man, even if he +were a mere animal, is alone of all animals--a praying animal? Is that +strange instinct of worship, which rises in the heart of man as soon as +he begins to think, to become a civilized being and not a savage, to be +disregarded as a childish dream when he rises to a higher civilization +still? Is the experience of men, heathen as well as Christian, for all +these ages to go for nought? Has it mattered nought whether men cried to +Baal or to God; for with both alike there has been neither sound nor +voice, nor any that answered? Has every utterance that has ever gone up +from suffering and doubting humanity, gone up in vain? Have the prayers +of saints, the hymns of psalmists, the agonies of martyrs, the +aspirations of poets, the thoughts of sages, the cries of the oppressed, +the pleadings of the mother for her child, the maiden praying in her +chamber for her lover upon the distant battle-field, the soldier +answering her prayer from afar off with, "Sleep quiet, I am in God's +hands"--those very utterances of humanity which seemed to us most noble, +most pure, most beautiful, most divine, been all in vain?--impertinences; +the babblings of fair dreams, poured forth into nowhere, to no thing, and +in vain? Has every suffering, searching soul which ever gazed up into +the darkness of the unknown, in hopes of catching even a glimpse of a +divine eye, beholding all, and ordering all, and pitying all, gazed up in +vain? For at the ground of the universe is "_not a divine eye_, _but +only a blank bottomless eye-socket_;" {39} and man has no Father in +heaven; and Christ revealed Him not, because He was not there to reveal; +and there was no hope, no remedy, no deliverance, for the miserable among +the sons of men? + +Oh, my friends, those who believe, or fancy that they believe such +things, must be able to do so only through some peculiar conformation +either of brain or heart. Only want of imagination to conceive the +consequences of such doctrines can enable them, if they have any love and +pity for their fellow-men, to preach those doctrines without pity and +horror. They know not, they know not, of what they rob a mankind already +but too miserable by its own folly and its own sin; a mankind which, if +it have not hope in God and in Christ, is truly--as Homer said of +old--more miserable than the beasts of the field. If their unconscious +conceit did not make them unintentionally cruel, they would surely be +silent for pity's sake; they would let men go on in the pleasant delusion +that there is a living God, and a Word of God who has revealed Him to +men; and would hide from their fellow-creatures the dreadful secret which +they think they have discovered--That there is none that heareth prayer, +and therefore to Him need no flesh come. + +Men take up with such notions, I believe, most generally in days of +comfort, ease, safety. They find the world so well ordered outwardly, +that it seems able enough to go on its way without a God. They have +themselves so few sorrows, struggles, doubts, that they never feel that +sense of helplessness, of danger, of ignorance, which has made the hearts +of men, in every age, yearn for an unseen helper, an unseen deliverer, an +unseen teacher. + +And so it is--and shameful it is that so it should be--that the more God +gives to men, the less they thank Him, the less they fancy that they need +Him: but take His bounties, as they take the air they breathe, +unconsciously, and as a matter of course. + +And therefore adversity is wholesome, danger is wholesome; so wholesome, +that in all ages, as far as I can find, the godliest, the most moral, the +most manful, and therefore the really happiest and most successful +nations or communities of men, have been those who were in perpetual +danger, difficulty, struggle; and who have thereby had their faith in God +called out; who have learned in the depth, to cry out of the depth to +God; to lift up their eyes unto the Lord, and know that their help comes +from Him. + +I know a village down in the far West, where the 121st Psalm which I just +quoted, was a favourite, and more than a favourite. Whenever it was +given out in church--and the congregation used often to ask for it--all +joined in singing it, young and old, men and maidens, with an +earnestness, a fervour, a passion, such as I never heard elsewhere; such +as shewed how intensely they felt that the psalm was true, and true for +them. Of all congregational singing I ever heard, never have I heard any +so touching as those voices, when they joined in the old words they loved +so well. + + Sheltered beneath the Almighty wings + Thou shall securely rest, + Where neither sun nor moon shall thee + By day or night molest. + At home, abroad, in peace, in war, + Thy God shall thee defend; + Conduct thee through life's pilgrimage + Safe to thy journey's end. + +Do you fancy these people were specially comfortable, prosperous folk, +who had no sorrows, and lived safe from all danger, and therefore knew +that God protected them from all ill? + +Nothing less, my friends, nothing less. There was hardly a man who +joined in that psalm, but knew that he carried his life in his hand from +year to year, that any day might see him a corpse--drowned at sea. Hardly +a woman who sang that psalm but had lost a husband, a father, a brother, +a kinsman--drowned at sea. And yet they believed that God preserved +them. They were fishers and sailors, earning an uncertain livelihood, on +a wild and rocky coast. A sudden shift of wind might make, as I knew it +once to make, 60 widows and orphans in a single night. The fishery for +the year might fail, and all the expense of boats and nets be thrown +away. Or in default of work at home, the young men would go out on +voyages to foreign parts: and often never came back again, dying far from +home, of fever, of wreck, of some of the hundred accidents which befal +seafaring men. And yet they believed that God preserved them. Surely +their faith was tried, if ever faith was tried. But as surely their +faith failed not, for--if I may so say--they dared not let it fail. If +they ceased to trust God, what had they to trust in? Not in their own +skill in seamanship, though it was great: they knew how weak it was, on +which to lean. Not in the so-called laws of nature; the treacherous sea, +the wild wind, the uncertain shoals of fish, the chances and changes of a +long foreign voyage. Without trust in God, their lives must have been +lives of doubt and of terror, for ever anxious about the morrow: or else +of blind recklessness, saying, "Let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we +die." Because they kept their faith in God, their lives were for the +most part lives of hardy and hopeful enterprise; cheerful always, in bad +luck as in good; thankful when their labours were blest with success; and +when calamity and failure came, saying with noble resignation--"I have +received good from the hand of the Lord, and shall I not receive evil? +Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him." + +It is a life like theirs, mixed with danger and uncertainty, which most +calls out faith in God. It is the life of safety and comfort, in which +our wants are all supplied ready to our hand, which calls it out least. +And therefore it is that life in cities, just because it is most safe and +most comfortable, is so often, alas, most ungodly, at least among the +men. Less common, thank God, is this ungodliness among the women. The +nursing of the sick; the cares of a family, often too sorrows, manifold +and bitter, put them continually in mind of human weakness, and of their +own weakness likewise. Yes. It is sorrow, my friends, sorrow and +failure, which forces men to believe that there is One who heareth +prayer, forces them to lift up their eyes to One from whom cometh their +help. Before the terrible realities of danger, death, bereavement, +disappointment, shame, ruin--and most of all before deserved shame, +deserved ruin--all the arguments of the conceited sophist melt away like +the maxims of the comfortable worldling; and the man or woman who was but +too ready a day before to say, "Tush, God will never see, and will never +hear," begins to hope passionately that God does see, that God does hear. +In the hour of darkness; when there is no comfort in man nor help in man, +when he has no place to flee unto, and no man careth for his soul: then +the most awful, the most blessed of all questions is: But is there no one +higher than man to whom I can flee? No one higher than man who cares for +my soul and for the souls of those who are dearer to me than my own soul? +No friend? No helper? No deliverer? No counsellor? Even no judge? No +punisher? No God, even though He be a consuming fire? Am I and my +misery alone together in the universe? Is my misery without any meaning, +and I without hope? If there be no God: then all that is left for me is +despair and death. But if there be, then I can hope that there is a +meaning in my misery; that it comes to me not without cause, even though +that cause be my own fault. I can plead with God like poor Job of old, +even though in wild words like Job; and ask--What is the meaning of this +sorrow? What have I done? What should I do? "I will say unto God, Do +not condemn me; shew me wherefore thou contendest with me. Surely I +would speak unto the Almighty, and desire to reason with God." + +"I would speak unto the Almighty, and desire to reason with God." Oh my +friends, a man, I believe, can gain courage and wisdom to say that, only +by the inspiration of the Spirit of God. + +But when once he has said that from his heart, he begins to be justified +by faith. For he has had faith in God; he has trusted God enough to +speak to God who made him; and so he has put himself, so far at least, +into his just and right place, as a spiritual and rational being, made in +the image of God. + +But more, he has justified God. He has confessed that God is not a mere +force or law of nature; nor a mere tyrant and tormentor: but a reasonable +being, who will hear reason, and a just being, who will do justice by the +creatures whom He has made. + +And so the very act of prayer justifies God, and honours God, and gives +glory to God; for it confesses that God is what He is, a good God, to +whom the humblest and the most fallen of His creatures dare speak out the +depths of their abasement, and acknowledge that His glory is this--That +in spite of all His majesty, He is one who heareth prayer; a being as +magnificent in His justice, as He is magnificent in His majesty and His +might. + +All this is argued out, as it never has been argued out before or since, +in the book of Job: and for seeing so much as this, was Job approved by +God. But there is a further question, to which the book of Job gives no +answer; and to which indeed all the Old Testament gives but a partial +answer. And that is this--This just and magnificent God, has He also +human pity, tenderness, charity, condescension, love? In one word, have +we not only a God in heaven, but a Father in heaven? + +That question could only be answered by the coming of our Lord Jesus +Christ. Truly He said--No one cometh to the Father, but by me. No man +hath seen God at any time: but the only-begotten Son, who is in the bosom +of the Father, He hath revealed Him. He revealed Him in part to Abraham, +in part to Moses, to Job, to David, to the prophets. But He revealed Him +perfectly when He said--I and the Father are one. He that hath seen me +hath seen the Father. Yes. Now we can find boundless comfort in the +words, "Such as the Father is, such is the Son, and such is the Holy +Ghost"--Love and condescension without bounds. Now we know that there is +A Man in the midst of the throne of God, who is the brightness of God's +glory and the express image of His character; a high priest who can be +touched with the feeling of our infirmities, seeing that He was tempted +in all things like as we are, yet without sin. + +To Him we can cry, with human passion and in human words; because we know +that His human heart will respond to our human hearts, and that His human +heart again will respond to His divine Spirit, and that His divine Spirit +is the same as the divine Spirit of His Father; for their wills and minds +are one; and their will and their mind is--boundless love to sinful man. + +Yes, we can look up by faith into the sacred face of Christ, and take +refuge by faith within His sacred heart, saying--If it be good for me, He +will give what I ask: and if He gives it not, it is because that too is +good for me, and for others beside me. In all the chances and changes of +this mortal life we can say to Him, as He said in that supreme hour--"If +it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless not my will, but +thine, be done," sure that He will present that prayer to His Father, and +to our Father, and to His God and to our God; and that whatsoever be the +answer vouchsafed by Him whose ways are not as our ways, nor His thoughts +as our thoughts, the prayer will not have gone up to Christ in vain. + +And in such a case as this of missions to the heathen--If we believe that +Christ died for these poor heathen; if we believe that Christ loves these +poor heathen infinitely more than we, or than the most devoted missionary +who ever lived or died for them: shall we say--Then we may leave them in +Christ's hands to follow their own nature. If He is satisfied with their +degradation, so may we be? Shall we not rather say--Their misery and +degradation must pain His sacred heart, far more than our sinful hearts; +and if He does not come down again on earth to help them Himself, it must +be because He means to help them through us, His disciples? Let us ask +Him to teach us and others how to help them; to enable us and others to +help them. Let us pray to Him the one prayer which, unless prayer be a +dream, is certain to be answered, because it is certainly according to +God's will; the prayer to be taught and helped to do our duty by our +fellow-men. And for the rest: let us pray in the words of that most +noble of all collects, to pray which is to take refuge from our own +ignorance in the boundless wisdom of God's love--"Thou who knowest our +necessities before we ask, and our ignorance in asking: Have compassion +on our infirmities, and those things which for our unworthiness we dare +not, and for our blindness we cannot ask, condescend to give us, for the +worthiness of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen." + + + + +SERMON V. THE DEAF AND DUMB. + + +ST MARK VII. 32-37. + + And they bring unto Jesus one that was deaf, and had an impediment in + his speech; and they beseech Him to put His hand upon him. And He + took him aside from the multitude, and put His fingers into his ears, + and He spit, and touched his tongue; and looking up to heaven, He + sighed, and said, Ephphatha, that is, Be opened. And straightway his + ears were opened, and the string of his tongue was loosed, and he + spake plain. . . . And they were beyond measure astonished, saying, He + hath done all things well: He maketh both the deaf to hear, and the + dumb to speak. + +Our greatest living philologer has said, and said truly--"If wonder +arises from ignorance, it is from that conscious ignorance which, if we +look back at the history of most of our sciences, has been the mother of +all human knowledge. Till men began to wonder at the stratification of +rocks, and the fossilization of shells, there was no science of Geology. +Till they began to wonder at the words which were perpetually in their +mouths, there was no science of Language." + +He might have added, that till men began to wonder at the organization of +their own bodies, there was no science of healing; that in proportion as +the common fact of health became mysterious and marvellous in their eyes, +just in that proportion did they become able to explain and to conquer +disease. For there is a deep difference between the wonder of the +uneducated or half-educated man, and the wonder of the educated man. + +The ignorant in all ages have wondered at the exception; the wise, in +proportion as they have become wise, have wondered at the rule. +Pestilences, prodigies, portents, the results of seeming accidents, +excite the vulgar mind. Only the abnormal or casual is worthy of their +attention. The man of science finds a deeper and more awful charm in +contemplating the results of law; in watching, not what seem to be +occasional failures in nature: but what is a perpetual and calm success. + +The savage knows not, I am told, what wonder means, save from some +prodigy. Seeing no marvel in the daily glory of the sunlight, he is +startled out of his usual stupidity and carelessness by the occurrence of +an eclipse, an earthquake, a thunderbolt. The uneducated, whatever their +rank may be, are apt to be more interested by the sight of deformities, +and defects or excesses in nature, than by that of the most perfect +normal and natural beauty. + +Those, in the same way, who in the infancy of European science, thought +it worth while to register natural phenomena, registered exclusively the +exceptions. Eclipses, meteors, auroras, earthquakes, storms, and +especially monstrosities, animal or vegetable, exercised their barbaric +wonder. The mystery and miracle which underlies the unfolding of every +bud, the development of every embryo, the growth of every atom of tissue, +in any organism, animal or vegetable--to all this their intellectual eye +was blind. How different from such a state of mind, that calm and +constant wonder, humbling and yet inspiring, with which the modern man of +science searches into the "open mystery" of the universe; and sees that +the true marvel lies, not in the infringement of law, but in its +permanence; not in the imperfect, but in the perfect; not in disease, but +in health; not in deformity, but in beauty. + +These words are true of all nature; and specially true, it seems to me, +of our outward senses and faculties; true of sight, hearing, speech. The +wonder, I think, with the wise man will be, not that there are deaf and +dumb persons to be found here and there among us: but that the average, +nay, the majority of mankind, are not deaf and dumb. Paradoxical as this +assertion may seem at first, a little thought I believe will prove it to +be reasonable. + +Whatever view you take of the origin of sight, hearing, voice, the wonder +to a thoughtful mind is just the same; how, under the storm of +circumstances, and through the lapse of ages, those faculties have not +been lost again and again, by countless individuals, nay, by the whole +species. For we must confess that those faculties are gradually +developed in each individual; that every animal and every human being +which is born into the world, has built up, unconsciously, involuntarily, +and as it were out of nothing, those delicate and complex organs, by +which he afterwards learns to see, hear, and utter sounds. Is not the +wonder, that he should, in the majority of cases, succeed without any +effort of his own? + +And if I am answered, that the success is owing to hereditary tendencies, +and to the laws by which the offspring resembles the parents, I answer: +Is not that a greater wonder still? A wonder which all the discoveries +of the scalpel and the microscope have been as yet unable, and will be, I +believe, to the last unable, to unravel, even to touch? A wonder which +can be explained by no theories of vibratory atoms, vital forces, plastic +powers of nature, or other such phrases, which are but metaphysical +abstractions, having no counterpart in fact, and only hiding from us our +ignorance of the vast and venerable unknown. The physiologist, when he +considers the manifold combination of innumerable microscopic +circumstances which are required to bring any one creature into the world +with a perfectly hearing ear, ought to confess that the chances--if the +world were governed by chance--are infinitely greater in favour of a +child's being born with an imperfect ear rather than with a perfect one. +And if he should evade the difficulty; and try to explain the usual +success by saying that nature is governed by law: I answer--What is +nature? What is law? You never saw nature nor law either under the +microscope. They too are metaphysical abstractions, necessary notions +and conceptions of your own brain. You have seen nothing but the fact +and the custom; and all you can do, if you be strictly rational, is with +a certain modern school to say, with a despairing humility, which I +deplore while I respect--deploring it because it is needless despair, and +yet respecting it because it is humility, which is the path out of +despair and darkness into hope and light--to say with them, "Man can know +nothing of causes, he can only register positive facts." This, I say, is +one path--one which I trust none here will tread. The only other path, I +believe, is, to go back to the lessons which we ought to have learnt in +our childhood, for those to whom the human race owes most learnt them +thousands of years ago; and to ascribe the ever successful miracles of +nature to a Will, to a Mind, to a Providence so like that which each of +us exercises in his own petty sphere, that we are not only able to +understand in part the works of God, but to know from the very fact of +being able to understand them--as one of our greatest astronomers has so +well said lately--that we are made in the image of God. To say with the +old Psalmist, that the universe is governed by "a law which cannot be +broken:" but why? Because God has given it that law. To say "All things +continue as they were at the beginning:" but why? Because all things +serve Him in whom we live and move and have our being. To confess the +mystery and miracle of our mortal bodies, and say with David, "I am +fearfully and wonderfully made; such knowledge is too wonderful and +excellent for me, I cannot attain unto it:" but to add the one only +rational explanation of the mystery which, thank God, common sense has +taught, though it may be often in confused and defective forms, to the +vast majority of the human race in all times and all lands--that He who +grasps the mystery and works the miracle is God; that "His eye sees our +substances yet being imperfect; and in His book are all our members +written, which day by day were fashioned, when as yet there were none of +them." + +And then to go forward with the Psalmist, and with the common sense of +humanity; to conclude that if there be a Creator, there must also be a +Providence; that that life-giving Spirit which presided over the creation +of each organism presides also over its growth, its circumstances, its +fortunes; and to say with David, "Whither shall I go then from Thy +Spirit, or whither shall I flee from Thy presence? If I climb up to +heaven, Thou art there. If I go down to hell, Thou art there also. If I +take the wings of the morning, and remain in the uttermost parts of the +sea; even there Thy hand shall lead me; Thy right hand shall hold me +still." + +Yes. To this--to faith and adoration--ought right and reason to lead the +physical philosopher. And to what ought it to lead us, who are most of +us, I presume, not physical philosophers? To gratitude, surely, not +unmixed with fear and trembling; till we say to ourselves--Who am I, to +boast? Who am I, to pride myself on possessing a single faculty which +one of my neighbours may want? What have I, that I did not receive? +Considering the endless chances of failure, if the world were left to +chance; and I may say, the absolute certainty of failures, if the world +were left to the blind competition of merely physical laws, is it not +only of the Lord's mercies that we are not failures too? that we have not +been born crippled, blind, deaf, dumb--what not?--by the effect of +circumstances over which we have had no control; which have been working, +it may be, for generations past, in the organizations of our ancestors? + +But what shall we say of those who have not received what we have +received? What shall we say of those who, like the deaf and dumb, are, +in some respects at least, failures--instances in which the laws which +regulate our organization have not succeeded in effecting a full +development? + +We can say this, at least, without entangling and dazzling ourselves in +speculations about final causes; without attempting to pry into the +mystery of evil. + +We can say this: That if there be a God--as there is a God--these +failures are not according to His will. The highest reason should teach +us that; for it must tell us that in the work of the Divine Artist, as in +the work of the human, imperfection, impotence, disorder of any kind, +must be contrary to the mind and will of the Creator. The highest +reason, I say, teaches us this. And Scripture teaches it like wise. For +if we believe our Lord to have been as He was--the express image of the +Almighty Father; if we believe that He came--as He did come--to reveal to +men His Father's will, His Father's mind, His Father's character: then we +must believe that He acted according to that will and according to that +character, when He made the healing of disease, and the curing of +imperfections of this very kind, an important and an integral part of His +work on earth. + +"And they brought unto Jesus one that was deaf, and had an impediment in +his speech, and besought Him to put His hand upon him. And Jesus took +him aside from the multitude, and put His fingers into his ears; and He +spit, and touched his tongue; and looking up to heaven, He sighed, and +said unto him, Ephphatha, that is, Be opened. And straightway his ears +were opened, and the string of his tongue was loosed, and he spake plain +. . . And they were beyond measure astonished, saying, He hath done all +things well: He maketh both the deaf to hear, and the dumb to speak." + +Consider this story awhile. He healed the man miraculously, by means at +which we cannot guess, which we cannot even conceive. But the healing +signified at least two things--that the man could be healed, and that the +man ought to be healed; that his bodily defect--the retribution of no sin +of his own--was contrary to the will of that Father in Heaven, who +willeth not that one little one should perish. + +But Jesus sighed likewise. There was in Him a sorrow, a compassion, most +human and most divine. + +It may have been--may He forgive me if I dare rashly to impute motives or +thoughts to Him--that there was something too of a divine weariness--I +dare not say impatience, seeing how patient He was then and how patient +He has been since for more than 1800 years--of the folly and ignorance of +man, who brings on himself and on his descendants these and a hundred +other preventible miseries, simply because he will not study and obey the +physical laws of the universe; simply because he will not see that those +laws which concern the welfare of his body, are as surely the will of God +as those which concern the welfare of his soul; and that therefore it is +not merely his interest but his solemn duty to study and to obey them, +lest he bear the punishment of his own neglect and disobedience. + +It is not for man even to guess what thoughts may have passed through the +mind of Christ when He sighed over the very defect which He was healing. +But it is surely not irreverent in us to say that our Lord had cause +enough to sigh, if He foresaw the follies of mankind during an age which +was too soon to come.--How men, instead of taking the spirit of His +miracles and acting on it, would counterfeit the mere outward signs of +them, to feed the vanity or the superstition of a few devotees. How, +instead of looking on His miracles as rebukes to their own ignorance and +imbecility; instead of perceiving that their bodily afflictions were +contrary to the will of God, and therefore curable; instead of setting +themselves to work manfully, in the light of God, and by the help of God, +to discover and correct the errors which produced them, mankind would +idle away precious centuries in barbaric wonder at seeming prodigies and +seeming miracles, and would neglect utterly the study of those far more +wondrous laws of nature which Christ had proved to be under His +government and His guidance, and had therefore proved to be working for +the good of those for whom He came to die. Christ had indeed sown good +seed in His field. He had taught men by His miracles, as He had taught +them by His parables, to Whom nature belonged, and Whose laws nature +obeyed. And the cessation of miracles after the time of Christ and His +Apostles had taught, or ought to have taught, mankind a further lesson; +the lesson that henceforth they were to carry on for themselves, by the +faculties which God had given them, that work of healing and deliverance +which He had begun. Miracles, like prophecies, like tongues, like +supernatural knowledge, were to cease and vanish away: but charity, +charity which devotes itself for the welfare of the human race, was to +abide for ever. + +Christ, as I said, had sown good seed: but an enemy--we know not whence +or when--certainly within the three first centuries of the Church--came +and sowed tares among that wheat. Then began men to believe that devils, +and not their Father in Heaven, were, to all practical intents, the lords +of nature. Then began they to believe that man's body was the property +of Satan, and his soul only the property of God. Then began they to +fancy that man was to be delivered from his manifold earthly miseries, +not by purity and virtue, reason and knowledge, but by magic, masked +under the sacred name of religion. No wonder if, in such a temper of +mind, the physical amelioration of the human race stood still. How could +it be otherwise, while men refused to see in facts the acted will of God; +and sought not in God's universe, but in the dreams of their own brains, +for glimpses of that divine and wonderful order by which The eternal +Father and The eternal Son are working together for ever through The +eternal Spirit for the welfare of the universe? + +We boast, my friends, at times, of the rapid triumphs of modern science. +Were we but aware of the vast amount of preventible misery around us, and +of the vast possibility of removing it, which lies in the little science +which we know already, we should rather bewail the slow departure of +modern barbarism. + +There has been no period of the world for centuries back, I believe, in +which man might not have been infinitely healthier, happier, more +prosperous, more long-lived than he has been, if he had only believed +that disease, misery, and premature death were not the will of God and of +Christ; and that God had endowed him with an intellect which could +understand the laws of the universe, in order that he might use those +laws for his own health, wealth, and life. Very late is society in +commencing that rational course on which it ought to have entered +centuries ago; and therefore very culpable. And it is not too much to +say, that to the average of persons suffering under preventible disease +or defect, even though it be hereditary, society owes a sacred debt, +which it is bound to pay by making those innocent sufferers from other's +sins as happy as possible; where it has not yet learnt--as it will learn, +please God, some day--to cure them. + +There is, thank God, a healthier feeling than of old abroad of late upon +this point. Men are learning more and more to regard such sufferers not +as the victims of God's wrath, but of human ignorance, vice, or folly. +And it was with deep satisfaction that I read in the last Report of the +Schools for the Deaf and Dumb a statement of what were considered the +most probable physical causes of deafness and dumbness, and a hope that +it would be possible, hereafter, to prevent as well as cure those +diseases. + +Whether the causes assigned in that Report are the true ones, is a point +of inferior importance for the moment. The really important point is, +that the principle should be allowed, the question raised, by a society, +composed of religious men, and teaching to those poor deaf and dumb as +almost their primary work that true religion which they are just as +capable of receiving as we. The right path has been entered--the path +which is certain in due time to lead to success. And meanwhile our duty +is, while we confess that it is the fault of society and not of God, that +these afflicted ones exist among us--it is our duty, I say, to cultivate +and to develop to the highest every faculty, instinct, and power, in them +which God's order has preserved from the effects of man's disorder; to +feed the eye with fair and noble sights, though the ear be shut to +soothing and inspiring sounds; to cultivate the intellect to such a pitch +that it may be able to perform practical work, and if possible to earn a +sufficient livelihood, even though the want of speech makes it impossible +for them, deaf and dumb, to compete on equal terms with their fellow-men; +to awaken in them, by religious training, teaching and worship, those +purer and more unselfish emotions by which their hearts may become a +field ready and prepared for God's grace. To do this; and to regard +them, whenever we come in contact with them; not merely with pity, while +we remember how much their intellects lose, in losing the whole world of +sound; but with hope, when we see that through the one sense which is +left they take in fully not only the meaning of the voluble hands which +teach them, but more, the meaning of that meaning--the spiritual truths +and feelings which signs express; with wonder, not at the defect, but at +the innate health which almost compensates for the want of hearing by +concentrating its powers upon the sight; and lastly, with admiration for +that humanity which, as it were imprisoned, fettered, maimed, yet can, by +the God-given force of the immortal spirit, so burst its prison-bars, and +rise, through hindrances which seem to us impassable, to the tenderest, +the noblest, the purest, and most devout emotions. + + + + +SERMON VI. THE FRUITS OF THE SPIRIT. + + +ST JOHN III. 8, + + The wind bloweth whither it listeth, and thou hearest the sound + thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, or whither it goeth: so + is every one that is born of the Spirit. + +It is often asked--men have a right to ask--what would the world have +been by now without Christianity? without the Christian religion? without +the Church? + +But before these questions can be answered, we must define, it is +discovered, what we mean by Christianity, the Christian religion, the +Church. + +And it is found--or I at least believe it will be found--more safe and +wise to ask a deeper and yet a simpler question still: What would the +world have been without that influence on which Christianity, and +religion, and the Church depend? What would the world have been without +the Holy Spirit of God? + +But some will say: This is a more abstruse question still. How can you +define, how can you analyse, the Spirit of God? Nay, more, how can you +prove its existence?--Such questioners have been, as it were, baptized +unto John's baptism. They are very glad to see people do right, and not +do wrong, from any well-calculated motives, or wholesome and pleasant +emotions. But they have not as yet heard whether there be any Holy +Spirit. + +We can only answer, Just so. This Holy Spirit in Whom we believe defies +all analysis, all definition whatsoever. His nature can be brought under +no terms derived from human emotions or motives. He is literally +invisible; as invisible to the conception of the brain as He is to the +bodily eye. His presence is proved only by its effects. The Spirit +bloweth whither it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but thou +canst not tell whence it cometh, nor whither it goeth. + +Such words must sound as dreams to those analytical philosophers who +allow nothing in man below the sphere of consciousness, actual or +possible; who have dissected the human mind till they find in it no +personal will, no indestructible and spiritual self, but a character +which is only the net result of innumerable states of consciousness; who +hold that man's outward actions, and also his inmost instincts, are all +the result either of calculations about profit and loss, pleasure and +pain, or of emotions, whether hereditary or acquired. Ignoring the deep +and ancient distinction, which no one ever brought out so clearly as St +Paul, between the flesh and the spirit, they hold that man is flesh, and +can be nothing more; that each person is not really a person, but is the +consequence of his brain and nerves; and having thus, by logical +analysis, got rid of the spirit of man, their reason and their conscience +quite honestly and consistently see no need for, or possibility of, a +Spirit of God, to ennoble and enable the human spirit. Why need there +be, if the difference between an animal and a man be one of degree alone, +and not of kind? + +We answer: That there is a flesh in man, brain and nerves, emotions and +passions, identical with that of animals, we do not deny. We should be +fools if we did deny it; for the fact is hideously and shamefully patent. +None knew that better than St Paul, who gave a list of the works of the +flesh, the things which a man does who is the slave of his own brain and +nerves--and a very ugly list it is--beginning with adultery and ending +with drunkenness, after passing through all the seven deadly sins. And +neither St Paul nor we deny, that in this fleshly, carnal and animal +state the vast majority of the human race has lived, and lives still, to +its own infinite misery and confusion; and that it has a perpetual +tendency, whenever lifted out of that state, to fall back into it again, +and perish. + +But St Paul says, and we say: That crushed under this animal nature there +is in man a spirit. We say: That below all his consciousness lies a +nobler element; a divine spark, or at least a divine fuel, which must be +kindled into life by the divine Spirit, the Spirit of God. And we say +that in proportion as that Spirit of God kindles the spirit of man, he +begins to act after a fashion for which he can give no logical reason; +that by instinct, and without calculation of profit or loss, pleasure or +pain, he begins to act on what he calls duty, honour, love, +self-sacrifice. But what these are he cannot analyse. Mere words cannot +define them. He can only obey that which prompts him, he knows not what +nor whence; and say with Luther of old: "I can do no otherwise. God help +me." + +And we say that such men and women are the salt of the earth, who keep +society from rotting; that by such men and women, and by their example +and influence, direct and indirect, has Christendom been raised up out of +the accursed slough into which Europe and, indeed, the whole known world, +had fallen during the early Roman Empire; and that to this influence, and +therefore to the Holy Spirit of God alone, and not to any prudential +calculations, combined experiences, or so-called philosophies of men, is +owing all which keeps Europe from being a hell on earth. And we say, +moreover, that those who deny this, and dream of a morality and a +civilization without The Spirit of God, are unconsciously throwing down +the ladder by which they themselves have climbed, and sawing off the very +bough to which they cling. + +Duty, honour, love, self-sacrifice--these are the fruits of The Spirit; +unknown to, and unobeyed by, the savage, or by the civilized man who--as +has too often happened--as is happening now in too many lands, on both +sides of the Atlantic, is sinking back into inward savagery, amid an +outward and material civilization. + +Moreover--and this appears to us a fair experimental proof that our old- +fashioned belief in A Spirit of God, which acts upon the spirit of man, +is a true belief--moreover, I say: It is a patent fact, that wherever and +whenever there has been a revival of the Christian religion; whenever, +that is, amid whatsoever confusions and errors, men have begun to feel +the need of the Holy Spirit of God, and to pray for that Spirit, a moral +revival has accompanied the religious one. Men and women have not only +become better themselves; and that often suddenly and in very truth +miraculously better: but the yearning has awoke in them to make others +better likewise. The grace of God, as they have called it, has made them +gracious to their fellow-creatures; and duty, honour, love, +self-sacrifice, call it by what name we will, has said to them, with a +still small voice more potent than all the thunders of the law: Go, and +seek and save that which is lost. + +In no case has this instinctive tendency to practical benevolence been +more striking, than in the case of that great religious revival +throughout England at the beginning of this century, which issued in the +rise of the Evangelical school: a school rightly so called, because its +members did try to obey the precepts of the Gospel, according to their +understanding of them, in spirit and in truth. + +The doctrines which they held are a matter not for us, but for God and +their own souls. The deeds which they did are matter for us, and for all +England; for they have left their mark on the length and breadth of the +land. They were inspired--cultivated, highborn, and wealthy folk many of +them--with a strange new instinct that God had bidden them to feed the +hungry, to clothe the naked, to visit the prisoner and the sick, to bind +up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and to preach +good tidings to the meek. A strange new instinct: and from what cause, +save from the same cause as that which Isaiah assigned to his own like +deeds?--Because "The Spirit of the Lord was upon him." + +Yes, if those gracious men, those gracious women, did not shew forth the +Spirit and grace of God with power, then there is either no Spirit of +God, no grace of God; or those who deny to them the name of saints forget +the words of Him Who said: By their fruits ye shall know them; of Him Who +said, too: That the unpardonable sin, the sin which shewed complete moral +perversion, the sin against the Holy Spirit of God, was to attribute good +deeds to bad motives, and say: He casteth out devils by Beelzebub, the +prince of the devils. + +Yes, that old Evangelical School may now have passed its prime. It may +now be verging toward old age; and other schools, younger and stronger, +with broader and clearer knowledge of dogma, of history, civil and +ecclesiastical, of the value of ceremonial, of the needs of the human +intellect and emotions, may have passed it in a noble rivalry, and +snatched, as it were, from the hands of the old Evangelical School the +lamp of truth, to bear it further forward in the race. But God forbid +that the spiritual children should be ungrateful to their spiritual +parents, though God may have taught them things which their parents did +not know. + +And they were our spiritual parents, those old Evangelicals. No just and +well-informed man who has passed middle age, but must confess, that to +them we owe whatsoever vital religion exists at this moment in any school +or party of the Church of England; that to them we owe the germs at +least, and in many cases the full organization and the final success, of +a hundred schemes of practical benevolence and practical justice, without +which this country, in its haste to grow rich at all risks and by all +means, might have plunged itself ere now into anarchy and revolution. And +he must confess, too, if he is one who has seen much of his +fellow-creatures and their characters, that that school numbered among +its disciples--and, thank God, they are not all yet gone home to their +rest--some of the loveliest human souls, whose converse has chastened and +ennobled his own soul. Ah, well-- + + The old order changeth, giving place to the new; + And God fulfils Himself in many ways, + Lest one good custom should corrupt the world. + +And new methods and new institutions have arisen, and will yet arise, for +seeking and saving that which is lost. God's blessing on them all, to +whatsoever party, church, or sect they may belong! Whosoever cast out +devils in Christ's name, Christ has forbidden us to forbid them, whether +they follow us or not. But yet shall we not still honour and love the +old Evangelical School, and many an Institution which it has left behind, +as heirlooms to some of us, at least, from our mothers, or from women to +whom we owed, in long past years, our earliest influences for good, our +earliest examples of a practical Christian life, our earliest proofs that +there was indeed a Spirit of God, a gracious Spirit, Who gave grace to +the hearts, the deeds, the very looks and voices of those in whom He +dwelt; Institutions, which are too likely some of them to die, simply +from the loss of old friends? + +The loss of old friends. Yes, so it is always in this world. The old +earnest hearts go home one by one to their rest; and the young earnest +hearts--and who shall blame them?--go elsewhere; and try new fashions of +doing good, which are more graceful and more agreeable to them. For the +religious world, like all other forms of the world, has its fashions; and +of them too stands true the saying of the apostle: That this world and +the fashion thereof pass away. Many a good work, which once was somewhat +fashionable in its way, has become somewhat unfashionable, and something +else is fashionable in its place; and five-and-twenty years hence +something else will have become fashionable; and our children will look +back on our ways of doing good with pity, if not with contempt, as narrow +and unenlightened, just as we are too apt to look back on our fathers' +ways. And all the while, what can they teach worth teaching, what can we +teach worth teaching, save what our fathers and mothers taught, what the +Spirit of God taught them, and has taught to all who would listen since +the foundation of the world, "shewing man what was good:" and what was +that--"What doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love +mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?" + +Ah! why do we, even in religious and moral matters, even in the doing +good to the souls and bodies of our fellow-creatures, allow ourselves to +be the puppets of fashions? Of fashions which even when harmless, even +beautiful, are but the garments, or rather stage-properties, in which we +dress up the high instincts which God's Spirit bestows on us, in order to +make them agreeable enough for our own prejudices, or pretty enough for +our own tastes. How little do we perceive our own danger--so little that +we yield to it every day--the danger of mistaking our fashion of doing +good for the good done; aye, for the very Spirit of God Who inspires that +good; mistaking the garment for the person who wears it, the outward and +visible sign for the inward and spiritual grace; and so in our hearts +falling actually into that very error of transubstantiation, of which we +repudiate the name! + +Why, ah why, will we not take refuge from fashions in Him in Whom are no +fashions--even in the Holy Spirit of God, Who is unchangeable and eternal +as the Father and the Son from Whom He proceeds; Who has spoken words in +sundry and divers manners to all the elect of God; Who has inspired every +good thought and feeling which was ever thought or felt in earth or +heaven; but Whose message of inspiration has been, and will be, for ever +the same--"Do justly, love mercy, walk humbly with thy God"? + +Could we but utterly trust Him, and utterly believe in His presence: then +we should welcome all truth, under whatever outward forms of the mere +intellect it was uttered; then we should bless every good deed, by +whomsoever and howsoever it was done; then we should rise above all party +strifes, party cries, party fashions and shibboleths, to the +contemplation of the One supreme good Spirit--the Spirit of Jesus Christ, +the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever; and hold to the One Fashion of +Almighty God, which never changes, for it is eternal by the necessity of +His own eternal character; namely,--To be perfect, even as our Father in +Heaven is perfect; because He causes His sun to shine on the evil and on +the good, and His rain to fall on the just and on the unjust. + + + + +SERMON VII. CONFUSION. + + +PSALM CXIX. 31. + + I have stuck unto thy testimonies: O Lord, confound me not. + +What is the meaning of this text? What is this which the Psalmist and +prophets call being confounded; being put to shame and confusion of face? +What is it? It is something which they dread more than death; which they +dread as much as hell. Nay, it seems in the mind of some of them to be +part and parcel of hell itself; one of the very worst things which could +happen to them after death: for what is written in the Book of the +Prophet Daniel?--"Many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall +awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting +contempt." + +And we Christians are excusable if we dread it likewise. How often does +St Paul speak of shame as an evil to be dreaded; just as he speaks, even +more often, of glory and honour as a thing to be longed for and striven +after. That one word, "ashamed," occurs twelve times and more in the New +Testament, beside St John's warning, which alone is enough to prove what +I allege, "that we have not to be ashamed before Christ at his coming." + +And how does the Te Deum--the noblest hymn written by man since St John +finished his Book of Revelations--how does that end, but with the same +old cry as that of the Psalmist in the 119th Psalm-- + +"O Lord, in thee have I trusted, let me never be confounded"? + +Now it is difficult to tell men what being confounded means; difficult +and almost needless; for there are those who know what it means without +being told; and those who do not know what it means without being told, +are not likely to know by my telling, or any man's telling. No, not if +an angel from heaven came and told them what being confounded meant would +they understand him, at least till they were confounded themselves; and +then they would know by bitter experience--perhaps when it was too late. + +And who are they? What sort of people are they? + +First, silly persons; whom Solomon calls fools--though they often think +themselves refined and clever enough--luxurious and "fashionable" people, +who do not care to learn, who think nothing worth learning save how to +enjoy themselves; who call it "bad form" to be earnest, and turn off all +serious questions with a jest. These are they of whom Wisdom says--"How +long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity, and the scorners delight +in their scorning, and fools hate knowledge? I also will laugh at your +calamity, and mock when your fear cometh." + +Next, mean and truly vulgar persons; who are shameless; who do not care +if they are caught out in a lie or in a trick. These are they of whom it +is written that outside of God's kingdom, in the outer darkness wherein +are weeping and gnashing of teeth, are dogs, and whosoever loveth and +maketh a lie. + +And next, and worst of all, self-conceited people. These are they of +whom Solomon says, "Seest thou a man who is wise in his own conceit? +There is more hope of a fool than of him." They are the people who will +not see when they are going wrong; who will not hear reason, nor take +advice, no, nor even take scorn and contempt; who will not see that they +are making fools of themselves, but, while all the world is laughing at +them, walk on serenely self-satisfied, certain that they, and they only, +know what the world is made of, and how to manage the world. These are +they of whom it is written--"He that being often reproved, hardeneth his +neck, shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy." Then they +will learn, and with a vengeance, what being confounded means by being +confounded themselves, and finding themselves utterly wrong, where they +thought themselves utterly right. Yet no. I do not think that even that +would cure some people. There are those, I verily believe, who would not +confess that they were in the wrong even in the bottomless pit, but, like +Satan and his fallen angels in Milton's poem, would have excellent +arguments to prove that they were injured and ill-used, deceived and +betrayed, and lay the blame of their misery on God, on man, on anything +but their own infallible selves. + +Who, then, are the people who know what being confounded means; who are +afraid, and terribly afraid, of being brought to shame and confusion +efface? + +I should say, all human beings in proportion as they are truly human +beings, are not brutal; in proportion, that is, as they are good or have +the capacity of goodness in them; that is, in proportion as the Spirit of +God is working in them, giving them the tender heart, the quick feelings, +the earnestness, the modesty, the conscientiousness, the reverence for +the good opinion of their fellow-men, which is the beginning of eternal +life. Do you not see it in the young? Modesty, bashfulness, +shame-facedness--as the good old English word was--that is the very +beginning of all goodness in boys and girls. It is the very material out +of which all other goodness is made; and those who laugh at, or torment, +young people for being modest and bashful, are doing the devil's work, +and putting themselves under the curse which God, by the mouth of Solomon +the wise, pronounced against the scorners who love scorning, and the +fools who hate knowledge. + +This is the rule with dumb animals likewise. The more intelligent, the +more high-bred they are, the more they are capable of feeling shame; and +the more they are liable to be confounded, to lose their heads, and +become frantic with doubt and fear. Who that has watched dogs does not +know that the cleverer they are, the more they are capable of being +actually ashamed of themselves, as human beings are, or ought to be? Who +that has trained horses does not know that the stupid horse is never +vicious, never takes fright? The failing which high-bred horses have of +becoming utterly unmanageable, not so much from bodily fear, as from +being confounded, not knowing what people want them to do--that is the +very sign, the very effect, of their superior organization: and more +shame to those who ill-use such horses. If God, my friends, dealt with +us as cruelly and as clumsily as too many men deal with their horses, He +would not be long in driving us mad with terror and shame and confusion. +But He remembers our frame; He knoweth whereof we are made, and +remembereth that we are but dust: else the spirit would fail before Him, +and the souls which He hath made. And to Him we can cry, even when we +know that we have made fools of ourselves--Father who made me, Christ who +died for me, Holy Spirit who teachest me, have patience with my stupidity +and my ignorance. Lord, in thee have I trusted, let me never be +confounded. + +But some will tell us--It is a sign of weakness to feel shame. Why +should you care for the opinion of your fellow-men? If you are doing +right, what matter what they say of you? + +Yes, my friends, if you are doing right. But if you are not doing +right--What then? + +If you have only been fancying that you are doing right, and suspect +suddenly that you have been very likely doing wrong--What then? + +When a man tells me that he does not care what people think of him; that +they cannot shame him: in the first place, I do not quite believe that he +is speaking truth; and in the next place, I hope he is _not_ speaking +truth. I hope--for his own sake--that he does care what people think of +him: or else I must suspect him of being very dull or very conceited. + +And if he tells me that the old prophets, and holy, and just, and heroic +men in all ages, never cared for people's laughing at them and despising +them, provided they were doing right according to their own conscience: I +answer--That he knows nothing about the matter; that he has not honestly +read the writings of these men. I say that the Psalmist who wrote Ps. +119, was a man, on his own shewing, intensely open to the feeling of +shame, and felt intensely what men said of him; felt intensely slander +and insult. We talk of independent and true patriots now-a-days. I will +tell you of four of the noblest patriots the world ever saw, who were men +of that stamp. I say that Isaiah was such a man; that Jeremiah was such +a man; that Ezekiel was such a man; that their writings shew that they +felt intensely the rebukes and the contempt which they had to endure from +those whom they tried to warn and save. I say again that St Paul, as may +be seen from his own epistles, was such a man; a man who was intensely +sensitive of what men thought and said of him; yearning after the love +and approbation of his fellow-men, and above all of his +fellow-countrymen, his own flesh and blood; and that that feeling in him, +which may have been hurtful to him before he was converted, was of the +greatest use to him after his conversion; that it enabled him to win all +hearts, because he felt with men and for men; and gained him over the +hearts of men such a power as no mere human being ever had before or +since. + +And I say that of all men the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of Man, had that +feeling; that longing for the love and appreciation of men--and above +all, for the love and appreciation of His countrymen according to the +flesh, the Jews, He had--strange as it may seem, yet there it is in the +Gospels, written for ever and undeniable--that capacity of shame which is +the mark of true nobleness of soul. + +He endured the cross, despising the shame. Yes: but there are too many +on earth who endure shame with brazen faces, just because they do not +feel it. If He had not felt the shame, what merit in despising it? It +was His glory that He felt the shame; and yet conquered the shame, and +crushed it down by the might of His love for fallen man. + +Do you fancy that in His agony in the garden, when His sweat was as great +drops of blood, that it was only bodily fear of pain and death which +crushed Him for the moment? He felt that, I doubt not; as He had to +taste death for every man, and feel all human weakness, yet without sin. +But it was a deeper, more painful, and yet more noble feeling than mere +fear which then convulsed His sacred heart; even the feeling of shame--the +mockery of the crowd--the--But I dare not enlarge on anything so awful; +at least I will say this--That he had to cry as none ever cried before or +since, "O God, in thee have I trusted, let me never be confounded;" for +he had, it seems, actually, at one supreme moment, to feel confounded; +and to say, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" That was the +highest and most precious jewel of all his self-sacrifice. Of it let us +only say-- + +Our Lord and Saviour stooped to be confounded for a moment, that we might +not be confounded to all eternity. + +And therefore our blessed Lord is to us an example. As he did, so must +we try to do. He entered into glory, by suffering shame, and yet +despising it. He submitted to be confounded before men, that He might +not be confounded in the sight of God His Father. And so must we, +sometimes, at least. Every man who makes up his mind to do right and to +be good, must expect ridicule now and then. Rich or poor, boy or man, if +you try to keep your hands clean, and your path straight, the world will +think you a fool, and will be ready enough to tell you so; for it is +cruel and insolent enough. And the more tender your heart; the more you +wish for the love and approbation of your fellow-men; the more of noble +and modest self-distrust there is in you, the more painful will that be +to you; the more you will be tempted to obey man, and not God, and to +follow after the multitude to do evil, merely to keep the peace, and live +a quiet life, and not be laughed at and tormented. And thus the fear of +man brings a snare; and naught can deliver you out of that snare, save +the opposite fear--the fear of God, which is the same as trust in God. + +Joseph of old feared God when he was tempted; and said, "How can I do +this great wickedness, and sin against God?" But I doubt not there were +plenty in Egypt who would have called him a fool for his pains. There +are hundreds of gay youths in any great city--there may be a few in this +Abbey now for aught I know--who would have laughed loudly enough at +Joseph for throwing away the opportunity of what certain foolish French +have learnt to call, as its proper name, a "bonne fortune"--a piece of +good luck.--As if breaking the 7th Commandment could be aught but bad +fortune, and the cause of endless miseries in this life and the life to +come. + +And it may be, as Joseph was all but confounded and brought to shame, at +least from man, when he found that all that he gained by fearing God +was--a false accusation, the very shame and contempt from which he most +shrank, danger of death, imprisonment in a dungeon. + +But he was true to God, and God was true to him. He trusted in God; and +therefore he feared God: for he trusted that God's laws were just and +good, and worth obeying; and therefore he was afraid to break them. He +trusted in God; and therefore he hoped in God; for he trusted that God +was strong enough and good enough to deliver him out of prison, and make +his righteousness as clear as the light and his just dealing as the +noonday. He cried out of his prison, doubt it not, many a time and +oft--"O God, in thee have I trusted; let me never be confounded." + +And he was not confounded. He came into Egypt a slave. He was cast into +prison on a shameful accusation: but he came out of prison to be a ruler +and a prince, honoured and obeyed by the greatest nation of the old +world. He trusted in God, and he was not confounded for ever; even as +the Lord Christ trusted in God and was not confounded for ever; even as +we, if we do not wish to be confounded for ever, must trust in God; and +instead of being scornful, careless, conceited, must fear Him, and say, +"My flesh trembleth because of Thy righteous judgments." And then the +laughter of fools will end, where it began, in harmless noise, like (says +Solomon) the crackling of thorns under a pot. Then, whosoever may scorn +you on earth, the great God in heaven will not scorn you. You may be +confounded for a moment here on earth. Worldly people may take advantage +of your misfortunes, and cry over you--There, there, so would we have it. +Take him and persecute him, for there is none to deliver him; where is +now his God? So it may be with you; for as surely as you fall, many a +cur will spring up and bark at you, who dared not open his mouth at you +while you stood safe. Or--worse by far than that--the world may take +hold of your really weak points, of your inconsistencies, of your faults +and failings; and cry--Fie on thee, fie on thee. We saw it with our +eyes. For all his high professions, for all his talk of truth and +justice, he is no better than the rest of the world. And that scoff does +go very near to confound a man; because he feels that it is half true, +half deserved, and is afraid that it may be quite true and quite +deserved: and then confounded indeed he would be, by his own conscience +and by God, as well as by man. All he can do is, to cry to God, like him +who wrote the 119th Psalm,--I have stuck unto thy testimonies: O Lord, +confound me not. I know I am weak, ignorant, unsuccessful; full of +faults too, and failings, which make me ashamed of myself every day of my +life. I have gone astray like a sheep that is lost. But seek thy +servant, O Lord, for I do not forget thy commandments. I am trying to +learn my duty. I am trying to do my duty. I have stuck unto thy +testimonies: O Lord, confound me not. Man may confound me. But do not +thou, of thy mercy and pity, O Lord. Do not let me find, when I die, or +before I die, that all my labour has been in vain; that I am not a better +man, not a wiser man, not a more useful man after all. Do not let my +grey hairs go down with sorrow to the grave. Do not let me die with the +miserable thought that, in spite of all my struggles to do my duty, my +life has been a failure, and I a fool. Do not let me wake in the next +life, like Dives in the torment, to be utterly confounded; to find that I +was all wrong, and have nothing left but everlasting disappointment and +confusion of face. O Lord, who didst endure all shame for me, save me +from that most utter shame. O God, in thee have I trusted; let me never +be confounded. + +Wake in the next life to find oneself confounded? Alas! alas! Many a +man wakes in this life to find himself that; and really sometimes by no +fault, seemingly, of his own: so that all he can do is to be dumb, and +not to open his mouth, for it is God's doing. For a man's worst miseries +and sorrows are, too often, caused not by himself, but by those whom he +loves. + +Consider the one case of vice, or even of mere ingratitude, in those +nearest and dearest to a man's heart; and of being so confounded through +them, and by them, in spite of all love, care, strictness, tenderness, +teaching, prayers--what not--and all in vain. + +No wonder that, under that bitterest blow, valiant and virtuous men, ere +now, have never lifted up their heads again, but turned their faces to +the wall, and died: and may the Lord have mercy on them. Confounded they +have been in this world; confounded they will not be, we must trust, in +the world to come. The Lord of all pity will pity them, and pour His oil +and wine into their aching wounds, and bring them to His own inn, and to +His secret dwelling-place, where the wicked cease from troubling, and the +weary are at rest. + +One word more, and I have done. Do you wish to pray, with hope that you +may be heard,--O Lord, confound me not, and bring me not to shame? Then +hold to one commandment of Christ's. Do to others as you would they +should do to you. For with what measure you measure to your fellow-men, +it shall be measured to you again. Have charity, have patience, have +mercy. Never bring a human being, however silly, ignorant, or weak, +above all any little child, to shame and confusion of face. Never, by +cruelty, by petulance, by suspicion, by ridicule, even by selfish and +silly haste; never, above all, by indulging in the devilish pleasure of a +sneer, crush what is finest, and rouse up what is coarsest in the heart +of any fellow-creature. Never confound any human soul in the hour of its +weakness. For then, it may be, in the hour of thy weakness, Christ will +not confound thee. + + + + +SERMON VIII. THE SHAKING OF THE HEAVENS AND THE EARTH. + + +HEBREWS XII. 26-29. + + Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven. And this + word, Yet once more, signifieth the removing of those things that are + shaken, as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be + shaken may remain. Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be + moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with + reverence and godly fear: for our God is a consuming fire. + +This is one of the Royal texts of Scripture. It is inexhaustible, like +the God who inspired it. It has fulfilled itself again and again, at +different epochs. It fulfilled itself specially and notoriously in the +first century. But it fulfilled itself again in the fifth century; and +again at the Crusades; and again at the Reformation in the sixteenth +century. And it may be that it is fulfilling itself at this very day; +that in this century, both in the time of our fathers and in our own, the +Lord has been shaking the heavens and the earth, that those things which +can be shaken may be removed, as things that are made, while those things +which cannot be shaken may remain. + +All confess this to be true, each in his own words. They talk of this +age as one of change; of rapid progress, for good or evil; of unexpected +discoveries; of revolutions, intellectual, moral, social, as well as +political. Our notions of the physical universe are rapidly altering, +with the new discoveries of science; and our notions of ethics and +theology are altering as rapidly. The era assumes a different aspect to +different minds, just as did the first century after Christ, according as +men look forward to the future with hope, or back to the past with +regret. Some glory in the nineteenth century as one of rapid progress +for good; as the commencement of a new era for humanity; as the +inauguration of a Reformation as grand as that of the sixteenth century. +Others bewail it as an age of rapid decay; in which the old landmarks are +being removed, the old paths lost; in which we are rushing headlong into +scepticism and atheism; in which the world and the Church are both in +danger; and the last day is at hand. + +Both parties may be right; and yet both may be wrong. Men have always +talked thus, at great crises in the world's life. They talked thus in +the first century; and in the fifth, and in the eleventh; and again in +the sixteenth; and then both parties were partially right and partially +wrong; and so they may be now. What they meant to say, what they wanted +to say, what we mean and want to say, has been said already for us in far +deeper, wider, and more accurate words, by him who wrote this wonderful +Epistle to the Hebrews, when he told the Jews of his time that the Lord +was shaking the heavens and the earth, that those things which were +shaken might be removed, as things that are made--cosmogonies, systems, +theories, prejudices, fashions, of man's invention: while those things +which could not be shaken might remain, because they were according to +the mind and will of God, eternal as that source from whence they came +forth, even the bosom of God the Father. + +"Yet once more I shake, not the earth only, but also heaven." + +How has the earth been shaken in our days; and the heaven likewise. How +rapidly have our conceptions of both altered. How easy, simple, certain, +it all looked to our forefathers in the middle age. How difficult, +complex, uncertain, it all looks to us. With increased knowledge has +come--not increased doubt: that I deny utterly. I deny, once and for +all, that this age is an irreverent age. I say that an irreverent age is +one like the age of the Schoolmen; when men defined and explained all +heaven and earth by a priori theories, and cosmogonies invented in the +cloister; and dared, poor, simple, ignorant mortals, to fancy that they +could comprehend and gauge the ways of Him Whom the heaven and the heaven +of heavens could not contain. This, this is irreverence: but it is +neither irreverence nor want of faith, if a man, awed by the mystery +which encompasses him from the cradle to the grave, shall lay his hand +upon his mouth, with Job, and obey the voice which cries to him from +earth and heaven--"Be still, and know that as the heavens are higher than +the earth, so are my ways higher than thy ways, and my thoughts higher +than thine." + +But it was all easy, and simple, and certain enough to our forefathers. +The earth, according to the popular notion, was a flat plane; or, if it +were, as the wiser held, a sphere, yet antipodes were an unscriptural +heresy. Above it were the heavens, in which the stars were fixed, or +wandered; and above them heaven after heaven, each tenanted by its own +orders of beings, up to that heaven of heavens in which Deity--and by +Him, be it always remembered, the mother of Deity--was enthroned. + +And if above the earth was the kingdom of light, and purity, and +holiness, what could be more plain, than that below it was the kingdom of +darkness, and impurity, and sin? That was no theory to our forefathers: +it was a physical fact. Had not even the heathens believed as much, and +said so, by the mouth of the poet Virgil? He had declared that the mouth +of Tartarus lay in Italy, hard by the volcanic lake Avernus; and after +the unexpected eruption of Vesuvius in the first century, nothing seemed +more clear than that Virgil was right; and that men were justified in +talking of Tartarus, Styx, and Phlegethon as indisputable Christian +entities. Etna, Stromboli, Hecla, were (according to this cosmogony) in +like wise mouths of hell; and there were not wanting holy hermits, who +had heard, from within those craters, shrieks, and clanking chains, and +the howls of demons tormenting the souls of the endlessly lost. + +Our forefathers were not aware that, centuries before the Incarnation of +our Lord, the Buddhist priests had held exactly the same theory of moral +retribution; and that, painted on the walls of Buddhist temples, might be +seen horrors identical with those which adorned the walls of many a +Christian Church, in the days when men believed in this Tartarology as +firmly as they now believe in the results of chemistry or of astronomy. + +And now--How is the earth shaken, and the heavens likewise, in that very +sense in which the expression is used by him who wrote to the Hebrews? +Our conceptions of them are shaken. How much of that mediaeval cosmogony +do educated men believe, in the sense in which they believe that the +three angles of a triangle are equal to two right angles, or that if they +steal their neighbour's goods they commit a sin? + +The earth has been shaken for us, more and more violently, as the years +have rolled on. It was shaken when Astronomy told us that the earth was +not the centre of the universe, but a tiny planet revolving round a sun +in a remote region thereof. + +It was shaken when Geology told us that the earth had endured for +countless ages, during which continents had become oceans, and oceans +continents, again and again. And even now, it is being shaken by +researches into the antiquity of man, into the origin and permanence of +species, which--let the result be what it will--must in the meanwhile +shake for us theories and dogmas which have been undisputed for 1500 +years. + +And with the rest of our cosmogony, that conception of a physical +Tartarus below the earth has been shaken likewise, till good men have +been fain to find a fresh place for it in the sun, or in a comet; or to +patronize the probable, but as yet unproved theory of a central fire +within the earth; not on any scientific grounds, but simply if by any +means they can assign a region in space, wherein material torment can be +inflicted on the spirits of the lost. + +And meanwhile the heavens, the spiritual world, is being shaken no less. +More and more frequently, more and more loudly, men are asking--not +sceptics merely, but pious men, men who wish to be, and who believe +themselves to be, orthodox Christians--more and more loudly are such men +asking questions which demand an answer, with a learning and an +eloquence, as well as with a devoutness and a reverence for Scripture, +which--whether rightly or wrongly employed--is certain to command +attention. + +Rightly or wrongly, these men are asking, whether the actual and literal +words of Scripture really involve the mediaeval theory of an endless +Tartarus. + +They are saying, "It is not we who deny, but you who assert, endless +torments, who are playing fast and loose with the letter of Scripture. +You are reading into it conceptions borrowed from Virgil, Dante, Milton, +when you translate into the formula 'endless torment' such phrases as +'the outer darkness,' 'the fire of Gehenna,' 'the worm that dieth not;' +which, according to all just laws of interpretation, refer not to the +next life, but to this life, and specially to the approaching catastrophe +of the Jewish nation; or when you say that eternal death really means +eternal life--only life in torture." + +Rightly or wrongly, they are saying this; and then they add, "We do not +yield to you in love and esteem for Scripture. We demand not a looser, +but a stricter; not a more metaphoric, but a more literal; not a more +contemptuous, but a more reverent interpretation thereof." + +So these men speak, rightly or wrongly. And for good or for evil, they +will be heard. + +And with these questions others have arisen, not new at all--say these +men--but to be found, amid many contradictions, in the writings of all +the best divines, when they have given up for a moment systems and +theories, and listened to the voice of their own hearts; questions +natural enough to an age which abhors cruelty, has abolished torture, +labours for the reformation of criminals, and debates--rightly or +wrongly--about abolishing capital punishment. Men are asking questions +about the heaven--the spiritual world--and saying--"The spiritual world? +Is it only another material world which happens to be invisible now, but +which may become visible hereafter: or is it not rather the moral +world--the world of right and wrong? Heaven? Is not the true and real +heaven the kingdom of love, justice, purity, beneficence? Is not that +the eternal heaven wherein God abides for ever, and with Him those who +are like God? And hell? Is it not rather the anarchy of hate, +injustice, impurity, uselessness; wherein abides all that is opposed to +God?" + +And with those thoughts come others about moral retribution--"What is its +purpose? Can it--can any punishment have any right purpose save the +correction, or the annihilation, of the criminal? Can God, in this +respect, be at once less merciful and less powerful than man? Is He so +controlled by necessity that He is forced to bring into the world beings +whom He knows to be incorrigible, and doomed to endless misery? And if +not so controlled, is not the alternative as to His character even more +fearful? He bids us copy His justice, His love. Is that His justice, +that His love, which if we copied, we should call each other, and +deservedly, utterly unjust and unloving? Can there be one morality for +God, and another for man, made in the image of God? Are these dark +dogmas worthy of a Father who hateth nothing that He hath made, and is +perfect in this--that He makes His sun shine on the evil and on the good, +and His rain fall on the just and on the unjust, and is good to the +unthankful and to the evil? Are they worthy of a Son who, in the fire of +His divine charity, stooped from heaven to earth, to toil, to suffer, to +die on the Cross, that the world by Him might be saved? Are they worthy +of that Spirit which proceeds from the Father and the Son, even that +Spirit of boundless charity, and fervent love, by which the Son offered +Himself to the Father, a sacrifice for the sins of the whole world--and +surely not in vain?" + +So men are asking--rightly or wrongly; and they are guarding themselves, +at the same time, from the imputation of disbelief in moral retribution; +of fancying God to be a careless, epicurean deity, cruelly indulgent to +sin, and therefore, in so far, immoral. + +They say--"We believe firmly enough in moral retribution. How can we +help believing in it, while we see it working around us, in many a +fearful shape, here, now, in this life? And we believe that it may work +on, in still more fearful shapes, in the life to come. We believe that +as long as a sinner is impenitent, he must be miserable; that if he goes +on impenitent for ever, he must go on making himself miserable--ay, it +may be more and more miserable for ever. Only do not tell us that he +must go on. That his impenitence, and therefore his punishment, is +irremediable, necessary, endless; and thereby destroy the whole purpose, +and we should say, the whole morality, of his punishment. If that +punishment be corrective, our moral sense is not shocked by any severity, +by any duration: but if it is irremediable, it cannot be corrective; and +then, what it is, or why it is, we cannot--or rather dare not--say. We, +too, believe in an eternal fire. But because we believe also the +Athanasian Creed, which tells us that there is but One Eternal, we +believe that that fire must be the fire of God, and therefore, like all +that is in God and of God, good and not evil, a blessing and not a curse. +We believe that that fire is for ever burning, though men are for ever +trying to quench it all day long; and that it has been and will be in +every age burning up all the chaff and stubble of man's inventions; the +folly, the falsehood, the ignorance, the vice of this sinful world; and +we praise God for it; and give thanks to Him for His great glory, that He +is the everlasting and triumphant foe of evil and misery, of whom it is +written, that our God is a consuming fire." Such words are being spoken, +right or wrong. + +Such words will bear their fruit, for good or evil. I do not pronounce +how much of them is true or false. It is not my place to dogmatize and +define, where the Church of England, as by law established, has declined +to do so. Neither is it for you to settle these questions. It is rather +a matter for your children. A generation more, it may be, of earnest +thought will be required, ere the true answer has been found. But it is +your duty, if you be educated and thoughtful persons, to face these +questions; to consider seriously what these men would have you +consider--whether you are believing the exact words of the Bible, and the +conclusions of your own reason and moral sense; or whether you are merely +believing that cosmogony elaborated in the cloister, that theory of moral +retribution pardonable in the middle age, which Dante and Milton sang. + +But this I do not hesitate to say--That if we of the clergy can find no +other answers to these doubts than those which were reasonable and +popular in an age when men racked women, burned heretics, and believed +that every Mussulman killed in a crusade went straight to Tartarus--then +very serious times are at hand, both for the Christian clergy and for +Christianity itself. + +What, then, are we to believe and do? Shall we degenerate into a lazy +scepticism, which believes that everything is a little true, and +everything a little false--in plain words, believes nothing at all? Or +shall we degenerate into faithless fears, and unmanly wailings that the +flood of infidelity is irresistible, and that Christ has left His Church? + +We shall do neither, if we believe the text. That tells us of a firm +standing-ground amid the wreck of fashions and opinions. Of a kingdom +which cannot be moved, though the heavens pass away like a scroll, and +the earth be burnt up with fervent heat. + +And it tells us that the King of that kingdom is He, who is called Jesus +Christ--the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever. + +An eternal and changeless kingdom, and an eternal and changeless King. +These the Epistle to the Hebrews preaches to all generations. + +It does not say that we have an unchangeable cosmogony, an unchangeable +eschatology, an unchangeable theory of moral retribution, an unchangeable +dogmatic system: not to these does it point the Jews, while their own +nation and worship were in their very death-agony, and the world was +rocking and reeling round them, decay and birth going on side by side, in +a chaos such as man had never seen before. Not to these does the Epistle +point the Hebrews: but to the changeless kingdom and to the changeless +King. + +My friends, do you really believe in that kingdom, and in that King? Do +you believe that you are now actually in a kingdom of heaven, which +cannot be moved; and that the living, acting, guiding, practical, real +King thereof is Christ who died on the Cross? + +These are days in which a preacher is bound to ask his congregation--and +still more to ask himself--whether he really believes in that kingdom, +and in that King; and to bid himself and them, if they have not believed +earnestly enough therein, to repent, in this time of Lent, of that at +least; to repent of having neglected that most cardinal doctrine of +Scripture and of the Christian faith. + +But if we really believe in that changeless kingdom and in that +changeless King, shall we not--considering who Christ is, the co-equal +and co-eternal Son of God--believe also, that if the heavens and the +earth are being shaken, then Christ Himself may be shaking them? That if +opinions be changing, then Christ Himself may be changing them? That if +new truths are being discovered, Christ Himself may be revealing them? +That if some of those truths seem to contradict those which He has +revealed already, they do not really contradict them? That, as in the +sixteenth century, Christ is burning up the wood and stubble with which +men have built on His foundation, that the pure gold of His truth may +alone be left? It is at least possible; it is probable, if we believe +that Christ is a living, acting King, to whom all power is given in +heaven and earth, and who is actually exercising that power; and +educating Christendom, and through Christendom the whole human race, to a +knowledge of Himself, and through Himself of God their Father in heaven. + +Should we not say--We know that Christ has been so doing, for centuries +and for ages? Through Abraham, through Moses, through the prophets, +through the Greeks, through the Romans, and at last through Himself, He +gave men juster and wider views of themselves, of the universe, and of +God. And even then He did not stop. How could He, who said of Himself, +"My Father worketh hitherto, and I work"? How could He, if He be the +same yesterday, to-day, and for ever? Through the Apostles, and +specially through St Paul, He enlarged, while He confirmed, His own +teaching. And did He not do the same in the sixteenth century? Did He +not then sweep from the minds and hearts of half Christendom beliefs +which had been held sacred and indubitable for a thousand years? Why +should He not be doing so now? If it be answered, that the Reformation +of the sixteenth century was only a return to simpler and purer Apostolic +truth--why, again, should it not be so now? Why should He not be +perfecting His work one step more, and sweeping away more of man's +inventions, which are not integral and necessary elements of the one +Catholic faith, but have been left behind, in pardonable human weakness, +by our great Reformers? Great they were, and good: giants on the earth, +while we are but as dwarfs beside them. But, as the hackneyed proverb +says, the dwarf on the giant's shoulders may see further than the giant +himself: and so may we. + +Oh! that men would approach new truth in something of that spirit; in the +spirit of reverence and Godly fear, which springs from a living belief in +Christ the living King, which is--as the text tells us--the spirit in +which we can serve God acceptably. Oh! that they would serve God; +waiting reverently and anxiously, as servants standing in the presence of +their Lord, for the slightest sign or hint of His will. Then they would +have grace; by which they would receive new thought with grace; +gracefully, courteously, fairly, charitably, reverently; believing that, +however strange or startling, it may come from Him whose ways are not as +our ways, nor His thoughts as our thoughts; and that he who fights +against it, may haply be fighting against God. + +True, they would receive all new thought with caution, that conservative +spirit, which is the duty of every Christian; which is the peculiar +strength of the Englishman, because it enables him calmly and slowly to +take in the new, without losing the old which his forefathers have +already won for him. So they would be cautious, even anxious, lest in +grasping too greedily at seeming improvements, they let go some precious +knowledge which they had already attained: but they would be on the look +out for improvements; because they would consider themselves, and their +generation, as under a divine education. They would prove all things +fairly and boldly, and hold fast that which is good; all that which is +beautiful, noble, improving and elevating to human souls, minds, or +bodies; all that increases the amount of justice, mercy, knowledge, +refinement; all that lessens the amount of vice, cruelty, ignorance, +barbarism. That at least must come from Christ. That at least must be +the inspiration of the Spirit of God: unless the Pharisees were right +after all when they said, that evil spirits could be cast out by the +prince of the devils. + +Be these things as they may, one comfort it will give us, to believe +firmly and actively in the changeless kingdom, and in the changeless +King. It will give us calm, patience, faith and hope, though the heavens +and the earth be shaken around us. For then we shall see that the +Kingdom, of which we are citizens, is a kingdom of light, and not of +darkness; of truth, and not of falsehood; of freedom, and not of slavery; +of bounty and mercy, and not of wrath and fear; that we live and move and +have our being not in a "Deus quidam deceptor" who grudges his children +wisdom, but in a Father of Light, from whom comes every good and perfect +gift; who willeth that all men should be saved, and come to the knowledge +of the truth. In His kingdom we are; and in the King whom He has set +over it we can have the most perfect trust. For us that King stooped +from heaven to earth; for us He was born, for us He toiled, for us He +suffered, for us He died, for us He rose, for us He sits for ever at +God's right hand. And can we not trust Him? Let Him do what He will. +Let Him lead us whither He will. Wheresoever He leads must be the way of +truth and life. Whatsoever He does, must be in harmony with that +infinite love which He displayed for us upon the Cross. Whatsoever He +does, must be in harmony with that eternal purpose by which He reveals to +men God their Father. Therefore, though the heaven and the earth be +shaken around us, we will trust in Him. For we know that He is the same +yesterday, to-day, and for ever; and that His will and promise is, to +lead those who trust in Him into all truth. + + + + +SERMON IX. THE KINGDOM OF GOD. + + +LUKE XXI. 29-33. + + And Jesus spake to them a parable; Behold the fig tree, and all the + trees; when they now shoot forth, ye see and know of your own selves + that summer is now nigh at hand. So likewise ye, when ye see these + things come to pass, know ye that the kingdom of God is nigh at hand. + Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass away, till all + be fulfilled. Heaven and earth shall pass away: but my words shall + not pass away. + +The question which naturally suggests itself when we hear these words, +is--When were these things to take place? + +If we heard one whom we regarded as at least a person of perfect virtue, +truthfulness, and earnestness, foretell that the city in which we now +stand should be destroyed. If he told us, that when we saw it +encompassed with armies, we were to know that its desolation was at hand. +If he told us that then those who were in the surrounding country were to +flee to the mountains, and those in the city to come out of it. If he +pronounced woe in that day on mothers and weak women who could not +escape. If he told us, nevertheless, that when these things came to pass +we were to rejoice and lift up our heads, for our redemption was drawing +nigh. If he told us to look at the trees in spring; for, as surely as +their budding was a sign that summer was nigh, so was the coming to pass +of these terrible woes a sign that something was nigh, which he called +the Kingdom of God. If he told us, with a solemn asseveration, that this +generation should not pass away till all had happened. If he went on to +warn us against profligacy, frivolity, worldliness, lest that day should +come upon us unaware. If he bade us keep awake always, that we might be +found worthy to escape all that was coming, and to stand before Him, The +Son of Man. If he used throughout his address the second person, +speaking to us, but never mentioning our descendants; giving the signs, +the warnings, the counsels to us only, should we not, even if he had not +solemnly told us that the present generation should not pass away till +all was fulfilled--should we not, I say, suppose naturally that he spoke +of events which in his opinion our own eyes would see; which would, in +his opinion, occur during our lifetime? + +Whether he were right in his expectation, or wrong, still it would be +clear that such was his expectation; that he considered the danger as +imminent, the warning as addressed personally to us who heard him speak. + +We should leave his presence with that impression, in fear and anxiety. +But if we afterwards discovered that our fear and anxiety were +superfluous; that the events of which he spoke--the most awful and +wonderful of them at least--were not to occur for many centuries to come; +that, even if some calamity were imminent, the immediate future and the +very distant future were so intermingled in his discourse, that it would +require the labours of commentator after commentator, for many hundred +years, to disentangle them, and that their labours would be in vain; that +the coming of the Son of Man, and of the Kingdom of God, of which he had +spoken, were to be referred to a time thousands of years hence; though we +were told in the same breath to look to the fig-tree and all the trees as +a sign that it was coming immediately, and that our own generation would +not pass away before all had taken place:--would not such a discovery +raise in us thoughts and feelings neither wholesome for us nor honourable +to the prophet? + +I cannot think otherwise. We may be aware of the difficulties which +beset this, and any other, interpretation of our Lord's prophecies in +Matthew, Mark, and Luke: we may have the deepest respect for those +learned and pious divines who from time to time have tried to part the +prophecies relating to the fall of Jerusalem from those relating to the +end of the world and the day of Judgment. Yet, in the face of such a +passage as the text, especially when we cannot agree with those who would +make this "generation" mean this "race" or "nation," we may--we have a +right to--decline to separate the two sets of passages. We have a right +to say,--He who spake as man never spake, and therefore knew the force of +words; He who knew what was in man--and therefore what effect His words +would produce on His hearers--did deliver a discourse--indeed, many +discourses--which asserted, as far as plain words could be understood by +plain men, that the Kingdom of God was at hand; and that the coming of +the Son of Man would take place before that generation passed away. + +And that all His disciples, and St Paul as much as any, put that meaning +upon His words, is a matter of fact and of history, to be seen plainly in +Holy Scripture. + +But, while the text compels us to believe that the destruction of +Jerusalem by the Romans was a coming of the Son of Man--a manifestation +of the Kingdom of God--a day of Judgment, in the strictest and most awful +sense; yet we are not compelled to limit the meaning of the text to the +destruction of Jerusalem. + +No prophecy of Scripture is of private interpretation. Prophets, +apostles--how much more our Lord Himself--do not merely indulge in +presages; they lay down laws--laws moral, spiritual, eternal--which have +been fulfilling themselves from the beginning; which are fulfilling +themselves now; which will go on fulfilling themselves to the end of +time. + +So said our Lord Jesus of His own prophecies concerning the destruction +of Jerusalem. It was but one example--a most awful one--of the laws of +His kingdom. Not in Judaea only, but wherever the carcase was, there +would the eagles be gathered together. In the moral, as in the physical +word, there were beasts of prey--the scavengers of God--ready to devour +out of His kingdom nations, institutions, opinions, which had become +dead, and decayed, and ready to infect the air. Many a time since the +Roman eagles flocked to Jerusalem has that prophecy been fulfilled; and +many a time will it be fulfilled once more, and yet once more. + +And what else, if we look at them carefully and reverently, is the +meaning of the words in this my text, "Heaven and earth shall pass away, +but My words shall not pass away"? + +Shall we translate this,--Heaven and earth shall not come true: but My +words shall come true? By so doing we may put some little meaning into +the latter half of the verse; but none into the former. Surely there is +a deeper meaning in the words than that of merely coming true. Surely +they mean that His words are eternal, perpetual; for ever present, +possible, imminent; for ever coming true. So, indeed, they would not +pass away. So they would be like the heavens and the earth, and the laws +thereof; like heat, gravitation, electricity, what not--always here, +always working, always asserting themselves--with this difference, that +when the physical laws of the heavens and the earth, which began in time, +in time have perished, the spiritual laws of God's kingdom, of Christ's +moral government of moral beings, shall endure for ever and for ever, +eternal as that God whose essence they reflect. + +Therefore I mean nothing less than that the great and final day of +Judgment is past; or that we are not to look for that second coming of +our Lord Jesus Christ which, as our forefathers taught us to hope, shall +set right all the wrong of this diseased world. + +God forbid! For most miserable were the world, most miserable were +mankind, if all that our Lord prophesied had happened, once and for all, +at the destruction of Jerusalem by the Roman armies. But most miserable, +also, would this world be, and most miserable would be mankind, if these +words were not to be fulfilled till some future Last Day, and day of +Judgment, for which the Church has now been waiting for more than +eighteen centuries--and, as far as we can judge, may wait for as many +centuries more. Most miserable, if the Son of Man has never come since +He ascended into heaven from Olivet. Most miserable, if the kingdom of +God has never been at hand, since He gave that one short gleam of hope to +men in Judaea long ago. Most miserable, if there be no kingdom of God +among us even now: in one word, if God and Christ be not our King; but +the devil, as some fancy; or Man himself, as others fancy, be the only +king of this world and of its destinies; if there be no order in this mad +world, save what man invents; no justice, save what he executes; no law, +save what he finds convenient to lay upon himself for the protection of +his person and property. Most miserable, if the human race have no +guide, save its own instincts and tendencies; no history, save that of +its own greed, ignorance and crime, varied only by fruitless struggles +after a happiness to which it never attains. Most miserable world, and +miserable man, if that be true after all which to the old Hebrew prophet +seemed incredible and horrible--if God does look on while men deal +treacherously, and does hold His peace when the wicked devours the man +who is more righteous than he; and has made men as the fishes of the sea, +as the creeping things that have no ruler over them. + +I said--Most miserable, in that case, was the world and man. I did not +say that they would consider themselves miserable. I did not say that +they would think it a Gospel, and good news, that Christ was their King, +and that His Kingdom was always at hand. They never thought that good +news. When the prophets told them of it, they stoned them. When the +Lord Himself told them, they crucified Him. Worldly men dislike the +message now, probably, as much as they ever did. But they escape from +it, either by treating it as a self-evident commonplace which no +Christian denies, and therefore no Christian need think of; or by smiling +at it as an exploded superstition, at least as a "Semitic" form of +thought, with which we have nothing to do. They confound it, often I +fear purposely, with those fancied miraculous interpositions, those +paltry special providences, which fanatics in all ages have believed to +be worked for their own special behoof. Altogether they dislike, and +express very openly their dislike, of the least allusion to a Divine +Providence "interfering," as they strangely term it, with them and their +affairs. + +And they are wise, doubtless, in their generation. The news that Christ +is the King of men and of the world must be unpleasant, even offensive, +to too many, both of those who fancy that they are managing this world, +and of those who fancy that they could manage the world still better, if +they only had their rights. It must be unpleasant to be told that they +are not managing the world, and cannot manage it: that it is being +managed and ruled by an unseen King, whose ways are far above their ways, +and His thoughts above their thoughts. + +For then: Prudence might demand of them, that they should find out what +are that King's ways, thoughts and laws, and obey them--an enquiry so +troublesome, that many very highly educated persons consider it, now-a- +days, quite impossible; and tell us that, for practical purposes, God's +laws can neither be discovered, nor obeyed. + +Moreover, their scheme of this world is one which would work--so they +fancy--just as well if there was no God. Unpleasant therefore it must be +for them to hear, not merely that there is a God, but that He has His own +scheme of the world; and that it is working, whether they like or not; +that God, and not they, is making history; God, and not they, appointing +the bounds and the times of nations; God, and not they, or any man or +men, distributing good and evil among mankind. + +They do not object, of course, to the existence of a God. They only +object to His being what the Hebrew prophets called Him--a living God; a +God who executes justice and judgment by His Son Jesus Christ, to whom He +has committed all power both in heaven and earth. They are ready +sometimes to allow even that, provided they may relegate it into the +past, or into the future. They are ready to allow that God and Christ +exerted power over men at the first Advent 1800 years ago, and that they +will exert power over men at the second Advent--none knows how long +hence. But that God and Christ are exerting power now--in an +ever-present and perpetual Advent--in this nineteenth century just as +much as in any century before or since--that they had rather not believe. +Their creed is, that though heaven and earth have not passed away; though +the laws of nature are working for ever as at the beginning: yet Christ's +words have passed away, and fallen into abeyance for many centuries past, +to remain in abeyance for many centuries to come. + +In one word--while they believe more or less in a past God, and a future +God, yet as to the existence of a present God, in any practical and real +sense--they believe--how little, I dare not say. + +Whether this generation will awaken out of that sleep of practical +Atheism, which is creeping on them more and more, who can tell? That +they are uneasy in the sleep, there are many signs. For in their sleep +dreams come of another world, of which their five senses tell them +nought. Then do some fly to mediaeval superstitions, which give them at +least elaborate and agreeable substitutes for a living God. Some fly to +impostors, who pretend by juggling tricks to put them in communication +with that unseen world which they have so long denied. Some, again, play +with unfulfilled prophecy; and fancy that it is for them, though it was +not for the apostles, to know the times and seasons which the Father has +put in His own power, and the day and hour of which no man knoweth, no +not the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only. + +Better that, than that they should believe that there is nothing, and +never will be anything, in the world, beyond what their five senses can +apprehend. + +But whether they awake or not out of their sleep, their blindness does +not alter the eternal fact, whether men believe it or not. That is true +what the Psalmist said of old: "The Lord is King, be the people never so +impatient. He sitteth upon His throne, though the earth be never so +unquiet." + +The utterances of the old Psalmists and prophets concerning the +ever-present kingdom of God are facts, not dreams. Whether men believe +it or not, it is true that the power, glory, and righteousness of His +kingdom may be known unto men; that His kingdom is an everlasting +kingdom, and His dominion endureth throughout all ages; that The Lord +upholds all such as fall, and lifts up those that are down; that the eyes +of all wait on Him, that He may give them their meat in due season; that +He opens His hand, and filleth all things living with plenteousness; that +the Lord is righteous in all His ways, and holy in all His works; that He +is nigh to them that call upon Him, yea to all who call upon Him +faithfully. He that planted the ear, shall He not hear? He that made +the eye, shall He not see? He that chastiseth the nations; it is He that +teacheth man knowledge: shall He not punish? + +Whether men believe it or not, that is true which the Psalmist +said--Whither shall I flee from His Spirit, or whither shall I go from +His presence? If I climb up to heaven, He is there; if I go down to +hell, He is there also. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in +the uttermost part of the sea, even there shall His hand lead me, His +right hand hold me still. + +Whether men believe it or not, that is true which Christ spake on +earth--That the Father hath committed all judgment to Him, because He is +the Son of man; that to Him is given all power in heaven and earth; and +that He is with us, even to the end of the world. + +Whether men believe it or not, that is true which S. Paul spake on Mars' +hill, saying that the Lord is not far from any one of us, for in Him we +live and move and have our being; and that He hath appointed a day in +which He will judge the world in righteousness, by that Man whom He hath +ordained, and raised from the dead. + +Whether men believe it or not, that is true which Christ spake--Heaven +and earth shall pass away; but My words shall not pass away; at least +till He has put down all rule and all authority and power, and delivered +up the kingdom to God, even the Father, that God may be all in all. + +"That one far-off divine event, toward which the whole creation moves," +will be, not the resumption, but the triumph, of Christ's rule; of a rule +which began before the world, which has endured through all the ages, +which endures now, punishing or rewarding each and every one of us, and +of our children's children, as long as there shall be a man upon the +earth. For by Christ's will alone the world of man consists; in Christ's +laws alone is true life, health, wealth, possible for any man, family or +nation; out of His kingdom He casts, sooner or later, all things which +offend, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie. He said of +Himself--Whosoever falleth on this rock shall be broken; but on +whomsoever it shall fall, it shall grind him to powder. + + + + +SERMON X. THE LAW OF THE LORD. + + +PSALM I. 1,2. + + Blessed is the man who hath not walked in the counsel of the ungodly, + nor stood in the path of sinners, nor sat in the seat of the scornful. + But his delight is in the law of the Lord; and in his law will he + exercise himself day and night. + +The first and second Psalms, taken together, are the key to all the +Psalms; I may almost say to the whole Bible. I will say a few words on +them this morning, especially to those who are coming to the Holy +Communion, to shew their allegiance to that Lord, in whose law alone is +life, and who sits on the throne of the universe, King of kings, and Lord +of lords: but I say it to the whole congregation likewise; nay, if there +were an infidel or a heathen in the Church, I should say it to them. For +in this case what is true of one man is true of every man, whether he +knows it or not. + +We all should like to be blessed. We all should like to be, as the Psalm +says, like trees planted by the waterside, whose leaves never wither, and +who bring forth their fruit in due season. We should all wish to have it +said of us--Whatsoever he doeth it shall prosper. Then here is the way +to inherit that blessing--"_Blessed is the man whose delight is in the +law of the Lord_, _and who exercises himself in His law day and night_." +The Psalmist is not speaking of Moses' Law, nor of any other law of forms +and ceremonies. He says expressly "The law of the Lord"--that is, the +law according to which the Lord has made him and all the world; and +according to which the Lord rules him and all the world. The Psalms--you +must remember--say very little about Moses' law; and when they do, speak +of it almost slightingly, as if to draw men's minds away from it to a +deeper, nobler, more eternal law. In one Psalm God asks, "Thinkest thou +that I will eat bulls' flesh, and drink the blood of goats?" And in +another Psalm some one answers, "Sacrifice and burnt-offering thou +wouldest not. Then said I, Lo I come, to do thy will, O God. Thy law is +within my heart." This is that true and eternal law of which Solomon +speaks in his proverbs, as the Wisdom by which God made the heavens, and +laid the foundation of the earth; and tells us that that Wisdom is a tree +of life to all who can lay hold of her; that in her right hand is length +of days, and in her left hand riches and honour; that her ways are ways +of pleasantness; and all her paths are peace. + +This is that law, of which the Prophet says--that God will put it into +men's hearts, and write it in their minds; and they shall be His people, +and He will be their God. This is that law, which the inspired +Philosopher--for a philosopher he was indeed--who wrote the 119th Psalm, +continually prayed and strove to learn, intreating the Lord to teach him +His law, and make him remember His everlasting judgments. This is that +law, which our Lord Jesus Christ perfectly fulfilled, because the law was +His Father's law, and therefore His own law, and therefore he perfectly +comprehended the law, and perfectly loved the law; and said with His +whole heart--I delight to do Thy will, O God. + +The will of God. For in one word, this Law, which we have to learn, and +by keeping which we shall be blessed, is nothing else than God's Will. +God's Will about us. What God has willed and chosen we should be. What +God has willed and chosen we should do. The greatest philosopher of the +18th century said that every rational being had to answer four +questions--Where am I? What can I know? What must I do? Whither am I +going? And he knew well that--as the Bible tells us throughout--the only +way to get any answer to those four tremendous questions is--To delight +in the law of the Lord; to struggle, think, pray, till we get some +understanding of God's will; of God's will about ourselves and about the +world; and so be blessed indeed. + +But to do that, it is plain that we must heed the warning which the first +verse of the Psalm gives us--"Blessed is the man that hath not walked in +the counsel of the ungodly." For it is plain that a man will never learn +God's will if he takes counsel from ungodly men who care nothing for +God's will, and do not believe that God's will governs the world. Neither +must he, as the Psalm says, 'stand in the way of sinners'--of profligate +and dishonest men who break God's law. For if he follows their ways, and +breaks God's law himself, it is plain that he will learn little or +nothing about God's law, save in the way of bitter punishment. For let +him but break God's law a little too long, and then--as the 2nd Psalm +says--'God will rule him with a rod of iron, and break him in pieces like +a potter's vessel.' But there is even more hope for him--for he may +repent and amend--than if he sits in the seat of the scorners. The +scorners; the sneering, the frivolous, the unearnest, the unbelieving, +the envious, who laugh down what they call enthusiasm and romance; who +delight in finding fault, and in blackening those who seem purer or +nobler than themselves. These are the men who cannot by any possibility +learn anything of the law of God; for they will not even look for it. +They have cast away the likeness of rational men, and have taken upon +themselves the likeness of the sneering accusing Satan, who asks in the +book of Job--"Doth Job serve God for nought?" When the greatest poet of +our days tried to picture his idea of a fiend tempting a man to his ruin, +he gave his fiend just such a character as this; a very clever, +courteous, agreeable man of the world, and yet a being who could not love +any one, could not believe in any one; who mocked not only at man but at +God and tempted and ruined man, not out of hatred to him, hardly out of +envy; but in mere sport, as a cruel child may torment an insect;--in one +word, a scorner. And so true was his conception felt to be, that men of +that character are now often called by the very name which he gave to his +Satan--Mephistopheles. Beware therefore of the scornful spirit, as well +as of the openly sinful or of the ungodly. If you wish to learn the law +of the Lord, keep your souls pious, pure, reverent, and earnest; for it +is only the pure in heart who shall see God; and only those who do God's +will as far as they know it, who will know concerning any doctrine +whether it be true or false; in one word, whether it be of God. + +And now bear in mind secondly, that this law is the law of the Lord. You +cannot have a law without a lawgiver who makes the law, and also without +a judge who enforces the law; and the lawgiver and the judge of the law +of the Lord is the Lord Himself, our Lord Jesus Christ. + +Remembering Him, and that He is King, we can understand the fervour of +indignation and pity, with which the writer of the 2nd Psalm bursts +out--"Why do the heathen rage, and why do the people imagine a vain +thing? The kings of the earth stand up, and the rulers take counsel +together, against the Lord, and against His Anointed-- + +"Let us break their bonds asunder and cast away their cords from us." + +For the great majority of mankind, in every age and country, will not +believe that there is a Law of the Lord, to which they must conform +themselves. Kings, and governments, and peoples, are too often all alike +in that. They must needs have their own way. Their will is to be law. +Their voice is to be the voice of God. They are they who ought to speak; +who is Lord over them? And because the Lord is patient and +long-suffering, and does not punish their presumption on the spot by +lightning or earthquake, they fancy that He takes no notice of them, and +of their crimes and follies; and say--"Tush, shall God perceive it? Is +there knowledge in the most High?" But sooner or later, either by sudden +and terrible catastrophes, or by slow decay, brought on sometimes by +their own blind presumption, sometimes by their own luxury, they find out +their mistake when it is too late. And then-- + +"He that dwelleth in heaven shall laugh them to scorn. The Lord shall +have them in derision. For He has set His King upon the throne" of all +the universe. + +Yes, Christ the Lord rules, and knows that He rules; whether we know it +or not. Christ's law still hangs over our head, ready to lead us to +light and life and peace and wealth, or ready to fall on us and grind us +to powder, whether we choose to look up and see it or not. The Lord +liveth; though we may be too dead to feel Him. The Lord sees us; though +we may be too blind to see Him. Man can abolish many things; and does +both--wisely and unwisely--in these restless days of change. But let him +try as long as he will--for he has often tried, and will try again--he +cannot abolish Christ the Lord. + +For Christ is set upon the throne of the universe. The Father of all--if +we may dare to hint even in Scriptural words at mysteries which are in +themselves unspeakable--is eternally saying to Him--Thou art my Son, this +day have I begotten Thee. And Christ answers eternally--I come to do Thy +will, O God. The nations are Christ's inheritance; and the utmost parts +of the earth are His possession, now, already; whether we or they think +so or not. + +And there are times--there are times, my friends--when the awful words +which follow come true likewise--"Thou shalt bruise them with a rod of +iron, and break them in pieces like a potter's vessel." + +For as to this world in which we live, so to the God who created that +world, there is a terrible aspect. There is calm: but there is storm +also. There is fertilizing sunshine: but there is also the destroying +thunderbolt. There is the solid and fruitful earth, where man can till +and build; but there is the earthquake and the flood likewise, which +destroy in a moment the works of man. So there is in God boundless love, +and boundless mercy: but there is, too, a wrath of God, and a fire of God +which burns eternally against all evil and falsehood. And woe to those +who fall under that wrath; who are even scorched for a moment by that +fire. + +"It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the Living God." + +We are all ready enough to forget this; ready enough to think only of +God's goodness, and never of His severity. Ready enough to talk of +Christ as gentle and suffering; because we flatter ourselves that if He +is gentle, He may be also indulgent; if He be suffering, He may be also +weak. We like to forget that He is, and was, and ever will be--Lord of +heaven and earth; and to think of Him only in His humiliation in Judaea +1800 years ago, forgetting that during that very humiliation, while He +was shewing love, and mercy, and miracles of healing, and sympathy and +compassion for every form of human sorrow and weakness, He did not shrink +from shewing to men the awful side of His character; did not shrink from +saying, "Woe unto you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites. Ye serpents, +ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?"--did +not shrink from declaring that He was coming again, even before that very +generation had passed away, to destroy, unless it repented, the wicked +city of Jerusalem, with an utter and horrible destruction. + +Think of these things, my friends: for true they are, and true they will +remain, whether you think of them or not. And take the warning of the +second Psalm, which is needed now as much as it was ever needed--"Be wise +now therefore, O ye kings, be learned, ye that are judges of the earth. +Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice unto Him with reverence. Worship +the Son, lest He be angry, and so ye perish from the right way. If His +wrath be kindled, yea, but a little, blessed are all they that put their +trust in Him." + +But you are no kings, you are no judges. Is it so? And yet you boast +yourselves to be free men, in a free country. Not so. Every man who is +a free man is a king or a judge, whether he knows it or not. Every one +who has a duty, is a king over his duty. Every one who has a work to do, +is a judge whether he does his work well or not. He who farms, is a king +and a judge over his land. He who keeps a shop, a king and a judge over +his business. He who has a family, a king and a judge over his +household. Let each be wise, and serve the Lord in fear; knowing that +according as he obeys the law of the Lord, he will receive for the deeds +done in the body, whether good or evil. + +Not kings? not judges? Is not each and every human being who is not a +madman, a king over his own actions, a judge over his own heart and +conscience? Let him govern himself, govern his own thoughts and words, +his own life and actions, according to the law of the Lord who created +him; and he will be able to say with the poet, + + My mind to me a kingdom is; + Such perfect joy therein I find + As far exceeds all earthly bliss. + +But if he governs himself according to his own fancy, which is no law, +but lawlessness: then he will find himself rebelling against himself, +weakened by passions, torn by vain desires, and miserable by reason of +the lusts which war in his members; and so will taste, here in this life, +of that anger of the Lord of which it is written; "If His wrath be +kindled, yea, but a little, ye shall perish from the right way." + +Therefore let each and all of us, high and low, take the warning of the +last verse, and worship the Son of God. Bow low before Him--for that is +the true meaning of the words--as subjects before an absolute monarch, +who can dispose of us, body and soul, according to His will: but who can +be trusted to dispose of us well: because His will is a good will, and +the only reason why He is angry when we break His laws, is, that His laws +are the Eternal Laws of God, wherein alone is life for all rational +beings; and to break them is to injure our fellow-creatures, and to ruin +ourselves, and perish from that right way, to bring us back to which He +condescended, of His boundless love, to die on the Cross for all mankind. + + + + +SERMON XI. GOD THE TEACHER. + + +PSALM CXIX. 33, 34. + + Teach me, O Lord, the way of Thy statutes, and I shall keep it unto + the end. Give me understanding, and I shall keep Thy Law; yea, I + shall observe it with my whole heart. + +This 119th Psalm has been valued for many centuries, by the wisest and +most devout Christians, as one of the most instructive in the Bible; as +the experimental psalm. And it is that, and more. It is specially a +psalm about education. That is on the face of the text. Teach me, O +Lord, Thy statutes, and I shall keep them to the end. These are the +words of a man who wishes to be taught, and therefore to learn; and to +learn not mere book-learning and instruction, but to acquire a practical +education, which he can keep to the end, and carry out in his whole life. + +But it is more. It is, to my mind, as much a theological psalm as it is +an experimental psalm; and it is just as valuable for what it tells us +concerning the changeless and serene essence of God, as for what it tells +us concerning the changing and struggling soul of man. + +Let us think a little this morning--and, please God, hereafter also--of +the Psalm, and what it says. For it is just as true now as ever it was, +and just as precious to those who long to educate themselves with the +true education, which makes a man perfect, even as his Father in heaven +is perfect. + +The Psalm is a prayer, or collection of short prayers, written by some +one who had two thoughts in his mind, and who was so full of those two +thoughts that he repeated them over and over again, in many different +forms, like one who, having an air of music in his head, repeats it in +different keys, with variation after variation; yet keeps true always to +the original air, and returns to it always at the last. + +Now what two thoughts were in the Psalmist's mind? + +First: that there was something in the world which he must learn, and +would learn; for everything in this life and the next depended on his +learning it. And this thing which he wants to learn he calls God's +statutes, God's law, God's testimonies, God's commandments, God's +everlasting judgments. That is what he feels he must learn, or else come +to utter grief, both body and soul. + +Secondly: that if he is to learn them, God Himself must teach them to +him. I beg you not to overlook this side of the Psalm. That is what +makes it not only a psalm, but a prayer also. The man wants to know +something. But beside that, he prays God to teach it to him. + +He was not like too many now-a-days, who look on prayer, and on +inspiration, as old-fashioned superstitions; who believe that a man can +find out all he needs to know by his own unassisted intellect, and then +do it by his own unassisted will. Where they get their proofs of that +theory, I know not; certainly not from the history of mankind, and +certainly not from their own experience, unless it be very different from +mine. Be that as it may, this old Psalmist would not have agreed with +them; for he held an utterly opposite belief. He held that a man could +see nothing, unless God shewed it to him. He held that a man could learn +nothing unless God taught him; and taught him, moreover, in two ways. +First taught him what he ought to do, and then taught him how to do it. + +Surely this man was, at least, a reasonable and prudent man, and shewed +his common-sense. I say--common-sense. + +For suppose that you were set adrift in a ship at sea, to shift for +yourself, would it not be mere common-sense to try and learn how to +manage that ship, that you might keep her afloat and get her safe to +land? You would try to learn the statutes, laws, and commandments, and +testimonies, and judgments concerning the ship, lest by your own +ignorance you should sink her, and be drowned. You would try to learn +the laws about the ship; namely the laws of floatation, by fulfilling +which vessels swim, and by breaking which vessels sink. + +You would try to learn the commandments about her. They would be any +books which you could find of rules of navigation, and instruction in +seamanship. + +You would try to learn the testimonies about the ship. And what would +they be? The witness, of course, which the ship bore to herself. The +experience which you or others got, from seeing how she behaved--as they +say--at sea. + +And from whom would you try to learn all this? from yourself? Out of +your own brain and fancy? Would you invent theories of navigation and +shipbuilding for yourself, without practice or experience? I trust not. +You would go to the shipbuilder and the shipmaster for your information. +Just as--if you be a reasonable man--you will go for your information +about this world to the builder and maker of the world--God himself. + +And lastly; you would try to learn the judgments about the ship: and what +would they be? The results of good or bad seamanship; what happens to +ships, when they are well-managed or ill-managed. + +It would be too hard to have to learn that by experience; for the price +which you would have to pay would be, probably, that you would be wrecked +and drowned. But if you saw other ships wrecked near you, you would form +judgments from their fate of what you ought to do. If you could find +accounts of shipwrecks, you would study them with the most intense +interest; lest you too should be wrecked, and so judgment overtake you +for your bad seamanship. + +For God's judgment of any matter is not, as superstitious people fancy, +that God grows suddenly angry, and goes out of His way to punish those +who do wrong, as by a miracle. God judges all things in heaven and earth +without anger--ay, with boundless pity: but with no indulgence. The soul +that sinneth, it shall die. The ship that cannot swim, it must sink. +That is the law of the judgments of God. But He is merciful in this; +that He rewardeth every man according to his work. His judgment may be +favourable, as well as unfavourable. He may acquit, or He may condemn. +But whether He acquits or condemns, we can only know by the event; by the +result. If a ship sinks, for want of good sailing or other defect, that +is a judgment of God about the ship. He has condemned her. She is not +seaworthy. But if the ship arrives safe in port, that too is God's +judgment. He has tried her and acquitted her. She is seaworthy; and she +has her reward. + +How simple this is. And yet men will not believe it, will not understand +it, and therefore they wreck so often each man his own ship--his own life +and immortal soul, and sink and perish, for lack of knowledge. + +For each one of us is at sea, each in his own ship; and each must sail +her and steer her, as best he can, or sink and drown for ever. + +For the sea which each of us is sailing over is this world, and the ship +in which each of us sails, is our own nature and character; what St Paul, +like a truly scientific man, calls our flesh; and what modern scientific +men, and rightly, call our organisation. And the land to which we are +sailing is eternal Life. Shall we make a prosperous voyage? Shall we +fail, or shall we succeed? Shall we founder and drown at sea, and sink +to eternal death? Or shall we, as the clergyman prayed for us when we +were baptized, so pass through the waves of this troublesome world, that +finally we may come to the land of everlasting life? Which shall it be, +my friends? Shall we sink, or shall we swim? Certain is one thing--that +we shall sink, and not swim, if we do not learn and keep the law, and +commandments, and testimonies, and judgments of God, concerning this our +mortal life. If we do not, then we shall go through life, without +knowing how to go through life, ignorantly and blindly; and the end of +that will be failure, and ruin, and death to our souls. If we do not +know and keep the Laws of God, the Laws of God will keep themselves, in +spite of us, and grind us to powder. Do not fancy that you may do wrong +without being punished; and break God's Law, because you are not under +the law, but under grace. You are only under grace, as long as you keep +clear of God's Law. The moment you do wrong you put yourself under the +Law, and the Law will punish you. Suppose that you went into a mill; and +that the owner of that mill was your best friend, even your father. Would +that prevent your being crushed by the machinery, if you got entangled in +it through ignorance or heedlessness? I think not. Even so, though God +be your best of friends, ay, your Father in heaven, that will not prevent +your being injured, it may be ruined, not only by wilful sins, but by +mere folly and ignorance. Therefore your only chance for safety in this +life and for ever, is to learn God's laws and statutes about your life, +that you may pass through it justly, honourably, virtuously, +successfully. And the man who wrote the 119th Psalm knew that, and said, +"Oh that my ways were made so direct, that I might keep thy statutes." + +But moreover, you must learn God's commandments. He has laid down +certain commands, certain positive rules which must be kept if you do not +intend to die the eternal death. So says our Lord. "If thou wilt enter +into life, keep the commandments." "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God +with all thy heart and soul, and thy neighbour as thyself." There the +ten commandments are, and kept they must be; and if you break one of +them, it will punish you, and you cannot escape. And the man who wrote +the 119th Psalm knew that, and said, "With my whole heart have I sought +thee: oh let me not go wrong out of Thy commandments." + +Moreover, you must learn God's testimonies: what He has witnessed and +declared about Himself, and His own character, His power and His +goodness, His severity and His love. And where will you learn that, as +in the Bible? The Bible is full of testimonies of God in Christ about +Himself; who He is, what He does, what He requires; and of testimonies of +holy men of old, concerning God and concerning duty; concerning God's +dealings with their souls, and with other men, and with all the nations +of the old world, and with all nations likewise to the end of time. And +if people will not read and study their Bibles, they cannot expect to +know the way to eternal life. That too the man who wrote the 119th Psalm +knew, and said, "I have had as great delight in Thy testimonies, as in +all manner of riches." + +Moreover, you must learn God's judgments; the way in which He rewards and +punishes men. And those too you will learn in the Bible, which is full +of accounts of the just and merciful judgments of God. And you may learn +them too from your own experience in life; from seeing what actually +happens to those whom you know, when they do right things; and what +happens again, when they do wrong things. If any man will open his eyes +to what is going on around him in a single city, or in the mere private +circle of his own kinsfolk and acquaintance; if he will but use his +common sense, and look how righteousness is rewarded, and sin is +punished, all day long, then he might learn enough and to spare about +God's judgments: but men will not. A man will see his neighbour do +wrong, and suffer for it: and then go and do exactly the same thing +himself; as if there were no living God; no judgments of God; as if all +was accident and chance; as if he was to escape scot-free, while his +neighbour next door has brought shame and misery on himself by doing the +same thing. For it was well written of old, "The fool hath said in his +heart--though he is afraid to say it with his lips--There is no God." And +the man who wrote the 119th Psalm knew that, and said, "I remembered +Thine everlasting judgments, O Lord, and received comfort; for I was +horribly afraid for the ungodly who forsake Thy law." + +I say again: that the only way to attain eternal life is to know, and +keep, and profit by God's laws, God's commandments, God's testimonies, +God's judgments; and therefore it is that the Psalmists say so often, +that these laws and commandments are Life. Not merely the way to eternal +life; but the Life itself, as it is written in the Prayer-Book, "O God, +whom truly to know is everlasting life." + +But some will say, How shall I learn? I am very stupid, and I confess +that freely. And when I have learnt, how shall I act up to my lesson? +For I am very weak; and that I confess freely likewise. + +How indeed, my friends? Stupid we are, the cleverest of us; and weak we +are, the strongest of us. And if God left us to find out for ourselves, +and to take care of ourselves, we should not sail far on the voyage of +life without being wrecked; and going down body and soul to hell. + +But, blessed be God, He has not left us to ourselves. He has not only +commanded us to learn: He has promised to teach. And--as I said in the +beginning of my Sermon--he who wrote the 119th Psalm knew that well. He +knew that God would teach him and strengthen him; enlightening his dull +understanding, and quickening his dull will; and therefore his Psalm, as +I said, is a prayer, a prayer for teaching, and a prayer for light; and +he cries to God--My soul cleaveth to the dust. I am low-minded, stupid, +and earthly at the best. Oh quicken Thou me; that is--Oh give me +life--more life--according to Thy word. + +Thy Word. The Word of God, of whom the Psalmist says--O Lord, Thy Word +endureth for ever in heaven. Even the Word of God, Jesus Christ our +Lord, the Son of Man who is in heaven; and who, because He is in heaven, +both God and man, can and will give us light and life, now and for ever. + +And now take home with you this one thought. There is one education +which we must all get; one thing which we must all learn, and learn to +obey, or come to utter shame and ruin, either in this world or the world +to come; and that is the laws, and commandments, and testimonies of +God,--God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit; for only by +keeping them can we enter into eternal life. And if we wish to know +them, God himself will teach us them. And if we wish, to keep them, God +himself will give us strength to keep them. Amen. + + + + +SERMON XII. THE REASONABLE PRAYER. + + +PSALM CXIX. 33, 94. + + O Lord, teach me Thy statutes, and I shall keep them to the end. I am + Thine, O save me; for I have kept Thy commandments. + +Some who heard me last Sunday, both morning and afternoon, may have +remarked an apparent contradiction between my two sermons. I hope they +have done so. For then I shall hope that they are facing one of the most +difficult, and yet most necessary, of all problems; namely the difference +between the Law and the Gospel. In my morning sermon I spoke of the +eternal law of God--how it was unchangeable even as God its author, +rigid, awful, inevitable by every soul of man, and certain, if he kept +it, to lead him into all good, for body, soul, and spirit: but certain, +too, if he broke it, to grind him to powder. + +And in the afternoon, I spoke of the Gospel and Free Grace of God--how +that too was unchangeable, even as God its author; full of compassion and +tender mercy, and forgiveness of sins; willing not the death of a sinner; +but rather that he should be converted, and live. + +But how are these two statements, both scriptural; both--as I hold from +practical experience, true to the uttermost, and not to be compromised or +explained away--how are they to be reconciled, I say? By these two +texts. By taking them both together, and never one without the other; +and by taking them, also, in the order in which you find them, and +never--as too many do--the second before the first. At least this was +the opinion of the Psalmist. He first seeks God's commandments and +statutes, and prays--Give me understanding and I shall keep Thy law, yea, +I shall keep it with my whole heart. Make me to go in the path of Thy +commandments; for therein is my desire. And then, only then, finding +himself in trouble, anxiety, even in danger of death, he feels he has a +sort of right to cry to God to help him out of his trouble, and prays--I +am Thine, oh save me! + +And why? What reason can he give why God should save him? Because, he +says, I have sought Thy commandments. + +Now let all rational persons lay this to heart; and consider it well. +There are very few, heathens and savages, as well as Christians, who will +not cry, when they find themselves in trouble--Oh save me. The instinct +of every man is, to cry to some unseen persons or powers to help him. If +he does not cry to the true and good God, he will cry to some false or +bad God; or to some idol, material or intellectual, of his own invention. +But that is no reason why his prayers should be heard. We read of old +heathens at Rome, who prayed to Mercury, the god of money-making--"Da +mihi fallere,"--Help me to cheat my neighbours: while the philosophers, +heathen though they were, laughed, with just contempt, at such men and +their prayers, and asked--Do you suppose that any God, if he be worth +calling a God, will answer such a request as that? Nay, in our own +times, have not the brigands of Naples been in the habit of carrying a +leaden image of St Januarius in their hats, and praying to it to protect +them in their trade of robbery and murder? I leave you to guess what +answer good St Januarius, and much more He who made St Januarius, and all +heaven and earth, was likely to give to such a prayer as that. + +So it is not all prayers for help that are heard, or deserve to be heard. +And indeed--I do not wish to be hard, but the truth must be spoken--there +are too many people in the world who pray to God to help them, when they +are in difficulties or in danger, or in fear of death and of hell, but +never pray at any other time, or for any other thing. They pray to be +helped out of what is disagreeable. But they never pray to be made good. +They are not good, and they do not care to become good. All they care +for, is to escape death, or pain, or poverty, or shame, when they see it +staring them in the face: and God knows I do not blame them. We are all +children, and, like children, we cry out when we are hurt; and that is no +sin to us. But that is no part of godliness, not even of mere religion. + +But worse--it is still more sad to have to say it, but it is true--most +people's notions of the next world, and of salvation, as they call it, +are just as childish, material, selfish as their notions of this world. + +They all wish and pray to be "saved." What do they mean? To be saved +from bodily pain in the next life, and to have bodily pleasure instead. +Pain and pleasure are the only gods which they really worship. They call +the former--hell. They call the latter--heaven. But they know as little +of one as of the other; and their notions of both are equally worthy +of--Shall I say it? Must I say it?--equally worthy of the savage in the +forest. They believe that they must either go to heaven or to hell. They +have, of course, no wish to go to the latter place; for whatever else +there is likely to be there--some of which might not be quite unpleasant +or new to them, such as evil-speaking, lying, and slandering, envy, +hatred, malice and all uncharitableness, bigotry included--there will be +certainly there--they have reason to believe--bodily pain; the thing +which they, being mostly comfortable people, dread most, and avoid most: +contrary, you will remember, to the opinion of the blessed martyrs, who +dreaded bodily pain least, and avoided it least, of all the ills which +could befal them. Wherefore they are, in the sight of God, and of all +true men unto this day--the blessed martyrs. + +But these people--and there are too many of them by hundreds of +thousands--do not want to be blessed. They only want to be comfortable +in this world, and in the next. As for blessedness, they do not even +know what it means; and our Lord's seven beatitudes, which begin--"Blessed +are the poor in spirit"--are not at all to their mind; even, alas! alas! +to the mind of many who call themselves religious and orthodox; at least +till they are so explained away, that they shall mean anything, or +nothing, save--I trust I am poor in spirit: and nevertheless I am right, +and everyone who differs from me is wrong. + +The plain truth is--when all fine words, whether said in prayers or sung +in hymns, are stript off--that they do not wish to go to hell and pain; +and therefore prefer, very naturally, though not very spiritually, to go +to heaven and pleasure; and so sing of "crossing over Jordan to Canaan's +shore," or of "Jerusalem the golden, with milk and honey blest," and so +forth, without any clear notion of what they mean thereby, save selfish +comfort without end; they really know not what; they really care not +where. And that they may arrive there or at a far better place; and have +their wish, and more than their wish: I for one heartily desire. But +whether they arrive there, or not; and indeed, whether they arrive at +some place infinitely better or infinitely worse, depends on whether they +will give up selfish calculations of loss and gain, selfish choosing +between mere pain and pleasure: and choose this; choose, whatever it may +cost them, between being good and being bad, or even being only half +good; as little good as they can afford to be without the pains of hell +into the bargain. + +My friends--What if Christ should answer such people--I do not say that +He does always answer them so, for He is very pitiful, and of tender +mercy;--but what if He were to answer them, Save you? Help you? O +presumptuous mortal, what have you done that Christ should save or help +you? You are afraid of being ruined. Why should you not be ruined? What +good will it be to your fellow-men if you keep your money, instead of +losing it? You are making nothing but a bad use of your money. Why +should Christ help you to keep it, and misuse it still more? + +You are afraid of death. You do not wish to die. But why should you not +die? Why should Christ save you from death? Of what use is your life to +Christ, or to any human being? If you are living a bad life, your life +is a bad thing, and does harm not only to yourself, but to your +neighbours. Why should Christ keep you alive to hurt and corrupt your +neighbours, and to set a bad example to your children? If you are not +doing your duty where Christ has put you, you are of no use, a cumberer +of the ground. What reason can you shew why He should not take you away, +and put some one in your place who _will_ do his duty? You are afraid of +being lost--why should you _not_ be lost? You are offensive, and an +injury to the universe. You are an actual nuisance on Christ's earth and +in Christ's Kingdom. Why should He not--as He has sworn--cast out of His +Kingdom all things which offend, and you among the rest? Why should He +not get rid of you, as you get rid of vermin, as you get rid of weeds; +and cast you into the fire, to be burned up with all evil things? Answer +that: before you ask Christ to save you, and deliver you from danger, and +from death, and from the hell which you so much--and perhaps so +justly--fear. + +And how that question is to be answered, I cannot see. + +Certainly the selfish man cannot answer it. The idle man cannot answer +it. The profligate man cannot answer it. They are doing nothing for +Christ; or for their neighbours, or for the human race; and they cannot +expect Christ to do anything for them. + +The only men who can answer it; the only men, it seems to me, who can +have any hope of their prayers being heard, are those who, like the +Psalmist, are trying to do something for Christ, and their neighbours, +and the human race; who are, in a word, trying to be good. Those, I +mean, who have already prayed, earnestly and often, the first prayer, +"Teach me, O Lord, Thy statutes, and I shall keep them to the end." They +have--not a right: no one has a right against Christ, no, not the angels +and archangels in heaven--not a right, but a hope, through Christ's most +precious and undeserved promises, that their prayers will be heard; and +that Christ will save them from destruction, because they are, at least, +likely to become worth saving; because they are likely to be of use in +Christ's world, and to do some little work in Christ's kingdom. + +They are God's: they are soldiers in Christ's army. They are labourers +in Christ's garden. They are on God's side in the battle of life, which +is the battle of Christ and of all good men, against evil, against sin +and ignorance, and the numberless miseries which sin and ignorance +produce. They are not the profligate; they are not the selfish, the +idle; they are not the frivolous, the insolent; they are not the wilfully +ignorant who do not care to learn, and do not even--so brutish are +they--think that there is anything worth learning in the world, save how +to turn sixpence into a shilling, and then spend it on themselves. Not +such are those who may hope to have their prayers heard, because they are +worth hearing, and worth helping. But they are the people who say to +themselves, not once in their lives, not once a week on Sundays, but +every day and all day long--I must be good; I will be good. I must be of +use; I must be doing some work for God; and therefore I must learn. I +must learn God's laws, and statutes, and commandments, about my station, +and calling, and business in life. Else how can I do it aright? I dare +no more be ignorant, than I dare be idle. I must learn. But how shall I +learn? Stupid I am, and ignorant, and the more I try to learn, the more +I discover how stupid I am. The more I do actually learn, the more I +discover how ignorant I am. There is so much to be learned; and how to +learn it passes my understanding. Who will teach me? How shall I get +understanding? How shall I get knowledge? And if I get them, how shall +I be sure that they are true understanding, and true knowledge? Mad +people have understanding enough; and so have some who are not mad, but +merely fools. Wit enough they have, active and rapid brains: but their +understanding is of no use, for it is only misunderstanding; and +therefore the more clever they are, the more foolish they are, and the +more dangerous to themselves and their fellow-creatures. Knowledge, +too--how shall I be sure that my knowledge, if I get it, is true +knowledge, and not false knowledge, knowledge which is not really +according to facts? I see too many who have knowledge for which I care +little enough. Some know a thousand things which are of no use to them, +or to any human being. Others know a thousand things: but know them in a +shallow, inaccurate fashion; and so cannot make use of them for any +practical purpose. Others know a thousand things: but know them all in a +prejudiced and one-sided fashion; till they see things not as things are, +but as they are not, and as they never will be; and therefore their +knowledge, instead of leading them, misleads them, and they misjudge +facts, misjudge men, and earth, and heaven, just as much as the man who +should misjudge the sunlight of heaven and fancy it to be green or blue, +because he looked at it through a green or blue glass. How then shall I +get true knowledge? Knowledge which will be really useful, really worth +knowing? Knowledge which I shall know accurately, and practically too, +so that I can use it in daily life, for myself and my fellow-men? +Knowledge, too, which shall be clear knowledge, not warped or coloured by +my own fancies, passions, prejudices, but pure, and calm, and sound; +Siccum Lumen, "Dry Light," as the greatest of English Philosophers called +it of old? + +To all such, who long for light, that by the light they may see to live +the life, God answers, through His only-begotten Son, The Word who +endureth for ever in heaven:-- + +"Ask, and ye shall receive; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall +be opened to you. For if ye, being evil, know how to give good gifts to +your children, much more will your heavenly Father give His Holy Spirit +to those who ask Him." + +Yes, ask for that Holy Spirit of God, that He may lead you into all +truth; into all truth, that is, which is necessary for you to know, in +order to see your way through the world, and through your duty in the +world. Ask for that Holy Spirit; that He may give you eyes to see things +as they are, and courage to feel things as they are, and to do your work +in them, and by them, whether they be pleasant or unpleasant, prosperous +or adverse. Ask Him; and He will give you true knowledge to know what a +serious position you are in, what a serious thing life is, death is, +judgment is, eternity is; that you may be no trifler nor idler, nor mere +scraper together of gain which you must leave behind you when you die: +but a truly serious man, seriously intent on your duty; seriously intent +on working God's work in the place and station to which He has called +you, before the night comes in which no man can work. + +If a man is doing that; if he is earnestly trying to learn what is true, +in order that he may do what is right; then he has--I do not say a +right--but at least a reason, or a shadow of reason, when he cries to God +in his trouble-- + +"I am Thine, oh save me, for I have sought thy commandments." + +"I am Thine." Not merely God's creature: the very birds, and bees, and +flowers are that; and do their duty far better than I--God forgive me--do +mine. + +"I am Thine." Not merely God's child: the sinners and the thoughtless +are that, though--God help them--they care not for Him, nor for His laws, +nor for themselves and their glorious inheritance as children of God. + +And I too am God's child: but I trust that I am more. I am God's school- +child. O Lord Jesus Christ, I claim Thy help as my schoolmaster, as well +as my Lord and Saviour. I am the least of Thy school-children; and it +may be the most ignorant and most stupid. I do not pretend to be a +scholar, a divine, a philosopher, a saint. I am a very weak, foolish, +insufficient personage; sitting on the lowest form in Thy great school- +house, which is the whole world; and trying to spell out the mere letters +of Thy alphabet, in hope that hereafter I may be able to make out whole +words, and whole sentences, of Thy commandments, and having learnt them, +do them. For if Thou wilt but teach me Thy statutes, O Lord, then I will +try to keep them to the end. For I long to be on Thy side, and about Thy +work. I long to help--if it be ever so little--in making myself better, +and my neighbours better. I long to be useful, and not useless; a +benefit, and not a nuisance; a fruit-bearing tree, and not a noxious +weed, in Thy garden; and therefore I hope that Thou wilt not cut me down, +nor root me up, nor let foul creatures trample me under foot. Have mercy +on me, O Lord, in my trouble, for the sake of the truth which I long to +learn, and for the good which I long to do. Poor little weak plant +though I may be, I am still a plant of Thy planting, which is doing its +best to grow, and flower, and bear fruit to eternal life; and Thou wilt +not despise the work of Thine own hands, O Lord, who died that I might +live? Thou wilt not let me perish? I have stuck unto Thy testimonies: O +Lord, confound me not. + +Therefore remember this. If you wish to have reasonable hope when you +have to pray--"Lord, save me:" pray first, and pray continually--"Teach +me, O Lord, Thy statutes, and I will keep them to the end." + + + + +SERMON XIII. THE ONE ESCAPE. + + +PSALM CXIX. 67. + + Before I was troubled, I went wrong: but now have I kept Thy Word. + +Let me speak this afternoon once more about the 119th Psalm, and the man +who wrote it. + +And first: he was certainly of a different opinion from nine persons out +of ten, I fear from ninety-nine out of a hundred, of every country, every +age, and every religion. + +For, he says--Before I was troubled, I went wrong: but now have I kept +Thy Word. Whereas nine people out of ten would say to God, if they +dared--Before I was troubled, I kept Thy Word. But now that I am +troubled; of course I cannot help going wrong. + +He makes his troubles a reason for doing right. They make their troubles +an excuse for doing wrong. + +Is it not so? Do we not hear people saying, whenever they are blamed for +doing what they know to be wrong--I could not help it? I was forced into +it. What would you have a man do? One must live; and so forth. One +finds himself in danger, and tries to lie himself out of it. Another +finds himself in difficulties, and begins playing ugly tricks in money +matters. Another finds himself in want, and steals. The general opinion +of the world is, that right-doing, justice, truth, and honesty, are very +graceful luxuries for those who can afford them; very good things when a +man is easy, prosperous, and well off, and without much serious business +on hand: but not for the real hard work of life; not for times of +ambition and struggle, any more than of distress and anxiety, or of +danger and difficulty. In such times, if a man may not lie a little, +cheat a little, do a questionable stroke of business now and then; how is +he to live? So it is in the world, so it always was; and so it always +will be. From statesmen ruling nations, and men of business "conducting +great financial operations," as the saying is now, down to the beggar- +woman who comes to ask charity, the rule of the world is, that honesty is +_not_ the best policy; that falsehood and cunning are not only +profitable, but necessary; that in proportion as a man is in trouble, in +that proportion he has a right to go wrong. + +A right to go wrong. A right to make bad worse. A right to break God's +laws, because we are too stupid or too hasty to find out what God's laws +are. A right, as the wise man puts it, to draw bills on nature which she +will _not_ honour; but return them on a man's hands with "No effects" +written across them, leaving the man to pay after all, in misery and +shame. Truly said Solomon of old--The foolishness of fools is folly. + +But the Psalmist, because he was inspired by the Spirit of God, was of +quite the opposite opinion. So far from thinking that his trouble gave +him a right to go wrong, he thought that his trouble laid on him a duty +to go right, more right than he had ever gone before; and that going +right was the only possible way of getting out of his troubles. + +"Take from me," he cries, "the way of lying, and cause Thou me to make +much of Thy law. + +"I have chosen the way of truth, and Thy judgments have I laid before me. + +"Incline mine heart unto Thy testimonies, and not unto covetousness. + +"Oh turn away mine eyes, lest they behold vanity, and quicken Thou me in +Thy way. + +"Thy word is my comfort in my trouble; for Thy word hath quickened me. + +"The proud have had me exceedingly in derision, yet have I not shrunk +from Thy law. + +"For I remembered Thine everlasting judgments, O God, and received +comfort. + +"Thy statutes have been my songs, in the house of my pilgrimage. + +"I have thought upon Thy name, O Lord, in the night-season, and have kept +Thy law." + +This was the Psalmist's plan for delivering himself out of trouble. A +very singular plan, which very few persons try, either now, or in any +age. And therefore it is, that so many persons are not delivered out of +their troubles, but sink deeper and deeper into them, heaping new +troubles on old ones, till they are crushed beneath the weight of their +own sins. + +What the special trouble was, in which the Psalmist found himself, we are +not told. But it is plain from his words, that it was just that very +sort of trouble, in which the world is most ready to excuse a man for +lying, cringing, plotting, and acting on the old devil's maxim that +"Cunning is the natural weapon of the weak." For the Psalmist was weak, +oppressed and persecuted by the great and powerful. But his method of +defending himself against them was certainly not the way of the world. + +Princes, he says, sat and spoke against him. But; instead of fawning on +them, excusing himself, entreating their mercy: he was occupied in God's +statutes. + +The proud had him exceedingly in derision--as I am afraid too many +worldly men, poor as well as rich, working men as well as idlers, would +do now--seeing him occupied in God's statutes, when he might have been +occupied in winning money, and place, and renown for himself. + +But he did not shrink from God's law. If it was true, he could afford to +be laughed at for obeying it. + +The congregation of the ungodly robbed him. But he did not forget God's +law. If they did wrong, that was no reason why he should do wrong +likewise. + +The proud imagined a lie against him. But he would keep God's +commandments with his whole heart, instead of breaking God's +commandments, and justifying their slander, and making their lie true. + +Still, it went very hard with him. His honour and his faith were sorely +tried. He was dried up like a bottle in the smoke. It seems to have +been with him at times a question of life and death; till he had hardly +any hope left. He had to ask, almost in despair--How many are the days +of Thy servant? When wilt Thou be avenged of them that persecute me? The +proud dug pits for him, contrary to the law of God; contrary to honour +and justice; and almost made an end of him upon earth. The ungodly laid +wait to destroy him. + +But against them all he had but one weapon, and one defence. However +much afraid he might be of his enemies, he was still more afraid of doing +wrong. His flesh, he said, trembled for fear of God; and he was afraid +of God's judgments. Therefore his only safety was, in pleasing God, and +not men. I deal, he says, with the thing that is lawful and right. Oh +give me not over to my oppressors. Make Thy servant to delight in what +is good, that the proud do me no wrong. If he could but keep right, he +would be safe at last. + +I will consider Thy testimonies, O Lord. I see that all things come to +an end. Bad times, and bad chances, and still more bad men, and bad ways +for escaping out of trouble--they all come to an end. But Thy +commandment is exceeding broad. Exceeding broad. There are depths below +depths of meaning in that true saying; depths which you will find true, +if you will but read your Bibles, and obey your Bibles. For in them, I +tell you openly, you will find rules to guide you in every chance and +change of this mortal life. Truly said the good man that there were in +the Bible "shallows where a lamb may drink, and deeps wherein an elephant +may swim." + +There are no possible circumstances, good or bad, pleasant or unpleasant, +in which you can find yourselves, be you rich or poor, young or old, +without finding in the Bible sound advice, and a clear rule, as to how +God would have you behave under those circumstances. For God's +commandments are exceeding broad, and take in all cases of conscience, +all details of duty; saying to each and every one of us, at every +turn--"This is the way, walk ye in it." + +At least this is the teaching, this is the testimony, this is the life- +experience, of a true hero, namely, the man who wrote the 119th Psalm; a +hero according to God, but not according to the world, and the pomp and +glory of the world. + +No great statesman was he, nor conqueror, nor merchant, nor financier +passing millions of money through his hands yearly; and all fancying that +they, and not God, govern the nations upon earth, and decide the fate of +empires. + +He was a man who made no noise in the world: though the world, it seems, +made a little noise at him in his time, as it does often bark and yell at +those who will not go its way; as it barked at poor Christian, when he +went through Vanity Fair, and would not buy its wares, or join in its +frivolities. Such a man was this Psalmist; for whom the world had +nothing but scorn first, and then forgetfulness. We do not know his +name, or where he lived. We do not even know, within a few hundred +years, when he lived. I picture him to myself always as a poor, +shrivelled, stooping, mean-looking old man; his visage marred more than +any man, and his figure more than the sons of men; no form nor comeliness +in him, nor beauty that men should desire him; despised and rejected of +men: a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief, even as his Master was +after him. + +And all that he has left behind him--as far as we can tell--is this one +psalm which he wrote, as may be guessed from its arrangement, slowly, and +with exceeding care, as the very pith and marrow of an experience spread +over many painful years of struggle and of humiliation. + +I say of humiliation. For there is not a taint of self-conceit, not even +of self-satisfaction, in him. He only sees his own weakness, and want of +life, of spirit, of manfulness, of power. His soul cleaveth to the dust. +He is tempted, of course, again and again, to give way; to become low- +minded, cowardly, time-serving, covetous, worldly. But he dares not. He +feels that his only chance is to keep his honour unspotted; and he +cries--Whatever happens,--I must do right. I must learn to do right. +Teach me to do right. Teach me, O Lord, teach me; and strengthen me, O +Lord, strengthen me, and then all must come right at last. That was his +cry. And, be you sure, he did not cry in vain. + +For this man had one precious possession; which he determined not to +lose, not though he died in trying to hold it fast; namely, the Eternal +Spirit of God; the Spirit of Righteousness, and Truth, and Justice, which +leads men into all truth. By that Spirit he saw into the Eternal Laws of +God. By that Spirit he saw who made and who administers those Eternal +Laws, even the Eternal Word of God, who endureth for ever in heaven. By +that Spirit he saw that his only hope was to keep those eternal laws. By +that Spirit he vowed to keep them. By that Spirit he had strength to +keep them. By that Spirit, when he failed he tried again; when he fell +he rose and fought on once more, to keep the commandments of the Lord. + +And where is he now? Where is he now? Where those will never come--let +false preachers and false priests flatter them as they may--who fancy +that they can get to heaven without being good and doing good. Where +those will never come, likewise, who, when they find themselves in +trouble, try to help themselves out of it by false and mean methods; and +so begin worshipping the devil, just when they have most need to worship +God. He is where the fearful and unbelievers and all liars can never +come. He is with the Word of the Lord, who endureth for ever in heaven. + +With the Word of the Lord, who endured awhile on earth, even as he the +Psalmist endured. Who before Pontius Pilate witnessed a good confession, +and endured the cross, despising the shame, because He cared neither for +riches, nor for pleasure, for power, nor for glory; but simply for His +Father's will, and His Father's law, that He might do to the uttermost +the will of His Father who sent Him, and keep to the uttermost that Law +of which His Father says to Him for ever--"Thou art my Son, to-day have I +begotten Thee." + +Into His presence may we all come at last! But we shall never come +thither, unless we keep our honour bright, our courage unbroken, and +ourselves unspotted from the world. For so only will be fulfilled in us +the sixth Beatitude--Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see +God. Unto which may God of His free mercy bring us all. Amen. + + + + +SERMON XIV. THE WORD OF GOD. + + +PSALM CXIX. 89-96. + + O Lord, Thy word endureth for ever in heaven. Thy truth also + remaineth from one generation to another: Thou hast laid the + foundation of the earth, and it abideth. They continue this day + according to Thine ordinance: for all things serve Thee. If my + delight had not been in Thy law, I should have perished in my trouble. + I will never forget Thy commandments: for with them Thou hast + quickened me. I am Thine, oh save me: for I have sought Thy + commandments. The ungodly laid wait for me to destroy me: but I will + consider Thy testimonies. I see that all things come to an end: but + Thy commandment is exceeding broad. + +This text is of infinite importance, to you, and me, and all mankind. For +if the text is not true; if there is not a Word of God, who endures and +is settled for ever in heaven: then this world is a miserable and a mad +place; and the best thing, it seems to me, that we poor ignorant human +beings can do, is to eat and drink, for to morrow we die. + +But that is not the best thing we can do; but the very worst thing. The +best thing that we can do, and the only thing worth doing is, to be good, +and do good, at all risks and all costs, trusting to the Word of God, who +endures for ever in heaven. + +But who is this Word of God? I say who, not what. We often call the +Bible the Word of God: and so it is in one sense, because it tells us, +from beginning to end, about this other Word of God. It is, so to speak, +God's word or message about this Word. But it is plain that the Psalmist +is not speaking here of the Bible; for he says-- + +"Thy Word endureth for ever in Heaven:" and the Bible is not in heaven, +but on earth. + +But in the Bible, usually, this Word of the Lord means not only the +message which God sends, but Him by whom God sends it. The Word of God, +Word of the Lord, is spoken of again and again, not as a thing, but as a +person, a living rational being, who comes to men, and speaks to them, +and teaches them; sometimes, seemingly, by actual word of mouth; +sometimes again, by putting thoughts into their minds, and words into +their mouths. + +Recollect Samuel: how when he was young the Word of the Lord was +precious--that is, uncommon, and almost unknown in those days; and how +the Lord came and called Samuel, Samuel; and put a word into his mouth +against Eli. And so the Lord appeared again in Shiloh; for the Lord +revealed Himself to Samuel in Shiloh by The Word of the Lord. In +Samuel's case, there was, it seems, an actual voice, which fell on +Samuel's ears. In the case of the later prophets, we do not read that +they usually heard any actual voice, or saw any actual appearance. It +seems that the Word of the Lord who came to them inspired their minds +with true thoughts, and inspired their lips to speak those thoughts in +noble words, often in regular poetry. But He was The Word of the Lord, +nevertheless. Again and again, we read in those grand old prophets, "The +Word of the Lord came unto me, saying,"--or again, "The Word which came +to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying." It is not the Bible which is meant +by such words as these--I am sorry to have to remind a nineteenth century +congregation of this fact--but a living being, putting thoughts into the +prophets' minds, and words into their mouths, and a divine passion too, +into their hearts, which they could not resist; like poor Jeremiah of +old, when he was reproached and derided about The Word of the Lord, and +said, "I will not make mention of Him, nor speak any more in His name. +But He was in my heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I was +weary with forbearing, and I could not hold my peace." + +But now, what words are these which we read of this same Word of the +Lord, in the first chapter of St John's Gospel? "In the beginning was +The Word: and The Word was with God, and The Word was God. By Him all +things were made, and without Him was not anything made that was made. +And in Him was life, and the life was the light of men." + +Thus--as always--the Old Testament and the New, the Psalmist and St John, +agree together. + +This is the gospel and good news, which the Psalmist saw in part, but +which St John saw fully and perfectly. But because the Psalmist saw it +even in part, he saw that The Word of the Lord endured for ever in +heaven; and that therefore his only hope of safety was to listen eagerly +and reverently for what that Word might choose to say to him. + +But why does the Psalmist seemingly go out of his way, as it were, to +say, "Thou hast laid the foundation of the earth, and it abideth. They +continue this day according to Thine ordinance, for all things serve +Thee"? + +For the very same reason that St John goes, seemingly, out of his way to +say, "All things were made by The Word, and without Him was not anything +made that was made." + +Why is this? + +Look at it thus: What an important question it is, whether This Word of +God is a being of order; a regular being; a law-abiding being; a being on +whose actions men can count; who can be trusted, and depended on, not to +alter His own ways, not to deceive us poor mortal men. + +The Psalmist wants to know his way through this world, and his duty in +this mortal life. Therefore he must learn the laws and rules of this +world. And he has the sense to see, that no one can teach him the rules +of the world, but the Ruler of the world, and the Maker of the world. + +Then comes the terrible question--too many, alas! have not got it +answered rightly yet-- + +But are there any rules at all in the world? Does The Lord manage the +world by rules and laws? Or does He let things go by chance and +accident, and take no care about them? Is there such a thing as God's +Providence: or is there not? To that the Psalmist answers firmly, +because he is inspired by the Spirit of God-- + +O Lord, Thy Word endureth--is settled--for ever in heaven. In Thee is no +carelessness, neglect, slothfulness, nor caprice. Thou hast no +variableness, neither shadow of turning. Thou hast laid the foundation +of the earth, and it abideth. They continue this day according to Thine +ordinance; for all things serve Thee. The world is full of settled and +enduring rules and laws; and God keeps to them. The Psalmist looks at +the sun, moon and stars over his head, each keeping its settled course, +and its settled season: and he sees them all obeying law. He looks at +summer and winter, seedtime and harvest: and he sees them obeying law. He +looks at birth and growth, at decay and death; and sees them too, obeying +law. He looks at the very flowers beneath his feet, and the buds in the +woodland, and all the crowd of living things about him, animal, vegetable +and mineral: and they too obey law; each after their kind. The world, he +says, is full of law. It is a settled world, an orderly world, made and +governed by a Lord of order, who makes laws and enforces laws; a Lord +whose Word endures for ever in heaven. Therefore--he feels--I can trust +that Lord. If He has laws for the beasts and birds, He must have, much +more, laws for men. If He has laws for men's bodies, much more has He +laws for their souls. What I have to do, is to ask Him to teach me those +laws, that I may live. + +But then comes another, and even a more awful question--If I ask Him, +will He teach me? Alas! alas! too many have not found the answer yet; +too many of those who know most about the Laws of Nature, and reverence +those laws most: and all honour to them for so doing; for, even though +they know it not, they are preparing the way of the Lord, and making His +paths straight. But they have not found the right answer to that +question yet. Still there the question is; and you and I, and every soul +of man, must get some reasonable answer or other to it, if we wish to be +men indeed, men in spirit and in truth; and it is this-- + +If I ask this Word of God to teach me His Laws--Will He teach me? Will +He hear me? Can He hear: or is He Himself a mere brute force, a law of +nature and necessity? And even if not, will He hear? Or is He, too, +like those Epicurean gods, of whom our great poet sings--a sad and +hopeless song:-- + + They lie beside their nectar, and the bolts are hurled + Far below them in the valleys, and the clouds are lightly curled + Round their golden houses, girdled with the gleaming world, + Where they smile in secret, looking over wasted lands, + Blight and famine, plague and earthquake, roaring deeps and fiery + sands, + Clanging fights, and flaming towns, and sinking ships, _and praying + hands_. + +_And praying hands_. Oh, my friends, is not the question of all +questions for such poor mortal souls as you and me, beset by ignorance +and weakness, and passions which are our own worst enemies, and chances +and catastrophes which we cannot avert--Is not the question of all +questions for such as us--Will this same Word of God--will any unseen +being out of the infinite void which surrounds our little speck of a +planet, take any notice of our praying hands? Will He hear us, teach us, +when we cry? Or is God, and The Word of God, like those old heathen +gods? Is He a God who hides Himself, and leaves us to despair and +chance: or is He a God who hears, and gives us even a single ray of hope? +Is He a gracious God, who will hear every man's tale, however clumsily +told, and judge it according to its merits: or even--for that is better +than dead silence and carelessness--according to its demerits? Is He a +just God? Or has He likes and dislikes, favourites and victims; as human +rulers and statesmen, and human parties too, and mobs, are wont to have? +May He not, even, like those Epicurean gods, despise men? find a proud +satisfaction in deceiving them; or at least letting them deceive +themselves?--in playing with their ignorance, and leaving them to reap +the fruits of their own childishness? + +To that the Psalmist answers--and I know not how he learnt to answer so, +save by the inspiration of the Spirit of God; for I know well that +neither flesh and blood, the experience of his own brain, thoughts, and +emotions, nor the world around him, either of nature or of man, would +ever have revealed that to him--to that he answers confidently, in spite +of all appearances-- + +Thy truth, O Lord, abideth from one generation to another. Thou art a +truthful God, a faithful God, whose word can be taken. A God in whom is +no variableness, neither shadow of turning; who keepeth His promise for +ever; true, as man can be true; and truer than the truest man. And I +know it, says he, by experience. God has actually taught me His law: for +if my delight had not been in it, I should have perished in my trouble. I +will never forget His commandments; for by them He has given me life; has +taught me what to do, and enabled me to do it, to prevent the death and +ruin of my body, and soul, and spirit. + +Now for the very same reason it is, that St John is so careful, first to +tell us that The Word of God made all things; and then to tell us that He +is full of grace and truth. + +He tells us that The Word made all things, that we may be sure that He is +a God of order, because all things which He has made are full of order; a +God who acts by rules and laws which we may trust. He tells us that The +Word made all things, that we may be sure that all things, being His +handy-work, will bear witness of Him and teach us about Him, and shew +forth His glory. + +But he tells us moreover--Oh gospel, and good news for blind and weak +humanity!--that The Word's glory is full of grace; gracious; ready to +condescend; ready to teach us, and give us light to see our way through +this world which He has made. + +He tells us that The Word's glory is full of truth; that He is truthful, +accurate, and to be depended on; and will tell us nothing but what is +true. That He is a true Word of God, and when He speaks to us of His +Father and of our Father, He tells the truth. + +And so do St John and the Psalmist agree in the same gospel, and good +news, of the mystery of Christ The Word. + +There is an eternal Being in heaven, who is called The Word of God; +because He speaks of, and reveals--that is, unveils and shews--to men, +and angels, and archangels, and all created beings, that God whom no man +hath seen, or can see; a Word who dwells for ever in the bosom of The +Father, in the light which no man can approach unto: but who for ever +comes forth from thence to proclaim to all created beings--There is a +God, and The Word is His likeness; the brightness of His glory, and the +express image of His person. None hath seen the Father at any time: but +the only-begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He hath +declared Him. None cometh to the Father, but through Him. But he who +hath seen Him, hath seen the Father; and He is none other than Jesus +Christ our Lord. + +He is The Word of God, who speaks to men God's words, because He speaks +not His own words but His Father's, and does not His own will but His +Father's who sends Him. + +He speaks to us and to all men, in many ways; and to each according to +his needs. To all men, Christ speaks through their consciences, shewing +them what is good, and warning them of what is evil; for He is the Light +that lighteth every man that cometh into the world. To Christians Christ +speaks in many ways--to which, alas, too few give heed--through the +Bible, through the sacraments, through sermons, through the thoughts and +words of all wise and holy men. To the good He speaks with gracious +encouragement; to the wicked with awful severity. To the hypocrites He +says at times, "Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape +the damnation of hell?" To the self-satisfied and bigoted He says, "If +ye had been blind, ye had had no sin: but now ye say, We see; therefore +your sin remaineth." To the careless and worldly He says, "I know thy +works, that thou art neither cold nor hot. Thou sayest, I am rich and +increased with goods, I have need of nothing: and knowest not that thou +art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked." + +To those who are ruining themselves by their own folly He says, "Why will +ye die? I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth, saith the +Lord: but rather that he should be converted, and live." To those who +are tormented by their own passions He says, "Take My yoke upon you and +learn of Me, for I am meek and lowly of heart, and ye shall find rest +unto your souls." To those who are wearied with the burden of their own +sins He says, "Come unto Me, all ye that are weary, and heavy laden, and +I will give you rest." + +To those who are struggling, however weakly, to do what is right He says, +"I know thy works. Behold, I have set before thee an open door, and none +can shut it; for thou hast a little strength, and hast kept My word, and +hast not denied My name. Because thou hast kept the word of My patience, +I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation." + +And to those who mourn for those whom they have loved and lost He says, +"Fear not, I am the first and the last, I am He that liveth, and was +dead; and behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of +hell and of death. He that believeth in Me, though he die, yet shall he +live; and he that liveth and believeth in Me shall never die." + +For every one of us, according to his character and his needs, Christ +speaks a fitting word from God, because He is The Word of God; and every +word which He speaks to us is true, and sure, and eternal, according to +the laws of God His Father. For He is The Word who endures for ever in +heaven; and though heaven and earth may pass away, His words cannot pass +away. + +Yes; Christ The Word speaks to all: but most of all to children: to the +children, of whom He said--"Suffer the little children to come to me, and +forbid them not;"--of whom He said to grown-up people, not--Except these +children be converted and become as you--He left that message for the +Pharisees of His own time, and of every age and creed: but--Except you +grown people be converted and become as little children, you, and not +they, shall in no wise enter into the kingdom of heaven. + +Let us tell children that--that Christ Himself is speaking to them. That +The Word of God is educating them. That the Light who lightens every man +who comes into the world is labouring to enlighten them, their intellect +and memory, their emotions and their consciences. Let that be the ground +of all our education of children. Then it will matter little to us who +teaches them what is miscalled secular knowledge. For we shall tell our +children--In it, too, Christ is teaching you. The understanding by which +you understand the world about you is Christ's gift. The world which you +are to understand is Christ's world; for He laid the foundation of the +earth, and it abideth. The physical laws of the universe are Christ's +laws; for all things serve Him, and continue this day according to His +ordinance. Every natural object is a result of Christ's will, and its +organization a product of Christ's mind; for without Him was not anything +made that was made. The whole course of events, great and small, is +Christ's providence; for to Him all power is given in heaven and earth. +So far, therefore, from being afraid to teach our children Natural +Science, we shall hold it a sacred duty to teach it; for it is the will +and mind of Christ, The Word of God. + +And as for morality--we shall be ready to teach that, as far as the +prudential and paying virtues are concerned, as boldly and on the very +same grounds as the merest Utilitarian. For we shall teach honesty, +courtesy, decency, self-restraint, patience, foresight, on the warrant of +the Bible; which is, that Christ has made the world so well, that sooner +or later every wise and just act rewards itself, every foolish and unjust +act punishes itself, by the very constitution of nature and society, +which again are laid down by Christ. But what of the nobler, the non- +prudential, and non-paying virtues?--call them rather graces.--Them we +shall teach our children--as I believe we can only teach them rationally +and logically, either to children or to grown-up people--by pointing them +to Christ upon His cross, and saying to them, "Behold your God!" + +For so we shall be able to train them in the orthodox doctrine of morals, +which is-- + +That there is nothing good in man which is not first in God. + +We shall be able to make them comprehend what we mean when we tell them +that they are members of Christ, and must live the Life of Christ; that +they are children of God, and as such must imitate their Father, and +become perfect, even as their Father in heaven is perfect. + +For we shall say--The pure and perfect graces, the disinterested virtues, +the unselfish virtues--obedience, mercy, chivalry, beneficence, +magnanimity, heroism,--in one word, self-sacrifice--beautiful these are: +but are they necessary? are they mere ornaments? or are they sacred +duties? The duty which dares and suffers for the thing it ought to do; +the love which dares and suffers for the thing it loves; the unselfish +spirit which looks for no reward:--why should these dwell in man? To +that we shall answer--Because they dwell for ever in God. If we are +asked--Why are they beautiful in man? we shall answer--Because they are +the very beauty and glory of God; the glory which the Incarnate Word of +God manifested to men, when He hung on the cross of Calvary; and was more +utterly then, if possible, than ever, The Word of God: because He then +declared most utterly to men the character and essence of God. Love +which is not content--as what true love is?--to be a passive sentiment, a +self-contained possibility, but which must go out of itself, pitying, +yearning, agonizing, to seek, to struggle, to suffer, and, if need be, to +die for the creature which it loves, even if that creature love it not +again. + +We need not say this to children. We need only point them to Christ upon +His cross, and trust Christ to say it to them, in their heart of hearts, +through instincts too deep for words. All we need say to our children +is--"Behold your God! He it is who inspires you with every dutiful, +generous, and unselfish impulse you have ever felt; for they are the +fruits of His Spirit. By that Spirit He was once unselfish even to the +death. By that Spirit He will enable you to carry out in action, as He +did, the unselfish instincts which He has given you; and to live the +noble life, the heroic life, the life of self-sacrifice; the life of God; +the life of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit; and +therefore the only life fit for those who are baptized into that Holy +Name." + +This is the ground and method on which we should educate our children; +for it is the ground and method on which The Word of God is educating us. + + + + +SERMON XV. I. + + +PSALM CXIX. 94. + + I am Thine, oh save me. + +Let us think seriously this afternoon of one word; the word which is the +key-note of this psalm. A very short word; for in our language there is +but one letter in it. A very common word; for we are using it all day +long when we are awake, and even at night in our dreams; and yet a very +wonderful word, for though we know well whom it means, yet what it means +we do not know, and cannot understand, no, nor can the wisest philosopher +who ever lived; and a most important word too; for we cannot get rid of +it, we cannot help thinking of it, cannot help saying it all our life +long from childhood to the grave. After death, too, we shall probably be +saying that word to ourselves, each of us, for ever and ever. If the +whole universe, sun, moon, and stars, and all that we ever thought of, or +can think of, were destroyed and became nothing, that word would probably +be left; and we should be left alone with it; and on what we meant by +that little word would depend our everlasting happiness or misery. And +what is this wonderful little word? What but the word I? Each one of us +says I--I think, I know, I feel, I ought, I ought not, I did that, and +cannot undo it: and why? Because we are not things, nor mere animals, +but persons, living souls, though our bodies are like the bodies of +animals, only more perfect, that they may be fit dwelling-places for more +perfect souls. The animals, as far as we know, do not think of +themselves each as I. Little children do not at first. They call +themselves by names by which they hear others call them: not in the first +but in the third person. After a while there grows up in them the +wonderful thought that they are persons, different from any other person +round them, and they begin to say--I want this, I like that. I trust +that I shall not seem to you as one who dreams when I say that I believe +that is a revelation from God to each child, and just what makes the +difference between him and an animal; that God teaches each child to say +I; to know that it is not a mere thing, but a person, a living soul, with +a will of its own, and a duty of its own; responsible for itself; which +ought to do some things, and ought not to do other things. And what a +solemn and awful revelation that is, we shall see more clearly, the more +we think of it. + +It may be a very dreadful and tormenting thought. It does not torment +the mere savage, who has no sense of right and wrong; who follows his own +appetites and passions, and has never learnt to say, "I ought," and "I +ought not." But it does torment the heathen when they begin to be +civilized, and to think; it has tormented them in all ages. It tormented +the old Greeks and Romans; it torments some Eastern peoples still--that +terrible thought--I am I myself, and cannot be any one else. I am +answerable for all that I ever did, or shall do; and no one can be +answerable for me. All the bad deeds I ever did, the bad thoughts I ever +thought, are mine, parts of me, and will be for ever. I can no more +escape from them than I can spring off my own shadow. But men have been +always trying to escape; to escape from the burden of their own self, and +the dread of an evil conscience; and have invented religion after +religion, often fantastic enough, often pathetic enough likewise, in +hopes of hiding from themselves the secret thought--I am I, and must be +myself for ever. But I am not what I ought to be, and therefore I may be +wrong, and miserable for ever. And how many people, in this Christian +land, are saying at this very moment to themselves, "Oh that I could get +rid of this I myself in me, which is so discontented and unhappy! Oh +that I had no conscience! Oh that I could forget myself!" And they try +to forget themselves by dissipation, by gaming, by drinking, by taking +narcotic drugs, even sometimes by suicide, as a last desperate attempt to +escape from themselves, they know not and care not whither. It is all in +vain. There is no escape from self. As the pious poet whose bust stands +beneath yonder tower has said: + + Each in his separate sphere of joy and woe + Our hermit spirits dwell, and range apart. + +I must be I, thou must be thou, he must be he, she must be she, and no +one else, throughout our mortal lives, and, for aught we can tell, for +ever; alone, each of us, with our own souls, our own thoughts, our own +actions, our own hopes, our own fears, our own deservings. Stay +alone:--with all these? Yes, and alone with one more. Each of us is +alone with God. Face to face with God, seen by Him through and through, +and directly answerable to Him at every moment of our lives, for every +deed, and word, and thought. And is that not a more terrible thought +than any? Ah! my friends, it may be. But it may be also the most +comforting of all thoughts, the only really comforting thought, if we +will but look at the question as the Psalmist looks at it, and cry with +him to God, "I am Thine, oh save the me whom Thou hast made." + +There are those, and those who deserve a respectful hearing, who will +differ from all that I have been saying, and indeed from the beliefs of +999 out of 1000 of the human race in every age. They will say--This +fancy that you are an I, a self, individual and indivisible, is but a +fancy; one of the many idols which man creates for himself, by bestowing +reality and personality on mere abstractions like this I and self. Each +man is not one indivisible, much less indestructible, thing or being. He +is really many things. He is the net result of all the organic cells of +his body, and of all the forces which act through them within, and of all +the circumstances which influence them from without, ay, and of all the +forces and circumstances which have influenced his ancestors ever since +man appeared on the earth. But because he remembers many states of +consciousness, many moments in which he was aware of sensations within +him, and of circumstances without him, therefore he strings all these +together, and talks of them as one thing which he calls I; and speaks of +them as his remembrances of himself, when really the many things are but +links of a chain which is perpetually growing at one end and dropping off +at the other. To say, therefore, that he is the same person as he was +when a child, or as he would be when an old man,--is, when we know that +every atom of his physical frame has changed again and again during the +course of years, a popular delusion, or at least a misnomer used for +convenience' sake; as when we say that the sun rises and sets, when we +know that the earth moves, and not the sun. A man, therefore, according +to this school, is really no more a person, one and indivisible, than is +the coral with its million polypes, the tree with its million buds, or +even the thunderstorm with its million vesicles of attracting and +repelling vapour. + +Now that a truth underlies such a theory as this, I am the last to deny. +How much of the character of each man is inherited, how much of it +depends on his actual bodily organization; how much of it, alas! on the +circumstances of his youth; how much of it changes with the mere physical +change from youth to old age--who does not know all this, who has ever +needed to fight for himself the battle of life? Only, I say, this is but +half the truth; and these philosophers cannot state their half-truth, +without employing the very words which they repudiate; without using the +very personal pronouns, the I and me, the thou and thee, the he and him, +to which they deny any real existence. Beside, I ask--Is the experience +and the conclusion of the vast majority of all mankind to go for nothing? +For if there be one point on which human beings have been, and are still, +agreed, it is this--that each of them is, to his joy or his sorrow, an I; +a separate person. And, I should have said, this conviction becomes +stronger and stronger in each of them, the more human they become, +civilized, and worthy of the respect and affection of their fellow-men. + +For what rises in them, or seems to rise, more and more painfully and +fiercely? What but that protest, that battle, between the everlasting I +within them, and their own passions, and motives, and circumstances; +which St Paul of old called the battle between the spirit on one side, +and the flesh and the world on the other. The nobler, surely, and +healthier, even for a moment, the manhood of any man is, the more intense +is that inward struggle, which man alone of all the animals endures. Is +it in moments of brave endeavour, whether to improve our own character, +or to benefit our fellow-men: or is it in moments of depression, +disappointment, bodily sickness, that we are tempted to say?--I will +fight no more. I cannot mend myself, or the world. I am what nature has +made me; and what I am, I must remain. I, and all I know, and all I +love, are things, not persons; parts of nature, even as the birds upon +the bough, only more miserable, because tormented by a hope which never +will be fulfilled; an empty pageant of mere phenomena, blown onward +toward decay, like dying autumn leaves, before the "everlasting storm +which no one guides." Is this the inward voice of health and strength? +or rather, for evil or for good, that voice which bids the man, the +woman, in the mysterious might of the free I within, trample on their own +passions, defy their own circumstances, even to the death; fall back, in +utter need, on the absolute instinct of self; and even though all seem +lost, say with Medea in the tragedy-- + + Che resta? Io! + +Medea?--Some one will ask, and have a right to ask--Is that the model +which you set before us? The imperious sorceress, who from the first has +known no law but self, her own passions, her own intellect; who, at last, +maddened by a grievous wrong, asserts that self by the murder of her own +babes? You might as well set before us as a model Milton's Satan. + +Just so. Remember first, nevertheless, the old maxim, that the best, +when corrupted, is the worst; that the higher the nature, when used +aright in its right place, the baser it becomes when used wrongly, in its +wrong place. When Satan fell from his right place, said the old Jews, he +became, remember, not a mere brute: but worse, a fiend. There is a deep +and true philosophy in that. As long as he was what he was meant to +be--the servant of God--he was an archangel and more; the fairest of all +the sons of the morning. When he rebelled; when in pride and self-will +he tore himself--his person--away from that God in whom he lived and +moved and had his being: the personality remained; he could still, like +Medea, fall back, even when he knew that he had rebelled against his +Creator, on his indomitable self, and reign a self-sufficing king, even +in the depths of hell. + +But the very strength and richness of that personality made him, like +Medea, only the more capable of evil. He stood, that is, his moral +health endured, only by loyalty to God. When he lost that, he fell; to +moral disease: disease the vaster, the vaster were his own capacities. + +And so it is with you, and me, and every soul of man. Only by loyalty to +God can this undying I, this self, this person, which each of us has--or +rather which each of us is--be anything but a torment and a curse; the +more terrible to us, and those around us, the stronger and the richer are +the nature and faculties through which it works. + +Wouldest thou not be a curse unto thy self? Then cry with him who wrote +the 119th Psalm--I am Thine. Oh save the me, whom Thou, O God, hast +made. + +For he who wrote that psalm had an intense conviction of his own +personality. I, and me, are words for ever in his mouth: but not in self- +satisfied conceit; nor in self-tormenting superstition, crying +perpetually, Shall I be saved? shall I be lost? No. Faith in God +delivers him from either of these follies. He is forced to think of +self. Sad, persecuted, seemingly friendless, he is alone with self: yet +not alone. For at every moment he is referring himself to his true place +in the universe; to God; God's law, God's help. The burden of self--of +mingled responsibility and weakness--is to him past bearing. It would be +utterly past bearing, if he could not cast it down, at least at moments, +at the foot of the throne of God, and cry, I am Thine. Oh save me. + +And if any should ask--as has been asked ere now--But is there not in +this tone of mind something undignified, something even abject? thus to +cry for help, instead of helping oneself? thus to depend on another +being, instead of bearing stoically with manly independence? I +answer--The Psalmist does bear stoically, just because he cries for help. +For the old Stoics cried for help; the earlier and truer-hearted of them, +at least. Some here, surely, have read Epictetus, the heathen whose +thought most exactly coincides with that of the Psalmist. If so, do they +not see what enabled him, the slave of Nero's minion, to assert himself, +and his own unconquerable personality; to defy circumstance; and to +preserve his own calm, his own honour, his own purity, amid a degradation +which might well have driven a good man to suicide? And was it not +this--The intensity of his faith in God? In God the helper, God the +guide? + +If any man here have learnt, to his own loss, to undervalue the +experience of prophets, psalmists, apostles: then let him turn to +Epictetus the heathen; and learn from that heroic slave, that the true +dignity of man lies in true faith in God. + +Nay more. It is a serious question, whether ungodliness--by which I +mean, as the Psalmist means, the assertion of self, independent of +God--whether ungodliness, I say, is ever dignified; whether, as has been +often said, Milton's still dignified Satan is not an impossible +character; whether Goethe's utterly undignified Mephistopheles is not the +true ideal of an utterly evil spirit. Ungodliness, as we see it +manifested in human beings, may be repulsive, as in the mere ruffian, +whose mouth is filled with cursing, and his feet swift to shed blood. It +may, again, be pitiable, as in those human butterflies, who live only to +enjoy, or to minister to, what they call luxury and fashion. And it may +be again--when it calmly and deliberately asserts itself to be a +philosophy, and an explanation of man and of the universe, and gives +itself magisterial airs, however courteously and kindly--it may be then, +I dare to think, a little ludicrous. + +But as for its dignity, I leave to you to say which of the two beings is +the more dignified, which the more abject--a little organism of flesh and +blood, at most not more than six feet high, liable to be destroyed by a +tile off the roof, or a blast of foul gas, or a hundred other accidents; +standing self-poised and self-complacent in the centre of such an +universe as this, and asserting that it acknowledges no superior, and +needs no guide--or the same being, awakened to the mystery of his own +actual weakness, his possible strength; his own actual ignorance, his +possible wisdom; his own actual sinfulness, his possible holiness: and +then; by a humility which is the highest daring; by a self-distrust which +is the truest self-assertion, vindicating the divine element within, by +taking personal and voluntary service under no less a personage than Him +who made him; and crying directly to the Creator of sun and stars and all +the universe--I am Thine. Oh save the me which Thou hast made? + +Make up your own minds, make up your minds, which of the two figures is +the more abject, which the more dignified. For me, I have had too good +cause, long since, to make up mine. + +And if you wish to judge further for yourselves, whether the teaching of +the Psalmist is more likely to produce an abject or a dignified +character, I advise you to ponder carefully a certain singular--I had +almost said unique--educational document, written by men who had +thoroughly imbibed the teaching of this psalm; a document which, the +oftener I peruse it, arouses in me more and more admiration; not only for +its theology, but for its knowledge of human nature; and not only for +what it does, but for what it does not, say. I mean the Catechism of the +Church of England. + +You will remark at first sight, that it does not affect to teach the +child; with one remarkable exception to be hereafter noticed. It does +not tell the child--You should do this, you should not do that. + +It is strictly an Educational Catechism. It tries to educe--that is, +draw out--what is in the child already; its own native instincts and +native conscience. Therefore it makes the child speak for itself. It +makes each child feel that he or she is an I; a person, a responsible +soul. It begins--What is your name? It makes the child confess that it +has a name, as a sign that it is a person, a self, a soul, different from +all other persons in earth or heaven; and that its name was given it at +baptism, for a sign that God made it a person, and wishes it to know that +it is a person, and will teach it how to be a true person, and a good +person. It teaches the child to say--I, and me, not in fear and dread, +like those heathen of whom I spoke just now, but with manly confidence, +and self-respect, and gratitude to God who has made it a person, and an +immortal soul. + +To say--I am a person; and in order that I might be a right kind of +person, and not a wrong kind, I was made a member of Christ, a child of +God, and an inheritor of the kingdom of heaven. + +To say--I am a person; and that I may be a right kind of person, I must +know and believe certain things concerning God Himself, Father, Son, and +Holy Ghost. I am a person; and that I may be a right kind of person, I +must keep certain commandments and do certain duties toward God, and my +parents, and my Queen, and my country, and my neighbour, and all toward +whom I am responsible for right behaviour. + +And then, and only then, after it has made the child say all this for +itself and about itself, the Catechism does begin to teach; and in a few +very short words, tell the child about that which is not itself-- + +"My good child, know this, that thou art not able to do these things of +thyself, nor to walk in the Commandments of God, and to serve Him, +without His special grace; which thou must learn at all times to call for +by diligent prayer." + +Now consider these words. There is comfort and strength in them; comfort +for the child; comfort for you, and me, and every human being who has +awakened to the sense of his own personal responsibility, and finds it +too often a burden heavier than he--and, alas, often, she--can bear. + +The Catechism tells the child that it must not merely know doctrines +about God, or do duties to God; but more: that it is alone with God +Himself, face to face with God Himself day and night. But that therefore +it is to dread God, and look up to God as a taskmaster and tyrant, and +try to hide from God's awful eye, and forget God, and forget itself--if +it can?--God forbid; God forbid. The Catechism leaves such teaching for +those Pharisees who tell little children that unless they are converted, +and become as them, they shall in no wise enter into the kingdom of +heaven. The Catechism says, My good child--not, My bad child--know this. +Know that thou art weak: but know that God is strong; and look up to Him +as the Father of all fathers, the Teacher of all teachers, the Helper of +all helpers, the Friend of all friends, who has I called thee unto His +kingdom of grace, that He might shew thee graciousness; and make thee +gracious and graceful in all thy thoughts, and works, and ways: and, +therefore, far from trying to hide from Him, call on Him with diligent +prayer. For the Father of all fathers is the Father of thy soul, the Son +of all sons died for thee upon the Cross, the Holy Spirit of all holy +spirits will make thee a holy spirit and person, even as He is a Holy +Spirit and Person Himself. + +Believing those words, no one will dare to forget to say his prayers. For +when he prays, he is indeed a person. He is himself; and not ashamed, +however sinful, to be himself; and to tell God about himself. Oh, think +of that. You, each of you, have a right, as God's children, to speak to +the God who made the universe. Therefore be sure, that when you dislike +to say your prayers, it is because you do not like to be what you are, a +person; and prefer--ah foolish soul--to be a thing, and an animal. + +Believing those words, no man need long to forget himself, to escape from +himself. He can lift up himself to God who made him, with reverence, and +fear, and yet with gratitude and trust, and say-- + +I, Lord, am I; and what I am--a very poor, pitiful, sinful person. But +Thou, Lord, art Thou; and what Thou art--happily for me, and for the +whole universe--Perfect. Thou art what Thou oughtest to be--Goodness +itself. And therefore Thou canst, and Thou wilt, make me what I ought to +be at last, a good person. To thee, O Lord, I can bring the burden of +this undying I, which I carry with me, too often in shame and sadness, +and ask Thee to help me to bear it; saying--"Thou knowest, Lord, the +secrets of our hearts. Shut not Thy merciful ears to our prayers: but +spare us, O Lord most Holy, O God most Mighty, Thou worthy Judge Eternal, +and suffer us not, for any temptation of the world, the flesh or the +devil, to fall from Thee." Guide me, teach me, strengthen me, till I +become such a person as Thou wouldst have me be; pure and gentle, +truthful and high-minded, brave and able, courteous and generous, dutiful +and useful, like Thy Son Jesus Christ when He increased not only in +stature, but in favour with God and man. + +To which may God in His mercy bring us all! Amen. + + + + +SERMON XVI. THE CEDARS OF LEBANON. + + +PSALM CIV. 16. + + The trees of the Lord are full of sap; the cedars of Lebanon, which He + hath planted. + +Let me say a few words this afternoon about the noble 104th Psalm, which +was read this afternoon, as it is now in many churches, and most wisely +and rightly, as the Harvest Psalm. It is a fit psalm for a service in +which we thank God for such harvest as He has thought best to send us, +whether it be above or below the average. But it is also a fit psalm to +be thought earnestly over just now, considering the turn which men's +minds are taking more and more in these times in which it has pleased God +that we should live. For we have lost, all of us, unlearned as well as +learned, the old superstitious notions about this world around us which +our forefathers held for many hundred years. No rational person now +believes that witches can blight crops or cattle, or that evil spirits +cause storms. No one now believes that nymphs and fairies live in +fountains or in trees; or that the spirits of the planets rule the fates +of men. That old belief is gone, for good and for evil, and it was good +that it should go; for it was false: and falsehoods can do no good, but +only harm, to any man, in body and in soul alike. It has died out +quickly and strangely. Some say that modern science has destroyed it. I +can hardly agree to that: for it has died out--and that almost since my +own recollection and under my own eyes--in the minds of country people, +who know nothing of science. I had rather say--as I presume the man who +wrote the 104th Psalm would have said--The Lord has taken the belief out +of men's hearts and minds. And I cannot but hope that He has taken it +away, and allows us to believe no more in demons and fairies ruling the +world around us, in order that we may believe in Him, and nothing but +Him, the true Ruler of the world; in Him of whom it is written, "Him +shalt thou worship, and Him only shalt thou serve;" even God the Father, +of whom are all things, and God the Son, by whom are all things, and God +the Holy Spirit, who is the Lord and Giver of life, alike to sun and +stars over our heads, and to the meanest weed and insect under our feet; +the Lord and Giver of life alike to matter and spirit, soul and body, +worm and man, and angel and archangel before the throne of God. I hope +it is so. I trust it is so. For we never had more need than now to +believe with all our hearts in the living God; to take into all our +hearts the teaching of the 104th Psalm. For now that we have given up +believing in superstitions, we are in danger of going to the other +extreme, and believing in nothing at all which we cannot see with our +eyes, and handle with our hands. Now that we have given up believing in +the fabled supernatural; in ghosts, fairies, demons, witches, and such- +like: we are in danger of giving up believing in the true and eternal +supernatural, which is the Holy Spirit of God, by whom the whole creation +is kept alive and sound. We are in danger of falling into a low, stupid, +brutish view of this wonderful world of God in which we live; in danger +of thinking of nature--that is, of the things which we can see and +handle--only as something of which we can make use--till we fall as low +as that poor ruffian, of whom the poet says: + + A primrose on the river's brim + A yellow primrose was to him, + And it was nothing more. + +Lower, that is, than even our own children, whom God has at least taught +to admire and love the primroses for their beauty--as something precious +and divine, quite independent of their own emotions about them. Men in +these days are but too likely to fall into the humour of those poor +savages, of whom one who knows them well said to me once--bitterly but +truly--that when a savage sees anything new, however wonderful or +beautiful, he has but two thoughts about it; first--Will it hurt me? and +next--Can I eat it? And from that truly brutish view of God's world, we +shall be delivered, I believe, only by taking in with our whole hearts +the teaching of the 104th Psalm; which is indeed the teaching of all Holy +Scripture throughout. + +The Psalmist, in the passage which I have chosen, is talking of the +circulation of water on the earth; how wisely and well it is ordered; how +the vapours rise off the sea, till the waters stand above the mountain- +tops, to be brought down in thunder-storms--for in his country, as in +many hot ones, thunder was generally needed, at the end of the dry +season, to bring down the rain; how it forms springs in the highland, and +flows down from thence in brooks and rivers, making the whole lowland +green and fertile. Well--all very true, you may say. But that is simply +a matter of science, or indeed of common observation and common sense. It +is not a subject for a psalm or for a sermon. + +True: in the words in which I have purposely put it. But not in the +words in which the Psalmist puts it; and which I purposely left out, to +shew you just the difference between even the soundest science, and +faith. He brings in another element, which is the true cause of the +circulation of water; and that is, none other but Almighty God. + +This is the way in which the inspired Psalmist puts it; and this is the +truth of it all; this is the very kernel and marrow and life and soul of +it all: while the facts which I told you just now are the mere shell and +dead skeleton of it--"_Thou_ sendest the springs into the rivers." + +Thou art the Lord of the lightning and of the clouds, the Lord of the +highlands and of the lowlands, and the Lord of the rainfall and of the +drought, the Lord of good seasons and of bad, of rich harvests and of +scanty. They, like all things, obey Thine everlasting laws; and of them, +whatever may befal, poor purblind man can say in faith and hope--"It is +the Lord, let Him do what seemeth Him good." + +Yes. He was not of course a man of science, in the modern sense of the +word, this old Psalmist. But this I know, that he was a man of science +in the soundest and deepest sense; an inspired philosopher, as well as an +inspired poet; and had the highest of all sciences, which is the science +and knowledge of the living God. For he saw God in everything and +everything in God. + +But--he says--the trees of the Lord are full of sap; even the cedars of +Lebanon which He hath planted. Why should he say that specially of the +cedars? Did not God make all trees? Does He not plant all wild trees, +and every flower and seed? My dear friends, happy are you if you believe +that in spirit and in truth. But let me tell you that I think you would +not have believed that, unless the Psalmist, and others who wrote the +Holy Scriptures, had told you about trees of God, and rivers of God, and +winds of God, and had taught you that the earth is the Lord's and the +fulness thereof. You do not know--none of us can know--how much we owe +to the Bible for just and rational, as well as orthodox and Christian, +notions of the world around us. We, and--thank God--our forefathers for +hundreds of years, have drunk in Bible thoughts, as it were, with our +mother's milk; till much that we have really learnt from the Bible we +take as a matter of course, as self-evident truths which we have found +out for ourselves by common sense. + +And yet, so far from that being the case, if it had not been for the +Bible, we might be believing at this moment, that one god made one tree, +and another another; that one tree was sacred to one god, and another +flower to another goddess, as the old Greeks believed; and that the wheat +and barley were the gift, and therefore the property, of some special +deity; and be crying now in fear and trembling to the sun-god, or the +rain-god, or some other deified power of nature, because we fancied that +they were angry with us, and had therefore sent us too much rain and a +short harvest. + +It is difficult, now-a-days, to make even cultivated people understand +the follies of those who, like the heathen round the Jews, worshipped +many gods: and all the more because our modern folly runs in a different +channel; because we are tempted, not to believe in many gods, but in no +God at all; to believe not that one god made one thing and another +another, but that all things have made themselves. + +When Hiram, king of Tyre, sent down timber cut from the cedars of +Lebanon, to build the temple of God for Solomon; his heathen workmen, +probably, were angry and terrified at what they were doing. They said +among themselves--"These cedars belong to Baal, or to Melkart, the gods +of Tyre. Our king has no right to send them to build the temple of +Jehovah, the God of the Jews. It is a robbery, and a sacrilege; and Baal +will be angry with us; and curse us with drought and blight." + +But now-a-days men say--"The cedars of Lebanon are not God's trees, nor +are any other trees. They belong to nature." Now I believe in nature no +more than I do in Baal. Nature is merely things--a great many things it +is true, but only things--and when I add them all up together, and call +them nature, as if they were one thing, I make an abstraction of them. +There is no harm in that: but if I treat that abstraction as if it really +existed, and did anything, then I make of it an idol, the which I have no +mind to do. I believe, I say, in nature no more than I do in Baal. Both +words were at first symbols; and both have become in due course of time +mere idols. But those who worship nature and not God, say now--God did +not make trees; they were made by the laws of nature and nothing else. +Well: I believe that the so-called philosophers who say that, will be +proved at last to be no more right, and no more rational, than those +heathen workmen of Tyre. But meanwhile, what the Psalmist says, and what +the Bible says, is--Those trees belong to God. He made them, He made all +things; the sap--the mysterious life in them, by which each grows and +seeds according to its kind--is His gift. Their growth is ordered by +Him; and so are all things in earth and heaven. + +Then why speak of them especially as trees of God? Because, my friends, +we can only find out that something is true of many things, by finding +out that it is true of one thing; and that we usually find out by some +striking instance; some case about which there can be no mistake. And +these cedars of Lebanon were, and are still, such a striking instance, +which there was no mistaking. Upon the slopes of the great snow-mountain +of Lebanon stood those gigantic cedar-trees--whole forests of them +then--now only one or two small groups, but awful, travellers tell us, +even in their decay. Whence did they come? There are no trees like them +for hundreds, I had almost said for thousands, of miles. There are but +two other patches of them left now on the whole earth, one in the Atlas, +one in the Himalaya. The Jews certainly knew of no trees like them; and +no trees either of their size. There were trees among them then, +probably, two and three hundred feet in height; trees whose tops were as +those minster towers; whose shafts were like yonder pillars; and their +branches like yonder vaults. No king, however mighty, could have planted +them up there upon the lofty mountain slopes. The Jew, when he entered +beneath the awful darkness of these cedars; the cedars with a shadowy +shroud--as the Scripture says--the cedars high and lifted up, whose tops +were among the thick boughs, and their height exalted above all the trees +of the field; fair in their greatness; their boughs multiplied, and their +branches long--for it is in such words of awe and admiration that the +Bible talks always of the cedars--then the Jew said, "God has planted +these, and God alone." And when he thought, not merely of their grandeur +and their beauty, but of their use; of their fragrant and incorruptible +timber, fit to build the palaces of kings, and the temples of gods; he +said--and what could he say better?--"These are trees of God;" wonderful +and glorious works of a wonderful and a glorious Creator. If he had not, +he would have had less reason in him, and less knowledge of God, than the +Hindoos of old; who when they saw the other variety of the cedar growing, +in like grandeur, on the slopes of the Himalaya, called them the +Deodara--which means, in the old Sanscrit tongue, neither more nor less +than "the timber of God," "the lance of God"--and what better could they +have said? + +My friends, I speak on this matter from the fulness of my heart. It has +happened to me--through the bounty of God, for which I shall be ever +grateful--to have spent days in primeval forests, as grand, and far +stranger and far richer than that of Lebanon and its cedars; amid trees +beside which the hugest tree in Britain would be but as a sapling; +gorgeous too with flowers, rich with fruits, timbers, precious gums, and +all the yet unknown wealth of a tropic wilderness. And as I looked up, +awestruck and bewildered, at those minsters not made by hands, I found +the words of Scripture rising again and again unawares to my lips, and +said--Yes: the Bible words are the best words, the only words for such a +sight as this. These too are trees of God which are full of sap. These, +too, are trees, which God, not man, has planted. Mind, I do not say that +I should have said so, if I had not learnt to say so from the Bible. +Without the Bible I should have been, I presume, either an idolater or an +atheist. And mind, also, that I do not say that the Psalmist learnt to +call the cedars trees of God by his own unassisted reason. I believe the +very opposite. I believe that no man can see the truth of a thing unless +God shews it him; that no man can find out God, in earth or heaven, +unless God condescends to reveal Himself to that man. But I believe that +God did reveal Himself to the Psalmist; did enlighten his reason by the +inspiration of His Holy Spirit; did teach him, as we teach a child, what +to call those cedars; and, as it were, whispered to him, though with no +audible voice: "Thou wishest to know what name is most worthy whereby to +call those mighty trees: then call them trees of God. Know that there is +but one God, of whom are all things; and that they are His trees; and +that He planted them, to shew forth His wisdom, His power, and His good +will to man." + +And do you fancy that because the Jew called the great cedars trees of +God, that therefore he thought that the lentiscs and oleanders, by the +brook outside, were not God's shrubs; or the lilies and anemones upon the +down below were not God's flowers? Some folk have fancied so.--It seems +to me most unreasonably. I should have thought that here the rule stood +true; that that which is greater contains the less; that if the Psalmist +knew God to be mighty enough to make and plant the cedars, he would think +Him also mighty enough to make and plant the smallest flower at his feet. +I think so. For I know it was so with me. My feeling that those +enormous trees over my head were God's trees, did not take away in the +least from my feeling of God's wisdom and power in the tiniest herb at +their feet. Nay rather, it increased my feeling that God was filling all +things with life and beauty; till the whole forest,--if I may so speak in +all humility, but in all honesty--from the highest to the lowest, from +the hugest to the smallest, and every leaf and bud therein, seemed full +of the glory of God. And if I could feel that,--being the thing I am--how +much more must the inspired Psalmist have felt it? You see by this very +psalm that he did feel it. The grass for the use of cattle, and the +green herb for men, and the corn and the wine and the oil, he says, are +just as much God's making, and God's gift. The earth is "filled," he +says, "with the fruit of God's works." Filled: not dotted over here and +there with a few grand and wonderful things which God cares for, while He +cares for nothing else: but filled. Let us take the words of Scripture +honestly in their whole strength; and believe that if the Psalmist saw +God's work in the great cedars, he saw it everywhere else likewise. + +Nay, more: I will say this. That I believe it was such teaching as that +of this very 104th Psalm--teaching which runs, my friends, throughout the +Old Testament, especially through the Psalmists and the Prophets--which +enabled the Jews to understand our Lord's homely parables about the +flowers of the field and the birds of the air. Those of them at least +who were Israelites indeed; those who did understand, and had treasured +up in their hearts, the old revelation of Moses, and the Psalmists, and +the Prophets; those who did still believe that the cedars were the trees +of God, and that God brought forth grass for the cattle, and green herb +for the service of men; and who could see God's hand, God's laws, God's +love, working in them--those men and women, be sure, were the very ones +who understood our Lord, when He said, "Consider the lilies of the field, +how they grow. They toil not, neither do they spin. And yet I say unto +you, that Solomon in all his glory was not compared unto one of these." + +And why should it not be so with you, townsfolk though you are? Every +Londoner has now, in the public parks and gardens, the privilege of +looking on plants and flowers, more rich, more curious, more varied than +meet the eye of any average countryman. Then when you next avail +yourselves of that real boon of our modern civilization, let me beg you +not to forget the lesson which I have been trying to teach you. + +You may feel--you ought to feel--that those strange and stately +semitropic forms are indeed plants of God; the work of a creative Spirit +who delights to employ His Almighty power in producing ever fresh shapes +of beauty--seemingly unnecessary, seemingly superfluous, seemingly +created for the sake of their beauty alone--in order that the Lord may +delight Himself in His works. Let that sight make you admire and +reverence more, not less, the meanest weed beneath your feet. Remember +that the very weeds in your own garden are actually more highly +organized; have cost--if I may so say, with all reverence, but I can only +speak of the infinite in clumsy terms of the finite--the Creator more +thought, more pains, than the giant cedars of Lebanon, and the giant +cypresses of California. Remember that the smallest moss or lichen which +clings upon the wall, is full of wonders and beauties, as inexplicable as +unexpected; and that of every flower on your own window-sill the words of +Christ stand literally true--that Solomon in all his glory was not +arrayed as one of these: and bow your hearts and souls before the +magnificent prodigality, the exquisite perfection of His work, who can +be, as often as He will, greatest in that which is least, because to His +infinity nothing is great, and nothing small; who hath created all +things, and for His pleasure they are, and were created; who rejoices for +ever in His own works, because He beholds for ever all that He makes, and +it is very good. + +And then refresh your hearts as well as your brains--tired it may be, too +often, with the drudgery of some mechanical, or merely calculating, +occupation--refresh your hearts, I say, by lifting them up unto the Lord, +in truly spiritual, truly heavenly thoughts; which bring nobleness, and +trust, and peace, to the humblest and the most hardworked man. + +For you can say in your hearts--All the things which I see, are God's +things. They are thoughts of God. God gives them law, and life, and +use. My heavenly Father made them. My Saviour redeemed them with His +most precious blood, and rules and orders them for ever. The Holy Spirit +of God, which was given me at my baptism, gives them life and power to +grow and breed after their kinds. The divine, miraculous, and +supernatural power of God Himself is working on them, and for them, +perpetually: and how much more on me, and for me, and all my children, +and fellow-creatures for whom Christ died. Without my Father in heaven +not a sparrow falls to the ground: and am I not of more value than many +sparrows? God feeds the birds: and will He not feed me? God clothes the +lilies of the field: and will He not clothe me? Ah, me of little faith, +who forget daily that in God I live, and move, and have my being, and am, +in spite of all my sins, the child of God. Him I can trust in prosperous +times, and in disastrous times; in good harvests and in bad harvests; in +life and in death, in time and in eternity. For He has given all things +a law which cannot be broken. And they continue this day as at the +beginning, serving Him. And if I serve Him likewise, then shall I be in +harmony with God, and with God's laws, and with God's creatures, great +and small. The whole powers of nature as well as of spirit will be +arrayed on my side in the struggle for existence; and all things will +work together for good to those who love God. + + + + +SERMON XVII. LIFE. + + +PSALM CIV. 24, 28-30. + + O Lord, how manifold are Thy works! in wisdom hast Thou made them all: + the earth is full of Thy riches. + + That Thou givest them they gather. Thou openest Thine hand, they are + filled with good. Thou hidest Thy face, they are troubled. Thou + takest away their breath, they die, and return to their dust. Thou + sendest forth Thy Spirit, they are created: and Thou renewest the face + of the earth. + +What is the most important thing to you, and me, and every man? + +I suppose that most, if they answered honestly, would say--Life. I will +give anything I have for my life. + +And if some among you answered--as I doubt not some would--No: not life: +but honour and duty. There is many a thing which I would rather die than +do--then you would answer like valiant and righteous folk; and may God +give you grace to keep in the same mind, and to hold your good resolution +to the last. But you, too, will agree that, except doing your duty, life +is the most important thing you have. The mother, when she sacrifices +her life to save her child, shews thereby how valuable she holds the +child's life to be; so valuable that she will give up even her own to +save it. + +But did you never consider, again--and a very solemn and awful thought it +is--that this so important thing called life is the thing, above all +other earthly things, of which we know least--ay, of which we know +nothing? + +We do not know what death is. We send a shot through a bird, and it +falls dead--that is, lies still, and after a while decays again into the +dust of the earth, and the gases of the air. But what has happened to +it? How does it die? How does it decay? What is this life which is +gone out of it? No man knows. Men of science, by dissecting and making +experiments, which they do with a skill and patience which deserve not +only our belief, but our admiration, will describe to us the phenomena, +or outward appearances, which accompany death, and follow death. But +death itself--for want of what the animal has died--what has gone out of +it--they cannot tell. No man can tell; for that is invisible, and not to +be discovered by the senses. They are therefore forced to explain death +by theories, which may be true, or false: but which are after all not +death itself, but their own thoughts about death put into their own +words. Death no man can see: but only the phenomena and effects of +death; and still more, life no man can see: but only the phenomena and +effects of life. + +For if we cannot tell what death is, still more we cannot tell what life +is. How life begins; how it organizes each living thing according to its +kind; and makes it grow; how it gives it the power of feeding on other +things, and keeping up its own body thereby: of this all experiments tell +us as yet nothing. Experiment gives us, here again, the phenomena--the +visible effects. But the causes it sees not, and cannot see. + +This is not a matter to be discussed here. But this I say, that +scientific men, in the last generation or two, have learnt, to their +great honour, and to the great good of mankind--everything, or almost +everything, about it--except the thing itself; and that, below all facts, +below all experiments, below all that the eye or brain of man can +discover, lies always a something nameless, invisible, imponderable, yet +seemingly omnipresent and omnipotent; retreating before the man of +science deeper and deeper, the deeper he delves: namely, the life, which +shapes and makes all phenomena, and all facts. Scientific men are +becoming more and more aware of this unknown force, I had almost said, +ready to worship it. More and more the noblest minded of them are +becoming engrossed with that truly miraculous element in nature which is +always escaping them, though they cannot escape it. How should they +escape it? Was it not written of old--Whither shall I go from Thy +presence? and whither shall I flee from Thy Spirit? + +What then can we know of this same life, which is so precious in most +men's eyes? + +My friends, it was once said--That man's instinct was in all unknown +matters to take refuge in God. The words were meant as a sneer. I, as a +Christian, glory in them; and ask, Where else should man take refuge, +save in God? When man sees anything--as he must see hundreds of +things--which he cannot account for; things mysterious, and seemingly +beyond the power of his mind to explain: what safer, what wiser word can +he say than--This is the Lord's doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes? +God understands it: though I do not. Be it what it may, it is a work of +God. From God it comes: by God it is ruled and ordered. That at least I +know: and let that be enough for me. And so we may say of life. When we +are awed, and all but terrified, by the unfathomable mystery of life, we +can at least take refuge in God. And if we be wise, we shall take refuge +in God. Whatever we can or cannot know about it, this we know; that it +is the gift of God. So thought the old Jewish Prophets and Psalmists; +and spoke of a breath of God, a vapour, a Spirit of God, which breathed +life into all things. It was but a figure of speech, of course: but if a +better one has yet been found, let the words in which it has been written +or spoken be shewn to me. For to me, at least, they are yet unknown. I +have read, as yet, no wiser words about the matter than those of the old +Jewish sages, who told how, at the making of the world, the Spirit, or +breath, of God moved on the face of the waters, quickening all things to +life; or how God breathed into man's nostrils the breath or spirit of +life, and man became a living soul. + +And in the same temper does that true philosopher and truly inspired +Psalmist, who wrote the 139th Psalm, speak of the Spirit or breath of +God. He considers his own body: how fearfully and wonderfully it is +made; how God did see his substance, yet being imperfect; and in God's +book were all his members written, which day by day were fashioned, while +as yet there was none of them. "Thou," he says, "O God, hast fashioned +me behind and before, and laid Thine hand upon me. Such knowledge is too +wonderful and excellent for me; I cannot attain to it." "But," he says +to himself, "there is One Who has attained to it; Who does know; for He +has done it all, and is doing it still: and that is God and the Spirit of +God. Whither"--he asks--"shall I go then from God's Spirit? Whither +shall I flee from God's presence?" And so he sees by faith--and by the +highest reason likewise--The Spirit of God, as a living, thinking, acting +being, who quickens and shapes, and orders, not his mortal body merely, +but all things; giving life, law, and form to all created things, from +the heights of heaven to the depths of hell; and ready to lead him and +hold him, if he took the wings of the morning and fled into the uttermost +parts of the sea. + +And so speaks again he who wrote the 104th Psalm, and the text which I +have chosen. To him, too, the mystery of death, and still more the +mystery of life, could be explained only by faith in God, and in the +Spirit of God. If things died, it was because God took away their +breath, and therefore they returned to their dust. And if things lived, +it was because the Spirit of God, breathed forth, and proceeding, from +God, gave them life. He pictured to himself, I dare to fancy, what we +may picture to ourselves--for such places have often been, and are now, +in this world--some new and barren land, even as the very gravel on which +we stand was once, just risen from the icy sea, all waste and lifeless, +without a growing weed, an insect, even a moss. Then, gradually, seeds +float thither across the sea, or are wafted by the winds, and grow; and +after them come insects; then birds; then trees grow up; and larger +animals arrive to feed beneath their shade; till the once barren land has +become fertile and rich with life, and the face of the earth is renewed. +But by what? "God," says the Psalmist, "has renewed the face of the +earth." True, the seeds, the animals came by natural causes: but who was +the Cause of those causes? Who sent the things thither, save God? And +who gave them life? Who kept the life in floating seeds, in flying +spores? Who made that life, when they reached the barren shore, grow and +thrive in each after their kind? Who, but the Spirit of God, the Lord +and Giver of life? God let His Spirit proceed and go forth from Himself +upon them; and they were made; and so He renewed the face of the earth. + +That, my good friends, is not only according to Scripture, but according +to true philosophy. Men are slow to believe it now: and no wonder. They +have been always slow to believe in the living God; and have made +themselves instead dead gods--if not of wood and stone, still out of +their own thoughts and imaginations; and talk of laws of nature, and long +abstractions ending in ation and ality, like that "Evolution" with which +so many are in love just now; and worship them as gods; mere words, the +work of their own brains, though not of their own hands--even though they +be--as many of them are--Evolution, I hold, among the rest--true and fair +approximations to actual laws of God. But before them, and behind them, +and above them and below them, lives the Author of Evolution, and of +everything else. For God lives, and reigns, and works for ever. The +Spirit of God proceedeth from the Father and the Son, giving, evolving, +and ruling the life of all created things; and what we call nature, and +this world, and the whole universe, is an unfathomable mystery, and a +perpetual miracle, The one Author and Ruler of which is the ever-blessed +Trinity, of whom it is written--"The glorious majesty of the Lord shall +endure for ever: the Lord shall rejoice in His works." + +I believe, therefore, that the Psalmist in the text is speaking, not +merely sound doctrine but sound philosophy. I believe that the simplest +and the most rational account of the mystery of life is that which is +given by the Christian faith; and that the Nicene Creed speaks truth and +fact, when it bids us call the Holy Spirit of God the Lord and Giver of +life. + +That this is according to the orthodox Catholic Faith there is no doubt. +Many mistakes were made on this matter, in the early times of the Church, +even by most learned and holy divines; as was to be expected, considering +the mysteriousness of the subject. They were inclined, often, to what is +called Pantheism--that is, to fancy that all living things are parts of +God; that God's Spirit is in them, as our soul is in our body, or as heat +is in a heated matter; and to speak of God's Spirit as the soul and life +of the world. + +But this is exactly what the Nicene Creed does not do. It does not say +that the Holy Spirit is life: but that He is the Lord and Giver of life--a +seemingly small difference in words: but a most vast and important +difference in meaning and in truth. + +The true doctrine, it seems to me, is laid down most clearly by the +famous bishop, Cyril of Alexandria; who, whatever personal faults he +had--and they were many--had doubtless dialectic intellect enough for +this, and even deeper questions. And he says--"The Holy Spirit moves all +things that are moved; and holds together, and animates, and makes alive, +the whole universe. Nor is He another Nature different from the Father +and the Son: but as He is in us; of the same nature and the same essence +as they." And so says another divine, Eneas of Gaza--"The Father, with +the Son, sends forth the Holy Spirit; and inspiring with this Spirit all +things, beyond sense and of sense--invisible and visible--fills them with +power, and holds them together, and draws them to Himself." And he prays +thus to the Holy Spirit a prayer which is to my mind as noble as it is +true--"O Holy Spirit, by whom God inspires, and holds together, and +preserves all things, and leads them to perfection." I quote such words +to shew you that I am not giving you new fancies of my own: but simply +what I believe to be the ancient, orthodox and honest meaning of that +same Nicene Creed, which you just new heard; where it says that the Holy +Spirit is the Lord and Giver of life; and the meaning of the 104th Psalm +also, where it says--"Thou lettest Thy breath--Thy Spirit--go forth, and +they shall be made, and Thou shall renew the face of the earth." + +And now--if anyone shall say--This may be all very true. But what is it +to me? You are talking about nature; about animals and plants, and lands +and seas. What I come to church to hear of, is about my own soul-- + +I should answer such a man--My good friend, you come to church to hear +about God as well as about what you call your soul. And any sound +knowledge which you can learn about God, must be--believe me--of use to +your immortal soul. For if you have wrong notions concerning God: how +can you avoid having wrong notions concerning your soul, which lives and +moves and has its being in God? + +But look at it thus. At least I have been speaking of the works of God. +And are not you, too, a work of God? The Lord shall rejoice in His +works, even to the tiniest gnat that dances in the sun. Is the Lord +rejoicing in you? I have said--Whither shall a man go from God's +presence? Are you forgetting or remembering God's presence? And--Whither +shall a man flee from God's Spirit? Are you, O man, fleeing from God's +Spirit, and forgetting His gracious inspirations; all pure and holy, and +noble, and just and lovely and truly human, thoughts, in the whirl of +pleasure, or covetousness, or ambition, or actual sin? If so, look at +the tiniest gnat which dances in the air, the meanest flower beneath your +feet; and be ashamed, and fear, and tremble before the Living God, and +before His Spirit. For the gnat and the flower are doing their duty, and +pleasing the Holy Spirit of God; and you are not doing your duty, and are +grieving the Holy Spirit of God. For simply: because that Spirit is the +Spirit of God, He is a Holy Spirit, who tries to make you--O man and not +animal--holy; a moral, and spiritual, and good being. Because you are a +moral and spiritual being, God's Spirit exercises over you a moral power +which He does not exercise over the plants and animals. He works not +merely on your body and your brain: but on your heart and immortal soul. +But if you choose to be immoral, when He is trying to keep you moral; if +you choose to be carnal like the brutes, while He is trying to make you +spiritual, like Jesus Christ, from whom He proceeds: then, oh then, +tremble, and beware, and be ashamed before the very flowers which grow in +your own garden-bed; for they fulfil the law which God has given them. +They are what they ought to be, each after its kind. But you are not +what you ought to be, after your kind; which is a good man, or a good +woman, or a good child. + +Oh beware lest the Lord should fulfil in you the awful words of this +Psalm; lest He should hide His face from you, and you be troubled; and +lest when He takes away your breath you should die, and turn again to +your dust; and find, too late, that the wages of sin are death--death not +merely of the body, but of the soul. Rather repent, and amend, and +remember that most blessed, and yet most awful fact--that God's Spirit is +with you from your baptism until now, putting into your heart good +desires, and ready to enable you--if you will--to bring those good +desires to good effect: instead of leaving them only as good intentions, +with which, says the too true proverb, hell is paved. + +So will be fulfilled in you the blessed words of the next verse--When +Thou lettest Thy Spirit go forth, they shall be made; and Thou shalt +renew the face of the earth--words which St Augustine of old applied to +the work of God's Spirit on the souls of men. + +For well it is with us--as St Augustine says--when God takes away from us +our own spirit, the spirit of pride and self-will and self-righteousness; +and we see that we are but dust and ashes; worse than the animals, in +that we have sinned, and they have not. Confess--he says--thy weakness +and thy dust: and then listen to what follows:--Thou shalt take away from +them their own spirit; but Thou shalt send forth Thy Spirit on them, and +they shall be made and created anew. As the Apostle says, "We are God's +own workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works." And so--he +says--God will indeed renew the face of the earth with converted and +renewed men, who confess that they are not righteous in themselves, but +made righteous by the grace of the Spirit of God; and so the Lord shall +rejoice in His works; you will be indeed His work, and He will rejoice in +you. + +Yes. God will indeed rejoice in us, if we obey the godly inspirations of +His Spirit. But again, we shall rejoice in God; if we be but led by His +Spirit into all truth, and thence into all righteousness. Then we shall +be in harmony with God, and with the whole universe of God. We shall +have our share in that perpetual worship which is celebrated throughout +the universe by all creatures, rational and irrational, who are obeying +the laws of their being; the laws of the Spirit of God, the Lord and +Giver of life. We shall take our part in that perpetual Hymn which calls +on all the works of the Lord, from angels and powers, sun and stars, +winds and seasons, seas and floods, trees and flowers, beasts and cattle, +to the children of men, and the servants of the Lord, and the spirits and +souls of the righteous, and the holy and humble men of heart--"O all ye +works of the Lord, bless ye the Lord, praise Him and magnify Him for +ever." + + + + +SERMON XVIII. DEATH. + + +PSALM CIV. 20, 21. + + Thou makest darkness, and it is night: wherein all the beasts of the + forest do creep forth. The lions roar after their prey, and seek + their meat from God. + +Let me say a few words on this text. It is one which has been a comfort +to me again and again. It is one which, if rightly understood, ought to +give comfort to pitiful and tender-hearted persons. + +Have you never been touched by, never been even shocked by, the mystery +of pain and death? I do not speak now of pain and death among human +beings: but only of that pain and death among the dumb and irrational +creatures, which from one point of view is more pitiful than pain and +death among human beings. + +For pain, suffering, and death, we know, may be of use to human beings. +It may make them happier and better in this life, or in the life to come; +if they are the Christians which they ought to be. But of what use can +suffering and death be to dumb animals? How can it make them better in +this life, and happier in the life to come? It seems, in the case of +animals, to be only so much superfluous misery thrown away. Would to God +that people would remember that, when they unnecessarily torment dumb +creatures, and then excuse themselves by saying--Oh, they are not human +beings; they are not Christians; and therefore it does not matter so +much. I should have thought that therefore it mattered all the more: and +that just because dumb animals have, as far as we know, only this mortal +life, therefore we should allow them the fuller enjoyment of their brief +mortality. + +And yet, how much suffering, how much violent death, there is among +animals. How much? The world is full of it, and has been full of it for +ages. I dare to say, that of the millions on millions of living +creatures in the earth, the air, the sea, full one-half live by eating +each other. In the sea, indeed, almost every kind of creature feeds on +some other creature: and what an amount of pain, of terror, of violent +death that means, or seems to mean! + +We here, in a cultivated country, are slow to take in this thought. We +have not here, as in India, Africa, America, lion and tiger, bear and +wolf, jaguar and puma, perpetually prowling round the farms, and taking +their tithe of our sheep and cattle. We have never heard, as the +Psalmist had, the roar of the lion round the village at night, or seen +all the animals, down to the very dogs, crowding together in terror, +knowing but too well what that roar meant. If we had; and had been like +the Psalmist, thoughtful men: then it would have been a very solemn +question to us--From whom the lion was asking for his nightly meal; +whether from God, or from some devil as cruel as himself? + +But even here the same slaughter of animals by animals goes on. The hawk +feeds on the small birds, the small birds on the insects, the insects, +many of them, on each other. Even our most delicate and seemingly +harmless songsters, like the nightingale, feed entirely on living +creatures--each one of which, however small, has cost God as much +pains--if I may so speak in all reverence--to make as the nightingale +itself; and thus, from the top to the bottom of creation, is one chain of +destruction, and pain, and death. + +What is the meaning of it all? Ought it to be so, or ought it not? Is +it God's will and law, or is it not? That is a solemn question; and one +which has tried many a thoughtful, and tender, and virtuous soul ere now, +both Christian and heathen; and has driven them to find strange answers +to it, which have been, often enough, not according to Scripture, or to +the Catholic Faith. + +Some used to say, in old times; and they may say again--This world, so +full of pain and death, is a very ill-made world. We will not believe +that it was made by the good God. It must have been made by some evil +being, or at least by some stupid and clumsy being--the Demiurgus, they +called him--or the world-maker--some inferior God, whom the good God +would conquer and depose, and so do away with pain, and misery, and +death. A pardonable mistake: but, as we are bound to believe, a mistake +nevertheless. + +Others, again, good Christians and good men likewise, have invented +another answer to the mystery--like that which Milton gives in his +'Paradise Lost.' They have said--Before Adam fell there was no pain or +death in the world. It was only after Adam's fall that the animals began +to destroy and devour each other. Ever since then there has been a curse +on the earth, and this is one of the fruits thereof. + +Now I say distinctly, as I have said elsewhere, that we are not bound to +believe this or anything like it. The book of Genesis does not say that +the animals began to devour each other at Adam's fall. It does not even +say that the ground is cursed for man's sake now, much less the animals. +For we read in Genesis ix. 21--"And the Lord said, I will not any more +curse the ground for man's sake." Neither do the Psalmists and Prophets +give the least hint of any such doctrine. Surely, if we found it +anywhere, we should find it in this very 104th Psalm, and somewhere near +the very verse which I have taken for my text. But this Psalm gives no +hint of it. So far from saying that God has cursed His own works, or +looks on them as cursed: it says--"The Lord shall rejoice in His works." + +Others will tell us that St Paul has said so, where he says that "by one +man sin entered into the world, and death by sin." But I must very +humbly, but very firmly, demur to that. St Paul shews that when he +speaks of the world he means the world of men; for he goes on to say, +"And so death passed upon all men, in that all have sinned." By +mentioning men, he excludes the animals; he excludes all who have not +sinned: according to a sound rule of logic which lawyers know well. What +St Paul meant, I believe, is most probably this: that Adam, by sinning, +lost his heavenly birthright; and put on the carnal and fleshly likeness +of the animals, instead of the likeness of God in which he was created; +and therefore, sowing to the flesh, of the flesh reaped corruption; and +became subject to death even as the dumb beasts are. + +Be that as it may, we know--as certainly as we can know anything from the +use of our own eyes and common sense--that long ages before Adam, long +ages before men existed on this earth, the animals destroyed and ate each +other, even as they are doing now. We know that ages ago, in old worlds, +long before this present world in which we live, the seas swarmed with +sharks and other monsters, who not only died as animals do now, but who +did devour--for there is actual proof of it--other living creatures; and +that the same process went on on the land likewise. The rocks and soils, +for miles beneath our feet, are one vast graveyard, full of the skeletons +of creatures, almost all unlike any living now, who, long before the days +of Adam, and still more before the days of Noah, lived and died, +generation after generation; and sought their meat--from whom--if not +from God? + +Yes, that last is the answer--the only answer which can give a thoughtful +and tender-hearted soul comfort, at the sight of so much pain and death +on earth--In every unknown question, to take refuge in God. And that is +the answer which the inspired Psalmist gives, in the 104th Psalm--"The +lions roaring after their prey do seek their meat from God." And if they +seek it from God, all must be right: we know not how; but He who made +them knows. + +Consider, with respect and admiration, the manful, cheerful view of pain +and death, and indeed of the whole creation, which the Psalmist has, +because he has faith. There is in him no sentimentalism, no complaining +of God, no impious, or at least weak and peevish, cry of "Why hast Thou +made things thus?" He sees the mystery of pain and death. He does not +attempt to explain it: but he faces it; faces it cheerfully and manfully, +in the strength of his faith, saying--This too, mysterious, painful, +terrible as it may seem, is as it should be; for it is of the law and +will of God, from whom come all good things; of The God in whom is light, +and in Him is no darkness at all. Therefore to the Psalmist the earth is +a noble sight; filled, to his eyes, with the fruit of God's works. And +so is the great and wide sea likewise. He looks upon it; "full of things +creeping innumerable, both small and great beasts," for ever dying, for +ever devouring each other. And yet it does not seem to him a dreadful +and a shocking place. What impresses his mind is just what would impress +the mind of a modern poet, a modern man of science; namely, the wonderful +variety, richness, and strangeness of its living things. Their natures +and their names he knows not. It was not given to his race to know. It +is enough for him that known unto God are all His works from the +foundation of the world. But one thing more important than their natures +and their names he does know; for he perceives it with the instinct of a +true poet and a true philosopher--"These all wait upon thee, O God, that +Thou mayest give them meat in due season." + +But more.--"There go the ships;" things specially wonderful and +significant to him, the landsman of the Judaean hills, as they were +afterward to Muhammed, the landsman of the Arabian deserts. And he has +talked with sailors from those ships; from Tarshish and the far Atlantic, +or from Ezion-geber and the Indian seas. And he has heard from them of +mightier monsters than his own Mediterranean breeds; of the Leviathan, +the whale, larger than the largest ship which he has ever seen, rolling +and spouting among the ocean billows, far out of sight of land, and +swallowing, at every gape of its huge jaws, hundreds of living creatures +for its food. But he does not talk of it as a cruel and devouring +monster, formed by a cruel and destroying deity, such as the old +Canaanites imagined, when--so the legend ran--they offered up Andromeda +to the sea-monster, upon that very rock at Joppa, which the Psalmist, +doubtless, knew full well. No. This psalm is an inspired philosopher's +rebuke to that very superstition; it is the justification of the noble +old Greek tale, which delivers Andromeda by the help of a hero, taught by +the Gods who love to teach Mankind. + +For what strikes the Psalmist is, again, exactly what would strike a +modern poet, or a modern man of science: the strength and ease of the +vast beast; its enjoyment of its own life and power. It is to him the +Leviathan, whom "God has made to play in the sea;" "to take his pastime +therein." + +Truly this was a healthy-minded man; as all will be, and only they, who +have full faith in the one good God, of whom are all things, both in +earth and heaven. + +Then he goes further still. He has looked into the face of life +innumerable. Now he looks into the face of innumerable death; and sees +there too the Spirit and the work of God. + + Thou givest to them; they gather: + Thou openest thy hand; they are filled with good: + Thou hidest thy face; they are troubled: + Thou takest away their breath; they die, and are turned again to their + dust. + +Poetry? Yes: but, like all highest poetry, highest philosophy; and +soundest truth likewise. Nay, he goes further still--further, it may be, +than most of us would dare to go, had he not gone before us in the +courage of his faith. He dares to say, of such a world as this--"The +glory of the Lord shall endure for ever. The Lord shall rejoice in His +works." + +The glory of the Lord, then, is shewn forth, and endures for ever, in +these animals of whom the Psalmist has been speaking, though they devour +each other day and night. The Lord rejoices in His works, even though +His works live by each other's death. The Lord shall rejoice in His +works--says this great poet and philosopher. + +But what Lord, and what God? Ah, my friends, all depends on the answer +to that question. "There be," says St Paul, "lords many, and gods many:" +and since his time, men have made fresh lords and gods for themselves, +and believed in them, and worshipped them, while they fancied that they +were believing in the one true God, in the same God in whom the man +believed who wrote the 104th Psalm. + +Do we truly believe in that one true God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit? + +Let me beg you to consider that question earnestly. The Psalmist, when +he talked of the Lord, did not mean merely what some people call the +Deity, or the Supreme Being, or the Creator. You will remark that I +said--What. I do not care to say, Whom, of such a notion; that is, of a +God who made the world, and set it going once for all, but has never +meddled with it; never, so to speak, looked at it since: so that the +world would go on just the same, and just as well, if God thenceforth had +ceased to be. No: that is a dead God; an absentee God--as one said +bitterly once. But the Psalmist believed in the living God, and a +present God, in whom we live and move and have our being; in a God who +does not leave the world alone for a moment, nor in the smallest matter, +but is always interested in it, attending to it, enforcing His own laws, +working--if I may so speak in all reverence--and using the most pitifully +insufficient analogy--working--I say--His own machinery; making all +things work together for good, at least to those who love God; a God +without whom not a sparrow falls to the ground, and in whose sight all +the hairs of our heads are numbered. + +In one word, he believed in a living God. If anyone had said to the +Psalmist, as I have heard men say now-a-days--Of course we believe, with +you, in a general Providence of God over the whole universe. But you do +not surely believe in special Providences? That would be superstition. +God governs the world by law, and not by special Providences. Then I +believe that the Psalmist would have answered--Laws? I believe in them +as much as you, and perhaps more than you. But as for special +Providences, I believe in them so much, that I believe that the whole +universe, and all that has ever happened in it from the beginning, has +happened by special Providences; that not an organic being has assumed +its present form, after long ages and generations, save by a continuous +series of special Providences; that not a weed grows in a particular +spot, without a special Providence of God that it should grow there, and +nowhere else; then, and nowhen else. I believe that every step I take, +every person I meet, every thought which comes into my mind--which is not +sinful--comes and happens by the perpetual special Providence of God, +watching for ever with Fatherly care over me, and each separate thing +that He has made. + +And if a modern philosopher--or one so called--had said to him,--'This is +unthinkable and inconceivable, and therefore cannot be. I cannot "think +of"--I cannot conceive a mind--or as I call it--"a series of states of +consciousness," as antecedent to the infinity of processes simultaneously +going on in all the plants that cover the globe, from scattered polar +lichens to crowded tropical palms, and in all the millions of animals +which roam among them, and the millions of millions of insects which buzz +among them:'--Then the Psalmist would have answered him, I believe,--'If +you cannot, my friend, I can. And you must not make your power of +thought and conception the measure of the universe, or even of other +men's intellects; or say--"Because I cannot conceive a thing, therefore +no man can conceive it, and therefore it does not exist." But pray, O +philosopher, if you cannot think and conceive of the omnipresence and +omnipotence of God, what can you think and conceive?' + +Then if that philosopher had answered him--as some would now-a-days--'I +can conceive that the properties of very different elements,--and +therefore the infinite variety and richness of nature which I cannot +conceive as caused by a God--that the properties--I say--of different +elements result from differences of arrangement arising by the +compounding and recompounding of ultimate homogeneous units'--Then, I +think, the Psalmist would have replied, as soon as he had--like Socrates +of old in a like case--recovered from the 'dizziness' caused by an +eloquence so unlike his own--'Why, this proposition is far more +"unthinkable" to me, and will be to 999 of 1000 of the human race, than +mine about a God and a Providence. Alas! for the vagaries of the mind of +man. When it wants to prove a pet theory of its own, it will strain at +any gnat, and swallow any camel.' + +But again--if a philosopher of more reasonable mood had said to him--as +he very likely would say--'This is a grand conception of God: but what +proof have you of it? How do you know that God does interfere, by +special Providences, in the world around us; not only, as you say, +perpetually: but even now and then, and at all?' + +Then the Psalmist, like all true Jews, would have gone back to a certain +old story which is to me the most precious story, save one, that ever was +written on earth; and have taken his stand on that. He would have gone +back--as the Scripture always goes back--to the story of Moses and the +Israelites in Egypt, and have said--'Whatever I know or do not know about +the Laws of nature, this I know--That God can use them as He chooses, to +punish the wicked, and to help the miserable. For He did so by my +forefathers. When we Jews were a poor, small, despised tribe of slaves +in Egypt, The God who made heaven and earth shewed Himself at once the +God of nature, and the God of grace. For He took the powers of nature; +and fought with them against proud Pharaoh and all his hosts; and shewed +that they belonged to Him; and that He could handle them all to do His +work. He shewed that He was Lord, not only of the powers of nature which +give life and health, but of those which give death and disease. Nothing +was too grand, nor too mean, for Him to use. He took the lightning and +the hail, and the pestilence, and the darkness, and the East wind, and +the springtides of the Red sea; and He took also the locust-swarms, and +the frogs, and the lice, and the loathsome skin-diseases of Egypt, and +the microscopic atomies which turn whole rivers into blood, and kill the +fish; and with them He fought against Pharaoh the man-God, the tyrant +ruling at his own will in the name of his father the sun-God and of the +powers of nature; till Egypt was destroyed, and Pharaoh's host drowned in +the sea; And He brought out my forefathers with a mighty hand and an +outstretched arm, because He had heard their cry in Egypt, and saw their +oppression under cruel taskmasters, and pitied them, and had mercy on +them in their slavery and degradation.' That is my God--the old Psalmist +would have said. Not merely a strong God, or a wise God; but a good God, +and a gracious God, and a just God likewise; a God who not only made +heaven and earth, the sea, and all that therein is, but who keepeth His +promise for ever; who helpeth them to right who suffer wrong, and feedeth +the hungry. + +Yes, my friends, it is this magnificent conception of God's living and +actual goodness and justice, which the Psalmist had, which made him trust +God about all the strange and painful things which he saw in the +world--about, for instance, the suffering and death of animals; and +say--'If the lion roaring after his prey seeks his meat, he seeks his +meat from God: and therefore he ought to seek it, and he will find it. It +is all well: I know not why: but well it is, for it is the law and will +of the good and righteous and gracious God, who brought His people out of +the land of Egypt. And that is enough for me.' + +Enough for him? and should it not be enough for us, and more than +enough?--We know what the Psalmist knew not. We know God to be more +good, more righteous, more gracious than any Prophet or Psalmist could +know. We know that God so loved the world, that He spared not His only- +begotten Son, but freely gave Him for us. We know that the only-begotten +Son Jesus Christ so loved the world that He stooped to be born and suffer +as mortal man, and to die on the cross, even while He was telling men +that not a sparrow fell to the ground without the knowledge of their +heavenly Father, and bidding them see how God fed the birds and clothed +the lilies of the field. Ah, my friends, in this case, as in all cases, +rest and comfort for our doubts and fears is to be found in one and the +same place--at the foot of the Cross of Christ. If we believe that He +who hung upon that Cross is--as He is--the maker and ruler of the +universe, the same from day to day and for ever: then we can trust Him in +darkness as well as in light; in doubt as well as in certainty; in the +face of pain, disease, and death, as well as in the face of joy, health, +and life; and say--Lord, we know not, but Thou knowest. Lord, we +believe, help Thou our unbelief. Make us sure that Thou, Lord, shalt +save both man and beast. For great are Thy mercies, O Lord; and the +children of men shall put their trust under the shadow of Thy wings. + +Yes, my friends, this is, after all, a strange world, a solemn world, a +world full of sad mysteries, past our understanding. As was said once by +the holiest of modern Englishmen, now gone home to his rest--whose bust +stands worthily in yonder chapel--This is a world in which men must be +sometimes sad who love God, and care for their fellow-men. + +But it is not over the dumb animals that we must mourn. For they fulfil +the laws of their being; and whatever meat they seek, they seek their +meat from God. + +Rather must we mourn over those human beings who, being made in the +likeness of God, and redeemed again into that likeness by our Lord Jesus +Christ, and baptized into that likeness by the Holy Spirit, put on again +of their own will the likeness of the beasts which perish; and find too +often, alas! too late, that the wages of sin are death. + +Rather must we mourn for those human beings who do not fulfil the laws of +their being: but break those laws by sin; till they are ground by them to +powder. + +Rather must we mourn for those who seek their meat, not from God, but +from the world and the flesh; and neglect the bread which cometh down +from heaven, and the meat which endureth to eternal life, whereof the +Lord who gives it said--Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His +righteousness, and all other things shall be added unto you. + +Rather must we pray for ourselves, and for all we love, that God's Spirit +of eternal life would raise us up, more and more day by day, out of the +likeness of the old Adam, who was of the earth, earthy; of whom it is +written that--like the animals--dust he was, and unto dust he must +return; and would mould us into the likeness of the new Adam, who is the +Lord from heaven, into the likeness of which it is written, that it is +created after God's image, in righteousness and true holiness; the end of +which is not death, but everlasting life through Jesus Christ our Lord. + +And so will be fulfilled in us the saying of the Psalmist; and the Lord +shall rejoice in His works: for we too, not only body and soul, but +spirit also, shall be the work of God; and God will rejoice in us, and we +in God. + + + + +SERMON XIX. SIGNS AND WONDERS. + + +JOHN IV. 48-50. + + Then said Jesus unto him, Except ye see signs and wonders, ye will not + believe. The nobleman saith unto him, Sir, come down ere my child + die. Jesus saith unto him, Go thy way; thy son liveth. + +These words of our Lord are found in the Gospel for this day. They are a +rebuke, though a gentle one. He reproved the nobleman, seemingly, for +his want of faith: but He worked the miracle, and saved the life of the +child. + +We do not know enough of the circumstances of this case, to know exactly +why our Lord reproved the nobleman; and what want of faith He saw in him. +Some think that the man's fault was his mean notion of our Lord's power; +his wish that He should come down the hills to Capernaum, and see the boy +Himself, in order to cure him; whereas he ought to have known that our +Lord could cure him--as He did--at a distance, and by a mere wish, which +was no less than a command to nature, and to that universe which He had +made. + +I cannot tell how this may be: but of one thing I think we may be +sure--That this saying of our Lord's is very deep, and very wide; and +applies to many people, in many times--perhaps to us in these modern +times. + +We must recollect one thing--That our Lord did not put forward the mere +power of His miracles as the chief sign of His being the Son of God. Not +so: He declared His almighty power most chiefly by shewing mercy and +pity. Twice He refused to give the Scribes and Pharisees a sign from +heaven. "An evil and adulterous generation," He said, "seeketh after a +sign: but there shall be no sign given them, but the sign of the prophet +Jonas." And what was that,--but a warning to repent, and mend their +ways, ere it was too late? + +Now the slightest use of our common sense must tell us, that our Lord +could have given a sign of His almighty power if He had chosen; and such +a sign as no man, even the dullest, could have mistaken. What prodigy +could He not have performed, before Scribes and Pharisees, Herod, and +Pontius Pilate? "Thinkest thou," He said Himself, "that I cannot now +pray to My Father, and He will send Me presently more than twelve legions +of angels?" Yet how did our Lord use that miraculous and almighty power +of His? Sparingly, and secretly. Sparingly; for He used it almost +entirely in curing the diseases of poor people; and secretly; for He used +it almost entirely in remote places. Jerusalem itself, recollect, was at +best a remote city compared with any of the great cities of the Roman +empire. And even there He refused to cast Himself down from a pinnacle +of the temple, for a sign and wonder to the Jews. If He, the Lord of the +world, had meant to convert the world by prodigious miracles, He would +surely have gone to Rome itself, the very heart and centre of the +civilized world, and have shewn such signs and wonders therein, as would +have made the Caesar himself come down from his throne, and worship Him, +the Lord of all. + +But no. Our Lord wished for the obedience, not of men's lips, but of +their hearts. It was their hearts which He wished to win, that they +might love Him--and be loyal to Him--for the sake of His goodness; and +not fear and tremble before Him for the sake of His power. And therefore +He kept, so to speak, His power in the background, and put His goodness +foremost; only shewing His power in miracles of healing and mercy; that +so poor neglected, oppressed, hardworked souls might understand that +whoever did not care for them, Christ their Lord did; and that their +disease and misery were not His will; nor the will of His Father and +their Father in heaven. + +But because, also, Christ was Lord of heaven and earth; therefore--if I +may make so bold as to guess at the reason for anything which He did--He +seems to have interfered as little as possible with those regular rules +and customs of this world about us, which we now call the Laws of Nature. +He did not offer--as the magicians of His time did offer--and as too many +have pretended since to do--to change the courses of the elements, to +bring down tempests or thunderbolts, to shew prodigies in the heaven +above, and in the earth beneath. Why should He? Heaven and earth, moon +and stars, fire and tempest, and all the physical forces in the universe, +were fulfilling His will already; doing their work right well according +to the law which He had given them from the beginning. He had no need to +disturb them, no need to disturb the growth of a single flower at His +feet. + +Rather He loved to tell men to look at them, and see how they went well, +because His Father in heaven cared for them. To tell people to look, not +at prodigies, comets, earthquakes, and the seeming exceptions of God's +rule: but at the common, regular, simple, peaceful work of God, which is +going on around us all day long in every blade of grass, and flower, and +singing bird, and sunbeam, and shower. To consider the lilies of the +field how they grow: which toil not, neither do they spin: and yet I say +unto you, that Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of +these.--And the birds of the air: They sow not, neither reap, nor gather +into barns; and yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. How much more +will He feed you, who can sow, and reap, and gather into barns?--O ye of +little faith, who fancy always that besides sowing and reaping honestly, +you must covet, and cheat, and lie, and break God's laws instead of +obeying them; or else, forsooth, you cannot earn your living? To see +that the signs of God's Kingdom are not astonishing convulsions, terrible +catastrophes and disorders: but order, and peace, and usefulness, in +creatures which are happy, because they live according to the law which +God has given them, and do their duty--that duty, of which the great poet +of the English Church has sung-- + + Stern Lawgiver! Thou yet dost wear + The Godhead's most benignant grace + Nor know we anything so fair + As is the smile upon thy face. + Flowers laugh before thee on their beds, + And fragrance in thy footing treads; + Thou dost preserve the stars from wrong, + And the most ancient heavens, through thee, are fresh and strong. + +But men would not believe that in our Lord's time; neither would they +believe it after His time. Will they believe it even now? They craved +after signs and wonders; they saw God's hand, not in the common sights of +this beautiful world; not in seed-time and harvest, summer and winter; +not in the blossoming of flowers, and the song of birds: but only in +strange portents, absurd and lying miracles, which they pretended had +happened, because they fancied that they ought to have happened: and so +built up a whole literature of _un_reason, which remains to this day, a +doleful monument of human folly and superstition. + +But is not this too true of some at least of us in this very day? Must +not people now see signs and wonders before they believe in God? + +Do they not consider whatever is strange and inexplicable, as coming +immediately from God? While whatever they are accustomed to, or fancy +that they can explain, they consider comes in what they call the course +of nature, without God's having anything to do with it? + +If a man drops down dead, they say he died "by the hand of God," or "by +the visitation of God:" as if any created thing or being could die, or +live either, save by the will and presence of God: as if a sparrow could +fall to the ground without our Father's knowledge. But so it is; because +men's hearts are far from God. + +If an earthquake swallowed up half London this very day, how many would +be ready to cry, "Here is a visitation of God. Here is the immediate +hand of God. Perhaps Christ is coming, and the end of the world at +hand." And yet they will not see the true visitation, the immediate hand +of God, in every drop of rain which comes down from heaven; and returneth +not again void, but gives seed to the sower and bread to the eater. But +so it always has been. Men used to see God and His power and glory +almost exclusively in comets, auroras, earthquakes. It was not so very +long ago, that the birth of monstrous or misshapen animals, and all other +prodigies, as they were called, were carefully noted down, and talked of +far and wide, as signs of God's anger, presages of some coming +calamity.--Atheists while they are in safety, superstitious when they are +in danger--Requiring signs and wonders to make them believe--Interested +only in what is uncommon and seems to break God's laws--Careless about +what is common, and far more wonderful, because it fulfils God's +laws--Such have most men been for ages, and will be, perhaps, to the end; +shewing themselves, in that respect, carnal and no wiser than dumb +animals. + +For it is carnal, animal and brutish, and a sign of want of true +civilization, as well as of true faith, only to be interested and +surprised by what is strange; like dumb beasts, who, if they see anything +new, are attracted by it and frightened by it, at the same time: but who, +when once they are accustomed to it, and have found out that it will do +them no harm, are too stupid to feel any curiosity or interest about it, +though it were the most beautiful or the most wonderful object on earth. + +But I will tell you of a man after God's own heart, who was not like the +dumb animals, nor like the ungodly and superstitious; because he was +taught by the Spirit of God, and spoke by the Spirit of God. One who saw +no signs and wonders, and yet believed in God--namely, the man who wrote +the 139th Psalm. He needed no prodigies to make him believe. The +thought of his own body, how fearfully and wonderfully it was made, was +enough to make him do that. He looked on the perfect order and law which +ruled over the development of his own organization, and said--"I will +praise Thee. For I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Marvellous are +Thy works, and that my soul knoweth right well. Thine eyes did see my +substance, yet being imperfect; and in Thy Book were all my members +written, which day by day were fashioned, when as yet there was none of +them. How dear are Thy counsels unto me, O God! how great is the sum of +them!" + +And I will tell you of another man who needed no signs and wonders to +make him believe--the man, namely, who wrote the 19th Psalm. He looked +upon the perfect order and law of the heavens over his head, and the mere +sight of the sun and moon and stars was enough for him; and he said--"The +heavens declare the glory of God, the firmament sheweth His handy-work. +One day telleth another, and one night certifieth another. There is +neither speech nor language, where their voice is not heard among them." + +And I will tell you of yet another man who needed no signs and wonders to +make him believe--namely, the man who wrote the 104th Psalm. He looked +on the perfect order and law of the world about his feet; and said,--"O +Lord, how manifold are Thy works. In wisdom hast Thou made them all: the +earth is full of Thy riches. So is the great and wide sea also, wherein +are things creeping innumerable, both small and great beasts. These all +wait upon Thee, that Thou mayest give them their meat in due season. Thou +givest to them; they gather. Thou openest Thy hand; they are filled with +good. Thou hidest Thy face; they are troubled. Thou takest away their +breath, they die, and return to their dust. Thou sendest forth Thy +breath, they are created; and Thou renewest the face of the earth. The +glory of the Lord shall endure for ever. The Lord shall rejoice in His +works." + +My friends, let us all pray to God and to Christ, that They will put into +our hearts the Spirit by which those psalms were written: that They will +take from us the evil heart of unbelief, which must needs have signs and +wonders, and forgets that in God we live and move and have our being. For +are we not all--even the very best of us--apt to tempt our Lord in this +very matter? + +When all things go on in a common-place way with us--that is, in this +well-made world, comfortably, easily, prosperously--how apt we all +are--God forgive us--to forget God. How we forget that on Him we depend +for every breath we draw; that Christ is guarding us daily from a hundred +dangers, a hundred sorrows, it may be from a hundred disgraces, of which +we, in our own self-satisfied blindness, never dream. How dull our +prayers become, and how short. We almost think, at times, that there is +no use in praying, for we get all we want without asking for it, in what +we choose to call the course of circumstances and nature.--God forgive +us, indeed. + +But when sorrow comes, anxiety, danger, how changed we are all of a +sudden. How gracious we are when pangs come upon us--like the wicked +queen-mother in Jerusalem of old, when the invaders drove her out of her +cedar palace. How we cry to the Lord then, and get us to our God right +humbly. Then, indeed, we feel the need of prayer. Then we try to +wrestle with God, and cry to Him--and what else can we do?--like children +lost in the dark; entreat Him, if there be mercy in Him--as there is, in +spite of all our folly--to grant some special providence, to give us some +answer to our bitter entreaties. If He will but do for us this one +thing, then we will believe indeed. Then we will trust Him, obey Him, +serve Him, as we never did before. + +Ah, if there were in Christ any touch of pride or malice! Ah, if there +were in Christ aught but a magnanimity and a generosity altogether +boundless! Ah, if He were to deal with us as we have dealt with Him! Ah, +if He were to deal with us after our sins, and reward us according to our +iniquities! + +If He refused to hear us; if He said to us,--You forgot me in your +prosperity, why should I not forget you in your adversity?--What could we +answer? Would that answer not be just? Would it not be deserved, +however terrible? But our hope and trust is, that He will not answer us +so; because He is not our God only, but our Saviour; that He will deal +with us as one who seeks and saves that which is lost, whether it knows +that it is lost or not. + +Our hope is, that the Lord is very pitiful and of tender mercy; that +because He is man, as well as God, He can be touched with the feeling of +our infirmities; that He knoweth our frame, He remembereth of what we are +made: else the spirit would fail before Him, and the souls which He has +made. So we can have hope, that, though Christ rebuke us, He will yet +hear us, if our prayers are reasonable, and therefore according to His +will. And surely, surely, surely, if our prayers are for the improvement +of any human being; if we are praying that we, or any human being, may be +made better men and truer Christians at last, and saved from the +temptations of the world, the flesh, and the devil--oh then, then shall +we not be heard? The Lord may keep us long waiting, as He kept St Monica +of old, when she wept over St Augustine's youthful sins and follies. But +He may answer us, as He answered her by the good bishop--"Be of good +cheer. It is impossible that the son of so many prayers should perish." +And so, though He may shame us, in our inmost heart, by the +rebuke--"Except ye see signs and wonders, ye will not believe"--He will +in the same breath grant our prayer, undeserved though His condescension +be, and say--"Go in peace, thy son liveth." + + + + +SERMON XX. THE JUDGMENTS OF GOD. + + +LUKE XIII. 1-5. + + There were present at that season some that told him of the Galilaeans, + whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. And Jesus + answering said unto them, Suppose ye that these Galilaeans were + sinners above all the Galilaeans, because they suffered such things? I + tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish. Or + those eighteen, upon whom the tower in Siloam fell, and slew them, + think ye that they were sinners above all men that dwelt in Jerusalem? + I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish. + +This story is often used, it seems to me, for a purpose exactly opposite +to that for which it is told. It is said that because these Galilaeans, +whom Pilate slew, and these eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell, +were no worse than the people round them, that therefore similar +calamities must not be considered judgments and punishments of God; that +it is an offence against Christian charity to say that such sufferers are +the objects of God's anger; that it is an offence against good manners to +introduce the name of God, or the theory of a Divine Providence, in +speaking of historical events. They must be ascribed to certain brute +forces of nature; to certain inevitable laws of history; to the passions +of men, to chance, to fate, to anything and everything: rather than to +the will of God. + +No man disagrees more utterly than I do with the latter part of this +language. But I cannot be astonished at its popularity. It cannot be +denied that the theory of a Divine Providence has been much misstated; +that the doctrine of final causes has been much abused; that, in plain +English, God's name has been too often taken in vain, about calamities, +private and public. Rational men of the world, therefore, may be excused +for begging at times not to hear any more of Divine Providence; excused +for doubting the existence of final causes; excused for shrinking, +whenever they hear a preacher begin to interpret the will of God about +this event or that. They dread a repetition of the mistake--to call it +by the very gentlest term--which priests, in all ages, have been but too +ready to commit. For all priesthoods--whether heathen or Christian, +whether calling themselves priests, or merely ministers and +preachers--have been in all ages tempted to talk as if Divine Providence +was exercised solely on their behalf; in favour of their class, their +needs, their health and comfort; as if the thunders of Jove never fell +save when the priesthood needed, I had almost said commanded, them. Thus +they have too often arrogated to themselves a right to define who was +cursed by God, which has too soon, again and again, degenerated into a +right to curse men in God's name; while they have too often taught men to +believe only in a Providence who interfered now and then on behalf of +certain favoured persons, instead of a Providence who rules, always and +everywhere, over all mankind. But men have again and again reversed +their judgments. They have had to say--The facts are against you. You +prophesied destruction to such and such persons; and behold: they have +not been destroyed, but live and thrive. You said that such and such +persons' calamities were a proof of God's anger for their sins. We find +them, on the contrary, to have been innocent and virtuous persons; often +martyrs for truth, for humanity, for God. The facts, we say, are against +you. If there be a Providence, it is not such as you describe. If there +be judgments of God, you have not found out the laws by which He judges: +and rather than believe in your theory of Providence, your theory of +judgments, we will believe in none. + +Thus, in age after age, in land after land, has fanaticism and bigotry +brought forth, by a natural revulsion, its usual fruit of unbelief. + +But--let men believe or disbelieve as they choose--the warning of the +Psalmist still stands true--"Be wise. Take heed, ye unwise among the +people. He that nurtureth the heathen; it is He that teacheth man +knowledge, shall He not punish?" For as surely as there is a God, so +surely does that God judge the earth; and every individual, family, +institution, and nation on the face thereof; and judge them all in +righteousness by His Son Jesus Christ, whom He hath appointed heir of all +things, and given Him all power in heaven and earth; who reigns and will +reign till He hath put all enemies under His feet. + +This is the good news of Advent. And therefore it is well that in +Advent, if we believe that Christ is ruling us, we should look somewhat +into the laws of His kingdom, as far as He has revealed them to us; and +among others, into the law which--as I think--He laid down in the text. + +Now I beg you to remark that the text, taken fully and fairly, means the +very opposite to that popular notion of which I spoke in the beginning of +my sermon. + +Our Lord does not say--Those Galilaeans were not sinners at all. Their +sins had nothing to do with their death. Those on whom the tower fell +were innocent men. He rather implies the very opposite. + +We know nothing of the circumstances of either calamity: but this we +know--That our Lord warned the rest of the Jews, that unless they +repented--that is, changed their mind, and therefore their conduct, they +would all perish in the same way. And we know that that warning was +fulfilled, within forty years, so hideously, and so awfully, that the +destruction of Jerusalem remains, as one of the most terrible cases of +wholesale ruin and horror recorded in history; and--as I believe--a key +to many a calamity before and since. Like the taking of Babylon, the +fall of Rome, and the French Revolution, it stands out in lurid +splendour, as of the nether pit itself, forcing all who believe to say in +fear and trembling--Verily there is a God that judgeth the earth--and a +warning to every man, class, institution, and nation on earth, to set +their houses in order betimes, and bear fruit meet for repentance, lest +the day come when they too shall be weighed in the balance of God's +eternal justice, and found wanting. + +But another lesson we may learn from the text, which I wish to impress +earnestly on your minds. These Galilaeans, it seems, were no worse than +the other Galilaeans: yet they were singled out as examples: as warnings +to the rest. + +Believing--as I do--that our Lord was always teaching the universal +through the particular, and in each parable, nay in each comment on +passing events, laying down world-wide laws of His own kingdom, enduring +through all time--I presume that this also is one of the laws of the +kingdom of God. And I think that facts--to which after all is the only +safe appeal--prove that it is so; that we see the same law at work around +us every day. I think that pestilences, conflagrations, accidents of any +kind which destroy life wholesale, even earthquakes and storms, are +instances of this law; warnings from God; judgments of God, in the very +strictest sense; by which He tells men, in a voice awful enough to the +few, but merciful and beneficent to the many, to be prudent and wise; to +learn henceforth either not to interfere with the physical laws of His +universe, or to master and to wield them by reason and by science. + +I would gladly say more on this point, did time allow: but I had rather +now ask you to consider, whether this same law does not reveal itself +throughout history; in many great national changes, or even calamities; +and in the fall of many an ancient and time-honoured institution. I +believe that the law does reveal itself; and in forms which, rightly +studied, may at once teach us Christian charity, and give us faith and +comfort, as we see that God, however severe, is still just. + +I mean this--The more we read, in history, of the fall of great +dynasties, or of the ruin of whole classes, or whole nations, the more we +feel--however much we may acquiesce with the judgment as a whole--sympathy +with the fallen. It is not the worst, but often the best, specimens of a +class or of a system, who are swallowed up by the moral earthquake, which +has been accumulating its forces, perhaps for centuries. Innocent and +estimable on the whole, as persons, they are involved in the ruin which +falls on the system to which they belong. So far from being sinners +above all around them, they are often better people than those around +them. It is as if they were punished, not for being who they were, but +for being what they were. + +History is full of such instances; instances of which we say and cannot +help saying--What have they done above all others, that on them above all +others the thunderbolt should fall? + +Was Charles the First, for example, the worst, or the best, of the +Stuarts; and Louis the Sixteenth, of the Bourbons? Look, again, at the +fate of Sir Thomas More, Bishop Fisher, and the hapless monks of the +Charterhouse. Were they sinners above all who upheld the Romish system +in England? Were they not rather among the righteous men who ought to +have saved it, if it could have been saved? And yet on them--the purest +and the holiest of their party--and not on hypocrites and profligates, +fell the thunderbolt. + +What is the meaning of these things?--for a meaning there must be; and +we, I dare to believe, must be meant to discover it; for we are the +children of God, into whose hearts, because we are human beings and not +mere animals, He has implanted the inextinguishable longing to ascertain +final causes; to seek not merely the means of things, but the reason of +things; to ask not merely How? but Why? + +May not the reason be--I speak with all timidity and reverence, as one +who shrinks from pretending to thrust himself into the counsels of the +Almighty--But may not the reason be that God has wished thereby to +condemn not the persons, but the systems? That He has punished them, not +for their private, but for their public faults? It is not the men who +are judged, it is the state of things which they represent; and for that +very reason may not God have made an example, a warning, not of the +worst, but of the very best, specimens of a doomed class or system, which +has been weighed in His balance, and found wanting? + +Therefore we need not suppose that these sufferers themselves were the +objects of God's wrath. We may believe that of them, too, stands true +the great Law, "Whom the Lord loveth, He chasteneth, and scourgeth every +son whom He receiveth." We may believe that of them, too, stands true St +Paul's great parable in 1 Cor. xii., which, though a parable, is the +expression of a perpetually active law. They have built, it may be, on +the true foundation: but they have built on it wood, hay, stubble, +instead of gold and precious stone. And the fire of God, which burns for +ever against the falsehoods and follies of the world, has tried their +work, and it is burned and lost. But they themselves are saved; yet as +through fire. + +Looking at history in this light, we may justify God for many a heavy +blow, and fearful judgment, which seems to the unbeliever a wanton +cruelty of chance or fate; while at the same time we may feel deep +sympathy with--often deep admiration for--many a noble spirit, who has +been defeated, and justly defeated, by those irreversible laws of God's +kingdom, of which it is written--"On whomsoever that stone shall fall, it +will grind him to powder." We may look with reverence, as well as pity, +on many figures in history, such as Sir Thomas More's; on persons who, +placed by no fault of their own in some unnatural and unrighteous +position; involved in some decaying and unworkable system; conscious more +or less of their false position; conscious, too, of coming danger, have +done their best, according to their light, to work like men, before the +night came in which no man could work; to do what of their duty seemed +still plain and possible; and to set right that which would never come +right more: forgetting that, alas, the crooked cannot be made straight, +and that which is wanting cannot be numbered; till the flood came and +swept them away, standing bravely to the last at a post long since +untenable, but still--all honour to them--standing at their post. + +When we consider such sad figures on the page of history, we may have, I +say, all respect for their private virtues. We may accept every excuse +for their public mistakes. And yet we may feel a solemn satisfaction at +their downfall, when we see it to have been necessary for the progress of +mankind, and according to those laws and that will of God and of Christ, +by which alone the human race is ruled. We may look back on old orders +of things with admiration; even with a touch of pardonable, though +sentimental, regret. But we shall not forget that the old order changes, +giving place to the new; + + And God fulfils Himself in many ways, + Lest one good custom should corrupt the world. + +And we shall believe, too, if we be wise, that all these things were +written for our example, that we may see, and fear, and be turned to the +Lord, each asking himself solemnly, What is the system on which I am +governing my actions? Is it according to the laws and will of God, as +revealed in facts? Let me discover that in time: lest, when it becomes +bankrupt in God's books, I be involved--I cannot guess how far--in the +common ruin of my compeers. + +What is my duty? Let me go and work at it, lest a night come, in which I +cannot work. What fruit am I expected to bring forth? Let me train and +cultivate my mind, heart, whole humanity to bring it forth, lest the +great Husbandman come seeking fruit on me, and find none. And if I see a +man who falls in the battle of life, let me not count him a worse sinner +than myself; but let me judge myself in fear and trembling; lest God +judge me, and I perish in like wise. + + + + +SERMON XXI. THE WAR IN HEAVEN. + + +REV. XIX. 11-16. + + And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat + upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth + judge and make war. His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head + were many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he + himself. And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his + name is called The Word of God. And the armies which were in heaven + followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and + clean. And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he + should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: + and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty + God. And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING + OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS. + +Let me ask you to consider seriously this noble passage. It was never +more worth men's while to consider it than now, when various selfish and +sentimental religions--call them rather superstitions--have made men +altogether forget the awful reality of Christ's kingdom; the awful fact +that Christ reigns, and will reign, till He has put all enemies under His +feet. + +Who, then, is He of whom the text speaks? Who is this personage, who +appears eternally in heaven as a warrior, with His garments stained with +blood, the leader of armies, smiting the nations, and ruling them with a +rod of iron? + +St John tells us that He had one name which none knew save Himself. But +he tells us that He was called Faithful and True; and he tells us, too, +that He had another name which St John did know; and that is, "The Word +of God." + +Now who the Word of God is, all are bound to know who call themselves +Christians; even Jesus Christ our Lord, who was born of the Virgin Mary, +crucified under Pontius Pilate, rose again the third day, ascended into +heaven, and sitteth at the right hand of God. + +He it is who makes everlasting war as King of kings and Lord of lords. +But against what does He make war? His name tells us that. For it +is--Faithful and True; and therefore He makes war against all things and +beings who are unfaithful and false. He Himself is full of chivalry, +full of fidelity; and therefore all that is unchivalrous and treacherous +is hateful in His eyes; and that which He hates, He is both able and +willing to destroy. + +Moreover, He makes war in righteousness. And therefore all men and +things which are unrighteous and unjust are on the opposite side to Him; +His enemies, which He will trample under His feet. The only hope for +them, and indeed for all mankind, is that He does make war in +righteousness, and that He Himself is faithful and true, whoever else is +not; that He is always just, always fair, always honourable and +courteous; that He always keeps His word; and governs according to fixed +and certain laws, which men may observe and calculate upon, and shape +their conduct accordingly, sure that Christ's laws will not change for +any soul on earth or in heaven. But, within those honourable and +courteous conditions, He will, as often as He sees fit, smite the +nations, and rule them with a rod of iron; and tread the winepress of the +fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. + +And if any say--as too many in these luxurious unbelieving days will +say--What words are these? Threatening, terrible, cruel? My answer +is,--The words are not mine. I did not put them into the Bible. I find +them there, and thousands like them, in the New Testament as well as in +the Old, in the Gospels and Epistles as well as in the Revelation of St +John. If you do not like them, your quarrel must be, not with me, but +with the whole Bible, and especially with St John the Apostle, who +said--"Little children, love one another;" and who therefore was likely +to have as much love and pity in his heart as any philanthropic, or +sentimental, or superstitious, or bigoted, personage of modern days. + +And if any one say,--But you must mistake the meaning of the text. It +must be understood spiritually. The meek and gentle Jesus, who is +nothing but love and mercy, cannot be such an awful and destroying being +as you would make Him out to be. Then I must answer--That our Lord was +meek and gentle when on earth, and therefore is meek and gentle for ever +and ever, there can be no doubt. "I am meek and lowly of heart," He said +of Himself. But with that meekness and lowliness, and not in +contradiction to it, there was, when He was upon earth, and therefore +there is now and for ever, a burning indignation against all wrong and +falsehood; and especially against that worst form of falsehood--hypocrisy; +and that worst form of hypocrisy--covetousness which shelters itself +under religion. + +When our Lord saw men buying and selling in the temple, He made a scourge +of cords, and drove them out, and overthrew the tables of the +money-changers, and said,--"It is written, my Father's house is a house +of prayer, but ye have made it a den of thieves." + +When He faced the Pharisees, who were covetous, He had no meek and gentle +words for them: but, "Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye +escape the damnation of hell?" + +And because His character is perfect and eternal: because He is the same +yesterday, to-day, and for ever, we are bound by the Christian faith to +believe that He has now, and will have for ever, the same Divine +indignation against wrong, the same determination to put it down: and to +cast out of His kingdom, which is simply the whole universe, all that +offends, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie. + +And if any say, as some say now-a-days--"Ah, but you cannot suppose that +our Lord would propagate His Gospel by the sword, or wish Christians to +do so." My friends, this chapter and this sermon has nothing to do with +the propagation of the Gospel, in the popular sense; nothing to do with +converting heathens or others to Christianity. It has to do with that +awful government of the world, of which the Bible preaches from beginning +to end; that moral and providential kingdom of God, which rules over the +destiny of every kingdom, every nation, every tribe, every family, nay, +over the destiny of each human being; ay, of each horde of Tartars on the +furthest Siberian steppe, and each group of savages in the furthest +island of the Pacific; rendering to each man according to his works, +rewarding the good, punishing the bad, and exterminating evildoers, even +wholesale and seemingly without discrimination, when the measure of their +iniquity is full. Christ's herald in this noble chapter calls men, not +to repentance, but to inevitable doom. His angel--His messenger--stands +in the sun, the source of light and life; above this petty planet, its +fashions, its politics, its sentimentalities, its notions of how the +universe ought to have been made and managed; and calls to whom?--to all +the fowl that fly in the firmament of heaven--"Come and gather yourselves +together, to the feast of the great God, that ye may eat the flesh of +kings, and of captains, and of mighty men; and the flesh of horses and of +them that sit on them; and the flesh of all men, both free and slave, +both small and great." + +What those awful words may mean I cannot say. But this I say, that the +Apostle would never have used such words, conveying so plain and so +terrible a meaning to anyone who has ever seen or heard of a +battle-field, if he had really meant by them nothing like a battle-field +at all. + +It may be that these words have fulfilled themselves many times--at the +fall of Jerusalem--at the wars which convulsed the Roman empire during +the first century after Christ--at the final fall of the Roman empire +before the lances of our German ancestors--in many another great war, and +national calamity, in many a land since then. It may be, too, that, as +learned divines have thought, they will have their complete fulfilment in +some war of all wars, some battle of all battles; in which all the powers +of evil, and all those who love a lie, shall be arrayed against all the +powers of good, and all those who fear God and keep His commandments: to +fight it out, if the controversy can be settled by no reason, no +persuasion; a battle in which the whole world shall discover that, even +in an appeal to brute force, the good are stronger than the bad; because +they have moral force also on their side; because God and the laws of His +whole universe are fighting for them, against those who transgress law, +and outrage reason. + +The wisest of living Britons has said,--"Infinite Pity, yet infinite +rigour of Law. It is so that the world is made." I should add, It is so +the world must be made, because it is made by Jesus Christ our Lord, and +its laws are the likeness of His character; pitiful, because Christ is +pitiful; and rigorous, because He is rigorous. So pitiful is Christ, +that He did not hesitate to be slain for men, that mankind through Him +might be saved. But so rigorous is Christ, that He does not hesitate to +slay men, if needful, that mankind thereby may be saved. War and +bloodshed, pestilence and famine, earthquake and tempest--all of them, as +sure as there is a God, are the servants of God, doing His awful but +necessary work, for the final benefit of the whole human race. + +It may be difficult to believe this: at least to believe it with the same +intense faith with which prophets and apostles of old believed it, and +cried--"When Thy judgments, O Lord, are abroad in the earth, then shall +the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness." But we must believe +it: or we shall be driven to believe in no God at all; and that will be +worse for us than all the evil that has happened to us from our youth up +until now. + +But most people find it very difficult to believe in such a God as the +Scripture sets forth--a God of boundless tenderness; and yet a God of +boundless indignation. + +The covetous and luxurious find it very difficult to understand such a +being. Their usual notion of tenderness is a selfish dislike of seeing +any one else uncomfortable, because it makes them uncomfortable likewise. +Their usual notion of indignation is a selfish desire of revenge against +anyone who interferes with their comfort. And therefore they have no +wholesome indignation against wrong and wrong-doers, and a great deal of +unwholesome tenderness for them. They are afraid of any one's being +punished; probably from a fellow-feeling; a suspicion that they deserve +to be punished themselves. They hate and dread honest severity, and +stern exercise of lawful power. They are indulgent to the bad, severe +upon the good; till, as has been bitterly but too truly said,--"Public +opinion will allow a man to do anything, except his duty." + +Now this is a humour which cannot last. It breeds weakness, anarchy, and +at last ruin to society. And then the effeminate and luxurious, +terrified for their money and their comfort, fly from an unwholesome +tenderness to an unwholesome indignation; break out into a panic of +selfish rage; and become, as cowards are apt to do, blindly and wantonly +cruel; and those who fancied God too indulgent to punish His enemies, +will be the very first to punish their own. + +But there are those left, I thank God, in this land, who have a clear +understanding of what they ought to be, and an honest desire to be it; +who know that a manful indignation against wrong-doing, a hearty hatred +of falsehood and meanness, a rigorous determination to do their duty at +all risks, and to repress evil with all severity, may dwell in the same +heart with gentleness, forgiveness, tenderness to women and children; +active pity to the weak, the sick, the homeless; and courtesy to all +mankind, even to their enemies. + +God grant that that spirit may remain alive among us. For without it we +shall not long be a strong nation; not indeed long a nation at all. And +it is alive among us. Not that we, any of us, have enough of it--God +forgive us for all our shortcomings. And God grant it may remain alive +among us; for it is, as far as it goes, the likeness of Christ, the Maker +and Ruler of the world. + +"Christian," said a great genius and a great divine, + + "If thou wouldst learn to love, + Thou first must learn to hate." + +And if any one answer--"Hate? Even God hateth nothing that He has made." +The rejoinder is,--And for that very reason God hates evil; because He +has not made it, and it is ruinous to all that He has made. + +Go you and do likewise. Hate what is wrong with all your heart, and +mind, and soul, and strength. For so, and so only, you will shew that +you love God with all your heart, and mind, and soul, and strength, +likewise. + +Oh pray--and that not once for all merely, but day by day, ay, almost +hour by hour--Strengthen me, O Lord, to hate what Thou hatest, and love +what Thou lovest; and therefore, whenever I see an opportunity, to put +down what Thou hatest, and to help what Thou lovest--That so, at the last +dread day, when every man shall be rewarded according to his works, you +may have some answer to give to the awful question--On whose side wert +thou in the battle of life? On the side of good men and of God, or on +the side of bad men and the devil? Lest you find yourselves forced to +reply--as too many will be forced--with surprise, and something like +shame and confusion of face--I really do not know. I never thought about +the matter at all. I never knew that there was any battle of life. + +Never knew that there was any battle of life? And yet you were +christened, and signed with the sign of the Cross, in token that you +should fight manfully under Christ's banner against sin, the world, and +the devil, and continue Christ's faithful soldier and servant to your +life's end. Did it never occur to you that those words might possibly +mean something? And you used to sing hymns, too, on earth, about +"Soldiers of Christ, arise, And put your armour on." What prophets, and +apostles, and martyrs, and confessors meant by those words, you should +know well enough. Did it never occur to you that they might possibly +mean something to you? That as long as the world was no better than it +is, there was still a battle of life; and that you too were sworn to +fight in it? How many will answer--Yes--Yes--But I thought that these +words only meant having my soul saved, and going to heaven when I died. +And how did you expect to do that? By believing certain doctrines which +you were told were true; and leading a tolerably respectable life, +without which you would not have been received into society? Was that +all which was needed to go to heaven? And was that all that was meant by +fighting manfully under Christ's banner against sin, the world, and the +devil? Why, Cyrus and his old Persians, 2,400 years ago, were nearer to +the kingdom of God than that. They had a clearer notion of what the +battle of life meant than that, when they said that not only the man who +did a merciful or just deed, but the man who drained a swamp, tilled a +field, made any little corner of the earth somewhat better than he found +it, was fighting against Ahriman the evil spirit of darkness, on the side +of Ormuzd the good god of light; and that as he had taken his part in +Ormuzd's battle, he should share in Ormuzd's triumph. + +Oh be at least able to say in that day,--Lord, I am no hero. I have been +careless, cowardly, sometimes all but mutinous. Punishment I have +deserved, I deny it not. But a traitor I have never been; a deserter I +have never been. I have tried to fight on Thy side in Thy battle against +evil. I have tried to do the duty which lay nearest me; and to leave +whatever Thou didst commit to my charge a little better than I found it. +I have not been good: but I have at least tried to be good. I have not +done good, it may be, either: but I have at least tried to do good. Take +the will for the deed, good Lord. Accept the partial self-sacrifice +which Thou didst inspire, for the sake of the one perfect self-sacrifice +which Thou didst fulfil upon the Cross. Pardon my faults, out of Thine +own boundless pity for human weakness. Strike not my unworthy name off +the roll-call of the noble and victorious army, which is the blessed +company of all faithful people; and let me, too, be found written in the +Book of Life: even though I stand the lowest and last upon its list. +Amen. + + + + +SERMON XXII. NOBLE COMPANY. + + +HEBREWS XII. 22, 23. + + Ye are come to the city of the living God, and to the spirits of just + men made perfect. + +I have quoted only part of the passage of Scripture in which these words +occur. If you want a good employment for All Saints' Day, read the whole +passage, the whole chapter; and no less, the 11th chapter, which comes +before it: so will you understand better the meaning of All Saints' Day. +But sufficient for the day is the good thereof, as well as the evil; and +the good which I have to say this morning is--You are come to the spirits +of just men made perfect; for this is All Saints' Day. + +Into the presence of this noble company we have come: even nobler +company, remember, than that which was spoken of in the text. For more +than 1800 years have passed since the Epistle to the Hebrews was written: +and how many thousands of just men and women, pure, noble, tender, wise, +beneficent, have graced the earth since then, and left their mark upon +mankind, and helped forward the hallowing of our heavenly Father's name, +the coming of His kingdom, the doing of His will on earth as it is done +in heaven; and helped therefore to abolish the superstition, the misrule, +the vice, and therefore the misery of this struggling, moaning world. How +many such has Christ sent on this earth during the last 1800 years. How +many before that; before His own coming, for many a century and age. We +know not, and we need not know. The records of Holy Scripture and of +history strike with light an isolated mountain peak, or group of peaks, +here and here through the ages; but between and beyond all is dark to us +now. But it may not have been dark always. Scripture and history +likewise hint to us of great hills far away, once brilliant in the one +true sunshine which comes from God, now shrouded in the mist of ages, or +literally turned away beyond our horizon by the revolution of our planet: +and of lesser hills, too, once bright and green and fair, giving pasture +to lonely flocks, sending down fertilizing streams into now forgotten +valleys; themselves all but forgotten now, save by the God who made and +blessed them. + +Yes: many a holy soul, many a useful soul, many a saint who is now at +God's right hand, has lived and worked, and been a blessing, himself +blest, of whom the world, and even the Church, has never heard, who will +never be seen or known again, till the day in which the Lord counteth up +His jewels. + +Let us rejoice in that thought on this day, above all days in the year. +On this day we give special thanks to God for all His servants departed +this life in His faith and fear. Let us rejoice in the thought that we +know not how many they are; only that they are an innumerable company, +out of all tongues and nations, whom no man can number. Let us rejoice +that Christ's grace is richer, and not poorer, than our weak imaginations +can conceive, or our narrow systems account for. Let us rejoice that the +goodly company in whose presence we stand, can be limited and defined by +no mortal man, or school of men: but only by Him from whom, with the +Father, proceeds for ever the Holy Spirit, the inspirer of all good; and +who said of that Spirit--"The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou +hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and +whither it goeth. So is every one who is born of the Spirit"--and who +said again, "John came neither eating nor drinking, and ye said, He hath +a devil. The Son of man came eating and drinking, and ye say, Behold a +man gluttonous and a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners. But +I say unto you, Verily wisdom is justified of all her children"--and who +said again--when John said to Him, "Master, we saw one casting out devils +in Thy name, and he followeth not us"--"Forbid him not. For I say to +you, that he that doeth a miracle in My name will not lightly speak evil +of Me"--and who said, lastly--and most awfully--that the unpardonable +sin, either in this life or the life to come, was to attribute beneficent +deeds to a bad origin, because they were performed by one who differed +from us in opinion; and to say, "He casteth out devils by Beelzebub, +prince of the devils." + +These are words of our Lord, which we are specially bound to keep in our +minds, with reverence and godly fear, on All Saints' Day, lest by +arranging our calendar of saints according to our own notions of who +ought to be a saint, and who ought not--that is, who agrees with our +notions of perfection, and who does not--we exclude ourselves, by +fastidiousness, from much unquestionably good company; and possibly mix +ourselves up with not a little which is, to say the least, questionable. + +Men in all ages, Churchmen or others, have fallen into this mistake. They +have been but too ready to limit their calendar of saints; to narrow the +thanksgivings which they offer to God on All Saints' Day. + +The Romish Church has been especially faulty on this point. It has +assumed, as necessary preliminaries for saintship--at least after the +Christian era--the practice of, or at least the longing after, celibacy; +and after the separation of the Eastern and Western Churches, +unconditional submission to the Church of Rome. But how has this +injured, if not spoiled, their exclusive calendar of saints. Amid +apostles, martyrs, divines, who must be always looked on as among the +very heroes and heroines of humanity, we find more than one fanatic +persecutor; more than two or three clearly insane personages; and too +many who all but justify the terrible sneer--that the Romish Calendar is +the "Pantheon of Hysteria." + +And Protestants, too--How have they narrowed the number of the spirits of +just men made perfect; and confined the Paean which should go up from the +human race on All Saints' Day, till a "saint" has too often meant with +them only a person who has gone through certain emotional experiences, +and assented to certain subjective formulas, neither of which, according +to the opinion of some of the soundest divines, both of the Romish, +Greek, and Anglican communions, are to be found in the letter of +Scripture as necessary to salvation; and who have, moreover, finished +their course--doubtless often a holy, beneficent, and beautiful course--by +a rapturous death-bed scene, which is more rare in the actual experience +of clergymen, and, indeed, in the conscience and experience of human +beings in general, than in the imaginations of the writers of religious +romances. + +But we of the Church of England, as by law established--and I recognize +and obey, and shall hereafter recognize and obey, no other--have no need +so to narrow our All Saints' Day; our joy in all that is noble and good +which man has said or done in any age or clime. We have no need to +define where formularies have not defined; to shut where they have +opened; to curse where they either bless, or are humbly, charitably, and +therefore divinely, silent. With a magnificent faith in the justice of +the Father, and in the grace of Christ, and in the inspiration of the +Holy Spirit, our Church bids us--Judge not the dead, lest ye be judged. +Condemn not the dead, lest ye be condemned. For she bids us commit to +the earth the corpses of all who die not "unbaptized," "excommunicate," +or wilful suicides, and who are willing to lie in our consecrated ground; +giving thanks to God that our dear brother has been delivered from the +miseries of this sinful world, and in sure and certain hope of the +resurrection to eternal life. + +At least: we of the Abbey of Westminster have a right to hold this; for +we, thank God, act on it, and have acted on it for many a year. We have +a right to our wide, free, charitable, and truly catholic conception of +All Saints' Day. Ay, if we did not use our right, these walls would use +it for us; and in us would our Lord's words be fulfilled--If we were +silent, the very stones beneath our feet would cry out. + +For hither we gather, as far as is permitted us, and hither we gather +proudly, the mortal dust of every noble soul who has done good work for +the British nation; accepting each and all of them as gifts from the +Father of lights, from whom proceedeth every good and perfect gift, as +sent to this nation by that Lord Jesus Christ who is the King of all the +nations upon earth; and acknowledging--for fear of falling into that +Pelagian heresy, which is too near the heart of every living man--that +all wise words which they have spoken, all noble deeds which they have +done, have come, must have come, from The One eternal source of wisdom, +of nobleness, of every form of good; even from the Holy Spirit of God. + +We make no severe or minute inquiries here. We leave them, if they must +be made, to God the Judge of all things, and Christ who knows the secrets +of the hearts; to Him who is merciful in this: that He rewardeth every +man according to his works. + +All we ask is--and all we dare ask--of divine or statesman, poet or +warrior, musician or engineer--of Dryden or of Handel--of Isaac Watts or +of Charles Dickens--but why go on with the splendid diversities of the +splendid catalogue?--What was your work? Did we admire you for it? Did +we love you for it? And why? Because you made us in some way or other +better men. Because you helped us somewhat toward whatsoever things are +pure, true, just, honourable, of good report. Because, if there was any +virtue--that is, true valour and manhood; if there was any praise--that +is, just honour in the sight of men, and therefore surely in the sight of +the Son of man, who died for men; you helped us to think on such things. +You, in one word, helped to make us better men. + +Welcome then, friends unknown--and, alas! friends known, and loved, and +lost--welcome into England's Pantheon, not of superstitious and selfish +hysteria, but of beneficent and healthy manhood. + +Your words and your achievements have gone out into all lands, and your +sound unto the ends of the world; and let them go, and prosper in that +for which the Lord of man has sent them. Our duty is, to guard your +sacred dust. Our duty is, to point out your busts, your monuments around +these ancient walls, to all who come, of every race and creed; as proofs +that the ancient spirit is not dead; that Christ has not deserted the +nation of England, while He sends into it such men as you; that Christ +has not deserted the Church of England, while He gives her grace to +recognize and honour such men as you, and to pray Christ that He would +keep up the sacred succession of virtue, talent, beneficence, patriotism; +and make us, most unworthy, at last worthy, one at least here and there, +of the noble dead, above whose dust we now serve God. + +Yes, so ought we in Westminster to keep our All Saints' Day; in giving +thanks to God for the spirits of just men made perfect. Not only for +those just men and women innumerable, who--as I said at first--have +graced this earth during the long ages of the past: but specially for +those who lie around us here; with whom we can enter, and have entered +already, often, into spiritual communion closer than that, almost, of +child with parent; whose writings we can read, whose deeds we can admire, +whose virtues we can copy, and to whom we owe a debt of gratitude, we and +our children after us, which never can be repaid. + +And if ever the thought comes over us--But these men had their faults, +mistakes--Oh, what of that? + + Nothing is left of them + Now, but pure manly. + +Let us think of them: not as they were, compassed round with +infirmities--as who is not?--knowing in part, and seeing in part, as St +Paul himself, in the zenith of his inspiration, said that he knew; and +saw, as through a glass, darkly. + +Let us think of them not as they were, the spirits of just men imperfect: +but as the spirits of just men made, or to be made hereafter, perfect; +when, as St Paul says, "that which is in part is done away, and that +which is perfect is come." And let us trust Christ for them, as we would +trust Him for ourselves; sure "that the path of the just is as a shining +light, which shineth more and more unto the perfect day." + +Ah, how many lie in this Abbey, to meet whom in the world to come, would +be an honour most undeserved! + +How many more worthy, and therefore more likely, than any of us here, to +behold that endless All Saints' Day, to which may God in His mercy, in +spite of all our shortcomings, bring us all. Amen. + + + + +SERMON XXIII. DE PROFUNDIS. + + +PSALM CXXX. + + Out of the deep have I called unto Thee, O Lord: Lord, hear my voice. + O let Thine ears consider well the voice of my complaint. If Thou, + Lord, wilt be extreme to mark what is done amiss, O Lord, who may + abide it? For there is mercy with Thee, therefore shall Thou be + feared. I look for the Lord; my soul doth wait for Him: in His word + is my trust. My soul fleeth unto the Lord before the morning watch: I + say, before the morning watch. O Israel, trust in the Lord: for with + the Lord there is mercy, and with Him is plenteous redemption. And He + shall redeem Israel from all his sins. + +Let us consider this psalm awhile, for it is a precious heirloom to +mankind. It has been a guide and a comfort to thousands and tens of +thousands. Rich and poor, old and young, Jews and Christians, Romans, +Greeks, and Protestants, have been taught by it the character of God; and +taught to love Him, and trust in Him, in whom is mercy, therefore He +shall be feared. + +The Psalmist cries out of the deep; out of the deep of sorrow, perhaps, +and bereavement, and loneliness; or out of the deep of poverty; or out of +the deep of persecution and ill-usage; or out of the deep of sin, and +shame, and weakness which he hates yet cannot conquer; or out of the deep +of doubt, and anxiety--and ah! how common is that deep; and how many +there are in it that swim hard for their lives: may God help them and +bring them safe to land;--or out of the deep of overwork, so common now-a- +days, when duty lies sore on aching shoulders, a burden too heavy to be +borne. + +Out of some one of the many deeps into which poor souls fall at times, +and find themselves in deep water where no ground is, and in the mire +wherein they are ready to sink, the Psalmist cries. But out of the deep +he cries--to God. To God, and to none else. + +He goes to the fountain-head, to the fount of deliverance, and of +forgiveness. For he feels that he needs, not only deliverance, but +forgiveness likewise. His sorrow may not be altogether his own fault. +What we call in our folly "accident" and "chance," and "fortune,"--but +which is really the wise providence and loving will of God--may have +brought him low into the deep. Or the injustice, cruelty, and oppression +of men may have brought him low; or many another evil hap. But be that +as it may, he dares not justify himself. He cannot lift up altogether +clean hands. He cannot say that his sorrow is none of his own fault, and +his mishap altogether undeserved. If Thou, Lord, wert extreme to mark +what is done amiss, O Lord, who could abide it? "Not I," says the +Psalmist. "Not I," says every human being who knows himself; and knows +too well that--"If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the +truth is not in us." + +But the Psalmist says likewise, "There is forgiveness with Thee, +therefore shall Thou be feared." + +My friends, consider this; the key of the whole psalm; the gospel and +good news, for the sake of which the psalm has been preserved in Holy +Scripture, and handed down to us. + +God is to be feared, because He is merciful. It is worth while to fear +Him, because He is merciful, and of great kindness, and hateth nothing +that He hath made; and willeth not the death of a sinner, but rather that +he should turn from his wickedness and live. + +Superstitious people, in all ages, heathens always, and sometimes, I am +sorry to say, Christians likewise, have had a very different reason, an +opposite reason, for fearing God. + +They have said: Not--there is mercy: but there is anger with God: +therefore shall He be feared. They have said--We must fear God, because +He is wrathful, and terrible, and ready to punish; and is extreme to mark +what is done amiss, and willeth the death of a sinner: and therefore they +have not believed, when Holy Scripture told them, that God was love, and +that God so loved the world, that He gave His only-begotten Son, and sent +Him to visit the world in great humility, that the world through Him +might be saved. + +God has seemed to them only a proud, stern, and formidable being; a +condemning judge, and not a merciful Father; and therefore, when they +have found themselves in the deep of misery, they have cried out of it to +saints, angels, the Virgin Mary; or even to sun, moon, and stars, and all +the powers of nature; or even, again--what is more foolish still,--to +astrologers, wizards, mediums, and quacks of every shape and hue; to any +one and any thing, rather than to God. + +But do not you do so, my friends. Fix it in your hearts and minds; and +fix it now, before you fall into the deep, as most are apt to do before +they die; lest, when the dark day comes, you have no time to learn in +adversity the lesson which you should have learnt in prosperity. Fix in +your hearts and minds the blessed Gospel and good news--"There is mercy +with Thee, O God; therefore shall Thou be feared." There is mercy with +Him, pity, tenderness, sympathy; a heart which can be touched with the +feeling of our infirmities; which knoweth what is in man; which despiseth +not the work of His own hands; which remembereth our weak frame, and +knoweth that we are but dust: else the spirit would fail before Him, and +the souls which He has made. Think of God as that which He is--a +compassionate God, a long-suffering God, a generous God, a magnanimous +God, a truly royal God; in one word, a Perfect God; who causeth His sun +to shine on the evil and on the good, and sendeth His rain on the just +and on the unjust; a God who cannot despise, cannot neglect, cannot lose +His patience with any poor soul of man; who sets Himself against none but +the insolent, the proud, the malicious, the mean, the wilfully stupid and +ignorant and frivolous. Against those who exalt themselves, whether as +terrible tyrants or merely contemptible boasters, He exalts Himself; and +will shew them, sooner or later, whether He or they be the stronger; +whether He or they be the wiser. But for the poor soul who is abased, +who is down, and in the depth; who feels his own weakness, folly, +ignorance, sinfulness, and out of that deep cries to God as a lost child +crying after its father--even a lost lamb bleating after the ewe--of that +poor soul, be his prayers never so confused, stupid and ill-expressed--of +him it is written: "The Lord helpeth them that fall, and lifteth up all +those that are down. He is nigh to all that call on Him, yea, to all +that call upon Him faithfully. He will fulfil the desire of those that +fear Him, He also will hear their cry and will help them." + +Yes. To all such does God the Father, God who made heaven and earth, +hold up, as it were, His only-begotten Son, Christ, hanging on the Cross +for us; and say: Behold thy God. Behold the brightness of God's glory, +and the express image of God's person. Behold what God gave for thee, +even His only-begotten Son. Behold that in which God the Father was well +pleased: in His Son; not condemning you, not destroying you, but humbling +Himself, dying Himself awhile, that you may live for ever. Look; and by +seeing the Son, see the Father also--your Father, and the Father of the +spirits of all flesh; and know that His essence and His name is--Love. + +Therefore, when you are in the deep of sorrow, whatever that depth may +be, cry to God. To God Himself; and to none but God. If you can go to +the pure fountain-head, why drink of the stream, which must have gathered +something of defilement as it flows? If you can get light from the sun +itself, why take lamp or candle in place of his clear rays? If you can +go to God Himself, why go to any of God's creatures, however holy pure, +and loving? Go to God, who is light of light, and life of life; the +source of all light, the source of all life, all love, all goodness, all +mercy. From Him all goodness flows. All goodness which ever has been, +shall be, or can be, is His alone, the fruit of His Spirit. Go then to +Him Himself. Out of the depth, however deep, cry unto God and God +Himself. If David, the Jew of old, could do so, much more can we, who +are baptized into Christ; much more can we, who have access by one Spirit +to the Father; much more can we, who--if we know who we are and where we +are--should come boldly to the throne of grace, to find mercy and grace +to help us in the time of need. + +Boldness. That is a bold word: but it is St Paul's, not mine. And by +shewing that boldness, we shall shew that we indeed fear God. We shall +shew that we reverence God. We shall shew that we trust God. For so, +and so only, we shall obey God. If a sovereign or a sage should bid you +come to him, would you shew reverence by staying away? Would you shew +reverence by refusing his condescension? You may shew that you are +afraid of him; that you do not trust him: but that is not to shew +reverence, but irreverence. + +If God calls, you are bound by reverence to come, however unworthy. If +He bids you, you must obey, however much afraid. You must trust Him; you +must take Him at His word; you must confide in His goodness, in His +justice, in His wisdom: and since He bids you, go boldly to His throne, +and find Him what He is, a gracious Lord. + +My friends, to you, every one of you--however weak, however ignorant, ay, +however sinful, if you desire to be delivered from those sins--this grace +is given; liberty to cry out of the depth to God Himself, who made sun +and stars, all heaven and earth; liberty to stand face to face with the +Father of the spirits of all flesh, and cling to the one Being who can +never fail nor change; even to the one immortal eternal God, of whom it +is written, "Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the +earth, and the heavens are the work of Thy hands. They shall perish, but +Thou shalt endure. They all shall wax old, like a garment, and as a +vesture shalt Thou change them, and they shall be changed. But Thou art +the same, and Thy years shall not fail." + +But it is written again, "My soul waits for the Lord." Yes, if you can +trust in the God who cannot change, you can afford to wait; you need not +be impatient; as it is written--"Fret not thyself, lest thou be moved to +do evil;" and again--"He that believeth shall not make haste." For God, +in whom you trust, is not a man that He should lie, nor a son of man that +He should repent. Hath He promised, and shall He not do it? His word is +like the rain and dew, which fall from heaven, and return not to it again +useless, but give seed to the sower and bread to the eater. So is every +man that trusteth in Him. His kingdom, says the Lord, is as if a man +should put seed into the ground, and sleep and wake, and the seed should +grow up, he knoweth not how. So the seed which we sow--the seed of +repentance, the seed of humility, the seed of sorrowful prayers for +help--it too shall take root, and grow, and bring forth fruit, we know +not how, in the good time of God, who cannot change. We may be sad; we +may be weary; our eyes may wait and watch for the Lord as the Psalmist +says; more than they that watch for the morning: but it must be as those +who watch for the morning, for the morning which must and will come, for +the sun which will surely rise, and the day which will surely dawn, and +the Saviour who will surely deliver, and the God who is merciful in +this--that He rewardeth every man according to his work. + +"Oh trust in the Lord. For with the Lord there is mercy, and with Him is +plenteous redemption; and He shall deliver His people from all their +sins." + +From their sins. Not merely from the punishment of their sins; not +always from the punishment of their sins in this life: but, what is +better far, from the sins themselves; from the sins which bring them into +fresh and needless troubles; and which make the old troubles, which +cannot now be escaped, intolerable. + +From all their sins. Not only from the great sins, which, if persisted +in, will surely destroy both body and soul in hell: but from the little +sins which do so easily beset us; from little bad habits, tempers, +lazinesses, weaknesses, ignorances, which hamper and hinder us all every +day when we try to do our duty. From all these will the Lord deliver us, +by the blood of Christ, and by the inspiration of His Holy Spirit, that +we may be able at last to say to children and friends, and all whom we +love and leave behind us-- + +"Oh taste and see that the Lord is gracious. Blessed is the man that +trusteth in Him." + +Yes. This at least we may do--Trust in our God, and thank God that we +may do it; for if men may not do that, then is that true of them which +Homer said of old--that man is more miserable than all the beasts of the +field. For the animals look neither forward nor back. They live but for +the present moment; and pain and grief, being but for the moment, fall +lightly upon them. But we--we who have the fearful power of looking +back, and looking forward--we who can feel regret and remorse for the +past, anxiety and terror for the future--to us at times life would be +scarce worth having, if we had not a right to cry with all our hearts-- + +"O God, in Thee have I trusted, let me never be confounded." + + + + +SERMON XXIV. THE BLESSING AND THE CURSE. + + +Preached on Whit-Sunday. + +DEUT. XXX. 19, 20. + + I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have + set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose + life, that both thou and thy seed may live: that thou mayest love the + Lord thy God, and that thou mayest obey His voice, and that thou + mayest cleave unto Him: for He is thy life, and the length of thy + days: that thou mayest dwell in the land which the Lord sware unto thy + fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them. + +These words, the book of Deuteronomy says, were spoken by Moses to all +the Israelites shortly before his death. He had led them out of Egypt, +and through the wilderness. They were in sight of the rich land of +Canaan, where they were to settle and to dwell for many hundred years. +Moses, the book says, went over again with them all the Law, the +admirable and divine Law, which they were to obey, and by which they were +to govern and order themselves in the land of Canaan. He had told them +that they owed all to God Himself; that God had delivered them out of +slavery in Egypt; God had led them to the land of Canaan; God had given +them just laws and right statutes, which if they kept, they would live +long in their new home, and become a great and mighty nation. Then he +calls heaven and earth to witness that he had set before them life and +death, blessing and cursing. If they trusted in the one true God, and +served Him, and lived as men should, who believed that a just and loving +God cared for them, then they would live; then a blessing would come on +them, and their children, on their flocks and herds, on their land and +all in it. But if they forgot God, and began to worship the sun, and the +moon, and the stars, the earth and the weather, like the nations round +them, then they would die; they would grow superstitious, cowardly, lazy, +and profligate, and therefore weak and miserable, like the wretched +Canaanites whom they were going to drive out; and then they would die. +Their souls would die in them, and they would become less than men, and +at last--as the Canaanites had become--worse than brutes, till their +numbers would diminish, and they would be left, Moses says, few in number +and at last perish out of the good land which God had given them. + +So, he says, you know how to live, and you know how to die. Choose +between them this day. + +They knew the road to wealth, health, prosperity and order, peace and +happiness, and life: and they knew the road to ruin, poverty, weakness, +disease, shame and death. + +They knew both roads; for God had set them before them. + +And you know both roads; for God has set them before you. + +Then he says--I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, +that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing. + +He called heaven and earth to witness. That was no empty figure of +speech. If you will recollect the story of the Israelites, you will see +plainly enough what Moses meant. + +The heaven would witness against them. The same stars which would look +down on their freedom and prosperity in Canaan, had looked down on all +their slavery and misery in Egypt, hundreds of years before. Those same +stars had looked down on their simple forefathers, Abraham, Isaac, and +Jacob, wandering with their flocks and herds out of the mountains of the +far north. That heaven had seen God's mercies and care of them, for now +five hundred years. Everything had changed round them: but those stars, +that sun, that moon, were the same still, and would be the same for ever. +They were witnesses to them of the unchangeable God, those heavens above. +They would seem to say--Just as the heavens above you are the same, +wherever you go, and whatever you are like, so is the God who dwells +above the heaven; unchangeable, everlasting, faithful, and true, full of +light and love; from whom comes down every good and perfect gift, in whom +is neither variableness nor shadow of turning. Do you turn to Him +continually, and as often as you turn away from Him: and you shall find +Him still the same; governing you by unchangeable law, keeping His +promise for ever. + +And the earth would witness against them. That fair land of Canaan +whither they were going, with its streams and wells spreading freshness +and health around; its rich corn valleys, its uplands covered with vines, +its sweet mountain pastures, a very garden of the Lord, cut off and +defended from all the countries round by sandy deserts and dreary +wildernesses; that land would be a witness to them, at their daily work, +of God's love and mercy to their forefathers. The ruins of the old +Canaanite cities would be a witness to them, and say--Because of their +sins the Lord drove out these old heathens from before you. Copy their +sins, and you will share their ruin. Do as they did, and you will surely +die like them. God has given you life, here in this fair land of Canaan; +beware how you choose death, as the Canaanites chose it. They died the +death which comes by sin; and God has given you life, the life which is +by righteousness. Be righteous men, and just, and God-fearing, if you +wish to keep this land, you, and your children after you. + +And now, my dear friends, if Moses could call heaven and earth to witness +against those old Jews, that he had set before them life and death, a +blessing and a curse, may we not do the same? Does not the heaven above +our heads, and the earth beneath our feet, witness against us here? Do +they not say to us--God has given you life and blessing. If you throw +that away, and choose instead death and a curse; it is your own fault, +not God's? + +Look at the heaven above us. Does not that witness against us? Has it +not seen, for now fifteen hundred years and more, God's goodness to us, +and to our forefathers? All things have changed; language, manners, +customs, religion. We have changed our place, as the Israelites did; and +dwell in a different land from our forefathers: but that sky abides for +ever. That same sun, that moon, those stars shone down upon our heathen +forefathers, when the Lord chose them, and brought them out of the German +forests into this good land of England, that they might learn to worship +no more the sun, and the moon, and the storm, and the thunder-cloud, but +to worship Him, the living God who made all heaven and earth. That sky +looked down upon our forefathers, when the first missionaries baptized +them into the Church of Christ, and England became a Christian land, and +made a covenant with God and Christ for ever to walk in His laws which He +has set before us. From that heaven, ever since, hath God been sending +rain and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness, for +a witness of His love and fostering care; prospering us, whensoever we +have kept His laws, above all other nations upon earth. Shall not that +heaven witness against us? Into that heaven ascended Christ the Lord, +that He might fill all things with His power and His rule, and might send +from thence on us His Holy Spirit, the Spirit whom we worship this day, +the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, +the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. By that same Spirit, +and by none other, have been thought all the noble thoughts which +Englishmen ever thought. By that Spirit have been spoken all the noble +words which Englishmen ever spoke. By that Spirit have been done all the +noble deeds which Englishmen have ever done. To that Spirit we owe all +that is truly noble, truly strong, truly stable, in our English life. It +is He that has given us power to get wealth, to keep wealth, to use +wealth. And if we begin to deny that, as we are inclined to do now-a- +days; if we lay our grand success and prosperity to the account of our +own cleverness, our own ability; if we say, as Moses warned the +Israelites they would say, in the days of their success and prosperity, +not--"It is God who has given us power to get wealth," but--"Mine arm, +and the might of my hand, has gotten me this wealth;"--in plain words--If +we begin to do what we are all too apt to do just now, to worship our own +brains instead of God: then the heaven above us will witness against us, +this Whitsuntide above all seasons in the year; and say--Into heaven the +Lord ascended who died for you on the Cross. From heaven He sent down +gifts for you, and your forefathers, even while you were His enemies, +that the Lord God might dwell among you. And behold, instead of thanking +God, fearing God, and confessing that you are nothing, and God is all, +you talk as if you were the arbiters of your own futures, the makers of +your own gifts. Instead of giving God the glory, you take the glory to +yourselves. Instead of declaring the glory of God, like the heavens, and +shewing his handiwork, like the stars, you shew forth your own glory and +boast of your own handiwork. Beware, and fear; as your forefathers +feared, and lived, because they gave the glory to God. + +And shall not the earth witness against us? Look round, when you go out +of church, upon this noble English land. Why is it not, as many a land +far richer in soil and climate is now, a desolate wilderness; the land +lying waste, and few men left in it, and those who are left robbing and +murdering each other, every man's hand against his fellow, till the wild +beasts of the field increase upon them? In that miserable state now is +many a noble land, once the very gardens of the world--Judaea, and almost +all the East, which was once the very garden of the Lord, as thick with +living men as a hive is with bees, and vast sheets both of North Africa, +and of South and of North America. Why is not England thus? Why, but +because the Lord set before our forefathers life and death, blessing and +cursing; and our forefathers chose life, and lived; and it was well with +them in the land which God gave to them, because they chose blessing, and +God blessed them accordingly? In spite of many mistakes and +shortcomings--for they were sinful mortal men, as we are--they chose life +and a blessing; and clave unto the Lord their God, and kept His covenant; +and they left behind, for us their children, these churches, these +cathedrals, for an everlasting sign that the Lord was with us, as He had +been with them, and would be with our children after us. + +Ah, my friends, while we look round us over the face of this good land, +and see everywhere the churches pointing up to heaven, each amid towns +and villages which have never seen war or famine for now long centuries, +all thriving and improving year by year, and which never for 800 years +have been trodden by the foot of an invading enemy, one ought to feel, if +one has a thoughtful and God-fearing heart--Verily God has set before us +life and blessing, and prospered us above all nations upon earth; and if +we do not cleave to Him, we shall shew ourselves fools above all nations +upon earth. + +And then when one reads the history of England; when one thinks over the +history of any one city, even one country parish; above all, when one +looks into the history of one's own foolish heart: one sees how often, +though God has given us freely life and blessing, we have been on the +point of choosing death and the curse instead; of saying--We will go our +own way and not God's way. The land is ours, not God's; the houses are +our own, not God's; our souls are our own, not God's. We are masters, +and who is master over us? That is the way to choose death, and the +curse, shame and poverty and ruin, my friends; and how often we have been +on the point of choosing it. What has saved us? What has kept us from +it? Certainly not our own righteousness, nor our own wisdom, nor our own +faith. After reading the history of England; or after recollecting our +own lives--the less we say of them the better. + +What has kept us from ruin so long? We are all day long forgetting the +noble things which God did for our forefathers. Why does not God in +return remember our sins, and the sins of our forefathers? Why is He not +angry with us for ever? Why, in spite of all our shortcomings and +backslidings, are we prospering here this day? + +I know not, my friends, unless it be for this one reason, That into that +heaven which witnesses against us, the merciful and loving Christ is +ascended; that He is ever making intercession for us, a High-priest who +can be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; and that He has +received gifts for men, even for His enemies--as we have too often +been--that the Lord God might dwell among us. Yes. He ascended on high +that He might send down His Holy Spirit; and that Spirit is among us, +working patiently and lovingly in many hearts--would that I could say in +all--giving men right judgments; putting good desires into their hearts; +and enabling them to put them into good practice. + +The Holy Spirit is the life of England, and of the Church of England, and +of every man, whether he belongs to the Church or not, who loves the +good, and desires to do it, and to see it done. And those in whom the +Holy Spirit dwells, are the salt of England, which keeps it from decay. +They are those who have chosen life and blessing, and found them. Oh may +God increase their number more and more; till all know Him from the least +unto the greatest; and the land be filled with the knowledge of the Lord, +as the waters cover the sea. + +And then shall all days be Whit-Sundays; and the Name of the Father be +hallowed indeed, and His kingdom come, and His will be done on earth, as +it is in heaven. + + + + +SERMON XXV. THE SILENCE OF FAITH. + + +PSALM CXXXI. + + Lord, my heart is not haughty, nor mine eyes lofty: neither do I + exercise myself in great matters, or in things too high for me. Surely + I have behaved and quieted myself, as a child that is weaned of his + mother: my soul is even as a weaned child. Let Israel hope in the + Lord from henceforth and for ever. + +We know not at what period of David's life this psalm was written. We +know not what matters they were which were too high for him to meddle +with; matters about which he had to refrain his soul; to quiet his +feelings; to suspend his judgment; to check his curiosity, and say about +them simply--Trust in the Lord. + +We do not know, I say, what these great matters, these mysteries were. +But that concerns us little. Human life, human fortune, human history, +human agony--nay, the whole universe, the more we know of it, is full of +such mysteries. Only the shallow and the conceited are unaware of their +presence. Only the shallow and the conceited pretend to explain them, +and have a Why ready for every How. David was not like them. His was +too great a mind to be high-minded; too deep a heart to have proud looks, +and to pretend, to himself or to others, that he knew the whole counsel +of God. + +Solomon his son had the same experience. For him, too, in spite of all +his wisdom, the mystery of Providence was too dark. Though a man +laboured to seek it, yet should he not find it out. All things seemed, +at least, to come alike to all. There was one event to the righteous and +to the wicked; to the clean and to the unclean. Vanity of vanity; all +was vanity. Of making books there was no end, and much study was a +weariness to the flesh. And the conclusion of the whole matter was--Fear +God, and keep His commandments. That--and not to pry into the +unfathomable will of God--was the whole duty of man. + +Job, too: what is the moral of the whole book of Job, save that God's +ways are unsearchable, and His paths past finding out? The Lord, be it +remembered, in the closing scene of the book, vouchsafes to Job no +explanation whatsoever of his affliction. Instead of telling him why he +has been so sorely smitten; instead of bidding him even look up and +trust, He silences Job by the mere plea of His own power. Where wast +thou when I laid the foundation of the earth? Declare, if thou hast +understanding. When the morning stars sang together; and all the sons of +God shouted for joy. Shall he that contendeth with The Almighty instruct +Him? He that reproveth God, let him answer. + +But, it may be said, these are Old Testament sayings. The Patriarchs and +Prophets had not that full light of knowledge of the mind of God which +the Evangelists and Apostles had. What do the latter, the writers of the +New Testament, say, with that fuller knowledge of God, which they gained +through Jesus Christ our Lord? + +My friends--This is not, I trust, by God's great goodness, the last time +that I am to preach in this Abbey. What the Evangelists and Apostles +taught, which the Prophets and Psalmists did not teach, I hope to tell +you, as far as I know, hereafter. + +But this I am bound to tell you beforehand--That there are no truer words +in the Articles of the Church of England than those in the VIIth +Article--that the Old Testament is not contrary to the New; for both in +the Old and New Testament everlasting life is offered to mankind by +Christ, the only Mediator between God and man, being both God and man. + +Yes. That the Old Testament is not contrary to the New, I believe with +my whole heart and soul. And therefore to those who say that the +Apostles had solved the whole mystery of human life, its sins, its +sorrows, its destinies, I must reply that such is not the case, at least +with the most gifted of all the writers of the New Testament. We may +think fit to claim omniscience for St Paul: but he certainly does not +claim it for himself. + +When he is vouchsafed a glimpse of the high counsels of God, he exclaims, +as one dazzled--"Oh the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and +knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments, and His ways past +finding out! For who hath known the mind of the Lord, or who hath been +His counsellor?"--While of himself he speaks in a very different +tone--"Even though he have been," as he says, "caught up into the third +heaven, and heard words unspeakable, which it is not lawful for a man to +utter," yet "he knows," he says, "in part; he prophesies in part; but +when that which is perfect comes, that which is partial shall be done +away." He is as the child to the full-grown man, into which he hopes to +develop in the future life. He "sees as in a glass darkly, but then face +to face." He "knows now in part." Then--but not till then--will he +"know even as he is known." Nay, more. In the ninth chapter of his +Epistle to the Romans, he does not hesitate to push to the utmost that +plea of God's absolute sovereignty which we found in the book of Job. + +"He has mercy on whom He will have mercy; and whom He will He hardeneth." +And if any say, "Why doth He then find fault? For who hath resisted His +will?" "Who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed +say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus? Hath not the +potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel to +honour, and another to dishonour?" + +What those words may mean, or may not mean, I do not intend to argue now. +I only quote them to shew you that St Paul, just as much as any Old +Testament thinker, believed that there were often mysteries, ay, +tragedies, in the lives, not only of individuals, nor of families, but of +whole races, to which we shortsighted mortals could assign no rational or +moral final cause, but must simply do that which Spinoza forbade us to +do, namely--"In every unknown case, flee unto God;" and say--"It is the +Lord, let Him do what seemeth Him good;"--certain of this, which the +Cross and Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ shewed forth as nothing else +in heaven or earth could shew--that the will of God toward man is an +utterly good will; and that therefore what seemeth good to Him, will be +good in act and fact. + +It is this faith, and I believe this faith alone, which can enable truly +feeling spirits to keep anything like equanimity, if they dwell long and +earnestly on the miseries of mankind; on sorrow, pain, bereavement; on +the fate of many a widow and orphan; on sudden, premature, and often +agonizing death--but why pain you with a catalogue of ills, which all, +save--thank God--the youngest, know too well? + +And it is that want of faith in the will and character of a living God, +which makes, and will always make, infidelity a sad state of mind--a +theory of man and the universe, which contains no gospel or good news for +man. + +I do not speak now of atheism, dogmatic, self-satisfied, insolent cynic. +I speak especially to-night of a form of unbelief far more attractive, +which is spreading, I believe, among people often of high intellect, +often of virtuous life, often of great attainments in art, science, or +literature. Such repudiate, and justly, the name of theists: but they +decline, and justly, the name of atheists. They would--the finest and +purest spirits among them--accept only too heartily the whole of the +Psalm which I have chosen for my text, save its ascription and the last +verse. We too--they would say--do not wish to be high-minded, and +dogmatize, and assert, and condemn. We too do not wish to meddle with +matters too high for us, or for any human intellect. We too wish to +refrain ourselves from asserting what--however pleasant--we cannot prove; +and to wean ourselves--however really painful the process--from the milk, +the mere child's food, on which Mother Church has brought up the nations +of Europe for the last 1500 years. But for that very reason, as for +asking us to trust in The Lord, either for this life, or an eternal life +to come, do not ask that of us. + +We do not say that there is no God; no Providence of God; no life beyond +the grave: only we say, that we cannot find them. They may exist: or +they may not. But to us; and as we believe to all mankind if they used +their reason aright, they are unthinkable, and therefore unknowable. God +we see not: but this we see--Man, tortured by a thousand ills; and then, +alas, perishing just as the dumb beasts perish. We see death, decay, +pain, sorrow, bereavement, weakness; and these produced, not merely by +laws of nature, in which, however terrible, we could stoically acquiesce; +but worse still, by accident--the sports of seeming chances--and those +often so slight and mean. Man in his fullest power, woman in her highest +usefulness, the victim not merely of the tempest or the thunderstroke, +but of a fallen match, a stumbling horse. + +Therefore the sight of so much human woe, without a purpose, and without +a cause, is too much for them: as, without faith in God, it ought to be +too much for us. + +And therefore in their poetry and in their prose--and they are masters, +some of them, both of poetry and of prose--there is a weary sadness, a +tender despair, which one must not praise: yet which one cannot watch +without sympathy and affection. For the mystery of human vanity and +vexation of spirit; the mystery which weighed down the soul of David, and +of Solomon, and of him who sang the song of Job, and of St Paul, and of +St Augustine, and all the great Theologians of old time, is to them +nought but utter darkness. For they see not yet, as our great modern +poet says, + + Hands + Athwart the darkness, shaping man. + +They see not yet athwart the darkness a face, most human yet divine, of +utter sympathy and love; and hear not yet--oh let me say once more not +yet of such fine souls--the only words which can bring true comfort to +one who feels for his fellow-men, amid the terrible chances and changes +of this mortal life-- + +"Let not your heart be troubled. Believe in God, and believe also in +Me." + +"All power is given to Me in heaven and in earth." "Lo I am with you +even to the end of the world." Oh let us, to whom God has given that +most undeserved grace, by the confession of a true faith to acknowledge +the glory of the eternal Trinity, and in the power of the Divine Majesty +to worship the Unity--Let us, I say, beseech God that He would give to +them, as well as to us, that comfortable and wholesome faith; and +evermore defend them and us--if it seem good in His gracious sight--from +all adversity. + +And surely we need that faith--those of us at least who know what we have +lost--in the face of such a catastrophe as was announced in this Abbey on +this day week; which thrilled this congregation with the awful news--That +one of the most gifted men in Europe; the most eloquent of all our +preachers--the most energetic of all our prelates; the delight of so many +of the most refined and cultivated; the comforter of so many pious souls, +not only by his sermons, not only by his secret counsels, but by those +exquisite Confirmation addresses, to have lost which is a spiritual loss +incalculable--those Confirmation addresses which touched and ennobled the +hearts alike of children and of parents, and made so many spirits, young +and old, indebted to him from thenceforth for ever--That this man, with +his enormous capacity and will for doing his duty like a valiant man, and +doing each duty better than any of us his clergy had ever seen it done +before--with his genius too, now so rare, and yet so needed, for +governing his fellow-men--That he, in the fulness of his power, his +health, his practical example, his practical success, should vanish in a +moment: and that immense natural vitality, that organism of forces so +various and so delicate, just as it was developing to perfection under +long and careful self-education, should be lost for ever to this earth: +leaving England, and her colonies, and indeed all Christendom, so much +the poorer, so much the more weak; and inflicting--forget not that--a +bitter pang on hundreds of loving hearts: and all by reason of the +stumbling of a horse. + +And why? Our reason, our conscience, our moral sense; that, by virtue of +which we are not brutes, but men, forces us to ask that question: even if +no answer be found to it in earth or heaven. What was the important +_why_ which lay hid behind that little how?--The means were so paltry: +the effect was so vast--There must have been a final cause, a purpose, +for that death: or the fact would be altogether hideous--a scribble +without a meaning--a skeleton without a soul. Why did he die? + +"I became dumb and opened not my mouth; for it was Thy doing." + +So says the Burial psalm. So let us say likewise. + +"I became dumb:" not with rage, not with despair; but because it was Thy +doing; and therefore it was done well. It was the deed, not of chance, +not of necessity: for had it been, then those who loved him might have +been excused had they cursed chance, cursed necessity, cursed the day in +which they entered a universe so cruel, so capricious. Not so. For it +was the deed of The Father, without whom a sparrow falls not to the +ground; of The Son, who died upon the Cross in the utterness of His +desire to save; of The Holy Ghost, who is the Lord and Giver of life to +all created things. + +It was the deed of One who delights in life and not in death; in bliss +and not in woe; in light and not in darkness; in order and not in +anarchy; in good and not in evil. It had a final cause, a meaning, a +purpose: and that purpose is very good. What it is, we know not: and we +need not know. To guess at it would be indeed to meddle with matters too +high for us. So let us be dumb: but dumb not from despair, but from +faith; dumb not like a wretch weary with calling for help which does not +come, but dumb like a child sitting at its mother's feet; and looking up +into her face, and watching her doings; understanding none of them as +yet, but certain that they all are done in Love. + + + + +SERMON XXVI. GOD AND MAMMON. + + +MATTHEW VI. 24. + + Ye cannot serve God and Mammon. + +This is part of the Gospel for this Sunday; and a specially fit text for +this day, which happens to be St Matthew's Day. + +On this day we commemorate one who made up his mind, once and for all, +that whoever could serve God and money at once, he could not: and who +therefore threw up all his prospects in life--which were those of a +peculiarly lucrative profession, that of a farmer of Roman taxes--in +order to become the wandering disciple of a reputed carpenter's son. He +became, it is true, in due time, an Apostle, an Evangelist, and a Martyr; +and if posthumous fame be worth the ambition of any man, Matthew the +publican--Saint Matthew as we call him--has his share thereof, because he +discovered, like a wise man, that he could not serve God and money; and +therefore, when Jesus saw him sitting at the receipt of custom, and bade +him "Follow Me," he rose up, and left his money-bags, and followed Him, +whom he afterwards discovered to be no less than God made man. "Ye +cannot serve God and Mammon." It is very difficult to make men believe +these words. So difficult, that our Lord Himself could not make the Jews +believe them, especially the rich and comfortable religious people among +them. When He told them that they could not serve two masters; that they +could not worship God and money at the same time, the Pharisees, who were +covetous, derided Him. They laughed to scorn the notion that they could +not be very religious, and respectable, and so forth, and yet set their +hearts on making money all the while. They thought that they could have +their treasure on earth and in heaven also; and they went their way, in +spite of our Lord's warnings; and made money, honestly no doubt, if they +could, but if not, why then dishonestly; for money must be made, at all +risks. + +St Paul warned them, by his disciple Timothy, of their danger. He told +them that the love of money is the root of all evil; and that those who +will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and +hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition. + +St James warned them even more sternly; and told the rich men among the +Jews of his day to weep and howl for the miseries which were coming on +them. They had heaped up treasure for the last days, when it would be of +no use to them. They were fattening their hearts--he told them--against +a day of slaughter. + +But they listened to St Paul and St James no more than they did to our +Lord. After the fall of Jerusalem, even more than before, they became +the money-makers and the money-lenders of the whole world. And what +befel them? Their wealth stirred up the envy and the suspicion of the +Gentiles. They were persecuted, robbed, slaughtered, again and again for +the sake of their money. And yet they would not give up their ruinous +passion. Throughout all the middle ages, here in England, just as much +as on the Continent, they lent money at exorbitant interest; and then +their debtors, to escape payment, turned on them for not being +Christians; accused them of poisoning the wells, and what not; massacred +them, burnt them alive, and committed the most horrible atrocities; +fulfilling the warnings of our Lord and His Apostles, only too terribly +and brutally, again and again. + +Do I say this to make any man dislike or despise the Jews? God forbid. +The Jews have noble qualities in them, by which they have prospered, and +for the sake of which--as I believe--God's blessing rests on them to this +day. They have prospered: not by their love of money, not even by their +extraordinary courage, persistence, and intellectual power; but by their +keeping two at least of the commandments, as no other people on earth has +kept them. They have kept the second commandment; and hated idolatry, +and any approach to it, with a stern and noble hatred, which would God +that all who call themselves Christians would imitate. They have kept, +likewise, the fifth commandment; and have honoured their parents, as no +other people on earth have done, except it may be the Chinese, who +prosper still, in spite of many sins. Their family affections are so +intense, their family life is so pure and sound, that they put to shame +too many Christians; and where the family life is sound, the heart of a +people is sure to be sound likewise; and all will come right with them at +last: and meanwhile the days of the Jews will be long in whatsoever land +the Lord their God shall give them, till the day of which St Paul +prophesied, when the veil shall be taken off their hearts, and they shall +acknowledge that Christ, whom their forefathers crucified in their +blindness, for their King, and Lord, and God; and so all Israel shall be +saved. Amen. Amen. + +And meanwhile, who are we that we should complain of the Jews now, or the +Jews of our Lord's time, for being too fond of money? Is anything more +certain, than that we English are becoming given up, more and more, to +the passion for making money at all risks, and by all means fair or foul? +Our covetousness is--alas! that it should be so--become a by-word among +foreign nations; while our old English commercial honesty--which was once +our strength, and protected us from, and all but atoned for, our +covetousness--is going fast; and leaving us, feared indeed for our power; +but suspected for our chicanery; and odious for our arrogance. + +And it is most sad, but most certain, that we are like those Pharisees of +old in this also, that we too have made up our mind that we can serve God +and Mammon at once; that the very classes among us who are most utterly +given up to money-making, are the very classes which, in all +denominations, make the loudest religious profession; that our churches +and chapels are crowded on Sundays by people whose souls are set, the +whole week through, upon gain and nothing but gain; who pretend to +reverence Scripture, while they despise the warning of Scripture, that +the love of money is the root of all evil. + +Have we not seen in our own days persons of the highest religious +profession, whose names were the foremost on every charitable +subscription list, so devoured by this mad love for money for its own +sake, that though they had already more money than they could spend, or +enjoy in any way soever, save by saying to themselves--I have got it, I +have got it--they must needs, in the mere lust for becoming richer still, +ruin themselves and others by frantic speculations? Have we not seen--but +why should I defile myself, and you, and this holy place by telling you +what I have seen; and what I hope, and hope alas! in vain, that I shall +never see again, among those who must needs serve God and Mammon? Has +not the love of money become such a chronic disease among us, that we can +actually calculate, now, when the disease will come to a head; and +relieve itself for a while: though alas! only for a while? + +About every eleven years, I am informed, we are to expect a commercial +crisis; panics, bankruptcies, and misery and ruin to hundreds; a sort of +terrible but beneficent thunderstorm, which clears the foul atmosphere of +our commercial system at the expense, alas! not merely of the guilty, but +of the innocent; involving the widow and the orphan, the poor and the +simple, in the same fate as the rich and powerful whom they have trusted +to their own ruin. And yet we boast of our civilization and of our +Christianity; and hardly one, here and there, lays the lesson to heart, +but each man, like a moth about a candle, unwarned by the fate of his +fellows, fancies that he at least can flutter round the flames and not be +burned; that whoever else cannot serve God and Mammon, he can do it; and +holds, by virtue of his superior prudence, a special dispensation from +the plain warnings of Holy Scripture. + +But every reasonable man knows what advantages money, and nothing but +money, will obtain, not only for a man himself but for his children; and +answers me--If I wish to rise in life, if I wish my children to rise in +life, how can I do it, without making money? + +God forbid that I should check an honourable ambition, and a desire to +rise in life. We all ought to rise in life, and to rise far higher than +most of us are likely to rise. But I ask you to consider very seriously +what you mean by rising in life. + +Do you mean by rising in life, merely becoming a richer man; living in a +larger house, eating, drinking, clothing, better; having more servants, +carriages, plate? Is that to be the highest triumph of all your labours? +Is that your notion of rising in life? If it is, you are not singular in +your notion. There are thousands who call themselves civilized and +Christians, and yet have no higher notion of what man's highest good may +be. But do you mean by rising in life, simply becoming a nobler, because +a better man? For if you mean that latter, I seriously advise you to +hearken to what the Creator and Governor of all heaven and earth, Jesus +Christ our Lord, has told you on that matter, when He said--"Seek ye +first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness, and all these things +shall be added unto you." + +Seek ye first the kingdom of God. Alas! this money-making generation +talks a great deal about religion and saving their souls, being quite +indifferent to the serious question--whether their souls are worth saving +or not: but as for the kingdom of God, of which our Lord and His Apostles +speak so often, they have forgotten altogether what it is. They talk +too, a great deal, about the righteousness of Christ: but they have +forgotten also what the righteousness of Christ, which is also the +righteousness of God, is like. + +The kingdom of God; the government of God; the laws and rules by which +Christ, King of kings, and King, too, of every nation and man on earth, +whether they know it or not, governs mankind, that is what you have to +seek, because it is there already. You are in Christ's kingdom. If you +wish to prosper in it, find out what its laws are. That will be true +wisdom. For in keeping the commandments of God, and in obeying His laws; +in that alone is life; life for body and soul; life for time and for +eternity. + +And the righteousness of God, which is the righteousness of Christ;--find +out what that is, and pray to Christ to give it to you; for so alone will +you be what a man should be, created after God in righteousness and true +holiness, and renewed into the image and likeness of God. You will find +plenty of persons now, as in all times, who will tell you that you need +not do that; that all you need, for this world or the world to come, is +some righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees; calling that--oh shame +that such a glorious and eternal truth should be so caricatured and +degraded by man--justification by faith: while all they mean is, +justification not by faith, but by mere assent; assenting to certain +doctrines; keeping certain religious watch-words in your mouth, and, over +and above, leading a tolerably respectable life. But what says our Lord? +"Except your righteousness exceed the righteousness of the Scribes and +Pharisees, ye shall in no wise enter into the kingdom of heaven." Not +merely--not dwell in it for ever, but not even enter it, not even get +through the very gate, and cross the very threshold, of it. The merely +assenting, merely respectable, even the so-called religious and orthodox +life will not let you into the kingdom of heaven, either in this life or +the life to come. No. That requires the noble life, the pure life, the +just life, the gentle life, the generous life, the heroic life, the +Godlike life, which is perfect even as our Father in heaven is perfect, +because He lets His sun shine on the evil and on the good, and His rain +fall on the just and on the unjust. But how will this help you to rise +in life? Our Lord Himself answers--and our Lord should surely know--"Seek +ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things +shall be added to you." Have faith in God, and in His promise; and your +faith in God shall be rewarded. You shall find that your heavenly Father +knows that you have need of all these things; and has arranged His +kingdom, and the whole universe, accordingly. The very good things of +this world--wealth, honour, power, and the rest, for the sake of which +worldly men quarrel, and envy, and slander, and bully, and cringe, and +commit all basenesses and crimes--all these shall come to you of their +own accord by the providence of your Father in heaven and by His +everlasting Laws, if you will but learn and do God's will, and lead the +Christlike and the Godlike life. Honour and power, wealth and +prosperity, as much of them as is justly good for you, and as much of +them as you deserve--that is, earn and merit by your own ability and self- +control--shall come to you by the very laws of the universe and by the +very providence of God. You shall find that godliness hath the promise +of this life, as well as of the life which is to come. You shall find +that God's kingdom is a well-made and well-ordered kingdom; and that His +laws are life, and are far more worth trusting in than the maxims of that +ill-made and ill-ordered world of man, which you all renounced at your +baptism. You shall find that the promises of Scripture are no dreams, +but actual practical living truths, which come true, and fulfil +themselves, in the lives and histories of men. + +Choose, young men; choose now; and make up your minds which way you will +rise in life; by merely getting money; or by getting wisdom and honour +and virtue. The Psalmists of old, yea our Lord Himself, tell you what +will happen in each case. If you want only to be rich, why then be rich; +if you are clever enough. The Lord may give you what you want, in this +evil world. He may give you your portion in this life, and fill you with +His hid treasure. He may let you heap up money which you do not know how +to spend, and be a laughing-stock to others while you live; and after you +die, your children will probably squander what you have hoarded; while +you will carry away nothing when you die, neither will your pomp follow +you: and take care lest you wake, after all, like Dives in the torment, +to hear the fearful but most reasonable words--"Son, thou in thy lifetime +receivedst thy good things, and therefore thou art tormented." Those +words too, I fear, will come true, in this very generation, of many a +wretched soul who while he lived counted himself a happy man; and had all +men speaking well of him, because he did well unto himself. On whose +souls may God have mercy. + +Choose, young men: choose; now in the golden days of youth, and strength, +and honour, ere you have laid a yoke on your own shoulders--even the yoke +of money-worship;--not light and easy, like the yoke of Christ, but +heavier and heavier as the years roll on, while you, with fading +intellect, fading hopes, and it may be fading credit, and certainly +fading power of any rational enjoyment, have still, like the doomed souls +in Dante's Inferno, to roll up hill the money-bags which are perpetually +slipping back. I have seen that, and more than once or twice; and it is, +I think, the saddest sight on earth--save one. Choose, I say again, +then, young men, before you have spread a net round your own feet, which, +as in disturbed dreams, grows and tangles more and more each time you +move--even the net of greed and craft, which men set for their +neighbours; and are but too apt, ere all is done, to be taken in +themselves; the net of truly bad society, of the society of men who have +set their hearts on making money, somehow or other; and with whom, if you +cast in your lot, you may descend--O God, I know full well what I am +saying--to depths from which your young spirits now would shrink; till +your higher nature be subdued to the element in which it works; and the +poet's curse on all who bind themselves to natures lower than their own +come true of you-- + + Thou shall lower to their level, day by day, + All that once was fine within thee growing coarse to sympathize with + clay. + +Or you may choose--God grant that you may choose--the other path; the +path of the law of Christ, and of the Spirit of Christ; the kingdom of +God and His righteousness. And then shall come true of you, as far as +God shall see good for your immortal soul, those other promises-- + +"Come, ye children, and hearken unto me, and I will teach you the fear of +the Lord. What man is he that loves life, and would fain see good days? +Let him keep his tongue from evil, and his lips that they speak no +deceit. Let him eschew evil and do good; let him seek peace and pursue +it. For the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and His ears are +open to their prayers. . . For the Lord ordereth a good man's going, and +maketh his way acceptable to Himself. Though he fall he shall not be +cast away, for the Lord upholdeth him with His hand . . . I have been +young, and now am old, and yet never saw I the righteous forsaken, nor +his seed begging their bread. Flee from evil, and do the thing that is +good, and dwell for evermore. For the Lord loveth the thing that is +righteous. He forsaketh not His that be godly, but they are preserved +for ever." + +Choose that; the better part which shall not be taken from you; for it is +according to the true laws of political and social economy, which are the +laws of the Maker of the Universe, and of the Redeemer of Mankind. And +then, whether or not you leave your children wealth, you will, at all +events, leave them an example by which they, and their children's +children, must prosper to the world's end. And your prayer will be, more +and more, as you grow old and weary with the hard work of life-- + +"I will go forth in the strength of the Lord God, and make mention of His +righteousness only. Thou, O God, hast taught me from my youth up until +now. Therefore will I tell of Thy wondrous works. Forsake me not, O +Lord, in my old age, when I am grey-headed, till I have shewn Thy +strength unto this generation; and Thy power unto those that are yet to +come." + +To which end may Christ bring us all, of His infinite mercy. Amen. + + + + +SERMON XXVII. THE BEATIFIC VISION. + + +PSALM LVII. + + _A Psalm of David when he fled from Saul in the cave_. + + Be merciful unto me, O God, be merciful unto me, for my soul trusteth + in Thee, and under the shadow of Thy wings shall be my refuge, until + this tyranny be over-past. I will call unto the most high God, even + unto the God that shall perform the cause which I have in hand. He + shall send from heaven, and save me from the reproof of him that would + eat me up. God shall send forth His mercy and truth: my soul is among + lions. And I lie even among the children of men, that are set on + fire, whose teeth are spears and arrows, and their tongue a sharp + sword. Set up Thyself, O God, above the heavens, and Thy glory above + all the earth. They have laid a net for my feet, and pressed down my + soul: they have digged a pit before me, and are fallen into the midst + of it themselves. My heart is fixed, O God, my heart is fixed: I will + sing, and give praise. Awake up, my glory; awake, lute and harp: I + myself will awake right early. I will give thanks unto Thee, O Lord, + among the people, and I will sing unto Thee among the nations. For + the greatness of Thy mercy reacheth unto the heavens, and Thy truth + unto the clouds. Set up Thyself, O God, above the heavens, and Thy + glory above all the earth. + +Some people now-a-days would call this poetry; and so it is. But what +poetry! They would call it a Hebrew song, a Hebrew lyric; and so it is. +But what a song! There is something in us, if we be truly delicate and +high-minded people, which will surely make us feel a deep difference +between it and common poetry, or common songs; which made our forefathers +read or chant it in church, and use it, as many a pious soul has ere now, +in private devotion. + +David did not compose it in church or in temple. He never meant it, +perhaps, to be sung in public worship. He little dreamed that we, and +millions more, in lands of which he had never heard, should be repeating +his words in a foreign tongue in our most sacred acts of worship. He was +thinking, when he composed it, mainly of himself and his own sorrows and +dangers. He intends, he says, to awake early, and sing it to lute and +harp. Perhaps he had composed it in the night, as he lay either in the +cave of Adullam or Engedi, hiding from Saul among the cliffs of the wild +goats; and meant to go forth to the cave's mouth, and there, before the +sun rose over the downs, he would, to translate his words exactly, "awake +the dawning" with his song in the free air and the clear sky, singing to +his little band of men. + +And to some one more than man, my friends. For his poetry was poetry +concerning God. His song was a song to God. He does not sing of his own +sorrows to himself, as too many poets have done ere now. He does not +sing to his men; though he no doubt wished them to hear him, and learn +from him, and gain faith and comfort and courage from his song. He sings +of his sorrows to God Himself; to the God who made heaven and earth; the +God who is above the heavens, and His glory above all the earth. + +This is the secret, the virtue, the charm of the song; that it sings to +God. This is why it has passed into many lands, into many languages, +through hundreds and hundreds of years, and is as fresh, and mighty, and +full of meaning and of power, now, here, to us in England, as it was to +David, when he was a poor outlaw, wandering in the hills of the little +country of Judaea, more than 2000 years ago. + +The poet says, + + A thing of beauty is a joy for ever, + +and this psalm is most beautiful, and a joy for ever to delicate and +noble intellects. But more, a thing of truth is a help for ever. And +this psalm is most true, and a help for ever to all sorrowing and weary +hearts. For the Spirit of truth it was, who put this psalm into David's +heart and brain; and taught him to know and say what was true for him, +and true for all men; what was true then, and will be true for ever. + +And what in it is true for ever? The very figures, the metaphors of the +psalm are true for ever. "Under the shadow of Thy wings shall be my +refuge"--that is a noble figure; can we not feel its beauty? And more. +Do none of us know that it is true? David did not believe any more than +we do, that God had actual wings. But David knew--and it may be some of +us know too--that God does at times strangely and lovingly hide us; keep +us out of temptation; keep us out of harm's way; as it is written, "Thou +shall hide them privately in Thy presence from the provoking of all men. +Thou shall keep them in Thy tabernacle from the strife of tongues." Ah, +my dear friends, in such a time as this, when the strife of tongues is +only too loud, have you never had reason to thank God for being, by some +seemingly mere accident, kept out of the strife of tongues and out of +your chance of striving too, and of making a fool of yourself like too +many others? The image of the mother bird, hiding her brood under her +wings, seemed to David just to express that act of God's fatherly love, +in words which will be true for ever, as long as a brooding bird is left +on the earth, to remind us of David's song; and of One greater than +David, too, who said--"O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, how often would I have +gathered thy children, as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, +and thou wouldest not." God grant that we all may do, when our time +comes, that which those violent conceited Jews would not do; and +therefore paid the awful penalty of their folly. + +And the darker and more painful figures of the psalm: are they not true +still? Is not a man's soul, even in this just and peaceful land, and far +oftener in lands which are still neither just nor peaceful--Is not a +man's soul, I say, sometimes among lions?--among greedy, violent, +tyrannous persons, who are ready to entangle him in a quarrel, shout him +down, ay, or shoot him down; literally ready to eat him up? Are not the +children of men still too often set on fire; on fire with wild party +cries, with superstitions which they do not half understand, with brute +excitements which pander to their basest passions, running like fire from +head to head, and heart to heart, till whole classes, whole nations +sometimes, are on fire, ready like fire to consume and destroy all they +touch; and like fire, to consume and destroy themselves likewise? + +Are there none now, too, whose teeth are spears and arrows, and their +tongue a sharp sword? Such use the pen now, rather than the tongue: but +they know, as well as those whom David met, how to handle the spears and +arrows of slander, and the sharp sword of insult. Are there none left, +who set nets for their neighbours' feet, by gambling, swindling, puffing, +by tricks of trade and tricks of party?--none who, like the Scribes of +old, try to entangle men in their talk, and make them offenders for a +word; and who, like David's enemies, fall now and then into the very pit +which they have digged, and ruin themselves in trying to ruin others? + +My friends, such men will be, as long as there is sin upon the earth. +Their weapons are very different now from what they were in David's time: +but their hearts are the same as they were then. "The works of the flesh +they do, which are manifest;" and a very ugly list they make; as all who +read St Paul's Epistles know full well. + +But such men have their wages. God is merciful in this; that He rewards +every man according to his work. And He is merciful to the whole human +race, in rewarding such men according to their work. To the flesh they +sow, and of the flesh they shall reap corruption. Of old it was +written--"The wages of sin are death;" and that, like all God's words, is +a Gospel and good news to poor human beings. For if the wages of sin +were not death, what end could there be to sin, and therefore to misery? + +But while such men exist, how shall a man escape them? How shall he +defend himself from them? Not by craft and falsehood, not by angry +replies, not by fighting them with their own weapons. The honest man is +no match for them with those. The man who has a conscience is no match +for the man who has none. The man who has no conscience does what he +wills; everything is fair to him in war; and there--in his +unscrupulousness--lies his evil strength. The man who has a conscience +dares not do what he likes. His scruples--in plain words, his fear of +God--hamper him, and put him at a disadvantage, which will always defeat +him, as often as he borrows the devil's tools to do God's work withal. + +He must give up those weapons, as David threw off Saul's armour, when he +went to fight the giant. It was strong enough, doubt not: but he could +not go in it, he said; he was not accustomed to it. He would take +simpler weapons, to which he was accustomed; and fight his battle with +them, trusting not in armour, but in the name of the living God. + +In the name of the living God. That is the only sure weapon, and the +only sure defence. In that David trusted, when he went to fight the +giant. In that he trusted, when he was hid in the cave. And because he +trusted in God, he prayed to God. He spoke to God. Remember that, and +understand how much it means. David, the simple yeoman's son, the +outlaw, the wanderer, despised and rejected by men, one who was no +scholar either, who very probably could neither read nor write, and knew +neither sciences nor arts, save how to play, in some simple way, upon his +harp--this man found out that, however oppressed, miserable, ignorant he +was in many respects, he had a right to speak face to face with the +Almighty and Infinite God, who had made heaven and earth. He found out +that that great God cared for him, protected him, and would be true to +him, if only he would be true to God and to himself. What a discovery +was that! Worth all the wealth and power, ay, worth all the learning and +science in the world.--To have found the pearl of great price, the secret +of all secrets; I, David, may speak to God. + +Ah, my friends, consider the meaning of that. Consider it, I say. For +when that great thought has once flashed across a man's mind, he is a new +creature thenceforth. He need speak to no father-confessor or director; +to no saints or angels; to no sages or philosophers. For he can speak to +God Himself, and he need speak to no one else. Nay, at times he dare +speak to no one else. If he can tell his story to God, why tell it to +any of God's creatures? + +He is in the presence of God Himself, God his Father, God his Saviour, +God his Comforter; Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. God is listening to him. +To God he can tell all his sorrows, all his wrongs, all his doubts, all +his sins, all his weaknesses, as David told his; and God will hear him; +and instead of striking him dead for his presumption or for his +sinfulness, will comfort him; comfort him with a feeling of peace, of +freedom, of being right, and of being safe, such as he never had before; +till all the troubles and dangers of this life shall seem light to him. +Let the world rage. Let the foolish people deal foolishly, and the +treacherous ones treacherously. For if God be with a man, who can be +against him? He has no fears left now. He has nothing to do, save to +thank God for his boundless condescension; and to trust on. To trust on. +If he has set his heart on the Lord, he need not fear what man will do to +him. If his heart is fixed; if he is sure that God cares for him, he +will, as it were by instinct, sing and give praise to God, as the bird +sings when the rain is past, and the sun shines out once more. + +But I think that when a man has reached that state of mind, as David +reached it, he will rise, as David rose, to a higher state of mind still. +He will rise, as David rises in this psalm, from thoughts about his own +soul, to thoughts about God. In one word, he will rise from religion to +that which is above even religion, namely theology. + +His first cry to God was somewhat selfish. He went to God about himself; +about his own sorrows and troubles. That is natural and harmless. The +child in pain and terror cries to its mother selfishly to be helped out +of its own little woes. But when it is helped, and comforted, and safe +in its mother's bosom, and its sobbing is over, then it forgets itself, +and looks up into its mother's face, and thinks of her, and her alone. + +And so it should be with the man whom God has comforted. When the +deliverance has come; when the peace of mind has come; then surely, if he +be worthy of the name of man, he will forget himself, and his own petty +sorrows; and look up to God, to God Himself, and say within his +heart--This great awful Being, eternal, infinite, omnipotent, who yet +condescends to take care of a tiny creature like me, who am, in +comparison with Him, less than the worm which crawls upon the ground, +less than the fly which lives but for an hour--This God, so mighty and +yet so merciful: who is He? What is He like? He is good to me. Is He +not good to all? He is merciful to me. Is not His mercy over all His +works? Nay, is he not good in Himself? The One Good? Must not God be +The One Good, who is the cause and the fountain of all other goodness in +man, in angels, in all heaven and earth? But if so--what a glorious +Being He must be. Not merely a powerful, not merely a wise, but a +glorious, because perfect, God. Then will he cry, as David cries in this +very psalm--"Oh that men could see that. Oh that men could understand +that. Oh that they would do God justice; and confess His glorious Name. +Oh that He would teach them His Name, and shew them His glory, that they +might be dazzled by the beauty of it, awed by the splendour of it. Oh +that He would gladden their souls by the beatific vision of Himself, till +they loved Him, worshipped Him, obeyed Him, for His own sake; not for +anything which they might obtain from Him, but solely because He is The +perfectly Good. Oh that God would set up Himself above the heavens, and +His glory above all the earth; and that men would lift up their eyes +above the earth, and above the heavens likewise, to God who made heaven +and earth; and would cry--Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and +honour and power; for Thou hast made all things, and for Thy pleasure +they are and were created; and Thy pleasure is, Peace on Earth, and +Goodwill toward men. Thou art the High and Holy One, who inhabitest +eternity. Yet Thou dwellest with him that is of a contrite spirit, to +revive the heart of the feeble, and to comfort the heart of the contrite. +We adore the glory of Thy power; we adore the glory of Thy wisdom: but +most of all we adore the glory of Thy justice, the glory of Thy +condescension, the glory of Thy love." + +And now, friends--almost all friends unknown--and alas! never to be known +by me--you who are to me as people floating down a river; while I the +preacher stand upon the bank, and call, in hope that some of you may +catch some word of mine, ere the great stream shall bear you out of +sight--oh catch, at least, catch this one word--the last which I shall +speak here for many months, and which sums up all which I have been +trying to say to you of late. + +Fix in your minds--or rather, ask God to fix in your minds--this one idea +of an absolutely good God; good with all forms of goodness which you +respect and love in man; good as you, and I, and every honest man, +understand the plain word good. Slowly you will acquire that grand and +all-illuminating idea; slowly, and most imperfectly at best: for who is +mortal man that he should conceive and comprehend the goodness of the +infinitely good God? But see then whether, in the light of that one +idea, all the old-fashioned Christian ideas about the relations of God to +man; whether a Providence, Prayer, Inspiration, Revelation; the +Incarnation, the Passion, and the final triumph, of the Son of +God--whether all these, I say, do not begin to seem to you, not merely +beautiful, not merely probable; but rational, and logical, and necessary, +moral consequences from the one idea of An Absolute and Eternal Goodness, +the Living Parent of the Universe. + +And so I leave you to the Grace of God. + + + + +Footnotes: + + +{0a} Second edition, pp. 78, 79. + +{39} J. P. Richter. + +CAMBRIDGE. PRINTED BY C. J. CLAY, M.A. AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS. + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WESTMINSTER SERMONS*** + + +******* This file should be named 18369.txt or 18369.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/8/3/6/18369 + + + +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. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. 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