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diff --git a/44053-0.txt b/44053-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c3735d4 --- /dev/null +++ b/44053-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,5292 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 44053 *** + + "_WORK TOO FAIR TO DIE._" + + SERMONS + + SELECTED FROM THE PAPERS + OF THE LATE REV. + CLEMENT BAILHACHE. + + + EDITED BY THE + REV. J. P. BARNETT. + + + THE HOLY CAUTIONS THAT HE GAVE, + THE PRAYERS HE BREATHED, THE TEARS HE WEPT, + YET LINGER HERE, THOUGH IN THE GRAVE, + THROUGH MANY A YEAR THE SAINT HAS SLEPT. + + + London: + ELLIOT STOCK, 62, PATERNOSTER ROW. + MDCCCLXXX. + + + + + [Illustration: {Portrait of Clement Bailhache} + Photographed by S. S. Priestley, Huddersfield.] + + + + +CONTENTS. + + + Introduction by the Editor vii + + SERMON PAGE + I. Salvation.--_Titus_ i. 11-14 1 + + II. Propitiation.--_1 John_ ii. 2 13 + + III. Faith in the Saviour.--_Acts_ xvi. 31 29 + + IV. Sincerity of Heart Necessary to the + Understanding of the Gospel.--_John_ + vii. 17 41 + + V. The Humble Taught the Lord's Way.--_Psalm_ + xxv. 9 50 + + VI. The Gratitude of the Pardoned.--_Luke_ vii. 47 66 + + VII. Consecration.--_Romans_ xii. 1, 2 81 + + VIII. Christianity in our Daily Life.--_Colossians_ + iii. 17 104 + + IX. Unconscious Influence.--_Matthew_ xii. + 36, 37 117 + + X. Secular Anxiety.--_Matthew_ vi. 25, 31 133 + + XI. Contentment.--_Philippians_ iv. 11-14 151 + + XII. Joy.--_Philippians_ iv. 4 164 + + XIII. Sickness.--_John_ xi. 4 173 + + XIV. Jesus Only.--_Matthew_ xvii. 8 181 + + XV. Prayer.--_Matthew_ vii. 7, 8 189 + + XVI. Assurance.--_2 Timothy_ i. 12 206 + + XVII. Immortality.--_Psalm_ viii. 4 222 + + XVIII. Heaven.--_Revelation_ vii. 15 235 + + + + +INTRODUCTION BY THE EDITOR. + + +The preparation of this volume for the press, whilst it has +necessarily entailed considerable labour, has happily been attended +with little difficulty. None of these sermons were prepared for the +pulpit with any idea of publication, and only a few of them, which +need not be specified, should be taken as finished compositions. Their +author, however, never allowed himself to think superficially or to +write carelessly. His MSS. are easily read, and are in such a state as +to leave almost nothing to be done in the way of revision. + +Many other sermons equal to these in power and interest might have +been included, if space had served. I ought, perhaps, to say that the +selection has been determined by a wish to place before the reader, in +the order of a series, Mr. Bailhache's thoughts on Christian Doctrine, +Faith, Duty, Privilege, Experience, and Hope. I trust that the +collection, as it stands, will give as comprehensive an idea, as any +posthumous publication _could_ give, of the character and style of a +ministry to which, under God, many souls--some in heaven, and some +still on earth--owe their truest spiritual light and their best +spiritual strength. + +It must have been a privilege of no ordinary value to listen Sabbath +after Sabbath to preaching such as this. No one could read, as I have +had to read, the whole mass of sermons entrusted to me, without +perceiving that he who wrote and spoke them was "a workman that needed +not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth." He was +penetrated to the very centre of his being with a sense of the +grandeur of the Bible as a Divine Revelation, and of the glory of the +Gospel as a Divine remedy for the sin and sorrow of the world. He had +his own way of developing religious truth, and of applying it to the +mind, the conscience, and the heart. He preserved his individuality of +thought and of method in every part of every discourse. But he was no +theological speculatist. With all needful fearlessness in his thinking +and reading, his constant endeavour was to ascertain "the mind of the +Spirit," and to present _that_, in its enlightening and sanctifying +power, to his hearers in all their manifold spiritual conditions. He +was familiar with the forms of scepticism prevalent in our time, and +with the reasonings which give to them more or less of plausibility. +"The riddle of the world" had its saddening aspects for him, as it has +for all earnest souls. But the anxieties which spring from such +sources found in his mind an all-sufficient solace in the beautiful +adaptations and the splendid triumphs of the truth as it is in Jesus. +He could see clearly enough that, by the Gospel, God was filling the +world's darkness with light, and turning its curse into a blessing. +Science might advance, and in its advance might seem to set itself +against Biblical facts, and against the principles founded upon them; +but he was all along calmly and intelligently assured that Science +rightly so called, and Revelation rightly interpreted, so far from +meeting in antagonism, must meet in cordial and comely agreement, and +take their place side by side for the higher instruction of mankind. +He did not preach on these matters controversially, but contented +himself with the quiet announcement, on all appropriate occasions, of +the results of his own studies; and those results were always on the +side of an implicit faith in Evangelical Christianity. One of the +most marked characteristics of his ministry was the uninterrupted and +profound reverence he paid to what he believed, on honest and mature +investigation, to be the Divine authority of Scripture teaching. He +knew, of course, that a conscientious and enlightened criticism has +its work to do upon the Book; but his comprehensive and careful +reading only strengthened his conviction that such criticism, so far +from invalidating its authority, must render the nature of that +authority increasingly transparent, and its basis increasingly firm. +Thus he could draw forth from the Book the teaching contained in it, +and could present it to the reverent faith of his congregation, +without misgiving. His ministry was eminently evangelical, in the +broadest and best sense of the word. It was this all-pervading quality +which gave to it its special beauty and impressiveness. He wanted to +be wise, and to make his people wise, _up_ to what is written; above +that he did not attempt to soar. + +Mr. Bailhache was an able Biblical Expositor. I find amongst the +papers before me, expositions of the Decalogue, the First Psalm, the +Lord's Prayer, the thirteenth chapter of First Corinthians, the +Messages to the Seven Churches, and the Epistles to the Galatians and +the Philippians. These comprise eighty discourses, and many of them +are so good that they ought not to remain in seclusion. Possibly some +channel of publicity may yet be found for them. + +The estimate in which Mr. Bailhache was held as a Christian teacher by +those best fitted to judge, is fitly expressed in the following +extract from the Address which was presented to him by the +Congregation at Islington, on his retirement from the pastorate there +in the autumn of 1870:--"During a period of six years and a half, you +have ministered to us in holy things, and, as the servant of the Lord +Jesus, you have sought our highest spiritual good. In all your +ministerial work in our midst, you have so impressed us with the +conviction of your entire devotedness to our interests, and to the +exaltation and glory of Christ, that our minds have been the more +easily constrained to give heed to your instructions, and we have the +more deeply felt the force of your influence and your example. The +thought has often occurred to us (and it has been often expressed), +that if we were not becoming better Christians--more conformed to the +image of Christ--our shame was the greater, considering how +constantly you have been the faithful and able exponent of the mind of +the Spirit, and with what freshness, variety, and power, you have been +enabled to set before us things new and old out of the treasury of the +Lord's word. Nor have you ever permitted us to feel that you occupied +a region remote from ourselves, or that the isolation of the study and +of your official character, made you self-absorbed or unsympathetic. +The very contrary of this has been our happy experience. With an +almost surprising power of appropriation, you have made our doubts and +difficulties, our hopes and fears, our joys and sorrows, all your own, +and, with a whole-hearted sympathy that has entered into all the +experiences of the Christian life, you have, in the pulpit and in the +class, and in the more private opportunities of the family and of +friendship, been made eminently useful in the communication of help +and strength. To not a few your ministrations have been made the +savour of life unto life, who will be your crown and rejoicing one +day, since through your word they have been reconciled to God by Jesus +Christ. We magnify the grace of God in you, and none the less when we +declare that your life and labours in our midst have placed us under +lasting obligations of gratitude and love." + +I regret that I have not space for a few pages of pithy, condensed +jottings extracted from the Author's "Diary," and written by him +during hours of private devotion. They would testify, in common with +every other part of the volume, to the atmosphere of piety in which +our beloved friend habitually lived. In social life, he was playful +and jocose; and many who have thought that they knew him well, knew +him almost exclusively as he was in such moods as these. He was +however emphatically a man who "walked with God." Many others knew him +only in connection with his official work, and gave to him their +unstinted admiration for his plodding, almost pertinacious industry. +He had "a mind to work," but he sanctified and ennobled all his work +by prayer. I have often had, as, no doubt, many more have had, the +privilege of his society in the lone hours of the night, when he could +talk with the unreserved frankness of a confiding friend; and I never +left him after such hallowed times as these without feeling that I had +been drawn nearer to him, and through him, nearer to the Saviour, by +the modest, holy, Christian beauty of his spirit. + +Alas, that so comely and benignant a life should have closed so +early! He died at forty-eight years of age. We have no right, nor have +we any disposition, to repine; but we cannot refrain from mourning. + +He began life well, sacrificing fair interests as a member of the +legal profession in Jersey, with the Island Bar in view, and was soon +preparing for the Christian ministry at Stepney College. His preaching +was attractive, and at the termination of his academic course, he +became the pastor of the influential church at South Parade Chapel, +Leeds. Four years later, he removed to Watford, and from thence, in +1864, to Cross Street, Islington, where his ministry may be said to +have approached, if it did not actually reach, its maturity. In 1870 +he relinquished the pastorate for Secretarial work at the Baptist +Mission House, into which he threw all the steady, quenchless +enthusiasm of his nature, and upon which the blessing of God +conspicuously rested. Discharging his duties with a fidelity and a +skill which were as effective as they were modest, he was equally +beloved by the Missionaries abroad, and by his colleagues and the +constituencies at home; and he had the satisfaction of knowing that, +notwithstanding many difficulties, he was contributing in various +ways to the advancement of the great enterprize. The toil and anxiety +entailed upon him were onerous in the extreme, and after a time it +became obvious to his friends that his multifarious exertions were +undermining his strength. He went to the Baptist Union meetings in +Leeds in the October of 1878, when he ought to have been taking +repose; and, though seriously ill, he there preached what proved to be +his last Sermon, in the chapel of his first pastorate--the Sermon on +"Immortality" in this volume--and read his last paper, on "Our +Missionary Principles and Motives." It is remarkable that he should +thus have finished his public course in the town of his first +ministerial settlement, and that he should have there spoken his last +public words on behalf of that great department of Christian work +which had engaged his best thoughts and his warmest sympathies for +many years, and to his holy zeal for which it may be truly said that +he sacrificed his life. At those Leeds meetings, he was "already +within the shadow of death," and returned home to sink gradually but +surely beneath the distressing malady which took him to heaven on the +13th of the following December. + +To his widowed companion and helpmeet, whose faithful affection he +prized as his most precious earthly treasure--to his children and +kindred, who so fondly loved him, and so deeply revere his memory--to +the churches which he so wisely and so zealously served in the work of +the Gospel--to the Missionary Society in the sacred interests of which +he lived and died--and to the numberless personal friends to whom he was +so dear, and who will ever thank God that they were permitted to enjoy +his genial confidence and sympathy--these productions of his brain and +heart are dedicated, with the grateful assurance that, through them, +he, being dead, will yet continue to speak, and, speaking thus, will +still be the helper of many in "the way everlasting." + + J. P. BARNETT. + Oxford, _August, 1880_. + + + + +I. + +_SALVATION._ + +"The grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, +teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should +live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; looking +for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and +our Saviour Jesus Christ; who gave Himself for us, that He might +redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto Himself a peculiar +people, zealous of good works."--Titus ii. 11-14. + + +Briefly stated, the consequences of the Fall were these--that man +became unholy in point of character, and guilty in point of law. The +first covenant God made with man was a covenant of law, and the two +"trees" shadowed forth, the one the condition, the other the benefit, +of such a covenant. "The tree of the knowledge of good and evil" +points to obedience as the condition; and "the tree of life" points to +life, in its fullest and most spiritual sense, as the benefit. Man +disobeyed. He failed to fulfil the condition, and thus he lost the +blessing. Henceforth, if there is to be any blessing for him, it must +come on some other ground, and from some higher source. Having +forfeited all hope from law, his only possible hope must come, if it +come at all, from mercy. + +We thus perceive that when the great salvation wrought by Christ is +announced to us, we have to do at the outset with what on God's part +is + +1. An act of pure sovereignty. Condemnation was the righteous award of +a just law to a creature who had broken it, and who could not plead +any admissible excuse for his sin. The law might, therefore, have been +allowed to take its course, thus receiving honour before the whole +intelligent universe. Only one Will in the universe was free to +interfere; the will of the Lawgiver and Creator Himself. Interference +on His part, however, could not be under the pressure of legal +obligation, but must be in the exercise of a sovereign right. Hence, +the key-note of the gospel is "the _Grace_ of God." + +2. An act of boundless love. It is obvious that salvation cannot have +proceeded from any other motive in the Divine Mind. "God _so loved_ +the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever +believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life." The +Bible has no other solution of the origin of salvation to offer than +this. + +Now, that which proceeds from sovereignty and love on the part of God +must absolutely preclude all claim or thought of merit on the part of +man. Merit leaves no room, no occasion for grace. Grace begins where +merit ends, if grace be given at all.--What, then, _is_ the "great +salvation"? + +Man, being unholy and guilty, needed a salvation which would include +his justification or his forgiveness, and one which would culminate in +his sanctification by the restoration to him of his lost spiritual +power. In other words, he needed a deliverance from the curse of sin, +and also from sin itself. + +This deliverance, man cannot find within his own nature. He cannot +save himself from the curse of sin; for inasmuch as the law +righteously demanded a perfect and constant obedience, he could never +blot out the guilt of former sins by acts of obedience at a later +period of life. Moreover, such later acts of a perfect obedience are +impossible to him, for holiness does not proceed from a sinful nature. +"Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean?" Men do not "gather +grapes from thorns, or figs from thistles." Man is as depraved and as +weak as he is guilty. Self-salvation is impossible; salvation is of +the Lord alone. The gospel is the announcement of the fact that God +saves, and of the method in which the great work of salvation is done +by Him. + +I. The Word of God, both in the Old and in the New Testament, +proclaims a dispensation of Divine mercy. So unexpected and so +cheering is this proclamation that it has given the gospel the name it +bears. It is emphatically "good news"--good news from God to man. This +good news announces that the first deliverance which man requires is +provided for. God remits the penalty of sin. But how? + +He does this in such a way that, so far from weakening law, or +invalidating the condemnation of sin, He shows more clearly than ever, +how holy is the law, and how just the condemnation. Hence, though this +forgiveness is an act of pure mercy, it is mercy exercised in a +righteous way through the wonderful sacrifice of Christ. This was the +meaning of the promise that accompanied the curse; and so clear was it +that it was apprehended in the first sacrifices men ever offered. The +Jewish sacrifices shadowed it forth. The Scriptures teach this method +of Divine forgiveness in the plainest terms. I quote two or three +passages in proof: Rom. iii. 23-26; John i. 29; 1 John ii. 1, 2; 1 +Peter ii. 24; Isaiah liii. 4-6. + +This is Scripture, and we must not dare to trifle with it. These +declarations can have but one meaning. Christ has suffered in our +stead the penalty we had all deserved, that we might receive, for His +sake, that eternal life and blessedness which _He only had deserved_. +On this point all the types and teachings of both Testaments speak +with one voice. + +There are, no doubt, in this substitution of the innocent for the +guilty, some difficulties for human reason. But _we_ have to do with +the Bible. It meets conscience; and reason must bend in submission +before a grace the deeper meaning of which it does not see. Observe, +however, that according to the Scripture representation, the +substitution was divinely appointed, and the Substitute Himself was a +willing victim. We accept the doctrine, (1) Partly in virtue of human +need. Conscience points to the necessity of a satisfaction. (2) Partly +in virtue of the peace and the joy to which faith in the doctrine +gives rise.--"Scripture always lays stress upon the Saviour's +humiliation and bitter sufferings. We are not said to be redeemed by +His incarnation, by His birth, by His miracles, by His doctrine, not +even by His agony in the garden, though all these were necessary to +the ransom; but by His blood." On this ground of the Atonement, the +first part of salvation--forgiveness--is secured. + +II. Man needs also to be redeemed from sin. This need, like the +former, he is unable to meet of himself, but God meets it on his +behalf. How? By putting into the heart a fertile germ of holiness. + +Freedom from condemnation and regeneration are indissolubly connected +together in God's idea of salvation, and He achieves both by the work +of Christ His Son. This redemption from the love, and consequently +from the power of sin, is accomplished by Him on a principle which is +divinely simple and efficacious; a principle which lies at the root of +the theory of evangelical sanctification. This principle is the love +which He excites _in_ us by the manifestation of His own love _to_ us. +Thus the Apostle John writes: "Whosoever abideth in Him sinneth not; +whosoever sinneth hath not seen Him, neither known Him" (1 John iii. +6). "He that loveth not, knoweth not God, for God is love" (1 John iv. +8). To love God, and, under the constraining influence of love, to +serve Him, we have need to know and to realise how great is the love +of God to us. + +Now this Divine love has been revealed to the world through the medium +of that same Saviour, who by His sacrificial death has opened up the +way for our pardon and our restoration to the Divine favour. The Son +of God came into the world to reveal the heart of the Father. What +greater gift could God have bestowed than that of His Divine Son? What +greater proof of love could He have exhibited than that which this +greatest of all possible gifts presents? "God _so_ loved." And Christ +has perfectly performed His mission. His whole ministry was a +declaration of the Divine love. Of that love His death on the cross +was the sublimest expression. We learn therefrom not only that God +manifests to us His mercy, _but also at what cost_. Our debt must be +paid; and as we are bankrupt, He pays it on our behalf. And who is our +Substitute? Not a man, not an angel, not any creature; but the Divine +Son, "by whom God made the worlds and upholds them by the word of His +power," "who is the brightness of the Father's glory and the express +image of His person"--it was _He_ who "by Himself purged our sins." +Such is the love of God. We cannot fathom it, for it is Divine; but +in proportion as we are enabled to "know" it, we say "We love Him +because He first loved us;" "We are bought with a price: we are not +our own." And we say our devout "Amen!" when the chiefest Apostle of +mercy says to us: "I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies +of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, +acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service." + +This Divine love, however, wonderful as it is, is offered to +unsusceptible hearts. Hence the necessity--hence also the gift--of the +Holy Spirit, through whom God strives with man. The Holy Spirit is the +gift of Christ; and He convinces the world of sin, of righteousness, +and of judgment. He takes of the things of Christ, and shows them unto +us. + +See, then, the completeness of the Divine plan of salvation. To +undeserving hearts God offers His love in Christ; to unsusceptible +hearts He explains and commends it by His Spirit. + +III. The only remaining question is as to our own part in the great plan +of mercy. Because we are intelligent and moral creatures, God does not +save us without our own concurrence. To every one who desires to +receive this twofold gift--the gift of pardon and of sanctification--a +certain disposition is necessary. That disposition is in the Scriptures +called "faith." Faith is the divinely-appointed condition of salvation. +The terms are simple, but they are indispensable. Scripture, in every +part, recognises and imposes them. From the earliest times they have +been complied with, as in the sacrifices of Abel, Noah, and Abraham. It +was this same principle of faith that gave validity to the worship under +the Mosaic dispensation. So the Lord Jesus Christ, who healed men's +physical diseases as types of the diseases of the soul, always demanded +faith as the condition of His working. As it was with Christ, so it was +with His apostles. Thus Paul said to the Philippian jailer, "Believe on +the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved." All this shows to us +that whilst, on the one hand, we are saved by grace; on the other, we +have no participation in the grace which saves, except by the exercise +of our own faith in the Saviour. + +What is this faith? It may be considered in its principle, and in its +application. + +In its principle, it is a general conviction that the Bible is the +Word of God, and that what He says therein should receive our assent; +or, in other words, should be accepted by us as _true_. In its +application, it is the belief of God's Word as it respects +_ourselves_. It is this which Paul commends to the Philippian jailer. +When a man, under the burden of his sin, says, "I am lost; I cannot +save myself; save me, Lord!" we have an illustration of this applied +faith--a sense of personal misery, a sense of personal helplessness, a +sense of a Saviour willing to save him personally, and a direct appeal +to that Saviour for salvation. From the moment of such a prayer, there +is not a single promise of Scripture that such a man may not make his +own. A promised pardon, a promised Spirit, a promised heaven--all are +his! The essence of the faith is in the conviction which expresses +itself thus: "Jesus Christ is not only able and willing to be the +Saviour of all men, but He is my Saviour." Such a faith brings Christ +and the soul together in precisely those relations in which He is the +Saviour, and in which the soul is saved. + +But how is this faith obtained? Must not God give it? Yes. So Paul, +writing to the Philippians, tells them it was "given" to them "to +believe in Christ." Must we, then, listlessly wait until it comes to +us? No. Paul again says to these same Philippians, "Work out your own +salvation with fear and trembling." The reconciliation of these two +truths into one theory may be difficult, but in practice it is easy +enough. _We recognise them both when we ask for faith._ For to ask is +to recognise our need of that for which we ask; it is also to +recognise the fact that we do not possess it of ourselves; and it is +also to seek and to act. Ask, then, for faith, and God will say: "Wilt +thou be made whole?" Will you--not as a vague desire, but as the most +earnest determination of your heart and will? Ask for faith; God will +grant it. Ask largely; you cannot ask too much. And even if you sigh +over the weakness of desire, press the old and never-failing prayer: +"Lord, I believe; help Thou my unbelief." + +Faith saves, and grace saves. This is scarcely a contradiction in +terms, and certainly it is no contradiction in principle. Faith is the +instrument; grace is the primary and efficacious power. Faith is the +channel; grace is the stream. Faith touches the hem of the Saviour's +garment; grace is the virtue that passes forth from Him in response to +the touch. Christ reaches down from heaven; faith reaches up from +earth; each hand grasps the other--the one in weakness, the other in +power--and salvation is in the grasp. Take--oh, take that pierced +hand! Amen. + + + + +II. + +_PROPITIATION._ + +"He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but also +for the sins of the whole world."--1 John ii. 2. + + +It is easier to attack than to defend. An objection may be stated in a +single sentence which shall require many pages for an adequate reply. +Those who reject Christianity generally adopt this method, but I know +not why they should be allowed to monopolise it. Why should not +believers, instead of simply proving that there is a God, and that the +Bible is His Word, insist upon positive proof from their opponents +that there is no God, and that the Bible is nothing more than a human +book? Why should we not impose upon them the more difficult task of +defending their position, by attacking it with all earnestness at +every point? For Christian defence, we have need to be both really and +consciously very strong in the truth. On the other hand, to be an +unbeliever, a man can do without either knowledge or goodness. He has +only to ply you with his eternal "_Why?_" _Why_, because the universe +exists, must it have ever been _created_? _Why_ may it not have always +existed? _Why_ are we bound to accept the teaching of the Bible? _Why_ +was it necessary that Christ should suffer to expiate our sins? _Why_ +did Christ come so late in the history of the world? _Why_ are there +no miracles now? _Why? Why? Why?_-- + +As Christians, however, we take the position open to us, whether of +attack or defence. We do so because the salvation of our adversaries +is dear to us, and because we are so sure that the course they adopt +injures, not ourselves, but them. We bring to them a priceless +treasure--salvation through, and from, the crucified Christ. If they +hinder us, the loss is theirs. + +On the present occasion we deal with one of the questions often +propounded: "Why was it necessary that Christ should die for our sins, +in order that we may be saved?" or, "How can the sufferings of the +innocent atone for the sins of the guilty?" + +To make our answer more clear, we begin by saying: "We do not know." +Why should we insist--why should any one insist--upon understanding +the "_why_" of this arrangement? Why should not every one be content +to know the _fact_? If the reason of the fact were obvious, we should, +of course, gladly accept it; but if it be hidden from us, whilst the +fact itself is disclosed, why should we complain? We cannot fully +understand the Divine purposes. We can only guess. Even angels study, +and wonder, and adore, but do not fully know. Let it be observed that +the real question here is not exactly as unbelievers put it. Thus: I +do not know how the rays of the sun enlighten my eyes, nor how my +enlightened eyes transmit ideas to my mind. Does it follow that the +sun does not enlighten, or that my mind does not receive impressions +through what I see? The imperative question is, not, "How is the thing +done?" but, "_Is_ it done?"--not as to the _reason_ of the fact, but +the _reality_ of it. So in the matter before us. It is surely enough +for us to show that redemption through the sacrifice of Christ, like +the sun, comes from God, and that it gives light, life, and fruit. +This being done, nothing more can be reasonably asked. + +To know whether this doctrine of redemption is God's truth, it is +sufficient to know whether the Bible is God's Word. And here we ask, +What will you do with ancient prophecies and their fulfilment?--with +confirmations of Bible history which are continually accumulating?--with +the conspicuous excellence of the moral teaching and influence which the +Bible supplies?--with the sublimity of Christ's character?--with the +miracles He wrought?--with the marvellous effects of Christianity upon +the world, notwithstanding the strongest inducements, in human +prejudice, to its rejection? Settle such questions as these according to +the admitted laws of evidence, and then there will be no reason to +contend as to the "why" and the "how" of redemption. + +Such, however, is not the method which the unbeliever pursues. He +turns away from the Record as a source of instruction. It is hard to +convince a man who begins by closing his ears with his own pride. To +whatever study a man addresses himself, he will never advance in it in +_spite_ of himself. His progress will be proportioned, among other +things, to the amount of honest effort he makes to learn. That is, he +must feel the fact and the disadvantage of his own ignorance. Who +could study mathematics by beginning at the outset to dispute its +axioms? Just so with Christian truth. Put aside prejudice and pride. +Do not take it for granted that you have light enough in your mind, at +starting, to pronounce upon the truth or the falsity, the +reasonableness or the unreasonableness, of the doctrine of salvation +through the cross of Christ. Listen attentively. Look for more light, +and receive it when it comes. We do not say: "Believe before you have +read;" but we do say: "Don't contradict before you have read." + +I have already said that we are not obliged to _explain_ the +philosophy of the redemption which is taught in the Scriptures. Let me +now say that that redemption is itself the best solution of the great +difficulty which is felt by the believer and the unbeliever alike. It +is this: Conscience tells us that God is just; the heart tells us that +He is good;--how then can a God whose justice and goodness are equal, +_i.e._, both of them infinite, escape from the position in which +sinners have placed Him? I put the difficulty in this bold form in +order that it may be the more distinctly apprehended. We have sinned, +and a just God must punish. We sigh after happiness, and a good God--a +God who is infinitely kind--may be expected to bestow happiness upon +us. But how can God deal with us in both these ways at one and the +same time? + +We know instinctively, of course, that there is no real dilemma to God +Himself; but those who reject the atonement of Christ are bound to +deal with what presents itself as an inevitable dilemma to _them_. + +The unbeliever says: "God is too good to punish." What then becomes of +His justice, since conscience testifies that we are sinners, that sin +deserves punishment, that vice and virtue are not one, that God cannot +deal in the same way with both without encouraging the vice which +needs to be suppressed, and discouraging the virtue which needs to be +upheld? Take away the fear of punishment under the pretext that God is +good, and you deprive conscience of its meaning and its power. + +Shall it be said, then, that God will punish every transgressor? Have +the numberless generations which have been upon the earth gone to an +inevitable doom? This conclusion is as hard to admit as the other. The +instincts of the heart are against it. + +No; men do not accept either conclusion to the exclusion of the other. +They say God will adopt a mean between His justice and His mercy so +as to bring them into harmony. But how? Here is the crucial +difficulty. Is it to be solved by the principle of mutual concession? + +Let me remind you, again, that the difficulty is not created by God, +but by man. In Him, justice and mercy are really one: it is only to us +that they are seen to be two; and it is our sin which disturbs and +confuses our conception of their union with each other. He might +indeed annihilate us, and so leave us no opportunity to complain. But +our whole moral and emotional nature repels with horror the thought of +such a termination to our sin, as being unworthy of the God who has to +govern us. No! when we reflect seriously upon the question, we cannot +resist the feeling that God must have some plan of rescuing us from +the doom we merit which shall give equal expression to His justice and +His mercy. + +Men in general, alas! hold justice cheaply, and, lowering the Divine +standard of human character, they easily persuade themselves that they +may enter heaven through the breach they have made in the Divine +attributes. They think that God is indulgent, and will forgive, +forgetting that indulgence is weakness. God _will_ forgive, but His +forgiveness must stand on safe ground. It cannot apply indiscriminately +to all men. Men think they have said all when they have said, "God will +forgive." Such a forgiveness would aim a blow at His justice. No matter; +He will forgive! Such a forgiveness is without motive--an effect without +a cause. No matter; He will forgive! Such a forgiveness has its root in +sentiment, not in reason. It matters not; He will forgive! Such a +forgiveness imposes no obligation on the forgiver, and encourages sin. +Never mind; He will forgive! + +Surely this is the spiritual blindness which comes from the perversion +of the conscience and the heart. + +Some say, "God forgives; but the condition is that we turn away from +sin and live a life of holiness." There are many answers to this; but +I will only ask those who thus speak, "Are you now living in such a +way as to have in your present holiness, and on the ground of it, the +assurance of your pardon?" That is a question which conscience may be +safely left to answer. + +At this point Christianity comes professing to reveal to us the Divine +plan of salvation. It tells us that God forgives for the sake of Jesus +Christ, who is Himself, in His sacrifice, the gift of the Father's +love. A debt has been contracted; the insolvent debtor presents in +payment the money which a friend has freely contributed for the +purpose; the creditor is satisfied. In this way goodness and justice +are reconciled. It is Divine love which meets the claim of the Divine +Righteousness. The redeemed soul, redeemed by the blood of Christ, is +led to obedience by a love which responds to the love which has +redeemed him. This last result none can dispute. Does it spring from +error? No; it is too pure, too blessed for that. The redemption that +produces it is a true principle founded in the nature of God--sublime +in its working--like sap, inexplicable, but justified by the beauty of +its foliage and the goodliness of its fruits. + +Let us look a little more closely into this principle of Propitiation. +Suppose we were reading the gospel for the first time, free from +prejudice, and from the deadening influence of habit; we should be +struck with the prominence everywhere given in it to the death of +Christ. Ask a Christian child, or an aged saint, "What did Christ come +on earth to do?" The answer from each will be, "He came to die for +us." The child finds his answer on the very surface of Scripture; the +aged man finds it in that same Scripture when he has studied it to its +very depths. The one quickly learns that this death of Christ was +often predicted by Christ Himself, that it holds the most prominent +place in each of the four Gospels, that it is constantly referred to +in the Epistles, that it is the text of all the preaching of the +apostles, and that it is symbolised in both the sacraments, for "we +are buried by baptism into His death," and whenever in the Supper we +partake of the bread and wine, we "show forth His death till He come." +The mature Christian, in his turn, learns to look upon the death of +Christ as the centre and the soul of all the great acts of the great +work of our redemption, which seem, whether they preceded or followed, +to have been done in direct view of it, and in indissoluble connection +with it. The incarnation was designed to open up the way for it. +"Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, He +also Himself likewise took part of the same; that through death He +might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil." +The resurrection was intended to attest its meaning and its value. For +Christ was "delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our +justification." The object of the ascension was to secure the +precious fruits of it. "For He entered in once into the holy place, +having obtained eternal redemption for us." + +The remarkable thing in all this is that in the gospel, the aim of +which is to reveal eternal life, the Prince of Life is always offered +to us as dying upon the cross. _Death in order to life!_ What can be +the meaning and the bearing of a death which God has placed in so +exalted a position? We can only get our answer from Scripture; and we +can only get it from Scripture as we read in the simple, +unsophisticated humility of mind and heart of which Christ Himself and +His apostles give us the example. + +"_Jesus Christ is the propitiation for our sins._" We have sinned +against God, and our sins have been so many _offences_ to Him; +offences which must be dealt with. Christ averts the penalty from us +by taking it to Himself. The Holy One consents to suffer for the sake +of the guilty. The apostle who styles Christ as the "Propitiation" has +said, in a sentence immediately preceding: "The blood of Jesus Christ +His Son cleanseth us from all sin." Almost numberless passages teach +the same doctrine. If we were engaged in an exercise of Biblical +criticism, we should have to discuss each of these passages minutely +in its turn. But the general idea we gather from them is definite and +clear. A ransom paid, our sins borne, the wrath of God appeased, an +offered sacrifice--all these contain one idea: Jesus Christ freeing us +from the desert of our sin by Himself satisfying Divine Justice on our +behalf. + +Hence the two great facts of our religious history. We were under the +condemnation of a holy law. He who was "the Life," _for our sake_ +endured death that we who deserved death might have life _for His +sake_. And God is "faithful and just to forgive us our sins." + +To a simple-hearted Christian all this is clear. Men may be +scandalised at the exchange (as they term it) between justice and sin, +between life and death; but Paul knows how to state the matter: "God +hath made Him (Christ) to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we +might be made the righteousness of God in Him." Men may be indignant +(as they often profess to be) at the thought of the innocent suffering +for the guilty; but Peter does not hesitate to say: "Christ hath once +suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to +God." + +What is it, moreover, that _connects_ the teaching of the Old +Testament with that of the New? The doctrine of sacrifice, as thus +explained, is not simply _attested_ by Scripture: it is the _soul_ of +it; its bond of unity. The death of Christ is _the_ sacrifice "once +offered in the end of the world," in which all the sacrifices of the +Old Testament find their common destination; to which they correspond, +as the figure to the reality. The cross is the end, the key, the +meaning, the value of all of them. Without this we cannot understand +them. They were types: the cross is the antitype. What they +_represented_, the cross _achieved_. The cross procured the pardon +which they proclaimed. And so the cross has always been the symbol of +the Christian Church. The Jews understood it, and were scandalised; +the Greeks understood it, and sneered. + +And now what ends does this sacrifice of Propitiation serve? Mainly +two, which are inclusive of all the rest. + +I. It is the fullest revelation of the Divine character. Leaving aside +all questions of abstract and technical theology, we observe that it +sets before us, in one great act, the righteousness and the mercy of +God. The cross proclaims the pardon for which infinite love solicits. +_The heart of God yields to itself._ But how can this be? It is +because the pardon solicited by love is obtained by a sacrifice which +equally exhibits God's righteousness. If we seek the universe through +for the greatest proof we can have of the love of God to the sinner, +we shall find it in the cross; for we there see not only that God +forgives, but also that He is _so resolved_ to forgive that, rather +than that the sinner shall be left to perish, the stroke of the +offended law shall fall on the willing head and heart and life of "His +only begotten and well-beloved Son." On the other hand, if we want to +know something of God's abhorrence of sin, we shall find it in the +cross; for we there see that, so impossible is it for Him to allow it +to go unpunished, that He secures for it a Divine expiation in the +willing sacrifice of His Divine Son. "Mercy and truth are met +together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other." Most +persons can see in the cross a demonstration of Divine love; in the +light of Bible teaching, they may also see in it a demonstration of +Divine justice more marked and telling than in a closed Eden, in the +waters of the Deluge, in the overthrow of the cities of the plain, in +the destruction of Jerusalem, or in the punishment of the wicked in +eternity. + +II. If men are to be saved at all, they must be saved _to holiness_; +they must be sanctified as well as forgiven. The result cannot be +otherwise for those who truly believe in the sacrifice of Christ as +thus explained. Holiness and love, the two great elements of the +character of God; these are expressed in the cross, and they must be +reproduced in the character of those for whom the cross does its +appointed work. How can we believe, as the cross teaches us to +believe, in God's hatred to sin, without feeling that we must hate it +also, and, hating it, must forsake it? And how can we believe, as the +cross teaches us to believe, in the love which has obtained our +salvation, without giving our own love as a genuine, though feeble, +return? Let a man, struggling with the sins which he condemns, but +which he cannot shake off, learn that the Son of God came into the +world to die for him; and he will find in that revelation a strength +for conflict with sin which he never had before. Speak to him of the +beauty and dignity of the law, of the righteousness of God's claims, +of the penalties of transgression; and, though his conscience may +assent to all you say, his heart will not yield. Can he refuse when he +sees Jesus on the cross, and knows what, for him, that spectacle +means? The cross is an argument presented to his reason, his +conscience, his will, his heart, his whole being; nay, it is more than +an argument, it is an appeal; and the response must be: "We love Him +because He first loved us." "The love of Christ constraineth us; +because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead: +and that He died for all, that they which live should not henceforth +live unto themselves, but unto Him who died for them, and rose again." + +And now it only remains to be said that this Propitiation is needed by +all, that it is sufficient for all, and that it is free to all. Let +all receive it. + + + + +III. + +_FAITH IN THE SAVIOUR._ + +"Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved."--Acts +xvi. 31. + + +A startling providential dispensation was one of the means by which +the spiritual nature of this jailer was roused. Only one, effectual so +far as it went, but not complete in itself. It was preparatory and +auxiliary to the action of the Holy Spirit, the instrument by which +the Spirit did His special work of convincing the man of sin. Thus it +is that outward events and circumstances are made to co-operate with +God in the conversion of a soul. The way in which the Spirit works is +a mystery, akin to that in which one human mind acts upon another. But +the _means_ of this spiritual action is no mystery. We use speech, +external appliances of various kinds; the Divine Spirit does the same. +In the case of the jailer he employed the earthquake together with the +calm faith, the perfect serenity, of the apostles at a moment which +was to himself a moment of terror, and which would also have been a +moment of terror to them had they not been the Christians they were. A +great joy; a great sorrow, commotion, loss, alarm, the apparent +nearness of death; daily mercies, the "means of grace," the Word of +God, the ministry of the gospel--through all these the Spirit works. +They are powerless in themselves; they can only become mighty as used +by Him. + +It is obvious at a glance that this man's spiritual nature _was_ +roused. Spiritual realities burst in upon his mind in all their awful +momentousness. His whole soul was suddenly concentrated in a sense of +his ruin. Hence the short, sharp question--the question which sprung +from an inward agony--"What must I do to be saved?" That question must +be answered, if it can be--answered on the instant! There is a +tremendous depth of meaning in it. It is as though a lightning flash +had in a moment illuminated the man's whole spiritual condition, +bringing out every feature of it into startling distinctness. All the +fears and the aspirations of his immortal being are here; his past +life with all its sin, his remorse, his dread of judgment, his terror +in the presence of God--all are here; he feels himself to be a lost +man. How can he be saved? + +In his question there is no hint of self-righteousness or of +self-confidence, or even of the remotest hope in himself. He does not +ask, like "the young man in the gospel," "What good thing must I do +that I may inherit eternal life?" The question of the young man is +leisurely; the question of the jailer is hurried, under the feeling +that there is not a moment to be lost. Helpless and hopeless, he wants +but one thing, and that is to be "saved." Of course his "What must I +do?" indicates that he is willing and ready to comply with any +possible terms; yet it is not a question of conscious strength--it is +rather the question of despair. + +Such a question shows that a great point--an essential point--had been +gained. The gospel is a sovereign remedy designed and constructed to +meet a desperate case. Not only do they that are whole stand in no +need of a physician, but wherever there lingers an idea of spiritual +strength, or a dream, of self-righteousness, the condition necessary +for the reception of such a salvation as that which the gospel +proclaims is entirely wanting. Christ is an exclusive Saviour, and +"looking to Him" is an exclusive hope. + +"What must I do to be saved?" Clear, quick, unhesitating, comes the +answer of Paul: "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be +saved." Both the question and the answer strike the point--the centre +of the soul's supreme need, and the centre of the gospel message. + +This answer of Paul's is not simply his own. It is the answer of God +to every man who wants to know how he can be saved. It is the answer +of the whole Bible. It is the pre-eminently, distinctively Christian +answer. All revelation has one great object--Jesus Christ, promised, +announced, expected, seen by faith beforehand; then Jesus Christ +actually come, His life told, His mission developed, Himself presented +to the world as the one and only Name whereby men can be +saved;--always Jesus Christ. Patriarchs and prophets, Moses and David, +Christ Himself, His apostles and disciples after Him, the whole +Church--all unite to say to the awakened soul: "Believe on the Lord +Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved." + +But this answer, though not Paul's alone, is nevertheless his in such +a sense that an immense weight belongs to it. What does Paul himself +understand by it? We know something of his experience, and that will +tell us the meaning of these words as spoken by him. He spake that +which he knew, and testified that which he had seen. He felt that he +could offer to the spiritual need of every man that which had so fully +met his own. + +Read Paul's life. Read his epistles. You see at a glance what Christ +was to _him_--a Redeemer. And what to him was the very centre of +Christian truth? "Christ crucified." He had been so roused as to see +clearly the relation between himself and God. The true sense of sin +had been awakened within him. No man had made more strenuous efforts +to obtain justification by the works of the law than he had; and no +man had more deeply realised his helplessness. How does he describe +the struggle? "I had not known sin, but by the law.... When the +commandment came, sin revived, and I died.... Sin, taking occasion by +the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew me.... That which I do I +allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do +I.... I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) there dwelleth no good +thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which +is good I find not. For the good that I would I do not: but the evil +which I would not, that I do.... O wretched man that I am! who shall +deliver me from the body of this death?" + +"I thank God, through Jesus Christ our Lord." + +We all know how God arrested, overcame, and subdued him, by showing +him in that same "Jesus Christ our Lord" the mystery of the Divine +love. God taught him that he must no longer expect righteousness and +eternal life to come from his own works, to be wrought by his own +strength. Eternal life is the free gift of God. Look to the cross! +Listen to the Spirit! Learn in "the folly of the cross" to adore the +wisdom and the power of God--a forgiveness that glorifies justice as +well as mercy; a forgiveness that kills sin as well as removes its +penalty; a salvation that harmonises man with God as well as forgives +him; a salvation that implies a perfect holiness, the motive being +love, and the effectual power being that of the Holy Spirit. Deep as +his want had been, it was now completely met by the revelation of the +Saviour. To that revelation his response was prompt, complete, +irrevocable. He says that it was as though scales had fallen from his +eyes, this disclosure of the Divine plan of salvation to his mind. It +was full of light, full of mercy. The manifestation of the risen +Christ was the instrumentality which enlightened him. He saw +straightway the nature and purpose of "the cross," the certainty of +justification through faith, the believer's completeness in Christ. +"Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that +is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh +intercession for us." "There is now no condemnation to them which are +in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. +For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free +from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do, in that +it was weak through the flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the +flesh: that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us who +walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit." "I beseech you +therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your +bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your +reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye +transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is +that good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God." The natural +result of these convictions in the apostle's own case was his +consecration to the Saviour. Bought with a great price, he felt that +he was no longer his own, but that, in life and death, he belonged to +Him who had given Himself for him. In Christ he had found peace for +his conscience, light for his mind, love for his heart. And what was +the secret of it all? Simply "believing in the Lord Jesus Christ." + +This, then, was Paul's gospel to the jailer, and there is no other +gospel to-day. We know that sin incurs condemnation--the displeasure +of God. The universal conscience gives testimony to that fact. We know +that man cannot, in his own person, satisfy the claims of the Divine +law. But there comes down to us the old truth that Christ is "the Lamb +of God that taketh away the sin of the world." He "finished the work +which His Father gave Him to do," and the whole benefit of that work +is given to faith. + +It is in the name of this perfect system of truth--which, observe, is +a perfect series of facts--consecrated by the trial of ages, by the +experience of an incalculable number of souls in all times, places, +and conditions, and by the world's own verdict on Christian character +wherever it is found--that we speak to you with a confidence equal to +that with which Paul spoke to the jailer. And let me add that we so +speak because we have made the experience of it our own, and that it +is as sure in our hearts as our very existence. Yes, a perfect series +of facts as well as a perfect system of truth. Men sometimes object +that we put before them hard and abstruse systems of theology, and +that we condemn them for not believing things which they cannot +understand. There is no need to do anything of the kind, and when it +is done a grave mistake is committed. I preach no "abstractions" to +you when I urge you to faith in Christ for salvation. I deal with +facts and their deductions--deductions which are as inevitable as the +facts are real--deductions which follow the facts as the shadow +follows the substance. Deny the deductions? You must first deny the +facts. The jailer, poor man, was no theologian, and Paul did not +perplex and mystify him. He placed the person of Christ immediately +before the soul. Faith in a person; that is _first_--not faith in a +creed. A creed will follow; for there cannot be faith without thought, +and thought always strives to formulate itself. But, blessed be God, +millions have been saved with next to no "theology." Having Christ for +its object, and salvation for its aim, faith reposes in the facts of +His mission and work; but as He is a living Christ, it emphatically +reposes in _Him_. This is the commonest form of the believer's +experience. In our social life we know what faith in a person means. +We confide in known goodness; and therefore we believe words, +promises, acts, and we do so because we trust _him_ from whom they +come. This is the last and most perfect stage of the faith men place +in one another, and it includes a confidence which is not impaired by +what, in the person who is trusted, seems startling, unexpected, +mysterious, contradictory, inexplicable. Just so with the gospel. It +meets our needs by telling us what God has done for us in Christ. We +believe the record which fits our want, and we put our trust in the +Saviour. Confiding in Him, we can accept such mysteries as we may +discern in His dealings, and faith in a holy and loving Saviour is +henceforth the true rest of life, and the true foretaste of heaven. + +Such being the nature of faith unto salvation, we see how it contrasts +(1) with indifference. Indifference is commonly supposed to be a +mental state, in which a man neither believes nor disbelieves; whereas +it is really a state of spiritual deadness. (2) With mere opinion, +which is nothing more than an inclination in favour of, or against, a +thing, and not an earnest practical conviction about it. (3) With +presumption, which is a prepossession with no sufficient basis of +evidence. + +It may, perhaps, be said that, in this representation of faith in +Christ as the one all-comprehensive condition of salvation, we have +left no room for penitence, holiness, devotedness. But think again for +a moment. Were not all these in this man? Did not his conduct to the +apostles show, so far as the opportunity was given him, the fruits of +faith in the various ways of grateful love? Faith is the +starting-point; but when we are told to "believe in Christ" an appeal +is made to us in response to which there is a whole career to be +filled up. Faith, like everything else in life, has its beginning, and +its development is progressive. It means thought, and thought means +contrition, gratitude, and a glad and loving obedience. It requires +time, but we have eternity before us. In some, the result of years is +accomplished in a day. Simple-hearted men generally receive by a sort +of intuition what others take a long period to elaborate. The one +thing essential to all is that they be faithful to the light and the +love they have received. + +"Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ." We do not call you to a learned +and critical study. The life and teachings and redeeming work of the +Saviour are put before us with a simplicity that brings them within +the reach of a peasant or a child. Attention, earnestness, sincerity, +prayer, will do all that is needed. Seek the faith that will make +Christ yours. Do you not already, under the gracious influence of the +Holy Spirit, feel your need of Him? Oh, whilst mercy calls, and the +throne of grace is accessible, pray and yield! + + Ye that in these courts are found + Listening to the joyful sound, + Lost and helpless as you are, + Sons of sorrow, sin, and care, + Glorify the King of kings! + Take the peace the gospel brings. + + Turn to Christ with longing eyes, + View His bleeding sacrifice. + See through Him your sins forgiven, + Pardon, holiness, and heaven. + Glorify the King of kings! + Take the peace the gospel brings. + + + + +IV. + +_SINCERITY OF HEART NECESSARY TO THE UNDERSTANDING OF THE GOSPEL._ + +"If any man will do His will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether +it be of God, or whether I speak of myself."--John vii. 17. + + +The Jews, marvelling at Christ's teaching in the temple, exclaim, "How +knoweth this man letters, having never learned?" They do not mean to +ask whether Christ is competent to teach, for they _see_ that he is so +clearly enough; but they thus express their astonishment at the +authority and the ability with which He deals with the Scriptures, +considering that He has never received the instruction of the Schools. + +In His reply, Jesus fully enters into the thought of His questioners. +That thought is this: "In order to teach, one must have been taught." +He intimates to them that He meets this requirement. As though He had +said: "It is true that I have not been in the schools of your Rabbis, +but I have been taught in a better school than theirs. He who has +given me my mission, has also given me my message. So that my teaching +does not proceed originally from myself. I have only to lay hold of my +Father's thought, and then to reproduce it faithfully to you." + +But how is this to be verified? The answer to this question is found +in the text: "If any man will do His will, he shall know of the +doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself." +Christ's teaching, in its highest aim, is a Divine method of +sanctification. Whoever, then, earnestly seeks to "do the will of +God"--that is, to be holy--will soon recognise the Divine adaptability +of the gospel to its end. The meaning of the verse is the same as in +chapter v. and verse 46: "For had ye believed Moses, ye would have +believed me;" and also in chapter iii. and verse 21: "He that doeth +truth cometh to the light." On the one hand, the holy sublimity of the +gospel flashes irresistibly on the soul that longs for holiness; on +the other hand, the soul, in its inability to attain its ideal, seeks +peace and strength at the hands of the Saviour. Faith, therefore, is +not the result of a logical operation; it appears to the soul as the +best means of realising the satisfaction of its deepest +want--holiness. The word "will" points to the loftiness of the +aspiration and to the earnestness of the effort. + +Our Lord's words, then, mean this, that if any man be supremely +anxious to do the right, he will find in Scripture sufficient proof of +its divinity, and, as a consequence, of its adaptability to the soul's +deepest need. Christ was dealing with men who were disposed to cavil +about His authority and about the truth which He taught. These men +were acquainted with the Mosaic law, which enjoined not only purity of +life, but also purity of heart. It was a law therefore which, if +honestly studied, must lead to those convictions which would enable +them to see the necessity and the wisdom of the gospel which Christ +was preaching. And so He lays down the principle that sincerity in +regard to the _known_ law of God determines the real position of the +mind _towards_ God, and prepares it for deeper and still deeper +penetration into all necessary spiritual knowledge. On the contrary, +he who is insincere, and does not practise what he knows, but +endeavours to evade it by sophistry, blinds himself until even the +brightest light can be of no service to him. This was the case with +the majority of the Pharisees with whom Christ had to do. This +passage is therefore of the highest practical importance, since it +teaches that man's capacity for spiritual knowledge is dependent upon +his inclination. If the will be opposed to God, the understanding +becomes clouded; if it be inclined towards God, the ability to know +increases. That the inclination is the door to the intellect is a fact +universally recognised. It is expressed in the proverb: "None are so +blind as those who will not see." In every department of learning, a +man, in order to attainment, _must make up his mind to it_. For good +or ill, the will is a quickening power. + +It would be interesting and instructive to discuss this question in +connection with religious error, both in and out of the professing +Christian Church. My present purpose, however, is a more simple and +elementary one--namely, to indicate the bearing of the question upon +man's reception of the gospel for his salvation. I say, then, that +honesty, sincerity, integrity of heart is the required and +indispensable condition for perceiving and feeling the divinity and +suitability of the gospel; and that even an ignorant man, if he be but +sincere, and devoutly anxious to know the will of God, that he may do +it, may discover in the Bible those traces of moral beauty and of +Divine truth which a learned but unconscientious man will almost +certainly fail to find therein. Sincerity of heart--this is the +wisest, most natural, and most comprehensive means of access to the +inner spirit of that gospel which is the power of God unto salvation. +A few remarks in proof of this. + +I. Suppose the gospel to be so manifestly filled with the proofs of its +divinity that all hearts, even the most obdurate, could not refrain from +yielding to its claims. Suppose it to be _self-evidencing_, in the same +way and to the same extent, as the sun is self-evidencing by its +shining, or fire by its known power to burn. In this case, no moral or +intellectual disposition would be necessary in order to its reception. +It could no more be denied than the light of the sun, or the consuming +power of fire. But what, with such a gospel, would be man's position? +Forced to assent to an imperious obligation, he would be, in relation to +the gospel and to the salvation provided in it, nothing more than a +machine, acting under the impulse of an irresistible necessity. There +could, under these circumstances, be neither praise nor blame attached +to him. He could no longer be accounted a moral agent--could not be +regarded as free, inasmuch as it would not be possible for him to choose +error or evil without obvious and startling folly. He could no longer be +responsible, because he would have to yield to a necessity. There could +be no free thought in his creed, no free love in his heart, and +consequently no virtue in his life. + +II. Since, then, some disposition is necessary in order to a man's +coming to the gospel, suppose that God had imposed an _intellectual_ +qualification--such, for instance, as is required for the learning of +art or of science, or for the understanding of any difficult problem +in philosophy. Observe what in that case must follow. If, to discover +the truth necessary to salvation, a large measure of natural genius or +of accumulated knowledge be required, we must consider as excluded +from salvation the immense majority of the human race! Men cannot in +any large numbers abandon the common, legitimate, indispensable +pursuits of secular life in order to become students of theology. Such +an arrangement would shut out from heaven all who have neither time, +nor fortune, nor energy of intellect sufficient to enable them to +follow our profounder investigations. The poor man for want of means, +the sick man for want of strength, the old man for want of time--all, +being unable to explore and to make their own the prescribed science, +would be lost! The fearfulness of the consequences shows how false the +supposed principle must be. + +III. Take another supposition; viz., that, in order to a man's being +convinced of the truth of the gospel, he should be required to purify +his heart from all evil, so that with a clear moral vision he should +be able to see the beauties which have been obscured by his sinful +passions. Doubtless this means of appreciating Christianity would be +efficacious, were it practicable. But it is not so; for evidently the +_knowledge_ of the truth must precede the _practice_ of the truth. A +creature without wings might as well be told that he should go to +heaven on condition that he would fly thither! + +IV. See now, not what _our_ plans might be, but what _God's_ plan is. +He does not influence man so as to degrade him into a machine: He +simply and uniformly demands the worship and the service of willing +hearts. He does not require of him the genius or the learning which is +the privilege of only a few. He does not ask in advance the goodness +which is impossible as a spontaneous production of his degenerate +nature. He just requires of all that which they can give, if they +will--viz., simple, devout honesty of purpose. Christ's words are not, +"If any man _does_;" but, "If any man will do"--_desires_ to do--is +supremely _anxious_ to do--_wills_ to do--"the will of God he shall +know of the doctrine, whether it be of God." Who, then, has a right to +complain? Who cannot be sincere? Who is unable to set before himself +the purpose of living up to the light he has in order that he may be +in the surest position for receiving more? Who will say, "This +condition is too hard?" + +Observe, then, how your case stands. Are you, or are you not, anxious +to please God in any way which He may appoint and reveal to you? If +you are not, His gospel must be a sealed and unmeaning book to you. +Your mind is not open to the faith which unites the soul to the +Saviour. You are altogether destitute of the motive which would lead +you to the cross. But if you are, what then? You must see at once that +you are sinners, that you are guilty, and that you are hopeless. In +the light of these convictions, look at the gospel. It tells you of +the Divine Saviour who died for you and who rose again, who paid your +debt, who took to Himself your penalty, and who has therefore done +all that was necessary to set you free. To meet your helplessness, He +only asks for your faith, and offers to you the quickening and guiding +and upholding influences of His Holy Spirit. + + + + +V. + +_THE HUMBLE TAUGHT THE LORD'S WAY._ + +"The meek will He teach His way."--Psalm xxv. 9. + + +Instead of "meek" read "humble," and then connect the verse with the +preceding, so as to see who and what are the persons to whom the +Psalmist refers. The righteous Lord will teach sinners His way; but +the sinners, in order to be thus divinely taught, must be humble. + +Probably this text of Scripture does not seem at first sight to be +very promising to some of you. If so, the reason probably is that one +at least of the subjects it brings to our notice is not a favourite or +inspiring one. Men are comparatively little attracted by the more +quiet and passive virtues of life, and among these the virtue of +humility is one of the least popular. The truth is that we are still +under the influence of Pagan notions about it. The philosophers of +the past never understood it. To them it was a mean and despicable +thing--the evidence of weakness and poverty of soul, the necessary +virtue of the enslaved and the helpless. This notion exists now. The +world has far more respect for the self-confident, the noisy, the +bombastic, than for the humble. Of course the world's ideas of +humility are at fault, and have need to be corrected. We cannot enter +upon that task now, except incidentally and very partially. One thing +only let me say--namely, that Christianity has transformed and +ennobled the despised word by giving us the thing itself. The life of +Christ comprises the perfection of humility as well as of every other +virtue. In Him we see that humility makes no man contemptible. He was +no less a king because He was a servant. And the virtue that was +perfect in Him is one of the essential qualities of the Christian +character--one of the essential elements of the Christian life, +whether in its high enjoyments or in its high achievements. + +The words before us present this virtue of humility under one special +aspect. Man has something to learn, and God has something to teach; +and humility is _teachableness_. Christianity demands of its +disciples that disposition of heart which is the indispensable +condition of all learning whatsoever. No more objection can be urged +against Christianity for this, than against any art or science or +philosophy which men seek to acquire. All these might say to their +disciples, "Unless you give up your prejudice, your conceit, your +self-will, your presumption, you have no business here; we have +nothing to teach you." And so, "poverty of spirit," as Christ +intimates in the "Beatitudes," is the strait gate into "the kingdom of +God." + +It is only as respects religion that this principle is seriously +misunderstood, and a little reflection will show why it is that +outside Christianity humility is misapprehended. Humility is the +result of self-knowledge, and this cannot be obtained until man has +learned to know himself in the light of God's wisdom and holiness. So +long as he compares himself with his fellow-creatures around him, it +may seem to him that there is no necessity for such an element of +character as this. Nor is it in this way that the virtue is commended +and enforced. Whilst the standard of excellence remains merely human, +it is quite clear that a man may say, "I am as good as my neighbours; +at least, I am no worse." But put before him a holy God and a holy +law! In this new light all becomes changed. Apart from that +revelation, many flatter themselves that they have lived respectably. +They are not conscious of any serious defection in the common, +every-day duties of life. Let the great revelation come to them, and +they must make wonderful self-discoveries. How many forgotten sins are +then brought to mind! How many secret sins are then brought to light! +How many temptations have been yielded to for convenience' sake! How +much coldness and indifference towards the right, the true, and the +good! How much selfishness! How much cowardice! How many meannesses! +How many secret and contemptible dishonesties! What culpable ignorance +of God! What rebellion against His known will! Is not all this enough +to humble a man? Where is the man amongst us who would not rather die +than have all his sins brought to light before his fellow-men? Thus, +to make us humble, God teaches us, first of all, truly to know +ourselves. This is that "conviction of sin" which is wrought by His +Holy Spirit. + +God teaches us this in His law, but chiefly by the life of Christ His +Son. Who can remain proud when he compares his own life with that? +Before men we may, perhaps, hold our own; but before Him there is +nothing left for us but self-abasement. + +In presence of such a conviction as this, it is vain for the world to +flatter a man, for he has learnt his own misery. He wants to know the +truth, for it is only the truth that can save. He knows too much of +himself to accept any teaching that would exalt _man_, for he could +not accept that without dishonouring God. He wants a frank, firm voice +that will trouble him, and to which his conscience will respond. The +first question for us is: Have we so learnt to know ourselves, or do +we obstinately shut our eyes against God's light? Such a knowledge of +sin brings with it a sense of deserved condemnation. + +And here God comes in to teach us humility in another way. He shows us +His love in Christ. It is not possible that a sinner who has come to +the knowledge of himself should discover that he is the object of a +love on the part of God such as that which the gospel reveals without +being overwhelmed. Show to man a God who judges and condemns, and the +sinner must shrink from before Him under the sense of a deserved doom; +but show to him a God who comes to him graciously, who loves him, who +has provided redemption for him, and who is waiting to receive and to +help him, and all the pride of his heart at once breaks down. The +prodigal son was most humble when he received his father's kiss of +welcome. How can we be proud when we know that God has loved us, and +that Christ has died for us? Unbelievers sometimes call the +Christian's faith presumption; we know, on the contrary, that the +feeling produced is as unlike presumption as it can be. The very faith +which accepts the gospel has its root in lowliness of mind. Pride +would reject it. And it is at the foot of the cross that humility +grows. If not there, then nowhere. + +Thus we see that all our Christian life, in one aspect of it, is a +growth in humility. This beautiful virtue affects our whole being, +rescuing for God all that has been usurped by sin. + +_Our reason must be humble._ We are living in an age of criticism and +discussion; and, both in the Church and out of it, human thought is +prone to pride and self-sufficiency. There is work, of course, for +thought to do, and we must do it; for thought is God's gift. But it +can only be done aright as it is done in humility. We must never touch +religious questions with profane hands. Let us rather remember that +all our researches into truth should be conducted with a view the +better to adore and to obey. We should examine truth only with a +desire to perceive, acknowledge, and reverence it. Our Lord teaches us +that the gospel both enlightens and blinds. "For judgment I am come +into this world, that they who see not might see, and that they who +see might be made blind." The first part of this great statement is +easily understood; it is the second which startles. But why so? Is it +not like Simeon's prediction that Christ would be for the "fall" as +well as for the "rising" of many? Is it not like what Paul said of the +gospel, that it is a "savour" both of "life unto life" and of "death +unto death"? So long as the gospel is not preached in a church or a +house, all is quiet--with the quietness of death! As soon as it is +preached, some accept it, and say that they have passed from darkness +to light; others reject it, and are made angry by its teaching and its +claims. If these latter were quiet, we might suppose the gospel to be +without effect upon them; but they show that, by hardening themselves +against it, they are becoming blinder than ever. Recall other words +which point to the same result--words spoken by our Lord: "I thank +Thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because Thou hast hid these +things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes. +Even so, Father: for so it seemed good in Thy sight." This should be a +joyful truth to us, for Jesus had joy in declaring it. Wherein is its +worth? The "things" of which He speaks are the doctrines of salvation. +"The wise and prudent" are self-satisfied men who think that they can +comprehend all religious truth by their own reason alone. The "babes" +are humble souls, who, in the consciousness of their ignorance and +weakness, look to God for wisdom. Thus Christ says that Divine +teaching is necessary for the understanding of gospel truth, and this +fact humility alone enables us to feel. Man's intelligence can do many +wonderful things, but God Himself must come to our help if we are ever +to know the things that pertain to our salvation. Our reason must bow +to Him. + +_The heart must be humble._ We may profess entire mental submission to +God, and yet be under the influence of pride. There is a humility +which is spurious as well as a humility which is real. It is +possible, and not very uncommon, for a man to cherish a false +consciousness of merit even in the disbelief and denial of merit! If a +man is proud who puts confidence in his self-righteousness, so also is +he who puts confidence in his intellectual orthodoxy. + +_Our conduct must be humble._ This grace of humility must not only +dwell in the inner spirit, but be manifested in our outer life. It is +vain to come to the cross with the offer of a bending reason, a +subdued will, and a broken heart, and then go out into the world +intent on the accomplishment of our own purposes. If we are truly +humble, we shall be _seen_ to be so in the way in which we accept the +teachings of events; in our reverent waiting for the signs of the +Divine will; in the faithful, unreluctant fulfilment of the humblest +duties; in our resignation to, and our acquiescence in, the trials and +afflictive dispensations which come upon us. We often see this grace +in its greatest beauty at the close of the most eminent lives. God's +most gifted men, as a rule, advance in humility as they grow in +experience. They are like boughs that bend the lower the more fruit +they bear. Like John the Baptist, they say, "He must increase, but I +must decrease." + +This, then, is the _disposition_, and to it God makes a great +_promise_. He will _teach His way_ to the humble. This applies + +_To our knowledge of Divine truth._ How uniformly have God's truest +witnesses upon earth consisted of men conspicuous for their lowliness +of mind. It was to such that the Saviour was first announced and that +He first came. Such were the people who listened to Him and accepted +Him, whilst the "learned" and the "great" rejected Him. His apostles +were humble men; and it has always been by the humble that the strong +and the proud have, in the end, been vanquished. Every bright page in +the history of the Church is a commentary on our text. To-day, in +spite of the progress of thought in our world, we, in regard to the +matters that belong to our spiritual life and salvation, have to sit +as disciples at the feet of the humble men who themselves sat at the +feet of the Divine Teacher who said, "Learn of me, for I am meek and +lowly of heart; and ye shall find rest unto your souls." Our views of +the truth as it is in Jesus may be modified and corrected; yet the +pages of these same humble men are still the standard of our faith and +of our teaching. Religious opinions change, not because we have gone +beyond Paul and Peter and John, but because we understand them better. +This is no plea, no apology, for mental weakness. On the contrary, +pride is rather the characteristic of mental weakness and of ignorance +than of mental strength and enlightenment. We may search, but we must +remember that we always depend upon God for light. In religion the +condition of the heart is the condition of knowledge. Proud, haughty, +self-sufficient Saul of Tarsus had to be humbled before he could +become Paul the Believer and the Apostle. + +_To the every-day dispensations of life._ In this world we are the +subjects of God's discipline, and that discipline is for the most part +mysterious. The course of events with us is often varied. We are +subjected to vicissitudes of every kind--vicissitudes of thought, of +impression, of feeling, and of experience. We are troubled in life, in +heart, in the cultivation of Christian excellence, in the maintenance +of life's relationships, in the performance of duty. Whilst we try to +bear in mind the glorious issues to which we are destined, we are +often perplexed in our endeavours to ascertain how the discipline we +are undergoing tends towards their realisation. We are puzzled by the +prevalence of wickedness, by the disappointment of hopes, the apparent +futility of many of our prayers; and we say, "I am blind, and the way +in which I am walking is unknown to me." Humility will help us to +think that God has _His own way_ among all these perplexities of ours, +though we are unable to trace it. "All things work together for good +to them that love God." + + God works not as man works, nor sees + As man sees, though we mark + Ofttimes the moving of His hands + Beneath the eternal Dark. + + * * * * + + And He who made both life and death, + He knoweth which is best. + We live to Him, we die to Him, + And leave Him all the rest. + +Thus the humble are taught trust, patience, resignation, obedience, +peace of heart, and daily advancement in sanctification. + +_To our bearing towards others._ Humility will qualify us cordially to +recognise whatever worth they have, to show gentleness and charity to +those among them who are faulty and weak, and thus will take us along +a line of conduct which will lead to the strengthening of the bonds of +brotherhood. "Likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder. +Yea, all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with +humility: for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the +humble." The word here rendered "Be clothed" occurs nowhere else in +Scripture. It is borrowed from a piece of dress worn by servants when +they were doing menial offices, which at once intimated their station, +and fitted them for the performance of the duties attached to it. +Remember that it is Peter who gives this advice--the Peter who in +former days so often brought himself into trouble by his want of +humility. Notice, too, the special point he now has in view. He is +pleading for harmonious action in the Church, a result which can only +be obtained by observing the law of voluntary subordination to +established authority--an observance to which the habit of humility +will most effectually contribute. Humility is one of the chief social +and ecclesiastical virtues, through the medium of which God teaches us +what is the attitude we are to maintain towards those who are around +us. + +_To our Christian work._ All the heroes of the faith in past times +avowed their personal infirmities. Moses, David, Isaiah, Jeremiah, +Peter, Paul--each, in one form or another, confessed: "When I am +weak, then am I strong; I can do all things through Christ who +strengtheneth me. I glory in mine infirmities, that the power of +Christ may rest upon me." We must lay hold of this thought, for it +alone can guard us against discouragement. As long as we depend on +ourselves, God will break down our confidence by repeated failures; +but when His wisdom has humbled us, His mercy will lift us up. Why +should it not be so? We may well be humble in our work when we +remember how far we are from being indispensable to God. He can work +either with us or without us, as He pleases. It is His own order to +achieve mighty moral results through the humblest instrumentalities; +and frequently His independence of us is taught in a very striking +way--as, for example, when He calls to Himself some great preacher, or +some man who is doing wide-spread good, in the midst of his activity +and his usefulness. Besides, we have no monopoly of any one gift of +the Christian life--either as regards the gift itself or as regards +the quality and extent of the service which it can be made to render. +Others excel us in the very thing of which we are most proud. Many of +our fellow Christians are doing the same kind of works as ourselves, +only far better. And as to our "gifts," let us not forget that they +_are_ gifts. We have "received" them; and why, then, should we boast +as if we had not received them, but were ourselves the creators of +them? Moreover, in proportion to our gifts, so is our responsibility, +and "to whom much is given, of him shall much be required." Have we +used such gifts as we have as nobly as we might? Have we fallen into +no needless errors, no selfishness, no half-heartedness? So then, +while everything calls us to duty, there is much to fill us with +contrition; and mingling fidelity and humility together, our exclusive +confidence must be in God. This is the Divine way which the Divine +Teacher teaches to the humble. + +_The Lord's way._ This is a beautiful and lovable expression. It links +earth with heaven. There _is_ a way which leads to God; a way in which +God walks with us, and we with Him; a way that is peaceful here, while +it leads to the land of rest above. We begin it in humility, +confessing our sins at the cross, and accepting God's mercy there. We +end it before the throne, casting our crowns at the feet of Him who +died to save us. + + Hark! universal nature shook and groan'd, + 'Twas the last trumpet--see the Judge enthroned: + Rouse all your courage at your utmost need, + Now summon every virtue, stand and plead. + What! silent? Is your boasting heard no more? + That self-renouncing wisdom, learn'd before, + Had shed immortal glories on your brow, + That all your virtues cannot purchase now. + All joy to the believer! He can speak, + Trembling yet happy, confident yet meek. + Since the dear hour that brought me to Thy foot, + And cut up all my follies by the root, + I never trusted in an arm but Thine, + Nor hoped but in Thy righteousness divine: + My prayers and alms, imperfect and defiled, + Were but the feeble efforts of a child; + Howe'er perform'd, it was their brightest part, + That they proceeded from a grateful heart: + Cleansed in Thine own all purifying blood, + Forgive their evil, and accept their good: + I cast them at Thy feet, my only plea + Is what it was, dependence upon Thee: + While struggling in the vale of tears below, + That never failed, nor shall it fail me now. + Angelic gratulations rend the skies, + Pride falls unpitied never more to rise, + Humility is crown'd, and Faith receives the prize. + + + + +VI. + +_THE GRATITUDE OF THE PARDONED._ + +"Wherefore I say unto thee, Her sins, which are many, are forgiven; +for she loved much: but to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth +little."--Luke vii. 47. + + +It has been observed that the Bible records with great minuteness +events which a secular historian would deem beneath his notice, +whilst, on the other hand, matters of great secular importance are +passed over unmentioned. What ordinary historian would think of +narrating such a story as the one we have in the verses before us? The +Bible records it because it is a history of souls. To a Bible +historian, the conversion of a soul is an event of unique sublimity, +and everything that can illustrate it is felt to be a source of +deepest interest. The history of outward events will pass into +oblivion; the history of souls will be read in eternity. + +The narrative before us is one of the most beautiful and touching in +the gospel record. It was a saying of Gregory the Great: "Whenever I +think of this story I am more inclined to weep over it than to preach +upon it." It is just the tale to prompt deep, quiet feeling rather +than elaborate disquisition. It contains an illustration in real life +of the old promise: "A bruised reed shall He not break, and the +smoking flax shall He not quench." It declares the Saviour's matchless +sympathy for the sinner, and the most broken-hearted sinner's hope in +Him. It teaches these lessons for all time, since in Christ and in His +system of Redemption there can be no change. Let us look at the +narrative somewhat closely, and may God help us to see in it Christ as +the refuge of the lost, and the thankfulness to Him which must possess +the soul whom He has saved. When we have said all we can, there will +yet remain much more to be felt. + +Before I proceed, however, let me say that this narrative must not be +confounded with another which is in many respects like it, and which +has been told by the other evangelists. In both cases, the name of the +host is Simon, and in both a woman anoints the Lord Jesus, and wipes +His feet with her hair. But the differences are numerous. In this +case, the host is a Pharisee living in Galilee, and he looks on Christ +with mistrust; in the other case, the host is a healed leper in Judea, +bound to Christ by grateful love. In this case, the anointing proceeds +from personal and grateful love, and has no other specialty of motive; +in the other case, Jesus says: "Let her alone; against the day of my +burying hath she kept this." Here, Jesus is blamed by the Pharisee; +there, the woman is blamed by the disciples. Pride is the root of +Simon's objection; the objection of the disciples springs from +selfishness. Here a sinner is pardoned; there a disciple is honoured. +Here, in all probability, the woman was Mary Magdalene; there, the +woman was the sister of Lazarus. + +We have no information as to the reason which induced this Pharisee to +invite Christ to his house. The verse I have read as a text may +obscurely hint to us, perhaps, that he himself had come under some +obligation to Jesus, and not feeling any true gratitude, he thought he +might acquit himself of his obligation by a compliment of this kind! Or +the invitation may have sprung from curiosity, or from vanity, or from +ambition. Possibly he may have wished to play the _patron_. Anyhow, we +have no sign that he was urged by spiritual considerations. Many men +come--if one might so say--_locally_ near to Christ, who have no faith +in Him, and no love for Him. + +Neither have we any information as to the reason or reasons which +induced Christ to accept this invitation. Several reasons might be +imagined. He may have hoped, as the opportunity was specially +favourable, to bring a blessing to the Pharisee's heart. Men are never +more open, or more submissive, or more susceptible to the word of +love, than when they themselves are showing kindness in the form of +the hospitalities of home and of the family circle. Perhaps, too, He +may have felt that to decline the invitation would be to lay Himself +open to an accusation on the part of the Pharisees that He neglected +or spurned them, whilst He could put Himself in close communication +with "publicans and sinners." At any rate, we have here a beautiful +instance of the self-denial of His love. He knew what awaited Him, and +yet He went. + +And now we have to notice that when Jesus had passed over the +threshold of the Pharisee's house the door was open to "a woman who +was a sinner." How was this? The simple and sufficient answer is that +Jesus was there. Otherwise she would not have dared to enter within +the perfumed respectability and sanctity of such a place. That would +have been a terror to such a fallen one as she. But redeeming love had +already begun its work upon her heart, so that she could come without +misgiving, could enter with a holy confidence. When Christ appears, +grace bears the sceptre, and the law loses its power to alarm. + +We may take this incident, therefore, as a striking illustration of +the spirit of Christ and of His true followers, as contrasted with +Pharisaism in its suspiciousness, its blindness, its narrowness, and +its ascetic scrupulosity. + +The woman, probably under the pressure of gratitude for some act of +compassionate love already received from Christ, is full of the +holiest and tenderest emotions. In a fine, sacred humility, she weeps, +and washes His feet with her tears. True tears they are, for they are +the tears of penitence--and not of penitence only, but of thankfulness +also. Confused and bewildered, perhaps, she wipes the feet on which +they have fallen with her hair, and then kisses them, and anoints them +with costly ointment! Such is the gratitude of the pardoned--deep, +strong, irrepressible. And she expresses it in touchingly significant +ways. + +The woman's action was distasteful to the Pharisee. The touch of a +Gentile, or of a notoriously wicked person, was supposed to leave +pollution behind it, and therefore by the Pharisees it was scrupulously +avoided. Thus Simon had no understanding whatever of the scene before +him. He had no eyes to see, no ears to hear, how the angels were filling +heaven with the music of their joy over this poor sinner who had +repented. A weak human virtue might be contaminated by contact with such +an one as she had been; but not His who was the Christ of God. No doubt, +apart from the sanctifying influences of the Holy Spirit, apart from the +strength which God imparts to the soul by His grace, a man does run the +risk of polluting his morality by allowing it to be touched by the +impure streams of his fellow-creatures' vices. This has always been so +fully recognised that we have a whole system of proverbial philosophy on +the point. Christ, however, was perfect, and His purity was such that it +could not incur this danger. Outward contact with "sinners" could bring +no contamination to Him. + +Simon took offence at the conduct of the woman, and began at once to +indulge in dark, though unspoken, suspicions against Christ for +permitting it. His suspicion took this form: "This man professes to be +a prophet, and is regarded as a prophet by His followers. But surely, +if He were a prophet, He would have known this woman's character, and +would have repelled her from Him, instead of permitting such +demonstrations of affection as these." Simon's notion of a "prophet" +was that he must possess at least two qualifications. (1) He must have +a knowledge of the characters of the persons with whom He has to deal. +On behalf of merely ordinary, human prophets, this was an exaggerated +claim. To what prophet could Simon point who was able to read the +heart? How did he know that Christ had ever seen this woman before? +And on the supposition that He had not, on what ground could Simon +demand that, in order to be entitled to the designation of a prophet, +He should show an insight into her character at the commencement of +the very first interview. Christ had the insight; but Simon felt +constrained to doubt it for no other reason than that He did not +instantly repel the woman from Him. (2) And so, in Simon's judgment, +the second qualification of a "prophet" consisted in such a moral +exclusiveness as would forbid contact with sinners. He thought that, +if Christ did know what manner of woman this was, His tolerance of her +conduct at this time was sufficient proof that He could not be a good +man, and was not, therefore, to be regarded as a prophet. A prophet's +sanctity would have forbidden such a scene as this. But again we ask, +Whence could such a notion have sprung? Who among the "prophets" ever +stood aloof from sinners? Was it not emphatically to sinners that they +were sent? + +Simon's reasoning was full of sophistry, and the sophistry came from a +defective heart. Had he known the nature of the Saviour's mission--as +one which demanded a perfect knowledge of all hearts, combined with +grace, love, and power to save the worst--he might perhaps have felt +and reasoned differently. + +His thoughts were unspoken, but Christ divined them, and proceeded to +deal with them. To the personal imputation He made no reply. It was a +little thing to Him to be judged by man. It was sufficient for Him to +aim at two points. One was to vindicate the woman on well-known +principles, and the other, to lead the Pharisee to self-examination. +With these two objects in view, He utters a parable, and applies it to +the case in hand. The parable and its application are both marked by a +mingled faithfulness and love. He makes Simon himself to be the judge +in the case He describes, and on the basis of Simon's own judgment He +brings the practical point right home to the proud heart of the man. +By a few sharp and striking contrasts, He shows that the woman, sinful +as she has been, has manifested more love to Him than Simon Himself +whose guest He is! Though a discredited stranger, she has done for Him +what Simon, His host, had failed to do. + +"Simon, I have somewhat to say unto thee." + +"Master, say on." + +"There was a certain creditor, who had two debtors: the one owed him +five hundred pence, and the other fifty. And when they had nothing to +pay, he frankly forgave them both. Tell me therefore, which of them +will love him most?" + +"I suppose, he to whom he forgave most." + +"Thou hast rightly judged. Seest thou this woman? I entered into thine +house; thou gavest me no water for my feet: but she hath washed my +feet with tears, and wiped them with the hairs of her head. Thou +gavest me no kiss: but this woman since the time I came in hath not +ceased to kiss my feet. My head with oil thou didst not anoint: but +this woman hath anointed my feet with ointment. Wherefore I say unto +thee, Her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much: but +to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little." + +Having said this, Christ crowns His work of love by saying to the +woman, "Thy sins are forgiven." + +Now in all this we have an explanation and a vindication of the +grateful love to Christ which fills and animates the pardoned soul. +This love is shown to us-- + +I. _In its source._ The grace of Christ in forgiving sins. Grace! How +great! since it forgives all equally; the debtor who owes five hundred +pence as well and as completely as the one who owes fifty--greater +sinners and lesser sinners alike! For sinners of every grade there is +but one relief, and that is Divine mercy--needed by those who have +sinned least as well as by those who have sinned most, and equally +sufficing for both. Grace! How free! since it forgives where no +satisfaction can be made. "Nothing to pay;" such is the condition of +every sinner before God. "Without money and without price;" such is +God's gracious invitation. + +II. _In its law._ It is in the nature of things that love should beget +love, and that the love thus originated should be measured by the +extent of the favour which has been shown. "We love Him, because He +first loved us." Hence, love does not precede pardon, but is the fruit +of it, and is proportioned to the sense of obligation. This doctrine, +clear as it is, is not apprehended by all, and is even contradicted by +some. The inveterate spirit of self-righteousness has made men say: +"See this woman. By loving much she obtains the forgiveness of many +sins." This is palpably the reverse of _Christ's_ teaching in this +case. Love to God can never be the growth of unrenewed and unforgiven +hearts. "To whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little." This +shows the true order: forgiveness and then love. So that love is no +plea for pardon; Christ does not say, "Thy love hath saved thee," but +"thy faith." + + I love the Lord. He lent an ear + When I for help implored; + He rescued me from all my fear; + Therefore I love the Lord. + +III. _In its character._ It is an all-absorbing feeling, which +prompts the offering of the best gifts to the Saviour, and which fills +such offerings with the spirit of devoutness, humility, and +self-denial. + +Two closing thoughts. + +1. Men may be very near to the source of salvation and eternal life, +without coming into the realisation of these blessings. In the outward +sense, Christ was very near to this Pharisee and to his friends; but +they did not perceive His spiritual power. They thought He was only a +man like unto themselves; possibly, perhaps, on a somewhat higher +plane of manhood, though many of them do not seem to have given Him +credit even for that. His forgiveness was announced to this poor +sinful, but contrite woman in their hearing; but the best effect it +had upon them was to fill them with a dubious wonder, and to set them +on questioning His authority. Near as they were to Him, they failed to +see in Him, what "the woman who was a sinner" saw. Such is the +position, practically, of multitudes to-day. Not, indeed, that their +nearness to Christ is a local nearness, as in the case of those who +were immediately around Him in the days of His flesh. They could look +upon His outward form, could literally hear His voice. Not so now. +But there is another nearness to Him which is moral and spiritual. We +have His Word--the record of His life, the Divine repository of His +teaching. We have the ordinances of His worship--ordinances by which +His Word is brought more home to our understandings and hearts. We +have the influences of His truth shed over all the scenes in which we +move. The surface influences of Christianity modify and, to some +extent, mould the whole of our social life. Moreover, Scripture takes +account of the differences in human character. This woman, who was a +sinner, and this Pharisee were not alike in their relation to Christ. +There was one to whom He said, "Thou art not far from the kingdom of +God." Not far from it, and yet not in it. Are there no such cases now? +All are sinners; but depravity is developed in much grosser forms in +some than in others; and religious influences, which fall short of +effecting a complete conversion, nevertheless often deter men from +plunging into extreme vice. It is mournfully possible to be near to +Christ, and yet not to come into the enjoyment of His salvation. + +2. On the other hand, there are instances in which people obtain +salvation who seem, as to character, farthest away from it. The case +of this sinful woman is an illustration in point. We have no right to +mitigate or to extenuate her guilt. Let it be recognised in all its +dark completeness. As an actual sinner she had sunk very low. Her sin +was against nature's purest laws, and was of the kind that soon and +effectually kills shame--one of the most fatal forms of sin, and +declared to be such, not only by God's law, but by the common consent +of the universal conscience of the civilised world; a sin committed +against the strongest restraints--the restraints of sacred womanhood; +perhaps against the memory of the holy associations of childhood, a +father's tenderness, a mother's love, and all the joy of a happy home. +Such was this woman--"a bruised reed." But she was brought to tears +under a sense of Paradise lost, the tears of despair; and yet again to +tears of joy under the sense of Paradise regained. How many more--far +off as she--have been made nigh; treated by fellow sinners as the +offscouring of the earth, yet drawn to the Saviour. They are brought +to the cross; they repent, believe, are sanctified, and exult in the +consciousness of eternal life. Constrained by the mercies of God, they +yield themselves a living sacrifice to Him. + +The whole scene before us is one of the boldest triumphs of +reconciliation and love, in contrast with Pharisaic suspicion and +unforgivingness; and it supplies the fullest inspiration for the +largest hope. + +May we all come to Christ as this woman did, and hear, as she heard, +His gentle "Go in peace!" + + + + +VII. + +_CONSECRATION._ + +"I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye +present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, +which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: +but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove +what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God."--Romans +xii. 1, 2. + + +In bringing this passage before you, I have to dwell specifically on +the motives to self-consecration to God, and to what is involved +therein; and I do so with the twofold object of reconsidering the +sources of our Christian hope and strength, and the incentives to our +growth in the Divine life. + +The apostle commences his appeal with the word "therefore." This is a +logical term, leading to a conclusion from premises which have been +previously stated. It does not stand alone, but in an argument resumes +in itself all that has been advanced. Take careful note of the simple +words of Scripture. There is point in them all. If, for example, the +use of the word "therefore" in this text be overlooked, we shall be +unable properly to feel the force of the apostle's appeal. What is it, +then, that the apostle has said in this epistle, and of which he +intends, by this word "therefore," to remind his readers? He has been +giving to them a large, full, grand exposition of the great truths of +redemption. He has prepared the way for this by a graphic picture of +the sinfulness and helplessness of human nature. He has shown that the +heathen world is grossly depraved--in a state of alienation from God, +which is to a certain extent wilful (chap. i. 29-32). He has proceeded +to demonstrate that, with all their advantages, the Jews are no better +_at heart_ than the heathen, and as truly sinful, condemned, and +hopeless as they (ii. 17-24). The conclusion supplied by these facts +is, that none are righteous--that all, Jews and Gentiles alike, have +sinned and come short of the glory of God, and that all stand on the +same ground of spiritual danger. This brings out the fact that +redemption is the pressing need of the whole world. The way is now +clear for the presentation of the gospel. _The basis of redemption is +Christ's work of atonement._ The foundation of the plan of salvation +is God's free grace--His boundless, sovereign love. Christ came forth +from the Father as the expression of this. He suffered, bled, died +for us, to meet the claims of the Divine law on our behalf, and to +procure our justification and peace. "Being justified freely by His +grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: whom God hath +set forth to be a propitiation through faith in His blood" (iii. 24, +25). "Jesus Christ, who was delivered for our offences" (iv. 25). "For +when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the +ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet +peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. But God +commendeth His love toward us in that, while we were yet sinners, +Christ died for us" (v. 6-8). Salvation, then, is founded upon the +atonement of Christ--a proper work of propitiation, providing for +pardon and justification. _The condition of this salvation on our part +is simply the acceptance of it by faith._ Faith is primarily the +repose of the soul in Christ's redeeming work--a yielding to God's +method of saving us. It operates to this end independently--yea, even +to the exclusion--of all works of self-righteousness. "By the deeds of +the law shall no flesh living be justified." It is inconsistent with +all boasting. "Where is boasting, then? It is excluded. By what law? +Of works? Nay, but by the law of faith. Therefore we conclude that a +man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law." This simple +condition of salvation is the only one which can be adapted to our +need. Sinners as we are, our condition is hopeless unless redemption +be offered to us as a free gift. _This redemption is secured to all +who believe by God's unalterable purpose and promise._ It is not +vitally affected by recurring doubts and fears, nor even by our often +insufficient struggles against sin (viii. 28-39). _The result is +inconceivably glorious_; freedom from condemnation, adoption into +God's family, joy, peace, full favour with God here, and heaven with +its perfect glory, consummated in the resurrection, hereafter. + +Now, it is at the close of all this that the apostle's "therefore" +comes; and these are the facts and principles which give to it its +point and force. It links all the disclosures of Divine love with the +obligations of redeemed souls. Since God has done so much as this for +you, what then? By the remembrance of the sin which left you without +hope; by the greatness of the love of God who, to save you, gave His +well-beloved Son to an atoning death on your behalf; by the greatness +of the love of Christ who, to save you, consecrated Himself to this +perfect sacrifice; by His birth and death, by His cross and passion, +by His resurrection and ascension; by the freeness and the simplicity +of the condition on which Christ's salvation becomes yours; by your +present peace; by your hope which blooms with immortality and with +eternal life; by _these_, _the mercies of God_, I beseech you, yield +yourselves to God. That surrender must be the first, the natural, the +inevitable result of any vivid and practical realisation of the Divine +goodness. "Yield your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to +God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this +world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may +prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God." + +The Apostle Paul was pre-eminently the teacher of what are called the +doctrines of grace. In the system of Divine truth which he gives us, +he leaves no room for the indulgence on man's part of the least +sentiment of pride. The gospel, in his view, is the Divine expedient +for what must otherwise have been a desperate and hopeless case; an +expedient, therefore, which--since, from first to last, it is the +expression of God's free and sovereign love--cannot allow of any +self-glorying to man as unregenerate, or of any self-satisfaction to +man as Christian. Hence the uniformity and consistency of his teaching +with respect to "works." In the believer and the unbeliever alike, +these "works," judged by "the law"--the standard of moral +perfection--are all defective, and therefore unavailing. The same +truth applies to them all at every stage of the Christian's progress +towards heaven. In no sense does salvation come by "works," "lest any +man should boast." + +On this point, however, the apostle has always been misunderstood by +persons who have pushed his teaching to an illegitimate conclusion. If +all be of "grace," why insist upon "works"? The objection was made in +his day, and he met it. It is made in our day, and has still to be +met. It is sufficiently met by Paul's own method. Paul's doctrine of +grace could never, in his mind, lead to "licentiousness," and it is +one of the most remarkable phenomena of religious thought that it +should have ever been suspected of doing so. The Christian man, in +Paul's view, is the regenerate man; and the regenerate man is the holy +man. Without the spirit and life of holiness Paul would have deemed it +absurd to consider a man a Christian at all. The passage before us, +even if there were no others of the same kind, is sufficient to prove +how indissolubly connected are privilege and obligation in the +Christian life. As we have seen, the apostle draws the exhortations +which commence with this chapter, and which are exhaustively presented +in all their variety and comprehensiveness--exhortations to a complete +consecration to God in all the practical forms which it can +assume--from the great gospel system, the system of salvation by grace +and by grace alone; evidently taking it for granted that, by the +contemplation of the grace for man which is in Christ Jesus, the minds +of his readers would be softened, and prepared to acknowledge the +claim. + +What, then, is the nature of the consecration to which we are thus +urged? "That ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, and +acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service." Every word in +this description tells: and if we gather together the elements of the +service commended, we shall find that nothing is wanting, and that +under the various particulars we may range all the duties and beauties +of a consecrated Christian life. + +The only point on which a question might be raised is as to the +meaning of the terms: "That ye present your _bodies_ a _living_ +sacrifice." Some have supposed a contrast here between the dead +bodies of the animals offered in the old sacrifices and the living +self-consecration of the Christian. If the supposition be just, the +idea is both beautiful and suggestive. I think, however, that the +ultimate meaning of the apostle is that the believer in Christ should +devote _himself_ wholly to God, and that the term "your bodies" is +only another term for "yourselves." We cannot imagine an acceptable +bodily, or external sacrifice, without the participation in it of the +conscience, the judgment, the heart, the whole man. The apostle puts +his thought somewhat more fully in the kindred passage: "Ye are bought +with a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit +which are God's." Observe, then, the elements of this consecration. + +1. _Individuality._ It is to be a personal thing. "Present +yourselves." We cannot fulfil our Christian mission by transferring it +to other hands. There are no proxies in religion. Organisations, +committees, associations, the giving of money--all have their +propriety, but none of them can take the place of personal +"presentation." For convenience' sake, organisations of various kinds +may be resorted to with a view to the maintenance and spread of the +gospel in the world, and undoubtedly may be usefully employed in +spheres beyond the reach of personal endeavour; but the individual +Christian must _himself_ be engaged in the service of God. Every +believer in the Saviour has his own sphere of service, in which no +fellow creature can be substituted for Him. The Christian law is: +personal service always in so far as it is possible; vicarious service +only in so far as personal service cannot be rendered. + +2. _Activity._ "A living sacrifice." No man fulfils his Christian +commission in mere retirement and contemplation. It is true that he is +not to be "of the world;" but in the nature of the case he must be +"in" it. Retirement and contemplation are, indeed, needed for the rest +and growth of the soul; but action is at least equally indispensable. +Our practical life is the chief part of our testimony for God, and the +chief weapon of our aggressive warfare upon the unbelief and +irreligion around us; and in order that it may be effective, it is +required, in its fulness and in its energy, to be pervaded, +invigorated, impelled, and directed by the Christian spirit. Every +scene, every experience, every development of life is to be hallowed. +If we "present ourselves a living sacrifice," we relinquish all +self-claim, and give ourselves up to God to be used by Him for the +purposes of His glory. As Christ's sacrifice began with the moment +when He left His Father's throne, so ours must begin with the first +consciousness of our salvation--"a living sacrifice," the consecration +of the whole life with all its powers. + +3. _Holiness._ "Holy," because _to God_, with the full intention and +devotion of the soul. This scarcely needs to be insisted on. There may +be an apparent religious devotedness which is not real, because it +takes the form of ostensibly religious acts--acts, however, which have +not their origin and their impelling force in grateful love to God for +His saving mercy, but in some kind of selfishness, and which are +therefore unholy in themselves, and unacceptable to God. The +consecrated life is the life which is in sympathy with the whole +character and will of Him by whom the supreme blessing of redemption +has been bestowed. + +4. _Reasonableness._ The true consecration is not the result of any +mere positive or arbitrary enactment, the ground and propriety of +which cannot be discerned. The true Christian does not spend his life +upon a certain principle, and consequently in a certain way, merely +because he is _told_ to do so. The service which he renders to God +rises out of his felt _relations_ to God. If it were not commanded at +all--if it were not even formally hinted at as an obligation--it would +still be natural, "reasonable," and therefore right. The realised +"mercies of God" would be instinctively understood to claim +it--instinctively felt to prompt it. "Your reasonable service." The +words are significant. "Service" is properly _homage_. "Reasonable" is +that which pertains to the _mind_. So that the apostle's phrase stands +opposed to all mere religious externalism. It is the homage of the +life to God with the full consent of the mind, in the consciousness of +the sacred obligation arising out of the enjoyment of the Divine mercy +in the salvation of the soul. + +Such service is declared to be "acceptable to God." It is so for the +sake of Christ whose grace has infused into the soul the life out of +which it springs; it is so because the motives which determine it are +right and good; and it is so because it is the loving gift of His own +children. + +But the apostle expands his thought, so as to set forth this +consecration under other aspects--as, for example, that of +_nonconformity to the world_. "Be not conformed to this world." A word +of explanation is required on the meaning of the term, "this world." +It is obvious that this term has no reference to the external frame of +things, considered in itself. In a loose way we apply the term "world" +to many things, and Nature is one of them. But full compliance with +the apostle's admonition in the text is compatible with even an +enthusiastic admiration of Nature. Nature is a mirror in which we may +see the wisdom and the goodness of God. It is full of the beautiful to +be loved--full of the sublime to be admired. Its phenomena, forms, and +laws, are worthy of the most reverential and pleasurable +investigation, not only for what they are in themselves, but because +the most spiritual Christian can say, "My Father made them all: they +are His." The term "world," again, sometimes means the aggregate of +human beings; but nonconformity to the world is at the furthest remove +from misanthropy. Human beings are proper objects of a Christian's +love, and his love for them is shown in the best efforts he can make +for their welfare. Every man is, to his mind, invested with a sacred +importance. He endeavours to estimate men as fully as possible in the +same way as God does, of whom it is said that "His mercies are over +all His works," and that "He so loved the world, that He gave His +only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, +but have everlasting life." At the lowest, man is God's +image--mournfully defaced, it is true--but retaining in his nature +traces enough of his original dignity to compel our recognition of him +as God's handiwork; whilst also, even at the lowest, he may be brought +under the influences of a gospel which despairs of none. Neither is +there anything in the apostle's injunction to condemn the social +relationships which prevail amongst us or to weaken our appreciation +of them. The true Christian, indeed, will ever be the best husband, +the best wife, the best parent, the best child, the best friend. All +these natural relationships are capable of being ennobled by the holy, +sanctifying influences of true religion. God Himself often appeals to +them as types of the relations in which He stands to us, and as +explanations of the tenderness of the love He cherishes for us. How +prominent is the position they take in the epistles. The inspired +writers thought none of them beneath their notice. God has given to us +His will in connection with such humble things as domestic service, +slavery, and the like. Neither does the apostle here call upon us to +separate ourselves from the common business of secular life. +Scripture again and again enforces the honest doing of the work of +every day, on which the bread of every day depends. Nor is there here +any prohibition of the enjoyment of the utmost happiness which the +sinless pleasures of our outward life can afford. The Christian is +peculiarly fitted for such enjoyment, because he can receive it with a +devoutly thankful heart, and in a spirit which will keep it from being +harmful. + +This term, "the world," means _the age_, or the temporal conditions +now existing, considered from a moral and spiritual point of view. +"The world," therefore, to which we are not to be "conformed" is the +order and course of life followed by those to whom the present is all +and eternity nothing. The Christian is to regard life from another, a +higher--namely, a spiritual and eternal--point of view, and to live +accordingly. It is the _wrong spirit_ of life that the apostle calls +us away from--the life which is governed by "worldly" impulses and +motives. His injunction is like unto that of another apostle: "Love +not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man +love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is +in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the +pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the +world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will +of God abideth for ever." "The lust of the flesh"--carnality--the +lowest of all the forms of self-gratification--that which makes the +drunkard, the profligate, the debauchee. "The lust of the eyes"--the +disposition to attach ourselves to what is external, showy, dazzling. +"The pride of life"--the tendency to glory in anything which ministers +to our self-importance in our worldly position--wealth, rank, station. +All these things are passing away, and are therefore unworthy of the +supreme place in our hearts. Enjoyments springing out of them, hopes +founded upon them, must perish. Only he that "doeth the will of +God"--living above the love of the world, by living to God and in the +supreme love of Him--"abideth for ever" in the higher and happier +order of being. + +There is a proper "use" of the world, which is easily distinguished +from its "abuse." The worldly spirit of an unchristian man says, "Let +us eat and drink, for to-morrow we die." The ascetic spirit in a +Christian man says, "All contact with the world is dangerous: we must +have nothing to do with it. Touch not, taste not, handle not." The +true spirit of Christianity says, "Use the world, but do not abuse +it." The Christian's inheritance is inclusive of "all things." All may +be made to minister to his spiritual growth, and to become the means +of blessing on his part to others. Avail yourself of all, then, but +within the limits proper to each; never allowing any, by over +indulgence, to check the development of the inner life. Use the world, +but do not let the world use you. "I pray not that Thou shouldest take +them out of the world, but that Thou shouldest _keep them from the +evil_." + +In looking, then, at the idea of nonconformity to the world, it was in +the apostle's mind, we are impressed by one or two reflections. + +1. The apostle takes a wide, free, and exalted view of his subject. He +is in marked dissent from the spirit of Pharisaism, whether among the +Jews, or in the Christian Church. His plan is different from the +ordinary rules and restraints which men put upon themselves, and which +attach (sometimes arbitrarily enough) merely to certain habits and +forms of life which are of no moment. Paul's "world" does not mean +certain conditions of society, certain amusements, or certain +occupations, conventionally marked off from all the rest as being +specially wrong. It is not a mere cleaning of the outside of the +platter. He goes deeply into the heart of things. What he teaches is +this: "Ye are God's redeemed, disciples of Christ, heirs of glory." +Live under the inspiration of all this--all will then follow that +ought to follow. You are no longer under law, which says, "Touch not, +taste not, handle not--stand entirely aloof;" but under grace, with +love to God as your motive, and the Spirit of Christ as your guide. He +could say, "I am not of the world;" and yet He was no prophet of the +wilderness, but a Brother and Sympathiser everywhere. The first great +social act of His public ministry was to associate Himself with the +joy of life. With its sorrow also He was equally at home. He lived His +Divine life in every scene--in His childhood under the roof of His +parents, in the toil for bread, in public, in private, in the temple, +in the family at Bethany. There is no allowable scene in which we +move, and with which we mingle, from which His sanctifying presence is +withheld. We have no need to be afraid to go where He has been before +us, if only we go in His spirit. "They are not of the world, even as I +am not of the world." + +2. This law lays no hard bondage on life. Not on its duties; for +Christianity raises them all into consecration;--not on its +affections; for Christianity purifies them all;--nor on its lawful +enjoyments; for Christianity forbids nothing but sin. Worldliness is +determined by the _spirit_ of our life, not by the objects with which +we have to do. It is only "the _lust_ of the flesh, the _lust_ of the +eye, and the _pride_ of life" that are prohibited. It is not a worldly +object that makes us worldly, but the worldly spirit with which we +regard it. + +3. It is easy to see that this principle of nonconformity to the world +is in constant requisition. There is abundant scope for it. The +opinions of men and the known will of God are often in competition; it +ought never to be a matter of doubt as to which we prefer. We are +often exposed to allurement into scenes which are notoriously +unfavourable to the development of the spiritual life; there ought not +to be even a momentary uncertainty as to our willingness to resist the +allurement--not merely for our own sake, but for the sake of Him whose +"mercies" we enjoy, whose we are, and whom we profess to serve. There +should never be any room for the question as to whether we are on the +side of right or wrong, holiness or sin, spirituality or carnality, +conscience or convenience, charity or harshness, faith or unbelief. + +Thus we see that, whilst in one aspect of it Christianity is broad, in +another it is narrow. "Strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, that +leadeth unto life." These are the words of the Divine Author of our +faith. This is the chief ground of dislike which men of the world have +to the practical claims of the gospel. Say with Paul that everything +we do must be done to the glory of God; say with Christ that sin is in +our secret thoughts as well as in our acts, and then the complaint of +"strictness" is instantly heard. Yet is it not evident that an inward +holiness is the only thing that can be taught, and that without inward +holiness there is no real holiness at all? The truth is that men +secretly want concessions to be made in favour of their favourite +sins--one for his ambition, another for his unlawful or questionable +attachments, another for his covetousness, another for his liberty to +be dishonest in trade or insincere in society, another--where shall we +stop? Concessions? Men may make concessions in these directions in the +name of Christianity; but Christianity itself disowns them. "What +fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what +communion hath light with darkness? and what concord hath Christ with +Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? and what +agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of +the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in +them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Wherefore +come out from among them, and be ye separate, and touch not the +unclean thing; and I will receive you, and will be a Father unto you, +and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty." + +"Be not conformed to this world." So obviously true are the remarks +which have been made, that one reflection might well excite a +momentary surprise. It might be said, "Is not unworldliness of the +very essence of the new life? And if it be, why recommend that which +must follow in the due course of things?" It is true that +unworldliness _is_ of the essence of the new life; but we have to +remember that we receive that life, not perfectly developed, but in +its germ; and that the process of its growth is impeded by what +remains of the old life which it is destined gradually, and by-and-by +completely, to replace. This is the phenomenon which Paul describes +when he speaks of the conflict between the "old" man and the "new." +Our will is called upon at every point to decide between the impulses +of our new condition and the habits of the old. + +In conclusion, how is this nonconformity to the world, in the spirit +of a grateful consecration to God, to be attained? "Be ye transformed +by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and +acceptable, and perfect will of God." This is the great +desideratum--the great necessity. The primary change must take place +in the mind--not in its nature, but in the kind and order of its +_life_. It must be "renewed" in its bias, in its inclinations, in its +aspirations, so that it may be able to understand and appreciate the +Divine will, and to address itself to the order of service which the +Father of mercies shall accept. + +It may be said, "What do we know of the spiritual world? And how can +we be conformed to a world of which we know nothing?" The answer is, +that our very Christianity supposes the change which sets this +objection aside. Our love to this present world can only be subdued by +its being superseded _by_ another, or subordinated _to_ another. Our +love to Christ is the great secret of our attachment to heaven and to +heavenly things. Given a soul under the influence of love to God, and +loyalty to God must follow. + +In order to this, however, there must be self-knowledge. We must see +our "differences." There must be the study of the character of Christ. +There must also be earnest prayer for, and trust in, the help of the +Holy Spirit. The work before us is more than an occasional outburst of +religious sentiment; more than spasmodic, self-denying charity under +the influence of suddenly awakened emotion; more than scrupulosity +about small matters of pleasure or pursuit. _It is a life_; and as +such it has spontaneity, freedom, and blessedness. In many an instance +it attains wonderful maturity on earth; it is perfected in heaven. + +Is this life ours? Oh, accept the one and only Saviour--exclusive in +His claims, yet offering His mercy to all. You are conscious of sin, +and this makes you feel (if you reflect) your need of salvation. Take +it from Him. All He asks is that you should turn from the sin that +made Him bleed, and trust the love which for you was stronger than +death. Strait as is the gate through which you must enter into "life," +that life is in itself one of holy freedom and holy joy. The "gate" +opens into broad fields of exhaustless treasure. Whoever may +represent the Christian life as monotonous and poor, we say it is not +so. It is quietness of heart, loftiness of feeling, sweet submission, +trust, loyalty to the highest, aspiration after the best, the +abnegation of self in blessing others and in glorifying the God and +Father of all; such is the life to which the Christian is called. We +challenge the world to produce a single case of a Christian regretting +his consecration, or confessing that he made a sorry exchange, when he +left the world's delusive hopes for pardon, peace, the Father's smile, +the way of holiness, and the assurance of heaven. The wholly +consecrated Christian is the wholly happy one. + + Fling wide the portals of your heart; + Make it a temple set apart + From earthly use, for heaven's employ, + Adorn'd with prayer and love and joy: + So shall your sovereign enter in, + And new and nobler life begin. + + Redeemer, come! I open wide + My heart to Thee; here, Lord, abide! + Let me Thine inner presence feel, + Thy grace and love in me reveal; + Thy Holy Spirit guide me on, + Until the glorious crown be won! + + + + +VIII. + +_CHRISTIANITY IN OUR DAILY LIFE._ + +"Whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord +Jesus."--Colossians iii. 17. + + +One of the most striking characteristics of the Christian religion is +what I may term its _universality_. I mean that its obligations and +privileges cover the whole ground of human life--present and to come. +This fact, which is abundantly illustrated and enforced in the New +Testament, is also clearly hinted at in the Old. It seems to have been +present to the Psalmist's mind in the parallel he draws in the +nineteenth Psalm between the sun, whose going forth is from the end of +heaven, whose circuit is unto the ends of it, and from whose heat +nothing is hid; and "the law of the Lord" which, in its perfectness, +comes into satisfying contact with all human need. It converts the +soul, turning it towards itself, the source of light. It makes wise +the simple, who unreservedly yield to its influence. It rejoices the +heart, anxious to be right, as it is itself perfect. It enlightens the +eyes with a purity of truth which has no admixture of error. It +cleanses from secret faults. It keeps back the servant of the Lord +from presumptuous sins. + +This universality gives to Christianity its grand ideal character. It +teaches that, morally considered, sin is the condition of _all men_; +that condemnation is the result of sin to _all men_; and that the love +of the Father, the sacrifice of the Son, and the regenerating and +sanctifying power of the Holy Spirit have direct bearings on the +spiritual wants of _all men_. Christianity meets an absolute ruin by +an absolute restoration; so that, as there is nothing in man and in +his relations to the universe which sin has not defiled and degraded, +so there is nothing in man and in his relations to the universe which +Christianity is not designed and destined to uplift and to purify. + +This element of universality comes out very strikingly in the chapter +before us. The apostle is describing the spiritual life. In its +essence, it is an abandonment of the "old"--"putting off the old man," +as a dress thrown completely aside; and an adoption of the +new--"putting on the new man"--the prodigal's rags exchanged for the +best robe. In its range, it is universal--_within_, setting the +affections on heavenly things; _without_, renouncing the deeds of the +life of sin, and manifesting the virtues of the life of holiness. It +is universal also in its application--involving personal purity, and +giving its own tone and spirit to all the relationships, to all the +worship, and to all the work, of life. The whole is summed up in the +remarkable words of the text: "And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, +do _all_ in the name of the Lord Jesus." We are the subjects of a +Providence and a Grace inclusive of every moment and every incident. +God, on His part, demands of us a consecration that shall leave +nothing (however unimportant, relatively considered) unhallowed--not a +single affection, no domestic or social relationship, nothing in +speech, nothing in conduct. It is the same truth that the same apostle +elsewhere expresses: "Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or +whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God." + +I want to offer to your attention at this time a single application of +this principle--its application to the common, secular work of life. + +At first sight, it seems strange that by far the greater part of human +life should be appointed by God to be spent in worldly toil. This +strangeness is augmented in proportion as our aim is towards a life +distinctively and completely Christian. Considering the supreme +importance of the spiritual and the eternal; considering, too, the +uncertain duration of our life, notwithstanding the fact that it +involves the immeasurable interests of eternity; and considering, +still further, the manifold obstacles in the way of a man's +salvation--we might have supposed that God's providential arrangements +would have secured to us far more freedom from worldly labour and care +than we enjoy. It would not have been surprising if He had said to us: +"Retire much; rest much--that you may have much time for thought and +prayer." But it is not so. Six days for work; one day for rest and +worship! Certain exceptions apart, toil is, for most men, the hard and +unremitting condition of life; often indeed--especially in our cities, +and in "hard times" like the present--toil that demands the straining +of every nerve, the putting forth to the utmost of every energy, and +the employment of every moment. The best of us come to our Sabbaths +like wrestlers who sit and rest for a while between the conflict past +and the conflict to come. This is the experience of most of us: +business men who have to fight in the great competitions of trade; +working men to strive for a sufficiency of bread and raiment for +themselves and their families; fathers and mothers, masters and +servants who have to meet the manifold duties and worries of domestic +life. We come to our Sabbath-rest, probably with the feeling that, on +the whole, during the week, we have _lost_ rather than _gained_ in +relation to our spiritual interests. Are we right in the feeling? Must +our daily work be a hindrance to us? Is it impossible for us so to +engage in it as to find it spiritually helpful? The text before us +settles the point. It presents to us an obligation that is inclusive +of every word and deed, and which must consequently include the common +toil of every day. It is an apostolic injunction, and the injunction +presupposes its own practicability. "Whatsoever ye do in word or deed, +do all _in the name of the Lord Jesus_." + +That secular work is not _necessarily_ spiritually helpful we know too +well. Idleness is always disastrous; but there is much worldly work +which is more disastrous still. Tens of thousands pursue it daily in +utter godlessness, and train themselves by it to intense selfishness +and materialism. They "mind earthly things," and "glory in their +shame." Even many professing Christians manifest an alarming craving +for mere worldly enjoyment; and their luxuries tax them a hundred-fold +more than their benevolence. But it need not be so. Secular work _can_ +be made the means of spiritual education, and the sphere for the +development of piety. + +The first great requisite is conversion. No obligation, indeed, rests +upon Christians which does not rest upon all men, whether they be +Christians or not. A perfect Christian is simply _man as he ought to +be_. But in the unchristian man the disposition is wanting--he lives +to himself. The Christian, on the contrary, has entered into a new +life. By the Holy Spirit's grace, he has repented of sin; he is +forgiven, accepted, justified, accepted into Divine sonship; he is +under the influence of new principles--is essentially in a new +world--acknowledges a holy law, which he now loves for its own +sake--is consciously under the eye of a good Master, who is his +Saviour as well as his Lord--and is thus moved by a living impulse of +gratitude to Him who has died for him, and whose he is in life and +death. Out of this there comes the conviction that the one object of +life should be spiritual growth. Commonly men think of life as having +two aims; or rather they try to solve the problem of living two +lives--the one present, the other future; the one worldly, the other +religious; the one affecting the body with its transitory interests, +the other affecting the soul with its eternal interests. Hence the +wide divorce between "the secular" and "the sacred," work and worship, +holy days and common days. The more enlightened Christian knows that +this is a radical mistake. The world, time, matter, the body--all have +their relations and their obligations, their spheres and their claims; +but they do not stand isolated from the spiritual and the unseen. +Separate, they are godless. They are all intended to serve as +instruments of moral discipline--to supply lessons in the school of +life;--all tending, under God, to the great result. Failures they are, +if regarded as _ends_ in themselves; blessed they are in proportion as +they are religiously used as _means_. Apart from the conviction that +this should be our one great aim, it seems impossible to hope that the +spiritual will predominate over the worldly; the six days' secular +toil must be destructive of the day's spiritual culture. The +"prosperous" will degrade life into a mere pursuit of earthly wealth +with its associated advantages, whilst the rest will simply continue +the hard struggle for daily bread--"the bread that perisheth." + +The life of millions around us seems, religiously considered, to be +an absolute blank. Mix with them, observe them, and you will be +convinced of this. It is one of the sources of deepest sadness to a +Christian to note the extent to which godlessness prevails in all +ranks of society. Even amongst Christians themselves there are +terrible invasions of the spirit of worldliness. Let _us_ seek, by the +help of God, the convictions by which this evil may be checked. The +soul is greater than the body; eternity is greater than time. The +material and the temporal sink into insignificance in contrast with +the spiritual and the eternal. Let the lower interests serve the +higher. + +I have already referred to the universality of the claims which +Christianity makes upon us. Its aim is not to induce us to assume a +certain character merely at certain specified times and in certain +specified places, and to be content with that. On the contrary, its +purpose is to induce us to do everything in one specified spirit, +which shall shape, give sanctity and consecration to, the whole. +Hence, it is never represented as working first on the outward habits +of men, but on their hearts. It does not cleanse the outside of the +cup or platter, leaving corruption within; but it first endeavours to +establish purity within, and to give the purity which is within a +force by which it shall work outwardly. The outward acts of the life +are but the embodiments of the heart and will. Thus, whether we be +scholars, or merchants, or preachers, or mechanics, or servants, we +are to carry a soul, sanctified and governed by Christ, into all our +occupations, even the commonest. Whether we pray or work, whether we +be in the church or the shop, we are to be under the control of the +one Christian spirit. + +Undoubtedly, there are some occupations in which it is difficult for +Christians to engage, and some which they ought never to touch. But +apart from these, the work of life is not an evil. There is no need to +retire away from it into solitude as the only suitable sphere for the +development of piety. A wise Christian looks upon it as a mode of +spiritual culture. It depends upon the man himself, upon the guiding +principle of his life, as to whether work shall degrade or raise him. + +Consider two or three points in illustration and proof of the truth I +am endeavouring to enforce. + +I. Secular work requires and cultivates certain active forces of +character which are also required in the culture of the spiritual +life, such, for example, as _clearness and definiteness of aim_: so +that there shall be no working in the dark, or in ignorance of the +special end to be attained. "This one thing I do." _Perseverance_, so +that the end, once clearly ascertained and decided on, shall be +steadily and unflinchingly pursued, until it is accomplished. +_Prudence and foresight_, so that there shall be a wise adaptation of +means. _Energy_, so that every opportunity and every appliance shall +be used to the utmost. _Courage_, so that no difficulties shall +dismay. All these forces acquire strength in the earthly sphere, which +is a clear gain, and which may be brought to use in the spiritual. We, +as Christians, have an end to pursue which must be clearly +apprehended; we must not run uncertainly, or as one that beateth the +air; we must persevere, running with patience the race that is set +before us; our zeal must not be without knowledge; what our hands find +to do we must do with our might; and we must be in nothing terrified +by our adversaries. So far from being hindered in all this by the +discipline of our common life, experience proves that indolence in +secular business has a paralysing effect on spiritual exertion. In +spiritual exertion man uses the same power as in secular, only the +field of operation is different. But inasmuch as the same powers are +wanted for both, the one may be a true auxiliary to the other. + +II. The same line of remark will apply to the _passive_ forces of +character. They are wanted equally in the secular and the spiritual, +and their cultivation in the one prepares them for use in the other. +For example: _Submission._ Many a position in life is irksome and +uncongenial; but nevertheless it should be accepted as God's +providential arrangement on our behalf. "It is not in man that walketh +to direct his steps."--_Patience._ Many a result has to be long worked +for and long waited for, often with many disappointments and +reverses.--_Contentment._ The worry of life, not its work, is that +which burdens and kills. Looking on our position as one which God has +appointed, we take it calmly as that which is best for us.--_Trust._ +We have simply to rely on God for everything, remembering that our +powers, opportunities, and results are all under His wise and loving +control. "Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof," and sufficient +also is the grace to bear it. Our hearts are wearied and worn only as +we insist on carrying heavier burdens than God assigns to us. How +clear it is that all these passive forces are needed in our secular +work, if it is to be done well! But it is equally clear that they are +needed just as much in our spiritual life. In it their growth is an +essential element; and they have their bearing specially on Christian +work--work done for the spread of religion in the world. + +III. Secular work offers important opportunities for spiritual +usefulness. Our most effective preaching is often that of our +unconscious influence. And let us remember that no amount of formal +sanctity can prevail against the inconsistencies of our common days. +Moreover, our daily, secular duties bring us into contact with men in +ways which are least open to suspicion. Add to this, that they put +into our hands, in a greater or lesser degree, resources by which we +can materially help the cause of Christ, and so become, in heart, in +interest, in devotedness, more and more closely identified with that +cause. We can "honour the Lord with our substance, and with the +first-fruits of all our increase," and so find that "it is more +blessed to give than to receive." + +The practical problem that God gives to every one of us to solve, is +to get perfected in our hearts the feeling that we are doing His will +in the common details of our ordinary vocation as well as in acts +more ostensibly "religious." The conclusion is irresistible; the thing +may be done--but how? It cannot be done without habitual +self-examination; it cannot be done without prayer; it cannot be done +without reliance on the help of the Holy Spirit. + +Let us be thankful to God for putting within our reach the high honour +of glorifying Him, for introducing us to a life so pure in its +springs, for His kindly help in every step of its progress, and for +the hope that it will one day reach its happy consummation. + + + + +IX. + +_UNCONSCIOUS INFLUENCE._ + +"I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall +give account thereof in the day of judgment. For by thy words thou shalt +be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned."--Matthew xii. +36, 37. + + +This is a startling, terrifying text; one of many which tempt men to +limitations and compromises of their meaning. Some persons would not +hesitate to accuse it of extravagance, and even devout Christians +sometimes pause and ask whether it is to be taken in its absolute +literalness. "Every idle word." Is not this the kind of thing which is +least amenable to a vigorous judgment? Is not the "idle," the vain, +the worthless, at the worst, thereby negative? Christ says, No. Speech +is a gift to be put to sanctified uses; and the non-use as well as the +abuse of every gift is sinful. This utterance of our Divine Master, to +be vindicated, needs only to be understood. Underlying it are vital +moral considerations which should be devoutly studied. + +There are many ways in which a man can manifest himself. By his +thought, he is always known to God and to his own heart, but not to +his fellow men. To reveal himself to them, his thought must somehow +find expression. His actions are mostly intentional and deliberate; +but they are liable to be prompted, inspired, checked, or controlled +by circumstances. So, too, may be his speech; but there is a +spontaneousness, a freedom, in _that_, which belongs to no other +manifestation of the man's inward self. Thus it is by his words that +he is best judged. The largest part of our practical life is +resolvable into speech. + +Christianity itself is amenable to this law. Think of the streams of +holy speech which have been flowing through the world for ages, and of +the life they have conveyed to thirsty souls. Think of these streams +as they are flowing to-day in tens of thousands of Christian +congregations, and in innumerable Sabbath schools. Compare their +influence with that of the dark utterances of heathenism, and the +disturbing teachings of unbelief. Think of the countless rills of +Christian speech which are flowing to-day from the lips of those who +love the Saviour, and who are endeavouring to make Him known in the +home, in the sick-chamber, in the prison-house, and in their various +intercourse with those around them. Compare their influence with that +of the idle, thoughtless, impious, profane talk of the millions who +are living without God; and then say whether Christianity may or may +not be judged by its words! Lord Jesus, Thou needest no justification +from such imperfect creatures as we are; but if Thou didst, it would +be enough for us to recall the gracious words that proceeded out of +thine own mouth, and then to challenge the wisdom of the ages, saying, +"Never man spake like this man!" + +The general drift of the passage before us is this, that man speaks as +he is, and is as he speaks, and that, therefore, by his words he shall +be judged. His words are signs which reveal his character. Whilst, at +the last, he will be judged by his character, single words and +unnoticed deeds will, if need be, be adduced as proofs of inner and +underlying principles. Of course it is not meant that words will be +the only tests; but our Lord's language shows that they form a far +more important element of proof than is commonly supposed. In this +light, no manifestation of character is insignificant. Everything +tells. Words, looks, even gestures, have their meaning. Often to men's +eyes, and always to God's (though He does not need them) they are as +straws on the stream, showing the course of the current. + +These general reflections supply the basis of the further reflections +I have to offer. My purpose is twofold: first, to show that, for good +or ill, the life of every one of us is an incessant exercise of +influence; and secondly, to deduce from this fact some important +lessons. + +I. Now, generally, when men speak of exerting influence, the thought +present to their minds is of something exceptional, attractive, +commanding, or formal. Thus, such a phrase as "a person of influence" +is understood to denote a man who stands in a position of special +advantage, either (for instance) of wealth, or of mental power, or of +social importance. Hence the notion of influence is narrowed, and +ultimately it becomes false. It does so in two ways: partly by +restricting influence to a few, and then by confining it among these +few to certain peculiarities of character or of circumstance. The +truth is that influence is always going forth from every man, and from +everything _in_ man. + +There are two ways in which men act upon one another. They do so +either directly, deliberately, and intentionally, or, otherwise, +indirectly and unconsciously. Thus, if I want to make men around me +generous, I may write, preach, speak, use arguments, multiply +incentives, enforce appeals. In all this I am conscious that I have a +purpose to accomplish, and in everything I say I keep that purpose in +view. If I succeed, I do so through the intentional influence I have +put into operation. I have tried to realise a definite result, and I +have not been disappointed. But I can teach generosity in another way. +Obedient to the impulses of my own heart, I may relieve the need of +some poor blind beggar on the road, who implores the passer-by to help +him. This act may be noticed by a third person whom I did not know to +be near, and it may so impress him as to open his heart and his hand +to do the kindness he had not thought of doing. Now I had no such +design with respect to _him_; for the time, I had nothing in view +beyond meeting an appeal for help which came personally to myself. I +was unconscious of the influence I exerted upon the person who +followed my example, and yet I did for him as much as if I had set +myself to develop an argument or to enforce a claim. + +Now, if at this point the question be asked: "Are we responsible for +this undesigned influence?" the answer is that we certainly _are_ so, +inasmuch as it springs from, and manifests, character. We must not be +misled by the fact that this quiet, unconscious action is not that of +which the world takes much notice. Men do not speak of it, as they do +of the striking and commanding agencies which form so large a portion +of the history of the day. Some of these are powerful on a wide scale, +as in the case of a popular preacher, or a great philanthropist. But +the influence of which we are speaking is exerted within narrower +circles. It acts, not upon the masses by wide-spread impressions, but +upon individuals by single strokes; not upon the broad platform of +public enterprise, but within the more contracted sphere of personal +life. The supposition that it is feeble on that account is a grave +mistake. Our personal relationships are more numerous and more +continuous than our public avocations, and it is in the former rather +than in the latter that we are most effectually training our fellow +creatures for good or evil. Sometimes, too, this quiet influence is +brought to light with important results, as when John Bright was +discovered reading the Scriptures in the cottage of a poor blind +woman. No public act of his--splendid as all his public acts +are--could furnish a truer indication of character than this simple +and, to most people's eyes, this unimportant incident in his history. + +That the value of direct influence in promoting the well-being of +mankind is incalculable there can be no doubt. All our great +undertakings--social, political, and religious--are of this kind. The +progress which the world has made in every right direction is greatly +due to the combined efforts put forth by societies or bodies of men +who have had truth to propagate, or blessing to diffuse, and who have +steadily directed their energies to the end in view. Associations for +Political Reform, Temperance Societies, British Schools, Ragged +Schools, Sunday Schools, Tract Societies, Missionary Agencies, +Mothers' Meetings, Church, Chapel, out-door, and theatre services, are +all of this sort; and the harvest of good reaped from them only God +knows, at whose inspiration and in whose name all good is done. +Statistics tell us much, but far more remains untold. All this +well-directed action is in accordance with the Divine order. God wills +that we should use judiciously and zealously applied effort for each +other's welfare, especially in connection with the spread of His +truth. Every Christian agency is a form of obedience to the great +command: "Preach the gospel to every creature." Such action, moreover, +is in accordance with our convictions. We _must_ labour, formally and +intentionally, on behalf of any and every cause which lies near to our +hearts. Imagine all these direct agencies to be suddenly and +completely withdrawn--what would then become of our poor world? Would +it not speedily lapse into a mournful, moral waste--a training-school +for present and everlasting perdition? Multiplied and energetically +worked as these agencies are, the condition of the world is bad +enough. The appalling needs of the world demand heroic effort; and, as +I have said, the amount of good already wrought by this is beyond +calculation. + +Nevertheless, the other kind of influence--the indirect and +unconscious--is invested also with an importance which is +incalculable; and it will be a blessed time both for the Church and +for the world when this truth comes to be practically remembered as it +should be. Let us consider this matter a little further, bearing in +mind, as we do so, that the application of the subject must be to the +Christian conscience of us all. + +I. Notice some differences between the two kinds of influence which +have been named. + +1. We have already said the influence which we consciously exert is +the result of forethought, and deliberately contemplates an end, the +attainment of which is steadily kept in view; whilst our unconscious +influence is spontaneous, and has no premeditation or calculation +about it. We need only add here, that the action of this unconscious +influence is very immediate; a fact which is explained by the +mysterious insight which enables men to look into, and to understand, +one another. We form judgments of men every day without data that we +can adduce. These judgments are instinctive, and they are more +frequently right than wrong. How is it that we conceive a sudden +repugnance to one, and at first sight fall in love with another? The +impression made needed only a word, a tone, a look, a gesture, a +smile, a tear; on so slender a basis a judgment was formed which will +last a life-time, or which years will be required to modify. + +2. Our unconscious influence is a perpetual emanation from ourselves. +Direct effort need not truly express us at all. It may be imposed upon +us by circumstances which we cannot control. Often we should avoid it +if we could. Moreover, when it is voluntary and unconstrained, it is a +thing of times, seasons, places, and conditions in life, and is +therefore more or less fitful, partial, and intermittent. The other +kind of influence acts continuously--without pauses, without breaks, +without paroxysms. It is thus that every man--high or low--in spheres +extended or narrow, without intention, forethought or consciousness of +the fact, is always leading some one more or less closely after him: +it may be wife, friend, little child, or stranger; but some one most +surely. + +3. This unconscious influence is necessarily simple. It makes its +appeal to all kinds of human judgment, and to all degrees of human +insight. It is quickly apprehended, by the ignorant and the young as +well as by the learned and mature. Many of our direct and most +definitely-arranged efforts are misunderstood. They tax people's +thought; they demand reflection; and they frequently excite +differences of opinion. How many instances there are in which the most +cogent and strongly-urged arguments are lost, while the quiet and +undesigned force of example succeeds. + +4. Our unconscious influence is the more powerful because it excites +no suspicion. It is intuitively felt to represent our inner self in +the direction, and within the range, of its present meaning. Many of +our direct efforts put men upon their guard. If they are hostile to +our intentions, they resist our formal endeavours; if they are +indifferent, they become impatient of our zeal. But direct efforts, +moreover, are often thought to be mainly _professional_, and this +impression concerning them places them at a disadvantage. On the other +hand, our unconscious influence wins men unconsciously to +themselves--wins them when they are off their guard--and thus wins +them in spite of themselves. + +II. How, then, does this fact of our unconscious influence touch the +question of our responsibility? In what sense, and on what grounds, +are we accountable for it? + +1. It is conditioned by our character. It reproduces outwardly what we +are within. If our character, or, as the Divine Master terms it, our +"heart" be good, then our unconscious influence must be good likewise; +if our character--our "heart"--be evil, our unconscious influence must +also be evil. As we are responsible for the motives which actuate us, +so are we responsible for every form of conduct that proceeds +therefrom. It must, of course, be admitted that even in a +fundamentally holy character there are ever and anon exceptional +mistakes, inconsistencies, and flaws. How many of these, He only knows +who forgives all. But we are speaking of great moral tendencies; and +concerning these we are in no doubt. They reveal _character_, and they +share the responsibility, in regard to their influence, which belongs +to character. + +2. It is by this unconscious influence that we act most on those who +are nearest to us. Children, members of our families, fellow-workmen, +and acquaintances--all these are much more affected by the general +tenour of our conduct, and the so-thought trivial indications of our +character, than by our more formal efforts. Alas, it often happens +that these latter are made ineffectual by the operation of the former. +A practical inconsistency in a parent's life at home will drive away +from the mind and conscience of a child the force of the best and most +frequently repeated precept. Even when direct and well-meant effort is +put forth, it is often comparatively powerless apart from the help it +derives from the unconscious influence that accompanies it. A smile, a +look, a sigh, a tear, will often put life into an argument which may +be sound enough in itself, but which, without such an auxiliary, +would be dry, uninteresting, and therefore ineffective. Is all this +influence outside the range of our responsibility? + +3. Our indirect influence is our _truest_. It best represents _us_. In +formal effort, there is room for a more or less transient enthusiasm, +love of excitement, love of applause, self-seeking, hypocrisy. But our +unconscious influence belongs to us at all times--follows us, and is +as true to us as the shadow follows, and is true to, the substance. We +cannot escape from it. It proceeds from us spontaneously, without our +volition; and it mirrors externally what we are radically and in the +recesses of our real being. If we be responsible for what we really +are, we must be responsible for the influence we thus spontaneously +and inevitably exert. + +4. Another ground of this responsibility is that, on reflection, we +know that it is by these unconscious exhibitions of character that the +world is constantly judging us. Often the judgment of the world is +harsh, and commonly uncharitable; but it is shrewd, and generally +there is a rough justice about it which marks its worth. + +These considerations, and many more that might be adduced, show how +solemn is our responsibility with respect to the impressions we are +constantly and unconsciously producing on those around us. As in +nature, so in human life, the most unobtrusive and silent forces are +the strongest. The nightly dew effects more good than the occasional +storm-shower, and light works more wonders than lightning. + +III. From all this we learn some weighty lessons. It teaches us-- + +1. The importance of each act in our life. The text before us is no +exaggeration. Everything tells, because there is character in +everything, and consequently _power_ for good or ill. It is impossible +for any one of us to be in the world without responsibility. There is +no escape for us. Simply to be _in_ the world, whatever we may be, is +to exert an influence, subtle, quiet, powerful--an influence compared +with which argument and expostulation and entreaty are feeble. We say +we mean well; we think that at least we are injuring nobody and doing +no harm; _but is it so?_ It cannot be so, unless our influence be +always on the side of God and of goodness. By looks, glances, +unpremeditated words and deeds, we are perpetually exerting an +influence which may turn the scale of some man's eternal destiny! + +2. The necessity of conversion. If our unconscious influence is to be +of a wholesome kind, we must undergo a radical moral change, out of +which will proceed an all-pervading sanctification. Blessed be God for +the revelation of the Holy Spirit. Up to this point, the consideration +of our subject may have prompted some to ask: "Are we, then, to be +anxiously, feverishly, incessantly watching ourselves in order that we +may make no mistakes, and do no evil? Such vigilance--would it not +take all our time, and absorb all our strength? Such a life--would it +not be a terrible bondage? Is it necessary?" We reply, "Yes, and no." +That is to say, there will always be the necessity for watchfulness +and prayer; but the true secret of _doing_ good lies in _being_ good. +The path of the just is as a shining light; he shines because he is +luminous. The tree is known by its fruit; not by the fruit which is +tacked on, as in the case of a Christmas tree, but by the fruit which +is the produce of the tree's own interior life. "Out of the abundance +of the heart the mouth speaketh. A good man out of the treasure of the +heart bringeth forth good things, and an evil treasure bringeth forth +evil things." Before a man can impart the higher order of blessing to +his fellow men, he himself must receive the blessing of a new nature +from God. + +The question is often asked why the triumphs of Christianity are not +more marked in the world, and why spiritual growth is not more marked +in the Church. The answer is found partly, no doubt, in the +imperfections of the direct efforts which are put forth with these +ends in view; but not in these alone. No small portion of it is to be +traced to the deleterious elements which mingle with the undesigned +influences which emanate from many of the professors of Christ's +religion. When Moses was on the Mount with God, his face became +luminous. Was he conscious of its shining? Not until the people were +"afraid to come nigh him." Then he had to cover his face with a vail! +How few are "luminous" enough to need "vailing" now! + + + + +X. + +_SECULAR ANXIETY._ + +"Take no thought for your life."--Matthew vi. 25. + +"Take no thought for the morrow."--Matthew vi. 31. + + +Let us survey the entire passage of which the first of these texts is +the commencement, and of which the second is the close. It brings +before us a common evil, and for this evil it proposes a sovereign +remedy. + +The evil is _secular anxiety_. Perhaps we need not be greatly +surprised at its prevalence, when we consider what the life-experience +of most of us is. Think of the uncertainty of almost everything we +know--life, health, friendship, domestic relationships and affections, +riches, commerce. Life has many sad surprises and disappointments. Our +own day is especially full of care. The age is mad with +speculation--thousands making haste to be rich, and so bringing upon +themselves many temptations. For many others, the time is full of +hard necessities, and the outlook is one of possible or even probable +poverty. The admonitions given by our Lord in the verses before us are +needed now more than ever. + +There are persons who, under the influence of pride and false notions +of manliness, consider careworn Christians--Christians labouring and +struggling amid the difficulties of the way--undeserving of sympathy. +"After all," they say, "what are the ills of life, that we should make +so much ado? Be men!" Sometimes we meet with superficial Christians +who profess that this life is really so insignificant, that it shows a +low state of piety to be painfully affected by common ills. As to the +first, nothing but stoicism, or the hard-heartedness which is +sometimes the result of prosperity, can make the soul unsusceptible to +the ordinary troubles of life, or independent of the antidote which +the religion of Christ supplies. As to the second, do not let them +talk in a way which implies that they are wiser than their Lord. He +knew how heavily care pressed upon the hearts He loved, and +condescended to offer them the appropriate and all-sufficient relief. + +And how does the great Teacher speak to the careworn in these verses? +Is it not unspiritual to take arguments for the comfort of our +Christian life from lower things? Must we go to the irrational and +inanimate creation for gospels of blessing for our spiritual need? +Christ drew His arguments from the birds and the flowers; clearly +showing that we should accustom ourselves to see God's hand, His love, +His teaching, in all things. Let Him not be excluded from the least +part of His creation. Every part of it may subserve the purposes of +His grace. "_Consider_" the fowls of the air and the flowers of the +fields; make them objects of study. To the thoughtful they often +suggest "thoughts that lie too deep for tears;" to the Christian they +may well suggest thoughts which shall inspire thanksgiving and prayer. + +Note the condescension, the simplicity, and the power of our Lord's +argument. His appeals are homely. He seeks no far-fetched reasonings +or facts from antiquity. He points to birds and flowers; an argument +for simple people, but equally effective for the learned and the +refined. We have no need to go far for lessons of comfort. + +We must not overlook the necessary limitations of our Lord's teaching +in these verses. Those limitations are found in the nature of things. +Observe, then, + +I. Christ does not forbid all anticipations of the future. He cannot +mean so much as this when He says, "Take no thought for the morrow." +Man is an inhabitant of two worlds--one material, the other spiritual. +This being so, two distinct sets or classes of wants press upon +him--the wants of the body, and those of the soul. The wants of the +soul point to a future state of existence, for which we must prepare. +In relation to these, carelessness--the absence of forethought--would +be fatal. According to the state of our souls, the thought of the +future gives us terror or joy. To the Christian, the future is the +scene of his perfected spiritual growth, and of his consummated +happiness. Every aspiration of his soul bounds joyfully towards it, +and he instinctively leaves the things that are behind to press +forward. In the words before us, Christ does not touch such matters as +these. It is not fore-_thought_ which is condemned, but fore-_boding_. + +II. Nor does He discountenance earnest activity in the duties of the +present. Work is God's oldest law. It is only in wilful blindness or +in unaccountable delusion that men can plead this teaching as an +excuse for indolence. "If any man will not work, neither shall he +eat." Work is often spoken of as a curse; but it is a blessing. With +a Christian spirit, it may be gloriously consecrated. It links us in +our activity with God who "worketh hitherto," and with Christ who +worked His full day. + +III. Christ does not even condemn a legitimate forethought in +connection with secular interests. There _is_ a legitimate forethought +such as this. Nature teaches it. We must sow in order to reap. We must +toil to-day for results which cannot come till to-morrow. "If any +provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he +hath denied the faith, and is worse than an unbeliever." The faith to +live by is that which prompts not to sitting down and doing nothing, +but to trustful and persevering enterprise. Keep in mind the +distinction between forethought and foreboding. It is forethought in a +man which leads him to sow for a future harvest; it is foreboding that +would fill his heart with fears that the harvest will be a bad one. +Forethought is the grand distinction between the civilized and the +savage; foreboding is the weakness of distrust. + +What the Lord bids us guard against, then, is conjectural brooding +over the possible necessities of the future, and our possible lack of +the resources required for their supply. "Taking thought" means +giving way to anxiety--the constant occupation and worry of the heart +in looking forward, gazing into, and dreading the possibilities of the +days and years yet to come. "Sufficient unto the day is the evil +thereof." Be warned against forebodings of evil to-morrow. The lesson +is, "Do the day's work as it is appointed by God; accept the day's +mercy, bear the day's evil; and be not anxious about the evil which +to-morrow may bring." + +How common a weakness--nay, rather let us say, how common a sin--this +taking anxious thought for the morrow is! We see the lines of care in +thousands of faces every day. Anxiety has marked its furrows round +lips which every morning say, "Give us this day our daily bread." It +is a calamity as well as a sin. It disturbs the heart, so that there +can be no enjoyment of present mercies. It adds to the present the +weight of an unknown but dreaded future. It paralyses religious +feeling, and checks religious activity. It defeats its end by +shortening the life it would fain prolong. + +Now Christ shows that this kind of anxiety reckons falsely, because it +is founded on a false estimate of life; and He further shows that to +gauge our position aright we must reckon according to the Divine +thought respecting it. The whole of the teaching before us on this +subject is perfectly plain, consisting of a few simple and obvious +points. We cannot hope, indeed, to bring it within the understanding +of the mere worldling. The man who has no filial confidence in God has +no antidote for care. Anxiety can only be subdued in the heart of him +who can look upward, and say, "Father, I trust in Thee!" + +What, then, is the first point? It is this, that God--the Author of +our life, the Creator of our bodies--will surely give that which, +however necessary, is yet less important and less valuable. In +bringing us into existence, He has done more than He can do in giving +to us any secular blessing which we can need. "Is not the life more +than meat, and the body than raiment?" We have our life from Him; our +bodies are His handiwork. Why should we suspect that He will be +indisposed to give us whatever may be needful for the existence thus +created? Will He, by neglect, frustrate His own purpose? The greater +gift can only be sustained and made valid by the lesser ones. Without +food and raiment the body must decay, and its life must perish. God +does not give imperfectly. + +Another point is this, that anxious care answers no good purpose. It +is useless. If we could by means of it gain an exemption from future +evil, common prudence would dictate it as a wise expedient. But it is +not so. Christ puts this consideration very strongly. No amount of +foreboding can add a single moment to our life, for the boundaries of +our life have been fixed by God. The future is utterly unknown to us; +and foreboding will not help us in the least degree to forecast its +difficulties and its trials, though it may unfit us for the endurance +of them. Whether we are cognizant of it or not, God will take His plan +with us, and will carry it out. If we could not believe in the love +that He hath towards us, the thought of this would be a dark sorrow; +but, assured of His love as we _may_ be, we can also be assured that +He will do all things well. At any rate, no over-anxiety of ours will +facilitate the order of life we long for. "The morrow shall take +thought for the things of itself." It will have anxieties enough of +its own in spite of every effort of ours to set it free from them. +Every day, to the end, will have its own "evil," and the "evil" of +each day will require all our strength for coping with it. So that +anxiety _for_ the morrow will not remove care _from_ the morrow; it +will only take strength and joy from to-day. Trust in God, and all +that He gives you of trouble for to-day will be accompanied by the +gift of the strength necessary to enable you to bear it. But do not +expect Him to give you strength to bear unnecessary sorrows--sorrows +of your own making--the sorrows which spring from worldliness and +unbelief. "As thy day"--the day that now is--"so thy strength shall +be." + +A third point is, that, reasoning from analogy, we may be sure that +God will provide for us. He feeds the birds, and He clothes the +lilies. They can do nothing for themselves; yet how well are they +provided for! "Are not ye much better than they?" A wonderfully +simple, beautiful, and effective argument this! How grand the view it +gives us of God's position in His universe! What knowledge must be +His! What power! What vastness--what variety of resource! What +minuteness of kindly, loving interest! Who would not gladly entertain +such a conception of God and of His Providence as this, in preference +to the atheism and the materialism which have intruded so grievously +into the science of our times? "Behold the fowls of the air: for they +sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your +heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?... +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 arrayed like one of these. Wherefore, if God so clothe +the grass of the field, which to-day is, and to-morrow is cast into +the oven, shall He not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?" +Thus, God is not content with giving what is simply necessary for +life; He gives for _beauty_ also. Showing His goodness in such a +manner to objects inferior to man, why should man suspect that the +same goodness will be denied to _him_? Observe, that Christ does not +teach that birds and flowers are better than men because of their +immunity from toil. His meaning is, that creatures which do not and +cannot toil--creatures which do not and cannot forecast the +future--are clothed and fed; will God neglect the nobler creatures to +whom He has given the power of thought, and whom He has put under the +obligation to labour? Even with these higher powers, man is still as +dependent as any of the inferior creatures around him. Will his needs +be overlooked, while theirs are supplied? Such a question is all the +more pertinent when we remember, that whilst they live for a day, he +was created for eternity, and needs the special gifts which can shape +his present life into a preparation and a discipline. + +An additional point is, that unholy anxiety is essentially ungodly, +irreligious, unworthy of the position and the professions of a +Christian man. "Take no thought," no anxious thought, "saying, What +shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be +clothed? _For after all these things do the Gentiles seek._" Anxious +thought, therefore, is the characteristic of heathenism, and must be +excluded from the religion which is true. It is the spirit of the +world, not the spirit which is of God. We see this clearly enough when +we compare the amount of thought and care which we bestow upon our +earthly interests with that which we devote to the interests which are +spiritual and eternal. What anxiety we give ourselves about the future +of our health, the future of our business, the future of our worldly +position, the future of our children's secular education, the future +of their rank in society! Is it not ten times as great as that which +we bestow upon our Christian consistency, our religious usefulness, +our growth in grace? If we could hold the balance steadily, which +would prove to be the preponderating scale? Our Lord puts the case in +an indirect manner, no doubt; nevertheless, it is impossible to avoid +the implied conclusion. That conclusion is this: "If you suffer +yourself to be anxiously absorbed in earthly things, you rank yourself +with 'the Gentiles,' to whom this world is all."--Besides, such +anxiety is ungodly because it is _untrustful_. Heathens, who cannot +blind themselves to the fact that their gods leave them for the most +part, if not entirely, to themselves, may be excused if they feel that +there is room, yea even necessity, for anxious foreboding. But how +different should it be with those who know the one living and true +God, and who can recognize Him as their Father! Surely He may be +trusted as knowing His children, recognizing their needs, loving them, +and tenderly caring for them. Taking anxious thought implies the +weakness, if not the extinction, of faith.--Moreover, its impiety is +seen in the fact that it is a practical subordination of the spiritual +to the secular. "Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His +righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you." Let the +most important things have the first attention. Give due scope to the +higher aspirations of the soul, and the lower ones will shrink into +their due proportions, and will take their proper place. God will give +the earthly as it is needed to those who first seek the heavenly, and +the true spirit of religion will make us rich by making us content. + +To Christians this teaching, taking it as a whole, covers the entire +ground of their secular life, and much more than that. Look at two or +three samples of the cases to which it applies. + +1. To personal secular positions. "What will the future be? Shall I +live to be old? When I am old, shall I be provided for? Will health +and strength be continued to me according to my years?" Leave that! Do +your work _to-day_. For this you may have the needful strength from +God. Do not trouble about anything further. Use prudently the means +which God has put into your hands for providing for the future, and +then commit their safe keeping to Him. If you have no such means, +still trust. There are many promises on which you may implicitly and +calmly rely. + +2. "How about my children? Will they grow up to be manful, good, +godly; a seed to serve the Lord, and a generation to call Him +blessed; my comfort, my pride? Or will they take evil ways; prove, +like so many more, vicious, ungodly, and bring down my grey hairs in +sorrow to the grave?" Leave that! Do your duty to your children +to-day. Train them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. Use a +wise and godly forethought on their behalf. Pray for them. Instruct +them. Set before them a Christian example. You may trust the rest with +God, calmly and thankfully expecting the fulfilment of the words: +"Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will +not depart from it." + +3. "What about my religious future? If I make a Christian profession, +shall I be able to live consistently with it? Shall I have strength to +resist temptation? What if I should fall? Can I so live as not to +dishonour the Church and the cause of Christ?" Leave that! Nurse your +Christian graces to-day. Lay up spiritual strength in reserve. That is +required by a wise forethought. But having done so, leave the rest. +God will take care of it all. You may stedfastly trust that He will +gloriously complete the work which He has graciously begun. + +4. "My Christian work--what about that? Shall I be permitted to go on +with it for a few years longer, and thus to have some opportunity of +realizing my ambition as a servant of the Lord Jesus Christ? Or shall +I be called away comparatively early? And if so, what will become of +all the plans and projects upon which I have expended so much thought +and prayer and toil?" Leave that! Do your work to-day, and be not +anxious about the rest. When to-day merges into to-morrow let the new +to-day bring its own work with it, to be done in the day. Nothing more +of solicitude than that is needful. You are not indispensable to God; +nor are you essential to the work which by His will you are doing. If +it be worth doing, and you be separated from it, He will find a +suitable successor, or as many successors as the accomplishment of the +work may require. + +5. "How about the prosperity of the cause of Christ in the world? Will +it go steadily forward, or will new and fiercer foes rise up against +it?" Leave that! Do all you can for it whilst you are here, and +entrust the rest, as you entrust your own work, to God. Do not hinder +it by wasting time in forebodings which ought to be spent in service. + +6. "What of death--my own death? Shall I have grace enough to support +me when the time comes?" Leave that! No doubt you will; but do not be +anxious about it. To-day you are "the living;" be "the living to +praise the Lord," and trust the needs of your dying hour to Him. + +The words of Christ recorded in these verses must have startled His +hearers. They taught new truth concerning life, and, beautiful as they +were, the truth they taught was strange. It would have been so strange +as to be without weight, if He had not first taught equally new and +equally beautiful truth concerning God. How does Christ here speak of +God? "Your heavenly Father." The heathen instructors had not taught +that! Pharisees and Sadducees had not taught that! But Christ was now +in the world; He had come forth from the Father, and He could say to +men: "Your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of these things." +Thus the whole teaching of these verses on the subject of Providence +and of Faith becomes plain and demonstrative. The great requirement is +for us to love Him filially as He loves us paternally; and then, from +that point, all is clear. We are dependent, but He will provide. There +are present difficulties, and probably there will be future trials; +but all takes the form of wise and holy discipline under His guiding +and beneficent hand. + +How do we arrive at the conviction of the Fatherhood of God? Sin +stands in the way, and conscience craves something more than a mere +authoritative announcement. Sin is the forfeiture of all claim to the +Divine favour. What right have we to expect that His providence will +be to us a providence of love? There is but one answer: to trust a God +of providence, we must believe in a God of grace. Paul puts the whole +philosophy of this in a single sentence: "He that spared not His own +Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also +freely give us all things?" Our present subject, therefore, calls for +the gospel, and cannot be completed without it. "Behold the Lamb of +God that taketh away the sin of the world." "He that hath seen me hath +seen the Father." And, "If ye, being evil, know how to give good gifts +unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven +give good things to them that ask Him?" But let us ever remember that +we have higher wants than those of the body. The soul needs food, and +God has supplied "the bread of life"; it needs raiment, and God has +given to us the robe of righteousness wrought by Christ; it needs a +home, and we have "a house not made with hands, eternal in the +heavens." With these provisions, then, shall we forecast the future +with fear, or with hope? Which shall it be? + + O holy trust! O endless sense of rest, + Like the beloved John, + To lay my head upon the Saviour's breast, + And thus to Journey on! + + + + +XI. + +_CONTENTMENT._ + +"Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in +whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content. I know both how to be +abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am +instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to +suffer need. I can do all things through Christ who strengtheneth +me."--Philippians iv. 11-14. + + +My purpose is to define and to recommend the Christian virtue of +contentment. I shall endeavour to show that its acquirement is a duty, +and that its possession is a joy; but I shall also have to show that +as a duty it is not practicable, and that as a joy it is not +attainable, except on Christian grounds. I trust that all this will be +made abundantly clear by the following observations. + +I. Let us glance at the character of the man whose words are now +before us. There is in the words the ring of a high moral tone which +is irresistibly attractive. Yet the effect they produce upon us must +depend very much upon the kind of man who wrote them, and the +condition or conditions of life through which he had to pass. + +We should be pained by such words as these if they came from the lips +of a man whom the world would consider prosperous. When the conditions +of a man's life are easy and comfortable, to make a profession of +contentment would be an abuse both of language and of sentiment. Such +a case is not one for content, but for devout and hearty gratitude +mingled with a sense of humiliation under the thought, which ought to +be present to every such man, that he deserves no more than others, +though God gives him more than many others possess. + +We should think sadly of these words if they came from a stoical man. +Contentment is not the listlessness of indifference. It is +self-conscious, and finds in itself its own joy. Indifference is +loss--deterioration. It implies the blunting of sensibility. The heart +that is callous to grief is closed against gladness also. + +We should pity the man who uttered these words from mere weakness of +character, devoid of aspiration, enthusiasm, or resolve. In his case, +content would be mere good-for-nothingness. The world is full of +uncomplaining men and women who do not cry, not because they are +content, but because they are spiritless, and consequently because +they are crushed down and hopeless. + +There are other circumstances which would disparage contentment. We +will not mention them now; they will be suggested as we proceed. + +Now Paul was every way the kind of man to give the noblest meaning to +the words we are considering. His whole constitution, make, rendered +him susceptible of the highest earthly enjoyment. Mentally, morally, +and socially, he was prepared to accept and to appreciate the best +that this world could offer to him. He had great powers of thought, +reflection, imagination, and will. He had great tenderness and +generosity of heart. Proofs abound that his social instincts were full +of life and strength. He was pre-eminently a man to be touched by +kindness or unkindness, by gratitude or ingratitude, by love or +hatred. + +And what was his experience? It was not the one-sided experience of a +man who has known only one condition in life. On the contrary, he had +been familiar with almost the highest and the lowest. On the one hand, +he had enjoyed the love, and the tender, fervent gratitude, of many of +his converts; and on the other hand, he could speak of the bad +conduct, the ingratitude, and the vexatious opposition of others. He +had the manifold sorrows of a martyr's life of bonds, imprisonments, +scourgings, and stonings, to which must be added the prospect of a +martyr's death. He was not a man of one kind of experience only, to +which habit had accustomed him. He had known the terrible alternations +of life, and had learned to be content under them all. "I know both +how to be abased, and I know how to abound: everywhere and in all +things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to +abound and to suffer need." + +Moreover, Paul was a man of prodigious activity. Contentment is easy +to a sluggish nature, but it must have been a difficult acquirement to +one in whom brain, heart, hands, and all the powers of life were +continually on the move. Couple with this incessancy of action the +loftiness and ardour of his aspirations. He was not only capable of an +intense enthusiasm in any work which he took in hand, but his whole +impulse was an energetic straining forward and upward. + +These considerations give something of _marvellousness_ to the +contentment which the apostle here avows for himself; and they suggest +that it must have rested on some underlying conviction--some +established condition of soul which it is desirable for us to discover +and identify. + +The language he uses is in the utmost degree significant. There is no +haste about it, nor is there any exaggeration. It is the expression of +the result of a severe and protracted mental and moral training, under +the influence of the Spirit of God. "I have _learned_." The lesson has +been a difficult one, but I have mastered it. "_I_ have learned." The +"I" is emphatic. "Whether others have learned the lesson or not, _I_ +have learned it." The apostle does not speak either hesitatingly or +slightingly of his attainment. Thus, when he says, "I know both how to +be abased, and how to abound," he goes on to use a word which means, +literally, "I have been taught the secret," "I have been initiated +into the mysteries"--both of satisfaction and of hunger, both of +plenty and of want. Such language implies that his contentment was one +which had not been easily acquired. He had not passed into it by a +single step only. I do not suppose the process was a very slow one, +but it _was_ a process. The lesson had to be spelt out, word by word, +often syllable by syllable, perhaps sometimes with tearful eyes and a +bleeding heart. And so these words are a record of attainment such as +this world cannot snatch. The man who could so speak of himself was in +possession of the best knowledge. He had graduated and taken honours +in the highest university. + +II. The practical importance of this lesson of contentment must be +obvious to all. Two considerations will enable us to see its +importance clearly. + +1. Our earthly life is a scene of change. No position is secured to +any of us in this world, nor is it in the power of any of us to remain +always, and safe from molestation, in a coveted state of action, or of +existence, or of enjoyment. Some men never get into a state of +positive happiness, and, in the experience of many, the transitions +from high to low positions are startling, romantic, painful, +mysterious. Events which men call accidents are constantly changing +the aspects of things, and certainly the most marked characteristic of +our life is vicissitude. This is a truth which is known and recognized +by all, and possibly it is one which is felt acutely by not a few who +are here at this time. + +2. The changes to which we are exposed are temptations to disquietude +of heart, and consequently to discontent. This is true in a peculiar +sense of those who look only to the present world for satisfaction, +but it is also true to a certain extent of the Christian. And why? +Partly because he is seldom perfectly free from unworldliness of +desire and of hope; partly because he does not always read aright the +meaning of his discipline, and keep in mind the truth that because it +is Divine it must be always wise and good; and partly because he looks +too much to "second causes," not only in disappointment and sorrow, +but also in success and joy, forgetting the hand and the purpose of +God. + +So that a Christian who has passed through the numerous and various +vicissitudes of life, and whose faith, like a tree in successive +storms, has gained strength from every blast--whose hopes have +brightened while the clouds of life were lowering, and whose +experience by discipline has become enlightened, rich, and mature--is +one of the noblest, though, alas! one of the rarest, sights in the +world. Such a man was Paul in a pre-eminent degree. Reverses did not +sour him. He had often to contend against the hostile hand of his +fellow man, but persecution did not embitter him. He could retain +through all his absorbing interest in the salvation of human souls and +in the glory of God. His troubles did not shut him up in himself. He +did not always talk about them, as though he wanted everybody to pity +and help him; on the contrary, he was a peculiarly brave and joyful +man. He looked upon joy not simply as a possibility, nor simply as a +privilege, but as a duty, the neglect of which by a Christian was +shameful. He knew that whatever of earthly good might slip away from +him, or be snatched away, there was something immeasurably better +which was his for ever--God, Christ, immortality, heaven. "Who shall +separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, +or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?... Nay, +in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved +us. For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor +principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, +nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to +separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." + +III. What has been said will help us to form a true idea of the state +of mind which the apostle here avows for himself, and in doing so to +avoid some mistakes. We have seen that contentment is neither +stoicism, nor want of interest in life nor sluggishness of +temperament, nor weakness of character. We further say, that Paul does +not mean that he considers all conditions in life alike desirable, +that there is nothing to choose between them, that it is altogether +immaterial whether men be well or ill, strong or weak, rich or poor, +high or low, masters or slaves. Paul was not insensible to the +advantages of outward comfort, or to the disadvantages of poverty. Nor +does he mean to teach that a Christian may not use all means which are +intrinsically legitimate and right for improving his condition, in so +far as he has those means at his command, or the possibility of +obtaining them. What he means is that his happiness is not essentially +dependent on external circumstances. An illustration of Solomon's +words, "A good man is satisfied from himself," he carries within him +everywhere the elements of his own well-being. So that being the man +he is, being the man God has made him to be, being the man whom the +Holy Spirit is fashioning by His grace, through the instrumentality of +the discipline of life, with a hope that does not make him ashamed, +because he has the love of God shed abroad in his heart by the Holy +Ghost given unto him--he is happy enough even in the midst of +privations and difficulties. His contentment is not indifference to +his work, but industrious fidelity. It is not the narcotizing of +aspiration; for a man may ardently aspire, and yet be content until it +is time to rise. Still less is it complacency with his own moral and +spiritual condition, or with that of the world around him; for he says +that he "forgets the things that are behind, and reaches forth to the +things that are before," and he "greatly longs after men in the bowels +of Jesus Christ." But with all his appreciation of life's comforts, +with all his aspirations after personal perfection, and with all his +longings to be useful in his day, he is not disconcerted by +difficulties and disadvantages;--he has learned in whatsoever state he +is, therewith to be content. + +We must guard ourselves, however, from applying this example of +contentment to troubles of our own making. God entrusts every man, +more or less, with the means of blessing himself, and of maintaining +his own honour among his fellow men. But by sin, or by mistakes of +conduct arising from a culpable carelessness, we may lose our position +of advantage; and when we do so, we are not entitled to the comfort +arising from the thought that, as all events are in God's hands, we +must just take things as they come, and be satisfied! The sin which +has brought mischief must be deplored; its consequences must be +accepted as a Divine correction, and Divine help must be sought so +that the chastisement may be sanctified. And if on the lower ground we +become less worldly, holier, and more Christ-like, God will have the +greater glory and will give the deeper peace. + +IV. And now for the secret of the apostle's contentment, and the +lessons that we are to learn therefrom for ourselves. Paul says, "I +can do all things through Christ who strengtheneth me." The language +is peculiar; what does it mean? It means that, in whatsoever condition +he might be, he had Christ for a Helper and a Friend; that Christ's +companionship with him was constant, full, tender; that His sympathy +was great, minute, comprehensive, cheering, exalting, all-sufficient. +So complete was his identification with Christ that he tells these +Philippians that living or dying he was Christ's. But how did this +come about? Once he persecuted the Christ whom he now glorifies. And +even now his happiness has nothing of the _miraculous_ in it. It does +not belong to him merely as an apostle, or in the same way as his +"inspiration" or other special, supernatural gifts with which he is +endowed. It is the work of God's grace--grace imparted to him through +the same channels along which it may come to us. The secret is this: +Paul was a Christian--a converted, regenerated man, a believer in +Christ, under the influence of the Holy Ghost; and the result was +accomplished by such simple means as faith and hope and prayer. + +Paul had felt, as we all feel, that there is in man a soul as well as +a body, an eternal life as well as a temporal. He had also felt, as we +all feel, that he was a sinner, condemned and hopeless before that +holy law which he had broken, and the judgment of which he must one +day meet. But, in obedience to the message of the gospel, he had +accepted Christ as his Saviour, through whom he had received the +forgiveness of sins, Divine sonship, and sanctifying grace. So that he +had to regard himself as henceforth under training for heaven, the +training administered by a Divine hand. He knew that the present life, +with all its changes, was the thing that was wanted for his spiritual +education, that nothing was accidental, that no changes were chances, +and that all changes made up one great organized system of discipline, +in which "all things were working together for good." Thus he could +cherish in his heart a contentment which would cover all his +experiences. There are ills which certain men can bear patiently, but +a Christian contentment learns to bear all ills cheerfully; +unmurmuring and acquiescent when sorrows multiply, and when mercies +one by one are taken away. + +This contentment under Christian conditions is a duty, not perhaps of +very easy attainment--Paul himself does not say that it is that--but +it is a duty, as being the natural fruit of faith and trust. Every +Christian should be able to say: + + I will not cloud the present with the past, + Nor borrow shadows from a future sky: + 'Tis in the present that my lot is cast, + And ever will be through eternity. + + "Sufficient to the day the present ill," + Was kindly utter'd by a heavenly Voice, + And one inspired to tell his Master's will + Hath bid us alway in the Lord rejoice. + + + + +XII. + +_JOY._ + +"Rejoice in the Lord alway; and again I say rejoice."--Philippians +iv. 4. + + +Whatever may be the impression produced by these words, no one can +read them attentively, and be indifferent to the admonition they +convey. They speak to our most real life, a life of mingled sunshine +and shadow; and they speak in the name of a religion which is divinely +holy and solemn. They have a marvellous power in awakening feeling, +and if we could but know the emotion they excite in each of us, we +should find them to constitute a perfect test of our actual +experiences, as well as of our religious condition. In any religious +assembly, there must of necessity be two widely different states of +feeling. Some souls are happy, and others are depressed. To the first +class, the words before us come with sweetness, adding joy to joy; to +the second, they come with pain, the pain of contrast and of longing. +Hence the question might be asked, "To whom are they addressed? Are +they spoken to the happy alone? Must they be suppressed when we speak +to the sad or to the miserable?" They are addressed neither to the one +class alone, nor to the other alone. They were spoken to _all_ hearts +in the Philippian church, without distinction of condition; and +without distinction they are also spoken to us. If there be any +special stress in them at all, it is when they are addressed to the +sorrowing, as we shall see by-and-by. The words themselves supply a +hint as to how this may be. The joy that is recommended is "_joy in +the Lord_." It is therefore a Christian joy; and those to whom the +apostle recommends it, whatever may be the diversity of their +circumstances, are first of all, last of all, anyhow, under any +condition, Christians. Paul knows that joy is an inevitable +consequence of the possession of true Christianity in the heart, that +it is the natural outcome of Christian faith, that it ought to be a +pervading experience of the Christian soul through all the forms and +circumstances of its life. And so he offers the same exhortation to +all. Nor is it a recommendation merely: it is a command, and it +strikingly takes its place among the great Pauline precepts. For the +proof of this, turn to these precepts as we have them at the close of +his first epistle to the Thessalonians. (See chap. v. 14-22.) + +No one will suppose for a moment that the exhortation to rejoice can +be applied in any sense to unbelieving men, to men of the world, to +the ungodly. Granting that they have a joy peculiarly their own, it is +of such a nature, and is so conditioned by the life of every day, that +it would be cruel to bid them "rejoice _evermore_." The worldling has +too many disappointments, struggles, and cares, for a permanent and +unbroken joy such as that. He may think himself fortunate for +rejoicings that come now and then! Besides, how could Paul recommend a +rejoicing which is not "in the Lord," which is the only rejoicing +possible to the unbeliever? Paul's joy is consistent with every duty +of the religion he preached; but to that religion the unbeliever is +opposed. His rejoicing cannot be acceptable to the Lord. It is +spurious. It has no true, substantial source. To such a man the +apostle might rather have said, "Weep!" Christian joy is an +inheritance closely fenced around; and hard as it seems to enjoy any +good things in which others cannot share, we must say, "Unbelieving +men and women, it is not for you." The way here is through the strait +gate, and along the narrow road. + +No joy can be "joy in the Lord" which does not contain the following +elements-- + +1. _Purity._ The objects that excite it must be pure. It must be free +from all carnality and from all sin; it must spring from the soul's +sympathy with God, with His truth, with His goodness. Holy in its +objects, it becomes a sanctifying power. + +2. _Calmness._ It is freedom from turmoil of heart, from disquietude +of life. It suffuses our feeling and our conduct with peace--peace +that "flows like a river." Hence, it is the condition of a quiet, +steady Christian experience. + +3. _Seriousness._ It does not depend on self-forgetfulness, or on a +forced thoughtlessness. It is deepest in the most reflective, and is +strengthened in all by an honest and habitual self-examination. + +4. _Humility._ There is a sort of arrogance and self-sufficiency in +worldly joy. Christianity puts man in his true place, and teaches him +to refer all his peace to God. + +5. _Love._ Love to man and to God; the latter as the natural effect of +gratitude, the former from deep pity for his spiritual destitution, or +from sympathy in a common experience of happiness. + +6. _Permanence._ It is not a fitful, occasional, moody thing. +Secondary sources of joy may fail, but God, the primary Source and +Giver of all joy, remains; and the relationship between the believer +and Him abides, so that the grounds of peace and of hope are +everlasting. + +Now it is clear that these are not the elements of a worldly joy. We +do not care to reduce all that joy to a common level, and to say that +it is invariably and equally destitute of all these qualities of +purity, calmness, seriousness, humility, love, permanence. It is +enough to say that it is not "joy in the Lord." It does not +consciously or actually spring from Him; it is not maintained by +communion with Him; and it does not pay to Him its tribute of love, +consecration, and praise. + +This exhortation to Christian joy is one of the most common in the +writings of Paul. Happy Christians may wonder why it is repeated so +often. Why urge it at all? Is it not the first, the necessary, the +constant result of faith? Why specially insist upon it as a duty? If +faith be weak, give us reasons by which faith may be strengthened; +but, once in the conscious possession of eternal life and of peace +with God, let the results naturally follow. Are they not sure to come? + +One would suppose so; but, alas! Paul knew, and we have reason to +know, that we are very inconsistent! There is often a divorce between +our professed beliefs and the results that should flow from them. +Then, too, our faith is often unconsciously held. It is too merely +traditional; it lacks freshness and vitality. We may well, therefore, +be thankful that God, who has given us such motives for joy, should +still recommend it to us. Even with a very sincere faith may +circumstances arise which shall trouble our hearts. Our joy is +constantly threatened, and almost unconsciously we sometimes come to +feel that we have none. I know many Christians of whom the last thing +we could affirm would be that they are joyful Christians. Hence the +exhortation. It takes the form of a command. Why? + +1. We owe it to the love and mercy of our God. Joy is the sign, the +expression, and the ornament of gratitude. A faith without joy is an +altar without perfume. God's abounding grace realised in the heart +demands this return. If we be not joyful, what does the fact mean? Do +we lightly esteem His great love? Are we afraid it may fail? + +2. Joy is a means of _testifying_ our gratitude. Without joy, faith is +barren and inefficient, or else its fruits are rare and without +savour. The gospel represents good works as the fruits of faith, and +fruits grow not on the trunk, but on the branches; and joy is one of +these. A worldly joy gives vigour to the heart in the pursuit of +worldly objects. Christian joy prompts the heart to devotedness to +God. + +3. The world is mightily influenced by our joy. The idea that religion +is a sad, gloomy thing is widely spread, and is a hindrance in the +way. Men know that our beliefs ought to produce joy, and, if they fail +to do so, they become themselves discredited. A true Christian is +really at the source of all true joy. The world yields him most +because he is nearest heaven. _Joy is a proselyting power._ + +4. True joy cannot be imitated. The world's gaiety is the effect of +temperament and circumstances, not of reflection; it repudiates and +shrinks from thought. Christian joy deepens the more thoughtful men +become. The grounds on which it rests are felt to be the surer the +more they are examined. + +Let us look at one or two more of the characteristics of Christian +joy. + +1. It does not avoid contact with men, but it can, if need be, live +alone. It can flourish in the heart that is alone with itself and +with God, and can find its food in meditation and prayer. It blossoms +where other joys fade. + +2. It is devout. It loves the places where its Author is worshipped, +but it can sing its praises everywhere. The heart in which it resides +is a temple. It sings even in the midst of cares and tribulations, +like Paul and Silas in the midnight gloom of the prison at Philippi. + +3. It is at the furthest remove from frivolity. It rejoices in serious +things, even in such serious things as sorrow and death. It looks up +and on with hope. It rests in God. It knows that Christ, its Source, +can never be separated from it. It thinks itself rich enough in the +possession of God's great love. + +4. It triumphs over the hindrances by which all other joy is thwarted. +As to remembrances of the past, all that needed to be forgiven _is_ +forgiven. As to actual trouble, it can take hold of God. As to +forecasts of the future, _that_, in its truest blessedness, is secure. + +Who would not be a Christian? And who, being a Christian, can refuse +to be glad? + + Eternal Source of Life and Light, + From whom my every blessing flows, + How shall my lips extol aright + The bounty that no measure knows? + + Sweet are the gifts Thou dost accord; + Still best when best we love Thy ways: + But one yet add, all bounteous Lord, + And teach me as I would to praise. + + To praise Thee ofttimes with my tongue; + To praise Thee ever with my heart; + And soon, where heavenly praise is sung, + Oh, let me take my blissful part! + + Then, Lord, not one of all the host + That hymn Thy glory round the Throne, + How e'er exalted there, shall boast + A strain more fervent than mine own. + + + + +XIII. + +_SICKNESS._ + +"Lord, behold, he whom Thou lovest is sick."--John xi. 4. + + +Much contact with sickness of late has set me thinking about it; about +the place it occupies in the Divine dispensations of our life, and the +lessons it may teach. The subject will find an easy entrance into our +meditations. Most of us have known what sickness is, and all of us +have in prospect that which will prove to be our last. + +In all the sorrow that affects the people of God there is more or less +of mystery, which deepens in proportion as those who suffer become +mature in their Christian life, and advanced in holiness. Yet there +are some obvious truths in relation to it which are not hard to +discern, and to some of these it will be profitable to turn our +thoughts now. + +I. Sickness, in common with all our ills, is a solemn witness to the +existence of sin. If we trace it back to its first cause, we shall +find it to have originated in "the transgression of the law." It +would be contrary both to the letter and to the spirit of the gospel +to see in each sickness the direct result of a particular sin. Yet +cases of this kind are not so rare as we suppose. Many men, even +professing Christians, suffer in consequence of sins known only to God +and to themselves; secret luxuries and excesses, or a trifling, +perhaps half unconscious, with some of the simplest laws of Nature. +Let not this be altogether overlooked. Moreover, whilst we are not at +liberty to suppose an immediate connection between some particular +sickness and some particular sin, there is a general connection +between sin and suffering. There would have been no sickness in the +world if there had been no sin. There was none in Eden: there will be +none in heaven. Sickness is a witness to the disorder which sin has +created. The Christian is a forgiven man, but the secondary +consequences of sin remain. In a sinful world, the sins of others +react upon him in various ways. He himself, though forgiven, is not +yet perfect. There will always be enough of the sense of sin even in +the most devout heart, to bend the sufferer in humiliation beneath the +thought that in a thousand ways he has deserved the discipline of +sorrow. + +II. Sickness, however, affords equal testimony to the love of God. +The Christian has ample reason for knowing that it is a Father's hand +that smites, and that the blow is tempered with gentle mercy. We +suffer less than many have suffered before: less than many are +suffering now. The Old Testament gives us some notable examples of +suffering--Job, David, etc.; so also does the New Testament--Paul, for +instance. And what were the sufferings of these compared with those of +Christ, who wept and bled and died, not for Himself, but for us? In +all ages better men than we have suffered more. Consider what we have +deserved, and what, but for the mercy of God, we must have had to +bear. If the sufferings of life are not worthy to be compared with the +glory that is to follow, neither are they worthy to be compared with +the doom which _must_ have followed, if God had not loved us with an +infinite and everlasting love. Nor is it beneath the subject to +mention the alleviations which are granted to us, and which we must +all trace to the Divine Hand--sleep, the suspension of pain, sympathy, +and, most of all, the hopes of the gospel. These are common-place +considerations, but we must entertain them, if our gratitude and trust +are to be strong and simple. + +But we must enter into particulars a little further for the sake of +evolving truth still more immediate and personal. + +III. Sickness is often a special grace from God, and is a +providential answer to the secret desires of our own souls. Not, +indeed, the answer we ask, or the answer we expect; rather, indeed, +the answer we would gladly avoid: but still an answer. The cardinal +want of man is salvation. Who does not know that sickness has often +been sanctified to that end? The cardinal want of the Christian is +sanctification--preparedness for heaven; and every Christian knows +how seriously this is impeded by a crowd of difficulties, real +enough, but which we have a propensity to exaggerate; generally, the +daily occupations and cares of life--a family to be provided for, a +competency to gain, favourable opportunities to be looked for and +seized, daily mischances, and the like. Meanwhile we are conscious +of our spiritual wants, and there is a painful conflict between the +claims which are temporal, and those which are spiritual. How many +Christians are living a life of absorption in the world, yet +harassed with occasional regrets, fears, desires, connected with +better things? To these sickness is a Divine reply. It is as though +God said: "Dear child, I know thy difficulty. Thou canst not of +thine own determination leave the world; come away now. Leave thy +labour, thy anxiety, thy dreams. Shut out from the world's noise, +listen to Me, to thy soul, to heaven, to eternity. Not that thou +mayest do thy duty less faithfully do I thus check thee, but that +thou mayest learn the true subordination of things to one another; +not the spiritual to the temporal, but the temporal to the +spiritual. That is why I put this affliction upon thee." Oh, verily, +blessed is sickness when viewed from the station where we rest and +refresh in the fevered journey of life--a truce after battle, a +parenthesis in life's tale, into which God puts His own deep-meaning +and gentle word. Let us remember this for our brethren's sakes and +for our own. + +IV. Sickness, as a special proof of God's love, is charged with a +mission to bring to us some special gifts and graces. It is above all +things a means of blessing when we associate with it the idea of +discipline, however stern. There is not a single Christian virtue that +may not acquire strength on a bed of sickness, and there are not a few +Christian virtues which probably must be learnt there, if they are +ever to be learnt perfectly at all. Among these note the following: + +1. _Patience._ This is specially the fruit of sorrow. No soul can +know what patience is until it has learnt what suffering is. To this +effect Paul and James both teach, putting suffering before the +Christian as a veritable cause of joy because it produces patience. +How many elements in sickness would be aggravated by the absence of +this beautiful grace! How quickly we come to feel that all worry is +useless, and that we must simply wait the good pleasure of the Lord! +How commonly too, the existence of this virtue strikes the beholder. +It is not apathy, it is not stoicism; it is submission. When the +sickness is past there will still remain much in life to try us; but +if we have learnt the lesson, we shall know how to apply it. + +2. _Entire dependence upon God._ This is sometimes hard to realize in +days of health and vigour, but in days of sickness we feel that the +sentiment is impressed upon us with especial weight. We know that it +is He who casteth down and lifteth up. We use means for recovery, and +this is right; but we learn that without His blessing the best and the +most skilfully applied of these are of no avail. This sense of +dependence on God should be the habit of the mind; and having +acquired it in sorrow we shall not repudiate or forget it in joy. + +3. _Unworldliness._ In a sickness which is protracted, and the issue +of which is uncertain, we learn to put the proper estimate on things. +We find and we feel that we have here no true home and no true +satisfaction, and that we must look above. At such a time we perceive +that the _real_ is the _spiritual_ and the _eternal_. As we groan in +this tabernacle, we obtain our true relief in the contemplation of +things unseen. + +4. _The confidence of faith._ The possible issues of our sickness are +momentous, and the question comes: "Of what quality are my hopes? Is +the religion that has given me joy and strength in health able to +support me now?" And how often the blessed answer is "Yes!" God gives +us strength equal to our day. The Father's smile, the presence of the +Saviour, simple trust in the Cross--these are realized as they never +have been before. And if health should return, it will be with the +calmly, soberly delightful feeling of a religion in the heart that has +stood the test. This is the experience of not a few whom I have known. + +All this has a mighty influence on others besides the sufferers +themselves. They preach, and preach effectively, through their sorrow +and the grace by which they bear it, and get blessing out of it. Thus +their sickness becomes an occasion on which, an instrumentality by +which, God conveys the blessings of His grace to their brethren. + +To all of us, whether in sickness or in health, the subject suggests +some important lessons. It suggests thankfulness for such health as we +have. Others are suffering: why not we? Multitudes are languishing in +pain to-day; most of us are well. Let us bless God, and seek His grace +that we may use this gift of health, with all His other gifts, to His +glory. It suggests sympathy for those who suffer. How dependent they +are on our kindness, our gentleness, our love. Let us give it to them +in full measure. Specially, let us give expression to our sympathy for +them by prayer on their behalf. It suggests faithfulness to the vows +made in the time of our trouble. How much holier would all of us be +to-day if none of those vows had been forgotten! + + + + +XIV. + +_JESUS ONLY._ + +"And when they had lifted up their eyes, they saw no man, save Jesus +only."--Matthew xvii. 8. + + +The visible glory has vanished; Moses and Elias have disappeared; the +cloud is gone; the Voice has been heard; and Jesus has assumed again +the form of His lowliness. A few moments ago Peter, in a +half-unconscious ecstasy, was saying: "Lord, it is good for us to be +here: if Thou wilt, let us make here three tabernacles; one for Thee, +one for Moses, and one for Elias." And now they are coming down from +the mountain to the turmoil at its foot, and they who wished to +tabernacle so gloriously above must descend again to their +fishing-nets below. The change seems sudden and sad. We feel inclined +to exclaim, "What a loss!" But though they come down, Jesus is with +them. Herein lies the substance of what I want now to develop. Our +life has its resting-places, exposed to startling, rude alternations; +but it has also, in the midst of all, its grand solace. + +I. The first of these truths is one of such common experience, that +we have no need to do more in support of it than to point to +well-known facts. I shall try to generalize them by referring merely +to three points. + +1. To our external personal circumstances. Sometimes we are +prosperous, cheerful, happy. We say, "The lines have fallen to me in +pleasant places; yea, I have a goodly heritage." Incidents occur which +seem to transform our ordinary life. We succeed in our pursuits. We +are in health. Our domestic happiness is undisturbed. We have been +delivered from impending ill, and, instead of suffering what we have +feared, we realize more than we have hoped for. We are thankful; we +are content; and we want to build our tabernacle on the green mount of +our prosperity. + +May we not indulge this feeling without any suspicion that our +prosperity may too much absorb and unspiritualise us? But the time for +disenchantment comes, and if we have grace enough in our hearts, we +find that a drawback is put in the way of our fancied happiness, the +tendency of which is proving a strong temptation to worldliness. And +then, though we do not court reverses--for they, too, have their +temptations--we begin to feel that this position of fancied happiness +is not so perfect as we thought. Besides, the novelty passes away, and +the satisfaction becomes less. We had forgotten our higher needs +whilst we were absorbed in our external well-being. And so we come to +acknowledge once more that this is not our rest. Sometimes, too, a +veritable reverse takes place; like the disciples, we have to come +down from the mount. The alternations of grief, disappointment, and +care follow our joy, and we get a further confirmation of the truth +that there is no resting-place to be found in any of the +circumstantials of life. + +2. To our intercourse with men. We have reason to be thankful for all +the blessing which reaches us through this channel, and especially so +for all sanctified human relationships. To men of confiding, generous +natures, it is natural to repose in their contact with certain of +their fellow creatures. Some of our brethren wield a marvellous charm +over us. We trust their character; we are not conscious of their +defects; we are entirely at home with them. + +But here, again, we find that we must come down from the mount. It +would be a sad story if we could all tell our surprises and +disappointments in this matter. How many apparently beautiful +friendships have passed away! How many defects have we discovered in +those whom we have implicitly trusted, when we have been brought into +a closer acquaintance with them? How many have others discovered in +us? Do we not see here one reason why men become cynical and +misanthropic? The greater the confidence, the greater the subsequent +distrust. The greater the joy, the deeper the grief which has followed +it. Let us thank God for the friendships that abide; but let us +remember that human love can never be a perfect resting-place for our +hearts. + +3. To our Christian feeling. In the early days of our Christian life +especially, and often afterwards, all seems to be "transfigured" +before our eyes. We see a new earth and a new heaven. We breathe a +life-giving atmosphere as we ascend the hills from whence cometh our +help. Moses and Elias--the law and the prophets--have undergone the +same transformation. Desires which are earthly have given place to +desires which are spiritual. We seem to be in closest contact with the +Saviour, and we pity the small pre-occupations of the world. We say, +"Let us build here our tabernacle, and rest." + +But changes await us! First the heights, then the depths! To-day, the +unutterable words from heaven; to-morrow, the thorn in the flesh and +the messenger of Satan to buffet! The one is not without the other. +Hence the lesson comes home to us: "Do not depend too much on your +heart-states." These high joys seldom last long. Jesus, so to speak, +loses His splendour, and comes down again from the mount, as a man, to +His humiliation. + +II. The facts I have adverted to are such as only experience teaches. +The prosperous and the immature may suppose that I take too gloomy a +view of life. By no means. Life has brought its trials to me; and, +like many others, I have been again and again on the mount to come +down afterwards into the valley. And, were it not for one crowning +consideration, there has been enough of change to some of us to make +us sad and gloomy enough. What has prevented it? _This, that Jesus has +come down from the mount along with us._ We have learnt to prize Him +in proportion as we have learnt the deceptiveness of all beside! + +As Jesus humbled Himself, so He humbles His own. He wants us to walk +by faith, not by sight, nor by sentiment. What should we become on +our Tabor, if we were allowed to build our tabernacles there? +Certainly proud; perhaps foolish; perhaps self-sufficient. Paul was in +danger of being exalted above measure by the glory of the revelations +which came to him; have we any reason to be more certain of ourselves? +The greater the height the more destructive the fall. We might also +mistake religious ecstasies for religious firmness or religious +growth. Yes, the true discipline is that which makes us come down. + +All this looks like the disenchantment of our cherished illusions. +What have we to put in their place? Man does not live alone by what is +taken away from him, but by what is given to him. Have we taken away +all? Have we given nothing? We read that a Voice came out of the +cloud, saying, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; +hear ye Him.... And when the disciples had lifted up their eyes, they +saw no man, save Jesus only." What does that teach us? + +It teaches that out of these ecstasies, which often hide the reality, +there comes a gift of God more precious than all--_Jesus Himself_. +Whatever form He may assume, He is still the same; still the same +whether He goes up the mountain with us, or comes down with us from +the mountain. Our illusions vanish, but Jesus does not disappear. It +is to Him that God directs us when the dreams of life are gone. Events +deceive us, men change, the joy of our own hearts subsides; but these +things happen that we may lift up our eyes and see Jesus only. + +And so the illusions which depart give place to a permanent good. Do +not be afraid to descend from the mountain-tops into the low valleys +which lie beneath. Neither height nor depth need separate from the +love of Christ. A mighty and gracious Hand guides you, whether you see +it or not. Lay hold of it with confidence. Though your ecstacies +vanish, the great gain of your faith will be a sober, deep repose. + +Do not confound this repose with a want of life or of interest. A +staid, strong, sober Christian is a man who has learnt in whatsoever +state he is therewith to be content. A staid, strong, sober Christian +is one who can do all things through Christ, who is ever near and ever +strengtheneth. + +Is not such a condition a blessed one? It is that which gives to faith +its permanence and its calm. Instead of ascending to heaven and +descending to the abyss to find Christ, we find Him here, and remain +with Him in peace and assurance. Having found Him, and being united +to Him, we may, if need be, do without the rest. On the mount and in +the plain we have the same Saviour. In any case, our hearts are on a +sure foundation. + +The tabernacles Peter wanted to erect on Tabor let us erect in the +valley. Let us keep near to Jesus; near to His law, near to His +promises, but emphatically near to Him. This, too, will be a +transfiguration, the transfiguration of our common life. The light of +the Divine glory will shine about us; and in the light, and out of the +cloud, the Voice will speak. We shall tabernacle with Moses and Elias +only above; but we may tabernacle with Jesus below. Let us tabernacle +with Him most at the cross; for it is there that we shall find most of +our holiness and our hope. + + + + +XV. + +_PRAYER._ + +"Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and +it shall be opened unto you. For every one that asketh, receiveth; and +he that seeketh, findeth; and to him that knocketh, it shall be +opened."--Matthew vii. 7, 8. + + +Prayer is one of the vital elements of the Christian life. It mingles +with its first impulses; it is the secret of every step in its +development, the hidden germ of the grain of mustard-seed, the sap +that nourishes the growing and the perfected tree from the furthermost +fibres of its roots to the topmost shoot of its branches. A sapless +tree is not a living one, but dead; a prayerless Christian cannot be. + +As might have been expected, the New Testament is remarkably plain in +its teaching on this subject of prayer. The difficulties connected +with it which exist in our minds are not difficulties which it creates +or even sanctions. A simple reverence for its utterances is almost all +that we need for their removal. Let us inwardly pray for this while +we study the question now. + +The form in which our Lord presents His exhortation in the text is +interesting and suggestive. He uses three words--"ask," "seek," +"knock," which seem to intimate a gradation, and to lead up to a +climax. The word "ask" indicates the felt want of a good which may be +obtained; not purchased, but obtained as a free gift. The word "seek" +indicates the continuance of the asking, with the added idea, perhaps, +that our need is our fault, and that what we seek has been previously +lost. The word "knock" supposes a difficulty in obtaining, the delay +of the answer, a blessing shut up, and not immediately forthcoming. +Here, then, is a hint of possible difficulties. Nevertheless, a +promise is annexed, which is all-sufficient. "Ask, and it shall be +given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto +you." Christ's word is assurance enough for us; but He condescends to +append an argument drawn from a comparison between man and God, +between imperfect earthly parents and the infinitely perfect Father in +heaven; an argument which ought to be conclusive. "What man is there +of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone? Or if he +ask a fish, will he give him a serpent? If ye then, being evil, know +how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your +Father who is in heaven give good things to them that ask Him?" + +The facts as they lie open on the surface of the text are among the +most solemn and momentous facts of our life and thought. There is a +God, holding in the universe a position which is exclusively His own, +the great and only Giver of all good. Man's position is one of +dependence; in no sense is he self-sufficient. As it is God's +prerogative to give, so it is man's duty and interest to ask. There is +a possibility of communion between Him who gives and him who needs; +the hand of want brought into contact with the hand that supplies. +Then we have the fact that God is both able and willing to satisfy +man's want out of His own fulness. Further, we have the tender +solicitation to trust on our part--the absolute promise that such +trust can never be misplaced--and the encouraging assurance that the +God who gives is moved towards His creatures who ask by all the +sympathies of a Divine Fatherhood. Every ground of the confidence that +children have in their parents is consolidated into a rock of +immovable repose when the Heavenly Father comes in question. + +These facts enter into the common substance of our Christian belief +and thought. As Christians, we never deny and never dispute them. We +hold them in a measure unconsciously till the crises of life bring +them into prominence. But they are inconceivably marvellous. As mere +conceptions they are grand; as realized grounds of hope they are +inexpressibly helpful. They are full of greatness and tenderness. Each +of us may say to himself: "My soul, with all thy manifold infirmities +and littlenesses, thou canst pray to the great God! Ay, thou canst +come to Him as to an infinite Father!" Surely that is distinction and +consolation enough. + +Comparatively few Christians, however, understand prayer as they +should--either as a duty or as a privilege. With tens of thousands +amongst them it is to a great extent an unappreciated boon. Even many +devout Christians--anxious to use it to more effect--have their +difficulties. I want to offer some help to such as these. The scope of +prayer, unanswered prayer, delayed answers, etc., all are subjects of +anxious questioning. + +I. Prayer, according to the teaching of Scripture and of experience, +is a simple transaction of asking and receiving. It indirectly serves +other ends, as we shall see shortly; but it is first of all, and all +through, just what I have stated. We pray because we want; we pray in +order to get what we want; and we pray with the feeling that we shall +not get it unless we pray. There is no mystery in such a view as this. +The transaction between the Christian and God, involved in prayer as +thus described, is as natural, as simple, as well defined, and as +easily understood, as the action of a child when it asks its parents +for what it needs, and when its parents give what it needs in answer +to the asking. The holy men of Scripture understood prayer in this +way. Their prayers are full of simplicity, both as to their structure +and their spirit. Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Samuel, Elijah, all +simply asked for such blessing as they felt they needed; asked for the +sake of receiving, and feeling that the reception of what they wanted +was dependent upon their asking. They unquestionably believed in an +invisible Hand, and felt that the Heart that guided that Hand +delighted to be trusted and appealed to in every, and for every, kind +of human need. + +II. The simplicity of their view of the _nature_ of prayer is no +greater than that of the view they took of the _scope_ of prayer. A +feeling has grown up in the minds of many that we cannot ask with +confidence for temporal blessings, and that the only blessings for +which we may be sure that it is right to ask are those which are +spiritual. But that was not the idea of the praying men of the past. +There was not a blessing, material or spiritual, for which they +hesitated to pray--life, health, food, rain, fruitful seasons, success +in battle, peace of soul, forgiveness of sins, strength for holy +work--all these, and indiscriminately as to any special privilege +attached to the prayer for one or another. Just so taught Christ. "The +Lord's Prayer" asks not only for the glory of God and the forgiveness +of trespasses, but also for "daily bread." + +These considerations must neither be misunderstood nor overlooked. +Prayer is a direct, specific, simple act. Men say that well-wishing, +right-living, work, and such like, are prayer. Not so. A prayerful +spirit may be, and ought to be, blended with the whole of our life; +but we must not so shade off the act into something else as to take +away its point and its reality. Prayer is the concentration of the +soul upon its present need, whatever that may be, and then bringing it +to God, naked and undisguised, for Him to meet it. The faith that +prompts and backs up such prayer hangs every circumstance of life, +the most minute and the most momentous alike, on the direct and +immediate control of God, in whose great foresight all our little +plans are lost, and in whose hands we become the instruments of our +own well-being. + +III. It is demanded by such a view of prayer as that which has now +been given, that we should confidently expect the answers to our +petitions. This seems a simple, trite thing to say; but it is here +especially that we fail. The attitude of looking for answers to prayer +is not a common one. How is this? Partly because our prayers are often +so vague that we do not know precisely what to expect; partly because +the habit of prayer is largely formal--a mere piece of religious +routine; sometimes because we misapprehend the form in which the +answer may come; and sometimes because, in impatience, we lose heart +and hope. We should ever remember, however, that the promise to hear +and to answer is positive and unrestricted. This fact leaves ample +room for the truth, which we should also ever remember, that the mode +and time of the answer remain with God, and must be left to His loving +wisdom. If He should see that what we ask will strengthen our faith in +Him, bring our hearts nearer to Him, and help us to fulfil His will, +He will grant the answer directly, and in the form in which we look +for it. He has done so in numberless cases. Sometimes He does so in +special and unmistakeable instances, of which, perhaps, George Müller +and his orphanage is the most prominent in our time. On the other +hand, if He should see that an answer of this kind would encourage +worldliness, or in any way lead to evil, as it might sometimes do, +then He will delay the answer, or will change its form into one of +greater safety for us, at the same time speaking with His "still small +voice" words of peace to our hearts. One thing is certain; namely, +that if the worldly advantage be first in our view, it will be well +for our prayer to be denied, and God will deny it. + +IV. One condition, then, of answered prayer is that we must be loyal +to God, and this loyalty includes submission to His will--a +willingness to receive, and a willingness to be denied. We may ask +what we will in such a spirit as this; for in such a spirit we shall +be sure that any refusal from Him will be a blessing to ourselves. + +V. One difficulty in relation to prayer of which anti-christian people +make much, and which often occurs even to the most devout, is as to +how these specific answers to prayer can be made to agree with the +regularity of God's laws and the order of His Providence. This +question introduces us to a mystery which we cannot hope fully to +solve. We have no idea that prayer alters either the perceptions or +the will of God; neither do we imagine that it interferes with natural +laws, so as to prevent their due and natural operation. The operations +of nature are often affected by the human will, both directly and +indirectly; yet no one supposes that to that extent the order of +nature is disturbed. Why may not the influence of the human will upon +nature act through the medium of prayer to the great Author of nature, +as well as in any other way? No objection of this kind lies against +prayer which does not equally lie against all human enterprise; yea, +even against the daily work by which we live! It is a sufficient reply +to every objection of this kind that it is founded in a philosophy of +fatalism. Surely if man, within the limits of his power, can use +nature for himself, God, whose power is infinitely greater, can use +nature for him, if He be pleased on any terms to do so; and there is +no more interference with the order of nature in the Divine use of it +than there is in the human. Prayer may have its part to play in the +great system of causation as well as work. It may be a part of the +foreseen chain of causes and effects by which God unfolds His eternal +purposes. The good order of a family is not disturbed by the margin +given to the children's wishes and requests; and when we are wise +enough to know, we shall see how it has been even so in the greater +family of God. God is love before we pray as well as when He answers; +and yet it may be according to His will, because it is according to +His beneficent wisdom, that there shall be many blessings unreceived +by us until we ask for them. + +VI. How do these thoughts bear upon the subject of importunity in +prayer? Such importunity is not discountenanced, but rather +encouraged, by the very form of our Lord's exhortation. "Ask; seek; +knock." I have said that this series of words intimates a gradation, +and constitutes a climax. Seeking is more than asking; knocking is +more than asking or seeking. "Ask and ye shall receive." Yes, but the +"asking" which is to be followed by receiving may be such as to +include both "seeking" and "knocking." God is not reluctant to hear +and to answer; but that is no reason why He should not require +sometimes to be importuned. Christ gives His special sanction to this +importunity through the medium of two parables, both of which were +spoken for the express purpose of urging it. The first of these is the +parable of the man who disturbs the repose of his friend at midnight +for the purpose of obtaining from him the means of showing hospitality +to an unexpected wayfarer; the second is the parable of the injured +widow and the unjust judge. In both these parables, the suppliants are +represented as prevailing; but the point to be noted is that the power +by which they prevail is their earnest and persistent importunity. Why +does Christ illustrate prayer to God by the pertinacity which is +needful to arouse the affections of sinful man? We may be sure that He +does not ascribe any thing of human imperfection to God. Our Father in +heaven slumbers not, and is never weary. He is love. Christ simply +puts Himself in the feeling of the man who knows by experience that +God often delays the fulfilment of prayer, and shows, by parabolic +teaching, that to pray well we must be fervent and not "faint." The +lesson is impressive. If between man and man importunate prayer +prevails, how much more will it prevail with God who is perfect, and +who will not make us wait except for the sake of our highest +well-being. The man goes to his friend with confidence because he has +faith in the friendship; how inconceivably strong may this confidence +be when we repose it in God! The plea was the stress of his need; the +same stress belongs to many of the needs which only God can supply. +Our praying-time, like that of the friend at midnight, is often that +of the deepest darkness; but we pray to God and not to man, and need +not fear that He, in His deep, heavenly repose, will fail faithfully +to hearken to our supplications--supplications which, because they +proceed from the holiest solicitudes of love and duty, are inspired by +Himself. Christ bids us reason from both bad men and good men to God, +and it is well for us that He does so. On the bad side, man's love is +weak, his judgment faulty, and his selfishness deep-rooted; God is +infinite both in His wisdom and His love. On the good side, earthly +fathers give bread, not stones, to their children; how much kinder is +He to whom we look up and say, "Our Father which art in heaven"! +"Yes," you say, "He is good and kind; but He makes us wait." It is so; +and why? We are feeble in our desires, and changeful in our purposes. +We soon give up. We want faith, patience, perseverance. The uniformly +immediate fulfilment of our petitions would leave no room for the +cultivation of these quiet, unobtrusive virtues of the Divine life +within us. God makes us wait, that we may become importunate, and that +importunity may nourish the virtues which are as yet too feeble. +Besides, delay gives purity to our motives, and intensity to our +desires. A blessing which is easily won is likely to be unappreciated. +God would not have us treat His gold as though it were stones. Delay +is not refusal; it is discipline. Moreover why speak we of delay at +all? What we so designate is not delay from the Divine point of view. +He never postpones any asked-for good for one moment beyond the fit +time for bestowing it. + + God's help is always sure, + His methods seldom guessed; + Delay will make our pleasure pure, + Surprise will give it zest. + + His wisdom is sublime, + His heart profoundly kind; + God never is before His time, + And never is behind. + +VII. What, then, is the character of the prayer which avails? That +some prayers are "hindered"--so hindered as to be unsuccessful--we +know full well. This may be accounted for partly by mistaken notions +about the Scripture theory of prayer. For example, Jesus says, "What +things ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye +shall have them." The teaching of these words is that the inspiration +to true prayer is God's pledge of the blessings sought, and that we +must be prepared to take it as such. The prayer of a man who has not +full faith in prayer falls short of its mark. Hindrance may also arise +from mistaken notions as to the primary use of prayer. Prayer is not +an end in itself, but a means to an end. It is true that the holier we +become the more shall we find ourselves accustomed to an atmosphere of +prayerfulness as the normal condition of the soul. But we shall not +pray aright, if we pray under the impression that we are holy because +we pray. We must rather pray in order to be holy. The hindrance may +also arise from the absence of a supreme anxiety and of a constant +effort to honour God in all our relations. Peter speaks of obedience +to the duties which spring from the conjugal relation as being +necessary to prevent the "hindrance"--the ineffectualness--of family +prayer. This is but a special application of a great general +principle--namely, the connection between holy conduct in society and +the efficiency of our social devotional exercises. These two act and +re-act upon each other. To secure the true, full benefit of prayer, we +must strive to live holily in all the society with which we mingle. +This point touches upon the value of intercessory prayer. Suppose that +there is a want of correspondence between the interest in the welfare +of those around us which we express in our prayers on their behalf, +and that which we show in our intercourse with them; can we rightly +expect such prayers to prevail? The deficiency is too frequently +manifest in our relations both to the Church and the world. How often +is Church brotherhood nominal rather than real! How many pray for the +salvation of souls, without caring to do anything else! There is one +thing which will always, in so far as it exists, be a barrier to the +acceptableness of prayer, and that is the wilful and persistent +violation of any of the Divine commands--the refusal to perform +Christian duties incumbent upon us, or the cherishing of some habit or +propensity known to be wrong. "If I regard iniquity in my heart, the +Lord will not hear me." The success of our prayers does not depend +upon our learning, or upon the skill with which we can express our +petitions, or with which we can string them together. It depends +rather upon the state of our hearts--the vivid consciousness of need, +the deep feeling of dependence on God, the supreme desire of the heart +to be right with Him, faith in His promises, trust in His power and +His love, gratitude for His goodness, an unfainting perseverance in +appealing to His throne, and a willingness to wait His time for the +blessings thus humbly, trustfully, and earnestly sought. These are the +elements of the true spirit of prayer. "Ask" thus "and it shall be +given you;" "seek" thus, "and ye shall find;" "knock" thus, "and it +shall be opened unto you." + +I alluded in the beginning to the indirect effects of prayer, and +these are too valuable to be overlooked. Prayer, pervaded by humility +and trust, is always strengthened by its own exercise. All Christian +graces are beautified by it; all Christian virtues are stimulated by +it. It is a Divine provision for rousing the slumbering affections of +the renewed heart, and keeping them awake. Prayer, too, is its own +reward, and a blessed one. How holy and how happy must they be who are +on intimate terms with God! Their faces catch His glory, and their +every tone and step the impress of the sanctity of the Divine +companionship. The Christian can tell his Father all! And because he +is so near to God and to heaven, he can put and keep the world beneath +his feet. + +Even delays and seeming refusals are not without their salutary +influence. Some persons pray for specific blessings year after +year--"pray without ceasing"--and are often staggered at the fact that +their prayers remain unanswered; and yet we see them growing in +spirituality, purity, fortitude, faith, and we hear them say, "Though +He slay me, yet will I trust in Him." And so their faith--the most +precious thing they have--is tried and refined as in a furnace. Surely +such an answer to prayer is sublime! + +I have been speaking to many a doubt, to many a perplexity, with which +I am familiar in my own experience and in that of others. God grant +that my words may be helpful! What we all want in regard to this great +subject is clearer views and a more unquestioning trust. God courts +our utmost confidence, and He will not fail to reward it. + + + + +XVI. + +_ASSURANCE._ + +"I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that He is able to keep +that which I have committed unto Him against that day."--2 Timothy +i. 12. + + +These are among the last words the apostle wrote. He is now at Rome, +in prison, and within a few days of the tragic end. He is worn down by +age; still more so by a constant, toilsome, suffering ministry of some +thirty years, a ministry which has obtained for him, at the hands of +men, stones and stripes, and now a dungeon, with the immediate +prospect of a violent death. He is bound with chains, and compelled to +be silent just where and when he has so long been anxious to speak, in +the metropolis of the world! He is, moreover, forsaken by his friends, +who, though they love him, have not courage to go and visit him now! +Outwardly, no sadder condition could well be imagined. Yet Paul is +filled with a deep and holy peace. How is this? The answer is that he +feels within himself the approval of his God. He is in prison, but +that is because of his obedience to His Saviour. He has worn himself +down in a Divine service. Behind him he sees a long train of woes and +sufferings, but he also sees many churches which he has founded, and +many unknown regions open to the gospel. Before him he sees an +unrighteous judge and a painful martyrdom, but he also sees heaven, +Christ, and the unfading crown. If he says, "All have forsaken me," he +can also say, as his Master did, that he is not left alone. All this +is enough to account for the calmness and hopefulness of this his last +epistle, and especially of the words before us to-day. + +I will not trouble you with the critical difficulties of the text. On +only one preliminary question I would say a word. What does Paul mean +by the expression, "that which I have committed unto Him"? Some urge +that it was the Church which he was about to leave; others, that it +was the result of his labours; and others, that it was his final +salvation. I prefer to combine all these into one general whole, and +to say: "All his Christian interests, the hopes on which his spirit +rested for his personal salvation, and every other interest that was +dear to his heart." He had "committed" to Christ himself, the church +he had loved and served, the results of his labour, and the final +reward to which he was looking forward. If, within the vast scope of +his desires, there had been one thing which he could not commit to +Christ, his rest would have been incomplete, and his joy would have +been marred. But for _everything_ he was able to say: "Saviour, I have +committed this to Thee." + +Observe how Paul puts this great matter. He was the greatest +_doctrinal_ writer of the New Testament; but he does not say that he +believes in _doctrines_, but that he believes in a _Person_. "I know +_whom_ I have believed." All doctrinal belief follows, and is +comprised in, that. Faith everywhere in Scripture is confidence in +Christ. He who believes in Christ must come sooner or later to believe +in the doctrines which cluster around Him. But our experience grows +beyond these into the realisation of Him as being so actual, so near, +and so sufficient, as to be our true rest. Who among us can tell _all_ +the reasons why he believes in Christ? Many of them cannot be put into +words. They belong to our most secret thoughts, to the emotions of our +happiest hours, to a hidden, silent history, which, if the world +heard, it could not understand. Yet these proofs multiply in +proportion as the Christian advances in life. How many times have we +found the words of Christ adapted to our wants! How many unexpected +deliverances has He wrought on our behalf! How many answers to prayer +have we received at His hands! How much peace has He breathed into our +hearts! "I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that He is able +to keep that which I have committed unto Him against that day." + +What a grand confirmation have we here of the faith Paul preached! Had +his trust been misplaced, surely he had suffered enough to disabuse +him of it, and that most completely. But his faith grows the more he +suffers. No mere party zeal could stand a test like this; no, nor any +delusion either. And so we say that such a man as Paul was, under the +circumstances in which he maintained his trust, could not be deceived. +Thus Paul's faith becomes a confirmation of our own, and, with him on +our side, we may face a world of doubt. + +But I wish to use the text chiefly for the elucidation of a single +subject. Paul's words express _the assurance of his faith_. How does +this subject strike us? Does not the very mention of it give rise to +sad reflections in many hearts? "The assurance of faith." "Ah, I knew +it once," we say; "it was the experience of earlier days, and has been +the experience of some special days since then, still more so of some +specially holy moments. But it is not my normal state. Would it were!" + +We are living in a period in which there seems to be a general +disinclination towards whatever is firm and precise in religious +creed, feeling, and life. This may not be an altogether unhopeful +state of things. Respect for truth may keep some minds silent +concerning their beliefs, or at least may prevent them from avowing +those beliefs too dogmatically. Anxiety and doubt may even in some +cases be a sign of spiritual earnestness. Yet the tendency we speak of +is on the whole to be deeply deplored. The truth is that the world has +invaded us. Men shrink from great precision of conviction because they +shrink from great consecration of life. How few the lives that are +pre-eminently Christian, as Paul's was! On the other hand, our day is +remarkable for its craving for mere religious excitement. In many +cases, it is not so much the desire for truth, as the desire to be +excited and pleased, that prevails. Neither of these tendencies can +build up the faith which finds its grand avowal in the words: "I know +whom I have believed, and am persuaded that He is able to keep that +which I have committed unto Him against that day." + +The remedy for the state of things upon which I have touched cannot +now be pointed out, because it would lead me away from my purpose. But +I want to show the effect of it upon ourselves, and upon those who are +without. There are certain aims common to the Christian life of all of +us, and these cannot be reached so long as our faith lacks steadiness +and stability. + +1. Our great mission is to convert souls. We are avowedly the +instruments of the Spirit of God in this momentous work. But what is +the conversion of a soul? It is a radical change in its affections and +its life. But this change never takes place apart from the influence +of deep convictions. Men will not exchange the known for the unknown: +actual life with its passions and its pleasures for the weak and cold +abstractions of a faith with no precision in its principles, or for +the worship of a God who is vague and problematical. How are we to +succeed in winning souls to the truth we profess unless we can produce +something which ought to convince them that we have the right of it? +An unstable faith will be of little use to us here. There must be no +hesitation in our avowal that our transition from the world to God is +a blessed one. In other matters, a man of strong beliefs has half won +us to his side. In religion, it is notoriously so. Paul's grand words +have been a source of strength to us. Let us make them our own--the +expression of our own faith--and they will become, through us, a +source of strength to others. Let us have this same Christianity in +its fulness and its power; and having it, let us avow it without +timidity and without reserve. + +2. Our personal obligation, as Christians, is to be holy; and we want +the assurance of faith for that. We may be deceived about our +conversion. At the outset of our Christian life we may be the subjects +of many illusions. But men are not mistaken when, day by day, they are +fighting their passions, bringing the will into subjection, conquering +the flesh, and submitting the whole life to the long, slow, toilsome +discipline of obedience. This kind of work is never accomplished by a +vague and undecided religion. Men do not deny themselves without an +equivalent. You cannot persuade them to give up their illusions, their +pleasures, their passions, nor even their vices, unless you show them +something else which may, must, and ought to take their place. If you +empty the heart of one set of elements, you must fill it with another. +So it is that we want a living God, a living Christ, close to us; +loving us, forgiving us, helping us, comforting us, and opening before +us the prospect of glory and of happiness for eternity. Let us know +and feel ourselves able to say, "I know whom I have believed, and am +persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him +against that day," and the struggle with inward evil will be +simplified, and will become comparatively easy. + +3. We stand in daily need of strength and consolation, and for that +nothing but a firm and settled faith will suffice. There are great +sorrows and great anxieties to which we are all exposed, in the face +of which nothing will do for us but sovereign words of life and of +hope in which we can implicitly trust. There are great wrongs under +which we cannot be comforted except by the constant conviction of a +righteousness which will one day vindicate the right, and redress the +wrong. There are great losses in which we want the promise and the +certainty of an immense and restoring love. Souls will seek this +strength, this consolation, here, there, everywhere; but they will +never find it until they can say, "I know whom I have believed, and am +persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him +against that day." + +4. The assurance of faith is necessary to all earnestness of effort in +the spread of the gospel. A church or a Christian, subsiding into +uncertainty of religious belief, has no motive for zeal in the +propagation of religion. We preach because we believe. Let the idea, +that the Christianity of Christ or of Paul or of the New Testament +needs modification, become prevalent in the professing church, and the +secret of every true impulse in missionary work, whether abroad or at +home, will be gone. It is the men who share Paul's stable, grand faith +who can take their stand as the preachers of Christ. It is only they +who can rise to the sacrifices necessary for the promotion of His +truth in the world. + +Have we such a faith as this? If not how can we obtain it? This latter +question will be best answered by a close adherence to the text. We +must say a few words respecting the faith itself, and also respecting +Christ, who is the object of it. + +What is faith? A common answer is that faith is an act of +intellectual submission to the teachings of another--that it is in +matters of the mind what blind and unquestioning obedience is in +matters of practice. This account of faith was early imposed by the +Papal Church, and it is not repudiated even now by some evangelical +churches. The root of all doctrines of sacramental efficacy is the +renunciation of private judgment in matters of faith. No wonder that +with such a definition of faith Christianity should be held in +derision, and regarded as the special privilege of the young, the +immature, the aged, and all whose weaknesses and disappointments leave +them no other consolation and no other resource! This is not the +teaching of Scripture. Of course in faith there is submission, for +there are many things to be believed which we cannot understand. +Nevertheless, faith is much more than submission, and there is not a +case of faith in the whole Word of God which presents to us the +believing life as a thing of mere blind credulity. Was it so with +Abraham, with Job, with David, with Paul, or with any of the others? +Even in relation to the dark things, faith rests upon convictions +which make submission the only rational, the only possible attitude of +the mind. According to Scripture, faith is the soul laying hold of +the invisible God--laying hold of Christ as His Son and our Saviour. +There is no abdication of any one of the powers of the soul. In +believing, the soul is entire with its reason, its thought, its love, +and all its spiritual energies. Nor is there any weakness. When a man +is hesitating between surrender to the voice of conscience, and +surrender to the voice of passion, he performs an act of faith if he +yields to the voice of conscience, for he is ruled by the invisible; +yet the last thing we dare say of such a man would be that he is weak. +Rightly considered, every such act is a triumph of the soul. The +conscientious man is the representative of the greatest moral strength +we know. Imagine a soul with all its life under the constant thought +of God and of Christ. Surely such an order of life as his affords +scope enough for intellectual strength and for moral heroism. + +Much must be taken for granted, we said. Reason has its sphere, and to +it a truly noble task is assigned. The visible world belongs to it, +and it is subjecting that world to itself more and more every day. But +how powerless it is when man asks of it a response to the aspirations +of his conscience and his heart. What can it say to a soul weighed +down by a sense of guilt? What to the heart that is torn by calamity? +What to any man when death draws nigh? Oh, no! Unless we are to +abandon ourselves to despair, there must be faith--some truth in +which, or some Being in whom, the whole soul can repose. And mark, +this was just the light in which the apostle looked at the matter. He +was near the end. Eternity was close before him. He knew that endless +issues were at stake. He was nerved to confront it all by faith. _What +faith?_ What was he trusting in? + +_Paul believed in Christ._ On what grounds? Can _we_ believe in +Christ? If so, again I ask on what grounds? + +1. Christ stands before us in our darkness in a position which is +exclusively His own. Of all men, He alone knew whence He came and +whither He went. Without hesitation, and with tones of sovereign +authority, He points out to us the way to God. He speaks of heaven as +one who has come from thence. Everywhere He calls Himself the Sent of +the Father, His only-begotten Son, the Lord of souls. His word was +with power; sweet with intensest human tenderness, influential with +Divine authority. What was it that gave Him this power? Not human +reasoning, not eloquence. It was the light of Truth reaching the +conscience, and penetrating the heart. We see in Him God as He is, and +we also see in Him man as he ought to be. We do not reason about this +influence. Apprehending Him, we instinctively accept it. It is thus +that millions have said: "To whom can we go but unto Thee? Thou hast +the words of eternal life." + +2. This influence of Christ has been exerted on every variety of human +soul. His followers, in ever-increasing numbers, come from all +conditions on earth--rich and poor, learned and ignorant, young and +old, hardened sinners and men blushing with their first sins: all find +from Him peace and light and hope. Especially is this so with those +who suffer and weep; those who have felt the poverty of mere words, +and who are now beyond the reach of any illusion. For the first time +they have been comforted, and the comfort has satisfied them. + +3. Still we want further to know by what authority He wields this +influence. We ask, "Does He come from God?" The reply is that He does +before our eyes the works of God. Not miracles merely, for though +these constitute a powerful testimony, there is yet something more. +He has revealed God in His own person, and the proof of His Divine +mission has been given in His life. In Him, holiness has been at once +realised and exhibited. Eighteen hundred years ago His enemies could +find no fault in Him. Since then humanity has progressed, but Christ +still leaves the noblest sons of men amazingly far behind Him. A +hostile criticism has been indefatigable in its attempt to discover +flaws in His character, and yet that character still stands before us +as the ideal of the good and the true. His is a holiness before which +the conscience of the world is accused and judged. Irresistibly the +answer of the heart comes: "He who is so holy must be worthy of all +our faith." + +4. Moreover, there is the sense of sin and of the need of pardon and +salvation. Here after all, and more than anywhere else, is the secret +of confidence in Christ. We seek salvation in works--anywhere out of +Him--but we cannot find it. He who is holy and true tells us that He +came into the world to save us, that He is our sacrifice and our +peace, and that the love and the righteousness of God are manifest in +Him and in the redeeming work He has undertaken on our behalf. This +exactly meets our case. We say: "This is what we want, but what we +have elsewhere sought in vain. At His hands we accept it with implicit +trust and with fervent thankfulness." + +Are not these reasons enough? Is not the response of every heart, +"Yes, they are." Can it be less than the utmost folly and guilt for +men to resist the voice of a conscience which tells them that it is +only in Christ that the soul can find its rest? Is all this concurrent +testimony to be set aside? + +This assurance of faith, however, can only be the result of intense +earnestness. We do not forget the necessity of the agency of the +Spirit of God; let us never forget it; but let us also remember how +constantly and how fatally that agency can be contravened. Paul held +the great truths he preached with so tenacious and so unquestioning a +faith, because he had begun by consecrating his heart to them under +the intuitive perception that they were the truths which his nature as +a man and his condition as a sinner so imperatively needed, and +because all his experience of them did but confirm their sufficiency. +"If any man will do the will of God, he shall know of the doctrine +whether it be of God," or whether it be of men. "I know whom I have +believed, and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have +committed unto Him against that day." + +For the unbeliever there are grounds enough for faith, both within and +without. And if, even with the desire, faith be still found to be +beset with difficulties, there is one unfailing prayer which will make +it easy--the prayer, "Lord, I believe; help Thou mine unbelief." + + + + +XVII. + +_IMMORTALITY._ + +"What is man, that Thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that +Thou visitest him?"--Psalm viii. 4. + + +One or two remarks on the meaning of certain expressions in this Psalm +are necessary before we proceed. The second verse is pictorial, and +has a martial character. Two hosts are seen facing each other. A +beautiful world and a wonderful universe are in view of both. +Children, in their conscious or unconscious admiration of what they +see, and in the early and universal instinct by which they attribute +it to the hand of a great God, effectually rebuke the unbelief of +scoffers and all haters of God, who persistently refuse to recognise +Him in His works. So, even to-day, the simple and pious intuitions of +the race face, fight, and conquer all materialism. The beautiful and +significant application of these words found in the account of our +Lord's triumphal entry into Jerusalem points for all time to the duty +of giving Christian teaching to the young. In our Christian homes and +our Sunday-schools lies the great bulwark against the spread of +infidelity. Such teaching acts on the future. "Instead of the fathers +shall be the children," a generation to serve God. These will become +fathers in their turn. "Take care of the children, and the adults will +take care of themselves." + +"What is man, that Thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that +Thou visitest him?" At first sight, it would seem as though the +Psalmist were contrasting the littleness of man with the greatness of +the universe. And, indeed, he does use a word to denote man which +points to his weakness. But this is only David's starting-point in his +aim to correct the impression. The Psalm reveals, not the littleness, +but the greatness of man. "When I consider Thy heavens, the work of +Thy fingers, the moon and the stars which Thou hast ordained; what is +man, that Thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that Thou +visitest him?" How little he looks! Yet how great he must be! "For +Thou makest him to want little of a Divine standing; Thou crownest him +with honour and glory; Thou makest him to have dominion over the work +of Thy hands; Thou puttest all under his feet--all sheep and oxen, +and also beasts of the field, the fowl of the air, and the fish of the +sea--whatsoever passeth through the paths of the sea." + +One of the subtlest, and, to a certain degree, one of the most +plausible of the objections of unbelief has been the attempt to instil +into men's minds the idea that it is presumptuous on their part to put +confidence in the apparently sublime, but really fallacious, prospects +which Christianity offers to them with regard to their destiny beyond +this world. God is too great, it is said, and man is too little for us +to admit the thought that God takes such an interest in man, both for +this world and for the next, as the Bible affirms. The tendency of +modern thought is largely in the direction of this view. + +It would be easy to overtax our attention by going into too wide a +field. I will speak only of the Christian idea of an immortal and +heavenly life hereafter. It is this which is imperilled; it is this +which is called in question. I have nothing to do now with the debated +question of future punishment. Let me re-state the form of scepticism +with which I have to deal. It is said to be presumptuous to suppose +that we, the creatures of a day, are to be hereafter lifted up to a +state of perfect blessedness, which is to last for ever, in the +presence of God; and we are recommended to leave this dream aside, and +to be content with the position we occupy here and now. "You have much +to be thankful for, even as things are. Let it not be thought a +hardship, if death should prove to be the end of man." + +The lines of thought as they start from this point are numerous, and +one is tempted to follow them out. But we must forbear, for the sake +of attending simply to our one purpose. I may, however, point out to +you how partial and unreal is the view which is thus taken of man's +position and of his aspirations. Given the utmost of outward and +present satisfaction, man universally is not content with this. But +how many millions of human beings there are in the world at this +moment to whom the present life can scarcely be said to have been any +boon at all! How many more millions of such beings have lived in the +past. The very ground we tread everywhere cowers beneath human sorrow. +Is it not a cruel mockery to say to the suffering, the enslaved, the +down-trodden: "Be grateful for what you have; it is vain, foolish, +wrong for you to expect or to wish for more"? Some such advice as +this may be given if our Christian hopes are tenable; but if they are +not, we do but insult the suffering if we speak to them in this +fashion. + +The kind of unbelief we are anxious to check is spreading. Among the +masses, in many directions, the desire to apprehend spiritual +realities, and to be ruled by them, is increasingly small; the battles +of life and thought are on behalf of the interests of a day; and even +among well-disposed persons the hold of fundamental truth is seriously +relaxed. Hence the necessity for our seeking to strengthen our +cherished convictions, and to discern clearly and grasp firmly "the +faith once delivered to the saints." + +If the views we animadvert upon were entertained merely by the +ignorant and the uncultured, we should not so much wonder; but we +_are_ perplexed when we find them so prevalent amongst the wise of +this world, and even by not a few who are reputed to be masters of +human science. It is true that their advancing knowledge gives them +vaster conceptions of the universe which they so unweariedly explore; +but is it not strange that that vaster knowledge does not enhance +their estimate of man, since he _can_ explore so widely and _can_ +comprehend so much? Why should religious faith decrease in proportion +as human knowledge is accumulated? + +I take the psalm before us as furnishing a triumphant and lasting +reply to the kind of unbelief in question. In Nature, first, God shows +us His estimate of man. The ascent is easy from Nature to Grace, in +which the Divine estimate is raised to its highest point. + +We are invited to look around. Can there be any doubt that this +beautiful world, with its immense treasures known and unknown, its +bountiful harvests of every order on land and sea, and its marvellous +variety of life, animate and inanimate, was formed for our sakes? Was +not everything the earth contains made for our use and enjoyment, in +measure increasing with every new discovery? The fruits of the ground, +with each returning season, are prepared for our wants, and in that +preparation, every season, with its sunshine and its shade, its +dryness and its rain, its dews and its storms, is incessantly engaged. +All nature is occupied in the successful attempt to answer the initial +question, "What shall we eat? what shall we drink? and wherewithal +shall we be clothed?" The dress we wear brings innumerable animals +under tribute. "We have dominion over all sheep and oxen, yea, and the +beast of the field, the fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, and +whatsoever passeth through the paths of the sea." Everything tells us +that, in this world, we are kings--"a little," only a little, "lower +than the angels"--the gods. Between man and the inferior animals there +is as great a distance as between the master and his slave;--nay more, +as between the artizan and his instruments. The irrational animal is +much nearer to the inanimate creation than to man since the end and +purpose of both is to minister to man. This world, therefore, was +manifestly made for us. Who ventures to doubt it? Least of all can it +be doubted by the discoverers of earth's profounder secrets. + +We are invited to look still further afield. This world, which is made +for us, is not independent or alone. It is in no sense self-sustained. +It is part of a wonderful and incomprehensible whole. Other great +creations concur in its maintenance. The sun enlightens, warms, and +fertilizes it. The moon and the stars exert manifold influences upon +it. The whole host of heaven has been brought into co-ordinate and +helpful relation to it--yes, _it_: the world which exists _for us_! +"When I consider Thy heavens, the work of Thy fingers, the moon and +the stars which Thou hast ordained;" when I consider the manifold +bearings of Thy universe upon man--what _is_ man! What _must_ he be! +In certain aspects, indeed, apparently small; but, by all these +tokens, how great! We do not say that we are the only moral and +spiritual beings in the midst of so many worlds. We do not know, but +we may accept the probability that God has created beings capable of +adoring and loving Him everywhere. But we do say--and science combines +with Scripture to compel us to say--that these worlds have been in +part created for us, just as our world has been in part created for +them. This is clear. The most sceptical of men cannot venture to doubt +it; nor do they. It is only needful that we should carefully observe +in order to become convinced of this marvellous fact. + +So much, then, for what nature teaches. The psalmist sought to learn +the lesson, and it is right that we should seek to learn it too. + +This first step being taken, another follows. Man is an object of the +manifold agencies of myriads of worlds. He is so _as man_; and the +relative position he holds, intellectually, morally, or socially, to +his fellow men, has nothing to do with the fact. Nature ministers to +the Caffre and the Hottentot as truly as to the man of most advanced +civilization; the only difference being in the use which the two +opposite classes can make of nature. Why, then, should man refuse to +believe that he is an object of solicitous love to that God who +created him, who made him what he is, and who thus crowned him with +glory and honour? Why should he refuse to believe that God loves him +enough to send His Son to die for him, and thus to save him from the +wreck of his being through sin? Especially, why should he refuse to +believe this when he is assured of it by Him who testified that He was +that Son of God--by Jesus, the man _par excellence_, the God-man? Why +should it be doubted that man is an object of interest to angels, who +are said to rejoice over every sinner that repenteth? Why should it be +doubted that God has provided for him a fairer home than this, that +immortality and heaven are the things which God has in reserve for +him? Why should it be doubted that an everlasting salvation has been +provided for him through such a sacrifice as that of Christ? If sun, +moon, and stars have been made for the service of man, why should it +be hard to believe that God, who counts the stars, and calls them all +by their names, should also heal the broken in heart, and bind up +their wounds? + +The prospect of human destiny as opened up by Christianity is grand; +but not too grand to be ascribed to Him who created the universe, and +so arranged it that it should constitute one vast system of +ministration to us. When we see God thus working for man, we cannot be +surprised that angels should be glad to serve him too. Neither can we +wonder that the Son of God should come to save him. The wonder begins +with man's primary relation to the "all things," for our knowledge of +which we are not dependent upon revelation at all. Science teaches us +that; and revelation only endorses it. That is wonderful enough; but +accepting it as a fact, all that revelation teaches, but which science +could not have discovered, follows naturally enough. The facts of +revelation concerning man may be accepted the more implicitly because +they really have their basis in the facts of science. The whole is in +perfect harmony. The one and the other are both represented--and +consistently so--as concurring in the great cause of human happiness. + +Try now from the greatness of the means to estimate the greatness of +the end. Is eternal life too much for a being whom the worlds combine +to sustain, to feed, and to bless? Is a heaven of holiness and of love +too much for a being whom angels are delighted to protect? No! The +wonderful thing would be if, after having combined these vast and +various forces to maintain our earthly existence, an Almighty and +All-good God should for ever quench our life after its brief day upon +the earth! + +It may be objected that this is a low and selfish view to take of the +matter. It may be said that it is not the life of the individual, but +the life of the race that has to be considered; and that it is enough +for us to live, after we are gone, in the good remembrances of those +who will survive us, and to hope that what we are doing will advance +the interests of those who will follow us. An immortality such as this +is in reality no immortality at all. An unconscious immortality! A +public recognition of what we have been when we shall be no longer! A +public gratitude, which may at best be but precarious to those to whom +it is due, when they are believed to have dropped into nothingness and +thus to be no longer capable of receiving and enjoying it! A progress +merely confined to material interests! And who are sharing in it +to-day? The few who are strong enough to hold their own in the battle +of life! They, and only they! All this is supreme nonsense. The +aspirations of the heart are against it. If man's life ends here, it +was not worth while for him to be born. Millions, in that case, might +justly look up to God and say, "Remember how short my time is: +wherefore hast Thou made all men in vain?" + +Nevertheless, lest we should be exalted to pride and self-importance, +let us remember that the grandeur of our destiny is not determined and +measured by our merits, but by the immensity of the Divine goodness. +What have we which we have not received? And since we have received +it, why should we boast as if it were all of our own making? + +Ah, it is because Satan can compare our hopes with our rights, and can +help us to do so too, that he succeeds in injecting doubts into our +hearts. Our reply must be, that the eternal and blessed life which we +anticipate is not of _reward_, but of _grace_; not a payment, but a +gift--a gift in harmony with all God's other gifts, but still the +greatest gift of all; and that instead of inflating us with pride, it +may well place us at His feet in lowliest, devoutest thankfulness. By +sin we had forfeited all; but "where sin hath abounded, grace doth +much more abound." God loved the man whom He had created with such +power, and whom He had placed in so commanding a position; and because +He loved him, He resolved to provide a great redemption for him. + +What a ground have we here for hope! And what a plea for +evangelisation! + + + + +XVIII. + +_HEAVEN._ + +"Therefore are they before the throne of God."--Revelation vii. 15. + + +Let us think of Heaven this morning. The verses of which the text is a +fragment will help us to do so. + +The hope of heaven is the crowning hope of the Christian. It ought at +all times to be an important element in his joy. All the pleasant +things of earth should be made brighter by the reflected light of the +world beyond the grave. It is common, however, for us to live in a +sort of unconsciousness of this. Within proper limits this is not to +be complained of. For our duties are _here_, and we are not fitted for +there by "looking too eagerly beyond." Besides, earth is the +training-school for heaven, and unless we would enter into heaven as +into "a vast abrupt," obviously our present duty is by all means to +cultivate that life which shall fit us for it. + +There are, however, certain lulls in the rush of life which seem to +draw us to the contemplation of the future. We find them sometimes in +seasons of repose, but more especially in seasons of sorrow, and more +especially still in seasons of bereavement. + +I am not anxious to form an argument this morning. I have little +disposition to _argue_ about heaven. But I want to express some +thoughts, disjointed perhaps, but I trust suggestive, and each one +carrying its message to our weary hearts. + +What may we know? We often ask this question with hope that is +tremulous--or it may be with tremulousness that is hopeful. What may +we know? Certainly not all that we sometimes wish to know; but then we +sometimes wish to know things the knowledge of which would be useless, +or curious, or beyond our reach until we can see with tearless eyes, +and realise with sinless hearts. There are certain aspects under which +heaven seems to be altogether visionary. Where is it? We are not told. +What are the dimensions and outlines of it? We do not know. It is +described under a great variety of material figures. We read of its +gates of pearl, its walls of jasper, its streets of gold, its river of +the water of life, its tree of life; but we know that these +descriptions symbolise the spiritual. Not that they are mere riddles, +however. Some of their truth may be confidently guessed. There is one +important fact of which we cannot be in doubt. Heaven is the place in +which will be developed and perfected a certain character--certain +moral and spiritual qualifications. Heaven is where perfect goodness +is, just as on earth happiness is where godliness and Christlikeness +are. We may, therefore, put heaven where we will, and think about it +almost as we please, provided we put the right sort of character +there, and remember what sort of discipline here must prepare for it. +This is the essential point in the revelations of this book: "There +shall in no wise enter into it anything that defileth, neither +whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie: but they which are +written in the Lamb's book of life." There _must_ be a heaven for the +good. + +I shall not stop to point out what a wreck our common Christianity +would be if there were no future life of blessedness for the +Christian. In contemplating such a possibility, the apostle Paul +exclaims: "If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all +men most miserable." _We_: for we have expected heaven; the fair +vision has been put before us as a great hope, and we lose in +proportion to what we thought we had gained. _We_: for we have +prepared for it, through a life--in many instances a _long_ life--of +self discipline, of loyalty to God, of the mortification of sin, of +the cultivation of goodness. _We_: for we have suffered for it, +sometimes directly through ills endured for Christ's sake, and always +indirectly by the sacrifice of that which the world distinctively +calls its own, and on which it sets its supreme regard. Our +Christianity has promised this heaven to us; and the promise has +enhanced many an earthly joy, and charmed away many an earthly sorrow. +No heaven? Then we have been shamefully deceived--miserably +disappointed; and there is no hope for us any more! But no! The words +of the great consolation are sounding still, and we can trust them: +"Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in +me. In my Father's house are many mansions: _if it were not so, I +would have told you_. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and +prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto +myself; that where I am there ye may be also." + +It is one of the characteristic glories of the Bible that it meets the +renewed heart's desires in regard to the future, by revealing, not +only the fact of the future, but also some of its resplendent +mysteries; so that, after taking man through the several stages of his +progress on earth, it conducts him at last to the heaven of his hopes, +the home of the good. Perhaps no Scripture disclosure of Heaven is +more wonderful, more complete, more entrancing than the one we have in +the vision of the apostle John as recorded in the verses before us. +True, it is put before us, like the other revelations of this book, in +poetical and pictorial form. Nevertheless, the spiritual teaching is +sufficiently plain. Let us seek the help of that good Spirit by whom +John was inspired, whilst we try to learn something of that which is +revealed to us in this chapter. In the light of it we see an +innumerable multitude of persons who, having travelled this world in +trial and in sorrow, are now before the throne of God, safe in the +heaven of the redeemed. + +So we see, at the very beginning, that the Heaven which is here +presented to our view is no solitary place. It is not peopled merely +by a few. John says he saw "a great multitude whom no man could +number." In the Old Testament a similar phrase is used to denote +Israel, the representative of the Church of later times. The +numberless stars of heaven, and the sands on the seashore are the +parallels of the idea we find here. The Church on earth, sometimes not +unfitly described as "a garden walled around," and as "a little +flock," is not, in this sense, the representation of the Church in +heaven. We see, further, that the heavenly territory embraces the +representatives of every earthly human condition: they gather from all +ages and all climes of the world--from all "nations and kindreds, and +peoples, and tongues." In this great fact we have the basis of the +theory of our mission work, and our hope of its ultimate success. + +We see, again, that the relation of the saints to Christ in heaven is +essentially the same as that of the saints on earth. They stand before +the throne and before the Lamb, and cry with a loud voice: "Salvation +to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb." + + They sing the Lamb in hymns above, + And we in hymns below. + +Self-confidence, self-righteousness, self-exaltation have no place +_there_. All the glory of salvation, all the glory of heaven, is due +to God and to the Lamb from first to last. Every step of the way, +right on to its termination, has been arranged by His wisdom and +accomplished by His grace. + +With these facts before us, there ought to be no strangeness connected +with our conception of Heaven. Its inhabitants are our friends +transferred, and the elements of its perfected life and joy are the +same as we are, in our measure, familiar with in the imperfect state +through which we are now passing. Perhaps the most comprehensive, and +most spiritually attractive and influential idea of it is that of +_entire satisfaction_. In this aspect of it, it meets the demands of +our experience, fulfils our hope, and draws us upward. Satisfaction! +How beautiful the thought! To the weary and the heavy laden it comes +as rest. To the aspiring it comes as a sphere of boundless +opportunity. To the sad and troubled, it is "a land of pure delight." +To those who groan under present spiritual short comings and +frailties, it is the home of the spirits of the just made perfect. We +are often staggered at the faults of Christians; they will be "without +fault" there. Here our faults dissociate us more or less from our +brethren; faultlessness there will make the union complete. Here +darkness, there light; here sowing, there the harvest; here a +wilderness, there the garden of the Lord. Heaven contains all our +ideals of the true, the beautiful and the good; and one day we shall +realise them! The description which we have before us warrants all +this, and much more. How much more? The redeemed in Heaven live a life +of immunity from suffering. No hunger; no thirst; no oppression from +the heat of the sun. No faintness; no pangs. John seems, from the form +of expression he uses, to have beheld them as they were "coming out of +great tribulation." Whatever may be the prophetic reference in these +words, we may understand them as having some meaning appropriate to +all the redeemed. All life, with its varied experience may be called +(and that too in no fanciful sense) a tribulation; in this sense at +least, that it is a probation, a trial, a testing-time in view of the +great awards of the future. From this all come, gradually, +successively, one by one, passing from the school of earth to the home +of heaven. Trial is the common discipline of the good, and it comes in +many forms;--sometimes in the form of bodily pain and sickness; +sometimes in the form of trouble, disappointment, loss in the +household and in the social circle; sometimes in the form of +persecution; often in the form of a struggle with temptation +springing up from within or from without; often, it may be, in the +form of conflict with doubt. Sorrow, trial, tribulation--from all this +the redeemed in heaven have emerged. But they have not only escaped +from evil; they have risen into a perfect blessedness--the blessedness +which comes from the satisfaction of every want. They not only hunger +no more, neither thirst any more; but the Lamb that is in the midst of +the throne feeds them, and leads them to living fountains of waters. +Their blessedness is all the richer because not only are all their +tears wiped away, but wiped away by the hand of infinite gentleness +and love--the hand of the Best Beloved in all the universe! Well may +they be glad! Well may they sing loud ecstatic songs of praise to +their Redeemer. Well may they serve Him day and night in His +temple--perfected powers rejoicing evermore in a perfect consecration. +They are a company living, dwelling, at the very centre of joy: no +care upon them, no labour weighing them down; their Lord in the midst +of them, their satisfaction complete. + +The contrast between their condition on earth and in heaven is full of +wonder to us as we muse upon it. How was the change wrought? What +must we learn concerning this from what is here revealed? + +They were prepared _here_ for the state beyond. The life of heaven is +the continuation and the result of the earthly life. "They washed +their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb," and they +"came up out of great tribulation." Here we have the process of the +cleansing, "the great tribulation" being comprehensive of the whole +discipline by which God purifies human souls. Here we have also the +purifying element, "the blood of the Lamb," the atoning power to wash +out all stains, the stimulating power to inspire to all holiness. And +we also have the final result--"white raiment." So, doctrinally, the +"robes" stand for the whole character, the tribulation for the process +of purification; "the blood of the Lamb," for the cleansing element in +its justifying and sanctifying effects. Their holiness is not merely +passive. There is a righteousness which is imputed; but there is also +a righteousness which is acquired--acquired in the might of the +Saviour, and through the influences of His Spirit. Those who do not +aspire to the latter have no hope from the former, except a hope which +must make them ashamed. But inasmuch as both aspects of salvation are +to be referred to the Lamb, they give to Him the glory. It is all His +from beginning to end. "They have washed their robes and made them +white in the blood of the Lamb." Thus their salvation was effected on +earth. Heaven has introduced no new moral element into their +condition. Heaven is essentially the full realisation of what a +Christian expects and hopes this side the grave. It is the inheritance +of the man who has the kingdom of God _within_ him. + +There is one part of the description which requires a little +explanation, and all the more so as it bears upon the aspects given to +us of heavenly blessedness. The redeemed are represented as standing +before the throne with palms in their hands. Many explain this by the +heathen use of the palm as the emblem of victory, and they quote the +declaration: "In all these things we are more than conquerors through +Him that loved us." I would rather, with some, refer this emblem to a +much sweeter and holier reminiscence. The figure seems to be taken +from the Feast of Tabernacles, which commemorated two things--God's +care for, and protection of, Israel during their wanderings in the +wilderness, and His continued Providence in the supply of the fruits +of the earth in their season. It was held at the close of the year's +out-door labours, and with it the season of rest began. And so with +the ransomed above, the troubles of the wilderness are ended, and the +harvest-home has come. + +Such is the heaven to which God has removed our dead. May we not with +thankfulness leave them there? Must we not feel that by death, they +have made a glorious exchange? In their case, it would be wrong to +call death by hard names. It is the message which comes to the child +at school to go home. I know that we often fail to apprehend this. +Bound by time and sense, we want to build our homes here, and our +structures have one after another to be overthrown that we may the +better learn to think of "the city which hath foundations, whose +builder and maker is God." Heaven is best seen by the graves of those +we have loved; and not till earth becomes poor to us is Heaven felt to +be rich. There our loved ones are in raiment white and clean, and they +are happy. Let it be our constant endeavour to rejoin them there. The +same blood still atones; the same all-holy Spirit still purifies; the +same process of trial leads to the same issue. For ourselves, we +should ever keep in mind the connection between discipline here and +glory hereafter. Present darkness may be interpreted by future light. +Even now, the sanctified effects of trial are such as to suggest to us +what its final issues will be. It subdues us, makes us gentle, reveals +us to ourselves, reveals God to us, spiritualises us; so that we may +well be more anxious to have our troubles blessed by God than to have +them taken away. As the discipline of earth is fashioning us for +heaven, so our conceptions of heaven are continually re-acting upon +us, and moulding our life. + +One thought more. The seer beholds the immense multitude of the +redeemed. The angel asks him who they are; but he does not know them. +Many of them perhaps are persons whom he had known on earth; but they +are so changed that he does not recognise them now. He used to know +them by their imperfect Christian virtues; but now they are "without +fault." And so they seem strange to him, just as sometimes even here +the transformations of virtue and of joy make us say of well-known +faces that we hardly recognise them again. A hint of this we often see +in the faces of the dead; so like, yet so unlike. Is there any doubt, +then, as to our recognising them at the last? None. We may, perhaps, +fail to identify them at once, but they will not be strangers to us +long. We shall look upon them with opened and purified eyes, and shall +know them, even as the disciples on the mount knew Moses and Elias, +notwithstanding the glory. Oh, it will be good for us to be there! +Good for us to remain there for ever! + +Read: "These are they who _are coming_"--not "who came." They began to +come with Abel; and the procession is not yet closed. Among the last +are those over the loss of whom we are weeping now. Let us brush away +our tears; for at least we may say to ourselves this-- + + One sweetly solemn thought + Comes to me o'er and o'er: + I'm nearer my home to-day + Than I've ever been before! + + Nearer my Father's house, + Where the many mansions be; + Nearer the great white Throne; + Nearer the jasper sea! + + Nearer the bound of life, + Where I lay my burden down! + Nearer leaving my cross! + Nearer wearing my crown! + + + + +Transcriber's Note + +Archaic and variable spelling is preserved as printed. + +The following typographic errors have been fixed: + + Page xiv--repeated 'not' deleted--... if it did not actually + reach, its maturity. + + Page 46--repeated 'in' deleted--Observe what in that case + must follow. + + Page 62--repeated 'are' deleted--... towards those who are + around us. + + Page 195--inmediate amended to immediate--... on the direct + and immediate control of God, ... + + Page 227--trimphant amended to triumphant--... furnishing a + triumphant and lasting reply ... + +The frontispiece has been moved to follow the title page. + +The illustration caption in {brackets} has been added by the transcriber +for the convenience of the reader. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Sermons, by Clement Bailhache + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 44053 *** |