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| author | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-14 18:43:03 -0700 |
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| committer | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-14 18:43:03 -0700 |
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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/44441-0.txt b/44441-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..68ea98b --- /dev/null +++ b/44441-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,5503 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 44441 *** + +Transcriber's note: + +Text enclosed by underscores is in italics (_italics_). + +Small capital text has been replaced with all capitals. + +Text enclosed by equal signs is in bold face (=bold=). + + * * * * * + +[Illustration: coverpage] + +[Illustration: titlepage] + + + + + _The World's Great Sermons_ + + VOLUME VII + + HALE TO FARRAR + + + + + THE + WORLD'S + GREAT + SERMONS + + COMPILED BY + GRENVILLE KLEISER + + Formerly of Yale Divinity School Faculty; + Author of "How to Speak + in Public," Etc. + + With Assistance from Many of the Foremost + Living Preachers and Other Theologians + + INTRODUCTION BY + LEWIS O. BRASTOW, D.D. + + Professor Emeritus of Practical Theology + in Yale University + + IN TEN VOLUMES + + VOLUME VII--HALE TO FARRAR + + FUNK & WAGNALLS COMPANY + NEW YORK and LONDON + + + + + COPYRIGHT, 1908, BY + + FUNK & WAGNALLS COMPANY + + _Printed in the United States of America_ + + + + +CONTENTS + +VOLUME VII. + + + HALE (Born in 1822). _Page_ + The Colonization of the Desert 1 + + MAGEE (1821-1891). + The Miraculous Stilling of the Storm 19 + + SEISS (1823-1904). + The Wonderful Testimonies 39 + + MACLAREN (Born in 1826). + The Pattern of Service 63 + + CROSBY (1826-1891). + The Prepared Worm 87 + + DALE (1829-1895). + The Argument from Experience 103 + + LIDDON (1829-1890). + Influences of the Holy Spirit 121 + + W. M. TAYLOR (1829-1895). + Christ before Pilate--Pilate before + Christ 143 + + JOHN HALL (1829-1899). + Liberty Only in Truth 163 + + BACON (Born in 1830). + God Indwelling 179 + + JOSEPH PARKER (1830-1902). + A Word to the Weary 197 + + MCKENZIE (Born in 1830). + The Royal Bounty 209 + + FARRAR (1831-1903). + Work in the Groaning Creation 227 + + + + +HALE + +THE COLONIZATION OF THE DESERT + + + + +BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE + + +Edward Everett Hale, Congregationalist divine and author, was born +in Boston in 1822. He was graduated at Harvard in 1839 and became +a Unitarian preacher in 1846 at Worcester. In 1850 he removed to +Boston, where his most important life's work was accomplished as a +preacher and writer. A collected edition of his writings, in ten +volumes, was published in 1901. His varied literary enterprises +and undertakings have been too many to be enumerated here. His +most famous work is "The Man Without a Country." He is at present +chaplain to the United States Senate. + + + + +HALE + +BORN IN 1822 + +THE COLONIZATION OF THE DESERT + + _God saw everything that he had made. And behold, it was very + good._--Gen. i., 31. + + +This simplest expression of the earliest religion comes back to us +with new force in the midst of all the wonderful revelations of our +modern life. + +In ten weeks' time I have crossed from one ocean to the other; I +have crossed backward and forward over the Allegheny and the Rocky +Mountains and the Sierra Nevada, with the valleys between them, and +the slopes which rise from the ocean on either side. This means a +journey through twelve of the old thirteen States and fifteen of the +new States and Territories. It means intercourse with people of the +North and the South, the Gulf and the West, the Pacific coast and +the mountains. It means intercourse with the white race, the black +race, the red race, and the Chinaman. The variety of climate is such +that I have welcomed the shade of palm-trees, and that I have walked +over snow where it had drifted twenty feet beneath me. I have picked +oranges from the tree, and camellias from the twig in the open air, +and within three hours of good-by to the camellia I was in a driving +snow-storm, where the engine drivers were nervous because they had +no snow plow. In all this variety I have a thousand times recalled +the simplest expression of the oldest words of the Bible: "God saw +everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good." + +The solid recognition of this truth--not, indeed, in any small +sense; but in that sense which is general and comprehensive--is at +the bottom of all true religious philosophy. It is not true in any +smaller sense. For I cannot say that it is good to be bitten by +a mosquito or worried by a fly, if I can escape fly or mosquito. +No, that is not true. And I do not suppose that the simple author +of this text meant any such extravagance. But this is true, that +the world is so made and ordered that man, who is himself a +creator--man, who shares the wishes, instincts, and plans of the +Power who directs the world--man can take the world in his hands and +compel it to serve his nobler purposes. + +God saw the world, and he said: "Yes, this is what I want for My +home and the home of children who love Me. It is a world very good +to them, and they shall subdue it to My purposes." To recognize +this, to feel the fitness of the world for man and man's fitness for +the world, this is the basis of consistent optimism. Nobody says +that the top of the Rocky Mountains is a good place for whales, +or that the Ojai Valley is a good place for polar bears; but a +consistent optimism says that the world is a good place for man; and +it says that man is so closely allied to the God who is the life of +the world that he can take the world for his own, and make it his +home and his heaven. This consistent optimism is the basis of all +sound theology. + +It is to be observed, however, that man gains no such control of +the world, and the world does not prove fit for man, unless he has +found out that he is akin to God and can enter into His work. There +is no such victory to the savage, who is afraid of God. So long as +he thinks the powers of nature are his enemies, he makes them his +enemies. I do not believe the old cave-dwellers, fighting hyenas +with clubs, and often finding that they were second-best in the +encounter, thought this world the best of worlds. I do not believe +that the Digger Indian, who spent his tedious day in rummaging for +ants and beetles to eat, and was very happy if he caught a lizard--I +do not believe that he said that the world was very good. True, +I think both of them had visions and hopes of a better time; but +while they were in the abject misery of cold and starvation, that +better time had not dawned. It did not dawn because they had not +taken on them the dignity and duty of children of God. They were not +about their Father's business. They did not see Him nor hear Him, +nor in any wise know Him. They did not conceive that they were on +His side nor He on theirs. And it is not till man comes up to some +comprehension that God has sent him here on an infinite business; +that he and the Author of this world are at one in this affair of +managing it; it is not till man knows God as his friend and not his +enemy, that man with any courage and success takes the business of +managing into his own hands. Then is it that he finds what pleasure, +nay what dignity, there is in taming the lightning and riding on the +storm. And then he knows enough of the divine Being, His purpose and +His power, to see that the world is good, and that God should call +it good in its creation. + +All this forces itself on one's thought as he sees how it is that +nature has been pursued and caught and tamed in these mountains +and these valleys. For nature is the nymph so wittily described by +Virgil. She + + "Flies to her woods; but hopes her flight is seen." + +Man, so long as he is savage, hates her and fears her. If he +worships, it is the abject worship of those who bring sacrifices +to buy her favor. And it may be said in passing that the last +visible form of pure barbarism or savagery is any theology which +supposes that God's favor must be bought by any price paid by man +in exchange. When man finds, by any revelation, the conditions of +absolute religion, which are simply faith, hope and love, all this +is changed. When he looks up to God gladly, looks forward to the +future cheerfully, and looks round on the world kindly, he finds, +possibly to his surprize, that he is working on the lines God works +on, and means to have him work on. Now he is on "his Father's +business." While he rows the boat, the tide sweeps the right way. +While he stretches the wire, the lightning is waiting and eager +to do his errand. And so soon as man the divine appears upon the +scene--man the child of God, who knows he shares God's nature--why, +easily and quickly the valleys are exalted and the mountains and +the hills made low; the deserts blossom as the rose, and even the +passing traveler sees that this world was made for man and man for +this world. And he understands as he has never understood before +what this is, that he himself is of the nature of the God at whose +present will this world comes into order. He understands better what +the old text means, which says that God is satisfied with the world +which He has made. + +I crossed the continent westward and eastward on this journey, +fresh from recent reading of the history of the first Spanish +occupation. What did the Spaniards find there? They found in what +we call New Mexico the Zuni cities which, in a sad decline, exist +to-day. From those cities Casteneda led a party of Spanish horsemen +eastward in search of a certain mythical king who was supposed to +have much gold and many jewels. Those adventurous men rode for a +whole summer across the prairies and plains which are now Colorado, +and Kansas, and Missouri, and struck the Missouri, or perhaps the +Mississippi. You know that much of the country is now fertile +beyond praise. Mile after mile you can see corn, wheat; wheat, +corn; corn, wheat; wheat, corn; and the production to the acre +increases year by year. The States through which Casteneda's line +of travel passed now number four or five millions of people; and +they feed, from their agriculture, say twenty millions more. Now +when Casteneda and his people passed and repassed over this region +they did not meet a single man, woman or child. They were opprest by +the horrible loneliness of their journey. They felt, as Magellan's +people felt when they were crossing the Pacific Ocean, with that +horrible east wind, with a calm sea before and never a sight of an +island or a man. When Casteneda came at last to the Mississippi--or +Missouri--they had no heart to build a raft to cross it and incur +more such solitude; and they went back the way they came. And the +fame of its loneliness was such that no man attempted the adventure +for more than a hundred years. + +When, in 1682--say a hundred and thirty years after--the great La +Salle discovered the Mississippi River, and sailed south upon it, +leaving Chicago, crossing Illinois, and so striking the Father of +Waters, his experience of this utter loneliness was the same. He +touched every night on one shore or the other. He is, therefore, the +discoverer of seven of the Western States--States which now feed +fifty million people and number seven or eight million of their +own. Only twice, I think, did he meet any great body of men. Not +five times did he find traces of the hand of man or the foot of +man. Through the same solitude he returned; and his report was of a +virgin world of elk, and deer, and buffalo; of shrubs and trees, of +fish and fowl; but a world without men. + +The inference was drawn, hastily, but not unnaturally, that these +regions could not sustain men. On the Atlas given me as a boy, the +"Great American Desert" covered the greater part of the region west +of the Mississippi. It is now the home of the millions I have been +enumerating. And in the last map I have seen, the Great American +Desert appears as hardly a "speck on the surface of the earth." + +The change which I have described has been wrought in the lifetime +of people of my age. It is wrought simply and wholly by the passion +for emigration which belongs to our own race. In Mr. Hoar's happy +phrase, people of our blood "thirst for the horizon." + +In the year 1833 De Tocqueville, observing the steadiness of this +wave, calculated its average flow as seventeen miles westward every +year. That was the rate at which it had moved since the Federal +Constitution made it possible. Speaking roughly, there were then two +thousand miles of desert between the Missouri River and the Pacific. +At De Tocqueville's rate, the wave would have been one hundred and +twenty years in reaching that ocean. But it happened that in 1849 +the Western coast was settled in the gold discovery. An Eastern wave +began which has now met the Western. The two together have founded +the great cities--for we must call them so--of the Rocky Mountains. + +Now, in the face of that contrast between the last century and this +century, one asks why that half of our continent is any more fit for +men than it was then. The answer is, that it was not fit for the +kind of men on it then; and that the kind of men that have tamed it +are the kind of men who were fit for it, and whom it was fit for. + +The study of history and of physical geography becomes a study of +what we mean by man and man's capacities. California, for instance, +was the same country in 1650 that it was in 1850. The south wind +blew from the sea, and that, in the north temperate zone, is the +great physical requisite. There was as much gold, and quicksilver, +and copper, and tin in the mountains as there is now. There was the +same soil and the same water on the hillsides. But the men, and +women, and children were afraid of their gods; they were afraid +of nature; they had neither faith, nor hope, nor love. They had +none of the elements of eternal power except as an acorn has the +possibilities of an oak. + +To these people there came, sooner or later--with the best motives, +but still without the essentials of life--fifty families of +Franciscan monks. They came, observe, without wives or children. +They defied thus the first law of human life, or the life God +intends His children to live in. The primitive trinity, from which +all false trinities have grown, is the father, the mother and the +child. The Franciscan communities were false to all Divine law, if +it were only in their failure here. + +They gathered around them, by the higher civilization which they +brought, great communities of starving Indians. They taught them +to feed themselves as they had never been fed before. So far they +improved the race, and lifted its civilization above that ant-eating +and lizard-chasing of the Digger Indian. But then the Catholic +Church, by the necessary subordination of man to the organized +Church, takes man's life out of him. + + "The day + That makes a man a slave, takes all his life away." + +The words are as true to-day as they were in Homer's time. Nor is +there any sadder instance of it than is the powerlessness of the +tribes of amiable slaves who were collected under the protection +of the Franciscan missions in California, or Jesuit missions in +Paraguay. + +The native races between the Pacific and the Atlantic were dying +faster than their children were born. They were dying of the +diseases named laziness, ignorance, and war. They were not subduing +the continent. They were not fit for it, nor it for them. What is +the distinction of the race to which we belong, that it succeeds +where these have failed? The history of the country accentuates that +distinction. + +It would be absurd to pretend that the average frontiersman was a +man of what are called saintly habits. Often he was not conscious +that he had any divine errand. But the frontiersman, to whose +courage and perseverance is due that forward wave we study, was a +man. He did not take his opinion or instruction from any priest. +There was no one between him and the good God. Often he sought Him. +So far so good. And often he did not seek Him. That one admits. +But he never sought any one else's advice or direction. He was no +slave, as the Indian of California was. He was not commissioned by +a superior, as the Franciscan priest of the mission was. He was a +man. He was independent and he was brave. If he did the right thing, +therefore, he succeeded; if he did the wrong thing, why, he failed. +And no one else tried just the same experiment. In this first trait +of absolute independence he showed the infinite characteristic of a +child of God. + +Second, and perhaps more important, he took with him his wife and +his children. Here is the great distinction of American emigration, +which contrasts against the plans of Spaniards or Frenchmen, and of +the earlier Englishmen. Historically it begins with the Pilgrims, +of whom there were as many Pilgrim mothers as there were Pilgrim +fathers. It is of them that Emerson says that "they builded better +than they knew." + +The frontiersman is independent. He lives with and for his family. +And, once more, he is an enthusiast in determining that to-morrow +shall be better than to-day. The Indian had no such notion. The +Franciscan had not. But this profane, ignorant pioneer had. He +believed implicitly in the country behind him and in the future +before him. "I tell you, sir, that in ten years you will see in this +valley such a city as the world never saw." Profane he may be, +ignorant he may be, cruel he may be; but he believes in the idea; he +is quickened and goaded forward by an infinite and majestic hope. + +Given such conditions, the historical steps are easy. All this is +impossible till you have a nation, to give peace and compel peace, +so that the separate settler shall know that the whole majesty of +the world is behind him. There shall be no abiding quarrel between +man and man as to the line of a claim or the title of a mine. +The nation shall decide, and its whole majesty shall enforce the +decision. Or, if there is any massacre by an Apache or a Blackfoot, +the country behind, tho a thousand miles behind, shall stretch forth +her arm to avenge that lonely family. This means peace instead of +war. All this had to wait, therefore, until the formation of the +nation called the United States--the greatest peace society the sun +ever shone upon, and the model for societies yet larger. With the +birth of that nation, the real Western wave begins. + +I do not claim for every pioneer that he thought he went as an +apostle of God. But in the emigrant wave from the very beginning, +the best blood, the best faith, the best training of the parent +stocks have gone. Science has sent her best. The determination +for thorough education has planted better school houses in the +wilderness than the emigrant left at home. And on Sunday, in a +church, one is proud to say that the organized Church of Christ, +in the liberty of a thousand communions, has covered with her egis +the settler most in advance. He could not keep in advance of the +missionary and of his Bible; and, to his credit be it said, he did +not want to. + +So much for the personnel. Now, speaking roughly, what has been the +motive for the great Western wave, which is making this garden out +of that desert? + +First, there is the passion for adventure, the thirst for the +horizon, which drives old Leatherstocking and the men like him away +from the haunts of men. This in itself produces nothing. Next and +chiefly, the desire to make homes--the noblest desire given to man, +and the desire in which he follows the will of God most distinctly +and completely. Miners want to strike metals; farmers want to find +good soils; fruit men try for climate and irrigation; all with the +direct wish to make homes more happy than they have been before. + +Again, young men go that they may get forward faster than in old +communities--and who can wonder? Men of sense give up the unequal +contest with nature in a northern and eastern climate to find a +country where nature is on their side. People in delicate health go +where they find softer air, more spring and less winter. But no man +goes to get rich alone. No man wants to eat gold or to drink it. +The wish and hope is to make homes where father, mother and children +can live the life which God ordained. These are no Franciscan +friars, these are no Apache bandits, to whom has been given the +subjugation of a continent. Side by side with the pioneer is the +surveyor, marking the lines of future homesteads. Hard behind him +are father, mother, boys and girls, to whom the nation gives this +homestead thus designated. If the man is sick the woman nurses him. +The children grow up to know the world they live in. The boundary of +the nation is not a mere chain of garrisons nor the scattered posts +of missions; it is a line of homes, founded with all that the word +home involves. + +All these lessons of three centuries point one way. They show +that the world is not very good for wandering Apaches or Digger +Indians, freezing and starving under hard winters when harvests +have failed. To their point of view it was a world hard and cruel. +To Franciscan friars, ruling a little empire which yielded none +but physical harvests, where the garden, and orchard, and vineyard +were only so many specks in the midst of an unbounded desert, the +world can not have seemed a better world--a world made for wild +horses, and further East for wild buffaloes, but not for men--"the +great American Desert." It is not till man asserts the courage and +freedom of a son of God, it is not till man appears with wife and +child and proposes to establish his heaven here; it is not till then +that he masters nature, and she gladly obeys him. Nay, then he has +no success unless he appears as the vicegerent of God Himself, and +establishes over this vast domain the empire of law, and speaks as +God might speak, with "Thou shalt do this," and "Thou shalt not do +that" in this empire. + +The Old-World writers are fond of telling us that we owe the +prosperity of this nation to its physical resources. It is not so. +The physical resources have existed for centuries. It is only in +the moral force of sons and daughters of God; it is such working +power as takes the names of law, courage, independence, and family +affection; it is only in these that our victory is won. The drunken +swaggerer of the advance only checks the triumph. The miser, who +would carry off his silver to use elsewhere, only hinders the +advance. The victory comes from the hand of God to the children of +God, who establish His empire in the magic spell of three great +names. As always these names are: Faith, which gives courage; Hope, +which determines to succeed; and Love, which builds up homes. + +It is impossible to see the steps of such a victory without owning +the infinite Power behind it all. You cannot use magnetic ore and +coal for its smelting and the silicates for its fusion, all flung +in together side by side, without asking if the Power who threw +these priceless gifts together where each was needed for each +did not know what He was doing. But the buffalo passes over it, +and the gopher mines under it, and it might be so much gravel of +the sea. Savages pass over it, with no future, no heaven, and one +would say no God. It is worthless desert still, but one day a man +comes who deserves his name. He is a child of God. He is determined +that to-morrow shall be better than to-day. He knows he is lord of +nature, and he bids her serve him. The coal burns, the iron melts, +the silicate fuses. It is impossible to see that miracle and not +feel that for this man the world was created, and for this world +this man was born. He is in his place. He did not have to seek it; +it was made for him. With him it is a garden. Without him it is +a desert. He can hew down these mountains. He can fill up these +valleys. And where he has filled, and where he has hewed, lo, the +present heaven of happy homes! It is thus that prophecy accomplishes +itself, and + + "The car of the Lord rolls gloriously on." + + + + +MAGEE + +THE MIRACULOUS STILLING OF THE STORM + + + + +BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE + + +William Connor Magee, Archbishop of York, was born at Cork in 1821. +Educated at Trinity College, Dublin, he was ordained in 1844. His +first important charge was the Octagon Chapel at Bath in 1850. In +1864 he was made dean of Cork, and in 1868, Bishop of Peterborough. +In 1891 he was appointed to succeed Dr. William Thomson, as +Archbishop of York. + +Dr. Magee was pronounced by Canon Liddon the greatest preacher of +his day. His speech in the House of Lords in 1869 against Irish +Disestablishment was said by the highest authorities, as quoted +by Lord Salisbury, to be the finest speech ever delivered, in +either house of Parliament, by any man then living. His oratory was +characterized by clearness and terseness of expression, while his +full-toned voice was capable of sounding every gradation of feeling. +He died in 1891, three months after his enthronization in York +Minster. + + + + +MAGEE + +1821-1891 + +THE MIRACULOUS STILLING OF THE STORM + + _Lord, save us: we perish.... Then he arose, and rebuked the + winds and the sea; and there was a great calm_.--Matt. viii., + 25, 26. + + +The story of this miracle reveals to us Christ entering into peril +together with His Church. It records for us her faith and her +prayer. It reveals to us His presence and His power. That faith has +been her faith, that prayer has been her prayer, from that hour +until now. In all the long perilous voyage of the Church from that +hour, never has she unlearned yet her first prayer; never has she +become entirely unconscious of her Lord. Sometimes with a great and +a fearless faith that defied the most terrible tempests, sometimes +with a little and a timid faith, that shrank from the first ripple +upon the deep, but ever with her real faith have Christ's Church and +Christ's disciples turned in the hour of their tribulation to seek +their Lord. And never has that prayer been said in vain. Never from +the Church at large, or from the solitary disciple in his terror, +has that prayer gone up without an answer. Never has the eye of +faith sought, and sought in vain, the Savior. Ever has the praying +Church or the praying disciple found the still present Christ; and +we believe that it is so now. We believe that Christ our Lord is +here in the midst of us now, and that our eye of faith may see Him, +and our prayer of faith may reach Him. And if this be so now--if +Christ's presence be a real fact amongst us now, and our prayer have +really a might to reveal that presence--then, above all things, it +concerns us, that we understand the nature of that prayer, and the +manner of that presence, that we understand what it is we mean, and +what will come of it when we say: "Lord, save us, or we perish." + +We ask you, then, to-night, brethren, to consider these two things: +the meaning of the Church's prayer; the manner of her Lord's +presence. Now, when we use these words: "Lord, save: we perish," +we are really rehearsing two articles of our belief. We are +declaring, first of all, that we believe there is a Lord--that in +the visible world there is an invisible God with His overruling, +and controlling, and appointing will; and, in the next place, we +believe that this God is our Lord Jesus Christ. In the first of +these, we Christians agree with every religion that ever has been. +In the second, we differ from all other religions. When we say that +above nature there is a will and a personality, we say what every +religion says. Religion is nothing else than the belief in the +supernatural, in something above nature, in a person, in a will; and +prayer is nothing but the speech of our spirit to that will, and the +submission of our will to it. Prayer is the effort of the spirit +of man to rise above the visible up to the region of the invisible +and the personal, there to speak out his care or his need. There +can, therefore, be no prayer without this element of religion; and +there can be no religion without this fact of prayer. Without it, +you have philosophy, you may have sentiment; but you cannot have a +real, practical, every-day religion. And, therefore, all religions +have believed in a God or gods, a Lord or lords. Turk, Jew, heathen, +in like case, would have said to some lord or other: "Save, or we +perish." But the Christian believes something more. He believes that +his Lord has come down amongst men; that He has taken to Him human +flesh, and lived a human life, and died, and risen again, for his +salvation. He worships not only a lord, but the incarnate Lord; and +so the Church speaks her twofold faith in her great hymn from the +first to Christ as God: "We praise Thee, O God; we acknowledge Thee +to be the Lord"--Thee, and none other, to be the God, and Thee to +be the Lord, and Ruler, and Master of all things. You see, then, +that there is something different in Christian prayer from all other +prayer and worship, and that the difference consists in this: that +it is distinctively and avowedly the prayer to an incarnate Christ. + +Now, if there be this difference between this prayer and all other +prayer, then there must be a corresponding difference in the +feelings and in the practical results of such a religion; and I am +about to ask you now to follow me while I endeavor to trace for you +this difference between Christian prayer and all other prayer. It +seems as if the story in the gospel of this miracle exactly sets +out this difference--exactly shows us the distinctive nature of +Christian prayer. The story, you observe, divides itself, naturally, +into three parts. There is, first of all, the voyage before the +storm; there is, then, the storm; and there is, then, the miraculous +stilling of the storm. Now, you observe that in each of these three +parts, we have one thing in common. We have man, in some way or +other, encountering, or encountered by, the outward and visible +world. The third of these--the stilling of the storm--differs from +the other two in this, that it is miraculous and supernatural. Now, +let us, for a moment, leave out this third part. There are some, you +know, who say, that we should always leave it out, and be better +without it. Let us leave out, then, this third or miraculous part of +the story; and let us contrast the first and the second parts. And +what have we got? We have got a most remarkable contrast between +the two scenes. What is it we see in the first scene? We see a man +subduing nature. It was by the knowledge of the elements and the +laws of nature, that man learned thus to sail upon the deep; and in +that one fact you have represented for you the whole of the material +progress of humanity--all the triumphs of science, all the glory and +the beauty of art, all that marvelous mastery that man obtains by +his inventive and creative will over the secret powers of nature, as +he unlocks them one by one, and compels her to tell him her deepest +mysteries--all that man has done as he has advanced from horizon to +horizon of discovery, finding still new worlds to conquer, until +we stand amazed at our own progress and the infinity of it, and we +say of man: "What manner of being is this, that even the winds and +the sea obey him?" Yes, there is the man the lord of nature. There +is nothing supernatural there. All is natural, all is orderly. Man +is lord and master. Nature is man's servant; and, therefore, there +seems no room, there seems no need for prayer. There is nothing, +seemingly, there to be had for the asking; there is everything, +seemingly, there to be had for working. Man is to be seen walking in +the garden of his own planting and his own fencing; and he reaches +out hands to unforbidden fruits of knowledge; and he believes that +at last he shall gather even of the tree of life. He is a god unto +himself, and he sees no need for prayer. + +And now we turn to the second scene, and what have we there? We have +the direct contrast with this scene. We have there, not man subduing +nature, but nature subduing man. We have the storm in which the +elements are man's masters and not his servants; and he that one +minute before was the boasting lord of nature is its toy and its +sport. The very foam upon the crest of those billows is not more +helpless in the grasp of the elements than the lord and the king of +them; and they toss him to and fro, as the wind drives the stubble +in the autumn. This is the terrible aspect of nature. This is nature +in her might, and in her majesty, and in her pitilessness, and in +her capriciousness--when nature seems everything, and man, in her +awful presence, dwindles and dwarfs into very nothingness--when +man, in the presence of the vastness of her solitude, and the +might of her storms, and the terror of her earthquakes, seems no +more before her, with his little cares and his sorrows, than the +wee bubbles upon the head of the cataract. This is nature as she +masters man. Is it, then, any wonder that, in the early struggles of +mankind with this terrible visible power of the creature, men came +to worship the creature--that they ascribed to every one of these +powers a divinity, that in the voice of the wind, and in the roar +of the sea, and in the raging of the fire, they saw the signs of +a divine presence, and they said to these elements: "Spare us," or +"Save us, or else we perish"? And so all creation became peopled +with gods--cruel gods, capricious gods, vengeful gods, gods whom +men bribed with blood, gods whom, even while they bribed them, they +could not love, and did not believe that they loved them. This is +the first and most terrible form of creature worship; this was the +idolatry of the heathen. But mark this, that such a worship as this +could not continue forever, could not continue long, because it is +the worship of ignorance; it is the belief in the supernatural, +only because it confuses the unknown with the supernatural. Ever as +science advances must this faith melt away. Ever must the domain +of the known push itself forward into the domain of the unknown. +Ever does the man of science take one by one the gods of the man +of superstition and break them upon their pedestals, and tell him +this: "What you worship is no god. What you worship is no lord. It +is not your lord. It is a servant of yours; and I class it in this +or that rank of your servants." So, one by one, like ghosts and +fantoms in the dawning of the day--one by one, the fantoms of gods +that haunted the night of the old world vanish before the dawn of +knowledge. But then it is a terrible daylight that breaks on men--a +blank, dreary world in which men have no sight of the invisible, no +sense of the supernatural. It is that last and most terrible aspect +of nature, when she appears, not as many gods, or many wills, but as +the great soulless piece of mechanism, of which we are only part--a +terrible machinery in which we are, somehow or other, involved, and +in the presence of which the sense of our free-will leaves us. The +pith, and the manhood, and the vigor of men, and the beauty and the +freedom of their life die out of them as they stand appalled before +this passionless, this terrible, this awful face of a soulless +world. This is the last and the most terrible form of creature +worship. And mark this, that between these two aspects of nature, +if you have no assured faith, there is no logical resting-place. +Without the act of faith, you must take your choice between the +superstition of ignorance or the atheism of knowledge. + +And now we have seen these, we turn to the third portion of our +story; and what is that we see there? We see, again, in this world +of men, the miraculous and the supernatural. We hear a prayer, +and we see a miracle. In the face of the might of nature and the +terrors of her elements there arises up a Man in answer to man's +cry--there is heard a Man's voice, which is yet the voice of God; +and it rebukes the winds and the sea, and the elements of nature own +their real Lord; and immediately there is a great calm. What is +it, then, that we see? We see a miracle, and a miracle that answers +to prayer; we see the living spirits of living men, in the hour of +their agony and their distress, appealing from nature to the God of +nature; and we have recorded the answer of God to man's prayer. The +answer is, that God is Lord both of man and of nature; and we say, +therefore, that the miracle, and the miracle alone, sufficiently +justifies the prayer. We say that the reason why men may pray is, +and can only be, that they know and believe, that there is a will +which rules the visible. If you have not this belief, then believe +us that all prayer, whatever men may say about it, is an unreality +and a miserable mockery. To what am I to pray if I see no living +God to pray to? Am I to pray to a law? Am I to pray to a system? Am +I to pray to the winds, or to the waves, as men prayed of old? Am +I to pray for physical blessings and deliverances? Men tell us we +are not to pray, or to give thanks, concerning the rain or fruitful +seasons, for that science has told us that the supernatural has no +place there. Am I to pray then (for men do tell me that I may pray) +only for spiritual and for moral gifts? Am I to pray only to be +made wise, and good, and pure, and true, and holy? Ah! science is +beginning to meet us there, too; for she is telling us, and telling +us loudly, and telling us shamelessly, that here, too, there is no +room, so far as she can tell, for prayer, as our mind is but a part +of our body, and that our spiritual condition is a necessary result +of our past history and of our present temperament--that we are what +we are by virtue of birth and education, and country, and clime, +and other things over which we have no control. And so the very +spirit of man, all that is left of the invisible, vanishes before +the approach of science. The knife of the anatomist lays bare, as +he tells you, the secrets of man's being; and he finds no soul--he +finds only the gray matter of the brain and the white threads of +the nerves; and this is all that is left. Then, if we are not to +pray, may we at least praise? Men say that if it is a folly to pray, +at least it is a wisdom to praise; and they tell us this is the +sentimental theory of the modern gospel. They tell you: "You may +not pray,--prayer has no place in our system,--but you may praise; +you may lift up your heart in hymns of joy and gratitude to the +great Father of your being; you may have festival and flower-crowned +processions in honor of the Supreme Being; yes, you may in fine +weather, when you are sailing over summer seas, and the pleasant +summer wind is filling the sails of your bark, and is wafting sweet +odors from the flower-crowned shores along which youth, and hope, +and joy are passing--then you may lift up your hearts in thanks to +the Father that gave all these, if you do not forget it. But how is +it in foul weather? How is it when the sky above us darkens, and the +white crests of the waves beneath us are swelling sharp and fierce, +and the jagged edges of the rocks are projecting for our shipwreck, +and the wild waste of the waters is yawning below us, and we tremble +and shudder at their depths, and the wild wind blows our prayer +back into our bosoms--is that the time to sing sentimental hymns to +our great supreme Father and Giver of all good? It is a time (thank +God, thank Christ, for this) when the Christian, when the disciple +of Christ, may hold fast his faith and say, "Tho he slay me, yet +will I trust in him"; but it is not a time when the deist has +breath to sing his hymns to the supreme Author of his being. No, we +believe that there is a miracle that justifies, and alone justifies +prayer. We know that there are those (and they are good and wise +men, many of them) who contrive nice adjustments and philosophical +explanations how prayer may be reconciled with universal law. We do +not greatly care for these. They may be right; they may be wrong. +In some future state and higher condition of our being we may know +how far they are true, how far they are false; but, meanwhile, we +need not be too nervously anxious to make room for almighty God to +work His own will in His own world. We believe in the miracle of +creation; we believe that there was once a voice that said, "Let +there be light, and there was light"; we believe that at the sound +of that voice the universe leapt into life; and we believe in the +miracle of the Incarnation, when God took human flesh and dwelt +amongst men; we believe in the miracle of the descent of the Spirit +of God, when, with the miraculous sound of the rushing wind and +the miraculous gleam of the fire, God once more came down to dwell +amongst men; we believe in the miracles that are written for us in +this Book, were they ten times as many as they are; we believe that +the sea has stood on one side like a wall, and that the waters have +gushed forth from the rock; we believe that bread has been rained +from heaven; we believe that a touch has awakened the dead--we +believe all this; and, because we believe it, we believe the voice +when it says to us, "Pray"; and because we hear that voice still +amongst us, and because we know it to be the same voice, we say, as +we hear it, "Lord, save, or we perish." + +But still, in the last place, it may be said to us: If you do +believe that there is this power of miracle amongst you still, and +that it will answer to your prayer, why is it that we do not see +more miracles than we do? Why is not the world filled with strange +miracles every day, considering the infinite number of men's needs, +and the infinite number of human prayers? My brethren, it does seem +to me that if we were merely deists, and did not believe in Christ, +it would be difficult for us to answer this objection. The spirit +of man has, however (thanks be to God for it), in all ages been +deeper and truer in its instincts than his mere logical power. Even +the deist (and we thankfully acknowledge it), tho inconsistently +and illogically, yet really and truly prays. For us Christians +there is not any difficulty. There is that difference in our prayer +of which I spoke. To whom is it that we pray? Not merely to the +invisible Lord or Creator of the past, but to the incarnate Lord of +the present. We believe that Christ our Lord, to whom we pray, took +flesh and dwelt amongst us, and we believe that He did so that He +might work the greatest of all miracles--the salvation of the souls +of men; and we believe that He wrought it by dying and by living +again. We believe that He established in the world this great and +miraculous law, that it is possible out of death to bring life--nay, +that death is the way to life. If this be so, that by His death +life was purchased for us, then He teaches us that there is another +life than this, and that there is another death and a deeper death +than that we fear; and He tells us, it may be, that even by dying +we shall be saved, that He will not always save us from death--nay, +that He may save us by death. And so it comes to pass that we +understand how, by losing life, we may miraculously save it; and +yet, on the other hand, by trying to save life, we may naturally +lose it. So we come to understand this fact, how the beginning of +His kingdom was full of miracles, and how, in the history of His +kingdom, miracles have since ceased. The kingdom began with miracles +that He might teach us that He was able to save; the miracles ceased +in order that He might work a greater miracle. The lesser miracle +of ruling nature ceased in order that the greatest of all miracles +might perpetually be wrought--the regeneration, the redemption, and +the glorification of the nature of man. And so we understand that +Christ our Lord, because He is our Lord, may save us, even while +we seem to perish, and to perish in His presence. He saved us of +old by His agony and bloody sweat, by His cross and passion; and +He will save us now, and He does save every child of His. Through +agony and sweating, through cross and passion--through the agony of +our long nights of spiritual darkness, through the sweat of long +days of sore trouble and labor, beneath the weight of sharp and +heavy crosses and sorrow, and through the bitterness of spiritual +or bodily passion, does Christ our Lord still save those who cry +to Him, even while He seems to sleep and not to hear them, as, in +the bitterness of their souls, thinking themselves Christ-forsaken, +they cry, "Our Christ, our Christ, why hast Thou forsaken us? Dost +Thou sleep, Lord? Save us, or we perish." And so you understand +the peculiarity, the blest and the glorious peculiarity, of our +Christian prayer. You understand the meaning of those deep words +of Scripture--patience and the faith of the saints. You understand +how the Christian man may pray and wait, and wait and pray still. +If prayer were always followed by a miraculous answer, then prayer +would be easy enough; or, on the other hand, if there were no +thought of an answer, then it might be possible, tho not easy, to +submit ourselves to the inevitable. But to pray and not to receive +an answer, and yet to believe that the very not receiving is an +answer; to cry, "Save, or we perish," and to seem about to perish; +to believe that in what seems perishing is really salvation; to look +for the living and watchful Christ, and to see what seems only the +living and regardless Christ, and yet to believe that the time will +come when, at His word, there shall be a great calm--this is the +patience, this is the faith of those who worship an incarnate Lord. +And so we trace the history of Christ's Church, and so we strive +to trace the history of our own lives. Comparatively easy it is to +trace the Church's history along her voyage. The Church gives time +for comparing events and testing faith; and so, believing still in +the presence of her living Lord, the litanies of His Church ring +out, as they have ever rung, clearly and loudly, and high above the +roar of the tempest and the rushing of the waters, still the prayer +is heard, "Good Lord, deliver us"; and still, again and again, as +the storm sweeps by, and the Church passes out into calmer waters, +still comes the voice of thanksgiving: "He hath delivered us." +Even in our shorter voyage, are there none of us who can remember +times when we have knelt in agony and wrestled in prayer with the +Savior, who seemed to have forgotten us, when the mighty storm of +temptation and the billows of calamity seemed about to destroy us, +and when we have cried (oh, how men do cry in those storms of the +soul, in those tempests and terrors of the heart), "Lord, save us, +or we perish!" to Him to save us, and He has seemed to sleep and to +refuse to save? But at the last we can remember how He did reveal +Himself, not stilling the raging storm when we would have had Him +still the terrible tempest, not sparing, it may be, the precious +bark that we had rigged, and manned, and launched ourselves with +trembling hopes and loving prayers, and watched with eyes tearless +with agony, as we saw it about to sink before us; and we have +been led to see and believe that the living and the loving Lord +was answering even then our prayer, for the bark has, at length, +entered that haven where we would be, and where the vexed waters of +our voyage never awake a ripple on the calm depths of its eternal +peace. This has been the experience of more than one of this great +multitude that I see. And there is another experience that each one +of you may have: it is when, in the troubles of your own spirit, +when in the agonies of your own grief-stricken heart, when in the +depths of your own repentance, when in the storms of your own fear +and your own doubt, you cry to Christ the Savior--when you bring +your sins as some men bring their sorrows, as anxious to have them +removed as the others--when you cry to Christ your Savior: "Lord, +save me! Save me, a sinner! Save me, an unprayerful man hitherto! +Save me, an unbelieving man hitherto! Save me, not merely from the +hell hereafter, but the present storm and depth of my own sins that +threaten to destroy me! Save me, or I perish!" For, brethren, be +sure of this, sooner or later this will be the experience of every +such vexed and terrified soul--that, after he shall have endured, so +long as his Lord sees good, the terrifying storm and the threatening +deep that drive him in closer and closer search and seeking after +his Lord, then, at last, there will appear the form of the Son of +man, the form of Him who hung upon the cross, that He might for +ever in the world's history work this great and, to Him, dearest +of all miracles; and, at last, He will rebuke the winds and the +waves in that troubled soul, and there will be a great calm--a calm +that may not last for ever, a calm that will not last for ever, for +we have not yet reached the haven of perfect rest, but a calm that +is a foretaste of the eternal rest. And so, praying with all our +hearts to Christ our Lord, setting our will in submission to His +will, pouring out our spirit in prayer to His Spirit, laying bare +our hearts before His pure and loving eyes, through calm and through +storm, praying still that we suffer not death in either, that we +neither rot in the calm nor founder in the storm, praying still for +His presence, praying still for grace to realize that presence, +crying still for that deeper and yet deeper faith which is the +result of more and more constant experience, crying still, "Lord, +save, or we perish," wait in patience and in faith until He shall +send His last messenger in this world, His angel of death, and bid +him for us and in His name rebuke for the last time the winds that +have vexed us, and the waves that have terrified us, and then with +Him for ever there shall be a great calm. + + + + +SEISS + +THE WONDERFUL TESTIMONIES + + + + +BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE + + +Joseph A. Seiss, Lutheran divine, was born in 1823, at Graceham, Md. +He received his theological education as a private pupil of several +clergymen and was first settled over churches at Martinsburg and +Shepherdstown, Va. In 1843 he was transferred to Cumberland, then +to Baltimore, Md., and finally became pastor of St. John's Church, +Philadelphia, and for twelve years was editor of "The Lutheran." He +died in 1904. + + + + +SEISS + +1823-1904 + +THE WONDERFUL TESTIMONIES[1] + + [1] Reprinted by permission of the Literary Trustees of the Dr. + Seiss' Estate. + + _Thy testimonies are wonderful._--Psalms, cxix., 129. + + +The Psalmist here addresses himself to God. The testimonies of +which he speaks are God's testimonies. As collected and arranged in +one book, they are known to us as the Bible. For the contents of +these holy oracles the royal singer expresses his admiration. He +pronounces them "wonderful." + +It was not an unworthy theme with which he was occupied at the +time, neither was it an extravagant opinion which he uttered. It is +impossible that there should be for man a more important subject +than the communications made to him from his God. And if ever there +was a marvelous thing submitted to human inspection, it is this +book, the holy Bible. It lies before us like an ocean, boundless +and unfathomable,--like a Himalayan mountain, whose summit no foot +of man has trod, and whose foundation is in the undiscovered heart +of the world. To make a full survey of it is not possible in the +present condition of the human faculties. Even the inspired Paul, +when he came to look into it, found himself gazing into profundities +at which he could do no more than exclaim, "Oh, the depth of the +riches both of the wisdom and the knowledge of God!" And yet +there are many beautiful shells and pebbles lying on the shore of +this sea, and as many precious flowers blooming on this mountain +side, which any one may gather, and which, whosoever attentively +contemplates, must feel himself impelled to join the admiring +exclamation, "The testimonies of the Lord are wonderful." + +Let us look briefly at a few particulars by which to verify this +declaration, praying that God may open our eyes to behold wondrous +things out of His law. + + +I. The testimonies of the Lord are wonderful in age and preservation. + +The Bible is the oldest of books. Some portions of it are much more +recent than others, but a large part of it has come down from the +remotest antiquity and antedates all other writings in the world. +It contains a journal of events which transpired centuries before +the building of the Pyramids. The book of Job existed before Cadmus +carried letters into Greece. The five books of Moses were read +in holy assemblies two hundred years before Sanchoniathon wrote. +David and Solomon had uttered their sacred songs and prophecies +half a century before Homer enraptured the Greeks with his verses +or Lycurgus had given laws to Lacedæmon. Dozens of the books of +Scripture were complete a hundred years before the first public +library was founded at Athens; and the last of the prophets had +ended his message before Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle had +propounded their philosophies. When the elements of society were but +forming in the womb of the far-distant past, the Bible was there. +When the foundations of earth's present greatness were laid, it was +there. And when we go back to the very beginnings of history, even +there does its hand lead us and its right hand uphold us. + +Nor is it as a mere lifeless fossil that this book has come down +to us from such remote antiquity. Tho hoary with age, its youthful +vigor remains, and its natural force is not abated. It has only +grown fresher with age, and strengthened with every new trial. It +has been at the births and deaths of a hundred mighty nations, +and seen empires rise, flourish, and fall, and coexisted with the +longest lines of earthly kings, and beheld some of the sublimest +monuments of human effort come forth and disappear, and passed a +hundred generations in reaching us; but, withal, it still lives, in +all nations, in all languages, the most precious legacy of departed +ages, and the only thing that remains to us from some of them. +Tho it has encountered many a fierce conflict with the hate of +men and the spite of devils,--tho the object of many a concerted +scheme to blot it from the earth,--tho often held up to ridicule, +with "gigantic apes like Voltaire chattering at it, men of genius +turned by some Circean spell into swine, like Mirabeau and Paine, +casting filth at it, demoniacs whom it had half rescued and half +inspired, like Rousseau, making mouths in its face," and all the +varied passions of unsanctified men continually arrayed against +it,--it still holds its place as the most uncorrupt and authentic +of histories, the most august and controlling of records, the most +universal, venerable, and potent of books, imagining in its very +history the stupendous majesty of the God whom it reveals. + + +II. The testimonies of the Lord are wonderful in their authorship. + +They are not of man, but of God. We can not now refer to the varied +and multitudinous considerations which enter into the proofs of +this. It is capable, however, of being established by the very +highest moral evidences. The wisest and best men of every age have +concurred in receiving the Scriptures as from God. And it is not +possible to give a rational account of their origin, and the source +of their contents, without ascribing them to the divine authorship +which they claim. + +It may seem strange that the infinite God should condescend to +put His great thoughts into the poor language of mortals, to +communicate with creatures so dull and stupid as the sons of men; +but this He has done. Portions of the Scriptures are made up of +the very words of God, articulated by Himself in the hearing of +men commissioned to declare them. One chapter, which embodies the +moral essence of all the rest, was engraven by His own finger upon +tables of rock, and delivered to Moses all ready formed and set +in the alphabetic signs employed by men. Other parts consist of +communications of celestial messengers sent directly from heaven's +throne to declare God's will and purposes to the dwellers upon +earth. A still larger portion was taken down as it fell from the +lips of One in whom God had incarnated Himself, and whose every +word and act in this world was a revelation from the unknown +Deity. Even those parts which were written by men were produced +by mysterious motion and illumination of the Holy Ghost,--by +inspiration of God. Indeed, the whole book is a literary aerolite, +all the characteristics of which are unearthly, and whose own +superior attributes are so many demonstrations of its superhuman +source. Its very address is so far above that of man, that no +mortal, unprompted, could ever have risen to it. Its subjects are +all treated after an unearthly manner. Every leaf of it bears the +sunlight of some higher sphere. Every page has on it the imprimatur +of God. And all its words are instinct with divine fires, flashing +the admonition upon every reader, "Put off thy shoes from off thy +feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground." They +that look upon it look upon expressions of the eternal Spirit. +They that rightly take its lessons drink in living emanations from +unsearchable Godhead. It is the abiding miracle of _rapport_ with +the Mind which projected, upholds, and governs the universe. It is +the Word of God. + + +III. The testimonies of the Lord are wonderful in their originality +and instructiveness. + +The Bible depends upon no discoveries of man, and leans upon no +other books. If it says some things which may be learned elsewhere, +its utterances are always independent and peculiarly its own. +The world through which it ranges is much wider than that of +man's thoughts. It goes back to a remoter antiquity; it takes in +a broader space; it extends to a vaster future; it introduces +to sublimer spheres and forms of being; and it exhibits a much +profounder wisdom. It opens arcana of which no earthly powers ever +dreamed, and is at home in regions where the sublimest imaginings +of man had hardly extended a guess. On all the great questions of +theology, life, death, and futurity, it speaks with a familiarity, +comprehensiveness, and propriety which at once command our +confidence and satisfy our hearts. What it touches, it touches with +a master's hand. It never speaks without pregnant meaning in all its +words. And there is nothing in human science, poetry, or tradition +which it does not exceed in knowledge, wisdom, and real value. + +In its account of the creation, and the origin of things, there is +nothing to compare with it. In all the historians, philosophers, +and secular authors,-the books of Zoroaster, the records of +Phoenicia and Egypt, the Dialogues of Plato and Lucian, the annals +of China, the treatises of Plutarch, the Shastras of India, the +Edda of Scandinavia, and all the schemes that have ever been given +in explanation of the earth's primal history,--there is nothing so +natural, so magnificent, so simple, so appropriate, so reliable, +so satisfactory, as the first chapter of Genesis. Nor have all the +discoveries of modern geology brought forward anything to convict +Moses of a false cosmogony. If it is a truth that the history of +the earth's formation runs back through uncounted ages, he leaves +an interval for it, between "the beginning" and the period when +God caused light to appear upon its dark and misty surface. If it +is true that vast eras have been traversed by each separate order +of living things, one after the other, we find precisely the same +succession in the Mosaic account which is found preserved in the +different layers of the earth's crust. And if it be true that there +was life upon our world ages and cycles of ages before the period +noted in Genesis as that in which man was created, it is also true +that no traces of human existence are found except in the most +recent deposits. A certain stonemason of the village of Cromartie, +with sledge and chisel, himself delved through every formation, from +the surface-mold down through the old red sandstone to the Silurian, +gneiss, and granite, and, having mastered all that is known +concerning each, has written it down as the result of his marvelous +explorations, that the truthfulness of the Mosaic record is engraven +upon the rocks forever. + +And so in every department of science the Bible is always true +to nature, and has invariably been in advance of all human +investigations and discoveries. How many thousands of years have +metaphysicians and psychologists been at work to map out, classify, +and gauge the various capacities and powers of the human mind +and soul! But they have found no way of approach to the heart so +masterly and effective as that taken by the Scriptures; and the more +that is known of the nature of the man, the more clearly is it seen +that the Bible comprehended it from the commencement. It has been +but a few years since Newton laid open the laws of gravitation; and +yet the Scriptures spoke of the earth being hung "upon nothing," +as if familiar with the whole subject, before human science had +begun to form even its feeblest guesses in the case. It has only +been since the invention of the telescope enabled men to search +through the starry spaces that Sir John Herschel has discovered in +the northern sky a peculiar barrenness; but more than three thousand +years ago Job told Bildad the Shuhite that "God stretched out the +north over the empty place." It has been but a few years since +science discovered "that the sun is not the dead center of motion, +around which comets sweep and planets whirl," but that "the earth +and sun, with their splendid retinue of comets, satellites, and +planets, are all in motion around some point or center of attraction +inconceivably remote, and that that point is in the direction of +the star Alcyone, one of the Pleiades"; which would hence seem to +be "the midnight throne" in which the whole system of gravitation +has its central seat and from which all material orbs are governed. +But the Bible asked the question, more than thirty centuries ago, +"Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Pleiades?" as if the +speaker knew all about the facts in the case. How long has it been +since the doctrine of the rotundity of the earth has been settled +by scientific men? yet the Psalmist spoke of "the round world"; and +Solomon described in brief the true theory of wind-currents, and +strongly hinted the circulation of the blood, at least twenty-five +hundred years ago. And, with all the advances of knowledge which +have so wonderfully marked the last three hundred years, in which +the spirit of philosophic inquiry has ranged the universe, searched +heaven, earth, and sea, knocked at every door, peered into every +recess, consulted every oracle of nature, and gathered trophies +of power and treasures of wisdom and sublimities of knowledge at +which the world has been amazed,--in all the motions which the +experimentist has traced, in all the principles of power which the +master of physics has discovered, in all the combinations which the +chemist has detected, in all the forms which the naturalist has +recorded, in all the spiritual phenomena which the metaphysician +has described, and in all the conditions and relations of mind or +matter, past or present, which human research has found out,--there +has not come to light one truth to contradict these holy records, or +to require the relinquishment or change of one word in all the great +volume of Scripture. + + +IV. The testimonies of the Lord are wonderful in beauty and literary +excellence. + +The Bible is a casket of jewelry of the richest hues and the most +exquisite workmanship. Sir William Jones, that great Orientalist +and scholar, has said, "I have regularly and attentively perused +these Holy Scriptures, and am of the opinion that this volume, +independently of its divine origin, contains more true sublimity, +more exquisite beauty, more pure morality, more important history, +and finer strains of poetry and eloquence, than can be collected +from all other books, in whatever age or language they may have +been written." Even Rousseau wrote, "The majesty of the Scriptures +strikes me with admiration. The works of our philosophers, with all +their pomp of diction, how mean, how contemptible, in comparison +with them!" + +Nor does it matter much what part of the Scriptures we take, or in +what department of rhetoric we test them. Whether it be history or +prophecy, the Old Testament or the New, narrative or description, +poetry or prose, the same characteristics are to be seen. Moses +is as pure and simple as Adam and Eve in Paradise, and yet as +majestic and grand as that great creation which he describes. Job +contains a drama which is without a parallel,--a drama of facts +in which heaven and earth, visible and invisible, with all their +wonderful interpenetrations, are set out in their connection with +a suffering saint upon his couch, and in which the spirit of +earnest inquiry urges itself forward until everything comes forth +to declare the majesty of God, and all the might and goodness of +man lies prostrate before Him who "bringeth forth Mazzaroth in his +season" and speaketh comfortably to them that trust in Him. Under +the leadership of David's muse, we pass through varied scenes of +beauty and grandeur,--pastures and glens, still waters and roaring +floods, dismal swamps and silent wildernesses, forests crashing +with the lightnings of God and tempests that convulse the seas, +the smoke and fury of battle and the shoutings of glad multitudes, +by dells of lonely sorrow and along the starry archways of the +sky,--until at length we take our places in a temple high as +heaven and wide as space, with all objects of creation as living +worshipers around us, each with its separate hymn of grateful joy, +blending in one almighty adoration. Isaiah rises upon us like some +"mighty orb of song," whose rays are streaming minstrelsies, that +have thrilled upon the hearts of men for seventy generations, and +which must needs thrill on, unrivaled in their kind, while earth +and time endure. Ezekiel is a very comet of fire, flaming his +impetuous way across the heavens, and, like the living spirits in +his own first vision, going and returning as a flash of lightning. +And throughout,--the Evangelists with their simple story of Jesus, +and Paul in his epistles and orations, and John in his loving +letters and apocalyptic visions,--from the first words, "In the +beginning," onward to the last "amen," we find variety, beauty, +pathos, dignity, sweetness, magnificence, and glory, such as are +contained in no other composition. Here are the sublimest heights +and the profoundest depths, and all the gradations from the one +to the other. From the worm that grovels in the dust, to the +leviathan in the foaming deep, and the supreme archangel, and the +eternal God; from the hyssop on the wall, to the cedars of Lebanon, +and the healing trees which shade life's eternal river; from the +pearl-drops which trickle from the mountain rock, to the noise +of dashing torrents, and the wide waters of the deluge; from the +glowworm under the thorn, to the sun in the heavens, and the great +Father of Lights; from the lone pilgrim to the triumphing host, and +the gathering multitude which no man can number; from the deepest +sorrows of the lost, to the probation scenes of earth and the +seraphic visions of the blest,--there is nothing known to mortals +which God hath not brought into requisition to intensify and adorn +the precious book which He has given to men. As an eloquent preacher +beyond the sea remarks, "He has filled it with marvelous incident +and engaging history, with sunny pictures from Old-World scenery +and affecting anecdotes from patriarchal times. He has replenished +it with stately argument and thrilling verse, and sprinkled it +over with sententious wisdom and proverbial pungency. It has the +gracefulness of high utility; it has the majesty of intrinsic +power; it has the charm of its own sanctity: it never labors, never +strives, but, instinct with great realities and bent on blessed +ends, has all the translucent beauty and unstudied power which you +might expect from its lofty object and all-wise Author." + +Some call these Scriptures dull and uninviting; but there is no +book in being with so many real attractions. There is no classic +equal to it,--no historian like Moses, no poet like Job or Isaiah, +no singer like David, no orator like Paul, no character like Jesus, +and no revelation of God or nature like that which these venerable +pages give. Not without reason has Sir Thomas Browne said, "Were +it of man, I could not choose but say it was the singularest and +superlative piece that hath been extant since the creation. Were +I a pagan, I should not refrain the lecture of it, and can not +but commend the judgment of Ptolemy, that thought not his library +complete without it." + + +V. The testimonies of the Lord are wonderful in their influences and +effects. + +The Bible has been, for three thousand years, one of the greatest +potencies on earth. It has been, and is to this moment, a greater +power than Rome, or Greece, or Babylon ever was. Though it has +not conquered the world, it has advanced further towards it than +Alexander ever did. It has done more to govern and renew the human +heart than all the laws enacted by legislators, and all the maxims +devised by uninspired sages, and all the lessons, apart from itself, +that were ever given to the race. It is the chief stay of a society +which for a thousand years has been the most widespread, the most +important, and the most powerful association on the earth. It has +controlled the religious opinions of a large part of mankind for +nearly forty centuries. It has molded characters and directed the +efforts of men whose lives and labors introduced new eras and shaped +the destinies of nations and turned the course of the world's +entire history. It has begotten and fostered the purest virtue, the +sublimest manhood, the noblest beneficence, the sincerest charity, +the tenderest kindness, and all the blessed saintship, that have +ever been upon earth. + +Its vast influence upon the welfare of nations may be estimated in +part from the bloody codes, and infamous administrations, and social +degradations, and far-reaching wretchedness, of those countries +where it is rejected or unknown, contrasted with the blessedness +and peace of those who have received it. It was the great Milton +who said, "There are no politics like those which the Scriptures +teach"; and in proof we need only look at Judea when it knew no laws +but those which this book contains. How smooth and steady were the +wheels of public justice, and how beautiful was the flow of national +peace, in those golden days of the old Hebrew commonwealth! How did +the joyous vines, and fields of waving ears, and gold of Ophir, +and flocks and cattle abiding on a thousand hills, and cities full +of peace and plenty, proclaim abroad the wealth and blessedness of +that goodly land! How did the voice of singing and the fragrance of +virtue linger round each habitation, and the sacrifices of praise +crowd all the temple's courts from tribes rejoicing in the smiles of +God! + +In the sphere of learning and thought-creations, also, the influence +of the Bible is equally marked and wonderful. It is to the world of +letters what the sun is to the solar system, the fountain of the +purest light and brightest wisdom. It has produced more books than +any other one thing in existence. It has fostered learning when +there was no other stimulation to its cultivation felt. Even the +heathen classics owe their preservation to it. As a book written in +other times, places, and languages, it has called forth the most +laboriously compiled lexicons, grammars, and works on archeology by +which the world of the present communes with the world of the past. +As a book claiming the faith and obedience of men, it has created a +world of learned apology, comment, and exposition, and some of the +noblest specimens of argument, eloquence, and appeal which are known +to man. And, simply as a book among books, it has wrought wondrously +upon the thoughts and productions of authors of all classes. The +Visions of Dante are largely drawn from it. Every canto of the +Faerie Queene bears the impress of its influence. Milton's matchless +songs of Paradise are from an inspiration which the Bible alone +could give. From the same source came the immortal dream of Bunyan, +the Pauline reasonings of Barrow, the flaming zeal of Richard +Baxter, the "molten wealth" and "lava of gold and gems" which poured +down "the russet steep of Puritan theology," the songs of Cowper, +and "Thoughts" of Young, and visions of Pollok, and mighty eloquence +of the Luthers, the Knoxes, the Massillons, the Whitefields, and the +Halls. Addison, and Thomson, and Burke, and Dryden, and Wordsworth, +and Coleridge, and Southey, and Campbell, and Goethe, all are vastly +indebted to the Scriptures for whatever excellences are found in +their works. Shakespeare drew largely from this same precious mine, +and also even Hobbes, and Shelley, and Byron. That prince of modern +orators, Daniel Webster, once said, "If there be anything in my +style or thoughts to be commended, the credit is due to my kind +parents in instilling into my mind an early love of the Scriptures." +Indeed, if we were to destroy the Bible, and take from the world +of literature and thought all that it has contributed directly or +indirectly, half the history of the race would be swept out of mind, +the noblest ideas that have swelled man's heart would be gone, +some of the proudest monuments of human genius would be buried +in oblivion, and thick darkness would settle down upon the world +forever. + + +VI. The testimonies of the Lord are wonderful as a fountain of +consolation, hope and salvation. + +The Bible to all its other excellences adds this, that it is the +Book of Life. It is not only a basket of silver network, but it +contains apples of gold. It is the record of glad tidings to a +perishing world, a message of joy to all people. In it, Wisdom +hath mingled her wine, and slain her fatlings, and furnished her +table, and calls all the hungry and needy to come and partake. The +entrance of its words giveth light and imparteth understanding +to the simple, and maketh wise unto salvation. It is a balm from +Gilead for the sick, oil for the bruises of the wounded, reprieve +for the prison-bound, and bread for them that are ready to perish. +Its different books are but so many angels of mercy, carrying +contentment into the abodes of poverty, enabling even the children +of want to lift up their eyes to God who ordereth all things well, +and to eat their scanty meals in peace; staying the hearts of the +persecuted and opprest, causing them to rejoice and sing under the +yoke, at the stake, and in the hottest of the fires, as on their +passage-way to crowns immortal in the world to come; calming the +minds of the fevered, mollifying where all earthly medicines fail, +and kindling glad hopes of recompense yet to be revealed; lighting +up comforts in the breasts of those that mourn for their dead, and +assuring them of blessed reunions in a better life; and kindling +even the dying eye and inspiring the dying heart with thoughts of +speedy triumph, causing lips already closed for death to open once +more in utterances of victory. + +We may talk of the venerable age of the Bible, and its scientific +accuracy, and its literary beauty and sublimity, and its wonderful +influences upon the ideas, laws, governments, and general order of +society and mankind; but it is all nothing in comparison with the +spiritual good and immortal hopes and consolations which it begets +in those who receive it as a message from their God. Are we voyagers +upon a troubled and a dangerous sea? Here is a chart by which to +steer in safety to the happy shores. Are we soldiers, beset with +foes and required to endure the shocks of battle? This is an armory +from which all needed weapons may be drawn at will, and by the right +use of which we may hew our way to immortal triumph. Are we pilgrims +and strangers, worn and weary in our search for the home from which +we are exiles? In this book gush out the pure, fresh waters of +life, the cooling shades from the Rock of salvation appear, and +the guiding word is heard from pilgrims in advance, to cheer and +encourage us till we reach the mansion of our Father. Indeed, it is +beyond the power of language to express the excellency and richness +of spiritual treasure which we have in this holy Book. It is the +miraculous cruse of the Shunamitess which never exhausts. It is the +wand of Moses which swallows the serpents of life, and parts the sea +of trouble, and brings forth waters in the thirsty wilderness. It +is the ladder of Jacob on which our spirits ascend to commune with +God and angels. It is the telescope of faith by which we look on +things invisible, survey even the third heavens, and have present to +our view what is to be in after-ages. It is the chariot of Elijah +in which to ride up the starry way to immortality unhurt of death. +It is the channel of the almighty Spirit as it goes forth for the +sanctification of the race,--the very gulf-stream of eternal life as +it pours out for the resuscitation of our wilted and decaying world. + +Allusion has been made to the dreadful eclipse it would be to the +world of letters and thought, for the Bible, and what it has done +for man, to be blotted out. But that were nothing to the moral and +spiritual night that would go along with such a calamity. Besides +carrying away with it a vast proportion of the intellectual and +moral life of the last eighteen centuries, it would silence every +preacher of salvation, and abolish at once his office and his text. +It would stop every work of mercy and plan of philanthropy in the +world. + +It would transmute into a lie all our fond anticipations of the +return of Jesus to renew the world, restore our dead, complete our +salvation, and bring us to an eternal heaven. It would hush forever +the glad tidings with which men have comforted themselves for these +many weary ages. It would put out the mother's hopes of her dead +babes, quench the wife's fond desires for her husband's everlasting +peace, destroy the widow's consolation as she lingers by the grave +of her buried love, and extinguish the matron's last comfort as she +trembles on the verge of eternity. + +It would take with it all the reliefs and blessedness which prayer +in the name of Jesus gives, and leave the sinner without pardon +in the extremities of life. It would take away the last appeal of +the slave against his oppressor, remove the last check of tyranny, +and lift from the wicked hearts of men the last restraints, +giving carnival to every lust and play to every passion, without +correction, without limit, and without end! + +We stagger, and are horrified, at the mere idea of the loss that +would be inflicted. Chills run down our pulses at the contemplation +of the despair and wretchedness which would ensue. + +Let us, then, learn to value the possession of such a precious +book. Let us bind it to our hearts as our chief treasure in this +sin-darkened world. And, whilst we admire its beauty and revere its +mysteries, let us abide by its precepts, and, as far as in us lies, +practise its sacred mandates. + + + + +MACLAREN + +THE PATTERN OF SERVICE + + + + +BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE + + +ALEXANDER MACLAREN was born in 1826, educated at Glasgow University, +for twelve years preached at Southampton, and afterwards for many +years in Manchester. Besides an impressive face and figure he +brought to the pulpit a ripe scholarship, an almost perfect English +style, and an uncommonly vigorous personality. The keynote of +his life and character is disclosed in his own words, uttered in +Manchester: + +"I have been so convinced that I was best serving all the varied +social, economical, and political interests that are dear to me +by preaching what I conceived to be the gospel of Jesus Christ, +that I have limited myself to that work. I am sure, with a growing +conviction day by day, that so we Christian ministers best serve our +generation. My work, whatever yours may be, is, and has been for +thirty-eight years, and I hope will be for a little while longer +yet, to preach Jesus Christ as the King of England and the Lord of +all our communities, and the Savior and friend of the individual +soul." + + + + +MACLAREN + +BORN IN 1826 + +THE PATTERN OF SERVICE[2] + + [2] From "The Secret of Power, and Other Sermons," published by Funk + & Wagnalls Company. + + _He touched his tongue; and looking up to heaven, He sighed, and + saith, Ephphatha, that is, Be opened._--Mark vii., 33, 34. + + +For what reason was there this unwonted slowness in Christ's healing +works? For what reason was there this unusual emotion ere He spoke +the word which cleansed? + +As to the former question, a partial answer may perhaps be that our +Lord is here on half-heathen ground, where aids to faith were much +needed, and His power had to be veiled that it might be beheld. +Hence the miracle is a process rather than an act; and, advancing +as it does by distinct stages, is conformed in appearance to men's +works of mercy, which have to adapt means to ends, and creep to +their goal by persevering toil. As to the latter, we know not why +the sight of this one poor sufferer should have struck so strongly +on the ever-tremulous chords of Christ's pitying heart; but we do +know that it was the vision brought before His spirit by this +single instance of the world's griefs and sicknesses, in which mass, +however, the special case before Him was by no means lost, that +raised His eyes to heaven in mute appeal, and forced the groan from +His breast. + +The missionary spirit is but one aspect of the Christian spirit. +We shall only strengthen the former as we invigorate the latter. +Harm has been done, both to ourselves and to this great cause, by +seeking to stimulate compassion and efforts for heathen lands by +the use of other excitements, which have tended to vitiate even the +emotions they have aroused, and are apt to fail us when we need +them most. It may therefore be profitable if we turn to Christ's +own manner of working, and His own emotions in His merciful deeds, +set forth in this remarkable narrative, as containing lessons for +us in our missionary and evangelistic work. I must necessarily omit +more than a passing reference to the slow process of healing which +this miracle exhibits. But that, too, has its teaching for us, who +are so often tempted to think ourselves badly used, unless the +fruit of our toil grows up, like Jonah's gourd, before our eyes. If +our Lord was content to reach His end of blessing step by step, we +may well accept patient continuance in well-doing as the condition +indispensable to reaping in due season. + +But there are other thoughts still more needful which suggest +themselves. Those minute details which this evangelist ever delights +to give of our Lord's gestures, words, looks, and emotions, not only +add graphic force to the narrative, but are precious glimpses of the +very heart of Christ. That fixed gaze into heaven, that groan which +neither the glories seen above nor the conscious power to heal could +stifle, that most gentle touch, as if removing material obstacles +from the deaf ears, and moistening the stiff tongue that it might +move more freely in the parched mouth, that word of authority +which could not be wanting even when His working seemed likest a +servant's, do surely carry large lessons for us. The condition of +all service, the cost of feeling at which our work must be done, the +need that the helpers should identify themselves with the sufferers, +and the victorious power of Christ's word over all deaf ears--these +are the thoughts which I desire to connect with our text, and to +commend to your meditation to-day. + +We have here set forth the foundation and condition of all true work +for God in the Lord's heavenward look. + +The profound questions which are involved in the fact that, as +man, Christ held communion with God in the exercise of faith and +aspiration, the same in kind as ours, do not concern us here. I +speak to those who believe that Jesus is for us the perfect example +of complete manhood, and who therefore believe that He is "the +leader of faith," the head of the long procession of those who in +every age have trusted in God and been lightened. But, perhaps, tho +that conviction holds its place in our creeds, it has not been as +completely incorporated with our thoughts as it should have been. +There has, no doubt, been a tendency, operating in much of our +evangelical teaching, and in the common stream of orthodox opinion, +to except, half unconsciously, the exercises of the religious life +from the sphere of Christ's example, and we need to be reminded +that Scripture presents His vow, "I will put my trust in Him," as +the crowning proof of His brotherhood, and that the prints of His +kneeling limbs have left their impressions where we kneel before +the throne. True, the relation of the Son to the Father involves +more than communion--namely, unity. But if we follow the teaching +of the Bible, we shall not presume that the latter excludes the +former, but understand that the unity is the foundation of perfect +communion, and the communion the manifestation, so far as it can be +manifested, of the unspeakable unity. The solemn words which shine +like stars--starlike in that their height above us shrinks their +magnitude and dims their brightness, and in that they are points +of radiance partially disclosing, and separated by, abysses of +unlighted infinitude--tell us that in the order of eternity, before +creatures were, there was communion, for "the Word was with God," +and there was unity, for "the Word was God." And in the records of +the life manifested on earth the consciousness of unity loftily +utters itself in the unfathomable declaration, "I and my Father are +one"; whilst the consciousness of communion, dependent like ours +on harmony of will and true obedience, breathes peacefully in the +witness which He leaves to Himself: "The Father has not left me +alone for I do always the things that please him." + +We are fully warranted in supposing that that wistful gaze to heaven +means, and may be taken to symbolize, our Lord's conscious direction +of thought and spirit to God as He wrought His work of mercy. There +are two distinctions to be noted between His communion with God and +ours before we can apply the lesson to ourselves. His heavenward +look was not the renewal of interrupted fellowship, but rather, as a +man standing firmly on firm rock may yet lift his foot to plant it +again where it was before, and settle himself in his attitude before +he strikes with all his might; so we may say Christ fixes Himself +where He always stood, and grasps anew the hand that He always held, +before He does the deed of power. The communion that had never been +broken was renewed; how much more the need that in our work for God +the renewal of the--alas! too sadly sundered--fellowship should +ever precede and always accompany our efforts! And again, Christ's +fellowship was with the Father. Ours must be with the Father through +the Son. The communion to which we are called is with Jesus Christ, +in whom we find God. + +The manner of that intercourse, and the various discipline of +ourselves with a view to its perfecting, which Christian prudence +prescribes, need not concern us here. As for the latter, let us not +forget that a wholesome and wide-reaching self-denial cannot be +dispensed with. Hands that are full of gilded toys and glass beads +cannot grasp durable riches, and eyes that have been accustomed to +glaring lights see only darkness when they look up to the violet +heaven with all its stars. As to the former, every part of our +nature above the simply animal is capable of God, and the communion +ought to include our whole being. + +Christ is truth for the understanding, authority for the will, love +for the heart, certainty for the hope, fruition for all the desires, +and for the conscience at once cleansing and law. Fellowship with +Him is no indolent passiveness, nor the luxurious exercise of +certain emotions, but the contact of the whole nature with its sole +adequate object and rightful Lord. + +Such intercourse, brethren, lies at the foundation of all work for +God. It is the condition of all our power. It is the measure of all +our success. Without it we may seem to realize the externals of +prosperity, but it will be all illusion. With it we may perchance +seem to spend our strength for naught; but heaven has its surprizes; +and those who toiled, nor left their hold of their Lord in all their +work, will have to say at last with wonder, as they see the results +of their poor efforts, "Who hath begotten me these? behold, I was +left alone; these, where had they been?" + +Consider in few words the manifold ways in which the indispensable +prerequisite of all right effort for Christ may be shown to be +communion with Christ. + +The heavenward look is the renewal of our own vision of the calm +verities in which we trust, the recourse for ourselves to the +realities which we desire that others should see. And what is equal +in persuasive power to the simple utterance of your own intense +conviction? He only will infuse his own religion into other minds, +whose religion is not a set of hard dogmas, but is fused by the heat +of personal experience into a river of living fire. It will flow +then, not otherwise. The only claim which the hearts of men will +listen to, in those who would win them to spiritual beliefs, is that +ancient one: "That which we have seen with our eyes, which we have +looked upon, declare we unto you." Mightier than all arguments, +than all "proofs of the truth of the Christian religion," and +penetrating into a sphere deeper than that of the understanding, +is the simple proclamation, "We have found the Messias." If we +would give sight to the blind, we must ourselves be gazing into +heaven. Only when we testify of that which we see, as one might who, +standing in a beleaguered city, discerned on the horizon the filmy +dust-cloud through which the spear-heads of the deliverers flashed +at intervals, shall we win any to gaze with us till they too behold +and know themselves set free. + +Christ has set us the example. Let our prayers ascend as His did, +and in our measure the answers which came to Him will not fail us. +For us, too, "praying, the heavens" shall be "opened," and the +peace-bringing spirit fall dove-like on our meek hearts. For us, +too, when the shadow of our cross lies black and gaunt upon our +paths, and our souls are troubled, communion with heaven will bring +the assurance, audible to our ears at least, that God will glorify +Himself even in us. If, after many a weary day, we seek to hold +fellowship with God as He sought it on the Mount of Olives, or among +the solitudes of the midnight hills, or out in the morning freshness +of the silent wilderness, like Him we shall have men gathering +around us to hear us speak when we come forth from the secret place +of the Most High. If our prayer, like His, goes before our mighty +deeds, the voice that first pierced the skies will penetrate the +tomb, and make the dead stir in their grave-clothes. If our longing, +trustful look is turned to the heavens, we shall not speak in vain +on earth when we say, "Be opened." + +Brethren, we cannot do without the communion which our Master +needed. Do we delight in what strengthened Him? Does our work rest +upon the basis of inward fellowship with God which underlay His? +Alas! that our pattern should be our rebuke, and the readiest way to +force home our faults on our consciences should be the contemplation +of the life which we say that we try to copy! + +We have here pity for the evils we would remove set forth by the +Lord's sigh. + +What was it that drew that sigh from the heart of Jesus? One poor +man stood before Him, by no means the most sorely afflicted of the +many wretched ones whom He healed. But He saw in him more than a +solitary instance of physical infirmities. Did there not roll darkly +before His thoughts that whole weltering sea of sorrow that moans +round the world, of which here is but one drop that He could dry +up? Did there not rise black and solid against the clear blue, to +which He had been looking, the mass of man's sin, of which these +bodily infirmities were but a poor symbol as well as a consequence? +He saw as none but He could bear to see, the miserable realities +of human life. His knowledge of all that man might be, of all that +the most of men were becoming, His power of contemplating in one +awful aggregate the entire sum of sorrows and sins, laid upon His +heart a burden which none but He has ever endured. His communion +with Heaven deepened the dark shadow on earth, and the eyes that +looked up to God and saw Him could not but see foulness where others +suspected none, and murderous messengers of hell walking in darkness +unpenetrated by mortal sight. And all that pain of clearer knowledge +of the sorrowfulness of sorrow, and the sinfulness of sin, was laid +upon a heart in which was no selfishness to blunt the sharp edge +of the pain nor any sin to stagnate the pity that flowed from the +wound. To Jesus Christ, life was a daily martyrdom before death had +"made the sacrifice complete," and He bore our griefs, and carried +our sorrows through many a weary hour before He "bare them in his +own body on the tree." Therefore, "Bear ye one another's burden, and +so fulfil the law" which Christ obeyed, becomes a command for all +who would draw men to Him. And true sorrow, a sharp and real sense +of pain, becomes indispensable as preparation for, and accompaniment +to, our work. + +Mark how in us, as in our Lord, the sigh of compassion is connected +with the look to heaven. It follows upon that gaze. The evils are +more real, more terrible, by their startling contrast with the +unshadowed light which lives above cloudracks and mists. It is +a sharp shock to turn from the free sweep of the heavens, starry +and radiant, to the sights that meet us in "this dim spot which +men call earth." Thus habitual communion with God is the root of +the truest and purest compassion. It does not withdraw us from our +fellow feeling with our brethren, it cultivates no isolation for +undisturbed beholding of God. It at once supplies a standard by +which to measure the greatness of man's godlessness, and therefore +of his gloom, and a motive for laying the pain of these upon our +hearts, as if they were our own. He has looked into the heavens to +little purpose who has not learned how bad and how sad the world now +is, and how God bends over it in pitying love. + +And that same fellowship, which will clear our eyes and soften +our hearts, is also the one consolation which we have when our +sense of all the ills that flesh is heir to becomes deep, near +to despair. When one thinks of the real facts of human life, and +tries to conceive of the frightful meanness and passion and hate +and wretchedness, that has been howling and shrieking and gibbering +and groaning through dreary millenniums, one's brain reels, and +hope seems to be absurdity, and joy a sin against our fellows, as +a feast would be in a house next door to where was a funeral. I do +not wonder at settled sorrow falling upon men of vivid imagination, +keen moral sense, and ordinary sensitiveness, when they brood long +on the world as it is. But I do wonder at the superficial optimism +which goes on with its little prophecies about human progress, and +its rose-colored pictures of human life, and sees nothing to strike +it dumb for ever in men's writhing miseries, blank failures, and +hopeless end. Ah! brethren, if it were not for the heavenward look, +how could we bear the sight of earth! "We see not yet all things put +under him." No, God knows, far enough off from that. Man's folly, +man's submission to the creatures he should rule, man's agonies, and +man's transgression, are a grim contrast to the psalmist's vision. +If we had only earth to look to, despair of the race, exprest in +settled melancholy apathy, or in fierce cynicism, were the wisest +attitude. But there is more within our view than earth; "we see +Jesus"; we look to the heaven, and as we behold the true man, we see +more than ever, indeed, how far from that pattern we all are; but we +can bear the thought of what men as yet have been, when we see that +perfect example of what men shall be. The root and the consolation +of our sorrow for man's evils is communion with God. + +We have here loving contact with those whom we would help, set forth +in the Lord's touch. + +The reasons for the variety observable in Christ's method of +communicating supernatural blessing were, probably, too closely +connected with unrecorded differences in the spiritual conditions of +the recipients to be distinctly traceable by us. But tho we cannot +tell why a particular method was employed in a given case, why now a +word, and now a symbolic action, now the touch of His hand, and now +the hem of His garment, appeared to be the vehicles of His power, we +can discern the significance of these divers ways, and learn great +lessons from them all. + +His touch was sometimes obviously the result of what one may venture +to call instinctive tenderness, as when He lifted the little +children in His arms and laid His hands upon their heads. It was, I +suppose, always the spontaneous expression of love and compassion, +even when it was something more. + +The touch of His hand on the ghastly glossiness of the leper's skin +was, no doubt, His assertion of priestly functions, and of elevation +above all laws of defilement; but what was it to the poor outcast, +who for years had never felt the warm contact of flesh and blood? It +always indicated that He Himself was the source of healing and life. +It always exprest His identification of Himself with sorrow and +sickness. So that it is in principle analogous to, and may be taken +as illustrative of, that transcendent act whereby He became flesh, +and dwelt among us. Indeed, the very word by which our Lord's taking +the blind man by the hand is described in the chapter following our +text is that employed in the Epistle to the Hebrews when, dealing +with the true brotherhood of Jesus, the writer says, "He took not +hold of angels, but of the seed of Abraham he taketh hold." Christ's +touch is His willing contact with man's infirmities and sins, that +He may strengthen and hallow. + +And the lesson is one of universal application. Wherever men would +help their fellows, this is a prime requisite, that the would-be +helper should come down to the level of those whom he desires to +aid. If we wish to teach, we must stoop to think the scholar's +thoughts. The master who has forgotten his boyhood will have poor +success. If we would lead to purer emotions, we must try to enter +into the lower feelings which we labor to elevate. It is of no use +to stand at the mouth of the alleys we wish to cleanse, with our +skirts daintily gathered about us, and smelling-bottle in hand, to +preach homilies on the virtue of cleanliness. We must go in among +the filth, and handle it, if we want to have it cleared away. The +degraded must feel that we do not shrink from them, or we shall do +them no good. The leper, shunned by all, and ashamed of himself +because everybody loathes him, hungers in his hovel for the grasp of +a hand that does not care for defilement, if it can bring cleansing. +Even in regard to common material helps the principle holds good. +We are too apt to cast our doles to the poor like the bones to +a dog, and then to wonder at what we are pleased to think men's +ingratitude. A benefit may be so conferred as to hurt more than a +blow; and we cannot be surprized if so-called charity which is given +with contempt and a sense of superiority, should be received with +a scowl, and chafe a man's spirit like a fetter. Such gifts bless +neither him who gives nor him who takes. We must put our hearts +into them, if we would win hearts by them. We must be ready, like +our Master, to take blind beggars by the hand, if we would bless or +help them. The despair and opprobrium of our modern civilization, +the gulf growing wider and deeper between Dives and Lazarus, between +Belgravia and Whitechapel, the mournful failure of legalized help, +and of delegated efforts to bridge it over, the darkening ignorance, +the animal sensuousness, the utter heathenism that lives in every +town of England, within a stone's throw of Christian houses, and +near enough to hear the sound of public worship, will yield to +nothing but that sadly forgotten law which enjoins personal contact +with the sinful and the suffering, as one chief condition of raising +them from the black mire in which they welter. + +The effect of much well-meant Christian effort is simply to +irritate. People are very quick to catch delicate intonations which +reveal a secret sense, "how much better, wiser, more devout I am +than these people!" and wherever a trace of that appears in our +work, the good of it is apt to be marred. We all know how hackneyed +the charge of spiritual pride and Pharisaic self-complacency is, +and, thank God, how unjust it often is. But averse as men may be to +the truths which humble, and willing as they may be to assume that +the very effort to present these to others on our parts implies a +claim which mortifies, we may at least learn from the threadbare +calumny, what strikes men about our position, and what rouses their +antaganism to us. It is allowable to be taught by our enemies, +especially when it is such a lesson as this, that we must carefully +divest our evangelistic work of apparent pretensions to superiority, +and take our stand by the side of those to whom we speak. We cannot +lecture men into the love of Christ. We can but win them to it by +showing Christ's love to them; and not the least important element +in that process is the exhibition of our own love. We have a gospel +to speak of which the very heart is, that the Son of God stooped +to become one with the lowliest and most sinful; and how can that +gospel be spoken with power unless we, too, stoop like Him? + +We have to echo the invitation, "Learn of me, for I am lowly in +heart"; and how can such divine words flow from lips into which like +grace has not been poured? Our theme is a Savior who shrunk from no +sinner, who gladly consorted with publicans and harlots, who laid +His hand on pollution, and His heart, full of God and of love, on +hearts reeking with sin; and how can our message correspond with our +theme if, even in delivering it, we are saying to ourselves, "The +temple of the Lord are we: this people which knoweth not the law is +curst"? Let us beware of the very real danger which besets us in +this matter, and earnestly seek to make ourselves one with those +whom we would gather into Christ, by actual familiarity with their +condition, and by identification of ourselves in feeling with them, +after the example of that greatest of Christian teachers who became +"all things to all men, that by all means he might gain some"; +after the higher example, which Paul followed, of that dear Lord +who, being highest, descended to the lowest, and in the days of His +humiliation was not content with speaking words of power from afar, +nor abhorred the contact of mortality and disease and loathsome +corruption; but laid His hands upon death, and it lived; upon +sickness, and it was whole; on rotting leprosy, and it was sweet as +the flesh of a little child. + +The same principle might be further applied to our Christian work, +as affecting the form in which we should present the truth. The +sympathetic identification of ourselves with those to whom we try to +carry the gospel will certainly make us wise to know how to shape +our message. Seeing with their eyes, we shall be able to graduate +the light. Thinking their thoughts, and having in some measure +succeeded, by force of sheer community of feeling, in having as it +were got inside their minds, we shall unconsciously, and without +effort, be led to such aspects of Christ's all-comprehensive truth +as they most need. There will be no shooting over people's heads, +if we love them well enough to understand them. There will be no +toothless generalities, when our interest in men keeps their actual +condition and temptations clear before us. There will be no flinging +fossil doctrines at them from a height, as if Christ's blest gospel +were, in another than the literal sense, "a stone of offense," if +we have taken our place on their level. And without such sympathy, +these and a thousand other weaknesses and faults will certainly +vitiate much of our Christian effort. + +We have here the true healing power and the consciousness of +wielding it set forth in the Lord's authoritative word. + +All the rest of His action was either the spontaneous expression of +His true participation in human sorrow, or a merciful veiling of His +glory that sense-bound eyes might see it the better. But the word +was the utterance of His will, and that was omnipotent. The hand +laid on the sick, the blind or the deaf was not even the channel of +His power. The bare putting forth of His energy was all-sufficient. +In these we see the loving, pitying man. In this blazes forth, yet +more loving, yet more compassionate, the effulgence of manifest God. +Therefore so often do we read the very syllables with which His +"voice then shook the earth," vibrating through all the framework of +the material universe. Therefore do the gospels bid us listen when +He rebukes the fever, and it departs; when He says to the demons, +"Go," and they go; when one word louder in its human articulation +than the howling wind hushes the surges; when "Talitha cumi" brings +back the fair young spirit from dreary wanderings among the shades +of death. Therefore was it a height of faith not found in Israel +when the Gentile soldier, whose training had taught him the power of +absolute authority, as heathenism had driven him to long for a man +who would speak with the imperial sway of a god, recognized in His +voice an all-commanding power. From of old, the very signature of +divinity has been declared to be "He spake, and it was done"; and +He, the breath of whose lips could set in motion material changes, +is that eternal Word, by whom all things were made. + +What unlimited consciousness of sovereign dominion sounds in that +imperative from His autocratic lips! It is spoken in deaf ears, but +He knows that it will be heard. He speaks as the fontal source, +not as the recipient channel of healing. He anticipates no delay, +no resistance. There is neither effort nor uncertainty in the curt +command. He is sure that He has power, and He is sure that the power +is His own. + +There is no analogy here between us and Him. Alone, fronting the +whole race of man, He stands--utterer of a word which none can say +after Him, possessor of unshared might, and of His fulness do we all +receive. But even from that divine authority and solitary sovereign +consciousness we may gather lessons not altogether aside from the +purpose of our meeting here to-day. Of His fulness we have received, +and the power of the word on His lips may teach us that of His +word, even on ours, as the victorious certainty with which He spake +His will of healing may remind us of the confidence with which it +becomes us to proclaim His name. + +His will was almighty then. Is it less mighty or less loving now? +Does it not gather all the world in the sweep of its mighty purpose +of mercy? His voice pierced then into the dull cold ear of death, +and has it become weaker since? His word spoken by Him was enough +to banish the foul spirits that run riot, swine-like, in the garden +of God in man's soul, trampling down and eating up its flowers and +fruitage; is the word spoken of Him less potent to cast them out? +Were not all the mighty deeds which He wrought by the breath of +His lips on men's bodies prophecies of the yet mightier which His +Will of love, and the utterance of that Will by stammering lips, +may work on men's souls. Let us not in our faint-heartedness number +up our failures, the deaf that will not hear, the dumb that will +not speak, His praise; nor unbelievingly say Christ's own word was +mighty, but the word concerning Christ is weak on our lips. Not so; +our lips are unclean, and our words are weak, but His word--the +utterance of His loving will that men should be saved--is what it +always was and always will be. We have it, brethren, to proclaim. +Did our Master countenance the faithless contrast between the living +force of His word when He dwelt on earth, and the feebleness of it +as He speaks through His servant? If He did, what did He mean when +He said, "He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do +also, and greater works than these shall he do, because I go unto +the Father"? + + + + +CROSBY + +THE PREPARED WORM + + + + +BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE + + +Howard Crosby, Presbyterian divine, was born in New York City in +1826, educated at New York University, graduating in 1851, was +professor of Greek at that institution until 1859, when he was +elected to the same chair in Rutgers College. He was pastor of the +First Presbyterian Church of New Brunswick, N. J., for the two +years ending in 1863, when he assumed charge of the Fourth Avenue +Presbyterian Church, New York. From 1870 to 1881 he was chancellor +of the University of New York. His activities in the cause of +social reform were conspicuous and he exercized his influence in +organizing the Society for the Prevention of Crime over which he +presided for some years. His energies were also directed against +the illegal liquor trade. As a scholar he was prominent among the +American revisers of the New Testament and edited a new edition of +the "_Oedipus Tyrannus_" of Sophocles. He died in 1891. + + + + +CROSBY + +1826-1891 + +THE PREPARED WORM[3] + + [3] Copyright, 1884, _The Homiletic Review_, New York. + + _But God prepared a worm when the morning rose the next day, and + it smote the gourd that it withered._--Jonah iv., 7. + + +Just when Jonah had felt the delight of the shadowing foliage and +had begun to promise himself a most comfortable retreat against +an Assyrian sun, the broad-leaved gourd withered. The morning had +arrived and the heat was becoming more intense, when the glad +shelter was removed, and the prophet's head was smitten with the +scorching rays. "It is better for me to die than live," exclaimed +the fainting Jonah. And what caused this calamity? A worm. And is +that all? No! God prepared the worm. The worm was under orders +from heaven, and while he, doubtless, ate into the gourd, with a +good appetite, following the bent of his natural constitution, +nevertheless he was acting in direct obedience to God. God prepared +the worm. And yet in the sixth verse we read that God prepared the +gourd. This is the record. "And the Lord God prepared a gourd and +made it to come up over Jonah, that it might be a shadow over his +head, to deliver him from his grief. So Jonah was exceedingly glad +of the gourd." And then follows immediately: "But God prepared a +worm, when the morning rose the next day, and he smote the gourd +that it withered." Does God, then, build up in order to destroy? +And does He give comfort to His creatures in order to torment them +by its removal? So reasons the carnal heart, ready to complain, +and looking on all God's conduct in its superficial aspect, its +own selfish and sensuous advantage being the criterion of all its +judgments. It is an easy counsel of Satan, when we are fainting +by a withered gourd. "Curse God and die," the selfish soul is all +ripe for such advice,--desperation is more inviting than faith. And +there are but few Jobs who can resist the appeal to discontent and +anger, in the face of Satan and wife combined, for when the natural +depravity of our own hearts is supported by the entreaties of our +nearest and dearest friends, hell's heaviest engine is brought +against us. "I do well to be angry, even unto death," is the usual +style in which we greet the afflictive providence of God. But a +faith like Job's, that learns the lesson which the sorrow teaches, +is rewarded, as was Job's, by the presence and communion of God, and +by a satisfaction with His holy and righteous will. + +Let us endeavor to understand some of the facts connected with our +afflictions, as disclosed by the Word of God, in order that we may +be prepared to follow Job rather than Jonah. + +I. In the first place, God is the author of affliction. "Affliction +cometh not forth out of the dust, neither doth trouble spring out +of the ground." God asserts most positively in His Word, that all +the losses in the world are sent by Him. He calls them chastisements +from His fatherly hand. "I make peace and create evil," saith the +Lord. This is not evil in the sense of wickedness. God does not +create wickedness--but it is evil in the sense of affliction and +trouble, the opposite of peace in the contrasted clause, "I make +peace and create evil." That is, God is the author equally of +prosperity and adversity to His creatures. If it were not so, we +should have to imagine certain powers in God's universe not subject +to His almighty control, which would be an absurdity. "Shall there +be evil in a city and the Lord hath not done it?" It is in this +sense of God's hand in adversity that the psalmist cries, "Thou, O +God, hast proved us: thou hast tried us as silver is tried; thou +broughtest us into the net, thou laidest affliction upon our loins"; +and again, "Thy wrath lieth hard upon me, and thou hast afflicted me +with all thy waves." God may send affliction by permitting Satan to +afflict, but still God is the author of the affliction. He could +prevent it, but He permits it. Indeed, it is, perhaps, true that all +our losses and injuries in this world are Satan's inflictions, that +this ever-active spirit of evil is constantly using the agencies of +the natural world for our harm and destruction, and we are preserved +simply by the interposing and restraining providence of God. When +Satan wished to afflict Job, he sought and gained permission of +the Lord. Job's calamities were clearly Satan's blows, and yet Job +addresses God, "Why hast thou set me as a mark against thee, so +that I am a burden to myself?" So, again, the diseased woman, who +heard our Savior's healing words on the Sabbath day and was cured, +is described by the same divine Physician (whose diagnosis cannot +be questioned) as one whom Satan had bound for eighteen years. +Under such examples, I cannot believe we err in attributing all +our sicknesses and pains of body to the permitted agency of our +arch-adversary. + +They are tokens of his power over our race, for he is the prince +of this world, and it is only in God that we find protection from +his cruel scepter. God suffers us to feel his inflictions in order +to remove our affections from the world and to place them more +devotedly upon our Heavenly Father. God is thus most truly the +author of affliction, whatever may be the agencies He uses in the +course of His providence. + +II. He uses the natural laws of the world as His agents in +afflicting. These laws may be thus used permissively by Satan in +other ways than in sickness or not, but the text shows us clearly +that God so uses them. "God prepared a worm." There is a world of +instruction in that brief statement. It infinitely transcends the +science of the naturalist. Bring the most learned explorers of +nature together to this gourd of Jonah, and show them this little +worm creeping toward the thick stalk. Let them see it move its many +feet and flexible body till it reaches the goal of its instinct. Now +it uses its gnawing jaws upon the woody fibre; deeper and deeper +it pierces the stem; now it reaches the innermost pith, and again +returns upon its course. The current of the gourd's life is marred; +the leaves droop, and its shelter is gone. Now, ye scientific men, +what made that gourd wither? Hear them philosophize. Yon worm is +a caterpillar, whose appropriate food is the _ricinus communis_, +this very gourd with its palmate leaves and red-tinted flower. The +worm has merely followed the impulses of its nature in seeking that +tree-like plant, and the equally natural result of its feeding upon +the stalk has been the failure of the tree's nourishment, and with +the failure the foliage has, of course, withered. Well, is that +all science can say? Yes, all. It is little more than that a horse +is a horse. It explains nothing but the most proximate causes. +It classifies facts, and then leaves us gaping into the abyss of +causation as ignorant as ever. Four words from the Bible carry +us back to the ultimate cause, the first mover in this gourd's +withering. Science talks of laws, but these four words go behind all +laws to the Maker of laws, to Him in whose hands are all things. +"God prepared a worm." What! says science; drag God in to explain +anything? Nay, God drags all in to effect His plans. He has made all +things, however great, however small, for Himself. And these things +which you call laws are only the methods of His activity, and these +methods He has formed for the very ends which He accomplishes by +them. The worm which crawls to Jonah's gourd was created by God to +destroy that plant, and the law of that worm's movement was ordained +for that destruction, as well as for all else which it accomplishes. +The mind is satisfied when it finds a mind, a purpose, a plan in +every event which it observes, and the pious heart is rejoiced to +know that it is a Father's mind and purpose and plan which directs +every movement, even to the crawling of a worm. "God prepared a +gourd--God prepared a worm"; no accident brought the gourd there; +no accident brought the worm there. God stood in a like relation to +both. He sent the gourd, through nature, to comfort Jonah. He sent +the worm, through nature, to trouble Jonah. Nature is a forlorn +object to study unless we find it a mirror to reflect God. It is +only as we see it, the result of His handiwork and His instrument +in governing His creatures, that nature has a glory. Then it is +ennobled; then it has a meaning that no mere naturalist can fathom, +but which renders valuable the researches of science with its +classifications. + +III. God is just in afflicting us. If we look at God simply as the +Maker and Owner of His creatures, we could easily deduce His right +to afflict. "Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine +own?" says the Creator; and he must be a daring soul who disputes +the force of this question. "Shall the thing formed say to him that +formed it, 'Why hast thou made me thus?'" But we are not left to +this view of God's right to afflict. God has entered into covenant +with us. He has said, "Do ye according to my commandments, and ye +shall live." This was the purport of His very first communication +to our race in Adam. It treated of obedience and reward, of +disobedience and punishment. And what is the record of our race +since? Have we obeyed or have we disobeyed? Is there the slightest +claim in us for the reward? Is there not the most complete demand +for the punishment? What sin in the whole catalog of sin has been +omitted by man? Enmity to man and God, pride, ingratitude, and +rebellion have marked the history of mankind. And are you and +I exceptions? Look at our years of worldliness, years of sinful +affections, years of opposition to the Word and Spirit, years of +selfishness, and then let us confess our full participation in the +general depravity. We are unclean in our natures and by practise, +and so, under the covenant which our Maker was pleased to form for +us, we can only deserve punishment. + +Do we then complain in affliction? Surely, if God would be just in +casting us down to hell for our rebellion and disobedience, He is +just in laying upon us our earthly afflictions. Shall the Jonah, who +ran away from the Lord's commandment, and afterward flung His anger +in the face of His God, shall such an one feel that God is unjust in +preparing a worm to destroy his gourd? By what arithmetic is such a +balance cast? It becomes us, rather, to take up the words of David +and cry, "I acknowledge my transgression; and my sin is ever before +me. Against thee, thee only, have I sinned and done this evil in thy +sight, that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be +clear when thou judgest." + +IV. God afflicts us in His love. With all Jonah's sins against +God, it was not to punish him that God prepared a worm. God is +long-suffering and withholds punishment in His desire that all men +may come to repentance. If punishment were God's aim in affliction, +our afflictions would be infinitely greater than they are, for +punishment would be apportioned to desert, and our desert is eternal +condemnation; God's aim in affliction is our restoration, our +improvement. By it He shakes us off from our dependence upon a world +which, however it might please us for the moment, would cheat us +sadly in the end. By it He reminds us of Himself as our source of +strength and happiness, and then brings us to the unfailing fountain +of peace, which our earthly prosperity would hide from our eyes. By +it He teaches us to aspire to higher spiritual attainment, to grow +in grace, to cultivate a more heavenly disposition of mind and heart. + +These are the uses of adversity. Christians who have come through +scenes of trial, and whose thankful declaration is, "It was good for +me to be afflicted," certify to these blest results. They tell us +that they believe nothing else but the severe losses they sustained +could have freed them from the fascinations of the world--nothing +else could have made holy things so delightful to their soul. Now, +such an experience is not the result of God's anger but of God's +love. However harsh the voice of God may seem to us, it is yet a +Father's voice, with a Father's heart behind it. It is, therefore, +meant not to drive us away to seek a hiding corner, but to bring us +directly to Himself. The same love which sent the affliction will +receive the afflicted. God prepares gourds, and God prepares worms; +and He uses each to build up faith and holiness in the human heart. +In earnest seeking after God, in complete consecration to His holy +will and service, is to be found the surest avoidance of the worm. +If we can learn our lesson without the worm, the worm will not +be sent to gnaw our gourd to ruins. The nearer our life to Jesus +the more free shall we be from the sting of affliction. Had Jonah +been an obedient and submissive prophet his gourd would not have +withered. But alas! Jonah and ourselves need correction to keep our +faces heavenward. Forgetfulness and indulgence plant their weeds in +our Lord's garden, and they must be rooted up by force. It is for +our own good, and it is infinite love which decrees it. + +Now note some inferences from the subject under consideration. + +First. If God afflicts, how foolish it is to go to the world for +relief? Is the world greater than God? We may be sure that any +comfort the world can give, as against God's affliction, must be +dangerous. It is a contest with God, which God may allow to be +successful, but only for the greater condemnation thereafter. The +world's relief is not a cure but an opiate. It stupefies, but does +not give health and strength. The world's relief is a temporary +application--a lull before a fiercer storm. The world's relief +is a determination not to heed the lesson God sends us; it is the +invention of frivolity, and not the device of wisdom. More slumber, +more pleasure, and more worldly care are three favorite medicaments +the world uses in these cases--anodynes which only weaken the system +and prepare it for more fearful suffering. God wishes to awaken +the mind by affliction, and man immediately prescribes a narcotic. +The great Physician brings the affliction for our good; we turn to +quackery to destroy the effects of the divine medicine. Ah! the +day is coming when God shall appear as no longer our Savior but +our Judge, if this be our treatment of His love. "Because I have +called and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand and no man +regarded; but ye have set at naught all my counsel, and would none +of my reproof; I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when +your fear cometh; when your fear cometh as desolation, and your +destruction cometh as a whirlwind." + +Secondly. If God prepares worms, then worms at once form an +interesting study for us. We cannot see a caterpillar upon the leaf, +but we know God has a mission for that worm. He is an ambassador +of the Most High on his way to perform his Master's will. The +headache, which unfits us for our ordinary occupation, is more +than a headache. It is the voice of our God. Let us listen to the +next headache and hear what God would have us learn. Every bird +and beast, every raindrop and sunbeam, every breath of wind, and +every event, however small, are the writings of a heavenly scribe. +Let us study God's providence. It is all a message of love to us. +We shall find out infinitely more in this study than in deciphering +the hieroglyphics of Egypt. We shall find correction, expostulation, +comfort, encouragement and instruction; and the more we look, +the more we shall see. We shall become adepts in the high art of +interpreting the acts of God toward us, and in this, as in prayer, +hold constant communion with our divine Redeemer. + +Thirdly. When our gourds wither it is a proof that God is near. +We should be ready to say with Jacob, "Surely the Lord is in this +place." Prayer and humiliation are now our appropriate exercises. +God has put forth His hand to summon us to these duties. Our gourd +is gone, but our God is not gone, He can protect far better than a +gourd. He will more than make up all our losses. Let us go to Him, +and our dark night will make the day-dawn more brilliant. My dying +fellow-sinner, do not, I beseech you, grow angry under God's severe +dispensations. You do not well to be angry. God is near you with a +blessing in His hand for you. He has a lesson for you to learn which +will make you wise unto salvation. + +Say, will you learn it? If not, God is near you to condemn you. Oh! +dread the alternative, and be wise to say in your heart, "Blest be +my God and Father, who prepared the worm to destroy my broad-leaved +gourd!" + + + + +DALE + +THE ARGUMENT FROM EXPERIENCE + + +BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE + +Robert William Dale was born in London, England, in 1829 and died +in 1895. His long and fruitful ministry was confined to Birmingham, +where he preached with great power. He believed, as he once said, +that if a minister had anything from God to say to his fellow men, +they would gladly come to hear him. He favored extemporaneous +preaching, was a devoted student of English style, and advocated +in his Yale lectures a more thorough attention to this important +subject. He said: + +"There is no reason why, when you have at your service the noblest +language for an orator that was ever spoken by the human race, +you should be satisfied with the threadbare phrases, the tawdry, +tarnished finery, the patched and ragged garments, with the smell +like that of the stock of a second-hand clothes shop, with which +half-educated and ambitious declaimers are content to cover the +nakedness of their thought. You can do something better than this, +and you should resolve to do it." + + + + + +DALE + +1829-1895 + +THE ARGUMENT FROM EXPERIENCE[4] + + [4] Reprinted by permission of Messrs. A. C. Armstrong & Son. + + +There are large numbers of people who suppose that modern science +and modern criticism have destroyed the foundations of faith, and +who can not understand how it is possible, in these days, for +intelligent, open-minded, educated men to believe in the Lord Jesus +Christ. + +There are many persons who are convinced that the ascertained +conclusions of modern science and of modern criticism are +destructive of the authority which has been attributed both to the +Jewish and the Christian Scriptures, that the traditional opinions +concerning the authorship and the dates of many of the books of the +Old Testament are false; and that most of the writings contained +in the New Testament are spurious. Or, if some of the extreme +conclusions of the destructive criticism are not regarded as finally +established, it is known that great names can be quoted for, as +well as against, them. And as it is assumed that the Jewish and the +Christian Scriptures are the foundations of Christian faith, that +we must believe in the genuineness and historical trustworthiness +of these ancient books, and even in their inspiration, before we +can believe in Christ, they argue that, until these discussions are +finally closed in favor of the traditional opinions, faith in Christ +is impossible. The controversies have not, in any large number +of cases, destroyed faith where faith already existed; but where +faith does not exist, they appear to very many persons to create an +insuperable obstacle to faith. + +To such persons, if they are serious and well informed, there is +something perplexing in the persistency of the faith of the great +majority of Christian believers. Among those who remain Christian +there are men whose intellectual vigor, patience, and keenness +are equal to their own; men who are their equals in general +intellectual culture, and who know as much as they know about the +currents of modern thought; candid men; men who are incorruptible +in their loyalty to truth; men who have a due sense of the immense +importance, in relation to the higher life of the human race, of the +questions at issue: + +How is it that the faith in Christ of such men is unshaken? + +The substance of the answer that I make here to the question, why +it is that those who believe in Christ continue to believe, may be +given in a single sentence: Whatever may have been the original +grounds of their faith, their faith has been verified in their own +personal experience. + +They have trusted in Christ for certain great and wonderful things, +and they have received great and wonderful things. They have not +perhaps received precisely what they expected when their Christian +life began, for the kingdom of heaven cannot be really known until +a man has entered into it; but what they have received assures them +that Christ is alive, that He is within reach, and that He is the +Savior and Lord of men. + +That they have received these blessings in answer to their faith in +Christ is a matter of personal consciousness. They know it, as they +know that fire burns. + +Their experience varies. Some of them would say they can recall acts +of Christ in which His personal volition and His supernatural power +were as definitely manifested as in any of the miracles recorded +in the four Gospels. They were struggling unsuccessfully with some +evil temper--with envy, jealousy, personal ambition--and could not +subdue it. They hated it; they hated themselves for being under its +tyranny; but expel it they could not. If it seemed supprest for a +time, it returned; and returned with its malignant power increased +rather than diminished. They scourged themselves with scorpions +for yielding to it; still they yielded. In their despair they +appealed to Christ; and in a moment the evil fires were quenched, +and they were never rekindled. These instantaneous deliverances are +perhaps exceptional; but to those who can recall them they carry an +irresistible conviction that the living Christ has heard their cry +and answered them. + +The more ordinary experiences of the Christian life, tho less +striking, are not less conclusive. The proof that Christ has +heard prayer is not always concentrated into a moment, but is +more commonly spread over large tracts of time. Prayer is offered +for an increase of moral strength in resisting temptation, or for +the disappearance of reluctance in the discharge of duties which +are distasteful, or for a more gracious and kindly temper, or for +patience and courage in bearing trouble, or for self-control, or for +relief from exhausting and fruitless anxiety; and the answer comes. +It comes gradually, but still it comes. We had lost hope. It seemed +as if all our moral vigor was dying down, and as if nothing could +restore it. The tide was slowly ebbing, and we were powerless to +recall the retreating waters; but after we prayed it ceased to ebb; +for a time it seemed stationary; then it began to flow; and tho with +many of us it has never reached the flood, the wholesome waters have +renewed the energy and the joy of life. + +Or we prayed to Christ to liberate us from some evil habit. The +chains did not fall away at His touch, like the chains of Peter +at the touch of the angel; but in some mysterious way they were +loosened, and at the same time we received accessions of strength. +The old habit continued to trouble us; it still impeded our +movements: but we could move; we recovered some measure of freedom, +and were conscious that we were slaves no longer. There still +remained a mechanical and automatic tendency to the evil ways of +thinking, speaking, or acting; but we had become vigilant and alert, +and were prompt to resist the tendency as soon as it began to work; +and we were strong enough to master it. In the course of time the +tendency became weaker and weaker, and at last, in some cases, it +almost disappeared. + +Some men have appealed to Christ when they have been seized with +a great horror through the discovery of their guilt. It was not +the awful penalty which menaces the impenitent that haunted and +terrified them. Nor was their distress occasioned chiefly by the +consciousness of moral evil. They feared the penalty, and they were +humiliated and shamed by the contrast between ideal goodness and +their own moral and spiritual life; but what stung and tortured +them, sunk them into despair, filled heaven and earth with a +darkness that could be felt, and made life intolerable, was their +guilt--guilt which they had incurred by their past sins, and which +they continued to incur by their present sinfulness. + +When once this sense of guilt fastens itself on a man, he cannot +shake it off at will. The keen agony may gradually pass into a dull, +dead pain; and after a time, the sensibility of the soul may seem to +be wholly lost; but a man can never be sure that the horror will not +return. + +The real nature of this experience is best seen when it has been +occasioned by the grosser and more violent forms of crime. Men +who have committed murder, for example, have been driven almost +insane by the memory of their evil deed. Their agony may have had +nothing in it of the nature of repentance; they were not distrest +because their crime had revealed to them the malignity and the +fierce strength of their passions; they had no desire to become +gentle and kindly. They were filled with horror and remorse by +their awful guilt. They felt that the crime was theirs, and would +always continue to be theirs; that it would be theirs if it remained +concealed as truly as if it were known; indeed, it seemed to be in +some terrible way more truly theirs so long as the secret was kept. +It was not the fear of punishment that convulsed them; they have +sometimes brought on themselves public indignation and abhorrence, +and have condemned themselves to the gallows by confessing their +crime in order to obtain relief from their agony. + +Suppose that a man possest by this great horror discovered that, in +some wonderful way, the dark and damning stain on his conscience had +disappeared; that, altho he had done the deed, the iron chain which +bound him to the criminality of it had been broken; that before +God and man and his own conscience he was free from the guilt of +it;--the supposition, in its completeness, is an impossible one; but +if it were possible, the discovery would lift the man out of the +darkness of hell into the light of heaven. + +But to large numbers of Christian men a discovery which in substance +is identical with this has actually come in response to their trust +in Christ. Nothing is more intensely real than the sense of guilt; +it is as real as the eternal distinction between right and wrong +in which it is rooted. And nothing is more intensely real than +the sense of release from guilt which comes from the discovery +and assurance of the remission of sins. The evil things which a +man has done cannot be undone; but when they have been forgiven +through Christ, the iron chain which so bound him to them as to +make the guilt of them eternally his has been broken; before God +and his own conscience he is no longer guilty of them. This is the +Christian mystery of justification, which, according to Paul--and +his words have been confirmed in the experience of millions of +Christian men--is "the power of God unto salvation to every one that +believeth." It changes darkness into light; despair into victorious +hope; prostration into buoyancy and vigor. It is one of the supreme +motives to Christian living, and it makes Christian living possible. +The man who has received this great deliverance is no longer a +convict, painfully observing all prison rules with the hope of +shortening his sentence, but a child in the home of God. + +There are experiences of another kind by which the faith of +Christian men is verified. Of these one of the most decisive and +most wonderful is the consciousness that through Christ he has +passed into the eternal and divine order. He belongs to two worlds. +He is just as certain that he is environed by things unseen and +eternal as that he is environed by things seen and temporal. In the +power of the life given to him in the new birth he has entered into +the kingdom of God. He is conscious that that diviner region is +now the native land of his soul. It is there that he finds perfect +rest and perfect freedom. It is a relief to escape to its eternal +peace and glory from the agitations and vicissitudes, the sorrows +and successes, of this transitory world. It is not always that +he is vividly conscious of belonging to that eternal order; this +supreme blessedness is reserved for the great hours of life; but +he knows that it lies about him always, and that at any moment the +great Apocalypse may come. And even when it is hidden, its "powers" +continue to act upon him, as the light and heat of the sun pass +through the clouds by which the burning splendor is softened and +concealed. + +Further, "in Christ" Christian men know God; they know Him for +themselves. The mere conception of God is as different from the +immediate knowledge of Him as the mere conception of the Matterhorn +from the actual vision of it as an external objective grandeur; and +it is not the conception of God, but God Himself, that fills them +with awe and wonder, and with a blessedness which trembles into +devout fear. Sometimes the "exceeding weight of glory" is too great +to bear, and human infirmity is relieved when the vision passes. At +other times God is more than a transcendent glory to be contemplated +and adored. His infinite love, to use Paul's words, is shed abroad +in their hearts, like the sun's heat under tropical heavens; it is +immediately revealed. How, they can not tell, any more than they +can tell how the material world is revealed to sense; they only +know that, apart from any self-originated effort, apart from any +movement of their own towards Him, the eternal Spirit draws near to +their spirit and reveals God's love to them. It is as if the warm +streams of the love which have their fountains in the depths of +His infinite life were flowing round them and into them. They are +conscious of that love for them of which God is conscious. + +And this blessedness is not the prerogative of elect saints, or +of those who may be said to have a natural genius for spiritual +thought. It is the common inheritance of all that are "in Christ," +altho there is reason to fear that many Christian people rarely +reach the height of its joy. But among those who reach it are men +of every degree of intellectual rank and every variety of moral and +spiritual temperament. It is reached by ignorant men, whose thoughts +are narrow and whose minds are inert, as well as by men with large +knowledge and great powers of speculation; by men destitute of +imagination, as well as by men whose imagination kindles as soon +as it is touched by the splendors of nature or by the verses of +poets. Men whose life moves slowly and sluggishly reach it, as well +as men who are impulsive, ardent, and adventurous. And where this +experience is known, it becomes an effective force in the moral +life. Peter, writing to slaves, says, "For this is acceptable, +if through consciousness of God a man endureth griefs, suffering +wrongfully." + +I have said that "in Christ" men know God--not merely through +Christ. It is true that during His earthly ministry He revealed +God; so that, in answer to the prayer of one of His disciples, +"Show us the Father, and it sufficeth us," He said, "Have I been so +long time with you, and dost thou not know me, Philip? he that hath +seen me hath seen the Father." That revelation has eternal power +and value; but there are other words spoken by Christ that same +night which suggest that it is not merely by the revelation of God +during His earthly ministry that Christ has made it possible for +men to know the Father. He said: "I am the true vine, and ye are +the branches.... Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot +bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; so neither can +ye, except ye abide in me. He that abideth in me, and I in him, +the same beareth much fruit: for apart from me ye can do nothing." +It is not certain that when Paul wrote his Epistle to the Galatian +Christians he had heard of these words; but what they meant he had +learnt for himself. He said, "I live: and yet no longer I, but +Christ liveth in me." In various measures the experience of Paul has +been the experience of Christian men ever since. Their relationship +to Christ--their conscious relationship to Christ--has been most +mysterious, but most intimate and most certain. They have meditated +on the infinite love which moved Him to descend from the heights +of God and to become man, upon His graciousness and gentleness, +His purity, His spontaneous goodness, His pity for suffering, His +merciful words to the sinful, His patience and His long-suffering, +and His fiery indignation against hypocrisy; they have meditated +on His teaching, on all the words of His that have been preserved +concerning the love and grace of God, concerning the remission of +sins, the gift of eternal life, the judgment to come, the eternal +blessedness of the righteous, and the doom of the lost; they have +felt the spell and the charm of that ideal perfection to which He +calls them in His precepts, and which He illustrated and transcended +in His own character: but they have been conscious that it was not +merely by the power of the great and pathetic story of His earthly +history, or by the power of His spiritual and ethical teaching, that +He gives to men the life of God, and constantly renews, sustains, +and augments it. They shared the very life of their Lord. He lived +in them. They lived in Him. And it was in the power of this common +life that they knew God. + +Nor is it only the immediate knowledge of God that is rendered +possible by this union with Christ. Christian men are conscious that +they do not receive strength from Christ for common duty, as they +might receive strength from One who, while He conferred the grace, +stood apart from them, but that in some wonderful way they are +strong in the strength of Christ Himself. They are too often drawn +down into the region of baser forces, and then they fall; but their +very failure verifies the truth of their happier experiences, for it +brings home to them afresh what they are apart from Christ; and when +they recover their union with Him--which indeed had not been lost, +tho for a time it was not realized--they recover their power. + +The man who has had, and who still has, such experiences as these +will listen with great tranquillity to criticisms which are intended +to shake the historical credit of the four Gospels, altho the story +they contain may have been the original ground of his faith in +Christ. The criticism may be vigorous; he may be wholly unable to +answer it: but what then? Is he to cease to believe in Christ? Why +should he? + +Let me answer these questions by an illustration. Towards the +close of our Lord's ministry, when He was in the neighborhood of +Jericho--just leaving the city or just entering it--Bartimeus, a +blind man, who was begging at the side of the road, heard that Jesus +of Nazareth was passing by, and He appealed to the great Prophet to +have mercy upon him. Jesus answered his appeal, and gave him sight. +Now it is possible that Bartimeus may have been told by some passing +traveler, of whom he knew nothing, the story of a similar miracle +which Jesus had worked a few weeks before in Jerusalem, and this +may have been the ground, and the only ground, of his confidence +in our Lord's supernatural power. If, after he had received his +sight, some sagacious friend of his had asked him how it was that he +came to believe that the Nazarene Teacher could give sight to the +blind, nothing would have been easier than for his friend to show +that, whether the story of the Jerusalem miracle was true or not, +Bartimeus had no trustworthy evidence of its truth. A tale told by +an unknown stranger! This was no sufficient reason for believing +that Jesus had given sight to a man born blind. Did the stranger +who told the tale know the beggar who was said to have been cured? +Was it certain that the man was blind? Had the stranger examined +his eyes the very morning of the day on which he received sight? +Was it certain that the vision was not gradually returning? Was the +stranger present when Jesus made the clay, and put it on the blind +man's eyes; close enough to see that no delicate operation was +performed during the process? The sending of the blind man to wash +at the Pool of Siloam was suspicious: what could that washing have +to do with a miracle? Did the stranger go with the man to the pool, +and keep his eye upon him while he was there? Was it quite certain +that the blind beggar who was sent to Siloam was the man who came +back to the city and declared that Jesus had healed him? Might not +one man have been sent to the pool, and another man have come back +to Jerusalem? It looked very much as if there were some previous +understanding between the blind man and the Nazarene Prophet. The +Prophet had rich friends; they could have made it worth the man's +while to come into the plot. Had Bartimeus considered all these +difficulties? Was it not more probable that the stranger's story +should be false than that the miracle should be true? Would it not +be well for Bartimeus to suspend his faith in Jesus until he had +made further inquiries about the miracle? + +We can imagine the answer of Bartimeus. I think that he would have +said: "At first I believed in the power of Jesus of Nazareth, +because I was told that He had given sight to another blind man; +now I am sure of His power, because He has given sight to me. It +is possible, as you say, that the story about the blind man in +Jerusalem is not true. You have asked me many questions which I +can not answer. I can not explain why he should have been sent to +the Pool of Siloam. I acknowledge that the evidence which I have +for the miracle is not decisive. As Jesus has restored my sight, I +think that the story is probably true; but whether the story is true +or not can not disturb my faith in Him, for if He did not heal the +other man, He has healed me." + +And so the faith in the living Christ of those who have had the +great experiences of His power and grace which I have described +is not shaken by any assaults on the historical trustworthiness +of the story of His earthly ministry. Much less can it be shaken +by discussions concerning the nature and origin of the ancient +Scriptures of the Jewish people. Their confidence in the books, +both of the Old Testament and the New, may perhaps have to be +suspended until the controversies of scholars are closed, or until, +on historical and critical grounds, they can see their own way to +firm and definite conclusions about the main questions at issue; +but not their confidence in Christ. They may be uncertain about +the books; they are sure about Him. Both Christian scholars and +the commonalty of Christian people approach the controversies on +these ancient records with a settled faith in the power and grace +and glory of Christ. Their faith in Him rests on foundations which +lie far beyond the reach of scientific and historical criticism. +They know for themselves that Christ is the Savior of men: for they +have received through Him the remission of their own sins; He has +translated them into the divine kingdom; He has given them strength +for righteousness, and through Him they have found God. + + + + +LIDDON + +INFLUENCES OF THE HOLY SPIRIT + + +BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE + +Henry Parry Liddon was born at North Stoneham, Hampshire, in 1829. +His intellectual power and fearless and earnest preaching attracted +immense congregations to St. Paul's Cathedral, London. He sought +to meet the speculative fallacies of his day by truth clearly and +boldly proclaimed. Probably his greatest fault in delivery was that +he tied himself slavishly to a manuscript in all his preaching. +There was a force and intensity to his delivery, however, that often +projected his words towards his hearers like great projectiles +across a battlefield. Dr. Arthur S. Hoyt recommends him for study +in these words: "Canon Liddon brings the riches of exegesis and +theology and philosophy to the pulpit, and gives to the sermon the +distinction of his refined and spiritual personality." He died in +1890. + + + + +LIDDON + +1829-1890 + +INFLUENCES OF THE HOLY SPIRIT + + _The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound + thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it + goeth._--John iii., 8. + + +Who has not felt the contrast, the almost tragic contrast, between +the high station of the Jewish doctor, member of the Sanhedrin, +master in Israel, and the ignorance of elementary religious truth, +as we Christians must deem it, which he displayed in this interview +with our blest Lord? At first sight it seems difficult to understand +how our Lord could have used the simile in the text when conversing +with an educated and thoughtful man, well conversed in the history +and literature of God's ancient people; and, indeed, a negative +criticism has availed itself of this and of some other features in +the narrative, in the interest of the theory that Nicodemus was +only a fictitious type of the higher classes in Jewish society, +as they were pictured to itself by the imagination of the fourth +Evangelist. Such a supposition, opposed to external facts and to all +internal probabilities, would hardly have been entertained, if the +critical ingenuity of its author had been seconded by any spiritual +experience. Nicodemus is very far from being a caricature; and +our Lord's method here, as elsewhere, is to lead on from familiar +phrases and the well-remembered letter to the spirit and realities +of religion. The Jewish schools were acquainted with the expression +"a new creature"; but it had long since become a mere shred of +official rhetoric. As applied to a Jewish proselyte, it scarcely +meant more than a change in the outward relations of religious +life. Our Lord told Nicodemus that every man who would see the +kingdom of God which He was founding must undergo a second birth; +and Nicodemus, who had been accustomed to the phrase all his life, +could not understand it if it was to be supposed to mean anything +real. "How," he asks, "can a man be born when he is old? Can he +enter a second time into his mother's womb, and be born?" Our Lord +does not extricate him from this blundering literalism; He repeats +His own original assertion, but in terms which more fully express +His meaning: "Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born +of water and of the Spirit, he can not enter into the kingdom of +God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is +born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye +must be born again." Our Lord's reference to water would not have +been unintelligible to Nicodemus; every one in Judæa knew that +the Baptist had insisted on immersion in water as a symbol of the +purification of the soul of man. Certainly, in connecting "water" +with the Spirit and the new birth, our Lord's language, glancing +at that of the prophet, went very far beyond this. He could only +be fully understood at a later time, when the sacrament of baptism +had been instituted, just as the true sense of His early allusions +to His death could not have been apprehended until after the +crucifixion. But Nicodemus, it is plain, had not yet advanced beyond +his original difficulty; he could not conceive how any second birth +was possible, without altogether violating the course of nature. +And our Lord penetrates His thoughts and answers them. He answers +them by pointing to that invisible agent who could achieve, in the +sphere of spiritual and mental life, what the Jewish doctor deemed +so impossible a feat as a second birth. Nature, indeed, contained no +force that could compass such a result; but nature in this, as in +other matters, was a shadow of something beyond itself. + +It was late at night when our Lord had this interview with the +Jewish teacher. At the pauses in conversation, we may conjecture, +they heard the wind without as it moaned along the narrow streets +of Jerusalem; and our Lord, as was His wont, took His creature into +His service--the service of spiritual truth. The wind was a figure +of the Spirit. Our Lord would not have used the same word for both. +The wind might teach Nicodemus something of the action of Him who is +the real Author of the new birth of man. And it would do this in two +ways more especially. + +On a first survey of nature, the wind arrests man's attention, as +an unseen agent which seems to be moving with entire freedom. "The +wind bloweth where it listeth." It is fettered by none of those +conditions which confine the swiftest bodies that traverse the +surface of the earth; it sweeps on as if independent of law, rushing +hither and thither, as tho obeying its own wayward and momentary +impulse. Thus it is an apt figure of a self-determining invisible +force; and of a force which is at times of overmastering power. +Sometimes, indeed, its breath is so gentle, that only a single +leaf or blade of grass will at distant intervals seem to give the +faintest token of its action; yet, even thus, it "bloweth where +it listeth." Sometimes it bursts upon the earth with destructive +violence; nothing can resist its onslaught; the most solid buildings +give way; the stoutest trees bend before it; whatever is frail and +delicate can only escape by the completeness of its submission. +Thus, too, it "bloweth where it listeth." Beyond anything else +that strikes upon the senses of man, it is suggestive of free +supersensuous power; it is an appropriate symbol of an irruption of +the invisible into the world of sense, of the action, so tender or +so imperious, of the divine and eternal Spirit upon the human soul. + +But the wind is also an agent about whose proceedings we really +know almost nothing. "Thou hearest the sound thereof"; such is our +Lord's concession to man's claim to knowledge. "Thou canst not tell +whence it cometh, and whither it goeth"; such is the reserve which +He makes in respect of human ignorance. Certainly we do more than +hear the sound of the wind; its presence is obvious to three of +the senses. We feel the chill or the fury of the blast; and, as it +sweeps across the ocean, or the forest, or the field of corn, we see +how the blades rise and fall in graceful curves, and the trees bend, +and the waters sink and swell into waves which are the measure of +its strength. But our Lord says, "Thou hearest the sound thereof." +He would have us test it by the most spiritual of the senses. It +whispers, or it moans, or it roars as it passes us; it has a pathos +all its own. Yet what do we really know about it? "Thou canst not +tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth." Does the wind then +obey no rule; is it a mere symbol of unfettered caprice? Surely +not. If, as the psalmist sings, "God bringeth the winds out of his +treasuries," He acts, we may be sure, here as always, whether in +nature or in grace, by some law, which his own perfections impose +upon His action. He may have given to us of these later times to +see a very little deeper beneath the surface of the natural world +than was the case with our fathers. Perchance we explain the +immediate antecedents of the phenomenon; but can we explain our own +explanation? The frontier of our ignorance is removed one stage +farther back; but "the way of the wind" is as fitting an expression +for the mysteries now as it was in the days of Solomon. We know that +there is no cave of Æolus. We know that the wind is the creature +of that great Master who works everywhere and incessantly by rule. +But, as the wind still sweeps by us who call ourselves the children +of an age of knowledge, and we endeavor to give our fullest answer +to the question, "Whence it cometh, and whither it goeth?" we +discover that, as the symbol of a spiritual force, of whose presence +we are conscious, while we are unable to determine, with moderate +confidence, either the secret principle or the range of its action, +the wind is as full of meaning still as in the days of Nicodemus. + +When our Lord has thus pointed to the freedom and the mysteriousness +of the wind, He adds, "So is every one that is born of the Spirit." +The simile itself would have led us to expect--"So is the Spirit +of God." The man born of the Spirit would answer not to the wind +itself, but to the sensible effect of the wind. There is a break of +correspondence between the simile and its application. The simile +directs attention to the divine Author of the new birth in man. The +words which follow direct attention to the human subject upon whom +the divine agent works. Something similar is observable when our +Lord compares the kingdom of heaven to a merchantman seeking goodly +pearls; the kingdom really corresponds not to the merchantman, +but to the pearl of great price which the merchantman buys. In +such cases, we may be sure, the natural correspondence between a +simile and its application is not disturbed without a motive. And +the reason for this disturbance is presumably that the simile is +not adequate to the full purpose of the speaker, who is anxious to +teach some larger truth than its obvious application would suggest. +In the case before us, we may be allowed to suppose, that by His +reference to the wind our Lord desired to convey something more +than the real but mysterious agency of the Holy Spirit in the new +birth of man. His language seems designed, not merely to correct +the materialistic narrowness of the Jewish doctor, not merely to +answer by anticipation the doubts of later days as to the spiritual +efficacy of His own sacrament of regeneration, but to picture, in +words which should be read to the end of time, the general work of +that divine person whose mission of mercy to our race was at once +the consequence and the completion of His own. + +It may be useful to trace the import of our Lord's simile in three +fields of the action of the holy and eternal Spirit; His creation of +a sacred literature, His guidance of a divine society, and His work +upon individual souls. + +I. As, then, we turn over the pages of the Bible, must we not +say, "The wind of heaven bloweth where it listeth"? If we might +reverently imagine ourselves scheming beforehand what kind of a +book the Book of God ought to be, how different would it be from +the actual Bible. There would be as many bibles as there are souls, +and they would differ as widely. But in one thing, amid all their +differences, they would probably agree; they would lack the variety, +both in form and substance, of the holy Book which the Church of +God places in the hands of her children. The self-assertion, the +scepticism, and the fastidiousness of our day would meet like the +men of the second Roman triumvirate on that island in the Reno, +and would draw up their lists of proscription. One would condemn +the poetry of Scripture as too inexact; another its history as too +largely secular; another its metaphysics as too transcendental, or +as hostile to some fanciful ideal of "simplicity," or as likely +to quench a purely moral enthusiasm. The archaic history of the +Pentateuch, or the sterner side of the ethics of the psalter, or +the supernaturalism of the histories of Elijah or of Daniel, or +the so-called pessimism of Ecclesiastes, or the alleged secularism +of Esther, or the literal import of the Song of Solomon, would be +in turn condemned. Nor could the apostles hope to escape: St. John +would be too mystical in this estimate; St. James too legal in +that; St. Paul too dialectical, or too metaphysical, or too easily +capable of an antinomian interpretation; St. Peter too undecided, +as if balancing between St. Paul and St. James. Our new Bible would +probably be uniform, narrow, symmetrical; it would be entirely +made up of poetry, or of history, or of formal propositions, or of +philosophical speculation, or of lists of moral maxims; it would be +modeled after the type of some current writer on English history, +or some popular poet or metaphysician, or some sentimentalist who +abjures history and philosophy alike on principle, or some composer +of well-intentioned religious tracts for general circulation. The +inspirations of heaven would be taken in hand, and instead of a wind +blowing where it listeth, we should have a wind, no doubt, of some +kind, rustling earnestly enough along some very narrow crevices or +channels, in obedience to the directions of some one form of human +prejudice, or passion, or fear, or hope. + +The Bible is like nature in its immense, its exhaustless variety; +like nature, it reflects all the higher moods of the human soul, +because it does much more; because it brings us face to face with +the infinity of the divine life. In the Bible the wind of heaven +pays scant heed to our anticipations or our prejudices; it "bloweth +where it listeth." It breathes not only in the divine charities of +the gospels, not only in the lyrical sallies of the epistles, not +only in the great announcements scattered here and there in Holy +Scripture of the magnificence, or the compassion, or the benevolence +of God; but also in the stern language of the prophets, in the +warnings and lessons of the historical books, in the revelations of +divine justice and of human responsibility which abound in either +Testament. "Where it listeth." Not only where our sense of literary +beauty is stimulated, as in St. Paul's picture of charity, by lines +which have taken captive the imagination of the world, not only +where feeling and conscience echo the verdict of authority and the +promptings of reverence, but also where this is not the case; where +neither precept nor example stimulates us, and we are left face to +face with historical or ethical material, which appears to us to +inspire no spiritual enthusiasm, or which is highly suggestive of +critical difficulty. Let us be patient; we shall understand, if we +will only wait, how these features of the Bible too are integral +parts of a living whole; here, as elsewhere, the Spirit breathes; +in the genealogies of the Chronicles as in the last discourse in +St. John, though with an admitted difference of manner and degree. +He "bloweth where He listeth." The apostle's words respecting the +Old Testament are true of the New: "All Scripture is given by +inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, +for correction, for instruction in righteousness." And, "Whatsoever +things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we +through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope." + +"But thou hearest the sound thereof, and canst not tell whence +it cometh, and whither it goeth." The majesty of Scripture is +recognized by man, wherever there is, I will not say a spiritual +faculty, but a natural sense of beauty. The "sound" of the wind +is perceived by the trained ear, by the literary taste, by the +refinement, by the humanity of every generation of educated men. But +what beyond? What of its spiritual source, its spiritual drift and +purpose, its half-concealed but profound unities, its subtle but +imperious relations to conscience? Of these things, so precious to +Christians, a purely literary appreciation of Scripture is generally +ignorant; the sacred Book, like the prophet of the Chebar, is only +"as a very lovely song of one that hath a pleasant voice, and can +play well on an instrument." Or again, the "sound thereof" is +heard in the admitted empire of the Bible over millions of hearts +and consciences; an empire the evidences of which strike upon the +ear in countless ways, and which is far too wide and too secure +to be affected by the criticisms that might occasionally seem to +threaten it. What is the secret of this influence of Scripture? Not +simply that it is the Book of Revelation; since it contains a great +deal of matter which lay fairly within the reach of man's natural +faculties. The Word or eternal Reason of God is the Revealer; but +Scripture, whether it is a record of divine revelations or of +naturally observed facts, is, in the belief of the Christian Church, +throughout "inspired" by the Spirit. Inspiration is the word which +describes the presence and action of the Holy Spirit everywhere in +Scripture. We know not how our own spirits, hour by hour, are acted +upon by the eternal Spirit, though we do not question the fact; we +content ourselves with recognizing what we can not explain. If we +believe that Scripture is inspired, we know that it is instinct with +the presence of Him whose voice we might hear in every utterance, +but of whom we cannot tell whence He cometh or whither He goeth. + +II. The history of the Church of Christ from the days of the +apostles has been a history of spiritual movements. Doubtless it has +been a history of much else; the Church has been the scene of human +passions, human speculations, human errors. But traversing these, +He by whom the whole body of the Church is governed and sanctified, +has made His presence felt, not only in the perpetual proclamation +and elucidation of truth, not only in the silent, never-ceasing +sanctification of souls, but also in great upheavals of spiritual +life, by which the conscience of Christians has been quickened, +or their hold upon the truths of redemption and grace made more +intelligent and serious, or their lives and practise restored to +something like the ideal of the Gospels. Even in the apostolic age +it was necessary to warn Christians that it was high time to awake +out of sleep; that the night of life was far spent, and the day of +eternity was at hand. And ever since, from generation to generation, +there has been a succession of efforts within the Church to realize +more worthily the truth of the Christian creed, or the ideal of the +Christian life. These revivals have been inspired or led by devoted +men who have represented the highest conscience of Christendom in +their day. They may be traced along the line of Christian history; +the Spirit living in the Church has by them attested His presence +and His will; and has recalled lukewarm generations, paralyzed by +indifference or degraded by indulgence, to the true spirit and level +of Christian faith and life. + +In such movements there is often what seems, at first sight, an +element of caprice. They appear to contemporaries to be onesided, +exaggerated, narrow, fanatical. They are often denounced with a +passionate fervor which is so out of proportion to the reality as to +border on the grotesque. They are said to exact too much of us, or +to concede too much. They are too contemplative in their tendency +to be sufficiently practical, or too energetically practical to do +justice to religious thought. They are too exclusively literary +and academical, as being the work of men of books; or they are too +popular and insensible to philosophical considerations, as being +the work of men of the people. Or, again, they are so occupied with +controversy as to forget the claims of devotion, or so engaged +in leading souls to a devout life as to forget the unwelcome but +real necessities of controversy. They are intent on particular +moral improvements so exclusively as to forget what is due to +reverence and order; or they are so bent upon rescuing the Church +from chronic slovenliness and indecency in public worship as to +do less than justice to the paramount interests of moral truth. +Sometimes these movements are all feeling; sometimes they are all +thought; sometimes they are, as it seems, all outward energy. In +one age they produce a literature like that of the fourth and fifth +centuries; in another they found orders of men devoted to preaching +or to works of mercy, as in the twelfth; in another they enter the +lists, as in the thirteenth century, with a hostile philosophy; +in another they attempt a much-needed reformation of the Church; +in another they pour upon the heathen world a flood of light and +warmth from the heart of Christendom. It is easy, as we survey +them, to say that something else was needed; or that what was done +could have been done better or more completely; or that, had we +been there, we should not have been guilty of this onesidedness, +or of that exaggeration. We forget, perhaps, who really was there, +and whose work it is, though often overlaid and thwarted by human +weakness and human passion, that we are really criticizing. If +it was seemingly onesided, excessive or defective, impulsive or +sluggish, speculative or practical, esthetic or experimental, may +not this have been so because in His judgment, who breatheth where +He listeth, this particular characteristic was needed for the Church +of that day? All that contemporaries know of such movements is +"the sound thereof"; the names with which they are associated, the +controversies which they precipitate, the hostilities which they +rouse or allay, as the case may be. Such knowledge is superficial +enough; of the profound spiritual causes which really engender +them, of the direction in which they are really moving, of the +influence which they are destined permanently to exert upon souls, +men know little or nothing. The accidental symptom is mistaken for +the essential characteristic; the momentary expression of feeling +for the inalienable conviction of certain truth. The day may come, +perhaps, when more will be known; when practise and motive, accident +and substance, the lasting and the transient, will be seen in their +true relative proportions; but for the time this can hardly be. He +is passing by, whose way is in the sea, and His paths in the deep +waters, and His footsteps unknown. The Eternal Spirit is passing; +and men can only say, "He bloweth where He listeth." + +III. Our Lord's words apply especially to Christian character. +There are some effects of the living power of the Holy Spirit +which are invariable. When He dwells with a Christian soul, He +continually speaks in the voice of conscience; He speaks in the +voice of prayer. He produces with the ease of a natural process, +without effort, without the taint of self-consciousness, "love, +joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, +temperance." Some of these graces must be found where He makes His +home. There is no mistaking the atmosphere of His presence: in its +main features it is the same now as in the days of the apostles. +Just as in natural morality the main elements of "goodness" do not +change; so in religious life, spirituality is, amid great varieties +of detail, yet, in its leading constituent features, the same thing +from one generation to another. But in the life of the individual +Christian, or in that of the Church, there is legitimate room for +irregular and exceptional forms of activity or excellence. Natural +society is not strengthened by the stern repression of all that is +peculiar in individual thought or practise; and this is not less +true of spiritual or religious society. From the first, high forms +of Christian excellence have often been associated with unconscious +eccentricity. The eccentricity must be unconscious, because +consciousness of eccentricity at once reduces it to a form of vanity +which is entirely inconsistent with Christian excellence. How many +excellent Christians have been eccentric, deviating more or less +from the conventional type of goodness which has been recognized +by contemporary religious opinion. They pass away, and when they +are gone men do justice to their characters; but while they are +still with us how hard do many of us find it to remember that there +may be a higher reason for their peculiarities than we think. We +know not the full purpose of each saintly life in the designs of +Providence; we know not much of the depths and heights whence it +draws its inspirations; we can not tell whence it cometh or whither +it goeth. Only we know that He whose workmanship it is bloweth where +He listeth; and this naturally leads us to remark the practical +interpretation which the Holy Spirit often puts upon our Lord's +words by selecting as His chosen workmen those who seem to be least +fitted by nature for such high service. The apostle has told us how +in the first age He set Himself to defeat human anticipations. "Not +many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, +are called"; learned academies, powerful connections, gentle blood +did little enough for the gospel in the days when it won its first +and greatest victories. The Holy Spirit, as Nicodemus knew, passed +by the varied learning and high station of the Sanhedrin, and +breathed where He listed on the peasants of Galilee; He breathed +on them a power which would shake the world. And thus has it been +again and again in the generations which have followed. When the +great Aquinas was a student of philosophy under Albertus Magnus at +Cologne, he was known among his contemporaries as "the dumb Ox"; so +little did they divine what was to be his place in the theology of +Western Christendom. And to those of us who can look back upon the +memories of this University for a quarter of a century or more, few +things appear more remarkable than the surprizes which the later +lives of men constantly afford; sometimes it is a failure of early +natural promise, but more often a rich development of intellectual +and practical capacity where there had seemed to be no promise at +all. We can remember, perhaps, some dull quiet man who seemed to +be without a ray of genius, or, stranger still, without anything +interesting or marked in character, but who now exerts, and most +legitimately, the widest influence for good, and whose name is +repeated by thousands with grateful respect. Or we can call to mind +another whose whole mind was given to what was frivolous, or even +degrading, and who now is a leader in everything that elevates and +improves his fellows. The secret of these transfigurations is ever +the same. In those days these men did not yet see their way; they +were like travelers through the woods at night, when the sky is +hidden and all things seem to be other than they are. + +Since then the sun has risen and all has changed. The creed of the +Church of Christ, in its beauty and its power, has been flashed by +the Divine Spirit upon their hearts and understandings; and they are +other men. They have seen that there is something worth living for +in earnest; that God, the soul, the future, are immense realities, +compared with which all else is tame and insignificant. They have +learned something of that personal love of our crucified Lord, which +is itself a moral and religious force of the highest order, and +which has carried them forwards without their knowing it. And what +has been will assuredly repeat itself. + + + + +W. M. TAYLOR + +CHRIST BEFORE PILATE--PILATE BEFORE CHRIST + + + + +BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE + + +William Mackergo Taylor, Congregational divine, was born at +Kilmarnock, Scotland, in 1829. He was for many years pastor of the +Broadway Tabernacle, New York. He had an impressive presence and +his delivery was marked by a magnetic earnestness. During the first +ten years of his ministry he spoke memoriter, but subsequently +wrote out his sermons with detailed care and preached them from +manuscript, but their delivery was without the freedom and freshness +of extemporaneous address. He came to regret this, for he said: "If +I might speak from my own experience I would say, that memoriter +preaching is the method which has the greatest advantages, with the +fewest disadvantages." He died in 1895. + + + + +W. M. TAYLOR 1829-1895 + +CHRIST BEFORE PILATE--PILATE BEFORE CHRIST[5] + + [5] Reprinted by permission from "Contrary Winds and other Sermons," + by William M. Taylor, D.D., copyrighted, 1883, by A. C. Armstrong & + Son. + + _Pilate saith unto them, What shall I do, then, with Jesus, + which is called Christ?_--Matthew xxvii., 22. + + +During my late visit to my native land I had the great enjoyment +of seeing, and somewhat carefully studying, Munkacsy's famous +picture of "Christ Before Pilate." Rarely, if ever, had I been so +much moved by a work of art; and I propose to give, as nearly as I +can recall it, the sermon which it reached to me as I sat silently +contemplating the figures, which, even as I looked at them, seemed +to grow before me into life. + +But, first, I must try to describe to you the picture itself. The +canvas is large, and the figures, all of which are on the line of +sight, are of life size. The scene is in the pavement or open court +before the governor's palace, which was called in the Hebrew tongue +Gabbatha, and in which, after all his efforts to wriggle out of the +responsibility of dealing with the case, Pilate ultimately gave up +Jesus to be crucified. At one end of the court, on a raised bench, +and drest in a white toga, Pilate sits. On either side of him are +Jews, each of whom has a marked and special individuality. The two +on his left are gazing with intense eagerness at Christ. They are +evidently puzzled, and know not well what to make of the mysterious +prisoner. On his right, standing on one of the seats, and with his +back against the wall, is a Scribe, whose countenance is expressive +of uttermost contempt, and just in front of this haughty fellow +are some Pharisees, one of whom is on his feet, and passionately +urging that Jesus should be put to death, presumably on the ground +that, if Pilate should let Him go, he would make it evident that he +was not Cæsar's friend. Before them again is a usurer, sleek, fat +and self-satisfied, clearly taking great comfort to himself in the +assurance that, however the matter may be settled, his well-filled +money-bags will be undisturbed. Beyond him stands the Christ in a +robe of seamless white, and with His wrists firmly bound; while +behind, kept in place by a Roman soldier, standing with his back to +the spectator, and making a barricade with his spear, which he holds +horizontally, is a motley group of onlookers, not unlike that which +we may still see any day in one of our criminal courts. Of these, +one more furious than the rest is wildly gesticulating, and crying, +as we may judge from his whole attitude, "Crucify Him! crucify Him!" +and another, a little to the Savior's left, but in the second row +behind Him, is leaning forward with mockery in his leering look, and +making almost as if he would spit upon the saintly one. There is but +one really compassionate face in the crowd, and that is a face of a +woman who, with an infant in her arms, most fitly represents those +gentle daughters of Jerusalem who followed Jesus to Calvary with +tears. Then, over the heads of the on-lookers, and out of the upper +part of the doorway into the court, we get a glimpse of the quiet +light of the morning as it sleeps upon the walls and turrets of the +adjacent buildings. All these figures are so distinctly seen that +you feel you could recognize them again if you met them anywhere; +and a strange sense of reality comes upon you as you look at them, +so that you forget that they are only painted, and imagine that you +are gazing on living and breathing men. + +But, as you sit awhile and look on, you gradually lose all +consciousness of the presence of the mere on-lookers and find your +interest concentrated on these two white-robed ones, as if they +were the only figures before you. The pose of Christ is admirable. +It is repose blended with dignity; self-possession rising into +majesty. There is no agitation or confusion; no fear or misgiving; +but, instead, the calm nobleness of Him who has just been saying, +"Thou couldst have no power at all against me, except it were given +thee from above; therefore he that delivered me unto thee hath the +greater sin." The face alone disappoints. Perhaps that may be owing +to the lofty ideal we have of the divine Man, so that no picture +of our Lord would entirely please. But tho the painter has wisely +abandoned the halo, and all similar conventionalisms of art, and has +delineated a real man, for all which he is to be highly commended, +yet the eyes which look so steadily at Pilate, as if they were +looking him through, seem to me to be cold, keen, and condemnatory, +rather than compassionate and sad. It is a conception of the Lord +of the same sort as that of Doré, in his well-known picture of the +leaving of the Prætorium, and the eyes have not in them that deep +well of tenderness out of which came the tears which He shed over +Jerusalem, and which we expect to see in them when He is looking at +the hopeless struggle of a soul which will not accept His aid. It +is said that the artist, dissatisfied with his first attempt, has +painted the Christ face twice; but this, also, is a partial failure, +and here, so at least it seemed to me as I looked upon it, is the +one defect in his noble work. But if there is this defect, it is one +which it shares with every other effort that human art has made to +delineate the Lord. The Pilate, however, is well-nigh faultless. +Here is a great, strong man, the representative of the mightiest +empire the world has ever seen, with a head indicating intellectual +force, and a face, especially in its lower part, suggestive of +sensual indulgence. There is ordinarily no want of firmness in +him, as we may see from the general set of his features; but now +there is in his countenance a marvelous mixture of humiliation and +irresolution. He cannot lift his eyes to meet the gaze of Christ; +and while one of his hands is nervously clutching at his robe he +is looking sadly into the other, whose fingers, even as we look +at them, almost seem to twitch with perplexed irresolution. He is +clearly pondering for himself the question which a few moments +before he had addrest to the multitude, "What shall I do with +Jesus which is called Christ?" He is annoyed that the case has +been brought to him at all, and as he feels himself drifting on, +against his own better judgment, toward yielding to the clamor of +the multitude, he falls mightily in his own conceit, and begins to +despise himself. He would, at that moment, give, oh, how much! to +be rid of the responsibility of dealing with the Christ, but he +cannot evade it; and so he sits there, drifting on to what he knows +is a wrong decision, the very incarnation of the feeling which his +own national poet described when he said, "I see and approve the +better course; I follow the worse." Thus, as we look at these two, +we begin to discover that it was not Christ that was before Pilate +so much as Pilate was before Christ. His was the testing experience. +His was the trial; his too, alas! was the degradation; and at that +coming day when the places shall be reversed, when Christ shall be +on the judgment seat, and Pilate at the bar, there will still be +that deep self-condemnation which the painter here has fixt upon +his countenance. It is a marvelous picture, in many respects the +most remarkable I ever looked upon, and, even from this imperfect +description of it, you will easily understand how, as I sat intent +before it, it stirred my soul to the very depths. + +But now, with this portrayal of the scene before us let us see if +we can account, first, for the hesitation of Pilate to give up the +Lord, and then for his final yielding to the clamor of the people. +Why all this reluctance on his part to send Jesus to the cross? He +was not usually so scrupulous. A human life more or less gave him +generally very little concern. He had all a Roman's indifference +for the comfort of those who stood in any respect in his way; and +had no compunction, as we know, in mingling the blood of certain +turbulent Jews with the very sacrifices which at the moment they +were offering. Had Christ been a Roman citizen, indeed, he would +most likely have been very watchful over His safety, for in regard +to all such the imperial law was peculiarly strict, but the life +of a mere Jew was a very small thing in his estimation. Wherefore, +then, this unwonted squeamishness of conscience? It was the result +of a combination of particulars, each of which had a special force +of its own, and the aggregate of which so wrought upon his mind that +he was brought thereby to a stand. + +There was, in the first place, the peculiar character of the +prisoner. A very slight examination had been sufficient to convince +him that Christ was innocent of the charge which had been brought +against Him. But in the course of that examination much more than +the innocence of Christ had come to view. He had manifested a +dignified patience altogether unlike anything that Pilate had ever +seen; and His answers to certain questions had been so strangely +suggestive of something higher and nobler than even the most +exalted earthly philosophy that he could not look upon Him as a +common prisoner. He was no mere fanatic; neither was He after the +pattern of any existing school, whether Jewish, Greek, or Roman. +There was about Him an "other-worldliness" which brought those +near Him into close proximity, for the time, with the unseen; and +an elevation which lifted Him above the tumult that was howling +for His destruction. Probably Pilate could not have described +it to himself, but there was something which he felt unusual and +exceptional in this man, marking Him out from every other he ever +had before him, and constraining him to take a special interest in +His case. Add to this that his wife had sent to him that singular +message--"Have thou nothing to do with that just man, for I have +suffered many things this day in a dream because of him,"--a message +which, in those days of mingled scepticism and superstition--for the +two always go hand in hand--must have produced a deep impression on +his mind. Moreover, there seemed some fatality about the case. He +had tried to roll it over upon Herod, but that wily monarch sent the +prisoner back upon his hands. He had attempted to release Him, as +the Passover prisoner for the year, but neither was there any outlet +for him in that, for the people had preferred Barabbas. And so the +responsibility had come again to his own door, and could not be +passed on to another. Still again, he saw that the Jews were acting +most hypocritically in the matter. It was a new thing for them to be +zealous for the honor of Cæsar, and he could easily see through the +mask they wore into the envy and malice which were the motives for +their conduct. The deeper he went into the case he discovered only +the more reason for resisting their importunity, and, however, he +looked at it, his plain duty was to set the prisoner free. + +Why then, again we ask, was his perplexity? The answer is suggested +by the taunt of the Jews, "If thou let this man go thou art not +Cæsar's friend; whosoever maketh himself a king speaketh against +Cæsar." He foresaw that if he resisted the will of the rulers he +would make them his enemies, and so provoke them to complain of +him to the emperor, who would then institute an inquiry into the +administration of his office--and that he was not prepared to face. +He had done things as a governor which would not bear the light, +and so at the crisis of his life he was fettered by deeds of the +past from doing that which he felt to be the duty of the present. +You may, perhaps, remember that expression of the prophet, which +thus reads in the margin: "Their doings will not suffer them to turn +unto their God": and that other, which affirms, concerning Israel: +"Their own doings have beset them about." Now these descriptions +most accurately define the cause of Pilate's perplexity here. His +conduct in the past had been such that he had not the courage to +take any course which might lead to an investigation of that. If +he could deliver Christ without provoking that, then he would most +cheerfully do so; but if by delivering Christ he would provoke that, +then Christ must be given up to the cross. Hence his perplexity +at the first, and hence, also, his yielding in the end. His past +misdeeds had put him virtually into the power of those who were +now so eager for the condemnation of the Christ. On three several +occasions his arbitrariness had been such as all but to instigate +a rebellion among the people, and his cruelty and contempt for +justice, when he had a personal end to gain, were sure, upon appeal +to the emperor, to be severely punished; so to save himself from +banishment and disgrace, if not even death, he delivered over Jesus +to the will of the Jews. He wished to do right in this case more +than ever he had wished before; there was something about it which +in his view made it more important that he should do right now than +ever before; but through all his past official life he had, by his +enormities and oppressions, been unconsciously weaving round himself +a net, in the meshes of which he was now inextricably caught. His +guilty conscience made him a coward at the very time when most of +all he wanted to be brave. He had come to his "narrow place," where +he could turn neither to the right hand nor to the left, but must +face the naked alternative "yes" or "no"; and he fell because in his +former life, when he was thinking of no such ordeal, he had sold +himself by his evil deeds into the power of the enemy. + +Now, what a lesson there is in all this for us! Men think that +they may live for the time being as they please, and that at a +convenient venient season they can repent and turn to God. But the +present is conditioning the future, and making it either possible +or the reverse for us to do right in the future. He who neglects +the laws of health every day, and lives in intemperance and excess +of all kinds, is only making it absolutely certain that when fever +lays him low he will die, for he has eaten out the strength of +his constitution by his follies. And, in the same way, he who +sets all morality at defiance in his ordinary conduct only makes +it inevitable that when his convenient season does come, when his +time of privilege and testing does arrive, he will fail to rise to +the occasion, and be swept away into perdition. The tenor of our +ordinary life determines how we shall pass through exceptional and +crucial occasions, therefore let us bring that up to the highest +level by doing everything as unto God, and then we shall be ready +for any emergency. + +Nor let me forget to add here, that in spite of all his efforts +to keep back investigation, Pilate's day of reckoning with the +emperor did come. The Jews complained of him after all, in spite of +his yielding to them now; and as the result he was banished, and +afterwards, so tradition says, he committed suicide. Thus the ordeal +and the disgrace came, notwithstanding all he did to avert them, +and he had not under them the solace which he might have enjoyed +if only he had stood firm on this great and memorable occasion. +Therefore let us all, and especially the young, take to ourselves, +as the first lesson from this deeply interesting history, that we +should be careful not to hamper ourselves for the discharge of duty +in the future by guilt of the present. By our conduct now we are +either coiling cords around us which shall hold us fast at the very +time when we most desire to be free, or we are forming and fostering +a strength of character which, through God, will triumph over every +temptation. If "to be weak is to be miserable," it is no less true +that to be guilty is to be weak. Preserve yourselves, therefore, +from this danger, and seek above all other things to keep your +consciences clean; then when you will need all your strength for a +crisis, you will not sit, like Pilate here, in nervous perplexity +bemoaning your helplessness even while you yield to the adversary; +but you will shake the temptation from you with as much ease as the +eagle shakes the dewdrop from his wing. Keep yourselves pure: so +shall your youth be full of happiness, and you shall go forth out +of it with no encumbering past to clog the wheels of your endeavor. +How happy he whose youth thus leaves him with a smile and sends him +forth upon the duties of manhood with a benediction! But he, how +miserable! whose early years heap bitter maledictions on his head, +and push him forward into active life with a conscience already +laden with guilt, and a soul as weak before temptation as a reed is +before the wind. + +But while there is thus in this history a lesson for all time, I +think Munkacsy, by the appearance of his wondrous picture now, has +made it evident that there is also something in it specially adapted +to these modern days. It is with artists in the choice of their +subjects as it is with ministers in the selection of their themes. +Both alike, consciously and unconsciously, and most frequently +perhaps unconsciously, are affected by the spirit of their age. +The atmosphere--literary, moral, political, and religious--which +is round about them, and which they are daily breathing, does, +insensibly to themselves, so influence them that their thoughts +are turned by it into a channel different from that in which those +of a former generation flowed. Hence, whether the painter would +admit it or not, I see in this picture, at this juncture, at once a +mirror of the times and a lesson for them. The question of Pilate, +"What shall I do, then, with Jesus which is called the Christ?" +is preeminently the question of the present age. No doubt we may +say with truth that it has been the question of all the Christian +centuries, and each one of them has faced it and solved it after its +own fashion. It has tested the centuries even as it tested Pilate, +and those in which Christ was rejected have been the darkest in +the world's history; while those in which He has been hailed as +the incarnate God have been the brightest which the earth has ever +seen, because irradiated with truth, and justice, and benevolence +and purity. But tho we are always prone to exaggerate that in the +midst of which we are ourselves, it seems to me that in no one age +since that of the primitive Church has this jesting question been so +prominent as in our own. All the controversies of our times, social, +philosophical, and theological, lead up to and find their ultimate +hinge in the answer to this inquiry, "Who is this Jesus Christ?" +If He be a mere man, then there is for us nothing but uncertainty +on any subject, outside of the domain of the exact sciences; and +we must all become agnostics, holding this one negative article +of belief, that nothing can be known about anything save that of +which we can take cognizance with the bodily sense. But if He be +incarnate God, then He brings with Him from heaven the final word on +all subjects concerning which He has spoken; and tho in His person +He is the mystery of mysteries, yet, at once received, He becomes +forthwith the solution of all mysteries, and faith in Him is at once +the satisfaction of the intellect and the repose of the heart. It +is perfectly natural, therefore, that all the controversies of the +day should turn on Him. The lives of Christ which have been written +during the last thirty or forty years would make in themselves a +very respectable library; and the cry even of the sceptic is, "I +could get on very well with unbelief, if I only knew what to make +of Christ." Yes, that is just the difficulty. Christ is here in +the Scriptures a character portrayed in literature; He was in the +world for thirty-three years, and lived a life exceptional in every +respect, but most of all in the moral and spiritual departments, so +that of Him alone perfection can be predicated; He has been ever +since a most potent factor in history, for through His influence +all that is pure, and noble, and exalted, and lovely and of good +report, has come into our civilization. Now, these things have to +be accounted for. If He was only a man, how shall we explain them? +And if He was more than a man shall we not take His own testimony +as to His dignity and mission? If we are to be unbelievers, we must +account for Christ on natural principles; but if we cannot do that, +then we must conceive Him as He claims to be conceived. There is no +alternative. Those in the age who have the spirit and disposition of +Pilate will anew reject Him! but those who are sincere and earnest +in their inquiries will come ultimately out into the light, for "if +any man be willing to do his will, he shall know of the doctrine +whether it be of God." + +And what is true of the age, as a whole, is true also of every +individual to whom the gospel is proclaimed. For each of us, my +hearers, this is the question of questions, "What shall I do with +Jesus which is called Christ?" Shall I reject Him and live precisely +as if I had never heard His name? or shall I accept Him as the Lord +from heaven in human nature, trust in Him as my Savior, and obey Him +as my King? I must do the one or the other; and yet how many are +seeking, like Pilate, to evade the question? They try to escape the +responsibility of dealing with it as a direct alternative of yes +or no. But as one has well said, "necessity is laid upon us. The +adversaries of Christ press upon us to give our verdict against Him. +We are troubled and perplexed, for we have long heard about Him, +and have had each of us his own convictions. We would still remain +neutral. We try--and try in vain--to escape from the spirit, the +conversation, the literature, the question of the times. Again and +again we wash our hands. But neither our silence nor our actions are +of any avail; and so we are found sitting, conscious of the presence +and the claims of our Savior, and, like Pilate, not daring to look +at Him, as we puzzle over the answer which we must give to the +question that is being forced upon us--Who is this Jesus Christ?" +Perhaps this description accurately portrays some one here this +morning. + +If so, let me give him one parting word. It is this: You can not +evade the decision, but be sure that you look at the Christ before +you give Him up. Nothing is so remarkable in the picture to which +I have so often this day referred as the evident persistency with +which Pilate keeps his eyes from Christ; and few things are so +saddening as to meet with men who profess to have, and really have, +difficulties about Christ, but who have never read the gospels or +the New Testament with any attention. + +Let me urge you earnestly, therefore, to study these gospels and +epistles before you give your voice against the Lord, and I am +very sure that if you ponder them thoroughly you will soon accept +Him. Give over trying to solve all the difficulties and so-called +discrepancies in the Scriptures which form the stock-in-trade of +the infidel lecturer--all these are but as dust which he raises +that he may blind your eyes to the really important question, "Who +is Christ?" Settle that, and if you do, all other difficulties +will vanish. Turn your face to the light, and the shadow will fall +behind you. Look at the Christ before you give Him up. And remember, +if you do reject Christ, you have still to account for Him. It +is unreasonable for you, if you believe only in the natural and +material, to leave such a phenomenon as Christ unexplained. + +Yes, and I must add here that if you reject Him you must yet +account to Him. Go, then, and ponder this text; yea, may it continue +sounding in your inmost heart until you have determined to receive +and rest upon Him as your only Savior, and say to Him, like Thomas, +"My Lord and my God." + + + + +JOHN HALL + +LIBERTY ONLY IN TRUTH + + + + +BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE + + +John Hall was born at Market Hill, County Armagh, Ireland, in 1829. +For many years he was pastor of the Fifth Avenue Presbyterian +Church, New York, where he had a large and devoted following. He was +of fine physique, and there was a power in face and voice that at +once commanded his audience. He spoke without manuscript, and his +style was marked by great sincerity, directness and earnestness. He +died in 1899. + + + + +JOHN HALL + +1829-1899 + +LIBERTY ONLY IN TRUTH + + _And I will walk at liberty, for I seek thy precepts._--Psalms + cxix., 45. + + +God is the Governor of this world. Some one may say, that is a +very elementary truth. Even so; there have been long ages in the +history of our race when that truth was not accepted and when the +most intelligent of our race believed something directly opposed. +There have been multitudes of men, for example, who believed, like +Aristotle, that matter is eternal. There are multitudes still who +believe that in some way or other nature governs itself. There is a +large class of thinkers who, without taking the name to themselves, +are practically pantheists, and, like Spinoza and Fichte and Hegel, +persuade themselves that all is God, as they express it, and that +God is all. You do not need to be told that the earlier portion of +the Old Testament Scriptures God has given to us that we might have +these illusions banished, and that we might be made to know that God +is the Creator and the Ruler of all things, that He is not nature, +and nature is not God; that He is not to be confounded with the +works of His hands; that He is a distinct, personal and holy Being, +who has created all, and who has a right, on the ground of creation, +even if there were no other, to be the Ruler of all. It took long to +make men understand this truth, simple and elementary as it seems to +you and to me. + +When we say that God governs the globe, we do not mean the mere +earthly, solid structure on which we dwell. We mean that He governs +the inhabitants of it, the communities and the individuals. "The +Lord reigneth, let the earth rejoice." "The Lord reigneth, let the +nations tremble." "He raiseth up kings and he putteth them down." +He calls into being Pharaohs that He may show His power and His +glory in relation to them. His providence is most holy and wise and +powerful, and it is not general merely, it is particular, extending +to all the creatures and to all their actions. These things we have +to keep in mind in relation to Jehovah. + +Now it would seem, surely, that if a man believed this his common +sense would dictate to him that, living in a world that God had +made and God rules in every detail, if he wishes to be happy in +it, he must have respect to the law of Him who has made and who +rules. Common sense indicates that if we live in a house it is +desirable to be on good terms with the head of the house if we +wish to be comfortable. Common sense dictates that if a man is +in the employment of others, it is wise for him to have a right +understanding, to stand well with the head of the department in +which he is engaged. Common sense teaches us that if we are subjects +in a kingdom and wish to be safe and happy, we must respect the +laws by which the kingdom is ruled. And we have only to extend this +principle, and we get to the point that was before the Psalmist's +mind when he says: "I will walk at liberty, for I seek (or, as it +is in the revision, without changing the meaning, 'I have sought') +thy statutes." I am living in Thy world, I am dependent upon Thee, +I have taken pains to know what Thy will is, that I may do it; and +so I walk at liberty. That is the idea that is brought to us in the +text, and it is easy for you to see how good and practical that idea +is. + +But the question may arise, can we know the precepts and the +statutes that God has given to us? You do not need to be told that +that is within our reach. God has spoken to us in this revelation, +as He did speak less articulately in the works of His hands, and +in the instincts and convictions that He produced in our spirit. +We have His revelation in our hands. We can seek the knowledge of +it. In many instances well-meaning and right-minded boys, under +great difficulties, have sought education that they may get on in +this world. In many other cases boys have had education at their +very doors, and have never sought it, and consequently have been +of little account in the world. Now the difference is not great, +in this aspect of it, between ordinary secular education and the +spiritual education of which the text gives us an illustration. Here +are God's statutes and precepts put within our reach. We can search +them, seek them, know them and do them, by the grace that God is +willing to give, or we can push them aside, ignore and disregard +them, and take our own way, and the result will be absolute and +everlasting failure in our lives. We can not have this too solemnly +fixt in our thoughts. God has spoken to us. What shall we do with +His word? Shall we neglect it and pass it by, or shall we take it, +study it, seek it, as the verse expresses it, and make it the rule +of our lives? Jesus Christ has come down from heaven to live among +us, and has said to our race, "Come unto me and learn of me"; and +there are millions to whom this message has come and they disregard +and ignore it; they do not come to Him, they do not learn of Him. +Can we wonder if the Judge should say to them when they appear at +His seat, "I never knew you"? If you read the First Epistle to the +Thessalonians, you will see pictures of an angry God, as an avenging +fire, in the apostle's description. On whom does the fire fall? On +whom does the Judge show his indignation? Is it upon the misers and +the miscreants and the murderers of the race merely? Oh, no. It is +upon them that "know not God and obey not the gospel of his Son." +Is it any wonder that the sacred writer should say, "Remember thy +Creator in the days of thy youth"; not merely remember that there +is a God--remember thy Creator, who made thee and in whose hand thy +fortunes are. Remember in the days of thy youth, the formative days, +the days when character is being shaped. What is well begun is half +ended. The life that is well begun, in this way has a guaranty of +usefulness and success. The life that is not begun in this way has +a dark and gloomy prospect before it. Remember thy Creator. We all +know well what is meant when some one says to us, on going away from +our homes, "Don't forget your home, don't forget your mother." We +know what that means. And God's messenger speaks to us in the same +tone when he makes this appeal: Remember thy Creator; remember His +power, remember His will, remember His statutes, seek His precepts, +and by doing this thou wilt be able to walk at liberty. + +You may have mere liberty, and not light and not the liberty of +God. You may combine liberty with means, with power, and with a +certain degree of prosperity; you may combine it with equality and +with fraternity, and yet not have the true enlightenment. True +enlightenment comes in the way, indicated in the text, by the +seeking of God's precepts, the knowing of God's statutes, and this +you and I need to keep in mind. "What is liberty?" once asked Burke. +"What is liberty without wisdom and without virtue? Such liberty +is the greatest of all possible evils, for it is vice and folly +and madness, without tuition and without restraint." Mere liberty +without other forces working in the sphere that it opens up, is +only another name for license. "Give me liberty or give me death," +said Patrick Henry--not because he felt the need of enlightenment. +He had been enlightened by the teaching of an intelligent Scottish +father, by the preaching of the splendid sermons of Samuel Davies, +and especially by the daily study, which he kept up to his dying +day, of his Bible. He had been enlightened by these things. What +he craved for himself and for his fellow men was open space in +which, unhindered, other and mighty influences might tell upon his +fellow men and make the country what, in the blessing of God, it has +become. Settle this in your minds: Liberty is simply the freedom +for other forces to act, and it is for you and me who are free, to +see what these forces are, and we never can have any so good as +those which the Psalmist speaks of when he says that he sought God's +precepts, he studied God's statutes, that he might do them, and so +walk at liberty. We want to walk at liberty. How can we do it? If +we do not thus walk at liberty, there is only one alternative--stay +in bondage and walk in bondage, moving about indeed, and apparently +free, but with moral chains binding our natures and our whole +being in bondage to the powers that will rejoice in our misery and +ultimate ruin. It is to make men understand this that we have such +institutions as we enjoy to-day. For this end church edifices are +reared. For this end people are invited to come and be regularly in +them and under their influence. For this end God has been pleased +to give us the day of holy rest. For this purpose the ministry has +been instituted. Our business is to make men seek and know God's +precepts and statutes, that they may do them and that they may walk +at liberty. "We ministers are for you; our business is to seek +your moral and spiritual good, your full and complete liberation. +Our business is to enlighten you with the truth as God has been +pleased to reveal it unto us. You do not come to these churches for +our sakes, to hear us. You do not give your money that we may be +sustained and upheld. I tell you I would rather sweep the streets, +I would rather carry bricks on my shoulder to the builder, than be +a mere official person maintained because he can teach so much and +get so many people to hear him. Brethren, it is that you may be +enlightened and saved with the light of life, that God has brought +us into the position in which we are now together. Keep this in your +thoughts; and that you may be enlightened and free, look upward and +not downward, nor around you. In that statue in our harbor, the +light that will shine is light that comes, I suppose, from the heart +of the earth; but the light that is to enlighten the world is the +light of the sun, the Sun of Righteousness. See that you have that +shining into your souls, that you may walk at liberty. + +Having looked at the former part of this text, namely, what the +Psalmist did with a view to the end, we look at the end at which he +was aiming. He studied God's Word, not simply that he might have so +much intellectual knowledge. He studied it for practical uses. He +studied God's precepts that he might obey them. I do not need to +remind you that you and I have advantages greater than he had, in +some important respects. He had the revelation in part; we have it +in its completeness. He had the preparatory dispensation; we have +the dispensation that fulfils the promises of the preparatory. He +had the beginning; we have the complement. We know more than he +did. He wrote these words, "I have sought thy precepts." He knew of +the Paschal Lamb and of its typical significance; we know the Lamb +of God that taketh away the sin of the world. He knew the Hebrew +priest and the general character of his functions. We know a High +Priest who has passed into the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God. He +knew of the altar and the victim, and the blood that made typical +atonement; we know of the great sacrifice on the cross, bringing in +a redemption that is complete and eternal. He knew of a Messiah that +was to come. You, even children in the Sunday-school to-day, know of +that Messiah risen, risen triumphant, risen a conqueror, risen for +you, risen because He has finished the work God gave Him to do. If +the Psalmist studied God's will that he might walk at liberty, how +much greater is the obligation upon us to do the same, and how much +greater our facilities and our encouragement. Let us try, then, to +travel in the Psalmist's steps, and let us see some, not all, of +the forms of liberty that we can have by compliance with the divine +precepts. + +There is liberty, in the first place, from the world. I use the word +now in the sense in which it is used so frequently in the Bible--not +merely this round globe or the hundreds of millions that are upon +it--not merely these millions in that capacity. The world lieth in +the wicked one; the mass of men, that is, do not know God. They +constitute the world of the New Testament; we can be in bondage +to this world. Natural men are in bondage to it. They are not at +liberty in relation to that natural world. It is without God; it +does not ask what His will is. It enquires as to its own will, and +it tries to enforce it. You sometimes see cliques and coteries and +collections of men insisting at any cost upon carrying out their own +will. This is only the spirit of the greater world of which they +constitute a section. Sometimes men are in bondage to the world +in this sense, and the mainspring of their life is to stand well +with it, to do what their set, their society, the world round about +them, wishes them to do. Sometimes the bondage is aggravated by +another feature, viz., the effort to rise higher, to get upon a more +elevated plane, to get into another set; and, oh, how aggravated is +the bondage under which many thus live and labor! Freedom from that +is obtained when we walk according to God's statutes. Believers, +the world is not your master. One is your Master, even Christ, and +we are brethren in Him, and He is reasonable and kind and just and +brotherly, and you can walk with Him. His favor is enough for you, +His smile satisfies you. Fellowship with Him is the best society. +Let society stigmatize you, let it stamp its enmity upon you, but +seek God's precepts. If you only have Christ walking with you, +then you walk at liberty. But as to the life-work in which many +are busy, or trying to get up a little higher socially, take this +precept of the Word, "Godliness with contentment is great gain"; +and these things, the godliness with the contentment, will break +these clanking chains of insane and stupid ambition and will prepare +you to walk at liberty. "I am in the place where God puts me. I am +trying to do the work that God gives to me. I am responsible to Him. +I belong to Him. He is my Father, Christ is my Brother, heaven is my +home. This I believe on the authority of His word. I will walk at +liberty." Let me commend that form of true freedom to you. + +There is liberty, in the second place, from bad ways. Do I need +to describe these bad ways to you? You can not live in the city, +you can not read the newspapers, you can not hear the gossip, you +can not know what is going on in the circles in which you mingle, +without knowing some of these bad ways. There is the lover of this +world's possessions, so strongly denounced in Isaiah's prophecies: +beginning, perhaps, with necessary saving, but coming slowly but +steadily to a sordid love of the thing that is saved, till the whole +spirit is mercenary, and gold is the deity that is practically +worshiped. There is the drunkard, sipping a little innocently, as he +thinks, at the beginning, then going a little farther, and secretly, +until shame is lost and the victim is under the power of the +drink--degraded, wretched, irresponsible, not ashamed of himself, +for shame is gone, but an object for which all are ashamed that are +connected with him. There is the gambler, beginning perhaps with +what he deemed innocent recreation, and catching the spirit of the +thing till it masters him, until he flings away all that he has, and +all that he hopes to have, in the chance of recovering something +already lost, till life is a burden and fortune is gone, and suicide +is perhaps the tragical termination. These are specimens of the +bad ways--marked specimens, I grant, but still simple specimens. +There is freedom from this when we seek and do God's statutes--real +freedom. We learn to walk circumspectly; we learn to keep the heart +with all diligence; we learn to hate evil and to do good; we learn +to flee from the snares that Satan sets for the feet of men. We walk +securely, for we have been taught of the Spirit to walk with God. +Make sure, dear hearers, that you have this liberty. + +There is liberty from bad memories--bad, putrid memories. When the +corrupt imagination contemplates indulgences in sin, it often dwells +upon these long before the actual execution of them, and as they +linger in the mind they photograph themselves upon its surface, and +they stay there. There may be compunction for the sin, there may be +shame over it, there may be vows against it, there may be honest +purposes to resist and overcome it, and these purposes to a good +degree carried out; but the horrid, poisonous memories remain in the +soul. You know what it is to be in a house where animal matter is +decaying and poisoning fumes are being scattered up and down. Oh! +the misery of the human mind that is haunted with the ghosts of bad +deeds that have been done in the past. It is bondage of the keenest +and sorest kind. There is liberty from these to those who walk in +God's statutes, liberty that can be had nowhere else. "A new heart +will I give you, and a right spirit will I put within you. I will +take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a +heart of flesh." Happy are they to whom this word was fulfilled in +their early youth, and who in consequence were kept from the sins, +the very recollection of which is sometimes like the beginning of +hell. + +There is bondage to bad associates and bad associations. In how many +instances, in thoughtlessness, inexperience, under the impulses of +mere feeling, do men become entangled in connections that mar their +lives and spoil all their happiness--make happiness practically +impossible! I speak what I know, when I say that there are too +many cases in which boys are practically ruined where they go as +pupils to schools away from their parents' supervision, thrown into +dependence, in some degree, upon those whom they call friends, and +these friends bad, initiating them into ways and habits and modes of +thinking and doing, for which they only want the liberty of later +years that they may put them into practise, with disgrace, misery +and ruin. Relief from this bondage, escape from it, these can be had +when we seek God's statutes, when we walk according to His precepts. +Wisdom's ways are pleasantness, and her paths are peace. There are +no bad habits in them; there are no entangling associations in them; +there are no corrupting and degrading influences in them. There is +nothing in them that plays upon passion, till passion, once our idol +and our sport, becomes our ruler and our cruel tyrant. To escape all +these, this is the way: seek God's statutes, that you may know and +do them, and you shall walk at liberty. + + + + +BACON + +GOD INDWELLING + + + + +BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE + + +LEONARD WOOLSEY BACON, Congregational divine, born in New Haven, +Conn., 1830. He was educated at Yale, from which university he +graduated in 1850. He has filled the position of pastor in many +important churches and has done much theological and literary work. +Among other things he edited Luther's "Deutsche Geistliche Lieder" +(New York, 1883), and wrote "History of American Christianity" (New +York, 1897). + + + + +BACON + +BORN IN 1830 + +GOD INDWELLING[6] + + [6] From "The Simplicity That Is in Christ," published by Funk & + Wagnalls Company. + +_Thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose +name is Holy: I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also +that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of +the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones._--Isaiah +lvii., 15. + + +Inhabiting eternity; yet making His abode within a broken heart! It +seems as if we might apprehend either of these things singly; but +both together--how can it be? The distresses, the wants, the fears, +of life, make us long that indeed it were so. Our soul crieth out +for God, for the living God. + +We cry; but there seems no answer; only an awful silence. We look +upon the outward facts of life and death, and see the steady, +unswerving march of law--the unbroken, irrefragable chain of causes +and effects--never yielding nor bending to all our needs, to all our +prayers. And God seems so far, so far away! We turn the pages of +our knowledge from the physical to the metaphysical, and we come +no nearer. Our philosophical, our theological, yes, our religious +meditations upon the nature and attributes of the infinite One--the +omniscient, the eternal, the unchangeable--set Him more and more +beyond the reach of our fellowship and prayer. But all the time, +one thing testifies to us of a heavenly Father that hears and loves +and answers, and that is our ineradicable need. The cravings of our +nature cannot be rebuked by scientific observation of the constancy +of law, nor by philosophic meditation of the properties of absolute +and infinite being. We need, we must have, a Father. Our heart and +flesh, our soul, crieth out for the living God. + +In such a strait, there is true comfort in this word of the Lord +by His prophet, in which the full measure of the difficulty is set +forth, and the solution of it is found in faith. + +It has seemed to me that we need not seek in vain in the created +works of God for helps to that faith by which we know that the +infinite and eternal God can have fellowship with us and can dwell +within the narrow precincts of a human heart. + +That sight in visible nature which gives to us the highest sense +of vastness,--the aptest suggestion of infinity,--is doubtless the +aspect of the starry heavens;--to all of us, ignorant or learned, +poetic or unimaginative. It needs no diagrams nor distances from +a book of astronomy to tell the lessons of the firmament. "Their +sound is gone out into all the earth, and their words to the end of +the world." + +And yet it is when we come to study the dimensions of this operation +in detail, that the sense of its vastness grows upon us and +overpowers us. David never could have felt, as we can feel, the +force of his own words: + + 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! + +They are like the chariot of Ezekiel's vision, "so high that it +was dreadful." It seems a fearful thing to have to do with such +magnitudes; and when we hear of scholars in their observatories +measuring the distances among the stars, it overcomes us with a +giddy feeling, as when we see men clambering on church spires, or +crossing the East River on a strand of wire. A row of figures on a +slate does seem such a frail support on which to go marching through +the starry spaces! We almost shudder when we see human science +springing clear of the narrow boundaries of the earth, and on such +attenuated threads of calculation venturing boldly forth to other +planets, and thence over chasms of space so vast that it is easiest +to call them infinite, until he reaches the fixt stars. No longer +content with numbering and naming the host of heaven, and marshaling +them in constellations, this tiny creature must take upon himself +to scrutinize their constitution, must weigh their floating bulk, +must + + "Speed his flight from star to star, + From world to luminous world, as far + As the universe rears his flaming wall," + +and, as if bearing in this amazing flight the measuring-rod which +once the prophet saw in an angel's hand, must measure the paths +along which the planets travel, and tell in human language the +distances on the chart of heaven. + +And how human language staggers under the burden thus laid upon it! +We begin with attempting to state the least of these distances in +numbers of a unit of earthly distance, but, when we speak of some +of our near neighbors in celestial space as being twenty trillions +of English miles away, the words will not hold the meaning--they +carry no conception to the mind. They are good to cipher with, +but that is all they are good for. We try to invent a new form of +speech, and for our unit we take the distance which a cannon-ball, +if retaining the velocity with which it leaves the gun, would travel +in twenty-four hours, and say that, at this rate of speed, it would +take so many months, and years, and centuries, to reach such and +such of the nearer stars. But this, too, is a clumsy failure; and +we resort, at last, to the heavens themselves for a standard of +measurement, and find it in the velocity of light. It shoots from +the sun to the earth, a distance of ninety-two millions of miles, +in eight minutes and seven seconds. And we attempt to represent the +distance of certain of the stars by stating how many years, how many +hundred years, how many thousand years, it takes a ray of their +light to reach the earth. But it is all in vain. We commonly speak +of imagination as outstripping, in its speed, the slow-paced reason; +but here it is the reason that has outrun the imagination. From +these unspeakable tracts of space, over which the reason of man has +not hesitated to go, + + "Sounding along its dim and perilous way," + +the imagination shrinks back and refuses to follow. We know things +which we cannot conceive. In presence of such stupendous magnitudes, + + "Imagination's utmost stretch + In wonder dies away." + +We can only bow with awe in the presence of things which the +calmest computations have revealed, and seizing the words kindled on +the lips of inspiration, sing aloud in worship: + + "O Lord, how great are they works! + In wisdom hast thou made them all!" + +I have shown you what is wonderful. Come now and I will show you +what is more wonderful. For I will show you these infinite spaces +of the sky, and the glory of them, and the innumerable host of +starry worlds, gathered up in a moment of time, within the tiny +pupil of a human eye. It is wonderful that the heavens and the host +of them should be so great; but that, being so great, they should +be able to become so infinitely little,--this passes all wonder. +The shepherd stretched upon the ground amid his sheep gazes up into +the starry depths, and finds them wonderful; but never thinks how +far more wonderful than the heavens which he beholds is himself +beholding them. As he lies gazing, long lines of light, from planet +and star and constellation, come stretching on through the infinite +void spaces, to center on the lenses of his drowsy eye. Side by +side, and all at once, yet never twisted or confused, these ten +thousand rays of different light enter the little aperture in the +center of the eye which we call the pupil. There they cross, in a +point which has no dimensions, and separate again, and paint in +microscopic miniature upon the little surface of the retina, behind +the eyeball, the inverted facsimile of the visible heavens. There, +in the ante-chamber of the brain, marches Orion, with his shining +baldric and his jeweled sword; there glow Arcturus and Sirius, and +the steadfast North Star; there pass the planets to and fro; and +the far-off nebulæ are painted there with suffused and gentle +radiance--all the heavens and the glory of them gathered in that +slender filament of light, threaded through that tiny aperture, +painted by their own rays upon that little patch of nervous network, +apprehended, felt, known through and through by that finite human +mind. How far stranger and sublimer a thing is this than the mere +bulk of the worlds, or the mere chasms of void space in which they +hang weltering! + +By this sublime fact of God's visible creation, we are led on to +apprehend and feel the sublimest of the glories of God Himself, set +forth in the prophet's words,--that He whose lifetime is infinite +duration, whose dwelling-place is infinite space,--He who before +the earth and the world were made was no younger, neither will be +older when they are all consumed,--whose presence reaches out to the +farthest fixt star that eye or telescope has ever described floating +upon the far verge of the universe, and occupies beyond in all the +orbits of worlds yet undiscovered, and still beyond in the regions +of space where is naught but the possibility of future worlds, and +fills all this immensity to repletion,--that this "high and lofty +One that inhabiteth eternity" should enter into some poor, crusht +and broken spirit, that trembles at the very whisper of His voice, +and should make the narrow recesses of that heart His abode, His +home. This is the mystery and glory of the Godhead,--not alone that +He should be infinite, eternal, immortal, invisible, but that being +all these, He should yet be apprehended by the little mind of a man, +and call Himself that man's Friend and Comforter and Father. + +For it is not more evident that the tiny pupil of human eye can take +in the expanses and abysses of the heavens, than it is that the +little soul of man can receive into itself the infinite God. + +I. Man receives God into himself by the intellect. We trifle with +the facts of our own consciousness, if we suffer the theological +description of God as incomprehensible to divert us from the fact +that our minds are made for nothing more expressly than for this, +that they should receive God. The lowest rudiments of the knowledge +of the simplest forms of matter are the beginnings of the knowledge +of God. If we could remember, you and I, now that we are grown, all +that came to us in infancy--the first struggles of the childish mind +with the questions that we are not done with yet, we should see how +soon the knowledge of God comes to the little one. Beyond the cradle +in which it wakes up to the wonders of a new day is the nursery, and +beyond the nursery is the house, and beyond the house is the garden, +and beyond the garden there lies all the world, and beyond the +world shuts down the sky with its stars, and beyond the sky--what? +"Tell me, father--tell me, mother, what is there beyond the sky?" +And, according to your knowledge or your ignorance, your faith or +your unbelief, you may tell the little questioner of heaven, or of +infinities of other worlds, or of infinite waste room and empty +space, and he will believe you. But attempt to tell him that beyond +is nothing, and not even room for anything, and will he believe you? +He may seem to believe you, but it is impossible that he really +should believe. The infant mind--any mind--rejects it as impossible. +It cannot live in anything less than infinite space. It stifles. It +leaps up and beats its wings against any bars with which you would +cage it in, but that it will break through and take possession of +its inheritance. + +And as with infinite extent, so with infinite duration. How well I +remember, as a very little child, when men were talking of the end +of the world, and the great comet stretched amain across the sky, +and men's hearts were failing them for fear, how the thought of +infinite duration prest in, inexorably, on my soul! Come judgment +day, come final conflagration, come end of all material things, come +cessation and extinction of all angels, all souls, all sentient +creatures, still this could not be the end. Eternity must needs go +on and on, tho there were never an event or thought to mark its +movement. There cannot be an end. + +They err, not measuring the import of their own arguments, who +tell us, in that pride of not-knowing which is so high uplifted +beyond any pride of knowledge, that the very form of the word +infinite marks it as the sign of a thing inconceivable, being a mere +negation. Nay, verily, it is the word end, limit, cessation, that +is the negative word, having no meaning except as the negation of +continuance; and infinite is the negation of this negation--a thing +positive, affirmative, real. + +So, then, it is not the idea of infinity to which the human mind is +unfitted. The mind is so made that it cannot help receiving that. +The incredible, inconceivable idea is the idea of absolute end. So +far is the idea of infinity from being inconceivable, that it is +just impossible to thrust the conception out of the mind. And with +the conception of eternity, there rushes into the thoughtful spirit +at once, the awful and lovely conception of "that high and lofty +One who inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy." By such a wonder +of creation is it, that He who made the little ball of the human +eye so that it can take in the heavens and the earth, has made the +petty intellect of man so that it can take in the knowledge of the +infinite God. + +II. But, secondly, it is even a greater wonder than this, that the +infinite God, whom the intellect has conceived, draws near for a +more intimate society with His creature, and enters the heart +of man through the gateway of his affections. I say a greater +wonder; for it must be confest that this ideal of the intellect, +this center in which all infinite attributes inhere, does by +His very majesty so overawe the heart that we shrink away from +Him. By every new perfection of His nature, that grows upon our +apprehension; by His awful power as the Almighty; by His perfect +knowledge as the All-wise; by His unswerving steadfastness as the +Faithful and True--the Immutable; by the very infinitude of His +nature, He is withdrawn farther and farther from the possibility +of being counted among those humble objects on which the tendrils +of a human heart are able to lay hold. How, for instance, shall +this Inhabitant of eternity, whose name is Holy, be well-pleased +with His petty creature who has dared withstand His perfect law, +and looks shrinking toward the throne of infinite Majesty, fearing +and crying, "Unclean! unclean!" How shall any prayer that we can +frame bring arguments to bear upon the Mind that knows the end +from the beginning, and to whom there is not a word upon our lips, +but lo! He knoweth it altogether? How can any pitiful plight into +which we may fall move the compassion of Him who is immutable, and +under whose benign government even the pains and severities that +befall His creatures are wrought into a plan of common beneficence +to the whole? These are questions which the awe-struck intellect, +gazing upward at the infinite attributes that adorn the name which +is holy, puts to the yearning heart, which, with all the craving +of its love, with all the outstretching of its need, gropes after +a God to worship, to love, to pray to, if haply it may find Him. +And the heart cannot answer back the intellect with arguments of +language. But love contains more reason than many arguments; and the +strong instincts of affection and devotion with which the humble and +contrite heart reaches out after the love and personal friendship +of an infinite Creator are themselves an argument that God will not +refuse Himself to the affections which He has Himself implanted. The +hunger and thirst of our hearts for God are a promise from Him that +they shall be filled. He cannot deny Himself. + +The very arguments by which we climb to the knowledge of the +infinite Spirit are like mountains that separate us from any +relation with him of childlike prayer and mutual love. But a +trustful confidence can say to these mountains, "Be ye removed and +be ye cast into the sea," and it shall be done. + +Have you ever pondered that dark mystery of human nature, the origin +of the frightful idolatries of India? It seems to be proved that +they had their beginning, not (as the prepossessions of modern +science would suggest) through development from some form of +fetishism baser and coarser still, but by degradation from the most +refined and abstract speculations on the infinity, the spirituality, +and the immutability of God. No subtler metaphysics is taught to-day +in the lecture-rooms of Yale and Princeton than was taught long +centuries ago by Hindoo sages, enthroning their supreme divinity in +the everlasting, impassive repose of the unconditioned, far beyond +the reach of affection, sympathy or prayer, until the needy millions +cried out, stifling, famishing, "Give us a God to love, to worship, +to pray to!" and, for lack of answer, betook them to the forest or +the quarry or the mine, to the carver and the smith, and made them +gods that were no gods. So little can argument and reason hold us +back in times when the stress of life comes down upon us, and the +cravings of the soul grow strong! + +I am bringing to the altar of God my offering--my poor little +offering of thankfulness and prayer. Here have I my little bundle +of anxieties, cares, troubles,--it may be the concerns of a nation +in fear and perplexity; it may be the distress and terror of +some sorely afflicted little household; it may be the secret of +bitterness of some humble and contrite spirit; in any case, a matter +how infinitely small when measured by the scale of immensity and +eternity; but oh, how great a thing to me! And there meets me, in +the way, a philosopher. "And what, forsooth, have you there? Show +it me, now." And I unroll before Him my little bundle of griefs, +of cares, of pains, of sickness, of fears, of forebodings,--here +a handful of myrrh from a troubled heart, and there a sprig of +frankincense from a grateful spirit. "And this, then, is what you +would bring to lay before the infinite, the eternal, the omniscient, +the unchangeable God!" And each great title smites upon my heart +with discouragement and dismay. "This is what you would bring to +Him in prayer and deprecation! But do you not know that all this +is a part of a perfect system?--that it is all fixt by the laws of +nature, which no prayer can change or suspend without upsetting the +constitution of the universe. You would lay before God your wretched +plight to move His pity? Tush! Did He not know it all a hundred +thousand ages ago, or ever the earth was?" And I cannot gainsay Him, +and I cannot cease to pray. But by and by the philosopher himself +comes face to face with some of the overwhelming things in human +life and human death. He hangs with tears and wringing of hands over +some cradleful of childish anguish, and shrinks from what the laws +of nature, the system of the universe, are doing there--so pitiless, +so deaf to prayer, so blind to agony; and he looks away, and looks +up, and cries, "My God, my God!" And his reason is not one whit +the less true, because now, at last, his love and faith are also +true and strong. The awful wonder of God's unchangeable infinity +abides; but out of cloud and darkness breaks forth, oh, what light +of fatherly love! And the bewildered soul sings:-- + + And can this mighty King + Of glory condescend? + And will He write His name + My Father, and my Friend? + I love His name! I love His word! + Join all my powers and praise the Lord! + +And now behold a mystery--the mystery of godliness, without +controversy great, manifest in the flesh! That He may come over +these mountains of helpless separation, that we may be helped to +know, to love, to trust that which is far too vast for the reach +of our clinging affections to clasp, what wonders of condescending +tenderness will not our Father do! There draweth near to us One +having the likeness of man, but glorious with an unearthly glory, +as of the only-begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. He +stands beside us in our daily cares, our household joys and griefs, +our business troubles and anxieties, our national fears and sorrows. +He shares our temptations. He is touched with the feeling of our +infirmities. He carries our sorrows. He bears our sickness. He dies +our death. How easy to love Him, to come near to Him, to trust Him! +Being lifted up, how doth He draw all men unto Him! And what mean +those wonderful words of His, telling of His intimacy, His sonship, +His oneness with the invisible and eternal God? Could it be, +perhaps, that such an one might bring us nearer to the inaccessible +Light--might help us to draw nigh as seeing Him who is invisible? +Oh, Master, show us the Father and it sufficeth us! And hear now +His gracious words: "He that believeth on me believeth on him that +sent me." "He that hath seen me hath seen the Father also." Thus the +high and lofty One, who hath wonderfully entered into our narrow +understanding, cometh also into our heart, and draweth us to His own +bosom "with the chords of love, with the bands of a man." + +III. Finally, with a true spiritual intercourse and converse, which +no man can define, which is as the viewless wind that men know altho +they see it not, and feel its quickening and refreshment, altho they +cannot tell whence it cometh nor whither it goeth, God entereth into +our spirits, "not to sojourn, but to abide with us," and we become +the temples of the Holy Ghost. + + + + +JOSEPH PARKER + +A WORD TO THE WEARY + + + + +BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE + + +JOSEPH PARKER was born at Hexham-on-Tyne, England, in 1830. He +was a prodigious worker, writer, and preacher. His "The People's +Bible," in twenty-eight large volumes, a popular commentary on +the Scriptures, is his greatest work. To a naturally energetic +personality he added great originality and resourcefulness. He +gave much time to the preparation of sermons, reading them aloud +as he wrote in order to test their effect upon the ear. A strong +personal quality pervaded all his preaching. "If I have not seen Him +myself," he said, "I cannot preach Him." In lectures to students he +gave much valuable advice gathered from the storehouse of his own +varied experience. He gave particular attention to the use of the +voice. "It is not enough," he said, "that you be heard; you must be +effective as well as audible; you must lighten and thunder with the +voice; it must rise and fall like a storm at times; now a whisper, +now a trumpet, now the sound of many waters. There is an orator's +voice, and there is a bellman's. The auctioneer talks; the orator +speaks." Dr. Parker's sermons are published in numerous volumes. He +died in 1902. + + + + +JOSEPH PARKER + +1830-1902 + +A WORD TO THE WEARY[7] + + [7] From "The People's Bible," by Joseph Parker, published by Funk & + Wagnalls Company. + +_The Lord God hath given me the tongue of the learned, that I should +know how to speak a word in season to him that is weary._--Isaiah +1., 4. + + +The power of speaking to the weary is nothing less than a divine +gift. As we see the divinity in our gifts shall we be careful of +them, thankful for them: every gift seems to enshrine the giver, +God. But how extraordinary that this power of speaking to the weary +should not be taught in the schools. It is not within the ability +of man to teach other men how to speak to the weary-hearted, the +wounded in spirit, the sore in the innermost feelings of the being. +But can we lay down directions about this and offer suggestions? +Probably so, but we do not touch the core of the matter. There is an +infinite difference between the scholar and the genius. The scholar +is made, the genius is inspired. Information can be imparted, but +the true sense, the sense that feels and sees God, is a gift direct +from heaven. + +It is a common notion that anybody can sing. Why can you sing? Why, +because I have been taught. That is your mistake. You can sing +mechanically, exactly, properly, with right time, right tune, but +really and truly you can not sing. Here is a man with his music and +with the words; he sings every note, pronounces every word, goes +through his lesson, finishes his task, and nobody wants to hear him +any more. Another man takes up the same music, the same words, and +the same hearers exclaim, "Oh, that he would go on for ever!" How +is that?--the words exactly the same, the notes identical--how? +Soul, fire, ever-burning, never consuming, making a bush like a +planet. The great difficulty in all such cases is the difficulty +of transferring to paper a proper or adequate conception of the +power of the men who thus sway the human heart. There are some men +whose biographies simply belie them, and yet every sentence in the +biography is true in the letter; but the biography is little else +than a travesty and a caricature, because the power was personal, +it was in the face, in the voice, in the presence, in the gait, in +the touch--an incommunicable power; the hem of the garment trembled +under it, but no biographer could catch it in his scholarly ink. + +Very few ministers can enter a sick chamber with any probability +of doing real and lasting good. They can read the Bible, and they +can pray, and yet, when they have gone, the room seems as if they +had never been there. There is no sense of emptiness or desolation. +Other men, probably not so much gifted in some other directions, +will enter the sick room, and there will be a light upon the wall, +summer will gleam upon the windowpane, and angels will rustle in the +air, and it will be a scene of gladness and a vision of triumph. How +is that? The Lord God hath given me the tongue of the learned that +I might know how--_how_ to speak a word in season to him that is +weary. The Lord God hath not only given me a word to say, but hath +given me learning to teach me how to speak it. Place the emphasis +upon the how, and then you develop all the mystery, all the tender +music, all the infinite capacity of manner. + +We may say the right word in the wrong tone; we may preach the +gospel as if it were a curse. The common notion is that anybody can +go into the Sunday-school and teach the young. We sometimes think +that it would be well if a great many persons left the Sunday-school +all over the world. Teach the young--would God I had that great +gift, to break the bread for the children, and to be able to lure +and captivate opening minds, and to enter into the spirit of the +words-- + + "Delightful task! to rear the tender thought, + To teach the young idea how to shoot." + +It requires to be father and mother and sister and nurse and +genius to speak to the young. They may hear you and not care for +you: they may understand your words, and be repelled by your spirit. +You require the tongue of the learned to know how to speak, and +that tongue of the learned is not to be had at school, college, +university--it is not included in any curriculum of learning--it is +a gift divine, breathing an afflatus, an inspiration--the direct +and distinct creation of God, as is the star, the sun. The speaker, +then, is Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the representative of the +Father, the incarnate Deity--He it is who is charged with the subtle +learning; He it is whose lips tremble with the pathos of this +ineffable music. + +Tho the gift itself is divine, we must remember that it is to be +exercised seasonably. The text is, "that I should know how to speak +a word in season." There is a time for everything. It is not enough +to speak the right word, it must be spoken at the right moment. Who +can know when that is! We can not be taught. We must feel it, see +it hours beyond: nay, must know when to be silent for the whole +twenty-four hours and to say, "To-morrow, at such and such a time, +we will drop that sentence upon the listening ear." "The day after +to-morrow, he will probably be in circumstances to admit of this +communication being delivered with sympathy and effect." How few +persons know the right time--the right time in conversation. Some +people are never heard in conversation tho they are talking all +the time. They talk so unseasonably, they talk when other people +are talking; they can not wait; they do not know how to come in +along the fine line of silence: they do not understand the German +expression "Now an angel has passed," and they do not quickly enough +follow in his wake. Consequently, tho chattering much they are +saying nothing--tho their words be multitudinous, the impression +they make is a blank. + +I have a ripe seed in my hand. As an agriculturist I am going to sow +it. Any laborer in the field can tell me that I should be acting +foolishly in sowing it just now. Why? "It is out of season," the man +says. "There is a time for the doing of that action: I will tell you +when the time returns--do it then, and you may expect a profitable +result of your labor." + +Then I will change the character and be a nurse, and I will attend +to my patient (perhaps I will over attend to him--some patients +are killed by over nursing), and I will give the patient this +medicine--it is the right medicine. So it is, but you are going +to give it at the wrong time, and if you give the medicine at the +wrong time, tho itself be right, the hour being wrong you will bring +suffering upon the patient, and you yourself will be involved in +pains and penalties. Thus we touch that very subtle and sensitive +line in human life, the line of refined discrimination. You may +say "I am sure I told him." You are right--you did tell him and +he did not hear you. You may reply, "I am perfectly confident I +delivered the message,--I preached the exact words of the gospel." +So you did, but you never got the hearing heart, your manner was so +unsympathetic, so ungentle, so cruel (not meant to be--unconsciously +so), that the man never understood it to be a gospel. You spoilt the +music in the delivery, in the giving of the message. The Lord God +giveth the tongue of the learned, that he to whom it is given may +know how to speak--how to speak the right word--how to speak the +right word at the right point of time. You want divine teaching in +all things, in speech not least. + +This is a curious word to find in the Bible. Does the Bible care +about weary people? We have next to no sympathy with them. If a man +be weary, we give him notice to quit: if he ask us to what place +he can retire, we tell him that it is his business not ours. Now +the tenderness of this Book is one of the most telling, convincing +arguments on behalf of its inspiration, and its divine authority. +This Book means to help us, wants to help us, it says, "I will try +to help you, never hinder you: I will wait for you, I will soften +the wind into a whisper, I will order the thunder to be silent, +I will quiet the raging sea; I will wait upon you at home, in +solitude, at midnight, anywhere--fix the place, the time, yourself, +and when your heart most needs me I will be most to your heart." +Any book found in den, in gutter, that wants to do this, should be +received with respect. The purpose is good: if it fail, it fails in +a noble object. + +Everywhere in this Book of God we find a supreme wish to help man. +When we most need help the words are sweeter than the honeycomb. +When other books are dumb, this Book speaks most sweetly. It is +like a star, it shines in the darkness, it waits the going down of +the superficial sun of our transient prosperity, and then it breaks +upon us as the shadows thicken. This is the real greatness of God: +he will not break the bruised reed. Because the reed is bruised, +therefore the rude man says he may break it. His argument in brief +is this: "If the reed were strong, I should not touch it, but +seeing that it is bruised what harm can there be in completing the +wound under which it is already suffering? I will even snap it and +throw the sundered parts away." That is the reasoning of the rude +man--that is the vulgar view of the case. The idea of the healing +is the idea of a creator. He who creates also heals. Herein we see +God's estimate of human nature: if He cared only for the great, the +splendid, the magnificent, the robust, and the everlasting, then +He would indeed be too like ourselves. The greatness of God and the +estimate which He places upon human nature are most seen in all +these ministrations in reference to the weak and the weary and the +young and the feeble and the sad. Made originally in the image of +God, man is dear to his Maker, tho ever so broken. Oh, poor prodigal +soul with the divinity nearly broken out of thee, smashed, bleeding, +crushed, all but in hell--while there is a shadow of thee outside +perdition, He would heal thee and save thee. Thou art a ruin, but +a grand one,--the majestic ruin of a majestic edifice, for knowest +thou not that thou wast the temple of God? + +When we are weary, even in weariness, God sees the possibility of +greatness that may yet take place and be developed and supervene in +immortality. How do we talk? Thus: "The survival of the fittest." It +is amazing with what patience and magnanimity and majestic disregard +of circumstances we allow people to die off. When we hear that +thousands have perished, we write this epitaph on their white slate +tombstones: "The survival of the fittest required the decay of the +weakest and the poorest." We pick off the fruit which we think will +not come to perfection. The gardener lays his finger and thumb upon +the tree, and he says, "This will not come to much"--he wrenches +the poor unpromising piece of fruit off the twig and throws it down +as useless. In our march we leave the sick and wounded behind. +That is the great little, the majestic insignificant, the human +contradiction. We go in for things that are fittest, strongest, +most promising, healthy, self-complete, and therein we think we are +wise. God says, "Not a lamb must be left out--bring it up: not a +sick man must be omitted: not a poor publican sobbing his 'God be +merciful to me a sinner' must be omitted from the great host. Bring +them all in, sick, weary, wounded, feeble, young, illiterate, poor, +insignificant, without name, fame, station, force--all in: gather up +the fragments that nothing be lost." Let us go to that Shepherd--He +will spare us and love us. When our poor strength gives out, He will +not set His cruel heel upon us and kill us, He will gather us in +His arms and make the whole flock stand still till He has saved the +weakest one. + +Did we but know the name for our pain we should call it Sin. What +do we need, then, but Christ the Son of God, the Heart of God, the +Love of God? He will in very deed give us rest. He will not add to +the great weight which bows down our poor strength. He will give us +grace, and in His power all our faintness shall be thought of no +more. Some of us know how dark it is when the full shadow of our sin +falls upon our life, and how all the help of earth and time and man +does but mock the pain it can not reach. Let no man say that Christ +will not go so low down as to find one so base and vile as he. +Christ is calling for thee; I heard His sweet voice lift itself up +in the wild wind and ask whither thou hadst fled, that He might save +thee from death and bring thee home. There is no wrath in His face +or voice, no sword is swung by His hand as if in cruel joy, saying, +"Now at last I have My chance with you." His eyes gleam with love: +His voice melts in pity: His words are gospels, every one. Let Him +but see thee sad for sin, full of grief because of the wrong thou +hast done, and He will raise thee out of the deep pit and set thy +feet upon the rock. + + + + +McKENZIE + +THE ROYAL BOUNTY + + + + +BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE + + +ALEXANDER MCKENZIE was born at New Bedford, Mass., in 1830, and +graduated from Harvard in 1859. Since 1867 he has been pastor of +the First Congregational Church, Cambridge, Mass. His voice is +rich, full and sympathetic, and his pulpit style that of one man +talking earnestly and directly to another, there being no attempt +at oratorical effect. He is to-day probably the most acceptable +preacher at Harvard, and the leading Congregational minister in New +England. The discourse reprinted here is from his volume "A Door +Opened," and has been noted as one of the greatest sermons of the +century. + + + + +McKENZIE + +BORN IN 1830 + +THE ROYAL BOUNTY[8] + + [8] Reprinted by permission of Dr. Alexander McKenzie and the + publishers, Houghton, Mifflin Co. + +_And King Solomon gave to the Queen of Sheba all her desire, +whatsoever she asked, besides that which Solomon gave her of his +royal bounty. So she turned and went to her own land, she and her +servants._--1 Kings x., 13. + + +The Queen of Sheba came from the uttermost part of the earth to hear +the wisdom of Solomon. She was amazed at all that she had heard, +and delighted with all that she saw, and confest that after the +generous rumors that had reached her in her distant home the half +had not been told her. She brought her present to him, as was the +custom of the times; and when she went away she asked a gift of +him, and history says that the king gave her all that she desired; +and that, having given her everything of which she had thought, +he added something more of his own thought. He gave her this, not +because she had desired it, but because he had desired it; not for +her heart's seeking, but out of his heart's wishing to bestow. This +is the simple record: "And King Solomon gave to the Queen of Sheba +all her desire, whatsoever she asked, besides that which Solomon +gave her of his royal bounty." These last words describe the added +gift, and this was doubtless the best of all; that upon which she +would think with the greatest pleasure, and of which she would speak +with the greatest pride. The word "royal" is well chosen, for we +think of something which is great when we apply this term to it, as +we speak of a royal deed, royal magnificence, royal benevolence, +royal bounty. We readily approve the action of the king, for it is +this excess of giving, beyond that which is demanded of us, which +makes the real generosity. We are in the habit ourselves, so far +as we are generous at all, of reaching beyond the real necessities +and requests of our friends, and giving out of the largeness of +our hearts. It is this excess which commands the high price. It is +the added, extraordinary beauty of a painting which enhances its +worth. Some pictures are sold by the square yard, and some by the +inch. It is that which genius adds which is the royal bounty. It +marks the difference between genius and talent. To be what we must, +and to do what we must, is narrow and uninteresting. The man who +is just, and no more, wins our praise for his integrity, but not +our regard for his liberality. There are some men who would on no +account have their measures in the slightest degree too small, but +would be quite as careful not to have them too large. There is no +reason why justice should not be combined with charity, and a strict +regard for the legal demands which are made upon us with the excess +out of a free heart which will make our justice beautiful. I saw in +a fine country town a tall, graceful tree which cast its pleasant +shade upon the path, and I marked that men had fastened upon it an +iron frame which held a lamp that gave out its light upon the path. +The tree was not the less a tree that it added the light, and the +lamp was not less a lamp because it belonged to the tree. I came +afterward and found that the bark of the tree had grown up around +the iron where it was fastened to it, till the frame and lamp were +fairly incorporated in the tree itself. It is easy thus to enlarge +our life, adding beauty to strength, giving what our heart desires +to give to that which Sheba asks at our hands. This thought is +strongly expressed by St. Paul, "Scarcely for a righteous man," the +man who does exactly what he ought to do, and nothing more, "will +one die." Yet peradventure, for a good man, who does all he ought +to do, and adds something because he wants to do it, some would +even give their life. This man appeals to our heart which is ready +to respond. The best things are indeed only to be given in this +way. They can not be bought. They can not be had for the asking; +such things as confidence, and friendship, and courtesy, which no +statute can demand, but which the royal heart delights to give; and +there is a like royalty which is able to receive and prize the gift. + +This is God's way, to whom all life is but the expression of his +heart. We rejoice continually in his bountiful goodness. What is the +need of flowers? He could have made a strong and honest earth which +would take in the seed and give it out in harvest, and thus we could +live; but when He had made the earth substantial, useful as it is, +He added flowers, because He wished to give them, was delighted to +look upon them, and knew how happy we should be who saw them blossom +by the roadside. There is no need of birds. The world would go its +way, the seasons would follow one another, the sun would rise and +set, the forest trees would reach up toward the clouds, without +them. God made all this, and then filled the quiet woods with forms +of beauty, and changed silence into songs. Even heaven itself has +more than we should have looked for or asked for. We might have +had a good delightful heaven, without pain or sorrow or sighing, +without death, and such a heaven we have. But in the vision of the +Apocalypse, which only dimly sees the heavenly reality, its streets +are covered with gold, as it were transparent glass; its gates are +pearl, and the strong walls, which can not be moved, glisten with +jewels. So it might have been with the arrangement of this world. We +might have had men to care for us, women to nurture us, fathers to +work for us, a society whose process might move on with industry and +safety from year to year. But God has added the richer delights of +love and sympathy, of all that we name friend and friendship. It is +in the same way that He frames His ordinances for us. We could have +had all days alike, but when He had made six good days He added a +seventh which should be wearied by no work, wherein the soul should +be at leisure to live with itself in quietness, and worship God. He +might have supplied all our wants in the course of nature, bringing +His gifts to our door with regularity, and we should have lived our +appointed time; but He does more than this. He lets us thank Him +when we take our daily bread, and blesses the bread with the love +which gives it. He even lets us tell Him what we wish, and to our +wishes He gives patient heed. He might have left us to conscience +and experience, in the light of nature to frame our character and +our hope, but to these He has added the thought of other men, the +revelation of His wisdom by His saints, the gift of His spirit to +our spirit, to be in us a continual light. + +There is a very good expression of God's way of dealing with us +in a line of the twenty-third Psalm, "My cup runneth over." This +seems unnecessary. To have the cup full, or a little less than full, +is enough for us, and more convenient. For us, but not for God, +who delights in filling it; and when we bid Him stay His hand, He +keeps on pouring, and the water flows, till, presently, the cup is +overflowing, but not because we thought to have it so, but because +of His great delight in giving; until it would seem as if He could +not stop, or content Himself with that which He has already bestowed +upon us. Let this stand as a simple expression of His way with us. + +When we come upon anything that all good men approve, we may be very +certain that we have found something which God Himself approves, +and which is the method of His life. We like, among ourselves, this +principle of the cup that runneth over. Our liking for it we have +inherited from God. We might expect, therefore, that when the Son of +God has His life in the world He will live by this rule, which is of +heaven and of earth; and it is even so. His first miracle would seem +unnecessary. There have been people who blindly but honestly wished +that He had never wrought it. Why did He do it if there was no need +of it, if it were even possible that it should be wrested from its +meaning? He had gone as a guest to a wedding, perhaps because the +bride was his friend, and there came that grave calamity which would +mar the feast; for presently it was whispered to Him, "They have +no wine." Surely they could have a wedding without wine. Not that +wedding. Not in the custom of that time. He knew that the bride, +if she lived to be old, would never recover from the shame of her +wedding-day, whose beauty was lost. Here was a necessity, in love, +in kindness; and that the cheeks of this girl might not redden with +shame, He reddened the water into wine. + +He was at Capernaum. They brought to Him a sick man with the palsy. +They broke up the roof, and lowered him to the feet of Jesus, who +knew well what they wanted. He passed over the little thing which +they sought, and, governed by His own feeling, not by theirs, he +said, "Son, be of good cheer; thy sins are sent away from thee." +That was enough. In a few days, the man would be able to walk +without His help. Death comes to the succor of cripples. The man +gave no sign of discontent, but Jesus found that the friends were +unsatisfied, and He thought within Himself, "You brought him here +that he might be raised up, and be made able to carry his bed home. +I have done a greater thing for him, but I will add this which +you want." "Arise," He said, "take up your bed and go your way." +He did the greater work which made the soul strong, and for the +lesser work,--well, He threw that in. It was the royal bounty. +There was a time later than that, after His resurrection, when some +of His disciples had toiled all the night upon the sea, and had +taken nothing. He could not have it a fruitless night for them. In +the morning He was their risen Savior, who might well bestow some +spiritual gift becoming to the resurrection. This He did, but He +said, "Cast your net on the right side of the ship, and you will +find what you have been seeking." They cast it, therefore, and drew +it in, full of fishes, a hundred and fifty and three. This is the +record of a fisherman, who wrote that the fish were large; and of an +old man, who remembered the number of them. They drew their net to +shore, and there was a fire of coals, and fish laid thereon, another +fish. When they had enough, one that was better than all was added. +Have you not sometimes wished that you could have had that hundred +and fifty-fourth fish? This was Christ's way all the while, and is +His way still. He fills the net as full as it will hold, that our +life may be sustained, and then He adds more, that His love may be +gratified, and that which He adds is the "royal bounty." + +The work of our Lord was not merely in meeting the wants of men, but +in creating the wants; not in gratifying their great desires, but in +making their desires great. His own work in the world was twofold: +to teach men how much more there was which they could enjoy, and how +much more there was which He was eager to impart. The greater the +desire, the surer it was that it would be met by His desire. Indeed, +a large desire is necessary to wealth. We must look out toward that +wherein our riches lie. "He who would bring home the wealth of the +Indies must send out the wealth of the Indies." To him whose desires +are allowed liberty there comes the answer of fulfillment from "the +unsearchable riches of Christ." In all His life and in all His +teachings we see vastly more than men ever asked, much more than +they are willing to take even to-day. It has often been, as it was +at the first, that "he came unto his own, and his own received him +not"; but to those who received Him He gave all they wished, and +more than they had thought; He gave the right to become the sons of +God. They would have been content with a greater prophet, a bolder +leader, a stronger king, a Messiah who should enthrone Israel and +bring the nations in homage to its feet. He came bringing God to the +world, giving an eternal liberty, erecting an everlasting kingdom. +They wanted manna; He gave the bread of life. They wanted wells of +water; He gave the well that should be within them, springing up +for evermore. They wanted a leader; He gave a Savior. They wanted +man; and He was God. This has continued even to our time. Many +admire Christ because He was a teacher, neglecting that wherein He +was infinitely more than teacher. They are glad of an example; He +was that, but, far beyond it, He was the life whereby righteousness +became possible. There are those who would be content with His +beautiful spirit, His blameless life, His deeds of charity, His +patience, His submission, His consent to a death which He could not +avoid. He offers to the world the spirit of the Eternal, the life of +God to be lived upon the earth; He lays down the life which no man +could take from Him; and, with all the roads leading from Jerusalem +open before Him, walks with determined step to Calvary and the +cross. Beyond that which has contented many in the world, He gave +Himself, the world's Redeemer, the Lamb of God, the Good Shepherd +giving His life for the sheep. + +It is very, very sad to mark how ready we are to measure Christ's +gifts to us by our narrow wants and limited desires; not by the +greatness of His love, not by His exhaustless riches, not by the +fulness of the grace of the Eternal, who is the Father and friend of +all men. If ever we shall pass beyond the gratifying of ourselves, +and allow Christ to gratify Himself in blessing us, we shall find +in a glad experience what the simple words mean, "I am come that +they might have life"--oh, friends, do not stop there, finish the +sentence,--"I am come that they might have life, and that they might +have it more abundantly." We ask life of Him, and He gives us life, +and offers length of days forever and forever. We pray that we may +live; and we set up a goal at seventy or ninety years, when He draws +no line across our path. "I give eternal life," He says. We pray for +help that we may live; He offers more than that in the unrivaled +sentence, "Because I live, ye shall live also." We think of life as +being, and are content. We use existence as a synonym of living, but +He said, "This is eternal life, to know God, and me." + +So for ourselves; we are to live as His disciples. We wish to be +true, useful, and generous. We wish to do in small measure such +things as He did,--in His name to give the cup of water, and the +healing of the sick. He grants all that we desire, then speaks out +of His own heart, and His desire, "The works that I do shall ye do, +and greater works than these"; for the miracles which attract us or +baffle us, which draw us to His love, or possibly turn us from His +word, which are only miracles because they are strange to us, are to +be exceeded in the things which we do, when by our teaching we open +the eyes of men that they may see God, and lift them up to the ways +of holy living, and raise them from being into life. Our visions of +heaven in our reverent imagination, even in the exultant words of +the Revelation, are not equal to the simple truths which He taught, +and men learned to repeat after Him. For what are golden streets +and jeweled walls beside that which He meant, "In my Father's house +are many mansions." "I go to prepare a place for you." "Ye shall +behold my glory." "Ye shall be loved as I am loved." The thought of +Christ far outruns the aspiration of the world, as it comes to us +from the lips of that disciple whom Jesus loved, "We shall be like +him, for we shall see him even as he is." + +What do we need, then? To enlarge our desires! Yes, but to consent +to God's desires. To wish for more, but to consent to be blest as +Christ longs to bless us. We must know the methods of God, whose +will to give is greater and more constant than our will to receive. +We must adjust our life to God's desire. Faith is the compact of the +soul with God, rather than with itself. "Open thy mouth wide, and I +will fill it," is a promise ever old and ever new. We must be firm +enough and aspiring enough to hold the cup after it has begun to +overflow, and to let God's hand pour the water of life as long as He +will, for this world and all the worlds that are to be. If we could +desire more, if we could ascend to God's desire for us, life would +be transfigured. + + "The balsam, the wine, of predestinate wills + Is a jubilant longing and pining for God." + + "God loves to be longed for, He loves to be sought, + For He sought us Himself, with such longing and love." + +We wish now to take this method for our own in all our dealing +with God. Our sense of what is right, the voice of conscience, the +commands of Scripture, call us to our duty. Let us do what they +require till conscience is satisfied; but let us add to this more +than a rigid obedience asks for, all that a loving heart, grateful +and generous, wishes to bestow. The little questions of life, small +matters of casuistry, minute affairs of conduct, would be quite +readily determined if we would live by this rule, wherewith God +blesses us. That question which with unusual urgency now presses +upon us, how we shall regard the Sabbath day, would not be difficult +if it were our delight to remember it, and to keep it holy because +it is our delight to please Him who has given to us its sacredness +and blessedness. It is pitiful when we find ourselves questioning +how much of the day should be holy; how much of it should be given +to the thought of God and the divine life; how much of it we should +yield to the holy spirit of truth; how many of the hours we should +keep in the remembrance of Him whose resurrection gives to the +Sabbath its greater meaning. We should keep the Sabbath holy as if +we desired to keep it holy. All its hours should be sacred. They +need not be less joyous, less friendly, for being holy; and we can +not be gratified with the spirit in which we find ourselves trying +to divide the time. Keep twenty-four hours for God, and if by any +means you can make the time overflow add a twenty-fifth hour. + +We question again about money. What proportion of our property +should we devote to God? The Jews said one-tenth. Can we do no +better, after so long a time? Let us give the whole, and if by any +means we can compass it, let us add another tenth, simply to show +what a delight it is to give all things to Him, and to let Him make +the allotment in His care for us, and for our household, and for the +Church, and for the wide world that we are living in. There are many +who do this, and they learn how true is that word of Christ that is +called to mind among the Acts of the Apostles, "It is more blessed +to give than to receive." + +Thus, in all things let us make the way of God our own, become His +children entirely, receive the love of Christ in its fulness, make +up our own life in His name, according to the largeness of His +thought. If we will consent to it, we can be great and rich and +strong. It seems strange to say that we are not ready to be blest, +but of many it is true. They are not willing to be greatly blest, to +have the cup run over. They are willing to be useful, but not very +useful. They ask to be set in His service, but when He takes their +word and breathes His own desire into it, they shrink back. It is a +very serious thing, if we are able to perceive it, to consent that +God should bless us as He pleases, should have His own estimate of +our character, His own measure of our powers, His own vision of our +accomplishment, and should call us to greater service, to diviner +employment, than we have ever dreamed of. It was a wise woman who +said, "I have had to face my own prayers." We face our prayers when +God gives His own wish to our words, and makes them large enough +to hold His thoughts. It is one of the hardest things to believe, +but one to which, in humbleness of mind and in a faith which will +not falter, we should consent,--that high word of calling and +consecration which Christ gave more than once,--"As the Father hath +sent me into the world, even so send I you." Not our thought but His +thought makes our calling, and the thought of God is the summons and +the guidance of our life. Even so, even according to Thy greatness, +and Thy gentleness which makes men great; Thine infinite purposes, +and Thine eternal grace; even so, O Lord of mercy and of truth, send +us into the world! + +As we close these thoughts, let us remember that promise which comes +at the close of the Old Testament, which almost seems to reverse +the promise at the beginning of the Old Testament, "I will never +open the windows of heaven and pour out a flood again"; for the last +of the prophets brings to us the word of God, that He will open +the windows of heaven, and pour out a flood again. It shall not +come to destroy, but to preserve; it shall create life; it shall +enlarge life, but it shall be after the measure of His will, not +ours. "Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, and prove me now +herewith, if I will not open the windows of heaven, and pour out a +blessing that there shall not be room enough to receive it." Not +drops here and there, but showers of blessing. Not running brooks, +but broad rivers. Not pools of water, but a shoreless sea; deep, +deep waters, when, looking up into the infinite Love, and consenting +to be blest of God as God would bless us, we bring all the tithes +into the storehouse and the remainder of the tithes, if any have +been left. "I will pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be +room enough to receive it." Not room enough to receive it; that is +the royal bounty. + + + + +FARRAR + +WORK IN THE GROANING CREATION + + + + +BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE + + +FREDERICK WILLIAM FARRAR was born in Bombay, India, in 1831. He +was educated at King's College, London, and at Trinity College, +Cambridge. He became dean of Canterbury in 1895, and died in 1903. +His Life of Christ, the most widely read of his many religious +works, has been translated into many languages--even into Japanese. +The following illustrates his power of emphasis. + +"There, amid those voluptuous splendors, Pilate, already interested, +already feeling in this prisoner before him some nobleness which +touched his Roman nature, asking Him in pitying wonder, 'Art thou +the King of the Jews?'--Thou poor, worn, tear-stained outcast, in +this hour of Thy bitter need--O pale, lonely, friendless, wasted +man, in Thy poor peasant garments, with Thy tied hands and the +foul traces of the insults of Thine enemies on Thy face and on +Thy robes--Thou, so unlike the fierce, magnificent Herod, whom +this multitude which thirsts for Thy blood acknowledged as their +sovereign--art Thou the King of the Jews?" + + + + +FARRAR + +1831-1903 + +WORK IN THE GROANING CREATION[9] + + [9] Reprinted by permission of Messrs. E. P. Dutton & Co. + +_And God saw everything that he had made, and behold it was very +good._--Gen. i., 31. + +_For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain +together until now._--Rom. viii., 22. + +_And there shall be no more curse._--Rev. xxii., 3. + + +In those three texts you have the past, the present, the future of +our earth; what was, what is, what shall be; the perfectness which +man has marred, the punishment which he is enduring, the hope to +which he looks. What share we may have in the marring or the mending +of this our transitory dwelling, that is our main subject to-day. + +We see some glimpses at least of the truth that actively by +sympathy, by thoughtfulness, by charity, by unselfishness, by loving +one another;--that even passively by abstaining from the fashionable +and universal vice of biting and devouring one another;--we see +that by honesty, by self-reverence, by reverence for others, by +obeying the golden rule of "doing unto others as we would they +should do unto us," we may do very much to limit the realm of +sorrow, and to substitute a golden for an iron scepter in its sway +over human hearts. We see, too, that our own inevitable trials and +humiliations,--all the neglect, all the insult, all the weariness, +all the disappointment, all the ingratitude, which may befall +us,--can be better borne if we be cheerful and active in doing good. +Labor for God is the best cure for sorrow, and the best occupation +of life. + +Can we to-day push the inquiry yet further, and learn whether it is +in our power in any way to mend the flaw which runs for us through +the material world; or in any way to diminish for ourselves and for +mankind the pressure of that vast weight of laws which exercises +over us, undoubtedly, a sway of awful potency? The whole creation +groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now; can we--not by +any strength of ours, but because God permits and desires it, can we +do anything to hasten that blest hour for which we wait--the hour +of the new creation; of the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our +body; of the restitution of all things; of the _palingenesia_ of the +world? + +I think we can. I know that the supposed helplessness of man is +a favorite topic of modern materialism, which makes of man the +irresponsible tool of forces which he can not resist, the sport +and prey of dumb powers which are alike inexorable and passionless. +This philosophy--if we may call it a philosophy--laughs to scorn the +notion of a miracle, and makes virtue and vice not the conscious +choice of free beings, but the inevitable result of material causes +and hereditary impulses, of which in all but semblance, we are the +mere automata and slaves. My brethren, into all these speculations +of a baseless atheism, I need not enter. To us, nature means nothing +but the sum total of phenomena which God has created; and since in +the idea of nature is included the idea of God, a miracle becomes as +natural and as easily conceivable as the most ordinary occurrence. +And we know that we are free, that God does not mock us, that we +can abhor that which is evil, and cleave to that which is good. The +laws of nature are nothing, then, for us but observed sequences, and +we do not admit that there is anything fearful in their uniformity. +It is true that nature drives her plowshare straight onwards, and +heeds not what may be lying in the furrow; it is true that therefore +she shows an apparent indifference to human agony; it is true that +if the fairest and sweetest child which earth ever saw be left at +play in the face of the advancing tide, the tide will still advance +and drown the little life; it is true that the fire in its ruthless +vividness will roll over the loveliest maiden whose rich dress +should catch its flame. It is a law that resistance must be equal +to force, and that if there be a certain amount of pressure of +vibration, whatever comes of it, a structure will give way, even +though, alas, it hurl nearly a hundred human beings, with one flash +of horror, into the gulf of death. But is this any reason for a +fierce arraignment of nature, as tho she were execrably ruthless, +and execrably indifferent? Not so, my brethren. Death whenever it +comes is but death. None of us has any promise of this or that +amount of life. It needs no railway accident, no sinking ship, or +breaking ice, or burning town, or flame from heaven, or arrow in the +darkness, or smiting of the sun by day, or the moon by night, to +cut short our days. An invisible sporule in the air may do it, or a +lesion no bigger than a pin's point. + + "He ate, drank, laughed, loved, lived, and liked life well; + Then came--who knows?--some gust of jungle wind, + A stumble on the path; a taint i' the tank; + A snake's nip; half a span of angry steel; + A chill; a fishbone; or a falling tile,-- + And life is over, and the man is dead." + +But is this any reason why we should look on ourselves as victims +of dead irresponsible forces? Why so? Death is but death, and if we +live faithfully, death is our richest birthright. "Were you ready to +die that you jumped into the stormy sea to save that child's life?" +said a gentleman to an English sailor. "Should I have been better +prepared, sir," the sailor answered, "if I had shirked my duty?" A +sudden death is often, and in many respects, the most merciful form +of death; and the apparently terrible death of a few may save the +lives of many hundreds. The uniformity of nature may sometimes wear +the aspect of passionless cruelty; but as we learn more and more to +observe and to obey her laws, we find more and more that they work +for countless ends of beneficence and beauty, that out of seeming +evil she works real good, out of transient evil enduring good. The +fires which rend the earthquake and burst from the volcano, are the +quickening forces of the world; her storms lash the lazy atmosphere +which otherwise would stagnate into pestilence, and it is for man's +blessing, not for his destruction, that her waters roll and her +great winds blow. + +But are we, after all, so very helpless before the aggregate of +these mighty forces, as materialism loves to represent? Not so! +"Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands," said +the Psalmist, "Thou hast put all things under his feet." "Replenish +the earth, and subdue, and have dominion," said the first utterance +of God to man. And what is this but an equivalent of the latest +utterances of science, that "the order of nature is ascertainable +by our faculties to an extent which is practically unlimited, and +that our volition counts for something in the course of events"? +Man has done much to make the world in all senses a worse place for +himself, but he has also, thank God, done much to make it better, +and he may, to an almost unspeakable extent, remedy for himself and +for his race the throes and agonies of the groaning universe. God +meant His earth to be a more blest place for us than it is, and in +every instance men have made it more blest when they have read the +open secrets, by virtue of which, for our excitement, if not for our +reward, "herbs have their healing, stones their preciousness, and +stars their times." Ancient nations have shuddered at the awfulness +of the sea. It drowns ship and sailor; but "trim your sail, and the +same wave which drowns the bark is cleft by it, and bears it along +like its own foam, a plume and a power." The lightning shatters +tower and temple; but once learn that it is nothing but the luminous +all-pervading fluid which you may evolve by rubbing a piece of +amber, and brush out of a child's fair hair, and then with no more +potent instrument than a boy's kite you may dash harmless to the +earth the all-shattering brand which was the terror of antiquity; +nay, you may seize it by its wing of fire, and bid it carry your +messages around the girdled globe. Zymotic diseases smite down the +aged and young, but, when you have learnt that they are caused by +myriads of invisible germs which float in the water or the air, you +have but to observe the commonest rules of sanitary science, to +filter and boil the dangerous water, to insure free currents of air, +to breathe as nature meant you to breathe, through the nostrils, and +not through the throat, and you rob them of half their deadliness. +Why has smallpox been stayed in its loathly ravages, and deprived +of its hideous power? Why does the Black Death rage no longer, +as it raged among the monks of this Abbey four centuries ago? +Why do we not have pestilence, like that great plague of London, +which destroyed 7,165 persons in a single week? Why has jail fever +disappeared? Why are the cities of Europe horrified no longer by the +hideousness of medieval leprosy? Because men live amid cleaner and +purer surroundings. Because rushes are no longer strewn over floors +which had been suffered to be saturated with the organic refuse of +years. Because the simplest laws of nature are better understood. +Because, in these respects, men have remedied by God's aid, some of +those miseries for which the Savior sighed. + +And this amelioration of man's miseries is a great, and noble, and +Christlike work. Would that there were no other side to the picture! +Man, alas! also has done, and may do, infinite mischief to the +world he lives in. He may cut down the forests on the hills, and +so diminish the necessary rain. He may pluck up the grasses on the +shore, and so lay waste whole acres to the devastating sands. He may +poison the sweet, pure rivers of his native soil, till their crystal +freshness is corrupted into deathful and putrescent slime. He may +herd together, as we suffer our poor to do, in filthy tenements +which shall breed every species of disease and vice. He may indulge +or acquiesce in senseless fashions and pernicious vanities which +shall mean not only wasteful ugliness and grotesque extravagance, +but leave shattered health and ruined lives, to the mothers of his +race. He may in greed of competition extirpate the game of the +forest, the fishes of the sea. He may destroy the exquisite balance +of nature, by shooting down or entrapping the sweet birds of the +air, till his vines and his harvests are devastated by the insects +on which they feed. He may suffer the chimneys of his manufactories +to poison the atmosphere with black smoke and sulphurous acid, till +his proudest cities are stifled at noonday, as we all have seen in +London for these many weeks, with the unclean mirk of midnight fogs. +He may suffer noxious gases to be vomited upon the breeze, till +the most glorious buildings in his cities corrode and crumble--as +the stones of this Abbey are doing--under their influence,--till +the green woods blacken into leafless wastes, and life is lived +at miserable levels of vitality under the filthy reek. There is +hardly any limit to the evil, no less than to the good, which man +may do to this his earthly environment. Nor is it less deplorable +that he may go out of his way to do endless mischief to himself by +his misuse or abuse of the properties of things. From the dried +capsules of the white poppy he extracts opium, and he grows acres of +poppies that with thousands of chests of that opium he may degrade +into decrepitude and wretchedness the most populous nations upon +earth. Nature gives him the purple grape and the golden grain, +and he mashes them and lets them rot and seethe, and assists, and +superintends, and retards their decomposition, till he has educed +from them a fermented intoxicating liquor; and not content with +this luxury, he pours it into Circean cups of degrading excess; +not content with even fermentation, he further, by distillation, +extracts a transparent, mobile, colorless fluid, which is the +distinctive element in ardent spirits, and these, whatever may +be their legitimate use in manufacture or in medicine, he has so +horribly abused that they have become to mankind, the _spiritus +ardentes_ indeed, but not of heaven--fiery spirits of the abyss, +which have decimated nations, ruined continents, shortened millions +of lives, and turned for millions of God's children, and millions +of Christ's little ones, life into an anguish, and earth into a +hell. Do not say we can do nothing to soften for man the deadly +agencies which are working in the world,--for all this mischief, and +incalculably more than this, is man's own doing. + +But let me ask you to glance for a moment at one of the beneficent +secrets which nature has yielded up to man. Have you ever realized, +with heartfelt gratitude to God, the priceless boon which He has +granted to this generation in the diminution of pain? One of our +best surgeons has just told us the strange yet simple story of this +discovery, from the first dim intimation of the possibility in +1789, till in 1846 it might almost be said that in Europe we could +name the month, before which all operative surgery was agonizing, +and after which it was painless. But what an immense, what an +enormous boon is this application of anodynes! "Past all counting +is the sum of happiness enjoyed by the millions who have, in the +last thirty-three years, escaped the pain that was inevitable in +surgical operations; pain made more terrible by apprehension; +more keen by close attention; sometimes awful in a swift agony; +sometimes prolonged beyond even the most patient endurance, and then +renewed in memory, and terrible in dreams. This will never be felt +again." And besides this abolition of pain, it would take long to +tell how chloroform and ether "have enlarged the field of useful +surgery, making many things easy which were difficult, many safe +which were perilous, many practical which were nearly impossible." +But another lesson this eminent man of science draws, which bears +directly on our subject, is that while we are profanely decrying +nature, discoveries the most blest, boons the most priceless, may +lie close to us and yet God leave us to discover them; and that we +may endure many needless miseries, falsely accusing nature and even +God, only because we have neither hope enough to excite intense +desire, nor desire enough to encourage hope. We wonder that for +forty years the discovery of anesthetics was not pursued, tho, after +the pregnant hint of Sir H. Davy, it lay but half hidden under +so thin a veil. Our successors will wonder at us, as we at those +before us, that we were as blind to who can tell how many great +truths, which, they will say, were all around us, within reach of +any clear and earnest mind. They will wonder at the quietude with +which we stupidly acquiesce in, or immorally defend, the causes +which perpetuate and intensify our habitual miseries. Our fathers +needlessly put up with these miseries "as we now put up with typhoid +fever and sea-sickness; with local floods and droughts; with waste +of health and wealth in pollutions of rivers; with hideous noises, +and foul smells"; with the curse of alcoholic poisoning, and many +other miseries. Our successors, when they have remedied or prevented +these, will look back on them with horror, and on us with wonder +and contempt, for what they will call our idleness or blindness, or +indifference to suffering. Alas! in the physical as in the moral +world, we murmur at the evils which surround us, and we do not +remove them. We multiply those evils, and make life wretched, and +then curse nature because it is wretched, and neglect or fling away +the precious gifts and easy remedies which would make it blest. And +is it not so in the spiritual world? Nine-tenths of our miseries +are due to our sins. Yet the remedy of our sins is close at hand. +We have a Savior; we have been commemorating His birth, but we live +and act as tho He were dead; in our own lives and those of others we +suffer those miseries to run riot which He came to cure; we talk and +live as tho those remedies were undiscoverable, while from day to +day His Word is very nigh us, even in our mouths and in our hearts! + +For one sermon you hear about work for the secular amelioration of +the suffering world for which Christ sighed, you may (I suppose) +hear fifty on passing ecclesiastical controversies and five thousand +about individual efforts for personal salvation. And yet one pure, +self-sacrificing deed, one word of generosity to an opponent, one +kindly act to aid another, may have been better for you in God's +sight and far harder for you to do, than to attend in the year +the 730 daily services which this Abbey provides. Yes, I am glad +that I have preached to you to-day the duty of what some would call +secular work--as tho secular work were not often the most profoundly +religious work!--for the amelioration of the world. And I say, it +were better for you to have made but two blades of grass grow where +one grew before, than if, with the hollow, hateful, slanderous heart +of some false prophets of modern religionism, you were every morning +to do whatever modern thing may be analogous to binding your fringes +with blue, and broadening your phylacteries,--to making the hilltops +blaze with your sacrificial fires, building here seven altars, and +offering a bullock and a ram on every altar. And so, my brethren, +let us leave this Abbey to-day with conceptions of duty larger and +more hopeful; with more yearning both after the sympathy of Christ +and after His activity; with more faith to see that the world would +not be so utter a ruin but for our perversity; with more hope to be +convinced that even we can help to redeem its disorders, and restore +its pristine perfectness. Let us obey the command, "Ephphatha, Be +opened!" Let us lift up our eyes to see that, tho the air around us +is colorless, the far-off heaven is blue. Let us see and be thankful +for the beauty of the world, the sweet air, the sunshine, the sea, +the splendid ornaments of heaven, the ever-recurring circles of +the divine beneficence. Let us learn the secrets of the mighty +laws which only crush us when we disobey them, and which teach +us, with divine inflexibility, that as we sow we reap. Let us not +hinder the students of science in their patient toil and marvelous +discovery by the crude infallibilities of our ignorant dogmatism. +Let us believe--for we were saved in hope--that "Utopia itself +is but another word for time"; and that, if our own work seems +but infinitesimal, yet "there are mites in science, as well as in +charity, and the ultimate results of each are alike important and +beneficial." And so the more we share in the sigh and in the toil of +the Savior, the more shall we share in His redeeming gladness. + + + + + "Dr. Burrell always sounds a bugle-call to high emprise. This + one will stir whatever of knighthood is active or latent in the + heart of the young man who reads it."--JOHN BANCROFT DEVINS, + _Editor New York_ "_Observer_." + + * * * * * + +THE LURE OF THE CITY + +By DAVID JAMES BURRELL, D.D., LL.D. + +_Pastor of the Marble Collegiate Church, New York City_ + +Addrest to "the youth whose lot is cast in the city or whose heart +is turned that way; who knows himself a man, and with eyes aloft, +means to make himself a better one; who plans a full equipment, that +he may win splendidly."--_From the Preface._ + + "I have seldom had more pleasure than I have found in reading + Dr. Burrell's strong and suggestive book. It is a book for the + present hour and the present age. In a style singularly lucid + and wonderfully attractive, Dr. Burrell sets forth the dangers + of the city on the one hand and its advantages on the other. + Each of the twenty-two chapters might stand by itself as a word + of cheer, a bugle-call or a warning. The epithet most suitable + to the book, as a whole, is 'sane.' Nothing is overstrained. + Everything is practical, and the book is thoroughly manly, + and is infused throughout with the author's vigorous and + winning personality. It is emphatically a book for the young + man."--MARGARET E. SANGSTER, _Editor of the St. Nicholas + Magazine_, New York. + +_12mo, Cloth. $1.00, net; by mail, $1.08_ + + FUNK & WAGNALLS COMPANY, Pubs. + NEW YORK AND LONDON + + + + +A JUNIOR CONGREGATION + +A CHILDREN'S SERMON APPROPRIATE TO EVERY SUNDAY OF THE YEAR, +TOGETHER WITH HINTS FOR FORMING A JUNIOR CONGREGATION + +By JAMES M. FARRAR, D.D. + +_Pastor of the First Reformed Church, Brooklyn, and Minister of the +First Organized Junior Congregation_ + +The church-going men and women of to-day were the church-going +children of their youth. But theirs, most likely, was a _compulsory_ +attendance. This, however, is the _Children's Age_. More time, more +thought, more energy are, in this generation, given to the study, +development, and discipline of children than has ever been attempted +in any past century. _The Children's Church_ is being organized in +congregations where the children's welfare and the church's future +are close at heart. Children in such a church love to attend, for +theirs is _A Junior Congregation_ worshiping with the regular +congregation, thus forming habits of church-going in their best +habit-forming years, and acquiring a familiarity with the church's +services and ordinances that will help them grow into sturdy church +workers. + +_12mo, Cloth. $1.20, net; by mail, $1.28_ + + +FUNK & WAGNALLS COMPANY, Pubs. + +NEW YORK AND LONDON + + + + +=Rev. T. De Witt Talmage, D.D.=: "I heartily commend his book. He +has rendered invaluable service." + + { _OF THE VOICE_ + _PERFECTION_ { _GESTURE_ + { _BEARING_ + +=THE DRILL-BOOK OF VOCAL CULTURE= + +By Prof. EDWARD P. THWING. + +A Comprehensive Study of the Fundamental Constituents of Effective, +Graceful Speaking. Heartily Commended by the Highest Authorities. + +[Illustration: decoration] + +OUTLINE OF CONTENTS. + +What Elocution Really Is--Outline of Preparatory Physical Training +by Respiratory Exercises and Gymnastics--The Production of +Tone--Cultivating the Articulation Along the Lines of Pitch, Melody, +and Force--Rate of Movement--Personation or Picturing--Gesture and +Extemporaneous Speech--Facial Expression. + +=Prof. J. W. Churchill=, Andover: "It is an invaluable treatise." + +=The Independent=, New York: "Compact and inexpensive, but it omits +nothing essential." + +=_16mo, 111 pp., Illustrated, Paper Covers, 25 cents. Post-free._= + + +=FUNK & WAGNALLS COMPANY, Publishers,= + +=NEW YORK and LONDON= + + + + +=Profit and Loss= +=in Man= + +By ALPHONSO A. HOPKINS, Ph.D. + + +The New Gospel of Patriotic, Economic, and Political Common Sense on +the Temperance Question. The most up-to-date and powerful plea for +Prohibition upon purely economic grounds that has been written in +years. It is calm and dispassionate, and discusses the problem from +the cold matter-of-fact standard of dollars and cents. + + +CONTENTS + + I. The Cost of a Boy. VIII. Moral Facts and Political Factors. + II. Boy and Bar. IX. Dictionary Politics. + III. Manhood and Law. X. A Curse, a Crime, and the Cure. + IV. Labor, Liquor, and Law. XI. Publicans and Republicans. + V. Christian Loyalty. XII. Democrats and Drink. + VI. Barabbas. XIII. Methods of Settlement. + VII. Moral and Political Force. + + "The unique idea of placing temperance on a commercial basis, + of considering the difference between the actual cash value + of a man who drinks and the man who abstains, is intensely + interesting and profitable. Prof. Hopkins claims that each young + man twenty-one years of age represents a cost to society of two + thousand dollars ($2,000). Will he pay--will he 'make good'--on + the investment if he becomes a drinker? That's the question! In + the United States are one and a half millions of drunkards--a + stupendous loss of an investment aggregating over five billions + of dollars ($5,000,000,000)."--_Cumberland Presbyterian, + Nashville, Tenn._ + +_12mo, Cloth, 376 pp. $1.20, net; by mail, $1.32_ + + FUNK & WAGNALLS COMPANY, Pubs. + NEW YORK AND LONDON + + + + +A WORKING GRAMMAR + +OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE + +By JAMES C. FERNALD, L.H.D. + + _Editor of the "Students' Standard Dictionary." Author of + "English Synonyms, Antonyms, and Prepositions," "Connectives of + English Speech," Etc., Etc._ + + +In this book Dr. Fernald has covered the field of English grammar +in an immensely practical and entirely new and popular manner. +Recognizing the large number of persons who have not the time to +study ponderous definitions and arguments, he has prepared what is, +in every sense, a very concise and useful "working grammar." Herein +the business man, stenographer, clerk, lawyer, physician, clergyman, +teacher--everyone who would refresh and enrich his knowledge +of English--will find, in simple statement, a clear and lucid +explanation of the principles of English grammar. All that makes +the study of grammar a mystery is eliminated, and the whole book is +constructed so as to enable any intelligent person to find his own +way, by its teachings, to a correct working knowledge of English. + +_Price, $1.50, net; post-paid, $1.64_ + + FUNK & WAGNALLS COMPANY, Pubs. + NEW YORK AND LONDON + + + + +THE PREPARATION OF MANUSCRIPTS FOR THE PRINTER + +By FRANK H. VIZETELLY, F.S.A. + +_Associate Editor of the_ "_Standard Dictionary_," _etc._ + + +This book is designed for the guidance of all who have any concern +with printing, and will prove of permanent value to all persons +engaged in writing or in copying manuscripts. Typographical marks +are exemplified and explained; the different sizes of type with +their names and uses are presented, with aids in the computing +of space which manuscripts will occupy in printed form; the book +also shows authors how they can effectively reduce the cost of +corrections in type, and tells them when, where, and how to make +such corrections and how to dispose of manuscripts. + + "Is at once the most exhaustive and most succinct of the many + books at the service of the young author."--_Evening Mail_, New + York. + + "A thoroughly practical little book which will prove + invaluable to all who are interested in the preparation of + manuscript."--_Times_, Brooklyn, N. Y. + +_12mo, Cloth, 153 pages. 75 cents_ + +FUNK & WAGNALLS COMPANY, Pubs. NEW YORK AND LONDON + + * * * * * + +Transcriber's note: + +Minor typographical errors have been corrected without note. +Irregularities and inconsistencies in the text have been retained as +printed. + +Missing page numbers are page numbers that were not shown in the +original text. + +Mismatched quotes are not fixed if it's not sufficiently clear where +the missing quote should be placed. + +Page 36: ... have cried (oh, how men do cry in those storms of the +soul, in those tempests and terrors of the heart), "Lord, save us +... The transcriber has supplied the closing parenthesis. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The World's Great Sermons, Volume 7: +Hale to Farrar, by Various + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 44441 *** diff --git a/44441-h/44441-h.htm b/44441-h/44441-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c65d3e7 --- /dev/null +++ b/44441-h/44441-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,8173 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> + <head> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=UTF-8" /> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Style-Type" content="text/css" /> + <title> + The Project Gutenberg eBook of The World's Great Sermons, Volume 7, Hale to Farrar by Grenville Kleiser. + </title> + <link rel="coverpage" href="images/coverpage.jpg"/> + <style type="text/css"> + +body { + margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; +} + + h1,h2,h3,h4 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + clear: both; +} + +p { + margin-top: .51em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .49em; + text-indent: 1em; +} + +.noind {text-indent: 0em;} + +.b15 {font-size:1.5em;} +.b13 {font-size:1.3em;} +.b12 {font-size:1.2em;} +.s08 {font-size:.8em;} + +hr { + width: 33%; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + clear: both; +} + +hr.tb {width: 25%;} +hr.chap {width: 45%} + +table { + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; +} + +.pagenum { /* uncomment the next line for invisible page numbers */ + /* visibility: hidden; */ + position: absolute; + left: 92%; + font-size: smaller; + font-style: normal; + text-align: right; +} /* page numbers */ + +.blockquot { + margin-left: 5%; + margin-right: 10%; +} + +.bb {border-bottom: solid 2px;} + +.bbox {border: solid 2px;} + +.center {text-align: center;} + +.right {text-align: right;} + +.smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + +.caption {font-weight: bold;} + +.space-above { margin-top: 3em; } + +.hanging {margin-left: 2em; text-indent: -2em; font-size: 15px;} + +.sig { text-align: right; margin-right: 5%; } + + +/* Images */ +.figcenter { + margin: auto; + text-align: center; +} + +.bord img { padding: 1px; border: 2px solid black; } + + +/* Footnotes */ + +.footnote {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-size: 0.9em;} + +.footnote .label {position: absolute; right: 84%; text-align: right;} + +.fnanchor { + vertical-align: super; + font-size: 55%; + text-decoration: + none; +} + +/* Poetry */ +.poem { + margin-left:10%; + margin-right:10%; + text-align: left; +} + +.poem br {display: none;} + +.poem .stanza {margin: 1em 0em 1em 0em;} + +.poem span.i0 {display: block; margin-left: 0em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} +.poem span.i1 {display: block; margin-left: 0.5em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} +.poem span.i3 {display: block; margin-left: 1.5em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} +.poem span.i4 {display: block; margin-left: 2em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} +.poem span.i6 {display: block; margin-left: 3em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} +.poem span.i30 {display: block; margin-left: 15em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + +@media handheld +{ + .poetry + { + display: block; + margin-left: 1.5em; + } +} + +/* Transcriber's notes */ +.tn {background-color: #E6E6FA; + color: black; + font-size:smaller; + border: dashed 1px; + padding:0.5em; + margin-bottom:5em; + font-family:sans-serif, serif; } + + + </style> + </head> +<body> +<div>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 44441 ***</div> + +<hr class="chap" /> + +<div class="figcenter bord" style="width: 469px;"> +<img src="images/coverpage.jpg" width="469" height="600" alt="cover" /> +</div> + +<hr class="chap" /> + +<div class="figcenter bord" style="width: 377px;"> +<img src="images/7-000f-image.jpg" width="377" height="600" alt="titlepage" /> +</div> + +<hr class="chap" /> + + +<h1><em>The World's Great Sermons</em><br /><br /> + +<span class="s08">VOLUME VII<br /><br /> + +HALE TO FARRAR</span></h1> + +<hr class="chap" /> + +<p class="center"><span class="b15"> +THE<br /> +<span class="smcap">World's<br /> +Great<br /> +Sermons</span></span></p> + + +<p class="center space-above">COMPILED BY<br /> +<span class="b12">GRENVILLE KLEISER</span></p> + +<p class="center space-above"><span class="b12">Formerly of Yale Divinity School Faculty;<br /> +Author of "How to Speak<br /> +in Public," Etc.</span></p> + + +<p class="center">With Assistance from Many of the Foremost<br /> +Living Preachers and Other Theologians</p> + +<p class="center space-above">INTRODUCTION BY<br /> +<big>LEWIS O. BRASTOW, D.D.</big><br /> +Professor Emeritus of Practical Theology<br /> +in Yale University</p> + +<p class="center space-above">IN TEN VOLUMES</p> + +<p class="center space-above">VOLUME VII—HALE TO FARRAR</p> + +<p class="center space-above">FUNK & WAGNALLS COMPANY<br /> +NEW YORK and LONDON +</p> + +<hr class="chap" /> + +<p class="center"> +<span class="smcap">Copyright, 1908, by</span><br /> +FUNK & WAGNALLS COMPANY<br /> +<em>Printed in the United States of America</em> +</p> + +<hr class="chap" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_v" id="Page_v">[v]</a></span></p> + + + + +<h2>CONTENTS</h2> + + +<p class="center">VOLUME VII.</p> + + + +<div class="center"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="contents"> +<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">Hale</span> (Born in 1822).</td><td align="left"><em>Page</em></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"> The Colonization of the Desert</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_1">1</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">Magee</span> (1821-1891).</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"> The Miraculous Stilling of the Storm</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_19">19</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">Seiss</span> (1823-1904).</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"> The Wonderful Testimonies</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_39">39</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">Maclaren</span> (Born in 1826).</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"> The Pattern of Service</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_63">63</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">Crosby</span> (1826-1891).</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"> The Prepared Worm</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_87">87</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">Dale</span> (1829-1895).</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"> The Argument from Experience</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_103">103</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">Liddon</span> (1829-1890).</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"> Influences of the Holy Spirit</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_121">121</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">W. M. Taylor</span> (1829-1895).</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"> Christ before Pilate—Pilate before Christ</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_143">143</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">John Hall</span> (1829-1899).</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"> Liberty Only in Truth</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_163">163</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">Bacon</span> (Born in 1830).</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"> God Indwelling</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_179">179</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_vi" id="Page_vi">[vi]</a></span><span class="smcap">Joseph Parker</span> (1830-1902).</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"> A Word to the Weary</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_197">197</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">McKenzie</span> (Born in 1830).</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"> The Royal Bounty</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_209">209</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">Farrar</span> (1831-1903).</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"> Work in the Groaning Creation</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_227">227</a></td></tr> +</table></div> +<hr class="chap" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1"> </a></span></p> + + + + +<h2>HALE</h2> + +<h3>THE COLONIZATION OF THE DESERT</h3> + +<hr class="chap" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2"> </a></span></p> + + + + +<h4>BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE</h4> + + +<p>Edward Everett Hale, Congregationalist +divine and author, was born in Boston +in 1822. He was graduated at Harvard +in 1839 and became a Unitarian +preacher in 1846 at Worcester. In +1850 he removed to Boston, where his +most important life's work was accomplished +as a preacher and writer. A +collected edition of his writings, in ten +volumes, was published in 1901. His +varied literary enterprises and undertakings +have been too many to be enumerated +here. His most famous work is +"The Man Without a Country." He is +at present chaplain to the United States +Senate.</p> + +<hr class="chap" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[3]</a></span></p> + + + + +<h2>HALE</h2> + +<h3><span class="smcap">Born in 1822</span></h3> + +<h4>THE COLONIZATION OF THE DESERT</h4> + +<blockquote> + +<p><em>God saw everything that he had made. And behold, +it was very good.</em>—Gen. i., 31.</p></blockquote> + + +<p>This simplest expression of the earliest +religion comes back to us with new +force in the midst of all the wonderful +revelations of our modern life.</p> + +<p>In ten weeks' time I have crossed from one +ocean to the other; I have crossed backward +and forward over the Allegheny and the Rocky +Mountains and the Sierra Nevada, with the +valleys between them, and the slopes which +rise from the ocean on either side. This means +a journey through twelve of the old thirteen +States and fifteen of the new States and Territories. +It means intercourse with people of +the North and the South, the Gulf and the +West, the Pacific coast and the mountains. It +means intercourse with the white race, the +black race, the red race, and the Chinaman. +The variety of climate is such that I have welcomed +the shade of palm-trees, and that I have +walked over snow where it had drifted twenty +feet beneath me. I have picked oranges from +the tree, and camellias from the twig in the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[4]</a></span> +open air, and within three hours of good-by +to the camellia I was in a driving snow-storm, +where the engine drivers were nervous because +they had no snow plow. In all this variety +I have a thousand times recalled the simplest +expression of the oldest words of the Bible: +"God saw everything that he had made, and +behold, it was very good."</p> + +<p>The solid recognition of this truth—not, +indeed, in any small sense; but in that sense +which is general and comprehensive—is at the +bottom of all true religious philosophy. It is +not true in any smaller sense. For I cannot +say that it is good to be bitten by a mosquito +or worried by a fly, if I can escape fly or +mosquito. No, that is not true. And I do not +suppose that the simple author of this text +meant any such extravagance. But this is +true, that the world is so made and ordered +that man, who is himself a creator—man, who +shares the wishes, instincts, and plans of the +Power who directs the world—man can take +the world in his hands and compel it to serve +his nobler purposes.</p> + +<p>God saw the world, and he said: "Yes, this +is what I want for My home and the home of +children who love Me. It is a world very +good to them, and they shall subdue it to My +purposes." To recognize this, to feel the fitness +of the world for man and man's fitness +for the world, this is the basis of consistent +optimism. Nobody says that the top of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[5]</a></span> +Rocky Mountains is a good place for whales, +or that the Ojai Valley is a good place for +polar bears; but a consistent optimism says +that the world is a good place for man; and +it says that man is so closely allied to the +God who is the life of the world that he can +take the world for his own, and make it his +home and his heaven. This consistent optimism +is the basis of all sound theology.</p> + +<p>It is to be observed, however, that man +gains no such control of the world, and the +world does not prove fit for man, unless he +has found out that he is akin to God and can +enter into His work. There is no such victory +to the savage, who is afraid of God. So +long as he thinks the powers of nature are his +enemies, he makes them his enemies. I do +not believe the old cave-dwellers, fighting +hyenas with clubs, and often finding that they +were second-best in the encounter, thought +this world the best of worlds. I do not believe +that the Digger Indian, who spent his tedious +day in rummaging for ants and beetles to eat, +and was very happy if he caught a lizard—I +do not believe that he said that the world was +very good. True, I think both of them had +visions and hopes of a better time; but while +they were in the abject misery of cold and +starvation, that better time had not dawned. +It did not dawn because they had not taken +on them the dignity and duty of children of +God. They were not about their Father's<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[6]</a></span> +business. They did not see Him nor hear +Him, nor in any wise know Him. They did +not conceive that they were on His side nor +He on theirs. And it is not till man comes +up to some comprehension that God has sent +him here on an infinite business; that he and +the Author of this world are at one in this +affair of managing it; it is not till man knows +God as his friend and not his enemy, that man +with any courage and success takes the business +of managing into his own hands. Then +is it that he finds what pleasure, nay what +dignity, there is in taming the lightning and +riding on the storm. And then he knows +enough of the divine Being, His purpose and +His power, to see that the world is good, and +that God should call it good in its creation.</p> + +<p>All this forces itself on one's thought as he +sees how it is that nature has been pursued +and caught and tamed in these mountains and +these valleys. For nature is the nymph so +wittily described by Virgil. She</p> + +<p class="center"> +"Flies to her woods; but hopes her flight is seen."<br /> +</p> + +<p class="noind">Man, so long as he is savage, hates her and +fears her. If he worships, it is the abject +worship of those who bring sacrifices to buy +her favor. And it may be said in passing that +the last visible form of pure barbarism or +savagery is any theology which supposes that +God's favor must be bought by any price paid +by man in exchange. When man finds, by any<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[7]</a></span> +revelation, the conditions of absolute religion, +which are simply faith, hope and love, +all this is changed. When he looks up to God +gladly, looks forward to the future cheerfully, +and looks round on the world kindly, +he finds, possibly to his surprize, that he is +working on the lines God works on, and means +to have him work on. Now he is on "his +Father's business." While he rows the boat, +the tide sweeps the right way. While he +stretches the wire, the lightning is waiting +and eager to do his errand. And so soon as +man the divine appears upon the scene—man +the child of God, who knows he shares God's +nature—why, easily and quickly the valleys +are exalted and the mountains and the hills +made low; the deserts blossom as the rose, and +even the passing traveler sees that this world +was made for man and man for this world. +And he understands as he has never understood +before what this is, that he himself is of +the nature of the God at whose present will +this world comes into order. He understands +better what the old text means, which says +that God is satisfied with the world which He +has made.</p> + +<p>I crossed the continent westward and eastward +on this journey, fresh from recent reading +of the history of the first Spanish occupation. +What did the Spaniards find there? +They found in what we call New Mexico the +Zuni cities which, in a sad decline, exist to-day.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[8]</a></span> +From those cities Casteneda led a +party of Spanish horsemen eastward in +search of a certain mythical king who was +supposed to have much gold and many +jewels. Those adventurous men rode for a +whole summer across the prairies and plains +which are now Colorado, and Kansas, and Missouri, +and struck the Missouri, or perhaps +the Mississippi. You know that much of the +country is now fertile beyond praise. Mile +after mile you can see corn, wheat; wheat, +corn; corn, wheat; wheat, corn; and the production +to the acre increases year by year. +The States through which Casteneda's line of +travel passed now number four or five millions +of people; and they feed, from their agriculture, +say twenty millions more. Now when +Casteneda and his people passed and repassed +over this region they did not meet a single +man, woman or child. They were opprest +by the horrible loneliness of their journey. +They felt, as Magellan's people felt when they +were crossing the Pacific Ocean, with that +horrible east wind, with a calm sea before and +never a sight of an island or a man. When +Casteneda came at last to the Mississippi—or +Missouri—they had no heart to build a raft +to cross it and incur more such solitude; and +they went back the way they came. And the +fame of its loneliness was such that no man +attempted the adventure for more than a hundred +years.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[9]</a></span></p> + +<p>When, in 1682—say a hundred and thirty +years after—the great La Salle discovered the +Mississippi River, and sailed south upon it, +leaving Chicago, crossing Illinois, and so +striking the Father of Waters, his experience +of this utter loneliness was the same. He +touched every night on one shore or the other. +He is, therefore, the discoverer of seven of the +Western States—States which now feed fifty +million people and number seven or eight million +of their own. Only twice, I think, did he +meet any great body of men. Not five times +did he find traces of the hand of man or the +foot of man. Through the same solitude he +returned; and his report was of a virgin +world of elk, and deer, and buffalo; of shrubs +and trees, of fish and fowl; but a world without +men.</p> + +<p>The inference was drawn, hastily, but not +unnaturally, that these regions could not sustain +men. On the Atlas given me as a boy, +the "Great American Desert" covered the +greater part of the region west of the Mississippi. +It is now the home of the millions I +have been enumerating. And in the last map +I have seen, the Great American Desert appears +as hardly a "speck on the surface of the +earth."</p> + +<p>The change which I have described has been +wrought in the lifetime of people of my +age. It is wrought simply and wholly by +the passion for emigration which belongs<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[10]</a></span> +to our own race. In Mr. Hoar's happy +phrase, people of our blood "thirst for the +horizon."</p> + +<p>In the year 1833 De Tocqueville, observing +the steadiness of this wave, calculated its average +flow as seventeen miles westward every +year. That was the rate at which it had +moved since the Federal Constitution made it +possible. Speaking roughly, there were then +two thousand miles of desert between the Missouri +River and the Pacific. At De Tocqueville's +rate, the wave would have been one +hundred and twenty years in reaching that +ocean. But it happened that in 1849 the +Western coast was settled in the gold discovery. +An Eastern wave began which has now +met the Western. The two together have +founded the great cities—for we must call +them so—of the Rocky Mountains.</p> + +<p>Now, in the face of that contrast between +the last century and this century, one asks +why that half of our continent is any more +fit for men than it was then. The answer +is, that it was not fit for the kind of men on +it then; and that the kind of men that have +tamed it are the kind of men who were fit for +it, and whom it was fit for.</p> + +<p>The study of history and of physical geography +becomes a study of what we mean by +man and man's capacities. California, for instance, +was the same country in 1650 that it +was in 1850. The south wind blew from the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[11]</a></span> +sea, and that, in the north temperate zone, is +the great physical requisite. There was as +much gold, and quicksilver, and copper, and +tin in the mountains as there is now. There +was the same soil and the same water on the +hillsides. But the men, and women, and children +were afraid of their gods; they were +afraid of nature; they had neither faith, nor +hope, nor love. They had none of the elements +of eternal power except as an acorn has the +possibilities of an oak.</p> + +<p>To these people there came, sooner or later—with +the best motives, but still without the +essentials of life—fifty families of Franciscan +monks. They came, observe, without wives or +children. They defied thus the first law of +human life, or the life God intends His +children to live in. The primitive trinity, +from which all false trinities have grown, +is the father, the mother and the child. The +Franciscan communities were false to all +Divine law, if it were only in their failure +here.</p> + +<p>They gathered around them, by the higher +civilization which they brought, great communities +of starving Indians. They taught +them to feed themselves as they had never +been fed before. So far they improved the +race, and lifted its civilization above that ant-eating +and lizard-chasing of the Digger Indian. +But then the Catholic Church, by +the necessary subordination of man to the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[12]</a></span> +organized Church, takes man's life out of +him.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i30">"The day<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That makes a man a slave, takes all his life away."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="noind">The words are as true to-day as they were in +Homer's time. Nor is there any sadder instance +of it than is the powerlessness of the +tribes of amiable slaves who were collected +under the protection of the Franciscan missions +in California, or Jesuit missions in Paraguay.</p> + +<p>The native races between the Pacific and +the Atlantic were dying faster than their children +were born. They were dying of the diseases +named laziness, ignorance, and war. +They were not subduing the continent. They +were not fit for it, nor it for them. What is +the distinction of the race to which we belong, +that it succeeds where these have failed? The +history of the country accentuates that distinction.</p> + +<p>It would be absurd to pretend that the average +frontiersman was a man of what are called +saintly habits. Often he was not conscious +that he had any divine errand. But the frontiersman, +to whose courage and perseverance +is due that forward wave we study, was a +man. He did not take his opinion or instruction +from any priest. There was no one between +him and the good God. Often he sought +Him. So far so good. And often he did not<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[13]</a></span> +seek Him. That one admits. But he never +sought any one else's advice or direction. He +was no slave, as the Indian of California was. +He was not commissioned by a superior, as +the Franciscan priest of the mission was. He +was a man. He was independent and he was +brave. If he did the right thing, therefore, +he succeeded; if he did the wrong thing, why, +he failed. And no one else tried just the same +experiment. In this first trait of absolute independence +he showed the infinite characteristic +of a child of God.</p> + +<p>Second, and perhaps more important, he +took with him his wife and his children. Here +is the great distinction of American emigration, +which contrasts against the plans of +Spaniards or Frenchmen, and of the earlier +Englishmen. Historically it begins with the +Pilgrims, of whom there were as many Pilgrim +mothers as there were Pilgrim fathers. +It is of them that Emerson says that "they +builded better than they knew."</p> + +<p>The frontiersman is independent. He lives +with and for his family. And, once more, he +is an enthusiast in determining that to-morrow +shall be better than to-day. The Indian +had no such notion. The Franciscan had not. +But this profane, ignorant pioneer had. He +believed implicitly in the country behind him +and in the future before him. "I tell you, sir, +that in ten years you will see in this valley +such a city as the world never saw." Profane<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[14]</a></span> +he may be, ignorant he may be, cruel he may +be; but he believes in the idea; he is quickened +and goaded forward by an infinite and majestic +hope.</p> + +<p>Given such conditions, the historical steps +are easy. All this is impossible till you have +a nation, to give peace and compel peace, so +that the separate settler shall know that the +whole majesty of the world is behind him. +There shall be no abiding quarrel between +man and man as to the line of a claim or the +title of a mine. The nation shall decide, and +its whole majesty shall enforce the decision. +Or, if there is any massacre by an Apache or +a Blackfoot, the country behind, tho a +thousand miles behind, shall stretch forth her +arm to avenge that lonely family. This means +peace instead of war. All this had to wait, +therefore, until the formation of the nation +called the United States—the greatest peace +society the sun ever shone upon, and the model +for societies yet larger. With the birth of +that nation, the real Western wave begins.</p> + +<p>I do not claim for every pioneer that he +thought he went as an apostle of God. But +in the emigrant wave from the very beginning, +the best blood, the best faith, the best +training of the parent stocks have gone. +Science has sent her best. The determination +for thorough education has planted better +school houses in the wilderness than the emigrant +left at home. And on Sunday, in a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[15]</a></span> +church, one is proud to say that the organized +Church of Christ, in the liberty of a thousand +communions, has covered with her egis the +settler most in advance. He could not keep +in advance of the missionary and of his Bible; +and, to his credit be it said, he did not +want to.</p> + +<p>So much for the personnel. Now, speaking +roughly, what has been the motive for the +great Western wave, which is making this garden +out of that desert?</p> + +<p>First, there is the passion for adventure, +the thirst for the horizon, which drives old +Leatherstocking and the men like him away +from the haunts of men. This in itself produces +nothing. Next and chiefly, the desire to +make homes—the noblest desire given to man, +and the desire in which he follows the will +of God most distinctly and completely. Miners +want to strike metals; farmers want to +find good soils; fruit men try for climate and +irrigation; all with the direct wish to make +homes more happy than they have been before.</p> + +<p>Again, young men go that they may get forward +faster than in old communities—and +who can wonder? Men of sense give up the +unequal contest with nature in a northern +and eastern climate to find a country where +nature is on their side. People in delicate +health go where they find softer air, more +spring and less winter. But no man goes to +get rich alone. No man wants to eat gold or<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[16]</a></span> +to drink it. The wish and hope is to make +homes where father, mother and children can +live the life which God ordained. These are +no Franciscan friars, these are no Apache +bandits, to whom has been given the subjugation +of a continent. Side by side with the +pioneer is the surveyor, marking the lines of +future homesteads. Hard behind him are +father, mother, boys and girls, to whom the +nation gives this homestead thus designated. +If the man is sick the woman nurses him. The +children grow up to know the world they live +in. The boundary of the nation is not a mere +chain of garrisons nor the scattered posts of +missions; it is a line of homes, founded with +all that the word home involves.</p> + +<p>All these lessons of three centuries point one +way. They show that the world is not very +good for wandering Apaches or Digger Indians, +freezing and starving under hard winters +when harvests have failed. To their point +of view it was a world hard and cruel. To +Franciscan friars, ruling a little empire which +yielded none but physical harvests, where the +garden, and orchard, and vineyard were only +so many specks in the midst of an unbounded +desert, the world can not have seemed a better +world—a world made for wild horses, and further +East for wild buffaloes, but not for men—"the +great American Desert." It is not till +man asserts the courage and freedom of a son +of God, it is not till man appears with wife<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[17]</a></span> +and child and proposes to establish his heaven +here; it is not till then that he masters nature, +and she gladly obeys him. Nay, then he has +no success unless he appears as the vicegerent +of God Himself, and establishes over this vast +domain the empire of law, and speaks as God +might speak, with "Thou shalt do this," and +"Thou shalt not do that" in this empire.</p> + +<p>The Old-World writers are fond of telling +us that we owe the prosperity of this nation +to its physical resources. It is not so. The +physical resources have existed for centuries. +It is only in the moral force of sons and +daughters of God; it is such working power +as takes the names of law, courage, independence, +and family affection; it is only in these +that our victory is won. The drunken swaggerer +of the advance only checks the triumph. +The miser, who would carry off his silver to +use elsewhere, only hinders the advance. The +victory comes from the hand of God to the +children of God, who establish His empire in +the magic spell of three great names. As always +these names are: Faith, which gives +courage; Hope, which determines to succeed; +and Love, which builds up homes.</p> + +<p>It is impossible to see the steps of such a +victory without owning the infinite Power behind +it all. You cannot use magnetic ore and +coal for its smelting and the silicates for its +fusion, all flung in together side by side, without +asking if the Power who threw these priceless<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[18]</a></span> +gifts together where each was needed for +each did not know what He was doing. But +the buffalo passes over it, and the gopher +mines under it, and it might be so much gravel +of the sea. Savages pass over it, with no future, +no heaven, and one would say no God. +It is worthless desert still, but one day a man +comes who deserves his name. He is a child +of God. He is determined that to-morrow +shall be better than to-day. He knows he is +lord of nature, and he bids her serve him. +The coal burns, the iron melts, the silicate +fuses. It is impossible to see that miracle and +not feel that for this man the world was +created, and for this world this man was born. +He is in his place. He did not have to seek it; +it was made for him. With him it is a garden. +Without him it is a desert. He can hew down +these mountains. He can fill up these valleys. +And where he has filled, and where he has +hewed, lo, the present heaven of happy homes! +It is thus that prophecy accomplishes itself, +and</p> + +<p class="center"> +"The car of the Lord rolls gloriously on." +</p> + +<hr class="chap" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19"> </a></span></p> + + + + +<h2>MAGEE</h2> + +<h3>THE MIRACULOUS STILLING OF THE +STORM</h3> + +<hr class="chap" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20"> </a></span></p> + + + + +<h4>BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE</h4> + + +<p>William Connor Magee, Archbishop of +York, was born at Cork in 1821. Educated +at Trinity College, Dublin, he was +ordained in 1844. His first important +charge was the Octagon Chapel at Bath +in 1850. In 1864 he was made dean of +Cork, and in 1868, Bishop of Peterborough. +In 1891 he was appointed to +succeed Dr. William Thomson, as Archbishop +of York.</p> + +<p>Dr. Magee was pronounced by Canon +Liddon the greatest preacher of his day. +His speech in the House of Lords in 1869 +against Irish Disestablishment was said +by the highest authorities, as quoted by +Lord Salisbury, to be the finest speech +ever delivered, in either house of Parliament, +by any man then living. His +oratory was characterized by clearness +and terseness of expression, while his full-toned +voice was capable of sounding +every gradation of feeling. He died in +1891, three months after his enthronization +in York Minster.</p> + +<hr class="chap" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[21]</a></span></p> + + + + +<h2>MAGEE</h2> + +<h3>1821-1891</h3> + +<h4>THE MIRACULOUS STILLING OF THE +STORM</h4> + +<blockquote> + +<p><em>Lord, save us: we perish.... Then he arose, and +rebuked the winds and the sea; and there was a great +calm</em>.—Matt. viii., 25, 26.</p></blockquote> + + +<p>The story of this miracle reveals to us +Christ entering into peril together with +His Church. It records for us her +faith and her prayer. It reveals to us His +presence and His power. That faith has been +her faith, that prayer has been her prayer, +from that hour until now. In all the long +perilous voyage of the Church from that hour, +never has she unlearned yet her first prayer; +never has she become entirely unconscious of +her Lord. Sometimes with a great and a +fearless faith that defied the most terrible +tempests, sometimes with a little and a timid +faith, that shrank from the first ripple upon +the deep, but ever with her real faith have +Christ's Church and Christ's disciples turned +in the hour of their tribulation to seek their +Lord. And never has that prayer been said +in vain. Never from the Church at large, or +from the solitary disciple in his terror, has +that prayer gone up without an answer.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[22]</a></span> +Never has the eye of faith sought, and sought +in vain, the Savior. Ever has the praying +Church or the praying disciple found the still +present Christ; and we believe that it is so +now. We believe that Christ our Lord is here +in the midst of us now, and that our eye of +faith may see Him, and our prayer of faith +may reach Him. And if this be so now—if +Christ's presence be a real fact amongst us +now, and our prayer have really a might to +reveal that presence—then, above all things, +it concerns us, that we understand the nature +of that prayer, and the manner of that presence, +that we understand what it is we mean, +and what will come of it when we say: "Lord, +save us, or we perish."</p> + +<p>We ask you, then, to-night, brethren, to +consider these two things: the meaning of the +Church's prayer; the manner of her Lord's +presence. Now, when we use these words: +"Lord, save: we perish," we are really rehearsing +two articles of our belief. We are +declaring, first of all, that we believe there +is a Lord—that in the visible world there is +an invisible God with His overruling, and controlling, +and appointing will; and, in the next +place, we believe that this God is our Lord +Jesus Christ. In the first of these, we Christians +agree with every religion that ever has +been. In the second, we differ from all other +religions. When we say that above nature +there is a will and a personality, we say what<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[23]</a></span> +every religion says. Religion is nothing else +than the belief in the supernatural, in something +above nature, in a person, in a will; and +prayer is nothing but the speech of our spirit +to that will, and the submission of our will +to it. Prayer is the effort of the spirit of man +to rise above the visible up to the region of +the invisible and the personal, there to speak +out his care or his need. There can, therefore, +be no prayer without this element of religion; +and there can be no religion without this fact +of prayer. Without it, you have philosophy, +you may have sentiment; but you cannot have +a real, practical, every-day religion. And, +therefore, all religions have believed in a God +or gods, a Lord or lords. Turk, Jew, heathen, +in like case, would have said to some lord or +other: "Save, or we perish." But the Christian +believes something more. He believes +that his Lord has come down amongst men; +that He has taken to Him human flesh, and +lived a human life, and died, and risen again, +for his salvation. He worships not only a +lord, but the incarnate Lord; and so the +Church speaks her twofold faith in her great +hymn from the first to Christ as God: "We +praise Thee, O God; we acknowledge Thee +to be the Lord"—Thee, and none other, to be +the God, and Thee to be the Lord, and Ruler, +and Master of all things. You see, then, that +there is something different in Christian +prayer from all other prayer and worship,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[24]</a></span> +and that the difference consists in this: that +it is distinctively and avowedly the prayer +to an incarnate Christ.</p> + +<p>Now, if there be this difference between this +prayer and all other prayer, then there must +be a corresponding difference in the feelings +and in the practical results of such a religion; +and I am about to ask you now to follow +me while I endeavor to trace for you this +difference between Christian prayer and all +other prayer. It seems as if the story in the +gospel of this miracle exactly sets out this difference—exactly +shows us the distinctive nature +of Christian prayer. The story, you observe, +divides itself, naturally, into three +parts. There is, first of all, the voyage before +the storm; there is, then, the storm; and there +is, then, the miraculous stilling of the storm. +Now, you observe that in each of these three +parts, we have one thing in common. We +have man, in some way or other, encountering, +or encountered by, the outward and visible +world. The third of these—the stilling of the +storm—differs from the other two in this, that +it is miraculous and supernatural. Now, let +us, for a moment, leave out this third part. +There are some, you know, who say, that we +should always leave it out, and be better without +it. Let us leave out, then, this third or +miraculous part of the story; and let us contrast +the first and the second parts. And +what have we got? We have got a most remarkable<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[25]</a></span> +contrast between the two scenes. +What is it we see in the first scene? We see +a man subduing nature. It was by the knowledge +of the elements and the laws of nature, +that man learned thus to sail upon the deep; +and in that one fact you have represented for +you the whole of the material progress of +humanity—all the triumphs of science, all the +glory and the beauty of art, all that marvelous +mastery that man obtains by his inventive and +creative will over the secret powers of nature, +as he unlocks them one by one, and compels +her to tell him her deepest mysteries—all that +man has done as he has advanced from horizon +to horizon of discovery, finding still new +worlds to conquer, until we stand amazed at +our own progress and the infinity of it, and +we say of man: "What manner of being is +this, that even the winds and the sea obey +him?" Yes, there is the man the lord of +nature. There is nothing supernatural there. +All is natural, all is orderly. Man is lord and +master. Nature is man's servant; and, therefore, +there seems no room, there seems no +need for prayer. There is nothing, seemingly, +there to be had for the asking; there is everything, +seemingly, there to be had for working. +Man is to be seen walking in the garden of +his own planting and his own fencing; and +he reaches out hands to unforbidden fruits of +knowledge; and he believes that at last he +shall gather even of the tree of life. He is a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[26]</a></span> +god unto himself, and he sees no need for +prayer.</p> + +<p>And now we turn to the second scene, and +what have we there? We have the direct contrast +with this scene. We have there, not man +subduing nature, but nature subduing man. +We have the storm in which the elements are +man's masters and not his servants; and he +that one minute before was the boasting lord +of nature is its toy and its sport. The very +foam upon the crest of those billows is not +more helpless in the grasp of the elements +than the lord and the king of them; and they +toss him to and fro, as the wind drives the +stubble in the autumn. This is the terrible +aspect of nature. This is nature in her might, +and in her majesty, and in her pitilessness, +and in her capriciousness—when nature seems +everything, and man, in her awful presence, +dwindles and dwarfs into very nothingness—when +man, in the presence of the vastness +of her solitude, and the might of her storms, +and the terror of her earthquakes, seems no +more before her, with his little cares and his +sorrows, than the wee bubbles upon the head +of the cataract. This is nature as she masters +man. Is it, then, any wonder that, in the +early struggles of mankind with this terrible +visible power of the creature, men came to +worship the creature—that they ascribed to +every one of these powers a divinity, that in +the voice of the wind, and in the roar of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[27]</a></span> +sea, and in the raging of the fire, they saw +the signs of a divine presence, and they said +to these elements: "Spare us," or "Save us, +or else we perish"? And so all creation became +peopled with gods—cruel gods, capricious +gods, vengeful gods, gods whom men +bribed with blood, gods whom, even while +they bribed them, they could not love, and did +not believe that they loved them. This is the +first and most terrible form of creature worship; +this was the idolatry of the heathen. +But mark this, that such a worship as this +could not continue forever, could not continue +long, because it is the worship of ignorance; +it is the belief in the supernatural, only +because it confuses the unknown with the +supernatural. Ever as science advances must +this faith melt away. Ever must the domain +of the known push itself forward into the +domain of the unknown. Ever does the man +of science take one by one the gods of the +man of superstition and break them upon their +pedestals, and tell him this: "What you worship +is no god. What you worship is no lord. +It is not your lord. It is a servant of yours; +and I class it in this or that rank of your +servants." So, one by one, like ghosts and +fantoms in the dawning of the day—one by +one, the fantoms of gods that haunted the +night of the old world vanish before the dawn +of knowledge. But then it is a terrible daylight +that breaks on men—a blank, dreary<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[28]</a></span> +world in which men have no sight of the invisible, +no sense of the supernatural. It is +that last and most terrible aspect of nature, +when she appears, not as many gods, or many +wills, but as the great soulless piece of mechanism, +of which we are only part—a terrible +machinery in which we are, somehow or other, +involved, and in the presence of which the +sense of our free-will leaves us. The pith, and +the manhood, and the vigor of men, and the +beauty and the freedom of their life die out +of them as they stand appalled before this +passionless, this terrible, this awful face of +a soulless world. This is the last and the +most terrible form of creature worship. And +mark this, that between these two aspects of +nature, if you have no assured faith, there is +no logical resting-place. Without the act of +faith, you must take your choice between the +superstition of ignorance or the atheism of +knowledge.</p> + +<p>And now we have seen these, we turn to the +third portion of our story; and what is that +we see there? We see, again, in this world +of men, the miraculous and the supernatural. +We hear a prayer, and we see a miracle. In +the face of the might of nature and the terrors +of her elements there arises up a Man in +answer to man's cry—there is heard a Man's +voice, which is yet the voice of God; and it +rebukes the winds and the sea, and the elements +of nature own their real Lord; and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[29]</a></span> +immediately there is a great calm. What is +it, then, that we see? We see a miracle, and +a miracle that answers to prayer; we see the +living spirits of living men, in the hour of +their agony and their distress, appealing from +nature to the God of nature; and we have +recorded the answer of God to man's prayer. +The answer is, that God is Lord both of man +and of nature; and we say, therefore, that the +miracle, and the miracle alone, sufficiently +justifies the prayer. We say that the reason +why men may pray is, and can only be, that +they know and believe, that there is a will +which rules the visible. If you have not this +belief, then believe us that all prayer, whatever +men may say about it, is an unreality +and a miserable mockery. To what am I to +pray if I see no living God to pray to? Am +I to pray to a law? Am I to pray to a system? +Am I to pray to the winds, or to the +waves, as men prayed of old? Am I to pray +for physical blessings and deliverances? Men +tell us we are not to pray, or to give thanks, +concerning the rain or fruitful seasons, for +that science has told us that the supernatural +has no place there. Am I to pray then (for +men do tell me that I may pray) only for spiritual +and for moral gifts? Am I to pray only +to be made wise, and good, and pure, and true, +and holy? Ah! science is beginning to meet +us there, too; for she is telling us, and telling +us loudly, and telling us shamelessly, that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[30]</a></span> +here, too, there is no room, so far as she can +tell, for prayer, as our mind is but a part of +our body, and that our spiritual condition is +a necessary result of our past history and of +our present temperament—that we are what +we are by virtue of birth and education, and +country, and clime, and other things over which +we have no control. And so the very spirit of +man, all that is left of the invisible, vanishes +before the approach of science. The knife of +the anatomist lays bare, as he tells you, the secrets +of man's being; and he finds no soul—he +finds only the gray matter of the brain and the +white threads of the nerves; and this is all +that is left. Then, if we are not to pray, may +we at least praise? Men say that if it is a +folly to pray, at least it is a wisdom to praise; +and they tell us this is the sentimental theory +of the modern gospel. They tell you: "You +may not pray,—prayer has no place in our +system,—but you may praise; you may lift +up your heart in hymns of joy and gratitude +to the great Father of your being; you may +have festival and flower-crowned processions +in honor of the Supreme Being; yes, you may +in fine weather, when you are sailing over +summer seas, and the pleasant summer wind +is filling the sails of your bark, and is wafting +sweet odors from the flower-crowned shores +along which youth, and hope, and joy are passing—then +you may lift up your hearts in +thanks to the Father that gave all these, if<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[31]</a></span> +you do not forget it. But how is it in foul +weather? How is it when the sky above us +darkens, and the white crests of the waves +beneath us are swelling sharp and fierce, and +the jagged edges of the rocks are projecting +for our shipwreck, and the wild waste of the +waters is yawning below us, and we tremble +and shudder at their depths, and the wild +wind blows our prayer back into our bosoms—is +that the time to sing sentimental hymns +to our great supreme Father and Giver of all +good? It is a time (thank God, thank Christ, +for this) when the Christian, when the disciple +of Christ, may hold fast his faith and +say, "Tho he slay me, yet will I trust in him"; +but it is not a time when the deist has breath +to sing his hymns to the supreme Author of +his being. No, we believe that there is a miracle +that justifies, and alone justifies prayer. +We know that there are those (and they are +good and wise men, many of them) who contrive +nice adjustments and philosophical explanations +how prayer may be reconciled with +universal law. We do not greatly care for +these. They may be right; they may be +wrong. In some future state and higher condition +of our being we may know how far +they are true, how far they are false; but, +meanwhile, we need not be too nervously +anxious to make room for almighty God to +work His own will in His own world. We +believe in the miracle of creation; we believe<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[32]</a></span> +that there was once a voice that said, "Let +there be light, and there was light"; we believe +that at the sound of that voice the universe +leapt into life; and we believe in the +miracle of the Incarnation, when God took +human flesh and dwelt amongst men; we believe +in the miracle of the descent of the +Spirit of God, when, with the miraculous +sound of the rushing wind and the miraculous +gleam of the fire, God once more came down +to dwell amongst men; we believe in the miracles +that are written for us in this Book, +were they ten times as many as they are; we +believe that the sea has stood on one side like +a wall, and that the waters have gushed forth +from the rock; we believe that bread has been +rained from heaven; we believe that a touch +has awakened the dead—we believe all this; +and, because we believe it, we believe the voice +when it says to us, "Pray"; and because we +hear that voice still amongst us, and because +we know it to be the same voice, we say, as +we hear it, "Lord, save, or we perish."</p> + +<p>But still, in the last place, it may be +said to us: If you do believe that there +is this power of miracle amongst you still, +and that it will answer to your prayer, +why is it that we do not see more miracles +than we do? Why is not the world filled +with strange miracles every day, considering +the infinite number of men's needs, and +the infinite number of human prayers? My<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[33]</a></span> +brethren, it does seem to me that if we +were merely deists, and did not believe in +Christ, it would be difficult for us to answer +this objection. The spirit of man has, however +(thanks be to God for it), in all ages been +deeper and truer in its instincts than his mere +logical power. Even the deist (and we thankfully +acknowledge it), tho inconsistently and +illogically, yet really and truly prays. For +us Christians there is not any difficulty. +There is that difference in our prayer of +which I spoke. To whom is it that we pray? +Not merely to the invisible Lord or Creator +of the past, but to the incarnate Lord of the +present. We believe that Christ our Lord, +to whom we pray, took flesh and dwelt +amongst us, and we believe that He did so +that He might work the greatest of all miracles—the +salvation of the souls of men; and +we believe that He wrought it by dying and +by living again. We believe that He established +in the world this great and miraculous +law, that it is possible out of death to bring +life—nay, that death is the way to life. If +this be so, that by His death life was purchased +for us, then He teaches us that there +is another life than this, and that there is +another death and a deeper death than that +we fear; and He tells us, it may be, that even +by dying we shall be saved, that He will not +always save us from death—nay, that He may +save us by death. And so it comes to pass<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[34]</a></span> +that we understand how, by losing life, we +may miraculously save it; and yet, on the +other hand, by trying to save life, we may +naturally lose it. So we come to understand +this fact, how the beginning of His kingdom +was full of miracles, and how, in the history +of His kingdom, miracles have since ceased. +The kingdom began with miracles that He +might teach us that He was able to save; the +miracles ceased in order that He might work +a greater miracle. The lesser miracle of ruling +nature ceased in order that the greatest +of all miracles might perpetually be wrought—the +regeneration, the redemption, and the +glorification of the nature of man. And so we +understand that Christ our Lord, because He +is our Lord, may save us, even while we seem +to perish, and to perish in His presence. He +saved us of old by His agony and bloody +sweat, by His cross and passion; and He will +save us now, and He does save every child +of His. Through agony and sweating, +through cross and passion—through the agony +of our long nights of spiritual darkness, +through the sweat of long days of sore trouble +and labor, beneath the weight of sharp and +heavy crosses and sorrow, and through the +bitterness of spiritual or bodily passion, does +Christ our Lord still save those who cry to +Him, even while He seems to sleep and not to +hear them, as, in the bitterness of their souls, +thinking themselves Christ-forsaken, they cry,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[35]</a></span> +"Our Christ, our Christ, why hast Thou forsaken +us? Dost Thou sleep, Lord? Save us, +or we perish." And so you understand the +peculiarity, the blest and the glorious peculiarity, +of our Christian prayer. You understand +the meaning of those deep words of +Scripture—patience and the faith of the +saints. You understand how the Christian +man may pray and wait, and wait and pray +still. If prayer were always followed by a +miraculous answer, then prayer would be easy +enough; or, on the other hand, if there were +no thought of an answer, then it might be +possible, tho not easy, to submit ourselves to +the inevitable. But to pray and not to receive +an answer, and yet to believe that the very +not receiving is an answer; to cry, "Save, or +we perish," and to seem about to perish; to +believe that in what seems perishing is really +salvation; to look for the living and watchful +Christ, and to see what seems only the living +and regardless Christ, and yet to believe +that the time will come when, at His word, +there shall be a great calm—this is the patience, +this is the faith of those who worship +an incarnate Lord. And so we trace +the history of Christ's Church, and so we +strive to trace the history of our own lives. +Comparatively easy it is to trace the Church's +history along her voyage. The Church gives +time for comparing events and testing faith; +and so, believing still in the presence of her<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[36]</a></span> +living Lord, the litanies of His Church ring +out, as they have ever rung, clearly and +loudly, and high above the roar of the tempest +and the rushing of the waters, still the prayer +is heard, "Good Lord, deliver us"; and still, +again and again, as the storm sweeps by, and +the Church passes out into calmer waters, +still comes the voice of thanksgiving: "He +hath delivered us." Even in our shorter +voyage, are there none of us who can remember +times when we have knelt in agony and +wrestled in prayer with the Savior, who +seemed to have forgotten us, when the mighty +storm of temptation and the billows of calamity +seemed about to destroy us, and when we +have cried (oh, how men do cry in those +storms of the soul, in those tempests and terrors +of the heart), "Lord, save us, or we perish!" +to Him to save us, and He has seemed +to sleep and to refuse to save? But at the last +we can remember how He did reveal Himself, +not stilling the raging storm when we would +have had Him still the terrible tempest, not +sparing, it may be, the precious bark that we +had rigged, and manned, and launched ourselves +with trembling hopes and loving prayers, +and watched with eyes tearless with +agony, as we saw it about to sink before us; +and we have been led to see and believe that +the living and the loving Lord was answering +even then our prayer, for the bark has, at +length, entered that haven where we would<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[37]</a></span> +be, and where the vexed waters of our voyage +never awake a ripple on the calm depths of +its eternal peace. This has been the experience +of more than one of this great multitude +that I see. And there is another experience +that each one of you may have: it is when, in +the troubles of your own spirit, when in the +agonies of your own grief-stricken heart, when +in the depths of your own repentance, when +in the storms of your own fear and your own +doubt, you cry to Christ the Savior—when you +bring your sins as some men bring their sorrows, +as anxious to have them removed as the +others—when you cry to Christ your Savior: +"Lord, save me! Save me, a sinner! Save +me, an unprayerful man hitherto! Save me, +an unbelieving man hitherto! Save me, not +merely from the hell hereafter, but the present +storm and depth of my own sins that threaten +to destroy me! Save me, or I perish!" For, +brethren, be sure of this, sooner or later this +will be the experience of every such vexed +and terrified soul—that, after he shall have +endured, so long as his Lord sees good, the +terrifying storm and the threatening deep +that drive him in closer and closer search and +seeking after his Lord, then, at last, there will +appear the form of the Son of man, the form +of Him who hung upon the cross, that He +might for ever in the world's history work +this great and, to Him, dearest of all miracles; +and, at last, He will rebuke the winds and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[38]</a></span> +the waves in that troubled soul, and there will +be a great calm—a calm that may not last for +ever, a calm that will not last for ever, for we +have not yet reached the haven of perfect rest, +but a calm that is a foretaste of the eternal +rest. And so, praying with all our hearts to +Christ our Lord, setting our will in submission +to His will, pouring out our spirit in +prayer to His Spirit, laying bare our hearts +before His pure and loving eyes, through calm +and through storm, praying still that we suffer +not death in either, that we neither rot in the +calm nor founder in the storm, praying still +for His presence, praying still for grace to +realize that presence, crying still for that +deeper and yet deeper faith which is the result +of more and more constant experience, +crying still, "Lord, save, or we perish," wait +in patience and in faith until He shall send +His last messenger in this world, His angel +of death, and bid him for us and in His name +rebuke for the last time the winds that have +vexed us, and the waves that have terrified +us, and then with Him for ever there shall be +a great calm.</p> + +<hr class="chap" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39"> </a></span></p> + + + + +<h2>SEISS</h2> + +<h3>THE WONDERFUL TESTIMONIES</h3> + +<hr class="chap" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40"> </a></span></p> + + + + +<h4>BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE</h4> + + +<p>Joseph A. Seiss, Lutheran divine, was +born in 1823, at Graceham, Md. He received +his theological education as a private +pupil of several clergymen and was +first settled over churches at Martinsburg +and Shepherdstown, Va. In 1843 he was +transferred to Cumberland, then to Baltimore, +Md., and finally became pastor of +St. John's Church, Philadelphia, and for +twelve years was editor of "The Lutheran." +He died in 1904.</p> + +<hr class="chap" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[41]</a></span></p> + + + + +<h2>SEISS</h2> + +<h3>1823-1904</h3> + +<h4>THE WONDERFUL TESTIMONIES<a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a></h4> + +<blockquote> + +<p><em>Thy testimonies are wonderful.</em>—Psalms, cxix., 129.</p></blockquote> + + +<p>The Psalmist here addresses himself to +God. The testimonies of which he +speaks are God's testimonies. As collected +and arranged in one book, they are +known to us as the Bible. For the contents +of these holy oracles the royal singer expresses +his admiration. He pronounces them "wonderful."</p> + +<p>It was not an unworthy theme with which +he was occupied at the time, neither was it +an extravagant opinion which he uttered. It +is impossible that there should be for man a +more important subject than the communications +made to him from his God. And if ever +there was a marvelous thing submitted to +human inspection, it is this book, the holy +Bible. It lies before us like an ocean, boundless +and unfathomable,—like a Himalayan +mountain, whose summit no foot of man has +trod, and whose foundation is in the undiscovered +heart of the world. To make a full<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[42]</a></span> +survey of it is not possible in the present condition +of the human faculties. Even the inspired +Paul, when he came to look into it, +found himself gazing into profundities at +which he could do no more than exclaim, "Oh, +the depth of the riches both of the wisdom +and the knowledge of God!" And yet there +are many beautiful shells and pebbles lying +on the shore of this sea, and as many precious +flowers blooming on this mountain side, which +any one may gather, and which, whosoever +attentively contemplates, must feel himself +impelled to join the admiring exclamation, +"The testimonies of the Lord are wonderful."</p> + +<p>Let us look briefly at a few particulars by +which to verify this declaration, praying that +God may open our eyes to behold wondrous +things out of His law.</p> + + +<p>I. The testimonies of the Lord are wonderful +in age and preservation.</p> + +<p>The Bible is the oldest of books. Some portions +of it are much more recent than others, +but a large part of it has come down from the +remotest antiquity and antedates all other +writings in the world. It contains a journal +of events which transpired centuries before +the building of the Pyramids. The book of +Job existed before Cadmus carried letters into +Greece. The five books of Moses were read +in holy assemblies two hundred years before +Sanchoniathon wrote. David and Solomon +had uttered their sacred songs and prophecies<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[43]</a></span> +half a century before Homer enraptured the +Greeks with his verses or Lycurgus had given +laws to Lacedæmon. Dozens of the books of +Scripture were complete a hundred years before +the first public library was founded at +Athens; and the last of the prophets had +ended his message before Socrates, Plato, and +Aristotle had propounded their philosophies. +When the elements of society were but forming +in the womb of the far-distant past, the +Bible was there. When the foundations of +earth's present greatness were laid, it was +there. And when we go back to the very beginnings +of history, even there does its hand +lead us and its right hand uphold us.</p> + +<p>Nor is it as a mere lifeless fossil that this +book has come down to us from such remote +antiquity. Tho hoary with age, its youthful +vigor remains, and its natural force is not +abated. It has only grown fresher with age, +and strengthened with every new trial. It +has been at the births and deaths of a hundred +mighty nations, and seen empires rise, flourish, +and fall, and coexisted with the longest +lines of earthly kings, and beheld some of the +sublimest monuments of human effort come +forth and disappear, and passed a hundred +generations in reaching us; but, withal, it still +lives, in all nations, in all languages, the most +precious legacy of departed ages, and the only +thing that remains to us from some of them. +Tho it has encountered many a fierce conflict<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[44]</a></span> +with the hate of men and the spite of +devils,—tho the object of many a concerted +scheme to blot it from the earth,—tho +often held up to ridicule, with "gigantic +apes like Voltaire chattering at it, +men of genius turned by some Circean spell +into swine, like Mirabeau and Paine, casting +filth at it, demoniacs whom it had half rescued +and half inspired, like Rousseau, making +mouths in its face," and all the varied passions +of unsanctified men continually arrayed +against it,—it still holds its place as the +most uncorrupt and authentic of histories, +the most august and controlling of records, the +most universal, venerable, and potent of books, +imagining in its very history the stupendous +majesty of the God whom it reveals.</p> + + +<p>II. The testimonies of the Lord are wonderful +in their authorship.</p> + +<p>They are not of man, but of God. We can +not now refer to the varied and multitudinous +considerations which enter into the proofs of +this. It is capable, however, of being established +by the very highest moral evidences. +The wisest and best men of every age have +concurred in receiving the Scriptures as from +God. And it is not possible to give a rational +account of their origin, and the source of their +contents, without ascribing them to the divine +authorship which they claim.</p> + +<p>It may seem strange that the infinite God +should condescend to put His great thoughts<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[45]</a></span> +into the poor language of mortals, to communicate +with creatures so dull and stupid +as the sons of men; but this He has done. +Portions of the Scriptures are made up of the +very words of God, articulated by Himself +in the hearing of men commissioned to declare +them. One chapter, which embodies the moral +essence of all the rest, was engraven by His +own finger upon tables of rock, and delivered +to Moses all ready formed and set in the alphabetic +signs employed by men. Other +parts consist of communications of celestial +messengers sent directly from heaven's throne +to declare God's will and purposes to the +dwellers upon earth. A still larger portion +was taken down as it fell from the lips of One +in whom God had incarnated Himself, and +whose every word and act in this world was +a revelation from the unknown Deity. Even +those parts which were written by men were +produced by mysterious motion and illumination +of the Holy Ghost,—by inspiration of +God. Indeed, the whole book is a literary +aerolite, all the characteristics of which are +unearthly, and whose own superior attributes +are so many demonstrations of its superhuman +source. Its very address is so far above that of +man, that no mortal, unprompted, could ever +have risen to it. Its subjects are all treated +after an unearthly manner. Every leaf of it +bears the sunlight of some higher sphere. Every +page has on it the imprimatur of God. And<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[46]</a></span> +all its words are instinct with divine fires, +flashing the admonition upon every reader, +"Put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the +place whereon thou standest is holy ground." +They that look upon it look upon expressions +of the eternal Spirit. They that rightly take +its lessons drink in living emanations from unsearchable +Godhead. It is the abiding miracle +of <em>rapport</em> with the Mind which projected, +upholds, and governs the universe. It is the +Word of God.</p> + + +<p>III. The testimonies of the Lord are wonderful +in their originality and instructiveness.</p> + +<p>The Bible depends upon no discoveries of +man, and leans upon no other books. If it +says some things which may be learned elsewhere, +its utterances are always independent +and peculiarly its own. The world through +which it ranges is much wider than that of +man's thoughts. It goes back to a remoter +antiquity; it takes in a broader space; it extends +to a vaster future; it introduces to sublimer +spheres and forms of being; and it exhibits +a much profounder wisdom. It opens +arcana of which no earthly powers ever +dreamed, and is at home in regions where the +sublimest imaginings of man had hardly extended +a guess. On all the great questions +of theology, life, death, and futurity, it speaks +with a familiarity, comprehensiveness, and +propriety which at once command our confidence<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[47]</a></span> +and satisfy our hearts. What it +touches, it touches with a master's hand. It +never speaks without pregnant meaning in +all its words. And there is nothing in human +science, poetry, or tradition which it does not +exceed in knowledge, wisdom, and real value.</p> + +<p>In its account of the creation, and the origin +of things, there is nothing to compare with +it. In all the historians, philosophers, and +secular authors,-the books of Zoroaster, the +records of PhÅ“nicia and Egypt, the Dialogues +of Plato and Lucian, the annals of China, +the treatises of Plutarch, the Shastras of +India, the Edda of Scandinavia, and all the +schemes that have ever been given in explanation +of the earth's primal history,—there is +nothing so natural, so magnificent, so simple, +so appropriate, so reliable, so satisfactory, as +the first chapter of Genesis. Nor have all the +discoveries of modern geology brought forward +anything to convict Moses of a false +cosmogony. If it is a truth that the history +of the earth's formation runs back through +uncounted ages, he leaves an interval for it, +between "the beginning" and the period +when God caused light to appear upon its +dark and misty surface. If it is true that +vast eras have been traversed by each separate +order of living things, one after the other, we +find precisely the same succession in the +Mosaic account which is found preserved in +the different layers of the earth's crust. And<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[48]</a></span> +if it be true that there was life upon our world +ages and cycles of ages before the period noted +in Genesis as that in which man was created, +it is also true that no traces of human existence +are found except in the most recent deposits. +A certain stonemason of the village +of Cromartie, with sledge and chisel, himself +delved through every formation, from the surface-mold +down through the old red sandstone +to the Silurian, gneiss, and granite, and, +having mastered all that is known concerning +each, has written it down as the result of his +marvelous explorations, that the truthfulness +of the Mosaic record is engraven upon the +rocks forever.</p> + +<p>And so in every department of science the +Bible is always true to nature, and has invariably +been in advance of all human investigations +and discoveries. How many +thousands of years have metaphysicians and +psychologists been at work to map out, classify, +and gauge the various capacities and +powers of the human mind and soul! But +they have found no way of approach to the +heart so masterly and effective as that taken +by the Scriptures; and the more that is known +of the nature of the man, the more clearly is it +seen that the Bible comprehended it from the +commencement. It has been but a few years +since Newton laid open the laws of gravitation; +and yet the Scriptures spoke of the earth +being hung "upon nothing," as if familiar<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[49]</a></span> +with the whole subject, before human science +had begun to form even its feeblest guesses in +the case. It has only been since the invention +of the telescope enabled men to search through +the starry spaces that Sir John Herschel has +discovered in the northern sky a peculiar barrenness; +but more than three thousand years +ago Job told Bildad the Shuhite that "God +stretched out the north over the empty place." +It has been but a few years since science discovered +"that the sun is not the dead center +of motion, around which comets sweep and +planets whirl," but that "the earth and sun, +with their splendid retinue of comets, satellites, +and planets, are all in motion around +some point or center of attraction inconceivably +remote, and that that point is in the direction +of the star Alcyone, one of the Pleiades"; +which would hence seem to be "the +midnight throne" in which the whole system +of gravitation has its central seat and from +which all material orbs are governed. But +the Bible asked the question, more than thirty +centuries ago, "Canst thou bind the sweet influences +of Pleiades?" as if the speaker knew +all about the facts in the case. How long has +it been since the doctrine of the rotundity of +the earth has been settled by scientific men? +yet the Psalmist spoke of "the round world"; +and Solomon described in brief the true theory +of wind-currents, and strongly hinted the circulation +of the blood, at least twenty-five<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[50]</a></span> +hundred years ago. And, with all the advances +of knowledge which have so wonderfully +marked the last three hundred years, in +which the spirit of philosophic inquiry has +ranged the universe, searched heaven, earth, +and sea, knocked at every door, peered into +every recess, consulted every oracle of nature, +and gathered trophies of power and treasures +of wisdom and sublimities of knowledge at +which the world has been amazed,—in all the +motions which the experimentist has traced, in +all the principles of power which the master +of physics has discovered, in all the combinations +which the chemist has detected, in all +the forms which the naturalist has recorded, +in all the spiritual phenomena which the metaphysician +has described, and in all the conditions +and relations of mind or matter, past +or present, which human research has found +out,—there has not come to light one truth +to contradict these holy records, or to require +the relinquishment or change of one word in +all the great volume of Scripture.</p> + + +<p>IV. The testimonies of the Lord are wonderful +in beauty and literary excellence.</p> + +<p>The Bible is a casket of jewelry of the richest +hues and the most exquisite workmanship. +Sir William Jones, that great Orientalist and +scholar, has said, "I have regularly and attentively +perused these Holy Scriptures, and +am of the opinion that this volume, independently +of its divine origin, contains more<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[51]</a></span> +true sublimity, more exquisite beauty, more +pure morality, more important history, and +finer strains of poetry and eloquence, than +can be collected from all other books, in whatever +age or language they may have been written." +Even Rousseau wrote, "The majesty of +the Scriptures strikes me with admiration. +The works of our philosophers, with all their +pomp of diction, how mean, how contemptible, +in comparison with them!"</p> + +<p>Nor does it matter much what part of the +Scriptures we take, or in what department of +rhetoric we test them. Whether it be history +or prophecy, the Old Testament or the +New, narrative or description, poetry or prose, +the same characteristics are to be seen. Moses +is as pure and simple as Adam and Eve in +Paradise, and yet as majestic and grand as +that great creation which he describes. Job +contains a drama which is without a +parallel,—a drama of facts in which heaven +and earth, visible and invisible, with all +their wonderful interpenetrations, are set +out in their connection with a suffering saint +upon his couch, and in which the spirit of earnest +inquiry urges itself forward until everything +comes forth to declare the majesty of +God, and all the might and goodness of man +lies prostrate before Him who "bringeth forth +Mazzaroth in his season" and speaketh comfortably +to them that trust in Him. Under +the leadership of David's muse, we pass<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[52]</a></span> +through varied scenes of beauty and grandeur,—pastures +and glens, still waters and roaring +floods, dismal swamps and silent wildernesses, +forests crashing with the lightnings of God +and tempests that convulse the seas, the smoke +and fury of battle and the shoutings of glad +multitudes, by dells of lonely sorrow and +along the starry archways of the sky,—until +at length we take our places in a temple high +as heaven and wide as space, with all objects +of creation as living worshipers around us, +each with its separate hymn of grateful joy, +blending in one almighty adoration. Isaiah +rises upon us like some "mighty orb of song," +whose rays are streaming minstrelsies, that +have thrilled upon the hearts of men for seventy +generations, and which must needs thrill +on, unrivaled in their kind, while earth and +time endure. Ezekiel is a very comet of fire, +flaming his impetuous way across the heavens, +and, like the living spirits in his own first +vision, going and returning as a flash of lightning. +And throughout,—the Evangelists +with their simple story of Jesus, and Paul in +his epistles and orations, and John in his +loving letters and apocalyptic visions,—from +the first words, "In the beginning," onward +to the last "amen," we find variety, beauty, +pathos, dignity, sweetness, magnificence, and +glory, such as are contained in no other composition. +Here are the sublimest heights and +the profoundest depths, and all the gradations<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[53]</a></span> +from the one to the other. From the worm +that grovels in the dust, to the leviathan in +the foaming deep, and the supreme archangel, +and the eternal God; from the hyssop on the +wall, to the cedars of Lebanon, and the healing +trees which shade life's eternal river; +from the pearl-drops which trickle from the +mountain rock, to the noise of dashing torrents, +and the wide waters of the deluge; from +the glowworm under the thorn, to the sun in +the heavens, and the great Father of Lights; +from the lone pilgrim to the triumphing host, +and the gathering multitude which no man +can number; from the deepest sorrows of the +lost, to the probation scenes of earth and the +seraphic visions of the blest,—there is nothing +known to mortals which God hath not brought +into requisition to intensify and adorn the +precious book which He has given to men. As +an eloquent preacher beyond the sea remarks, +"He has filled it with marvelous incident +and engaging history, with sunny pictures +from Old-World scenery and affecting anecdotes +from patriarchal times. He has replenished +it with stately argument and +thrilling verse, and sprinkled it over with +sententious wisdom and proverbial pungency. +It has the gracefulness of high utility; it has +the majesty of intrinsic power; it has the +charm of its own sanctity: it never labors, +never strives, but, instinct with great realities +and bent on blessed ends, has all the translucent<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[54]</a></span> +beauty and unstudied power which you +might expect from its lofty object and all-wise +Author."</p> + +<p>Some call these Scriptures dull and uninviting; +but there is no book in being with so +many real attractions. There is no classic equal +to it,—no historian like Moses, no poet like +Job or Isaiah, no singer like David, no orator +like Paul, no character like Jesus, and no +revelation of God or nature like that which +these venerable pages give. Not without reason +has Sir Thomas Browne said, "Were it of +man, I could not choose but say it was the singularest +and superlative piece that hath been +extant since the creation. Were I a pagan, I +should not refrain the lecture of it, and can +not but commend the judgment of Ptolemy, +that thought not his library complete without +it."</p> + + +<p>V. The testimonies of the Lord are wonderful +in their influences and effects.</p> + +<p>The Bible has been, for three thousand +years, one of the greatest potencies on earth. +It has been, and is to this moment, a greater +power than Rome, or Greece, or Babylon ever +was. Though it has not conquered the world, +it has advanced further towards it than Alexander +ever did. It has done more to govern +and renew the human heart than all the laws +enacted by legislators, and all the maxims devised +by uninspired sages, and all the lessons, +apart from itself, that were ever given to the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[55]</a></span> +race. It is the chief stay of a society which +for a thousand years has been the most widespread, +the most important, and the most powerful +association on the earth. It has controlled +the religious opinions of a large part +of mankind for nearly forty centuries. It +has molded characters and directed the efforts +of men whose lives and labors introduced +new eras and shaped the destinies of nations +and turned the course of the world's entire +history. It has begotten and fostered the +purest virtue, the sublimest manhood, the +noblest beneficence, the sincerest charity, the +tenderest kindness, and all the blessed saintship, +that have ever been upon earth.</p> + +<p>Its vast influence upon the welfare of nations +may be estimated in part from the +bloody codes, and infamous administrations, +and social degradations, and far-reaching +wretchedness, of those countries where it is +rejected or unknown, contrasted with the +blessedness and peace of those who have received +it. It was the great Milton who said, +"There are no politics like those which the +Scriptures teach"; and in proof we need only +look at Judea when it knew no laws but those +which this book contains. How smooth and +steady were the wheels of public justice, and +how beautiful was the flow of national peace, +in those golden days of the old Hebrew commonwealth! +How did the joyous vines, and +fields of waving ears, and gold of Ophir, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[56]</a></span> +flocks and cattle abiding on a thousand hills, +and cities full of peace and plenty, proclaim +abroad the wealth and blessedness of that +goodly land! How did the voice of singing +and the fragrance of virtue linger round each +habitation, and the sacrifices of praise crowd +all the temple's courts from tribes rejoicing +in the smiles of God!</p> + +<p>In the sphere of learning and thought-creations, +also, the influence of the Bible is +equally marked and wonderful. It is to the +world of letters what the sun is to the solar +system, the fountain of the purest light and +brightest wisdom. It has produced more +books than any other one thing in existence. +It has fostered learning when there was no +other stimulation to its cultivation felt. Even +the heathen classics owe their preservation to +it. As a book written in other times, places, +and languages, it has called forth the most +laboriously compiled lexicons, grammars, and +works on archeology by which the world of +the present communes with the world of the +past. As a book claiming the faith and obedience +of men, it has created a world of learned +apology, comment, and exposition, and some +of the noblest specimens of argument, eloquence, +and appeal which are known to man. +And, simply as a book among books, it has +wrought wondrously upon the thoughts and +productions of authors of all classes. The +Visions of Dante are largely drawn from it.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[57]</a></span> +Every canto of the Faerie Queene bears the +impress of its influence. Milton's matchless +songs of Paradise are from an inspiration +which the Bible alone could give. From the +same source came the immortal dream of Bunyan, +the Pauline reasonings of Barrow, the +flaming zeal of Richard Baxter, the "molten +wealth" and "lava of gold and gems" which +poured down "the russet steep of Puritan +theology," the songs of Cowper, and +"Thoughts" of Young, and visions of Pollok, +and mighty eloquence of the Luthers, the +Knoxes, the Massillons, the Whitefields, and +the Halls. Addison, and Thomson, and +Burke, and Dryden, and Wordsworth, and +Coleridge, and Southey, and Campbell, and +Goethe, all are vastly indebted to the Scriptures +for whatever excellences are found in +their works. Shakespeare drew largely from +this same precious mine, and also even Hobbes, +and Shelley, and Byron. That prince of modern +orators, Daniel Webster, once said, "If +there be anything in my style or thoughts +to be commended, the credit is due to my kind +parents in instilling into my mind an early +love of the Scriptures." Indeed, if we were +to destroy the Bible, and take from the world +of literature and thought all that it has contributed +directly or indirectly, half the history +of the race would be swept out of mind, +the noblest ideas that have swelled man's +heart would be gone, some of the proudest<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[58]</a></span> +monuments of human genius would be buried +in oblivion, and thick darkness would settle +down upon the world forever.</p> + + +<p>VI. The testimonies of the Lord are wonderful +as a fountain of consolation, hope and +salvation.</p> + +<p>The Bible to all its other excellences adds +this, that it is the Book of Life. It is not +only a basket of silver network, but it contains +apples of gold. It is the record of glad tidings +to a perishing world, a message of joy +to all people. In it, Wisdom hath mingled +her wine, and slain her fatlings, and furnished +her table, and calls all the hungry and needy +to come and partake. The entrance of its +words giveth light and imparteth understanding +to the simple, and maketh wise unto salvation. +It is a balm from Gilead for the sick, +oil for the bruises of the wounded, reprieve +for the prison-bound, and bread for them that +are ready to perish. Its different books are +but so many angels of mercy, carrying contentment +into the abodes of poverty, enabling +even the children of want to lift up their +eyes to God who ordereth all things well, and +to eat their scanty meals in peace; staying the +hearts of the persecuted and opprest, causing +them to rejoice and sing under the yoke, +at the stake, and in the hottest of the fires, +as on their passage-way to crowns immortal +in the world to come; calming the minds of +the fevered, mollifying where all earthly<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[59]</a></span> +medicines fail, and kindling glad hopes of +recompense yet to be revealed; lighting up +comforts in the breasts of those that mourn for +their dead, and assuring them of blessed reunions +in a better life; and kindling even the +dying eye and inspiring the dying heart with +thoughts of speedy triumph, causing lips already +closed for death to open once more in +utterances of victory.</p> + +<p>We may talk of the venerable age of the +Bible, and its scientific accuracy, and its +literary beauty and sublimity, and its wonderful +influences upon the ideas, laws, governments, +and general order of society and mankind; +but it is all nothing in comparison with +the spiritual good and immortal hopes and +consolations which it begets in those who receive +it as a message from their God. Are we +voyagers upon a troubled and a dangerous +sea? Here is a chart by which to steer in +safety to the happy shores. Are we soldiers, +beset with foes and required to endure the +shocks of battle? This is an armory from +which all needed weapons may be drawn at +will, and by the right use of which we may +hew our way to immortal triumph. Are we +pilgrims and strangers, worn and weary in +our search for the home from which we are +exiles? In this book gush out the pure, fresh +waters of life, the cooling shades from the +Rock of salvation appear, and the guiding +word is heard from pilgrims in advance, to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[60]</a></span> +cheer and encourage us till we reach the mansion +of our Father. Indeed, it is beyond the +power of language to express the excellency +and richness of spiritual treasure which we +have in this holy Book. It is the miraculous +cruse of the Shunamitess which never exhausts. +It is the wand of Moses which +swallows the serpents of life, and parts the +sea of trouble, and brings forth waters in +the thirsty wilderness. It is the ladder of +Jacob on which our spirits ascend to commune +with God and angels. It is the telescope +of faith by which we look on things invisible, +survey even the third heavens, and +have present to our view what is to be in after-ages. +It is the chariot of Elijah in which to +ride up the starry way to immortality unhurt +of death. It is the channel of the almighty +Spirit as it goes forth for the sanctification of +the race,—the very gulf-stream of eternal life +as it pours out for the resuscitation of our +wilted and decaying world.</p> + +<p>Allusion has been made to the dreadful +eclipse it would be to the world of letters and +thought, for the Bible, and what it has done +for man, to be blotted out. But that were +nothing to the moral and spiritual night that +would go along with such a calamity. Besides +carrying away with it a vast proportion of +the intellectual and moral life of the last +eighteen centuries, it would silence every +preacher of salvation, and abolish at once his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[61]</a></span> +office and his text. It would stop every work +of mercy and plan of philanthropy in the +world.</p> + +<p>It would transmute into a lie all our fond +anticipations of the return of Jesus to renew +the world, restore our dead, complete +our salvation, and bring us to an eternal +heaven. It would hush forever the glad +tidings with which men have comforted themselves +for these many weary ages. It would +put out the mother's hopes of her dead babes, +quench the wife's fond desires for her husband's +everlasting peace, destroy the widow's +consolation as she lingers by the grave of her +buried love, and extinguish the matron's last +comfort as she trembles on the verge of eternity.</p> + +<p>It would take with it all the reliefs and +blessedness which prayer in the name of Jesus +gives, and leave the sinner without pardon in +the extremities of life. It would take away +the last appeal of the slave against his oppressor, +remove the last check of tyranny, and +lift from the wicked hearts of men the last +restraints, giving carnival to every lust and +play to every passion, without correction, +without limit, and without end!</p> + +<p>We stagger, and are horrified, at the mere +idea of the loss that would be inflicted. Chills +run down our pulses at the contemplation of +the despair and wretchedness which would +ensue.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[62]</a></span></p> + +<p>Let us, then, learn to value the possession of +such a precious book. Let us bind it to our +hearts as our chief treasure in this sin-darkened +world. And, whilst we admire its +beauty and revere its mysteries, let us abide +by its precepts, and, as far as in us lies, practise +its sacred mandates.</p> + +<hr class="chap" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63"> </a></span></p> + + + + +<h2>MACLAREN</h2> + +<h3>THE PATTERN OF SERVICE</h3> + +<hr class="chap" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64"> </a></span></p> + + + + +<h4>BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE</h4> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Alexander Maclaren</span> was born in 1826, +educated at Glasgow University, for +twelve years preached at Southampton, +and afterwards for many years in Manchester. +Besides an impressive face and +figure he brought to the pulpit a ripe +scholarship, an almost perfect English +style, and an uncommonly vigorous personality. +The keynote of his life and +character is disclosed in his own words, +uttered in Manchester:</p> + +<p>"I have been so convinced that I was +best serving all the varied social, economical, +and political interests that are dear to +me by preaching what I conceived to be +the gospel of Jesus Christ, that I have +limited myself to that work. I am sure, +with a growing conviction day by day, +that so we Christian ministers best serve +our generation. My work, whatever +yours may be, is, and has been for thirty-eight +years, and I hope will be for a little +while longer yet, to preach Jesus Christ +as the King of England and the Lord of +all our communities, and the Savior and +friend of the individual soul."</p> + +<hr class="chap" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[65]</a></span></p> + + + + +<h2>MACLAREN</h2> + +<h3><span class="smcap">Born in 1826</span></h3> + +<h4>THE PATTERN OF SERVICE<a name="FNanchor_2_2" id="FNanchor_2_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a></h4> + +<blockquote> + +<p><em>He touched his tongue; and looking up to heaven, He +sighed, and saith, Ephphatha, that is, Be opened.</em>—Mark +vii., 33, 34.</p></blockquote> + + +<p>For what reason was there this unwonted +slowness in Christ's healing works? +For what reason was there this unusual +emotion ere He spoke the word which +cleansed?</p> + +<p>As to the former question, a partial answer +may perhaps be that our Lord is here on half-heathen +ground, where aids to faith were +much needed, and His power had to be veiled +that it might be beheld. Hence the miracle +is a process rather than an act; and, advancing +as it does by distinct stages, is conformed +in appearance to men's works of mercy, which +have to adapt means to ends, and creep to +their goal by persevering toil. As to the latter, +we know not why the sight of this one poor +sufferer should have struck so strongly on the +ever-tremulous chords of Christ's pitying +heart; but we do know that it was the vision<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[66]</a></span> +brought before His spirit by this single instance +of the world's griefs and sicknesses, in +which mass, however, the special case before +Him was by no means lost, that raised His +eyes to heaven in mute appeal, and forced the +groan from His breast.</p> + +<p>The missionary spirit is but one aspect of +the Christian spirit. We shall only strengthen +the former as we invigorate the latter. Harm +has been done, both to ourselves and to this +great cause, by seeking to stimulate compassion +and efforts for heathen lands by the use +of other excitements, which have tended to +vitiate even the emotions they have aroused, +and are apt to fail us when we need them +most. It may therefore be profitable if we +turn to Christ's own manner of working, and +His own emotions in His merciful deeds, set +forth in this remarkable narrative, as containing +lessons for us in our missionary and +evangelistic work. I must necessarily omit +more than a passing reference to the slow +process of healing which this miracle exhibits. +But that, too, has its teaching for us, who are +so often tempted to think ourselves badly +used, unless the fruit of our toil grows up, +like Jonah's gourd, before our eyes. If our +Lord was content to reach His end of blessing +step by step, we may well accept patient +continuance in well-doing as the condition indispensable +to reaping in due season.</p> + +<p>But there are other thoughts still more<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[67]</a></span> +needful which suggest themselves. Those minute +details which this evangelist ever delights +to give of our Lord's gestures, words, looks, +and emotions, not only add graphic force to +the narrative, but are precious glimpses of the +very heart of Christ. That fixed gaze into +heaven, that groan which neither the glories +seen above nor the conscious power to heal +could stifle, that most gentle touch, as if removing +material obstacles from the deaf ears, +and moistening the stiff tongue that it might +move more freely in the parched mouth, that +word of authority which could not be wanting +even when His working seemed likest a +servant's, do surely carry large lessons for +us. The condition of all service, the cost of +feeling at which our work must be done, the +need that the helpers should identify themselves +with the sufferers, and the victorious +power of Christ's word over all deaf ears—these +are the thoughts which I desire to connect +with our text, and to commend to your +meditation to-day.</p> + +<p>We have here set forth the foundation and +condition of all true work for God in the +Lord's heavenward look.</p> + +<p>The profound questions which are involved +in the fact that, as man, Christ held communion +with God in the exercise of faith and +aspiration, the same in kind as ours, do not +concern us here. I speak to those who believe +that Jesus is for us the perfect example of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[68]</a></span> +complete manhood, and who therefore believe +that He is "the leader of faith," the head of +the long procession of those who in every age +have trusted in God and been lightened. But, +perhaps, tho that conviction holds its place +in our creeds, it has not been as completely +incorporated with our thoughts as it should +have been. There has, no doubt, been a tendency, +operating in much of our evangelical +teaching, and in the common stream of orthodox +opinion, to except, half unconsciously, the +exercises of the religious life from the sphere +of Christ's example, and we need to be reminded +that Scripture presents His vow, "I +will put my trust in Him," as the crowning +proof of His brotherhood, and that the prints +of His kneeling limbs have left their impressions +where we kneel before the throne. True, +the relation of the Son to the Father involves +more than communion—namely, unity. But +if we follow the teaching of the Bible, we shall +not presume that the latter excludes the former, +but understand that the unity is the +foundation of perfect communion, and the +communion the manifestation, so far as it can +be manifested, of the unspeakable unity. The +solemn words which shine like stars—starlike +in that their height above us shrinks their +magnitude and dims their brightness, and in +that they are points of radiance partially disclosing, +and separated by, abysses of unlighted +infinitude—tell us that in the order of eternity,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[69]</a></span> +before creatures were, there was communion, +for "the Word was with God," and +there was unity, for "the Word was God." +And in the records of the life manifested on +earth the consciousness of unity loftily utters +itself in the unfathomable declaration, "I and +my Father are one"; whilst the consciousness +of communion, dependent like ours on harmony +of will and true obedience, breathes +peacefully in the witness which He leaves to +Himself: "The Father has not left me alone +for I do always the things that please him."</p> + +<p>We are fully warranted in supposing that +that wistful gaze to heaven means, and may +be taken to symbolize, our Lord's conscious +direction of thought and spirit to God as He +wrought His work of mercy. There are two +distinctions to be noted between His communion +with God and ours before we can apply +the lesson to ourselves. His heavenward look +was not the renewal of interrupted fellowship, +but rather, as a man standing firmly on firm +rock may yet lift his foot to plant it again +where it was before, and settle himself in his +attitude before he strikes with all his might; +so we may say Christ fixes Himself where He +always stood, and grasps anew the hand that +He always held, before He does the deed of +power. The communion that had never been +broken was renewed; how much more the need +that in our work for God the renewal of the—alas! +too sadly sundered—fellowship should<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[70]</a></span> +ever precede and always accompany our efforts! +And again, Christ's fellowship was +with the Father. Ours must be with the +Father through the Son. The communion to +which we are called is with Jesus Christ, in +whom we find God.</p> + +<p>The manner of that intercourse, and the +various discipline of ourselves with a view to +its perfecting, which Christian prudence prescribes, +need not concern us here. As for the +latter, let us not forget that a wholesome and +wide-reaching self-denial cannot be dispensed +with. Hands that are full of gilded toys and +glass beads cannot grasp durable riches, and +eyes that have been accustomed to glaring +lights see only darkness when they look up +to the violet heaven with all its stars. As to +the former, every part of our nature above +the simply animal is capable of God, and the +communion ought to include our whole being.</p> + +<p>Christ is truth for the understanding, authority +for the will, love for the heart, certainty +for the hope, fruition for all the desires, +and for the conscience at once cleansing +and law. Fellowship with Him is no indolent +passiveness, nor the luxurious exercise of certain +emotions, but the contact of the whole +nature with its sole adequate object and rightful +Lord.</p> + +<p>Such intercourse, brethren, lies at the foundation +of all work for God. It is the condition +of all our power. It is the measure of all<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[71]</a></span> +our success. Without it we may seem to realize +the externals of prosperity, but it will be +all illusion. With it we may perchance seem +to spend our strength for naught; but heaven +has its surprizes; and those who toiled, nor +left their hold of their Lord in all their work, +will have to say at last with wonder, as they +see the results of their poor efforts, "Who +hath begotten me these? behold, I was left +alone; these, where had they been?"</p> + +<p>Consider in few words the manifold ways +in which the indispensable prerequisite of all +right effort for Christ may be shown to be +communion with Christ.</p> + +<p>The heavenward look is the renewal of our +own vision of the calm verities in which we +trust, the recourse for ourselves to the realities +which we desire that others should see. +And what is equal in persuasive power to +the simple utterance of your own intense conviction? +He only will infuse his own religion +into other minds, whose religion is not a set +of hard dogmas, but is fused by the heat of +personal experience into a river of living fire. +It will flow then, not otherwise. The only +claim which the hearts of men will listen to, +in those who would win them to spiritual beliefs, +is that ancient one: "That which we +have seen with our eyes, which we have looked +upon, declare we unto you." Mightier than +all arguments, than all "proofs of the truth +of the Christian religion," and penetrating<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[72]</a></span> +into a sphere deeper than that of the understanding, +is the simple proclamation, "We +have found the Messias." If we would give +sight to the blind, we must ourselves be gazing +into heaven. Only when we testify of +that which we see, as one might who, standing +in a beleaguered city, discerned on the horizon +the filmy dust-cloud through which the spear-heads +of the deliverers flashed at intervals, +shall we win any to gaze with us till they too +behold and know themselves set free.</p> + +<p>Christ has set us the example. Let our +prayers ascend as His did, and in our measure +the answers which came to Him will not fail +us. For us, too, "praying, the heavens" shall +be "opened," and the peace-bringing spirit +fall dove-like on our meek hearts. For us, +too, when the shadow of our cross lies black +and gaunt upon our paths, and our souls are +troubled, communion with heaven will bring +the assurance, audible to our ears at least, +that God will glorify Himself even in us. If, +after many a weary day, we seek to hold fellowship +with God as He sought it on the +Mount of Olives, or among the solitudes of +the midnight hills, or out in the morning +freshness of the silent wilderness, like Him +we shall have men gathering around us to +hear us speak when we come forth from the +secret place of the Most High. If our prayer, +like His, goes before our mighty deeds, the +voice that first pierced the skies will penetrate<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[73]</a></span> +the tomb, and make the dead stir in their +grave-clothes. If our longing, trustful look is +turned to the heavens, we shall not speak in +vain on earth when we say, "Be opened."</p> + +<p>Brethren, we cannot do without the communion +which our Master needed. Do we delight +in what strengthened Him? Does our +work rest upon the basis of inward fellowship +with God which underlay His? Alas! that +our pattern should be our rebuke, and the +readiest way to force home our faults on our +consciences should be the contemplation of +the life which we say that we try to copy!</p> + +<p>We have here pity for the evils we would +remove set forth by the Lord's sigh.</p> + +<p>What was it that drew that sigh from the +heart of Jesus? One poor man stood before +Him, by no means the most sorely afflicted +of the many wretched ones whom He healed. +But He saw in him more than a solitary instance +of physical infirmities. Did there not +roll darkly before His thoughts that whole +weltering sea of sorrow that moans round the +world, of which here is but one drop that He +could dry up? Did there not rise black and +solid against the clear blue, to which He had +been looking, the mass of man's sin, of which +these bodily infirmities were but a poor symbol +as well as a consequence? He saw as none +but He could bear to see, the miserable realities +of human life. His knowledge of all that +man might be, of all that the most of men<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[74]</a></span> +were becoming, His power of contemplating +in one awful aggregate the entire sum of sorrows +and sins, laid upon His heart a burden +which none but He has ever endured. His +communion with Heaven deepened the dark +shadow on earth, and the eyes that looked up +to God and saw Him could not but see foulness +where others suspected none, and murderous +messengers of hell walking in darkness +unpenetrated by mortal sight. And all that +pain of clearer knowledge of the sorrowfulness +of sorrow, and the sinfulness of sin, was +laid upon a heart in which was no selfishness +to blunt the sharp edge of the pain nor any +sin to stagnate the pity that flowed from the +wound. To Jesus Christ, life was a daily +martyrdom before death had "made the sacrifice +complete," and He bore our griefs, and +carried our sorrows through many a weary +hour before He "bare them in his own body +on the tree." Therefore, "Bear ye one another's +burden, and so fulfil the law" which +Christ obeyed, becomes a command for all +who would draw men to Him. And true sorrow, +a sharp and real sense of pain, becomes +indispensable as preparation for, and accompaniment +to, our work.</p> + +<p>Mark how in us, as in our Lord, the sigh +of compassion is connected with the look to +heaven. It follows upon that gaze. The evils +are more real, more terrible, by their startling +contrast with the unshadowed light which<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[75]</a></span> +lives above cloudracks and mists. It is a sharp +shock to turn from the free sweep of the +heavens, starry and radiant, to the sights that +meet us in "this dim spot which men call +earth." Thus habitual communion with God +is the root of the truest and purest compassion. +It does not withdraw us from our fellow +feeling with our brethren, it cultivates no +isolation for undisturbed beholding of God. +It at once supplies a standard by which to +measure the greatness of man's godlessness, +and therefore of his gloom, and a motive for +laying the pain of these upon our hearts, as +if they were our own. He has looked into +the heavens to little purpose who has not +learned how bad and how sad the world now +is, and how God bends over it in pitying love.</p> + +<p>And that same fellowship, which will clear +our eyes and soften our hearts, is also the one +consolation which we have when our sense of +all the ills that flesh is heir to becomes deep, +near to despair. When one thinks of the real +facts of human life, and tries to conceive of +the frightful meanness and passion and hate +and wretchedness, that has been howling and +shrieking and gibbering and groaning through +dreary millenniums, one's brain reels, and +hope seems to be absurdity, and joy a sin +against our fellows, as a feast would be in a +house next door to where was a funeral. I +do not wonder at settled sorrow falling upon +men of vivid imagination, keen moral sense,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[76]</a></span> +and ordinary sensitiveness, when they brood +long on the world as it is. But I do wonder +at the superficial optimism which goes on with +its little prophecies about human progress, +and its rose-colored pictures of human life, +and sees nothing to strike it dumb for ever in +men's writhing miseries, blank failures, and +hopeless end. Ah! brethren, if it were not +for the heavenward look, how could we bear +the sight of earth! "We see not yet all things +put under him." No, God knows, far enough +off from that. Man's folly, man's submission +to the creatures he should rule, man's agonies, +and man's transgression, are a grim contrast +to the psalmist's vision. If we had only earth +to look to, despair of the race, exprest in settled +melancholy apathy, or in fierce cynicism, +were the wisest attitude. But there is more +within our view than earth; "we see Jesus"; +we look to the heaven, and as we behold the +true man, we see more than ever, indeed, how +far from that pattern we all are; but we can +bear the thought of what men as yet have +been, when we see that perfect example of +what men shall be. The root and the consolation +of our sorrow for man's evils is communion +with God.</p> + +<p>We have here loving contact with those +whom we would help, set forth in the Lord's +touch.</p> + +<p>The reasons for the variety observable in +Christ's method of communicating supernatural<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[77]</a></span> +blessing were, probably, too closely connected +with unrecorded differences in the spiritual +conditions of the recipients to be distinctly +traceable by us. But tho we cannot +tell why a particular method was employed +in a given case, why now a word, and now a +symbolic action, now the touch of His hand, +and now the hem of His garment, appeared +to be the vehicles of His power, we can discern +the significance of these divers ways, and learn +great lessons from them all.</p> + +<p>His touch was sometimes obviously the result +of what one may venture to call instinctive +tenderness, as when He lifted the little +children in His arms and laid His hands upon +their heads. It was, I suppose, always the +spontaneous expression of love and compassion, +even when it was something more.</p> + +<p>The touch of His hand on the ghastly glossiness +of the leper's skin was, no doubt, His +assertion of priestly functions, and of elevation +above all laws of defilement; but what +was it to the poor outcast, who for years had +never felt the warm contact of flesh and +blood? It always indicated that He Himself +was the source of healing and life. It always +exprest His identification of Himself with sorrow +and sickness. So that it is in principle +analogous to, and may be taken as illustrative +of, that transcendent act whereby He became +flesh, and dwelt among us. Indeed, the very +word by which our Lord's taking the blind<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[78]</a></span> +man by the hand is described in the chapter +following our text is that employed in the +Epistle to the Hebrews when, dealing with +the true brotherhood of Jesus, the writer says, +"He took not hold of angels, but of the seed +of Abraham he taketh hold." Christ's touch +is His willing contact with man's infirmities +and sins, that He may strengthen and hallow.</p> + +<p>And the lesson is one of universal application. +Wherever men would help their fellows, +this is a prime requisite, that the would-be +helper should come down to the level of those +whom he desires to aid. If we wish to teach, +we must stoop to think the scholar's thoughts. +The master who has forgotten his boyhood +will have poor success. If we would lead to +purer emotions, we must try to enter into the +lower feelings which we labor to elevate. It +is of no use to stand at the mouth of the alleys +we wish to cleanse, with our skirts daintily +gathered about us, and smelling-bottle in +hand, to preach homilies on the virtue of +cleanliness. We must go in among the filth, +and handle it, if we want to have it cleared +away. The degraded must feel that we do +not shrink from them, or we shall do them no +good. The leper, shunned by all, and ashamed +of himself because everybody loathes him, hungers +in his hovel for the grasp of a hand that +does not care for defilement, if it can bring +cleansing. Even in regard to common material +helps the principle holds good. We are<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[79]</a></span> +too apt to cast our doles to the poor like the +bones to a dog, and then to wonder at what +we are pleased to think men's ingratitude. +A benefit may be so conferred as to hurt more +than a blow; and we cannot be surprized if +so-called charity which is given with contempt +and a sense of superiority, should be received +with a scowl, and chafe a man's spirit like a +fetter. Such gifts bless neither him who gives +nor him who takes. We must put our hearts +into them, if we would win hearts by them. +We must be ready, like our Master, to take +blind beggars by the hand, if we would bless +or help them. The despair and opprobrium +of our modern civilization, the gulf growing +wider and deeper between Dives and Lazarus, +between Belgravia and Whitechapel, the +mournful failure of legalized help, and of +delegated efforts to bridge it over, the darkening +ignorance, the animal sensuousness, the +utter heathenism that lives in every town of +England, within a stone's throw of Christian +houses, and near enough to hear the sound of +public worship, will yield to nothing but that +sadly forgotten law which enjoins personal +contact with the sinful and the suffering, as +one chief condition of raising them from the +black mire in which they welter.</p> + +<p>The effect of much well-meant Christian effort +is simply to irritate. People are very +quick to catch delicate intonations which reveal +a secret sense, "how much better, wiser,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[80]</a></span> +more devout I am than these people!" and +wherever a trace of that appears in our work, +the good of it is apt to be marred. We all +know how hackneyed the charge of spiritual +pride and Pharisaic self-complacency is, and, +thank God, how unjust it often is. But averse +as men may be to the truths which humble, +and willing as they may be to assume that the +very effort to present these to others on our +parts implies a claim which mortifies, we may +at least learn from the threadbare calumny, +what strikes men about our position, and +what rouses their antaganism to us. It is allowable +to be taught by our enemies, especially +when it is such a lesson as this, that we must +carefully divest our evangelistic work of apparent +pretensions to superiority, and take +our stand by the side of those to whom we +speak. We cannot lecture men into the love +of Christ. We can but win them to it by +showing Christ's love to them; and not the +least important element in that process is the +exhibition of our own love. We have a gospel +to speak of which the very heart is, that the +Son of God stooped to become one with the +lowliest and most sinful; and how can that +gospel be spoken with power unless we, too, +stoop like Him?</p> + +<p>We have to echo the invitation, "Learn of +me, for I am lowly in heart"; and how can +such divine words flow from lips into which +like grace has not been poured? Our theme<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[81]</a></span> +is a Savior who shrunk from no sinner, who +gladly consorted with publicans and harlots, +who laid His hand on pollution, and His +heart, full of God and of love, on hearts reeking +with sin; and how can our message correspond +with our theme if, even in delivering +it, we are saying to ourselves, "The temple of +the Lord are we: this people which knoweth +not the law is curst"? Let us beware of the +very real danger which besets us in this matter, +and earnestly seek to make ourselves one +with those whom we would gather into Christ, +by actual familiarity with their condition, +and by identification of ourselves in feeling +with them, after the example of that greatest +of Christian teachers who became "all things +to all men, that by all means he might gain +some"; after the higher example, which Paul +followed, of that dear Lord who, being highest, +descended to the lowest, and in the days +of His humiliation was not content with speaking +words of power from afar, nor abhorred +the contact of mortality and disease and loathsome +corruption; but laid His hands upon +death, and it lived; upon sickness, and it was +whole; on rotting leprosy, and it was sweet +as the flesh of a little child.</p> + +<p>The same principle might be further applied +to our Christian work, as affecting the +form in which we should present the truth. +The sympathetic identification of ourselves +with those to whom we try to carry the gospel<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[82]</a></span> +will certainly make us wise to know how to +shape our message. Seeing with their eyes, +we shall be able to graduate the light. Thinking +their thoughts, and having in some measure +succeeded, by force of sheer community +of feeling, in having as it were got inside their +minds, we shall unconsciously, and without +effort, be led to such aspects of Christ's all-comprehensive +truth as they most need. There +will be no shooting over people's heads, if we +love them well enough to understand them. +There will be no toothless generalities, when +our interest in men keeps their actual condition +and temptations clear before us. There +will be no flinging fossil doctrines at them +from a height, as if Christ's blest gospel were, +in another than the literal sense, "a stone of +offense," if we have taken our place on their +level. And without such sympathy, these and +a thousand other weaknesses and faults will +certainly vitiate much of our Christian effort.</p> + +<p>We have here the true healing power and +the consciousness of wielding it set forth in +the Lord's authoritative word.</p> + +<p>All the rest of His action was either the +spontaneous expression of His true participation +in human sorrow, or a merciful veiling of +His glory that sense-bound eyes might see it +the better. But the word was the utterance +of His will, and that was omnipotent. The +hand laid on the sick, the blind or the deaf +was not even the channel of His power. The<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[83]</a></span> +bare putting forth of His energy was all-sufficient. +In these we see the loving, pitying +man. In this blazes forth, yet more loving, +yet more compassionate, the effulgence of +manifest God. Therefore so often do we read +the very syllables with which His "voice then +shook the earth," vibrating through all the +framework of the material universe. Therefore +do the gospels bid us listen when He rebukes +the fever, and it departs; when He says +to the demons, "Go," and they go; when one +word louder in its human articulation than +the howling wind hushes the surges; when +"Talitha cumi" brings back the fair young +spirit from dreary wanderings among the +shades of death. Therefore was it a height +of faith not found in Israel when the Gentile +soldier, whose training had taught him the +power of absolute authority, as heathenism +had driven him to long for a man who would +speak with the imperial sway of a god, recognized +in His voice an all-commanding power. +From of old, the very signature of divinity +has been declared to be "He spake, and it +was done"; and He, the breath of whose lips +could set in motion material changes, is that +eternal Word, by whom all things were made.</p> + +<p>What unlimited consciousness of sovereign +dominion sounds in that imperative from His +autocratic lips! It is spoken in deaf ears, but +He knows that it will be heard. He speaks +as the fontal source, not as the recipient channel<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[84]</a></span> +of healing. He anticipates no delay, no +resistance. There is neither effort nor uncertainty +in the curt command. He is sure +that He has power, and He is sure that the +power is His own.</p> + +<p>There is no analogy here between us and +Him. Alone, fronting the whole race of man, +He stands—utterer of a word which none can +say after Him, possessor of unshared might, +and of His fulness do we all receive. But +even from that divine authority and solitary +sovereign consciousness we may gather lessons +not altogether aside from the purpose of our +meeting here to-day. Of His fulness we have +received, and the power of the word on His +lips may teach us that of His word, even on +ours, as the victorious certainty with which +He spake His will of healing may remind us +of the confidence with which it becomes us to +proclaim His name.</p> + +<p>His will was almighty then. Is it less +mighty or less loving now? Does it not gather +all the world in the sweep of its mighty purpose +of mercy? His voice pierced then into +the dull cold ear of death, and has it become +weaker since? His word spoken by Him was +enough to banish the foul spirits that run riot, +swine-like, in the garden of God in man's soul, +trampling down and eating up its flowers and +fruitage; is the word spoken of Him less +potent to cast them out? Were not all the +mighty deeds which He wrought by the breath<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[85]</a></span> +of His lips on men's bodies prophecies of the +yet mightier which His Will of love, and the +utterance of that Will by stammering lips, +may work on men's souls. Let us not in our +faint-heartedness number up our failures, the +deaf that will not hear, the dumb that will +not speak, His praise; nor unbelievingly say +Christ's own word was mighty, but the word +concerning Christ is weak on our lips. Not +so; our lips are unclean, and our words are +weak, but His word—the utterance of His +loving will that men should be saved—is +what it always was and always will be. We +have it, brethren, to proclaim. Did our Master +countenance the faithless contrast between +the living force of His word when He dwelt +on earth, and the feebleness of it as He speaks +through His servant? If He did, what did +He mean when He said, "He that believeth +on me, the works that I do shall he do also, +and greater works than these shall he do, because +I go unto the Father"?</p> + +<hr class="chap" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86"> </a><br /><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87"> </a></span></p> + + + + +<h2>CROSBY</h2> + +<h3>THE PREPARED WORM</h3> + +<hr class="chap" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88"> </a></span></p> + + + + +<h4>BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE</h4> + + +<p>Howard Crosby, Presbyterian divine, was +born in New York City in 1826, educated at +New York University, graduating in 1851, +was professor of Greek at that institution +until 1859, when he was elected to the same +chair in Rutgers College. He was pastor +of the First Presbyterian Church of New +Brunswick, N. J., for the two years ending +in 1863, when he assumed charge of the +Fourth Avenue Presbyterian Church, New +York. From 1870 to 1881 he was chancellor +of the University of New York. His +activities in the cause of social reform +were conspicuous and he exercized his influence +in organizing the Society for the +Prevention of Crime over which he presided +for some years. His energies were +also directed against the illegal liquor +trade. As a scholar he was prominent +among the American revisers of the New +Testament and edited a new edition of the +"<cite>Oedipus Tyrannus</cite>" of Sophocles. He +died in 1891.</p> + +<hr class="chap" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[89]</a></span></p> + + + + +<h2>CROSBY</h2> + +<h3>1826-1891</h3> + +<h4>THE PREPARED WORM<a name="FNanchor_3_3" id="FNanchor_3_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a></h4> + +<blockquote> + +<p><em>But God prepared a worm when the morning rose the +next day, and it smote the gourd that it withered.</em>—Jonah +iv., 7.</p></blockquote> + + +<p>Just when Jonah had felt the delight of +the shadowing foliage and had begun +to promise himself a most comfortable +retreat against an Assyrian sun, the broad-leaved +gourd withered. The morning had +arrived and the heat was becoming more intense, +when the glad shelter was removed, and +the prophet's head was smitten with the +scorching rays. "It is better for me to die +than live," exclaimed the fainting Jonah. +And what caused this calamity? A worm. +And is that all? No! God prepared the +worm. The worm was under orders from +heaven, and while he, doubtless, ate into the +gourd, with a good appetite, following the +bent of his natural constitution, nevertheless +he was acting in direct obedience to God. God +prepared the worm. And yet in the sixth +verse we read that God prepared the gourd. +This is the record. "And the Lord God prepared +a gourd and made it to come up over<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[90]</a></span> +Jonah, that it might be a shadow over his +head, to deliver him from his grief. So Jonah +was exceedingly glad of the gourd." And +then follows immediately: "But God prepared +a worm, when the morning rose the next day, +and he smote the gourd that it withered." +Does God, then, build up in order to destroy? +And does He give comfort to His creatures +in order to torment them by its removal? +So reasons the carnal heart, ready to complain, +and looking on all God's conduct in its superficial +aspect, its own selfish and sensuous advantage +being the criterion of all its judgments. +It is an easy counsel of Satan, when +we are fainting by a withered gourd. "Curse +God and die," the selfish soul is all ripe for +such advice,—desperation is more inviting +than faith. And there are but few Jobs who +can resist the appeal to discontent and anger, +in the face of Satan and wife combined, for +when the natural depravity of our own hearts +is supported by the entreaties of our nearest +and dearest friends, hell's heaviest engine is +brought against us. "I do well to be angry, +even unto death," is the usual style in which +we greet the afflictive providence of God. But +a faith like Job's, that learns the lesson which +the sorrow teaches, is rewarded, as was Job's, +by the presence and communion of God, and +by a satisfaction with His holy and righteous +will.</p> + +<p>Let us endeavor to understand some of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[91]</a></span> +facts connected with our afflictions, as disclosed +by the Word of God, in order that we +may be prepared to follow Job rather than +Jonah.</p> + +<p>I. In the first place, God is the author of +affliction. "Affliction cometh not forth out +of the dust, neither doth trouble spring out +of the ground." God asserts most positively +in His Word, that all the losses in the world +are sent by Him. He calls them chastisements +from His fatherly hand. "I make peace and +create evil," saith the Lord. This is not evil +in the sense of wickedness. God does not +create wickedness—but it is evil in the sense +of affliction and trouble, the opposite of peace +in the contrasted clause, "I make peace and +create evil." That is, God is the author +equally of prosperity and adversity to His +creatures. If it were not so, we should have +to imagine certain powers in God's universe +not subject to His almighty control, which +would be an absurdity. "Shall there be evil +in a city and the Lord hath not done it?" It +is in this sense of God's hand in adversity +that the psalmist cries, "Thou, O God, hast +proved us: thou hast tried us as silver is +tried; thou broughtest us into the net, thou +laidest affliction upon our loins"; and again, +"Thy wrath lieth hard upon me, and thou +hast afflicted me with all thy waves." God +may send affliction by permitting Satan to +afflict, but still God is the author of the affliction.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[92]</a></span> +He could prevent it, but He permits it. +Indeed, it is, perhaps, true that all our losses +and injuries in this world are Satan's inflictions, +that this ever-active spirit of evil is +constantly using the agencies of the natural +world for our harm and destruction, and we +are preserved simply by the interposing and +restraining providence of God. When Satan +wished to afflict Job, he sought and gained +permission of the Lord. Job's calamities were +clearly Satan's blows, and yet Job addresses +God, "Why hast thou set me as a mark against +thee, so that I am a burden to myself?" So, +again, the diseased woman, who heard our +Savior's healing words on the Sabbath day +and was cured, is described by the same divine +Physician (whose diagnosis cannot be questioned) +as one whom Satan had bound for +eighteen years. Under such examples, I cannot +believe we err in attributing all our sicknesses +and pains of body to the permitted +agency of our arch-adversary.</p> + +<p>They are tokens of his power over our race, +for he is the prince of this world, and it is +only in God that we find protection from his +cruel scepter. God suffers us to feel his inflictions +in order to remove our affections from +the world and to place them more devotedly +upon our Heavenly Father. God is thus most +truly the author of affliction, whatever may +be the agencies He uses in the course of His +providence.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[93]</a></span></p> + +<p>II. He uses the natural laws of the world as +His agents in afflicting. These laws may be +thus used permissively by Satan in other ways +than in sickness or not, but the text shows us +clearly that God so uses them. "God prepared +a worm." There is a world of instruction +in that brief statement. It infinitely +transcends the science of the naturalist. Bring +the most learned explorers of nature together +to this gourd of Jonah, and show them this +little worm creeping toward the thick stalk. +Let them see it move its many feet and flexible +body till it reaches the goal of its instinct. +Now it uses its gnawing jaws upon the woody +fibre; deeper and deeper it pierces the stem; +now it reaches the innermost pith, and again +returns upon its course. The current of the +gourd's life is marred; the leaves droop, and +its shelter is gone. Now, ye scientific men, +what made that gourd wither? Hear them +philosophize. Yon worm is a caterpillar, +whose appropriate food is the <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">ricinus communis</i>, +this very gourd with its palmate leaves +and red-tinted flower. The worm has merely +followed the impulses of its nature in seeking +that tree-like plant, and the equally natural +result of its feeding upon the stalk has been +the failure of the tree's nourishment, and with +the failure the foliage has, of course, withered. +Well, is that all science can say? Yes, all. It +is little more than that a horse is a horse. It +explains nothing but the most proximate<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[94]</a></span> +causes. It classifies facts, and then leaves us +gaping into the abyss of causation as ignorant +as ever. Four words from the Bible carry us +back to the ultimate cause, the first mover in +this gourd's withering. Science talks of laws, +but these four words go behind all laws to the +Maker of laws, to Him in whose hands are all +things. "God prepared a worm." What! +says science; drag God in to explain anything? +Nay, God drags all in to effect His +plans. He has made all things, however great, +however small, for Himself. And these things +which you call laws are only the methods of +His activity, and these methods He has formed +for the very ends which He accomplishes by +them. The worm which crawls to Jonah's +gourd was created by God to destroy that +plant, and the law of that worm's movement +was ordained for that destruction, as well as +for all else which it accomplishes. The mind +is satisfied when it finds a mind, a purpose, a +plan in every event which it observes, and the +pious heart is rejoiced to know that it is a +Father's mind and purpose and plan which +directs every movement, even to the crawling +of a worm. "God prepared a gourd—God +prepared a worm"; no accident brought the +gourd there; no accident brought the worm +there. God stood in a like relation to both. He +sent the gourd, through nature, to comfort +Jonah. He sent the worm, through nature, +to trouble Jonah. Nature is a forlorn object<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[95]</a></span> +to study unless we find it a mirror to reflect +God. It is only as we see it, the result of His +handiwork and His instrument in governing +His creatures, that nature has a glory. Then +it is ennobled; then it has a meaning that no +mere naturalist can fathom, but which renders +valuable the researches of science with its +classifications.</p> + +<p>III. God is just in afflicting us. If we look +at God simply as the Maker and Owner of +His creatures, we could easily deduce His +right to afflict. "Is it not lawful for me to +do what I will with mine own?" says the +Creator; and he must be a daring soul who +disputes the force of this question. "Shall +the thing formed say to him that formed it, +'Why hast thou made me thus?'" But we +are not left to this view of God's right to afflict. +God has entered into covenant with us. +He has said, "Do ye according to my commandments, +and ye shall live." This was the +purport of His very first communication to +our race in Adam. It treated of obedience +and reward, of disobedience and punishment. +And what is the record of our race since? +Have we obeyed or have we disobeyed? Is +there the slightest claim in us for the reward? +Is there not the most complete demand +for the punishment? What sin in the +whole catalog of sin has been omitted by man? +Enmity to man and God, pride, ingratitude, +and rebellion have marked the history of mankind.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[96]</a></span> +And are you and I exceptions? Look +at our years of worldliness, years of sinful +affections, years of opposition to the Word and +Spirit, years of selfishness, and then let us +confess our full participation in the general +depravity. We are unclean in our natures +and by practise, and so, under the covenant +which our Maker was pleased to form for us, +we can only deserve punishment.</p> + +<p>Do we then complain in affliction? Surely, +if God would be just in casting us down to +hell for our rebellion and disobedience, He +is just in laying upon us our earthly afflictions. +Shall the Jonah, who ran away from the +Lord's commandment, and afterward flung +His anger in the face of His God, shall such +an one feel that God is unjust in preparing a +worm to destroy his gourd? By what arithmetic +is such a balance cast? It becomes us, +rather, to take up the words of David and +cry, "I acknowledge my transgression; and +my sin is ever before me. Against thee, thee +only, have I sinned and done this evil in thy +sight, that thou mightest be justified when +thou speakest, and be clear when thou +judgest."</p> + +<p>IV. God afflicts us in His love. With all +Jonah's sins against God, it was not to punish +him that God prepared a worm. God is long-suffering +and withholds punishment in His +desire that all men may come to repentance. +If punishment were God's aim in affliction,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[97]</a></span> +our afflictions would be infinitely greater than +they are, for punishment would be apportioned +to desert, and our desert is eternal condemnation; +God's aim in affliction is our restoration, +our improvement. By it He shakes us off +from our dependence upon a world which, +however it might please us for the moment, +would cheat us sadly in the end. By it He +reminds us of Himself as our source of +strength and happiness, and then brings us +to the unfailing fountain of peace, which our +earthly prosperity would hide from our eyes. +By it He teaches us to aspire to higher spiritual +attainment, to grow in grace, to cultivate +a more heavenly disposition of mind and +heart.</p> + +<p>These are the uses of adversity. Christians +who have come through scenes of trial, and +whose thankful declaration is, "It was good +for me to be afflicted," certify to these blest +results. They tell us that they believe nothing +else but the severe losses they sustained +could have freed them from the fascinations +of the world—nothing else could have made +holy things so delightful to their soul. Now, +such an experience is not the result of God's +anger but of God's love. However harsh the +voice of God may seem to us, it is yet a +Father's voice, with a Father's heart behind +it. It is, therefore, meant not to drive us +away to seek a hiding corner, but to bring +us directly to Himself. The same love which<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[98]</a></span> +sent the affliction will receive the afflicted. +God prepares gourds, and God prepares +worms; and He uses each to build up faith +and holiness in the human heart. In earnest +seeking after God, in complete consecration +to His holy will and service, is to be found +the surest avoidance of the worm. If we can +learn our lesson without the worm, the worm +will not be sent to gnaw our gourd to ruins. +The nearer our life to Jesus the more free +shall we be from the sting of affliction. Had +Jonah been an obedient and submissive +prophet his gourd would not have withered. +But alas! Jonah and ourselves need correction +to keep our faces heavenward. Forgetfulness +and indulgence plant their weeds in our +Lord's garden, and they must be rooted up +by force. It is for our own good, and it is +infinite love which decrees it.</p> + +<p>Now note some inferences from the subject +under consideration.</p> + +<p>First. If God afflicts, how foolish it is to +go to the world for relief? Is the world +greater than God? We may be sure that +any comfort the world can give, as against +God's affliction, must be dangerous. It is a +contest with God, which God may allow to +be successful, but only for the greater condemnation +thereafter. The world's relief is +not a cure but an opiate. It stupefies, but +does not give health and strength. The +world's relief is a temporary application—a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[99]</a></span> +lull before a fiercer storm. The world's relief +is a determination not to heed the lesson God +sends us; it is the invention of frivolity, and +not the device of wisdom. More slumber, +more pleasure, and more worldly care are +three favorite medicaments the world uses in +these cases—anodynes which only weaken the +system and prepare it for more fearful suffering. +God wishes to awaken the mind by +affliction, and man immediately prescribes a +narcotic. The great Physician brings the affliction +for our good; we turn to quackery to +destroy the effects of the divine medicine. +Ah! the day is coming when God shall appear +as no longer our Savior but our Judge, +if this be our treatment of His love. "Because +I have called and ye refused; I have +stretched out my hand and no man regarded; +but ye have set at naught all my counsel, and +would none of my reproof; I also will laugh +at your calamity; I will mock when your fear +cometh; when your fear cometh as desolation, +and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind."</p> + +<p>Secondly. If God prepares worms, then +worms at once form an interesting study for +us. We cannot see a caterpillar upon the +leaf, but we know God has a mission for that +worm. He is an ambassador of the Most High +on his way to perform his Master's will. The +headache, which unfits us for our ordinary occupation, +is more than a headache. It is the +voice of our God. Let us listen to the next<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[100]</a></span> +headache and hear what God would have us +learn. Every bird and beast, every raindrop +and sunbeam, every breath of wind, and every +event, however small, are the writings of a +heavenly scribe. Let us study God's providence. +It is all a message of love to us. We +shall find out infinitely more in this study +than in deciphering the hieroglyphics of +Egypt. We shall find correction, expostulation, +comfort, encouragement and instruction; +and the more we look, the more we shall see. +We shall become adepts in the high art of +interpreting the acts of God toward us, and +in this, as in prayer, hold constant communion +with our divine Redeemer.</p> + +<p>Thirdly. When our gourds wither it is a +proof that God is near. We should be ready +to say with Jacob, "Surely the Lord is in +this place." Prayer and humiliation are now +our appropriate exercises. God has put forth +His hand to summon us to these duties. Our +gourd is gone, but our God is not gone, He +can protect far better than a gourd. He will +more than make up all our losses. Let us +go to Him, and our dark night will make the +day-dawn more brilliant. My dying fellow-sinner, +do not, I beseech you, grow angry +under God's severe dispensations. You do +not well to be angry. God is near you with +a blessing in His hand for you. He has a lesson +for you to learn which will make you wise +unto salvation.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[101]</a></span></p> + +<p>Say, will you learn it? If not, God is near +you to condemn you. Oh! dread the alternative, +and be wise to say in your heart, +"Blest be my God and Father, who prepared +the worm to destroy my broad-leaved gourd!"</p> + +<hr class="chap" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102"> </a><br /><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103"> </a></span></p> + + + + +<h2>DALE</h2> + +<h3>THE ARGUMENT FROM EXPERIENCE</h3> + +<hr class="chap" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104"> </a></span></p> + + +<h4>BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE</h4> + +<p>Robert William Dale was born in London, +England, in 1829 and died in 1895. +His long and fruitful ministry was confined +to Birmingham, where he preached +with great power. He believed, as he once +said, that if a minister had anything from +God to say to his fellow men, they would +gladly come to hear him. He favored extemporaneous +preaching, was a devoted +student of English style, and advocated +in his Yale lectures a more thorough attention +to this important subject. He +said:</p> + +<p>"There is no reason why, when you have +at your service the noblest language for +an orator that was ever spoken by the +human race, you should be satisfied with +the threadbare phrases, the tawdry, tarnished +finery, the patched and ragged garments, +with the smell like that of the +stock of a second-hand clothes shop, +with which half-educated and ambitious +declaimers are content to cover the nakedness +of their thought. You can do something +better than this, and you should resolve +to do it."</p> + +<hr class="chap" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[105]</a></span></p> + + + + + +<h2>DALE</h2> + +<h3>1829-1895</h3> + +<h4>THE ARGUMENT FROM EXPERIENCE<a name="FNanchor_4_4" id="FNanchor_4_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_4_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a></h4> + + +<p>There are large numbers of people who +suppose that modern science and modern +criticism have destroyed the foundations +of faith, and who can not understand +how it is possible, in these days, for intelligent, +open-minded, educated men to believe in +the Lord Jesus Christ.</p> + +<p>There are many persons who are convinced +that the ascertained conclusions of modern +science and of modern criticism are destructive +of the authority which has been attributed +both to the Jewish and the Christian Scriptures, +that the traditional opinions concerning +the authorship and the dates of many of +the books of the Old Testament are false; and +that most of the writings contained in the +New Testament are spurious. Or, if some of +the extreme conclusions of the destructive +criticism are not regarded as finally established, +it is known that great names can be +quoted for, as well as against, them. And as +it is assumed that the Jewish and the Christian +Scriptures are the foundations of Christian<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[106]</a></span> +faith, that we must believe in the genuineness +and historical trustworthiness of +these ancient books, and even in their inspiration, +before we can believe in Christ, they +argue that, until these discussions are finally +closed in favor of the traditional opinions, +faith in Christ is impossible. The controversies +have not, in any large number of cases, +destroyed faith where faith already existed; +but where faith does not exist, they appear +to very many persons to create an insuperable +obstacle to faith.</p> + +<p>To such persons, if they are serious and well +informed, there is something perplexing in +the persistency of the faith of the great majority +of Christian believers. Among those +who remain Christian there are men whose +intellectual vigor, patience, and keenness are +equal to their own; men who are their equals +in general intellectual culture, and who know +as much as they know about the currents of +modern thought; candid men; men who are +incorruptible in their loyalty to truth; men +who have a due sense of the immense importance, +in relation to the higher life of the +human race, of the questions at issue:</p> + +<p>How is it that the faith in Christ of such +men is unshaken?</p> + +<p>The substance of the answer that I make +here to the question, why it is that those who +believe in Christ continue to believe, may be +given in a single sentence: Whatever may<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[107]</a></span> +have been the original grounds of their faith, +their faith has been verified in their own personal +experience.</p> + +<p>They have trusted in Christ for certain +great and wonderful things, and they have +received great and wonderful things. They +have not perhaps received precisely what +they expected when their Christian life began, +for the kingdom of heaven cannot be really +known until a man has entered into it; but +what they have received assures them that +Christ is alive, that He is within reach, and +that He is the Savior and Lord of men.</p> + +<p>That they have received these blessings in +answer to their faith in Christ is a matter of +personal consciousness. They know it, as they +know that fire burns.</p> + +<p>Their experience varies. Some of them +would say they can recall acts of Christ in +which His personal volition and His supernatural +power were as definitely manifested +as in any of the miracles recorded in the +four Gospels. They were struggling unsuccessfully +with some evil temper—with envy, +jealousy, personal ambition—and could not +subdue it. They hated it; they hated themselves +for being under its tyranny; but expel +it they could not. If it seemed supprest +for a time, it returned; and returned with its +malignant power increased rather than diminished. +They scourged themselves with scorpions +for yielding to it; still they yielded. In<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[108]</a></span> +their despair they appealed to Christ; and in +a moment the evil fires were quenched, and +they were never rekindled. These instantaneous +deliverances are perhaps exceptional; but +to those who can recall them they carry an +irresistible conviction that the living Christ +has heard their cry and answered them.</p> + +<p>The more ordinary experiences of the Christian +life, tho less striking, are not less conclusive. +The proof that Christ has heard +prayer is not always concentrated into a moment, +but is more commonly spread over large +tracts of time. Prayer is offered for an increase +of moral strength in resisting temptation, +or for the disappearance of reluctance +in the discharge of duties which are distasteful, +or for a more gracious and kindly temper, +or for patience and courage in bearing trouble, +or for self-control, or for relief from exhausting +and fruitless anxiety; and the answer +comes. It comes gradually, but still it +comes. We had lost hope. It seemed as if +all our moral vigor was dying down, and as +if nothing could restore it. The tide was +slowly ebbing, and we were powerless to recall +the retreating waters; but after we prayed +it ceased to ebb; for a time it seemed stationary; +then it began to flow; and tho with many +of us it has never reached the flood, the wholesome +waters have renewed the energy and the +joy of life.</p> + +<p>Or we prayed to Christ to liberate us from<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[109]</a></span> +some evil habit. The chains did not fall away +at His touch, like the chains of Peter at the +touch of the angel; but in some mysterious +way they were loosened, and at the same time +we received accessions of strength. The old +habit continued to trouble us; it still impeded +our movements: but we could move; we recovered +some measure of freedom, and were +conscious that we were slaves no longer. +There still remained a mechanical and automatic +tendency to the evil ways of thinking, +speaking, or acting; but we had become vigilant +and alert, and were prompt to resist the +tendency as soon as it began to work; and we +were strong enough to master it. In the +course of time the tendency became weaker +and weaker, and at last, in some cases, it almost +disappeared.</p> + +<p>Some men have appealed to Christ when +they have been seized with a great horror +through the discovery of their guilt. It was +not the awful penalty which menaces the impenitent +that haunted and terrified them. +Nor was their distress occasioned chiefly by +the consciousness of moral evil. They feared +the penalty, and they were humiliated and +shamed by the contrast between ideal goodness +and their own moral and spiritual life; +but what stung and tortured them, sunk them +into despair, filled heaven and earth with a +darkness that could be felt, and made life intolerable, +was their guilt—guilt which they<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[110]</a></span> +had incurred by their past sins, and which +they continued to incur by their present sinfulness.</p> + +<p>When once this sense of guilt fastens itself +on a man, he cannot shake it off at will. The +keen agony may gradually pass into a dull, +dead pain; and after a time, the sensibility +of the soul may seem to be wholly lost; but +a man can never be sure that the horror will +not return.</p> + +<p>The real nature of this experience is best +seen when it has been occasioned by the +grosser and more violent forms of crime. Men +who have committed murder, for example, +have been driven almost insane by the memory +of their evil deed. Their agony may have had +nothing in it of the nature of repentance; +they were not distrest because their crime had +revealed to them the malignity and the fierce +strength of their passions; they had no desire +to become gentle and kindly. They were +filled with horror and remorse by their awful +guilt. They felt that the crime was theirs, +and would always continue to be theirs; that +it would be theirs if it remained concealed as +truly as if it were known; indeed, it seemed +to be in some terrible way more truly theirs +so long as the secret was kept. It was not the +fear of punishment that convulsed them; they +have sometimes brought on themselves public +indignation and abhorrence, and have condemned +themselves to the gallows by confessing<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[111]</a></span> +their crime in order to obtain relief from +their agony.</p> + +<p>Suppose that a man possest by this great +horror discovered that, in some wonderful +way, the dark and damning stain on his conscience +had disappeared; that, altho he had +done the deed, the iron chain which bound +him to the criminality of it had been broken; +that before God and man and his own conscience +he was free from the guilt of it;—the +supposition, in its completeness, is an impossible +one; but if it were possible, the discovery +would lift the man out of the darkness of hell +into the light of heaven.</p> + +<p>But to large numbers of Christian men a +discovery which in substance is identical with +this has actually come in response to their +trust in Christ. Nothing is more intensely +real than the sense of guilt; it is as real as +the eternal distinction between right and +wrong in which it is rooted. And nothing is +more intensely real than the sense of release +from guilt which comes from the discovery +and assurance of the remission of sins. The +evil things which a man has done cannot be +undone; but when they have been forgiven +through Christ, the iron chain which so bound +him to them as to make the guilt of them +eternally his has been broken; before God +and his own conscience he is no longer guilty +of them. This is the Christian mystery of justification, +which, according to Paul—and his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[112]</a></span> +words have been confirmed in the experience +of millions of Christian men—is "the power +of God unto salvation to every one that believeth." +It changes darkness into light; despair +into victorious hope; prostration into +buoyancy and vigor. It is one of the supreme +motives to Christian living, and it makes +Christian living possible. The man who has +received this great deliverance is no longer a +convict, painfully observing all prison rules +with the hope of shortening his sentence, but +a child in the home of God.</p> + +<p>There are experiences of another kind by +which the faith of Christian men is verified. +Of these one of the most decisive and most +wonderful is the consciousness that through +Christ he has passed into the eternal and +divine order. He belongs to two worlds. He +is just as certain that he is environed by +things unseen and eternal as that he is environed +by things seen and temporal. In the +power of the life given to him in the new +birth he has entered into the kingdom of God. +He is conscious that that diviner region is +now the native land of his soul. It is there +that he finds perfect rest and perfect freedom. +It is a relief to escape to its eternal peace and +glory from the agitations and vicissitudes, the +sorrows and successes, of this transitory world. +It is not always that he is vividly conscious +of belonging to that eternal order; this supreme +blessedness is reserved for the great<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[113]</a></span> +hours of life; but he knows that it lies about +him always, and that at any moment the great +Apocalypse may come. And even when it is +hidden, its "powers" continue to act upon +him, as the light and heat of the sun pass +through the clouds by which the burning +splendor is softened and concealed.</p> + +<p>Further, "in Christ" Christian men know +God; they know Him for themselves. The +mere conception of God is as different from +the immediate knowledge of Him as the mere +conception of the Matterhorn from the actual +vision of it as an external objective grandeur; +and it is not the conception of God, but God +Himself, that fills them with awe and wonder, +and with a blessedness which trembles into +devout fear. Sometimes the "exceeding +weight of glory" is too great to bear, and +human infirmity is relieved when the vision +passes. At other times God is more than a +transcendent glory to be contemplated and +adored. His infinite love, to use Paul's words, +is shed abroad in their hearts, like the sun's +heat under tropical heavens; it is immediately +revealed. How, they can not tell, any more +than they can tell how the material world is +revealed to sense; they only know that, apart +from any self-originated effort, apart from +any movement of their own towards Him, the +eternal Spirit draws near to their spirit and +reveals God's love to them. It is as if the +warm streams of the love which have their<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[114]</a></span> +fountains in the depths of His infinite life +were flowing round them and into them. They +are conscious of that love for them of which +God is conscious.</p> + +<p>And this blessedness is not the prerogative +of elect saints, or of those who may be said +to have a natural genius for spiritual thought. +It is the common inheritance of all that are +"in Christ," altho there is reason to fear that +many Christian people rarely reach the height +of its joy. But among those who reach it are +men of every degree of intellectual rank and +every variety of moral and spiritual temperament. +It is reached by ignorant men, whose +thoughts are narrow and whose minds are +inert, as well as by men with large knowledge +and great powers of speculation; by men destitute +of imagination, as well as by men whose +imagination kindles as soon as it is touched +by the splendors of nature or by the verses +of poets. Men whose life moves slowly and +sluggishly reach it, as well as men who are +impulsive, ardent, and adventurous. And +where this experience is known, it becomes an +effective force in the moral life. Peter, writing +to slaves, says, "For this is acceptable, if +through consciousness of God a man endureth +griefs, suffering wrongfully."</p> + +<p>I have said that "in Christ" men know +God—not merely through Christ. It is true +that during His earthly ministry He revealed +God; so that, in answer to the prayer of one<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[115]</a></span> +of His disciples, "Show us the Father, and it +sufficeth us," He said, "Have I been so long +time with you, and dost thou not know me, +Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the +Father." That revelation has eternal power +and value; but there are other words spoken +by Christ that same night which suggest that +it is not merely by the revelation of God during +His earthly ministry that Christ has made +it possible for men to know the Father. He +said: "I am the true vine, and ye are the +branches.... Abide in me, and I in you. +As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except +it abide in the vine; so neither can ye, +except ye abide in me. He that abideth in +me, and I in him, the same beareth much +fruit: for apart from me ye can do nothing." +It is not certain that when Paul wrote his +Epistle to the Galatian Christians he had +heard of these words; but what they meant +he had learnt for himself. He said, "I live: +and yet no longer I, but Christ liveth in me." +In various measures the experience of Paul +has been the experience of Christian men ever +since. Their relationship to Christ—their +conscious relationship to Christ—has been +most mysterious, but most intimate and most +certain. They have meditated on the infinite +love which moved Him to descend from the +heights of God and to become man, upon His +graciousness and gentleness, His purity, His +spontaneous goodness, His pity for suffering,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[116]</a></span> +His merciful words to the sinful, His patience +and His long-suffering, and His fiery indignation +against hypocrisy; they have meditated +on His teaching, on all the words of His that +have been preserved concerning the love and +grace of God, concerning the remission of sins, +the gift of eternal life, the judgment to come, +the eternal blessedness of the righteous, and +the doom of the lost; they have felt the spell +and the charm of that ideal perfection to +which He calls them in His precepts, and +which He illustrated and transcended in His +own character: but they have been conscious +that it was not merely by the power of the +great and pathetic story of His earthly history, +or by the power of His spiritual and +ethical teaching, that He gives to men the +life of God, and constantly renews, sustains, +and augments it. They shared the very life +of their Lord. He lived in them. They lived +in Him. And it was in the power of this common +life that they knew God.</p> + +<p>Nor is it only the immediate knowledge of +God that is rendered possible by this union +with Christ. Christian men are conscious that +they do not receive strength from Christ for +common duty, as they might receive strength +from One who, while He conferred the grace, +stood apart from them, but that in some wonderful +way they are strong in the strength of +Christ Himself. They are too often drawn +down into the region of baser forces, and then<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[117]</a></span> +they fall; but their very failure verifies the +truth of their happier experiences, for it +brings home to them afresh what they are +apart from Christ; and when they recover +their union with Him—which indeed had not +been lost, tho for a time it was not realized—they +recover their power.</p> + +<p>The man who has had, and who still has, +such experiences as these will listen with great +tranquillity to criticisms which are intended +to shake the historical credit of the four Gospels, +altho the story they contain may have +been the original ground of his faith in Christ. +The criticism may be vigorous; he may be +wholly unable to answer it: but what then? +Is he to cease to believe in Christ? Why +should he?</p> + +<p>Let me answer these questions by an illustration. +Towards the close of our Lord's ministry, +when He was in the neighborhood of +Jericho—just leaving the city or just entering +it—Bartimeus, a blind man, who was begging +at the side of the road, heard that Jesus of +Nazareth was passing by, and He appealed to +the great Prophet to have mercy upon him. +Jesus answered his appeal, and gave him +sight. Now it is possible that Bartimeus may +have been told by some passing traveler, of +whom he knew nothing, the story of a similar +miracle which Jesus had worked a few weeks +before in Jerusalem, and this may have been +the ground, and the only ground, of his confidence<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[118]</a></span> +in our Lord's supernatural power. If, +after he had received his sight, some sagacious +friend of his had asked him how it was that +he came to believe that the Nazarene Teacher +could give sight to the blind, nothing would +have been easier than for his friend to show +that, whether the story of the Jerusalem miracle +was true or not, Bartimeus had no trustworthy +evidence of its truth. A tale told +by an unknown stranger! This was no sufficient +reason for believing that Jesus had given +sight to a man born blind. Did the stranger +who told the tale know the beggar who was +said to have been cured? Was it certain that +the man was blind? Had the stranger examined +his eyes the very morning of the day +on which he received sight? Was it certain +that the vision was not gradually returning? +Was the stranger present when Jesus made +the clay, and put it on the blind man's eyes; +close enough to see that no delicate operation +was performed during the process? The sending +of the blind man to wash at the Pool of +Siloam was suspicious: what could that washing +have to do with a miracle? Did the +stranger go with the man to the pool, and keep +his eye upon him while he was there? Was +it quite certain that the blind beggar who +was sent to Siloam was the man who came +back to the city and declared that Jesus had +healed him? Might not one man have been +sent to the pool, and another man have come<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[119]</a></span> +back to Jerusalem? It looked very much as +if there were some previous understanding between +the blind man and the Nazarene +Prophet. The Prophet had rich friends; they +could have made it worth the man's while +to come into the plot. Had Bartimeus considered +all these difficulties? Was it not more +probable that the stranger's story should be +false than that the miracle should be true? +Would it not be well for Bartimeus to suspend +his faith in Jesus until he had made +further inquiries about the miracle?</p> + +<p>We can imagine the answer of Bartimeus. +I think that he would have said: "At first +I believed in the power of Jesus of Nazareth, +because I was told that He had given sight +to another blind man; now I am sure of His +power, because He has given sight to me. It +is possible, as you say, that the story about +the blind man in Jerusalem is not true. You +have asked me many questions which I can +not answer. I can not explain why he should +have been sent to the Pool of Siloam. I +acknowledge that the evidence which I have +for the miracle is not decisive. As Jesus has +restored my sight, I think that the story is +probably true; but whether the story is true +or not can not disturb my faith in Him, for +if He did not heal the other man, He has +healed me."</p> + +<p>And so the faith in the living Christ of +those who have had the great experiences of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[120]</a></span> +His power and grace which I have described +is not shaken by any assaults on the historical +trustworthiness of the story of His earthly +ministry. Much less can it be shaken by discussions +concerning the nature and origin of +the ancient Scriptures of the Jewish people. +Their confidence in the books, both of the Old +Testament and the New, may perhaps have to +be suspended until the controversies of scholars +are closed, or until, on historical and critical +grounds, they can see their own way to +firm and definite conclusions about the main +questions at issue; but not their confidence in +Christ. They may be uncertain about the +books; they are sure about Him. Both Christian +scholars and the commonalty of Christian +people approach the controversies on +these ancient records with a settled faith in +the power and grace and glory of Christ. +Their faith in Him rests on foundations which +lie far beyond the reach of scientific and historical +criticism. They know for themselves +that Christ is the Savior of men: for they +have received through Him the remission of +their own sins; He has translated them into +the divine kingdom; He has given them +strength for righteousness, and through Him +they have found God.</p> + +<hr class="chap" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121"> </a></span></p> + + + + +<h2>LIDDON</h2> + +<h3>INFLUENCES OF THE HOLY SPIRIT</h3> + +<hr class="chap" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122"></a></span></p> + + +<h4>BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE</h4> + +<p>Henry Parry Liddon was born at North +Stoneham, Hampshire, in 1829. His intellectual +power and fearless and earnest +preaching attracted immense congregations +to St. Paul's Cathedral, London. +He sought to meet the speculative fallacies +of his day by truth clearly and boldly +proclaimed. Probably his greatest fault +in delivery was that he tied himself slavishly +to a manuscript in all his preaching. +There was a force and intensity to his delivery, +however, that often projected his +words towards his hearers like great projectiles +across a battlefield. Dr. Arthur +S. Hoyt recommends him for study in +these words: "Canon Liddon brings the +riches of exegesis and theology and +philosophy to the pulpit, and gives to +the sermon the distinction of his refined +and spiritual personality." He died in +1890.</p> + +<hr class="chap" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[123]</a></span></p> + + + + +<h2>LIDDON</h2> + +<h3>1829-1890</h3> + +<h4>INFLUENCES OF THE HOLY SPIRIT</h4> + +<blockquote> + +<p><em>The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the +sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and +whither it goeth.</em>—John iii., 8.</p></blockquote> + + +<p>Who has not felt the contrast, the almost +tragic contrast, between the +high station of the Jewish doctor, +member of the Sanhedrin, master in Israel, +and the ignorance of elementary religious +truth, as we Christians must deem it, which +he displayed in this interview with our blest +Lord? At first sight it seems difficult to understand +how our Lord could have used the +simile in the text when conversing with an +educated and thoughtful man, well conversed +in the history and literature of God's ancient +people; and, indeed, a negative criticism has +availed itself of this and of some other features +in the narrative, in the interest of the +theory that Nicodemus was only a fictitious +type of the higher classes in Jewish society, as +they were pictured to itself by the imagination +of the fourth Evangelist. Such a supposition, +opposed to external facts and to all +internal probabilities, would hardly have been +entertained, if the critical ingenuity of its author<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[124]</a></span> +had been seconded by any spiritual experience. +Nicodemus is very far from being a +caricature; and our Lord's method here, as +elsewhere, is to lead on from familiar phrases +and the well-remembered letter to the spirit +and realities of religion. The Jewish schools +were acquainted with the expression "a new +creature"; but it had long since become a +mere shred of official rhetoric. As applied +to a Jewish proselyte, it scarcely meant more +than a change in the outward relations of +religious life. Our Lord told Nicodemus that +every man who would see the kingdom of God +which He was founding must undergo a +second birth; and Nicodemus, who had been +accustomed to the phrase all his life, could +not understand it if it was to be supposed to +mean anything real. "How," he asks, "can +a man be born when he is old? Can he enter +a second time into his mother's womb, and +be born?" Our Lord does not extricate him +from this blundering literalism; He repeats +His own original assertion, but in terms which +more fully express His meaning: "Verily, +verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born +of water and of the Spirit, he can not enter +into the kingdom of God. That which is born +of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born +of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said +unto thee, Ye must be born again." Our +Lord's reference to water would not have been +unintelligible to Nicodemus; every one in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[125]</a></span> +Judæa knew that the Baptist had insisted on +immersion in water as a symbol of the purification +of the soul of man. Certainly, in connecting +"water" with the Spirit and the new +birth, our Lord's language, glancing at that +of the prophet, went very far beyond this. +He could only be fully understood at a later +time, when the sacrament of baptism had been +instituted, just as the true sense of His early +allusions to His death could not have been apprehended +until after the crucifixion. But +Nicodemus, it is plain, had not yet advanced +beyond his original difficulty; he could not +conceive how any second birth was possible, +without altogether violating the course of nature. +And our Lord penetrates His thoughts +and answers them. He answers them by +pointing to that invisible agent who could +achieve, in the sphere of spiritual and mental +life, what the Jewish doctor deemed so impossible +a feat as a second birth. Nature, indeed, +contained no force that could compass +such a result; but nature in this, as in other +matters, was a shadow of something beyond +itself.</p> + +<p>It was late at night when our Lord had this +interview with the Jewish teacher. At the +pauses in conversation, we may conjecture, +they heard the wind without as it moaned +along the narrow streets of Jerusalem; and +our Lord, as was His wont, took His creature +into His service—the service of spiritual<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[126]</a></span> +truth. The wind was a figure of the Spirit. +Our Lord would not have used the same word +for both. The wind might teach Nicodemus +something of the action of Him who is the +real Author of the new birth of man. And it +would do this in two ways more especially.</p> + +<p>On a first survey of nature, the wind arrests +man's attention, as an unseen agent which +seems to be moving with entire freedom. "The +wind bloweth where it listeth." It is fettered +by none of those conditions which confine the +swiftest bodies that traverse the surface of +the earth; it sweeps on as if independent of +law, rushing hither and thither, as tho +obeying its own wayward and momentary impulse. +Thus it is an apt figure of a self-determining +invisible force; and of a force +which is at times of overmastering power. +Sometimes, indeed, its breath is so gentle, that +only a single leaf or blade of grass will at +distant intervals seem to give the faintest +token of its action; yet, even thus, it "bloweth +where it listeth." Sometimes it bursts upon +the earth with destructive violence; nothing +can resist its onslaught; the most solid buildings +give way; the stoutest trees bend before +it; whatever is frail and delicate can only +escape by the completeness of its submission. +Thus, too, it "bloweth where it listeth." Beyond +anything else that strikes upon the +senses of man, it is suggestive of free supersensuous +power; it is an appropriate symbol<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[127]</a></span> +of an irruption of the invisible into the +world of sense, of the action, so tender or so +imperious, of the divine and eternal Spirit +upon the human soul.</p> + +<p>But the wind is also an agent about whose +proceedings we really know almost nothing. +"Thou hearest the sound thereof"; such is +our Lord's concession to man's claim to knowledge. +"Thou canst not tell whence it cometh, +and whither it goeth"; such is the reserve +which He makes in respect of human ignorance. +Certainly we do more than hear the +sound of the wind; its presence is obvious to +three of the senses. We feel the chill or the +fury of the blast; and, as it sweeps across the +ocean, or the forest, or the field of corn, we +see how the blades rise and fall in graceful +curves, and the trees bend, and the waters +sink and swell into waves which are the measure +of its strength. But our Lord says, "Thou +hearest the sound thereof." He would +have us test it by the most spiritual of the +senses. It whispers, or it moans, or it roars +as it passes us; it has a pathos all its own. +Yet what do we really know about it? "Thou +canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither +it goeth." Does the wind then obey no rule; +is it a mere symbol of unfettered caprice? +Surely not. If, as the psalmist sings, "God +bringeth the winds out of his treasuries," +He acts, we may be sure, here as always, +whether in nature or in grace, by some law,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[128]</a></span> +which his own perfections impose upon His +action. He may have given to us of these +later times to see a very little deeper beneath +the surface of the natural world than was the +case with our fathers. Perchance we explain +the immediate antecedents of the phenomenon; +but can we explain our own explanation? +The frontier of our ignorance is removed one +stage farther back; but "the way of the +wind" is as fitting an expression for the mysteries +now as it was in the days of Solomon. +We know that there is no cave of Æolus. We +know that the wind is the creature of that +great Master who works everywhere and incessantly +by rule. But, as the wind still +sweeps by us who call ourselves the children +of an age of knowledge, and we endeavor to +give our fullest answer to the question, +"Whence it cometh, and whither it goeth?" +we discover that, as the symbol of a spiritual +force, of whose presence we are conscious, +while we are unable to determine, with moderate +confidence, either the secret principle +or the range of its action, the wind is as full +of meaning still as in the days of Nicodemus.</p> + +<p>When our Lord has thus pointed to the freedom +and the mysteriousness of the wind, He +adds, "So is every one that is born of the +Spirit." The simile itself would have led +us to expect—"So is the Spirit of God." +The man born of the Spirit would answer not +to the wind itself, but to the sensible effect<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[129]</a></span> +of the wind. There is a break of correspondence +between the simile and its application. +The simile directs attention to +the divine Author of the new birth in +man. The words which follow direct attention +to the human subject upon whom the +divine agent works. Something similar is +observable when our Lord compares the kingdom +of heaven to a merchantman seeking +goodly pearls; the kingdom really corresponds +not to the merchantman, but to the pearl of +great price which the merchantman buys. In +such cases, we may be sure, the natural correspondence +between a simile and its application +is not disturbed without a motive. And +the reason for this disturbance is presumably +that the simile is not adequate to the full purpose +of the speaker, who is anxious to teach +some larger truth than its obvious application +would suggest. In the case before us, we may +be allowed to suppose, that by His reference +to the wind our Lord desired to convey something +more than the real but mysterious +agency of the Holy Spirit in the new birth of +man. His language seems designed, not merely +to correct the materialistic narrowness of +the Jewish doctor, not merely to answer by +anticipation the doubts of later days as to the +spiritual efficacy of His own sacrament of +regeneration, but to picture, in words which +should be read to the end of time, the general +work of that divine person whose mission of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[130]</a></span> +mercy to our race was at once the consequence +and the completion of His own.</p> + +<p>It may be useful to trace the import of our +Lord's simile in three fields of the action of +the holy and eternal Spirit; His creation of a +sacred literature, His guidance of a divine society, +and His work upon individual souls.</p> + +<p>I. As, then, we turn over the pages of the +Bible, must we not say, "The wind of heaven +bloweth where it listeth"? If we might reverently +imagine ourselves scheming beforehand +what kind of a book the Book of God +ought to be, how different would it be from +the actual Bible. There would be as many +bibles as there are souls, and they would +differ as widely. But in one thing, amid all +their differences, they would probably agree; +they would lack the variety, both in form and +substance, of the holy Book which the Church +of God places in the hands of her children. +The self-assertion, the scepticism, and the fastidiousness +of our day would meet like the +men of the second Roman triumvirate on that +island in the Reno, and would draw up their +lists of proscription. One would condemn the +poetry of Scripture as too inexact; another its +history as too largely secular; another its metaphysics +as too transcendental, or as hostile +to some fanciful ideal of "simplicity," or as +likely to quench a purely moral enthusiasm. +The archaic history of the Pentateuch, or the +sterner side of the ethics of the psalter, or the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[131]</a></span> +supernaturalism of the histories of Elijah or +of Daniel, or the so-called pessimism of Ecclesiastes, +or the alleged secularism of Esther, or +the literal import of the Song of Solomon, +would be in turn condemned. Nor could the +apostles hope to escape: St. John would be +too mystical in this estimate; St. James too +legal in that; St. Paul too dialectical, or too +metaphysical, or too easily capable of an antinomian +interpretation; St. Peter too undecided, +as if balancing between St. Paul and +St. James. Our new Bible would probably be +uniform, narrow, symmetrical; it would be +entirely made up of poetry, or of history, or +of formal propositions, or of philosophical +speculation, or of lists of moral maxims; it +would be modeled after the type of some current +writer on English history, or some popular +poet or metaphysician, or some sentimentalist +who abjures history and philosophy +alike on principle, or some composer of well-intentioned +religious tracts for general circulation. +The inspirations of heaven would +be taken in hand, and instead of a wind blowing +where it listeth, we should have a wind, +no doubt, of some kind, rustling earnestly +enough along some very narrow crevices or +channels, in obedience to the directions of +some one form of human prejudice, or passion, +or fear, or hope.</p> + +<p>The Bible is like nature in its immense, its +exhaustless variety; like nature, it reflects all<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[132]</a></span> +the higher moods of the human soul, because +it does much more; because it brings us face +to face with the infinity of the divine life. +In the Bible the wind of heaven pays scant +heed to our anticipations or our prejudices; +it "bloweth where it listeth." It breathes not +only in the divine charities of the gospels, +not only in the lyrical sallies of the epistles, +not only in the great announcements scattered +here and there in Holy Scripture of the magnificence, +or the compassion, or the benevolence +of God; but also in the stern language +of the prophets, in the warnings and lessons +of the historical books, in the revelations of +divine justice and of human responsibility +which abound in either Testament. "Where +it listeth." Not only where our sense of literary +beauty is stimulated, as in St. Paul's picture +of charity, by lines which have taken captive +the imagination of the world, not only +where feeling and conscience echo the verdict +of authority and the promptings of reverence, +but also where this is not the case; where +neither precept nor example stimulates us, and +we are left face to face with historical or ethical +material, which appears to us to inspire no +spiritual enthusiasm, or which is highly suggestive +of critical difficulty. Let us be patient; +we shall understand, if we will only wait, how +these features of the Bible too are integral +parts of a living whole; here, as elsewhere, +the Spirit breathes; in the genealogies of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[133]</a></span> +Chronicles as in the last discourse in St. +John, though with an admitted difference of +manner and degree. He "bloweth where He +listeth." The apostle's words respecting the +Old Testament are true of the New: "All +Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and +is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, +for instruction in righteousness." +And, "Whatsoever things were written aforetime +were written for our learning, that we +through patience and comfort of the Scriptures +might have hope."</p> + +<p>"But thou hearest the sound thereof, and +canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither +it goeth." The majesty of Scripture is recognized +by man, wherever there is, I will not +say a spiritual faculty, but a natural sense +of beauty. The "sound" of the wind is perceived +by the trained ear, by the literary taste, +by the refinement, by the humanity of every +generation of educated men. But what beyond? +What of its spiritual source, its spiritual +drift and purpose, its half-concealed but +profound unities, its subtle but imperious relations +to conscience? Of these things, so +precious to Christians, a purely literary appreciation +of Scripture is generally ignorant; +the sacred Book, like the prophet of the Chebar, +is only "as a very lovely song of one that +hath a pleasant voice, and can play well on +an instrument." Or again, the "sound +thereof" is heard in the admitted empire of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[134]</a></span> +the Bible over millions of hearts and consciences; +an empire the evidences of which +strike upon the ear in countless ways, and +which is far too wide and too secure to be +affected by the criticisms that might occasionally +seem to threaten it. What is the secret +of this influence of Scripture? Not simply +that it is the Book of Revelation; since it contains +a great deal of matter which lay fairly +within the reach of man's natural faculties. +The Word or eternal Reason of God is the +Revealer; but Scripture, whether it is a record +of divine revelations or of naturally observed +facts, is, in the belief of the Christian Church, +throughout "inspired" by the Spirit. Inspiration +is the word which describes the presence +and action of the Holy Spirit everywhere +in Scripture. We know not how our own +spirits, hour by hour, are acted upon by the +eternal Spirit, though we do not question the +fact; we content ourselves with recognizing +what we can not explain. If we believe that +Scripture is inspired, we know that it is instinct +with the presence of Him whose voice +we might hear in every utterance, but of +whom we cannot tell whence He cometh or +whither He goeth.</p> + +<p>II. The history of the Church of Christ +from the days of the apostles has been a history +of spiritual movements. Doubtless it has +been a history of much else; the Church has +been the scene of human passions, human<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[135]</a></span> +speculations, human errors. But traversing +these, He by whom the whole body of the +Church is governed and sanctified, has made +His presence felt, not only in the perpetual +proclamation and elucidation of truth, not +only in the silent, never-ceasing sanctification +of souls, but also in great upheavals of spiritual +life, by which the conscience of Christians +has been quickened, or their hold upon the +truths of redemption and grace made more intelligent +and serious, or their lives and practise +restored to something like the ideal of +the Gospels. Even in the apostolic age it was +necessary to warn Christians that it was high +time to awake out of sleep; that the night of +life was far spent, and the day of eternity +was at hand. And ever since, from generation +to generation, there has been a succession of +efforts within the Church to realize more worthily +the truth of the Christian creed, or the +ideal of the Christian life. These revivals +have been inspired or led by devoted men who +have represented the highest conscience of +Christendom in their day. They may be +traced along the line of Christian history; the +Spirit living in the Church has by them attested +His presence and His will; and has +recalled lukewarm generations, paralyzed by +indifference or degraded by indulgence, to the +true spirit and level of Christian faith and +life.</p> + +<p>In such movements there is often what<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[136]</a></span> +seems, at first sight, an element of caprice. +They appear to contemporaries to be onesided, +exaggerated, narrow, fanatical. They +are often denounced with a passionate fervor +which is so out of proportion to the reality as +to border on the grotesque. They are said to +exact too much of us, or to concede too much. +They are too contemplative in their tendency +to be sufficiently practical, or too energetically +practical to do justice to religious thought. +They are too exclusively literary and academical, +as being the work of men of books; +or they are too popular and insensible to philosophical +considerations, as being the work of +men of the people. Or, again, they are so occupied +with controversy as to forget the +claims of devotion, or so engaged in leading +souls to a devout life as to forget the unwelcome +but real necessities of controversy. +They are intent on particular moral improvements +so exclusively as to forget what is due +to reverence and order; or they are so bent +upon rescuing the Church from chronic slovenliness +and indecency in public worship as +to do less than justice to the paramount interests +of moral truth. Sometimes these movements +are all feeling; sometimes they are all +thought; sometimes they are, as it seems, all +outward energy. In one age they produce +a literature like that of the fourth and fifth +centuries; in another they found orders of +men devoted to preaching or to works of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[137]</a></span> +mercy, as in the twelfth; in another they +enter the lists, as in the thirteenth century, +with a hostile philosophy; in another they attempt +a much-needed reformation of the +Church; in another they pour upon the +heathen world a flood of light and warmth +from the heart of Christendom. It is easy, +as we survey them, to say that something else +was needed; or that what was done could +have been done better or more completely; +or that, had we been there, we should not have +been guilty of this onesidedness, or of that +exaggeration. We forget, perhaps, who really +was there, and whose work it is, though often +overlaid and thwarted by human weakness +and human passion, that we are really criticizing. +If it was seemingly onesided, excessive +or defective, impulsive or sluggish, speculative +or practical, esthetic or experimental, +may not this have been so because in His +judgment, who breatheth where He listeth, +this particular characteristic was needed for +the Church of that day? All that contemporaries +know of such movements is "the sound +thereof"; the names with which they are associated, +the controversies which they precipitate, +the hostilities which they rouse or allay, +as the case may be. Such knowledge is superficial +enough; of the profound spiritual +causes which really engender them, of the direction +in which they are really moving, of +the influence which they are destined permanently<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[138]</a></span> +to exert upon souls, men know little or +nothing. The accidental symptom is mistaken +for the essential characteristic; the momentary +expression of feeling for the inalienable +conviction of certain truth. The day may +come, perhaps, when more will be known; +when practise and motive, accident and substance, +the lasting and the transient, will be +seen in their true relative proportions; but +for the time this can hardly be. He is passing +by, whose way is in the sea, and His paths +in the deep waters, and His footsteps unknown. +The Eternal Spirit is passing; and +men can only say, "He bloweth where He +listeth."</p> + +<p>III. Our Lord's words apply especially to +Christian character. There are some effects of +the living power of the Holy Spirit which are +invariable. When He dwells with a Christian +soul, He continually speaks in the voice of +conscience; He speaks in the voice of prayer. +He produces with the ease of a natural +process, without effort, without the taint of +self-consciousness, "love, joy, peace, long-suffering, +gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, +temperance." Some of these graces +must be found where He makes His home. +There is no mistaking the atmosphere of His +presence: in its main features it is the same +now as in the days of the apostles. Just as +in natural morality the main elements of +"goodness" do not change; so in religious life,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[139]</a></span> +spirituality is, amid great varieties of detail, +yet, in its leading constituent features, the +same thing from one generation to another. +But in the life of the individual Christian, or +in that of the Church, there is legitimate room +for irregular and exceptional forms of activity +or excellence. Natural society is not +strengthened by the stern repression of all +that is peculiar in individual thought or practise; +and this is not less true of spiritual or +religious society. From the first, high forms +of Christian excellence have often been associated +with unconscious eccentricity. The +eccentricity must be unconscious, because consciousness +of eccentricity at once reduces it +to a form of vanity which is entirely inconsistent +with Christian excellence. How many +excellent Christians have been eccentric, deviating +more or less from the conventional type +of goodness which has been recognized by contemporary +religious opinion. They pass away, +and when they are gone men do justice to +their characters; but while they are still with +us how hard do many of us find it to remember +that there may be a higher reason for their +peculiarities than we think. We know not +the full purpose of each saintly life in the designs +of Providence; we know not much of the +depths and heights whence it draws its inspirations; +we can not tell whence it cometh +or whither it goeth. Only we know that He +whose workmanship it is bloweth where He<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[140]</a></span> +listeth; and this naturally leads us to remark +the practical interpretation which the Holy +Spirit often puts upon our Lord's words by +selecting as His chosen workmen those who +seem to be least fitted by nature for such high +service. The apostle has told us how in the +first age He set Himself to defeat human anticipations. +"Not many wise men after the +flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are +called"; learned academies, powerful connections, +gentle blood did little enough for the +gospel in the days when it won its first and +greatest victories. The Holy Spirit, as Nicodemus +knew, passed by the varied learning +and high station of the Sanhedrin, and +breathed where He listed on the peasants of +Galilee; He breathed on them a power which +would shake the world. And thus has it been +again and again in the generations which have +followed. When the great Aquinas was a +student of philosophy under Albertus Magnus +at Cologne, he was known among his contemporaries +as "the dumb Ox"; so little did +they divine what was to be his place in the +theology of Western Christendom. And to +those of us who can look back upon the memories +of this University for a quarter of a century +or more, few things appear more remarkable +than the surprizes which the later +lives of men constantly afford; sometimes it is +a failure of early natural promise, but more +often a rich development of intellectual and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[141]</a></span> +practical capacity where there had seemed to +be no promise at all. We can remember, perhaps, +some dull quiet man who seemed to be +without a ray of genius, or, stranger still, +without anything interesting or marked in +character, but who now exerts, and most +legitimately, the widest influence for good, +and whose name is repeated by thousands with +grateful respect. Or we can call to mind another +whose whole mind was given to what +was frivolous, or even degrading, and who +now is a leader in everything that elevates and +improves his fellows. The secret of these +transfigurations is ever the same. In those +days these men did not yet see their way; +they were like travelers through the woods at +night, when the sky is hidden and all things +seem to be other than they are.</p> + +<p>Since then the sun has risen and all has +changed. The creed of the Church of Christ, +in its beauty and its power, has been flashed +by the Divine Spirit upon their hearts and +understandings; and they are other men. +They have seen that there is something worth +living for in earnest; that God, the soul, the +future, are immense realities, compared with +which all else is tame and insignificant. They +have learned something of that personal love +of our crucified Lord, which is itself a moral +and religious force of the highest order, and +which has carried them forwards without their +knowing it. And what has been will assuredly +repeat itself.</p> + +<hr class="chap" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142"> </a><br /><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143"> </a></span></p> + + + + +<h2>W. M. TAYLOR</h2> + +<h3>CHRIST BEFORE PILATE—PILATE +BEFORE CHRIST</h3> + +<hr class="chap" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144"> </a></span></p> + + + + +<h4>BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE</h4> + + +<p>William Mackergo Taylor, Congregational +divine, was born at Kilmarnock, +Scotland, in 1829. He was for many +years pastor of the Broadway Tabernacle, +New York. He had an impressive presence +and his delivery was marked by a magnetic +earnestness. During the first ten years of +his ministry he spoke memoriter, but subsequently +wrote out his sermons with +detailed care and preached them from +manuscript, but their delivery was without +the freedom and freshness of extemporaneous +address. He came to regret +this, for he said: "If I might speak +from my own experience I would say, that +memoriter preaching is the method which +has the greatest advantages, with the fewest +disadvantages." He died in 1895.</p> + +<hr class="chap" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[145]</a></span></p> + + + + +<h2>W. M. TAYLOR</h2> + +<h3>1829-1895</h3> + +<h4>CHRIST BEFORE PILATE—PILATE +BEFORE CHRIST<a name="FNanchor_5_5" id="FNanchor_5_5"></a><a href="#Footnote_5_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a></h4> + +<blockquote> + +<p><em>Pilate saith unto them, What shall I do, then, with +Jesus, which is called Christ?</em>—Matthew xxvii., 22.</p></blockquote> + + +<p>During my late visit to my native land +I had the great enjoyment of seeing, +and somewhat carefully studying, +Munkacsy's famous picture of "Christ Before +Pilate." Rarely, if ever, had I been so much +moved by a work of art; and I propose to give, +as nearly as I can recall it, the sermon which +it reached to me as I sat silently contemplating +the figures, which, even as I looked at them, +seemed to grow before me into life.</p> + +<p>But, first, I must try to describe to you the +picture itself. The canvas is large, and the +figures, all of which are on the line of sight, +are of life size. The scene is in the pavement +or open court before the governor's palace, +which was called in the Hebrew tongue Gabbatha, +and in which, after all his efforts to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[146]</a></span> +wriggle out of the responsibility of dealing +with the case, Pilate ultimately gave up Jesus +to be crucified. At one end of the court, on +a raised bench, and drest in a white toga, +Pilate sits. On either side of him are Jews, +each of whom has a marked and special individuality. +The two on his left are gazing +with intense eagerness at Christ. They are +evidently puzzled, and know not well what +to make of the mysterious prisoner. On his +right, standing on one of the seats, and with +his back against the wall, is a Scribe, whose +countenance is expressive of uttermost contempt, +and just in front of this haughty fellow +are some Pharisees, one of whom is on his +feet, and passionately urging that Jesus +should be put to death, presumably on the +ground that, if Pilate should let Him go, he +would make it evident that he was not Cæsar's +friend. Before them again is a usurer, sleek, +fat and self-satisfied, clearly taking great comfort +to himself in the assurance that, however +the matter may be settled, his well-filled +money-bags will be undisturbed. Beyond him +stands the Christ in a robe of seamless white, +and with His wrists firmly bound; while behind, +kept in place by a Roman soldier, standing +with his back to the spectator, and making +a barricade with his spear, which he holds +horizontally, is a motley group of onlookers, +not unlike that which we may still see any +day in one of our criminal courts. Of these,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[147]</a></span> +one more furious than the rest is wildly gesticulating, +and crying, as we may judge from +his whole attitude, "Crucify Him! crucify +Him!" and another, a little to the Savior's +left, but in the second row behind Him, is +leaning forward with mockery in his leering +look, and making almost as if he would spit +upon the saintly one. There is but one really +compassionate face in the crowd, and that is +a face of a woman who, with an infant in her +arms, most fitly represents those gentle daughters +of Jerusalem who followed Jesus to Calvary +with tears. Then, over the heads of the +on-lookers, and out of the upper part of the +doorway into the court, we get a glimpse of +the quiet light of the morning as it sleeps +upon the walls and turrets of the adjacent +buildings. All these figures are so distinctly +seen that you feel you could recognize them +again if you met them anywhere; and a +strange sense of reality comes upon you as +you look at them, so that you forget that they +are only painted, and imagine that you are +gazing on living and breathing men.</p> + +<p>But, as you sit awhile and look on, you +gradually lose all consciousness of the presence +of the mere on-lookers and find your interest +concentrated on these two white-robed ones, +as if they were the only figures before you. +The pose of Christ is admirable. It is repose +blended with dignity; self-possession rising +into majesty. There is no agitation or confusion;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[148]</a></span> +no fear or misgiving; but, instead, the +calm nobleness of Him who has just been +saying, "Thou couldst have no power at all +against me, except it were given thee from +above; therefore he that delivered me unto +thee hath the greater sin." The face alone +disappoints. Perhaps that may be owing to +the lofty ideal we have of the divine Man, +so that no picture of our Lord would entirely +please. But tho the painter has wisely abandoned +the halo, and all similar conventionalisms +of art, and has delineated a real man, +for all which he is to be highly commended, +yet the eyes which look so steadily at Pilate, as +if they were looking him through, seem to me to +be cold, keen, and condemnatory, rather than +compassionate and sad. It is a conception of +the Lord of the same sort as that of Doré, in +his well-known picture of the leaving of the +Prætorium, and the eyes have not in them +that deep well of tenderness out of which +came the tears which He shed over Jerusalem, +and which we expect to see in them when He +is looking at the hopeless struggle of a soul +which will not accept His aid. It is said +that the artist, dissatisfied with his first attempt, +has painted the Christ face twice; but +this, also, is a partial failure, and here, so at +least it seemed to me as I looked upon it, is +the one defect in his noble work. But if there +is this defect, it is one which it shares with +every other effort that human art has made<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[149]</a></span> +to delineate the Lord. The Pilate, however, +is well-nigh faultless. Here is a great, strong +man, the representative of the mightiest empire +the world has ever seen, with a head +indicating intellectual force, and a face, especially +in its lower part, suggestive of sensual +indulgence. There is ordinarily no want +of firmness in him, as we may see from the +general set of his features; but now there is +in his countenance a marvelous mixture of +humiliation and irresolution. He cannot lift +his eyes to meet the gaze of Christ; and while +one of his hands is nervously clutching at +his robe he is looking sadly into the other, +whose fingers, even as we look at them, almost +seem to twitch with perplexed irresolution. +He is clearly pondering for himself the question +which a few moments before he had addrest +to the multitude, "What shall I do +with Jesus which is called Christ?" He is +annoyed that the case has been brought to +him at all, and as he feels himself drifting +on, against his own better judgment, toward +yielding to the clamor of the multitude, he +falls mightily in his own conceit, and begins +to despise himself. He would, at that moment, +give, oh, how much! to be rid of the +responsibility of dealing with the Christ, but +he cannot evade it; and so he sits there, drifting +on to what he knows is a wrong decision, +the very incarnation of the feeling which his +own national poet described when he said, "I<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[150]</a></span> +see and approve the better course; I follow +the worse." Thus, as we look at these two, +we begin to discover that it was not Christ +that was before Pilate so much as Pilate was +before Christ. His was the testing experience. +His was the trial; his too, alas! was the degradation; +and at that coming day when the +places shall be reversed, when Christ shall be +on the judgment seat, and Pilate at the bar, +there will still be that deep self-condemnation +which the painter here has fixt upon his +countenance. It is a marvelous picture, in +many respects the most remarkable I ever +looked upon, and, even from this imperfect +description of it, you will easily understand +how, as I sat intent before it, it stirred my +soul to the very depths.</p> + +<p>But now, with this portrayal of the scene +before us let us see if we can account, first, +for the hesitation of Pilate to give up the +Lord, and then for his final yielding to the +clamor of the people. Why all this reluctance +on his part to send Jesus to the cross? He +was not usually so scrupulous. A human +life more or less gave him generally very little +concern. He had all a Roman's indifference +for the comfort of those who stood in any +respect in his way; and had no compunction, +as we know, in mingling the blood of certain +turbulent Jews with the very sacrifices which +at the moment they were offering. Had +Christ been a Roman citizen, indeed, he would<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[151]</a></span> +most likely have been very watchful over His +safety, for in regard to all such the imperial +law was peculiarly strict, but the life of a +mere Jew was a very small thing in his estimation. +Wherefore, then, this unwonted +squeamishness of conscience? It was the result +of a combination of particulars, each of +which had a special force of its own, and the +aggregate of which so wrought upon his mind +that he was brought thereby to a stand.</p> + +<p>There was, in the first place, the peculiar +character of the prisoner. A very slight examination +had been sufficient to convince him +that Christ was innocent of the charge which +had been brought against Him. But in the +course of that examination much more than +the innocence of Christ had come to view. +He had manifested a dignified patience altogether +unlike anything that Pilate had ever +seen; and His answers to certain questions +had been so strangely suggestive of something +higher and nobler than even the most exalted +earthly philosophy that he could not look +upon Him as a common prisoner. He was no +mere fanatic; neither was He after the pattern +of any existing school, whether Jewish, +Greek, or Roman. There was about Him an +"other-worldliness" which brought those near +Him into close proximity, for the time, with +the unseen; and an elevation which lifted +Him above the tumult that was howling for +His destruction. Probably Pilate could not<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[152]</a></span> +have described it to himself, but there was +something which he felt unusual and exceptional +in this man, marking Him out from +every other he ever had before him, and constraining +him to take a special interest in +His case. Add to this that his wife had sent +to him that singular message—"Have thou +nothing to do with that just man, for I have +suffered many things this day in a dream +because of him,"—a message which, in those +days of mingled scepticism and superstition—for +the two always go hand in hand—must +have produced a deep impression on his mind. +Moreover, there seemed some fatality about +the case. He had tried to roll it over upon +Herod, but that wily monarch sent the prisoner +back upon his hands. He had attempted +to release Him, as the Passover prisoner for +the year, but neither was there any outlet for +him in that, for the people had preferred +Barabbas. And so the responsibility had come +again to his own door, and could not be passed +on to another. Still again, he saw that the +Jews were acting most hypocritically in the +matter. It was a new thing for them to be +zealous for the honor of Cæsar, and he could +easily see through the mask they wore into +the envy and malice which were the motives +for their conduct. The deeper he went into +the case he discovered only the more reason +for resisting their importunity, and, however, +he looked at it, his plain duty was to set the +prisoner free.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[153]</a></span></p> + +<p>Why then, again we ask, was his perplexity? +The answer is suggested by the taunt of the +Jews, "If thou let this man go thou art not +Cæsar's friend; whosoever maketh himself a +king speaketh against Cæsar." He foresaw +that if he resisted the will of the rulers he +would make them his enemies, and so provoke +them to complain of him to the emperor, who +would then institute an inquiry into the administration +of his office—and that he was +not prepared to face. He had done things +as a governor which would not bear the light, +and so at the crisis of his life he was fettered +by deeds of the past from doing that which +he felt to be the duty of the present. You +may, perhaps, remember that expression of +the prophet, which thus reads in the margin: +"Their doings will not suffer them to turn +unto their God": and that other, which affirms, +concerning Israel: "Their own doings +have beset them about." Now these descriptions +most accurately define the cause of Pilate's +perplexity here. His conduct in the +past had been such that he had not the courage +to take any course which might lead to +an investigation of that. If he could deliver +Christ without provoking that, then he would +most cheerfully do so; but if by delivering +Christ he would provoke that, then Christ +must be given up to the cross. Hence his perplexity +at the first, and hence, also, his yielding +in the end. His past misdeeds had put<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[154]</a></span> +him virtually into the power of those who were +now so eager for the condemnation of the +Christ. On three several occasions his arbitrariness +had been such as all but to instigate +a rebellion among the people, and his cruelty +and contempt for justice, when he had a personal +end to gain, were sure, upon appeal to +the emperor, to be severely punished; so to +save himself from banishment and disgrace, +if not even death, he delivered over Jesus +to the will of the Jews. He wished to do +right in this case more than ever he had +wished before; there was something about it +which in his view made it more important +that he should do right now than ever before; +but through all his past official life he had, +by his enormities and oppressions, been unconsciously +weaving round himself a net, in +the meshes of which he was now inextricably +caught. His guilty conscience made him a +coward at the very time when most of all he +wanted to be brave. He had come to his +"narrow place," where he could turn neither +to the right hand nor to the left, but must face +the naked alternative "yes" or "no"; and +he fell because in his former life, when he +was thinking of no such ordeal, he had sold +himself by his evil deeds into the power of +the enemy.</p> + +<p>Now, what a lesson there is in all this for +us! Men think that they may live for the +time being as they please, and that at a convenient<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[155]</a></span> +venient season they can repent and turn to +God. But the present is conditioning the future, +and making it either possible or the reverse +for us to do right in the future. He who +neglects the laws of health every day, and +lives in intemperance and excess of all kinds, +is only making it absolutely certain that when +fever lays him low he will die, for he has +eaten out the strength of his constitution by +his follies. And, in the same way, he who +sets all morality at defiance in his ordinary +conduct only makes it inevitable that when +his convenient season does come, when his time +of privilege and testing does arrive, he will +fail to rise to the occasion, and be swept away +into perdition. The tenor of our ordinary +life determines how we shall pass through exceptional +and crucial occasions, therefore let +us bring that up to the highest level by doing +everything as unto God, and then we shall +be ready for any emergency.</p> + +<p>Nor let me forget to add here, that in spite +of all his efforts to keep back investigation, +Pilate's day of reckoning with the emperor +did come. The Jews complained of him after +all, in spite of his yielding to them now; and +as the result he was banished, and afterwards, +so tradition says, he committed suicide. Thus +the ordeal and the disgrace came, notwithstanding +all he did to avert them, and he had +not under them the solace which he might +have enjoyed if only he had stood firm on<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[156]</a></span> +this great and memorable occasion. Therefore +let us all, and especially the young, take +to ourselves, as the first lesson from this deeply +interesting history, that we should be careful +not to hamper ourselves for the discharge of +duty in the future by guilt of the present. By +our conduct now we are either coiling cords +around us which shall hold us fast at the very +time when we most desire to be free, or we +are forming and fostering a strength of character +which, through God, will triumph over +every temptation. If "to be weak is to be +miserable," it is no less true that to be guilty +is to be weak. Preserve yourselves, therefore, +from this danger, and seek above all other +things to keep your consciences clean; then +when you will need all your strength for a +crisis, you will not sit, like Pilate here, in +nervous perplexity bemoaning your helplessness +even while you yield to the adversary; +but you will shake the temptation from you +with as much ease as the eagle shakes the dewdrop +from his wing. Keep yourselves pure: +so shall your youth be full of happiness, and +you shall go forth out of it with no encumbering +past to clog the wheels of your endeavor. +How happy he whose youth thus leaves him +with a smile and sends him forth upon the +duties of manhood with a benediction! But +he, how miserable! whose early years heap +bitter maledictions on his head, and push him +forward into active life with a conscience already<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[157]</a></span> +laden with guilt, and a soul as weak +before temptation as a reed is before the wind.</p> + +<p>But while there is thus in this history a +lesson for all time, I think Munkacsy, by the +appearance of his wondrous picture now, has +made it evident that there is also something +in it specially adapted to these modern days. +It is with artists in the choice of their subjects +as it is with ministers in the selection of their +themes. Both alike, consciously and unconsciously, +and most frequently perhaps unconsciously, +are affected by the spirit of their +age. The atmosphere—literary, moral, political, +and religious—which is round about +them, and which they are daily breathing, +does, insensibly to themselves, so influence +them that their thoughts are turned by it into +a channel different from that in which those +of a former generation flowed. Hence, +whether the painter would admit it or not, I +see in this picture, at this juncture, at once a +mirror of the times and a lesson for them. +The question of Pilate, "What shall I do, +then, with Jesus which is called the Christ?" +is preeminently the question of the present +age. No doubt we may say with truth that +it has been the question of all the Christian +centuries, and each one of them has faced it +and solved it after its own fashion. It has +tested the centuries even as it tested Pilate, +and those in which Christ was rejected have +been the darkest in the world's history; while<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[158]</a></span> +those in which He has been hailed as the incarnate +God have been the brightest which +the earth has ever seen, because irradiated +with truth, and justice, and benevolence and +purity. But tho we are always prone to exaggerate +that in the midst of which we are +ourselves, it seems to me that in no one age +since that of the primitive Church has this +jesting question been so prominent as in our +own. All the controversies of our times, social, +philosophical, and theological, lead up +to and find their ultimate hinge in the answer +to this inquiry, "Who is this Jesus Christ?" +If He be a mere man, then there is for us +nothing but uncertainty on any subject, outside +of the domain of the exact sciences; and +we must all become agnostics, holding this +one negative article of belief, that nothing +can be known about anything save that of +which we can take cognizance with the bodily +sense. But if He be incarnate God, then He +brings with Him from heaven the final word +on all subjects concerning which He has +spoken; and tho in His person He is the +mystery of mysteries, yet, at once received, +He becomes forthwith the solution of all mysteries, +and faith in Him is at once the satisfaction +of the intellect and the repose of the +heart. It is perfectly natural, therefore, that +all the controversies of the day should turn +on Him. The lives of Christ which have been +written during the last thirty or forty years<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[159]</a></span> +would make in themselves a very respectable +library; and the cry even of the sceptic is, +"I could get on very well with unbelief, if +I only knew what to make of Christ." Yes, +that is just the difficulty. Christ is here in +the Scriptures a character portrayed in literature; +He was in the world for thirty-three +years, and lived a life exceptional in every +respect, but most of all in the moral and spiritual +departments, so that of Him alone perfection +can be predicated; He has been ever +since a most potent factor in history, for +through His influence all that is pure, and +noble, and exalted, and lovely and of good +report, has come into our civilization. Now, +these things have to be accounted for. If He +was only a man, how shall we explain them? +And if He was more than a man shall we not +take His own testimony as to His dignity and +mission? If we are to be unbelievers, we must +account for Christ on natural principles; but +if we cannot do that, then we must conceive +Him as He claims to be conceived. There is +no alternative. Those in the age who have +the spirit and disposition of Pilate will anew +reject Him! but those who are sincere and +earnest in their inquiries will come ultimately +out into the light, for "if any man be willing +to do his will, he shall know of the doctrine +whether it be of God."</p> + +<p>And what is true of the age, as a whole, is +true also of every individual to whom the gospel<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[160]</a></span> +is proclaimed. For each of us, my hearers, +this is the question of questions, "What +shall I do with Jesus which is called Christ?" +Shall I reject Him and live precisely as if +I had never heard His name? or shall I accept +Him as the Lord from heaven in human +nature, trust in Him as my Savior, and obey +Him as my King? I must do the one or the +other; and yet how many are seeking, like +Pilate, to evade the question? They try to +escape the responsibility of dealing with it as +a direct alternative of yes or no. But as one +has well said, "necessity is laid upon us. The +adversaries of Christ press upon us to give +our verdict against Him. We are troubled +and perplexed, for we have long heard about +Him, and have had each of us his own convictions. +We would still remain neutral. We +try—and try in vain—to escape from the +spirit, the conversation, the literature, the +question of the times. Again and again we +wash our hands. But neither our silence nor +our actions are of any avail; and so we are +found sitting, conscious of the presence and +the claims of our Savior, and, like Pilate, +not daring to look at Him, as we puzzle over +the answer which we must give to the question +that is being forced upon us—Who is +this Jesus Christ?" Perhaps this description +accurately portrays some one here this +morning.</p> + +<p>If so, let me give him one parting word.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[161]</a></span> +It is this: You can not evade the decision, but +be sure that you look at the Christ before you +give Him up. Nothing is so remarkable in +the picture to which I have so often this day +referred as the evident persistency with which +Pilate keeps his eyes from Christ; and few +things are so saddening as to meet with men +who profess to have, and really have, difficulties +about Christ, but who have never read +the gospels or the New Testament with any +attention.</p> + +<p>Let me urge you earnestly, therefore, to +study these gospels and epistles before you +give your voice against the Lord, and I am +very sure that if you ponder them thoroughly +you will soon accept Him. Give over trying +to solve all the difficulties and so-called discrepancies +in the Scriptures which form the +stock-in-trade of the infidel lecturer—all these +are but as dust which he raises that he may +blind your eyes to the really important question, +"Who is Christ?" Settle that, and if +you do, all other difficulties will vanish. Turn +your face to the light, and the shadow will +fall behind you. Look at the Christ before +you give Him up. And remember, if you do +reject Christ, you have still to account for +Him. It is unreasonable for you, if you believe +only in the natural and material, to +leave such a phenomenon as Christ unexplained.</p> + +<p>Yes, and I must add here that if you reject<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[162]</a></span> +Him you must yet account to Him. Go, then, +and ponder this text; yea, may it continue +sounding in your inmost heart until you have +determined to receive and rest upon Him as +your only Savior, and say to Him, like +Thomas, "My Lord and my God."</p> + +<hr class="chap" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163"> </a></span></p> + + + + +<h2>JOHN HALL</h2> + +<h3>LIBERTY ONLY IN TRUTH</h3> + +<hr class="chap" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164"> </a></span></p> + + + + +<h4>BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE</h4> + + +<p>John Hall was born at Market Hill, +County Armagh, Ireland, in 1829. For +many years he was pastor of the Fifth +Avenue Presbyterian Church, New York, +where he had a large and devoted following. +He was of fine physique, and there +was a power in face and voice that at once +commanded his audience. He spoke without +manuscript, and his style was marked +by great sincerity, directness and earnestness. +He died in 1899.</p> + +<hr class="chap" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[165]</a></span></p> + + + + +<h2>JOHN HALL</h2> + +<h3>1829-1899</h3> + +<h4>LIBERTY ONLY IN TRUTH</h4> + +<blockquote> + +<p><em>And I will walk at liberty, for I seek thy precepts.</em>—Psalms +cxix., 45.</p></blockquote> + + +<p>God is the Governor of this world. Some +one may say, that is a very elementary +truth. Even so; there have been long +ages in the history of our race when that truth +was not accepted and when the most intelligent +of our race believed something directly opposed. +There have been multitudes of men, +for example, who believed, like Aristotle, that +matter is eternal. There are multitudes still +who believe that in some way or other nature +governs itself. There is a large class of thinkers +who, without taking the name to themselves, +are practically pantheists, and, like +Spinoza and Fichte and Hegel, persuade +themselves that all is God, as they express it, +and that God is all. You do not need to be +told that the earlier portion of the Old Testament +Scriptures God has given to us that we +might have these illusions banished, and that +we might be made to know that God is the Creator +and the Ruler of all things, that He is +not nature, and nature is not God; that He<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[166]</a></span> +is not to be confounded with the works of His +hands; that He is a distinct, personal and holy +Being, who has created all, and who has a +right, on the ground of creation, even if there +were no other, to be the Ruler of all. It took +long to make men understand this truth, simple +and elementary as it seems to you and to +me.</p> + +<p>When we say that God governs the globe, +we do not mean the mere earthly, solid structure +on which we dwell. We mean that He +governs the inhabitants of it, the communities +and the individuals. "The Lord reigneth, let +the earth rejoice." "The Lord reigneth, let +the nations tremble." "He raiseth up kings +and he putteth them down." He calls into +being Pharaohs that He may show His power +and His glory in relation to them. His providence +is most holy and wise and powerful, +and it is not general merely, it is particular, +extending to all the creatures and to all their +actions. These things we have to keep in +mind in relation to Jehovah.</p> + +<p>Now it would seem, surely, that if a man +believed this his common sense would dictate +to him that, living in a world that God had +made and God rules in every detail, if he +wishes to be happy in it, he must have respect +to the law of Him who has made and who +rules. Common sense indicates that if we live +in a house it is desirable to be on good terms +with the head of the house if we wish to be<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[167]</a></span> +comfortable. Common sense dictates that if +a man is in the employment of others, it is +wise for him to have a right understanding, to +stand well with the head of the department in +which he is engaged. Common sense teaches +us that if we are subjects in a kingdom and +wish to be safe and happy, we must respect +the laws by which the kingdom is ruled. And +we have only to extend this principle, and we +get to the point that was before the Psalmist's +mind when he says: "I will walk at liberty, +for I seek (or, as it is in the revision, without +changing the meaning, 'I have sought') thy +statutes." I am living in Thy world, I am +dependent upon Thee, I have taken pains to +know what Thy will is, that I may do it; and +so I walk at liberty. That is the idea that is +brought to us in the text, and it is easy for +you to see how good and practical that idea is.</p> + +<p>But the question may arise, can we know +the precepts and the statutes that God has +given to us? You do not need to be told that +that is within our reach. God has spoken to +us in this revelation, as He did speak less +articulately in the works of His hands, and +in the instincts and convictions that He produced +in our spirit. We have His revelation +in our hands. We can seek the knowledge +of it. In many instances well-meaning and +right-minded boys, under great difficulties, +have sought education that they may get on +in this world. In many other cases boys have<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[168]</a></span> +had education at their very doors, and have +never sought it, and consequently have been +of little account in the world. Now the difference +is not great, in this aspect of it, between +ordinary secular education and the +spiritual education of which the text gives us +an illustration. Here are God's statutes and +precepts put within our reach. We can search +them, seek them, know them and do them, by +the grace that God is willing to give, or we +can push them aside, ignore and disregard +them, and take our own way, and the result +will be absolute and everlasting failure in our +lives. We can not have this too solemnly +fixt in our thoughts. God has spoken to us. +What shall we do with His word? Shall we +neglect it and pass it by, or shall we take it, +study it, seek it, as the verse expresses it, and +make it the rule of our lives? Jesus Christ +has come down from heaven to live among us, +and has said to our race, "Come unto me and +learn of me"; and there are millions to whom +this message has come and they disregard +and ignore it; they do not come to Him, they +do not learn of Him. Can we wonder if the +Judge should say to them when they appear +at His seat, "I never knew you"? If +you read the First Epistle to the Thessalonians, +you will see pictures of an angry God, +as an avenging fire, in the apostle's description. +On whom does the fire fall? On whom +does the Judge show his indignation? Is it<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[169]</a></span> +upon the misers and the miscreants and the +murderers of the race merely? Oh, no. It is +upon them that "know not God and obey not +the gospel of his Son." Is it any wonder that +the sacred writer should say, "Remember thy +Creator in the days of thy youth"; not merely +remember that there is a God—remember thy +Creator, who made thee and in whose hand +thy fortunes are. Remember in the days of +thy youth, the formative days, the days when +character is being shaped. What is well begun +is half ended. The life that is well begun, +in this way has a guaranty of usefulness and +success. The life that is not begun in this +way has a dark and gloomy prospect before +it. Remember thy Creator. We all know well +what is meant when some one says to us, on +going away from our homes, "Don't forget +your home, don't forget your mother." +We know what that means. And God's +messenger speaks to us in the same tone +when he makes this appeal: Remember thy +Creator; remember His power, remember His +will, remember His statutes, seek His precepts, +and by doing this thou wilt be able to +walk at liberty.</p> + +<p>You may have mere liberty, and not light +and not the liberty of God. You may combine +liberty with means, with power, and with +a certain degree of prosperity; you may combine +it with equality and with fraternity, and +yet not have the true enlightenment. True enlightenment<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[170]</a></span> +comes in the way, indicated in the +text, by the seeking of God's precepts, the +knowing of God's statutes, and this you and I +need to keep in mind. "What is liberty?" +once asked Burke. "What is liberty without +wisdom and without virtue? Such liberty is +the greatest of all possible evils, for it is vice +and folly and madness, without tuition and +without restraint." Mere liberty without other +forces working in the sphere that it opens up, +is only another name for license. "Give me +liberty or give me death," said Patrick Henry—not +because he felt the need of enlightenment. +He had been enlightened by the teaching +of an intelligent Scottish father, by the +preaching of the splendid sermons of Samuel +Davies, and especially by the daily study, +which he kept up to his dying day, of his +Bible. He had been enlightened by these +things. What he craved for himself and for +his fellow men was open space in which, unhindered, +other and mighty influences might +tell upon his fellow men and make the country +what, in the blessing of God, it has become. +Settle this in your minds: Liberty is simply +the freedom for other forces to act, and it is +for you and me who are free, to see what these +forces are, and we never can have any so good +as those which the Psalmist speaks of when he +says that he sought God's precepts, he studied +God's statutes, that he might do them, and so +walk at liberty. We want to walk at liberty.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[171]</a></span> +How can we do it? If we do not thus walk +at liberty, there is only one alternative—stay +in bondage and walk in bondage, moving +about indeed, and apparently free, but with +moral chains binding our natures and our +whole being in bondage to the powers that will +rejoice in our misery and ultimate ruin. It is +to make men understand this that we have +such institutions as we enjoy to-day. For this +end church edifices are reared. For this end +people are invited to come and be regularly +in them and under their influence. For this +end God has been pleased to give us the day of +holy rest. For this purpose the ministry has +been instituted. Our business is to make men +seek and know God's precepts and statutes, +that they may do them and that they may +walk at liberty. "We ministers are for you; +our business is to seek your moral and spiritual +good, your full and complete liberation. +Our business is to enlighten you with the +truth as God has been pleased to reveal it +unto us. You do not come to these churches +for our sakes, to hear us. You do not give +your money that we may be sustained and +upheld. I tell you I would rather sweep the +streets, I would rather carry bricks on my +shoulder to the builder, than be a mere official +person maintained because he can teach so +much and get so many people to hear him. +Brethren, it is that you may be enlightened +and saved with the light of life, that God has<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[172]</a></span> +brought us into the position in which we are +now together. Keep this in your thoughts; +and that you may be enlightened and free, +look upward and not downward, nor around +you. In that statue in our harbor, the light +that will shine is light that comes, I suppose, +from the heart of the earth; but the light that +is to enlighten the world is the light of the +sun, the Sun of Righteousness. See that you +have that shining into your souls, that you +may walk at liberty.</p> + +<p>Having looked at the former part of this +text, namely, what the Psalmist did with a +view to the end, we look at the end at which +he was aiming. He studied God's Word, not +simply that he might have so much intellectual +knowledge. He studied it for practical +uses. He studied God's precepts that he +might obey them. I do not need to remind +you that you and I have advantages greater +than he had, in some important respects. He +had the revelation in part; we have it in its +completeness. He had the preparatory dispensation; +we have the dispensation that +fulfils the promises of the preparatory. He +had the beginning; we have the complement. +We know more than he did. He +wrote these words, "I have sought thy +precepts." He knew of the Paschal Lamb +and of its typical significance; we know the +Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the +world. He knew the Hebrew priest and the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[173]</a></span> +general character of his functions. We know +a High Priest who has passed into the heavens, +Jesus, the Son of God. He knew of the altar +and the victim, and the blood that made typical +atonement; we know of the great sacrifice +on the cross, bringing in a redemption that is +complete and eternal. He knew of a Messiah +that was to come. You, even children in the +Sunday-school to-day, know of that Messiah +risen, risen triumphant, risen a conqueror, +risen for you, risen because He has finished +the work God gave Him to do. If the Psalmist +studied God's will that he might walk at liberty, +how much greater is the obligation upon +us to do the same, and how much greater our +facilities and our encouragement. Let us try, +then, to travel in the Psalmist's steps, and +let us see some, not all, of the forms of liberty +that we can have by compliance with the +divine precepts.</p> + +<p>There is liberty, in the first place, from the +world. I use the word now in the sense in +which it is used so frequently in the Bible—not +merely this round globe or the hundreds +of millions that are upon it—not merely these +millions in that capacity. The world lieth in +the wicked one; the mass of men, that is, do +not know God. They constitute the world of +the New Testament; we can be in bondage to +this world. Natural men are in bondage to +it. They are not at liberty in relation to +that natural world. It is without God; it does<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[174]</a></span> +not ask what His will is. It enquires as to +its own will, and it tries to enforce it. You +sometimes see cliques and coteries and collections +of men insisting at any cost upon carrying +out their own will. This is only the spirit +of the greater world of which they constitute +a section. Sometimes men are in bondage +to the world in this sense, and the mainspring +of their life is to stand well with it, to do what +their set, their society, the world round about +them, wishes them to do. Sometimes the bondage +is aggravated by another feature, viz., +the effort to rise higher, to get upon a more +elevated plane, to get into another set; and, +oh, how aggravated is the bondage under +which many thus live and labor! Freedom +from that is obtained when we walk according +to God's statutes. Believers, the world is not +your master. One is your Master, even Christ, +and we are brethren in Him, and He is reasonable +and kind and just and brotherly, and you +can walk with Him. His favor is enough for +you, His smile satisfies you. Fellowship with +Him is the best society. Let society stigmatize +you, let it stamp its enmity upon you, but +seek God's precepts. If you only have Christ +walking with you, then you walk at liberty. +But as to the life-work in which many are +busy, or trying to get up a little higher socially, +take this precept of the Word, "Godliness +with contentment is great gain"; and +these things, the godliness with the contentment,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[175]</a></span> +will break these clanking chains of insane +and stupid ambition and will prepare +you to walk at liberty. "I am in the place +where God puts me. I am trying to do the +work that God gives to me. I am responsible +to Him. I belong to Him. He is my Father, +Christ is my Brother, heaven is my home. +This I believe on the authority of His word. I +will walk at liberty." Let me commend that +form of true freedom to you.</p> + +<p>There is liberty, in the second place, from +bad ways. Do I need to describe these bad +ways to you? You can not live in the city, you +can not read the newspapers, you can not hear +the gossip, you can not know what is going on +in the circles in which you mingle, without +knowing some of these bad ways. There is the +lover of this world's possessions, so strongly +denounced in Isaiah's prophecies: beginning, +perhaps, with necessary saving, but coming +slowly but steadily to a sordid love of the +thing that is saved, till the whole spirit is mercenary, +and gold is the deity that is practically +worshiped. There is the drunkard, sipping +a little innocently, as he thinks, at the +beginning, then going a little farther, and +secretly, until shame is lost and the victim +is under the power of the drink—degraded, +wretched, irresponsible, not ashamed of himself, +for shame is gone, but an object for which +all are ashamed that are connected with him. +There is the gambler, beginning perhaps with<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[176]</a></span> +what he deemed innocent recreation, and +catching the spirit of the thing till it masters +him, until he flings away all that he has, and +all that he hopes to have, in the chance of recovering +something already lost, till life is a +burden and fortune is gone, and suicide is +perhaps the tragical termination. These are +specimens of the bad ways—marked specimens, +I grant, but still simple specimens. +There is freedom from this when we seek and +do God's statutes—real freedom. We learn +to walk circumspectly; we learn to keep the +heart with all diligence; we learn to hate evil +and to do good; we learn to flee from the +snares that Satan sets for the feet of men. +We walk securely, for we have been taught +of the Spirit to walk with God. Make sure, +dear hearers, that you have this liberty.</p> + +<p>There is liberty from bad memories—bad, +putrid memories. When the corrupt imagination +contemplates indulgences in sin, it often +dwells upon these long before the actual execution +of them, and as they linger in the mind +they photograph themselves upon its surface, +and they stay there. There may be compunction +for the sin, there may be shame +over it, there may be vows against it, +there may be honest purposes to resist and +overcome it, and these purposes to a +good degree carried out; but the horrid, +poisonous memories remain in the soul. +You know what it is to be in a house where<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[177]</a></span> +animal matter is decaying and poisoning +fumes are being scattered up and down. Oh! +the misery of the human mind that is haunted +with the ghosts of bad deeds that have been +done in the past. It is bondage of the keenest +and sorest kind. There is liberty from these +to those who walk in God's statutes, liberty +that can be had nowhere else. "A new heart +will I give you, and a right spirit will I put +within you. I will take away the stony heart +out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart +of flesh." Happy are they to whom this +word was fulfilled in their early youth, and +who in consequence were kept from the sins, +the very recollection of which is sometimes +like the beginning of hell.</p> + +<p>There is bondage to bad associates and bad +associations. In how many instances, in +thoughtlessness, inexperience, under the impulses +of mere feeling, do men become entangled +in connections that mar their lives +and spoil all their happiness—make happiness +practically impossible! I speak what +I know, when I say that there are too many +cases in which boys are practically ruined +where they go as pupils to schools away +from their parents' supervision, thrown into +dependence, in some degree, upon those whom +they call friends, and these friends bad, initiating +them into ways and habits and +modes of thinking and doing, for which they +only want the liberty of later years that they<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[178]</a></span> +may put them into practise, with disgrace, +misery and ruin. Relief from this bondage, +escape from it, these can be had when we seek +God's statutes, when we walk according to His +precepts. Wisdom's ways are pleasantness, +and her paths are peace. There are no bad +habits in them; there are no entangling associations +in them; there are no corrupting and +degrading influences in them. There is +nothing in them that plays upon passion, till +passion, once our idol and our sport, becomes +our ruler and our cruel tyrant. To escape all +these, this is the way: seek God's statutes, that +you may know and do them, and you shall +walk at liberty.</p> + +<hr class="chap" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179"> </a></span></p> + + + + +<h2>BACON</h2> + +<h3>GOD INDWELLING</h3> + +<hr class="chap" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180"> </a></span></p> + + + + +<h4>BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE</h4> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Leonard Woolsey Bacon</span>, Congregational +divine, born in New Haven, Conn., 1830. +He was educated at Yale, from which university +he graduated in 1850. He has +filled the position of pastor in many important +churches and has done much +theological and literary work. Among +other things he edited Luther's "Deutsche +Geistliche Lieder" (New York, 1883), and +wrote "History of American Christianity" +(New York, 1897).</p> + +<hr class="chap" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[181]</a></span></p> + + + + +<h2>BACON</h2> + +<h3><span class="smcap">Born in 1830</span></h3> + +<h4>GOD INDWELLING<a name="FNanchor_6_6" id="FNanchor_6_6"></a><a href="#Footnote_6_6" class="fnanchor">[6]</a></h4> + +<p><em>Thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth +eternity, whose name is Holy: I dwell in the high and +holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and +humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and +to revive the heart of the contrite ones.</em>—Isaiah lvii., +15.</p> + + +<p>Inhabiting eternity; yet making His abode +within a broken heart! It seems as if +we might apprehend either of these +things singly; but both together—how can it +be? The distresses, the wants, the fears, of +life, make us long that indeed it were so. Our +soul crieth out for God, for the living God.</p> + +<p>We cry; but there seems no answer; only +an awful silence. We look upon the outward +facts of life and death, and see the steady, +unswerving march of law—the unbroken, irrefragable +chain of causes and effects—never +yielding nor bending to all our needs, to all +our prayers. And God seems so far, so far +away! We turn the pages of our knowledge +from the physical to the metaphysical, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[182]</a></span> +we come no nearer. Our philosophical, our +theological, yes, our religious meditations +upon the nature and attributes of the infinite +One—the omniscient, the eternal, the unchangeable—set +Him more and more beyond +the reach of our fellowship and prayer. But +all the time, one thing testifies to us of a +heavenly Father that hears and loves and answers, +and that is our ineradicable need. The +cravings of our nature cannot be rebuked by +scientific observation of the constancy of law, +nor by philosophic meditation of the properties +of absolute and infinite being. We need, +we must have, a Father. Our heart and flesh, +our soul, crieth out for the living God.</p> + +<p>In such a strait, there is true comfort in this +word of the Lord by His prophet, in which +the full measure of the difficulty is set forth, +and the solution of it is found in faith.</p> + +<p>It has seemed to me that we need not seek +in vain in the created works of God for helps +to that faith by which we know that the infinite +and eternal God can have fellowship +with us and can dwell within the narrow precincts +of a human heart.</p> + +<p>That sight in visible nature which gives to +us the highest sense of vastness,—the aptest +suggestion of infinity,—is doubtless the aspect +of the starry heavens;—to all of us, ignorant +or learned, poetic or unimaginative. It needs +no diagrams nor distances from a book of +astronomy to tell the lessons of the firmament.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[183]</a></span> +"Their sound is gone out into all the earth, +and their words to the end of the world."</p> + +<p>And yet it is when we come to study the +dimensions of this operation in detail, that +the sense of its vastness grows upon us and +overpowers us. David never could have felt, +as we can feel, the force of his own words:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The moon and the stars which thou hast ordained,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">What is man that thou art mindful of him,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And the son of man that thou visitest him!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>They are like the chariot of Ezekiel's vision, +"so high that it was dreadful." It seems a +fearful thing to have to do with such magnitudes; +and when we hear of scholars in their +observatories measuring the distances among +the stars, it overcomes us with a giddy feeling, +as when we see men clambering on church +spires, or crossing the East River on a strand +of wire. A row of figures on a slate does seem +such a frail support on which to go marching +through the starry spaces! We almost shudder +when we see human science springing +clear of the narrow boundaries of the earth, +and on such attenuated threads of calculation +venturing boldly forth to other planets, and +thence over chasms of space so vast that it +is easiest to call them infinite, until he reaches +the fixt stars. No longer content with numbering +and naming the host of heaven, and +marshaling them in constellations, this tiny<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[184]</a></span> +creature must take upon himself to scrutinize +their constitution, must weigh their floating +bulk, must</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Speed his flight from star to star,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">From world to luminous world, as far<br /></span> +<span class="i3">As the universe rears his flaming wall,"<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="noind">and, as if bearing in this amazing flight the +measuring-rod which once the prophet saw in +an angel's hand, must measure the paths +along which the planets travel, and tell in +human language the distances on the chart +of heaven.</p> + +<p>And how human language staggers under +the burden thus laid upon it! We begin with +attempting to state the least of these distances +in numbers of a unit of earthly distance, but, +when we speak of some of our near neighbors +in celestial space as being twenty trillions of +English miles away, the words will not hold +the meaning—they carry no conception to the +mind. They are good to cipher with, but that +is all they are good for. We try to invent a +new form of speech, and for our unit we take +the distance which a cannon-ball, if retaining +the velocity with which it leaves the gun, +would travel in twenty-four hours, and say +that, at this rate of speed, it would take so +many months, and years, and centuries, to +reach such and such of the nearer stars. But +this, too, is a clumsy failure; and we resort, +at last, to the heavens themselves for a standard<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[185]</a></span> +of measurement, and find it in the velocity +of light. It shoots from the sun to the +earth, a distance of ninety-two millions of +miles, in eight minutes and seven seconds. +And we attempt to represent the distance of +certain of the stars by stating how many +years, how many hundred years, how many +thousand years, it takes a ray of their light +to reach the earth. But it is all in vain. We +commonly speak of imagination as outstripping, +in its speed, the slow-paced reason; but +here it is the reason that has outrun the +imagination. From these unspeakable tracts +of space, over which the reason of man has +not hesitated to go,</p> + +<p class="center"> +"Sounding along its dim and perilous way," +</p> + +<p class="noind">the imagination shrinks back and refuses to +follow. We know things which we cannot +conceive. In presence of such stupendous +magnitudes,</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Imagination's utmost stretch<br /></span> +<span class="i3">In wonder dies away."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="noind">We can only bow with awe in the presence +of things which the calmest computations have +revealed, and seizing the words kindled on +the lips of inspiration, sing aloud in worship:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"O Lord, how great are they works!<br /></span> +<span class="i1">In wisdom hast thou made them all!"</span> +</div></div> + +<p>I have shown you what is wonderful. Come +now and I will show you what is more wonderful.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[186]</a></span> +For I will show you these infinite +spaces of the sky, and the glory of them, and +the innumerable host of starry worlds, gathered +up in a moment of time, within the tiny +pupil of a human eye. It is wonderful that +the heavens and the host of them should be +so great; but that, being so great, they should +be able to become so infinitely little,—this +passes all wonder. The shepherd stretched +upon the ground amid his sheep gazes up into +the starry depths, and finds them wonderful; +but never thinks how far more wonderful than +the heavens which he beholds is himself beholding +them. As he lies gazing, long lines +of light, from planet and star and constellation, +come stretching on through the infinite +void spaces, to center on the lenses of his +drowsy eye. Side by side, and all at once, +yet never twisted or confused, these ten thousand +rays of different light enter the little +aperture in the center of the eye which we +call the pupil. There they cross, in a point +which has no dimensions, and separate again, +and paint in microscopic miniature upon the +little surface of the retina, behind the eyeball, +the inverted facsimile of the visible heavens. +There, in the ante-chamber of the brain, +marches Orion, with his shining baldric and +his jeweled sword; there glow Arcturus and +Sirius, and the steadfast North Star; there +pass the planets to and fro; and the far-off +nebulæ are painted there with suffused and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[187]</a></span> +gentle radiance—all the heavens and the glory +of them gathered in that slender filament of +light, threaded through that tiny aperture, +painted by their own rays upon that little +patch of nervous network, apprehended, felt, +known through and through by that finite +human mind. How far stranger and sublimer +a thing is this than the mere bulk of the +worlds, or the mere chasms of void space in +which they hang weltering!</p> + +<p>By this sublime fact of God's visible creation, +we are led on to apprehend and feel the +sublimest of the glories of God Himself, set +forth in the prophet's words,—that He whose +lifetime is infinite duration, whose dwelling-place +is infinite space,—He who before the +earth and the world were made was no +younger, neither will be older when they are +all consumed,—whose presence reaches out to +the farthest fixt star that eye or telescope +has ever described floating upon the far verge +of the universe, and occupies beyond in all +the orbits of worlds yet undiscovered, and +still beyond in the regions of space where is +naught but the possibility of future worlds, +and fills all this immensity to repletion,—that +this "high and lofty One that inhabiteth +eternity" should enter into some poor, crusht +and broken spirit, that trembles at the very +whisper of His voice, and should make the +narrow recesses of that heart His abode, His +home. This is the mystery and glory of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[188]</a></span> +Godhead,—not alone that He should be infinite, +eternal, immortal, invisible, but that +being all these, He should yet be apprehended +by the little mind of a man, and call Himself +that man's Friend and Comforter and Father.</p> + +<p>For it is not more evident that the tiny +pupil of human eye can take in the expanses +and abysses of the heavens, than it is that +the little soul of man can receive into itself +the infinite God.</p> + +<p>I. Man receives God into himself by the intellect. +We trifle with the facts of our own +consciousness, if we suffer the theological description +of God as incomprehensible to divert +us from the fact that our minds are made for +nothing more expressly than for this, that they +should receive God. The lowest rudiments of +the knowledge of the simplest forms of matter +are the beginnings of the knowledge of +God. If we could remember, you and I, now +that we are grown, all that came to us in +infancy—the first struggles of the childish +mind with the questions that we are not done +with yet, we should see how soon the knowledge +of God comes to the little one. Beyond +the cradle in which it wakes up to the wonders +of a new day is the nursery, and beyond +the nursery is the house, and beyond the +house is the garden, and beyond the garden +there lies all the world, and beyond the world +shuts down the sky with its stars, and beyond +the sky—what? "Tell me, father—tell me,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[189]</a></span> +mother, what is there beyond the sky?" And, +according to your knowledge or your ignorance, +your faith or your unbelief, you may +tell the little questioner of heaven, or of infinities +of other worlds, or of infinite waste +room and empty space, and he will believe +you. But attempt to tell him that beyond is +nothing, and not even room for anything, +and will he believe you? He may seem to believe +you, but it is impossible that he really +should believe. The infant mind—any mind—rejects +it as impossible. It cannot live in +anything less than infinite space. It stifles. +It leaps up and beats its wings against any +bars with which you would cage it in, but that +it will break through and take possession of +its inheritance.</p> + +<p>And as with infinite extent, so with infinite +duration. How well I remember, as a very +little child, when men were talking of the +end of the world, and the great comet +stretched amain across the sky, and men's +hearts were failing them for fear, how the +thought of infinite duration prest in, inexorably, +on my soul! Come judgment day, come +final conflagration, come end of all material +things, come cessation and extinction of all +angels, all souls, all sentient creatures, still +this could not be the end. Eternity must +needs go on and on, tho there were never an +event or thought to mark its movement. +There cannot be an end.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[190]</a></span></p> + +<p>They err, not measuring the import of their +own arguments, who tell us, in that pride of +not-knowing which is so high uplifted beyond +any pride of knowledge, that the very form +of the word infinite marks it as the sign of a +thing inconceivable, being a mere negation. +Nay, verily, it is the word end, limit, cessation, +that is the negative word, having no +meaning except as the negation of continuance; +and infinite is the negation of this negation—a +thing positive, affirmative, real.</p> + +<p>So, then, it is not the idea of infinity to +which the human mind is unfitted. The mind +is so made that it cannot help receiving that. +The incredible, inconceivable idea is the idea +of absolute end. So far is the idea of infinity +from being inconceivable, that it is just impossible +to thrust the conception out of the +mind. And with the conception of eternity, +there rushes into the thoughtful spirit at once, +the awful and lovely conception of "that high +and lofty One who inhabiteth eternity, whose +name is Holy." By such a wonder of creation +is it, that He who made the little ball of +the human eye so that it can take in the heavens +and the earth, has made the petty intellect +of man so that it can take in the knowledge +of the infinite God.</p> + +<p>II. But, secondly, it is even a greater wonder +than this, that the infinite God, whom the +intellect has conceived, draws near for a more +intimate society with His creature, and enters<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[191]</a></span> +the heart of man through the gateway of his +affections. I say a greater wonder; for it +must be confest that this ideal of the intellect, +this center in which all infinite attributes inhere, +does by His very majesty so overawe the +heart that we shrink away from Him. By +every new perfection of His nature, that +grows upon our apprehension; by His awful +power as the Almighty; by His perfect knowledge +as the All-wise; by His unswerving +steadfastness as the Faithful and True—the +Immutable; by the very infinitude of His nature, +He is withdrawn farther and farther +from the possibility of being counted among +those humble objects on which the tendrils of +a human heart are able to lay hold. How, for +instance, shall this Inhabitant of eternity, +whose name is Holy, be well-pleased with His +petty creature who has dared withstand His +perfect law, and looks shrinking toward the +throne of infinite Majesty, fearing and crying, +"Unclean! unclean!" How shall any +prayer that we can frame bring arguments +to bear upon the Mind that knows the end +from the beginning, and to whom there is not +a word upon our lips, but lo! He knoweth it +altogether? How can any pitiful plight into +which we may fall move the compassion of +Him who is immutable, and under whose benign +government even the pains and severities +that befall His creatures are wrought into +a plan of common beneficence to the whole?<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[192]</a></span> +These are questions which the awe-struck intellect, +gazing upward at the infinite attributes +that adorn the name which is holy, puts +to the yearning heart, which, with all the +craving of its love, with all the outstretching +of its need, gropes after a God to worship, to +love, to pray to, if haply it may find Him. +And the heart cannot answer back the intellect +with arguments of language. But love +contains more reason than many arguments; +and the strong instincts of affection and devotion +with which the humble and contrite heart +reaches out after the love and personal friendship +of an infinite Creator are themselves an +argument that God will not refuse Himself +to the affections which He has Himself implanted. +The hunger and thirst of our hearts +for God are a promise from Him that they +shall be filled. He cannot deny Himself.</p> + +<p>The very arguments by which we climb to +the knowledge of the infinite Spirit are like +mountains that separate us from any relation +with him of childlike prayer and mutual love. +But a trustful confidence can say to these +mountains, "Be ye removed and be ye cast +into the sea," and it shall be done.</p> + +<p>Have you ever pondered that dark mystery +of human nature, the origin of the frightful +idolatries of India? It seems to be proved +that they had their beginning, not (as the +prepossessions of modern science would suggest) +through development from some form<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[193]</a></span> +of fetishism baser and coarser still, but by +degradation from the most refined and abstract +speculations on the infinity, the spirituality, +and the immutability of God. No +subtler metaphysics is taught to-day in the +lecture-rooms of Yale and Princeton than was +taught long centuries ago by Hindoo sages, +enthroning their supreme divinity in the everlasting, +impassive repose of the unconditioned, +far beyond the reach of affection, sympathy +or prayer, until the needy millions cried out, +stifling, famishing, "Give us a God to love, +to worship, to pray to!" and, for lack of answer, +betook them to the forest or the quarry +or the mine, to the carver and the smith, and +made them gods that were no gods. So little +can argument and reason hold us back in +times when the stress of life comes down upon +us, and the cravings of the soul grow strong!</p> + +<p>I am bringing to the altar of God my offering—my +poor little offering of thankfulness +and prayer. Here have I my little bundle +of anxieties, cares, troubles,—it may be the +concerns of a nation in fear and perplexity; +it may be the distress and terror of some +sorely afflicted little household; it may be the +secret of bitterness of some humble and contrite +spirit; in any case, a matter how infinitely +small when measured by the scale of +immensity and eternity; but oh, how great a +thing to me! And there meets me, in the +way, a philosopher. "And what, forsooth,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[194]</a></span> +have you there? Show it me, now." And I +unroll before Him my little bundle of griefs, +of cares, of pains, of sickness, of fears, of +forebodings,—here a handful of myrrh from +a troubled heart, and there a sprig of frankincense +from a grateful spirit. "And this, then, +is what you would bring to lay before the +infinite, the eternal, the omniscient, the unchangeable +God!" And each great title smites +upon my heart with discouragement and +dismay. "This is what you would bring to +Him in prayer and deprecation! But do you +not know that all this is a part of a perfect +system?—that it is all fixt by the laws of +nature, which no prayer can change or suspend +without upsetting the constitution of +the universe. You would lay before God your +wretched plight to move His pity? Tush! +Did He not know it all a hundred thousand +ages ago, or ever the earth was?" And I cannot +gainsay Him, and I cannot cease to pray. +But by and by the philosopher himself comes +face to face with some of the overwhelming +things in human life and human death. He +hangs with tears and wringing of hands over +some cradleful of childish anguish, and +shrinks from what the laws of nature, the +system of the universe, are doing there—so +pitiless, so deaf to prayer, so blind to agony; +and he looks away, and looks up, and cries, +"My God, my God!" And his reason is not +one whit the less true, because now, at last,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[195]</a></span> +his love and faith are also true and strong. +The awful wonder of God's unchangeable infinity +abides; but out of cloud and darkness +breaks forth, oh, what light of fatherly love! +And the bewildered soul sings:—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i4">And can this mighty King<br /></span> +<span class="i6">Of glory condescend?<br /></span> +<span class="i4">And will He write His name<br /></span> +<span class="i6">My Father, and my Friend?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I love His name! I love His word!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Join all my powers and praise the Lord!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>And now behold a mystery—the mystery of +godliness, without controversy great, manifest +in the flesh! That He may come over these +mountains of helpless separation, that we may +be helped to know, to love, to trust that which +is far too vast for the reach of our clinging +affections to clasp, what wonders of condescending +tenderness will not our Father do! +There draweth near to us One having the likeness +of man, but glorious with an unearthly +glory, as of the only-begotten of the Father, +full of grace and truth. He stands beside us +in our daily cares, our household joys and +griefs, our business troubles and anxieties, our +national fears and sorrows. He shares our +temptations. He is touched with the feeling +of our infirmities. He carries our sorrows. +He bears our sickness. He dies our death. +How easy to love Him, to come near to Him, +to trust Him! Being lifted up, how doth<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[196]</a></span> +He draw all men unto Him! And what mean +those wonderful words of His, telling of His +intimacy, His sonship, His oneness with the +invisible and eternal God? Could it be, perhaps, +that such an one might bring us nearer +to the inaccessible Light—might help us to +draw nigh as seeing Him who is invisible? +Oh, Master, show us the Father and it sufficeth +us! And hear now His gracious words: +"He that believeth on me believeth on him +that sent me." "He that hath seen me hath +seen the Father also." Thus the high and +lofty One, who hath wonderfully entered into +our narrow understanding, cometh also into +our heart, and draweth us to His own bosom +"with the chords of love, with the bands of +a man."</p> + +<p>III. Finally, with a true spiritual intercourse +and converse, which no man can define, +which is as the viewless wind that men know +altho they see it not, and feel its quickening +and refreshment, altho they cannot tell +whence it cometh nor whither it goeth, God +entereth into our spirits, "not to sojourn, but +to abide with us," and we become the temples +of the Holy Ghost.</p> + +<hr class="chap" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197"> </a></span></p> + + + + +<h2>JOSEPH PARKER</h2> + +<h3>A WORD TO THE WEARY</h3> + +<hr class="chap" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198"> </a></span></p> + + + + +<h4>BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE</h4> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Joseph Parker</span> was born at Hexham-on-Tyne, +England, in 1830. He was a prodigious +worker, writer, and preacher. His +"The People's Bible," in twenty-eight +large volumes, a popular commentary on +the Scriptures, is his greatest work. To +a naturally energetic personality he added +great originality and resourcefulness. He +gave much time to the preparation of +sermons, reading them aloud as he wrote +in order to test their effect upon the ear. +A strong personal quality pervaded all his +preaching. "If I have not seen Him myself," +he said, "I cannot preach Him." In +lectures to students he gave much valuable +advice gathered from the storehouse of his +own varied experience. He gave particular +attention to the use of the voice. "It +is not enough," he said, "that you be +heard; you must be effective as well as +audible; you must lighten and thunder +with the voice; it must rise and fall like +a storm at times; now a whisper, now a +trumpet, now the sound of many waters. +There is an orator's voice, and there is a +bellman's. The auctioneer talks; the orator +speaks." Dr. Parker's sermons are +published in numerous volumes. He died +in 1902.</p> + +<hr class="chap" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[199]</a></span></p> + + + + +<h2>JOSEPH PARKER</h2> + +<h3>1830-1902</h3> + +<h4>A WORD TO THE WEARY<a name="FNanchor_7_7" id="FNanchor_7_7"></a><a href="#Footnote_7_7" class="fnanchor">[7]</a></h4> + +<p><em>The Lord God hath given me the tongue of the learned, +that I should know how to speak a word in season to +him that is weary.</em>—Isaiah 1., 4.</p> + + +<p>The power of speaking to the weary is +nothing less than a divine gift. As +we see the divinity in our gifts shall +we be careful of them, thankful for them: +every gift seems to enshrine the giver, God. +But how extraordinary that this power of +speaking to the weary should not be taught +in the schools. It is not within the ability of +man to teach other men how to speak to the +weary-hearted, the wounded in spirit, the sore +in the innermost feelings of the being. But +can we lay down directions about this and +offer suggestions? Probably so, but we do +not touch the core of the matter. There is +an infinite difference between the scholar and +the genius. The scholar is made, the genius +is inspired. Information can be imparted, +but the true sense, the sense that feels and +sees God, is a gift direct from heaven.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[200]</a></span></p> + +<p>It is a common notion that anybody can +sing. Why can you sing? Why, because I +have been taught. That is your mistake. You +can sing mechanically, exactly, properly, with +right time, right tune, but really and truly +you can not sing. Here is a man with his +music and with the words; he sings every note, +pronounces every word, goes through his lesson, +finishes his task, and nobody wants to +hear him any more. Another man takes up +the same music, the same words, and the same +hearers exclaim, "Oh, that he would go on +for ever!" How is that?—the words exactly +the same, the notes identical—how? Soul, +fire, ever-burning, never consuming, making +a bush like a planet. The great difficulty in +all such cases is the difficulty of transferring +to paper a proper or adequate conception of +the power of the men who thus sway the human +heart. There are some men whose biographies +simply belie them, and yet every sentence +in the biography is true in the letter; +but the biography is little else than a travesty +and a caricature, because the power was personal, +it was in the face, in the voice, in the +presence, in the gait, in the touch—an incommunicable +power; the hem of the garment +trembled under it, but no biographer could +catch it in his scholarly ink.</p> + +<p>Very few ministers can enter a sick chamber +with any probability of doing real and +lasting good. They can read the Bible, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[201]</a></span> +they can pray, and yet, when they have gone, +the room seems as if they had never been +there. There is no sense of emptiness or desolation. +Other men, probably not so much +gifted in some other directions, will enter the +sick room, and there will be a light upon the +wall, summer will gleam upon the windowpane, +and angels will rustle in the air, and +it will be a scene of gladness and a vision of +triumph. How is that? The Lord God hath +given me the tongue of the learned that I +might know how—<em>how</em> to speak a word in +season to him that is weary. The Lord God +hath not only given me a word to say, but +hath given me learning to teach me how to +speak it. Place the emphasis upon the how, +and then you develop all the mystery, all the +tender music, all the infinite capacity of +manner.</p> + +<p>We may say the right word in the wrong +tone; we may preach the gospel as if it were +a curse. The common notion is that anybody +can go into the Sunday-school and teach +the young. We sometimes think that it +would be well if a great many persons left +the Sunday-school all over the world. Teach +the young—would God I had that great gift, +to break the bread for the children, and to +be able to lure and captivate opening minds, +and to enter into the spirit of the words—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Delightful task! to rear the tender thought,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">To teach the young idea how to shoot."<br /></span> +</div></div> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[202]</a></span></p> +<p class="noind">It requires to be father and mother and sister +and nurse and genius to speak to the young. +They may hear you and not care for you: +they may understand your words, and be repelled +by your spirit. You require the tongue +of the learned to know how to speak, and that +tongue of the learned is not to be had at +school, college, university—it is not included +in any curriculum of learning—it is a gift +divine, breathing an afflatus, an inspiration—the +direct and distinct creation of God, as is +the star, the sun. The speaker, then, is Jesus +Christ, the Son of God, the representative of +the Father, the incarnate Deity—He it is +who is charged with the subtle learning; He +it is whose lips tremble with the pathos of this +ineffable music.</p> + +<p>Tho the gift itself is divine, we must remember +that it is to be exercised seasonably. +The text is, "that I should know how to speak +a word in season." There is a time for everything. +It is not enough to speak the right +word, it must be spoken at the right moment. +Who can know when that is! We can not be +taught. We must feel it, see it hours beyond: +nay, must know when to be silent for the whole +twenty-four hours and to say, "To-morrow, +at such and such a time, we will drop that +sentence upon the listening ear." "The day +after to-morrow, he will probably be in circumstances +to admit of this communication +being delivered with sympathy and effect."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[203]</a></span> +How few persons know the right time—the +right time in conversation. Some people are +never heard in conversation tho they are talking +all the time. They talk so unseasonably, +they talk when other people are talking; they +can not wait; they do not know how to come +in along the fine line of silence: they do not +understand the German expression "Now an +angel has passed," and they do not quickly +enough follow in his wake. Consequently, tho +chattering much they are saying nothing—tho +their words be multitudinous, the impression +they make is a blank.</p> + +<p>I have a ripe seed in my hand. As an agriculturist +I am going to sow it. Any laborer in +the field can tell me that I should be acting +foolishly in sowing it just now. Why? "It +is out of season," the man says. "There is +a time for the doing of that action: I will tell +you when the time returns—do it then, and +you may expect a profitable result of your +labor."</p> + +<p>Then I will change the character and be a +nurse, and I will attend to my patient (perhaps +I will over attend to him—some patients +are killed by over nursing), and I will give +the patient this medicine—it is the right medicine. +So it is, but you are going to give it +at the wrong time, and if you give the medicine +at the wrong time, tho itself be right, the +hour being wrong you will bring suffering +upon the patient, and you yourself will be involved<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[204]</a></span> +in pains and penalties. Thus we touch +that very subtle and sensitive line in human +life, the line of refined discrimination. You +may say "I am sure I told him." You are +right—you did tell him and he did not hear +you. You may reply, "I am perfectly confident +I delivered the message,—I preached the +exact words of the gospel." So you did, but +you never got the hearing heart, your manner +was so unsympathetic, so ungentle, so +cruel (not meant to be—unconsciously so), that +the man never understood it to be a gospel. You +spoilt the music in the delivery, in the giving +of the message. The Lord God giveth the +tongue of the learned, that he to whom it is +given may know how to speak—how to speak +the right word—how to speak the right word +at the right point of time. You want divine +teaching in all things, in speech not least.</p> + +<p>This is a curious word to find in the Bible. +Does the Bible care about weary people? We +have next to no sympathy with them. If a +man be weary, we give him notice to quit: if +he ask us to what place he can retire, we tell +him that it is his business not ours. Now the +tenderness of this Book is one of the most +telling, convincing arguments on behalf of +its inspiration, and its divine authority. This +Book means to help us, wants to help us, it +says, "I will try to help you, never hinder +you: I will wait for you, I will soften the wind +into a whisper, I will order the thunder to be<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[205]</a></span> +silent, I will quiet the raging sea; I will wait +upon you at home, in solitude, at midnight, +anywhere—fix the place, the time, yourself, +and when your heart most needs me I will be +most to your heart." Any book found in den, +in gutter, that wants to do this, should be received +with respect. The purpose is good: if +it fail, it fails in a noble object.</p> + +<p>Everywhere in this Book of God we find +a supreme wish to help man. When we most +need help the words are sweeter than the +honeycomb. When other books are dumb, +this Book speaks most sweetly. It is like a +star, it shines in the darkness, it waits the +going down of the superficial sun of our transient +prosperity, and then it breaks upon us +as the shadows thicken. This is the real greatness +of God: he will not break the bruised +reed. Because the reed is bruised, therefore +the rude man says he may break it. His argument +in brief is this: "If the reed were strong, +I should not touch it, but seeing that it is +bruised what harm can there be in completing +the wound under which it is already suffering? +I will even snap it and throw the sundered +parts away." That is the reasoning of the +rude man—that is the vulgar view of the case. +The idea of the healing is the idea of a creator. +He who creates also heals. Herein we see +God's estimate of human nature: if He cared +only for the great, the splendid, the magnificent, +the robust, and the everlasting, then<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[206]</a></span> +He would indeed be too like ourselves. The +greatness of God and the estimate which He +places upon human nature are most seen in +all these ministrations in reference to the +weak and the weary and the young and the +feeble and the sad. Made originally in the +image of God, man is dear to his Maker, tho +ever so broken. Oh, poor prodigal soul with +the divinity nearly broken out of thee, +smashed, bleeding, crushed, all but in hell—while +there is a shadow of thee outside perdition, +He would heal thee and save thee. Thou +art a ruin, but a grand one,—the majestic +ruin of a majestic edifice, for knowest thou +not that thou wast the temple of God?</p> + +<p>When we are weary, even in weariness, God +sees the possibility of greatness that may yet +take place and be developed and supervene in +immortality. How do we talk? Thus: "The +survival of the fittest." It is amazing with +what patience and magnanimity and majestic +disregard of circumstances we allow people +to die off. When we hear that thousands have +perished, we write this epitaph on their white +slate tombstones: "The survival of the fittest +required the decay of the weakest and the +poorest." We pick off the fruit which we +think will not come to perfection. The gardener +lays his finger and thumb upon the tree, +and he says, "This will not come to much"—he +wrenches the poor unpromising piece of +fruit off the twig and throws it down as useless.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[207]</a></span> +In our march we leave the sick and +wounded behind. That is the great little, the +majestic insignificant, the human contradiction. +We go in for things that are fittest, +strongest, most promising, healthy, self-complete, +and therein we think we are wise. God +says, "Not a lamb must be left out—bring +it up: not a sick man must be omitted: not +a poor publican sobbing his 'God be merciful +to me a sinner' must be omitted from the +great host. Bring them all in, sick, weary, +wounded, feeble, young, illiterate, poor, insignificant, +without name, fame, station, force—all +in: gather up the fragments that nothing +be lost." Let us go to that Shepherd—He +will spare us and love us. When our poor +strength gives out, He will not set His cruel +heel upon us and kill us, He will gather us +in His arms and make the whole flock stand +still till He has saved the weakest one.</p> + +<p>Did we but know the name for our pain we +should call it Sin. What do we need, then, +but Christ the Son of God, the Heart of God, +the Love of God? He will in very deed give +us rest. He will not add to the great weight +which bows down our poor strength. He will +give us grace, and in His power all our faintness +shall be thought of no more. Some of +us know how dark it is when the full shadow +of our sin falls upon our life, and how all the +help of earth and time and man does but +mock the pain it can not reach. Let no man<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[208]</a></span> +say that Christ will not go so low down as to +find one so base and vile as he. Christ is calling +for thee; I heard His sweet voice lift itself +up in the wild wind and ask whither thou +hadst fled, that He might save thee from death +and bring thee home. There is no wrath in +His face or voice, no sword is swung by His +hand as if in cruel joy, saying, "Now at last +I have My chance with you." His eyes gleam +with love: His voice melts in pity: His words +are gospels, every one. Let Him but see thee +sad for sin, full of grief because of the wrong +thou hast done, and He will raise thee out +of the deep pit and set thy feet upon the rock.</p> + +<hr class="chap" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209"> </a></span></p> + + + + +<h2>McKENZIE</h2> + +<h3>THE ROYAL BOUNTY</h3> + +<hr class="chap" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210"> </a></span></p> + + + + +<h4>BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE</h4> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Alexander McKenzie</span> was born at New +Bedford, Mass., in 1830, and graduated +from Harvard in 1859. Since 1867 he has +been pastor of the First Congregational +Church, Cambridge, Mass. His voice is +rich, full and sympathetic, and his pulpit +style that of one man talking earnestly +and directly to another, there being no attempt +at oratorical effect. He is to-day +probably the most acceptable preacher at +Harvard, and the leading Congregational +minister in New England. The discourse +reprinted here is from his volume "A +Door Opened," and has been noted as one +of the greatest sermons of the century.</p> + +<hr class="chap" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[211]</a></span></p> + + + + +<h2>McKENZIE</h2> + +<h3><span class="smcap">Born in 1830</span></h3> + +<h4>THE ROYAL BOUNTY<a name="FNanchor_8_8" id="FNanchor_8_8"></a><a href="#Footnote_8_8" class="fnanchor">[8]</a></h4> + +<p><em>And King Solomon gave to the Queen of Sheba all +her desire, whatsoever she asked, besides that which +Solomon gave her of his royal bounty. So she turned +and went to her own land, she and her servants.</em>—1 +Kings x., 13.</p> + + +<p>The Queen of Sheba came from the uttermost +part of the earth to hear the +wisdom of Solomon. She was amazed +at all that she had heard, and delighted with +all that she saw, and confest that after the +generous rumors that had reached her in her +distant home the half had not been told her. +She brought her present to him, as was the +custom of the times; and when she went away +she asked a gift of him, and history says that +the king gave her all that she desired; and +that, having given her everything of which she +had thought, he added something more of his +own thought. He gave her this, not because +she had desired it, but because he had desired +it; not for her heart's seeking, but out of his +heart's wishing to bestow. This is the simple<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[212]</a></span> +record: "And King Solomon gave to the +Queen of Sheba all her desire, whatsoever she +asked, besides that which Solomon gave her of +his royal bounty." These last words describe +the added gift, and this was doubtless the best +of all; that upon which she would think with +the greatest pleasure, and of which she would +speak with the greatest pride. The word +"royal" is well chosen, for we think of something +which is great when we apply this term +to it, as we speak of a royal deed, royal magnificence, +royal benevolence, royal bounty. We +readily approve the action of the king, for it +is this excess of giving, beyond that which is +demanded of us, which makes the real generosity. +We are in the habit ourselves, so far as +we are generous at all, of reaching beyond the +real necessities and requests of our friends, and +giving out of the largeness of our hearts. It is +this excess which commands the high price. It +is the added, extraordinary beauty of a painting +which enhances its worth. Some pictures +are sold by the square yard, and some by the +inch. It is that which genius adds which is the +royal bounty. It marks the difference between +genius and talent. To be what we must, and +to do what we must, is narrow and uninteresting. +The man who is just, and no more, wins +our praise for his integrity, but not our regard +for his liberality. There are some men +who would on no account have their measures +in the slightest degree too small, but would be<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[213]</a></span> +quite as careful not to have them too large. +There is no reason why justice should not be +combined with charity, and a strict regard for +the legal demands which are made upon us +with the excess out of a free heart which will +make our justice beautiful. I saw in a fine +country town a tall, graceful tree which cast +its pleasant shade upon the path, and I +marked that men had fastened upon it an +iron frame which held a lamp that gave out +its light upon the path. The tree was not +the less a tree that it added the light, and +the lamp was not less a lamp because it belonged +to the tree. I came afterward and +found that the bark of the tree had grown up +around the iron where it was fastened to it, +till the frame and lamp were fairly incorporated +in the tree itself. It is easy thus to +enlarge our life, adding beauty to strength, +giving what our heart desires to give to that +which Sheba asks at our hands. This thought +is strongly expressed by St. Paul, "Scarcely +for a righteous man," the man who does exactly +what he ought to do, and nothing more, +"will one die." Yet peradventure, for a +good man, who does all he ought to do, and +adds something because he wants to do it, some +would even give their life. This man appeals +to our heart which is ready to respond. The +best things are indeed only to be given in this +way. They can not be bought. They can not +be had for the asking; such things as confidence,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[214]</a></span> +and friendship, and courtesy, which +no statute can demand, but which the royal +heart delights to give; and there is a like royalty +which is able to receive and prize the +gift.</p> + +<p>This is God's way, to whom all life is but +the expression of his heart. We rejoice continually +in his bountiful goodness. What is +the need of flowers? He could have made a +strong and honest earth which would take in +the seed and give it out in harvest, and thus +we could live; but when He had made the +earth substantial, useful as it is, He added +flowers, because He wished to give them, was +delighted to look upon them, and knew how +happy we should be who saw them blossom by +the roadside. There is no need of birds. The +world would go its way, the seasons would +follow one another, the sun would rise and +set, the forest trees would reach up toward +the clouds, without them. God made all this, +and then filled the quiet woods with forms of +beauty, and changed silence into songs. Even +heaven itself has more than we should have +looked for or asked for. We might have had +a good delightful heaven, without pain or +sorrow or sighing, without death, and such +a heaven we have. But in the vision of the +Apocalypse, which only dimly sees the heavenly +reality, its streets are covered with gold, +as it were transparent glass; its gates are +pearl, and the strong walls, which can not be<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[215]</a></span> +moved, glisten with jewels. So it might have +been with the arrangement of this world. We +might have had men to care for us, women +to nurture us, fathers to work for us, a society +whose process might move on with industry +and safety from year to year. But God has +added the richer delights of love and sympathy, +of all that we name friend and friendship. +It is in the same way that He frames +His ordinances for us. We could have had all +days alike, but when He had made six good +days He added a seventh which should be +wearied by no work, wherein the soul should +be at leisure to live with itself in quietness, +and worship God. He might have supplied +all our wants in the course of nature, bringing +His gifts to our door with regularity, and we +should have lived our appointed time; but He +does more than this. He lets us thank Him +when we take our daily bread, and blesses +the bread with the love which gives it. He +even lets us tell Him what we wish, and to +our wishes He gives patient heed. He might +have left us to conscience and experience, in +the light of nature to frame our character +and our hope, but to these He has added the +thought of other men, the revelation of His +wisdom by His saints, the gift of His spirit to +our spirit, to be in us a continual light.</p> + +<p>There is a very good expression of God's +way of dealing with us in a line of the twenty-third +Psalm, "My cup runneth over." This<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[216]</a></span> +seems unnecessary. To have the cup full, or +a little less than full, is enough for us, and +more convenient. For us, but not for God, +who delights in filling it; and when we bid +Him stay His hand, He keeps on pouring, and +the water flows, till, presently, the cup is +overflowing, but not because we thought to +have it so, but because of His great delight in +giving; until it would seem as if He could not +stop, or content Himself with that which He +has already bestowed upon us. Let this stand +as a simple expression of His way with us.</p> + +<p>When we come upon anything that all good +men approve, we may be very certain that we +have found something which God Himself approves, +and which is the method of His life. +We like, among ourselves, this principle of the +cup that runneth over. Our liking for it we +have inherited from God. We might expect, +therefore, that when the Son of God has His +life in the world He will live by this rule, +which is of heaven and of earth; and it is even +so. His first miracle would seem unnecessary. +There have been people who blindly but honestly +wished that He had never wrought it. +Why did He do it if there was no need of it, +if it were even possible that it should be +wrested from its meaning? He had gone as +a guest to a wedding, perhaps because the +bride was his friend, and there came that +grave calamity which would mar the feast; for +presently it was whispered to Him, "They<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[217]</a></span> +have no wine." Surely they could have a +wedding without wine. Not that wedding. +Not in the custom of that time. He knew that +the bride, if she lived to be old, would never +recover from the shame of her wedding-day, +whose beauty was lost. Here was a necessity, +in love, in kindness; and that the cheeks of +this girl might not redden with shame, He +reddened the water into wine.</p> + +<p>He was at Capernaum. They brought to +Him a sick man with the palsy. They broke +up the roof, and lowered him to the feet of +Jesus, who knew well what they wanted. He +passed over the little thing which they sought, +and, governed by His own feeling, not by +theirs, he said, "Son, be of good cheer; thy +sins are sent away from thee." That was +enough. In a few days, the man would be +able to walk without His help. Death comes +to the succor of cripples. The man gave no +sign of discontent, but Jesus found that the +friends were unsatisfied, and He thought within +Himself, "You brought him here that he +might be raised up, and be made able to carry +his bed home. I have done a greater thing +for him, but I will add this which you want." +"Arise," He said, "take up your bed and go +your way." He did the greater work which +made the soul strong, and for the lesser work,—well, +He threw that in. It was the royal +bounty. There was a time later than that, +after His resurrection, when some of His<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[218]</a></span> +disciples had toiled all the night upon the +sea, and had taken nothing. He could not +have it a fruitless night for them. In the +morning He was their risen Savior, who might +well bestow some spiritual gift becoming to +the resurrection. This He did, but He said, +"Cast your net on the right side of the ship, +and you will find what you have been seeking." +They cast it, therefore, and drew it in, +full of fishes, a hundred and fifty and three. +This is the record of a fisherman, who wrote +that the fish were large; and of an old man, +who remembered the number of them. They +drew their net to shore, and there was a fire +of coals, and fish laid thereon, another fish. +When they had enough, one that was better +than all was added. Have you not sometimes +wished that you could have had that hundred +and fifty-fourth fish? This was Christ's way +all the while, and is His way still. He fills +the net as full as it will hold, that our life may +be sustained, and then He adds more, that His +love may be gratified, and that which He adds +is the "royal bounty."</p> + +<p>The work of our Lord was not merely in +meeting the wants of men, but in creating +the wants; not in gratifying their great desires, +but in making their desires great. His +own work in the world was twofold: to teach +men how much more there was which they +could enjoy, and how much more there was +which He was eager to impart. The greater<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[219]</a></span> +the desire, the surer it was that it would be +met by His desire. Indeed, a large desire is +necessary to wealth. We must look out toward +that wherein our riches lie. "He who would +bring home the wealth of the Indies must +send out the wealth of the Indies." To him +whose desires are allowed liberty there comes +the answer of fulfillment from "the unsearchable +riches of Christ." In all His life and in +all His teachings we see vastly more than men +ever asked, much more than they are willing +to take even to-day. It has often been, as it +was at the first, that "he came unto his +own, and his own received him not"; but +to those who received Him He gave all they +wished, and more than they had thought; He +gave the right to become the sons of God. +They would have been content with a greater +prophet, a bolder leader, a stronger king, a +Messiah who should enthrone Israel and bring +the nations in homage to its feet. He came +bringing God to the world, giving an eternal +liberty, erecting an everlasting kingdom. +They wanted manna; He gave the bread of +life. They wanted wells of water; He gave +the well that should be within them, springing +up for evermore. They wanted a leader; He +gave a Savior. They wanted man; and He +was God. This has continued even to our +time. Many admire Christ because He was +a teacher, neglecting that wherein He was infinitely +more than teacher. They are glad of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[220]</a></span> +an example; He was that, but, far beyond it, +He was the life whereby righteousness became +possible. There are those who would be content +with His beautiful spirit, His blameless +life, His deeds of charity, His patience, His +submission, His consent to a death which He +could not avoid. He offers to the world the +spirit of the Eternal, the life of God to be +lived upon the earth; He lays down the life +which no man could take from Him; and, +with all the roads leading from Jerusalem +open before Him, walks with determined step +to Calvary and the cross. Beyond that which +has contented many in the world, He gave +Himself, the world's Redeemer, the Lamb of +God, the Good Shepherd giving His life for +the sheep.</p> + +<p>It is very, very sad to mark how ready we +are to measure Christ's gifts to us by our narrow +wants and limited desires; not by the +greatness of His love, not by His exhaustless +riches, not by the fulness of the grace of the +Eternal, who is the Father and friend of all +men. If ever we shall pass beyond the gratifying +of ourselves, and allow Christ to gratify +Himself in blessing us, we shall find in a glad +experience what the simple words mean, "I +am come that they might have life"—oh, +friends, do not stop there, finish the sentence,—"I +am come that they might have life, and +that they might have it more abundantly." +We ask life of Him, and He gives us life, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[221]</a></span> +offers length of days forever and forever. We +pray that we may live; and we set up a goal +at seventy or ninety years, when He draws no +line across our path. "I give eternal life," +He says. We pray for help that we may live; +He offers more than that in the unrivaled sentence, +"Because I live, ye shall live also." +We think of life as being, and are content. +We use existence as a synonym of living, but +He said, "This is eternal life, to know God, +and me."</p> + +<p>So for ourselves; we are to live as His +disciples. We wish to be true, useful, and +generous. We wish to do in small measure +such things as He did,—in His name to give +the cup of water, and the healing of the sick. +He grants all that we desire, then speaks out +of His own heart, and His desire, "The works +that I do shall ye do, and greater works than +these"; for the miracles which attract us or +baffle us, which draw us to His love, or possibly +turn us from His word, which are only +miracles because they are strange to us, are +to be exceeded in the things which we do, +when by our teaching we open the eyes of men +that they may see God, and lift them up to +the ways of holy living, and raise them from +being into life. Our visions of heaven in our +reverent imagination, even in the exultant +words of the Revelation, are not equal to the +simple truths which He taught, and men +learned to repeat after Him. For what are<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[222]</a></span> +golden streets and jeweled walls beside that +which He meant, "In my Father's house are +many mansions." "I go to prepare a place +for you." "Ye shall behold my glory." "Ye +shall be loved as I am loved." The thought +of Christ far outruns the aspiration of the +world, as it comes to us from the lips of that +disciple whom Jesus loved, "We shall be like +him, for we shall see him even as he is."</p> + +<p>What do we need, then? To enlarge our +desires! Yes, but to consent to God's desires. +To wish for more, but to consent to be blest +as Christ longs to bless us. We must know the +methods of God, whose will to give is greater +and more constant than our will to receive. +We must adjust our life to God's desire. +Faith is the compact of the soul with God, +rather than with itself. "Open thy mouth +wide, and I will fill it," is a promise ever +old and ever new. We must be firm enough +and aspiring enough to hold the cup after it +has begun to overflow, and to let God's hand +pour the water of life as long as He will, for +this world and all the worlds that are to be. +If we could desire more, if we could ascend to +God's desire for us, life would be transfigured.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"The balsam, the wine, of predestinate wills<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Is a jubilant longing and pining for God."<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"God loves to be longed for, He loves to be sought,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">For He sought us Himself, with such longing and love."<br /></span> +</div></div> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[223]</a></span></p> +<p>We wish now to take this method for our +own in all our dealing with God. Our sense +of what is right, the voice of conscience, the +commands of Scripture, call us to our duty. +Let us do what they require till conscience is +satisfied; but let us add to this more than a +rigid obedience asks for, all that a loving +heart, grateful and generous, wishes to bestow. +The little questions of life, small matters of +casuistry, minute affairs of conduct, would be +quite readily determined if we would live by +this rule, wherewith God blesses us. That +question which with unusual urgency now +presses upon us, how we shall regard the Sabbath +day, would not be difficult if it were our +delight to remember it, and to keep it holy because +it is our delight to please Him who has +given to us its sacredness and blessedness. It +is pitiful when we find ourselves questioning +how much of the day should be holy; how +much of it should be given to the thought of +God and the divine life; how much of it we +should yield to the holy spirit of truth; how +many of the hours we should keep in the remembrance +of Him whose resurrection gives +to the Sabbath its greater meaning. We +should keep the Sabbath holy as if we desired +to keep it holy. All its hours should be sacred. +They need not be less joyous, less friendly, for +being holy; and we can not be gratified with +the spirit in which we find ourselves trying to +divide the time. Keep twenty-four hours for<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[224]</a></span> +God, and if by any means you can make the +time overflow add a twenty-fifth hour.</p> + +<p>We question again about money. What proportion +of our property should we devote to +God? The Jews said one-tenth. Can we do +no better, after so long a time? Let us give +the whole, and if by any means we can compass +it, let us add another tenth, simply to +show what a delight it is to give all things to +Him, and to let Him make the allotment in His +care for us, and for our household, and for +the Church, and for the wide world that we +are living in. There are many who do this, +and they learn how true is that word of Christ +that is called to mind among the Acts of the +Apostles, "It is more blessed to give than to +receive."</p> + +<p>Thus, in all things let us make the way of +God our own, become His children entirely, receive +the love of Christ in its fulness, make +up our own life in His name, according to the +largeness of His thought. If we will consent +to it, we can be great and rich and strong. It +seems strange to say that we are not ready to +be blest, but of many it is true. They are +not willing to be greatly blest, to have the +cup run over. They are willing to be useful, +but not very useful. They ask to be set in +His service, but when He takes their word and +breathes His own desire into it, they shrink +back. It is a very serious thing, if we are able +to perceive it, to consent that God should bless<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[225]</a></span> +us as He pleases, should have His own estimate +of our character, His own measure of our powers, +His own vision of our accomplishment, +and should call us to greater service, to diviner +employment, than we have ever dreamed +of. It was a wise woman who said, "I have +had to face my own prayers." We face our +prayers when God gives His own wish to our +words, and makes them large enough to hold +His thoughts. It is one of the hardest things +to believe, but one to which, in humbleness of +mind and in a faith which will not falter, we +should consent,—that high word of calling +and consecration which Christ gave more than +once,—"As the Father hath sent me into the +world, even so send I you." Not our thought +but His thought makes our calling, and the +thought of God is the summons and the guidance +of our life. Even so, even according to +Thy greatness, and Thy gentleness which +makes men great; Thine infinite purposes, and +Thine eternal grace; even so, O Lord of mercy +and of truth, send us into the world!</p> + +<p>As we close these thoughts, let us remember +that promise which comes at the close of the +Old Testament, which almost seems to reverse +the promise at the beginning of the Old Testament, +"I will never open the windows of +heaven and pour out a flood again"; for the +last of the prophets brings to us the word of +God, that He will open the windows of heaven, +and pour out a flood again. It shall not come<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[226]</a></span> +to destroy, but to preserve; it shall create life; +it shall enlarge life, but it shall be after the +measure of His will, not ours. "Bring ye all +the tithes into the storehouse, and prove me +now herewith, if I will not open the windows +of heaven, and pour out a blessing that there +shall not be room enough to receive it." Not +drops here and there, but showers of blessing. +Not running brooks, but broad rivers. Not +pools of water, but a shoreless sea; deep, deep +waters, when, looking up into the infinite +Love, and consenting to be blest of God as +God would bless us, we bring all the tithes into +the storehouse and the remainder of the tithes, +if any have been left. "I will pour you out +a blessing, that there shall not be room enough +to receive it." Not room enough to receive +it; that is the royal bounty.</p> + +<hr class="chap" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227"> </a></span></p> + + + + +<h2>FARRAR</h2> + +<h3>WORK IN THE GROANING CREATION</h3> + +<hr class="chap" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228"> </a></span></p> + + + + +<h4>BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE</h4> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Frederick William Farrar</span> was born in +Bombay, India, in 1831. He was educated +at King's College, London, and at +Trinity College, Cambridge. He became +dean of Canterbury in 1895, and died in +1903. His Life of Christ, the most widely +read of his many religious works, has +been translated into many languages—even +into Japanese. The following illustrates +his power of emphasis.</p> + +<p>"There, amid those voluptuous splendors, +Pilate, already interested, already +feeling in this prisoner before him some +nobleness which touched his Roman nature, +asking Him in pitying wonder, 'Art +thou the King of the Jews?'—Thou poor, +worn, tear-stained outcast, in this hour of +Thy bitter need—O pale, lonely, friendless, +wasted man, in Thy poor peasant garments, +with Thy tied hands and the foul +traces of the insults of Thine enemies on +Thy face and on Thy robes—Thou, so unlike +the fierce, magnificent Herod, whom +this multitude which thirsts for Thy blood +acknowledged as their sovereign—art +Thou the King of the Jews?"</p> + +<hr class="chap" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[229]</a></span></p> + + + + +<h2>FARRAR</h2> + +<h3>1831-1903</h3> + +<h4>WORK IN THE GROANING CREATION<a name="FNanchor_9_9" id="FNanchor_9_9"></a><a href="#Footnote_9_9" class="fnanchor">[9]</a></h4> + +<p><em>And God saw everything that he had made, and behold +it was very good.</em>—Gen. i., 31.</p> + +<p><em>For we know that the whole creation groaneth and +travaileth in pain together until now.</em>—Rom. viii., 22.</p> + +<p><em>And there shall be no more curse.</em>—Rev. xxii., 3.</p> + + +<p>In those three texts you have the past, the +present, the future of our earth; what +was, what is, what shall be; the perfectness +which man has marred, the punishment +which he is enduring, the hope to which he +looks. What share we may have in the marring +or the mending of this our transitory +dwelling, that is our main subject to-day.</p> + +<p>We see some glimpses at least of the truth +that actively by sympathy, by thoughtfulness, +by charity, by unselfishness, by loving one +another;—that even passively by abstaining +from the fashionable and universal vice of +biting and devouring one another;—we see +that by honesty, by self-reverence, by reverence +for others, by obeying the golden rule of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[230]</a></span> +"doing unto others as we would they should +do unto us," we may do very much to limit +the realm of sorrow, and to substitute a golden +for an iron scepter in its sway over human +hearts. We see, too, that our own inevitable +trials and humiliations,—all the neglect, all +the insult, all the weariness, all the disappointment, +all the ingratitude, which may befall +us,—can be better borne if we be cheerful and +active in doing good. Labor for God is the +best cure for sorrow, and the best occupation +of life.</p> + +<p>Can we to-day push the inquiry yet further, +and learn whether it is in our power in any +way to mend the flaw which runs for us +through the material world; or in any way to +diminish for ourselves and for mankind the +pressure of that vast weight of laws which +exercises over us, undoubtedly, a sway of +awful potency? The whole creation groaneth +and travaileth in pain together until now; +can we—not by any strength of ours, but because +God permits and desires it, can we do +anything to hasten that blest hour for which +we wait—the hour of the new creation; of +the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our +body; of the restitution of all things; of the +<em>palingenesia</em> of the world?</p> + +<p>I think we can. I know that the supposed +helplessness of man is a favorite topic of modern +materialism, which makes of man the irresponsible +tool of forces which he can not resist,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[231]</a></span> +the sport and prey of dumb powers which +are alike inexorable and passionless. This +philosophy—if we may call it a philosophy—laughs +to scorn the notion of a miracle, and +makes virtue and vice not the conscious choice +of free beings, but the inevitable result of +material causes and hereditary impulses, of +which in all but semblance, we are the mere +automata and slaves. My brethren, into all +these speculations of a baseless atheism, I need +not enter. To us, nature means nothing but +the sum total of phenomena which God has +created; and since in the idea of nature is +included the idea of God, a miracle becomes +as natural and as easily conceivable as the +most ordinary occurrence. And we know that +we are free, that God does not mock us, that +we can abhor that which is evil, and cleave +to that which is good. The laws of nature +are nothing, then, for us but observed sequences, +and we do not admit that there is +anything fearful in their uniformity. It is +true that nature drives her plowshare straight +onwards, and heeds not what may be lying +in the furrow; it is true that therefore +she shows an apparent indifference to human +agony; it is true that if the fairest and +sweetest child which earth ever saw be left +at play in the face of the advancing tide, the +tide will still advance and drown the little +life; it is true that the fire in its ruthless vividness +will roll over the loveliest maiden whose<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[232]</a></span> +rich dress should catch its flame. It is a law +that resistance must be equal to force, and +that if there be a certain amount of pressure +of vibration, whatever comes of it, a structure +will give way, even though, alas, it hurl nearly +a hundred human beings, with one flash of +horror, into the gulf of death. But is this +any reason for a fierce arraignment of nature, +as tho she were execrably ruthless, and execrably +indifferent? Not so, my brethren. +Death whenever it comes is but death. None +of us has any promise of this or that amount +of life. It needs no railway accident, no sinking +ship, or breaking ice, or burning town, +or flame from heaven, or arrow in the darkness, +or smiting of the sun by day, or the +moon by night, to cut short our days. An invisible +sporule in the air may do it, or a lesion +no bigger than a pin's point.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"He ate, drank, laughed, loved, lived, and liked life well;<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Then came—who knows?—some gust of jungle wind,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">A stumble on the path; a taint i' the tank;<br /></span> +<span class="i1">A snake's nip; half a span of angry steel;<br /></span> +<span class="i1">A chill; a fishbone; or a falling tile,—<br /></span> +<span class="i1">And life is over, and the man is dead."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="noind">But is this any reason why we should look +on ourselves as victims of dead irresponsible +forces? Why so? Death is but death, and if +we live faithfully, death is our richest birthright. +"Were you ready to die that you +jumped into the stormy sea to save that child's<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[233]</a></span> +life?" said a gentleman to an English sailor. +"Should I have been better prepared, sir," +the sailor answered, "if I had shirked my +duty?" A sudden death is often, and in +many respects, the most merciful form of +death; and the apparently terrible death of +a few may save the lives of many hundreds. +The uniformity of nature may sometimes wear +the aspect of passionless cruelty; but as we +learn more and more to observe and to obey +her laws, we find more and more that they +work for countless ends of beneficence and +beauty, that out of seeming evil she works +real good, out of transient evil enduring good. +The fires which rend the earthquake and burst +from the volcano, are the quickening forces +of the world; her storms lash the lazy atmosphere +which otherwise would stagnate into +pestilence, and it is for man's blessing, not +for his destruction, that her waters roll and +her great winds blow.</p> + +<p>But are we, after all, so very helpless before +the aggregate of these mighty forces, as materialism +loves to represent? Not so! "Thou +madest him to have dominion over the works +of thy hands," said the Psalmist, "Thou hast +put all things under his feet." "Replenish +the earth, and subdue, and have dominion," +said the first utterance of God to man. And +what is this but an equivalent of the latest +utterances of science, that "the order of nature +is ascertainable by our faculties to an<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[234]</a></span> +extent which is practically unlimited, and that +our volition counts for something in the +course of events"? Man has done much to +make the world in all senses a worse place for +himself, but he has also, thank God, done +much to make it better, and he may, to an +almost unspeakable extent, remedy for himself +and for his race the throes and agonies +of the groaning universe. God meant His +earth to be a more blest place for us than it +is, and in every instance men have made it +more blest when they have read the open secrets, +by virtue of which, for our excitement, +if not for our reward, "herbs have their healing, +stones their preciousness, and stars their +times." Ancient nations have shuddered at +the awfulness of the sea. It drowns ship and +sailor; but "trim your sail, and the same +wave which drowns the bark is cleft by it, and +bears it along like its own foam, a plume and +a power." The lightning shatters tower and +temple; but once learn that it is nothing but +the luminous all-pervading fluid which you +may evolve by rubbing a piece of amber, and +brush out of a child's fair hair, and then with +no more potent instrument than a boy's kite +you may dash harmless to the earth the all-shattering +brand which was the terror of antiquity; +nay, you may seize it by its wing of +fire, and bid it carry your messages around +the girdled globe. Zymotic diseases smite +down the aged and young, but, when you have<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[235]</a></span> +learnt that they are caused by myriads of +invisible germs which float in the water or +the air, you have but to observe the commonest +rules of sanitary science, to filter and boil +the dangerous water, to insure free currents +of air, to breathe as nature meant you to +breathe, through the nostrils, and not through +the throat, and you rob them of half their +deadliness. Why has smallpox been stayed +in its loathly ravages, and deprived of its +hideous power? Why does the Black Death +rage no longer, as it raged among the monks +of this Abbey four centuries ago? Why do +we not have pestilence, like that great plague +of London, which destroyed 7,165 persons in +a single week? Why has jail fever disappeared? +Why are the cities of Europe horrified +no longer by the hideousness of medieval +leprosy? Because men live amid cleaner and +purer surroundings. Because rushes are no +longer strewn over floors which had been suffered +to be saturated with the organic refuse +of years. Because the simplest laws of nature +are better understood. Because, in these respects, +men have remedied by God's aid, some +of those miseries for which the Savior sighed.</p> + +<p>And this amelioration of man's miseries is +a great, and noble, and Christlike work. +Would that there were no other side to the +picture! Man, alas! also has done, and may +do, infinite mischief to the world he lives in. +He may cut down the forests on the hills, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[236]</a></span> +so diminish the necessary rain. He may pluck +up the grasses on the shore, and so lay +waste whole acres to the devastating sands. +He may poison the sweet, pure rivers of his +native soil, till their crystal freshness is corrupted +into deathful and putrescent slime. He +may herd together, as we suffer our poor to do, +in filthy tenements which shall breed every +species of disease and vice. He may indulge +or acquiesce in senseless fashions and pernicious +vanities which shall mean not only +wasteful ugliness and grotesque extravagance, +but leave shattered health and ruined lives, to +the mothers of his race. He may in greed of +competition extirpate the game of the forest, +the fishes of the sea. He may destroy the +exquisite balance of nature, by shooting down +or entrapping the sweet birds of the air, till +his vines and his harvests are devastated by +the insects on which they feed. He may suffer +the chimneys of his manufactories to poison +the atmosphere with black smoke and sulphurous +acid, till his proudest cities are stifled +at noonday, as we all have seen in London +for these many weeks, with the unclean mirk +of midnight fogs. He may suffer noxious +gases to be vomited upon the breeze, till the +most glorious buildings in his cities corrode +and crumble—as the stones of this Abbey are +doing—under their influence,—till the green +woods blacken into leafless wastes, and life is +lived at miserable levels of vitality under the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">[237]</a></span> +filthy reek. There is hardly any limit to the +evil, no less than to the good, which man may +do to this his earthly environment. Nor is +it less deplorable that he may go out of his +way to do endless mischief to himself by his +misuse or abuse of the properties of things. +From the dried capsules of the white poppy +he extracts opium, and he grows acres of poppies +that with thousands of chests of that +opium he may degrade into decrepitude and +wretchedness the most populous nations upon +earth. Nature gives him the purple grape +and the golden grain, and he mashes them and +lets them rot and seethe, and assists, and superintends, +and retards their decomposition, +till he has educed from them a fermented intoxicating +liquor; and not content with this +luxury, he pours it into Circean cups of degrading +excess; not content with even fermentation, +he further, by distillation, extracts a +transparent, mobile, colorless fluid, which is +the distinctive element in ardent spirits, and +these, whatever may be their legitimate use in +manufacture or in medicine, he has so horribly +abused that they have become to mankind, the +<i lang="la" xml:lang="la">spiritus ardentes</i> indeed, but not of heaven—fiery +spirits of the abyss, which have decimated +nations, ruined continents, shortened +millions of lives, and turned for millions of +God's children, and millions of Christ's little +ones, life into an anguish, and earth into a +hell. Do not say we can do nothing to soften<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[238]</a></span> +for man the deadly agencies which are working +in the world,—for all this mischief, and +incalculably more than this, is man's own +doing.</p> + +<p>But let me ask you to glance for a moment +at one of the beneficent secrets which nature +has yielded up to man. Have you ever realized, +with heartfelt gratitude to God, the +priceless boon which He has granted to this +generation in the diminution of pain? One +of our best surgeons has just told us the +strange yet simple story of this discovery, +from the first dim intimation of the possibility +in 1789, till in 1846 it might almost be said +that in Europe we could name the month, before +which all operative surgery was agonizing, +and after which it was painless. But +what an immense, what an enormous boon is +this application of anodynes! "Past all counting +is the sum of happiness enjoyed by the +millions who have, in the last thirty-three +years, escaped the pain that was inevitable in +surgical operations; pain made more terrible +by apprehension; more keen by close attention; +sometimes awful in a swift agony; sometimes +prolonged beyond even the most patient +endurance, and then renewed in memory, and +terrible in dreams. This will never be felt +again." And besides this abolition of pain, +it would take long to tell how chloroform and +ether "have enlarged the field of useful surgery, +making many things easy which were<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[239]</a></span> +difficult, many safe which were perilous, many +practical which were nearly impossible." But +another lesson this eminent man of science +draws, which bears directly on our subject, is +that while we are profanely decrying nature, +discoveries the most blest, boons the most +priceless, may lie close to us and yet God +leave us to discover them; and that we may +endure many needless miseries, falsely accusing +nature and even God, only because we +have neither hope enough to excite intense +desire, nor desire enough to encourage hope. +We wonder that for forty years the discovery +of anesthetics was not pursued, tho, after the +pregnant hint of Sir H. Davy, it lay but half +hidden under so thin a veil. Our successors +will wonder at us, as we at those before us, +that we were as blind to who can tell how +many great truths, which, they will say, were +all around us, within reach of any clear and +earnest mind. They will wonder at the quietude +with which we stupidly acquiesce in, or +immorally defend, the causes which perpetuate +and intensify our habitual miseries. Our +fathers needlessly put up with these miseries +"as we now put up with typhoid fever and +sea-sickness; with local floods and droughts; +with waste of health and wealth in pollutions +of rivers; with hideous noises, and foul +smells"; with the curse of alcoholic poisoning, +and many other miseries. Our successors, +when they have remedied or prevented these,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">[240]</a></span> +will look back on them with horror, and on +us with wonder and contempt, for what they +will call our idleness or blindness, or indifference +to suffering. Alas! in the physical as in +the moral world, we murmur at the evils +which surround us, and we do not remove +them. We multiply those evils, and make life +wretched, and then curse nature because it +is wretched, and neglect or fling away the precious +gifts and easy remedies which would +make it blest. And is it not so in the spiritual +world? Nine-tenths of our miseries are due +to our sins. Yet the remedy of our sins is +close at hand. We have a Savior; we have +been commemorating His birth, but we live +and act as tho He were dead; in our own lives +and those of others we suffer those miseries +to run riot which He came to cure; we talk +and live as tho those remedies were undiscoverable, +while from day to day His Word is +very nigh us, even in our mouths and in our +hearts!</p> + +<p>For one sermon you hear about work for +the secular amelioration of the suffering world +for which Christ sighed, you may (I suppose) +hear fifty on passing ecclesiastical controversies +and five thousand about individual efforts +for personal salvation. And yet one pure, +self-sacrificing deed, one word of generosity +to an opponent, one kindly act to aid another, +may have been better for you in God's sight +and far harder for you to do, than to attend<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">[241]</a></span> +in the year the 730 daily services which this +Abbey provides. Yes, I am glad that I have +preached to you to-day the duty of what some +would call secular work—as tho secular work +were not often the most profoundly religious +work!—for the amelioration of the world. +And I say, it were better for you to have +made but two blades of grass grow where one +grew before, than if, with the hollow, hateful, +slanderous heart of some false prophets of +modern religionism, you were every morning +to do whatever modern thing may be analogous +to binding your fringes with blue, and +broadening your phylacteries,—to making the +hilltops blaze with your sacrificial fires, building +here seven altars, and offering a bullock +and a ram on every altar. And so, my brethren, +let us leave this Abbey to-day with conceptions +of duty larger and more hopeful; +with more yearning both after the sympathy +of Christ and after His activity; with more +faith to see that the world would not be so +utter a ruin but for our perversity; with more +hope to be convinced that even we can help +to redeem its disorders, and restore its pristine +perfectness. Let us obey the command, "Ephphatha, +Be opened!" Let us lift up our eyes +to see that, tho the air around us is colorless, +the far-off heaven is blue. Let us see and be +thankful for the beauty of the world, the +sweet air, the sunshine, the sea, the splendid +ornaments of heaven, the ever-recurring circles<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">[242]</a></span> +of the divine beneficence. Let us learn +the secrets of the mighty laws which only +crush us when we disobey them, and which +teach us, with divine inflexibility, that as we +sow we reap. Let us not hinder the students +of science in their patient toil and marvelous +discovery by the crude infallibilities of our +ignorant dogmatism. Let us believe—for we +were saved in hope—that "Utopia itself is but +another word for time"; and that, if our own +work seems but infinitesimal, yet "there are +mites in science, as well as in charity, and the +ultimate results of each are alike important +and beneficial." And so the more we share +in the sigh and in the toil of the Savior, the +more shall we share in His redeeming gladness.</p> + + +<div class="bbox"> +<blockquote> +<p>"Dr. Burrell always sounds a bugle-call to high +emprise. This one will stir whatever of knighthood +is active or latent in the heart of the young man +who reads it."—<span class="smcap">John Bancroft Devins</span>, <em>Editor +New York</em> "<cite>Observer</cite>."</p> + +<p class="center">——————————</p> + +<p class="center b15">THE LURE<br /> +OF THE CITY</p> + +<p class="center">By DAVID JAMES BURRELL, D.D., LL.D.<br /> + +<em>Pastor of the Marble Collegiate Church,<br /> +New York City</em></p> + +<p>Addrest to "the youth whose lot is cast +in the city or whose heart is turned that way; +who knows himself a man, and with eyes +aloft, means to make himself a better one; +who plans a full equipment, that he may +win splendidly."—<em>From the Preface.</em></p> + + + +<p>"I have seldom had more pleasure than I have +found in reading Dr. Burrell's strong and suggestive +book. It is a book for the present hour and the +present age. In a style singularly lucid and wonderfully +attractive, Dr. Burrell sets forth the dangers of +the city on the one hand and its advantages on the +other. Each of the twenty-two chapters might stand +by itself as a word of cheer, a bugle-call or a warning. +The epithet most suitable to the book, as a whole, is +'sane.' Nothing is overstrained. Everything is +practical, and the book is thoroughly manly, and is +infused throughout with the author's vigorous and +winning personality. It is emphatically a book for +the young man."—<span class="smcap">Margaret E. Sangster</span>, <em>Editor +of the St. Nicholas Magazine</em>, New York.</p> + +<p class="center"><em>12mo, Cloth. $1.00, net; by mail, $1.08</em></p> + +<p class="center"> +<big>FUNK & WAGNALLS COMPANY</big>, Pubs.<br /> +<span class="smcap">NEW YORK and LONDON</span> +</p></blockquote> +</div> + + +<p> </p> + +<div class="bbox"> +<blockquote> +<p class="center b15">A JUNIOR<br /> +CONGREGATION</p> + +<p class="center"><small>A CHILDREN'S SERMON APPROPRIATE TO EVERY SUNDAY<br /> +OF THE YEAR, TOGETHER WITH HINTS<br /> +FOR FORMING A JUNIOR CONGREGATION</small></p> + +<p class="center">By JAMES M. FARRAR, D.D.</p> + +<p class="center"><em>Pastor of the First Reformed Church, Brooklyn, and<br /> +Minister of the First Organized Junior<br /> +Congregation</em></p> + +<p>The church-going men and women of to-day +were the church-going children of their +youth. But theirs, most likely, was a <em>compulsory</em> +attendance. This, however, is the +<em>Children's Age</em>. More time, more thought, +more energy are, in this generation, given +to the study, development, and discipline of +children than has ever been attempted in +any past century. <em>The Children's Church</em> +is being organized in congregations where +the children's welfare and the church's +future are close at heart. Children in such +a church love to attend, for theirs is <em>A +Junior Congregation</em> worshiping with the +regular congregation, thus forming habits +of church-going in their best habit-forming +years, and acquiring a familiarity with the +church's services and ordinances that will +help them grow into sturdy church workers.</p> + +<p class="center"><em>12mo, Cloth. $1.20, net; by mail, $1.28</em></p> + + +<p class="center"><big>FUNK & WAGNALLS COMPANY</big>, Pubs.</p> + +<p class="center">NEW YORK <small>AND</small> LONDON</p> +</blockquote> +</div> + +<p> </p> + +<div class="bbox"> +<blockquote> +<p><strong>Rev. T. De Witt Talmage, D.D.</strong>: "I heartily commend +his book. He has rendered invaluable service."</p> + + +<div class="center"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="gestures"> +<tr><td align="left"> </td><td align="right">{</td><td align="right"><em>OF THE VOICE</em></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><em>PERFECTION</em></td><td align="right">{</td><td align="right"><em>GESTURE</em></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"> </td><td align="right">{</td><td align="right"><em>BEARING</em></td></tr> +</table></div> + +<p class="center b15"><strong>THE DRILL-BOOK OF<br /> +VOCAL CULTURE</strong></p> + +<p class="center">By Prof. EDWARD P. THWING.</p> + +<p>A Comprehensive Study of the Fundamental +Constituents of Effective, +Graceful Speaking. Heartily Commended +by the Highest Authorities.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 75px;"> +<img src="images/i_ad_decoration.jpg" width="75" height="22" alt="decoration" /> +</div> + +<p class="center">OUTLINE OF CONTENTS.</p> + +<p>What Elocution Really Is—Outline of Preparatory +Physical Training by Respiratory Exercises +and Gymnastics—The Production of Tone—Cultivating +the Articulation Along the Lines of +Pitch, Melody, and Force—Rate of Movement—Personation +or Picturing—Gesture and Extemporaneous +Speech—Facial Expression.</p> + +<p class="center">————</p> + +<p><strong>Prof. J. W. Churchill</strong>, Andover: "It is an invaluable +treatise."</p> + +<p><strong>The Independent</strong>, New York: "Compact and inexpensive, +but it omits nothing essential."</p> + +<p class="center">————</p> + +<p class="center"><strong><em>16mo, 111 pp., Illustrated, Paper Covers,<br /> +25 cents. Post-free.</em></strong></p> + +<p class="center">————</p> + +<p class="center"><strong><big>FUNK & WAGNALLS COMPANY, Publishers</big>,<br /> + +NEW YORK and LONDON</strong></p> +</blockquote> +</div> + +<p> </p> + +<div class="bbox"> +<blockquote> +<p class="center b15">Profit and Loss<br /> +in Man</p> + +<p class="center">By ALPHONSO A. HOPKINS, Ph.D.</p> + + +<p>The New Gospel of Patriotic, Economic, +and Political Common Sense on the Temperance +Question. The most up-to-date +and powerful plea for Prohibition upon +purely economic grounds that has been +written in years. It is calm and dispassionate, +and discusses the problem from +the cold matter-of-fact standard of dollars +and cents.</p> + + +<p class="center">CONTENTS</p> + + +<div class="center"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="book contents"> +<tr><td align="left">I. The Cost of a Boy.</td><td align="left">VIII. Moral Facts and Political Factors.</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">II. Boy and Bar.</td><td align="left">IX. Dictionary Politics.</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">III. Manhood and Law.</td><td align="left">X. A Curse, a Crime, and the Cure.</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">IV. Labor, Liquor, and Law.</td><td align="left">XI. Publicans and Republicans.</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">V. Christian Loyalty.</td><td align="left">XII. Democrats and Drink.</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">VI. Barabbas.</td><td align="left">XIII. Methods of Settlement.</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">VII. Moral and Political Force.</td></tr> +</table></div> + + + +<p>"The unique idea of placing temperance on a commercial +basis, of considering the difference between the actual +cash value of a man who drinks and the man who abstains, +is intensely interesting and profitable. Prof. Hopkins +claims that each young man twenty-one years of age +represents a cost to society of two thousand dollars +($2,000). Will he pay—will he 'make good'—on the +investment if he becomes a drinker? That's the question! +In the United States are one and a half millions +of drunkards—a stupendous loss of an investment aggregating +over five billions of dollars ($5,000,000,000)."—<cite>Cumberland +Presbyterian, Nashville, Tenn.</cite></p> + +<p class="center"><em>12mo, Cloth, 376 pp. $1.20, net; by mail, $1.32</em></p> + +<p class="center"> +FUNK & WAGNALLS COMPANY, Pubs.<br /> +<span class="smcap">NEW YORK and LONDON</span> +</p></blockquote> +</div> + +<p> </p> + +<div class="bbox"> +<blockquote> +<p class="center b15"><strong>A WORKING<br /> +GRAMMAR</strong></p> + +<p class="center b13">OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE</p> + +<p class="center">By JAMES C. FERNALD, L.H.D.</p> + + + +<p class="center"><em>Editor of the "Students' Standard Dictionary." Author<br /> +of "English Synonyms, Antonyms, and Prepositions,"<br /> +"Connectives of English Speech," Etc., Etc.</em></p> + + +<p>In this book Dr. Fernald has covered the +field of English grammar in an immensely +practical and entirely new and popular +manner. Recognizing the large number +of persons who have not the time to study +ponderous definitions and arguments, he +has prepared what is, in every sense, a +very concise and useful "working grammar." +Herein the business man, stenographer, +clerk, lawyer, physician, clergyman, +teacher—everyone who would refresh +and enrich his knowledge of English—will +find, in simple statement, a clear and lucid +explanation of the principles of English +grammar. All that makes the study of +grammar a mystery is eliminated, and the +whole book is constructed so as to enable +any intelligent person to find his own way, +by its teachings, to a correct working +knowledge of English.</p> + +<p class="center"><em>Price, $1.50, net; post-paid, $1.64</em></p> + +<p class="center"> +<big>FUNK & WAGNALLS COMPANY</big>, Pubs.<br /> +<span class="smcap">NEW YORK and LONDON</span><br /> +</p></blockquote> +</div> + +<p> </p> + +<div class="bbox"> +<blockquote> +<p class="center">THE PREPARATION OF</p> +<p class="center b15"><strong>MANUSCRIPTS<br /> +FOR THE PRINTER</strong></p> + +<p class="center">By FRANK H. VIZETELLY, F.S.A.<br /> + +<em>Associate Editor of the</em> "<cite>Standard Dictionary</cite>," <em>etc.</em></p> + + +<p>This book is designed for the guidance of +all who have any concern with printing, +and will prove of permanent value to all +persons engaged in writing or in copying +manuscripts. Typographical marks are +exemplified and explained; the different +sizes of type with their names and uses are +presented, with aids in the computing of +space which manuscripts will occupy in +printed form; the book also shows authors +how they can effectively reduce the cost +of corrections in type, and tells them when, +where, and how to make such corrections +and how to dispose of manuscripts.</p> + + +<p>"Is at once the most exhaustive and most succinct +of the many books at the service of the young +author."—<cite>Evening Mail</cite>, New York.</p> + +<p>"A thoroughly practical little book which will +prove invaluable to all who are interested in the +preparation of manuscript."—<cite>Times</cite>, Brooklyn, N. Y.</p> + +<p class="center"><em>12mo, Cloth, 153 pages. 75 cents</em></p> + +<p class="center"><big>FUNK & WAGNALLS COMPANY</big>, Pubs.<br /> +<span class="smcap">NEW YORK and LONDON</span></p> +</blockquote> +</div> + +<hr class="chap" /> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> Reprinted by permission of the Literary Trustees +of the Dr. Seiss' Estate.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_2_2" id="Footnote_2_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_2"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> From "The Secret of Power, and Other Sermons," +published by Funk & Wagnalls Company.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_3_3" id="Footnote_3_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3_3"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> Copyright, 1884, <cite>The Homiletic Review</cite>, New York.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_4_4" id="Footnote_4_4"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4_4"><span class="label">[4]</span></a> Reprinted by permission of Messrs. A. C. Armstrong +& Son.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_5_5" id="Footnote_5_5"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5_5"><span class="label">[5]</span></a> Reprinted by permission from "Contrary Winds +and other Sermons," by William M. Taylor, D.D., +copyrighted, 1883, by A. C. Armstrong & Son.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_6_6" id="Footnote_6_6"></a><a href="#FNanchor_6_6"><span class="label">[6]</span></a> From "The Simplicity That Is in Christ," published +by Funk & Wagnalls Company.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_7_7" id="Footnote_7_7"></a><a href="#FNanchor_7_7"><span class="label">[7]</span></a> From "The People's Bible," by Joseph Parker, +published by Funk & Wagnalls Company.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_8_8" id="Footnote_8_8"></a><a href="#FNanchor_8_8"><span class="label">[8]</span></a> Reprinted by permission of Dr. Alexander McKenzie +and the publishers, Houghton, Mifflin Co.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_9_9" id="Footnote_9_9"></a><a href="#FNanchor_9_9"><span class="label">[9]</span></a> Reprinted by permission of Messrs. E. P. Dutton +& Co.</p></div></div> + +<hr class="chap" /> + +<div class="tn"><h3>Transcriber's note:</h3> + +<p>Minor typographical errors have been corrected without note. Irregularities and inconsistencies in the text have been retained as printed.</p> + +<p>Missing page numbers are page numbers that were not shown in the original text.</p> + +<p>Mismatched quotes are not fixed if it's not sufficiently clear where the missing quote should be placed.</p> + +<p>Page 36: ... have cried (oh, how men do cry in those +storms of the soul, in those tempests and terrors +of the heart), "Lord, save us ... The transcriber has supplied the closing parenthesis.</p> + +</div> + +<div>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 44441 ***</div> +</body> +</html> diff --git a/44441-h/images/7-000f-image.jpg b/44441-h/images/7-000f-image.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..7ad0e8d --- /dev/null +++ b/44441-h/images/7-000f-image.jpg diff --git a/44441-h/images/coverpage.jpg b/44441-h/images/coverpage.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..e8c5f7a --- /dev/null +++ b/44441-h/images/coverpage.jpg diff --git a/44441-h/images/i_ad_decoration.jpg b/44441-h/images/i_ad_decoration.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..8aa96df --- /dev/null +++ b/44441-h/images/i_ad_decoration.jpg diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..e5745d4 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #44441 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/44441) diff --git a/old/44441-8.txt b/old/44441-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..baaba1f --- /dev/null +++ b/old/44441-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,5889 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The World's Great Sermons, Volume 7: Hale +to Farrar, by Various + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The World's Great Sermons, Volume 7: Hale to Farrar + +Author: Various + +Release Date: December 16, 2013 [EBook #44441] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WORLD'S GREAT SERMONS, VOLUME 7 *** + + + + +Produced by Júlio Reis, Moisés S. Gomes, Julia Neufeld and +the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + +Transcriber's note: + +Text enclosed by underscores is in italics (_italics_). + +Small capital text has been replaced with all capitals. + +Text enclosed by equal signs is in bold face (=bold=). + + * * * * * + +[Illustration: coverpage] + +[Illustration: titlepage] + + + + + _The World's Great Sermons_ + + VOLUME VII + + HALE TO FARRAR + + + + + THE + WORLD'S + GREAT + SERMONS + + COMPILED BY + GRENVILLE KLEISER + + Formerly of Yale Divinity School Faculty; + Author of "How to Speak + in Public," Etc. + + With Assistance from Many of the Foremost + Living Preachers and Other Theologians + + INTRODUCTION BY + LEWIS O. BRASTOW, D.D. + + Professor Emeritus of Practical Theology + in Yale University + + IN TEN VOLUMES + + VOLUME VII--HALE TO FARRAR + + FUNK & WAGNALLS COMPANY + NEW YORK and LONDON + + + + + COPYRIGHT, 1908, BY + + FUNK & WAGNALLS COMPANY + + _Printed in the United States of America_ + + + + +CONTENTS + +VOLUME VII. + + + HALE (Born in 1822). _Page_ + The Colonization of the Desert 1 + + MAGEE (1821-1891). + The Miraculous Stilling of the Storm 19 + + SEISS (1823-1904). + The Wonderful Testimonies 39 + + MACLAREN (Born in 1826). + The Pattern of Service 63 + + CROSBY (1826-1891). + The Prepared Worm 87 + + DALE (1829-1895). + The Argument from Experience 103 + + LIDDON (1829-1890). + Influences of the Holy Spirit 121 + + W. M. TAYLOR (1829-1895). + Christ before Pilate--Pilate before + Christ 143 + + JOHN HALL (1829-1899). + Liberty Only in Truth 163 + + BACON (Born in 1830). + God Indwelling 179 + + JOSEPH PARKER (1830-1902). + A Word to the Weary 197 + + MCKENZIE (Born in 1830). + The Royal Bounty 209 + + FARRAR (1831-1903). + Work in the Groaning Creation 227 + + + + +HALE + +THE COLONIZATION OF THE DESERT + + + + +BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE + + +Edward Everett Hale, Congregationalist divine and author, was born +in Boston in 1822. He was graduated at Harvard in 1839 and became +a Unitarian preacher in 1846 at Worcester. In 1850 he removed to +Boston, where his most important life's work was accomplished as a +preacher and writer. A collected edition of his writings, in ten +volumes, was published in 1901. His varied literary enterprises +and undertakings have been too many to be enumerated here. His +most famous work is "The Man Without a Country." He is at present +chaplain to the United States Senate. + + + + +HALE + +BORN IN 1822 + +THE COLONIZATION OF THE DESERT + + _God saw everything that he had made. And behold, it was very + good._--Gen. i., 31. + + +This simplest expression of the earliest religion comes back to us +with new force in the midst of all the wonderful revelations of our +modern life. + +In ten weeks' time I have crossed from one ocean to the other; I +have crossed backward and forward over the Allegheny and the Rocky +Mountains and the Sierra Nevada, with the valleys between them, and +the slopes which rise from the ocean on either side. This means a +journey through twelve of the old thirteen States and fifteen of the +new States and Territories. It means intercourse with people of the +North and the South, the Gulf and the West, the Pacific coast and +the mountains. It means intercourse with the white race, the black +race, the red race, and the Chinaman. The variety of climate is such +that I have welcomed the shade of palm-trees, and that I have walked +over snow where it had drifted twenty feet beneath me. I have picked +oranges from the tree, and camellias from the twig in the open air, +and within three hours of good-by to the camellia I was in a driving +snow-storm, where the engine drivers were nervous because they had +no snow plow. In all this variety I have a thousand times recalled +the simplest expression of the oldest words of the Bible: "God saw +everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good." + +The solid recognition of this truth--not, indeed, in any small +sense; but in that sense which is general and comprehensive--is at +the bottom of all true religious philosophy. It is not true in any +smaller sense. For I cannot say that it is good to be bitten by +a mosquito or worried by a fly, if I can escape fly or mosquito. +No, that is not true. And I do not suppose that the simple author +of this text meant any such extravagance. But this is true, that +the world is so made and ordered that man, who is himself a +creator--man, who shares the wishes, instincts, and plans of the +Power who directs the world--man can take the world in his hands and +compel it to serve his nobler purposes. + +God saw the world, and he said: "Yes, this is what I want for My +home and the home of children who love Me. It is a world very good +to them, and they shall subdue it to My purposes." To recognize +this, to feel the fitness of the world for man and man's fitness for +the world, this is the basis of consistent optimism. Nobody says +that the top of the Rocky Mountains is a good place for whales, +or that the Ojai Valley is a good place for polar bears; but a +consistent optimism says that the world is a good place for man; and +it says that man is so closely allied to the God who is the life of +the world that he can take the world for his own, and make it his +home and his heaven. This consistent optimism is the basis of all +sound theology. + +It is to be observed, however, that man gains no such control of +the world, and the world does not prove fit for man, unless he has +found out that he is akin to God and can enter into His work. There +is no such victory to the savage, who is afraid of God. So long as +he thinks the powers of nature are his enemies, he makes them his +enemies. I do not believe the old cave-dwellers, fighting hyenas +with clubs, and often finding that they were second-best in the +encounter, thought this world the best of worlds. I do not believe +that the Digger Indian, who spent his tedious day in rummaging for +ants and beetles to eat, and was very happy if he caught a lizard--I +do not believe that he said that the world was very good. True, +I think both of them had visions and hopes of a better time; but +while they were in the abject misery of cold and starvation, that +better time had not dawned. It did not dawn because they had not +taken on them the dignity and duty of children of God. They were not +about their Father's business. They did not see Him nor hear Him, +nor in any wise know Him. They did not conceive that they were on +His side nor He on theirs. And it is not till man comes up to some +comprehension that God has sent him here on an infinite business; +that he and the Author of this world are at one in this affair of +managing it; it is not till man knows God as his friend and not his +enemy, that man with any courage and success takes the business of +managing into his own hands. Then is it that he finds what pleasure, +nay what dignity, there is in taming the lightning and riding on the +storm. And then he knows enough of the divine Being, His purpose and +His power, to see that the world is good, and that God should call +it good in its creation. + +All this forces itself on one's thought as he sees how it is that +nature has been pursued and caught and tamed in these mountains +and these valleys. For nature is the nymph so wittily described by +Virgil. She + + "Flies to her woods; but hopes her flight is seen." + +Man, so long as he is savage, hates her and fears her. If he +worships, it is the abject worship of those who bring sacrifices +to buy her favor. And it may be said in passing that the last +visible form of pure barbarism or savagery is any theology which +supposes that God's favor must be bought by any price paid by man +in exchange. When man finds, by any revelation, the conditions of +absolute religion, which are simply faith, hope and love, all this +is changed. When he looks up to God gladly, looks forward to the +future cheerfully, and looks round on the world kindly, he finds, +possibly to his surprize, that he is working on the lines God works +on, and means to have him work on. Now he is on "his Father's +business." While he rows the boat, the tide sweeps the right way. +While he stretches the wire, the lightning is waiting and eager +to do his errand. And so soon as man the divine appears upon the +scene--man the child of God, who knows he shares God's nature--why, +easily and quickly the valleys are exalted and the mountains and +the hills made low; the deserts blossom as the rose, and even the +passing traveler sees that this world was made for man and man for +this world. And he understands as he has never understood before +what this is, that he himself is of the nature of the God at whose +present will this world comes into order. He understands better what +the old text means, which says that God is satisfied with the world +which He has made. + +I crossed the continent westward and eastward on this journey, +fresh from recent reading of the history of the first Spanish +occupation. What did the Spaniards find there? They found in what +we call New Mexico the Zuni cities which, in a sad decline, exist +to-day. From those cities Casteneda led a party of Spanish horsemen +eastward in search of a certain mythical king who was supposed to +have much gold and many jewels. Those adventurous men rode for a +whole summer across the prairies and plains which are now Colorado, +and Kansas, and Missouri, and struck the Missouri, or perhaps the +Mississippi. You know that much of the country is now fertile +beyond praise. Mile after mile you can see corn, wheat; wheat, +corn; corn, wheat; wheat, corn; and the production to the acre +increases year by year. The States through which Casteneda's line +of travel passed now number four or five millions of people; and +they feed, from their agriculture, say twenty millions more. Now +when Casteneda and his people passed and repassed over this region +they did not meet a single man, woman or child. They were opprest by +the horrible loneliness of their journey. They felt, as Magellan's +people felt when they were crossing the Pacific Ocean, with that +horrible east wind, with a calm sea before and never a sight of an +island or a man. When Casteneda came at last to the Mississippi--or +Missouri--they had no heart to build a raft to cross it and incur +more such solitude; and they went back the way they came. And the +fame of its loneliness was such that no man attempted the adventure +for more than a hundred years. + +When, in 1682--say a hundred and thirty years after--the great La +Salle discovered the Mississippi River, and sailed south upon it, +leaving Chicago, crossing Illinois, and so striking the Father of +Waters, his experience of this utter loneliness was the same. He +touched every night on one shore or the other. He is, therefore, the +discoverer of seven of the Western States--States which now feed +fifty million people and number seven or eight million of their +own. Only twice, I think, did he meet any great body of men. Not +five times did he find traces of the hand of man or the foot of +man. Through the same solitude he returned; and his report was of a +virgin world of elk, and deer, and buffalo; of shrubs and trees, of +fish and fowl; but a world without men. + +The inference was drawn, hastily, but not unnaturally, that these +regions could not sustain men. On the Atlas given me as a boy, the +"Great American Desert" covered the greater part of the region west +of the Mississippi. It is now the home of the millions I have been +enumerating. And in the last map I have seen, the Great American +Desert appears as hardly a "speck on the surface of the earth." + +The change which I have described has been wrought in the lifetime +of people of my age. It is wrought simply and wholly by the passion +for emigration which belongs to our own race. In Mr. Hoar's happy +phrase, people of our blood "thirst for the horizon." + +In the year 1833 De Tocqueville, observing the steadiness of this +wave, calculated its average flow as seventeen miles westward every +year. That was the rate at which it had moved since the Federal +Constitution made it possible. Speaking roughly, there were then two +thousand miles of desert between the Missouri River and the Pacific. +At De Tocqueville's rate, the wave would have been one hundred and +twenty years in reaching that ocean. But it happened that in 1849 +the Western coast was settled in the gold discovery. An Eastern wave +began which has now met the Western. The two together have founded +the great cities--for we must call them so--of the Rocky Mountains. + +Now, in the face of that contrast between the last century and this +century, one asks why that half of our continent is any more fit for +men than it was then. The answer is, that it was not fit for the +kind of men on it then; and that the kind of men that have tamed it +are the kind of men who were fit for it, and whom it was fit for. + +The study of history and of physical geography becomes a study of +what we mean by man and man's capacities. California, for instance, +was the same country in 1650 that it was in 1850. The south wind +blew from the sea, and that, in the north temperate zone, is the +great physical requisite. There was as much gold, and quicksilver, +and copper, and tin in the mountains as there is now. There was the +same soil and the same water on the hillsides. But the men, and +women, and children were afraid of their gods; they were afraid +of nature; they had neither faith, nor hope, nor love. They had +none of the elements of eternal power except as an acorn has the +possibilities of an oak. + +To these people there came, sooner or later--with the best motives, +but still without the essentials of life--fifty families of +Franciscan monks. They came, observe, without wives or children. +They defied thus the first law of human life, or the life God +intends His children to live in. The primitive trinity, from which +all false trinities have grown, is the father, the mother and the +child. The Franciscan communities were false to all Divine law, if +it were only in their failure here. + +They gathered around them, by the higher civilization which they +brought, great communities of starving Indians. They taught them +to feed themselves as they had never been fed before. So far they +improved the race, and lifted its civilization above that ant-eating +and lizard-chasing of the Digger Indian. But then the Catholic +Church, by the necessary subordination of man to the organized +Church, takes man's life out of him. + + "The day + That makes a man a slave, takes all his life away." + +The words are as true to-day as they were in Homer's time. Nor is +there any sadder instance of it than is the powerlessness of the +tribes of amiable slaves who were collected under the protection +of the Franciscan missions in California, or Jesuit missions in +Paraguay. + +The native races between the Pacific and the Atlantic were dying +faster than their children were born. They were dying of the +diseases named laziness, ignorance, and war. They were not subduing +the continent. They were not fit for it, nor it for them. What is +the distinction of the race to which we belong, that it succeeds +where these have failed? The history of the country accentuates that +distinction. + +It would be absurd to pretend that the average frontiersman was a +man of what are called saintly habits. Often he was not conscious +that he had any divine errand. But the frontiersman, to whose +courage and perseverance is due that forward wave we study, was a +man. He did not take his opinion or instruction from any priest. +There was no one between him and the good God. Often he sought Him. +So far so good. And often he did not seek Him. That one admits. +But he never sought any one else's advice or direction. He was no +slave, as the Indian of California was. He was not commissioned by +a superior, as the Franciscan priest of the mission was. He was a +man. He was independent and he was brave. If he did the right thing, +therefore, he succeeded; if he did the wrong thing, why, he failed. +And no one else tried just the same experiment. In this first trait +of absolute independence he showed the infinite characteristic of a +child of God. + +Second, and perhaps more important, he took with him his wife and +his children. Here is the great distinction of American emigration, +which contrasts against the plans of Spaniards or Frenchmen, and of +the earlier Englishmen. Historically it begins with the Pilgrims, +of whom there were as many Pilgrim mothers as there were Pilgrim +fathers. It is of them that Emerson says that "they builded better +than they knew." + +The frontiersman is independent. He lives with and for his family. +And, once more, he is an enthusiast in determining that to-morrow +shall be better than to-day. The Indian had no such notion. The +Franciscan had not. But this profane, ignorant pioneer had. He +believed implicitly in the country behind him and in the future +before him. "I tell you, sir, that in ten years you will see in this +valley such a city as the world never saw." Profane he may be, +ignorant he may be, cruel he may be; but he believes in the idea; he +is quickened and goaded forward by an infinite and majestic hope. + +Given such conditions, the historical steps are easy. All this is +impossible till you have a nation, to give peace and compel peace, +so that the separate settler shall know that the whole majesty of +the world is behind him. There shall be no abiding quarrel between +man and man as to the line of a claim or the title of a mine. +The nation shall decide, and its whole majesty shall enforce the +decision. Or, if there is any massacre by an Apache or a Blackfoot, +the country behind, tho a thousand miles behind, shall stretch forth +her arm to avenge that lonely family. This means peace instead of +war. All this had to wait, therefore, until the formation of the +nation called the United States--the greatest peace society the sun +ever shone upon, and the model for societies yet larger. With the +birth of that nation, the real Western wave begins. + +I do not claim for every pioneer that he thought he went as an +apostle of God. But in the emigrant wave from the very beginning, +the best blood, the best faith, the best training of the parent +stocks have gone. Science has sent her best. The determination +for thorough education has planted better school houses in the +wilderness than the emigrant left at home. And on Sunday, in a +church, one is proud to say that the organized Church of Christ, +in the liberty of a thousand communions, has covered with her egis +the settler most in advance. He could not keep in advance of the +missionary and of his Bible; and, to his credit be it said, he did +not want to. + +So much for the personnel. Now, speaking roughly, what has been the +motive for the great Western wave, which is making this garden out +of that desert? + +First, there is the passion for adventure, the thirst for the +horizon, which drives old Leatherstocking and the men like him away +from the haunts of men. This in itself produces nothing. Next and +chiefly, the desire to make homes--the noblest desire given to man, +and the desire in which he follows the will of God most distinctly +and completely. Miners want to strike metals; farmers want to find +good soils; fruit men try for climate and irrigation; all with the +direct wish to make homes more happy than they have been before. + +Again, young men go that they may get forward faster than in old +communities--and who can wonder? Men of sense give up the unequal +contest with nature in a northern and eastern climate to find a +country where nature is on their side. People in delicate health go +where they find softer air, more spring and less winter. But no man +goes to get rich alone. No man wants to eat gold or to drink it. +The wish and hope is to make homes where father, mother and children +can live the life which God ordained. These are no Franciscan +friars, these are no Apache bandits, to whom has been given the +subjugation of a continent. Side by side with the pioneer is the +surveyor, marking the lines of future homesteads. Hard behind him +are father, mother, boys and girls, to whom the nation gives this +homestead thus designated. If the man is sick the woman nurses him. +The children grow up to know the world they live in. The boundary of +the nation is not a mere chain of garrisons nor the scattered posts +of missions; it is a line of homes, founded with all that the word +home involves. + +All these lessons of three centuries point one way. They show +that the world is not very good for wandering Apaches or Digger +Indians, freezing and starving under hard winters when harvests +have failed. To their point of view it was a world hard and cruel. +To Franciscan friars, ruling a little empire which yielded none +but physical harvests, where the garden, and orchard, and vineyard +were only so many specks in the midst of an unbounded desert, the +world can not have seemed a better world--a world made for wild +horses, and further East for wild buffaloes, but not for men--"the +great American Desert." It is not till man asserts the courage and +freedom of a son of God, it is not till man appears with wife and +child and proposes to establish his heaven here; it is not till then +that he masters nature, and she gladly obeys him. Nay, then he has +no success unless he appears as the vicegerent of God Himself, and +establishes over this vast domain the empire of law, and speaks as +God might speak, with "Thou shalt do this," and "Thou shalt not do +that" in this empire. + +The Old-World writers are fond of telling us that we owe the +prosperity of this nation to its physical resources. It is not so. +The physical resources have existed for centuries. It is only in +the moral force of sons and daughters of God; it is such working +power as takes the names of law, courage, independence, and family +affection; it is only in these that our victory is won. The drunken +swaggerer of the advance only checks the triumph. The miser, who +would carry off his silver to use elsewhere, only hinders the +advance. The victory comes from the hand of God to the children of +God, who establish His empire in the magic spell of three great +names. As always these names are: Faith, which gives courage; Hope, +which determines to succeed; and Love, which builds up homes. + +It is impossible to see the steps of such a victory without owning +the infinite Power behind it all. You cannot use magnetic ore and +coal for its smelting and the silicates for its fusion, all flung +in together side by side, without asking if the Power who threw +these priceless gifts together where each was needed for each +did not know what He was doing. But the buffalo passes over it, +and the gopher mines under it, and it might be so much gravel of +the sea. Savages pass over it, with no future, no heaven, and one +would say no God. It is worthless desert still, but one day a man +comes who deserves his name. He is a child of God. He is determined +that to-morrow shall be better than to-day. He knows he is lord of +nature, and he bids her serve him. The coal burns, the iron melts, +the silicate fuses. It is impossible to see that miracle and not +feel that for this man the world was created, and for this world +this man was born. He is in his place. He did not have to seek it; +it was made for him. With him it is a garden. Without him it is +a desert. He can hew down these mountains. He can fill up these +valleys. And where he has filled, and where he has hewed, lo, the +present heaven of happy homes! It is thus that prophecy accomplishes +itself, and + + "The car of the Lord rolls gloriously on." + + + + +MAGEE + +THE MIRACULOUS STILLING OF THE STORM + + + + +BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE + + +William Connor Magee, Archbishop of York, was born at Cork in 1821. +Educated at Trinity College, Dublin, he was ordained in 1844. His +first important charge was the Octagon Chapel at Bath in 1850. In +1864 he was made dean of Cork, and in 1868, Bishop of Peterborough. +In 1891 he was appointed to succeed Dr. William Thomson, as +Archbishop of York. + +Dr. Magee was pronounced by Canon Liddon the greatest preacher of +his day. His speech in the House of Lords in 1869 against Irish +Disestablishment was said by the highest authorities, as quoted +by Lord Salisbury, to be the finest speech ever delivered, in +either house of Parliament, by any man then living. His oratory was +characterized by clearness and terseness of expression, while his +full-toned voice was capable of sounding every gradation of feeling. +He died in 1891, three months after his enthronization in York +Minster. + + + + +MAGEE + +1821-1891 + +THE MIRACULOUS STILLING OF THE STORM + + _Lord, save us: we perish.... Then he arose, and rebuked the + winds and the sea; and there was a great calm_.--Matt. viii., + 25, 26. + + +The story of this miracle reveals to us Christ entering into peril +together with His Church. It records for us her faith and her +prayer. It reveals to us His presence and His power. That faith has +been her faith, that prayer has been her prayer, from that hour +until now. In all the long perilous voyage of the Church from that +hour, never has she unlearned yet her first prayer; never has she +become entirely unconscious of her Lord. Sometimes with a great and +a fearless faith that defied the most terrible tempests, sometimes +with a little and a timid faith, that shrank from the first ripple +upon the deep, but ever with her real faith have Christ's Church and +Christ's disciples turned in the hour of their tribulation to seek +their Lord. And never has that prayer been said in vain. Never from +the Church at large, or from the solitary disciple in his terror, +has that prayer gone up without an answer. Never has the eye of +faith sought, and sought in vain, the Savior. Ever has the praying +Church or the praying disciple found the still present Christ; and +we believe that it is so now. We believe that Christ our Lord is +here in the midst of us now, and that our eye of faith may see Him, +and our prayer of faith may reach Him. And if this be so now--if +Christ's presence be a real fact amongst us now, and our prayer have +really a might to reveal that presence--then, above all things, it +concerns us, that we understand the nature of that prayer, and the +manner of that presence, that we understand what it is we mean, and +what will come of it when we say: "Lord, save us, or we perish." + +We ask you, then, to-night, brethren, to consider these two things: +the meaning of the Church's prayer; the manner of her Lord's +presence. Now, when we use these words: "Lord, save: we perish," +we are really rehearsing two articles of our belief. We are +declaring, first of all, that we believe there is a Lord--that in +the visible world there is an invisible God with His overruling, +and controlling, and appointing will; and, in the next place, we +believe that this God is our Lord Jesus Christ. In the first of +these, we Christians agree with every religion that ever has been. +In the second, we differ from all other religions. When we say that +above nature there is a will and a personality, we say what every +religion says. Religion is nothing else than the belief in the +supernatural, in something above nature, in a person, in a will; and +prayer is nothing but the speech of our spirit to that will, and the +submission of our will to it. Prayer is the effort of the spirit +of man to rise above the visible up to the region of the invisible +and the personal, there to speak out his care or his need. There +can, therefore, be no prayer without this element of religion; and +there can be no religion without this fact of prayer. Without it, +you have philosophy, you may have sentiment; but you cannot have a +real, practical, every-day religion. And, therefore, all religions +have believed in a God or gods, a Lord or lords. Turk, Jew, heathen, +in like case, would have said to some lord or other: "Save, or we +perish." But the Christian believes something more. He believes that +his Lord has come down amongst men; that He has taken to Him human +flesh, and lived a human life, and died, and risen again, for his +salvation. He worships not only a lord, but the incarnate Lord; and +so the Church speaks her twofold faith in her great hymn from the +first to Christ as God: "We praise Thee, O God; we acknowledge Thee +to be the Lord"--Thee, and none other, to be the God, and Thee to +be the Lord, and Ruler, and Master of all things. You see, then, +that there is something different in Christian prayer from all other +prayer and worship, and that the difference consists in this: that +it is distinctively and avowedly the prayer to an incarnate Christ. + +Now, if there be this difference between this prayer and all other +prayer, then there must be a corresponding difference in the +feelings and in the practical results of such a religion; and I am +about to ask you now to follow me while I endeavor to trace for you +this difference between Christian prayer and all other prayer. It +seems as if the story in the gospel of this miracle exactly sets +out this difference--exactly shows us the distinctive nature of +Christian prayer. The story, you observe, divides itself, naturally, +into three parts. There is, first of all, the voyage before the +storm; there is, then, the storm; and there is, then, the miraculous +stilling of the storm. Now, you observe that in each of these three +parts, we have one thing in common. We have man, in some way or +other, encountering, or encountered by, the outward and visible +world. The third of these--the stilling of the storm--differs from +the other two in this, that it is miraculous and supernatural. Now, +let us, for a moment, leave out this third part. There are some, you +know, who say, that we should always leave it out, and be better +without it. Let us leave out, then, this third or miraculous part of +the story; and let us contrast the first and the second parts. And +what have we got? We have got a most remarkable contrast between +the two scenes. What is it we see in the first scene? We see a man +subduing nature. It was by the knowledge of the elements and the +laws of nature, that man learned thus to sail upon the deep; and in +that one fact you have represented for you the whole of the material +progress of humanity--all the triumphs of science, all the glory and +the beauty of art, all that marvelous mastery that man obtains by +his inventive and creative will over the secret powers of nature, as +he unlocks them one by one, and compels her to tell him her deepest +mysteries--all that man has done as he has advanced from horizon to +horizon of discovery, finding still new worlds to conquer, until +we stand amazed at our own progress and the infinity of it, and we +say of man: "What manner of being is this, that even the winds and +the sea obey him?" Yes, there is the man the lord of nature. There +is nothing supernatural there. All is natural, all is orderly. Man +is lord and master. Nature is man's servant; and, therefore, there +seems no room, there seems no need for prayer. There is nothing, +seemingly, there to be had for the asking; there is everything, +seemingly, there to be had for working. Man is to be seen walking in +the garden of his own planting and his own fencing; and he reaches +out hands to unforbidden fruits of knowledge; and he believes that +at last he shall gather even of the tree of life. He is a god unto +himself, and he sees no need for prayer. + +And now we turn to the second scene, and what have we there? We have +the direct contrast with this scene. We have there, not man subduing +nature, but nature subduing man. We have the storm in which the +elements are man's masters and not his servants; and he that one +minute before was the boasting lord of nature is its toy and its +sport. The very foam upon the crest of those billows is not more +helpless in the grasp of the elements than the lord and the king of +them; and they toss him to and fro, as the wind drives the stubble +in the autumn. This is the terrible aspect of nature. This is nature +in her might, and in her majesty, and in her pitilessness, and in +her capriciousness--when nature seems everything, and man, in her +awful presence, dwindles and dwarfs into very nothingness--when +man, in the presence of the vastness of her solitude, and the +might of her storms, and the terror of her earthquakes, seems no +more before her, with his little cares and his sorrows, than the +wee bubbles upon the head of the cataract. This is nature as she +masters man. Is it, then, any wonder that, in the early struggles of +mankind with this terrible visible power of the creature, men came +to worship the creature--that they ascribed to every one of these +powers a divinity, that in the voice of the wind, and in the roar +of the sea, and in the raging of the fire, they saw the signs of +a divine presence, and they said to these elements: "Spare us," or +"Save us, or else we perish"? And so all creation became peopled +with gods--cruel gods, capricious gods, vengeful gods, gods whom +men bribed with blood, gods whom, even while they bribed them, they +could not love, and did not believe that they loved them. This is +the first and most terrible form of creature worship; this was the +idolatry of the heathen. But mark this, that such a worship as this +could not continue forever, could not continue long, because it is +the worship of ignorance; it is the belief in the supernatural, +only because it confuses the unknown with the supernatural. Ever as +science advances must this faith melt away. Ever must the domain +of the known push itself forward into the domain of the unknown. +Ever does the man of science take one by one the gods of the man +of superstition and break them upon their pedestals, and tell him +this: "What you worship is no god. What you worship is no lord. It +is not your lord. It is a servant of yours; and I class it in this +or that rank of your servants." So, one by one, like ghosts and +fantoms in the dawning of the day--one by one, the fantoms of gods +that haunted the night of the old world vanish before the dawn of +knowledge. But then it is a terrible daylight that breaks on men--a +blank, dreary world in which men have no sight of the invisible, no +sense of the supernatural. It is that last and most terrible aspect +of nature, when she appears, not as many gods, or many wills, but as +the great soulless piece of mechanism, of which we are only part--a +terrible machinery in which we are, somehow or other, involved, and +in the presence of which the sense of our free-will leaves us. The +pith, and the manhood, and the vigor of men, and the beauty and the +freedom of their life die out of them as they stand appalled before +this passionless, this terrible, this awful face of a soulless +world. This is the last and the most terrible form of creature +worship. And mark this, that between these two aspects of nature, +if you have no assured faith, there is no logical resting-place. +Without the act of faith, you must take your choice between the +superstition of ignorance or the atheism of knowledge. + +And now we have seen these, we turn to the third portion of our +story; and what is that we see there? We see, again, in this world +of men, the miraculous and the supernatural. We hear a prayer, +and we see a miracle. In the face of the might of nature and the +terrors of her elements there arises up a Man in answer to man's +cry--there is heard a Man's voice, which is yet the voice of God; +and it rebukes the winds and the sea, and the elements of nature own +their real Lord; and immediately there is a great calm. What is +it, then, that we see? We see a miracle, and a miracle that answers +to prayer; we see the living spirits of living men, in the hour of +their agony and their distress, appealing from nature to the God of +nature; and we have recorded the answer of God to man's prayer. The +answer is, that God is Lord both of man and of nature; and we say, +therefore, that the miracle, and the miracle alone, sufficiently +justifies the prayer. We say that the reason why men may pray is, +and can only be, that they know and believe, that there is a will +which rules the visible. If you have not this belief, then believe +us that all prayer, whatever men may say about it, is an unreality +and a miserable mockery. To what am I to pray if I see no living +God to pray to? Am I to pray to a law? Am I to pray to a system? Am +I to pray to the winds, or to the waves, as men prayed of old? Am +I to pray for physical blessings and deliverances? Men tell us we +are not to pray, or to give thanks, concerning the rain or fruitful +seasons, for that science has told us that the supernatural has no +place there. Am I to pray then (for men do tell me that I may pray) +only for spiritual and for moral gifts? Am I to pray only to be +made wise, and good, and pure, and true, and holy? Ah! science is +beginning to meet us there, too; for she is telling us, and telling +us loudly, and telling us shamelessly, that here, too, there is no +room, so far as she can tell, for prayer, as our mind is but a part +of our body, and that our spiritual condition is a necessary result +of our past history and of our present temperament--that we are what +we are by virtue of birth and education, and country, and clime, +and other things over which we have no control. And so the very +spirit of man, all that is left of the invisible, vanishes before +the approach of science. The knife of the anatomist lays bare, as +he tells you, the secrets of man's being; and he finds no soul--he +finds only the gray matter of the brain and the white threads of +the nerves; and this is all that is left. Then, if we are not to +pray, may we at least praise? Men say that if it is a folly to pray, +at least it is a wisdom to praise; and they tell us this is the +sentimental theory of the modern gospel. They tell you: "You may +not pray,--prayer has no place in our system,--but you may praise; +you may lift up your heart in hymns of joy and gratitude to the +great Father of your being; you may have festival and flower-crowned +processions in honor of the Supreme Being; yes, you may in fine +weather, when you are sailing over summer seas, and the pleasant +summer wind is filling the sails of your bark, and is wafting sweet +odors from the flower-crowned shores along which youth, and hope, +and joy are passing--then you may lift up your hearts in thanks to +the Father that gave all these, if you do not forget it. But how is +it in foul weather? How is it when the sky above us darkens, and the +white crests of the waves beneath us are swelling sharp and fierce, +and the jagged edges of the rocks are projecting for our shipwreck, +and the wild waste of the waters is yawning below us, and we tremble +and shudder at their depths, and the wild wind blows our prayer +back into our bosoms--is that the time to sing sentimental hymns to +our great supreme Father and Giver of all good? It is a time (thank +God, thank Christ, for this) when the Christian, when the disciple +of Christ, may hold fast his faith and say, "Tho he slay me, yet +will I trust in him"; but it is not a time when the deist has +breath to sing his hymns to the supreme Author of his being. No, we +believe that there is a miracle that justifies, and alone justifies +prayer. We know that there are those (and they are good and wise +men, many of them) who contrive nice adjustments and philosophical +explanations how prayer may be reconciled with universal law. We do +not greatly care for these. They may be right; they may be wrong. +In some future state and higher condition of our being we may know +how far they are true, how far they are false; but, meanwhile, we +need not be too nervously anxious to make room for almighty God to +work His own will in His own world. We believe in the miracle of +creation; we believe that there was once a voice that said, "Let +there be light, and there was light"; we believe that at the sound +of that voice the universe leapt into life; and we believe in the +miracle of the Incarnation, when God took human flesh and dwelt +amongst men; we believe in the miracle of the descent of the Spirit +of God, when, with the miraculous sound of the rushing wind and +the miraculous gleam of the fire, God once more came down to dwell +amongst men; we believe in the miracles that are written for us in +this Book, were they ten times as many as they are; we believe that +the sea has stood on one side like a wall, and that the waters have +gushed forth from the rock; we believe that bread has been rained +from heaven; we believe that a touch has awakened the dead--we +believe all this; and, because we believe it, we believe the voice +when it says to us, "Pray"; and because we hear that voice still +amongst us, and because we know it to be the same voice, we say, as +we hear it, "Lord, save, or we perish." + +But still, in the last place, it may be said to us: If you do +believe that there is this power of miracle amongst you still, and +that it will answer to your prayer, why is it that we do not see +more miracles than we do? Why is not the world filled with strange +miracles every day, considering the infinite number of men's needs, +and the infinite number of human prayers? My brethren, it does seem +to me that if we were merely deists, and did not believe in Christ, +it would be difficult for us to answer this objection. The spirit +of man has, however (thanks be to God for it), in all ages been +deeper and truer in its instincts than his mere logical power. Even +the deist (and we thankfully acknowledge it), tho inconsistently +and illogically, yet really and truly prays. For us Christians +there is not any difficulty. There is that difference in our prayer +of which I spoke. To whom is it that we pray? Not merely to the +invisible Lord or Creator of the past, but to the incarnate Lord of +the present. We believe that Christ our Lord, to whom we pray, took +flesh and dwelt amongst us, and we believe that He did so that He +might work the greatest of all miracles--the salvation of the souls +of men; and we believe that He wrought it by dying and by living +again. We believe that He established in the world this great and +miraculous law, that it is possible out of death to bring life--nay, +that death is the way to life. If this be so, that by His death +life was purchased for us, then He teaches us that there is another +life than this, and that there is another death and a deeper death +than that we fear; and He tells us, it may be, that even by dying +we shall be saved, that He will not always save us from death--nay, +that He may save us by death. And so it comes to pass that we +understand how, by losing life, we may miraculously save it; and +yet, on the other hand, by trying to save life, we may naturally +lose it. So we come to understand this fact, how the beginning of +His kingdom was full of miracles, and how, in the history of His +kingdom, miracles have since ceased. The kingdom began with miracles +that He might teach us that He was able to save; the miracles ceased +in order that He might work a greater miracle. The lesser miracle +of ruling nature ceased in order that the greatest of all miracles +might perpetually be wrought--the regeneration, the redemption, and +the glorification of the nature of man. And so we understand that +Christ our Lord, because He is our Lord, may save us, even while +we seem to perish, and to perish in His presence. He saved us of +old by His agony and bloody sweat, by His cross and passion; and +He will save us now, and He does save every child of His. Through +agony and sweating, through cross and passion--through the agony of +our long nights of spiritual darkness, through the sweat of long +days of sore trouble and labor, beneath the weight of sharp and +heavy crosses and sorrow, and through the bitterness of spiritual +or bodily passion, does Christ our Lord still save those who cry +to Him, even while He seems to sleep and not to hear them, as, in +the bitterness of their souls, thinking themselves Christ-forsaken, +they cry, "Our Christ, our Christ, why hast Thou forsaken us? Dost +Thou sleep, Lord? Save us, or we perish." And so you understand +the peculiarity, the blest and the glorious peculiarity, of our +Christian prayer. You understand the meaning of those deep words +of Scripture--patience and the faith of the saints. You understand +how the Christian man may pray and wait, and wait and pray still. +If prayer were always followed by a miraculous answer, then prayer +would be easy enough; or, on the other hand, if there were no +thought of an answer, then it might be possible, tho not easy, to +submit ourselves to the inevitable. But to pray and not to receive +an answer, and yet to believe that the very not receiving is an +answer; to cry, "Save, or we perish," and to seem about to perish; +to believe that in what seems perishing is really salvation; to look +for the living and watchful Christ, and to see what seems only the +living and regardless Christ, and yet to believe that the time will +come when, at His word, there shall be a great calm--this is the +patience, this is the faith of those who worship an incarnate Lord. +And so we trace the history of Christ's Church, and so we strive +to trace the history of our own lives. Comparatively easy it is to +trace the Church's history along her voyage. The Church gives time +for comparing events and testing faith; and so, believing still in +the presence of her living Lord, the litanies of His Church ring +out, as they have ever rung, clearly and loudly, and high above the +roar of the tempest and the rushing of the waters, still the prayer +is heard, "Good Lord, deliver us"; and still, again and again, as +the storm sweeps by, and the Church passes out into calmer waters, +still comes the voice of thanksgiving: "He hath delivered us." +Even in our shorter voyage, are there none of us who can remember +times when we have knelt in agony and wrestled in prayer with the +Savior, who seemed to have forgotten us, when the mighty storm of +temptation and the billows of calamity seemed about to destroy us, +and when we have cried (oh, how men do cry in those storms of the +soul, in those tempests and terrors of the heart), "Lord, save us, +or we perish!" to Him to save us, and He has seemed to sleep and to +refuse to save? But at the last we can remember how He did reveal +Himself, not stilling the raging storm when we would have had Him +still the terrible tempest, not sparing, it may be, the precious +bark that we had rigged, and manned, and launched ourselves with +trembling hopes and loving prayers, and watched with eyes tearless +with agony, as we saw it about to sink before us; and we have +been led to see and believe that the living and the loving Lord +was answering even then our prayer, for the bark has, at length, +entered that haven where we would be, and where the vexed waters of +our voyage never awake a ripple on the calm depths of its eternal +peace. This has been the experience of more than one of this great +multitude that I see. And there is another experience that each one +of you may have: it is when, in the troubles of your own spirit, +when in the agonies of your own grief-stricken heart, when in the +depths of your own repentance, when in the storms of your own fear +and your own doubt, you cry to Christ the Savior--when you bring +your sins as some men bring their sorrows, as anxious to have them +removed as the others--when you cry to Christ your Savior: "Lord, +save me! Save me, a sinner! Save me, an unprayerful man hitherto! +Save me, an unbelieving man hitherto! Save me, not merely from the +hell hereafter, but the present storm and depth of my own sins that +threaten to destroy me! Save me, or I perish!" For, brethren, be +sure of this, sooner or later this will be the experience of every +such vexed and terrified soul--that, after he shall have endured, so +long as his Lord sees good, the terrifying storm and the threatening +deep that drive him in closer and closer search and seeking after +his Lord, then, at last, there will appear the form of the Son of +man, the form of Him who hung upon the cross, that He might for +ever in the world's history work this great and, to Him, dearest +of all miracles; and, at last, He will rebuke the winds and the +waves in that troubled soul, and there will be a great calm--a calm +that may not last for ever, a calm that will not last for ever, for +we have not yet reached the haven of perfect rest, but a calm that +is a foretaste of the eternal rest. And so, praying with all our +hearts to Christ our Lord, setting our will in submission to His +will, pouring out our spirit in prayer to His Spirit, laying bare +our hearts before His pure and loving eyes, through calm and through +storm, praying still that we suffer not death in either, that we +neither rot in the calm nor founder in the storm, praying still for +His presence, praying still for grace to realize that presence, +crying still for that deeper and yet deeper faith which is the +result of more and more constant experience, crying still, "Lord, +save, or we perish," wait in patience and in faith until He shall +send His last messenger in this world, His angel of death, and bid +him for us and in His name rebuke for the last time the winds that +have vexed us, and the waves that have terrified us, and then with +Him for ever there shall be a great calm. + + + + +SEISS + +THE WONDERFUL TESTIMONIES + + + + +BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE + + +Joseph A. Seiss, Lutheran divine, was born in 1823, at Graceham, Md. +He received his theological education as a private pupil of several +clergymen and was first settled over churches at Martinsburg and +Shepherdstown, Va. In 1843 he was transferred to Cumberland, then +to Baltimore, Md., and finally became pastor of St. John's Church, +Philadelphia, and for twelve years was editor of "The Lutheran." He +died in 1904. + + + + +SEISS + +1823-1904 + +THE WONDERFUL TESTIMONIES[1] + + [1] Reprinted by permission of the Literary Trustees of the Dr. + Seiss' Estate. + + _Thy testimonies are wonderful._--Psalms, cxix., 129. + + +The Psalmist here addresses himself to God. The testimonies of +which he speaks are God's testimonies. As collected and arranged in +one book, they are known to us as the Bible. For the contents of +these holy oracles the royal singer expresses his admiration. He +pronounces them "wonderful." + +It was not an unworthy theme with which he was occupied at the +time, neither was it an extravagant opinion which he uttered. It is +impossible that there should be for man a more important subject +than the communications made to him from his God. And if ever there +was a marvelous thing submitted to human inspection, it is this +book, the holy Bible. It lies before us like an ocean, boundless +and unfathomable,--like a Himalayan mountain, whose summit no foot +of man has trod, and whose foundation is in the undiscovered heart +of the world. To make a full survey of it is not possible in the +present condition of the human faculties. Even the inspired Paul, +when he came to look into it, found himself gazing into profundities +at which he could do no more than exclaim, "Oh, the depth of the +riches both of the wisdom and the knowledge of God!" And yet +there are many beautiful shells and pebbles lying on the shore of +this sea, and as many precious flowers blooming on this mountain +side, which any one may gather, and which, whosoever attentively +contemplates, must feel himself impelled to join the admiring +exclamation, "The testimonies of the Lord are wonderful." + +Let us look briefly at a few particulars by which to verify this +declaration, praying that God may open our eyes to behold wondrous +things out of His law. + + +I. The testimonies of the Lord are wonderful in age and preservation. + +The Bible is the oldest of books. Some portions of it are much more +recent than others, but a large part of it has come down from the +remotest antiquity and antedates all other writings in the world. +It contains a journal of events which transpired centuries before +the building of the Pyramids. The book of Job existed before Cadmus +carried letters into Greece. The five books of Moses were read +in holy assemblies two hundred years before Sanchoniathon wrote. +David and Solomon had uttered their sacred songs and prophecies +half a century before Homer enraptured the Greeks with his verses +or Lycurgus had given laws to Lacedæmon. Dozens of the books of +Scripture were complete a hundred years before the first public +library was founded at Athens; and the last of the prophets had +ended his message before Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle had +propounded their philosophies. When the elements of society were but +forming in the womb of the far-distant past, the Bible was there. +When the foundations of earth's present greatness were laid, it was +there. And when we go back to the very beginnings of history, even +there does its hand lead us and its right hand uphold us. + +Nor is it as a mere lifeless fossil that this book has come down +to us from such remote antiquity. Tho hoary with age, its youthful +vigor remains, and its natural force is not abated. It has only +grown fresher with age, and strengthened with every new trial. It +has been at the births and deaths of a hundred mighty nations, +and seen empires rise, flourish, and fall, and coexisted with the +longest lines of earthly kings, and beheld some of the sublimest +monuments of human effort come forth and disappear, and passed a +hundred generations in reaching us; but, withal, it still lives, in +all nations, in all languages, the most precious legacy of departed +ages, and the only thing that remains to us from some of them. +Tho it has encountered many a fierce conflict with the hate of +men and the spite of devils,--tho the object of many a concerted +scheme to blot it from the earth,--tho often held up to ridicule, +with "gigantic apes like Voltaire chattering at it, men of genius +turned by some Circean spell into swine, like Mirabeau and Paine, +casting filth at it, demoniacs whom it had half rescued and half +inspired, like Rousseau, making mouths in its face," and all the +varied passions of unsanctified men continually arrayed against +it,--it still holds its place as the most uncorrupt and authentic +of histories, the most august and controlling of records, the most +universal, venerable, and potent of books, imagining in its very +history the stupendous majesty of the God whom it reveals. + + +II. The testimonies of the Lord are wonderful in their authorship. + +They are not of man, but of God. We can not now refer to the varied +and multitudinous considerations which enter into the proofs of +this. It is capable, however, of being established by the very +highest moral evidences. The wisest and best men of every age have +concurred in receiving the Scriptures as from God. And it is not +possible to give a rational account of their origin, and the source +of their contents, without ascribing them to the divine authorship +which they claim. + +It may seem strange that the infinite God should condescend to +put His great thoughts into the poor language of mortals, to +communicate with creatures so dull and stupid as the sons of men; +but this He has done. Portions of the Scriptures are made up of +the very words of God, articulated by Himself in the hearing of +men commissioned to declare them. One chapter, which embodies the +moral essence of all the rest, was engraven by His own finger upon +tables of rock, and delivered to Moses all ready formed and set +in the alphabetic signs employed by men. Other parts consist of +communications of celestial messengers sent directly from heaven's +throne to declare God's will and purposes to the dwellers upon +earth. A still larger portion was taken down as it fell from the +lips of One in whom God had incarnated Himself, and whose every +word and act in this world was a revelation from the unknown +Deity. Even those parts which were written by men were produced +by mysterious motion and illumination of the Holy Ghost,--by +inspiration of God. Indeed, the whole book is a literary aerolite, +all the characteristics of which are unearthly, and whose own +superior attributes are so many demonstrations of its superhuman +source. Its very address is so far above that of man, that no +mortal, unprompted, could ever have risen to it. Its subjects are +all treated after an unearthly manner. Every leaf of it bears the +sunlight of some higher sphere. Every page has on it the imprimatur +of God. And all its words are instinct with divine fires, flashing +the admonition upon every reader, "Put off thy shoes from off thy +feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground." They +that look upon it look upon expressions of the eternal Spirit. +They that rightly take its lessons drink in living emanations from +unsearchable Godhead. It is the abiding miracle of _rapport_ with +the Mind which projected, upholds, and governs the universe. It is +the Word of God. + + +III. The testimonies of the Lord are wonderful in their originality +and instructiveness. + +The Bible depends upon no discoveries of man, and leans upon no +other books. If it says some things which may be learned elsewhere, +its utterances are always independent and peculiarly its own. +The world through which it ranges is much wider than that of +man's thoughts. It goes back to a remoter antiquity; it takes in +a broader space; it extends to a vaster future; it introduces +to sublimer spheres and forms of being; and it exhibits a much +profounder wisdom. It opens arcana of which no earthly powers ever +dreamed, and is at home in regions where the sublimest imaginings +of man had hardly extended a guess. On all the great questions of +theology, life, death, and futurity, it speaks with a familiarity, +comprehensiveness, and propriety which at once command our +confidence and satisfy our hearts. What it touches, it touches with +a master's hand. It never speaks without pregnant meaning in all its +words. And there is nothing in human science, poetry, or tradition +which it does not exceed in knowledge, wisdom, and real value. + +In its account of the creation, and the origin of things, there is +nothing to compare with it. In all the historians, philosophers, +and secular authors,-the books of Zoroaster, the records of +Phoenicia and Egypt, the Dialogues of Plato and Lucian, the annals +of China, the treatises of Plutarch, the Shastras of India, the +Edda of Scandinavia, and all the schemes that have ever been given +in explanation of the earth's primal history,--there is nothing so +natural, so magnificent, so simple, so appropriate, so reliable, +so satisfactory, as the first chapter of Genesis. Nor have all the +discoveries of modern geology brought forward anything to convict +Moses of a false cosmogony. If it is a truth that the history of +the earth's formation runs back through uncounted ages, he leaves +an interval for it, between "the beginning" and the period when +God caused light to appear upon its dark and misty surface. If it +is true that vast eras have been traversed by each separate order +of living things, one after the other, we find precisely the same +succession in the Mosaic account which is found preserved in the +different layers of the earth's crust. And if it be true that there +was life upon our world ages and cycles of ages before the period +noted in Genesis as that in which man was created, it is also true +that no traces of human existence are found except in the most +recent deposits. A certain stonemason of the village of Cromartie, +with sledge and chisel, himself delved through every formation, from +the surface-mold down through the old red sandstone to the Silurian, +gneiss, and granite, and, having mastered all that is known +concerning each, has written it down as the result of his marvelous +explorations, that the truthfulness of the Mosaic record is engraven +upon the rocks forever. + +And so in every department of science the Bible is always true +to nature, and has invariably been in advance of all human +investigations and discoveries. How many thousands of years have +metaphysicians and psychologists been at work to map out, classify, +and gauge the various capacities and powers of the human mind +and soul! But they have found no way of approach to the heart so +masterly and effective as that taken by the Scriptures; and the more +that is known of the nature of the man, the more clearly is it seen +that the Bible comprehended it from the commencement. It has been +but a few years since Newton laid open the laws of gravitation; and +yet the Scriptures spoke of the earth being hung "upon nothing," +as if familiar with the whole subject, before human science had +begun to form even its feeblest guesses in the case. It has only +been since the invention of the telescope enabled men to search +through the starry spaces that Sir John Herschel has discovered in +the northern sky a peculiar barrenness; but more than three thousand +years ago Job told Bildad the Shuhite that "God stretched out the +north over the empty place." It has been but a few years since +science discovered "that the sun is not the dead center of motion, +around which comets sweep and planets whirl," but that "the earth +and sun, with their splendid retinue of comets, satellites, and +planets, are all in motion around some point or center of attraction +inconceivably remote, and that that point is in the direction of +the star Alcyone, one of the Pleiades"; which would hence seem to +be "the midnight throne" in which the whole system of gravitation +has its central seat and from which all material orbs are governed. +But the Bible asked the question, more than thirty centuries ago, +"Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Pleiades?" as if the +speaker knew all about the facts in the case. How long has it been +since the doctrine of the rotundity of the earth has been settled +by scientific men? yet the Psalmist spoke of "the round world"; and +Solomon described in brief the true theory of wind-currents, and +strongly hinted the circulation of the blood, at least twenty-five +hundred years ago. And, with all the advances of knowledge which +have so wonderfully marked the last three hundred years, in which +the spirit of philosophic inquiry has ranged the universe, searched +heaven, earth, and sea, knocked at every door, peered into every +recess, consulted every oracle of nature, and gathered trophies +of power and treasures of wisdom and sublimities of knowledge at +which the world has been amazed,--in all the motions which the +experimentist has traced, in all the principles of power which the +master of physics has discovered, in all the combinations which the +chemist has detected, in all the forms which the naturalist has +recorded, in all the spiritual phenomena which the metaphysician +has described, and in all the conditions and relations of mind or +matter, past or present, which human research has found out,--there +has not come to light one truth to contradict these holy records, or +to require the relinquishment or change of one word in all the great +volume of Scripture. + + +IV. The testimonies of the Lord are wonderful in beauty and literary +excellence. + +The Bible is a casket of jewelry of the richest hues and the most +exquisite workmanship. Sir William Jones, that great Orientalist +and scholar, has said, "I have regularly and attentively perused +these Holy Scriptures, and am of the opinion that this volume, +independently of its divine origin, contains more true sublimity, +more exquisite beauty, more pure morality, more important history, +and finer strains of poetry and eloquence, than can be collected +from all other books, in whatever age or language they may have +been written." Even Rousseau wrote, "The majesty of the Scriptures +strikes me with admiration. The works of our philosophers, with all +their pomp of diction, how mean, how contemptible, in comparison +with them!" + +Nor does it matter much what part of the Scriptures we take, or in +what department of rhetoric we test them. Whether it be history or +prophecy, the Old Testament or the New, narrative or description, +poetry or prose, the same characteristics are to be seen. Moses +is as pure and simple as Adam and Eve in Paradise, and yet as +majestic and grand as that great creation which he describes. Job +contains a drama which is without a parallel,--a drama of facts +in which heaven and earth, visible and invisible, with all their +wonderful interpenetrations, are set out in their connection with +a suffering saint upon his couch, and in which the spirit of +earnest inquiry urges itself forward until everything comes forth +to declare the majesty of God, and all the might and goodness of +man lies prostrate before Him who "bringeth forth Mazzaroth in his +season" and speaketh comfortably to them that trust in Him. Under +the leadership of David's muse, we pass through varied scenes of +beauty and grandeur,--pastures and glens, still waters and roaring +floods, dismal swamps and silent wildernesses, forests crashing +with the lightnings of God and tempests that convulse the seas, +the smoke and fury of battle and the shoutings of glad multitudes, +by dells of lonely sorrow and along the starry archways of the +sky,--until at length we take our places in a temple high as +heaven and wide as space, with all objects of creation as living +worshipers around us, each with its separate hymn of grateful joy, +blending in one almighty adoration. Isaiah rises upon us like some +"mighty orb of song," whose rays are streaming minstrelsies, that +have thrilled upon the hearts of men for seventy generations, and +which must needs thrill on, unrivaled in their kind, while earth +and time endure. Ezekiel is a very comet of fire, flaming his +impetuous way across the heavens, and, like the living spirits in +his own first vision, going and returning as a flash of lightning. +And throughout,--the Evangelists with their simple story of Jesus, +and Paul in his epistles and orations, and John in his loving +letters and apocalyptic visions,--from the first words, "In the +beginning," onward to the last "amen," we find variety, beauty, +pathos, dignity, sweetness, magnificence, and glory, such as are +contained in no other composition. Here are the sublimest heights +and the profoundest depths, and all the gradations from the one +to the other. From the worm that grovels in the dust, to the +leviathan in the foaming deep, and the supreme archangel, and the +eternal God; from the hyssop on the wall, to the cedars of Lebanon, +and the healing trees which shade life's eternal river; from the +pearl-drops which trickle from the mountain rock, to the noise +of dashing torrents, and the wide waters of the deluge; from the +glowworm under the thorn, to the sun in the heavens, and the great +Father of Lights; from the lone pilgrim to the triumphing host, and +the gathering multitude which no man can number; from the deepest +sorrows of the lost, to the probation scenes of earth and the +seraphic visions of the blest,--there is nothing known to mortals +which God hath not brought into requisition to intensify and adorn +the precious book which He has given to men. As an eloquent preacher +beyond the sea remarks, "He has filled it with marvelous incident +and engaging history, with sunny pictures from Old-World scenery +and affecting anecdotes from patriarchal times. He has replenished +it with stately argument and thrilling verse, and sprinkled it +over with sententious wisdom and proverbial pungency. It has the +gracefulness of high utility; it has the majesty of intrinsic +power; it has the charm of its own sanctity: it never labors, never +strives, but, instinct with great realities and bent on blessed +ends, has all the translucent beauty and unstudied power which you +might expect from its lofty object and all-wise Author." + +Some call these Scriptures dull and uninviting; but there is no +book in being with so many real attractions. There is no classic +equal to it,--no historian like Moses, no poet like Job or Isaiah, +no singer like David, no orator like Paul, no character like Jesus, +and no revelation of God or nature like that which these venerable +pages give. Not without reason has Sir Thomas Browne said, "Were +it of man, I could not choose but say it was the singularest and +superlative piece that hath been extant since the creation. Were +I a pagan, I should not refrain the lecture of it, and can not +but commend the judgment of Ptolemy, that thought not his library +complete without it." + + +V. The testimonies of the Lord are wonderful in their influences and +effects. + +The Bible has been, for three thousand years, one of the greatest +potencies on earth. It has been, and is to this moment, a greater +power than Rome, or Greece, or Babylon ever was. Though it has +not conquered the world, it has advanced further towards it than +Alexander ever did. It has done more to govern and renew the human +heart than all the laws enacted by legislators, and all the maxims +devised by uninspired sages, and all the lessons, apart from itself, +that were ever given to the race. It is the chief stay of a society +which for a thousand years has been the most widespread, the most +important, and the most powerful association on the earth. It has +controlled the religious opinions of a large part of mankind for +nearly forty centuries. It has molded characters and directed the +efforts of men whose lives and labors introduced new eras and shaped +the destinies of nations and turned the course of the world's +entire history. It has begotten and fostered the purest virtue, the +sublimest manhood, the noblest beneficence, the sincerest charity, +the tenderest kindness, and all the blessed saintship, that have +ever been upon earth. + +Its vast influence upon the welfare of nations may be estimated in +part from the bloody codes, and infamous administrations, and social +degradations, and far-reaching wretchedness, of those countries +where it is rejected or unknown, contrasted with the blessedness +and peace of those who have received it. It was the great Milton +who said, "There are no politics like those which the Scriptures +teach"; and in proof we need only look at Judea when it knew no laws +but those which this book contains. How smooth and steady were the +wheels of public justice, and how beautiful was the flow of national +peace, in those golden days of the old Hebrew commonwealth! How did +the joyous vines, and fields of waving ears, and gold of Ophir, +and flocks and cattle abiding on a thousand hills, and cities full +of peace and plenty, proclaim abroad the wealth and blessedness of +that goodly land! How did the voice of singing and the fragrance of +virtue linger round each habitation, and the sacrifices of praise +crowd all the temple's courts from tribes rejoicing in the smiles of +God! + +In the sphere of learning and thought-creations, also, the influence +of the Bible is equally marked and wonderful. It is to the world of +letters what the sun is to the solar system, the fountain of the +purest light and brightest wisdom. It has produced more books than +any other one thing in existence. It has fostered learning when +there was no other stimulation to its cultivation felt. Even the +heathen classics owe their preservation to it. As a book written in +other times, places, and languages, it has called forth the most +laboriously compiled lexicons, grammars, and works on archeology by +which the world of the present communes with the world of the past. +As a book claiming the faith and obedience of men, it has created a +world of learned apology, comment, and exposition, and some of the +noblest specimens of argument, eloquence, and appeal which are known +to man. And, simply as a book among books, it has wrought wondrously +upon the thoughts and productions of authors of all classes. The +Visions of Dante are largely drawn from it. Every canto of the +Faerie Queene bears the impress of its influence. Milton's matchless +songs of Paradise are from an inspiration which the Bible alone +could give. From the same source came the immortal dream of Bunyan, +the Pauline reasonings of Barrow, the flaming zeal of Richard +Baxter, the "molten wealth" and "lava of gold and gems" which poured +down "the russet steep of Puritan theology," the songs of Cowper, +and "Thoughts" of Young, and visions of Pollok, and mighty eloquence +of the Luthers, the Knoxes, the Massillons, the Whitefields, and the +Halls. Addison, and Thomson, and Burke, and Dryden, and Wordsworth, +and Coleridge, and Southey, and Campbell, and Goethe, all are vastly +indebted to the Scriptures for whatever excellences are found in +their works. Shakespeare drew largely from this same precious mine, +and also even Hobbes, and Shelley, and Byron. That prince of modern +orators, Daniel Webster, once said, "If there be anything in my +style or thoughts to be commended, the credit is due to my kind +parents in instilling into my mind an early love of the Scriptures." +Indeed, if we were to destroy the Bible, and take from the world +of literature and thought all that it has contributed directly or +indirectly, half the history of the race would be swept out of mind, +the noblest ideas that have swelled man's heart would be gone, +some of the proudest monuments of human genius would be buried +in oblivion, and thick darkness would settle down upon the world +forever. + + +VI. The testimonies of the Lord are wonderful as a fountain of +consolation, hope and salvation. + +The Bible to all its other excellences adds this, that it is the +Book of Life. It is not only a basket of silver network, but it +contains apples of gold. It is the record of glad tidings to a +perishing world, a message of joy to all people. In it, Wisdom +hath mingled her wine, and slain her fatlings, and furnished her +table, and calls all the hungry and needy to come and partake. The +entrance of its words giveth light and imparteth understanding +to the simple, and maketh wise unto salvation. It is a balm from +Gilead for the sick, oil for the bruises of the wounded, reprieve +for the prison-bound, and bread for them that are ready to perish. +Its different books are but so many angels of mercy, carrying +contentment into the abodes of poverty, enabling even the children +of want to lift up their eyes to God who ordereth all things well, +and to eat their scanty meals in peace; staying the hearts of the +persecuted and opprest, causing them to rejoice and sing under the +yoke, at the stake, and in the hottest of the fires, as on their +passage-way to crowns immortal in the world to come; calming the +minds of the fevered, mollifying where all earthly medicines fail, +and kindling glad hopes of recompense yet to be revealed; lighting +up comforts in the breasts of those that mourn for their dead, and +assuring them of blessed reunions in a better life; and kindling +even the dying eye and inspiring the dying heart with thoughts of +speedy triumph, causing lips already closed for death to open once +more in utterances of victory. + +We may talk of the venerable age of the Bible, and its scientific +accuracy, and its literary beauty and sublimity, and its wonderful +influences upon the ideas, laws, governments, and general order of +society and mankind; but it is all nothing in comparison with the +spiritual good and immortal hopes and consolations which it begets +in those who receive it as a message from their God. Are we voyagers +upon a troubled and a dangerous sea? Here is a chart by which to +steer in safety to the happy shores. Are we soldiers, beset with +foes and required to endure the shocks of battle? This is an armory +from which all needed weapons may be drawn at will, and by the right +use of which we may hew our way to immortal triumph. Are we pilgrims +and strangers, worn and weary in our search for the home from which +we are exiles? In this book gush out the pure, fresh waters of +life, the cooling shades from the Rock of salvation appear, and +the guiding word is heard from pilgrims in advance, to cheer and +encourage us till we reach the mansion of our Father. Indeed, it is +beyond the power of language to express the excellency and richness +of spiritual treasure which we have in this holy Book. It is the +miraculous cruse of the Shunamitess which never exhausts. It is the +wand of Moses which swallows the serpents of life, and parts the sea +of trouble, and brings forth waters in the thirsty wilderness. It +is the ladder of Jacob on which our spirits ascend to commune with +God and angels. It is the telescope of faith by which we look on +things invisible, survey even the third heavens, and have present to +our view what is to be in after-ages. It is the chariot of Elijah +in which to ride up the starry way to immortality unhurt of death. +It is the channel of the almighty Spirit as it goes forth for the +sanctification of the race,--the very gulf-stream of eternal life as +it pours out for the resuscitation of our wilted and decaying world. + +Allusion has been made to the dreadful eclipse it would be to the +world of letters and thought, for the Bible, and what it has done +for man, to be blotted out. But that were nothing to the moral and +spiritual night that would go along with such a calamity. Besides +carrying away with it a vast proportion of the intellectual and +moral life of the last eighteen centuries, it would silence every +preacher of salvation, and abolish at once his office and his text. +It would stop every work of mercy and plan of philanthropy in the +world. + +It would transmute into a lie all our fond anticipations of the +return of Jesus to renew the world, restore our dead, complete our +salvation, and bring us to an eternal heaven. It would hush forever +the glad tidings with which men have comforted themselves for these +many weary ages. It would put out the mother's hopes of her dead +babes, quench the wife's fond desires for her husband's everlasting +peace, destroy the widow's consolation as she lingers by the grave +of her buried love, and extinguish the matron's last comfort as she +trembles on the verge of eternity. + +It would take with it all the reliefs and blessedness which prayer +in the name of Jesus gives, and leave the sinner without pardon +in the extremities of life. It would take away the last appeal of +the slave against his oppressor, remove the last check of tyranny, +and lift from the wicked hearts of men the last restraints, +giving carnival to every lust and play to every passion, without +correction, without limit, and without end! + +We stagger, and are horrified, at the mere idea of the loss that +would be inflicted. Chills run down our pulses at the contemplation +of the despair and wretchedness which would ensue. + +Let us, then, learn to value the possession of such a precious +book. Let us bind it to our hearts as our chief treasure in this +sin-darkened world. And, whilst we admire its beauty and revere its +mysteries, let us abide by its precepts, and, as far as in us lies, +practise its sacred mandates. + + + + +MACLAREN + +THE PATTERN OF SERVICE + + + + +BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE + + +ALEXANDER MACLAREN was born in 1826, educated at Glasgow University, +for twelve years preached at Southampton, and afterwards for many +years in Manchester. Besides an impressive face and figure he +brought to the pulpit a ripe scholarship, an almost perfect English +style, and an uncommonly vigorous personality. The keynote of +his life and character is disclosed in his own words, uttered in +Manchester: + +"I have been so convinced that I was best serving all the varied +social, economical, and political interests that are dear to me +by preaching what I conceived to be the gospel of Jesus Christ, +that I have limited myself to that work. I am sure, with a growing +conviction day by day, that so we Christian ministers best serve our +generation. My work, whatever yours may be, is, and has been for +thirty-eight years, and I hope will be for a little while longer +yet, to preach Jesus Christ as the King of England and the Lord of +all our communities, and the Savior and friend of the individual +soul." + + + + +MACLAREN + +BORN IN 1826 + +THE PATTERN OF SERVICE[2] + + [2] From "The Secret of Power, and Other Sermons," published by Funk + & Wagnalls Company. + + _He touched his tongue; and looking up to heaven, He sighed, and + saith, Ephphatha, that is, Be opened._--Mark vii., 33, 34. + + +For what reason was there this unwonted slowness in Christ's healing +works? For what reason was there this unusual emotion ere He spoke +the word which cleansed? + +As to the former question, a partial answer may perhaps be that our +Lord is here on half-heathen ground, where aids to faith were much +needed, and His power had to be veiled that it might be beheld. +Hence the miracle is a process rather than an act; and, advancing +as it does by distinct stages, is conformed in appearance to men's +works of mercy, which have to adapt means to ends, and creep to +their goal by persevering toil. As to the latter, we know not why +the sight of this one poor sufferer should have struck so strongly +on the ever-tremulous chords of Christ's pitying heart; but we do +know that it was the vision brought before His spirit by this +single instance of the world's griefs and sicknesses, in which mass, +however, the special case before Him was by no means lost, that +raised His eyes to heaven in mute appeal, and forced the groan from +His breast. + +The missionary spirit is but one aspect of the Christian spirit. +We shall only strengthen the former as we invigorate the latter. +Harm has been done, both to ourselves and to this great cause, by +seeking to stimulate compassion and efforts for heathen lands by +the use of other excitements, which have tended to vitiate even the +emotions they have aroused, and are apt to fail us when we need +them most. It may therefore be profitable if we turn to Christ's +own manner of working, and His own emotions in His merciful deeds, +set forth in this remarkable narrative, as containing lessons for +us in our missionary and evangelistic work. I must necessarily omit +more than a passing reference to the slow process of healing which +this miracle exhibits. But that, too, has its teaching for us, who +are so often tempted to think ourselves badly used, unless the +fruit of our toil grows up, like Jonah's gourd, before our eyes. If +our Lord was content to reach His end of blessing step by step, we +may well accept patient continuance in well-doing as the condition +indispensable to reaping in due season. + +But there are other thoughts still more needful which suggest +themselves. Those minute details which this evangelist ever delights +to give of our Lord's gestures, words, looks, and emotions, not only +add graphic force to the narrative, but are precious glimpses of the +very heart of Christ. That fixed gaze into heaven, that groan which +neither the glories seen above nor the conscious power to heal could +stifle, that most gentle touch, as if removing material obstacles +from the deaf ears, and moistening the stiff tongue that it might +move more freely in the parched mouth, that word of authority +which could not be wanting even when His working seemed likest a +servant's, do surely carry large lessons for us. The condition of +all service, the cost of feeling at which our work must be done, the +need that the helpers should identify themselves with the sufferers, +and the victorious power of Christ's word over all deaf ears--these +are the thoughts which I desire to connect with our text, and to +commend to your meditation to-day. + +We have here set forth the foundation and condition of all true work +for God in the Lord's heavenward look. + +The profound questions which are involved in the fact that, as +man, Christ held communion with God in the exercise of faith and +aspiration, the same in kind as ours, do not concern us here. I +speak to those who believe that Jesus is for us the perfect example +of complete manhood, and who therefore believe that He is "the +leader of faith," the head of the long procession of those who in +every age have trusted in God and been lightened. But, perhaps, tho +that conviction holds its place in our creeds, it has not been as +completely incorporated with our thoughts as it should have been. +There has, no doubt, been a tendency, operating in much of our +evangelical teaching, and in the common stream of orthodox opinion, +to except, half unconsciously, the exercises of the religious life +from the sphere of Christ's example, and we need to be reminded +that Scripture presents His vow, "I will put my trust in Him," as +the crowning proof of His brotherhood, and that the prints of His +kneeling limbs have left their impressions where we kneel before +the throne. True, the relation of the Son to the Father involves +more than communion--namely, unity. But if we follow the teaching +of the Bible, we shall not presume that the latter excludes the +former, but understand that the unity is the foundation of perfect +communion, and the communion the manifestation, so far as it can be +manifested, of the unspeakable unity. The solemn words which shine +like stars--starlike in that their height above us shrinks their +magnitude and dims their brightness, and in that they are points +of radiance partially disclosing, and separated by, abysses of +unlighted infinitude--tell us that in the order of eternity, before +creatures were, there was communion, for "the Word was with God," +and there was unity, for "the Word was God." And in the records of +the life manifested on earth the consciousness of unity loftily +utters itself in the unfathomable declaration, "I and my Father are +one"; whilst the consciousness of communion, dependent like ours +on harmony of will and true obedience, breathes peacefully in the +witness which He leaves to Himself: "The Father has not left me +alone for I do always the things that please him." + +We are fully warranted in supposing that that wistful gaze to heaven +means, and may be taken to symbolize, our Lord's conscious direction +of thought and spirit to God as He wrought His work of mercy. There +are two distinctions to be noted between His communion with God and +ours before we can apply the lesson to ourselves. His heavenward +look was not the renewal of interrupted fellowship, but rather, as a +man standing firmly on firm rock may yet lift his foot to plant it +again where it was before, and settle himself in his attitude before +he strikes with all his might; so we may say Christ fixes Himself +where He always stood, and grasps anew the hand that He always held, +before He does the deed of power. The communion that had never been +broken was renewed; how much more the need that in our work for God +the renewal of the--alas! too sadly sundered--fellowship should +ever precede and always accompany our efforts! And again, Christ's +fellowship was with the Father. Ours must be with the Father through +the Son. The communion to which we are called is with Jesus Christ, +in whom we find God. + +The manner of that intercourse, and the various discipline of +ourselves with a view to its perfecting, which Christian prudence +prescribes, need not concern us here. As for the latter, let us not +forget that a wholesome and wide-reaching self-denial cannot be +dispensed with. Hands that are full of gilded toys and glass beads +cannot grasp durable riches, and eyes that have been accustomed to +glaring lights see only darkness when they look up to the violet +heaven with all its stars. As to the former, every part of our +nature above the simply animal is capable of God, and the communion +ought to include our whole being. + +Christ is truth for the understanding, authority for the will, love +for the heart, certainty for the hope, fruition for all the desires, +and for the conscience at once cleansing and law. Fellowship with +Him is no indolent passiveness, nor the luxurious exercise of +certain emotions, but the contact of the whole nature with its sole +adequate object and rightful Lord. + +Such intercourse, brethren, lies at the foundation of all work for +God. It is the condition of all our power. It is the measure of all +our success. Without it we may seem to realize the externals of +prosperity, but it will be all illusion. With it we may perchance +seem to spend our strength for naught; but heaven has its surprizes; +and those who toiled, nor left their hold of their Lord in all their +work, will have to say at last with wonder, as they see the results +of their poor efforts, "Who hath begotten me these? behold, I was +left alone; these, where had they been?" + +Consider in few words the manifold ways in which the indispensable +prerequisite of all right effort for Christ may be shown to be +communion with Christ. + +The heavenward look is the renewal of our own vision of the calm +verities in which we trust, the recourse for ourselves to the +realities which we desire that others should see. And what is equal +in persuasive power to the simple utterance of your own intense +conviction? He only will infuse his own religion into other minds, +whose religion is not a set of hard dogmas, but is fused by the heat +of personal experience into a river of living fire. It will flow +then, not otherwise. The only claim which the hearts of men will +listen to, in those who would win them to spiritual beliefs, is that +ancient one: "That which we have seen with our eyes, which we have +looked upon, declare we unto you." Mightier than all arguments, +than all "proofs of the truth of the Christian religion," and +penetrating into a sphere deeper than that of the understanding, +is the simple proclamation, "We have found the Messias." If we +would give sight to the blind, we must ourselves be gazing into +heaven. Only when we testify of that which we see, as one might who, +standing in a beleaguered city, discerned on the horizon the filmy +dust-cloud through which the spear-heads of the deliverers flashed +at intervals, shall we win any to gaze with us till they too behold +and know themselves set free. + +Christ has set us the example. Let our prayers ascend as His did, +and in our measure the answers which came to Him will not fail us. +For us, too, "praying, the heavens" shall be "opened," and the +peace-bringing spirit fall dove-like on our meek hearts. For us, +too, when the shadow of our cross lies black and gaunt upon our +paths, and our souls are troubled, communion with heaven will bring +the assurance, audible to our ears at least, that God will glorify +Himself even in us. If, after many a weary day, we seek to hold +fellowship with God as He sought it on the Mount of Olives, or among +the solitudes of the midnight hills, or out in the morning freshness +of the silent wilderness, like Him we shall have men gathering +around us to hear us speak when we come forth from the secret place +of the Most High. If our prayer, like His, goes before our mighty +deeds, the voice that first pierced the skies will penetrate the +tomb, and make the dead stir in their grave-clothes. If our longing, +trustful look is turned to the heavens, we shall not speak in vain +on earth when we say, "Be opened." + +Brethren, we cannot do without the communion which our Master +needed. Do we delight in what strengthened Him? Does our work rest +upon the basis of inward fellowship with God which underlay His? +Alas! that our pattern should be our rebuke, and the readiest way to +force home our faults on our consciences should be the contemplation +of the life which we say that we try to copy! + +We have here pity for the evils we would remove set forth by the +Lord's sigh. + +What was it that drew that sigh from the heart of Jesus? One poor +man stood before Him, by no means the most sorely afflicted of the +many wretched ones whom He healed. But He saw in him more than a +solitary instance of physical infirmities. Did there not roll darkly +before His thoughts that whole weltering sea of sorrow that moans +round the world, of which here is but one drop that He could dry +up? Did there not rise black and solid against the clear blue, to +which He had been looking, the mass of man's sin, of which these +bodily infirmities were but a poor symbol as well as a consequence? +He saw as none but He could bear to see, the miserable realities +of human life. His knowledge of all that man might be, of all that +the most of men were becoming, His power of contemplating in one +awful aggregate the entire sum of sorrows and sins, laid upon His +heart a burden which none but He has ever endured. His communion +with Heaven deepened the dark shadow on earth, and the eyes that +looked up to God and saw Him could not but see foulness where others +suspected none, and murderous messengers of hell walking in darkness +unpenetrated by mortal sight. And all that pain of clearer knowledge +of the sorrowfulness of sorrow, and the sinfulness of sin, was laid +upon a heart in which was no selfishness to blunt the sharp edge +of the pain nor any sin to stagnate the pity that flowed from the +wound. To Jesus Christ, life was a daily martyrdom before death had +"made the sacrifice complete," and He bore our griefs, and carried +our sorrows through many a weary hour before He "bare them in his +own body on the tree." Therefore, "Bear ye one another's burden, and +so fulfil the law" which Christ obeyed, becomes a command for all +who would draw men to Him. And true sorrow, a sharp and real sense +of pain, becomes indispensable as preparation for, and accompaniment +to, our work. + +Mark how in us, as in our Lord, the sigh of compassion is connected +with the look to heaven. It follows upon that gaze. The evils are +more real, more terrible, by their startling contrast with the +unshadowed light which lives above cloudracks and mists. It is +a sharp shock to turn from the free sweep of the heavens, starry +and radiant, to the sights that meet us in "this dim spot which +men call earth." Thus habitual communion with God is the root of +the truest and purest compassion. It does not withdraw us from our +fellow feeling with our brethren, it cultivates no isolation for +undisturbed beholding of God. It at once supplies a standard by +which to measure the greatness of man's godlessness, and therefore +of his gloom, and a motive for laying the pain of these upon our +hearts, as if they were our own. He has looked into the heavens to +little purpose who has not learned how bad and how sad the world now +is, and how God bends over it in pitying love. + +And that same fellowship, which will clear our eyes and soften +our hearts, is also the one consolation which we have when our +sense of all the ills that flesh is heir to becomes deep, near +to despair. When one thinks of the real facts of human life, and +tries to conceive of the frightful meanness and passion and hate +and wretchedness, that has been howling and shrieking and gibbering +and groaning through dreary millenniums, one's brain reels, and +hope seems to be absurdity, and joy a sin against our fellows, as +a feast would be in a house next door to where was a funeral. I do +not wonder at settled sorrow falling upon men of vivid imagination, +keen moral sense, and ordinary sensitiveness, when they brood long +on the world as it is. But I do wonder at the superficial optimism +which goes on with its little prophecies about human progress, and +its rose-colored pictures of human life, and sees nothing to strike +it dumb for ever in men's writhing miseries, blank failures, and +hopeless end. Ah! brethren, if it were not for the heavenward look, +how could we bear the sight of earth! "We see not yet all things put +under him." No, God knows, far enough off from that. Man's folly, +man's submission to the creatures he should rule, man's agonies, and +man's transgression, are a grim contrast to the psalmist's vision. +If we had only earth to look to, despair of the race, exprest in +settled melancholy apathy, or in fierce cynicism, were the wisest +attitude. But there is more within our view than earth; "we see +Jesus"; we look to the heaven, and as we behold the true man, we see +more than ever, indeed, how far from that pattern we all are; but we +can bear the thought of what men as yet have been, when we see that +perfect example of what men shall be. The root and the consolation +of our sorrow for man's evils is communion with God. + +We have here loving contact with those whom we would help, set forth +in the Lord's touch. + +The reasons for the variety observable in Christ's method of +communicating supernatural blessing were, probably, too closely +connected with unrecorded differences in the spiritual conditions of +the recipients to be distinctly traceable by us. But tho we cannot +tell why a particular method was employed in a given case, why now a +word, and now a symbolic action, now the touch of His hand, and now +the hem of His garment, appeared to be the vehicles of His power, we +can discern the significance of these divers ways, and learn great +lessons from them all. + +His touch was sometimes obviously the result of what one may venture +to call instinctive tenderness, as when He lifted the little +children in His arms and laid His hands upon their heads. It was, I +suppose, always the spontaneous expression of love and compassion, +even when it was something more. + +The touch of His hand on the ghastly glossiness of the leper's skin +was, no doubt, His assertion of priestly functions, and of elevation +above all laws of defilement; but what was it to the poor outcast, +who for years had never felt the warm contact of flesh and blood? It +always indicated that He Himself was the source of healing and life. +It always exprest His identification of Himself with sorrow and +sickness. So that it is in principle analogous to, and may be taken +as illustrative of, that transcendent act whereby He became flesh, +and dwelt among us. Indeed, the very word by which our Lord's taking +the blind man by the hand is described in the chapter following our +text is that employed in the Epistle to the Hebrews when, dealing +with the true brotherhood of Jesus, the writer says, "He took not +hold of angels, but of the seed of Abraham he taketh hold." Christ's +touch is His willing contact with man's infirmities and sins, that +He may strengthen and hallow. + +And the lesson is one of universal application. Wherever men would +help their fellows, this is a prime requisite, that the would-be +helper should come down to the level of those whom he desires to +aid. If we wish to teach, we must stoop to think the scholar's +thoughts. The master who has forgotten his boyhood will have poor +success. If we would lead to purer emotions, we must try to enter +into the lower feelings which we labor to elevate. It is of no use +to stand at the mouth of the alleys we wish to cleanse, with our +skirts daintily gathered about us, and smelling-bottle in hand, to +preach homilies on the virtue of cleanliness. We must go in among +the filth, and handle it, if we want to have it cleared away. The +degraded must feel that we do not shrink from them, or we shall do +them no good. The leper, shunned by all, and ashamed of himself +because everybody loathes him, hungers in his hovel for the grasp of +a hand that does not care for defilement, if it can bring cleansing. +Even in regard to common material helps the principle holds good. +We are too apt to cast our doles to the poor like the bones to +a dog, and then to wonder at what we are pleased to think men's +ingratitude. A benefit may be so conferred as to hurt more than a +blow; and we cannot be surprized if so-called charity which is given +with contempt and a sense of superiority, should be received with +a scowl, and chafe a man's spirit like a fetter. Such gifts bless +neither him who gives nor him who takes. We must put our hearts +into them, if we would win hearts by them. We must be ready, like +our Master, to take blind beggars by the hand, if we would bless or +help them. The despair and opprobrium of our modern civilization, +the gulf growing wider and deeper between Dives and Lazarus, between +Belgravia and Whitechapel, the mournful failure of legalized help, +and of delegated efforts to bridge it over, the darkening ignorance, +the animal sensuousness, the utter heathenism that lives in every +town of England, within a stone's throw of Christian houses, and +near enough to hear the sound of public worship, will yield to +nothing but that sadly forgotten law which enjoins personal contact +with the sinful and the suffering, as one chief condition of raising +them from the black mire in which they welter. + +The effect of much well-meant Christian effort is simply to +irritate. People are very quick to catch delicate intonations which +reveal a secret sense, "how much better, wiser, more devout I am +than these people!" and wherever a trace of that appears in our +work, the good of it is apt to be marred. We all know how hackneyed +the charge of spiritual pride and Pharisaic self-complacency is, +and, thank God, how unjust it often is. But averse as men may be to +the truths which humble, and willing as they may be to assume that +the very effort to present these to others on our parts implies a +claim which mortifies, we may at least learn from the threadbare +calumny, what strikes men about our position, and what rouses their +antaganism to us. It is allowable to be taught by our enemies, +especially when it is such a lesson as this, that we must carefully +divest our evangelistic work of apparent pretensions to superiority, +and take our stand by the side of those to whom we speak. We cannot +lecture men into the love of Christ. We can but win them to it by +showing Christ's love to them; and not the least important element +in that process is the exhibition of our own love. We have a gospel +to speak of which the very heart is, that the Son of God stooped +to become one with the lowliest and most sinful; and how can that +gospel be spoken with power unless we, too, stoop like Him? + +We have to echo the invitation, "Learn of me, for I am lowly in +heart"; and how can such divine words flow from lips into which like +grace has not been poured? Our theme is a Savior who shrunk from no +sinner, who gladly consorted with publicans and harlots, who laid +His hand on pollution, and His heart, full of God and of love, on +hearts reeking with sin; and how can our message correspond with our +theme if, even in delivering it, we are saying to ourselves, "The +temple of the Lord are we: this people which knoweth not the law is +curst"? Let us beware of the very real danger which besets us in +this matter, and earnestly seek to make ourselves one with those +whom we would gather into Christ, by actual familiarity with their +condition, and by identification of ourselves in feeling with them, +after the example of that greatest of Christian teachers who became +"all things to all men, that by all means he might gain some"; +after the higher example, which Paul followed, of that dear Lord +who, being highest, descended to the lowest, and in the days of His +humiliation was not content with speaking words of power from afar, +nor abhorred the contact of mortality and disease and loathsome +corruption; but laid His hands upon death, and it lived; upon +sickness, and it was whole; on rotting leprosy, and it was sweet as +the flesh of a little child. + +The same principle might be further applied to our Christian work, +as affecting the form in which we should present the truth. The +sympathetic identification of ourselves with those to whom we try to +carry the gospel will certainly make us wise to know how to shape +our message. Seeing with their eyes, we shall be able to graduate +the light. Thinking their thoughts, and having in some measure +succeeded, by force of sheer community of feeling, in having as it +were got inside their minds, we shall unconsciously, and without +effort, be led to such aspects of Christ's all-comprehensive truth +as they most need. There will be no shooting over people's heads, +if we love them well enough to understand them. There will be no +toothless generalities, when our interest in men keeps their actual +condition and temptations clear before us. There will be no flinging +fossil doctrines at them from a height, as if Christ's blest gospel +were, in another than the literal sense, "a stone of offense," if +we have taken our place on their level. And without such sympathy, +these and a thousand other weaknesses and faults will certainly +vitiate much of our Christian effort. + +We have here the true healing power and the consciousness of +wielding it set forth in the Lord's authoritative word. + +All the rest of His action was either the spontaneous expression of +His true participation in human sorrow, or a merciful veiling of His +glory that sense-bound eyes might see it the better. But the word +was the utterance of His will, and that was omnipotent. The hand +laid on the sick, the blind or the deaf was not even the channel of +His power. The bare putting forth of His energy was all-sufficient. +In these we see the loving, pitying man. In this blazes forth, yet +more loving, yet more compassionate, the effulgence of manifest God. +Therefore so often do we read the very syllables with which His +"voice then shook the earth," vibrating through all the framework of +the material universe. Therefore do the gospels bid us listen when +He rebukes the fever, and it departs; when He says to the demons, +"Go," and they go; when one word louder in its human articulation +than the howling wind hushes the surges; when "Talitha cumi" brings +back the fair young spirit from dreary wanderings among the shades +of death. Therefore was it a height of faith not found in Israel +when the Gentile soldier, whose training had taught him the power of +absolute authority, as heathenism had driven him to long for a man +who would speak with the imperial sway of a god, recognized in His +voice an all-commanding power. From of old, the very signature of +divinity has been declared to be "He spake, and it was done"; and +He, the breath of whose lips could set in motion material changes, +is that eternal Word, by whom all things were made. + +What unlimited consciousness of sovereign dominion sounds in that +imperative from His autocratic lips! It is spoken in deaf ears, but +He knows that it will be heard. He speaks as the fontal source, +not as the recipient channel of healing. He anticipates no delay, +no resistance. There is neither effort nor uncertainty in the curt +command. He is sure that He has power, and He is sure that the power +is His own. + +There is no analogy here between us and Him. Alone, fronting the +whole race of man, He stands--utterer of a word which none can say +after Him, possessor of unshared might, and of His fulness do we all +receive. But even from that divine authority and solitary sovereign +consciousness we may gather lessons not altogether aside from the +purpose of our meeting here to-day. Of His fulness we have received, +and the power of the word on His lips may teach us that of His +word, even on ours, as the victorious certainty with which He spake +His will of healing may remind us of the confidence with which it +becomes us to proclaim His name. + +His will was almighty then. Is it less mighty or less loving now? +Does it not gather all the world in the sweep of its mighty purpose +of mercy? His voice pierced then into the dull cold ear of death, +and has it become weaker since? His word spoken by Him was enough +to banish the foul spirits that run riot, swine-like, in the garden +of God in man's soul, trampling down and eating up its flowers and +fruitage; is the word spoken of Him less potent to cast them out? +Were not all the mighty deeds which He wrought by the breath of +His lips on men's bodies prophecies of the yet mightier which His +Will of love, and the utterance of that Will by stammering lips, +may work on men's souls. Let us not in our faint-heartedness number +up our failures, the deaf that will not hear, the dumb that will +not speak, His praise; nor unbelievingly say Christ's own word was +mighty, but the word concerning Christ is weak on our lips. Not so; +our lips are unclean, and our words are weak, but His word--the +utterance of His loving will that men should be saved--is what it +always was and always will be. We have it, brethren, to proclaim. +Did our Master countenance the faithless contrast between the living +force of His word when He dwelt on earth, and the feebleness of it +as He speaks through His servant? If He did, what did He mean when +He said, "He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do +also, and greater works than these shall he do, because I go unto +the Father"? + + + + +CROSBY + +THE PREPARED WORM + + + + +BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE + + +Howard Crosby, Presbyterian divine, was born in New York City in +1826, educated at New York University, graduating in 1851, was +professor of Greek at that institution until 1859, when he was +elected to the same chair in Rutgers College. He was pastor of the +First Presbyterian Church of New Brunswick, N. J., for the two +years ending in 1863, when he assumed charge of the Fourth Avenue +Presbyterian Church, New York. From 1870 to 1881 he was chancellor +of the University of New York. His activities in the cause of +social reform were conspicuous and he exercized his influence in +organizing the Society for the Prevention of Crime over which he +presided for some years. His energies were also directed against +the illegal liquor trade. As a scholar he was prominent among the +American revisers of the New Testament and edited a new edition of +the "_Oedipus Tyrannus_" of Sophocles. He died in 1891. + + + + +CROSBY + +1826-1891 + +THE PREPARED WORM[3] + + [3] Copyright, 1884, _The Homiletic Review_, New York. + + _But God prepared a worm when the morning rose the next day, and + it smote the gourd that it withered._--Jonah iv., 7. + + +Just when Jonah had felt the delight of the shadowing foliage and +had begun to promise himself a most comfortable retreat against +an Assyrian sun, the broad-leaved gourd withered. The morning had +arrived and the heat was becoming more intense, when the glad +shelter was removed, and the prophet's head was smitten with the +scorching rays. "It is better for me to die than live," exclaimed +the fainting Jonah. And what caused this calamity? A worm. And is +that all? No! God prepared the worm. The worm was under orders +from heaven, and while he, doubtless, ate into the gourd, with a +good appetite, following the bent of his natural constitution, +nevertheless he was acting in direct obedience to God. God prepared +the worm. And yet in the sixth verse we read that God prepared the +gourd. This is the record. "And the Lord God prepared a gourd and +made it to come up over Jonah, that it might be a shadow over his +head, to deliver him from his grief. So Jonah was exceedingly glad +of the gourd." And then follows immediately: "But God prepared a +worm, when the morning rose the next day, and he smote the gourd +that it withered." Does God, then, build up in order to destroy? +And does He give comfort to His creatures in order to torment them +by its removal? So reasons the carnal heart, ready to complain, +and looking on all God's conduct in its superficial aspect, its +own selfish and sensuous advantage being the criterion of all its +judgments. It is an easy counsel of Satan, when we are fainting +by a withered gourd. "Curse God and die," the selfish soul is all +ripe for such advice,--desperation is more inviting than faith. And +there are but few Jobs who can resist the appeal to discontent and +anger, in the face of Satan and wife combined, for when the natural +depravity of our own hearts is supported by the entreaties of our +nearest and dearest friends, hell's heaviest engine is brought +against us. "I do well to be angry, even unto death," is the usual +style in which we greet the afflictive providence of God. But a +faith like Job's, that learns the lesson which the sorrow teaches, +is rewarded, as was Job's, by the presence and communion of God, and +by a satisfaction with His holy and righteous will. + +Let us endeavor to understand some of the facts connected with our +afflictions, as disclosed by the Word of God, in order that we may +be prepared to follow Job rather than Jonah. + +I. In the first place, God is the author of affliction. "Affliction +cometh not forth out of the dust, neither doth trouble spring out +of the ground." God asserts most positively in His Word, that all +the losses in the world are sent by Him. He calls them chastisements +from His fatherly hand. "I make peace and create evil," saith the +Lord. This is not evil in the sense of wickedness. God does not +create wickedness--but it is evil in the sense of affliction and +trouble, the opposite of peace in the contrasted clause, "I make +peace and create evil." That is, God is the author equally of +prosperity and adversity to His creatures. If it were not so, we +should have to imagine certain powers in God's universe not subject +to His almighty control, which would be an absurdity. "Shall there +be evil in a city and the Lord hath not done it?" It is in this +sense of God's hand in adversity that the psalmist cries, "Thou, O +God, hast proved us: thou hast tried us as silver is tried; thou +broughtest us into the net, thou laidest affliction upon our loins"; +and again, "Thy wrath lieth hard upon me, and thou hast afflicted me +with all thy waves." God may send affliction by permitting Satan to +afflict, but still God is the author of the affliction. He could +prevent it, but He permits it. Indeed, it is, perhaps, true that all +our losses and injuries in this world are Satan's inflictions, that +this ever-active spirit of evil is constantly using the agencies of +the natural world for our harm and destruction, and we are preserved +simply by the interposing and restraining providence of God. When +Satan wished to afflict Job, he sought and gained permission of +the Lord. Job's calamities were clearly Satan's blows, and yet Job +addresses God, "Why hast thou set me as a mark against thee, so +that I am a burden to myself?" So, again, the diseased woman, who +heard our Savior's healing words on the Sabbath day and was cured, +is described by the same divine Physician (whose diagnosis cannot +be questioned) as one whom Satan had bound for eighteen years. +Under such examples, I cannot believe we err in attributing all +our sicknesses and pains of body to the permitted agency of our +arch-adversary. + +They are tokens of his power over our race, for he is the prince +of this world, and it is only in God that we find protection from +his cruel scepter. God suffers us to feel his inflictions in order +to remove our affections from the world and to place them more +devotedly upon our Heavenly Father. God is thus most truly the +author of affliction, whatever may be the agencies He uses in the +course of His providence. + +II. He uses the natural laws of the world as His agents in +afflicting. These laws may be thus used permissively by Satan in +other ways than in sickness or not, but the text shows us clearly +that God so uses them. "God prepared a worm." There is a world of +instruction in that brief statement. It infinitely transcends the +science of the naturalist. Bring the most learned explorers of +nature together to this gourd of Jonah, and show them this little +worm creeping toward the thick stalk. Let them see it move its many +feet and flexible body till it reaches the goal of its instinct. Now +it uses its gnawing jaws upon the woody fibre; deeper and deeper +it pierces the stem; now it reaches the innermost pith, and again +returns upon its course. The current of the gourd's life is marred; +the leaves droop, and its shelter is gone. Now, ye scientific men, +what made that gourd wither? Hear them philosophize. Yon worm is +a caterpillar, whose appropriate food is the _ricinus communis_, +this very gourd with its palmate leaves and red-tinted flower. The +worm has merely followed the impulses of its nature in seeking that +tree-like plant, and the equally natural result of its feeding upon +the stalk has been the failure of the tree's nourishment, and with +the failure the foliage has, of course, withered. Well, is that +all science can say? Yes, all. It is little more than that a horse +is a horse. It explains nothing but the most proximate causes. +It classifies facts, and then leaves us gaping into the abyss of +causation as ignorant as ever. Four words from the Bible carry +us back to the ultimate cause, the first mover in this gourd's +withering. Science talks of laws, but these four words go behind all +laws to the Maker of laws, to Him in whose hands are all things. +"God prepared a worm." What! says science; drag God in to explain +anything? Nay, God drags all in to effect His plans. He has made all +things, however great, however small, for Himself. And these things +which you call laws are only the methods of His activity, and these +methods He has formed for the very ends which He accomplishes by +them. The worm which crawls to Jonah's gourd was created by God to +destroy that plant, and the law of that worm's movement was ordained +for that destruction, as well as for all else which it accomplishes. +The mind is satisfied when it finds a mind, a purpose, a plan in +every event which it observes, and the pious heart is rejoiced to +know that it is a Father's mind and purpose and plan which directs +every movement, even to the crawling of a worm. "God prepared a +gourd--God prepared a worm"; no accident brought the gourd there; +no accident brought the worm there. God stood in a like relation to +both. He sent the gourd, through nature, to comfort Jonah. He sent +the worm, through nature, to trouble Jonah. Nature is a forlorn +object to study unless we find it a mirror to reflect God. It is +only as we see it, the result of His handiwork and His instrument +in governing His creatures, that nature has a glory. Then it is +ennobled; then it has a meaning that no mere naturalist can fathom, +but which renders valuable the researches of science with its +classifications. + +III. God is just in afflicting us. If we look at God simply as the +Maker and Owner of His creatures, we could easily deduce His right +to afflict. "Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine +own?" says the Creator; and he must be a daring soul who disputes +the force of this question. "Shall the thing formed say to him that +formed it, 'Why hast thou made me thus?'" But we are not left to +this view of God's right to afflict. God has entered into covenant +with us. He has said, "Do ye according to my commandments, and ye +shall live." This was the purport of His very first communication +to our race in Adam. It treated of obedience and reward, of +disobedience and punishment. And what is the record of our race +since? Have we obeyed or have we disobeyed? Is there the slightest +claim in us for the reward? Is there not the most complete demand +for the punishment? What sin in the whole catalog of sin has been +omitted by man? Enmity to man and God, pride, ingratitude, and +rebellion have marked the history of mankind. And are you and +I exceptions? Look at our years of worldliness, years of sinful +affections, years of opposition to the Word and Spirit, years of +selfishness, and then let us confess our full participation in the +general depravity. We are unclean in our natures and by practise, +and so, under the covenant which our Maker was pleased to form for +us, we can only deserve punishment. + +Do we then complain in affliction? Surely, if God would be just in +casting us down to hell for our rebellion and disobedience, He is +just in laying upon us our earthly afflictions. Shall the Jonah, who +ran away from the Lord's commandment, and afterward flung His anger +in the face of His God, shall such an one feel that God is unjust in +preparing a worm to destroy his gourd? By what arithmetic is such a +balance cast? It becomes us, rather, to take up the words of David +and cry, "I acknowledge my transgression; and my sin is ever before +me. Against thee, thee only, have I sinned and done this evil in thy +sight, that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be +clear when thou judgest." + +IV. God afflicts us in His love. With all Jonah's sins against +God, it was not to punish him that God prepared a worm. God is +long-suffering and withholds punishment in His desire that all men +may come to repentance. If punishment were God's aim in affliction, +our afflictions would be infinitely greater than they are, for +punishment would be apportioned to desert, and our desert is eternal +condemnation; God's aim in affliction is our restoration, our +improvement. By it He shakes us off from our dependence upon a world +which, however it might please us for the moment, would cheat us +sadly in the end. By it He reminds us of Himself as our source of +strength and happiness, and then brings us to the unfailing fountain +of peace, which our earthly prosperity would hide from our eyes. By +it He teaches us to aspire to higher spiritual attainment, to grow +in grace, to cultivate a more heavenly disposition of mind and heart. + +These are the uses of adversity. Christians who have come through +scenes of trial, and whose thankful declaration is, "It was good for +me to be afflicted," certify to these blest results. They tell us +that they believe nothing else but the severe losses they sustained +could have freed them from the fascinations of the world--nothing +else could have made holy things so delightful to their soul. Now, +such an experience is not the result of God's anger but of God's +love. However harsh the voice of God may seem to us, it is yet a +Father's voice, with a Father's heart behind it. It is, therefore, +meant not to drive us away to seek a hiding corner, but to bring us +directly to Himself. The same love which sent the affliction will +receive the afflicted. God prepares gourds, and God prepares worms; +and He uses each to build up faith and holiness in the human heart. +In earnest seeking after God, in complete consecration to His holy +will and service, is to be found the surest avoidance of the worm. +If we can learn our lesson without the worm, the worm will not +be sent to gnaw our gourd to ruins. The nearer our life to Jesus +the more free shall we be from the sting of affliction. Had Jonah +been an obedient and submissive prophet his gourd would not have +withered. But alas! Jonah and ourselves need correction to keep our +faces heavenward. Forgetfulness and indulgence plant their weeds in +our Lord's garden, and they must be rooted up by force. It is for +our own good, and it is infinite love which decrees it. + +Now note some inferences from the subject under consideration. + +First. If God afflicts, how foolish it is to go to the world for +relief? Is the world greater than God? We may be sure that any +comfort the world can give, as against God's affliction, must be +dangerous. It is a contest with God, which God may allow to be +successful, but only for the greater condemnation thereafter. The +world's relief is not a cure but an opiate. It stupefies, but does +not give health and strength. The world's relief is a temporary +application--a lull before a fiercer storm. The world's relief +is a determination not to heed the lesson God sends us; it is the +invention of frivolity, and not the device of wisdom. More slumber, +more pleasure, and more worldly care are three favorite medicaments +the world uses in these cases--anodynes which only weaken the system +and prepare it for more fearful suffering. God wishes to awaken +the mind by affliction, and man immediately prescribes a narcotic. +The great Physician brings the affliction for our good; we turn to +quackery to destroy the effects of the divine medicine. Ah! the +day is coming when God shall appear as no longer our Savior but +our Judge, if this be our treatment of His love. "Because I have +called and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand and no man +regarded; but ye have set at naught all my counsel, and would none +of my reproof; I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when +your fear cometh; when your fear cometh as desolation, and your +destruction cometh as a whirlwind." + +Secondly. If God prepares worms, then worms at once form an +interesting study for us. We cannot see a caterpillar upon the leaf, +but we know God has a mission for that worm. He is an ambassador +of the Most High on his way to perform his Master's will. The +headache, which unfits us for our ordinary occupation, is more +than a headache. It is the voice of our God. Let us listen to the +next headache and hear what God would have us learn. Every bird +and beast, every raindrop and sunbeam, every breath of wind, and +every event, however small, are the writings of a heavenly scribe. +Let us study God's providence. It is all a message of love to us. +We shall find out infinitely more in this study than in deciphering +the hieroglyphics of Egypt. We shall find correction, expostulation, +comfort, encouragement and instruction; and the more we look, +the more we shall see. We shall become adepts in the high art of +interpreting the acts of God toward us, and in this, as in prayer, +hold constant communion with our divine Redeemer. + +Thirdly. When our gourds wither it is a proof that God is near. +We should be ready to say with Jacob, "Surely the Lord is in this +place." Prayer and humiliation are now our appropriate exercises. +God has put forth His hand to summon us to these duties. Our gourd +is gone, but our God is not gone, He can protect far better than a +gourd. He will more than make up all our losses. Let us go to Him, +and our dark night will make the day-dawn more brilliant. My dying +fellow-sinner, do not, I beseech you, grow angry under God's severe +dispensations. You do not well to be angry. God is near you with a +blessing in His hand for you. He has a lesson for you to learn which +will make you wise unto salvation. + +Say, will you learn it? If not, God is near you to condemn you. Oh! +dread the alternative, and be wise to say in your heart, "Blest be +my God and Father, who prepared the worm to destroy my broad-leaved +gourd!" + + + + +DALE + +THE ARGUMENT FROM EXPERIENCE + + +BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE + +Robert William Dale was born in London, England, in 1829 and died +in 1895. His long and fruitful ministry was confined to Birmingham, +where he preached with great power. He believed, as he once said, +that if a minister had anything from God to say to his fellow men, +they would gladly come to hear him. He favored extemporaneous +preaching, was a devoted student of English style, and advocated +in his Yale lectures a more thorough attention to this important +subject. He said: + +"There is no reason why, when you have at your service the noblest +language for an orator that was ever spoken by the human race, +you should be satisfied with the threadbare phrases, the tawdry, +tarnished finery, the patched and ragged garments, with the smell +like that of the stock of a second-hand clothes shop, with which +half-educated and ambitious declaimers are content to cover the +nakedness of their thought. You can do something better than this, +and you should resolve to do it." + + + + + +DALE + +1829-1895 + +THE ARGUMENT FROM EXPERIENCE[4] + + [4] Reprinted by permission of Messrs. A. C. Armstrong & Son. + + +There are large numbers of people who suppose that modern science +and modern criticism have destroyed the foundations of faith, and +who can not understand how it is possible, in these days, for +intelligent, open-minded, educated men to believe in the Lord Jesus +Christ. + +There are many persons who are convinced that the ascertained +conclusions of modern science and of modern criticism are +destructive of the authority which has been attributed both to the +Jewish and the Christian Scriptures, that the traditional opinions +concerning the authorship and the dates of many of the books of the +Old Testament are false; and that most of the writings contained +in the New Testament are spurious. Or, if some of the extreme +conclusions of the destructive criticism are not regarded as finally +established, it is known that great names can be quoted for, as +well as against, them. And as it is assumed that the Jewish and the +Christian Scriptures are the foundations of Christian faith, that +we must believe in the genuineness and historical trustworthiness +of these ancient books, and even in their inspiration, before we +can believe in Christ, they argue that, until these discussions are +finally closed in favor of the traditional opinions, faith in Christ +is impossible. The controversies have not, in any large number +of cases, destroyed faith where faith already existed; but where +faith does not exist, they appear to very many persons to create an +insuperable obstacle to faith. + +To such persons, if they are serious and well informed, there is +something perplexing in the persistency of the faith of the great +majority of Christian believers. Among those who remain Christian +there are men whose intellectual vigor, patience, and keenness +are equal to their own; men who are their equals in general +intellectual culture, and who know as much as they know about the +currents of modern thought; candid men; men who are incorruptible +in their loyalty to truth; men who have a due sense of the immense +importance, in relation to the higher life of the human race, of the +questions at issue: + +How is it that the faith in Christ of such men is unshaken? + +The substance of the answer that I make here to the question, why +it is that those who believe in Christ continue to believe, may be +given in a single sentence: Whatever may have been the original +grounds of their faith, their faith has been verified in their own +personal experience. + +They have trusted in Christ for certain great and wonderful things, +and they have received great and wonderful things. They have not +perhaps received precisely what they expected when their Christian +life began, for the kingdom of heaven cannot be really known until +a man has entered into it; but what they have received assures them +that Christ is alive, that He is within reach, and that He is the +Savior and Lord of men. + +That they have received these blessings in answer to their faith in +Christ is a matter of personal consciousness. They know it, as they +know that fire burns. + +Their experience varies. Some of them would say they can recall acts +of Christ in which His personal volition and His supernatural power +were as definitely manifested as in any of the miracles recorded +in the four Gospels. They were struggling unsuccessfully with some +evil temper--with envy, jealousy, personal ambition--and could not +subdue it. They hated it; they hated themselves for being under its +tyranny; but expel it they could not. If it seemed supprest for a +time, it returned; and returned with its malignant power increased +rather than diminished. They scourged themselves with scorpions +for yielding to it; still they yielded. In their despair they +appealed to Christ; and in a moment the evil fires were quenched, +and they were never rekindled. These instantaneous deliverances are +perhaps exceptional; but to those who can recall them they carry an +irresistible conviction that the living Christ has heard their cry +and answered them. + +The more ordinary experiences of the Christian life, tho less +striking, are not less conclusive. The proof that Christ has +heard prayer is not always concentrated into a moment, but is +more commonly spread over large tracts of time. Prayer is offered +for an increase of moral strength in resisting temptation, or for +the disappearance of reluctance in the discharge of duties which +are distasteful, or for a more gracious and kindly temper, or for +patience and courage in bearing trouble, or for self-control, or for +relief from exhausting and fruitless anxiety; and the answer comes. +It comes gradually, but still it comes. We had lost hope. It seemed +as if all our moral vigor was dying down, and as if nothing could +restore it. The tide was slowly ebbing, and we were powerless to +recall the retreating waters; but after we prayed it ceased to ebb; +for a time it seemed stationary; then it began to flow; and tho with +many of us it has never reached the flood, the wholesome waters have +renewed the energy and the joy of life. + +Or we prayed to Christ to liberate us from some evil habit. The +chains did not fall away at His touch, like the chains of Peter +at the touch of the angel; but in some mysterious way they were +loosened, and at the same time we received accessions of strength. +The old habit continued to trouble us; it still impeded our +movements: but we could move; we recovered some measure of freedom, +and were conscious that we were slaves no longer. There still +remained a mechanical and automatic tendency to the evil ways of +thinking, speaking, or acting; but we had become vigilant and alert, +and were prompt to resist the tendency as soon as it began to work; +and we were strong enough to master it. In the course of time the +tendency became weaker and weaker, and at last, in some cases, it +almost disappeared. + +Some men have appealed to Christ when they have been seized with +a great horror through the discovery of their guilt. It was not +the awful penalty which menaces the impenitent that haunted and +terrified them. Nor was their distress occasioned chiefly by the +consciousness of moral evil. They feared the penalty, and they were +humiliated and shamed by the contrast between ideal goodness and +their own moral and spiritual life; but what stung and tortured +them, sunk them into despair, filled heaven and earth with a +darkness that could be felt, and made life intolerable, was their +guilt--guilt which they had incurred by their past sins, and which +they continued to incur by their present sinfulness. + +When once this sense of guilt fastens itself on a man, he cannot +shake it off at will. The keen agony may gradually pass into a dull, +dead pain; and after a time, the sensibility of the soul may seem to +be wholly lost; but a man can never be sure that the horror will not +return. + +The real nature of this experience is best seen when it has been +occasioned by the grosser and more violent forms of crime. Men +who have committed murder, for example, have been driven almost +insane by the memory of their evil deed. Their agony may have had +nothing in it of the nature of repentance; they were not distrest +because their crime had revealed to them the malignity and the +fierce strength of their passions; they had no desire to become +gentle and kindly. They were filled with horror and remorse by +their awful guilt. They felt that the crime was theirs, and would +always continue to be theirs; that it would be theirs if it remained +concealed as truly as if it were known; indeed, it seemed to be in +some terrible way more truly theirs so long as the secret was kept. +It was not the fear of punishment that convulsed them; they have +sometimes brought on themselves public indignation and abhorrence, +and have condemned themselves to the gallows by confessing their +crime in order to obtain relief from their agony. + +Suppose that a man possest by this great horror discovered that, in +some wonderful way, the dark and damning stain on his conscience had +disappeared; that, altho he had done the deed, the iron chain which +bound him to the criminality of it had been broken; that before +God and man and his own conscience he was free from the guilt of +it;--the supposition, in its completeness, is an impossible one; but +if it were possible, the discovery would lift the man out of the +darkness of hell into the light of heaven. + +But to large numbers of Christian men a discovery which in substance +is identical with this has actually come in response to their trust +in Christ. Nothing is more intensely real than the sense of guilt; +it is as real as the eternal distinction between right and wrong +in which it is rooted. And nothing is more intensely real than +the sense of release from guilt which comes from the discovery +and assurance of the remission of sins. The evil things which a +man has done cannot be undone; but when they have been forgiven +through Christ, the iron chain which so bound him to them as to +make the guilt of them eternally his has been broken; before God +and his own conscience he is no longer guilty of them. This is the +Christian mystery of justification, which, according to Paul--and +his words have been confirmed in the experience of millions of +Christian men--is "the power of God unto salvation to every one that +believeth." It changes darkness into light; despair into victorious +hope; prostration into buoyancy and vigor. It is one of the supreme +motives to Christian living, and it makes Christian living possible. +The man who has received this great deliverance is no longer a +convict, painfully observing all prison rules with the hope of +shortening his sentence, but a child in the home of God. + +There are experiences of another kind by which the faith of +Christian men is verified. Of these one of the most decisive and +most wonderful is the consciousness that through Christ he has +passed into the eternal and divine order. He belongs to two worlds. +He is just as certain that he is environed by things unseen and +eternal as that he is environed by things seen and temporal. In the +power of the life given to him in the new birth he has entered into +the kingdom of God. He is conscious that that diviner region is +now the native land of his soul. It is there that he finds perfect +rest and perfect freedom. It is a relief to escape to its eternal +peace and glory from the agitations and vicissitudes, the sorrows +and successes, of this transitory world. It is not always that +he is vividly conscious of belonging to that eternal order; this +supreme blessedness is reserved for the great hours of life; but +he knows that it lies about him always, and that at any moment the +great Apocalypse may come. And even when it is hidden, its "powers" +continue to act upon him, as the light and heat of the sun pass +through the clouds by which the burning splendor is softened and +concealed. + +Further, "in Christ" Christian men know God; they know Him for +themselves. The mere conception of God is as different from the +immediate knowledge of Him as the mere conception of the Matterhorn +from the actual vision of it as an external objective grandeur; and +it is not the conception of God, but God Himself, that fills them +with awe and wonder, and with a blessedness which trembles into +devout fear. Sometimes the "exceeding weight of glory" is too great +to bear, and human infirmity is relieved when the vision passes. At +other times God is more than a transcendent glory to be contemplated +and adored. His infinite love, to use Paul's words, is shed abroad +in their hearts, like the sun's heat under tropical heavens; it is +immediately revealed. How, they can not tell, any more than they +can tell how the material world is revealed to sense; they only +know that, apart from any self-originated effort, apart from any +movement of their own towards Him, the eternal Spirit draws near to +their spirit and reveals God's love to them. It is as if the warm +streams of the love which have their fountains in the depths of +His infinite life were flowing round them and into them. They are +conscious of that love for them of which God is conscious. + +And this blessedness is not the prerogative of elect saints, or +of those who may be said to have a natural genius for spiritual +thought. It is the common inheritance of all that are "in Christ," +altho there is reason to fear that many Christian people rarely +reach the height of its joy. But among those who reach it are men +of every degree of intellectual rank and every variety of moral and +spiritual temperament. It is reached by ignorant men, whose thoughts +are narrow and whose minds are inert, as well as by men with large +knowledge and great powers of speculation; by men destitute of +imagination, as well as by men whose imagination kindles as soon +as it is touched by the splendors of nature or by the verses of +poets. Men whose life moves slowly and sluggishly reach it, as well +as men who are impulsive, ardent, and adventurous. And where this +experience is known, it becomes an effective force in the moral +life. Peter, writing to slaves, says, "For this is acceptable, +if through consciousness of God a man endureth griefs, suffering +wrongfully." + +I have said that "in Christ" men know God--not merely through +Christ. It is true that during His earthly ministry He revealed +God; so that, in answer to the prayer of one of His disciples, +"Show us the Father, and it sufficeth us," He said, "Have I been so +long time with you, and dost thou not know me, Philip? he that hath +seen me hath seen the Father." That revelation has eternal power +and value; but there are other words spoken by Christ that same +night which suggest that it is not merely by the revelation of God +during His earthly ministry that Christ has made it possible for +men to know the Father. He said: "I am the true vine, and ye are +the branches.... Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot +bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; so neither can +ye, except ye abide in me. He that abideth in me, and I in him, +the same beareth much fruit: for apart from me ye can do nothing." +It is not certain that when Paul wrote his Epistle to the Galatian +Christians he had heard of these words; but what they meant he had +learnt for himself. He said, "I live: and yet no longer I, but +Christ liveth in me." In various measures the experience of Paul has +been the experience of Christian men ever since. Their relationship +to Christ--their conscious relationship to Christ--has been most +mysterious, but most intimate and most certain. They have meditated +on the infinite love which moved Him to descend from the heights +of God and to become man, upon His graciousness and gentleness, +His purity, His spontaneous goodness, His pity for suffering, His +merciful words to the sinful, His patience and His long-suffering, +and His fiery indignation against hypocrisy; they have meditated +on His teaching, on all the words of His that have been preserved +concerning the love and grace of God, concerning the remission of +sins, the gift of eternal life, the judgment to come, the eternal +blessedness of the righteous, and the doom of the lost; they have +felt the spell and the charm of that ideal perfection to which He +calls them in His precepts, and which He illustrated and transcended +in His own character: but they have been conscious that it was not +merely by the power of the great and pathetic story of His earthly +history, or by the power of His spiritual and ethical teaching, that +He gives to men the life of God, and constantly renews, sustains, +and augments it. They shared the very life of their Lord. He lived +in them. They lived in Him. And it was in the power of this common +life that they knew God. + +Nor is it only the immediate knowledge of God that is rendered +possible by this union with Christ. Christian men are conscious that +they do not receive strength from Christ for common duty, as they +might receive strength from One who, while He conferred the grace, +stood apart from them, but that in some wonderful way they are +strong in the strength of Christ Himself. They are too often drawn +down into the region of baser forces, and then they fall; but their +very failure verifies the truth of their happier experiences, for it +brings home to them afresh what they are apart from Christ; and when +they recover their union with Him--which indeed had not been lost, +tho for a time it was not realized--they recover their power. + +The man who has had, and who still has, such experiences as these +will listen with great tranquillity to criticisms which are intended +to shake the historical credit of the four Gospels, altho the story +they contain may have been the original ground of his faith in +Christ. The criticism may be vigorous; he may be wholly unable to +answer it: but what then? Is he to cease to believe in Christ? Why +should he? + +Let me answer these questions by an illustration. Towards the +close of our Lord's ministry, when He was in the neighborhood of +Jericho--just leaving the city or just entering it--Bartimeus, a +blind man, who was begging at the side of the road, heard that Jesus +of Nazareth was passing by, and He appealed to the great Prophet to +have mercy upon him. Jesus answered his appeal, and gave him sight. +Now it is possible that Bartimeus may have been told by some passing +traveler, of whom he knew nothing, the story of a similar miracle +which Jesus had worked a few weeks before in Jerusalem, and this +may have been the ground, and the only ground, of his confidence +in our Lord's supernatural power. If, after he had received his +sight, some sagacious friend of his had asked him how it was that he +came to believe that the Nazarene Teacher could give sight to the +blind, nothing would have been easier than for his friend to show +that, whether the story of the Jerusalem miracle was true or not, +Bartimeus had no trustworthy evidence of its truth. A tale told by +an unknown stranger! This was no sufficient reason for believing +that Jesus had given sight to a man born blind. Did the stranger +who told the tale know the beggar who was said to have been cured? +Was it certain that the man was blind? Had the stranger examined +his eyes the very morning of the day on which he received sight? +Was it certain that the vision was not gradually returning? Was the +stranger present when Jesus made the clay, and put it on the blind +man's eyes; close enough to see that no delicate operation was +performed during the process? The sending of the blind man to wash +at the Pool of Siloam was suspicious: what could that washing have +to do with a miracle? Did the stranger go with the man to the pool, +and keep his eye upon him while he was there? Was it quite certain +that the blind beggar who was sent to Siloam was the man who came +back to the city and declared that Jesus had healed him? Might not +one man have been sent to the pool, and another man have come back +to Jerusalem? It looked very much as if there were some previous +understanding between the blind man and the Nazarene Prophet. The +Prophet had rich friends; they could have made it worth the man's +while to come into the plot. Had Bartimeus considered all these +difficulties? Was it not more probable that the stranger's story +should be false than that the miracle should be true? Would it not +be well for Bartimeus to suspend his faith in Jesus until he had +made further inquiries about the miracle? + +We can imagine the answer of Bartimeus. I think that he would have +said: "At first I believed in the power of Jesus of Nazareth, +because I was told that He had given sight to another blind man; +now I am sure of His power, because He has given sight to me. It +is possible, as you say, that the story about the blind man in +Jerusalem is not true. You have asked me many questions which I +can not answer. I can not explain why he should have been sent to +the Pool of Siloam. I acknowledge that the evidence which I have +for the miracle is not decisive. As Jesus has restored my sight, I +think that the story is probably true; but whether the story is true +or not can not disturb my faith in Him, for if He did not heal the +other man, He has healed me." + +And so the faith in the living Christ of those who have had the +great experiences of His power and grace which I have described +is not shaken by any assaults on the historical trustworthiness +of the story of His earthly ministry. Much less can it be shaken +by discussions concerning the nature and origin of the ancient +Scriptures of the Jewish people. Their confidence in the books, +both of the Old Testament and the New, may perhaps have to be +suspended until the controversies of scholars are closed, or until, +on historical and critical grounds, they can see their own way to +firm and definite conclusions about the main questions at issue; +but not their confidence in Christ. They may be uncertain about +the books; they are sure about Him. Both Christian scholars and +the commonalty of Christian people approach the controversies on +these ancient records with a settled faith in the power and grace +and glory of Christ. Their faith in Him rests on foundations which +lie far beyond the reach of scientific and historical criticism. +They know for themselves that Christ is the Savior of men: for they +have received through Him the remission of their own sins; He has +translated them into the divine kingdom; He has given them strength +for righteousness, and through Him they have found God. + + + + +LIDDON + +INFLUENCES OF THE HOLY SPIRIT + + +BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE + +Henry Parry Liddon was born at North Stoneham, Hampshire, in 1829. +His intellectual power and fearless and earnest preaching attracted +immense congregations to St. Paul's Cathedral, London. He sought +to meet the speculative fallacies of his day by truth clearly and +boldly proclaimed. Probably his greatest fault in delivery was that +he tied himself slavishly to a manuscript in all his preaching. +There was a force and intensity to his delivery, however, that often +projected his words towards his hearers like great projectiles +across a battlefield. Dr. Arthur S. Hoyt recommends him for study +in these words: "Canon Liddon brings the riches of exegesis and +theology and philosophy to the pulpit, and gives to the sermon the +distinction of his refined and spiritual personality." He died in +1890. + + + + +LIDDON + +1829-1890 + +INFLUENCES OF THE HOLY SPIRIT + + _The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound + thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it + goeth._--John iii., 8. + + +Who has not felt the contrast, the almost tragic contrast, between +the high station of the Jewish doctor, member of the Sanhedrin, +master in Israel, and the ignorance of elementary religious truth, +as we Christians must deem it, which he displayed in this interview +with our blest Lord? At first sight it seems difficult to understand +how our Lord could have used the simile in the text when conversing +with an educated and thoughtful man, well conversed in the history +and literature of God's ancient people; and, indeed, a negative +criticism has availed itself of this and of some other features in +the narrative, in the interest of the theory that Nicodemus was +only a fictitious type of the higher classes in Jewish society, +as they were pictured to itself by the imagination of the fourth +Evangelist. Such a supposition, opposed to external facts and to all +internal probabilities, would hardly have been entertained, if the +critical ingenuity of its author had been seconded by any spiritual +experience. Nicodemus is very far from being a caricature; and +our Lord's method here, as elsewhere, is to lead on from familiar +phrases and the well-remembered letter to the spirit and realities +of religion. The Jewish schools were acquainted with the expression +"a new creature"; but it had long since become a mere shred of +official rhetoric. As applied to a Jewish proselyte, it scarcely +meant more than a change in the outward relations of religious +life. Our Lord told Nicodemus that every man who would see the +kingdom of God which He was founding must undergo a second birth; +and Nicodemus, who had been accustomed to the phrase all his life, +could not understand it if it was to be supposed to mean anything +real. "How," he asks, "can a man be born when he is old? Can he +enter a second time into his mother's womb, and be born?" Our Lord +does not extricate him from this blundering literalism; He repeats +His own original assertion, but in terms which more fully express +His meaning: "Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born +of water and of the Spirit, he can not enter into the kingdom of +God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is +born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye +must be born again." Our Lord's reference to water would not have +been unintelligible to Nicodemus; every one in Judæa knew that +the Baptist had insisted on immersion in water as a symbol of the +purification of the soul of man. Certainly, in connecting "water" +with the Spirit and the new birth, our Lord's language, glancing +at that of the prophet, went very far beyond this. He could only +be fully understood at a later time, when the sacrament of baptism +had been instituted, just as the true sense of His early allusions +to His death could not have been apprehended until after the +crucifixion. But Nicodemus, it is plain, had not yet advanced beyond +his original difficulty; he could not conceive how any second birth +was possible, without altogether violating the course of nature. +And our Lord penetrates His thoughts and answers them. He answers +them by pointing to that invisible agent who could achieve, in the +sphere of spiritual and mental life, what the Jewish doctor deemed +so impossible a feat as a second birth. Nature, indeed, contained no +force that could compass such a result; but nature in this, as in +other matters, was a shadow of something beyond itself. + +It was late at night when our Lord had this interview with the +Jewish teacher. At the pauses in conversation, we may conjecture, +they heard the wind without as it moaned along the narrow streets +of Jerusalem; and our Lord, as was His wont, took His creature into +His service--the service of spiritual truth. The wind was a figure +of the Spirit. Our Lord would not have used the same word for both. +The wind might teach Nicodemus something of the action of Him who is +the real Author of the new birth of man. And it would do this in two +ways more especially. + +On a first survey of nature, the wind arrests man's attention, as +an unseen agent which seems to be moving with entire freedom. "The +wind bloweth where it listeth." It is fettered by none of those +conditions which confine the swiftest bodies that traverse the +surface of the earth; it sweeps on as if independent of law, rushing +hither and thither, as tho obeying its own wayward and momentary +impulse. Thus it is an apt figure of a self-determining invisible +force; and of a force which is at times of overmastering power. +Sometimes, indeed, its breath is so gentle, that only a single +leaf or blade of grass will at distant intervals seem to give the +faintest token of its action; yet, even thus, it "bloweth where +it listeth." Sometimes it bursts upon the earth with destructive +violence; nothing can resist its onslaught; the most solid buildings +give way; the stoutest trees bend before it; whatever is frail and +delicate can only escape by the completeness of its submission. +Thus, too, it "bloweth where it listeth." Beyond anything else +that strikes upon the senses of man, it is suggestive of free +supersensuous power; it is an appropriate symbol of an irruption of +the invisible into the world of sense, of the action, so tender or +so imperious, of the divine and eternal Spirit upon the human soul. + +But the wind is also an agent about whose proceedings we really +know almost nothing. "Thou hearest the sound thereof"; such is our +Lord's concession to man's claim to knowledge. "Thou canst not tell +whence it cometh, and whither it goeth"; such is the reserve which +He makes in respect of human ignorance. Certainly we do more than +hear the sound of the wind; its presence is obvious to three of +the senses. We feel the chill or the fury of the blast; and, as it +sweeps across the ocean, or the forest, or the field of corn, we see +how the blades rise and fall in graceful curves, and the trees bend, +and the waters sink and swell into waves which are the measure of +its strength. But our Lord says, "Thou hearest the sound thereof." +He would have us test it by the most spiritual of the senses. It +whispers, or it moans, or it roars as it passes us; it has a pathos +all its own. Yet what do we really know about it? "Thou canst not +tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth." Does the wind then +obey no rule; is it a mere symbol of unfettered caprice? Surely +not. If, as the psalmist sings, "God bringeth the winds out of his +treasuries," He acts, we may be sure, here as always, whether in +nature or in grace, by some law, which his own perfections impose +upon His action. He may have given to us of these later times to +see a very little deeper beneath the surface of the natural world +than was the case with our fathers. Perchance we explain the +immediate antecedents of the phenomenon; but can we explain our own +explanation? The frontier of our ignorance is removed one stage +farther back; but "the way of the wind" is as fitting an expression +for the mysteries now as it was in the days of Solomon. We know that +there is no cave of Æolus. We know that the wind is the creature +of that great Master who works everywhere and incessantly by rule. +But, as the wind still sweeps by us who call ourselves the children +of an age of knowledge, and we endeavor to give our fullest answer +to the question, "Whence it cometh, and whither it goeth?" we +discover that, as the symbol of a spiritual force, of whose presence +we are conscious, while we are unable to determine, with moderate +confidence, either the secret principle or the range of its action, +the wind is as full of meaning still as in the days of Nicodemus. + +When our Lord has thus pointed to the freedom and the mysteriousness +of the wind, He adds, "So is every one that is born of the Spirit." +The simile itself would have led us to expect--"So is the Spirit +of God." The man born of the Spirit would answer not to the wind +itself, but to the sensible effect of the wind. There is a break of +correspondence between the simile and its application. The simile +directs attention to the divine Author of the new birth in man. The +words which follow direct attention to the human subject upon whom +the divine agent works. Something similar is observable when our +Lord compares the kingdom of heaven to a merchantman seeking goodly +pearls; the kingdom really corresponds not to the merchantman, +but to the pearl of great price which the merchantman buys. In +such cases, we may be sure, the natural correspondence between a +simile and its application is not disturbed without a motive. And +the reason for this disturbance is presumably that the simile is +not adequate to the full purpose of the speaker, who is anxious to +teach some larger truth than its obvious application would suggest. +In the case before us, we may be allowed to suppose, that by His +reference to the wind our Lord desired to convey something more +than the real but mysterious agency of the Holy Spirit in the new +birth of man. His language seems designed, not merely to correct +the materialistic narrowness of the Jewish doctor, not merely to +answer by anticipation the doubts of later days as to the spiritual +efficacy of His own sacrament of regeneration, but to picture, in +words which should be read to the end of time, the general work of +that divine person whose mission of mercy to our race was at once +the consequence and the completion of His own. + +It may be useful to trace the import of our Lord's simile in three +fields of the action of the holy and eternal Spirit; His creation of +a sacred literature, His guidance of a divine society, and His work +upon individual souls. + +I. As, then, we turn over the pages of the Bible, must we not +say, "The wind of heaven bloweth where it listeth"? If we might +reverently imagine ourselves scheming beforehand what kind of a +book the Book of God ought to be, how different would it be from +the actual Bible. There would be as many bibles as there are souls, +and they would differ as widely. But in one thing, amid all their +differences, they would probably agree; they would lack the variety, +both in form and substance, of the holy Book which the Church of +God places in the hands of her children. The self-assertion, the +scepticism, and the fastidiousness of our day would meet like the +men of the second Roman triumvirate on that island in the Reno, +and would draw up their lists of proscription. One would condemn +the poetry of Scripture as too inexact; another its history as too +largely secular; another its metaphysics as too transcendental, or +as hostile to some fanciful ideal of "simplicity," or as likely +to quench a purely moral enthusiasm. The archaic history of the +Pentateuch, or the sterner side of the ethics of the psalter, or +the supernaturalism of the histories of Elijah or of Daniel, or +the so-called pessimism of Ecclesiastes, or the alleged secularism +of Esther, or the literal import of the Song of Solomon, would be +in turn condemned. Nor could the apostles hope to escape: St. John +would be too mystical in this estimate; St. James too legal in +that; St. Paul too dialectical, or too metaphysical, or too easily +capable of an antinomian interpretation; St. Peter too undecided, +as if balancing between St. Paul and St. James. Our new Bible would +probably be uniform, narrow, symmetrical; it would be entirely +made up of poetry, or of history, or of formal propositions, or of +philosophical speculation, or of lists of moral maxims; it would be +modeled after the type of some current writer on English history, +or some popular poet or metaphysician, or some sentimentalist who +abjures history and philosophy alike on principle, or some composer +of well-intentioned religious tracts for general circulation. The +inspirations of heaven would be taken in hand, and instead of a wind +blowing where it listeth, we should have a wind, no doubt, of some +kind, rustling earnestly enough along some very narrow crevices or +channels, in obedience to the directions of some one form of human +prejudice, or passion, or fear, or hope. + +The Bible is like nature in its immense, its exhaustless variety; +like nature, it reflects all the higher moods of the human soul, +because it does much more; because it brings us face to face with +the infinity of the divine life. In the Bible the wind of heaven +pays scant heed to our anticipations or our prejudices; it "bloweth +where it listeth." It breathes not only in the divine charities of +the gospels, not only in the lyrical sallies of the epistles, not +only in the great announcements scattered here and there in Holy +Scripture of the magnificence, or the compassion, or the benevolence +of God; but also in the stern language of the prophets, in the +warnings and lessons of the historical books, in the revelations of +divine justice and of human responsibility which abound in either +Testament. "Where it listeth." Not only where our sense of literary +beauty is stimulated, as in St. Paul's picture of charity, by lines +which have taken captive the imagination of the world, not only +where feeling and conscience echo the verdict of authority and the +promptings of reverence, but also where this is not the case; where +neither precept nor example stimulates us, and we are left face to +face with historical or ethical material, which appears to us to +inspire no spiritual enthusiasm, or which is highly suggestive of +critical difficulty. Let us be patient; we shall understand, if we +will only wait, how these features of the Bible too are integral +parts of a living whole; here, as elsewhere, the Spirit breathes; +in the genealogies of the Chronicles as in the last discourse in +St. John, though with an admitted difference of manner and degree. +He "bloweth where He listeth." The apostle's words respecting the +Old Testament are true of the New: "All Scripture is given by +inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, +for correction, for instruction in righteousness." And, "Whatsoever +things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we +through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope." + +"But thou hearest the sound thereof, and canst not tell whence +it cometh, and whither it goeth." The majesty of Scripture is +recognized by man, wherever there is, I will not say a spiritual +faculty, but a natural sense of beauty. The "sound" of the wind +is perceived by the trained ear, by the literary taste, by the +refinement, by the humanity of every generation of educated men. But +what beyond? What of its spiritual source, its spiritual drift and +purpose, its half-concealed but profound unities, its subtle but +imperious relations to conscience? Of these things, so precious to +Christians, a purely literary appreciation of Scripture is generally +ignorant; the sacred Book, like the prophet of the Chebar, is only +"as a very lovely song of one that hath a pleasant voice, and can +play well on an instrument." Or again, the "sound thereof" is +heard in the admitted empire of the Bible over millions of hearts +and consciences; an empire the evidences of which strike upon the +ear in countless ways, and which is far too wide and too secure +to be affected by the criticisms that might occasionally seem to +threaten it. What is the secret of this influence of Scripture? Not +simply that it is the Book of Revelation; since it contains a great +deal of matter which lay fairly within the reach of man's natural +faculties. The Word or eternal Reason of God is the Revealer; but +Scripture, whether it is a record of divine revelations or of +naturally observed facts, is, in the belief of the Christian Church, +throughout "inspired" by the Spirit. Inspiration is the word which +describes the presence and action of the Holy Spirit everywhere in +Scripture. We know not how our own spirits, hour by hour, are acted +upon by the eternal Spirit, though we do not question the fact; we +content ourselves with recognizing what we can not explain. If we +believe that Scripture is inspired, we know that it is instinct with +the presence of Him whose voice we might hear in every utterance, +but of whom we cannot tell whence He cometh or whither He goeth. + +II. The history of the Church of Christ from the days of the +apostles has been a history of spiritual movements. Doubtless it has +been a history of much else; the Church has been the scene of human +passions, human speculations, human errors. But traversing these, +He by whom the whole body of the Church is governed and sanctified, +has made His presence felt, not only in the perpetual proclamation +and elucidation of truth, not only in the silent, never-ceasing +sanctification of souls, but also in great upheavals of spiritual +life, by which the conscience of Christians has been quickened, +or their hold upon the truths of redemption and grace made more +intelligent and serious, or their lives and practise restored to +something like the ideal of the Gospels. Even in the apostolic age +it was necessary to warn Christians that it was high time to awake +out of sleep; that the night of life was far spent, and the day of +eternity was at hand. And ever since, from generation to generation, +there has been a succession of efforts within the Church to realize +more worthily the truth of the Christian creed, or the ideal of the +Christian life. These revivals have been inspired or led by devoted +men who have represented the highest conscience of Christendom in +their day. They may be traced along the line of Christian history; +the Spirit living in the Church has by them attested His presence +and His will; and has recalled lukewarm generations, paralyzed by +indifference or degraded by indulgence, to the true spirit and level +of Christian faith and life. + +In such movements there is often what seems, at first sight, an +element of caprice. They appear to contemporaries to be onesided, +exaggerated, narrow, fanatical. They are often denounced with a +passionate fervor which is so out of proportion to the reality as to +border on the grotesque. They are said to exact too much of us, or +to concede too much. They are too contemplative in their tendency +to be sufficiently practical, or too energetically practical to do +justice to religious thought. They are too exclusively literary +and academical, as being the work of men of books; or they are too +popular and insensible to philosophical considerations, as being +the work of men of the people. Or, again, they are so occupied with +controversy as to forget the claims of devotion, or so engaged +in leading souls to a devout life as to forget the unwelcome but +real necessities of controversy. They are intent on particular +moral improvements so exclusively as to forget what is due to +reverence and order; or they are so bent upon rescuing the Church +from chronic slovenliness and indecency in public worship as to +do less than justice to the paramount interests of moral truth. +Sometimes these movements are all feeling; sometimes they are all +thought; sometimes they are, as it seems, all outward energy. In +one age they produce a literature like that of the fourth and fifth +centuries; in another they found orders of men devoted to preaching +or to works of mercy, as in the twelfth; in another they enter the +lists, as in the thirteenth century, with a hostile philosophy; +in another they attempt a much-needed reformation of the Church; +in another they pour upon the heathen world a flood of light and +warmth from the heart of Christendom. It is easy, as we survey +them, to say that something else was needed; or that what was done +could have been done better or more completely; or that, had we +been there, we should not have been guilty of this onesidedness, +or of that exaggeration. We forget, perhaps, who really was there, +and whose work it is, though often overlaid and thwarted by human +weakness and human passion, that we are really criticizing. If +it was seemingly onesided, excessive or defective, impulsive or +sluggish, speculative or practical, esthetic or experimental, may +not this have been so because in His judgment, who breatheth where +He listeth, this particular characteristic was needed for the Church +of that day? All that contemporaries know of such movements is +"the sound thereof"; the names with which they are associated, the +controversies which they precipitate, the hostilities which they +rouse or allay, as the case may be. Such knowledge is superficial +enough; of the profound spiritual causes which really engender +them, of the direction in which they are really moving, of the +influence which they are destined permanently to exert upon souls, +men know little or nothing. The accidental symptom is mistaken for +the essential characteristic; the momentary expression of feeling +for the inalienable conviction of certain truth. The day may come, +perhaps, when more will be known; when practise and motive, accident +and substance, the lasting and the transient, will be seen in their +true relative proportions; but for the time this can hardly be. He +is passing by, whose way is in the sea, and His paths in the deep +waters, and His footsteps unknown. The Eternal Spirit is passing; +and men can only say, "He bloweth where He listeth." + +III. Our Lord's words apply especially to Christian character. +There are some effects of the living power of the Holy Spirit +which are invariable. When He dwells with a Christian soul, He +continually speaks in the voice of conscience; He speaks in the +voice of prayer. He produces with the ease of a natural process, +without effort, without the taint of self-consciousness, "love, +joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, +temperance." Some of these graces must be found where He makes His +home. There is no mistaking the atmosphere of His presence: in its +main features it is the same now as in the days of the apostles. +Just as in natural morality the main elements of "goodness" do not +change; so in religious life, spirituality is, amid great varieties +of detail, yet, in its leading constituent features, the same thing +from one generation to another. But in the life of the individual +Christian, or in that of the Church, there is legitimate room for +irregular and exceptional forms of activity or excellence. Natural +society is not strengthened by the stern repression of all that is +peculiar in individual thought or practise; and this is not less +true of spiritual or religious society. From the first, high forms +of Christian excellence have often been associated with unconscious +eccentricity. The eccentricity must be unconscious, because +consciousness of eccentricity at once reduces it to a form of vanity +which is entirely inconsistent with Christian excellence. How many +excellent Christians have been eccentric, deviating more or less +from the conventional type of goodness which has been recognized +by contemporary religious opinion. They pass away, and when they +are gone men do justice to their characters; but while they are +still with us how hard do many of us find it to remember that there +may be a higher reason for their peculiarities than we think. We +know not the full purpose of each saintly life in the designs of +Providence; we know not much of the depths and heights whence it +draws its inspirations; we can not tell whence it cometh or whither +it goeth. Only we know that He whose workmanship it is bloweth where +He listeth; and this naturally leads us to remark the practical +interpretation which the Holy Spirit often puts upon our Lord's +words by selecting as His chosen workmen those who seem to be least +fitted by nature for such high service. The apostle has told us how +in the first age He set Himself to defeat human anticipations. "Not +many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, +are called"; learned academies, powerful connections, gentle blood +did little enough for the gospel in the days when it won its first +and greatest victories. The Holy Spirit, as Nicodemus knew, passed +by the varied learning and high station of the Sanhedrin, and +breathed where He listed on the peasants of Galilee; He breathed +on them a power which would shake the world. And thus has it been +again and again in the generations which have followed. When the +great Aquinas was a student of philosophy under Albertus Magnus at +Cologne, he was known among his contemporaries as "the dumb Ox"; so +little did they divine what was to be his place in the theology of +Western Christendom. And to those of us who can look back upon the +memories of this University for a quarter of a century or more, few +things appear more remarkable than the surprizes which the later +lives of men constantly afford; sometimes it is a failure of early +natural promise, but more often a rich development of intellectual +and practical capacity where there had seemed to be no promise at +all. We can remember, perhaps, some dull quiet man who seemed to +be without a ray of genius, or, stranger still, without anything +interesting or marked in character, but who now exerts, and most +legitimately, the widest influence for good, and whose name is +repeated by thousands with grateful respect. Or we can call to mind +another whose whole mind was given to what was frivolous, or even +degrading, and who now is a leader in everything that elevates and +improves his fellows. The secret of these transfigurations is ever +the same. In those days these men did not yet see their way; they +were like travelers through the woods at night, when the sky is +hidden and all things seem to be other than they are. + +Since then the sun has risen and all has changed. The creed of the +Church of Christ, in its beauty and its power, has been flashed by +the Divine Spirit upon their hearts and understandings; and they are +other men. They have seen that there is something worth living for +in earnest; that God, the soul, the future, are immense realities, +compared with which all else is tame and insignificant. They have +learned something of that personal love of our crucified Lord, which +is itself a moral and religious force of the highest order, and +which has carried them forwards without their knowing it. And what +has been will assuredly repeat itself. + + + + +W. M. TAYLOR + +CHRIST BEFORE PILATE--PILATE BEFORE CHRIST + + + + +BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE + + +William Mackergo Taylor, Congregational divine, was born at +Kilmarnock, Scotland, in 1829. He was for many years pastor of the +Broadway Tabernacle, New York. He had an impressive presence and +his delivery was marked by a magnetic earnestness. During the first +ten years of his ministry he spoke memoriter, but subsequently +wrote out his sermons with detailed care and preached them from +manuscript, but their delivery was without the freedom and freshness +of extemporaneous address. He came to regret this, for he said: "If +I might speak from my own experience I would say, that memoriter +preaching is the method which has the greatest advantages, with the +fewest disadvantages." He died in 1895. + + + + +W. M. TAYLOR 1829-1895 + +CHRIST BEFORE PILATE--PILATE BEFORE CHRIST[5] + + [5] Reprinted by permission from "Contrary Winds and other Sermons," + by William M. Taylor, D.D., copyrighted, 1883, by A. C. Armstrong & + Son. + + _Pilate saith unto them, What shall I do, then, with Jesus, + which is called Christ?_--Matthew xxvii., 22. + + +During my late visit to my native land I had the great enjoyment +of seeing, and somewhat carefully studying, Munkacsy's famous +picture of "Christ Before Pilate." Rarely, if ever, had I been so +much moved by a work of art; and I propose to give, as nearly as I +can recall it, the sermon which it reached to me as I sat silently +contemplating the figures, which, even as I looked at them, seemed +to grow before me into life. + +But, first, I must try to describe to you the picture itself. The +canvas is large, and the figures, all of which are on the line of +sight, are of life size. The scene is in the pavement or open court +before the governor's palace, which was called in the Hebrew tongue +Gabbatha, and in which, after all his efforts to wriggle out of the +responsibility of dealing with the case, Pilate ultimately gave up +Jesus to be crucified. At one end of the court, on a raised bench, +and drest in a white toga, Pilate sits. On either side of him are +Jews, each of whom has a marked and special individuality. The two +on his left are gazing with intense eagerness at Christ. They are +evidently puzzled, and know not well what to make of the mysterious +prisoner. On his right, standing on one of the seats, and with his +back against the wall, is a Scribe, whose countenance is expressive +of uttermost contempt, and just in front of this haughty fellow +are some Pharisees, one of whom is on his feet, and passionately +urging that Jesus should be put to death, presumably on the ground +that, if Pilate should let Him go, he would make it evident that he +was not Cæsar's friend. Before them again is a usurer, sleek, fat +and self-satisfied, clearly taking great comfort to himself in the +assurance that, however the matter may be settled, his well-filled +money-bags will be undisturbed. Beyond him stands the Christ in a +robe of seamless white, and with His wrists firmly bound; while +behind, kept in place by a Roman soldier, standing with his back to +the spectator, and making a barricade with his spear, which he holds +horizontally, is a motley group of onlookers, not unlike that which +we may still see any day in one of our criminal courts. Of these, +one more furious than the rest is wildly gesticulating, and crying, +as we may judge from his whole attitude, "Crucify Him! crucify Him!" +and another, a little to the Savior's left, but in the second row +behind Him, is leaning forward with mockery in his leering look, and +making almost as if he would spit upon the saintly one. There is but +one really compassionate face in the crowd, and that is a face of a +woman who, with an infant in her arms, most fitly represents those +gentle daughters of Jerusalem who followed Jesus to Calvary with +tears. Then, over the heads of the on-lookers, and out of the upper +part of the doorway into the court, we get a glimpse of the quiet +light of the morning as it sleeps upon the walls and turrets of the +adjacent buildings. All these figures are so distinctly seen that +you feel you could recognize them again if you met them anywhere; +and a strange sense of reality comes upon you as you look at them, +so that you forget that they are only painted, and imagine that you +are gazing on living and breathing men. + +But, as you sit awhile and look on, you gradually lose all +consciousness of the presence of the mere on-lookers and find your +interest concentrated on these two white-robed ones, as if they +were the only figures before you. The pose of Christ is admirable. +It is repose blended with dignity; self-possession rising into +majesty. There is no agitation or confusion; no fear or misgiving; +but, instead, the calm nobleness of Him who has just been saying, +"Thou couldst have no power at all against me, except it were given +thee from above; therefore he that delivered me unto thee hath the +greater sin." The face alone disappoints. Perhaps that may be owing +to the lofty ideal we have of the divine Man, so that no picture +of our Lord would entirely please. But tho the painter has wisely +abandoned the halo, and all similar conventionalisms of art, and has +delineated a real man, for all which he is to be highly commended, +yet the eyes which look so steadily at Pilate, as if they were +looking him through, seem to me to be cold, keen, and condemnatory, +rather than compassionate and sad. It is a conception of the Lord +of the same sort as that of Doré, in his well-known picture of the +leaving of the Prætorium, and the eyes have not in them that deep +well of tenderness out of which came the tears which He shed over +Jerusalem, and which we expect to see in them when He is looking at +the hopeless struggle of a soul which will not accept His aid. It +is said that the artist, dissatisfied with his first attempt, has +painted the Christ face twice; but this, also, is a partial failure, +and here, so at least it seemed to me as I looked upon it, is the +one defect in his noble work. But if there is this defect, it is one +which it shares with every other effort that human art has made to +delineate the Lord. The Pilate, however, is well-nigh faultless. +Here is a great, strong man, the representative of the mightiest +empire the world has ever seen, with a head indicating intellectual +force, and a face, especially in its lower part, suggestive of +sensual indulgence. There is ordinarily no want of firmness in +him, as we may see from the general set of his features; but now +there is in his countenance a marvelous mixture of humiliation and +irresolution. He cannot lift his eyes to meet the gaze of Christ; +and while one of his hands is nervously clutching at his robe he +is looking sadly into the other, whose fingers, even as we look +at them, almost seem to twitch with perplexed irresolution. He is +clearly pondering for himself the question which a few moments +before he had addrest to the multitude, "What shall I do with +Jesus which is called Christ?" He is annoyed that the case has +been brought to him at all, and as he feels himself drifting on, +against his own better judgment, toward yielding to the clamor of +the multitude, he falls mightily in his own conceit, and begins to +despise himself. He would, at that moment, give, oh, how much! to +be rid of the responsibility of dealing with the Christ, but he +cannot evade it; and so he sits there, drifting on to what he knows +is a wrong decision, the very incarnation of the feeling which his +own national poet described when he said, "I see and approve the +better course; I follow the worse." Thus, as we look at these two, +we begin to discover that it was not Christ that was before Pilate +so much as Pilate was before Christ. His was the testing experience. +His was the trial; his too, alas! was the degradation; and at that +coming day when the places shall be reversed, when Christ shall be +on the judgment seat, and Pilate at the bar, there will still be +that deep self-condemnation which the painter here has fixt upon +his countenance. It is a marvelous picture, in many respects the +most remarkable I ever looked upon, and, even from this imperfect +description of it, you will easily understand how, as I sat intent +before it, it stirred my soul to the very depths. + +But now, with this portrayal of the scene before us let us see if +we can account, first, for the hesitation of Pilate to give up the +Lord, and then for his final yielding to the clamor of the people. +Why all this reluctance on his part to send Jesus to the cross? He +was not usually so scrupulous. A human life more or less gave him +generally very little concern. He had all a Roman's indifference +for the comfort of those who stood in any respect in his way; and +had no compunction, as we know, in mingling the blood of certain +turbulent Jews with the very sacrifices which at the moment they +were offering. Had Christ been a Roman citizen, indeed, he would +most likely have been very watchful over His safety, for in regard +to all such the imperial law was peculiarly strict, but the life +of a mere Jew was a very small thing in his estimation. Wherefore, +then, this unwonted squeamishness of conscience? It was the result +of a combination of particulars, each of which had a special force +of its own, and the aggregate of which so wrought upon his mind that +he was brought thereby to a stand. + +There was, in the first place, the peculiar character of the +prisoner. A very slight examination had been sufficient to convince +him that Christ was innocent of the charge which had been brought +against Him. But in the course of that examination much more than +the innocence of Christ had come to view. He had manifested a +dignified patience altogether unlike anything that Pilate had ever +seen; and His answers to certain questions had been so strangely +suggestive of something higher and nobler than even the most +exalted earthly philosophy that he could not look upon Him as a +common prisoner. He was no mere fanatic; neither was He after the +pattern of any existing school, whether Jewish, Greek, or Roman. +There was about Him an "other-worldliness" which brought those +near Him into close proximity, for the time, with the unseen; and +an elevation which lifted Him above the tumult that was howling +for His destruction. Probably Pilate could not have described +it to himself, but there was something which he felt unusual and +exceptional in this man, marking Him out from every other he ever +had before him, and constraining him to take a special interest in +His case. Add to this that his wife had sent to him that singular +message--"Have thou nothing to do with that just man, for I have +suffered many things this day in a dream because of him,"--a message +which, in those days of mingled scepticism and superstition--for the +two always go hand in hand--must have produced a deep impression on +his mind. Moreover, there seemed some fatality about the case. He +had tried to roll it over upon Herod, but that wily monarch sent the +prisoner back upon his hands. He had attempted to release Him, as +the Passover prisoner for the year, but neither was there any outlet +for him in that, for the people had preferred Barabbas. And so the +responsibility had come again to his own door, and could not be +passed on to another. Still again, he saw that the Jews were acting +most hypocritically in the matter. It was a new thing for them to be +zealous for the honor of Cæsar, and he could easily see through the +mask they wore into the envy and malice which were the motives for +their conduct. The deeper he went into the case he discovered only +the more reason for resisting their importunity, and, however, he +looked at it, his plain duty was to set the prisoner free. + +Why then, again we ask, was his perplexity? The answer is suggested +by the taunt of the Jews, "If thou let this man go thou art not +Cæsar's friend; whosoever maketh himself a king speaketh against +Cæsar." He foresaw that if he resisted the will of the rulers he +would make them his enemies, and so provoke them to complain of +him to the emperor, who would then institute an inquiry into the +administration of his office--and that he was not prepared to face. +He had done things as a governor which would not bear the light, +and so at the crisis of his life he was fettered by deeds of the +past from doing that which he felt to be the duty of the present. +You may, perhaps, remember that expression of the prophet, which +thus reads in the margin: "Their doings will not suffer them to turn +unto their God": and that other, which affirms, concerning Israel: +"Their own doings have beset them about." Now these descriptions +most accurately define the cause of Pilate's perplexity here. His +conduct in the past had been such that he had not the courage to +take any course which might lead to an investigation of that. If +he could deliver Christ without provoking that, then he would most +cheerfully do so; but if by delivering Christ he would provoke that, +then Christ must be given up to the cross. Hence his perplexity +at the first, and hence, also, his yielding in the end. His past +misdeeds had put him virtually into the power of those who were +now so eager for the condemnation of the Christ. On three several +occasions his arbitrariness had been such as all but to instigate +a rebellion among the people, and his cruelty and contempt for +justice, when he had a personal end to gain, were sure, upon appeal +to the emperor, to be severely punished; so to save himself from +banishment and disgrace, if not even death, he delivered over Jesus +to the will of the Jews. He wished to do right in this case more +than ever he had wished before; there was something about it which +in his view made it more important that he should do right now than +ever before; but through all his past official life he had, by his +enormities and oppressions, been unconsciously weaving round himself +a net, in the meshes of which he was now inextricably caught. His +guilty conscience made him a coward at the very time when most of +all he wanted to be brave. He had come to his "narrow place," where +he could turn neither to the right hand nor to the left, but must +face the naked alternative "yes" or "no"; and he fell because in his +former life, when he was thinking of no such ordeal, he had sold +himself by his evil deeds into the power of the enemy. + +Now, what a lesson there is in all this for us! Men think that +they may live for the time being as they please, and that at a +convenient venient season they can repent and turn to God. But the +present is conditioning the future, and making it either possible +or the reverse for us to do right in the future. He who neglects +the laws of health every day, and lives in intemperance and excess +of all kinds, is only making it absolutely certain that when fever +lays him low he will die, for he has eaten out the strength of +his constitution by his follies. And, in the same way, he who +sets all morality at defiance in his ordinary conduct only makes +it inevitable that when his convenient season does come, when his +time of privilege and testing does arrive, he will fail to rise to +the occasion, and be swept away into perdition. The tenor of our +ordinary life determines how we shall pass through exceptional and +crucial occasions, therefore let us bring that up to the highest +level by doing everything as unto God, and then we shall be ready +for any emergency. + +Nor let me forget to add here, that in spite of all his efforts +to keep back investigation, Pilate's day of reckoning with the +emperor did come. The Jews complained of him after all, in spite of +his yielding to them now; and as the result he was banished, and +afterwards, so tradition says, he committed suicide. Thus the ordeal +and the disgrace came, notwithstanding all he did to avert them, +and he had not under them the solace which he might have enjoyed +if only he had stood firm on this great and memorable occasion. +Therefore let us all, and especially the young, take to ourselves, +as the first lesson from this deeply interesting history, that we +should be careful not to hamper ourselves for the discharge of duty +in the future by guilt of the present. By our conduct now we are +either coiling cords around us which shall hold us fast at the very +time when we most desire to be free, or we are forming and fostering +a strength of character which, through God, will triumph over every +temptation. If "to be weak is to be miserable," it is no less true +that to be guilty is to be weak. Preserve yourselves, therefore, +from this danger, and seek above all other things to keep your +consciences clean; then when you will need all your strength for a +crisis, you will not sit, like Pilate here, in nervous perplexity +bemoaning your helplessness even while you yield to the adversary; +but you will shake the temptation from you with as much ease as the +eagle shakes the dewdrop from his wing. Keep yourselves pure: so +shall your youth be full of happiness, and you shall go forth out +of it with no encumbering past to clog the wheels of your endeavor. +How happy he whose youth thus leaves him with a smile and sends him +forth upon the duties of manhood with a benediction! But he, how +miserable! whose early years heap bitter maledictions on his head, +and push him forward into active life with a conscience already +laden with guilt, and a soul as weak before temptation as a reed is +before the wind. + +But while there is thus in this history a lesson for all time, I +think Munkacsy, by the appearance of his wondrous picture now, has +made it evident that there is also something in it specially adapted +to these modern days. It is with artists in the choice of their +subjects as it is with ministers in the selection of their themes. +Both alike, consciously and unconsciously, and most frequently +perhaps unconsciously, are affected by the spirit of their age. +The atmosphere--literary, moral, political, and religious--which +is round about them, and which they are daily breathing, does, +insensibly to themselves, so influence them that their thoughts +are turned by it into a channel different from that in which those +of a former generation flowed. Hence, whether the painter would +admit it or not, I see in this picture, at this juncture, at once a +mirror of the times and a lesson for them. The question of Pilate, +"What shall I do, then, with Jesus which is called the Christ?" +is preeminently the question of the present age. No doubt we may +say with truth that it has been the question of all the Christian +centuries, and each one of them has faced it and solved it after its +own fashion. It has tested the centuries even as it tested Pilate, +and those in which Christ was rejected have been the darkest in +the world's history; while those in which He has been hailed as +the incarnate God have been the brightest which the earth has ever +seen, because irradiated with truth, and justice, and benevolence +and purity. But tho we are always prone to exaggerate that in the +midst of which we are ourselves, it seems to me that in no one age +since that of the primitive Church has this jesting question been so +prominent as in our own. All the controversies of our times, social, +philosophical, and theological, lead up to and find their ultimate +hinge in the answer to this inquiry, "Who is this Jesus Christ?" +If He be a mere man, then there is for us nothing but uncertainty +on any subject, outside of the domain of the exact sciences; and +we must all become agnostics, holding this one negative article +of belief, that nothing can be known about anything save that of +which we can take cognizance with the bodily sense. But if He be +incarnate God, then He brings with Him from heaven the final word on +all subjects concerning which He has spoken; and tho in His person +He is the mystery of mysteries, yet, at once received, He becomes +forthwith the solution of all mysteries, and faith in Him is at once +the satisfaction of the intellect and the repose of the heart. It +is perfectly natural, therefore, that all the controversies of the +day should turn on Him. The lives of Christ which have been written +during the last thirty or forty years would make in themselves a +very respectable library; and the cry even of the sceptic is, "I +could get on very well with unbelief, if I only knew what to make +of Christ." Yes, that is just the difficulty. Christ is here in +the Scriptures a character portrayed in literature; He was in the +world for thirty-three years, and lived a life exceptional in every +respect, but most of all in the moral and spiritual departments, so +that of Him alone perfection can be predicated; He has been ever +since a most potent factor in history, for through His influence +all that is pure, and noble, and exalted, and lovely and of good +report, has come into our civilization. Now, these things have to +be accounted for. If He was only a man, how shall we explain them? +And if He was more than a man shall we not take His own testimony +as to His dignity and mission? If we are to be unbelievers, we must +account for Christ on natural principles; but if we cannot do that, +then we must conceive Him as He claims to be conceived. There is no +alternative. Those in the age who have the spirit and disposition of +Pilate will anew reject Him! but those who are sincere and earnest +in their inquiries will come ultimately out into the light, for "if +any man be willing to do his will, he shall know of the doctrine +whether it be of God." + +And what is true of the age, as a whole, is true also of every +individual to whom the gospel is proclaimed. For each of us, my +hearers, this is the question of questions, "What shall I do with +Jesus which is called Christ?" Shall I reject Him and live precisely +as if I had never heard His name? or shall I accept Him as the Lord +from heaven in human nature, trust in Him as my Savior, and obey Him +as my King? I must do the one or the other; and yet how many are +seeking, like Pilate, to evade the question? They try to escape the +responsibility of dealing with it as a direct alternative of yes +or no. But as one has well said, "necessity is laid upon us. The +adversaries of Christ press upon us to give our verdict against Him. +We are troubled and perplexed, for we have long heard about Him, +and have had each of us his own convictions. We would still remain +neutral. We try--and try in vain--to escape from the spirit, the +conversation, the literature, the question of the times. Again and +again we wash our hands. But neither our silence nor our actions are +of any avail; and so we are found sitting, conscious of the presence +and the claims of our Savior, and, like Pilate, not daring to look +at Him, as we puzzle over the answer which we must give to the +question that is being forced upon us--Who is this Jesus Christ?" +Perhaps this description accurately portrays some one here this +morning. + +If so, let me give him one parting word. It is this: You can not +evade the decision, but be sure that you look at the Christ before +you give Him up. Nothing is so remarkable in the picture to which +I have so often this day referred as the evident persistency with +which Pilate keeps his eyes from Christ; and few things are so +saddening as to meet with men who profess to have, and really have, +difficulties about Christ, but who have never read the gospels or +the New Testament with any attention. + +Let me urge you earnestly, therefore, to study these gospels and +epistles before you give your voice against the Lord, and I am +very sure that if you ponder them thoroughly you will soon accept +Him. Give over trying to solve all the difficulties and so-called +discrepancies in the Scriptures which form the stock-in-trade of +the infidel lecturer--all these are but as dust which he raises +that he may blind your eyes to the really important question, "Who +is Christ?" Settle that, and if you do, all other difficulties +will vanish. Turn your face to the light, and the shadow will fall +behind you. Look at the Christ before you give Him up. And remember, +if you do reject Christ, you have still to account for Him. It +is unreasonable for you, if you believe only in the natural and +material, to leave such a phenomenon as Christ unexplained. + +Yes, and I must add here that if you reject Him you must yet +account to Him. Go, then, and ponder this text; yea, may it continue +sounding in your inmost heart until you have determined to receive +and rest upon Him as your only Savior, and say to Him, like Thomas, +"My Lord and my God." + + + + +JOHN HALL + +LIBERTY ONLY IN TRUTH + + + + +BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE + + +John Hall was born at Market Hill, County Armagh, Ireland, in 1829. +For many years he was pastor of the Fifth Avenue Presbyterian +Church, New York, where he had a large and devoted following. He was +of fine physique, and there was a power in face and voice that at +once commanded his audience. He spoke without manuscript, and his +style was marked by great sincerity, directness and earnestness. He +died in 1899. + + + + +JOHN HALL + +1829-1899 + +LIBERTY ONLY IN TRUTH + + _And I will walk at liberty, for I seek thy precepts._--Psalms + cxix., 45. + + +God is the Governor of this world. Some one may say, that is a +very elementary truth. Even so; there have been long ages in the +history of our race when that truth was not accepted and when the +most intelligent of our race believed something directly opposed. +There have been multitudes of men, for example, who believed, like +Aristotle, that matter is eternal. There are multitudes still who +believe that in some way or other nature governs itself. There is a +large class of thinkers who, without taking the name to themselves, +are practically pantheists, and, like Spinoza and Fichte and Hegel, +persuade themselves that all is God, as they express it, and that +God is all. You do not need to be told that the earlier portion of +the Old Testament Scriptures God has given to us that we might have +these illusions banished, and that we might be made to know that God +is the Creator and the Ruler of all things, that He is not nature, +and nature is not God; that He is not to be confounded with the +works of His hands; that He is a distinct, personal and holy Being, +who has created all, and who has a right, on the ground of creation, +even if there were no other, to be the Ruler of all. It took long to +make men understand this truth, simple and elementary as it seems to +you and to me. + +When we say that God governs the globe, we do not mean the mere +earthly, solid structure on which we dwell. We mean that He governs +the inhabitants of it, the communities and the individuals. "The +Lord reigneth, let the earth rejoice." "The Lord reigneth, let the +nations tremble." "He raiseth up kings and he putteth them down." +He calls into being Pharaohs that He may show His power and His +glory in relation to them. His providence is most holy and wise and +powerful, and it is not general merely, it is particular, extending +to all the creatures and to all their actions. These things we have +to keep in mind in relation to Jehovah. + +Now it would seem, surely, that if a man believed this his common +sense would dictate to him that, living in a world that God had +made and God rules in every detail, if he wishes to be happy in +it, he must have respect to the law of Him who has made and who +rules. Common sense indicates that if we live in a house it is +desirable to be on good terms with the head of the house if we +wish to be comfortable. Common sense dictates that if a man is +in the employment of others, it is wise for him to have a right +understanding, to stand well with the head of the department in +which he is engaged. Common sense teaches us that if we are subjects +in a kingdom and wish to be safe and happy, we must respect the +laws by which the kingdom is ruled. And we have only to extend this +principle, and we get to the point that was before the Psalmist's +mind when he says: "I will walk at liberty, for I seek (or, as it +is in the revision, without changing the meaning, 'I have sought') +thy statutes." I am living in Thy world, I am dependent upon Thee, +I have taken pains to know what Thy will is, that I may do it; and +so I walk at liberty. That is the idea that is brought to us in the +text, and it is easy for you to see how good and practical that idea +is. + +But the question may arise, can we know the precepts and the +statutes that God has given to us? You do not need to be told that +that is within our reach. God has spoken to us in this revelation, +as He did speak less articulately in the works of His hands, and +in the instincts and convictions that He produced in our spirit. +We have His revelation in our hands. We can seek the knowledge of +it. In many instances well-meaning and right-minded boys, under +great difficulties, have sought education that they may get on in +this world. In many other cases boys have had education at their +very doors, and have never sought it, and consequently have been +of little account in the world. Now the difference is not great, +in this aspect of it, between ordinary secular education and the +spiritual education of which the text gives us an illustration. Here +are God's statutes and precepts put within our reach. We can search +them, seek them, know them and do them, by the grace that God is +willing to give, or we can push them aside, ignore and disregard +them, and take our own way, and the result will be absolute and +everlasting failure in our lives. We can not have this too solemnly +fixt in our thoughts. God has spoken to us. What shall we do with +His word? Shall we neglect it and pass it by, or shall we take it, +study it, seek it, as the verse expresses it, and make it the rule +of our lives? Jesus Christ has come down from heaven to live among +us, and has said to our race, "Come unto me and learn of me"; and +there are millions to whom this message has come and they disregard +and ignore it; they do not come to Him, they do not learn of Him. +Can we wonder if the Judge should say to them when they appear at +His seat, "I never knew you"? If you read the First Epistle to the +Thessalonians, you will see pictures of an angry God, as an avenging +fire, in the apostle's description. On whom does the fire fall? On +whom does the Judge show his indignation? Is it upon the misers and +the miscreants and the murderers of the race merely? Oh, no. It is +upon them that "know not God and obey not the gospel of his Son." +Is it any wonder that the sacred writer should say, "Remember thy +Creator in the days of thy youth"; not merely remember that there +is a God--remember thy Creator, who made thee and in whose hand thy +fortunes are. Remember in the days of thy youth, the formative days, +the days when character is being shaped. What is well begun is half +ended. The life that is well begun, in this way has a guaranty of +usefulness and success. The life that is not begun in this way has +a dark and gloomy prospect before it. Remember thy Creator. We all +know well what is meant when some one says to us, on going away from +our homes, "Don't forget your home, don't forget your mother." We +know what that means. And God's messenger speaks to us in the same +tone when he makes this appeal: Remember thy Creator; remember His +power, remember His will, remember His statutes, seek His precepts, +and by doing this thou wilt be able to walk at liberty. + +You may have mere liberty, and not light and not the liberty of +God. You may combine liberty with means, with power, and with a +certain degree of prosperity; you may combine it with equality and +with fraternity, and yet not have the true enlightenment. True +enlightenment comes in the way, indicated in the text, by the +seeking of God's precepts, the knowing of God's statutes, and this +you and I need to keep in mind. "What is liberty?" once asked Burke. +"What is liberty without wisdom and without virtue? Such liberty +is the greatest of all possible evils, for it is vice and folly +and madness, without tuition and without restraint." Mere liberty +without other forces working in the sphere that it opens up, is +only another name for license. "Give me liberty or give me death," +said Patrick Henry--not because he felt the need of enlightenment. +He had been enlightened by the teaching of an intelligent Scottish +father, by the preaching of the splendid sermons of Samuel Davies, +and especially by the daily study, which he kept up to his dying +day, of his Bible. He had been enlightened by these things. What +he craved for himself and for his fellow men was open space in +which, unhindered, other and mighty influences might tell upon his +fellow men and make the country what, in the blessing of God, it has +become. Settle this in your minds: Liberty is simply the freedom +for other forces to act, and it is for you and me who are free, to +see what these forces are, and we never can have any so good as +those which the Psalmist speaks of when he says that he sought God's +precepts, he studied God's statutes, that he might do them, and so +walk at liberty. We want to walk at liberty. How can we do it? If +we do not thus walk at liberty, there is only one alternative--stay +in bondage and walk in bondage, moving about indeed, and apparently +free, but with moral chains binding our natures and our whole +being in bondage to the powers that will rejoice in our misery and +ultimate ruin. It is to make men understand this that we have such +institutions as we enjoy to-day. For this end church edifices are +reared. For this end people are invited to come and be regularly in +them and under their influence. For this end God has been pleased +to give us the day of holy rest. For this purpose the ministry has +been instituted. Our business is to make men seek and know God's +precepts and statutes, that they may do them and that they may walk +at liberty. "We ministers are for you; our business is to seek +your moral and spiritual good, your full and complete liberation. +Our business is to enlighten you with the truth as God has been +pleased to reveal it unto us. You do not come to these churches for +our sakes, to hear us. You do not give your money that we may be +sustained and upheld. I tell you I would rather sweep the streets, +I would rather carry bricks on my shoulder to the builder, than be +a mere official person maintained because he can teach so much and +get so many people to hear him. Brethren, it is that you may be +enlightened and saved with the light of life, that God has brought +us into the position in which we are now together. Keep this in your +thoughts; and that you may be enlightened and free, look upward and +not downward, nor around you. In that statue in our harbor, the +light that will shine is light that comes, I suppose, from the heart +of the earth; but the light that is to enlighten the world is the +light of the sun, the Sun of Righteousness. See that you have that +shining into your souls, that you may walk at liberty. + +Having looked at the former part of this text, namely, what the +Psalmist did with a view to the end, we look at the end at which he +was aiming. He studied God's Word, not simply that he might have so +much intellectual knowledge. He studied it for practical uses. He +studied God's precepts that he might obey them. I do not need to +remind you that you and I have advantages greater than he had, in +some important respects. He had the revelation in part; we have it +in its completeness. He had the preparatory dispensation; we have +the dispensation that fulfils the promises of the preparatory. He +had the beginning; we have the complement. We know more than he +did. He wrote these words, "I have sought thy precepts." He knew of +the Paschal Lamb and of its typical significance; we know the Lamb +of God that taketh away the sin of the world. He knew the Hebrew +priest and the general character of his functions. We know a High +Priest who has passed into the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God. He +knew of the altar and the victim, and the blood that made typical +atonement; we know of the great sacrifice on the cross, bringing in +a redemption that is complete and eternal. He knew of a Messiah that +was to come. You, even children in the Sunday-school to-day, know of +that Messiah risen, risen triumphant, risen a conqueror, risen for +you, risen because He has finished the work God gave Him to do. If +the Psalmist studied God's will that he might walk at liberty, how +much greater is the obligation upon us to do the same, and how much +greater our facilities and our encouragement. Let us try, then, to +travel in the Psalmist's steps, and let us see some, not all, of +the forms of liberty that we can have by compliance with the divine +precepts. + +There is liberty, in the first place, from the world. I use the word +now in the sense in which it is used so frequently in the Bible--not +merely this round globe or the hundreds of millions that are upon +it--not merely these millions in that capacity. The world lieth in +the wicked one; the mass of men, that is, do not know God. They +constitute the world of the New Testament; we can be in bondage +to this world. Natural men are in bondage to it. They are not at +liberty in relation to that natural world. It is without God; it +does not ask what His will is. It enquires as to its own will, and +it tries to enforce it. You sometimes see cliques and coteries and +collections of men insisting at any cost upon carrying out their own +will. This is only the spirit of the greater world of which they +constitute a section. Sometimes men are in bondage to the world +in this sense, and the mainspring of their life is to stand well +with it, to do what their set, their society, the world round about +them, wishes them to do. Sometimes the bondage is aggravated by +another feature, viz., the effort to rise higher, to get upon a more +elevated plane, to get into another set; and, oh, how aggravated is +the bondage under which many thus live and labor! Freedom from that +is obtained when we walk according to God's statutes. Believers, +the world is not your master. One is your Master, even Christ, and +we are brethren in Him, and He is reasonable and kind and just and +brotherly, and you can walk with Him. His favor is enough for you, +His smile satisfies you. Fellowship with Him is the best society. +Let society stigmatize you, let it stamp its enmity upon you, but +seek God's precepts. If you only have Christ walking with you, +then you walk at liberty. But as to the life-work in which many +are busy, or trying to get up a little higher socially, take this +precept of the Word, "Godliness with contentment is great gain"; +and these things, the godliness with the contentment, will break +these clanking chains of insane and stupid ambition and will prepare +you to walk at liberty. "I am in the place where God puts me. I am +trying to do the work that God gives to me. I am responsible to Him. +I belong to Him. He is my Father, Christ is my Brother, heaven is my +home. This I believe on the authority of His word. I will walk at +liberty." Let me commend that form of true freedom to you. + +There is liberty, in the second place, from bad ways. Do I need +to describe these bad ways to you? You can not live in the city, +you can not read the newspapers, you can not hear the gossip, you +can not know what is going on in the circles in which you mingle, +without knowing some of these bad ways. There is the lover of this +world's possessions, so strongly denounced in Isaiah's prophecies: +beginning, perhaps, with necessary saving, but coming slowly but +steadily to a sordid love of the thing that is saved, till the whole +spirit is mercenary, and gold is the deity that is practically +worshiped. There is the drunkard, sipping a little innocently, as he +thinks, at the beginning, then going a little farther, and secretly, +until shame is lost and the victim is under the power of the +drink--degraded, wretched, irresponsible, not ashamed of himself, +for shame is gone, but an object for which all are ashamed that are +connected with him. There is the gambler, beginning perhaps with +what he deemed innocent recreation, and catching the spirit of the +thing till it masters him, until he flings away all that he has, and +all that he hopes to have, in the chance of recovering something +already lost, till life is a burden and fortune is gone, and suicide +is perhaps the tragical termination. These are specimens of the +bad ways--marked specimens, I grant, but still simple specimens. +There is freedom from this when we seek and do God's statutes--real +freedom. We learn to walk circumspectly; we learn to keep the heart +with all diligence; we learn to hate evil and to do good; we learn +to flee from the snares that Satan sets for the feet of men. We walk +securely, for we have been taught of the Spirit to walk with God. +Make sure, dear hearers, that you have this liberty. + +There is liberty from bad memories--bad, putrid memories. When the +corrupt imagination contemplates indulgences in sin, it often dwells +upon these long before the actual execution of them, and as they +linger in the mind they photograph themselves upon its surface, and +they stay there. There may be compunction for the sin, there may be +shame over it, there may be vows against it, there may be honest +purposes to resist and overcome it, and these purposes to a good +degree carried out; but the horrid, poisonous memories remain in the +soul. You know what it is to be in a house where animal matter is +decaying and poisoning fumes are being scattered up and down. Oh! +the misery of the human mind that is haunted with the ghosts of bad +deeds that have been done in the past. It is bondage of the keenest +and sorest kind. There is liberty from these to those who walk in +God's statutes, liberty that can be had nowhere else. "A new heart +will I give you, and a right spirit will I put within you. I will +take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a +heart of flesh." Happy are they to whom this word was fulfilled in +their early youth, and who in consequence were kept from the sins, +the very recollection of which is sometimes like the beginning of +hell. + +There is bondage to bad associates and bad associations. In how many +instances, in thoughtlessness, inexperience, under the impulses of +mere feeling, do men become entangled in connections that mar their +lives and spoil all their happiness--make happiness practically +impossible! I speak what I know, when I say that there are too +many cases in which boys are practically ruined where they go as +pupils to schools away from their parents' supervision, thrown into +dependence, in some degree, upon those whom they call friends, and +these friends bad, initiating them into ways and habits and modes of +thinking and doing, for which they only want the liberty of later +years that they may put them into practise, with disgrace, misery +and ruin. Relief from this bondage, escape from it, these can be had +when we seek God's statutes, when we walk according to His precepts. +Wisdom's ways are pleasantness, and her paths are peace. There are +no bad habits in them; there are no entangling associations in them; +there are no corrupting and degrading influences in them. There is +nothing in them that plays upon passion, till passion, once our idol +and our sport, becomes our ruler and our cruel tyrant. To escape all +these, this is the way: seek God's statutes, that you may know and +do them, and you shall walk at liberty. + + + + +BACON + +GOD INDWELLING + + + + +BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE + + +LEONARD WOOLSEY BACON, Congregational divine, born in New Haven, +Conn., 1830. He was educated at Yale, from which university he +graduated in 1850. He has filled the position of pastor in many +important churches and has done much theological and literary work. +Among other things he edited Luther's "Deutsche Geistliche Lieder" +(New York, 1883), and wrote "History of American Christianity" (New +York, 1897). + + + + +BACON + +BORN IN 1830 + +GOD INDWELLING[6] + + [6] From "The Simplicity That Is in Christ," published by Funk & + Wagnalls Company. + +_Thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose +name is Holy: I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also +that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of +the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones._--Isaiah +lvii., 15. + + +Inhabiting eternity; yet making His abode within a broken heart! It +seems as if we might apprehend either of these things singly; but +both together--how can it be? The distresses, the wants, the fears, +of life, make us long that indeed it were so. Our soul crieth out +for God, for the living God. + +We cry; but there seems no answer; only an awful silence. We look +upon the outward facts of life and death, and see the steady, +unswerving march of law--the unbroken, irrefragable chain of causes +and effects--never yielding nor bending to all our needs, to all our +prayers. And God seems so far, so far away! We turn the pages of +our knowledge from the physical to the metaphysical, and we come +no nearer. Our philosophical, our theological, yes, our religious +meditations upon the nature and attributes of the infinite One--the +omniscient, the eternal, the unchangeable--set Him more and more +beyond the reach of our fellowship and prayer. But all the time, +one thing testifies to us of a heavenly Father that hears and loves +and answers, and that is our ineradicable need. The cravings of our +nature cannot be rebuked by scientific observation of the constancy +of law, nor by philosophic meditation of the properties of absolute +and infinite being. We need, we must have, a Father. Our heart and +flesh, our soul, crieth out for the living God. + +In such a strait, there is true comfort in this word of the Lord +by His prophet, in which the full measure of the difficulty is set +forth, and the solution of it is found in faith. + +It has seemed to me that we need not seek in vain in the created +works of God for helps to that faith by which we know that the +infinite and eternal God can have fellowship with us and can dwell +within the narrow precincts of a human heart. + +That sight in visible nature which gives to us the highest sense +of vastness,--the aptest suggestion of infinity,--is doubtless the +aspect of the starry heavens;--to all of us, ignorant or learned, +poetic or unimaginative. It needs no diagrams nor distances from +a book of astronomy to tell the lessons of the firmament. "Their +sound is gone out into all the earth, and their words to the end of +the world." + +And yet it is when we come to study the dimensions of this operation +in detail, that the sense of its vastness grows upon us and +overpowers us. David never could have felt, as we can feel, the +force of his own words: + + 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! + +They are like the chariot of Ezekiel's vision, "so high that it +was dreadful." It seems a fearful thing to have to do with such +magnitudes; and when we hear of scholars in their observatories +measuring the distances among the stars, it overcomes us with a +giddy feeling, as when we see men clambering on church spires, or +crossing the East River on a strand of wire. A row of figures on a +slate does seem such a frail support on which to go marching through +the starry spaces! We almost shudder when we see human science +springing clear of the narrow boundaries of the earth, and on such +attenuated threads of calculation venturing boldly forth to other +planets, and thence over chasms of space so vast that it is easiest +to call them infinite, until he reaches the fixt stars. No longer +content with numbering and naming the host of heaven, and marshaling +them in constellations, this tiny creature must take upon himself +to scrutinize their constitution, must weigh their floating bulk, +must + + "Speed his flight from star to star, + From world to luminous world, as far + As the universe rears his flaming wall," + +and, as if bearing in this amazing flight the measuring-rod which +once the prophet saw in an angel's hand, must measure the paths +along which the planets travel, and tell in human language the +distances on the chart of heaven. + +And how human language staggers under the burden thus laid upon it! +We begin with attempting to state the least of these distances in +numbers of a unit of earthly distance, but, when we speak of some +of our near neighbors in celestial space as being twenty trillions +of English miles away, the words will not hold the meaning--they +carry no conception to the mind. They are good to cipher with, +but that is all they are good for. We try to invent a new form of +speech, and for our unit we take the distance which a cannon-ball, +if retaining the velocity with which it leaves the gun, would travel +in twenty-four hours, and say that, at this rate of speed, it would +take so many months, and years, and centuries, to reach such and +such of the nearer stars. But this, too, is a clumsy failure; and +we resort, at last, to the heavens themselves for a standard of +measurement, and find it in the velocity of light. It shoots from +the sun to the earth, a distance of ninety-two millions of miles, +in eight minutes and seven seconds. And we attempt to represent the +distance of certain of the stars by stating how many years, how many +hundred years, how many thousand years, it takes a ray of their +light to reach the earth. But it is all in vain. We commonly speak +of imagination as outstripping, in its speed, the slow-paced reason; +but here it is the reason that has outrun the imagination. From +these unspeakable tracts of space, over which the reason of man has +not hesitated to go, + + "Sounding along its dim and perilous way," + +the imagination shrinks back and refuses to follow. We know things +which we cannot conceive. In presence of such stupendous magnitudes, + + "Imagination's utmost stretch + In wonder dies away." + +We can only bow with awe in the presence of things which the +calmest computations have revealed, and seizing the words kindled on +the lips of inspiration, sing aloud in worship: + + "O Lord, how great are they works! + In wisdom hast thou made them all!" + +I have shown you what is wonderful. Come now and I will show you +what is more wonderful. For I will show you these infinite spaces +of the sky, and the glory of them, and the innumerable host of +starry worlds, gathered up in a moment of time, within the tiny +pupil of a human eye. It is wonderful that the heavens and the host +of them should be so great; but that, being so great, they should +be able to become so infinitely little,--this passes all wonder. +The shepherd stretched upon the ground amid his sheep gazes up into +the starry depths, and finds them wonderful; but never thinks how +far more wonderful than the heavens which he beholds is himself +beholding them. As he lies gazing, long lines of light, from planet +and star and constellation, come stretching on through the infinite +void spaces, to center on the lenses of his drowsy eye. Side by +side, and all at once, yet never twisted or confused, these ten +thousand rays of different light enter the little aperture in the +center of the eye which we call the pupil. There they cross, in a +point which has no dimensions, and separate again, and paint in +microscopic miniature upon the little surface of the retina, behind +the eyeball, the inverted facsimile of the visible heavens. There, +in the ante-chamber of the brain, marches Orion, with his shining +baldric and his jeweled sword; there glow Arcturus and Sirius, and +the steadfast North Star; there pass the planets to and fro; and +the far-off nebulæ are painted there with suffused and gentle +radiance--all the heavens and the glory of them gathered in that +slender filament of light, threaded through that tiny aperture, +painted by their own rays upon that little patch of nervous network, +apprehended, felt, known through and through by that finite human +mind. How far stranger and sublimer a thing is this than the mere +bulk of the worlds, or the mere chasms of void space in which they +hang weltering! + +By this sublime fact of God's visible creation, we are led on to +apprehend and feel the sublimest of the glories of God Himself, set +forth in the prophet's words,--that He whose lifetime is infinite +duration, whose dwelling-place is infinite space,--He who before +the earth and the world were made was no younger, neither will be +older when they are all consumed,--whose presence reaches out to the +farthest fixt star that eye or telescope has ever described floating +upon the far verge of the universe, and occupies beyond in all the +orbits of worlds yet undiscovered, and still beyond in the regions +of space where is naught but the possibility of future worlds, and +fills all this immensity to repletion,--that this "high and lofty +One that inhabiteth eternity" should enter into some poor, crusht +and broken spirit, that trembles at the very whisper of His voice, +and should make the narrow recesses of that heart His abode, His +home. This is the mystery and glory of the Godhead,--not alone that +He should be infinite, eternal, immortal, invisible, but that being +all these, He should yet be apprehended by the little mind of a man, +and call Himself that man's Friend and Comforter and Father. + +For it is not more evident that the tiny pupil of human eye can take +in the expanses and abysses of the heavens, than it is that the +little soul of man can receive into itself the infinite God. + +I. Man receives God into himself by the intellect. We trifle with +the facts of our own consciousness, if we suffer the theological +description of God as incomprehensible to divert us from the fact +that our minds are made for nothing more expressly than for this, +that they should receive God. The lowest rudiments of the knowledge +of the simplest forms of matter are the beginnings of the knowledge +of God. If we could remember, you and I, now that we are grown, all +that came to us in infancy--the first struggles of the childish mind +with the questions that we are not done with yet, we should see how +soon the knowledge of God comes to the little one. Beyond the cradle +in which it wakes up to the wonders of a new day is the nursery, and +beyond the nursery is the house, and beyond the house is the garden, +and beyond the garden there lies all the world, and beyond the +world shuts down the sky with its stars, and beyond the sky--what? +"Tell me, father--tell me, mother, what is there beyond the sky?" +And, according to your knowledge or your ignorance, your faith or +your unbelief, you may tell the little questioner of heaven, or of +infinities of other worlds, or of infinite waste room and empty +space, and he will believe you. But attempt to tell him that beyond +is nothing, and not even room for anything, and will he believe you? +He may seem to believe you, but it is impossible that he really +should believe. The infant mind--any mind--rejects it as impossible. +It cannot live in anything less than infinite space. It stifles. It +leaps up and beats its wings against any bars with which you would +cage it in, but that it will break through and take possession of +its inheritance. + +And as with infinite extent, so with infinite duration. How well I +remember, as a very little child, when men were talking of the end +of the world, and the great comet stretched amain across the sky, +and men's hearts were failing them for fear, how the thought of +infinite duration prest in, inexorably, on my soul! Come judgment +day, come final conflagration, come end of all material things, come +cessation and extinction of all angels, all souls, all sentient +creatures, still this could not be the end. Eternity must needs go +on and on, tho there were never an event or thought to mark its +movement. There cannot be an end. + +They err, not measuring the import of their own arguments, who +tell us, in that pride of not-knowing which is so high uplifted +beyond any pride of knowledge, that the very form of the word +infinite marks it as the sign of a thing inconceivable, being a mere +negation. Nay, verily, it is the word end, limit, cessation, that +is the negative word, having no meaning except as the negation of +continuance; and infinite is the negation of this negation--a thing +positive, affirmative, real. + +So, then, it is not the idea of infinity to which the human mind is +unfitted. The mind is so made that it cannot help receiving that. +The incredible, inconceivable idea is the idea of absolute end. So +far is the idea of infinity from being inconceivable, that it is +just impossible to thrust the conception out of the mind. And with +the conception of eternity, there rushes into the thoughtful spirit +at once, the awful and lovely conception of "that high and lofty +One who inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy." By such a wonder +of creation is it, that He who made the little ball of the human +eye so that it can take in the heavens and the earth, has made the +petty intellect of man so that it can take in the knowledge of the +infinite God. + +II. But, secondly, it is even a greater wonder than this, that the +infinite God, whom the intellect has conceived, draws near for a +more intimate society with His creature, and enters the heart +of man through the gateway of his affections. I say a greater +wonder; for it must be confest that this ideal of the intellect, +this center in which all infinite attributes inhere, does by +His very majesty so overawe the heart that we shrink away from +Him. By every new perfection of His nature, that grows upon our +apprehension; by His awful power as the Almighty; by His perfect +knowledge as the All-wise; by His unswerving steadfastness as the +Faithful and True--the Immutable; by the very infinitude of His +nature, He is withdrawn farther and farther from the possibility +of being counted among those humble objects on which the tendrils +of a human heart are able to lay hold. How, for instance, shall +this Inhabitant of eternity, whose name is Holy, be well-pleased +with His petty creature who has dared withstand His perfect law, +and looks shrinking toward the throne of infinite Majesty, fearing +and crying, "Unclean! unclean!" How shall any prayer that we can +frame bring arguments to bear upon the Mind that knows the end +from the beginning, and to whom there is not a word upon our lips, +but lo! He knoweth it altogether? How can any pitiful plight into +which we may fall move the compassion of Him who is immutable, and +under whose benign government even the pains and severities that +befall His creatures are wrought into a plan of common beneficence +to the whole? These are questions which the awe-struck intellect, +gazing upward at the infinite attributes that adorn the name which +is holy, puts to the yearning heart, which, with all the craving +of its love, with all the outstretching of its need, gropes after +a God to worship, to love, to pray to, if haply it may find Him. +And the heart cannot answer back the intellect with arguments of +language. But love contains more reason than many arguments; and the +strong instincts of affection and devotion with which the humble and +contrite heart reaches out after the love and personal friendship +of an infinite Creator are themselves an argument that God will not +refuse Himself to the affections which He has Himself implanted. The +hunger and thirst of our hearts for God are a promise from Him that +they shall be filled. He cannot deny Himself. + +The very arguments by which we climb to the knowledge of the +infinite Spirit are like mountains that separate us from any +relation with him of childlike prayer and mutual love. But a +trustful confidence can say to these mountains, "Be ye removed and +be ye cast into the sea," and it shall be done. + +Have you ever pondered that dark mystery of human nature, the origin +of the frightful idolatries of India? It seems to be proved that +they had their beginning, not (as the prepossessions of modern +science would suggest) through development from some form of +fetishism baser and coarser still, but by degradation from the most +refined and abstract speculations on the infinity, the spirituality, +and the immutability of God. No subtler metaphysics is taught to-day +in the lecture-rooms of Yale and Princeton than was taught long +centuries ago by Hindoo sages, enthroning their supreme divinity in +the everlasting, impassive repose of the unconditioned, far beyond +the reach of affection, sympathy or prayer, until the needy millions +cried out, stifling, famishing, "Give us a God to love, to worship, +to pray to!" and, for lack of answer, betook them to the forest or +the quarry or the mine, to the carver and the smith, and made them +gods that were no gods. So little can argument and reason hold us +back in times when the stress of life comes down upon us, and the +cravings of the soul grow strong! + +I am bringing to the altar of God my offering--my poor little +offering of thankfulness and prayer. Here have I my little bundle +of anxieties, cares, troubles,--it may be the concerns of a nation +in fear and perplexity; it may be the distress and terror of +some sorely afflicted little household; it may be the secret of +bitterness of some humble and contrite spirit; in any case, a matter +how infinitely small when measured by the scale of immensity and +eternity; but oh, how great a thing to me! And there meets me, in +the way, a philosopher. "And what, forsooth, have you there? Show +it me, now." And I unroll before Him my little bundle of griefs, +of cares, of pains, of sickness, of fears, of forebodings,--here +a handful of myrrh from a troubled heart, and there a sprig of +frankincense from a grateful spirit. "And this, then, is what you +would bring to lay before the infinite, the eternal, the omniscient, +the unchangeable God!" And each great title smites upon my heart +with discouragement and dismay. "This is what you would bring to +Him in prayer and deprecation! But do you not know that all this +is a part of a perfect system?--that it is all fixt by the laws of +nature, which no prayer can change or suspend without upsetting the +constitution of the universe. You would lay before God your wretched +plight to move His pity? Tush! Did He not know it all a hundred +thousand ages ago, or ever the earth was?" And I cannot gainsay Him, +and I cannot cease to pray. But by and by the philosopher himself +comes face to face with some of the overwhelming things in human +life and human death. He hangs with tears and wringing of hands over +some cradleful of childish anguish, and shrinks from what the laws +of nature, the system of the universe, are doing there--so pitiless, +so deaf to prayer, so blind to agony; and he looks away, and looks +up, and cries, "My God, my God!" And his reason is not one whit +the less true, because now, at last, his love and faith are also +true and strong. The awful wonder of God's unchangeable infinity +abides; but out of cloud and darkness breaks forth, oh, what light +of fatherly love! And the bewildered soul sings:-- + + And can this mighty King + Of glory condescend? + And will He write His name + My Father, and my Friend? + I love His name! I love His word! + Join all my powers and praise the Lord! + +And now behold a mystery--the mystery of godliness, without +controversy great, manifest in the flesh! That He may come over +these mountains of helpless separation, that we may be helped to +know, to love, to trust that which is far too vast for the reach +of our clinging affections to clasp, what wonders of condescending +tenderness will not our Father do! There draweth near to us One +having the likeness of man, but glorious with an unearthly glory, +as of the only-begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. He +stands beside us in our daily cares, our household joys and griefs, +our business troubles and anxieties, our national fears and sorrows. +He shares our temptations. He is touched with the feeling of our +infirmities. He carries our sorrows. He bears our sickness. He dies +our death. How easy to love Him, to come near to Him, to trust Him! +Being lifted up, how doth He draw all men unto Him! And what mean +those wonderful words of His, telling of His intimacy, His sonship, +His oneness with the invisible and eternal God? Could it be, +perhaps, that such an one might bring us nearer to the inaccessible +Light--might help us to draw nigh as seeing Him who is invisible? +Oh, Master, show us the Father and it sufficeth us! And hear now +His gracious words: "He that believeth on me believeth on him that +sent me." "He that hath seen me hath seen the Father also." Thus the +high and lofty One, who hath wonderfully entered into our narrow +understanding, cometh also into our heart, and draweth us to His own +bosom "with the chords of love, with the bands of a man." + +III. Finally, with a true spiritual intercourse and converse, which +no man can define, which is as the viewless wind that men know altho +they see it not, and feel its quickening and refreshment, altho they +cannot tell whence it cometh nor whither it goeth, God entereth into +our spirits, "not to sojourn, but to abide with us," and we become +the temples of the Holy Ghost. + + + + +JOSEPH PARKER + +A WORD TO THE WEARY + + + + +BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE + + +JOSEPH PARKER was born at Hexham-on-Tyne, England, in 1830. He +was a prodigious worker, writer, and preacher. His "The People's +Bible," in twenty-eight large volumes, a popular commentary on +the Scriptures, is his greatest work. To a naturally energetic +personality he added great originality and resourcefulness. He +gave much time to the preparation of sermons, reading them aloud +as he wrote in order to test their effect upon the ear. A strong +personal quality pervaded all his preaching. "If I have not seen Him +myself," he said, "I cannot preach Him." In lectures to students he +gave much valuable advice gathered from the storehouse of his own +varied experience. He gave particular attention to the use of the +voice. "It is not enough," he said, "that you be heard; you must be +effective as well as audible; you must lighten and thunder with the +voice; it must rise and fall like a storm at times; now a whisper, +now a trumpet, now the sound of many waters. There is an orator's +voice, and there is a bellman's. The auctioneer talks; the orator +speaks." Dr. Parker's sermons are published in numerous volumes. He +died in 1902. + + + + +JOSEPH PARKER + +1830-1902 + +A WORD TO THE WEARY[7] + + [7] From "The People's Bible," by Joseph Parker, published by Funk & + Wagnalls Company. + +_The Lord God hath given me the tongue of the learned, that I should +know how to speak a word in season to him that is weary._--Isaiah +1., 4. + + +The power of speaking to the weary is nothing less than a divine +gift. As we see the divinity in our gifts shall we be careful of +them, thankful for them: every gift seems to enshrine the giver, +God. But how extraordinary that this power of speaking to the weary +should not be taught in the schools. It is not within the ability +of man to teach other men how to speak to the weary-hearted, the +wounded in spirit, the sore in the innermost feelings of the being. +But can we lay down directions about this and offer suggestions? +Probably so, but we do not touch the core of the matter. There is an +infinite difference between the scholar and the genius. The scholar +is made, the genius is inspired. Information can be imparted, but +the true sense, the sense that feels and sees God, is a gift direct +from heaven. + +It is a common notion that anybody can sing. Why can you sing? Why, +because I have been taught. That is your mistake. You can sing +mechanically, exactly, properly, with right time, right tune, but +really and truly you can not sing. Here is a man with his music and +with the words; he sings every note, pronounces every word, goes +through his lesson, finishes his task, and nobody wants to hear him +any more. Another man takes up the same music, the same words, and +the same hearers exclaim, "Oh, that he would go on for ever!" How +is that?--the words exactly the same, the notes identical--how? +Soul, fire, ever-burning, never consuming, making a bush like a +planet. The great difficulty in all such cases is the difficulty +of transferring to paper a proper or adequate conception of the +power of the men who thus sway the human heart. There are some men +whose biographies simply belie them, and yet every sentence in the +biography is true in the letter; but the biography is little else +than a travesty and a caricature, because the power was personal, +it was in the face, in the voice, in the presence, in the gait, in +the touch--an incommunicable power; the hem of the garment trembled +under it, but no biographer could catch it in his scholarly ink. + +Very few ministers can enter a sick chamber with any probability +of doing real and lasting good. They can read the Bible, and they +can pray, and yet, when they have gone, the room seems as if they +had never been there. There is no sense of emptiness or desolation. +Other men, probably not so much gifted in some other directions, +will enter the sick room, and there will be a light upon the wall, +summer will gleam upon the windowpane, and angels will rustle in the +air, and it will be a scene of gladness and a vision of triumph. How +is that? The Lord God hath given me the tongue of the learned that +I might know how--_how_ to speak a word in season to him that is +weary. The Lord God hath not only given me a word to say, but hath +given me learning to teach me how to speak it. Place the emphasis +upon the how, and then you develop all the mystery, all the tender +music, all the infinite capacity of manner. + +We may say the right word in the wrong tone; we may preach the +gospel as if it were a curse. The common notion is that anybody can +go into the Sunday-school and teach the young. We sometimes think +that it would be well if a great many persons left the Sunday-school +all over the world. Teach the young--would God I had that great +gift, to break the bread for the children, and to be able to lure +and captivate opening minds, and to enter into the spirit of the +words-- + + "Delightful task! to rear the tender thought, + To teach the young idea how to shoot." + +It requires to be father and mother and sister and nurse and +genius to speak to the young. They may hear you and not care for +you: they may understand your words, and be repelled by your spirit. +You require the tongue of the learned to know how to speak, and +that tongue of the learned is not to be had at school, college, +university--it is not included in any curriculum of learning--it is +a gift divine, breathing an afflatus, an inspiration--the direct +and distinct creation of God, as is the star, the sun. The speaker, +then, is Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the representative of the +Father, the incarnate Deity--He it is who is charged with the subtle +learning; He it is whose lips tremble with the pathos of this +ineffable music. + +Tho the gift itself is divine, we must remember that it is to be +exercised seasonably. The text is, "that I should know how to speak +a word in season." There is a time for everything. It is not enough +to speak the right word, it must be spoken at the right moment. Who +can know when that is! We can not be taught. We must feel it, see +it hours beyond: nay, must know when to be silent for the whole +twenty-four hours and to say, "To-morrow, at such and such a time, +we will drop that sentence upon the listening ear." "The day after +to-morrow, he will probably be in circumstances to admit of this +communication being delivered with sympathy and effect." How few +persons know the right time--the right time in conversation. Some +people are never heard in conversation tho they are talking all +the time. They talk so unseasonably, they talk when other people +are talking; they can not wait; they do not know how to come in +along the fine line of silence: they do not understand the German +expression "Now an angel has passed," and they do not quickly enough +follow in his wake. Consequently, tho chattering much they are +saying nothing--tho their words be multitudinous, the impression +they make is a blank. + +I have a ripe seed in my hand. As an agriculturist I am going to sow +it. Any laborer in the field can tell me that I should be acting +foolishly in sowing it just now. Why? "It is out of season," the man +says. "There is a time for the doing of that action: I will tell you +when the time returns--do it then, and you may expect a profitable +result of your labor." + +Then I will change the character and be a nurse, and I will attend +to my patient (perhaps I will over attend to him--some patients +are killed by over nursing), and I will give the patient this +medicine--it is the right medicine. So it is, but you are going +to give it at the wrong time, and if you give the medicine at the +wrong time, tho itself be right, the hour being wrong you will bring +suffering upon the patient, and you yourself will be involved in +pains and penalties. Thus we touch that very subtle and sensitive +line in human life, the line of refined discrimination. You may +say "I am sure I told him." You are right--you did tell him and +he did not hear you. You may reply, "I am perfectly confident I +delivered the message,--I preached the exact words of the gospel." +So you did, but you never got the hearing heart, your manner was so +unsympathetic, so ungentle, so cruel (not meant to be--unconsciously +so), that the man never understood it to be a gospel. You spoilt the +music in the delivery, in the giving of the message. The Lord God +giveth the tongue of the learned, that he to whom it is given may +know how to speak--how to speak the right word--how to speak the +right word at the right point of time. You want divine teaching in +all things, in speech not least. + +This is a curious word to find in the Bible. Does the Bible care +about weary people? We have next to no sympathy with them. If a man +be weary, we give him notice to quit: if he ask us to what place +he can retire, we tell him that it is his business not ours. Now +the tenderness of this Book is one of the most telling, convincing +arguments on behalf of its inspiration, and its divine authority. +This Book means to help us, wants to help us, it says, "I will try +to help you, never hinder you: I will wait for you, I will soften +the wind into a whisper, I will order the thunder to be silent, +I will quiet the raging sea; I will wait upon you at home, in +solitude, at midnight, anywhere--fix the place, the time, yourself, +and when your heart most needs me I will be most to your heart." +Any book found in den, in gutter, that wants to do this, should be +received with respect. The purpose is good: if it fail, it fails in +a noble object. + +Everywhere in this Book of God we find a supreme wish to help man. +When we most need help the words are sweeter than the honeycomb. +When other books are dumb, this Book speaks most sweetly. It is +like a star, it shines in the darkness, it waits the going down of +the superficial sun of our transient prosperity, and then it breaks +upon us as the shadows thicken. This is the real greatness of God: +he will not break the bruised reed. Because the reed is bruised, +therefore the rude man says he may break it. His argument in brief +is this: "If the reed were strong, I should not touch it, but +seeing that it is bruised what harm can there be in completing the +wound under which it is already suffering? I will even snap it and +throw the sundered parts away." That is the reasoning of the rude +man--that is the vulgar view of the case. The idea of the healing +is the idea of a creator. He who creates also heals. Herein we see +God's estimate of human nature: if He cared only for the great, the +splendid, the magnificent, the robust, and the everlasting, then +He would indeed be too like ourselves. The greatness of God and the +estimate which He places upon human nature are most seen in all +these ministrations in reference to the weak and the weary and the +young and the feeble and the sad. Made originally in the image of +God, man is dear to his Maker, tho ever so broken. Oh, poor prodigal +soul with the divinity nearly broken out of thee, smashed, bleeding, +crushed, all but in hell--while there is a shadow of thee outside +perdition, He would heal thee and save thee. Thou art a ruin, but +a grand one,--the majestic ruin of a majestic edifice, for knowest +thou not that thou wast the temple of God? + +When we are weary, even in weariness, God sees the possibility of +greatness that may yet take place and be developed and supervene in +immortality. How do we talk? Thus: "The survival of the fittest." It +is amazing with what patience and magnanimity and majestic disregard +of circumstances we allow people to die off. When we hear that +thousands have perished, we write this epitaph on their white slate +tombstones: "The survival of the fittest required the decay of the +weakest and the poorest." We pick off the fruit which we think will +not come to perfection. The gardener lays his finger and thumb upon +the tree, and he says, "This will not come to much"--he wrenches +the poor unpromising piece of fruit off the twig and throws it down +as useless. In our march we leave the sick and wounded behind. +That is the great little, the majestic insignificant, the human +contradiction. We go in for things that are fittest, strongest, +most promising, healthy, self-complete, and therein we think we are +wise. God says, "Not a lamb must be left out--bring it up: not a +sick man must be omitted: not a poor publican sobbing his 'God be +merciful to me a sinner' must be omitted from the great host. Bring +them all in, sick, weary, wounded, feeble, young, illiterate, poor, +insignificant, without name, fame, station, force--all in: gather up +the fragments that nothing be lost." Let us go to that Shepherd--He +will spare us and love us. When our poor strength gives out, He will +not set His cruel heel upon us and kill us, He will gather us in +His arms and make the whole flock stand still till He has saved the +weakest one. + +Did we but know the name for our pain we should call it Sin. What +do we need, then, but Christ the Son of God, the Heart of God, the +Love of God? He will in very deed give us rest. He will not add to +the great weight which bows down our poor strength. He will give us +grace, and in His power all our faintness shall be thought of no +more. Some of us know how dark it is when the full shadow of our sin +falls upon our life, and how all the help of earth and time and man +does but mock the pain it can not reach. Let no man say that Christ +will not go so low down as to find one so base and vile as he. +Christ is calling for thee; I heard His sweet voice lift itself up +in the wild wind and ask whither thou hadst fled, that He might save +thee from death and bring thee home. There is no wrath in His face +or voice, no sword is swung by His hand as if in cruel joy, saying, +"Now at last I have My chance with you." His eyes gleam with love: +His voice melts in pity: His words are gospels, every one. Let Him +but see thee sad for sin, full of grief because of the wrong thou +hast done, and He will raise thee out of the deep pit and set thy +feet upon the rock. + + + + +McKENZIE + +THE ROYAL BOUNTY + + + + +BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE + + +ALEXANDER MCKENZIE was born at New Bedford, Mass., in 1830, and +graduated from Harvard in 1859. Since 1867 he has been pastor of +the First Congregational Church, Cambridge, Mass. His voice is +rich, full and sympathetic, and his pulpit style that of one man +talking earnestly and directly to another, there being no attempt +at oratorical effect. He is to-day probably the most acceptable +preacher at Harvard, and the leading Congregational minister in New +England. The discourse reprinted here is from his volume "A Door +Opened," and has been noted as one of the greatest sermons of the +century. + + + + +McKENZIE + +BORN IN 1830 + +THE ROYAL BOUNTY[8] + + [8] Reprinted by permission of Dr. Alexander McKenzie and the + publishers, Houghton, Mifflin Co. + +_And King Solomon gave to the Queen of Sheba all her desire, +whatsoever she asked, besides that which Solomon gave her of his +royal bounty. So she turned and went to her own land, she and her +servants._--1 Kings x., 13. + + +The Queen of Sheba came from the uttermost part of the earth to hear +the wisdom of Solomon. She was amazed at all that she had heard, +and delighted with all that she saw, and confest that after the +generous rumors that had reached her in her distant home the half +had not been told her. She brought her present to him, as was the +custom of the times; and when she went away she asked a gift of +him, and history says that the king gave her all that she desired; +and that, having given her everything of which she had thought, +he added something more of his own thought. He gave her this, not +because she had desired it, but because he had desired it; not for +her heart's seeking, but out of his heart's wishing to bestow. This +is the simple record: "And King Solomon gave to the Queen of Sheba +all her desire, whatsoever she asked, besides that which Solomon +gave her of his royal bounty." These last words describe the added +gift, and this was doubtless the best of all; that upon which she +would think with the greatest pleasure, and of which she would speak +with the greatest pride. The word "royal" is well chosen, for we +think of something which is great when we apply this term to it, as +we speak of a royal deed, royal magnificence, royal benevolence, +royal bounty. We readily approve the action of the king, for it is +this excess of giving, beyond that which is demanded of us, which +makes the real generosity. We are in the habit ourselves, so far +as we are generous at all, of reaching beyond the real necessities +and requests of our friends, and giving out of the largeness of +our hearts. It is this excess which commands the high price. It is +the added, extraordinary beauty of a painting which enhances its +worth. Some pictures are sold by the square yard, and some by the +inch. It is that which genius adds which is the royal bounty. It +marks the difference between genius and talent. To be what we must, +and to do what we must, is narrow and uninteresting. The man who +is just, and no more, wins our praise for his integrity, but not +our regard for his liberality. There are some men who would on no +account have their measures in the slightest degree too small, but +would be quite as careful not to have them too large. There is no +reason why justice should not be combined with charity, and a strict +regard for the legal demands which are made upon us with the excess +out of a free heart which will make our justice beautiful. I saw in +a fine country town a tall, graceful tree which cast its pleasant +shade upon the path, and I marked that men had fastened upon it an +iron frame which held a lamp that gave out its light upon the path. +The tree was not the less a tree that it added the light, and the +lamp was not less a lamp because it belonged to the tree. I came +afterward and found that the bark of the tree had grown up around +the iron where it was fastened to it, till the frame and lamp were +fairly incorporated in the tree itself. It is easy thus to enlarge +our life, adding beauty to strength, giving what our heart desires +to give to that which Sheba asks at our hands. This thought is +strongly expressed by St. Paul, "Scarcely for a righteous man," the +man who does exactly what he ought to do, and nothing more, "will +one die." Yet peradventure, for a good man, who does all he ought +to do, and adds something because he wants to do it, some would +even give their life. This man appeals to our heart which is ready +to respond. The best things are indeed only to be given in this +way. They can not be bought. They can not be had for the asking; +such things as confidence, and friendship, and courtesy, which no +statute can demand, but which the royal heart delights to give; and +there is a like royalty which is able to receive and prize the gift. + +This is God's way, to whom all life is but the expression of his +heart. We rejoice continually in his bountiful goodness. What is the +need of flowers? He could have made a strong and honest earth which +would take in the seed and give it out in harvest, and thus we could +live; but when He had made the earth substantial, useful as it is, +He added flowers, because He wished to give them, was delighted to +look upon them, and knew how happy we should be who saw them blossom +by the roadside. There is no need of birds. The world would go its +way, the seasons would follow one another, the sun would rise and +set, the forest trees would reach up toward the clouds, without +them. God made all this, and then filled the quiet woods with forms +of beauty, and changed silence into songs. Even heaven itself has +more than we should have looked for or asked for. We might have +had a good delightful heaven, without pain or sorrow or sighing, +without death, and such a heaven we have. But in the vision of the +Apocalypse, which only dimly sees the heavenly reality, its streets +are covered with gold, as it were transparent glass; its gates are +pearl, and the strong walls, which can not be moved, glisten with +jewels. So it might have been with the arrangement of this world. We +might have had men to care for us, women to nurture us, fathers to +work for us, a society whose process might move on with industry and +safety from year to year. But God has added the richer delights of +love and sympathy, of all that we name friend and friendship. It is +in the same way that He frames His ordinances for us. We could have +had all days alike, but when He had made six good days He added a +seventh which should be wearied by no work, wherein the soul should +be at leisure to live with itself in quietness, and worship God. He +might have supplied all our wants in the course of nature, bringing +His gifts to our door with regularity, and we should have lived our +appointed time; but He does more than this. He lets us thank Him +when we take our daily bread, and blesses the bread with the love +which gives it. He even lets us tell Him what we wish, and to our +wishes He gives patient heed. He might have left us to conscience +and experience, in the light of nature to frame our character and +our hope, but to these He has added the thought of other men, the +revelation of His wisdom by His saints, the gift of His spirit to +our spirit, to be in us a continual light. + +There is a very good expression of God's way of dealing with us +in a line of the twenty-third Psalm, "My cup runneth over." This +seems unnecessary. To have the cup full, or a little less than full, +is enough for us, and more convenient. For us, but not for God, +who delights in filling it; and when we bid Him stay His hand, He +keeps on pouring, and the water flows, till, presently, the cup is +overflowing, but not because we thought to have it so, but because +of His great delight in giving; until it would seem as if He could +not stop, or content Himself with that which He has already bestowed +upon us. Let this stand as a simple expression of His way with us. + +When we come upon anything that all good men approve, we may be very +certain that we have found something which God Himself approves, +and which is the method of His life. We like, among ourselves, this +principle of the cup that runneth over. Our liking for it we have +inherited from God. We might expect, therefore, that when the Son of +God has His life in the world He will live by this rule, which is of +heaven and of earth; and it is even so. His first miracle would seem +unnecessary. There have been people who blindly but honestly wished +that He had never wrought it. Why did He do it if there was no need +of it, if it were even possible that it should be wrested from its +meaning? He had gone as a guest to a wedding, perhaps because the +bride was his friend, and there came that grave calamity which would +mar the feast; for presently it was whispered to Him, "They have +no wine." Surely they could have a wedding without wine. Not that +wedding. Not in the custom of that time. He knew that the bride, +if she lived to be old, would never recover from the shame of her +wedding-day, whose beauty was lost. Here was a necessity, in love, +in kindness; and that the cheeks of this girl might not redden with +shame, He reddened the water into wine. + +He was at Capernaum. They brought to Him a sick man with the palsy. +They broke up the roof, and lowered him to the feet of Jesus, who +knew well what they wanted. He passed over the little thing which +they sought, and, governed by His own feeling, not by theirs, he +said, "Son, be of good cheer; thy sins are sent away from thee." +That was enough. In a few days, the man would be able to walk +without His help. Death comes to the succor of cripples. The man +gave no sign of discontent, but Jesus found that the friends were +unsatisfied, and He thought within Himself, "You brought him here +that he might be raised up, and be made able to carry his bed home. +I have done a greater thing for him, but I will add this which +you want." "Arise," He said, "take up your bed and go your way." +He did the greater work which made the soul strong, and for the +lesser work,--well, He threw that in. It was the royal bounty. +There was a time later than that, after His resurrection, when some +of His disciples had toiled all the night upon the sea, and had +taken nothing. He could not have it a fruitless night for them. In +the morning He was their risen Savior, who might well bestow some +spiritual gift becoming to the resurrection. This He did, but He +said, "Cast your net on the right side of the ship, and you will +find what you have been seeking." They cast it, therefore, and drew +it in, full of fishes, a hundred and fifty and three. This is the +record of a fisherman, who wrote that the fish were large; and of an +old man, who remembered the number of them. They drew their net to +shore, and there was a fire of coals, and fish laid thereon, another +fish. When they had enough, one that was better than all was added. +Have you not sometimes wished that you could have had that hundred +and fifty-fourth fish? This was Christ's way all the while, and is +His way still. He fills the net as full as it will hold, that our +life may be sustained, and then He adds more, that His love may be +gratified, and that which He adds is the "royal bounty." + +The work of our Lord was not merely in meeting the wants of men, but +in creating the wants; not in gratifying their great desires, but in +making their desires great. His own work in the world was twofold: +to teach men how much more there was which they could enjoy, and how +much more there was which He was eager to impart. The greater the +desire, the surer it was that it would be met by His desire. Indeed, +a large desire is necessary to wealth. We must look out toward that +wherein our riches lie. "He who would bring home the wealth of the +Indies must send out the wealth of the Indies." To him whose desires +are allowed liberty there comes the answer of fulfillment from "the +unsearchable riches of Christ." In all His life and in all His +teachings we see vastly more than men ever asked, much more than +they are willing to take even to-day. It has often been, as it was +at the first, that "he came unto his own, and his own received him +not"; but to those who received Him He gave all they wished, and +more than they had thought; He gave the right to become the sons of +God. They would have been content with a greater prophet, a bolder +leader, a stronger king, a Messiah who should enthrone Israel and +bring the nations in homage to its feet. He came bringing God to the +world, giving an eternal liberty, erecting an everlasting kingdom. +They wanted manna; He gave the bread of life. They wanted wells of +water; He gave the well that should be within them, springing up +for evermore. They wanted a leader; He gave a Savior. They wanted +man; and He was God. This has continued even to our time. Many +admire Christ because He was a teacher, neglecting that wherein He +was infinitely more than teacher. They are glad of an example; He +was that, but, far beyond it, He was the life whereby righteousness +became possible. There are those who would be content with His +beautiful spirit, His blameless life, His deeds of charity, His +patience, His submission, His consent to a death which He could not +avoid. He offers to the world the spirit of the Eternal, the life of +God to be lived upon the earth; He lays down the life which no man +could take from Him; and, with all the roads leading from Jerusalem +open before Him, walks with determined step to Calvary and the +cross. Beyond that which has contented many in the world, He gave +Himself, the world's Redeemer, the Lamb of God, the Good Shepherd +giving His life for the sheep. + +It is very, very sad to mark how ready we are to measure Christ's +gifts to us by our narrow wants and limited desires; not by the +greatness of His love, not by His exhaustless riches, not by the +fulness of the grace of the Eternal, who is the Father and friend of +all men. If ever we shall pass beyond the gratifying of ourselves, +and allow Christ to gratify Himself in blessing us, we shall find +in a glad experience what the simple words mean, "I am come that +they might have life"--oh, friends, do not stop there, finish the +sentence,--"I am come that they might have life, and that they might +have it more abundantly." We ask life of Him, and He gives us life, +and offers length of days forever and forever. We pray that we may +live; and we set up a goal at seventy or ninety years, when He draws +no line across our path. "I give eternal life," He says. We pray for +help that we may live; He offers more than that in the unrivaled +sentence, "Because I live, ye shall live also." We think of life as +being, and are content. We use existence as a synonym of living, but +He said, "This is eternal life, to know God, and me." + +So for ourselves; we are to live as His disciples. We wish to be +true, useful, and generous. We wish to do in small measure such +things as He did,--in His name to give the cup of water, and the +healing of the sick. He grants all that we desire, then speaks out +of His own heart, and His desire, "The works that I do shall ye do, +and greater works than these"; for the miracles which attract us or +baffle us, which draw us to His love, or possibly turn us from His +word, which are only miracles because they are strange to us, are to +be exceeded in the things which we do, when by our teaching we open +the eyes of men that they may see God, and lift them up to the ways +of holy living, and raise them from being into life. Our visions of +heaven in our reverent imagination, even in the exultant words of +the Revelation, are not equal to the simple truths which He taught, +and men learned to repeat after Him. For what are golden streets +and jeweled walls beside that which He meant, "In my Father's house +are many mansions." "I go to prepare a place for you." "Ye shall +behold my glory." "Ye shall be loved as I am loved." The thought of +Christ far outruns the aspiration of the world, as it comes to us +from the lips of that disciple whom Jesus loved, "We shall be like +him, for we shall see him even as he is." + +What do we need, then? To enlarge our desires! Yes, but to consent +to God's desires. To wish for more, but to consent to be blest as +Christ longs to bless us. We must know the methods of God, whose +will to give is greater and more constant than our will to receive. +We must adjust our life to God's desire. Faith is the compact of the +soul with God, rather than with itself. "Open thy mouth wide, and I +will fill it," is a promise ever old and ever new. We must be firm +enough and aspiring enough to hold the cup after it has begun to +overflow, and to let God's hand pour the water of life as long as He +will, for this world and all the worlds that are to be. If we could +desire more, if we could ascend to God's desire for us, life would +be transfigured. + + "The balsam, the wine, of predestinate wills + Is a jubilant longing and pining for God." + + "God loves to be longed for, He loves to be sought, + For He sought us Himself, with such longing and love." + +We wish now to take this method for our own in all our dealing +with God. Our sense of what is right, the voice of conscience, the +commands of Scripture, call us to our duty. Let us do what they +require till conscience is satisfied; but let us add to this more +than a rigid obedience asks for, all that a loving heart, grateful +and generous, wishes to bestow. The little questions of life, small +matters of casuistry, minute affairs of conduct, would be quite +readily determined if we would live by this rule, wherewith God +blesses us. That question which with unusual urgency now presses +upon us, how we shall regard the Sabbath day, would not be difficult +if it were our delight to remember it, and to keep it holy because +it is our delight to please Him who has given to us its sacredness +and blessedness. It is pitiful when we find ourselves questioning +how much of the day should be holy; how much of it should be given +to the thought of God and the divine life; how much of it we should +yield to the holy spirit of truth; how many of the hours we should +keep in the remembrance of Him whose resurrection gives to the +Sabbath its greater meaning. We should keep the Sabbath holy as if +we desired to keep it holy. All its hours should be sacred. They +need not be less joyous, less friendly, for being holy; and we can +not be gratified with the spirit in which we find ourselves trying +to divide the time. Keep twenty-four hours for God, and if by any +means you can make the time overflow add a twenty-fifth hour. + +We question again about money. What proportion of our property +should we devote to God? The Jews said one-tenth. Can we do no +better, after so long a time? Let us give the whole, and if by any +means we can compass it, let us add another tenth, simply to show +what a delight it is to give all things to Him, and to let Him make +the allotment in His care for us, and for our household, and for the +Church, and for the wide world that we are living in. There are many +who do this, and they learn how true is that word of Christ that is +called to mind among the Acts of the Apostles, "It is more blessed +to give than to receive." + +Thus, in all things let us make the way of God our own, become His +children entirely, receive the love of Christ in its fulness, make +up our own life in His name, according to the largeness of His +thought. If we will consent to it, we can be great and rich and +strong. It seems strange to say that we are not ready to be blest, +but of many it is true. They are not willing to be greatly blest, to +have the cup run over. They are willing to be useful, but not very +useful. They ask to be set in His service, but when He takes their +word and breathes His own desire into it, they shrink back. It is a +very serious thing, if we are able to perceive it, to consent that +God should bless us as He pleases, should have His own estimate of +our character, His own measure of our powers, His own vision of our +accomplishment, and should call us to greater service, to diviner +employment, than we have ever dreamed of. It was a wise woman who +said, "I have had to face my own prayers." We face our prayers when +God gives His own wish to our words, and makes them large enough +to hold His thoughts. It is one of the hardest things to believe, +but one to which, in humbleness of mind and in a faith which will +not falter, we should consent,--that high word of calling and +consecration which Christ gave more than once,--"As the Father hath +sent me into the world, even so send I you." Not our thought but His +thought makes our calling, and the thought of God is the summons and +the guidance of our life. Even so, even according to Thy greatness, +and Thy gentleness which makes men great; Thine infinite purposes, +and Thine eternal grace; even so, O Lord of mercy and of truth, send +us into the world! + +As we close these thoughts, let us remember that promise which comes +at the close of the Old Testament, which almost seems to reverse +the promise at the beginning of the Old Testament, "I will never +open the windows of heaven and pour out a flood again"; for the last +of the prophets brings to us the word of God, that He will open +the windows of heaven, and pour out a flood again. It shall not +come to destroy, but to preserve; it shall create life; it shall +enlarge life, but it shall be after the measure of His will, not +ours. "Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, and prove me now +herewith, if I will not open the windows of heaven, and pour out a +blessing that there shall not be room enough to receive it." Not +drops here and there, but showers of blessing. Not running brooks, +but broad rivers. Not pools of water, but a shoreless sea; deep, +deep waters, when, looking up into the infinite Love, and consenting +to be blest of God as God would bless us, we bring all the tithes +into the storehouse and the remainder of the tithes, if any have +been left. "I will pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be +room enough to receive it." Not room enough to receive it; that is +the royal bounty. + + + + +FARRAR + +WORK IN THE GROANING CREATION + + + + +BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE + + +FREDERICK WILLIAM FARRAR was born in Bombay, India, in 1831. He +was educated at King's College, London, and at Trinity College, +Cambridge. He became dean of Canterbury in 1895, and died in 1903. +His Life of Christ, the most widely read of his many religious +works, has been translated into many languages--even into Japanese. +The following illustrates his power of emphasis. + +"There, amid those voluptuous splendors, Pilate, already interested, +already feeling in this prisoner before him some nobleness which +touched his Roman nature, asking Him in pitying wonder, 'Art thou +the King of the Jews?'--Thou poor, worn, tear-stained outcast, in +this hour of Thy bitter need--O pale, lonely, friendless, wasted +man, in Thy poor peasant garments, with Thy tied hands and the +foul traces of the insults of Thine enemies on Thy face and on +Thy robes--Thou, so unlike the fierce, magnificent Herod, whom +this multitude which thirsts for Thy blood acknowledged as their +sovereign--art Thou the King of the Jews?" + + + + +FARRAR + +1831-1903 + +WORK IN THE GROANING CREATION[9] + + [9] Reprinted by permission of Messrs. E. P. Dutton & Co. + +_And God saw everything that he had made, and behold it was very +good._--Gen. i., 31. + +_For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain +together until now._--Rom. viii., 22. + +_And there shall be no more curse._--Rev. xxii., 3. + + +In those three texts you have the past, the present, the future of +our earth; what was, what is, what shall be; the perfectness which +man has marred, the punishment which he is enduring, the hope to +which he looks. What share we may have in the marring or the mending +of this our transitory dwelling, that is our main subject to-day. + +We see some glimpses at least of the truth that actively by +sympathy, by thoughtfulness, by charity, by unselfishness, by loving +one another;--that even passively by abstaining from the fashionable +and universal vice of biting and devouring one another;--we see +that by honesty, by self-reverence, by reverence for others, by +obeying the golden rule of "doing unto others as we would they +should do unto us," we may do very much to limit the realm of +sorrow, and to substitute a golden for an iron scepter in its sway +over human hearts. We see, too, that our own inevitable trials and +humiliations,--all the neglect, all the insult, all the weariness, +all the disappointment, all the ingratitude, which may befall +us,--can be better borne if we be cheerful and active in doing good. +Labor for God is the best cure for sorrow, and the best occupation +of life. + +Can we to-day push the inquiry yet further, and learn whether it is +in our power in any way to mend the flaw which runs for us through +the material world; or in any way to diminish for ourselves and for +mankind the pressure of that vast weight of laws which exercises +over us, undoubtedly, a sway of awful potency? The whole creation +groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now; can we--not by +any strength of ours, but because God permits and desires it, can we +do anything to hasten that blest hour for which we wait--the hour +of the new creation; of the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our +body; of the restitution of all things; of the _palingenesia_ of the +world? + +I think we can. I know that the supposed helplessness of man is +a favorite topic of modern materialism, which makes of man the +irresponsible tool of forces which he can not resist, the sport +and prey of dumb powers which are alike inexorable and passionless. +This philosophy--if we may call it a philosophy--laughs to scorn the +notion of a miracle, and makes virtue and vice not the conscious +choice of free beings, but the inevitable result of material causes +and hereditary impulses, of which in all but semblance, we are the +mere automata and slaves. My brethren, into all these speculations +of a baseless atheism, I need not enter. To us, nature means nothing +but the sum total of phenomena which God has created; and since in +the idea of nature is included the idea of God, a miracle becomes as +natural and as easily conceivable as the most ordinary occurrence. +And we know that we are free, that God does not mock us, that we +can abhor that which is evil, and cleave to that which is good. The +laws of nature are nothing, then, for us but observed sequences, and +we do not admit that there is anything fearful in their uniformity. +It is true that nature drives her plowshare straight onwards, and +heeds not what may be lying in the furrow; it is true that therefore +she shows an apparent indifference to human agony; it is true that +if the fairest and sweetest child which earth ever saw be left at +play in the face of the advancing tide, the tide will still advance +and drown the little life; it is true that the fire in its ruthless +vividness will roll over the loveliest maiden whose rich dress +should catch its flame. It is a law that resistance must be equal +to force, and that if there be a certain amount of pressure of +vibration, whatever comes of it, a structure will give way, even +though, alas, it hurl nearly a hundred human beings, with one flash +of horror, into the gulf of death. But is this any reason for a +fierce arraignment of nature, as tho she were execrably ruthless, +and execrably indifferent? Not so, my brethren. Death whenever it +comes is but death. None of us has any promise of this or that +amount of life. It needs no railway accident, no sinking ship, or +breaking ice, or burning town, or flame from heaven, or arrow in the +darkness, or smiting of the sun by day, or the moon by night, to +cut short our days. An invisible sporule in the air may do it, or a +lesion no bigger than a pin's point. + + "He ate, drank, laughed, loved, lived, and liked life well; + Then came--who knows?--some gust of jungle wind, + A stumble on the path; a taint i' the tank; + A snake's nip; half a span of angry steel; + A chill; a fishbone; or a falling tile,-- + And life is over, and the man is dead." + +But is this any reason why we should look on ourselves as victims +of dead irresponsible forces? Why so? Death is but death, and if we +live faithfully, death is our richest birthright. "Were you ready to +die that you jumped into the stormy sea to save that child's life?" +said a gentleman to an English sailor. "Should I have been better +prepared, sir," the sailor answered, "if I had shirked my duty?" A +sudden death is often, and in many respects, the most merciful form +of death; and the apparently terrible death of a few may save the +lives of many hundreds. The uniformity of nature may sometimes wear +the aspect of passionless cruelty; but as we learn more and more to +observe and to obey her laws, we find more and more that they work +for countless ends of beneficence and beauty, that out of seeming +evil she works real good, out of transient evil enduring good. The +fires which rend the earthquake and burst from the volcano, are the +quickening forces of the world; her storms lash the lazy atmosphere +which otherwise would stagnate into pestilence, and it is for man's +blessing, not for his destruction, that her waters roll and her +great winds blow. + +But are we, after all, so very helpless before the aggregate of +these mighty forces, as materialism loves to represent? Not so! +"Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands," said +the Psalmist, "Thou hast put all things under his feet." "Replenish +the earth, and subdue, and have dominion," said the first utterance +of God to man. And what is this but an equivalent of the latest +utterances of science, that "the order of nature is ascertainable +by our faculties to an extent which is practically unlimited, and +that our volition counts for something in the course of events"? +Man has done much to make the world in all senses a worse place for +himself, but he has also, thank God, done much to make it better, +and he may, to an almost unspeakable extent, remedy for himself and +for his race the throes and agonies of the groaning universe. God +meant His earth to be a more blest place for us than it is, and in +every instance men have made it more blest when they have read the +open secrets, by virtue of which, for our excitement, if not for our +reward, "herbs have their healing, stones their preciousness, and +stars their times." Ancient nations have shuddered at the awfulness +of the sea. It drowns ship and sailor; but "trim your sail, and the +same wave which drowns the bark is cleft by it, and bears it along +like its own foam, a plume and a power." The lightning shatters +tower and temple; but once learn that it is nothing but the luminous +all-pervading fluid which you may evolve by rubbing a piece of +amber, and brush out of a child's fair hair, and then with no more +potent instrument than a boy's kite you may dash harmless to the +earth the all-shattering brand which was the terror of antiquity; +nay, you may seize it by its wing of fire, and bid it carry your +messages around the girdled globe. Zymotic diseases smite down the +aged and young, but, when you have learnt that they are caused by +myriads of invisible germs which float in the water or the air, you +have but to observe the commonest rules of sanitary science, to +filter and boil the dangerous water, to insure free currents of air, +to breathe as nature meant you to breathe, through the nostrils, and +not through the throat, and you rob them of half their deadliness. +Why has smallpox been stayed in its loathly ravages, and deprived +of its hideous power? Why does the Black Death rage no longer, +as it raged among the monks of this Abbey four centuries ago? +Why do we not have pestilence, like that great plague of London, +which destroyed 7,165 persons in a single week? Why has jail fever +disappeared? Why are the cities of Europe horrified no longer by the +hideousness of medieval leprosy? Because men live amid cleaner and +purer surroundings. Because rushes are no longer strewn over floors +which had been suffered to be saturated with the organic refuse of +years. Because the simplest laws of nature are better understood. +Because, in these respects, men have remedied by God's aid, some of +those miseries for which the Savior sighed. + +And this amelioration of man's miseries is a great, and noble, and +Christlike work. Would that there were no other side to the picture! +Man, alas! also has done, and may do, infinite mischief to the +world he lives in. He may cut down the forests on the hills, and +so diminish the necessary rain. He may pluck up the grasses on the +shore, and so lay waste whole acres to the devastating sands. He may +poison the sweet, pure rivers of his native soil, till their crystal +freshness is corrupted into deathful and putrescent slime. He may +herd together, as we suffer our poor to do, in filthy tenements +which shall breed every species of disease and vice. He may indulge +or acquiesce in senseless fashions and pernicious vanities which +shall mean not only wasteful ugliness and grotesque extravagance, +but leave shattered health and ruined lives, to the mothers of his +race. He may in greed of competition extirpate the game of the +forest, the fishes of the sea. He may destroy the exquisite balance +of nature, by shooting down or entrapping the sweet birds of the +air, till his vines and his harvests are devastated by the insects +on which they feed. He may suffer the chimneys of his manufactories +to poison the atmosphere with black smoke and sulphurous acid, till +his proudest cities are stifled at noonday, as we all have seen in +London for these many weeks, with the unclean mirk of midnight fogs. +He may suffer noxious gases to be vomited upon the breeze, till +the most glorious buildings in his cities corrode and crumble--as +the stones of this Abbey are doing--under their influence,--till +the green woods blacken into leafless wastes, and life is lived +at miserable levels of vitality under the filthy reek. There is +hardly any limit to the evil, no less than to the good, which man +may do to this his earthly environment. Nor is it less deplorable +that he may go out of his way to do endless mischief to himself by +his misuse or abuse of the properties of things. From the dried +capsules of the white poppy he extracts opium, and he grows acres of +poppies that with thousands of chests of that opium he may degrade +into decrepitude and wretchedness the most populous nations upon +earth. Nature gives him the purple grape and the golden grain, +and he mashes them and lets them rot and seethe, and assists, and +superintends, and retards their decomposition, till he has educed +from them a fermented intoxicating liquor; and not content with +this luxury, he pours it into Circean cups of degrading excess; +not content with even fermentation, he further, by distillation, +extracts a transparent, mobile, colorless fluid, which is the +distinctive element in ardent spirits, and these, whatever may +be their legitimate use in manufacture or in medicine, he has so +horribly abused that they have become to mankind, the _spiritus +ardentes_ indeed, but not of heaven--fiery spirits of the abyss, +which have decimated nations, ruined continents, shortened millions +of lives, and turned for millions of God's children, and millions +of Christ's little ones, life into an anguish, and earth into a +hell. Do not say we can do nothing to soften for man the deadly +agencies which are working in the world,--for all this mischief, and +incalculably more than this, is man's own doing. + +But let me ask you to glance for a moment at one of the beneficent +secrets which nature has yielded up to man. Have you ever realized, +with heartfelt gratitude to God, the priceless boon which He has +granted to this generation in the diminution of pain? One of our +best surgeons has just told us the strange yet simple story of this +discovery, from the first dim intimation of the possibility in +1789, till in 1846 it might almost be said that in Europe we could +name the month, before which all operative surgery was agonizing, +and after which it was painless. But what an immense, what an +enormous boon is this application of anodynes! "Past all counting +is the sum of happiness enjoyed by the millions who have, in the +last thirty-three years, escaped the pain that was inevitable in +surgical operations; pain made more terrible by apprehension; +more keen by close attention; sometimes awful in a swift agony; +sometimes prolonged beyond even the most patient endurance, and then +renewed in memory, and terrible in dreams. This will never be felt +again." And besides this abolition of pain, it would take long to +tell how chloroform and ether "have enlarged the field of useful +surgery, making many things easy which were difficult, many safe +which were perilous, many practical which were nearly impossible." +But another lesson this eminent man of science draws, which bears +directly on our subject, is that while we are profanely decrying +nature, discoveries the most blest, boons the most priceless, may +lie close to us and yet God leave us to discover them; and that we +may endure many needless miseries, falsely accusing nature and even +God, only because we have neither hope enough to excite intense +desire, nor desire enough to encourage hope. We wonder that for +forty years the discovery of anesthetics was not pursued, tho, after +the pregnant hint of Sir H. Davy, it lay but half hidden under +so thin a veil. Our successors will wonder at us, as we at those +before us, that we were as blind to who can tell how many great +truths, which, they will say, were all around us, within reach of +any clear and earnest mind. They will wonder at the quietude with +which we stupidly acquiesce in, or immorally defend, the causes +which perpetuate and intensify our habitual miseries. Our fathers +needlessly put up with these miseries "as we now put up with typhoid +fever and sea-sickness; with local floods and droughts; with waste +of health and wealth in pollutions of rivers; with hideous noises, +and foul smells"; with the curse of alcoholic poisoning, and many +other miseries. Our successors, when they have remedied or prevented +these, will look back on them with horror, and on us with wonder +and contempt, for what they will call our idleness or blindness, or +indifference to suffering. Alas! in the physical as in the moral +world, we murmur at the evils which surround us, and we do not +remove them. We multiply those evils, and make life wretched, and +then curse nature because it is wretched, and neglect or fling away +the precious gifts and easy remedies which would make it blest. And +is it not so in the spiritual world? Nine-tenths of our miseries +are due to our sins. Yet the remedy of our sins is close at hand. +We have a Savior; we have been commemorating His birth, but we live +and act as tho He were dead; in our own lives and those of others we +suffer those miseries to run riot which He came to cure; we talk and +live as tho those remedies were undiscoverable, while from day to +day His Word is very nigh us, even in our mouths and in our hearts! + +For one sermon you hear about work for the secular amelioration of +the suffering world for which Christ sighed, you may (I suppose) +hear fifty on passing ecclesiastical controversies and five thousand +about individual efforts for personal salvation. And yet one pure, +self-sacrificing deed, one word of generosity to an opponent, one +kindly act to aid another, may have been better for you in God's +sight and far harder for you to do, than to attend in the year +the 730 daily services which this Abbey provides. Yes, I am glad +that I have preached to you to-day the duty of what some would call +secular work--as tho secular work were not often the most profoundly +religious work!--for the amelioration of the world. And I say, it +were better for you to have made but two blades of grass grow where +one grew before, than if, with the hollow, hateful, slanderous heart +of some false prophets of modern religionism, you were every morning +to do whatever modern thing may be analogous to binding your fringes +with blue, and broadening your phylacteries,--to making the hilltops +blaze with your sacrificial fires, building here seven altars, and +offering a bullock and a ram on every altar. And so, my brethren, +let us leave this Abbey to-day with conceptions of duty larger and +more hopeful; with more yearning both after the sympathy of Christ +and after His activity; with more faith to see that the world would +not be so utter a ruin but for our perversity; with more hope to be +convinced that even we can help to redeem its disorders, and restore +its pristine perfectness. Let us obey the command, "Ephphatha, Be +opened!" Let us lift up our eyes to see that, tho the air around us +is colorless, the far-off heaven is blue. Let us see and be thankful +for the beauty of the world, the sweet air, the sunshine, the sea, +the splendid ornaments of heaven, the ever-recurring circles of +the divine beneficence. Let us learn the secrets of the mighty +laws which only crush us when we disobey them, and which teach +us, with divine inflexibility, that as we sow we reap. Let us not +hinder the students of science in their patient toil and marvelous +discovery by the crude infallibilities of our ignorant dogmatism. +Let us believe--for we were saved in hope--that "Utopia itself +is but another word for time"; and that, if our own work seems +but infinitesimal, yet "there are mites in science, as well as in +charity, and the ultimate results of each are alike important and +beneficial." And so the more we share in the sigh and in the toil of +the Savior, the more shall we share in His redeeming gladness. + + + + + "Dr. Burrell always sounds a bugle-call to high emprise. This + one will stir whatever of knighthood is active or latent in the + heart of the young man who reads it."--JOHN BANCROFT DEVINS, + _Editor New York_ "_Observer_." + + * * * * * + +THE LURE OF THE CITY + +By DAVID JAMES BURRELL, D.D., LL.D. + +_Pastor of the Marble Collegiate Church, New York City_ + +Addrest to "the youth whose lot is cast in the city or whose heart +is turned that way; who knows himself a man, and with eyes aloft, +means to make himself a better one; who plans a full equipment, that +he may win splendidly."--_From the Preface._ + + "I have seldom had more pleasure than I have found in reading + Dr. Burrell's strong and suggestive book. It is a book for the + present hour and the present age. In a style singularly lucid + and wonderfully attractive, Dr. Burrell sets forth the dangers + of the city on the one hand and its advantages on the other. + Each of the twenty-two chapters might stand by itself as a word + of cheer, a bugle-call or a warning. The epithet most suitable + to the book, as a whole, is 'sane.' Nothing is overstrained. + Everything is practical, and the book is thoroughly manly, + and is infused throughout with the author's vigorous and + winning personality. It is emphatically a book for the young + man."--MARGARET E. SANGSTER, _Editor of the St. Nicholas + Magazine_, New York. + +_12mo, Cloth. $1.00, net; by mail, $1.08_ + + FUNK & WAGNALLS COMPANY, Pubs. + NEW YORK AND LONDON + + + + +A JUNIOR CONGREGATION + +A CHILDREN'S SERMON APPROPRIATE TO EVERY SUNDAY OF THE YEAR, +TOGETHER WITH HINTS FOR FORMING A JUNIOR CONGREGATION + +By JAMES M. FARRAR, D.D. + +_Pastor of the First Reformed Church, Brooklyn, and Minister of the +First Organized Junior Congregation_ + +The church-going men and women of to-day were the church-going +children of their youth. But theirs, most likely, was a _compulsory_ +attendance. This, however, is the _Children's Age_. More time, more +thought, more energy are, in this generation, given to the study, +development, and discipline of children than has ever been attempted +in any past century. _The Children's Church_ is being organized in +congregations where the children's welfare and the church's future +are close at heart. Children in such a church love to attend, for +theirs is _A Junior Congregation_ worshiping with the regular +congregation, thus forming habits of church-going in their best +habit-forming years, and acquiring a familiarity with the church's +services and ordinances that will help them grow into sturdy church +workers. + +_12mo, Cloth. $1.20, net; by mail, $1.28_ + + +FUNK & WAGNALLS COMPANY, Pubs. + +NEW YORK AND LONDON + + + + +=Rev. T. De Witt Talmage, D.D.=: "I heartily commend his book. He +has rendered invaluable service." + + { _OF THE VOICE_ + _PERFECTION_ { _GESTURE_ + { _BEARING_ + +=THE DRILL-BOOK OF VOCAL CULTURE= + +By Prof. EDWARD P. THWING. + +A Comprehensive Study of the Fundamental Constituents of Effective, +Graceful Speaking. Heartily Commended by the Highest Authorities. + +[Illustration: decoration] + +OUTLINE OF CONTENTS. + +What Elocution Really Is--Outline of Preparatory Physical Training +by Respiratory Exercises and Gymnastics--The Production of +Tone--Cultivating the Articulation Along the Lines of Pitch, Melody, +and Force--Rate of Movement--Personation or Picturing--Gesture and +Extemporaneous Speech--Facial Expression. + +=Prof. J. W. Churchill=, Andover: "It is an invaluable treatise." + +=The Independent=, New York: "Compact and inexpensive, but it omits +nothing essential." + +=_16mo, 111 pp., Illustrated, Paper Covers, 25 cents. Post-free._= + + +=FUNK & WAGNALLS COMPANY, Publishers,= + +=NEW YORK and LONDON= + + + + +=Profit and Loss= +=in Man= + +By ALPHONSO A. HOPKINS, Ph.D. + + +The New Gospel of Patriotic, Economic, and Political Common Sense on +the Temperance Question. The most up-to-date and powerful plea for +Prohibition upon purely economic grounds that has been written in +years. It is calm and dispassionate, and discusses the problem from +the cold matter-of-fact standard of dollars and cents. + + +CONTENTS + + I. The Cost of a Boy. VIII. Moral Facts and Political Factors. + II. Boy and Bar. IX. Dictionary Politics. + III. Manhood and Law. X. A Curse, a Crime, and the Cure. + IV. Labor, Liquor, and Law. XI. Publicans and Republicans. + V. Christian Loyalty. XII. Democrats and Drink. + VI. Barabbas. XIII. Methods of Settlement. + VII. Moral and Political Force. + + "The unique idea of placing temperance on a commercial basis, + of considering the difference between the actual cash value + of a man who drinks and the man who abstains, is intensely + interesting and profitable. Prof. Hopkins claims that each young + man twenty-one years of age represents a cost to society of two + thousand dollars ($2,000). Will he pay--will he 'make good'--on + the investment if he becomes a drinker? That's the question! In + the United States are one and a half millions of drunkards--a + stupendous loss of an investment aggregating over five billions + of dollars ($5,000,000,000)."--_Cumberland Presbyterian, + Nashville, Tenn._ + +_12mo, Cloth, 376 pp. $1.20, net; by mail, $1.32_ + + FUNK & WAGNALLS COMPANY, Pubs. + NEW YORK AND LONDON + + + + +A WORKING GRAMMAR + +OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE + +By JAMES C. FERNALD, L.H.D. + + _Editor of the "Students' Standard Dictionary." Author of + "English Synonyms, Antonyms, and Prepositions," "Connectives of + English Speech," Etc., Etc._ + + +In this book Dr. Fernald has covered the field of English grammar +in an immensely practical and entirely new and popular manner. +Recognizing the large number of persons who have not the time to +study ponderous definitions and arguments, he has prepared what is, +in every sense, a very concise and useful "working grammar." Herein +the business man, stenographer, clerk, lawyer, physician, clergyman, +teacher--everyone who would refresh and enrich his knowledge +of English--will find, in simple statement, a clear and lucid +explanation of the principles of English grammar. All that makes +the study of grammar a mystery is eliminated, and the whole book is +constructed so as to enable any intelligent person to find his own +way, by its teachings, to a correct working knowledge of English. + +_Price, $1.50, net; post-paid, $1.64_ + + FUNK & WAGNALLS COMPANY, Pubs. + NEW YORK AND LONDON + + + + +THE PREPARATION OF MANUSCRIPTS FOR THE PRINTER + +By FRANK H. VIZETELLY, F.S.A. + +_Associate Editor of the_ "_Standard Dictionary_," _etc._ + + +This book is designed for the guidance of all who have any concern +with printing, and will prove of permanent value to all persons +engaged in writing or in copying manuscripts. Typographical marks +are exemplified and explained; the different sizes of type with +their names and uses are presented, with aids in the computing +of space which manuscripts will occupy in printed form; the book +also shows authors how they can effectively reduce the cost of +corrections in type, and tells them when, where, and how to make +such corrections and how to dispose of manuscripts. + + "Is at once the most exhaustive and most succinct of the many + books at the service of the young author."--_Evening Mail_, New + York. + + "A thoroughly practical little book which will prove + invaluable to all who are interested in the preparation of + manuscript."--_Times_, Brooklyn, N. Y. + +_12mo, Cloth, 153 pages. 75 cents_ + +FUNK & WAGNALLS COMPANY, Pubs. NEW YORK AND LONDON + + * * * * * + +Transcriber's note: + +Minor typographical errors have been corrected without note. +Irregularities and inconsistencies in the text have been retained as +printed. + +Missing page numbers are page numbers that were not shown in the +original text. + +Mismatched quotes are not fixed if it's not sufficiently clear where +the missing quote should be placed. + +Page 36: ... have cried (oh, how men do cry in those storms of the +soul, in those tempests and terrors of the heart), "Lord, save us +... The transcriber has supplied the closing parenthesis. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The World's Great Sermons, Volume 7: +Hale to Farrar, by Various + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WORLD'S GREAT SERMONS, VOLUME 7 *** + +***** This file should be named 44441-8.txt or 44441-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/4/4/4/4/44441/ + +Produced by Júlio Reis, Moisés S. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The World's Great Sermons, Volume 7: Hale to Farrar + +Author: Various + +Release Date: December 16, 2013 [EBook #44441] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WORLD'S GREAT SERMONS, VOLUME 7 *** + + + + +Produced by Júlio Reis, Moisés S. Gomes, Julia Neufeld and +the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<hr class="chap" /> + +<div class="figcenter bord" style="width: 469px;"> +<img src="images/coverpage.jpg" width="469" height="600" alt="cover" /> +</div> + +<hr class="chap" /> + +<div class="figcenter bord" style="width: 377px;"> +<img src="images/7-000f-image.jpg" width="377" height="600" alt="titlepage" /> +</div> + +<hr class="chap" /> + + +<h1><em>The World's Great Sermons</em><br /><br /> + +<span class="s08">VOLUME VII<br /><br /> + +HALE TO FARRAR</span></h1> + +<hr class="chap" /> + +<p class="center"><span class="b15"> +THE<br /> +<span class="smcap">World's<br /> +Great<br /> +Sermons</span></span></p> + + +<p class="center space-above">COMPILED BY<br /> +<span class="b12">GRENVILLE KLEISER</span></p> + +<p class="center space-above"><span class="b12">Formerly of Yale Divinity School Faculty;<br /> +Author of "How to Speak<br /> +in Public," Etc.</span></p> + + +<p class="center">With Assistance from Many of the Foremost<br /> +Living Preachers and Other Theologians</p> + +<p class="center space-above">INTRODUCTION BY<br /> +<big>LEWIS O. BRASTOW, D.D.</big><br /> +Professor Emeritus of Practical Theology<br /> +in Yale University</p> + +<p class="center space-above">IN TEN VOLUMES</p> + +<p class="center space-above">VOLUME VII—HALE TO FARRAR</p> + +<p class="center space-above">FUNK & WAGNALLS COMPANY<br /> +NEW YORK and LONDON +</p> + +<hr class="chap" /> + +<p class="center"> +<span class="smcap">Copyright, 1908, by</span><br /> +FUNK & WAGNALLS COMPANY<br /> +<em>Printed in the United States of America</em> +</p> + +<hr class="chap" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_v" id="Page_v">[v]</a></span></p> + + + + +<h2>CONTENTS</h2> + + +<p class="center">VOLUME VII.</p> + + + +<div class="center"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="contents"> +<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">Hale</span> (Born in 1822).</td><td align="left"><em>Page</em></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"> The Colonization of the Desert</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_1">1</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">Magee</span> (1821-1891).</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"> The Miraculous Stilling of the Storm</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_19">19</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">Seiss</span> (1823-1904).</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"> The Wonderful Testimonies</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_39">39</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">Maclaren</span> (Born in 1826).</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"> The Pattern of Service</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_63">63</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">Crosby</span> (1826-1891).</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"> The Prepared Worm</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_87">87</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">Dale</span> (1829-1895).</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"> The Argument from Experience</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_103">103</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">Liddon</span> (1829-1890).</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"> Influences of the Holy Spirit</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_121">121</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">W. M. Taylor</span> (1829-1895).</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"> Christ before Pilate—Pilate before Christ</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_143">143</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">John Hall</span> (1829-1899).</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"> Liberty Only in Truth</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_163">163</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">Bacon</span> (Born in 1830).</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"> God Indwelling</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_179">179</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_vi" id="Page_vi">[vi]</a></span><span class="smcap">Joseph Parker</span> (1830-1902).</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"> A Word to the Weary</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_197">197</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">McKenzie</span> (Born in 1830).</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"> The Royal Bounty</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_209">209</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">Farrar</span> (1831-1903).</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"> Work in the Groaning Creation</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_227">227</a></td></tr> +</table></div> +<hr class="chap" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1"> </a></span></p> + + + + +<h2>HALE</h2> + +<h3>THE COLONIZATION OF THE DESERT</h3> + +<hr class="chap" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2"> </a></span></p> + + + + +<h4>BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE</h4> + + +<p>Edward Everett Hale, Congregationalist +divine and author, was born in Boston +in 1822. He was graduated at Harvard +in 1839 and became a Unitarian +preacher in 1846 at Worcester. In +1850 he removed to Boston, where his +most important life's work was accomplished +as a preacher and writer. A +collected edition of his writings, in ten +volumes, was published in 1901. His +varied literary enterprises and undertakings +have been too many to be enumerated +here. His most famous work is +"The Man Without a Country." He is +at present chaplain to the United States +Senate.</p> + +<hr class="chap" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[3]</a></span></p> + + + + +<h2>HALE</h2> + +<h3><span class="smcap">Born in 1822</span></h3> + +<h4>THE COLONIZATION OF THE DESERT</h4> + +<blockquote> + +<p><em>God saw everything that he had made. And behold, +it was very good.</em>—Gen. i., 31.</p></blockquote> + + +<p>This simplest expression of the earliest +religion comes back to us with new +force in the midst of all the wonderful +revelations of our modern life.</p> + +<p>In ten weeks' time I have crossed from one +ocean to the other; I have crossed backward +and forward over the Allegheny and the Rocky +Mountains and the Sierra Nevada, with the +valleys between them, and the slopes which +rise from the ocean on either side. This means +a journey through twelve of the old thirteen +States and fifteen of the new States and Territories. +It means intercourse with people of +the North and the South, the Gulf and the +West, the Pacific coast and the mountains. It +means intercourse with the white race, the +black race, the red race, and the Chinaman. +The variety of climate is such that I have welcomed +the shade of palm-trees, and that I have +walked over snow where it had drifted twenty +feet beneath me. I have picked oranges from +the tree, and camellias from the twig in the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[4]</a></span> +open air, and within three hours of good-by +to the camellia I was in a driving snow-storm, +where the engine drivers were nervous because +they had no snow plow. In all this variety +I have a thousand times recalled the simplest +expression of the oldest words of the Bible: +"God saw everything that he had made, and +behold, it was very good."</p> + +<p>The solid recognition of this truth—not, +indeed, in any small sense; but in that sense +which is general and comprehensive—is at the +bottom of all true religious philosophy. It is +not true in any smaller sense. For I cannot +say that it is good to be bitten by a mosquito +or worried by a fly, if I can escape fly or +mosquito. No, that is not true. And I do not +suppose that the simple author of this text +meant any such extravagance. But this is +true, that the world is so made and ordered +that man, who is himself a creator—man, who +shares the wishes, instincts, and plans of the +Power who directs the world—man can take +the world in his hands and compel it to serve +his nobler purposes.</p> + +<p>God saw the world, and he said: "Yes, this +is what I want for My home and the home of +children who love Me. It is a world very +good to them, and they shall subdue it to My +purposes." To recognize this, to feel the fitness +of the world for man and man's fitness +for the world, this is the basis of consistent +optimism. Nobody says that the top of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[5]</a></span> +Rocky Mountains is a good place for whales, +or that the Ojai Valley is a good place for +polar bears; but a consistent optimism says +that the world is a good place for man; and +it says that man is so closely allied to the +God who is the life of the world that he can +take the world for his own, and make it his +home and his heaven. This consistent optimism +is the basis of all sound theology.</p> + +<p>It is to be observed, however, that man +gains no such control of the world, and the +world does not prove fit for man, unless he +has found out that he is akin to God and can +enter into His work. There is no such victory +to the savage, who is afraid of God. So +long as he thinks the powers of nature are his +enemies, he makes them his enemies. I do +not believe the old cave-dwellers, fighting +hyenas with clubs, and often finding that they +were second-best in the encounter, thought +this world the best of worlds. I do not believe +that the Digger Indian, who spent his tedious +day in rummaging for ants and beetles to eat, +and was very happy if he caught a lizard—I +do not believe that he said that the world was +very good. True, I think both of them had +visions and hopes of a better time; but while +they were in the abject misery of cold and +starvation, that better time had not dawned. +It did not dawn because they had not taken +on them the dignity and duty of children of +God. They were not about their Father's<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[6]</a></span> +business. They did not see Him nor hear +Him, nor in any wise know Him. They did +not conceive that they were on His side nor +He on theirs. And it is not till man comes +up to some comprehension that God has sent +him here on an infinite business; that he and +the Author of this world are at one in this +affair of managing it; it is not till man knows +God as his friend and not his enemy, that man +with any courage and success takes the business +of managing into his own hands. Then +is it that he finds what pleasure, nay what +dignity, there is in taming the lightning and +riding on the storm. And then he knows +enough of the divine Being, His purpose and +His power, to see that the world is good, and +that God should call it good in its creation.</p> + +<p>All this forces itself on one's thought as he +sees how it is that nature has been pursued +and caught and tamed in these mountains and +these valleys. For nature is the nymph so +wittily described by Virgil. She</p> + +<p class="center"> +"Flies to her woods; but hopes her flight is seen."<br /> +</p> + +<p class="noind">Man, so long as he is savage, hates her and +fears her. If he worships, it is the abject +worship of those who bring sacrifices to buy +her favor. And it may be said in passing that +the last visible form of pure barbarism or +savagery is any theology which supposes that +God's favor must be bought by any price paid +by man in exchange. When man finds, by any<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[7]</a></span> +revelation, the conditions of absolute religion, +which are simply faith, hope and love, +all this is changed. When he looks up to God +gladly, looks forward to the future cheerfully, +and looks round on the world kindly, +he finds, possibly to his surprize, that he is +working on the lines God works on, and means +to have him work on. Now he is on "his +Father's business." While he rows the boat, +the tide sweeps the right way. While he +stretches the wire, the lightning is waiting +and eager to do his errand. And so soon as +man the divine appears upon the scene—man +the child of God, who knows he shares God's +nature—why, easily and quickly the valleys +are exalted and the mountains and the hills +made low; the deserts blossom as the rose, and +even the passing traveler sees that this world +was made for man and man for this world. +And he understands as he has never understood +before what this is, that he himself is of +the nature of the God at whose present will +this world comes into order. He understands +better what the old text means, which says +that God is satisfied with the world which He +has made.</p> + +<p>I crossed the continent westward and eastward +on this journey, fresh from recent reading +of the history of the first Spanish occupation. +What did the Spaniards find there? +They found in what we call New Mexico the +Zuni cities which, in a sad decline, exist to-day.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[8]</a></span> +From those cities Casteneda led a +party of Spanish horsemen eastward in +search of a certain mythical king who was +supposed to have much gold and many +jewels. Those adventurous men rode for a +whole summer across the prairies and plains +which are now Colorado, and Kansas, and Missouri, +and struck the Missouri, or perhaps +the Mississippi. You know that much of the +country is now fertile beyond praise. Mile +after mile you can see corn, wheat; wheat, +corn; corn, wheat; wheat, corn; and the production +to the acre increases year by year. +The States through which Casteneda's line of +travel passed now number four or five millions +of people; and they feed, from their agriculture, +say twenty millions more. Now when +Casteneda and his people passed and repassed +over this region they did not meet a single +man, woman or child. They were opprest +by the horrible loneliness of their journey. +They felt, as Magellan's people felt when they +were crossing the Pacific Ocean, with that +horrible east wind, with a calm sea before and +never a sight of an island or a man. When +Casteneda came at last to the Mississippi—or +Missouri—they had no heart to build a raft +to cross it and incur more such solitude; and +they went back the way they came. And the +fame of its loneliness was such that no man +attempted the adventure for more than a hundred +years.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[9]</a></span></p> + +<p>When, in 1682—say a hundred and thirty +years after—the great La Salle discovered the +Mississippi River, and sailed south upon it, +leaving Chicago, crossing Illinois, and so +striking the Father of Waters, his experience +of this utter loneliness was the same. He +touched every night on one shore or the other. +He is, therefore, the discoverer of seven of the +Western States—States which now feed fifty +million people and number seven or eight million +of their own. Only twice, I think, did he +meet any great body of men. Not five times +did he find traces of the hand of man or the +foot of man. Through the same solitude he +returned; and his report was of a virgin +world of elk, and deer, and buffalo; of shrubs +and trees, of fish and fowl; but a world without +men.</p> + +<p>The inference was drawn, hastily, but not +unnaturally, that these regions could not sustain +men. On the Atlas given me as a boy, +the "Great American Desert" covered the +greater part of the region west of the Mississippi. +It is now the home of the millions I +have been enumerating. And in the last map +I have seen, the Great American Desert appears +as hardly a "speck on the surface of the +earth."</p> + +<p>The change which I have described has been +wrought in the lifetime of people of my +age. It is wrought simply and wholly by +the passion for emigration which belongs<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[10]</a></span> +to our own race. In Mr. Hoar's happy +phrase, people of our blood "thirst for the +horizon."</p> + +<p>In the year 1833 De Tocqueville, observing +the steadiness of this wave, calculated its average +flow as seventeen miles westward every +year. That was the rate at which it had +moved since the Federal Constitution made it +possible. Speaking roughly, there were then +two thousand miles of desert between the Missouri +River and the Pacific. At De Tocqueville's +rate, the wave would have been one +hundred and twenty years in reaching that +ocean. But it happened that in 1849 the +Western coast was settled in the gold discovery. +An Eastern wave began which has now +met the Western. The two together have +founded the great cities—for we must call +them so—of the Rocky Mountains.</p> + +<p>Now, in the face of that contrast between +the last century and this century, one asks +why that half of our continent is any more +fit for men than it was then. The answer +is, that it was not fit for the kind of men on +it then; and that the kind of men that have +tamed it are the kind of men who were fit for +it, and whom it was fit for.</p> + +<p>The study of history and of physical geography +becomes a study of what we mean by +man and man's capacities. California, for instance, +was the same country in 1650 that it +was in 1850. The south wind blew from the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[11]</a></span> +sea, and that, in the north temperate zone, is +the great physical requisite. There was as +much gold, and quicksilver, and copper, and +tin in the mountains as there is now. There +was the same soil and the same water on the +hillsides. But the men, and women, and children +were afraid of their gods; they were +afraid of nature; they had neither faith, nor +hope, nor love. They had none of the elements +of eternal power except as an acorn has the +possibilities of an oak.</p> + +<p>To these people there came, sooner or later—with +the best motives, but still without the +essentials of life—fifty families of Franciscan +monks. They came, observe, without wives or +children. They defied thus the first law of +human life, or the life God intends His +children to live in. The primitive trinity, +from which all false trinities have grown, +is the father, the mother and the child. The +Franciscan communities were false to all +Divine law, if it were only in their failure +here.</p> + +<p>They gathered around them, by the higher +civilization which they brought, great communities +of starving Indians. They taught +them to feed themselves as they had never +been fed before. So far they improved the +race, and lifted its civilization above that ant-eating +and lizard-chasing of the Digger Indian. +But then the Catholic Church, by +the necessary subordination of man to the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[12]</a></span> +organized Church, takes man's life out of +him.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i30">"The day<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That makes a man a slave, takes all his life away."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="noind">The words are as true to-day as they were in +Homer's time. Nor is there any sadder instance +of it than is the powerlessness of the +tribes of amiable slaves who were collected +under the protection of the Franciscan missions +in California, or Jesuit missions in Paraguay.</p> + +<p>The native races between the Pacific and +the Atlantic were dying faster than their children +were born. They were dying of the diseases +named laziness, ignorance, and war. +They were not subduing the continent. They +were not fit for it, nor it for them. What is +the distinction of the race to which we belong, +that it succeeds where these have failed? The +history of the country accentuates that distinction.</p> + +<p>It would be absurd to pretend that the average +frontiersman was a man of what are called +saintly habits. Often he was not conscious +that he had any divine errand. But the frontiersman, +to whose courage and perseverance +is due that forward wave we study, was a +man. He did not take his opinion or instruction +from any priest. There was no one between +him and the good God. Often he sought +Him. So far so good. And often he did not<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[13]</a></span> +seek Him. That one admits. But he never +sought any one else's advice or direction. He +was no slave, as the Indian of California was. +He was not commissioned by a superior, as +the Franciscan priest of the mission was. He +was a man. He was independent and he was +brave. If he did the right thing, therefore, +he succeeded; if he did the wrong thing, why, +he failed. And no one else tried just the same +experiment. In this first trait of absolute independence +he showed the infinite characteristic +of a child of God.</p> + +<p>Second, and perhaps more important, he +took with him his wife and his children. Here +is the great distinction of American emigration, +which contrasts against the plans of +Spaniards or Frenchmen, and of the earlier +Englishmen. Historically it begins with the +Pilgrims, of whom there were as many Pilgrim +mothers as there were Pilgrim fathers. +It is of them that Emerson says that "they +builded better than they knew."</p> + +<p>The frontiersman is independent. He lives +with and for his family. And, once more, he +is an enthusiast in determining that to-morrow +shall be better than to-day. The Indian +had no such notion. The Franciscan had not. +But this profane, ignorant pioneer had. He +believed implicitly in the country behind him +and in the future before him. "I tell you, sir, +that in ten years you will see in this valley +such a city as the world never saw." Profane<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[14]</a></span> +he may be, ignorant he may be, cruel he may +be; but he believes in the idea; he is quickened +and goaded forward by an infinite and majestic +hope.</p> + +<p>Given such conditions, the historical steps +are easy. All this is impossible till you have +a nation, to give peace and compel peace, so +that the separate settler shall know that the +whole majesty of the world is behind him. +There shall be no abiding quarrel between +man and man as to the line of a claim or the +title of a mine. The nation shall decide, and +its whole majesty shall enforce the decision. +Or, if there is any massacre by an Apache or +a Blackfoot, the country behind, tho a +thousand miles behind, shall stretch forth her +arm to avenge that lonely family. This means +peace instead of war. All this had to wait, +therefore, until the formation of the nation +called the United States—the greatest peace +society the sun ever shone upon, and the model +for societies yet larger. With the birth of +that nation, the real Western wave begins.</p> + +<p>I do not claim for every pioneer that he +thought he went as an apostle of God. But +in the emigrant wave from the very beginning, +the best blood, the best faith, the best +training of the parent stocks have gone. +Science has sent her best. The determination +for thorough education has planted better +school houses in the wilderness than the emigrant +left at home. And on Sunday, in a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[15]</a></span> +church, one is proud to say that the organized +Church of Christ, in the liberty of a thousand +communions, has covered with her egis the +settler most in advance. He could not keep +in advance of the missionary and of his Bible; +and, to his credit be it said, he did not +want to.</p> + +<p>So much for the personnel. Now, speaking +roughly, what has been the motive for the +great Western wave, which is making this garden +out of that desert?</p> + +<p>First, there is the passion for adventure, +the thirst for the horizon, which drives old +Leatherstocking and the men like him away +from the haunts of men. This in itself produces +nothing. Next and chiefly, the desire to +make homes—the noblest desire given to man, +and the desire in which he follows the will +of God most distinctly and completely. Miners +want to strike metals; farmers want to +find good soils; fruit men try for climate and +irrigation; all with the direct wish to make +homes more happy than they have been before.</p> + +<p>Again, young men go that they may get forward +faster than in old communities—and +who can wonder? Men of sense give up the +unequal contest with nature in a northern +and eastern climate to find a country where +nature is on their side. People in delicate +health go where they find softer air, more +spring and less winter. But no man goes to +get rich alone. No man wants to eat gold or<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[16]</a></span> +to drink it. The wish and hope is to make +homes where father, mother and children can +live the life which God ordained. These are +no Franciscan friars, these are no Apache +bandits, to whom has been given the subjugation +of a continent. Side by side with the +pioneer is the surveyor, marking the lines of +future homesteads. Hard behind him are +father, mother, boys and girls, to whom the +nation gives this homestead thus designated. +If the man is sick the woman nurses him. The +children grow up to know the world they live +in. The boundary of the nation is not a mere +chain of garrisons nor the scattered posts of +missions; it is a line of homes, founded with +all that the word home involves.</p> + +<p>All these lessons of three centuries point one +way. They show that the world is not very +good for wandering Apaches or Digger Indians, +freezing and starving under hard winters +when harvests have failed. To their point +of view it was a world hard and cruel. To +Franciscan friars, ruling a little empire which +yielded none but physical harvests, where the +garden, and orchard, and vineyard were only +so many specks in the midst of an unbounded +desert, the world can not have seemed a better +world—a world made for wild horses, and further +East for wild buffaloes, but not for men—"the +great American Desert." It is not till +man asserts the courage and freedom of a son +of God, it is not till man appears with wife<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[17]</a></span> +and child and proposes to establish his heaven +here; it is not till then that he masters nature, +and she gladly obeys him. Nay, then he has +no success unless he appears as the vicegerent +of God Himself, and establishes over this vast +domain the empire of law, and speaks as God +might speak, with "Thou shalt do this," and +"Thou shalt not do that" in this empire.</p> + +<p>The Old-World writers are fond of telling +us that we owe the prosperity of this nation +to its physical resources. It is not so. The +physical resources have existed for centuries. +It is only in the moral force of sons and +daughters of God; it is such working power +as takes the names of law, courage, independence, +and family affection; it is only in these +that our victory is won. The drunken swaggerer +of the advance only checks the triumph. +The miser, who would carry off his silver to +use elsewhere, only hinders the advance. The +victory comes from the hand of God to the +children of God, who establish His empire in +the magic spell of three great names. As always +these names are: Faith, which gives +courage; Hope, which determines to succeed; +and Love, which builds up homes.</p> + +<p>It is impossible to see the steps of such a +victory without owning the infinite Power behind +it all. You cannot use magnetic ore and +coal for its smelting and the silicates for its +fusion, all flung in together side by side, without +asking if the Power who threw these priceless<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[18]</a></span> +gifts together where each was needed for +each did not know what He was doing. But +the buffalo passes over it, and the gopher +mines under it, and it might be so much gravel +of the sea. Savages pass over it, with no future, +no heaven, and one would say no God. +It is worthless desert still, but one day a man +comes who deserves his name. He is a child +of God. He is determined that to-morrow +shall be better than to-day. He knows he is +lord of nature, and he bids her serve him. +The coal burns, the iron melts, the silicate +fuses. It is impossible to see that miracle and +not feel that for this man the world was +created, and for this world this man was born. +He is in his place. He did not have to seek it; +it was made for him. With him it is a garden. +Without him it is a desert. He can hew down +these mountains. He can fill up these valleys. +And where he has filled, and where he has +hewed, lo, the present heaven of happy homes! +It is thus that prophecy accomplishes itself, +and</p> + +<p class="center"> +"The car of the Lord rolls gloriously on." +</p> + +<hr class="chap" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19"> </a></span></p> + + + + +<h2>MAGEE</h2> + +<h3>THE MIRACULOUS STILLING OF THE +STORM</h3> + +<hr class="chap" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20"> </a></span></p> + + + + +<h4>BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE</h4> + + +<p>William Connor Magee, Archbishop of +York, was born at Cork in 1821. Educated +at Trinity College, Dublin, he was +ordained in 1844. His first important +charge was the Octagon Chapel at Bath +in 1850. In 1864 he was made dean of +Cork, and in 1868, Bishop of Peterborough. +In 1891 he was appointed to +succeed Dr. William Thomson, as Archbishop +of York.</p> + +<p>Dr. Magee was pronounced by Canon +Liddon the greatest preacher of his day. +His speech in the House of Lords in 1869 +against Irish Disestablishment was said +by the highest authorities, as quoted by +Lord Salisbury, to be the finest speech +ever delivered, in either house of Parliament, +by any man then living. His +oratory was characterized by clearness +and terseness of expression, while his full-toned +voice was capable of sounding +every gradation of feeling. He died in +1891, three months after his enthronization +in York Minster.</p> + +<hr class="chap" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[21]</a></span></p> + + + + +<h2>MAGEE</h2> + +<h3>1821-1891</h3> + +<h4>THE MIRACULOUS STILLING OF THE +STORM</h4> + +<blockquote> + +<p><em>Lord, save us: we perish.... Then he arose, and +rebuked the winds and the sea; and there was a great +calm</em>.—Matt. viii., 25, 26.</p></blockquote> + + +<p>The story of this miracle reveals to us +Christ entering into peril together with +His Church. It records for us her +faith and her prayer. It reveals to us His +presence and His power. That faith has been +her faith, that prayer has been her prayer, +from that hour until now. In all the long +perilous voyage of the Church from that hour, +never has she unlearned yet her first prayer; +never has she become entirely unconscious of +her Lord. Sometimes with a great and a +fearless faith that defied the most terrible +tempests, sometimes with a little and a timid +faith, that shrank from the first ripple upon +the deep, but ever with her real faith have +Christ's Church and Christ's disciples turned +in the hour of their tribulation to seek their +Lord. And never has that prayer been said +in vain. Never from the Church at large, or +from the solitary disciple in his terror, has +that prayer gone up without an answer.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[22]</a></span> +Never has the eye of faith sought, and sought +in vain, the Savior. Ever has the praying +Church or the praying disciple found the still +present Christ; and we believe that it is so +now. We believe that Christ our Lord is here +in the midst of us now, and that our eye of +faith may see Him, and our prayer of faith +may reach Him. And if this be so now—if +Christ's presence be a real fact amongst us +now, and our prayer have really a might to +reveal that presence—then, above all things, +it concerns us, that we understand the nature +of that prayer, and the manner of that presence, +that we understand what it is we mean, +and what will come of it when we say: "Lord, +save us, or we perish."</p> + +<p>We ask you, then, to-night, brethren, to +consider these two things: the meaning of the +Church's prayer; the manner of her Lord's +presence. Now, when we use these words: +"Lord, save: we perish," we are really rehearsing +two articles of our belief. We are +declaring, first of all, that we believe there +is a Lord—that in the visible world there is +an invisible God with His overruling, and controlling, +and appointing will; and, in the next +place, we believe that this God is our Lord +Jesus Christ. In the first of these, we Christians +agree with every religion that ever has +been. In the second, we differ from all other +religions. When we say that above nature +there is a will and a personality, we say what<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[23]</a></span> +every religion says. Religion is nothing else +than the belief in the supernatural, in something +above nature, in a person, in a will; and +prayer is nothing but the speech of our spirit +to that will, and the submission of our will +to it. Prayer is the effort of the spirit of man +to rise above the visible up to the region of +the invisible and the personal, there to speak +out his care or his need. There can, therefore, +be no prayer without this element of religion; +and there can be no religion without this fact +of prayer. Without it, you have philosophy, +you may have sentiment; but you cannot have +a real, practical, every-day religion. And, +therefore, all religions have believed in a God +or gods, a Lord or lords. Turk, Jew, heathen, +in like case, would have said to some lord or +other: "Save, or we perish." But the Christian +believes something more. He believes +that his Lord has come down amongst men; +that He has taken to Him human flesh, and +lived a human life, and died, and risen again, +for his salvation. He worships not only a +lord, but the incarnate Lord; and so the +Church speaks her twofold faith in her great +hymn from the first to Christ as God: "We +praise Thee, O God; we acknowledge Thee +to be the Lord"—Thee, and none other, to be +the God, and Thee to be the Lord, and Ruler, +and Master of all things. You see, then, that +there is something different in Christian +prayer from all other prayer and worship,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[24]</a></span> +and that the difference consists in this: that +it is distinctively and avowedly the prayer +to an incarnate Christ.</p> + +<p>Now, if there be this difference between this +prayer and all other prayer, then there must +be a corresponding difference in the feelings +and in the practical results of such a religion; +and I am about to ask you now to follow +me while I endeavor to trace for you this +difference between Christian prayer and all +other prayer. It seems as if the story in the +gospel of this miracle exactly sets out this difference—exactly +shows us the distinctive nature +of Christian prayer. The story, you observe, +divides itself, naturally, into three +parts. There is, first of all, the voyage before +the storm; there is, then, the storm; and there +is, then, the miraculous stilling of the storm. +Now, you observe that in each of these three +parts, we have one thing in common. We +have man, in some way or other, encountering, +or encountered by, the outward and visible +world. The third of these—the stilling of the +storm—differs from the other two in this, that +it is miraculous and supernatural. Now, let +us, for a moment, leave out this third part. +There are some, you know, who say, that we +should always leave it out, and be better without +it. Let us leave out, then, this third or +miraculous part of the story; and let us contrast +the first and the second parts. And +what have we got? We have got a most remarkable<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[25]</a></span> +contrast between the two scenes. +What is it we see in the first scene? We see +a man subduing nature. It was by the knowledge +of the elements and the laws of nature, +that man learned thus to sail upon the deep; +and in that one fact you have represented for +you the whole of the material progress of +humanity—all the triumphs of science, all the +glory and the beauty of art, all that marvelous +mastery that man obtains by his inventive and +creative will over the secret powers of nature, +as he unlocks them one by one, and compels +her to tell him her deepest mysteries—all that +man has done as he has advanced from horizon +to horizon of discovery, finding still new +worlds to conquer, until we stand amazed at +our own progress and the infinity of it, and +we say of man: "What manner of being is +this, that even the winds and the sea obey +him?" Yes, there is the man the lord of +nature. There is nothing supernatural there. +All is natural, all is orderly. Man is lord and +master. Nature is man's servant; and, therefore, +there seems no room, there seems no +need for prayer. There is nothing, seemingly, +there to be had for the asking; there is everything, +seemingly, there to be had for working. +Man is to be seen walking in the garden of +his own planting and his own fencing; and +he reaches out hands to unforbidden fruits of +knowledge; and he believes that at last he +shall gather even of the tree of life. He is a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[26]</a></span> +god unto himself, and he sees no need for +prayer.</p> + +<p>And now we turn to the second scene, and +what have we there? We have the direct contrast +with this scene. We have there, not man +subduing nature, but nature subduing man. +We have the storm in which the elements are +man's masters and not his servants; and he +that one minute before was the boasting lord +of nature is its toy and its sport. The very +foam upon the crest of those billows is not +more helpless in the grasp of the elements +than the lord and the king of them; and they +toss him to and fro, as the wind drives the +stubble in the autumn. This is the terrible +aspect of nature. This is nature in her might, +and in her majesty, and in her pitilessness, +and in her capriciousness—when nature seems +everything, and man, in her awful presence, +dwindles and dwarfs into very nothingness—when +man, in the presence of the vastness +of her solitude, and the might of her storms, +and the terror of her earthquakes, seems no +more before her, with his little cares and his +sorrows, than the wee bubbles upon the head +of the cataract. This is nature as she masters +man. Is it, then, any wonder that, in the +early struggles of mankind with this terrible +visible power of the creature, men came to +worship the creature—that they ascribed to +every one of these powers a divinity, that in +the voice of the wind, and in the roar of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[27]</a></span> +sea, and in the raging of the fire, they saw +the signs of a divine presence, and they said +to these elements: "Spare us," or "Save us, +or else we perish"? And so all creation became +peopled with gods—cruel gods, capricious +gods, vengeful gods, gods whom men +bribed with blood, gods whom, even while +they bribed them, they could not love, and did +not believe that they loved them. This is the +first and most terrible form of creature worship; +this was the idolatry of the heathen. +But mark this, that such a worship as this +could not continue forever, could not continue +long, because it is the worship of ignorance; +it is the belief in the supernatural, only +because it confuses the unknown with the +supernatural. Ever as science advances must +this faith melt away. Ever must the domain +of the known push itself forward into the +domain of the unknown. Ever does the man +of science take one by one the gods of the +man of superstition and break them upon their +pedestals, and tell him this: "What you worship +is no god. What you worship is no lord. +It is not your lord. It is a servant of yours; +and I class it in this or that rank of your +servants." So, one by one, like ghosts and +fantoms in the dawning of the day—one by +one, the fantoms of gods that haunted the +night of the old world vanish before the dawn +of knowledge. But then it is a terrible daylight +that breaks on men—a blank, dreary<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[28]</a></span> +world in which men have no sight of the invisible, +no sense of the supernatural. It is +that last and most terrible aspect of nature, +when she appears, not as many gods, or many +wills, but as the great soulless piece of mechanism, +of which we are only part—a terrible +machinery in which we are, somehow or other, +involved, and in the presence of which the +sense of our free-will leaves us. The pith, and +the manhood, and the vigor of men, and the +beauty and the freedom of their life die out +of them as they stand appalled before this +passionless, this terrible, this awful face of +a soulless world. This is the last and the +most terrible form of creature worship. And +mark this, that between these two aspects of +nature, if you have no assured faith, there is +no logical resting-place. Without the act of +faith, you must take your choice between the +superstition of ignorance or the atheism of +knowledge.</p> + +<p>And now we have seen these, we turn to the +third portion of our story; and what is that +we see there? We see, again, in this world +of men, the miraculous and the supernatural. +We hear a prayer, and we see a miracle. In +the face of the might of nature and the terrors +of her elements there arises up a Man in +answer to man's cry—there is heard a Man's +voice, which is yet the voice of God; and it +rebukes the winds and the sea, and the elements +of nature own their real Lord; and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[29]</a></span> +immediately there is a great calm. What is +it, then, that we see? We see a miracle, and +a miracle that answers to prayer; we see the +living spirits of living men, in the hour of +their agony and their distress, appealing from +nature to the God of nature; and we have +recorded the answer of God to man's prayer. +The answer is, that God is Lord both of man +and of nature; and we say, therefore, that the +miracle, and the miracle alone, sufficiently +justifies the prayer. We say that the reason +why men may pray is, and can only be, that +they know and believe, that there is a will +which rules the visible. If you have not this +belief, then believe us that all prayer, whatever +men may say about it, is an unreality +and a miserable mockery. To what am I to +pray if I see no living God to pray to? Am +I to pray to a law? Am I to pray to a system? +Am I to pray to the winds, or to the +waves, as men prayed of old? Am I to pray +for physical blessings and deliverances? Men +tell us we are not to pray, or to give thanks, +concerning the rain or fruitful seasons, for +that science has told us that the supernatural +has no place there. Am I to pray then (for +men do tell me that I may pray) only for spiritual +and for moral gifts? Am I to pray only +to be made wise, and good, and pure, and true, +and holy? Ah! science is beginning to meet +us there, too; for she is telling us, and telling +us loudly, and telling us shamelessly, that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[30]</a></span> +here, too, there is no room, so far as she can +tell, for prayer, as our mind is but a part of +our body, and that our spiritual condition is +a necessary result of our past history and of +our present temperament—that we are what +we are by virtue of birth and education, and +country, and clime, and other things over which +we have no control. And so the very spirit of +man, all that is left of the invisible, vanishes +before the approach of science. The knife of +the anatomist lays bare, as he tells you, the secrets +of man's being; and he finds no soul—he +finds only the gray matter of the brain and the +white threads of the nerves; and this is all +that is left. Then, if we are not to pray, may +we at least praise? Men say that if it is a +folly to pray, at least it is a wisdom to praise; +and they tell us this is the sentimental theory +of the modern gospel. They tell you: "You +may not pray,—prayer has no place in our +system,—but you may praise; you may lift +up your heart in hymns of joy and gratitude +to the great Father of your being; you may +have festival and flower-crowned processions +in honor of the Supreme Being; yes, you may +in fine weather, when you are sailing over +summer seas, and the pleasant summer wind +is filling the sails of your bark, and is wafting +sweet odors from the flower-crowned shores +along which youth, and hope, and joy are passing—then +you may lift up your hearts in +thanks to the Father that gave all these, if<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[31]</a></span> +you do not forget it. But how is it in foul +weather? How is it when the sky above us +darkens, and the white crests of the waves +beneath us are swelling sharp and fierce, and +the jagged edges of the rocks are projecting +for our shipwreck, and the wild waste of the +waters is yawning below us, and we tremble +and shudder at their depths, and the wild +wind blows our prayer back into our bosoms—is +that the time to sing sentimental hymns +to our great supreme Father and Giver of all +good? It is a time (thank God, thank Christ, +for this) when the Christian, when the disciple +of Christ, may hold fast his faith and +say, "Tho he slay me, yet will I trust in him"; +but it is not a time when the deist has breath +to sing his hymns to the supreme Author of +his being. No, we believe that there is a miracle +that justifies, and alone justifies prayer. +We know that there are those (and they are +good and wise men, many of them) who contrive +nice adjustments and philosophical explanations +how prayer may be reconciled with +universal law. We do not greatly care for +these. They may be right; they may be +wrong. In some future state and higher condition +of our being we may know how far +they are true, how far they are false; but, +meanwhile, we need not be too nervously +anxious to make room for almighty God to +work His own will in His own world. We +believe in the miracle of creation; we believe<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[32]</a></span> +that there was once a voice that said, "Let +there be light, and there was light"; we believe +that at the sound of that voice the universe +leapt into life; and we believe in the +miracle of the Incarnation, when God took +human flesh and dwelt amongst men; we believe +in the miracle of the descent of the +Spirit of God, when, with the miraculous +sound of the rushing wind and the miraculous +gleam of the fire, God once more came down +to dwell amongst men; we believe in the miracles +that are written for us in this Book, +were they ten times as many as they are; we +believe that the sea has stood on one side like +a wall, and that the waters have gushed forth +from the rock; we believe that bread has been +rained from heaven; we believe that a touch +has awakened the dead—we believe all this; +and, because we believe it, we believe the voice +when it says to us, "Pray"; and because we +hear that voice still amongst us, and because +we know it to be the same voice, we say, as +we hear it, "Lord, save, or we perish."</p> + +<p>But still, in the last place, it may be +said to us: If you do believe that there +is this power of miracle amongst you still, +and that it will answer to your prayer, +why is it that we do not see more miracles +than we do? Why is not the world filled +with strange miracles every day, considering +the infinite number of men's needs, and +the infinite number of human prayers? My<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[33]</a></span> +brethren, it does seem to me that if we +were merely deists, and did not believe in +Christ, it would be difficult for us to answer +this objection. The spirit of man has, however +(thanks be to God for it), in all ages been +deeper and truer in its instincts than his mere +logical power. Even the deist (and we thankfully +acknowledge it), tho inconsistently and +illogically, yet really and truly prays. For +us Christians there is not any difficulty. +There is that difference in our prayer of +which I spoke. To whom is it that we pray? +Not merely to the invisible Lord or Creator +of the past, but to the incarnate Lord of the +present. We believe that Christ our Lord, +to whom we pray, took flesh and dwelt +amongst us, and we believe that He did so +that He might work the greatest of all miracles—the +salvation of the souls of men; and +we believe that He wrought it by dying and +by living again. We believe that He established +in the world this great and miraculous +law, that it is possible out of death to bring +life—nay, that death is the way to life. If +this be so, that by His death life was purchased +for us, then He teaches us that there +is another life than this, and that there is +another death and a deeper death than that +we fear; and He tells us, it may be, that even +by dying we shall be saved, that He will not +always save us from death—nay, that He may +save us by death. And so it comes to pass<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[34]</a></span> +that we understand how, by losing life, we +may miraculously save it; and yet, on the +other hand, by trying to save life, we may +naturally lose it. So we come to understand +this fact, how the beginning of His kingdom +was full of miracles, and how, in the history +of His kingdom, miracles have since ceased. +The kingdom began with miracles that He +might teach us that He was able to save; the +miracles ceased in order that He might work +a greater miracle. The lesser miracle of ruling +nature ceased in order that the greatest +of all miracles might perpetually be wrought—the +regeneration, the redemption, and the +glorification of the nature of man. And so we +understand that Christ our Lord, because He +is our Lord, may save us, even while we seem +to perish, and to perish in His presence. He +saved us of old by His agony and bloody +sweat, by His cross and passion; and He will +save us now, and He does save every child +of His. Through agony and sweating, +through cross and passion—through the agony +of our long nights of spiritual darkness, +through the sweat of long days of sore trouble +and labor, beneath the weight of sharp and +heavy crosses and sorrow, and through the +bitterness of spiritual or bodily passion, does +Christ our Lord still save those who cry to +Him, even while He seems to sleep and not to +hear them, as, in the bitterness of their souls, +thinking themselves Christ-forsaken, they cry,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[35]</a></span> +"Our Christ, our Christ, why hast Thou forsaken +us? Dost Thou sleep, Lord? Save us, +or we perish." And so you understand the +peculiarity, the blest and the glorious peculiarity, +of our Christian prayer. You understand +the meaning of those deep words of +Scripture—patience and the faith of the +saints. You understand how the Christian +man may pray and wait, and wait and pray +still. If prayer were always followed by a +miraculous answer, then prayer would be easy +enough; or, on the other hand, if there were +no thought of an answer, then it might be +possible, tho not easy, to submit ourselves to +the inevitable. But to pray and not to receive +an answer, and yet to believe that the very +not receiving is an answer; to cry, "Save, or +we perish," and to seem about to perish; to +believe that in what seems perishing is really +salvation; to look for the living and watchful +Christ, and to see what seems only the living +and regardless Christ, and yet to believe +that the time will come when, at His word, +there shall be a great calm—this is the patience, +this is the faith of those who worship +an incarnate Lord. And so we trace +the history of Christ's Church, and so we +strive to trace the history of our own lives. +Comparatively easy it is to trace the Church's +history along her voyage. The Church gives +time for comparing events and testing faith; +and so, believing still in the presence of her<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[36]</a></span> +living Lord, the litanies of His Church ring +out, as they have ever rung, clearly and +loudly, and high above the roar of the tempest +and the rushing of the waters, still the prayer +is heard, "Good Lord, deliver us"; and still, +again and again, as the storm sweeps by, and +the Church passes out into calmer waters, +still comes the voice of thanksgiving: "He +hath delivered us." Even in our shorter +voyage, are there none of us who can remember +times when we have knelt in agony and +wrestled in prayer with the Savior, who +seemed to have forgotten us, when the mighty +storm of temptation and the billows of calamity +seemed about to destroy us, and when we +have cried (oh, how men do cry in those +storms of the soul, in those tempests and terrors +of the heart), "Lord, save us, or we perish!" +to Him to save us, and He has seemed +to sleep and to refuse to save? But at the last +we can remember how He did reveal Himself, +not stilling the raging storm when we would +have had Him still the terrible tempest, not +sparing, it may be, the precious bark that we +had rigged, and manned, and launched ourselves +with trembling hopes and loving prayers, +and watched with eyes tearless with +agony, as we saw it about to sink before us; +and we have been led to see and believe that +the living and the loving Lord was answering +even then our prayer, for the bark has, at +length, entered that haven where we would<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[37]</a></span> +be, and where the vexed waters of our voyage +never awake a ripple on the calm depths of +its eternal peace. This has been the experience +of more than one of this great multitude +that I see. And there is another experience +that each one of you may have: it is when, in +the troubles of your own spirit, when in the +agonies of your own grief-stricken heart, when +in the depths of your own repentance, when +in the storms of your own fear and your own +doubt, you cry to Christ the Savior—when you +bring your sins as some men bring their sorrows, +as anxious to have them removed as the +others—when you cry to Christ your Savior: +"Lord, save me! Save me, a sinner! Save +me, an unprayerful man hitherto! Save me, +an unbelieving man hitherto! Save me, not +merely from the hell hereafter, but the present +storm and depth of my own sins that threaten +to destroy me! Save me, or I perish!" For, +brethren, be sure of this, sooner or later this +will be the experience of every such vexed +and terrified soul—that, after he shall have +endured, so long as his Lord sees good, the +terrifying storm and the threatening deep +that drive him in closer and closer search and +seeking after his Lord, then, at last, there will +appear the form of the Son of man, the form +of Him who hung upon the cross, that He +might for ever in the world's history work +this great and, to Him, dearest of all miracles; +and, at last, He will rebuke the winds and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[38]</a></span> +the waves in that troubled soul, and there will +be a great calm—a calm that may not last for +ever, a calm that will not last for ever, for we +have not yet reached the haven of perfect rest, +but a calm that is a foretaste of the eternal +rest. And so, praying with all our hearts to +Christ our Lord, setting our will in submission +to His will, pouring out our spirit in +prayer to His Spirit, laying bare our hearts +before His pure and loving eyes, through calm +and through storm, praying still that we suffer +not death in either, that we neither rot in the +calm nor founder in the storm, praying still +for His presence, praying still for grace to +realize that presence, crying still for that +deeper and yet deeper faith which is the result +of more and more constant experience, +crying still, "Lord, save, or we perish," wait +in patience and in faith until He shall send +His last messenger in this world, His angel +of death, and bid him for us and in His name +rebuke for the last time the winds that have +vexed us, and the waves that have terrified +us, and then with Him for ever there shall be +a great calm.</p> + +<hr class="chap" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39"> </a></span></p> + + + + +<h2>SEISS</h2> + +<h3>THE WONDERFUL TESTIMONIES</h3> + +<hr class="chap" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40"> </a></span></p> + + + + +<h4>BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE</h4> + + +<p>Joseph A. Seiss, Lutheran divine, was +born in 1823, at Graceham, Md. He received +his theological education as a private +pupil of several clergymen and was +first settled over churches at Martinsburg +and Shepherdstown, Va. In 1843 he was +transferred to Cumberland, then to Baltimore, +Md., and finally became pastor of +St. John's Church, Philadelphia, and for +twelve years was editor of "The Lutheran." +He died in 1904.</p> + +<hr class="chap" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[41]</a></span></p> + + + + +<h2>SEISS</h2> + +<h3>1823-1904</h3> + +<h4>THE WONDERFUL TESTIMONIES<a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a></h4> + +<blockquote> + +<p><em>Thy testimonies are wonderful.</em>—Psalms, cxix., 129.</p></blockquote> + + +<p>The Psalmist here addresses himself to +God. The testimonies of which he +speaks are God's testimonies. As collected +and arranged in one book, they are +known to us as the Bible. For the contents +of these holy oracles the royal singer expresses +his admiration. He pronounces them "wonderful."</p> + +<p>It was not an unworthy theme with which +he was occupied at the time, neither was it +an extravagant opinion which he uttered. It +is impossible that there should be for man a +more important subject than the communications +made to him from his God. And if ever +there was a marvelous thing submitted to +human inspection, it is this book, the holy +Bible. It lies before us like an ocean, boundless +and unfathomable,—like a Himalayan +mountain, whose summit no foot of man has +trod, and whose foundation is in the undiscovered +heart of the world. To make a full<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[42]</a></span> +survey of it is not possible in the present condition +of the human faculties. Even the inspired +Paul, when he came to look into it, +found himself gazing into profundities at +which he could do no more than exclaim, "Oh, +the depth of the riches both of the wisdom +and the knowledge of God!" And yet there +are many beautiful shells and pebbles lying +on the shore of this sea, and as many precious +flowers blooming on this mountain side, which +any one may gather, and which, whosoever +attentively contemplates, must feel himself +impelled to join the admiring exclamation, +"The testimonies of the Lord are wonderful."</p> + +<p>Let us look briefly at a few particulars by +which to verify this declaration, praying that +God may open our eyes to behold wondrous +things out of His law.</p> + + +<p>I. The testimonies of the Lord are wonderful +in age and preservation.</p> + +<p>The Bible is the oldest of books. Some portions +of it are much more recent than others, +but a large part of it has come down from the +remotest antiquity and antedates all other +writings in the world. It contains a journal +of events which transpired centuries before +the building of the Pyramids. The book of +Job existed before Cadmus carried letters into +Greece. The five books of Moses were read +in holy assemblies two hundred years before +Sanchoniathon wrote. David and Solomon +had uttered their sacred songs and prophecies<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[43]</a></span> +half a century before Homer enraptured the +Greeks with his verses or Lycurgus had given +laws to Lacedæmon. Dozens of the books of +Scripture were complete a hundred years before +the first public library was founded at +Athens; and the last of the prophets had +ended his message before Socrates, Plato, and +Aristotle had propounded their philosophies. +When the elements of society were but forming +in the womb of the far-distant past, the +Bible was there. When the foundations of +earth's present greatness were laid, it was +there. And when we go back to the very beginnings +of history, even there does its hand +lead us and its right hand uphold us.</p> + +<p>Nor is it as a mere lifeless fossil that this +book has come down to us from such remote +antiquity. Tho hoary with age, its youthful +vigor remains, and its natural force is not +abated. It has only grown fresher with age, +and strengthened with every new trial. It +has been at the births and deaths of a hundred +mighty nations, and seen empires rise, flourish, +and fall, and coexisted with the longest +lines of earthly kings, and beheld some of the +sublimest monuments of human effort come +forth and disappear, and passed a hundred +generations in reaching us; but, withal, it still +lives, in all nations, in all languages, the most +precious legacy of departed ages, and the only +thing that remains to us from some of them. +Tho it has encountered many a fierce conflict<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[44]</a></span> +with the hate of men and the spite of +devils,—tho the object of many a concerted +scheme to blot it from the earth,—tho +often held up to ridicule, with "gigantic +apes like Voltaire chattering at it, +men of genius turned by some Circean spell +into swine, like Mirabeau and Paine, casting +filth at it, demoniacs whom it had half rescued +and half inspired, like Rousseau, making +mouths in its face," and all the varied passions +of unsanctified men continually arrayed +against it,—it still holds its place as the +most uncorrupt and authentic of histories, +the most august and controlling of records, the +most universal, venerable, and potent of books, +imagining in its very history the stupendous +majesty of the God whom it reveals.</p> + + +<p>II. The testimonies of the Lord are wonderful +in their authorship.</p> + +<p>They are not of man, but of God. We can +not now refer to the varied and multitudinous +considerations which enter into the proofs of +this. It is capable, however, of being established +by the very highest moral evidences. +The wisest and best men of every age have +concurred in receiving the Scriptures as from +God. And it is not possible to give a rational +account of their origin, and the source of their +contents, without ascribing them to the divine +authorship which they claim.</p> + +<p>It may seem strange that the infinite God +should condescend to put His great thoughts<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[45]</a></span> +into the poor language of mortals, to communicate +with creatures so dull and stupid +as the sons of men; but this He has done. +Portions of the Scriptures are made up of the +very words of God, articulated by Himself +in the hearing of men commissioned to declare +them. One chapter, which embodies the moral +essence of all the rest, was engraven by His +own finger upon tables of rock, and delivered +to Moses all ready formed and set in the alphabetic +signs employed by men. Other +parts consist of communications of celestial +messengers sent directly from heaven's throne +to declare God's will and purposes to the +dwellers upon earth. A still larger portion +was taken down as it fell from the lips of One +in whom God had incarnated Himself, and +whose every word and act in this world was +a revelation from the unknown Deity. Even +those parts which were written by men were +produced by mysterious motion and illumination +of the Holy Ghost,—by inspiration of +God. Indeed, the whole book is a literary +aerolite, all the characteristics of which are +unearthly, and whose own superior attributes +are so many demonstrations of its superhuman +source. Its very address is so far above that of +man, that no mortal, unprompted, could ever +have risen to it. Its subjects are all treated +after an unearthly manner. Every leaf of it +bears the sunlight of some higher sphere. Every +page has on it the imprimatur of God. And<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[46]</a></span> +all its words are instinct with divine fires, +flashing the admonition upon every reader, +"Put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the +place whereon thou standest is holy ground." +They that look upon it look upon expressions +of the eternal Spirit. They that rightly take +its lessons drink in living emanations from unsearchable +Godhead. It is the abiding miracle +of <em>rapport</em> with the Mind which projected, +upholds, and governs the universe. It is the +Word of God.</p> + + +<p>III. The testimonies of the Lord are wonderful +in their originality and instructiveness.</p> + +<p>The Bible depends upon no discoveries of +man, and leans upon no other books. If it +says some things which may be learned elsewhere, +its utterances are always independent +and peculiarly its own. The world through +which it ranges is much wider than that of +man's thoughts. It goes back to a remoter +antiquity; it takes in a broader space; it extends +to a vaster future; it introduces to sublimer +spheres and forms of being; and it exhibits +a much profounder wisdom. It opens +arcana of which no earthly powers ever +dreamed, and is at home in regions where the +sublimest imaginings of man had hardly extended +a guess. On all the great questions +of theology, life, death, and futurity, it speaks +with a familiarity, comprehensiveness, and +propriety which at once command our confidence<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[47]</a></span> +and satisfy our hearts. What it +touches, it touches with a master's hand. It +never speaks without pregnant meaning in +all its words. And there is nothing in human +science, poetry, or tradition which it does not +exceed in knowledge, wisdom, and real value.</p> + +<p>In its account of the creation, and the origin +of things, there is nothing to compare with +it. In all the historians, philosophers, and +secular authors,-the books of Zoroaster, the +records of PhÅ“nicia and Egypt, the Dialogues +of Plato and Lucian, the annals of China, +the treatises of Plutarch, the Shastras of +India, the Edda of Scandinavia, and all the +schemes that have ever been given in explanation +of the earth's primal history,—there is +nothing so natural, so magnificent, so simple, +so appropriate, so reliable, so satisfactory, as +the first chapter of Genesis. Nor have all the +discoveries of modern geology brought forward +anything to convict Moses of a false +cosmogony. If it is a truth that the history +of the earth's formation runs back through +uncounted ages, he leaves an interval for it, +between "the beginning" and the period +when God caused light to appear upon its +dark and misty surface. If it is true that +vast eras have been traversed by each separate +order of living things, one after the other, we +find precisely the same succession in the +Mosaic account which is found preserved in +the different layers of the earth's crust. And<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[48]</a></span> +if it be true that there was life upon our world +ages and cycles of ages before the period noted +in Genesis as that in which man was created, +it is also true that no traces of human existence +are found except in the most recent deposits. +A certain stonemason of the village +of Cromartie, with sledge and chisel, himself +delved through every formation, from the surface-mold +down through the old red sandstone +to the Silurian, gneiss, and granite, and, +having mastered all that is known concerning +each, has written it down as the result of his +marvelous explorations, that the truthfulness +of the Mosaic record is engraven upon the +rocks forever.</p> + +<p>And so in every department of science the +Bible is always true to nature, and has invariably +been in advance of all human investigations +and discoveries. How many +thousands of years have metaphysicians and +psychologists been at work to map out, classify, +and gauge the various capacities and +powers of the human mind and soul! But +they have found no way of approach to the +heart so masterly and effective as that taken +by the Scriptures; and the more that is known +of the nature of the man, the more clearly is it +seen that the Bible comprehended it from the +commencement. It has been but a few years +since Newton laid open the laws of gravitation; +and yet the Scriptures spoke of the earth +being hung "upon nothing," as if familiar<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[49]</a></span> +with the whole subject, before human science +had begun to form even its feeblest guesses in +the case. It has only been since the invention +of the telescope enabled men to search through +the starry spaces that Sir John Herschel has +discovered in the northern sky a peculiar barrenness; +but more than three thousand years +ago Job told Bildad the Shuhite that "God +stretched out the north over the empty place." +It has been but a few years since science discovered +"that the sun is not the dead center +of motion, around which comets sweep and +planets whirl," but that "the earth and sun, +with their splendid retinue of comets, satellites, +and planets, are all in motion around +some point or center of attraction inconceivably +remote, and that that point is in the direction +of the star Alcyone, one of the Pleiades"; +which would hence seem to be "the +midnight throne" in which the whole system +of gravitation has its central seat and from +which all material orbs are governed. But +the Bible asked the question, more than thirty +centuries ago, "Canst thou bind the sweet influences +of Pleiades?" as if the speaker knew +all about the facts in the case. How long has +it been since the doctrine of the rotundity of +the earth has been settled by scientific men? +yet the Psalmist spoke of "the round world"; +and Solomon described in brief the true theory +of wind-currents, and strongly hinted the circulation +of the blood, at least twenty-five<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[50]</a></span> +hundred years ago. And, with all the advances +of knowledge which have so wonderfully +marked the last three hundred years, in +which the spirit of philosophic inquiry has +ranged the universe, searched heaven, earth, +and sea, knocked at every door, peered into +every recess, consulted every oracle of nature, +and gathered trophies of power and treasures +of wisdom and sublimities of knowledge at +which the world has been amazed,—in all the +motions which the experimentist has traced, in +all the principles of power which the master +of physics has discovered, in all the combinations +which the chemist has detected, in all +the forms which the naturalist has recorded, +in all the spiritual phenomena which the metaphysician +has described, and in all the conditions +and relations of mind or matter, past +or present, which human research has found +out,—there has not come to light one truth +to contradict these holy records, or to require +the relinquishment or change of one word in +all the great volume of Scripture.</p> + + +<p>IV. The testimonies of the Lord are wonderful +in beauty and literary excellence.</p> + +<p>The Bible is a casket of jewelry of the richest +hues and the most exquisite workmanship. +Sir William Jones, that great Orientalist and +scholar, has said, "I have regularly and attentively +perused these Holy Scriptures, and +am of the opinion that this volume, independently +of its divine origin, contains more<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[51]</a></span> +true sublimity, more exquisite beauty, more +pure morality, more important history, and +finer strains of poetry and eloquence, than +can be collected from all other books, in whatever +age or language they may have been written." +Even Rousseau wrote, "The majesty of +the Scriptures strikes me with admiration. +The works of our philosophers, with all their +pomp of diction, how mean, how contemptible, +in comparison with them!"</p> + +<p>Nor does it matter much what part of the +Scriptures we take, or in what department of +rhetoric we test them. Whether it be history +or prophecy, the Old Testament or the +New, narrative or description, poetry or prose, +the same characteristics are to be seen. Moses +is as pure and simple as Adam and Eve in +Paradise, and yet as majestic and grand as +that great creation which he describes. Job +contains a drama which is without a +parallel,—a drama of facts in which heaven +and earth, visible and invisible, with all +their wonderful interpenetrations, are set +out in their connection with a suffering saint +upon his couch, and in which the spirit of earnest +inquiry urges itself forward until everything +comes forth to declare the majesty of +God, and all the might and goodness of man +lies prostrate before Him who "bringeth forth +Mazzaroth in his season" and speaketh comfortably +to them that trust in Him. Under +the leadership of David's muse, we pass<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[52]</a></span> +through varied scenes of beauty and grandeur,—pastures +and glens, still waters and roaring +floods, dismal swamps and silent wildernesses, +forests crashing with the lightnings of God +and tempests that convulse the seas, the smoke +and fury of battle and the shoutings of glad +multitudes, by dells of lonely sorrow and +along the starry archways of the sky,—until +at length we take our places in a temple high +as heaven and wide as space, with all objects +of creation as living worshipers around us, +each with its separate hymn of grateful joy, +blending in one almighty adoration. Isaiah +rises upon us like some "mighty orb of song," +whose rays are streaming minstrelsies, that +have thrilled upon the hearts of men for seventy +generations, and which must needs thrill +on, unrivaled in their kind, while earth and +time endure. Ezekiel is a very comet of fire, +flaming his impetuous way across the heavens, +and, like the living spirits in his own first +vision, going and returning as a flash of lightning. +And throughout,—the Evangelists +with their simple story of Jesus, and Paul in +his epistles and orations, and John in his +loving letters and apocalyptic visions,—from +the first words, "In the beginning," onward +to the last "amen," we find variety, beauty, +pathos, dignity, sweetness, magnificence, and +glory, such as are contained in no other composition. +Here are the sublimest heights and +the profoundest depths, and all the gradations<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[53]</a></span> +from the one to the other. From the worm +that grovels in the dust, to the leviathan in +the foaming deep, and the supreme archangel, +and the eternal God; from the hyssop on the +wall, to the cedars of Lebanon, and the healing +trees which shade life's eternal river; +from the pearl-drops which trickle from the +mountain rock, to the noise of dashing torrents, +and the wide waters of the deluge; from +the glowworm under the thorn, to the sun in +the heavens, and the great Father of Lights; +from the lone pilgrim to the triumphing host, +and the gathering multitude which no man +can number; from the deepest sorrows of the +lost, to the probation scenes of earth and the +seraphic visions of the blest,—there is nothing +known to mortals which God hath not brought +into requisition to intensify and adorn the +precious book which He has given to men. As +an eloquent preacher beyond the sea remarks, +"He has filled it with marvelous incident +and engaging history, with sunny pictures +from Old-World scenery and affecting anecdotes +from patriarchal times. He has replenished +it with stately argument and +thrilling verse, and sprinkled it over with +sententious wisdom and proverbial pungency. +It has the gracefulness of high utility; it has +the majesty of intrinsic power; it has the +charm of its own sanctity: it never labors, +never strives, but, instinct with great realities +and bent on blessed ends, has all the translucent<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[54]</a></span> +beauty and unstudied power which you +might expect from its lofty object and all-wise +Author."</p> + +<p>Some call these Scriptures dull and uninviting; +but there is no book in being with so +many real attractions. There is no classic equal +to it,—no historian like Moses, no poet like +Job or Isaiah, no singer like David, no orator +like Paul, no character like Jesus, and no +revelation of God or nature like that which +these venerable pages give. Not without reason +has Sir Thomas Browne said, "Were it of +man, I could not choose but say it was the singularest +and superlative piece that hath been +extant since the creation. Were I a pagan, I +should not refrain the lecture of it, and can +not but commend the judgment of Ptolemy, +that thought not his library complete without +it."</p> + + +<p>V. The testimonies of the Lord are wonderful +in their influences and effects.</p> + +<p>The Bible has been, for three thousand +years, one of the greatest potencies on earth. +It has been, and is to this moment, a greater +power than Rome, or Greece, or Babylon ever +was. Though it has not conquered the world, +it has advanced further towards it than Alexander +ever did. It has done more to govern +and renew the human heart than all the laws +enacted by legislators, and all the maxims devised +by uninspired sages, and all the lessons, +apart from itself, that were ever given to the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[55]</a></span> +race. It is the chief stay of a society which +for a thousand years has been the most widespread, +the most important, and the most powerful +association on the earth. It has controlled +the religious opinions of a large part +of mankind for nearly forty centuries. It +has molded characters and directed the efforts +of men whose lives and labors introduced +new eras and shaped the destinies of nations +and turned the course of the world's entire +history. It has begotten and fostered the +purest virtue, the sublimest manhood, the +noblest beneficence, the sincerest charity, the +tenderest kindness, and all the blessed saintship, +that have ever been upon earth.</p> + +<p>Its vast influence upon the welfare of nations +may be estimated in part from the +bloody codes, and infamous administrations, +and social degradations, and far-reaching +wretchedness, of those countries where it is +rejected or unknown, contrasted with the +blessedness and peace of those who have received +it. It was the great Milton who said, +"There are no politics like those which the +Scriptures teach"; and in proof we need only +look at Judea when it knew no laws but those +which this book contains. How smooth and +steady were the wheels of public justice, and +how beautiful was the flow of national peace, +in those golden days of the old Hebrew commonwealth! +How did the joyous vines, and +fields of waving ears, and gold of Ophir, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[56]</a></span> +flocks and cattle abiding on a thousand hills, +and cities full of peace and plenty, proclaim +abroad the wealth and blessedness of that +goodly land! How did the voice of singing +and the fragrance of virtue linger round each +habitation, and the sacrifices of praise crowd +all the temple's courts from tribes rejoicing +in the smiles of God!</p> + +<p>In the sphere of learning and thought-creations, +also, the influence of the Bible is +equally marked and wonderful. It is to the +world of letters what the sun is to the solar +system, the fountain of the purest light and +brightest wisdom. It has produced more +books than any other one thing in existence. +It has fostered learning when there was no +other stimulation to its cultivation felt. Even +the heathen classics owe their preservation to +it. As a book written in other times, places, +and languages, it has called forth the most +laboriously compiled lexicons, grammars, and +works on archeology by which the world of +the present communes with the world of the +past. As a book claiming the faith and obedience +of men, it has created a world of learned +apology, comment, and exposition, and some +of the noblest specimens of argument, eloquence, +and appeal which are known to man. +And, simply as a book among books, it has +wrought wondrously upon the thoughts and +productions of authors of all classes. The +Visions of Dante are largely drawn from it.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[57]</a></span> +Every canto of the Faerie Queene bears the +impress of its influence. Milton's matchless +songs of Paradise are from an inspiration +which the Bible alone could give. From the +same source came the immortal dream of Bunyan, +the Pauline reasonings of Barrow, the +flaming zeal of Richard Baxter, the "molten +wealth" and "lava of gold and gems" which +poured down "the russet steep of Puritan +theology," the songs of Cowper, and +"Thoughts" of Young, and visions of Pollok, +and mighty eloquence of the Luthers, the +Knoxes, the Massillons, the Whitefields, and +the Halls. Addison, and Thomson, and +Burke, and Dryden, and Wordsworth, and +Coleridge, and Southey, and Campbell, and +Goethe, all are vastly indebted to the Scriptures +for whatever excellences are found in +their works. Shakespeare drew largely from +this same precious mine, and also even Hobbes, +and Shelley, and Byron. That prince of modern +orators, Daniel Webster, once said, "If +there be anything in my style or thoughts +to be commended, the credit is due to my kind +parents in instilling into my mind an early +love of the Scriptures." Indeed, if we were +to destroy the Bible, and take from the world +of literature and thought all that it has contributed +directly or indirectly, half the history +of the race would be swept out of mind, +the noblest ideas that have swelled man's +heart would be gone, some of the proudest<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[58]</a></span> +monuments of human genius would be buried +in oblivion, and thick darkness would settle +down upon the world forever.</p> + + +<p>VI. The testimonies of the Lord are wonderful +as a fountain of consolation, hope and +salvation.</p> + +<p>The Bible to all its other excellences adds +this, that it is the Book of Life. It is not +only a basket of silver network, but it contains +apples of gold. It is the record of glad tidings +to a perishing world, a message of joy +to all people. In it, Wisdom hath mingled +her wine, and slain her fatlings, and furnished +her table, and calls all the hungry and needy +to come and partake. The entrance of its +words giveth light and imparteth understanding +to the simple, and maketh wise unto salvation. +It is a balm from Gilead for the sick, +oil for the bruises of the wounded, reprieve +for the prison-bound, and bread for them that +are ready to perish. Its different books are +but so many angels of mercy, carrying contentment +into the abodes of poverty, enabling +even the children of want to lift up their +eyes to God who ordereth all things well, and +to eat their scanty meals in peace; staying the +hearts of the persecuted and opprest, causing +them to rejoice and sing under the yoke, +at the stake, and in the hottest of the fires, +as on their passage-way to crowns immortal +in the world to come; calming the minds of +the fevered, mollifying where all earthly<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[59]</a></span> +medicines fail, and kindling glad hopes of +recompense yet to be revealed; lighting up +comforts in the breasts of those that mourn for +their dead, and assuring them of blessed reunions +in a better life; and kindling even the +dying eye and inspiring the dying heart with +thoughts of speedy triumph, causing lips already +closed for death to open once more in +utterances of victory.</p> + +<p>We may talk of the venerable age of the +Bible, and its scientific accuracy, and its +literary beauty and sublimity, and its wonderful +influences upon the ideas, laws, governments, +and general order of society and mankind; +but it is all nothing in comparison with +the spiritual good and immortal hopes and +consolations which it begets in those who receive +it as a message from their God. Are we +voyagers upon a troubled and a dangerous +sea? Here is a chart by which to steer in +safety to the happy shores. Are we soldiers, +beset with foes and required to endure the +shocks of battle? This is an armory from +which all needed weapons may be drawn at +will, and by the right use of which we may +hew our way to immortal triumph. Are we +pilgrims and strangers, worn and weary in +our search for the home from which we are +exiles? In this book gush out the pure, fresh +waters of life, the cooling shades from the +Rock of salvation appear, and the guiding +word is heard from pilgrims in advance, to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[60]</a></span> +cheer and encourage us till we reach the mansion +of our Father. Indeed, it is beyond the +power of language to express the excellency +and richness of spiritual treasure which we +have in this holy Book. It is the miraculous +cruse of the Shunamitess which never exhausts. +It is the wand of Moses which +swallows the serpents of life, and parts the +sea of trouble, and brings forth waters in +the thirsty wilderness. It is the ladder of +Jacob on which our spirits ascend to commune +with God and angels. It is the telescope +of faith by which we look on things invisible, +survey even the third heavens, and +have present to our view what is to be in after-ages. +It is the chariot of Elijah in which to +ride up the starry way to immortality unhurt +of death. It is the channel of the almighty +Spirit as it goes forth for the sanctification of +the race,—the very gulf-stream of eternal life +as it pours out for the resuscitation of our +wilted and decaying world.</p> + +<p>Allusion has been made to the dreadful +eclipse it would be to the world of letters and +thought, for the Bible, and what it has done +for man, to be blotted out. But that were +nothing to the moral and spiritual night that +would go along with such a calamity. Besides +carrying away with it a vast proportion of +the intellectual and moral life of the last +eighteen centuries, it would silence every +preacher of salvation, and abolish at once his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[61]</a></span> +office and his text. It would stop every work +of mercy and plan of philanthropy in the +world.</p> + +<p>It would transmute into a lie all our fond +anticipations of the return of Jesus to renew +the world, restore our dead, complete +our salvation, and bring us to an eternal +heaven. It would hush forever the glad +tidings with which men have comforted themselves +for these many weary ages. It would +put out the mother's hopes of her dead babes, +quench the wife's fond desires for her husband's +everlasting peace, destroy the widow's +consolation as she lingers by the grave of her +buried love, and extinguish the matron's last +comfort as she trembles on the verge of eternity.</p> + +<p>It would take with it all the reliefs and +blessedness which prayer in the name of Jesus +gives, and leave the sinner without pardon in +the extremities of life. It would take away +the last appeal of the slave against his oppressor, +remove the last check of tyranny, and +lift from the wicked hearts of men the last +restraints, giving carnival to every lust and +play to every passion, without correction, +without limit, and without end!</p> + +<p>We stagger, and are horrified, at the mere +idea of the loss that would be inflicted. Chills +run down our pulses at the contemplation of +the despair and wretchedness which would +ensue.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[62]</a></span></p> + +<p>Let us, then, learn to value the possession of +such a precious book. Let us bind it to our +hearts as our chief treasure in this sin-darkened +world. And, whilst we admire its +beauty and revere its mysteries, let us abide +by its precepts, and, as far as in us lies, practise +its sacred mandates.</p> + +<hr class="chap" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63"> </a></span></p> + + + + +<h2>MACLAREN</h2> + +<h3>THE PATTERN OF SERVICE</h3> + +<hr class="chap" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64"> </a></span></p> + + + + +<h4>BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE</h4> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Alexander Maclaren</span> was born in 1826, +educated at Glasgow University, for +twelve years preached at Southampton, +and afterwards for many years in Manchester. +Besides an impressive face and +figure he brought to the pulpit a ripe +scholarship, an almost perfect English +style, and an uncommonly vigorous personality. +The keynote of his life and +character is disclosed in his own words, +uttered in Manchester:</p> + +<p>"I have been so convinced that I was +best serving all the varied social, economical, +and political interests that are dear to +me by preaching what I conceived to be +the gospel of Jesus Christ, that I have +limited myself to that work. I am sure, +with a growing conviction day by day, +that so we Christian ministers best serve +our generation. My work, whatever +yours may be, is, and has been for thirty-eight +years, and I hope will be for a little +while longer yet, to preach Jesus Christ +as the King of England and the Lord of +all our communities, and the Savior and +friend of the individual soul."</p> + +<hr class="chap" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[65]</a></span></p> + + + + +<h2>MACLAREN</h2> + +<h3><span class="smcap">Born in 1826</span></h3> + +<h4>THE PATTERN OF SERVICE<a name="FNanchor_2_2" id="FNanchor_2_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a></h4> + +<blockquote> + +<p><em>He touched his tongue; and looking up to heaven, He +sighed, and saith, Ephphatha, that is, Be opened.</em>—Mark +vii., 33, 34.</p></blockquote> + + +<p>For what reason was there this unwonted +slowness in Christ's healing works? +For what reason was there this unusual +emotion ere He spoke the word which +cleansed?</p> + +<p>As to the former question, a partial answer +may perhaps be that our Lord is here on half-heathen +ground, where aids to faith were +much needed, and His power had to be veiled +that it might be beheld. Hence the miracle +is a process rather than an act; and, advancing +as it does by distinct stages, is conformed +in appearance to men's works of mercy, which +have to adapt means to ends, and creep to +their goal by persevering toil. As to the latter, +we know not why the sight of this one poor +sufferer should have struck so strongly on the +ever-tremulous chords of Christ's pitying +heart; but we do know that it was the vision<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[66]</a></span> +brought before His spirit by this single instance +of the world's griefs and sicknesses, in +which mass, however, the special case before +Him was by no means lost, that raised His +eyes to heaven in mute appeal, and forced the +groan from His breast.</p> + +<p>The missionary spirit is but one aspect of +the Christian spirit. We shall only strengthen +the former as we invigorate the latter. Harm +has been done, both to ourselves and to this +great cause, by seeking to stimulate compassion +and efforts for heathen lands by the use +of other excitements, which have tended to +vitiate even the emotions they have aroused, +and are apt to fail us when we need them +most. It may therefore be profitable if we +turn to Christ's own manner of working, and +His own emotions in His merciful deeds, set +forth in this remarkable narrative, as containing +lessons for us in our missionary and +evangelistic work. I must necessarily omit +more than a passing reference to the slow +process of healing which this miracle exhibits. +But that, too, has its teaching for us, who are +so often tempted to think ourselves badly +used, unless the fruit of our toil grows up, +like Jonah's gourd, before our eyes. If our +Lord was content to reach His end of blessing +step by step, we may well accept patient +continuance in well-doing as the condition indispensable +to reaping in due season.</p> + +<p>But there are other thoughts still more<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[67]</a></span> +needful which suggest themselves. Those minute +details which this evangelist ever delights +to give of our Lord's gestures, words, looks, +and emotions, not only add graphic force to +the narrative, but are precious glimpses of the +very heart of Christ. That fixed gaze into +heaven, that groan which neither the glories +seen above nor the conscious power to heal +could stifle, that most gentle touch, as if removing +material obstacles from the deaf ears, +and moistening the stiff tongue that it might +move more freely in the parched mouth, that +word of authority which could not be wanting +even when His working seemed likest a +servant's, do surely carry large lessons for +us. The condition of all service, the cost of +feeling at which our work must be done, the +need that the helpers should identify themselves +with the sufferers, and the victorious +power of Christ's word over all deaf ears—these +are the thoughts which I desire to connect +with our text, and to commend to your +meditation to-day.</p> + +<p>We have here set forth the foundation and +condition of all true work for God in the +Lord's heavenward look.</p> + +<p>The profound questions which are involved +in the fact that, as man, Christ held communion +with God in the exercise of faith and +aspiration, the same in kind as ours, do not +concern us here. I speak to those who believe +that Jesus is for us the perfect example of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[68]</a></span> +complete manhood, and who therefore believe +that He is "the leader of faith," the head of +the long procession of those who in every age +have trusted in God and been lightened. But, +perhaps, tho that conviction holds its place +in our creeds, it has not been as completely +incorporated with our thoughts as it should +have been. There has, no doubt, been a tendency, +operating in much of our evangelical +teaching, and in the common stream of orthodox +opinion, to except, half unconsciously, the +exercises of the religious life from the sphere +of Christ's example, and we need to be reminded +that Scripture presents His vow, "I +will put my trust in Him," as the crowning +proof of His brotherhood, and that the prints +of His kneeling limbs have left their impressions +where we kneel before the throne. True, +the relation of the Son to the Father involves +more than communion—namely, unity. But +if we follow the teaching of the Bible, we shall +not presume that the latter excludes the former, +but understand that the unity is the +foundation of perfect communion, and the +communion the manifestation, so far as it can +be manifested, of the unspeakable unity. The +solemn words which shine like stars—starlike +in that their height above us shrinks their +magnitude and dims their brightness, and in +that they are points of radiance partially disclosing, +and separated by, abysses of unlighted +infinitude—tell us that in the order of eternity,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[69]</a></span> +before creatures were, there was communion, +for "the Word was with God," and +there was unity, for "the Word was God." +And in the records of the life manifested on +earth the consciousness of unity loftily utters +itself in the unfathomable declaration, "I and +my Father are one"; whilst the consciousness +of communion, dependent like ours on harmony +of will and true obedience, breathes +peacefully in the witness which He leaves to +Himself: "The Father has not left me alone +for I do always the things that please him."</p> + +<p>We are fully warranted in supposing that +that wistful gaze to heaven means, and may +be taken to symbolize, our Lord's conscious +direction of thought and spirit to God as He +wrought His work of mercy. There are two +distinctions to be noted between His communion +with God and ours before we can apply +the lesson to ourselves. His heavenward look +was not the renewal of interrupted fellowship, +but rather, as a man standing firmly on firm +rock may yet lift his foot to plant it again +where it was before, and settle himself in his +attitude before he strikes with all his might; +so we may say Christ fixes Himself where He +always stood, and grasps anew the hand that +He always held, before He does the deed of +power. The communion that had never been +broken was renewed; how much more the need +that in our work for God the renewal of the—alas! +too sadly sundered—fellowship should<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[70]</a></span> +ever precede and always accompany our efforts! +And again, Christ's fellowship was +with the Father. Ours must be with the +Father through the Son. The communion to +which we are called is with Jesus Christ, in +whom we find God.</p> + +<p>The manner of that intercourse, and the +various discipline of ourselves with a view to +its perfecting, which Christian prudence prescribes, +need not concern us here. As for the +latter, let us not forget that a wholesome and +wide-reaching self-denial cannot be dispensed +with. Hands that are full of gilded toys and +glass beads cannot grasp durable riches, and +eyes that have been accustomed to glaring +lights see only darkness when they look up +to the violet heaven with all its stars. As to +the former, every part of our nature above +the simply animal is capable of God, and the +communion ought to include our whole being.</p> + +<p>Christ is truth for the understanding, authority +for the will, love for the heart, certainty +for the hope, fruition for all the desires, +and for the conscience at once cleansing +and law. Fellowship with Him is no indolent +passiveness, nor the luxurious exercise of certain +emotions, but the contact of the whole +nature with its sole adequate object and rightful +Lord.</p> + +<p>Such intercourse, brethren, lies at the foundation +of all work for God. It is the condition +of all our power. It is the measure of all<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[71]</a></span> +our success. Without it we may seem to realize +the externals of prosperity, but it will be +all illusion. With it we may perchance seem +to spend our strength for naught; but heaven +has its surprizes; and those who toiled, nor +left their hold of their Lord in all their work, +will have to say at last with wonder, as they +see the results of their poor efforts, "Who +hath begotten me these? behold, I was left +alone; these, where had they been?"</p> + +<p>Consider in few words the manifold ways +in which the indispensable prerequisite of all +right effort for Christ may be shown to be +communion with Christ.</p> + +<p>The heavenward look is the renewal of our +own vision of the calm verities in which we +trust, the recourse for ourselves to the realities +which we desire that others should see. +And what is equal in persuasive power to +the simple utterance of your own intense conviction? +He only will infuse his own religion +into other minds, whose religion is not a set +of hard dogmas, but is fused by the heat of +personal experience into a river of living fire. +It will flow then, not otherwise. The only +claim which the hearts of men will listen to, +in those who would win them to spiritual beliefs, +is that ancient one: "That which we +have seen with our eyes, which we have looked +upon, declare we unto you." Mightier than +all arguments, than all "proofs of the truth +of the Christian religion," and penetrating<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[72]</a></span> +into a sphere deeper than that of the understanding, +is the simple proclamation, "We +have found the Messias." If we would give +sight to the blind, we must ourselves be gazing +into heaven. Only when we testify of +that which we see, as one might who, standing +in a beleaguered city, discerned on the horizon +the filmy dust-cloud through which the spear-heads +of the deliverers flashed at intervals, +shall we win any to gaze with us till they too +behold and know themselves set free.</p> + +<p>Christ has set us the example. Let our +prayers ascend as His did, and in our measure +the answers which came to Him will not fail +us. For us, too, "praying, the heavens" shall +be "opened," and the peace-bringing spirit +fall dove-like on our meek hearts. For us, +too, when the shadow of our cross lies black +and gaunt upon our paths, and our souls are +troubled, communion with heaven will bring +the assurance, audible to our ears at least, +that God will glorify Himself even in us. If, +after many a weary day, we seek to hold fellowship +with God as He sought it on the +Mount of Olives, or among the solitudes of +the midnight hills, or out in the morning +freshness of the silent wilderness, like Him +we shall have men gathering around us to +hear us speak when we come forth from the +secret place of the Most High. If our prayer, +like His, goes before our mighty deeds, the +voice that first pierced the skies will penetrate<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[73]</a></span> +the tomb, and make the dead stir in their +grave-clothes. If our longing, trustful look is +turned to the heavens, we shall not speak in +vain on earth when we say, "Be opened."</p> + +<p>Brethren, we cannot do without the communion +which our Master needed. Do we delight +in what strengthened Him? Does our +work rest upon the basis of inward fellowship +with God which underlay His? Alas! that +our pattern should be our rebuke, and the +readiest way to force home our faults on our +consciences should be the contemplation of +the life which we say that we try to copy!</p> + +<p>We have here pity for the evils we would +remove set forth by the Lord's sigh.</p> + +<p>What was it that drew that sigh from the +heart of Jesus? One poor man stood before +Him, by no means the most sorely afflicted +of the many wretched ones whom He healed. +But He saw in him more than a solitary instance +of physical infirmities. Did there not +roll darkly before His thoughts that whole +weltering sea of sorrow that moans round the +world, of which here is but one drop that He +could dry up? Did there not rise black and +solid against the clear blue, to which He had +been looking, the mass of man's sin, of which +these bodily infirmities were but a poor symbol +as well as a consequence? He saw as none +but He could bear to see, the miserable realities +of human life. His knowledge of all that +man might be, of all that the most of men<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[74]</a></span> +were becoming, His power of contemplating +in one awful aggregate the entire sum of sorrows +and sins, laid upon His heart a burden +which none but He has ever endured. His +communion with Heaven deepened the dark +shadow on earth, and the eyes that looked up +to God and saw Him could not but see foulness +where others suspected none, and murderous +messengers of hell walking in darkness +unpenetrated by mortal sight. And all that +pain of clearer knowledge of the sorrowfulness +of sorrow, and the sinfulness of sin, was +laid upon a heart in which was no selfishness +to blunt the sharp edge of the pain nor any +sin to stagnate the pity that flowed from the +wound. To Jesus Christ, life was a daily +martyrdom before death had "made the sacrifice +complete," and He bore our griefs, and +carried our sorrows through many a weary +hour before He "bare them in his own body +on the tree." Therefore, "Bear ye one another's +burden, and so fulfil the law" which +Christ obeyed, becomes a command for all +who would draw men to Him. And true sorrow, +a sharp and real sense of pain, becomes +indispensable as preparation for, and accompaniment +to, our work.</p> + +<p>Mark how in us, as in our Lord, the sigh +of compassion is connected with the look to +heaven. It follows upon that gaze. The evils +are more real, more terrible, by their startling +contrast with the unshadowed light which<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[75]</a></span> +lives above cloudracks and mists. It is a sharp +shock to turn from the free sweep of the +heavens, starry and radiant, to the sights that +meet us in "this dim spot which men call +earth." Thus habitual communion with God +is the root of the truest and purest compassion. +It does not withdraw us from our fellow +feeling with our brethren, it cultivates no +isolation for undisturbed beholding of God. +It at once supplies a standard by which to +measure the greatness of man's godlessness, +and therefore of his gloom, and a motive for +laying the pain of these upon our hearts, as +if they were our own. He has looked into +the heavens to little purpose who has not +learned how bad and how sad the world now +is, and how God bends over it in pitying love.</p> + +<p>And that same fellowship, which will clear +our eyes and soften our hearts, is also the one +consolation which we have when our sense of +all the ills that flesh is heir to becomes deep, +near to despair. When one thinks of the real +facts of human life, and tries to conceive of +the frightful meanness and passion and hate +and wretchedness, that has been howling and +shrieking and gibbering and groaning through +dreary millenniums, one's brain reels, and +hope seems to be absurdity, and joy a sin +against our fellows, as a feast would be in a +house next door to where was a funeral. I +do not wonder at settled sorrow falling upon +men of vivid imagination, keen moral sense,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[76]</a></span> +and ordinary sensitiveness, when they brood +long on the world as it is. But I do wonder +at the superficial optimism which goes on with +its little prophecies about human progress, +and its rose-colored pictures of human life, +and sees nothing to strike it dumb for ever in +men's writhing miseries, blank failures, and +hopeless end. Ah! brethren, if it were not +for the heavenward look, how could we bear +the sight of earth! "We see not yet all things +put under him." No, God knows, far enough +off from that. Man's folly, man's submission +to the creatures he should rule, man's agonies, +and man's transgression, are a grim contrast +to the psalmist's vision. If we had only earth +to look to, despair of the race, exprest in settled +melancholy apathy, or in fierce cynicism, +were the wisest attitude. But there is more +within our view than earth; "we see Jesus"; +we look to the heaven, and as we behold the +true man, we see more than ever, indeed, how +far from that pattern we all are; but we can +bear the thought of what men as yet have +been, when we see that perfect example of +what men shall be. The root and the consolation +of our sorrow for man's evils is communion +with God.</p> + +<p>We have here loving contact with those +whom we would help, set forth in the Lord's +touch.</p> + +<p>The reasons for the variety observable in +Christ's method of communicating supernatural<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[77]</a></span> +blessing were, probably, too closely connected +with unrecorded differences in the spiritual +conditions of the recipients to be distinctly +traceable by us. But tho we cannot +tell why a particular method was employed +in a given case, why now a word, and now a +symbolic action, now the touch of His hand, +and now the hem of His garment, appeared +to be the vehicles of His power, we can discern +the significance of these divers ways, and learn +great lessons from them all.</p> + +<p>His touch was sometimes obviously the result +of what one may venture to call instinctive +tenderness, as when He lifted the little +children in His arms and laid His hands upon +their heads. It was, I suppose, always the +spontaneous expression of love and compassion, +even when it was something more.</p> + +<p>The touch of His hand on the ghastly glossiness +of the leper's skin was, no doubt, His +assertion of priestly functions, and of elevation +above all laws of defilement; but what +was it to the poor outcast, who for years had +never felt the warm contact of flesh and +blood? It always indicated that He Himself +was the source of healing and life. It always +exprest His identification of Himself with sorrow +and sickness. So that it is in principle +analogous to, and may be taken as illustrative +of, that transcendent act whereby He became +flesh, and dwelt among us. Indeed, the very +word by which our Lord's taking the blind<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[78]</a></span> +man by the hand is described in the chapter +following our text is that employed in the +Epistle to the Hebrews when, dealing with +the true brotherhood of Jesus, the writer says, +"He took not hold of angels, but of the seed +of Abraham he taketh hold." Christ's touch +is His willing contact with man's infirmities +and sins, that He may strengthen and hallow.</p> + +<p>And the lesson is one of universal application. +Wherever men would help their fellows, +this is a prime requisite, that the would-be +helper should come down to the level of those +whom he desires to aid. If we wish to teach, +we must stoop to think the scholar's thoughts. +The master who has forgotten his boyhood +will have poor success. If we would lead to +purer emotions, we must try to enter into the +lower feelings which we labor to elevate. It +is of no use to stand at the mouth of the alleys +we wish to cleanse, with our skirts daintily +gathered about us, and smelling-bottle in +hand, to preach homilies on the virtue of +cleanliness. We must go in among the filth, +and handle it, if we want to have it cleared +away. The degraded must feel that we do +not shrink from them, or we shall do them no +good. The leper, shunned by all, and ashamed +of himself because everybody loathes him, hungers +in his hovel for the grasp of a hand that +does not care for defilement, if it can bring +cleansing. Even in regard to common material +helps the principle holds good. We are<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[79]</a></span> +too apt to cast our doles to the poor like the +bones to a dog, and then to wonder at what +we are pleased to think men's ingratitude. +A benefit may be so conferred as to hurt more +than a blow; and we cannot be surprized if +so-called charity which is given with contempt +and a sense of superiority, should be received +with a scowl, and chafe a man's spirit like a +fetter. Such gifts bless neither him who gives +nor him who takes. We must put our hearts +into them, if we would win hearts by them. +We must be ready, like our Master, to take +blind beggars by the hand, if we would bless +or help them. The despair and opprobrium +of our modern civilization, the gulf growing +wider and deeper between Dives and Lazarus, +between Belgravia and Whitechapel, the +mournful failure of legalized help, and of +delegated efforts to bridge it over, the darkening +ignorance, the animal sensuousness, the +utter heathenism that lives in every town of +England, within a stone's throw of Christian +houses, and near enough to hear the sound of +public worship, will yield to nothing but that +sadly forgotten law which enjoins personal +contact with the sinful and the suffering, as +one chief condition of raising them from the +black mire in which they welter.</p> + +<p>The effect of much well-meant Christian effort +is simply to irritate. People are very +quick to catch delicate intonations which reveal +a secret sense, "how much better, wiser,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[80]</a></span> +more devout I am than these people!" and +wherever a trace of that appears in our work, +the good of it is apt to be marred. We all +know how hackneyed the charge of spiritual +pride and Pharisaic self-complacency is, and, +thank God, how unjust it often is. But averse +as men may be to the truths which humble, +and willing as they may be to assume that the +very effort to present these to others on our +parts implies a claim which mortifies, we may +at least learn from the threadbare calumny, +what strikes men about our position, and +what rouses their antaganism to us. It is allowable +to be taught by our enemies, especially +when it is such a lesson as this, that we must +carefully divest our evangelistic work of apparent +pretensions to superiority, and take +our stand by the side of those to whom we +speak. We cannot lecture men into the love +of Christ. We can but win them to it by +showing Christ's love to them; and not the +least important element in that process is the +exhibition of our own love. We have a gospel +to speak of which the very heart is, that the +Son of God stooped to become one with the +lowliest and most sinful; and how can that +gospel be spoken with power unless we, too, +stoop like Him?</p> + +<p>We have to echo the invitation, "Learn of +me, for I am lowly in heart"; and how can +such divine words flow from lips into which +like grace has not been poured? Our theme<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[81]</a></span> +is a Savior who shrunk from no sinner, who +gladly consorted with publicans and harlots, +who laid His hand on pollution, and His +heart, full of God and of love, on hearts reeking +with sin; and how can our message correspond +with our theme if, even in delivering +it, we are saying to ourselves, "The temple of +the Lord are we: this people which knoweth +not the law is curst"? Let us beware of the +very real danger which besets us in this matter, +and earnestly seek to make ourselves one +with those whom we would gather into Christ, +by actual familiarity with their condition, +and by identification of ourselves in feeling +with them, after the example of that greatest +of Christian teachers who became "all things +to all men, that by all means he might gain +some"; after the higher example, which Paul +followed, of that dear Lord who, being highest, +descended to the lowest, and in the days +of His humiliation was not content with speaking +words of power from afar, nor abhorred +the contact of mortality and disease and loathsome +corruption; but laid His hands upon +death, and it lived; upon sickness, and it was +whole; on rotting leprosy, and it was sweet +as the flesh of a little child.</p> + +<p>The same principle might be further applied +to our Christian work, as affecting the +form in which we should present the truth. +The sympathetic identification of ourselves +with those to whom we try to carry the gospel<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[82]</a></span> +will certainly make us wise to know how to +shape our message. Seeing with their eyes, +we shall be able to graduate the light. Thinking +their thoughts, and having in some measure +succeeded, by force of sheer community +of feeling, in having as it were got inside their +minds, we shall unconsciously, and without +effort, be led to such aspects of Christ's all-comprehensive +truth as they most need. There +will be no shooting over people's heads, if we +love them well enough to understand them. +There will be no toothless generalities, when +our interest in men keeps their actual condition +and temptations clear before us. There +will be no flinging fossil doctrines at them +from a height, as if Christ's blest gospel were, +in another than the literal sense, "a stone of +offense," if we have taken our place on their +level. And without such sympathy, these and +a thousand other weaknesses and faults will +certainly vitiate much of our Christian effort.</p> + +<p>We have here the true healing power and +the consciousness of wielding it set forth in +the Lord's authoritative word.</p> + +<p>All the rest of His action was either the +spontaneous expression of His true participation +in human sorrow, or a merciful veiling of +His glory that sense-bound eyes might see it +the better. But the word was the utterance +of His will, and that was omnipotent. The +hand laid on the sick, the blind or the deaf +was not even the channel of His power. The<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[83]</a></span> +bare putting forth of His energy was all-sufficient. +In these we see the loving, pitying +man. In this blazes forth, yet more loving, +yet more compassionate, the effulgence of +manifest God. Therefore so often do we read +the very syllables with which His "voice then +shook the earth," vibrating through all the +framework of the material universe. Therefore +do the gospels bid us listen when He rebukes +the fever, and it departs; when He says +to the demons, "Go," and they go; when one +word louder in its human articulation than +the howling wind hushes the surges; when +"Talitha cumi" brings back the fair young +spirit from dreary wanderings among the +shades of death. Therefore was it a height +of faith not found in Israel when the Gentile +soldier, whose training had taught him the +power of absolute authority, as heathenism +had driven him to long for a man who would +speak with the imperial sway of a god, recognized +in His voice an all-commanding power. +From of old, the very signature of divinity +has been declared to be "He spake, and it +was done"; and He, the breath of whose lips +could set in motion material changes, is that +eternal Word, by whom all things were made.</p> + +<p>What unlimited consciousness of sovereign +dominion sounds in that imperative from His +autocratic lips! It is spoken in deaf ears, but +He knows that it will be heard. He speaks +as the fontal source, not as the recipient channel<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[84]</a></span> +of healing. He anticipates no delay, no +resistance. There is neither effort nor uncertainty +in the curt command. He is sure +that He has power, and He is sure that the +power is His own.</p> + +<p>There is no analogy here between us and +Him. Alone, fronting the whole race of man, +He stands—utterer of a word which none can +say after Him, possessor of unshared might, +and of His fulness do we all receive. But +even from that divine authority and solitary +sovereign consciousness we may gather lessons +not altogether aside from the purpose of our +meeting here to-day. Of His fulness we have +received, and the power of the word on His +lips may teach us that of His word, even on +ours, as the victorious certainty with which +He spake His will of healing may remind us +of the confidence with which it becomes us to +proclaim His name.</p> + +<p>His will was almighty then. Is it less +mighty or less loving now? Does it not gather +all the world in the sweep of its mighty purpose +of mercy? His voice pierced then into +the dull cold ear of death, and has it become +weaker since? His word spoken by Him was +enough to banish the foul spirits that run riot, +swine-like, in the garden of God in man's soul, +trampling down and eating up its flowers and +fruitage; is the word spoken of Him less +potent to cast them out? Were not all the +mighty deeds which He wrought by the breath<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[85]</a></span> +of His lips on men's bodies prophecies of the +yet mightier which His Will of love, and the +utterance of that Will by stammering lips, +may work on men's souls. Let us not in our +faint-heartedness number up our failures, the +deaf that will not hear, the dumb that will +not speak, His praise; nor unbelievingly say +Christ's own word was mighty, but the word +concerning Christ is weak on our lips. Not +so; our lips are unclean, and our words are +weak, but His word—the utterance of His +loving will that men should be saved—is +what it always was and always will be. We +have it, brethren, to proclaim. Did our Master +countenance the faithless contrast between +the living force of His word when He dwelt +on earth, and the feebleness of it as He speaks +through His servant? If He did, what did +He mean when He said, "He that believeth +on me, the works that I do shall he do also, +and greater works than these shall he do, because +I go unto the Father"?</p> + +<hr class="chap" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86"> </a><br /><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87"> </a></span></p> + + + + +<h2>CROSBY</h2> + +<h3>THE PREPARED WORM</h3> + +<hr class="chap" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88"> </a></span></p> + + + + +<h4>BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE</h4> + + +<p>Howard Crosby, Presbyterian divine, was +born in New York City in 1826, educated at +New York University, graduating in 1851, +was professor of Greek at that institution +until 1859, when he was elected to the same +chair in Rutgers College. He was pastor +of the First Presbyterian Church of New +Brunswick, N. J., for the two years ending +in 1863, when he assumed charge of the +Fourth Avenue Presbyterian Church, New +York. From 1870 to 1881 he was chancellor +of the University of New York. His +activities in the cause of social reform +were conspicuous and he exercized his influence +in organizing the Society for the +Prevention of Crime over which he presided +for some years. His energies were +also directed against the illegal liquor +trade. As a scholar he was prominent +among the American revisers of the New +Testament and edited a new edition of the +"<cite>Oedipus Tyrannus</cite>" of Sophocles. He +died in 1891.</p> + +<hr class="chap" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[89]</a></span></p> + + + + +<h2>CROSBY</h2> + +<h3>1826-1891</h3> + +<h4>THE PREPARED WORM<a name="FNanchor_3_3" id="FNanchor_3_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a></h4> + +<blockquote> + +<p><em>But God prepared a worm when the morning rose the +next day, and it smote the gourd that it withered.</em>—Jonah +iv., 7.</p></blockquote> + + +<p>Just when Jonah had felt the delight of +the shadowing foliage and had begun +to promise himself a most comfortable +retreat against an Assyrian sun, the broad-leaved +gourd withered. The morning had +arrived and the heat was becoming more intense, +when the glad shelter was removed, and +the prophet's head was smitten with the +scorching rays. "It is better for me to die +than live," exclaimed the fainting Jonah. +And what caused this calamity? A worm. +And is that all? No! God prepared the +worm. The worm was under orders from +heaven, and while he, doubtless, ate into the +gourd, with a good appetite, following the +bent of his natural constitution, nevertheless +he was acting in direct obedience to God. God +prepared the worm. And yet in the sixth +verse we read that God prepared the gourd. +This is the record. "And the Lord God prepared +a gourd and made it to come up over<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[90]</a></span> +Jonah, that it might be a shadow over his +head, to deliver him from his grief. So Jonah +was exceedingly glad of the gourd." And +then follows immediately: "But God prepared +a worm, when the morning rose the next day, +and he smote the gourd that it withered." +Does God, then, build up in order to destroy? +And does He give comfort to His creatures +in order to torment them by its removal? +So reasons the carnal heart, ready to complain, +and looking on all God's conduct in its superficial +aspect, its own selfish and sensuous advantage +being the criterion of all its judgments. +It is an easy counsel of Satan, when +we are fainting by a withered gourd. "Curse +God and die," the selfish soul is all ripe for +such advice,—desperation is more inviting +than faith. And there are but few Jobs who +can resist the appeal to discontent and anger, +in the face of Satan and wife combined, for +when the natural depravity of our own hearts +is supported by the entreaties of our nearest +and dearest friends, hell's heaviest engine is +brought against us. "I do well to be angry, +even unto death," is the usual style in which +we greet the afflictive providence of God. But +a faith like Job's, that learns the lesson which +the sorrow teaches, is rewarded, as was Job's, +by the presence and communion of God, and +by a satisfaction with His holy and righteous +will.</p> + +<p>Let us endeavor to understand some of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[91]</a></span> +facts connected with our afflictions, as disclosed +by the Word of God, in order that we +may be prepared to follow Job rather than +Jonah.</p> + +<p>I. In the first place, God is the author of +affliction. "Affliction cometh not forth out +of the dust, neither doth trouble spring out +of the ground." God asserts most positively +in His Word, that all the losses in the world +are sent by Him. He calls them chastisements +from His fatherly hand. "I make peace and +create evil," saith the Lord. This is not evil +in the sense of wickedness. God does not +create wickedness—but it is evil in the sense +of affliction and trouble, the opposite of peace +in the contrasted clause, "I make peace and +create evil." That is, God is the author +equally of prosperity and adversity to His +creatures. If it were not so, we should have +to imagine certain powers in God's universe +not subject to His almighty control, which +would be an absurdity. "Shall there be evil +in a city and the Lord hath not done it?" It +is in this sense of God's hand in adversity +that the psalmist cries, "Thou, O God, hast +proved us: thou hast tried us as silver is +tried; thou broughtest us into the net, thou +laidest affliction upon our loins"; and again, +"Thy wrath lieth hard upon me, and thou +hast afflicted me with all thy waves." God +may send affliction by permitting Satan to +afflict, but still God is the author of the affliction.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[92]</a></span> +He could prevent it, but He permits it. +Indeed, it is, perhaps, true that all our losses +and injuries in this world are Satan's inflictions, +that this ever-active spirit of evil is +constantly using the agencies of the natural +world for our harm and destruction, and we +are preserved simply by the interposing and +restraining providence of God. When Satan +wished to afflict Job, he sought and gained +permission of the Lord. Job's calamities were +clearly Satan's blows, and yet Job addresses +God, "Why hast thou set me as a mark against +thee, so that I am a burden to myself?" So, +again, the diseased woman, who heard our +Savior's healing words on the Sabbath day +and was cured, is described by the same divine +Physician (whose diagnosis cannot be questioned) +as one whom Satan had bound for +eighteen years. Under such examples, I cannot +believe we err in attributing all our sicknesses +and pains of body to the permitted +agency of our arch-adversary.</p> + +<p>They are tokens of his power over our race, +for he is the prince of this world, and it is +only in God that we find protection from his +cruel scepter. God suffers us to feel his inflictions +in order to remove our affections from +the world and to place them more devotedly +upon our Heavenly Father. God is thus most +truly the author of affliction, whatever may +be the agencies He uses in the course of His +providence.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[93]</a></span></p> + +<p>II. He uses the natural laws of the world as +His agents in afflicting. These laws may be +thus used permissively by Satan in other ways +than in sickness or not, but the text shows us +clearly that God so uses them. "God prepared +a worm." There is a world of instruction +in that brief statement. It infinitely +transcends the science of the naturalist. Bring +the most learned explorers of nature together +to this gourd of Jonah, and show them this +little worm creeping toward the thick stalk. +Let them see it move its many feet and flexible +body till it reaches the goal of its instinct. +Now it uses its gnawing jaws upon the woody +fibre; deeper and deeper it pierces the stem; +now it reaches the innermost pith, and again +returns upon its course. The current of the +gourd's life is marred; the leaves droop, and +its shelter is gone. Now, ye scientific men, +what made that gourd wither? Hear them +philosophize. Yon worm is a caterpillar, +whose appropriate food is the <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">ricinus communis</i>, +this very gourd with its palmate leaves +and red-tinted flower. The worm has merely +followed the impulses of its nature in seeking +that tree-like plant, and the equally natural +result of its feeding upon the stalk has been +the failure of the tree's nourishment, and with +the failure the foliage has, of course, withered. +Well, is that all science can say? Yes, all. It +is little more than that a horse is a horse. It +explains nothing but the most proximate<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[94]</a></span> +causes. It classifies facts, and then leaves us +gaping into the abyss of causation as ignorant +as ever. Four words from the Bible carry us +back to the ultimate cause, the first mover in +this gourd's withering. Science talks of laws, +but these four words go behind all laws to the +Maker of laws, to Him in whose hands are all +things. "God prepared a worm." What! +says science; drag God in to explain anything? +Nay, God drags all in to effect His +plans. He has made all things, however great, +however small, for Himself. And these things +which you call laws are only the methods of +His activity, and these methods He has formed +for the very ends which He accomplishes by +them. The worm which crawls to Jonah's +gourd was created by God to destroy that +plant, and the law of that worm's movement +was ordained for that destruction, as well as +for all else which it accomplishes. The mind +is satisfied when it finds a mind, a purpose, a +plan in every event which it observes, and the +pious heart is rejoiced to know that it is a +Father's mind and purpose and plan which +directs every movement, even to the crawling +of a worm. "God prepared a gourd—God +prepared a worm"; no accident brought the +gourd there; no accident brought the worm +there. God stood in a like relation to both. He +sent the gourd, through nature, to comfort +Jonah. He sent the worm, through nature, +to trouble Jonah. Nature is a forlorn object<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[95]</a></span> +to study unless we find it a mirror to reflect +God. It is only as we see it, the result of His +handiwork and His instrument in governing +His creatures, that nature has a glory. Then +it is ennobled; then it has a meaning that no +mere naturalist can fathom, but which renders +valuable the researches of science with its +classifications.</p> + +<p>III. God is just in afflicting us. If we look +at God simply as the Maker and Owner of +His creatures, we could easily deduce His +right to afflict. "Is it not lawful for me to +do what I will with mine own?" says the +Creator; and he must be a daring soul who +disputes the force of this question. "Shall +the thing formed say to him that formed it, +'Why hast thou made me thus?'" But we +are not left to this view of God's right to afflict. +God has entered into covenant with us. +He has said, "Do ye according to my commandments, +and ye shall live." This was the +purport of His very first communication to +our race in Adam. It treated of obedience +and reward, of disobedience and punishment. +And what is the record of our race since? +Have we obeyed or have we disobeyed? Is +there the slightest claim in us for the reward? +Is there not the most complete demand +for the punishment? What sin in the +whole catalog of sin has been omitted by man? +Enmity to man and God, pride, ingratitude, +and rebellion have marked the history of mankind.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[96]</a></span> +And are you and I exceptions? Look +at our years of worldliness, years of sinful +affections, years of opposition to the Word and +Spirit, years of selfishness, and then let us +confess our full participation in the general +depravity. We are unclean in our natures +and by practise, and so, under the covenant +which our Maker was pleased to form for us, +we can only deserve punishment.</p> + +<p>Do we then complain in affliction? Surely, +if God would be just in casting us down to +hell for our rebellion and disobedience, He +is just in laying upon us our earthly afflictions. +Shall the Jonah, who ran away from the +Lord's commandment, and afterward flung +His anger in the face of His God, shall such +an one feel that God is unjust in preparing a +worm to destroy his gourd? By what arithmetic +is such a balance cast? It becomes us, +rather, to take up the words of David and +cry, "I acknowledge my transgression; and +my sin is ever before me. Against thee, thee +only, have I sinned and done this evil in thy +sight, that thou mightest be justified when +thou speakest, and be clear when thou +judgest."</p> + +<p>IV. God afflicts us in His love. With all +Jonah's sins against God, it was not to punish +him that God prepared a worm. God is long-suffering +and withholds punishment in His +desire that all men may come to repentance. +If punishment were God's aim in affliction,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[97]</a></span> +our afflictions would be infinitely greater than +they are, for punishment would be apportioned +to desert, and our desert is eternal condemnation; +God's aim in affliction is our restoration, +our improvement. By it He shakes us off +from our dependence upon a world which, +however it might please us for the moment, +would cheat us sadly in the end. By it He +reminds us of Himself as our source of +strength and happiness, and then brings us +to the unfailing fountain of peace, which our +earthly prosperity would hide from our eyes. +By it He teaches us to aspire to higher spiritual +attainment, to grow in grace, to cultivate +a more heavenly disposition of mind and +heart.</p> + +<p>These are the uses of adversity. Christians +who have come through scenes of trial, and +whose thankful declaration is, "It was good +for me to be afflicted," certify to these blest +results. They tell us that they believe nothing +else but the severe losses they sustained +could have freed them from the fascinations +of the world—nothing else could have made +holy things so delightful to their soul. Now, +such an experience is not the result of God's +anger but of God's love. However harsh the +voice of God may seem to us, it is yet a +Father's voice, with a Father's heart behind +it. It is, therefore, meant not to drive us +away to seek a hiding corner, but to bring +us directly to Himself. The same love which<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[98]</a></span> +sent the affliction will receive the afflicted. +God prepares gourds, and God prepares +worms; and He uses each to build up faith +and holiness in the human heart. In earnest +seeking after God, in complete consecration +to His holy will and service, is to be found +the surest avoidance of the worm. If we can +learn our lesson without the worm, the worm +will not be sent to gnaw our gourd to ruins. +The nearer our life to Jesus the more free +shall we be from the sting of affliction. Had +Jonah been an obedient and submissive +prophet his gourd would not have withered. +But alas! Jonah and ourselves need correction +to keep our faces heavenward. Forgetfulness +and indulgence plant their weeds in our +Lord's garden, and they must be rooted up +by force. It is for our own good, and it is +infinite love which decrees it.</p> + +<p>Now note some inferences from the subject +under consideration.</p> + +<p>First. If God afflicts, how foolish it is to +go to the world for relief? Is the world +greater than God? We may be sure that +any comfort the world can give, as against +God's affliction, must be dangerous. It is a +contest with God, which God may allow to +be successful, but only for the greater condemnation +thereafter. The world's relief is +not a cure but an opiate. It stupefies, but +does not give health and strength. The +world's relief is a temporary application—a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[99]</a></span> +lull before a fiercer storm. The world's relief +is a determination not to heed the lesson God +sends us; it is the invention of frivolity, and +not the device of wisdom. More slumber, +more pleasure, and more worldly care are +three favorite medicaments the world uses in +these cases—anodynes which only weaken the +system and prepare it for more fearful suffering. +God wishes to awaken the mind by +affliction, and man immediately prescribes a +narcotic. The great Physician brings the affliction +for our good; we turn to quackery to +destroy the effects of the divine medicine. +Ah! the day is coming when God shall appear +as no longer our Savior but our Judge, +if this be our treatment of His love. "Because +I have called and ye refused; I have +stretched out my hand and no man regarded; +but ye have set at naught all my counsel, and +would none of my reproof; I also will laugh +at your calamity; I will mock when your fear +cometh; when your fear cometh as desolation, +and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind."</p> + +<p>Secondly. If God prepares worms, then +worms at once form an interesting study for +us. We cannot see a caterpillar upon the +leaf, but we know God has a mission for that +worm. He is an ambassador of the Most High +on his way to perform his Master's will. The +headache, which unfits us for our ordinary occupation, +is more than a headache. It is the +voice of our God. Let us listen to the next<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[100]</a></span> +headache and hear what God would have us +learn. Every bird and beast, every raindrop +and sunbeam, every breath of wind, and every +event, however small, are the writings of a +heavenly scribe. Let us study God's providence. +It is all a message of love to us. We +shall find out infinitely more in this study +than in deciphering the hieroglyphics of +Egypt. We shall find correction, expostulation, +comfort, encouragement and instruction; +and the more we look, the more we shall see. +We shall become adepts in the high art of +interpreting the acts of God toward us, and +in this, as in prayer, hold constant communion +with our divine Redeemer.</p> + +<p>Thirdly. When our gourds wither it is a +proof that God is near. We should be ready +to say with Jacob, "Surely the Lord is in +this place." Prayer and humiliation are now +our appropriate exercises. God has put forth +His hand to summon us to these duties. Our +gourd is gone, but our God is not gone, He +can protect far better than a gourd. He will +more than make up all our losses. Let us +go to Him, and our dark night will make the +day-dawn more brilliant. My dying fellow-sinner, +do not, I beseech you, grow angry +under God's severe dispensations. You do +not well to be angry. God is near you with +a blessing in His hand for you. He has a lesson +for you to learn which will make you wise +unto salvation.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[101]</a></span></p> + +<p>Say, will you learn it? If not, God is near +you to condemn you. Oh! dread the alternative, +and be wise to say in your heart, +"Blest be my God and Father, who prepared +the worm to destroy my broad-leaved gourd!"</p> + +<hr class="chap" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102"> </a><br /><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103"> </a></span></p> + + + + +<h2>DALE</h2> + +<h3>THE ARGUMENT FROM EXPERIENCE</h3> + +<hr class="chap" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104"> </a></span></p> + + +<h4>BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE</h4> + +<p>Robert William Dale was born in London, +England, in 1829 and died in 1895. +His long and fruitful ministry was confined +to Birmingham, where he preached +with great power. He believed, as he once +said, that if a minister had anything from +God to say to his fellow men, they would +gladly come to hear him. He favored extemporaneous +preaching, was a devoted +student of English style, and advocated +in his Yale lectures a more thorough attention +to this important subject. He +said:</p> + +<p>"There is no reason why, when you have +at your service the noblest language for +an orator that was ever spoken by the +human race, you should be satisfied with +the threadbare phrases, the tawdry, tarnished +finery, the patched and ragged garments, +with the smell like that of the +stock of a second-hand clothes shop, +with which half-educated and ambitious +declaimers are content to cover the nakedness +of their thought. You can do something +better than this, and you should resolve +to do it."</p> + +<hr class="chap" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[105]</a></span></p> + + + + + +<h2>DALE</h2> + +<h3>1829-1895</h3> + +<h4>THE ARGUMENT FROM EXPERIENCE<a name="FNanchor_4_4" id="FNanchor_4_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_4_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a></h4> + + +<p>There are large numbers of people who +suppose that modern science and modern +criticism have destroyed the foundations +of faith, and who can not understand +how it is possible, in these days, for intelligent, +open-minded, educated men to believe in +the Lord Jesus Christ.</p> + +<p>There are many persons who are convinced +that the ascertained conclusions of modern +science and of modern criticism are destructive +of the authority which has been attributed +both to the Jewish and the Christian Scriptures, +that the traditional opinions concerning +the authorship and the dates of many of +the books of the Old Testament are false; and +that most of the writings contained in the +New Testament are spurious. Or, if some of +the extreme conclusions of the destructive +criticism are not regarded as finally established, +it is known that great names can be +quoted for, as well as against, them. And as +it is assumed that the Jewish and the Christian +Scriptures are the foundations of Christian<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[106]</a></span> +faith, that we must believe in the genuineness +and historical trustworthiness of +these ancient books, and even in their inspiration, +before we can believe in Christ, they +argue that, until these discussions are finally +closed in favor of the traditional opinions, +faith in Christ is impossible. The controversies +have not, in any large number of cases, +destroyed faith where faith already existed; +but where faith does not exist, they appear +to very many persons to create an insuperable +obstacle to faith.</p> + +<p>To such persons, if they are serious and well +informed, there is something perplexing in +the persistency of the faith of the great majority +of Christian believers. Among those +who remain Christian there are men whose +intellectual vigor, patience, and keenness are +equal to their own; men who are their equals +in general intellectual culture, and who know +as much as they know about the currents of +modern thought; candid men; men who are +incorruptible in their loyalty to truth; men +who have a due sense of the immense importance, +in relation to the higher life of the +human race, of the questions at issue:</p> + +<p>How is it that the faith in Christ of such +men is unshaken?</p> + +<p>The substance of the answer that I make +here to the question, why it is that those who +believe in Christ continue to believe, may be +given in a single sentence: Whatever may<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[107]</a></span> +have been the original grounds of their faith, +their faith has been verified in their own personal +experience.</p> + +<p>They have trusted in Christ for certain +great and wonderful things, and they have +received great and wonderful things. They +have not perhaps received precisely what +they expected when their Christian life began, +for the kingdom of heaven cannot be really +known until a man has entered into it; but +what they have received assures them that +Christ is alive, that He is within reach, and +that He is the Savior and Lord of men.</p> + +<p>That they have received these blessings in +answer to their faith in Christ is a matter of +personal consciousness. They know it, as they +know that fire burns.</p> + +<p>Their experience varies. Some of them +would say they can recall acts of Christ in +which His personal volition and His supernatural +power were as definitely manifested +as in any of the miracles recorded in the +four Gospels. They were struggling unsuccessfully +with some evil temper—with envy, +jealousy, personal ambition—and could not +subdue it. They hated it; they hated themselves +for being under its tyranny; but expel +it they could not. If it seemed supprest +for a time, it returned; and returned with its +malignant power increased rather than diminished. +They scourged themselves with scorpions +for yielding to it; still they yielded. In<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[108]</a></span> +their despair they appealed to Christ; and in +a moment the evil fires were quenched, and +they were never rekindled. These instantaneous +deliverances are perhaps exceptional; but +to those who can recall them they carry an +irresistible conviction that the living Christ +has heard their cry and answered them.</p> + +<p>The more ordinary experiences of the Christian +life, tho less striking, are not less conclusive. +The proof that Christ has heard +prayer is not always concentrated into a moment, +but is more commonly spread over large +tracts of time. Prayer is offered for an increase +of moral strength in resisting temptation, +or for the disappearance of reluctance +in the discharge of duties which are distasteful, +or for a more gracious and kindly temper, +or for patience and courage in bearing trouble, +or for self-control, or for relief from exhausting +and fruitless anxiety; and the answer +comes. It comes gradually, but still it +comes. We had lost hope. It seemed as if +all our moral vigor was dying down, and as +if nothing could restore it. The tide was +slowly ebbing, and we were powerless to recall +the retreating waters; but after we prayed +it ceased to ebb; for a time it seemed stationary; +then it began to flow; and tho with many +of us it has never reached the flood, the wholesome +waters have renewed the energy and the +joy of life.</p> + +<p>Or we prayed to Christ to liberate us from<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[109]</a></span> +some evil habit. The chains did not fall away +at His touch, like the chains of Peter at the +touch of the angel; but in some mysterious +way they were loosened, and at the same time +we received accessions of strength. The old +habit continued to trouble us; it still impeded +our movements: but we could move; we recovered +some measure of freedom, and were +conscious that we were slaves no longer. +There still remained a mechanical and automatic +tendency to the evil ways of thinking, +speaking, or acting; but we had become vigilant +and alert, and were prompt to resist the +tendency as soon as it began to work; and we +were strong enough to master it. In the +course of time the tendency became weaker +and weaker, and at last, in some cases, it almost +disappeared.</p> + +<p>Some men have appealed to Christ when +they have been seized with a great horror +through the discovery of their guilt. It was +not the awful penalty which menaces the impenitent +that haunted and terrified them. +Nor was their distress occasioned chiefly by +the consciousness of moral evil. They feared +the penalty, and they were humiliated and +shamed by the contrast between ideal goodness +and their own moral and spiritual life; +but what stung and tortured them, sunk them +into despair, filled heaven and earth with a +darkness that could be felt, and made life intolerable, +was their guilt—guilt which they<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[110]</a></span> +had incurred by their past sins, and which +they continued to incur by their present sinfulness.</p> + +<p>When once this sense of guilt fastens itself +on a man, he cannot shake it off at will. The +keen agony may gradually pass into a dull, +dead pain; and after a time, the sensibility +of the soul may seem to be wholly lost; but +a man can never be sure that the horror will +not return.</p> + +<p>The real nature of this experience is best +seen when it has been occasioned by the +grosser and more violent forms of crime. Men +who have committed murder, for example, +have been driven almost insane by the memory +of their evil deed. Their agony may have had +nothing in it of the nature of repentance; +they were not distrest because their crime had +revealed to them the malignity and the fierce +strength of their passions; they had no desire +to become gentle and kindly. They were +filled with horror and remorse by their awful +guilt. They felt that the crime was theirs, +and would always continue to be theirs; that +it would be theirs if it remained concealed as +truly as if it were known; indeed, it seemed +to be in some terrible way more truly theirs +so long as the secret was kept. It was not the +fear of punishment that convulsed them; they +have sometimes brought on themselves public +indignation and abhorrence, and have condemned +themselves to the gallows by confessing<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[111]</a></span> +their crime in order to obtain relief from +their agony.</p> + +<p>Suppose that a man possest by this great +horror discovered that, in some wonderful +way, the dark and damning stain on his conscience +had disappeared; that, altho he had +done the deed, the iron chain which bound +him to the criminality of it had been broken; +that before God and man and his own conscience +he was free from the guilt of it;—the +supposition, in its completeness, is an impossible +one; but if it were possible, the discovery +would lift the man out of the darkness of hell +into the light of heaven.</p> + +<p>But to large numbers of Christian men a +discovery which in substance is identical with +this has actually come in response to their +trust in Christ. Nothing is more intensely +real than the sense of guilt; it is as real as +the eternal distinction between right and +wrong in which it is rooted. And nothing is +more intensely real than the sense of release +from guilt which comes from the discovery +and assurance of the remission of sins. The +evil things which a man has done cannot be +undone; but when they have been forgiven +through Christ, the iron chain which so bound +him to them as to make the guilt of them +eternally his has been broken; before God +and his own conscience he is no longer guilty +of them. This is the Christian mystery of justification, +which, according to Paul—and his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[112]</a></span> +words have been confirmed in the experience +of millions of Christian men—is "the power +of God unto salvation to every one that believeth." +It changes darkness into light; despair +into victorious hope; prostration into +buoyancy and vigor. It is one of the supreme +motives to Christian living, and it makes +Christian living possible. The man who has +received this great deliverance is no longer a +convict, painfully observing all prison rules +with the hope of shortening his sentence, but +a child in the home of God.</p> + +<p>There are experiences of another kind by +which the faith of Christian men is verified. +Of these one of the most decisive and most +wonderful is the consciousness that through +Christ he has passed into the eternal and +divine order. He belongs to two worlds. He +is just as certain that he is environed by +things unseen and eternal as that he is environed +by things seen and temporal. In the +power of the life given to him in the new +birth he has entered into the kingdom of God. +He is conscious that that diviner region is +now the native land of his soul. It is there +that he finds perfect rest and perfect freedom. +It is a relief to escape to its eternal peace and +glory from the agitations and vicissitudes, the +sorrows and successes, of this transitory world. +It is not always that he is vividly conscious +of belonging to that eternal order; this supreme +blessedness is reserved for the great<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[113]</a></span> +hours of life; but he knows that it lies about +him always, and that at any moment the great +Apocalypse may come. And even when it is +hidden, its "powers" continue to act upon +him, as the light and heat of the sun pass +through the clouds by which the burning +splendor is softened and concealed.</p> + +<p>Further, "in Christ" Christian men know +God; they know Him for themselves. The +mere conception of God is as different from +the immediate knowledge of Him as the mere +conception of the Matterhorn from the actual +vision of it as an external objective grandeur; +and it is not the conception of God, but God +Himself, that fills them with awe and wonder, +and with a blessedness which trembles into +devout fear. Sometimes the "exceeding +weight of glory" is too great to bear, and +human infirmity is relieved when the vision +passes. At other times God is more than a +transcendent glory to be contemplated and +adored. His infinite love, to use Paul's words, +is shed abroad in their hearts, like the sun's +heat under tropical heavens; it is immediately +revealed. How, they can not tell, any more +than they can tell how the material world is +revealed to sense; they only know that, apart +from any self-originated effort, apart from +any movement of their own towards Him, the +eternal Spirit draws near to their spirit and +reveals God's love to them. It is as if the +warm streams of the love which have their<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[114]</a></span> +fountains in the depths of His infinite life +were flowing round them and into them. They +are conscious of that love for them of which +God is conscious.</p> + +<p>And this blessedness is not the prerogative +of elect saints, or of those who may be said +to have a natural genius for spiritual thought. +It is the common inheritance of all that are +"in Christ," altho there is reason to fear that +many Christian people rarely reach the height +of its joy. But among those who reach it are +men of every degree of intellectual rank and +every variety of moral and spiritual temperament. +It is reached by ignorant men, whose +thoughts are narrow and whose minds are +inert, as well as by men with large knowledge +and great powers of speculation; by men destitute +of imagination, as well as by men whose +imagination kindles as soon as it is touched +by the splendors of nature or by the verses +of poets. Men whose life moves slowly and +sluggishly reach it, as well as men who are +impulsive, ardent, and adventurous. And +where this experience is known, it becomes an +effective force in the moral life. Peter, writing +to slaves, says, "For this is acceptable, if +through consciousness of God a man endureth +griefs, suffering wrongfully."</p> + +<p>I have said that "in Christ" men know +God—not merely through Christ. It is true +that during His earthly ministry He revealed +God; so that, in answer to the prayer of one<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[115]</a></span> +of His disciples, "Show us the Father, and it +sufficeth us," He said, "Have I been so long +time with you, and dost thou not know me, +Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the +Father." That revelation has eternal power +and value; but there are other words spoken +by Christ that same night which suggest that +it is not merely by the revelation of God during +His earthly ministry that Christ has made +it possible for men to know the Father. He +said: "I am the true vine, and ye are the +branches.... Abide in me, and I in you. +As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except +it abide in the vine; so neither can ye, +except ye abide in me. He that abideth in +me, and I in him, the same beareth much +fruit: for apart from me ye can do nothing." +It is not certain that when Paul wrote his +Epistle to the Galatian Christians he had +heard of these words; but what they meant +he had learnt for himself. He said, "I live: +and yet no longer I, but Christ liveth in me." +In various measures the experience of Paul +has been the experience of Christian men ever +since. Their relationship to Christ—their +conscious relationship to Christ—has been +most mysterious, but most intimate and most +certain. They have meditated on the infinite +love which moved Him to descend from the +heights of God and to become man, upon His +graciousness and gentleness, His purity, His +spontaneous goodness, His pity for suffering,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[116]</a></span> +His merciful words to the sinful, His patience +and His long-suffering, and His fiery indignation +against hypocrisy; they have meditated +on His teaching, on all the words of His that +have been preserved concerning the love and +grace of God, concerning the remission of sins, +the gift of eternal life, the judgment to come, +the eternal blessedness of the righteous, and +the doom of the lost; they have felt the spell +and the charm of that ideal perfection to +which He calls them in His precepts, and +which He illustrated and transcended in His +own character: but they have been conscious +that it was not merely by the power of the +great and pathetic story of His earthly history, +or by the power of His spiritual and +ethical teaching, that He gives to men the +life of God, and constantly renews, sustains, +and augments it. They shared the very life +of their Lord. He lived in them. They lived +in Him. And it was in the power of this common +life that they knew God.</p> + +<p>Nor is it only the immediate knowledge of +God that is rendered possible by this union +with Christ. Christian men are conscious that +they do not receive strength from Christ for +common duty, as they might receive strength +from One who, while He conferred the grace, +stood apart from them, but that in some wonderful +way they are strong in the strength of +Christ Himself. They are too often drawn +down into the region of baser forces, and then<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[117]</a></span> +they fall; but their very failure verifies the +truth of their happier experiences, for it +brings home to them afresh what they are +apart from Christ; and when they recover +their union with Him—which indeed had not +been lost, tho for a time it was not realized—they +recover their power.</p> + +<p>The man who has had, and who still has, +such experiences as these will listen with great +tranquillity to criticisms which are intended +to shake the historical credit of the four Gospels, +altho the story they contain may have +been the original ground of his faith in Christ. +The criticism may be vigorous; he may be +wholly unable to answer it: but what then? +Is he to cease to believe in Christ? Why +should he?</p> + +<p>Let me answer these questions by an illustration. +Towards the close of our Lord's ministry, +when He was in the neighborhood of +Jericho—just leaving the city or just entering +it—Bartimeus, a blind man, who was begging +at the side of the road, heard that Jesus of +Nazareth was passing by, and He appealed to +the great Prophet to have mercy upon him. +Jesus answered his appeal, and gave him +sight. Now it is possible that Bartimeus may +have been told by some passing traveler, of +whom he knew nothing, the story of a similar +miracle which Jesus had worked a few weeks +before in Jerusalem, and this may have been +the ground, and the only ground, of his confidence<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[118]</a></span> +in our Lord's supernatural power. If, +after he had received his sight, some sagacious +friend of his had asked him how it was that +he came to believe that the Nazarene Teacher +could give sight to the blind, nothing would +have been easier than for his friend to show +that, whether the story of the Jerusalem miracle +was true or not, Bartimeus had no trustworthy +evidence of its truth. A tale told +by an unknown stranger! This was no sufficient +reason for believing that Jesus had given +sight to a man born blind. Did the stranger +who told the tale know the beggar who was +said to have been cured? Was it certain that +the man was blind? Had the stranger examined +his eyes the very morning of the day +on which he received sight? Was it certain +that the vision was not gradually returning? +Was the stranger present when Jesus made +the clay, and put it on the blind man's eyes; +close enough to see that no delicate operation +was performed during the process? The sending +of the blind man to wash at the Pool of +Siloam was suspicious: what could that washing +have to do with a miracle? Did the +stranger go with the man to the pool, and keep +his eye upon him while he was there? Was +it quite certain that the blind beggar who +was sent to Siloam was the man who came +back to the city and declared that Jesus had +healed him? Might not one man have been +sent to the pool, and another man have come<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[119]</a></span> +back to Jerusalem? It looked very much as +if there were some previous understanding between +the blind man and the Nazarene +Prophet. The Prophet had rich friends; they +could have made it worth the man's while +to come into the plot. Had Bartimeus considered +all these difficulties? Was it not more +probable that the stranger's story should be +false than that the miracle should be true? +Would it not be well for Bartimeus to suspend +his faith in Jesus until he had made +further inquiries about the miracle?</p> + +<p>We can imagine the answer of Bartimeus. +I think that he would have said: "At first +I believed in the power of Jesus of Nazareth, +because I was told that He had given sight +to another blind man; now I am sure of His +power, because He has given sight to me. It +is possible, as you say, that the story about +the blind man in Jerusalem is not true. You +have asked me many questions which I can +not answer. I can not explain why he should +have been sent to the Pool of Siloam. I +acknowledge that the evidence which I have +for the miracle is not decisive. As Jesus has +restored my sight, I think that the story is +probably true; but whether the story is true +or not can not disturb my faith in Him, for +if He did not heal the other man, He has +healed me."</p> + +<p>And so the faith in the living Christ of +those who have had the great experiences of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[120]</a></span> +His power and grace which I have described +is not shaken by any assaults on the historical +trustworthiness of the story of His earthly +ministry. Much less can it be shaken by discussions +concerning the nature and origin of +the ancient Scriptures of the Jewish people. +Their confidence in the books, both of the Old +Testament and the New, may perhaps have to +be suspended until the controversies of scholars +are closed, or until, on historical and critical +grounds, they can see their own way to +firm and definite conclusions about the main +questions at issue; but not their confidence in +Christ. They may be uncertain about the +books; they are sure about Him. Both Christian +scholars and the commonalty of Christian +people approach the controversies on +these ancient records with a settled faith in +the power and grace and glory of Christ. +Their faith in Him rests on foundations which +lie far beyond the reach of scientific and historical +criticism. They know for themselves +that Christ is the Savior of men: for they +have received through Him the remission of +their own sins; He has translated them into +the divine kingdom; He has given them +strength for righteousness, and through Him +they have found God.</p> + +<hr class="chap" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121"> </a></span></p> + + + + +<h2>LIDDON</h2> + +<h3>INFLUENCES OF THE HOLY SPIRIT</h3> + +<hr class="chap" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122"></a></span></p> + + +<h4>BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE</h4> + +<p>Henry Parry Liddon was born at North +Stoneham, Hampshire, in 1829. His intellectual +power and fearless and earnest +preaching attracted immense congregations +to St. Paul's Cathedral, London. +He sought to meet the speculative fallacies +of his day by truth clearly and boldly +proclaimed. Probably his greatest fault +in delivery was that he tied himself slavishly +to a manuscript in all his preaching. +There was a force and intensity to his delivery, +however, that often projected his +words towards his hearers like great projectiles +across a battlefield. Dr. Arthur +S. Hoyt recommends him for study in +these words: "Canon Liddon brings the +riches of exegesis and theology and +philosophy to the pulpit, and gives to +the sermon the distinction of his refined +and spiritual personality." He died in +1890.</p> + +<hr class="chap" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[123]</a></span></p> + + + + +<h2>LIDDON</h2> + +<h3>1829-1890</h3> + +<h4>INFLUENCES OF THE HOLY SPIRIT</h4> + +<blockquote> + +<p><em>The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the +sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and +whither it goeth.</em>—John iii., 8.</p></blockquote> + + +<p>Who has not felt the contrast, the almost +tragic contrast, between the +high station of the Jewish doctor, +member of the Sanhedrin, master in Israel, +and the ignorance of elementary religious +truth, as we Christians must deem it, which +he displayed in this interview with our blest +Lord? At first sight it seems difficult to understand +how our Lord could have used the +simile in the text when conversing with an +educated and thoughtful man, well conversed +in the history and literature of God's ancient +people; and, indeed, a negative criticism has +availed itself of this and of some other features +in the narrative, in the interest of the +theory that Nicodemus was only a fictitious +type of the higher classes in Jewish society, as +they were pictured to itself by the imagination +of the fourth Evangelist. Such a supposition, +opposed to external facts and to all +internal probabilities, would hardly have been +entertained, if the critical ingenuity of its author<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[124]</a></span> +had been seconded by any spiritual experience. +Nicodemus is very far from being a +caricature; and our Lord's method here, as +elsewhere, is to lead on from familiar phrases +and the well-remembered letter to the spirit +and realities of religion. The Jewish schools +were acquainted with the expression "a new +creature"; but it had long since become a +mere shred of official rhetoric. As applied +to a Jewish proselyte, it scarcely meant more +than a change in the outward relations of +religious life. Our Lord told Nicodemus that +every man who would see the kingdom of God +which He was founding must undergo a +second birth; and Nicodemus, who had been +accustomed to the phrase all his life, could +not understand it if it was to be supposed to +mean anything real. "How," he asks, "can +a man be born when he is old? Can he enter +a second time into his mother's womb, and +be born?" Our Lord does not extricate him +from this blundering literalism; He repeats +His own original assertion, but in terms which +more fully express His meaning: "Verily, +verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born +of water and of the Spirit, he can not enter +into the kingdom of God. That which is born +of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born +of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said +unto thee, Ye must be born again." Our +Lord's reference to water would not have been +unintelligible to Nicodemus; every one in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[125]</a></span> +Judæa knew that the Baptist had insisted on +immersion in water as a symbol of the purification +of the soul of man. Certainly, in connecting +"water" with the Spirit and the new +birth, our Lord's language, glancing at that +of the prophet, went very far beyond this. +He could only be fully understood at a later +time, when the sacrament of baptism had been +instituted, just as the true sense of His early +allusions to His death could not have been apprehended +until after the crucifixion. But +Nicodemus, it is plain, had not yet advanced +beyond his original difficulty; he could not +conceive how any second birth was possible, +without altogether violating the course of nature. +And our Lord penetrates His thoughts +and answers them. He answers them by +pointing to that invisible agent who could +achieve, in the sphere of spiritual and mental +life, what the Jewish doctor deemed so impossible +a feat as a second birth. Nature, indeed, +contained no force that could compass +such a result; but nature in this, as in other +matters, was a shadow of something beyond +itself.</p> + +<p>It was late at night when our Lord had this +interview with the Jewish teacher. At the +pauses in conversation, we may conjecture, +they heard the wind without as it moaned +along the narrow streets of Jerusalem; and +our Lord, as was His wont, took His creature +into His service—the service of spiritual<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[126]</a></span> +truth. The wind was a figure of the Spirit. +Our Lord would not have used the same word +for both. The wind might teach Nicodemus +something of the action of Him who is the +real Author of the new birth of man. And it +would do this in two ways more especially.</p> + +<p>On a first survey of nature, the wind arrests +man's attention, as an unseen agent which +seems to be moving with entire freedom. "The +wind bloweth where it listeth." It is fettered +by none of those conditions which confine the +swiftest bodies that traverse the surface of +the earth; it sweeps on as if independent of +law, rushing hither and thither, as tho +obeying its own wayward and momentary impulse. +Thus it is an apt figure of a self-determining +invisible force; and of a force +which is at times of overmastering power. +Sometimes, indeed, its breath is so gentle, that +only a single leaf or blade of grass will at +distant intervals seem to give the faintest +token of its action; yet, even thus, it "bloweth +where it listeth." Sometimes it bursts upon +the earth with destructive violence; nothing +can resist its onslaught; the most solid buildings +give way; the stoutest trees bend before +it; whatever is frail and delicate can only +escape by the completeness of its submission. +Thus, too, it "bloweth where it listeth." Beyond +anything else that strikes upon the +senses of man, it is suggestive of free supersensuous +power; it is an appropriate symbol<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[127]</a></span> +of an irruption of the invisible into the +world of sense, of the action, so tender or so +imperious, of the divine and eternal Spirit +upon the human soul.</p> + +<p>But the wind is also an agent about whose +proceedings we really know almost nothing. +"Thou hearest the sound thereof"; such is +our Lord's concession to man's claim to knowledge. +"Thou canst not tell whence it cometh, +and whither it goeth"; such is the reserve +which He makes in respect of human ignorance. +Certainly we do more than hear the +sound of the wind; its presence is obvious to +three of the senses. We feel the chill or the +fury of the blast; and, as it sweeps across the +ocean, or the forest, or the field of corn, we +see how the blades rise and fall in graceful +curves, and the trees bend, and the waters +sink and swell into waves which are the measure +of its strength. But our Lord says, "Thou +hearest the sound thereof." He would +have us test it by the most spiritual of the +senses. It whispers, or it moans, or it roars +as it passes us; it has a pathos all its own. +Yet what do we really know about it? "Thou +canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither +it goeth." Does the wind then obey no rule; +is it a mere symbol of unfettered caprice? +Surely not. If, as the psalmist sings, "God +bringeth the winds out of his treasuries," +He acts, we may be sure, here as always, +whether in nature or in grace, by some law,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[128]</a></span> +which his own perfections impose upon His +action. He may have given to us of these +later times to see a very little deeper beneath +the surface of the natural world than was the +case with our fathers. Perchance we explain +the immediate antecedents of the phenomenon; +but can we explain our own explanation? +The frontier of our ignorance is removed one +stage farther back; but "the way of the +wind" is as fitting an expression for the mysteries +now as it was in the days of Solomon. +We know that there is no cave of Æolus. We +know that the wind is the creature of that +great Master who works everywhere and incessantly +by rule. But, as the wind still +sweeps by us who call ourselves the children +of an age of knowledge, and we endeavor to +give our fullest answer to the question, +"Whence it cometh, and whither it goeth?" +we discover that, as the symbol of a spiritual +force, of whose presence we are conscious, +while we are unable to determine, with moderate +confidence, either the secret principle +or the range of its action, the wind is as full +of meaning still as in the days of Nicodemus.</p> + +<p>When our Lord has thus pointed to the freedom +and the mysteriousness of the wind, He +adds, "So is every one that is born of the +Spirit." The simile itself would have led +us to expect—"So is the Spirit of God." +The man born of the Spirit would answer not +to the wind itself, but to the sensible effect<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[129]</a></span> +of the wind. There is a break of correspondence +between the simile and its application. +The simile directs attention to +the divine Author of the new birth in +man. The words which follow direct attention +to the human subject upon whom the +divine agent works. Something similar is +observable when our Lord compares the kingdom +of heaven to a merchantman seeking +goodly pearls; the kingdom really corresponds +not to the merchantman, but to the pearl of +great price which the merchantman buys. In +such cases, we may be sure, the natural correspondence +between a simile and its application +is not disturbed without a motive. And +the reason for this disturbance is presumably +that the simile is not adequate to the full purpose +of the speaker, who is anxious to teach +some larger truth than its obvious application +would suggest. In the case before us, we may +be allowed to suppose, that by His reference +to the wind our Lord desired to convey something +more than the real but mysterious +agency of the Holy Spirit in the new birth of +man. His language seems designed, not merely +to correct the materialistic narrowness of +the Jewish doctor, not merely to answer by +anticipation the doubts of later days as to the +spiritual efficacy of His own sacrament of +regeneration, but to picture, in words which +should be read to the end of time, the general +work of that divine person whose mission of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[130]</a></span> +mercy to our race was at once the consequence +and the completion of His own.</p> + +<p>It may be useful to trace the import of our +Lord's simile in three fields of the action of +the holy and eternal Spirit; His creation of a +sacred literature, His guidance of a divine society, +and His work upon individual souls.</p> + +<p>I. As, then, we turn over the pages of the +Bible, must we not say, "The wind of heaven +bloweth where it listeth"? If we might reverently +imagine ourselves scheming beforehand +what kind of a book the Book of God +ought to be, how different would it be from +the actual Bible. There would be as many +bibles as there are souls, and they would +differ as widely. But in one thing, amid all +their differences, they would probably agree; +they would lack the variety, both in form and +substance, of the holy Book which the Church +of God places in the hands of her children. +The self-assertion, the scepticism, and the fastidiousness +of our day would meet like the +men of the second Roman triumvirate on that +island in the Reno, and would draw up their +lists of proscription. One would condemn the +poetry of Scripture as too inexact; another its +history as too largely secular; another its metaphysics +as too transcendental, or as hostile +to some fanciful ideal of "simplicity," or as +likely to quench a purely moral enthusiasm. +The archaic history of the Pentateuch, or the +sterner side of the ethics of the psalter, or the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[131]</a></span> +supernaturalism of the histories of Elijah or +of Daniel, or the so-called pessimism of Ecclesiastes, +or the alleged secularism of Esther, or +the literal import of the Song of Solomon, +would be in turn condemned. Nor could the +apostles hope to escape: St. John would be +too mystical in this estimate; St. James too +legal in that; St. Paul too dialectical, or too +metaphysical, or too easily capable of an antinomian +interpretation; St. Peter too undecided, +as if balancing between St. Paul and +St. James. Our new Bible would probably be +uniform, narrow, symmetrical; it would be +entirely made up of poetry, or of history, or +of formal propositions, or of philosophical +speculation, or of lists of moral maxims; it +would be modeled after the type of some current +writer on English history, or some popular +poet or metaphysician, or some sentimentalist +who abjures history and philosophy +alike on principle, or some composer of well-intentioned +religious tracts for general circulation. +The inspirations of heaven would +be taken in hand, and instead of a wind blowing +where it listeth, we should have a wind, +no doubt, of some kind, rustling earnestly +enough along some very narrow crevices or +channels, in obedience to the directions of +some one form of human prejudice, or passion, +or fear, or hope.</p> + +<p>The Bible is like nature in its immense, its +exhaustless variety; like nature, it reflects all<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[132]</a></span> +the higher moods of the human soul, because +it does much more; because it brings us face +to face with the infinity of the divine life. +In the Bible the wind of heaven pays scant +heed to our anticipations or our prejudices; +it "bloweth where it listeth." It breathes not +only in the divine charities of the gospels, +not only in the lyrical sallies of the epistles, +not only in the great announcements scattered +here and there in Holy Scripture of the magnificence, +or the compassion, or the benevolence +of God; but also in the stern language +of the prophets, in the warnings and lessons +of the historical books, in the revelations of +divine justice and of human responsibility +which abound in either Testament. "Where +it listeth." Not only where our sense of literary +beauty is stimulated, as in St. Paul's picture +of charity, by lines which have taken captive +the imagination of the world, not only +where feeling and conscience echo the verdict +of authority and the promptings of reverence, +but also where this is not the case; where +neither precept nor example stimulates us, and +we are left face to face with historical or ethical +material, which appears to us to inspire no +spiritual enthusiasm, or which is highly suggestive +of critical difficulty. Let us be patient; +we shall understand, if we will only wait, how +these features of the Bible too are integral +parts of a living whole; here, as elsewhere, +the Spirit breathes; in the genealogies of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[133]</a></span> +Chronicles as in the last discourse in St. +John, though with an admitted difference of +manner and degree. He "bloweth where He +listeth." The apostle's words respecting the +Old Testament are true of the New: "All +Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and +is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, +for instruction in righteousness." +And, "Whatsoever things were written aforetime +were written for our learning, that we +through patience and comfort of the Scriptures +might have hope."</p> + +<p>"But thou hearest the sound thereof, and +canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither +it goeth." The majesty of Scripture is recognized +by man, wherever there is, I will not +say a spiritual faculty, but a natural sense +of beauty. The "sound" of the wind is perceived +by the trained ear, by the literary taste, +by the refinement, by the humanity of every +generation of educated men. But what beyond? +What of its spiritual source, its spiritual +drift and purpose, its half-concealed but +profound unities, its subtle but imperious relations +to conscience? Of these things, so +precious to Christians, a purely literary appreciation +of Scripture is generally ignorant; +the sacred Book, like the prophet of the Chebar, +is only "as a very lovely song of one that +hath a pleasant voice, and can play well on +an instrument." Or again, the "sound +thereof" is heard in the admitted empire of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[134]</a></span> +the Bible over millions of hearts and consciences; +an empire the evidences of which +strike upon the ear in countless ways, and +which is far too wide and too secure to be +affected by the criticisms that might occasionally +seem to threaten it. What is the secret +of this influence of Scripture? Not simply +that it is the Book of Revelation; since it contains +a great deal of matter which lay fairly +within the reach of man's natural faculties. +The Word or eternal Reason of God is the +Revealer; but Scripture, whether it is a record +of divine revelations or of naturally observed +facts, is, in the belief of the Christian Church, +throughout "inspired" by the Spirit. Inspiration +is the word which describes the presence +and action of the Holy Spirit everywhere +in Scripture. We know not how our own +spirits, hour by hour, are acted upon by the +eternal Spirit, though we do not question the +fact; we content ourselves with recognizing +what we can not explain. If we believe that +Scripture is inspired, we know that it is instinct +with the presence of Him whose voice +we might hear in every utterance, but of +whom we cannot tell whence He cometh or +whither He goeth.</p> + +<p>II. The history of the Church of Christ +from the days of the apostles has been a history +of spiritual movements. Doubtless it has +been a history of much else; the Church has +been the scene of human passions, human<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[135]</a></span> +speculations, human errors. But traversing +these, He by whom the whole body of the +Church is governed and sanctified, has made +His presence felt, not only in the perpetual +proclamation and elucidation of truth, not +only in the silent, never-ceasing sanctification +of souls, but also in great upheavals of spiritual +life, by which the conscience of Christians +has been quickened, or their hold upon the +truths of redemption and grace made more intelligent +and serious, or their lives and practise +restored to something like the ideal of +the Gospels. Even in the apostolic age it was +necessary to warn Christians that it was high +time to awake out of sleep; that the night of +life was far spent, and the day of eternity +was at hand. And ever since, from generation +to generation, there has been a succession of +efforts within the Church to realize more worthily +the truth of the Christian creed, or the +ideal of the Christian life. These revivals +have been inspired or led by devoted men who +have represented the highest conscience of +Christendom in their day. They may be +traced along the line of Christian history; the +Spirit living in the Church has by them attested +His presence and His will; and has +recalled lukewarm generations, paralyzed by +indifference or degraded by indulgence, to the +true spirit and level of Christian faith and +life.</p> + +<p>In such movements there is often what<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[136]</a></span> +seems, at first sight, an element of caprice. +They appear to contemporaries to be onesided, +exaggerated, narrow, fanatical. They +are often denounced with a passionate fervor +which is so out of proportion to the reality as +to border on the grotesque. They are said to +exact too much of us, or to concede too much. +They are too contemplative in their tendency +to be sufficiently practical, or too energetically +practical to do justice to religious thought. +They are too exclusively literary and academical, +as being the work of men of books; +or they are too popular and insensible to philosophical +considerations, as being the work of +men of the people. Or, again, they are so occupied +with controversy as to forget the +claims of devotion, or so engaged in leading +souls to a devout life as to forget the unwelcome +but real necessities of controversy. +They are intent on particular moral improvements +so exclusively as to forget what is due +to reverence and order; or they are so bent +upon rescuing the Church from chronic slovenliness +and indecency in public worship as +to do less than justice to the paramount interests +of moral truth. Sometimes these movements +are all feeling; sometimes they are all +thought; sometimes they are, as it seems, all +outward energy. In one age they produce +a literature like that of the fourth and fifth +centuries; in another they found orders of +men devoted to preaching or to works of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[137]</a></span> +mercy, as in the twelfth; in another they +enter the lists, as in the thirteenth century, +with a hostile philosophy; in another they attempt +a much-needed reformation of the +Church; in another they pour upon the +heathen world a flood of light and warmth +from the heart of Christendom. It is easy, +as we survey them, to say that something else +was needed; or that what was done could +have been done better or more completely; +or that, had we been there, we should not have +been guilty of this onesidedness, or of that +exaggeration. We forget, perhaps, who really +was there, and whose work it is, though often +overlaid and thwarted by human weakness +and human passion, that we are really criticizing. +If it was seemingly onesided, excessive +or defective, impulsive or sluggish, speculative +or practical, esthetic or experimental, +may not this have been so because in His +judgment, who breatheth where He listeth, +this particular characteristic was needed for +the Church of that day? All that contemporaries +know of such movements is "the sound +thereof"; the names with which they are associated, +the controversies which they precipitate, +the hostilities which they rouse or allay, +as the case may be. Such knowledge is superficial +enough; of the profound spiritual +causes which really engender them, of the direction +in which they are really moving, of +the influence which they are destined permanently<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[138]</a></span> +to exert upon souls, men know little or +nothing. The accidental symptom is mistaken +for the essential characteristic; the momentary +expression of feeling for the inalienable +conviction of certain truth. The day may +come, perhaps, when more will be known; +when practise and motive, accident and substance, +the lasting and the transient, will be +seen in their true relative proportions; but +for the time this can hardly be. He is passing +by, whose way is in the sea, and His paths +in the deep waters, and His footsteps unknown. +The Eternal Spirit is passing; and +men can only say, "He bloweth where He +listeth."</p> + +<p>III. Our Lord's words apply especially to +Christian character. There are some effects of +the living power of the Holy Spirit which are +invariable. When He dwells with a Christian +soul, He continually speaks in the voice of +conscience; He speaks in the voice of prayer. +He produces with the ease of a natural +process, without effort, without the taint of +self-consciousness, "love, joy, peace, long-suffering, +gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, +temperance." Some of these graces +must be found where He makes His home. +There is no mistaking the atmosphere of His +presence: in its main features it is the same +now as in the days of the apostles. Just as +in natural morality the main elements of +"goodness" do not change; so in religious life,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[139]</a></span> +spirituality is, amid great varieties of detail, +yet, in its leading constituent features, the +same thing from one generation to another. +But in the life of the individual Christian, or +in that of the Church, there is legitimate room +for irregular and exceptional forms of activity +or excellence. Natural society is not +strengthened by the stern repression of all +that is peculiar in individual thought or practise; +and this is not less true of spiritual or +religious society. From the first, high forms +of Christian excellence have often been associated +with unconscious eccentricity. The +eccentricity must be unconscious, because consciousness +of eccentricity at once reduces it +to a form of vanity which is entirely inconsistent +with Christian excellence. How many +excellent Christians have been eccentric, deviating +more or less from the conventional type +of goodness which has been recognized by contemporary +religious opinion. They pass away, +and when they are gone men do justice to +their characters; but while they are still with +us how hard do many of us find it to remember +that there may be a higher reason for their +peculiarities than we think. We know not +the full purpose of each saintly life in the designs +of Providence; we know not much of the +depths and heights whence it draws its inspirations; +we can not tell whence it cometh +or whither it goeth. Only we know that He +whose workmanship it is bloweth where He<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[140]</a></span> +listeth; and this naturally leads us to remark +the practical interpretation which the Holy +Spirit often puts upon our Lord's words by +selecting as His chosen workmen those who +seem to be least fitted by nature for such high +service. The apostle has told us how in the +first age He set Himself to defeat human anticipations. +"Not many wise men after the +flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are +called"; learned academies, powerful connections, +gentle blood did little enough for the +gospel in the days when it won its first and +greatest victories. The Holy Spirit, as Nicodemus +knew, passed by the varied learning +and high station of the Sanhedrin, and +breathed where He listed on the peasants of +Galilee; He breathed on them a power which +would shake the world. And thus has it been +again and again in the generations which have +followed. When the great Aquinas was a +student of philosophy under Albertus Magnus +at Cologne, he was known among his contemporaries +as "the dumb Ox"; so little did +they divine what was to be his place in the +theology of Western Christendom. And to +those of us who can look back upon the memories +of this University for a quarter of a century +or more, few things appear more remarkable +than the surprizes which the later +lives of men constantly afford; sometimes it is +a failure of early natural promise, but more +often a rich development of intellectual and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[141]</a></span> +practical capacity where there had seemed to +be no promise at all. We can remember, perhaps, +some dull quiet man who seemed to be +without a ray of genius, or, stranger still, +without anything interesting or marked in +character, but who now exerts, and most +legitimately, the widest influence for good, +and whose name is repeated by thousands with +grateful respect. Or we can call to mind another +whose whole mind was given to what +was frivolous, or even degrading, and who +now is a leader in everything that elevates and +improves his fellows. The secret of these +transfigurations is ever the same. In those +days these men did not yet see their way; +they were like travelers through the woods at +night, when the sky is hidden and all things +seem to be other than they are.</p> + +<p>Since then the sun has risen and all has +changed. The creed of the Church of Christ, +in its beauty and its power, has been flashed +by the Divine Spirit upon their hearts and +understandings; and they are other men. +They have seen that there is something worth +living for in earnest; that God, the soul, the +future, are immense realities, compared with +which all else is tame and insignificant. They +have learned something of that personal love +of our crucified Lord, which is itself a moral +and religious force of the highest order, and +which has carried them forwards without their +knowing it. And what has been will assuredly +repeat itself.</p> + +<hr class="chap" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142"> </a><br /><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143"> </a></span></p> + + + + +<h2>W. M. TAYLOR</h2> + +<h3>CHRIST BEFORE PILATE—PILATE +BEFORE CHRIST</h3> + +<hr class="chap" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144"> </a></span></p> + + + + +<h4>BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE</h4> + + +<p>William Mackergo Taylor, Congregational +divine, was born at Kilmarnock, +Scotland, in 1829. He was for many +years pastor of the Broadway Tabernacle, +New York. He had an impressive presence +and his delivery was marked by a magnetic +earnestness. During the first ten years of +his ministry he spoke memoriter, but subsequently +wrote out his sermons with +detailed care and preached them from +manuscript, but their delivery was without +the freedom and freshness of extemporaneous +address. He came to regret +this, for he said: "If I might speak +from my own experience I would say, that +memoriter preaching is the method which +has the greatest advantages, with the fewest +disadvantages." He died in 1895.</p> + +<hr class="chap" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[145]</a></span></p> + + + + +<h2>W. M. TAYLOR</h2> + +<h3>1829-1895</h3> + +<h4>CHRIST BEFORE PILATE—PILATE +BEFORE CHRIST<a name="FNanchor_5_5" id="FNanchor_5_5"></a><a href="#Footnote_5_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a></h4> + +<blockquote> + +<p><em>Pilate saith unto them, What shall I do, then, with +Jesus, which is called Christ?</em>—Matthew xxvii., 22.</p></blockquote> + + +<p>During my late visit to my native land +I had the great enjoyment of seeing, +and somewhat carefully studying, +Munkacsy's famous picture of "Christ Before +Pilate." Rarely, if ever, had I been so much +moved by a work of art; and I propose to give, +as nearly as I can recall it, the sermon which +it reached to me as I sat silently contemplating +the figures, which, even as I looked at them, +seemed to grow before me into life.</p> + +<p>But, first, I must try to describe to you the +picture itself. The canvas is large, and the +figures, all of which are on the line of sight, +are of life size. The scene is in the pavement +or open court before the governor's palace, +which was called in the Hebrew tongue Gabbatha, +and in which, after all his efforts to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[146]</a></span> +wriggle out of the responsibility of dealing +with the case, Pilate ultimately gave up Jesus +to be crucified. At one end of the court, on +a raised bench, and drest in a white toga, +Pilate sits. On either side of him are Jews, +each of whom has a marked and special individuality. +The two on his left are gazing +with intense eagerness at Christ. They are +evidently puzzled, and know not well what +to make of the mysterious prisoner. On his +right, standing on one of the seats, and with +his back against the wall, is a Scribe, whose +countenance is expressive of uttermost contempt, +and just in front of this haughty fellow +are some Pharisees, one of whom is on his +feet, and passionately urging that Jesus +should be put to death, presumably on the +ground that, if Pilate should let Him go, he +would make it evident that he was not Cæsar's +friend. Before them again is a usurer, sleek, +fat and self-satisfied, clearly taking great comfort +to himself in the assurance that, however +the matter may be settled, his well-filled +money-bags will be undisturbed. Beyond him +stands the Christ in a robe of seamless white, +and with His wrists firmly bound; while behind, +kept in place by a Roman soldier, standing +with his back to the spectator, and making +a barricade with his spear, which he holds +horizontally, is a motley group of onlookers, +not unlike that which we may still see any +day in one of our criminal courts. Of these,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[147]</a></span> +one more furious than the rest is wildly gesticulating, +and crying, as we may judge from +his whole attitude, "Crucify Him! crucify +Him!" and another, a little to the Savior's +left, but in the second row behind Him, is +leaning forward with mockery in his leering +look, and making almost as if he would spit +upon the saintly one. There is but one really +compassionate face in the crowd, and that is +a face of a woman who, with an infant in her +arms, most fitly represents those gentle daughters +of Jerusalem who followed Jesus to Calvary +with tears. Then, over the heads of the +on-lookers, and out of the upper part of the +doorway into the court, we get a glimpse of +the quiet light of the morning as it sleeps +upon the walls and turrets of the adjacent +buildings. All these figures are so distinctly +seen that you feel you could recognize them +again if you met them anywhere; and a +strange sense of reality comes upon you as +you look at them, so that you forget that they +are only painted, and imagine that you are +gazing on living and breathing men.</p> + +<p>But, as you sit awhile and look on, you +gradually lose all consciousness of the presence +of the mere on-lookers and find your interest +concentrated on these two white-robed ones, +as if they were the only figures before you. +The pose of Christ is admirable. It is repose +blended with dignity; self-possession rising +into majesty. There is no agitation or confusion;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[148]</a></span> +no fear or misgiving; but, instead, the +calm nobleness of Him who has just been +saying, "Thou couldst have no power at all +against me, except it were given thee from +above; therefore he that delivered me unto +thee hath the greater sin." The face alone +disappoints. Perhaps that may be owing to +the lofty ideal we have of the divine Man, +so that no picture of our Lord would entirely +please. But tho the painter has wisely abandoned +the halo, and all similar conventionalisms +of art, and has delineated a real man, +for all which he is to be highly commended, +yet the eyes which look so steadily at Pilate, as +if they were looking him through, seem to me to +be cold, keen, and condemnatory, rather than +compassionate and sad. It is a conception of +the Lord of the same sort as that of Doré, in +his well-known picture of the leaving of the +Prætorium, and the eyes have not in them +that deep well of tenderness out of which +came the tears which He shed over Jerusalem, +and which we expect to see in them when He +is looking at the hopeless struggle of a soul +which will not accept His aid. It is said +that the artist, dissatisfied with his first attempt, +has painted the Christ face twice; but +this, also, is a partial failure, and here, so at +least it seemed to me as I looked upon it, is +the one defect in his noble work. But if there +is this defect, it is one which it shares with +every other effort that human art has made<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[149]</a></span> +to delineate the Lord. The Pilate, however, +is well-nigh faultless. Here is a great, strong +man, the representative of the mightiest empire +the world has ever seen, with a head +indicating intellectual force, and a face, especially +in its lower part, suggestive of sensual +indulgence. There is ordinarily no want +of firmness in him, as we may see from the +general set of his features; but now there is +in his countenance a marvelous mixture of +humiliation and irresolution. He cannot lift +his eyes to meet the gaze of Christ; and while +one of his hands is nervously clutching at +his robe he is looking sadly into the other, +whose fingers, even as we look at them, almost +seem to twitch with perplexed irresolution. +He is clearly pondering for himself the question +which a few moments before he had addrest +to the multitude, "What shall I do +with Jesus which is called Christ?" He is +annoyed that the case has been brought to +him at all, and as he feels himself drifting +on, against his own better judgment, toward +yielding to the clamor of the multitude, he +falls mightily in his own conceit, and begins +to despise himself. He would, at that moment, +give, oh, how much! to be rid of the +responsibility of dealing with the Christ, but +he cannot evade it; and so he sits there, drifting +on to what he knows is a wrong decision, +the very incarnation of the feeling which his +own national poet described when he said, "I<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[150]</a></span> +see and approve the better course; I follow +the worse." Thus, as we look at these two, +we begin to discover that it was not Christ +that was before Pilate so much as Pilate was +before Christ. His was the testing experience. +His was the trial; his too, alas! was the degradation; +and at that coming day when the +places shall be reversed, when Christ shall be +on the judgment seat, and Pilate at the bar, +there will still be that deep self-condemnation +which the painter here has fixt upon his +countenance. It is a marvelous picture, in +many respects the most remarkable I ever +looked upon, and, even from this imperfect +description of it, you will easily understand +how, as I sat intent before it, it stirred my +soul to the very depths.</p> + +<p>But now, with this portrayal of the scene +before us let us see if we can account, first, +for the hesitation of Pilate to give up the +Lord, and then for his final yielding to the +clamor of the people. Why all this reluctance +on his part to send Jesus to the cross? He +was not usually so scrupulous. A human +life more or less gave him generally very little +concern. He had all a Roman's indifference +for the comfort of those who stood in any +respect in his way; and had no compunction, +as we know, in mingling the blood of certain +turbulent Jews with the very sacrifices which +at the moment they were offering. Had +Christ been a Roman citizen, indeed, he would<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[151]</a></span> +most likely have been very watchful over His +safety, for in regard to all such the imperial +law was peculiarly strict, but the life of a +mere Jew was a very small thing in his estimation. +Wherefore, then, this unwonted +squeamishness of conscience? It was the result +of a combination of particulars, each of +which had a special force of its own, and the +aggregate of which so wrought upon his mind +that he was brought thereby to a stand.</p> + +<p>There was, in the first place, the peculiar +character of the prisoner. A very slight examination +had been sufficient to convince him +that Christ was innocent of the charge which +had been brought against Him. But in the +course of that examination much more than +the innocence of Christ had come to view. +He had manifested a dignified patience altogether +unlike anything that Pilate had ever +seen; and His answers to certain questions +had been so strangely suggestive of something +higher and nobler than even the most exalted +earthly philosophy that he could not look +upon Him as a common prisoner. He was no +mere fanatic; neither was He after the pattern +of any existing school, whether Jewish, +Greek, or Roman. There was about Him an +"other-worldliness" which brought those near +Him into close proximity, for the time, with +the unseen; and an elevation which lifted +Him above the tumult that was howling for +His destruction. Probably Pilate could not<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[152]</a></span> +have described it to himself, but there was +something which he felt unusual and exceptional +in this man, marking Him out from +every other he ever had before him, and constraining +him to take a special interest in +His case. Add to this that his wife had sent +to him that singular message—"Have thou +nothing to do with that just man, for I have +suffered many things this day in a dream +because of him,"—a message which, in those +days of mingled scepticism and superstition—for +the two always go hand in hand—must +have produced a deep impression on his mind. +Moreover, there seemed some fatality about +the case. He had tried to roll it over upon +Herod, but that wily monarch sent the prisoner +back upon his hands. He had attempted +to release Him, as the Passover prisoner for +the year, but neither was there any outlet for +him in that, for the people had preferred +Barabbas. And so the responsibility had come +again to his own door, and could not be passed +on to another. Still again, he saw that the +Jews were acting most hypocritically in the +matter. It was a new thing for them to be +zealous for the honor of Cæsar, and he could +easily see through the mask they wore into +the envy and malice which were the motives +for their conduct. The deeper he went into +the case he discovered only the more reason +for resisting their importunity, and, however, +he looked at it, his plain duty was to set the +prisoner free.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[153]</a></span></p> + +<p>Why then, again we ask, was his perplexity? +The answer is suggested by the taunt of the +Jews, "If thou let this man go thou art not +Cæsar's friend; whosoever maketh himself a +king speaketh against Cæsar." He foresaw +that if he resisted the will of the rulers he +would make them his enemies, and so provoke +them to complain of him to the emperor, who +would then institute an inquiry into the administration +of his office—and that he was +not prepared to face. He had done things +as a governor which would not bear the light, +and so at the crisis of his life he was fettered +by deeds of the past from doing that which +he felt to be the duty of the present. You +may, perhaps, remember that expression of +the prophet, which thus reads in the margin: +"Their doings will not suffer them to turn +unto their God": and that other, which affirms, +concerning Israel: "Their own doings +have beset them about." Now these descriptions +most accurately define the cause of Pilate's +perplexity here. His conduct in the +past had been such that he had not the courage +to take any course which might lead to +an investigation of that. If he could deliver +Christ without provoking that, then he would +most cheerfully do so; but if by delivering +Christ he would provoke that, then Christ +must be given up to the cross. Hence his perplexity +at the first, and hence, also, his yielding +in the end. His past misdeeds had put<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[154]</a></span> +him virtually into the power of those who were +now so eager for the condemnation of the +Christ. On three several occasions his arbitrariness +had been such as all but to instigate +a rebellion among the people, and his cruelty +and contempt for justice, when he had a personal +end to gain, were sure, upon appeal to +the emperor, to be severely punished; so to +save himself from banishment and disgrace, +if not even death, he delivered over Jesus +to the will of the Jews. He wished to do +right in this case more than ever he had +wished before; there was something about it +which in his view made it more important +that he should do right now than ever before; +but through all his past official life he had, +by his enormities and oppressions, been unconsciously +weaving round himself a net, in +the meshes of which he was now inextricably +caught. His guilty conscience made him a +coward at the very time when most of all he +wanted to be brave. He had come to his +"narrow place," where he could turn neither +to the right hand nor to the left, but must face +the naked alternative "yes" or "no"; and +he fell because in his former life, when he +was thinking of no such ordeal, he had sold +himself by his evil deeds into the power of +the enemy.</p> + +<p>Now, what a lesson there is in all this for +us! Men think that they may live for the +time being as they please, and that at a convenient<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[155]</a></span> +venient season they can repent and turn to +God. But the present is conditioning the future, +and making it either possible or the reverse +for us to do right in the future. He who +neglects the laws of health every day, and +lives in intemperance and excess of all kinds, +is only making it absolutely certain that when +fever lays him low he will die, for he has +eaten out the strength of his constitution by +his follies. And, in the same way, he who +sets all morality at defiance in his ordinary +conduct only makes it inevitable that when +his convenient season does come, when his time +of privilege and testing does arrive, he will +fail to rise to the occasion, and be swept away +into perdition. The tenor of our ordinary +life determines how we shall pass through exceptional +and crucial occasions, therefore let +us bring that up to the highest level by doing +everything as unto God, and then we shall +be ready for any emergency.</p> + +<p>Nor let me forget to add here, that in spite +of all his efforts to keep back investigation, +Pilate's day of reckoning with the emperor +did come. The Jews complained of him after +all, in spite of his yielding to them now; and +as the result he was banished, and afterwards, +so tradition says, he committed suicide. Thus +the ordeal and the disgrace came, notwithstanding +all he did to avert them, and he had +not under them the solace which he might +have enjoyed if only he had stood firm on<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[156]</a></span> +this great and memorable occasion. Therefore +let us all, and especially the young, take +to ourselves, as the first lesson from this deeply +interesting history, that we should be careful +not to hamper ourselves for the discharge of +duty in the future by guilt of the present. By +our conduct now we are either coiling cords +around us which shall hold us fast at the very +time when we most desire to be free, or we +are forming and fostering a strength of character +which, through God, will triumph over +every temptation. If "to be weak is to be +miserable," it is no less true that to be guilty +is to be weak. Preserve yourselves, therefore, +from this danger, and seek above all other +things to keep your consciences clean; then +when you will need all your strength for a +crisis, you will not sit, like Pilate here, in +nervous perplexity bemoaning your helplessness +even while you yield to the adversary; +but you will shake the temptation from you +with as much ease as the eagle shakes the dewdrop +from his wing. Keep yourselves pure: +so shall your youth be full of happiness, and +you shall go forth out of it with no encumbering +past to clog the wheels of your endeavor. +How happy he whose youth thus leaves him +with a smile and sends him forth upon the +duties of manhood with a benediction! But +he, how miserable! whose early years heap +bitter maledictions on his head, and push him +forward into active life with a conscience already<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[157]</a></span> +laden with guilt, and a soul as weak +before temptation as a reed is before the wind.</p> + +<p>But while there is thus in this history a +lesson for all time, I think Munkacsy, by the +appearance of his wondrous picture now, has +made it evident that there is also something +in it specially adapted to these modern days. +It is with artists in the choice of their subjects +as it is with ministers in the selection of their +themes. Both alike, consciously and unconsciously, +and most frequently perhaps unconsciously, +are affected by the spirit of their +age. The atmosphere—literary, moral, political, +and religious—which is round about +them, and which they are daily breathing, +does, insensibly to themselves, so influence +them that their thoughts are turned by it into +a channel different from that in which those +of a former generation flowed. Hence, +whether the painter would admit it or not, I +see in this picture, at this juncture, at once a +mirror of the times and a lesson for them. +The question of Pilate, "What shall I do, +then, with Jesus which is called the Christ?" +is preeminently the question of the present +age. No doubt we may say with truth that +it has been the question of all the Christian +centuries, and each one of them has faced it +and solved it after its own fashion. It has +tested the centuries even as it tested Pilate, +and those in which Christ was rejected have +been the darkest in the world's history; while<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[158]</a></span> +those in which He has been hailed as the incarnate +God have been the brightest which +the earth has ever seen, because irradiated +with truth, and justice, and benevolence and +purity. But tho we are always prone to exaggerate +that in the midst of which we are +ourselves, it seems to me that in no one age +since that of the primitive Church has this +jesting question been so prominent as in our +own. All the controversies of our times, social, +philosophical, and theological, lead up +to and find their ultimate hinge in the answer +to this inquiry, "Who is this Jesus Christ?" +If He be a mere man, then there is for us +nothing but uncertainty on any subject, outside +of the domain of the exact sciences; and +we must all become agnostics, holding this +one negative article of belief, that nothing +can be known about anything save that of +which we can take cognizance with the bodily +sense. But if He be incarnate God, then He +brings with Him from heaven the final word +on all subjects concerning which He has +spoken; and tho in His person He is the +mystery of mysteries, yet, at once received, +He becomes forthwith the solution of all mysteries, +and faith in Him is at once the satisfaction +of the intellect and the repose of the +heart. It is perfectly natural, therefore, that +all the controversies of the day should turn +on Him. The lives of Christ which have been +written during the last thirty or forty years<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[159]</a></span> +would make in themselves a very respectable +library; and the cry even of the sceptic is, +"I could get on very well with unbelief, if +I only knew what to make of Christ." Yes, +that is just the difficulty. Christ is here in +the Scriptures a character portrayed in literature; +He was in the world for thirty-three +years, and lived a life exceptional in every +respect, but most of all in the moral and spiritual +departments, so that of Him alone perfection +can be predicated; He has been ever +since a most potent factor in history, for +through His influence all that is pure, and +noble, and exalted, and lovely and of good +report, has come into our civilization. Now, +these things have to be accounted for. If He +was only a man, how shall we explain them? +And if He was more than a man shall we not +take His own testimony as to His dignity and +mission? If we are to be unbelievers, we must +account for Christ on natural principles; but +if we cannot do that, then we must conceive +Him as He claims to be conceived. There is +no alternative. Those in the age who have +the spirit and disposition of Pilate will anew +reject Him! but those who are sincere and +earnest in their inquiries will come ultimately +out into the light, for "if any man be willing +to do his will, he shall know of the doctrine +whether it be of God."</p> + +<p>And what is true of the age, as a whole, is +true also of every individual to whom the gospel<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[160]</a></span> +is proclaimed. For each of us, my hearers, +this is the question of questions, "What +shall I do with Jesus which is called Christ?" +Shall I reject Him and live precisely as if +I had never heard His name? or shall I accept +Him as the Lord from heaven in human +nature, trust in Him as my Savior, and obey +Him as my King? I must do the one or the +other; and yet how many are seeking, like +Pilate, to evade the question? They try to +escape the responsibility of dealing with it as +a direct alternative of yes or no. But as one +has well said, "necessity is laid upon us. The +adversaries of Christ press upon us to give +our verdict against Him. We are troubled +and perplexed, for we have long heard about +Him, and have had each of us his own convictions. +We would still remain neutral. We +try—and try in vain—to escape from the +spirit, the conversation, the literature, the +question of the times. Again and again we +wash our hands. But neither our silence nor +our actions are of any avail; and so we are +found sitting, conscious of the presence and +the claims of our Savior, and, like Pilate, +not daring to look at Him, as we puzzle over +the answer which we must give to the question +that is being forced upon us—Who is +this Jesus Christ?" Perhaps this description +accurately portrays some one here this +morning.</p> + +<p>If so, let me give him one parting word.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[161]</a></span> +It is this: You can not evade the decision, but +be sure that you look at the Christ before you +give Him up. Nothing is so remarkable in +the picture to which I have so often this day +referred as the evident persistency with which +Pilate keeps his eyes from Christ; and few +things are so saddening as to meet with men +who profess to have, and really have, difficulties +about Christ, but who have never read +the gospels or the New Testament with any +attention.</p> + +<p>Let me urge you earnestly, therefore, to +study these gospels and epistles before you +give your voice against the Lord, and I am +very sure that if you ponder them thoroughly +you will soon accept Him. Give over trying +to solve all the difficulties and so-called discrepancies +in the Scriptures which form the +stock-in-trade of the infidel lecturer—all these +are but as dust which he raises that he may +blind your eyes to the really important question, +"Who is Christ?" Settle that, and if +you do, all other difficulties will vanish. Turn +your face to the light, and the shadow will +fall behind you. Look at the Christ before +you give Him up. And remember, if you do +reject Christ, you have still to account for +Him. It is unreasonable for you, if you believe +only in the natural and material, to +leave such a phenomenon as Christ unexplained.</p> + +<p>Yes, and I must add here that if you reject<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[162]</a></span> +Him you must yet account to Him. Go, then, +and ponder this text; yea, may it continue +sounding in your inmost heart until you have +determined to receive and rest upon Him as +your only Savior, and say to Him, like +Thomas, "My Lord and my God."</p> + +<hr class="chap" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163"> </a></span></p> + + + + +<h2>JOHN HALL</h2> + +<h3>LIBERTY ONLY IN TRUTH</h3> + +<hr class="chap" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164"> </a></span></p> + + + + +<h4>BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE</h4> + + +<p>John Hall was born at Market Hill, +County Armagh, Ireland, in 1829. For +many years he was pastor of the Fifth +Avenue Presbyterian Church, New York, +where he had a large and devoted following. +He was of fine physique, and there +was a power in face and voice that at once +commanded his audience. He spoke without +manuscript, and his style was marked +by great sincerity, directness and earnestness. +He died in 1899.</p> + +<hr class="chap" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[165]</a></span></p> + + + + +<h2>JOHN HALL</h2> + +<h3>1829-1899</h3> + +<h4>LIBERTY ONLY IN TRUTH</h4> + +<blockquote> + +<p><em>And I will walk at liberty, for I seek thy precepts.</em>—Psalms +cxix., 45.</p></blockquote> + + +<p>God is the Governor of this world. Some +one may say, that is a very elementary +truth. Even so; there have been long +ages in the history of our race when that truth +was not accepted and when the most intelligent +of our race believed something directly opposed. +There have been multitudes of men, +for example, who believed, like Aristotle, that +matter is eternal. There are multitudes still +who believe that in some way or other nature +governs itself. There is a large class of thinkers +who, without taking the name to themselves, +are practically pantheists, and, like +Spinoza and Fichte and Hegel, persuade +themselves that all is God, as they express it, +and that God is all. You do not need to be +told that the earlier portion of the Old Testament +Scriptures God has given to us that we +might have these illusions banished, and that +we might be made to know that God is the Creator +and the Ruler of all things, that He is +not nature, and nature is not God; that He<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[166]</a></span> +is not to be confounded with the works of His +hands; that He is a distinct, personal and holy +Being, who has created all, and who has a +right, on the ground of creation, even if there +were no other, to be the Ruler of all. It took +long to make men understand this truth, simple +and elementary as it seems to you and to +me.</p> + +<p>When we say that God governs the globe, +we do not mean the mere earthly, solid structure +on which we dwell. We mean that He +governs the inhabitants of it, the communities +and the individuals. "The Lord reigneth, let +the earth rejoice." "The Lord reigneth, let +the nations tremble." "He raiseth up kings +and he putteth them down." He calls into +being Pharaohs that He may show His power +and His glory in relation to them. His providence +is most holy and wise and powerful, +and it is not general merely, it is particular, +extending to all the creatures and to all their +actions. These things we have to keep in +mind in relation to Jehovah.</p> + +<p>Now it would seem, surely, that if a man +believed this his common sense would dictate +to him that, living in a world that God had +made and God rules in every detail, if he +wishes to be happy in it, he must have respect +to the law of Him who has made and who +rules. Common sense indicates that if we live +in a house it is desirable to be on good terms +with the head of the house if we wish to be<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[167]</a></span> +comfortable. Common sense dictates that if +a man is in the employment of others, it is +wise for him to have a right understanding, to +stand well with the head of the department in +which he is engaged. Common sense teaches +us that if we are subjects in a kingdom and +wish to be safe and happy, we must respect +the laws by which the kingdom is ruled. And +we have only to extend this principle, and we +get to the point that was before the Psalmist's +mind when he says: "I will walk at liberty, +for I seek (or, as it is in the revision, without +changing the meaning, 'I have sought') thy +statutes." I am living in Thy world, I am +dependent upon Thee, I have taken pains to +know what Thy will is, that I may do it; and +so I walk at liberty. That is the idea that is +brought to us in the text, and it is easy for +you to see how good and practical that idea is.</p> + +<p>But the question may arise, can we know +the precepts and the statutes that God has +given to us? You do not need to be told that +that is within our reach. God has spoken to +us in this revelation, as He did speak less +articulately in the works of His hands, and +in the instincts and convictions that He produced +in our spirit. We have His revelation +in our hands. We can seek the knowledge +of it. In many instances well-meaning and +right-minded boys, under great difficulties, +have sought education that they may get on +in this world. In many other cases boys have<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[168]</a></span> +had education at their very doors, and have +never sought it, and consequently have been +of little account in the world. Now the difference +is not great, in this aspect of it, between +ordinary secular education and the +spiritual education of which the text gives us +an illustration. Here are God's statutes and +precepts put within our reach. We can search +them, seek them, know them and do them, by +the grace that God is willing to give, or we +can push them aside, ignore and disregard +them, and take our own way, and the result +will be absolute and everlasting failure in our +lives. We can not have this too solemnly +fixt in our thoughts. God has spoken to us. +What shall we do with His word? Shall we +neglect it and pass it by, or shall we take it, +study it, seek it, as the verse expresses it, and +make it the rule of our lives? Jesus Christ +has come down from heaven to live among us, +and has said to our race, "Come unto me and +learn of me"; and there are millions to whom +this message has come and they disregard +and ignore it; they do not come to Him, they +do not learn of Him. Can we wonder if the +Judge should say to them when they appear +at His seat, "I never knew you"? If +you read the First Epistle to the Thessalonians, +you will see pictures of an angry God, +as an avenging fire, in the apostle's description. +On whom does the fire fall? On whom +does the Judge show his indignation? Is it<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[169]</a></span> +upon the misers and the miscreants and the +murderers of the race merely? Oh, no. It is +upon them that "know not God and obey not +the gospel of his Son." Is it any wonder that +the sacred writer should say, "Remember thy +Creator in the days of thy youth"; not merely +remember that there is a God—remember thy +Creator, who made thee and in whose hand +thy fortunes are. Remember in the days of +thy youth, the formative days, the days when +character is being shaped. What is well begun +is half ended. The life that is well begun, +in this way has a guaranty of usefulness and +success. The life that is not begun in this +way has a dark and gloomy prospect before +it. Remember thy Creator. We all know well +what is meant when some one says to us, on +going away from our homes, "Don't forget +your home, don't forget your mother." +We know what that means. And God's +messenger speaks to us in the same tone +when he makes this appeal: Remember thy +Creator; remember His power, remember His +will, remember His statutes, seek His precepts, +and by doing this thou wilt be able to +walk at liberty.</p> + +<p>You may have mere liberty, and not light +and not the liberty of God. You may combine +liberty with means, with power, and with +a certain degree of prosperity; you may combine +it with equality and with fraternity, and +yet not have the true enlightenment. True enlightenment<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[170]</a></span> +comes in the way, indicated in the +text, by the seeking of God's precepts, the +knowing of God's statutes, and this you and I +need to keep in mind. "What is liberty?" +once asked Burke. "What is liberty without +wisdom and without virtue? Such liberty is +the greatest of all possible evils, for it is vice +and folly and madness, without tuition and +without restraint." Mere liberty without other +forces working in the sphere that it opens up, +is only another name for license. "Give me +liberty or give me death," said Patrick Henry—not +because he felt the need of enlightenment. +He had been enlightened by the teaching +of an intelligent Scottish father, by the +preaching of the splendid sermons of Samuel +Davies, and especially by the daily study, +which he kept up to his dying day, of his +Bible. He had been enlightened by these +things. What he craved for himself and for +his fellow men was open space in which, unhindered, +other and mighty influences might +tell upon his fellow men and make the country +what, in the blessing of God, it has become. +Settle this in your minds: Liberty is simply +the freedom for other forces to act, and it is +for you and me who are free, to see what these +forces are, and we never can have any so good +as those which the Psalmist speaks of when he +says that he sought God's precepts, he studied +God's statutes, that he might do them, and so +walk at liberty. We want to walk at liberty.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[171]</a></span> +How can we do it? If we do not thus walk +at liberty, there is only one alternative—stay +in bondage and walk in bondage, moving +about indeed, and apparently free, but with +moral chains binding our natures and our +whole being in bondage to the powers that will +rejoice in our misery and ultimate ruin. It is +to make men understand this that we have +such institutions as we enjoy to-day. For this +end church edifices are reared. For this end +people are invited to come and be regularly +in them and under their influence. For this +end God has been pleased to give us the day of +holy rest. For this purpose the ministry has +been instituted. Our business is to make men +seek and know God's precepts and statutes, +that they may do them and that they may +walk at liberty. "We ministers are for you; +our business is to seek your moral and spiritual +good, your full and complete liberation. +Our business is to enlighten you with the +truth as God has been pleased to reveal it +unto us. You do not come to these churches +for our sakes, to hear us. You do not give +your money that we may be sustained and +upheld. I tell you I would rather sweep the +streets, I would rather carry bricks on my +shoulder to the builder, than be a mere official +person maintained because he can teach so +much and get so many people to hear him. +Brethren, it is that you may be enlightened +and saved with the light of life, that God has<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[172]</a></span> +brought us into the position in which we are +now together. Keep this in your thoughts; +and that you may be enlightened and free, +look upward and not downward, nor around +you. In that statue in our harbor, the light +that will shine is light that comes, I suppose, +from the heart of the earth; but the light that +is to enlighten the world is the light of the +sun, the Sun of Righteousness. See that you +have that shining into your souls, that you +may walk at liberty.</p> + +<p>Having looked at the former part of this +text, namely, what the Psalmist did with a +view to the end, we look at the end at which +he was aiming. He studied God's Word, not +simply that he might have so much intellectual +knowledge. He studied it for practical +uses. He studied God's precepts that he +might obey them. I do not need to remind +you that you and I have advantages greater +than he had, in some important respects. He +had the revelation in part; we have it in its +completeness. He had the preparatory dispensation; +we have the dispensation that +fulfils the promises of the preparatory. He +had the beginning; we have the complement. +We know more than he did. He +wrote these words, "I have sought thy +precepts." He knew of the Paschal Lamb +and of its typical significance; we know the +Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the +world. He knew the Hebrew priest and the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[173]</a></span> +general character of his functions. We know +a High Priest who has passed into the heavens, +Jesus, the Son of God. He knew of the altar +and the victim, and the blood that made typical +atonement; we know of the great sacrifice +on the cross, bringing in a redemption that is +complete and eternal. He knew of a Messiah +that was to come. You, even children in the +Sunday-school to-day, know of that Messiah +risen, risen triumphant, risen a conqueror, +risen for you, risen because He has finished +the work God gave Him to do. If the Psalmist +studied God's will that he might walk at liberty, +how much greater is the obligation upon +us to do the same, and how much greater our +facilities and our encouragement. Let us try, +then, to travel in the Psalmist's steps, and +let us see some, not all, of the forms of liberty +that we can have by compliance with the +divine precepts.</p> + +<p>There is liberty, in the first place, from the +world. I use the word now in the sense in +which it is used so frequently in the Bible—not +merely this round globe or the hundreds +of millions that are upon it—not merely these +millions in that capacity. The world lieth in +the wicked one; the mass of men, that is, do +not know God. They constitute the world of +the New Testament; we can be in bondage to +this world. Natural men are in bondage to +it. They are not at liberty in relation to +that natural world. It is without God; it does<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[174]</a></span> +not ask what His will is. It enquires as to +its own will, and it tries to enforce it. You +sometimes see cliques and coteries and collections +of men insisting at any cost upon carrying +out their own will. This is only the spirit +of the greater world of which they constitute +a section. Sometimes men are in bondage +to the world in this sense, and the mainspring +of their life is to stand well with it, to do what +their set, their society, the world round about +them, wishes them to do. Sometimes the bondage +is aggravated by another feature, viz., +the effort to rise higher, to get upon a more +elevated plane, to get into another set; and, +oh, how aggravated is the bondage under +which many thus live and labor! Freedom +from that is obtained when we walk according +to God's statutes. Believers, the world is not +your master. One is your Master, even Christ, +and we are brethren in Him, and He is reasonable +and kind and just and brotherly, and you +can walk with Him. His favor is enough for +you, His smile satisfies you. Fellowship with +Him is the best society. Let society stigmatize +you, let it stamp its enmity upon you, but +seek God's precepts. If you only have Christ +walking with you, then you walk at liberty. +But as to the life-work in which many are +busy, or trying to get up a little higher socially, +take this precept of the Word, "Godliness +with contentment is great gain"; and +these things, the godliness with the contentment,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[175]</a></span> +will break these clanking chains of insane +and stupid ambition and will prepare +you to walk at liberty. "I am in the place +where God puts me. I am trying to do the +work that God gives to me. I am responsible +to Him. I belong to Him. He is my Father, +Christ is my Brother, heaven is my home. +This I believe on the authority of His word. I +will walk at liberty." Let me commend that +form of true freedom to you.</p> + +<p>There is liberty, in the second place, from +bad ways. Do I need to describe these bad +ways to you? You can not live in the city, you +can not read the newspapers, you can not hear +the gossip, you can not know what is going on +in the circles in which you mingle, without +knowing some of these bad ways. There is the +lover of this world's possessions, so strongly +denounced in Isaiah's prophecies: beginning, +perhaps, with necessary saving, but coming +slowly but steadily to a sordid love of the +thing that is saved, till the whole spirit is mercenary, +and gold is the deity that is practically +worshiped. There is the drunkard, sipping +a little innocently, as he thinks, at the +beginning, then going a little farther, and +secretly, until shame is lost and the victim +is under the power of the drink—degraded, +wretched, irresponsible, not ashamed of himself, +for shame is gone, but an object for which +all are ashamed that are connected with him. +There is the gambler, beginning perhaps with<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[176]</a></span> +what he deemed innocent recreation, and +catching the spirit of the thing till it masters +him, until he flings away all that he has, and +all that he hopes to have, in the chance of recovering +something already lost, till life is a +burden and fortune is gone, and suicide is +perhaps the tragical termination. These are +specimens of the bad ways—marked specimens, +I grant, but still simple specimens. +There is freedom from this when we seek and +do God's statutes—real freedom. We learn +to walk circumspectly; we learn to keep the +heart with all diligence; we learn to hate evil +and to do good; we learn to flee from the +snares that Satan sets for the feet of men. +We walk securely, for we have been taught +of the Spirit to walk with God. Make sure, +dear hearers, that you have this liberty.</p> + +<p>There is liberty from bad memories—bad, +putrid memories. When the corrupt imagination +contemplates indulgences in sin, it often +dwells upon these long before the actual execution +of them, and as they linger in the mind +they photograph themselves upon its surface, +and they stay there. There may be compunction +for the sin, there may be shame +over it, there may be vows against it, +there may be honest purposes to resist and +overcome it, and these purposes to a +good degree carried out; but the horrid, +poisonous memories remain in the soul. +You know what it is to be in a house where<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[177]</a></span> +animal matter is decaying and poisoning +fumes are being scattered up and down. Oh! +the misery of the human mind that is haunted +with the ghosts of bad deeds that have been +done in the past. It is bondage of the keenest +and sorest kind. There is liberty from these +to those who walk in God's statutes, liberty +that can be had nowhere else. "A new heart +will I give you, and a right spirit will I put +within you. I will take away the stony heart +out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart +of flesh." Happy are they to whom this +word was fulfilled in their early youth, and +who in consequence were kept from the sins, +the very recollection of which is sometimes +like the beginning of hell.</p> + +<p>There is bondage to bad associates and bad +associations. In how many instances, in +thoughtlessness, inexperience, under the impulses +of mere feeling, do men become entangled +in connections that mar their lives +and spoil all their happiness—make happiness +practically impossible! I speak what +I know, when I say that there are too many +cases in which boys are practically ruined +where they go as pupils to schools away +from their parents' supervision, thrown into +dependence, in some degree, upon those whom +they call friends, and these friends bad, initiating +them into ways and habits and +modes of thinking and doing, for which they +only want the liberty of later years that they<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[178]</a></span> +may put them into practise, with disgrace, +misery and ruin. Relief from this bondage, +escape from it, these can be had when we seek +God's statutes, when we walk according to His +precepts. Wisdom's ways are pleasantness, +and her paths are peace. There are no bad +habits in them; there are no entangling associations +in them; there are no corrupting and +degrading influences in them. There is +nothing in them that plays upon passion, till +passion, once our idol and our sport, becomes +our ruler and our cruel tyrant. To escape all +these, this is the way: seek God's statutes, that +you may know and do them, and you shall +walk at liberty.</p> + +<hr class="chap" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179"> </a></span></p> + + + + +<h2>BACON</h2> + +<h3>GOD INDWELLING</h3> + +<hr class="chap" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180"> </a></span></p> + + + + +<h4>BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE</h4> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Leonard Woolsey Bacon</span>, Congregational +divine, born in New Haven, Conn., 1830. +He was educated at Yale, from which university +he graduated in 1850. He has +filled the position of pastor in many important +churches and has done much +theological and literary work. Among +other things he edited Luther's "Deutsche +Geistliche Lieder" (New York, 1883), and +wrote "History of American Christianity" +(New York, 1897).</p> + +<hr class="chap" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[181]</a></span></p> + + + + +<h2>BACON</h2> + +<h3><span class="smcap">Born in 1830</span></h3> + +<h4>GOD INDWELLING<a name="FNanchor_6_6" id="FNanchor_6_6"></a><a href="#Footnote_6_6" class="fnanchor">[6]</a></h4> + +<p><em>Thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth +eternity, whose name is Holy: I dwell in the high and +holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and +humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and +to revive the heart of the contrite ones.</em>—Isaiah lvii., +15.</p> + + +<p>Inhabiting eternity; yet making His abode +within a broken heart! It seems as if +we might apprehend either of these +things singly; but both together—how can it +be? The distresses, the wants, the fears, of +life, make us long that indeed it were so. Our +soul crieth out for God, for the living God.</p> + +<p>We cry; but there seems no answer; only +an awful silence. We look upon the outward +facts of life and death, and see the steady, +unswerving march of law—the unbroken, irrefragable +chain of causes and effects—never +yielding nor bending to all our needs, to all +our prayers. And God seems so far, so far +away! We turn the pages of our knowledge +from the physical to the metaphysical, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[182]</a></span> +we come no nearer. Our philosophical, our +theological, yes, our religious meditations +upon the nature and attributes of the infinite +One—the omniscient, the eternal, the unchangeable—set +Him more and more beyond +the reach of our fellowship and prayer. But +all the time, one thing testifies to us of a +heavenly Father that hears and loves and answers, +and that is our ineradicable need. The +cravings of our nature cannot be rebuked by +scientific observation of the constancy of law, +nor by philosophic meditation of the properties +of absolute and infinite being. We need, +we must have, a Father. Our heart and flesh, +our soul, crieth out for the living God.</p> + +<p>In such a strait, there is true comfort in this +word of the Lord by His prophet, in which +the full measure of the difficulty is set forth, +and the solution of it is found in faith.</p> + +<p>It has seemed to me that we need not seek +in vain in the created works of God for helps +to that faith by which we know that the infinite +and eternal God can have fellowship +with us and can dwell within the narrow precincts +of a human heart.</p> + +<p>That sight in visible nature which gives to +us the highest sense of vastness,—the aptest +suggestion of infinity,—is doubtless the aspect +of the starry heavens;—to all of us, ignorant +or learned, poetic or unimaginative. It needs +no diagrams nor distances from a book of +astronomy to tell the lessons of the firmament.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[183]</a></span> +"Their sound is gone out into all the earth, +and their words to the end of the world."</p> + +<p>And yet it is when we come to study the +dimensions of this operation in detail, that +the sense of its vastness grows upon us and +overpowers us. David never could have felt, +as we can feel, the force of his own words:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The moon and the stars which thou hast ordained,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">What is man that thou art mindful of him,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And the son of man that thou visitest him!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>They are like the chariot of Ezekiel's vision, +"so high that it was dreadful." It seems a +fearful thing to have to do with such magnitudes; +and when we hear of scholars in their +observatories measuring the distances among +the stars, it overcomes us with a giddy feeling, +as when we see men clambering on church +spires, or crossing the East River on a strand +of wire. A row of figures on a slate does seem +such a frail support on which to go marching +through the starry spaces! We almost shudder +when we see human science springing +clear of the narrow boundaries of the earth, +and on such attenuated threads of calculation +venturing boldly forth to other planets, and +thence over chasms of space so vast that it +is easiest to call them infinite, until he reaches +the fixt stars. No longer content with numbering +and naming the host of heaven, and +marshaling them in constellations, this tiny<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[184]</a></span> +creature must take upon himself to scrutinize +their constitution, must weigh their floating +bulk, must</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Speed his flight from star to star,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">From world to luminous world, as far<br /></span> +<span class="i3">As the universe rears his flaming wall,"<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="noind">and, as if bearing in this amazing flight the +measuring-rod which once the prophet saw in +an angel's hand, must measure the paths +along which the planets travel, and tell in +human language the distances on the chart +of heaven.</p> + +<p>And how human language staggers under +the burden thus laid upon it! We begin with +attempting to state the least of these distances +in numbers of a unit of earthly distance, but, +when we speak of some of our near neighbors +in celestial space as being twenty trillions of +English miles away, the words will not hold +the meaning—they carry no conception to the +mind. They are good to cipher with, but that +is all they are good for. We try to invent a +new form of speech, and for our unit we take +the distance which a cannon-ball, if retaining +the velocity with which it leaves the gun, +would travel in twenty-four hours, and say +that, at this rate of speed, it would take so +many months, and years, and centuries, to +reach such and such of the nearer stars. But +this, too, is a clumsy failure; and we resort, +at last, to the heavens themselves for a standard<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[185]</a></span> +of measurement, and find it in the velocity +of light. It shoots from the sun to the +earth, a distance of ninety-two millions of +miles, in eight minutes and seven seconds. +And we attempt to represent the distance of +certain of the stars by stating how many +years, how many hundred years, how many +thousand years, it takes a ray of their light +to reach the earth. But it is all in vain. We +commonly speak of imagination as outstripping, +in its speed, the slow-paced reason; but +here it is the reason that has outrun the +imagination. From these unspeakable tracts +of space, over which the reason of man has +not hesitated to go,</p> + +<p class="center"> +"Sounding along its dim and perilous way," +</p> + +<p class="noind">the imagination shrinks back and refuses to +follow. We know things which we cannot +conceive. In presence of such stupendous +magnitudes,</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Imagination's utmost stretch<br /></span> +<span class="i3">In wonder dies away."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="noind">We can only bow with awe in the presence +of things which the calmest computations have +revealed, and seizing the words kindled on +the lips of inspiration, sing aloud in worship:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"O Lord, how great are they works!<br /></span> +<span class="i1">In wisdom hast thou made them all!"</span> +</div></div> + +<p>I have shown you what is wonderful. Come +now and I will show you what is more wonderful.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[186]</a></span> +For I will show you these infinite +spaces of the sky, and the glory of them, and +the innumerable host of starry worlds, gathered +up in a moment of time, within the tiny +pupil of a human eye. It is wonderful that +the heavens and the host of them should be +so great; but that, being so great, they should +be able to become so infinitely little,—this +passes all wonder. The shepherd stretched +upon the ground amid his sheep gazes up into +the starry depths, and finds them wonderful; +but never thinks how far more wonderful than +the heavens which he beholds is himself beholding +them. As he lies gazing, long lines +of light, from planet and star and constellation, +come stretching on through the infinite +void spaces, to center on the lenses of his +drowsy eye. Side by side, and all at once, +yet never twisted or confused, these ten thousand +rays of different light enter the little +aperture in the center of the eye which we +call the pupil. There they cross, in a point +which has no dimensions, and separate again, +and paint in microscopic miniature upon the +little surface of the retina, behind the eyeball, +the inverted facsimile of the visible heavens. +There, in the ante-chamber of the brain, +marches Orion, with his shining baldric and +his jeweled sword; there glow Arcturus and +Sirius, and the steadfast North Star; there +pass the planets to and fro; and the far-off +nebulæ are painted there with suffused and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[187]</a></span> +gentle radiance—all the heavens and the glory +of them gathered in that slender filament of +light, threaded through that tiny aperture, +painted by their own rays upon that little +patch of nervous network, apprehended, felt, +known through and through by that finite +human mind. How far stranger and sublimer +a thing is this than the mere bulk of the +worlds, or the mere chasms of void space in +which they hang weltering!</p> + +<p>By this sublime fact of God's visible creation, +we are led on to apprehend and feel the +sublimest of the glories of God Himself, set +forth in the prophet's words,—that He whose +lifetime is infinite duration, whose dwelling-place +is infinite space,—He who before the +earth and the world were made was no +younger, neither will be older when they are +all consumed,—whose presence reaches out to +the farthest fixt star that eye or telescope +has ever described floating upon the far verge +of the universe, and occupies beyond in all +the orbits of worlds yet undiscovered, and +still beyond in the regions of space where is +naught but the possibility of future worlds, +and fills all this immensity to repletion,—that +this "high and lofty One that inhabiteth +eternity" should enter into some poor, crusht +and broken spirit, that trembles at the very +whisper of His voice, and should make the +narrow recesses of that heart His abode, His +home. This is the mystery and glory of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[188]</a></span> +Godhead,—not alone that He should be infinite, +eternal, immortal, invisible, but that +being all these, He should yet be apprehended +by the little mind of a man, and call Himself +that man's Friend and Comforter and Father.</p> + +<p>For it is not more evident that the tiny +pupil of human eye can take in the expanses +and abysses of the heavens, than it is that +the little soul of man can receive into itself +the infinite God.</p> + +<p>I. Man receives God into himself by the intellect. +We trifle with the facts of our own +consciousness, if we suffer the theological description +of God as incomprehensible to divert +us from the fact that our minds are made for +nothing more expressly than for this, that they +should receive God. The lowest rudiments of +the knowledge of the simplest forms of matter +are the beginnings of the knowledge of +God. If we could remember, you and I, now +that we are grown, all that came to us in +infancy—the first struggles of the childish +mind with the questions that we are not done +with yet, we should see how soon the knowledge +of God comes to the little one. Beyond +the cradle in which it wakes up to the wonders +of a new day is the nursery, and beyond +the nursery is the house, and beyond the +house is the garden, and beyond the garden +there lies all the world, and beyond the world +shuts down the sky with its stars, and beyond +the sky—what? "Tell me, father—tell me,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[189]</a></span> +mother, what is there beyond the sky?" And, +according to your knowledge or your ignorance, +your faith or your unbelief, you may +tell the little questioner of heaven, or of infinities +of other worlds, or of infinite waste +room and empty space, and he will believe +you. But attempt to tell him that beyond is +nothing, and not even room for anything, +and will he believe you? He may seem to believe +you, but it is impossible that he really +should believe. The infant mind—any mind—rejects +it as impossible. It cannot live in +anything less than infinite space. It stifles. +It leaps up and beats its wings against any +bars with which you would cage it in, but that +it will break through and take possession of +its inheritance.</p> + +<p>And as with infinite extent, so with infinite +duration. How well I remember, as a very +little child, when men were talking of the +end of the world, and the great comet +stretched amain across the sky, and men's +hearts were failing them for fear, how the +thought of infinite duration prest in, inexorably, +on my soul! Come judgment day, come +final conflagration, come end of all material +things, come cessation and extinction of all +angels, all souls, all sentient creatures, still +this could not be the end. Eternity must +needs go on and on, tho there were never an +event or thought to mark its movement. +There cannot be an end.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[190]</a></span></p> + +<p>They err, not measuring the import of their +own arguments, who tell us, in that pride of +not-knowing which is so high uplifted beyond +any pride of knowledge, that the very form +of the word infinite marks it as the sign of a +thing inconceivable, being a mere negation. +Nay, verily, it is the word end, limit, cessation, +that is the negative word, having no +meaning except as the negation of continuance; +and infinite is the negation of this negation—a +thing positive, affirmative, real.</p> + +<p>So, then, it is not the idea of infinity to +which the human mind is unfitted. The mind +is so made that it cannot help receiving that. +The incredible, inconceivable idea is the idea +of absolute end. So far is the idea of infinity +from being inconceivable, that it is just impossible +to thrust the conception out of the +mind. And with the conception of eternity, +there rushes into the thoughtful spirit at once, +the awful and lovely conception of "that high +and lofty One who inhabiteth eternity, whose +name is Holy." By such a wonder of creation +is it, that He who made the little ball of +the human eye so that it can take in the heavens +and the earth, has made the petty intellect +of man so that it can take in the knowledge +of the infinite God.</p> + +<p>II. But, secondly, it is even a greater wonder +than this, that the infinite God, whom the +intellect has conceived, draws near for a more +intimate society with His creature, and enters<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[191]</a></span> +the heart of man through the gateway of his +affections. I say a greater wonder; for it +must be confest that this ideal of the intellect, +this center in which all infinite attributes inhere, +does by His very majesty so overawe the +heart that we shrink away from Him. By +every new perfection of His nature, that +grows upon our apprehension; by His awful +power as the Almighty; by His perfect knowledge +as the All-wise; by His unswerving +steadfastness as the Faithful and True—the +Immutable; by the very infinitude of His nature, +He is withdrawn farther and farther +from the possibility of being counted among +those humble objects on which the tendrils of +a human heart are able to lay hold. How, for +instance, shall this Inhabitant of eternity, +whose name is Holy, be well-pleased with His +petty creature who has dared withstand His +perfect law, and looks shrinking toward the +throne of infinite Majesty, fearing and crying, +"Unclean! unclean!" How shall any +prayer that we can frame bring arguments +to bear upon the Mind that knows the end +from the beginning, and to whom there is not +a word upon our lips, but lo! He knoweth it +altogether? How can any pitiful plight into +which we may fall move the compassion of +Him who is immutable, and under whose benign +government even the pains and severities +that befall His creatures are wrought into +a plan of common beneficence to the whole?<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[192]</a></span> +These are questions which the awe-struck intellect, +gazing upward at the infinite attributes +that adorn the name which is holy, puts +to the yearning heart, which, with all the +craving of its love, with all the outstretching +of its need, gropes after a God to worship, to +love, to pray to, if haply it may find Him. +And the heart cannot answer back the intellect +with arguments of language. But love +contains more reason than many arguments; +and the strong instincts of affection and devotion +with which the humble and contrite heart +reaches out after the love and personal friendship +of an infinite Creator are themselves an +argument that God will not refuse Himself +to the affections which He has Himself implanted. +The hunger and thirst of our hearts +for God are a promise from Him that they +shall be filled. He cannot deny Himself.</p> + +<p>The very arguments by which we climb to +the knowledge of the infinite Spirit are like +mountains that separate us from any relation +with him of childlike prayer and mutual love. +But a trustful confidence can say to these +mountains, "Be ye removed and be ye cast +into the sea," and it shall be done.</p> + +<p>Have you ever pondered that dark mystery +of human nature, the origin of the frightful +idolatries of India? It seems to be proved +that they had their beginning, not (as the +prepossessions of modern science would suggest) +through development from some form<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[193]</a></span> +of fetishism baser and coarser still, but by +degradation from the most refined and abstract +speculations on the infinity, the spirituality, +and the immutability of God. No +subtler metaphysics is taught to-day in the +lecture-rooms of Yale and Princeton than was +taught long centuries ago by Hindoo sages, +enthroning their supreme divinity in the everlasting, +impassive repose of the unconditioned, +far beyond the reach of affection, sympathy +or prayer, until the needy millions cried out, +stifling, famishing, "Give us a God to love, +to worship, to pray to!" and, for lack of answer, +betook them to the forest or the quarry +or the mine, to the carver and the smith, and +made them gods that were no gods. So little +can argument and reason hold us back in +times when the stress of life comes down upon +us, and the cravings of the soul grow strong!</p> + +<p>I am bringing to the altar of God my offering—my +poor little offering of thankfulness +and prayer. Here have I my little bundle +of anxieties, cares, troubles,—it may be the +concerns of a nation in fear and perplexity; +it may be the distress and terror of some +sorely afflicted little household; it may be the +secret of bitterness of some humble and contrite +spirit; in any case, a matter how infinitely +small when measured by the scale of +immensity and eternity; but oh, how great a +thing to me! And there meets me, in the +way, a philosopher. "And what, forsooth,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[194]</a></span> +have you there? Show it me, now." And I +unroll before Him my little bundle of griefs, +of cares, of pains, of sickness, of fears, of +forebodings,—here a handful of myrrh from +a troubled heart, and there a sprig of frankincense +from a grateful spirit. "And this, then, +is what you would bring to lay before the +infinite, the eternal, the omniscient, the unchangeable +God!" And each great title smites +upon my heart with discouragement and +dismay. "This is what you would bring to +Him in prayer and deprecation! But do you +not know that all this is a part of a perfect +system?—that it is all fixt by the laws of +nature, which no prayer can change or suspend +without upsetting the constitution of +the universe. You would lay before God your +wretched plight to move His pity? Tush! +Did He not know it all a hundred thousand +ages ago, or ever the earth was?" And I cannot +gainsay Him, and I cannot cease to pray. +But by and by the philosopher himself comes +face to face with some of the overwhelming +things in human life and human death. He +hangs with tears and wringing of hands over +some cradleful of childish anguish, and +shrinks from what the laws of nature, the +system of the universe, are doing there—so +pitiless, so deaf to prayer, so blind to agony; +and he looks away, and looks up, and cries, +"My God, my God!" And his reason is not +one whit the less true, because now, at last,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[195]</a></span> +his love and faith are also true and strong. +The awful wonder of God's unchangeable infinity +abides; but out of cloud and darkness +breaks forth, oh, what light of fatherly love! +And the bewildered soul sings:—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i4">And can this mighty King<br /></span> +<span class="i6">Of glory condescend?<br /></span> +<span class="i4">And will He write His name<br /></span> +<span class="i6">My Father, and my Friend?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I love His name! I love His word!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Join all my powers and praise the Lord!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>And now behold a mystery—the mystery of +godliness, without controversy great, manifest +in the flesh! That He may come over these +mountains of helpless separation, that we may +be helped to know, to love, to trust that which +is far too vast for the reach of our clinging +affections to clasp, what wonders of condescending +tenderness will not our Father do! +There draweth near to us One having the likeness +of man, but glorious with an unearthly +glory, as of the only-begotten of the Father, +full of grace and truth. He stands beside us +in our daily cares, our household joys and +griefs, our business troubles and anxieties, our +national fears and sorrows. He shares our +temptations. He is touched with the feeling +of our infirmities. He carries our sorrows. +He bears our sickness. He dies our death. +How easy to love Him, to come near to Him, +to trust Him! Being lifted up, how doth<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[196]</a></span> +He draw all men unto Him! And what mean +those wonderful words of His, telling of His +intimacy, His sonship, His oneness with the +invisible and eternal God? Could it be, perhaps, +that such an one might bring us nearer +to the inaccessible Light—might help us to +draw nigh as seeing Him who is invisible? +Oh, Master, show us the Father and it sufficeth +us! And hear now His gracious words: +"He that believeth on me believeth on him +that sent me." "He that hath seen me hath +seen the Father also." Thus the high and +lofty One, who hath wonderfully entered into +our narrow understanding, cometh also into +our heart, and draweth us to His own bosom +"with the chords of love, with the bands of +a man."</p> + +<p>III. Finally, with a true spiritual intercourse +and converse, which no man can define, +which is as the viewless wind that men know +altho they see it not, and feel its quickening +and refreshment, altho they cannot tell +whence it cometh nor whither it goeth, God +entereth into our spirits, "not to sojourn, but +to abide with us," and we become the temples +of the Holy Ghost.</p> + +<hr class="chap" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197"> </a></span></p> + + + + +<h2>JOSEPH PARKER</h2> + +<h3>A WORD TO THE WEARY</h3> + +<hr class="chap" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198"> </a></span></p> + + + + +<h4>BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE</h4> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Joseph Parker</span> was born at Hexham-on-Tyne, +England, in 1830. He was a prodigious +worker, writer, and preacher. His +"The People's Bible," in twenty-eight +large volumes, a popular commentary on +the Scriptures, is his greatest work. To +a naturally energetic personality he added +great originality and resourcefulness. He +gave much time to the preparation of +sermons, reading them aloud as he wrote +in order to test their effect upon the ear. +A strong personal quality pervaded all his +preaching. "If I have not seen Him myself," +he said, "I cannot preach Him." In +lectures to students he gave much valuable +advice gathered from the storehouse of his +own varied experience. He gave particular +attention to the use of the voice. "It +is not enough," he said, "that you be +heard; you must be effective as well as +audible; you must lighten and thunder +with the voice; it must rise and fall like +a storm at times; now a whisper, now a +trumpet, now the sound of many waters. +There is an orator's voice, and there is a +bellman's. The auctioneer talks; the orator +speaks." Dr. Parker's sermons are +published in numerous volumes. He died +in 1902.</p> + +<hr class="chap" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[199]</a></span></p> + + + + +<h2>JOSEPH PARKER</h2> + +<h3>1830-1902</h3> + +<h4>A WORD TO THE WEARY<a name="FNanchor_7_7" id="FNanchor_7_7"></a><a href="#Footnote_7_7" class="fnanchor">[7]</a></h4> + +<p><em>The Lord God hath given me the tongue of the learned, +that I should know how to speak a word in season to +him that is weary.</em>—Isaiah 1., 4.</p> + + +<p>The power of speaking to the weary is +nothing less than a divine gift. As +we see the divinity in our gifts shall +we be careful of them, thankful for them: +every gift seems to enshrine the giver, God. +But how extraordinary that this power of +speaking to the weary should not be taught +in the schools. It is not within the ability of +man to teach other men how to speak to the +weary-hearted, the wounded in spirit, the sore +in the innermost feelings of the being. But +can we lay down directions about this and +offer suggestions? Probably so, but we do +not touch the core of the matter. There is +an infinite difference between the scholar and +the genius. The scholar is made, the genius +is inspired. Information can be imparted, +but the true sense, the sense that feels and +sees God, is a gift direct from heaven.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[200]</a></span></p> + +<p>It is a common notion that anybody can +sing. Why can you sing? Why, because I +have been taught. That is your mistake. You +can sing mechanically, exactly, properly, with +right time, right tune, but really and truly +you can not sing. Here is a man with his +music and with the words; he sings every note, +pronounces every word, goes through his lesson, +finishes his task, and nobody wants to +hear him any more. Another man takes up +the same music, the same words, and the same +hearers exclaim, "Oh, that he would go on +for ever!" How is that?—the words exactly +the same, the notes identical—how? Soul, +fire, ever-burning, never consuming, making +a bush like a planet. The great difficulty in +all such cases is the difficulty of transferring +to paper a proper or adequate conception of +the power of the men who thus sway the human +heart. There are some men whose biographies +simply belie them, and yet every sentence +in the biography is true in the letter; +but the biography is little else than a travesty +and a caricature, because the power was personal, +it was in the face, in the voice, in the +presence, in the gait, in the touch—an incommunicable +power; the hem of the garment +trembled under it, but no biographer could +catch it in his scholarly ink.</p> + +<p>Very few ministers can enter a sick chamber +with any probability of doing real and +lasting good. They can read the Bible, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[201]</a></span> +they can pray, and yet, when they have gone, +the room seems as if they had never been +there. There is no sense of emptiness or desolation. +Other men, probably not so much +gifted in some other directions, will enter the +sick room, and there will be a light upon the +wall, summer will gleam upon the windowpane, +and angels will rustle in the air, and +it will be a scene of gladness and a vision of +triumph. How is that? The Lord God hath +given me the tongue of the learned that I +might know how—<em>how</em> to speak a word in +season to him that is weary. The Lord God +hath not only given me a word to say, but +hath given me learning to teach me how to +speak it. Place the emphasis upon the how, +and then you develop all the mystery, all the +tender music, all the infinite capacity of +manner.</p> + +<p>We may say the right word in the wrong +tone; we may preach the gospel as if it were +a curse. The common notion is that anybody +can go into the Sunday-school and teach +the young. We sometimes think that it +would be well if a great many persons left +the Sunday-school all over the world. Teach +the young—would God I had that great gift, +to break the bread for the children, and to +be able to lure and captivate opening minds, +and to enter into the spirit of the words—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Delightful task! to rear the tender thought,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">To teach the young idea how to shoot."<br /></span> +</div></div> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[202]</a></span></p> +<p class="noind">It requires to be father and mother and sister +and nurse and genius to speak to the young. +They may hear you and not care for you: +they may understand your words, and be repelled +by your spirit. You require the tongue +of the learned to know how to speak, and that +tongue of the learned is not to be had at +school, college, university—it is not included +in any curriculum of learning—it is a gift +divine, breathing an afflatus, an inspiration—the +direct and distinct creation of God, as is +the star, the sun. The speaker, then, is Jesus +Christ, the Son of God, the representative of +the Father, the incarnate Deity—He it is +who is charged with the subtle learning; He +it is whose lips tremble with the pathos of this +ineffable music.</p> + +<p>Tho the gift itself is divine, we must remember +that it is to be exercised seasonably. +The text is, "that I should know how to speak +a word in season." There is a time for everything. +It is not enough to speak the right +word, it must be spoken at the right moment. +Who can know when that is! We can not be +taught. We must feel it, see it hours beyond: +nay, must know when to be silent for the whole +twenty-four hours and to say, "To-morrow, +at such and such a time, we will drop that +sentence upon the listening ear." "The day +after to-morrow, he will probably be in circumstances +to admit of this communication +being delivered with sympathy and effect."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[203]</a></span> +How few persons know the right time—the +right time in conversation. Some people are +never heard in conversation tho they are talking +all the time. They talk so unseasonably, +they talk when other people are talking; they +can not wait; they do not know how to come +in along the fine line of silence: they do not +understand the German expression "Now an +angel has passed," and they do not quickly +enough follow in his wake. Consequently, tho +chattering much they are saying nothing—tho +their words be multitudinous, the impression +they make is a blank.</p> + +<p>I have a ripe seed in my hand. As an agriculturist +I am going to sow it. Any laborer in +the field can tell me that I should be acting +foolishly in sowing it just now. Why? "It +is out of season," the man says. "There is +a time for the doing of that action: I will tell +you when the time returns—do it then, and +you may expect a profitable result of your +labor."</p> + +<p>Then I will change the character and be a +nurse, and I will attend to my patient (perhaps +I will over attend to him—some patients +are killed by over nursing), and I will give +the patient this medicine—it is the right medicine. +So it is, but you are going to give it +at the wrong time, and if you give the medicine +at the wrong time, tho itself be right, the +hour being wrong you will bring suffering +upon the patient, and you yourself will be involved<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[204]</a></span> +in pains and penalties. Thus we touch +that very subtle and sensitive line in human +life, the line of refined discrimination. You +may say "I am sure I told him." You are +right—you did tell him and he did not hear +you. You may reply, "I am perfectly confident +I delivered the message,—I preached the +exact words of the gospel." So you did, but +you never got the hearing heart, your manner +was so unsympathetic, so ungentle, so +cruel (not meant to be—unconsciously so), that +the man never understood it to be a gospel. You +spoilt the music in the delivery, in the giving +of the message. The Lord God giveth the +tongue of the learned, that he to whom it is +given may know how to speak—how to speak +the right word—how to speak the right word +at the right point of time. You want divine +teaching in all things, in speech not least.</p> + +<p>This is a curious word to find in the Bible. +Does the Bible care about weary people? We +have next to no sympathy with them. If a +man be weary, we give him notice to quit: if +he ask us to what place he can retire, we tell +him that it is his business not ours. Now the +tenderness of this Book is one of the most +telling, convincing arguments on behalf of +its inspiration, and its divine authority. This +Book means to help us, wants to help us, it +says, "I will try to help you, never hinder +you: I will wait for you, I will soften the wind +into a whisper, I will order the thunder to be<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[205]</a></span> +silent, I will quiet the raging sea; I will wait +upon you at home, in solitude, at midnight, +anywhere—fix the place, the time, yourself, +and when your heart most needs me I will be +most to your heart." Any book found in den, +in gutter, that wants to do this, should be received +with respect. The purpose is good: if +it fail, it fails in a noble object.</p> + +<p>Everywhere in this Book of God we find +a supreme wish to help man. When we most +need help the words are sweeter than the +honeycomb. When other books are dumb, +this Book speaks most sweetly. It is like a +star, it shines in the darkness, it waits the +going down of the superficial sun of our transient +prosperity, and then it breaks upon us +as the shadows thicken. This is the real greatness +of God: he will not break the bruised +reed. Because the reed is bruised, therefore +the rude man says he may break it. His argument +in brief is this: "If the reed were strong, +I should not touch it, but seeing that it is +bruised what harm can there be in completing +the wound under which it is already suffering? +I will even snap it and throw the sundered +parts away." That is the reasoning of the +rude man—that is the vulgar view of the case. +The idea of the healing is the idea of a creator. +He who creates also heals. Herein we see +God's estimate of human nature: if He cared +only for the great, the splendid, the magnificent, +the robust, and the everlasting, then<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[206]</a></span> +He would indeed be too like ourselves. The +greatness of God and the estimate which He +places upon human nature are most seen in +all these ministrations in reference to the +weak and the weary and the young and the +feeble and the sad. Made originally in the +image of God, man is dear to his Maker, tho +ever so broken. Oh, poor prodigal soul with +the divinity nearly broken out of thee, +smashed, bleeding, crushed, all but in hell—while +there is a shadow of thee outside perdition, +He would heal thee and save thee. Thou +art a ruin, but a grand one,—the majestic +ruin of a majestic edifice, for knowest thou +not that thou wast the temple of God?</p> + +<p>When we are weary, even in weariness, God +sees the possibility of greatness that may yet +take place and be developed and supervene in +immortality. How do we talk? Thus: "The +survival of the fittest." It is amazing with +what patience and magnanimity and majestic +disregard of circumstances we allow people +to die off. When we hear that thousands have +perished, we write this epitaph on their white +slate tombstones: "The survival of the fittest +required the decay of the weakest and the +poorest." We pick off the fruit which we +think will not come to perfection. The gardener +lays his finger and thumb upon the tree, +and he says, "This will not come to much"—he +wrenches the poor unpromising piece of +fruit off the twig and throws it down as useless.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[207]</a></span> +In our march we leave the sick and +wounded behind. That is the great little, the +majestic insignificant, the human contradiction. +We go in for things that are fittest, +strongest, most promising, healthy, self-complete, +and therein we think we are wise. God +says, "Not a lamb must be left out—bring +it up: not a sick man must be omitted: not +a poor publican sobbing his 'God be merciful +to me a sinner' must be omitted from the +great host. Bring them all in, sick, weary, +wounded, feeble, young, illiterate, poor, insignificant, +without name, fame, station, force—all +in: gather up the fragments that nothing +be lost." Let us go to that Shepherd—He +will spare us and love us. When our poor +strength gives out, He will not set His cruel +heel upon us and kill us, He will gather us +in His arms and make the whole flock stand +still till He has saved the weakest one.</p> + +<p>Did we but know the name for our pain we +should call it Sin. What do we need, then, +but Christ the Son of God, the Heart of God, +the Love of God? He will in very deed give +us rest. He will not add to the great weight +which bows down our poor strength. He will +give us grace, and in His power all our faintness +shall be thought of no more. Some of +us know how dark it is when the full shadow +of our sin falls upon our life, and how all the +help of earth and time and man does but +mock the pain it can not reach. Let no man<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[208]</a></span> +say that Christ will not go so low down as to +find one so base and vile as he. Christ is calling +for thee; I heard His sweet voice lift itself +up in the wild wind and ask whither thou +hadst fled, that He might save thee from death +and bring thee home. There is no wrath in +His face or voice, no sword is swung by His +hand as if in cruel joy, saying, "Now at last +I have My chance with you." His eyes gleam +with love: His voice melts in pity: His words +are gospels, every one. Let Him but see thee +sad for sin, full of grief because of the wrong +thou hast done, and He will raise thee out +of the deep pit and set thy feet upon the rock.</p> + +<hr class="chap" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209"> </a></span></p> + + + + +<h2>McKENZIE</h2> + +<h3>THE ROYAL BOUNTY</h3> + +<hr class="chap" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210"> </a></span></p> + + + + +<h4>BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE</h4> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Alexander McKenzie</span> was born at New +Bedford, Mass., in 1830, and graduated +from Harvard in 1859. Since 1867 he has +been pastor of the First Congregational +Church, Cambridge, Mass. His voice is +rich, full and sympathetic, and his pulpit +style that of one man talking earnestly +and directly to another, there being no attempt +at oratorical effect. He is to-day +probably the most acceptable preacher at +Harvard, and the leading Congregational +minister in New England. The discourse +reprinted here is from his volume "A +Door Opened," and has been noted as one +of the greatest sermons of the century.</p> + +<hr class="chap" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[211]</a></span></p> + + + + +<h2>McKENZIE</h2> + +<h3><span class="smcap">Born in 1830</span></h3> + +<h4>THE ROYAL BOUNTY<a name="FNanchor_8_8" id="FNanchor_8_8"></a><a href="#Footnote_8_8" class="fnanchor">[8]</a></h4> + +<p><em>And King Solomon gave to the Queen of Sheba all +her desire, whatsoever she asked, besides that which +Solomon gave her of his royal bounty. So she turned +and went to her own land, she and her servants.</em>—1 +Kings x., 13.</p> + + +<p>The Queen of Sheba came from the uttermost +part of the earth to hear the +wisdom of Solomon. She was amazed +at all that she had heard, and delighted with +all that she saw, and confest that after the +generous rumors that had reached her in her +distant home the half had not been told her. +She brought her present to him, as was the +custom of the times; and when she went away +she asked a gift of him, and history says that +the king gave her all that she desired; and +that, having given her everything of which she +had thought, he added something more of his +own thought. He gave her this, not because +she had desired it, but because he had desired +it; not for her heart's seeking, but out of his +heart's wishing to bestow. This is the simple<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[212]</a></span> +record: "And King Solomon gave to the +Queen of Sheba all her desire, whatsoever she +asked, besides that which Solomon gave her of +his royal bounty." These last words describe +the added gift, and this was doubtless the best +of all; that upon which she would think with +the greatest pleasure, and of which she would +speak with the greatest pride. The word +"royal" is well chosen, for we think of something +which is great when we apply this term +to it, as we speak of a royal deed, royal magnificence, +royal benevolence, royal bounty. We +readily approve the action of the king, for it +is this excess of giving, beyond that which is +demanded of us, which makes the real generosity. +We are in the habit ourselves, so far as +we are generous at all, of reaching beyond the +real necessities and requests of our friends, and +giving out of the largeness of our hearts. It is +this excess which commands the high price. It +is the added, extraordinary beauty of a painting +which enhances its worth. Some pictures +are sold by the square yard, and some by the +inch. It is that which genius adds which is the +royal bounty. It marks the difference between +genius and talent. To be what we must, and +to do what we must, is narrow and uninteresting. +The man who is just, and no more, wins +our praise for his integrity, but not our regard +for his liberality. There are some men +who would on no account have their measures +in the slightest degree too small, but would be<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[213]</a></span> +quite as careful not to have them too large. +There is no reason why justice should not be +combined with charity, and a strict regard for +the legal demands which are made upon us +with the excess out of a free heart which will +make our justice beautiful. I saw in a fine +country town a tall, graceful tree which cast +its pleasant shade upon the path, and I +marked that men had fastened upon it an +iron frame which held a lamp that gave out +its light upon the path. The tree was not +the less a tree that it added the light, and +the lamp was not less a lamp because it belonged +to the tree. I came afterward and +found that the bark of the tree had grown up +around the iron where it was fastened to it, +till the frame and lamp were fairly incorporated +in the tree itself. It is easy thus to +enlarge our life, adding beauty to strength, +giving what our heart desires to give to that +which Sheba asks at our hands. This thought +is strongly expressed by St. Paul, "Scarcely +for a righteous man," the man who does exactly +what he ought to do, and nothing more, +"will one die." Yet peradventure, for a +good man, who does all he ought to do, and +adds something because he wants to do it, some +would even give their life. This man appeals +to our heart which is ready to respond. The +best things are indeed only to be given in this +way. They can not be bought. They can not +be had for the asking; such things as confidence,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[214]</a></span> +and friendship, and courtesy, which +no statute can demand, but which the royal +heart delights to give; and there is a like royalty +which is able to receive and prize the +gift.</p> + +<p>This is God's way, to whom all life is but +the expression of his heart. We rejoice continually +in his bountiful goodness. What is +the need of flowers? He could have made a +strong and honest earth which would take in +the seed and give it out in harvest, and thus +we could live; but when He had made the +earth substantial, useful as it is, He added +flowers, because He wished to give them, was +delighted to look upon them, and knew how +happy we should be who saw them blossom by +the roadside. There is no need of birds. The +world would go its way, the seasons would +follow one another, the sun would rise and +set, the forest trees would reach up toward +the clouds, without them. God made all this, +and then filled the quiet woods with forms of +beauty, and changed silence into songs. Even +heaven itself has more than we should have +looked for or asked for. We might have had +a good delightful heaven, without pain or +sorrow or sighing, without death, and such +a heaven we have. But in the vision of the +Apocalypse, which only dimly sees the heavenly +reality, its streets are covered with gold, +as it were transparent glass; its gates are +pearl, and the strong walls, which can not be<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[215]</a></span> +moved, glisten with jewels. So it might have +been with the arrangement of this world. We +might have had men to care for us, women +to nurture us, fathers to work for us, a society +whose process might move on with industry +and safety from year to year. But God has +added the richer delights of love and sympathy, +of all that we name friend and friendship. +It is in the same way that He frames +His ordinances for us. We could have had all +days alike, but when He had made six good +days He added a seventh which should be +wearied by no work, wherein the soul should +be at leisure to live with itself in quietness, +and worship God. He might have supplied +all our wants in the course of nature, bringing +His gifts to our door with regularity, and we +should have lived our appointed time; but He +does more than this. He lets us thank Him +when we take our daily bread, and blesses +the bread with the love which gives it. He +even lets us tell Him what we wish, and to +our wishes He gives patient heed. He might +have left us to conscience and experience, in +the light of nature to frame our character +and our hope, but to these He has added the +thought of other men, the revelation of His +wisdom by His saints, the gift of His spirit to +our spirit, to be in us a continual light.</p> + +<p>There is a very good expression of God's +way of dealing with us in a line of the twenty-third +Psalm, "My cup runneth over." This<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[216]</a></span> +seems unnecessary. To have the cup full, or +a little less than full, is enough for us, and +more convenient. For us, but not for God, +who delights in filling it; and when we bid +Him stay His hand, He keeps on pouring, and +the water flows, till, presently, the cup is +overflowing, but not because we thought to +have it so, but because of His great delight in +giving; until it would seem as if He could not +stop, or content Himself with that which He +has already bestowed upon us. Let this stand +as a simple expression of His way with us.</p> + +<p>When we come upon anything that all good +men approve, we may be very certain that we +have found something which God Himself approves, +and which is the method of His life. +We like, among ourselves, this principle of the +cup that runneth over. Our liking for it we +have inherited from God. We might expect, +therefore, that when the Son of God has His +life in the world He will live by this rule, +which is of heaven and of earth; and it is even +so. His first miracle would seem unnecessary. +There have been people who blindly but honestly +wished that He had never wrought it. +Why did He do it if there was no need of it, +if it were even possible that it should be +wrested from its meaning? He had gone as +a guest to a wedding, perhaps because the +bride was his friend, and there came that +grave calamity which would mar the feast; for +presently it was whispered to Him, "They<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[217]</a></span> +have no wine." Surely they could have a +wedding without wine. Not that wedding. +Not in the custom of that time. He knew that +the bride, if she lived to be old, would never +recover from the shame of her wedding-day, +whose beauty was lost. Here was a necessity, +in love, in kindness; and that the cheeks of +this girl might not redden with shame, He +reddened the water into wine.</p> + +<p>He was at Capernaum. They brought to +Him a sick man with the palsy. They broke +up the roof, and lowered him to the feet of +Jesus, who knew well what they wanted. He +passed over the little thing which they sought, +and, governed by His own feeling, not by +theirs, he said, "Son, be of good cheer; thy +sins are sent away from thee." That was +enough. In a few days, the man would be +able to walk without His help. Death comes +to the succor of cripples. The man gave no +sign of discontent, but Jesus found that the +friends were unsatisfied, and He thought within +Himself, "You brought him here that he +might be raised up, and be made able to carry +his bed home. I have done a greater thing +for him, but I will add this which you want." +"Arise," He said, "take up your bed and go +your way." He did the greater work which +made the soul strong, and for the lesser work,—well, +He threw that in. It was the royal +bounty. There was a time later than that, +after His resurrection, when some of His<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[218]</a></span> +disciples had toiled all the night upon the +sea, and had taken nothing. He could not +have it a fruitless night for them. In the +morning He was their risen Savior, who might +well bestow some spiritual gift becoming to +the resurrection. This He did, but He said, +"Cast your net on the right side of the ship, +and you will find what you have been seeking." +They cast it, therefore, and drew it in, +full of fishes, a hundred and fifty and three. +This is the record of a fisherman, who wrote +that the fish were large; and of an old man, +who remembered the number of them. They +drew their net to shore, and there was a fire +of coals, and fish laid thereon, another fish. +When they had enough, one that was better +than all was added. Have you not sometimes +wished that you could have had that hundred +and fifty-fourth fish? This was Christ's way +all the while, and is His way still. He fills +the net as full as it will hold, that our life may +be sustained, and then He adds more, that His +love may be gratified, and that which He adds +is the "royal bounty."</p> + +<p>The work of our Lord was not merely in +meeting the wants of men, but in creating +the wants; not in gratifying their great desires, +but in making their desires great. His +own work in the world was twofold: to teach +men how much more there was which they +could enjoy, and how much more there was +which He was eager to impart. The greater<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[219]</a></span> +the desire, the surer it was that it would be +met by His desire. Indeed, a large desire is +necessary to wealth. We must look out toward +that wherein our riches lie. "He who would +bring home the wealth of the Indies must +send out the wealth of the Indies." To him +whose desires are allowed liberty there comes +the answer of fulfillment from "the unsearchable +riches of Christ." In all His life and in +all His teachings we see vastly more than men +ever asked, much more than they are willing +to take even to-day. It has often been, as it +was at the first, that "he came unto his +own, and his own received him not"; but +to those who received Him He gave all they +wished, and more than they had thought; He +gave the right to become the sons of God. +They would have been content with a greater +prophet, a bolder leader, a stronger king, a +Messiah who should enthrone Israel and bring +the nations in homage to its feet. He came +bringing God to the world, giving an eternal +liberty, erecting an everlasting kingdom. +They wanted manna; He gave the bread of +life. They wanted wells of water; He gave +the well that should be within them, springing +up for evermore. They wanted a leader; He +gave a Savior. They wanted man; and He +was God. This has continued even to our +time. Many admire Christ because He was +a teacher, neglecting that wherein He was infinitely +more than teacher. They are glad of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[220]</a></span> +an example; He was that, but, far beyond it, +He was the life whereby righteousness became +possible. There are those who would be content +with His beautiful spirit, His blameless +life, His deeds of charity, His patience, His +submission, His consent to a death which He +could not avoid. He offers to the world the +spirit of the Eternal, the life of God to be +lived upon the earth; He lays down the life +which no man could take from Him; and, +with all the roads leading from Jerusalem +open before Him, walks with determined step +to Calvary and the cross. Beyond that which +has contented many in the world, He gave +Himself, the world's Redeemer, the Lamb of +God, the Good Shepherd giving His life for +the sheep.</p> + +<p>It is very, very sad to mark how ready we +are to measure Christ's gifts to us by our narrow +wants and limited desires; not by the +greatness of His love, not by His exhaustless +riches, not by the fulness of the grace of the +Eternal, who is the Father and friend of all +men. If ever we shall pass beyond the gratifying +of ourselves, and allow Christ to gratify +Himself in blessing us, we shall find in a glad +experience what the simple words mean, "I +am come that they might have life"—oh, +friends, do not stop there, finish the sentence,—"I +am come that they might have life, and +that they might have it more abundantly." +We ask life of Him, and He gives us life, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[221]</a></span> +offers length of days forever and forever. We +pray that we may live; and we set up a goal +at seventy or ninety years, when He draws no +line across our path. "I give eternal life," +He says. We pray for help that we may live; +He offers more than that in the unrivaled sentence, +"Because I live, ye shall live also." +We think of life as being, and are content. +We use existence as a synonym of living, but +He said, "This is eternal life, to know God, +and me."</p> + +<p>So for ourselves; we are to live as His +disciples. We wish to be true, useful, and +generous. We wish to do in small measure +such things as He did,—in His name to give +the cup of water, and the healing of the sick. +He grants all that we desire, then speaks out +of His own heart, and His desire, "The works +that I do shall ye do, and greater works than +these"; for the miracles which attract us or +baffle us, which draw us to His love, or possibly +turn us from His word, which are only +miracles because they are strange to us, are +to be exceeded in the things which we do, +when by our teaching we open the eyes of men +that they may see God, and lift them up to +the ways of holy living, and raise them from +being into life. Our visions of heaven in our +reverent imagination, even in the exultant +words of the Revelation, are not equal to the +simple truths which He taught, and men +learned to repeat after Him. For what are<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[222]</a></span> +golden streets and jeweled walls beside that +which He meant, "In my Father's house are +many mansions." "I go to prepare a place +for you." "Ye shall behold my glory." "Ye +shall be loved as I am loved." The thought +of Christ far outruns the aspiration of the +world, as it comes to us from the lips of that +disciple whom Jesus loved, "We shall be like +him, for we shall see him even as he is."</p> + +<p>What do we need, then? To enlarge our +desires! Yes, but to consent to God's desires. +To wish for more, but to consent to be blest +as Christ longs to bless us. We must know the +methods of God, whose will to give is greater +and more constant than our will to receive. +We must adjust our life to God's desire. +Faith is the compact of the soul with God, +rather than with itself. "Open thy mouth +wide, and I will fill it," is a promise ever +old and ever new. We must be firm enough +and aspiring enough to hold the cup after it +has begun to overflow, and to let God's hand +pour the water of life as long as He will, for +this world and all the worlds that are to be. +If we could desire more, if we could ascend to +God's desire for us, life would be transfigured.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"The balsam, the wine, of predestinate wills<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Is a jubilant longing and pining for God."<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"God loves to be longed for, He loves to be sought,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">For He sought us Himself, with such longing and love."<br /></span> +</div></div> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[223]</a></span></p> +<p>We wish now to take this method for our +own in all our dealing with God. Our sense +of what is right, the voice of conscience, the +commands of Scripture, call us to our duty. +Let us do what they require till conscience is +satisfied; but let us add to this more than a +rigid obedience asks for, all that a loving +heart, grateful and generous, wishes to bestow. +The little questions of life, small matters of +casuistry, minute affairs of conduct, would be +quite readily determined if we would live by +this rule, wherewith God blesses us. That +question which with unusual urgency now +presses upon us, how we shall regard the Sabbath +day, would not be difficult if it were our +delight to remember it, and to keep it holy because +it is our delight to please Him who has +given to us its sacredness and blessedness. It +is pitiful when we find ourselves questioning +how much of the day should be holy; how +much of it should be given to the thought of +God and the divine life; how much of it we +should yield to the holy spirit of truth; how +many of the hours we should keep in the remembrance +of Him whose resurrection gives +to the Sabbath its greater meaning. We +should keep the Sabbath holy as if we desired +to keep it holy. All its hours should be sacred. +They need not be less joyous, less friendly, for +being holy; and we can not be gratified with +the spirit in which we find ourselves trying to +divide the time. Keep twenty-four hours for<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[224]</a></span> +God, and if by any means you can make the +time overflow add a twenty-fifth hour.</p> + +<p>We question again about money. What proportion +of our property should we devote to +God? The Jews said one-tenth. Can we do +no better, after so long a time? Let us give +the whole, and if by any means we can compass +it, let us add another tenth, simply to +show what a delight it is to give all things to +Him, and to let Him make the allotment in His +care for us, and for our household, and for +the Church, and for the wide world that we +are living in. There are many who do this, +and they learn how true is that word of Christ +that is called to mind among the Acts of the +Apostles, "It is more blessed to give than to +receive."</p> + +<p>Thus, in all things let us make the way of +God our own, become His children entirely, receive +the love of Christ in its fulness, make +up our own life in His name, according to the +largeness of His thought. If we will consent +to it, we can be great and rich and strong. It +seems strange to say that we are not ready to +be blest, but of many it is true. They are +not willing to be greatly blest, to have the +cup run over. They are willing to be useful, +but not very useful. They ask to be set in +His service, but when He takes their word and +breathes His own desire into it, they shrink +back. It is a very serious thing, if we are able +to perceive it, to consent that God should bless<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[225]</a></span> +us as He pleases, should have His own estimate +of our character, His own measure of our powers, +His own vision of our accomplishment, +and should call us to greater service, to diviner +employment, than we have ever dreamed +of. It was a wise woman who said, "I have +had to face my own prayers." We face our +prayers when God gives His own wish to our +words, and makes them large enough to hold +His thoughts. It is one of the hardest things +to believe, but one to which, in humbleness of +mind and in a faith which will not falter, we +should consent,—that high word of calling +and consecration which Christ gave more than +once,—"As the Father hath sent me into the +world, even so send I you." Not our thought +but His thought makes our calling, and the +thought of God is the summons and the guidance +of our life. Even so, even according to +Thy greatness, and Thy gentleness which +makes men great; Thine infinite purposes, and +Thine eternal grace; even so, O Lord of mercy +and of truth, send us into the world!</p> + +<p>As we close these thoughts, let us remember +that promise which comes at the close of the +Old Testament, which almost seems to reverse +the promise at the beginning of the Old Testament, +"I will never open the windows of +heaven and pour out a flood again"; for the +last of the prophets brings to us the word of +God, that He will open the windows of heaven, +and pour out a flood again. It shall not come<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[226]</a></span> +to destroy, but to preserve; it shall create life; +it shall enlarge life, but it shall be after the +measure of His will, not ours. "Bring ye all +the tithes into the storehouse, and prove me +now herewith, if I will not open the windows +of heaven, and pour out a blessing that there +shall not be room enough to receive it." Not +drops here and there, but showers of blessing. +Not running brooks, but broad rivers. Not +pools of water, but a shoreless sea; deep, deep +waters, when, looking up into the infinite +Love, and consenting to be blest of God as +God would bless us, we bring all the tithes into +the storehouse and the remainder of the tithes, +if any have been left. "I will pour you out +a blessing, that there shall not be room enough +to receive it." Not room enough to receive +it; that is the royal bounty.</p> + +<hr class="chap" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227"> </a></span></p> + + + + +<h2>FARRAR</h2> + +<h3>WORK IN THE GROANING CREATION</h3> + +<hr class="chap" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228"> </a></span></p> + + + + +<h4>BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE</h4> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Frederick William Farrar</span> was born in +Bombay, India, in 1831. He was educated +at King's College, London, and at +Trinity College, Cambridge. He became +dean of Canterbury in 1895, and died in +1903. His Life of Christ, the most widely +read of his many religious works, has +been translated into many languages—even +into Japanese. The following illustrates +his power of emphasis.</p> + +<p>"There, amid those voluptuous splendors, +Pilate, already interested, already +feeling in this prisoner before him some +nobleness which touched his Roman nature, +asking Him in pitying wonder, 'Art +thou the King of the Jews?'—Thou poor, +worn, tear-stained outcast, in this hour of +Thy bitter need—O pale, lonely, friendless, +wasted man, in Thy poor peasant garments, +with Thy tied hands and the foul +traces of the insults of Thine enemies on +Thy face and on Thy robes—Thou, so unlike +the fierce, magnificent Herod, whom +this multitude which thirsts for Thy blood +acknowledged as their sovereign—art +Thou the King of the Jews?"</p> + +<hr class="chap" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[229]</a></span></p> + + + + +<h2>FARRAR</h2> + +<h3>1831-1903</h3> + +<h4>WORK IN THE GROANING CREATION<a name="FNanchor_9_9" id="FNanchor_9_9"></a><a href="#Footnote_9_9" class="fnanchor">[9]</a></h4> + +<p><em>And God saw everything that he had made, and behold +it was very good.</em>—Gen. i., 31.</p> + +<p><em>For we know that the whole creation groaneth and +travaileth in pain together until now.</em>—Rom. viii., 22.</p> + +<p><em>And there shall be no more curse.</em>—Rev. xxii., 3.</p> + + +<p>In those three texts you have the past, the +present, the future of our earth; what +was, what is, what shall be; the perfectness +which man has marred, the punishment +which he is enduring, the hope to which he +looks. What share we may have in the marring +or the mending of this our transitory +dwelling, that is our main subject to-day.</p> + +<p>We see some glimpses at least of the truth +that actively by sympathy, by thoughtfulness, +by charity, by unselfishness, by loving one +another;—that even passively by abstaining +from the fashionable and universal vice of +biting and devouring one another;—we see +that by honesty, by self-reverence, by reverence +for others, by obeying the golden rule of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[230]</a></span> +"doing unto others as we would they should +do unto us," we may do very much to limit +the realm of sorrow, and to substitute a golden +for an iron scepter in its sway over human +hearts. We see, too, that our own inevitable +trials and humiliations,—all the neglect, all +the insult, all the weariness, all the disappointment, +all the ingratitude, which may befall +us,—can be better borne if we be cheerful and +active in doing good. Labor for God is the +best cure for sorrow, and the best occupation +of life.</p> + +<p>Can we to-day push the inquiry yet further, +and learn whether it is in our power in any +way to mend the flaw which runs for us +through the material world; or in any way to +diminish for ourselves and for mankind the +pressure of that vast weight of laws which +exercises over us, undoubtedly, a sway of +awful potency? The whole creation groaneth +and travaileth in pain together until now; +can we—not by any strength of ours, but because +God permits and desires it, can we do +anything to hasten that blest hour for which +we wait—the hour of the new creation; of +the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our +body; of the restitution of all things; of the +<em>palingenesia</em> of the world?</p> + +<p>I think we can. I know that the supposed +helplessness of man is a favorite topic of modern +materialism, which makes of man the irresponsible +tool of forces which he can not resist,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[231]</a></span> +the sport and prey of dumb powers which +are alike inexorable and passionless. This +philosophy—if we may call it a philosophy—laughs +to scorn the notion of a miracle, and +makes virtue and vice not the conscious choice +of free beings, but the inevitable result of +material causes and hereditary impulses, of +which in all but semblance, we are the mere +automata and slaves. My brethren, into all +these speculations of a baseless atheism, I need +not enter. To us, nature means nothing but +the sum total of phenomena which God has +created; and since in the idea of nature is +included the idea of God, a miracle becomes +as natural and as easily conceivable as the +most ordinary occurrence. And we know that +we are free, that God does not mock us, that +we can abhor that which is evil, and cleave +to that which is good. The laws of nature +are nothing, then, for us but observed sequences, +and we do not admit that there is +anything fearful in their uniformity. It is +true that nature drives her plowshare straight +onwards, and heeds not what may be lying +in the furrow; it is true that therefore +she shows an apparent indifference to human +agony; it is true that if the fairest and +sweetest child which earth ever saw be left +at play in the face of the advancing tide, the +tide will still advance and drown the little +life; it is true that the fire in its ruthless vividness +will roll over the loveliest maiden whose<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[232]</a></span> +rich dress should catch its flame. It is a law +that resistance must be equal to force, and +that if there be a certain amount of pressure +of vibration, whatever comes of it, a structure +will give way, even though, alas, it hurl nearly +a hundred human beings, with one flash of +horror, into the gulf of death. But is this +any reason for a fierce arraignment of nature, +as tho she were execrably ruthless, and execrably +indifferent? Not so, my brethren. +Death whenever it comes is but death. None +of us has any promise of this or that amount +of life. It needs no railway accident, no sinking +ship, or breaking ice, or burning town, +or flame from heaven, or arrow in the darkness, +or smiting of the sun by day, or the +moon by night, to cut short our days. An invisible +sporule in the air may do it, or a lesion +no bigger than a pin's point.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"He ate, drank, laughed, loved, lived, and liked life well;<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Then came—who knows?—some gust of jungle wind,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">A stumble on the path; a taint i' the tank;<br /></span> +<span class="i1">A snake's nip; half a span of angry steel;<br /></span> +<span class="i1">A chill; a fishbone; or a falling tile,—<br /></span> +<span class="i1">And life is over, and the man is dead."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="noind">But is this any reason why we should look +on ourselves as victims of dead irresponsible +forces? Why so? Death is but death, and if +we live faithfully, death is our richest birthright. +"Were you ready to die that you +jumped into the stormy sea to save that child's<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[233]</a></span> +life?" said a gentleman to an English sailor. +"Should I have been better prepared, sir," +the sailor answered, "if I had shirked my +duty?" A sudden death is often, and in +many respects, the most merciful form of +death; and the apparently terrible death of +a few may save the lives of many hundreds. +The uniformity of nature may sometimes wear +the aspect of passionless cruelty; but as we +learn more and more to observe and to obey +her laws, we find more and more that they +work for countless ends of beneficence and +beauty, that out of seeming evil she works +real good, out of transient evil enduring good. +The fires which rend the earthquake and burst +from the volcano, are the quickening forces +of the world; her storms lash the lazy atmosphere +which otherwise would stagnate into +pestilence, and it is for man's blessing, not +for his destruction, that her waters roll and +her great winds blow.</p> + +<p>But are we, after all, so very helpless before +the aggregate of these mighty forces, as materialism +loves to represent? Not so! "Thou +madest him to have dominion over the works +of thy hands," said the Psalmist, "Thou hast +put all things under his feet." "Replenish +the earth, and subdue, and have dominion," +said the first utterance of God to man. And +what is this but an equivalent of the latest +utterances of science, that "the order of nature +is ascertainable by our faculties to an<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[234]</a></span> +extent which is practically unlimited, and that +our volition counts for something in the +course of events"? Man has done much to +make the world in all senses a worse place for +himself, but he has also, thank God, done +much to make it better, and he may, to an +almost unspeakable extent, remedy for himself +and for his race the throes and agonies +of the groaning universe. God meant His +earth to be a more blest place for us than it +is, and in every instance men have made it +more blest when they have read the open secrets, +by virtue of which, for our excitement, +if not for our reward, "herbs have their healing, +stones their preciousness, and stars their +times." Ancient nations have shuddered at +the awfulness of the sea. It drowns ship and +sailor; but "trim your sail, and the same +wave which drowns the bark is cleft by it, and +bears it along like its own foam, a plume and +a power." The lightning shatters tower and +temple; but once learn that it is nothing but +the luminous all-pervading fluid which you +may evolve by rubbing a piece of amber, and +brush out of a child's fair hair, and then with +no more potent instrument than a boy's kite +you may dash harmless to the earth the all-shattering +brand which was the terror of antiquity; +nay, you may seize it by its wing of +fire, and bid it carry your messages around +the girdled globe. Zymotic diseases smite +down the aged and young, but, when you have<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[235]</a></span> +learnt that they are caused by myriads of +invisible germs which float in the water or +the air, you have but to observe the commonest +rules of sanitary science, to filter and boil +the dangerous water, to insure free currents +of air, to breathe as nature meant you to +breathe, through the nostrils, and not through +the throat, and you rob them of half their +deadliness. Why has smallpox been stayed +in its loathly ravages, and deprived of its +hideous power? Why does the Black Death +rage no longer, as it raged among the monks +of this Abbey four centuries ago? Why do +we not have pestilence, like that great plague +of London, which destroyed 7,165 persons in +a single week? Why has jail fever disappeared? +Why are the cities of Europe horrified +no longer by the hideousness of medieval +leprosy? Because men live amid cleaner and +purer surroundings. Because rushes are no +longer strewn over floors which had been suffered +to be saturated with the organic refuse +of years. Because the simplest laws of nature +are better understood. Because, in these respects, +men have remedied by God's aid, some +of those miseries for which the Savior sighed.</p> + +<p>And this amelioration of man's miseries is +a great, and noble, and Christlike work. +Would that there were no other side to the +picture! Man, alas! also has done, and may +do, infinite mischief to the world he lives in. +He may cut down the forests on the hills, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[236]</a></span> +so diminish the necessary rain. He may pluck +up the grasses on the shore, and so lay +waste whole acres to the devastating sands. +He may poison the sweet, pure rivers of his +native soil, till their crystal freshness is corrupted +into deathful and putrescent slime. He +may herd together, as we suffer our poor to do, +in filthy tenements which shall breed every +species of disease and vice. He may indulge +or acquiesce in senseless fashions and pernicious +vanities which shall mean not only +wasteful ugliness and grotesque extravagance, +but leave shattered health and ruined lives, to +the mothers of his race. He may in greed of +competition extirpate the game of the forest, +the fishes of the sea. He may destroy the +exquisite balance of nature, by shooting down +or entrapping the sweet birds of the air, till +his vines and his harvests are devastated by +the insects on which they feed. He may suffer +the chimneys of his manufactories to poison +the atmosphere with black smoke and sulphurous +acid, till his proudest cities are stifled +at noonday, as we all have seen in London +for these many weeks, with the unclean mirk +of midnight fogs. He may suffer noxious +gases to be vomited upon the breeze, till the +most glorious buildings in his cities corrode +and crumble—as the stones of this Abbey are +doing—under their influence,—till the green +woods blacken into leafless wastes, and life is +lived at miserable levels of vitality under the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">[237]</a></span> +filthy reek. There is hardly any limit to the +evil, no less than to the good, which man may +do to this his earthly environment. Nor is +it less deplorable that he may go out of his +way to do endless mischief to himself by his +misuse or abuse of the properties of things. +From the dried capsules of the white poppy +he extracts opium, and he grows acres of poppies +that with thousands of chests of that +opium he may degrade into decrepitude and +wretchedness the most populous nations upon +earth. Nature gives him the purple grape +and the golden grain, and he mashes them and +lets them rot and seethe, and assists, and superintends, +and retards their decomposition, +till he has educed from them a fermented intoxicating +liquor; and not content with this +luxury, he pours it into Circean cups of degrading +excess; not content with even fermentation, +he further, by distillation, extracts a +transparent, mobile, colorless fluid, which is +the distinctive element in ardent spirits, and +these, whatever may be their legitimate use in +manufacture or in medicine, he has so horribly +abused that they have become to mankind, the +<i lang="la" xml:lang="la">spiritus ardentes</i> indeed, but not of heaven—fiery +spirits of the abyss, which have decimated +nations, ruined continents, shortened +millions of lives, and turned for millions of +God's children, and millions of Christ's little +ones, life into an anguish, and earth into a +hell. Do not say we can do nothing to soften<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[238]</a></span> +for man the deadly agencies which are working +in the world,—for all this mischief, and +incalculably more than this, is man's own +doing.</p> + +<p>But let me ask you to glance for a moment +at one of the beneficent secrets which nature +has yielded up to man. Have you ever realized, +with heartfelt gratitude to God, the +priceless boon which He has granted to this +generation in the diminution of pain? One +of our best surgeons has just told us the +strange yet simple story of this discovery, +from the first dim intimation of the possibility +in 1789, till in 1846 it might almost be said +that in Europe we could name the month, before +which all operative surgery was agonizing, +and after which it was painless. But +what an immense, what an enormous boon is +this application of anodynes! "Past all counting +is the sum of happiness enjoyed by the +millions who have, in the last thirty-three +years, escaped the pain that was inevitable in +surgical operations; pain made more terrible +by apprehension; more keen by close attention; +sometimes awful in a swift agony; sometimes +prolonged beyond even the most patient +endurance, and then renewed in memory, and +terrible in dreams. This will never be felt +again." And besides this abolition of pain, +it would take long to tell how chloroform and +ether "have enlarged the field of useful surgery, +making many things easy which were<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[239]</a></span> +difficult, many safe which were perilous, many +practical which were nearly impossible." But +another lesson this eminent man of science +draws, which bears directly on our subject, is +that while we are profanely decrying nature, +discoveries the most blest, boons the most +priceless, may lie close to us and yet God +leave us to discover them; and that we may +endure many needless miseries, falsely accusing +nature and even God, only because we +have neither hope enough to excite intense +desire, nor desire enough to encourage hope. +We wonder that for forty years the discovery +of anesthetics was not pursued, tho, after the +pregnant hint of Sir H. Davy, it lay but half +hidden under so thin a veil. Our successors +will wonder at us, as we at those before us, +that we were as blind to who can tell how +many great truths, which, they will say, were +all around us, within reach of any clear and +earnest mind. They will wonder at the quietude +with which we stupidly acquiesce in, or +immorally defend, the causes which perpetuate +and intensify our habitual miseries. Our +fathers needlessly put up with these miseries +"as we now put up with typhoid fever and +sea-sickness; with local floods and droughts; +with waste of health and wealth in pollutions +of rivers; with hideous noises, and foul +smells"; with the curse of alcoholic poisoning, +and many other miseries. Our successors, +when they have remedied or prevented these,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">[240]</a></span> +will look back on them with horror, and on +us with wonder and contempt, for what they +will call our idleness or blindness, or indifference +to suffering. Alas! in the physical as in +the moral world, we murmur at the evils +which surround us, and we do not remove +them. We multiply those evils, and make life +wretched, and then curse nature because it +is wretched, and neglect or fling away the precious +gifts and easy remedies which would +make it blest. And is it not so in the spiritual +world? Nine-tenths of our miseries are due +to our sins. Yet the remedy of our sins is +close at hand. We have a Savior; we have +been commemorating His birth, but we live +and act as tho He were dead; in our own lives +and those of others we suffer those miseries +to run riot which He came to cure; we talk +and live as tho those remedies were undiscoverable, +while from day to day His Word is +very nigh us, even in our mouths and in our +hearts!</p> + +<p>For one sermon you hear about work for +the secular amelioration of the suffering world +for which Christ sighed, you may (I suppose) +hear fifty on passing ecclesiastical controversies +and five thousand about individual efforts +for personal salvation. And yet one pure, +self-sacrificing deed, one word of generosity +to an opponent, one kindly act to aid another, +may have been better for you in God's sight +and far harder for you to do, than to attend<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">[241]</a></span> +in the year the 730 daily services which this +Abbey provides. Yes, I am glad that I have +preached to you to-day the duty of what some +would call secular work—as tho secular work +were not often the most profoundly religious +work!—for the amelioration of the world. +And I say, it were better for you to have +made but two blades of grass grow where one +grew before, than if, with the hollow, hateful, +slanderous heart of some false prophets of +modern religionism, you were every morning +to do whatever modern thing may be analogous +to binding your fringes with blue, and +broadening your phylacteries,—to making the +hilltops blaze with your sacrificial fires, building +here seven altars, and offering a bullock +and a ram on every altar. And so, my brethren, +let us leave this Abbey to-day with conceptions +of duty larger and more hopeful; +with more yearning both after the sympathy +of Christ and after His activity; with more +faith to see that the world would not be so +utter a ruin but for our perversity; with more +hope to be convinced that even we can help +to redeem its disorders, and restore its pristine +perfectness. Let us obey the command, "Ephphatha, +Be opened!" Let us lift up our eyes +to see that, tho the air around us is colorless, +the far-off heaven is blue. Let us see and be +thankful for the beauty of the world, the +sweet air, the sunshine, the sea, the splendid +ornaments of heaven, the ever-recurring circles<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">[242]</a></span> +of the divine beneficence. Let us learn +the secrets of the mighty laws which only +crush us when we disobey them, and which +teach us, with divine inflexibility, that as we +sow we reap. Let us not hinder the students +of science in their patient toil and marvelous +discovery by the crude infallibilities of our +ignorant dogmatism. Let us believe—for we +were saved in hope—that "Utopia itself is but +another word for time"; and that, if our own +work seems but infinitesimal, yet "there are +mites in science, as well as in charity, and the +ultimate results of each are alike important +and beneficial." And so the more we share +in the sigh and in the toil of the Savior, the +more shall we share in His redeeming gladness.</p> + + +<div class="bbox"> +<blockquote> +<p>"Dr. Burrell always sounds a bugle-call to high +emprise. This one will stir whatever of knighthood +is active or latent in the heart of the young man +who reads it."—<span class="smcap">John Bancroft Devins</span>, <em>Editor +New York</em> "<cite>Observer</cite>."</p> + +<p class="center">——————————</p> + +<p class="center b15">THE LURE<br /> +OF THE CITY</p> + +<p class="center">By DAVID JAMES BURRELL, D.D., LL.D.<br /> + +<em>Pastor of the Marble Collegiate Church,<br /> +New York City</em></p> + +<p>Addrest to "the youth whose lot is cast +in the city or whose heart is turned that way; +who knows himself a man, and with eyes +aloft, means to make himself a better one; +who plans a full equipment, that he may +win splendidly."—<em>From the Preface.</em></p> + + + +<p>"I have seldom had more pleasure than I have +found in reading Dr. Burrell's strong and suggestive +book. It is a book for the present hour and the +present age. In a style singularly lucid and wonderfully +attractive, Dr. Burrell sets forth the dangers of +the city on the one hand and its advantages on the +other. Each of the twenty-two chapters might stand +by itself as a word of cheer, a bugle-call or a warning. +The epithet most suitable to the book, as a whole, is +'sane.' Nothing is overstrained. Everything is +practical, and the book is thoroughly manly, and is +infused throughout with the author's vigorous and +winning personality. It is emphatically a book for +the young man."—<span class="smcap">Margaret E. Sangster</span>, <em>Editor +of the St. Nicholas Magazine</em>, New York.</p> + +<p class="center"><em>12mo, Cloth. $1.00, net; by mail, $1.08</em></p> + +<p class="center"> +<big>FUNK & WAGNALLS COMPANY</big>, Pubs.<br /> +<span class="smcap">NEW YORK and LONDON</span> +</p></blockquote> +</div> + + +<p> </p> + +<div class="bbox"> +<blockquote> +<p class="center b15">A JUNIOR<br /> +CONGREGATION</p> + +<p class="center"><small>A CHILDREN'S SERMON APPROPRIATE TO EVERY SUNDAY<br /> +OF THE YEAR, TOGETHER WITH HINTS<br /> +FOR FORMING A JUNIOR CONGREGATION</small></p> + +<p class="center">By JAMES M. FARRAR, D.D.</p> + +<p class="center"><em>Pastor of the First Reformed Church, Brooklyn, and<br /> +Minister of the First Organized Junior<br /> +Congregation</em></p> + +<p>The church-going men and women of to-day +were the church-going children of their +youth. But theirs, most likely, was a <em>compulsory</em> +attendance. This, however, is the +<em>Children's Age</em>. More time, more thought, +more energy are, in this generation, given +to the study, development, and discipline of +children than has ever been attempted in +any past century. <em>The Children's Church</em> +is being organized in congregations where +the children's welfare and the church's +future are close at heart. Children in such +a church love to attend, for theirs is <em>A +Junior Congregation</em> worshiping with the +regular congregation, thus forming habits +of church-going in their best habit-forming +years, and acquiring a familiarity with the +church's services and ordinances that will +help them grow into sturdy church workers.</p> + +<p class="center"><em>12mo, Cloth. $1.20, net; by mail, $1.28</em></p> + + +<p class="center"><big>FUNK & WAGNALLS COMPANY</big>, Pubs.</p> + +<p class="center">NEW YORK <small>AND</small> LONDON</p> +</blockquote> +</div> + +<p> </p> + +<div class="bbox"> +<blockquote> +<p><strong>Rev. T. De Witt Talmage, D.D.</strong>: "I heartily commend +his book. He has rendered invaluable service."</p> + + +<div class="center"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="gestures"> +<tr><td align="left"> </td><td align="right">{</td><td align="right"><em>OF THE VOICE</em></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><em>PERFECTION</em></td><td align="right">{</td><td align="right"><em>GESTURE</em></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"> </td><td align="right">{</td><td align="right"><em>BEARING</em></td></tr> +</table></div> + +<p class="center b15"><strong>THE DRILL-BOOK OF<br /> +VOCAL CULTURE</strong></p> + +<p class="center">By Prof. EDWARD P. THWING.</p> + +<p>A Comprehensive Study of the Fundamental +Constituents of Effective, +Graceful Speaking. Heartily Commended +by the Highest Authorities.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 75px;"> +<img src="images/i_ad_decoration.jpg" width="75" height="22" alt="decoration" /> +</div> + +<p class="center">OUTLINE OF CONTENTS.</p> + +<p>What Elocution Really Is—Outline of Preparatory +Physical Training by Respiratory Exercises +and Gymnastics—The Production of Tone—Cultivating +the Articulation Along the Lines of +Pitch, Melody, and Force—Rate of Movement—Personation +or Picturing—Gesture and Extemporaneous +Speech—Facial Expression.</p> + +<p class="center">————</p> + +<p><strong>Prof. J. W. Churchill</strong>, Andover: "It is an invaluable +treatise."</p> + +<p><strong>The Independent</strong>, New York: "Compact and inexpensive, +but it omits nothing essential."</p> + +<p class="center">————</p> + +<p class="center"><strong><em>16mo, 111 pp., Illustrated, Paper Covers,<br /> +25 cents. Post-free.</em></strong></p> + +<p class="center">————</p> + +<p class="center"><strong><big>FUNK & WAGNALLS COMPANY, Publishers</big>,<br /> + +NEW YORK and LONDON</strong></p> +</blockquote> +</div> + +<p> </p> + +<div class="bbox"> +<blockquote> +<p class="center b15">Profit and Loss<br /> +in Man</p> + +<p class="center">By ALPHONSO A. HOPKINS, Ph.D.</p> + + +<p>The New Gospel of Patriotic, Economic, +and Political Common Sense on the Temperance +Question. The most up-to-date +and powerful plea for Prohibition upon +purely economic grounds that has been +written in years. It is calm and dispassionate, +and discusses the problem from +the cold matter-of-fact standard of dollars +and cents.</p> + + +<p class="center">CONTENTS</p> + + +<div class="center"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="book contents"> +<tr><td align="left">I. The Cost of a Boy.</td><td align="left">VIII. Moral Facts and Political Factors.</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">II. Boy and Bar.</td><td align="left">IX. Dictionary Politics.</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">III. Manhood and Law.</td><td align="left">X. A Curse, a Crime, and the Cure.</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">IV. Labor, Liquor, and Law.</td><td align="left">XI. Publicans and Republicans.</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">V. Christian Loyalty.</td><td align="left">XII. Democrats and Drink.</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">VI. Barabbas.</td><td align="left">XIII. Methods of Settlement.</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">VII. Moral and Political Force.</td></tr> +</table></div> + + + +<p>"The unique idea of placing temperance on a commercial +basis, of considering the difference between the actual +cash value of a man who drinks and the man who abstains, +is intensely interesting and profitable. Prof. Hopkins +claims that each young man twenty-one years of age +represents a cost to society of two thousand dollars +($2,000). Will he pay—will he 'make good'—on the +investment if he becomes a drinker? That's the question! +In the United States are one and a half millions +of drunkards—a stupendous loss of an investment aggregating +over five billions of dollars ($5,000,000,000)."—<cite>Cumberland +Presbyterian, Nashville, Tenn.</cite></p> + +<p class="center"><em>12mo, Cloth, 376 pp. $1.20, net; by mail, $1.32</em></p> + +<p class="center"> +FUNK & WAGNALLS COMPANY, Pubs.<br /> +<span class="smcap">NEW YORK and LONDON</span> +</p></blockquote> +</div> + +<p> </p> + +<div class="bbox"> +<blockquote> +<p class="center b15"><strong>A WORKING<br /> +GRAMMAR</strong></p> + +<p class="center b13">OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE</p> + +<p class="center">By JAMES C. FERNALD, L.H.D.</p> + + + +<p class="center"><em>Editor of the "Students' Standard Dictionary." Author<br /> +of "English Synonyms, Antonyms, and Prepositions,"<br /> +"Connectives of English Speech," Etc., Etc.</em></p> + + +<p>In this book Dr. Fernald has covered the +field of English grammar in an immensely +practical and entirely new and popular +manner. Recognizing the large number +of persons who have not the time to study +ponderous definitions and arguments, he +has prepared what is, in every sense, a +very concise and useful "working grammar." +Herein the business man, stenographer, +clerk, lawyer, physician, clergyman, +teacher—everyone who would refresh +and enrich his knowledge of English—will +find, in simple statement, a clear and lucid +explanation of the principles of English +grammar. All that makes the study of +grammar a mystery is eliminated, and the +whole book is constructed so as to enable +any intelligent person to find his own way, +by its teachings, to a correct working +knowledge of English.</p> + +<p class="center"><em>Price, $1.50, net; post-paid, $1.64</em></p> + +<p class="center"> +<big>FUNK & WAGNALLS COMPANY</big>, Pubs.<br /> +<span class="smcap">NEW YORK and LONDON</span><br /> +</p></blockquote> +</div> + +<p> </p> + +<div class="bbox"> +<blockquote> +<p class="center">THE PREPARATION OF</p> +<p class="center b15"><strong>MANUSCRIPTS<br /> +FOR THE PRINTER</strong></p> + +<p class="center">By FRANK H. VIZETELLY, F.S.A.<br /> + +<em>Associate Editor of the</em> "<cite>Standard Dictionary</cite>," <em>etc.</em></p> + + +<p>This book is designed for the guidance of +all who have any concern with printing, +and will prove of permanent value to all +persons engaged in writing or in copying +manuscripts. Typographical marks are +exemplified and explained; the different +sizes of type with their names and uses are +presented, with aids in the computing of +space which manuscripts will occupy in +printed form; the book also shows authors +how they can effectively reduce the cost +of corrections in type, and tells them when, +where, and how to make such corrections +and how to dispose of manuscripts.</p> + + +<p>"Is at once the most exhaustive and most succinct +of the many books at the service of the young +author."—<cite>Evening Mail</cite>, New York.</p> + +<p>"A thoroughly practical little book which will +prove invaluable to all who are interested in the +preparation of manuscript."—<cite>Times</cite>, Brooklyn, N. Y.</p> + +<p class="center"><em>12mo, Cloth, 153 pages. 75 cents</em></p> + +<p class="center"><big>FUNK & WAGNALLS COMPANY</big>, Pubs.<br /> +<span class="smcap">NEW YORK and LONDON</span></p> +</blockquote> +</div> + +<hr class="chap" /> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> Reprinted by permission of the Literary Trustees +of the Dr. Seiss' Estate.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_2_2" id="Footnote_2_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_2"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> From "The Secret of Power, and Other Sermons," +published by Funk & Wagnalls Company.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_3_3" id="Footnote_3_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3_3"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> Copyright, 1884, <cite>The Homiletic Review</cite>, New York.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_4_4" id="Footnote_4_4"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4_4"><span class="label">[4]</span></a> Reprinted by permission of Messrs. A. C. Armstrong +& Son.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_5_5" id="Footnote_5_5"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5_5"><span class="label">[5]</span></a> Reprinted by permission from "Contrary Winds +and other Sermons," by William M. Taylor, D.D., +copyrighted, 1883, by A. C. Armstrong & Son.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_6_6" id="Footnote_6_6"></a><a href="#FNanchor_6_6"><span class="label">[6]</span></a> From "The Simplicity That Is in Christ," published +by Funk & Wagnalls Company.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_7_7" id="Footnote_7_7"></a><a href="#FNanchor_7_7"><span class="label">[7]</span></a> From "The People's Bible," by Joseph Parker, +published by Funk & Wagnalls Company.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_8_8" id="Footnote_8_8"></a><a href="#FNanchor_8_8"><span class="label">[8]</span></a> Reprinted by permission of Dr. Alexander McKenzie +and the publishers, Houghton, Mifflin Co.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_9_9" id="Footnote_9_9"></a><a href="#FNanchor_9_9"><span class="label">[9]</span></a> Reprinted by permission of Messrs. E. P. Dutton +& Co.</p></div></div> + +<hr class="chap" /> + +<div class="tn"><h3>Transcriber's note:</h3> + +<p>Minor typographical errors have been corrected without note. Irregularities and inconsistencies in the text have been retained as printed.</p> + +<p>Missing page numbers are page numbers that were not shown in the original text.</p> + +<p>Mismatched quotes are not fixed if it's not sufficiently clear where the missing quote should be placed.</p> + +<p>Page 36: ... have cried (oh, how men do cry in those +storms of the soul, in those tempests and terrors +of the heart), "Lord, save us ... The transcriber has supplied the closing parenthesis.</p> + +</div> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The World's Great Sermons, Volume 7: +Hale to Farrar, by Various + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WORLD'S GREAT SERMONS, VOLUME 7 *** + +***** This file should be named 44441-h.htm or 44441-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/4/4/4/4/44441/ + +Produced by Júlio Reis, Moisés S. Gomes, Julia Neufeld and +the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The World's Great Sermons, Volume 7: Hale to Farrar + +Author: Various + +Release Date: December 16, 2013 [EBook #44441] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WORLD'S GREAT SERMONS, VOLUME 7 *** + + + + +Produced by Julio Reis, Moises S. Gomes, Julia Neufeld and +the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + +Transcriber's note: + +Text enclosed by underscores is in italics (_italics_). + +Small capital text has been replaced with all capitals. + +Text enclosed by equal signs is in bold face (=bold=). + + * * * * * + +[Illustration: coverpage] + +[Illustration: titlepage] + + + + + _The World's Great Sermons_ + + VOLUME VII + + HALE TO FARRAR + + + + + THE + WORLD'S + GREAT + SERMONS + + COMPILED BY + GRENVILLE KLEISER + + Formerly of Yale Divinity School Faculty; + Author of "How to Speak + in Public," Etc. + + With Assistance from Many of the Foremost + Living Preachers and Other Theologians + + INTRODUCTION BY + LEWIS O. BRASTOW, D.D. + + Professor Emeritus of Practical Theology + in Yale University + + IN TEN VOLUMES + + VOLUME VII--HALE TO FARRAR + + FUNK & WAGNALLS COMPANY + NEW YORK and LONDON + + + + + COPYRIGHT, 1908, BY + + FUNK & WAGNALLS COMPANY + + _Printed in the United States of America_ + + + + +CONTENTS + +VOLUME VII. + + + HALE (Born in 1822). _Page_ + The Colonization of the Desert 1 + + MAGEE (1821-1891). + The Miraculous Stilling of the Storm 19 + + SEISS (1823-1904). + The Wonderful Testimonies 39 + + MACLAREN (Born in 1826). + The Pattern of Service 63 + + CROSBY (1826-1891). + The Prepared Worm 87 + + DALE (1829-1895). + The Argument from Experience 103 + + LIDDON (1829-1890). + Influences of the Holy Spirit 121 + + W. M. TAYLOR (1829-1895). + Christ before Pilate--Pilate before + Christ 143 + + JOHN HALL (1829-1899). + Liberty Only in Truth 163 + + BACON (Born in 1830). + God Indwelling 179 + + JOSEPH PARKER (1830-1902). + A Word to the Weary 197 + + MCKENZIE (Born in 1830). + The Royal Bounty 209 + + FARRAR (1831-1903). + Work in the Groaning Creation 227 + + + + +HALE + +THE COLONIZATION OF THE DESERT + + + + +BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE + + +Edward Everett Hale, Congregationalist divine and author, was born +in Boston in 1822. He was graduated at Harvard in 1839 and became +a Unitarian preacher in 1846 at Worcester. In 1850 he removed to +Boston, where his most important life's work was accomplished as a +preacher and writer. A collected edition of his writings, in ten +volumes, was published in 1901. His varied literary enterprises +and undertakings have been too many to be enumerated here. His +most famous work is "The Man Without a Country." He is at present +chaplain to the United States Senate. + + + + +HALE + +BORN IN 1822 + +THE COLONIZATION OF THE DESERT + + _God saw everything that he had made. And behold, it was very + good._--Gen. i., 31. + + +This simplest expression of the earliest religion comes back to us +with new force in the midst of all the wonderful revelations of our +modern life. + +In ten weeks' time I have crossed from one ocean to the other; I +have crossed backward and forward over the Allegheny and the Rocky +Mountains and the Sierra Nevada, with the valleys between them, and +the slopes which rise from the ocean on either side. This means a +journey through twelve of the old thirteen States and fifteen of the +new States and Territories. It means intercourse with people of the +North and the South, the Gulf and the West, the Pacific coast and +the mountains. It means intercourse with the white race, the black +race, the red race, and the Chinaman. The variety of climate is such +that I have welcomed the shade of palm-trees, and that I have walked +over snow where it had drifted twenty feet beneath me. I have picked +oranges from the tree, and camellias from the twig in the open air, +and within three hours of good-by to the camellia I was in a driving +snow-storm, where the engine drivers were nervous because they had +no snow plow. In all this variety I have a thousand times recalled +the simplest expression of the oldest words of the Bible: "God saw +everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good." + +The solid recognition of this truth--not, indeed, in any small +sense; but in that sense which is general and comprehensive--is at +the bottom of all true religious philosophy. It is not true in any +smaller sense. For I cannot say that it is good to be bitten by +a mosquito or worried by a fly, if I can escape fly or mosquito. +No, that is not true. And I do not suppose that the simple author +of this text meant any such extravagance. But this is true, that +the world is so made and ordered that man, who is himself a +creator--man, who shares the wishes, instincts, and plans of the +Power who directs the world--man can take the world in his hands and +compel it to serve his nobler purposes. + +God saw the world, and he said: "Yes, this is what I want for My +home and the home of children who love Me. It is a world very good +to them, and they shall subdue it to My purposes." To recognize +this, to feel the fitness of the world for man and man's fitness for +the world, this is the basis of consistent optimism. Nobody says +that the top of the Rocky Mountains is a good place for whales, +or that the Ojai Valley is a good place for polar bears; but a +consistent optimism says that the world is a good place for man; and +it says that man is so closely allied to the God who is the life of +the world that he can take the world for his own, and make it his +home and his heaven. This consistent optimism is the basis of all +sound theology. + +It is to be observed, however, that man gains no such control of +the world, and the world does not prove fit for man, unless he has +found out that he is akin to God and can enter into His work. There +is no such victory to the savage, who is afraid of God. So long as +he thinks the powers of nature are his enemies, he makes them his +enemies. I do not believe the old cave-dwellers, fighting hyenas +with clubs, and often finding that they were second-best in the +encounter, thought this world the best of worlds. I do not believe +that the Digger Indian, who spent his tedious day in rummaging for +ants and beetles to eat, and was very happy if he caught a lizard--I +do not believe that he said that the world was very good. True, +I think both of them had visions and hopes of a better time; but +while they were in the abject misery of cold and starvation, that +better time had not dawned. It did not dawn because they had not +taken on them the dignity and duty of children of God. They were not +about their Father's business. They did not see Him nor hear Him, +nor in any wise know Him. They did not conceive that they were on +His side nor He on theirs. And it is not till man comes up to some +comprehension that God has sent him here on an infinite business; +that he and the Author of this world are at one in this affair of +managing it; it is not till man knows God as his friend and not his +enemy, that man with any courage and success takes the business of +managing into his own hands. Then is it that he finds what pleasure, +nay what dignity, there is in taming the lightning and riding on the +storm. And then he knows enough of the divine Being, His purpose and +His power, to see that the world is good, and that God should call +it good in its creation. + +All this forces itself on one's thought as he sees how it is that +nature has been pursued and caught and tamed in these mountains +and these valleys. For nature is the nymph so wittily described by +Virgil. She + + "Flies to her woods; but hopes her flight is seen." + +Man, so long as he is savage, hates her and fears her. If he +worships, it is the abject worship of those who bring sacrifices +to buy her favor. And it may be said in passing that the last +visible form of pure barbarism or savagery is any theology which +supposes that God's favor must be bought by any price paid by man +in exchange. When man finds, by any revelation, the conditions of +absolute religion, which are simply faith, hope and love, all this +is changed. When he looks up to God gladly, looks forward to the +future cheerfully, and looks round on the world kindly, he finds, +possibly to his surprize, that he is working on the lines God works +on, and means to have him work on. Now he is on "his Father's +business." While he rows the boat, the tide sweeps the right way. +While he stretches the wire, the lightning is waiting and eager +to do his errand. And so soon as man the divine appears upon the +scene--man the child of God, who knows he shares God's nature--why, +easily and quickly the valleys are exalted and the mountains and +the hills made low; the deserts blossom as the rose, and even the +passing traveler sees that this world was made for man and man for +this world. And he understands as he has never understood before +what this is, that he himself is of the nature of the God at whose +present will this world comes into order. He understands better what +the old text means, which says that God is satisfied with the world +which He has made. + +I crossed the continent westward and eastward on this journey, +fresh from recent reading of the history of the first Spanish +occupation. What did the Spaniards find there? They found in what +we call New Mexico the Zuni cities which, in a sad decline, exist +to-day. From those cities Casteneda led a party of Spanish horsemen +eastward in search of a certain mythical king who was supposed to +have much gold and many jewels. Those adventurous men rode for a +whole summer across the prairies and plains which are now Colorado, +and Kansas, and Missouri, and struck the Missouri, or perhaps the +Mississippi. You know that much of the country is now fertile +beyond praise. Mile after mile you can see corn, wheat; wheat, +corn; corn, wheat; wheat, corn; and the production to the acre +increases year by year. The States through which Casteneda's line +of travel passed now number four or five millions of people; and +they feed, from their agriculture, say twenty millions more. Now +when Casteneda and his people passed and repassed over this region +they did not meet a single man, woman or child. They were opprest by +the horrible loneliness of their journey. They felt, as Magellan's +people felt when they were crossing the Pacific Ocean, with that +horrible east wind, with a calm sea before and never a sight of an +island or a man. When Casteneda came at last to the Mississippi--or +Missouri--they had no heart to build a raft to cross it and incur +more such solitude; and they went back the way they came. And the +fame of its loneliness was such that no man attempted the adventure +for more than a hundred years. + +When, in 1682--say a hundred and thirty years after--the great La +Salle discovered the Mississippi River, and sailed south upon it, +leaving Chicago, crossing Illinois, and so striking the Father of +Waters, his experience of this utter loneliness was the same. He +touched every night on one shore or the other. He is, therefore, the +discoverer of seven of the Western States--States which now feed +fifty million people and number seven or eight million of their +own. Only twice, I think, did he meet any great body of men. Not +five times did he find traces of the hand of man or the foot of +man. Through the same solitude he returned; and his report was of a +virgin world of elk, and deer, and buffalo; of shrubs and trees, of +fish and fowl; but a world without men. + +The inference was drawn, hastily, but not unnaturally, that these +regions could not sustain men. On the Atlas given me as a boy, the +"Great American Desert" covered the greater part of the region west +of the Mississippi. It is now the home of the millions I have been +enumerating. And in the last map I have seen, the Great American +Desert appears as hardly a "speck on the surface of the earth." + +The change which I have described has been wrought in the lifetime +of people of my age. It is wrought simply and wholly by the passion +for emigration which belongs to our own race. In Mr. Hoar's happy +phrase, people of our blood "thirst for the horizon." + +In the year 1833 De Tocqueville, observing the steadiness of this +wave, calculated its average flow as seventeen miles westward every +year. That was the rate at which it had moved since the Federal +Constitution made it possible. Speaking roughly, there were then two +thousand miles of desert between the Missouri River and the Pacific. +At De Tocqueville's rate, the wave would have been one hundred and +twenty years in reaching that ocean. But it happened that in 1849 +the Western coast was settled in the gold discovery. An Eastern wave +began which has now met the Western. The two together have founded +the great cities--for we must call them so--of the Rocky Mountains. + +Now, in the face of that contrast between the last century and this +century, one asks why that half of our continent is any more fit for +men than it was then. The answer is, that it was not fit for the +kind of men on it then; and that the kind of men that have tamed it +are the kind of men who were fit for it, and whom it was fit for. + +The study of history and of physical geography becomes a study of +what we mean by man and man's capacities. California, for instance, +was the same country in 1650 that it was in 1850. The south wind +blew from the sea, and that, in the north temperate zone, is the +great physical requisite. There was as much gold, and quicksilver, +and copper, and tin in the mountains as there is now. There was the +same soil and the same water on the hillsides. But the men, and +women, and children were afraid of their gods; they were afraid +of nature; they had neither faith, nor hope, nor love. They had +none of the elements of eternal power except as an acorn has the +possibilities of an oak. + +To these people there came, sooner or later--with the best motives, +but still without the essentials of life--fifty families of +Franciscan monks. They came, observe, without wives or children. +They defied thus the first law of human life, or the life God +intends His children to live in. The primitive trinity, from which +all false trinities have grown, is the father, the mother and the +child. The Franciscan communities were false to all Divine law, if +it were only in their failure here. + +They gathered around them, by the higher civilization which they +brought, great communities of starving Indians. They taught them +to feed themselves as they had never been fed before. So far they +improved the race, and lifted its civilization above that ant-eating +and lizard-chasing of the Digger Indian. But then the Catholic +Church, by the necessary subordination of man to the organized +Church, takes man's life out of him. + + "The day + That makes a man a slave, takes all his life away." + +The words are as true to-day as they were in Homer's time. Nor is +there any sadder instance of it than is the powerlessness of the +tribes of amiable slaves who were collected under the protection +of the Franciscan missions in California, or Jesuit missions in +Paraguay. + +The native races between the Pacific and the Atlantic were dying +faster than their children were born. They were dying of the +diseases named laziness, ignorance, and war. They were not subduing +the continent. They were not fit for it, nor it for them. What is +the distinction of the race to which we belong, that it succeeds +where these have failed? The history of the country accentuates that +distinction. + +It would be absurd to pretend that the average frontiersman was a +man of what are called saintly habits. Often he was not conscious +that he had any divine errand. But the frontiersman, to whose +courage and perseverance is due that forward wave we study, was a +man. He did not take his opinion or instruction from any priest. +There was no one between him and the good God. Often he sought Him. +So far so good. And often he did not seek Him. That one admits. +But he never sought any one else's advice or direction. He was no +slave, as the Indian of California was. He was not commissioned by +a superior, as the Franciscan priest of the mission was. He was a +man. He was independent and he was brave. If he did the right thing, +therefore, he succeeded; if he did the wrong thing, why, he failed. +And no one else tried just the same experiment. In this first trait +of absolute independence he showed the infinite characteristic of a +child of God. + +Second, and perhaps more important, he took with him his wife and +his children. Here is the great distinction of American emigration, +which contrasts against the plans of Spaniards or Frenchmen, and of +the earlier Englishmen. Historically it begins with the Pilgrims, +of whom there were as many Pilgrim mothers as there were Pilgrim +fathers. It is of them that Emerson says that "they builded better +than they knew." + +The frontiersman is independent. He lives with and for his family. +And, once more, he is an enthusiast in determining that to-morrow +shall be better than to-day. The Indian had no such notion. The +Franciscan had not. But this profane, ignorant pioneer had. He +believed implicitly in the country behind him and in the future +before him. "I tell you, sir, that in ten years you will see in this +valley such a city as the world never saw." Profane he may be, +ignorant he may be, cruel he may be; but he believes in the idea; he +is quickened and goaded forward by an infinite and majestic hope. + +Given such conditions, the historical steps are easy. All this is +impossible till you have a nation, to give peace and compel peace, +so that the separate settler shall know that the whole majesty of +the world is behind him. There shall be no abiding quarrel between +man and man as to the line of a claim or the title of a mine. +The nation shall decide, and its whole majesty shall enforce the +decision. Or, if there is any massacre by an Apache or a Blackfoot, +the country behind, tho a thousand miles behind, shall stretch forth +her arm to avenge that lonely family. This means peace instead of +war. All this had to wait, therefore, until the formation of the +nation called the United States--the greatest peace society the sun +ever shone upon, and the model for societies yet larger. With the +birth of that nation, the real Western wave begins. + +I do not claim for every pioneer that he thought he went as an +apostle of God. But in the emigrant wave from the very beginning, +the best blood, the best faith, the best training of the parent +stocks have gone. Science has sent her best. The determination +for thorough education has planted better school houses in the +wilderness than the emigrant left at home. And on Sunday, in a +church, one is proud to say that the organized Church of Christ, +in the liberty of a thousand communions, has covered with her egis +the settler most in advance. He could not keep in advance of the +missionary and of his Bible; and, to his credit be it said, he did +not want to. + +So much for the personnel. Now, speaking roughly, what has been the +motive for the great Western wave, which is making this garden out +of that desert? + +First, there is the passion for adventure, the thirst for the +horizon, which drives old Leatherstocking and the men like him away +from the haunts of men. This in itself produces nothing. Next and +chiefly, the desire to make homes--the noblest desire given to man, +and the desire in which he follows the will of God most distinctly +and completely. Miners want to strike metals; farmers want to find +good soils; fruit men try for climate and irrigation; all with the +direct wish to make homes more happy than they have been before. + +Again, young men go that they may get forward faster than in old +communities--and who can wonder? Men of sense give up the unequal +contest with nature in a northern and eastern climate to find a +country where nature is on their side. People in delicate health go +where they find softer air, more spring and less winter. But no man +goes to get rich alone. No man wants to eat gold or to drink it. +The wish and hope is to make homes where father, mother and children +can live the life which God ordained. These are no Franciscan +friars, these are no Apache bandits, to whom has been given the +subjugation of a continent. Side by side with the pioneer is the +surveyor, marking the lines of future homesteads. Hard behind him +are father, mother, boys and girls, to whom the nation gives this +homestead thus designated. If the man is sick the woman nurses him. +The children grow up to know the world they live in. The boundary of +the nation is not a mere chain of garrisons nor the scattered posts +of missions; it is a line of homes, founded with all that the word +home involves. + +All these lessons of three centuries point one way. They show +that the world is not very good for wandering Apaches or Digger +Indians, freezing and starving under hard winters when harvests +have failed. To their point of view it was a world hard and cruel. +To Franciscan friars, ruling a little empire which yielded none +but physical harvests, where the garden, and orchard, and vineyard +were only so many specks in the midst of an unbounded desert, the +world can not have seemed a better world--a world made for wild +horses, and further East for wild buffaloes, but not for men--"the +great American Desert." It is not till man asserts the courage and +freedom of a son of God, it is not till man appears with wife and +child and proposes to establish his heaven here; it is not till then +that he masters nature, and she gladly obeys him. Nay, then he has +no success unless he appears as the vicegerent of God Himself, and +establishes over this vast domain the empire of law, and speaks as +God might speak, with "Thou shalt do this," and "Thou shalt not do +that" in this empire. + +The Old-World writers are fond of telling us that we owe the +prosperity of this nation to its physical resources. It is not so. +The physical resources have existed for centuries. It is only in +the moral force of sons and daughters of God; it is such working +power as takes the names of law, courage, independence, and family +affection; it is only in these that our victory is won. The drunken +swaggerer of the advance only checks the triumph. The miser, who +would carry off his silver to use elsewhere, only hinders the +advance. The victory comes from the hand of God to the children of +God, who establish His empire in the magic spell of three great +names. As always these names are: Faith, which gives courage; Hope, +which determines to succeed; and Love, which builds up homes. + +It is impossible to see the steps of such a victory without owning +the infinite Power behind it all. You cannot use magnetic ore and +coal for its smelting and the silicates for its fusion, all flung +in together side by side, without asking if the Power who threw +these priceless gifts together where each was needed for each +did not know what He was doing. But the buffalo passes over it, +and the gopher mines under it, and it might be so much gravel of +the sea. Savages pass over it, with no future, no heaven, and one +would say no God. It is worthless desert still, but one day a man +comes who deserves his name. He is a child of God. He is determined +that to-morrow shall be better than to-day. He knows he is lord of +nature, and he bids her serve him. The coal burns, the iron melts, +the silicate fuses. It is impossible to see that miracle and not +feel that for this man the world was created, and for this world +this man was born. He is in his place. He did not have to seek it; +it was made for him. With him it is a garden. Without him it is +a desert. He can hew down these mountains. He can fill up these +valleys. And where he has filled, and where he has hewed, lo, the +present heaven of happy homes! It is thus that prophecy accomplishes +itself, and + + "The car of the Lord rolls gloriously on." + + + + +MAGEE + +THE MIRACULOUS STILLING OF THE STORM + + + + +BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE + + +William Connor Magee, Archbishop of York, was born at Cork in 1821. +Educated at Trinity College, Dublin, he was ordained in 1844. His +first important charge was the Octagon Chapel at Bath in 1850. In +1864 he was made dean of Cork, and in 1868, Bishop of Peterborough. +In 1891 he was appointed to succeed Dr. William Thomson, as +Archbishop of York. + +Dr. Magee was pronounced by Canon Liddon the greatest preacher of +his day. His speech in the House of Lords in 1869 against Irish +Disestablishment was said by the highest authorities, as quoted +by Lord Salisbury, to be the finest speech ever delivered, in +either house of Parliament, by any man then living. His oratory was +characterized by clearness and terseness of expression, while his +full-toned voice was capable of sounding every gradation of feeling. +He died in 1891, three months after his enthronization in York +Minster. + + + + +MAGEE + +1821-1891 + +THE MIRACULOUS STILLING OF THE STORM + + _Lord, save us: we perish.... Then he arose, and rebuked the + winds and the sea; and there was a great calm_.--Matt. viii., + 25, 26. + + +The story of this miracle reveals to us Christ entering into peril +together with His Church. It records for us her faith and her +prayer. It reveals to us His presence and His power. That faith has +been her faith, that prayer has been her prayer, from that hour +until now. In all the long perilous voyage of the Church from that +hour, never has she unlearned yet her first prayer; never has she +become entirely unconscious of her Lord. Sometimes with a great and +a fearless faith that defied the most terrible tempests, sometimes +with a little and a timid faith, that shrank from the first ripple +upon the deep, but ever with her real faith have Christ's Church and +Christ's disciples turned in the hour of their tribulation to seek +their Lord. And never has that prayer been said in vain. Never from +the Church at large, or from the solitary disciple in his terror, +has that prayer gone up without an answer. Never has the eye of +faith sought, and sought in vain, the Savior. Ever has the praying +Church or the praying disciple found the still present Christ; and +we believe that it is so now. We believe that Christ our Lord is +here in the midst of us now, and that our eye of faith may see Him, +and our prayer of faith may reach Him. And if this be so now--if +Christ's presence be a real fact amongst us now, and our prayer have +really a might to reveal that presence--then, above all things, it +concerns us, that we understand the nature of that prayer, and the +manner of that presence, that we understand what it is we mean, and +what will come of it when we say: "Lord, save us, or we perish." + +We ask you, then, to-night, brethren, to consider these two things: +the meaning of the Church's prayer; the manner of her Lord's +presence. Now, when we use these words: "Lord, save: we perish," +we are really rehearsing two articles of our belief. We are +declaring, first of all, that we believe there is a Lord--that in +the visible world there is an invisible God with His overruling, +and controlling, and appointing will; and, in the next place, we +believe that this God is our Lord Jesus Christ. In the first of +these, we Christians agree with every religion that ever has been. +In the second, we differ from all other religions. When we say that +above nature there is a will and a personality, we say what every +religion says. Religion is nothing else than the belief in the +supernatural, in something above nature, in a person, in a will; and +prayer is nothing but the speech of our spirit to that will, and the +submission of our will to it. Prayer is the effort of the spirit +of man to rise above the visible up to the region of the invisible +and the personal, there to speak out his care or his need. There +can, therefore, be no prayer without this element of religion; and +there can be no religion without this fact of prayer. Without it, +you have philosophy, you may have sentiment; but you cannot have a +real, practical, every-day religion. And, therefore, all religions +have believed in a God or gods, a Lord or lords. Turk, Jew, heathen, +in like case, would have said to some lord or other: "Save, or we +perish." But the Christian believes something more. He believes that +his Lord has come down amongst men; that He has taken to Him human +flesh, and lived a human life, and died, and risen again, for his +salvation. He worships not only a lord, but the incarnate Lord; and +so the Church speaks her twofold faith in her great hymn from the +first to Christ as God: "We praise Thee, O God; we acknowledge Thee +to be the Lord"--Thee, and none other, to be the God, and Thee to +be the Lord, and Ruler, and Master of all things. You see, then, +that there is something different in Christian prayer from all other +prayer and worship, and that the difference consists in this: that +it is distinctively and avowedly the prayer to an incarnate Christ. + +Now, if there be this difference between this prayer and all other +prayer, then there must be a corresponding difference in the +feelings and in the practical results of such a religion; and I am +about to ask you now to follow me while I endeavor to trace for you +this difference between Christian prayer and all other prayer. It +seems as if the story in the gospel of this miracle exactly sets +out this difference--exactly shows us the distinctive nature of +Christian prayer. The story, you observe, divides itself, naturally, +into three parts. There is, first of all, the voyage before the +storm; there is, then, the storm; and there is, then, the miraculous +stilling of the storm. Now, you observe that in each of these three +parts, we have one thing in common. We have man, in some way or +other, encountering, or encountered by, the outward and visible +world. The third of these--the stilling of the storm--differs from +the other two in this, that it is miraculous and supernatural. Now, +let us, for a moment, leave out this third part. There are some, you +know, who say, that we should always leave it out, and be better +without it. Let us leave out, then, this third or miraculous part of +the story; and let us contrast the first and the second parts. And +what have we got? We have got a most remarkable contrast between +the two scenes. What is it we see in the first scene? We see a man +subduing nature. It was by the knowledge of the elements and the +laws of nature, that man learned thus to sail upon the deep; and in +that one fact you have represented for you the whole of the material +progress of humanity--all the triumphs of science, all the glory and +the beauty of art, all that marvelous mastery that man obtains by +his inventive and creative will over the secret powers of nature, as +he unlocks them one by one, and compels her to tell him her deepest +mysteries--all that man has done as he has advanced from horizon to +horizon of discovery, finding still new worlds to conquer, until +we stand amazed at our own progress and the infinity of it, and we +say of man: "What manner of being is this, that even the winds and +the sea obey him?" Yes, there is the man the lord of nature. There +is nothing supernatural there. All is natural, all is orderly. Man +is lord and master. Nature is man's servant; and, therefore, there +seems no room, there seems no need for prayer. There is nothing, +seemingly, there to be had for the asking; there is everything, +seemingly, there to be had for working. Man is to be seen walking in +the garden of his own planting and his own fencing; and he reaches +out hands to unforbidden fruits of knowledge; and he believes that +at last he shall gather even of the tree of life. He is a god unto +himself, and he sees no need for prayer. + +And now we turn to the second scene, and what have we there? We have +the direct contrast with this scene. We have there, not man subduing +nature, but nature subduing man. We have the storm in which the +elements are man's masters and not his servants; and he that one +minute before was the boasting lord of nature is its toy and its +sport. The very foam upon the crest of those billows is not more +helpless in the grasp of the elements than the lord and the king of +them; and they toss him to and fro, as the wind drives the stubble +in the autumn. This is the terrible aspect of nature. This is nature +in her might, and in her majesty, and in her pitilessness, and in +her capriciousness--when nature seems everything, and man, in her +awful presence, dwindles and dwarfs into very nothingness--when +man, in the presence of the vastness of her solitude, and the +might of her storms, and the terror of her earthquakes, seems no +more before her, with his little cares and his sorrows, than the +wee bubbles upon the head of the cataract. This is nature as she +masters man. Is it, then, any wonder that, in the early struggles of +mankind with this terrible visible power of the creature, men came +to worship the creature--that they ascribed to every one of these +powers a divinity, that in the voice of the wind, and in the roar +of the sea, and in the raging of the fire, they saw the signs of +a divine presence, and they said to these elements: "Spare us," or +"Save us, or else we perish"? And so all creation became peopled +with gods--cruel gods, capricious gods, vengeful gods, gods whom +men bribed with blood, gods whom, even while they bribed them, they +could not love, and did not believe that they loved them. This is +the first and most terrible form of creature worship; this was the +idolatry of the heathen. But mark this, that such a worship as this +could not continue forever, could not continue long, because it is +the worship of ignorance; it is the belief in the supernatural, +only because it confuses the unknown with the supernatural. Ever as +science advances must this faith melt away. Ever must the domain +of the known push itself forward into the domain of the unknown. +Ever does the man of science take one by one the gods of the man +of superstition and break them upon their pedestals, and tell him +this: "What you worship is no god. What you worship is no lord. It +is not your lord. It is a servant of yours; and I class it in this +or that rank of your servants." So, one by one, like ghosts and +fantoms in the dawning of the day--one by one, the fantoms of gods +that haunted the night of the old world vanish before the dawn of +knowledge. But then it is a terrible daylight that breaks on men--a +blank, dreary world in which men have no sight of the invisible, no +sense of the supernatural. It is that last and most terrible aspect +of nature, when she appears, not as many gods, or many wills, but as +the great soulless piece of mechanism, of which we are only part--a +terrible machinery in which we are, somehow or other, involved, and +in the presence of which the sense of our free-will leaves us. The +pith, and the manhood, and the vigor of men, and the beauty and the +freedom of their life die out of them as they stand appalled before +this passionless, this terrible, this awful face of a soulless +world. This is the last and the most terrible form of creature +worship. And mark this, that between these two aspects of nature, +if you have no assured faith, there is no logical resting-place. +Without the act of faith, you must take your choice between the +superstition of ignorance or the atheism of knowledge. + +And now we have seen these, we turn to the third portion of our +story; and what is that we see there? We see, again, in this world +of men, the miraculous and the supernatural. We hear a prayer, +and we see a miracle. In the face of the might of nature and the +terrors of her elements there arises up a Man in answer to man's +cry--there is heard a Man's voice, which is yet the voice of God; +and it rebukes the winds and the sea, and the elements of nature own +their real Lord; and immediately there is a great calm. What is +it, then, that we see? We see a miracle, and a miracle that answers +to prayer; we see the living spirits of living men, in the hour of +their agony and their distress, appealing from nature to the God of +nature; and we have recorded the answer of God to man's prayer. The +answer is, that God is Lord both of man and of nature; and we say, +therefore, that the miracle, and the miracle alone, sufficiently +justifies the prayer. We say that the reason why men may pray is, +and can only be, that they know and believe, that there is a will +which rules the visible. If you have not this belief, then believe +us that all prayer, whatever men may say about it, is an unreality +and a miserable mockery. To what am I to pray if I see no living +God to pray to? Am I to pray to a law? Am I to pray to a system? Am +I to pray to the winds, or to the waves, as men prayed of old? Am +I to pray for physical blessings and deliverances? Men tell us we +are not to pray, or to give thanks, concerning the rain or fruitful +seasons, for that science has told us that the supernatural has no +place there. Am I to pray then (for men do tell me that I may pray) +only for spiritual and for moral gifts? Am I to pray only to be +made wise, and good, and pure, and true, and holy? Ah! science is +beginning to meet us there, too; for she is telling us, and telling +us loudly, and telling us shamelessly, that here, too, there is no +room, so far as she can tell, for prayer, as our mind is but a part +of our body, and that our spiritual condition is a necessary result +of our past history and of our present temperament--that we are what +we are by virtue of birth and education, and country, and clime, +and other things over which we have no control. And so the very +spirit of man, all that is left of the invisible, vanishes before +the approach of science. The knife of the anatomist lays bare, as +he tells you, the secrets of man's being; and he finds no soul--he +finds only the gray matter of the brain and the white threads of +the nerves; and this is all that is left. Then, if we are not to +pray, may we at least praise? Men say that if it is a folly to pray, +at least it is a wisdom to praise; and they tell us this is the +sentimental theory of the modern gospel. They tell you: "You may +not pray,--prayer has no place in our system,--but you may praise; +you may lift up your heart in hymns of joy and gratitude to the +great Father of your being; you may have festival and flower-crowned +processions in honor of the Supreme Being; yes, you may in fine +weather, when you are sailing over summer seas, and the pleasant +summer wind is filling the sails of your bark, and is wafting sweet +odors from the flower-crowned shores along which youth, and hope, +and joy are passing--then you may lift up your hearts in thanks to +the Father that gave all these, if you do not forget it. But how is +it in foul weather? How is it when the sky above us darkens, and the +white crests of the waves beneath us are swelling sharp and fierce, +and the jagged edges of the rocks are projecting for our shipwreck, +and the wild waste of the waters is yawning below us, and we tremble +and shudder at their depths, and the wild wind blows our prayer +back into our bosoms--is that the time to sing sentimental hymns to +our great supreme Father and Giver of all good? It is a time (thank +God, thank Christ, for this) when the Christian, when the disciple +of Christ, may hold fast his faith and say, "Tho he slay me, yet +will I trust in him"; but it is not a time when the deist has +breath to sing his hymns to the supreme Author of his being. No, we +believe that there is a miracle that justifies, and alone justifies +prayer. We know that there are those (and they are good and wise +men, many of them) who contrive nice adjustments and philosophical +explanations how prayer may be reconciled with universal law. We do +not greatly care for these. They may be right; they may be wrong. +In some future state and higher condition of our being we may know +how far they are true, how far they are false; but, meanwhile, we +need not be too nervously anxious to make room for almighty God to +work His own will in His own world. We believe in the miracle of +creation; we believe that there was once a voice that said, "Let +there be light, and there was light"; we believe that at the sound +of that voice the universe leapt into life; and we believe in the +miracle of the Incarnation, when God took human flesh and dwelt +amongst men; we believe in the miracle of the descent of the Spirit +of God, when, with the miraculous sound of the rushing wind and +the miraculous gleam of the fire, God once more came down to dwell +amongst men; we believe in the miracles that are written for us in +this Book, were they ten times as many as they are; we believe that +the sea has stood on one side like a wall, and that the waters have +gushed forth from the rock; we believe that bread has been rained +from heaven; we believe that a touch has awakened the dead--we +believe all this; and, because we believe it, we believe the voice +when it says to us, "Pray"; and because we hear that voice still +amongst us, and because we know it to be the same voice, we say, as +we hear it, "Lord, save, or we perish." + +But still, in the last place, it may be said to us: If you do +believe that there is this power of miracle amongst you still, and +that it will answer to your prayer, why is it that we do not see +more miracles than we do? Why is not the world filled with strange +miracles every day, considering the infinite number of men's needs, +and the infinite number of human prayers? My brethren, it does seem +to me that if we were merely deists, and did not believe in Christ, +it would be difficult for us to answer this objection. The spirit +of man has, however (thanks be to God for it), in all ages been +deeper and truer in its instincts than his mere logical power. Even +the deist (and we thankfully acknowledge it), tho inconsistently +and illogically, yet really and truly prays. For us Christians +there is not any difficulty. There is that difference in our prayer +of which I spoke. To whom is it that we pray? Not merely to the +invisible Lord or Creator of the past, but to the incarnate Lord of +the present. We believe that Christ our Lord, to whom we pray, took +flesh and dwelt amongst us, and we believe that He did so that He +might work the greatest of all miracles--the salvation of the souls +of men; and we believe that He wrought it by dying and by living +again. We believe that He established in the world this great and +miraculous law, that it is possible out of death to bring life--nay, +that death is the way to life. If this be so, that by His death +life was purchased for us, then He teaches us that there is another +life than this, and that there is another death and a deeper death +than that we fear; and He tells us, it may be, that even by dying +we shall be saved, that He will not always save us from death--nay, +that He may save us by death. And so it comes to pass that we +understand how, by losing life, we may miraculously save it; and +yet, on the other hand, by trying to save life, we may naturally +lose it. So we come to understand this fact, how the beginning of +His kingdom was full of miracles, and how, in the history of His +kingdom, miracles have since ceased. The kingdom began with miracles +that He might teach us that He was able to save; the miracles ceased +in order that He might work a greater miracle. The lesser miracle +of ruling nature ceased in order that the greatest of all miracles +might perpetually be wrought--the regeneration, the redemption, and +the glorification of the nature of man. And so we understand that +Christ our Lord, because He is our Lord, may save us, even while +we seem to perish, and to perish in His presence. He saved us of +old by His agony and bloody sweat, by His cross and passion; and +He will save us now, and He does save every child of His. Through +agony and sweating, through cross and passion--through the agony of +our long nights of spiritual darkness, through the sweat of long +days of sore trouble and labor, beneath the weight of sharp and +heavy crosses and sorrow, and through the bitterness of spiritual +or bodily passion, does Christ our Lord still save those who cry +to Him, even while He seems to sleep and not to hear them, as, in +the bitterness of their souls, thinking themselves Christ-forsaken, +they cry, "Our Christ, our Christ, why hast Thou forsaken us? Dost +Thou sleep, Lord? Save us, or we perish." And so you understand +the peculiarity, the blest and the glorious peculiarity, of our +Christian prayer. You understand the meaning of those deep words +of Scripture--patience and the faith of the saints. You understand +how the Christian man may pray and wait, and wait and pray still. +If prayer were always followed by a miraculous answer, then prayer +would be easy enough; or, on the other hand, if there were no +thought of an answer, then it might be possible, tho not easy, to +submit ourselves to the inevitable. But to pray and not to receive +an answer, and yet to believe that the very not receiving is an +answer; to cry, "Save, or we perish," and to seem about to perish; +to believe that in what seems perishing is really salvation; to look +for the living and watchful Christ, and to see what seems only the +living and regardless Christ, and yet to believe that the time will +come when, at His word, there shall be a great calm--this is the +patience, this is the faith of those who worship an incarnate Lord. +And so we trace the history of Christ's Church, and so we strive +to trace the history of our own lives. Comparatively easy it is to +trace the Church's history along her voyage. The Church gives time +for comparing events and testing faith; and so, believing still in +the presence of her living Lord, the litanies of His Church ring +out, as they have ever rung, clearly and loudly, and high above the +roar of the tempest and the rushing of the waters, still the prayer +is heard, "Good Lord, deliver us"; and still, again and again, as +the storm sweeps by, and the Church passes out into calmer waters, +still comes the voice of thanksgiving: "He hath delivered us." +Even in our shorter voyage, are there none of us who can remember +times when we have knelt in agony and wrestled in prayer with the +Savior, who seemed to have forgotten us, when the mighty storm of +temptation and the billows of calamity seemed about to destroy us, +and when we have cried (oh, how men do cry in those storms of the +soul, in those tempests and terrors of the heart), "Lord, save us, +or we perish!" to Him to save us, and He has seemed to sleep and to +refuse to save? But at the last we can remember how He did reveal +Himself, not stilling the raging storm when we would have had Him +still the terrible tempest, not sparing, it may be, the precious +bark that we had rigged, and manned, and launched ourselves with +trembling hopes and loving prayers, and watched with eyes tearless +with agony, as we saw it about to sink before us; and we have +been led to see and believe that the living and the loving Lord +was answering even then our prayer, for the bark has, at length, +entered that haven where we would be, and where the vexed waters of +our voyage never awake a ripple on the calm depths of its eternal +peace. This has been the experience of more than one of this great +multitude that I see. And there is another experience that each one +of you may have: it is when, in the troubles of your own spirit, +when in the agonies of your own grief-stricken heart, when in the +depths of your own repentance, when in the storms of your own fear +and your own doubt, you cry to Christ the Savior--when you bring +your sins as some men bring their sorrows, as anxious to have them +removed as the others--when you cry to Christ your Savior: "Lord, +save me! Save me, a sinner! Save me, an unprayerful man hitherto! +Save me, an unbelieving man hitherto! Save me, not merely from the +hell hereafter, but the present storm and depth of my own sins that +threaten to destroy me! Save me, or I perish!" For, brethren, be +sure of this, sooner or later this will be the experience of every +such vexed and terrified soul--that, after he shall have endured, so +long as his Lord sees good, the terrifying storm and the threatening +deep that drive him in closer and closer search and seeking after +his Lord, then, at last, there will appear the form of the Son of +man, the form of Him who hung upon the cross, that He might for +ever in the world's history work this great and, to Him, dearest +of all miracles; and, at last, He will rebuke the winds and the +waves in that troubled soul, and there will be a great calm--a calm +that may not last for ever, a calm that will not last for ever, for +we have not yet reached the haven of perfect rest, but a calm that +is a foretaste of the eternal rest. And so, praying with all our +hearts to Christ our Lord, setting our will in submission to His +will, pouring out our spirit in prayer to His Spirit, laying bare +our hearts before His pure and loving eyes, through calm and through +storm, praying still that we suffer not death in either, that we +neither rot in the calm nor founder in the storm, praying still for +His presence, praying still for grace to realize that presence, +crying still for that deeper and yet deeper faith which is the +result of more and more constant experience, crying still, "Lord, +save, or we perish," wait in patience and in faith until He shall +send His last messenger in this world, His angel of death, and bid +him for us and in His name rebuke for the last time the winds that +have vexed us, and the waves that have terrified us, and then with +Him for ever there shall be a great calm. + + + + +SEISS + +THE WONDERFUL TESTIMONIES + + + + +BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE + + +Joseph A. Seiss, Lutheran divine, was born in 1823, at Graceham, Md. +He received his theological education as a private pupil of several +clergymen and was first settled over churches at Martinsburg and +Shepherdstown, Va. In 1843 he was transferred to Cumberland, then +to Baltimore, Md., and finally became pastor of St. John's Church, +Philadelphia, and for twelve years was editor of "The Lutheran." He +died in 1904. + + + + +SEISS + +1823-1904 + +THE WONDERFUL TESTIMONIES[1] + + [1] Reprinted by permission of the Literary Trustees of the Dr. + Seiss' Estate. + + _Thy testimonies are wonderful._--Psalms, cxix., 129. + + +The Psalmist here addresses himself to God. The testimonies of +which he speaks are God's testimonies. As collected and arranged in +one book, they are known to us as the Bible. For the contents of +these holy oracles the royal singer expresses his admiration. He +pronounces them "wonderful." + +It was not an unworthy theme with which he was occupied at the +time, neither was it an extravagant opinion which he uttered. It is +impossible that there should be for man a more important subject +than the communications made to him from his God. And if ever there +was a marvelous thing submitted to human inspection, it is this +book, the holy Bible. It lies before us like an ocean, boundless +and unfathomable,--like a Himalayan mountain, whose summit no foot +of man has trod, and whose foundation is in the undiscovered heart +of the world. To make a full survey of it is not possible in the +present condition of the human faculties. Even the inspired Paul, +when he came to look into it, found himself gazing into profundities +at which he could do no more than exclaim, "Oh, the depth of the +riches both of the wisdom and the knowledge of God!" And yet +there are many beautiful shells and pebbles lying on the shore of +this sea, and as many precious flowers blooming on this mountain +side, which any one may gather, and which, whosoever attentively +contemplates, must feel himself impelled to join the admiring +exclamation, "The testimonies of the Lord are wonderful." + +Let us look briefly at a few particulars by which to verify this +declaration, praying that God may open our eyes to behold wondrous +things out of His law. + + +I. The testimonies of the Lord are wonderful in age and preservation. + +The Bible is the oldest of books. Some portions of it are much more +recent than others, but a large part of it has come down from the +remotest antiquity and antedates all other writings in the world. +It contains a journal of events which transpired centuries before +the building of the Pyramids. The book of Job existed before Cadmus +carried letters into Greece. The five books of Moses were read +in holy assemblies two hundred years before Sanchoniathon wrote. +David and Solomon had uttered their sacred songs and prophecies +half a century before Homer enraptured the Greeks with his verses +or Lycurgus had given laws to Lacedaemon. Dozens of the books of +Scripture were complete a hundred years before the first public +library was founded at Athens; and the last of the prophets had +ended his message before Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle had +propounded their philosophies. When the elements of society were but +forming in the womb of the far-distant past, the Bible was there. +When the foundations of earth's present greatness were laid, it was +there. And when we go back to the very beginnings of history, even +there does its hand lead us and its right hand uphold us. + +Nor is it as a mere lifeless fossil that this book has come down +to us from such remote antiquity. Tho hoary with age, its youthful +vigor remains, and its natural force is not abated. It has only +grown fresher with age, and strengthened with every new trial. It +has been at the births and deaths of a hundred mighty nations, +and seen empires rise, flourish, and fall, and coexisted with the +longest lines of earthly kings, and beheld some of the sublimest +monuments of human effort come forth and disappear, and passed a +hundred generations in reaching us; but, withal, it still lives, in +all nations, in all languages, the most precious legacy of departed +ages, and the only thing that remains to us from some of them. +Tho it has encountered many a fierce conflict with the hate of +men and the spite of devils,--tho the object of many a concerted +scheme to blot it from the earth,--tho often held up to ridicule, +with "gigantic apes like Voltaire chattering at it, men of genius +turned by some Circean spell into swine, like Mirabeau and Paine, +casting filth at it, demoniacs whom it had half rescued and half +inspired, like Rousseau, making mouths in its face," and all the +varied passions of unsanctified men continually arrayed against +it,--it still holds its place as the most uncorrupt and authentic +of histories, the most august and controlling of records, the most +universal, venerable, and potent of books, imagining in its very +history the stupendous majesty of the God whom it reveals. + + +II. The testimonies of the Lord are wonderful in their authorship. + +They are not of man, but of God. We can not now refer to the varied +and multitudinous considerations which enter into the proofs of +this. It is capable, however, of being established by the very +highest moral evidences. The wisest and best men of every age have +concurred in receiving the Scriptures as from God. And it is not +possible to give a rational account of their origin, and the source +of their contents, without ascribing them to the divine authorship +which they claim. + +It may seem strange that the infinite God should condescend to +put His great thoughts into the poor language of mortals, to +communicate with creatures so dull and stupid as the sons of men; +but this He has done. Portions of the Scriptures are made up of +the very words of God, articulated by Himself in the hearing of +men commissioned to declare them. One chapter, which embodies the +moral essence of all the rest, was engraven by His own finger upon +tables of rock, and delivered to Moses all ready formed and set +in the alphabetic signs employed by men. Other parts consist of +communications of celestial messengers sent directly from heaven's +throne to declare God's will and purposes to the dwellers upon +earth. A still larger portion was taken down as it fell from the +lips of One in whom God had incarnated Himself, and whose every +word and act in this world was a revelation from the unknown +Deity. Even those parts which were written by men were produced +by mysterious motion and illumination of the Holy Ghost,--by +inspiration of God. Indeed, the whole book is a literary aerolite, +all the characteristics of which are unearthly, and whose own +superior attributes are so many demonstrations of its superhuman +source. Its very address is so far above that of man, that no +mortal, unprompted, could ever have risen to it. Its subjects are +all treated after an unearthly manner. Every leaf of it bears the +sunlight of some higher sphere. Every page has on it the imprimatur +of God. And all its words are instinct with divine fires, flashing +the admonition upon every reader, "Put off thy shoes from off thy +feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground." They +that look upon it look upon expressions of the eternal Spirit. +They that rightly take its lessons drink in living emanations from +unsearchable Godhead. It is the abiding miracle of _rapport_ with +the Mind which projected, upholds, and governs the universe. It is +the Word of God. + + +III. The testimonies of the Lord are wonderful in their originality +and instructiveness. + +The Bible depends upon no discoveries of man, and leans upon no +other books. If it says some things which may be learned elsewhere, +its utterances are always independent and peculiarly its own. +The world through which it ranges is much wider than that of +man's thoughts. It goes back to a remoter antiquity; it takes in +a broader space; it extends to a vaster future; it introduces +to sublimer spheres and forms of being; and it exhibits a much +profounder wisdom. It opens arcana of which no earthly powers ever +dreamed, and is at home in regions where the sublimest imaginings +of man had hardly extended a guess. On all the great questions of +theology, life, death, and futurity, it speaks with a familiarity, +comprehensiveness, and propriety which at once command our +confidence and satisfy our hearts. What it touches, it touches with +a master's hand. It never speaks without pregnant meaning in all its +words. And there is nothing in human science, poetry, or tradition +which it does not exceed in knowledge, wisdom, and real value. + +In its account of the creation, and the origin of things, there is +nothing to compare with it. In all the historians, philosophers, +and secular authors,-the books of Zoroaster, the records of +Phoenicia and Egypt, the Dialogues of Plato and Lucian, the annals +of China, the treatises of Plutarch, the Shastras of India, the +Edda of Scandinavia, and all the schemes that have ever been given +in explanation of the earth's primal history,--there is nothing so +natural, so magnificent, so simple, so appropriate, so reliable, +so satisfactory, as the first chapter of Genesis. Nor have all the +discoveries of modern geology brought forward anything to convict +Moses of a false cosmogony. If it is a truth that the history of +the earth's formation runs back through uncounted ages, he leaves +an interval for it, between "the beginning" and the period when +God caused light to appear upon its dark and misty surface. If it +is true that vast eras have been traversed by each separate order +of living things, one after the other, we find precisely the same +succession in the Mosaic account which is found preserved in the +different layers of the earth's crust. And if it be true that there +was life upon our world ages and cycles of ages before the period +noted in Genesis as that in which man was created, it is also true +that no traces of human existence are found except in the most +recent deposits. A certain stonemason of the village of Cromartie, +with sledge and chisel, himself delved through every formation, from +the surface-mold down through the old red sandstone to the Silurian, +gneiss, and granite, and, having mastered all that is known +concerning each, has written it down as the result of his marvelous +explorations, that the truthfulness of the Mosaic record is engraven +upon the rocks forever. + +And so in every department of science the Bible is always true +to nature, and has invariably been in advance of all human +investigations and discoveries. How many thousands of years have +metaphysicians and psychologists been at work to map out, classify, +and gauge the various capacities and powers of the human mind +and soul! But they have found no way of approach to the heart so +masterly and effective as that taken by the Scriptures; and the more +that is known of the nature of the man, the more clearly is it seen +that the Bible comprehended it from the commencement. It has been +but a few years since Newton laid open the laws of gravitation; and +yet the Scriptures spoke of the earth being hung "upon nothing," +as if familiar with the whole subject, before human science had +begun to form even its feeblest guesses in the case. It has only +been since the invention of the telescope enabled men to search +through the starry spaces that Sir John Herschel has discovered in +the northern sky a peculiar barrenness; but more than three thousand +years ago Job told Bildad the Shuhite that "God stretched out the +north over the empty place." It has been but a few years since +science discovered "that the sun is not the dead center of motion, +around which comets sweep and planets whirl," but that "the earth +and sun, with their splendid retinue of comets, satellites, and +planets, are all in motion around some point or center of attraction +inconceivably remote, and that that point is in the direction of +the star Alcyone, one of the Pleiades"; which would hence seem to +be "the midnight throne" in which the whole system of gravitation +has its central seat and from which all material orbs are governed. +But the Bible asked the question, more than thirty centuries ago, +"Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Pleiades?" as if the +speaker knew all about the facts in the case. How long has it been +since the doctrine of the rotundity of the earth has been settled +by scientific men? yet the Psalmist spoke of "the round world"; and +Solomon described in brief the true theory of wind-currents, and +strongly hinted the circulation of the blood, at least twenty-five +hundred years ago. And, with all the advances of knowledge which +have so wonderfully marked the last three hundred years, in which +the spirit of philosophic inquiry has ranged the universe, searched +heaven, earth, and sea, knocked at every door, peered into every +recess, consulted every oracle of nature, and gathered trophies +of power and treasures of wisdom and sublimities of knowledge at +which the world has been amazed,--in all the motions which the +experimentist has traced, in all the principles of power which the +master of physics has discovered, in all the combinations which the +chemist has detected, in all the forms which the naturalist has +recorded, in all the spiritual phenomena which the metaphysician +has described, and in all the conditions and relations of mind or +matter, past or present, which human research has found out,--there +has not come to light one truth to contradict these holy records, or +to require the relinquishment or change of one word in all the great +volume of Scripture. + + +IV. The testimonies of the Lord are wonderful in beauty and literary +excellence. + +The Bible is a casket of jewelry of the richest hues and the most +exquisite workmanship. Sir William Jones, that great Orientalist +and scholar, has said, "I have regularly and attentively perused +these Holy Scriptures, and am of the opinion that this volume, +independently of its divine origin, contains more true sublimity, +more exquisite beauty, more pure morality, more important history, +and finer strains of poetry and eloquence, than can be collected +from all other books, in whatever age or language they may have +been written." Even Rousseau wrote, "The majesty of the Scriptures +strikes me with admiration. The works of our philosophers, with all +their pomp of diction, how mean, how contemptible, in comparison +with them!" + +Nor does it matter much what part of the Scriptures we take, or in +what department of rhetoric we test them. Whether it be history or +prophecy, the Old Testament or the New, narrative or description, +poetry or prose, the same characteristics are to be seen. Moses +is as pure and simple as Adam and Eve in Paradise, and yet as +majestic and grand as that great creation which he describes. Job +contains a drama which is without a parallel,--a drama of facts +in which heaven and earth, visible and invisible, with all their +wonderful interpenetrations, are set out in their connection with +a suffering saint upon his couch, and in which the spirit of +earnest inquiry urges itself forward until everything comes forth +to declare the majesty of God, and all the might and goodness of +man lies prostrate before Him who "bringeth forth Mazzaroth in his +season" and speaketh comfortably to them that trust in Him. Under +the leadership of David's muse, we pass through varied scenes of +beauty and grandeur,--pastures and glens, still waters and roaring +floods, dismal swamps and silent wildernesses, forests crashing +with the lightnings of God and tempests that convulse the seas, +the smoke and fury of battle and the shoutings of glad multitudes, +by dells of lonely sorrow and along the starry archways of the +sky,--until at length we take our places in a temple high as +heaven and wide as space, with all objects of creation as living +worshipers around us, each with its separate hymn of grateful joy, +blending in one almighty adoration. Isaiah rises upon us like some +"mighty orb of song," whose rays are streaming minstrelsies, that +have thrilled upon the hearts of men for seventy generations, and +which must needs thrill on, unrivaled in their kind, while earth +and time endure. Ezekiel is a very comet of fire, flaming his +impetuous way across the heavens, and, like the living spirits in +his own first vision, going and returning as a flash of lightning. +And throughout,--the Evangelists with their simple story of Jesus, +and Paul in his epistles and orations, and John in his loving +letters and apocalyptic visions,--from the first words, "In the +beginning," onward to the last "amen," we find variety, beauty, +pathos, dignity, sweetness, magnificence, and glory, such as are +contained in no other composition. Here are the sublimest heights +and the profoundest depths, and all the gradations from the one +to the other. From the worm that grovels in the dust, to the +leviathan in the foaming deep, and the supreme archangel, and the +eternal God; from the hyssop on the wall, to the cedars of Lebanon, +and the healing trees which shade life's eternal river; from the +pearl-drops which trickle from the mountain rock, to the noise +of dashing torrents, and the wide waters of the deluge; from the +glowworm under the thorn, to the sun in the heavens, and the great +Father of Lights; from the lone pilgrim to the triumphing host, and +the gathering multitude which no man can number; from the deepest +sorrows of the lost, to the probation scenes of earth and the +seraphic visions of the blest,--there is nothing known to mortals +which God hath not brought into requisition to intensify and adorn +the precious book which He has given to men. As an eloquent preacher +beyond the sea remarks, "He has filled it with marvelous incident +and engaging history, with sunny pictures from Old-World scenery +and affecting anecdotes from patriarchal times. He has replenished +it with stately argument and thrilling verse, and sprinkled it +over with sententious wisdom and proverbial pungency. It has the +gracefulness of high utility; it has the majesty of intrinsic +power; it has the charm of its own sanctity: it never labors, never +strives, but, instinct with great realities and bent on blessed +ends, has all the translucent beauty and unstudied power which you +might expect from its lofty object and all-wise Author." + +Some call these Scriptures dull and uninviting; but there is no +book in being with so many real attractions. There is no classic +equal to it,--no historian like Moses, no poet like Job or Isaiah, +no singer like David, no orator like Paul, no character like Jesus, +and no revelation of God or nature like that which these venerable +pages give. Not without reason has Sir Thomas Browne said, "Were +it of man, I could not choose but say it was the singularest and +superlative piece that hath been extant since the creation. Were +I a pagan, I should not refrain the lecture of it, and can not +but commend the judgment of Ptolemy, that thought not his library +complete without it." + + +V. The testimonies of the Lord are wonderful in their influences and +effects. + +The Bible has been, for three thousand years, one of the greatest +potencies on earth. It has been, and is to this moment, a greater +power than Rome, or Greece, or Babylon ever was. Though it has +not conquered the world, it has advanced further towards it than +Alexander ever did. It has done more to govern and renew the human +heart than all the laws enacted by legislators, and all the maxims +devised by uninspired sages, and all the lessons, apart from itself, +that were ever given to the race. It is the chief stay of a society +which for a thousand years has been the most widespread, the most +important, and the most powerful association on the earth. It has +controlled the religious opinions of a large part of mankind for +nearly forty centuries. It has molded characters and directed the +efforts of men whose lives and labors introduced new eras and shaped +the destinies of nations and turned the course of the world's +entire history. It has begotten and fostered the purest virtue, the +sublimest manhood, the noblest beneficence, the sincerest charity, +the tenderest kindness, and all the blessed saintship, that have +ever been upon earth. + +Its vast influence upon the welfare of nations may be estimated in +part from the bloody codes, and infamous administrations, and social +degradations, and far-reaching wretchedness, of those countries +where it is rejected or unknown, contrasted with the blessedness +and peace of those who have received it. It was the great Milton +who said, "There are no politics like those which the Scriptures +teach"; and in proof we need only look at Judea when it knew no laws +but those which this book contains. How smooth and steady were the +wheels of public justice, and how beautiful was the flow of national +peace, in those golden days of the old Hebrew commonwealth! How did +the joyous vines, and fields of waving ears, and gold of Ophir, +and flocks and cattle abiding on a thousand hills, and cities full +of peace and plenty, proclaim abroad the wealth and blessedness of +that goodly land! How did the voice of singing and the fragrance of +virtue linger round each habitation, and the sacrifices of praise +crowd all the temple's courts from tribes rejoicing in the smiles of +God! + +In the sphere of learning and thought-creations, also, the influence +of the Bible is equally marked and wonderful. It is to the world of +letters what the sun is to the solar system, the fountain of the +purest light and brightest wisdom. It has produced more books than +any other one thing in existence. It has fostered learning when +there was no other stimulation to its cultivation felt. Even the +heathen classics owe their preservation to it. As a book written in +other times, places, and languages, it has called forth the most +laboriously compiled lexicons, grammars, and works on archeology by +which the world of the present communes with the world of the past. +As a book claiming the faith and obedience of men, it has created a +world of learned apology, comment, and exposition, and some of the +noblest specimens of argument, eloquence, and appeal which are known +to man. And, simply as a book among books, it has wrought wondrously +upon the thoughts and productions of authors of all classes. The +Visions of Dante are largely drawn from it. Every canto of the +Faerie Queene bears the impress of its influence. Milton's matchless +songs of Paradise are from an inspiration which the Bible alone +could give. From the same source came the immortal dream of Bunyan, +the Pauline reasonings of Barrow, the flaming zeal of Richard +Baxter, the "molten wealth" and "lava of gold and gems" which poured +down "the russet steep of Puritan theology," the songs of Cowper, +and "Thoughts" of Young, and visions of Pollok, and mighty eloquence +of the Luthers, the Knoxes, the Massillons, the Whitefields, and the +Halls. Addison, and Thomson, and Burke, and Dryden, and Wordsworth, +and Coleridge, and Southey, and Campbell, and Goethe, all are vastly +indebted to the Scriptures for whatever excellences are found in +their works. Shakespeare drew largely from this same precious mine, +and also even Hobbes, and Shelley, and Byron. That prince of modern +orators, Daniel Webster, once said, "If there be anything in my +style or thoughts to be commended, the credit is due to my kind +parents in instilling into my mind an early love of the Scriptures." +Indeed, if we were to destroy the Bible, and take from the world +of literature and thought all that it has contributed directly or +indirectly, half the history of the race would be swept out of mind, +the noblest ideas that have swelled man's heart would be gone, +some of the proudest monuments of human genius would be buried +in oblivion, and thick darkness would settle down upon the world +forever. + + +VI. The testimonies of the Lord are wonderful as a fountain of +consolation, hope and salvation. + +The Bible to all its other excellences adds this, that it is the +Book of Life. It is not only a basket of silver network, but it +contains apples of gold. It is the record of glad tidings to a +perishing world, a message of joy to all people. In it, Wisdom +hath mingled her wine, and slain her fatlings, and furnished her +table, and calls all the hungry and needy to come and partake. The +entrance of its words giveth light and imparteth understanding +to the simple, and maketh wise unto salvation. It is a balm from +Gilead for the sick, oil for the bruises of the wounded, reprieve +for the prison-bound, and bread for them that are ready to perish. +Its different books are but so many angels of mercy, carrying +contentment into the abodes of poverty, enabling even the children +of want to lift up their eyes to God who ordereth all things well, +and to eat their scanty meals in peace; staying the hearts of the +persecuted and opprest, causing them to rejoice and sing under the +yoke, at the stake, and in the hottest of the fires, as on their +passage-way to crowns immortal in the world to come; calming the +minds of the fevered, mollifying where all earthly medicines fail, +and kindling glad hopes of recompense yet to be revealed; lighting +up comforts in the breasts of those that mourn for their dead, and +assuring them of blessed reunions in a better life; and kindling +even the dying eye and inspiring the dying heart with thoughts of +speedy triumph, causing lips already closed for death to open once +more in utterances of victory. + +We may talk of the venerable age of the Bible, and its scientific +accuracy, and its literary beauty and sublimity, and its wonderful +influences upon the ideas, laws, governments, and general order of +society and mankind; but it is all nothing in comparison with the +spiritual good and immortal hopes and consolations which it begets +in those who receive it as a message from their God. Are we voyagers +upon a troubled and a dangerous sea? Here is a chart by which to +steer in safety to the happy shores. Are we soldiers, beset with +foes and required to endure the shocks of battle? This is an armory +from which all needed weapons may be drawn at will, and by the right +use of which we may hew our way to immortal triumph. Are we pilgrims +and strangers, worn and weary in our search for the home from which +we are exiles? In this book gush out the pure, fresh waters of +life, the cooling shades from the Rock of salvation appear, and +the guiding word is heard from pilgrims in advance, to cheer and +encourage us till we reach the mansion of our Father. Indeed, it is +beyond the power of language to express the excellency and richness +of spiritual treasure which we have in this holy Book. It is the +miraculous cruse of the Shunamitess which never exhausts. It is the +wand of Moses which swallows the serpents of life, and parts the sea +of trouble, and brings forth waters in the thirsty wilderness. It +is the ladder of Jacob on which our spirits ascend to commune with +God and angels. It is the telescope of faith by which we look on +things invisible, survey even the third heavens, and have present to +our view what is to be in after-ages. It is the chariot of Elijah +in which to ride up the starry way to immortality unhurt of death. +It is the channel of the almighty Spirit as it goes forth for the +sanctification of the race,--the very gulf-stream of eternal life as +it pours out for the resuscitation of our wilted and decaying world. + +Allusion has been made to the dreadful eclipse it would be to the +world of letters and thought, for the Bible, and what it has done +for man, to be blotted out. But that were nothing to the moral and +spiritual night that would go along with such a calamity. Besides +carrying away with it a vast proportion of the intellectual and +moral life of the last eighteen centuries, it would silence every +preacher of salvation, and abolish at once his office and his text. +It would stop every work of mercy and plan of philanthropy in the +world. + +It would transmute into a lie all our fond anticipations of the +return of Jesus to renew the world, restore our dead, complete our +salvation, and bring us to an eternal heaven. It would hush forever +the glad tidings with which men have comforted themselves for these +many weary ages. It would put out the mother's hopes of her dead +babes, quench the wife's fond desires for her husband's everlasting +peace, destroy the widow's consolation as she lingers by the grave +of her buried love, and extinguish the matron's last comfort as she +trembles on the verge of eternity. + +It would take with it all the reliefs and blessedness which prayer +in the name of Jesus gives, and leave the sinner without pardon +in the extremities of life. It would take away the last appeal of +the slave against his oppressor, remove the last check of tyranny, +and lift from the wicked hearts of men the last restraints, +giving carnival to every lust and play to every passion, without +correction, without limit, and without end! + +We stagger, and are horrified, at the mere idea of the loss that +would be inflicted. Chills run down our pulses at the contemplation +of the despair and wretchedness which would ensue. + +Let us, then, learn to value the possession of such a precious +book. Let us bind it to our hearts as our chief treasure in this +sin-darkened world. And, whilst we admire its beauty and revere its +mysteries, let us abide by its precepts, and, as far as in us lies, +practise its sacred mandates. + + + + +MACLAREN + +THE PATTERN OF SERVICE + + + + +BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE + + +ALEXANDER MACLAREN was born in 1826, educated at Glasgow University, +for twelve years preached at Southampton, and afterwards for many +years in Manchester. Besides an impressive face and figure he +brought to the pulpit a ripe scholarship, an almost perfect English +style, and an uncommonly vigorous personality. The keynote of +his life and character is disclosed in his own words, uttered in +Manchester: + +"I have been so convinced that I was best serving all the varied +social, economical, and political interests that are dear to me +by preaching what I conceived to be the gospel of Jesus Christ, +that I have limited myself to that work. I am sure, with a growing +conviction day by day, that so we Christian ministers best serve our +generation. My work, whatever yours may be, is, and has been for +thirty-eight years, and I hope will be for a little while longer +yet, to preach Jesus Christ as the King of England and the Lord of +all our communities, and the Savior and friend of the individual +soul." + + + + +MACLAREN + +BORN IN 1826 + +THE PATTERN OF SERVICE[2] + + [2] From "The Secret of Power, and Other Sermons," published by Funk + & Wagnalls Company. + + _He touched his tongue; and looking up to heaven, He sighed, and + saith, Ephphatha, that is, Be opened._--Mark vii., 33, 34. + + +For what reason was there this unwonted slowness in Christ's healing +works? For what reason was there this unusual emotion ere He spoke +the word which cleansed? + +As to the former question, a partial answer may perhaps be that our +Lord is here on half-heathen ground, where aids to faith were much +needed, and His power had to be veiled that it might be beheld. +Hence the miracle is a process rather than an act; and, advancing +as it does by distinct stages, is conformed in appearance to men's +works of mercy, which have to adapt means to ends, and creep to +their goal by persevering toil. As to the latter, we know not why +the sight of this one poor sufferer should have struck so strongly +on the ever-tremulous chords of Christ's pitying heart; but we do +know that it was the vision brought before His spirit by this +single instance of the world's griefs and sicknesses, in which mass, +however, the special case before Him was by no means lost, that +raised His eyes to heaven in mute appeal, and forced the groan from +His breast. + +The missionary spirit is but one aspect of the Christian spirit. +We shall only strengthen the former as we invigorate the latter. +Harm has been done, both to ourselves and to this great cause, by +seeking to stimulate compassion and efforts for heathen lands by +the use of other excitements, which have tended to vitiate even the +emotions they have aroused, and are apt to fail us when we need +them most. It may therefore be profitable if we turn to Christ's +own manner of working, and His own emotions in His merciful deeds, +set forth in this remarkable narrative, as containing lessons for +us in our missionary and evangelistic work. I must necessarily omit +more than a passing reference to the slow process of healing which +this miracle exhibits. But that, too, has its teaching for us, who +are so often tempted to think ourselves badly used, unless the +fruit of our toil grows up, like Jonah's gourd, before our eyes. If +our Lord was content to reach His end of blessing step by step, we +may well accept patient continuance in well-doing as the condition +indispensable to reaping in due season. + +But there are other thoughts still more needful which suggest +themselves. Those minute details which this evangelist ever delights +to give of our Lord's gestures, words, looks, and emotions, not only +add graphic force to the narrative, but are precious glimpses of the +very heart of Christ. That fixed gaze into heaven, that groan which +neither the glories seen above nor the conscious power to heal could +stifle, that most gentle touch, as if removing material obstacles +from the deaf ears, and moistening the stiff tongue that it might +move more freely in the parched mouth, that word of authority +which could not be wanting even when His working seemed likest a +servant's, do surely carry large lessons for us. The condition of +all service, the cost of feeling at which our work must be done, the +need that the helpers should identify themselves with the sufferers, +and the victorious power of Christ's word over all deaf ears--these +are the thoughts which I desire to connect with our text, and to +commend to your meditation to-day. + +We have here set forth the foundation and condition of all true work +for God in the Lord's heavenward look. + +The profound questions which are involved in the fact that, as +man, Christ held communion with God in the exercise of faith and +aspiration, the same in kind as ours, do not concern us here. I +speak to those who believe that Jesus is for us the perfect example +of complete manhood, and who therefore believe that He is "the +leader of faith," the head of the long procession of those who in +every age have trusted in God and been lightened. But, perhaps, tho +that conviction holds its place in our creeds, it has not been as +completely incorporated with our thoughts as it should have been. +There has, no doubt, been a tendency, operating in much of our +evangelical teaching, and in the common stream of orthodox opinion, +to except, half unconsciously, the exercises of the religious life +from the sphere of Christ's example, and we need to be reminded +that Scripture presents His vow, "I will put my trust in Him," as +the crowning proof of His brotherhood, and that the prints of His +kneeling limbs have left their impressions where we kneel before +the throne. True, the relation of the Son to the Father involves +more than communion--namely, unity. But if we follow the teaching +of the Bible, we shall not presume that the latter excludes the +former, but understand that the unity is the foundation of perfect +communion, and the communion the manifestation, so far as it can be +manifested, of the unspeakable unity. The solemn words which shine +like stars--starlike in that their height above us shrinks their +magnitude and dims their brightness, and in that they are points +of radiance partially disclosing, and separated by, abysses of +unlighted infinitude--tell us that in the order of eternity, before +creatures were, there was communion, for "the Word was with God," +and there was unity, for "the Word was God." And in the records of +the life manifested on earth the consciousness of unity loftily +utters itself in the unfathomable declaration, "I and my Father are +one"; whilst the consciousness of communion, dependent like ours +on harmony of will and true obedience, breathes peacefully in the +witness which He leaves to Himself: "The Father has not left me +alone for I do always the things that please him." + +We are fully warranted in supposing that that wistful gaze to heaven +means, and may be taken to symbolize, our Lord's conscious direction +of thought and spirit to God as He wrought His work of mercy. There +are two distinctions to be noted between His communion with God and +ours before we can apply the lesson to ourselves. His heavenward +look was not the renewal of interrupted fellowship, but rather, as a +man standing firmly on firm rock may yet lift his foot to plant it +again where it was before, and settle himself in his attitude before +he strikes with all his might; so we may say Christ fixes Himself +where He always stood, and grasps anew the hand that He always held, +before He does the deed of power. The communion that had never been +broken was renewed; how much more the need that in our work for God +the renewal of the--alas! too sadly sundered--fellowship should +ever precede and always accompany our efforts! And again, Christ's +fellowship was with the Father. Ours must be with the Father through +the Son. The communion to which we are called is with Jesus Christ, +in whom we find God. + +The manner of that intercourse, and the various discipline of +ourselves with a view to its perfecting, which Christian prudence +prescribes, need not concern us here. As for the latter, let us not +forget that a wholesome and wide-reaching self-denial cannot be +dispensed with. Hands that are full of gilded toys and glass beads +cannot grasp durable riches, and eyes that have been accustomed to +glaring lights see only darkness when they look up to the violet +heaven with all its stars. As to the former, every part of our +nature above the simply animal is capable of God, and the communion +ought to include our whole being. + +Christ is truth for the understanding, authority for the will, love +for the heart, certainty for the hope, fruition for all the desires, +and for the conscience at once cleansing and law. Fellowship with +Him is no indolent passiveness, nor the luxurious exercise of +certain emotions, but the contact of the whole nature with its sole +adequate object and rightful Lord. + +Such intercourse, brethren, lies at the foundation of all work for +God. It is the condition of all our power. It is the measure of all +our success. Without it we may seem to realize the externals of +prosperity, but it will be all illusion. With it we may perchance +seem to spend our strength for naught; but heaven has its surprizes; +and those who toiled, nor left their hold of their Lord in all their +work, will have to say at last with wonder, as they see the results +of their poor efforts, "Who hath begotten me these? behold, I was +left alone; these, where had they been?" + +Consider in few words the manifold ways in which the indispensable +prerequisite of all right effort for Christ may be shown to be +communion with Christ. + +The heavenward look is the renewal of our own vision of the calm +verities in which we trust, the recourse for ourselves to the +realities which we desire that others should see. And what is equal +in persuasive power to the simple utterance of your own intense +conviction? He only will infuse his own religion into other minds, +whose religion is not a set of hard dogmas, but is fused by the heat +of personal experience into a river of living fire. It will flow +then, not otherwise. The only claim which the hearts of men will +listen to, in those who would win them to spiritual beliefs, is that +ancient one: "That which we have seen with our eyes, which we have +looked upon, declare we unto you." Mightier than all arguments, +than all "proofs of the truth of the Christian religion," and +penetrating into a sphere deeper than that of the understanding, +is the simple proclamation, "We have found the Messias." If we +would give sight to the blind, we must ourselves be gazing into +heaven. Only when we testify of that which we see, as one might who, +standing in a beleaguered city, discerned on the horizon the filmy +dust-cloud through which the spear-heads of the deliverers flashed +at intervals, shall we win any to gaze with us till they too behold +and know themselves set free. + +Christ has set us the example. Let our prayers ascend as His did, +and in our measure the answers which came to Him will not fail us. +For us, too, "praying, the heavens" shall be "opened," and the +peace-bringing spirit fall dove-like on our meek hearts. For us, +too, when the shadow of our cross lies black and gaunt upon our +paths, and our souls are troubled, communion with heaven will bring +the assurance, audible to our ears at least, that God will glorify +Himself even in us. If, after many a weary day, we seek to hold +fellowship with God as He sought it on the Mount of Olives, or among +the solitudes of the midnight hills, or out in the morning freshness +of the silent wilderness, like Him we shall have men gathering +around us to hear us speak when we come forth from the secret place +of the Most High. If our prayer, like His, goes before our mighty +deeds, the voice that first pierced the skies will penetrate the +tomb, and make the dead stir in their grave-clothes. If our longing, +trustful look is turned to the heavens, we shall not speak in vain +on earth when we say, "Be opened." + +Brethren, we cannot do without the communion which our Master +needed. Do we delight in what strengthened Him? Does our work rest +upon the basis of inward fellowship with God which underlay His? +Alas! that our pattern should be our rebuke, and the readiest way to +force home our faults on our consciences should be the contemplation +of the life which we say that we try to copy! + +We have here pity for the evils we would remove set forth by the +Lord's sigh. + +What was it that drew that sigh from the heart of Jesus? One poor +man stood before Him, by no means the most sorely afflicted of the +many wretched ones whom He healed. But He saw in him more than a +solitary instance of physical infirmities. Did there not roll darkly +before His thoughts that whole weltering sea of sorrow that moans +round the world, of which here is but one drop that He could dry +up? Did there not rise black and solid against the clear blue, to +which He had been looking, the mass of man's sin, of which these +bodily infirmities were but a poor symbol as well as a consequence? +He saw as none but He could bear to see, the miserable realities +of human life. His knowledge of all that man might be, of all that +the most of men were becoming, His power of contemplating in one +awful aggregate the entire sum of sorrows and sins, laid upon His +heart a burden which none but He has ever endured. His communion +with Heaven deepened the dark shadow on earth, and the eyes that +looked up to God and saw Him could not but see foulness where others +suspected none, and murderous messengers of hell walking in darkness +unpenetrated by mortal sight. And all that pain of clearer knowledge +of the sorrowfulness of sorrow, and the sinfulness of sin, was laid +upon a heart in which was no selfishness to blunt the sharp edge +of the pain nor any sin to stagnate the pity that flowed from the +wound. To Jesus Christ, life was a daily martyrdom before death had +"made the sacrifice complete," and He bore our griefs, and carried +our sorrows through many a weary hour before He "bare them in his +own body on the tree." Therefore, "Bear ye one another's burden, and +so fulfil the law" which Christ obeyed, becomes a command for all +who would draw men to Him. And true sorrow, a sharp and real sense +of pain, becomes indispensable as preparation for, and accompaniment +to, our work. + +Mark how in us, as in our Lord, the sigh of compassion is connected +with the look to heaven. It follows upon that gaze. The evils are +more real, more terrible, by their startling contrast with the +unshadowed light which lives above cloudracks and mists. It is +a sharp shock to turn from the free sweep of the heavens, starry +and radiant, to the sights that meet us in "this dim spot which +men call earth." Thus habitual communion with God is the root of +the truest and purest compassion. It does not withdraw us from our +fellow feeling with our brethren, it cultivates no isolation for +undisturbed beholding of God. It at once supplies a standard by +which to measure the greatness of man's godlessness, and therefore +of his gloom, and a motive for laying the pain of these upon our +hearts, as if they were our own. He has looked into the heavens to +little purpose who has not learned how bad and how sad the world now +is, and how God bends over it in pitying love. + +And that same fellowship, which will clear our eyes and soften +our hearts, is also the one consolation which we have when our +sense of all the ills that flesh is heir to becomes deep, near +to despair. When one thinks of the real facts of human life, and +tries to conceive of the frightful meanness and passion and hate +and wretchedness, that has been howling and shrieking and gibbering +and groaning through dreary millenniums, one's brain reels, and +hope seems to be absurdity, and joy a sin against our fellows, as +a feast would be in a house next door to where was a funeral. I do +not wonder at settled sorrow falling upon men of vivid imagination, +keen moral sense, and ordinary sensitiveness, when they brood long +on the world as it is. But I do wonder at the superficial optimism +which goes on with its little prophecies about human progress, and +its rose-colored pictures of human life, and sees nothing to strike +it dumb for ever in men's writhing miseries, blank failures, and +hopeless end. Ah! brethren, if it were not for the heavenward look, +how could we bear the sight of earth! "We see not yet all things put +under him." No, God knows, far enough off from that. Man's folly, +man's submission to the creatures he should rule, man's agonies, and +man's transgression, are a grim contrast to the psalmist's vision. +If we had only earth to look to, despair of the race, exprest in +settled melancholy apathy, or in fierce cynicism, were the wisest +attitude. But there is more within our view than earth; "we see +Jesus"; we look to the heaven, and as we behold the true man, we see +more than ever, indeed, how far from that pattern we all are; but we +can bear the thought of what men as yet have been, when we see that +perfect example of what men shall be. The root and the consolation +of our sorrow for man's evils is communion with God. + +We have here loving contact with those whom we would help, set forth +in the Lord's touch. + +The reasons for the variety observable in Christ's method of +communicating supernatural blessing were, probably, too closely +connected with unrecorded differences in the spiritual conditions of +the recipients to be distinctly traceable by us. But tho we cannot +tell why a particular method was employed in a given case, why now a +word, and now a symbolic action, now the touch of His hand, and now +the hem of His garment, appeared to be the vehicles of His power, we +can discern the significance of these divers ways, and learn great +lessons from them all. + +His touch was sometimes obviously the result of what one may venture +to call instinctive tenderness, as when He lifted the little +children in His arms and laid His hands upon their heads. It was, I +suppose, always the spontaneous expression of love and compassion, +even when it was something more. + +The touch of His hand on the ghastly glossiness of the leper's skin +was, no doubt, His assertion of priestly functions, and of elevation +above all laws of defilement; but what was it to the poor outcast, +who for years had never felt the warm contact of flesh and blood? It +always indicated that He Himself was the source of healing and life. +It always exprest His identification of Himself with sorrow and +sickness. So that it is in principle analogous to, and may be taken +as illustrative of, that transcendent act whereby He became flesh, +and dwelt among us. Indeed, the very word by which our Lord's taking +the blind man by the hand is described in the chapter following our +text is that employed in the Epistle to the Hebrews when, dealing +with the true brotherhood of Jesus, the writer says, "He took not +hold of angels, but of the seed of Abraham he taketh hold." Christ's +touch is His willing contact with man's infirmities and sins, that +He may strengthen and hallow. + +And the lesson is one of universal application. Wherever men would +help their fellows, this is a prime requisite, that the would-be +helper should come down to the level of those whom he desires to +aid. If we wish to teach, we must stoop to think the scholar's +thoughts. The master who has forgotten his boyhood will have poor +success. If we would lead to purer emotions, we must try to enter +into the lower feelings which we labor to elevate. It is of no use +to stand at the mouth of the alleys we wish to cleanse, with our +skirts daintily gathered about us, and smelling-bottle in hand, to +preach homilies on the virtue of cleanliness. We must go in among +the filth, and handle it, if we want to have it cleared away. The +degraded must feel that we do not shrink from them, or we shall do +them no good. The leper, shunned by all, and ashamed of himself +because everybody loathes him, hungers in his hovel for the grasp of +a hand that does not care for defilement, if it can bring cleansing. +Even in regard to common material helps the principle holds good. +We are too apt to cast our doles to the poor like the bones to +a dog, and then to wonder at what we are pleased to think men's +ingratitude. A benefit may be so conferred as to hurt more than a +blow; and we cannot be surprized if so-called charity which is given +with contempt and a sense of superiority, should be received with +a scowl, and chafe a man's spirit like a fetter. Such gifts bless +neither him who gives nor him who takes. We must put our hearts +into them, if we would win hearts by them. We must be ready, like +our Master, to take blind beggars by the hand, if we would bless or +help them. The despair and opprobrium of our modern civilization, +the gulf growing wider and deeper between Dives and Lazarus, between +Belgravia and Whitechapel, the mournful failure of legalized help, +and of delegated efforts to bridge it over, the darkening ignorance, +the animal sensuousness, the utter heathenism that lives in every +town of England, within a stone's throw of Christian houses, and +near enough to hear the sound of public worship, will yield to +nothing but that sadly forgotten law which enjoins personal contact +with the sinful and the suffering, as one chief condition of raising +them from the black mire in which they welter. + +The effect of much well-meant Christian effort is simply to +irritate. People are very quick to catch delicate intonations which +reveal a secret sense, "how much better, wiser, more devout I am +than these people!" and wherever a trace of that appears in our +work, the good of it is apt to be marred. We all know how hackneyed +the charge of spiritual pride and Pharisaic self-complacency is, +and, thank God, how unjust it often is. But averse as men may be to +the truths which humble, and willing as they may be to assume that +the very effort to present these to others on our parts implies a +claim which mortifies, we may at least learn from the threadbare +calumny, what strikes men about our position, and what rouses their +antaganism to us. It is allowable to be taught by our enemies, +especially when it is such a lesson as this, that we must carefully +divest our evangelistic work of apparent pretensions to superiority, +and take our stand by the side of those to whom we speak. We cannot +lecture men into the love of Christ. We can but win them to it by +showing Christ's love to them; and not the least important element +in that process is the exhibition of our own love. We have a gospel +to speak of which the very heart is, that the Son of God stooped +to become one with the lowliest and most sinful; and how can that +gospel be spoken with power unless we, too, stoop like Him? + +We have to echo the invitation, "Learn of me, for I am lowly in +heart"; and how can such divine words flow from lips into which like +grace has not been poured? Our theme is a Savior who shrunk from no +sinner, who gladly consorted with publicans and harlots, who laid +His hand on pollution, and His heart, full of God and of love, on +hearts reeking with sin; and how can our message correspond with our +theme if, even in delivering it, we are saying to ourselves, "The +temple of the Lord are we: this people which knoweth not the law is +curst"? Let us beware of the very real danger which besets us in +this matter, and earnestly seek to make ourselves one with those +whom we would gather into Christ, by actual familiarity with their +condition, and by identification of ourselves in feeling with them, +after the example of that greatest of Christian teachers who became +"all things to all men, that by all means he might gain some"; +after the higher example, which Paul followed, of that dear Lord +who, being highest, descended to the lowest, and in the days of His +humiliation was not content with speaking words of power from afar, +nor abhorred the contact of mortality and disease and loathsome +corruption; but laid His hands upon death, and it lived; upon +sickness, and it was whole; on rotting leprosy, and it was sweet as +the flesh of a little child. + +The same principle might be further applied to our Christian work, +as affecting the form in which we should present the truth. The +sympathetic identification of ourselves with those to whom we try to +carry the gospel will certainly make us wise to know how to shape +our message. Seeing with their eyes, we shall be able to graduate +the light. Thinking their thoughts, and having in some measure +succeeded, by force of sheer community of feeling, in having as it +were got inside their minds, we shall unconsciously, and without +effort, be led to such aspects of Christ's all-comprehensive truth +as they most need. There will be no shooting over people's heads, +if we love them well enough to understand them. There will be no +toothless generalities, when our interest in men keeps their actual +condition and temptations clear before us. There will be no flinging +fossil doctrines at them from a height, as if Christ's blest gospel +were, in another than the literal sense, "a stone of offense," if +we have taken our place on their level. And without such sympathy, +these and a thousand other weaknesses and faults will certainly +vitiate much of our Christian effort. + +We have here the true healing power and the consciousness of +wielding it set forth in the Lord's authoritative word. + +All the rest of His action was either the spontaneous expression of +His true participation in human sorrow, or a merciful veiling of His +glory that sense-bound eyes might see it the better. But the word +was the utterance of His will, and that was omnipotent. The hand +laid on the sick, the blind or the deaf was not even the channel of +His power. The bare putting forth of His energy was all-sufficient. +In these we see the loving, pitying man. In this blazes forth, yet +more loving, yet more compassionate, the effulgence of manifest God. +Therefore so often do we read the very syllables with which His +"voice then shook the earth," vibrating through all the framework of +the material universe. Therefore do the gospels bid us listen when +He rebukes the fever, and it departs; when He says to the demons, +"Go," and they go; when one word louder in its human articulation +than the howling wind hushes the surges; when "Talitha cumi" brings +back the fair young spirit from dreary wanderings among the shades +of death. Therefore was it a height of faith not found in Israel +when the Gentile soldier, whose training had taught him the power of +absolute authority, as heathenism had driven him to long for a man +who would speak with the imperial sway of a god, recognized in His +voice an all-commanding power. From of old, the very signature of +divinity has been declared to be "He spake, and it was done"; and +He, the breath of whose lips could set in motion material changes, +is that eternal Word, by whom all things were made. + +What unlimited consciousness of sovereign dominion sounds in that +imperative from His autocratic lips! It is spoken in deaf ears, but +He knows that it will be heard. He speaks as the fontal source, +not as the recipient channel of healing. He anticipates no delay, +no resistance. There is neither effort nor uncertainty in the curt +command. He is sure that He has power, and He is sure that the power +is His own. + +There is no analogy here between us and Him. Alone, fronting the +whole race of man, He stands--utterer of a word which none can say +after Him, possessor of unshared might, and of His fulness do we all +receive. But even from that divine authority and solitary sovereign +consciousness we may gather lessons not altogether aside from the +purpose of our meeting here to-day. Of His fulness we have received, +and the power of the word on His lips may teach us that of His +word, even on ours, as the victorious certainty with which He spake +His will of healing may remind us of the confidence with which it +becomes us to proclaim His name. + +His will was almighty then. Is it less mighty or less loving now? +Does it not gather all the world in the sweep of its mighty purpose +of mercy? His voice pierced then into the dull cold ear of death, +and has it become weaker since? His word spoken by Him was enough +to banish the foul spirits that run riot, swine-like, in the garden +of God in man's soul, trampling down and eating up its flowers and +fruitage; is the word spoken of Him less potent to cast them out? +Were not all the mighty deeds which He wrought by the breath of +His lips on men's bodies prophecies of the yet mightier which His +Will of love, and the utterance of that Will by stammering lips, +may work on men's souls. Let us not in our faint-heartedness number +up our failures, the deaf that will not hear, the dumb that will +not speak, His praise; nor unbelievingly say Christ's own word was +mighty, but the word concerning Christ is weak on our lips. Not so; +our lips are unclean, and our words are weak, but His word--the +utterance of His loving will that men should be saved--is what it +always was and always will be. We have it, brethren, to proclaim. +Did our Master countenance the faithless contrast between the living +force of His word when He dwelt on earth, and the feebleness of it +as He speaks through His servant? If He did, what did He mean when +He said, "He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do +also, and greater works than these shall he do, because I go unto +the Father"? + + + + +CROSBY + +THE PREPARED WORM + + + + +BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE + + +Howard Crosby, Presbyterian divine, was born in New York City in +1826, educated at New York University, graduating in 1851, was +professor of Greek at that institution until 1859, when he was +elected to the same chair in Rutgers College. He was pastor of the +First Presbyterian Church of New Brunswick, N. J., for the two +years ending in 1863, when he assumed charge of the Fourth Avenue +Presbyterian Church, New York. From 1870 to 1881 he was chancellor +of the University of New York. His activities in the cause of +social reform were conspicuous and he exercized his influence in +organizing the Society for the Prevention of Crime over which he +presided for some years. His energies were also directed against +the illegal liquor trade. As a scholar he was prominent among the +American revisers of the New Testament and edited a new edition of +the "_Oedipus Tyrannus_" of Sophocles. He died in 1891. + + + + +CROSBY + +1826-1891 + +THE PREPARED WORM[3] + + [3] Copyright, 1884, _The Homiletic Review_, New York. + + _But God prepared a worm when the morning rose the next day, and + it smote the gourd that it withered._--Jonah iv., 7. + + +Just when Jonah had felt the delight of the shadowing foliage and +had begun to promise himself a most comfortable retreat against +an Assyrian sun, the broad-leaved gourd withered. The morning had +arrived and the heat was becoming more intense, when the glad +shelter was removed, and the prophet's head was smitten with the +scorching rays. "It is better for me to die than live," exclaimed +the fainting Jonah. And what caused this calamity? A worm. And is +that all? No! God prepared the worm. The worm was under orders +from heaven, and while he, doubtless, ate into the gourd, with a +good appetite, following the bent of his natural constitution, +nevertheless he was acting in direct obedience to God. God prepared +the worm. And yet in the sixth verse we read that God prepared the +gourd. This is the record. "And the Lord God prepared a gourd and +made it to come up over Jonah, that it might be a shadow over his +head, to deliver him from his grief. So Jonah was exceedingly glad +of the gourd." And then follows immediately: "But God prepared a +worm, when the morning rose the next day, and he smote the gourd +that it withered." Does God, then, build up in order to destroy? +And does He give comfort to His creatures in order to torment them +by its removal? So reasons the carnal heart, ready to complain, +and looking on all God's conduct in its superficial aspect, its +own selfish and sensuous advantage being the criterion of all its +judgments. It is an easy counsel of Satan, when we are fainting +by a withered gourd. "Curse God and die," the selfish soul is all +ripe for such advice,--desperation is more inviting than faith. And +there are but few Jobs who can resist the appeal to discontent and +anger, in the face of Satan and wife combined, for when the natural +depravity of our own hearts is supported by the entreaties of our +nearest and dearest friends, hell's heaviest engine is brought +against us. "I do well to be angry, even unto death," is the usual +style in which we greet the afflictive providence of God. But a +faith like Job's, that learns the lesson which the sorrow teaches, +is rewarded, as was Job's, by the presence and communion of God, and +by a satisfaction with His holy and righteous will. + +Let us endeavor to understand some of the facts connected with our +afflictions, as disclosed by the Word of God, in order that we may +be prepared to follow Job rather than Jonah. + +I. In the first place, God is the author of affliction. "Affliction +cometh not forth out of the dust, neither doth trouble spring out +of the ground." God asserts most positively in His Word, that all +the losses in the world are sent by Him. He calls them chastisements +from His fatherly hand. "I make peace and create evil," saith the +Lord. This is not evil in the sense of wickedness. God does not +create wickedness--but it is evil in the sense of affliction and +trouble, the opposite of peace in the contrasted clause, "I make +peace and create evil." That is, God is the author equally of +prosperity and adversity to His creatures. If it were not so, we +should have to imagine certain powers in God's universe not subject +to His almighty control, which would be an absurdity. "Shall there +be evil in a city and the Lord hath not done it?" It is in this +sense of God's hand in adversity that the psalmist cries, "Thou, O +God, hast proved us: thou hast tried us as silver is tried; thou +broughtest us into the net, thou laidest affliction upon our loins"; +and again, "Thy wrath lieth hard upon me, and thou hast afflicted me +with all thy waves." God may send affliction by permitting Satan to +afflict, but still God is the author of the affliction. He could +prevent it, but He permits it. Indeed, it is, perhaps, true that all +our losses and injuries in this world are Satan's inflictions, that +this ever-active spirit of evil is constantly using the agencies of +the natural world for our harm and destruction, and we are preserved +simply by the interposing and restraining providence of God. When +Satan wished to afflict Job, he sought and gained permission of +the Lord. Job's calamities were clearly Satan's blows, and yet Job +addresses God, "Why hast thou set me as a mark against thee, so +that I am a burden to myself?" So, again, the diseased woman, who +heard our Savior's healing words on the Sabbath day and was cured, +is described by the same divine Physician (whose diagnosis cannot +be questioned) as one whom Satan had bound for eighteen years. +Under such examples, I cannot believe we err in attributing all +our sicknesses and pains of body to the permitted agency of our +arch-adversary. + +They are tokens of his power over our race, for he is the prince +of this world, and it is only in God that we find protection from +his cruel scepter. God suffers us to feel his inflictions in order +to remove our affections from the world and to place them more +devotedly upon our Heavenly Father. God is thus most truly the +author of affliction, whatever may be the agencies He uses in the +course of His providence. + +II. He uses the natural laws of the world as His agents in +afflicting. These laws may be thus used permissively by Satan in +other ways than in sickness or not, but the text shows us clearly +that God so uses them. "God prepared a worm." There is a world of +instruction in that brief statement. It infinitely transcends the +science of the naturalist. Bring the most learned explorers of +nature together to this gourd of Jonah, and show them this little +worm creeping toward the thick stalk. Let them see it move its many +feet and flexible body till it reaches the goal of its instinct. Now +it uses its gnawing jaws upon the woody fibre; deeper and deeper +it pierces the stem; now it reaches the innermost pith, and again +returns upon its course. The current of the gourd's life is marred; +the leaves droop, and its shelter is gone. Now, ye scientific men, +what made that gourd wither? Hear them philosophize. Yon worm is +a caterpillar, whose appropriate food is the _ricinus communis_, +this very gourd with its palmate leaves and red-tinted flower. The +worm has merely followed the impulses of its nature in seeking that +tree-like plant, and the equally natural result of its feeding upon +the stalk has been the failure of the tree's nourishment, and with +the failure the foliage has, of course, withered. Well, is that +all science can say? Yes, all. It is little more than that a horse +is a horse. It explains nothing but the most proximate causes. +It classifies facts, and then leaves us gaping into the abyss of +causation as ignorant as ever. Four words from the Bible carry +us back to the ultimate cause, the first mover in this gourd's +withering. Science talks of laws, but these four words go behind all +laws to the Maker of laws, to Him in whose hands are all things. +"God prepared a worm." What! says science; drag God in to explain +anything? Nay, God drags all in to effect His plans. He has made all +things, however great, however small, for Himself. And these things +which you call laws are only the methods of His activity, and these +methods He has formed for the very ends which He accomplishes by +them. The worm which crawls to Jonah's gourd was created by God to +destroy that plant, and the law of that worm's movement was ordained +for that destruction, as well as for all else which it accomplishes. +The mind is satisfied when it finds a mind, a purpose, a plan in +every event which it observes, and the pious heart is rejoiced to +know that it is a Father's mind and purpose and plan which directs +every movement, even to the crawling of a worm. "God prepared a +gourd--God prepared a worm"; no accident brought the gourd there; +no accident brought the worm there. God stood in a like relation to +both. He sent the gourd, through nature, to comfort Jonah. He sent +the worm, through nature, to trouble Jonah. Nature is a forlorn +object to study unless we find it a mirror to reflect God. It is +only as we see it, the result of His handiwork and His instrument +in governing His creatures, that nature has a glory. Then it is +ennobled; then it has a meaning that no mere naturalist can fathom, +but which renders valuable the researches of science with its +classifications. + +III. God is just in afflicting us. If we look at God simply as the +Maker and Owner of His creatures, we could easily deduce His right +to afflict. "Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine +own?" says the Creator; and he must be a daring soul who disputes +the force of this question. "Shall the thing formed say to him that +formed it, 'Why hast thou made me thus?'" But we are not left to +this view of God's right to afflict. God has entered into covenant +with us. He has said, "Do ye according to my commandments, and ye +shall live." This was the purport of His very first communication +to our race in Adam. It treated of obedience and reward, of +disobedience and punishment. And what is the record of our race +since? Have we obeyed or have we disobeyed? Is there the slightest +claim in us for the reward? Is there not the most complete demand +for the punishment? What sin in the whole catalog of sin has been +omitted by man? Enmity to man and God, pride, ingratitude, and +rebellion have marked the history of mankind. And are you and +I exceptions? Look at our years of worldliness, years of sinful +affections, years of opposition to the Word and Spirit, years of +selfishness, and then let us confess our full participation in the +general depravity. We are unclean in our natures and by practise, +and so, under the covenant which our Maker was pleased to form for +us, we can only deserve punishment. + +Do we then complain in affliction? Surely, if God would be just in +casting us down to hell for our rebellion and disobedience, He is +just in laying upon us our earthly afflictions. Shall the Jonah, who +ran away from the Lord's commandment, and afterward flung His anger +in the face of His God, shall such an one feel that God is unjust in +preparing a worm to destroy his gourd? By what arithmetic is such a +balance cast? It becomes us, rather, to take up the words of David +and cry, "I acknowledge my transgression; and my sin is ever before +me. Against thee, thee only, have I sinned and done this evil in thy +sight, that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be +clear when thou judgest." + +IV. God afflicts us in His love. With all Jonah's sins against +God, it was not to punish him that God prepared a worm. God is +long-suffering and withholds punishment in His desire that all men +may come to repentance. If punishment were God's aim in affliction, +our afflictions would be infinitely greater than they are, for +punishment would be apportioned to desert, and our desert is eternal +condemnation; God's aim in affliction is our restoration, our +improvement. By it He shakes us off from our dependence upon a world +which, however it might please us for the moment, would cheat us +sadly in the end. By it He reminds us of Himself as our source of +strength and happiness, and then brings us to the unfailing fountain +of peace, which our earthly prosperity would hide from our eyes. By +it He teaches us to aspire to higher spiritual attainment, to grow +in grace, to cultivate a more heavenly disposition of mind and heart. + +These are the uses of adversity. Christians who have come through +scenes of trial, and whose thankful declaration is, "It was good for +me to be afflicted," certify to these blest results. They tell us +that they believe nothing else but the severe losses they sustained +could have freed them from the fascinations of the world--nothing +else could have made holy things so delightful to their soul. Now, +such an experience is not the result of God's anger but of God's +love. However harsh the voice of God may seem to us, it is yet a +Father's voice, with a Father's heart behind it. It is, therefore, +meant not to drive us away to seek a hiding corner, but to bring us +directly to Himself. The same love which sent the affliction will +receive the afflicted. God prepares gourds, and God prepares worms; +and He uses each to build up faith and holiness in the human heart. +In earnest seeking after God, in complete consecration to His holy +will and service, is to be found the surest avoidance of the worm. +If we can learn our lesson without the worm, the worm will not +be sent to gnaw our gourd to ruins. The nearer our life to Jesus +the more free shall we be from the sting of affliction. Had Jonah +been an obedient and submissive prophet his gourd would not have +withered. But alas! Jonah and ourselves need correction to keep our +faces heavenward. Forgetfulness and indulgence plant their weeds in +our Lord's garden, and they must be rooted up by force. It is for +our own good, and it is infinite love which decrees it. + +Now note some inferences from the subject under consideration. + +First. If God afflicts, how foolish it is to go to the world for +relief? Is the world greater than God? We may be sure that any +comfort the world can give, as against God's affliction, must be +dangerous. It is a contest with God, which God may allow to be +successful, but only for the greater condemnation thereafter. The +world's relief is not a cure but an opiate. It stupefies, but does +not give health and strength. The world's relief is a temporary +application--a lull before a fiercer storm. The world's relief +is a determination not to heed the lesson God sends us; it is the +invention of frivolity, and not the device of wisdom. More slumber, +more pleasure, and more worldly care are three favorite medicaments +the world uses in these cases--anodynes which only weaken the system +and prepare it for more fearful suffering. God wishes to awaken +the mind by affliction, and man immediately prescribes a narcotic. +The great Physician brings the affliction for our good; we turn to +quackery to destroy the effects of the divine medicine. Ah! the +day is coming when God shall appear as no longer our Savior but +our Judge, if this be our treatment of His love. "Because I have +called and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand and no man +regarded; but ye have set at naught all my counsel, and would none +of my reproof; I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when +your fear cometh; when your fear cometh as desolation, and your +destruction cometh as a whirlwind." + +Secondly. If God prepares worms, then worms at once form an +interesting study for us. We cannot see a caterpillar upon the leaf, +but we know God has a mission for that worm. He is an ambassador +of the Most High on his way to perform his Master's will. The +headache, which unfits us for our ordinary occupation, is more +than a headache. It is the voice of our God. Let us listen to the +next headache and hear what God would have us learn. Every bird +and beast, every raindrop and sunbeam, every breath of wind, and +every event, however small, are the writings of a heavenly scribe. +Let us study God's providence. It is all a message of love to us. +We shall find out infinitely more in this study than in deciphering +the hieroglyphics of Egypt. We shall find correction, expostulation, +comfort, encouragement and instruction; and the more we look, +the more we shall see. We shall become adepts in the high art of +interpreting the acts of God toward us, and in this, as in prayer, +hold constant communion with our divine Redeemer. + +Thirdly. When our gourds wither it is a proof that God is near. +We should be ready to say with Jacob, "Surely the Lord is in this +place." Prayer and humiliation are now our appropriate exercises. +God has put forth His hand to summon us to these duties. Our gourd +is gone, but our God is not gone, He can protect far better than a +gourd. He will more than make up all our losses. Let us go to Him, +and our dark night will make the day-dawn more brilliant. My dying +fellow-sinner, do not, I beseech you, grow angry under God's severe +dispensations. You do not well to be angry. God is near you with a +blessing in His hand for you. He has a lesson for you to learn which +will make you wise unto salvation. + +Say, will you learn it? If not, God is near you to condemn you. Oh! +dread the alternative, and be wise to say in your heart, "Blest be +my God and Father, who prepared the worm to destroy my broad-leaved +gourd!" + + + + +DALE + +THE ARGUMENT FROM EXPERIENCE + + +BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE + +Robert William Dale was born in London, England, in 1829 and died +in 1895. His long and fruitful ministry was confined to Birmingham, +where he preached with great power. He believed, as he once said, +that if a minister had anything from God to say to his fellow men, +they would gladly come to hear him. He favored extemporaneous +preaching, was a devoted student of English style, and advocated +in his Yale lectures a more thorough attention to this important +subject. He said: + +"There is no reason why, when you have at your service the noblest +language for an orator that was ever spoken by the human race, +you should be satisfied with the threadbare phrases, the tawdry, +tarnished finery, the patched and ragged garments, with the smell +like that of the stock of a second-hand clothes shop, with which +half-educated and ambitious declaimers are content to cover the +nakedness of their thought. You can do something better than this, +and you should resolve to do it." + + + + + +DALE + +1829-1895 + +THE ARGUMENT FROM EXPERIENCE[4] + + [4] Reprinted by permission of Messrs. A. C. Armstrong & Son. + + +There are large numbers of people who suppose that modern science +and modern criticism have destroyed the foundations of faith, and +who can not understand how it is possible, in these days, for +intelligent, open-minded, educated men to believe in the Lord Jesus +Christ. + +There are many persons who are convinced that the ascertained +conclusions of modern science and of modern criticism are +destructive of the authority which has been attributed both to the +Jewish and the Christian Scriptures, that the traditional opinions +concerning the authorship and the dates of many of the books of the +Old Testament are false; and that most of the writings contained +in the New Testament are spurious. Or, if some of the extreme +conclusions of the destructive criticism are not regarded as finally +established, it is known that great names can be quoted for, as +well as against, them. And as it is assumed that the Jewish and the +Christian Scriptures are the foundations of Christian faith, that +we must believe in the genuineness and historical trustworthiness +of these ancient books, and even in their inspiration, before we +can believe in Christ, they argue that, until these discussions are +finally closed in favor of the traditional opinions, faith in Christ +is impossible. The controversies have not, in any large number +of cases, destroyed faith where faith already existed; but where +faith does not exist, they appear to very many persons to create an +insuperable obstacle to faith. + +To such persons, if they are serious and well informed, there is +something perplexing in the persistency of the faith of the great +majority of Christian believers. Among those who remain Christian +there are men whose intellectual vigor, patience, and keenness +are equal to their own; men who are their equals in general +intellectual culture, and who know as much as they know about the +currents of modern thought; candid men; men who are incorruptible +in their loyalty to truth; men who have a due sense of the immense +importance, in relation to the higher life of the human race, of the +questions at issue: + +How is it that the faith in Christ of such men is unshaken? + +The substance of the answer that I make here to the question, why +it is that those who believe in Christ continue to believe, may be +given in a single sentence: Whatever may have been the original +grounds of their faith, their faith has been verified in their own +personal experience. + +They have trusted in Christ for certain great and wonderful things, +and they have received great and wonderful things. They have not +perhaps received precisely what they expected when their Christian +life began, for the kingdom of heaven cannot be really known until +a man has entered into it; but what they have received assures them +that Christ is alive, that He is within reach, and that He is the +Savior and Lord of men. + +That they have received these blessings in answer to their faith in +Christ is a matter of personal consciousness. They know it, as they +know that fire burns. + +Their experience varies. Some of them would say they can recall acts +of Christ in which His personal volition and His supernatural power +were as definitely manifested as in any of the miracles recorded +in the four Gospels. They were struggling unsuccessfully with some +evil temper--with envy, jealousy, personal ambition--and could not +subdue it. They hated it; they hated themselves for being under its +tyranny; but expel it they could not. If it seemed supprest for a +time, it returned; and returned with its malignant power increased +rather than diminished. They scourged themselves with scorpions +for yielding to it; still they yielded. In their despair they +appealed to Christ; and in a moment the evil fires were quenched, +and they were never rekindled. These instantaneous deliverances are +perhaps exceptional; but to those who can recall them they carry an +irresistible conviction that the living Christ has heard their cry +and answered them. + +The more ordinary experiences of the Christian life, tho less +striking, are not less conclusive. The proof that Christ has +heard prayer is not always concentrated into a moment, but is +more commonly spread over large tracts of time. Prayer is offered +for an increase of moral strength in resisting temptation, or for +the disappearance of reluctance in the discharge of duties which +are distasteful, or for a more gracious and kindly temper, or for +patience and courage in bearing trouble, or for self-control, or for +relief from exhausting and fruitless anxiety; and the answer comes. +It comes gradually, but still it comes. We had lost hope. It seemed +as if all our moral vigor was dying down, and as if nothing could +restore it. The tide was slowly ebbing, and we were powerless to +recall the retreating waters; but after we prayed it ceased to ebb; +for a time it seemed stationary; then it began to flow; and tho with +many of us it has never reached the flood, the wholesome waters have +renewed the energy and the joy of life. + +Or we prayed to Christ to liberate us from some evil habit. The +chains did not fall away at His touch, like the chains of Peter +at the touch of the angel; but in some mysterious way they were +loosened, and at the same time we received accessions of strength. +The old habit continued to trouble us; it still impeded our +movements: but we could move; we recovered some measure of freedom, +and were conscious that we were slaves no longer. There still +remained a mechanical and automatic tendency to the evil ways of +thinking, speaking, or acting; but we had become vigilant and alert, +and were prompt to resist the tendency as soon as it began to work; +and we were strong enough to master it. In the course of time the +tendency became weaker and weaker, and at last, in some cases, it +almost disappeared. + +Some men have appealed to Christ when they have been seized with +a great horror through the discovery of their guilt. It was not +the awful penalty which menaces the impenitent that haunted and +terrified them. Nor was their distress occasioned chiefly by the +consciousness of moral evil. They feared the penalty, and they were +humiliated and shamed by the contrast between ideal goodness and +their own moral and spiritual life; but what stung and tortured +them, sunk them into despair, filled heaven and earth with a +darkness that could be felt, and made life intolerable, was their +guilt--guilt which they had incurred by their past sins, and which +they continued to incur by their present sinfulness. + +When once this sense of guilt fastens itself on a man, he cannot +shake it off at will. The keen agony may gradually pass into a dull, +dead pain; and after a time, the sensibility of the soul may seem to +be wholly lost; but a man can never be sure that the horror will not +return. + +The real nature of this experience is best seen when it has been +occasioned by the grosser and more violent forms of crime. Men +who have committed murder, for example, have been driven almost +insane by the memory of their evil deed. Their agony may have had +nothing in it of the nature of repentance; they were not distrest +because their crime had revealed to them the malignity and the +fierce strength of their passions; they had no desire to become +gentle and kindly. They were filled with horror and remorse by +their awful guilt. They felt that the crime was theirs, and would +always continue to be theirs; that it would be theirs if it remained +concealed as truly as if it were known; indeed, it seemed to be in +some terrible way more truly theirs so long as the secret was kept. +It was not the fear of punishment that convulsed them; they have +sometimes brought on themselves public indignation and abhorrence, +and have condemned themselves to the gallows by confessing their +crime in order to obtain relief from their agony. + +Suppose that a man possest by this great horror discovered that, in +some wonderful way, the dark and damning stain on his conscience had +disappeared; that, altho he had done the deed, the iron chain which +bound him to the criminality of it had been broken; that before +God and man and his own conscience he was free from the guilt of +it;--the supposition, in its completeness, is an impossible one; but +if it were possible, the discovery would lift the man out of the +darkness of hell into the light of heaven. + +But to large numbers of Christian men a discovery which in substance +is identical with this has actually come in response to their trust +in Christ. Nothing is more intensely real than the sense of guilt; +it is as real as the eternal distinction between right and wrong +in which it is rooted. And nothing is more intensely real than +the sense of release from guilt which comes from the discovery +and assurance of the remission of sins. The evil things which a +man has done cannot be undone; but when they have been forgiven +through Christ, the iron chain which so bound him to them as to +make the guilt of them eternally his has been broken; before God +and his own conscience he is no longer guilty of them. This is the +Christian mystery of justification, which, according to Paul--and +his words have been confirmed in the experience of millions of +Christian men--is "the power of God unto salvation to every one that +believeth." It changes darkness into light; despair into victorious +hope; prostration into buoyancy and vigor. It is one of the supreme +motives to Christian living, and it makes Christian living possible. +The man who has received this great deliverance is no longer a +convict, painfully observing all prison rules with the hope of +shortening his sentence, but a child in the home of God. + +There are experiences of another kind by which the faith of +Christian men is verified. Of these one of the most decisive and +most wonderful is the consciousness that through Christ he has +passed into the eternal and divine order. He belongs to two worlds. +He is just as certain that he is environed by things unseen and +eternal as that he is environed by things seen and temporal. In the +power of the life given to him in the new birth he has entered into +the kingdom of God. He is conscious that that diviner region is +now the native land of his soul. It is there that he finds perfect +rest and perfect freedom. It is a relief to escape to its eternal +peace and glory from the agitations and vicissitudes, the sorrows +and successes, of this transitory world. It is not always that +he is vividly conscious of belonging to that eternal order; this +supreme blessedness is reserved for the great hours of life; but +he knows that it lies about him always, and that at any moment the +great Apocalypse may come. And even when it is hidden, its "powers" +continue to act upon him, as the light and heat of the sun pass +through the clouds by which the burning splendor is softened and +concealed. + +Further, "in Christ" Christian men know God; they know Him for +themselves. The mere conception of God is as different from the +immediate knowledge of Him as the mere conception of the Matterhorn +from the actual vision of it as an external objective grandeur; and +it is not the conception of God, but God Himself, that fills them +with awe and wonder, and with a blessedness which trembles into +devout fear. Sometimes the "exceeding weight of glory" is too great +to bear, and human infirmity is relieved when the vision passes. At +other times God is more than a transcendent glory to be contemplated +and adored. His infinite love, to use Paul's words, is shed abroad +in their hearts, like the sun's heat under tropical heavens; it is +immediately revealed. How, they can not tell, any more than they +can tell how the material world is revealed to sense; they only +know that, apart from any self-originated effort, apart from any +movement of their own towards Him, the eternal Spirit draws near to +their spirit and reveals God's love to them. It is as if the warm +streams of the love which have their fountains in the depths of +His infinite life were flowing round them and into them. They are +conscious of that love for them of which God is conscious. + +And this blessedness is not the prerogative of elect saints, or +of those who may be said to have a natural genius for spiritual +thought. It is the common inheritance of all that are "in Christ," +altho there is reason to fear that many Christian people rarely +reach the height of its joy. But among those who reach it are men +of every degree of intellectual rank and every variety of moral and +spiritual temperament. It is reached by ignorant men, whose thoughts +are narrow and whose minds are inert, as well as by men with large +knowledge and great powers of speculation; by men destitute of +imagination, as well as by men whose imagination kindles as soon +as it is touched by the splendors of nature or by the verses of +poets. Men whose life moves slowly and sluggishly reach it, as well +as men who are impulsive, ardent, and adventurous. And where this +experience is known, it becomes an effective force in the moral +life. Peter, writing to slaves, says, "For this is acceptable, +if through consciousness of God a man endureth griefs, suffering +wrongfully." + +I have said that "in Christ" men know God--not merely through +Christ. It is true that during His earthly ministry He revealed +God; so that, in answer to the prayer of one of His disciples, +"Show us the Father, and it sufficeth us," He said, "Have I been so +long time with you, and dost thou not know me, Philip? he that hath +seen me hath seen the Father." That revelation has eternal power +and value; but there are other words spoken by Christ that same +night which suggest that it is not merely by the revelation of God +during His earthly ministry that Christ has made it possible for +men to know the Father. He said: "I am the true vine, and ye are +the branches.... Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot +bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; so neither can +ye, except ye abide in me. He that abideth in me, and I in him, +the same beareth much fruit: for apart from me ye can do nothing." +It is not certain that when Paul wrote his Epistle to the Galatian +Christians he had heard of these words; but what they meant he had +learnt for himself. He said, "I live: and yet no longer I, but +Christ liveth in me." In various measures the experience of Paul has +been the experience of Christian men ever since. Their relationship +to Christ--their conscious relationship to Christ--has been most +mysterious, but most intimate and most certain. They have meditated +on the infinite love which moved Him to descend from the heights +of God and to become man, upon His graciousness and gentleness, +His purity, His spontaneous goodness, His pity for suffering, His +merciful words to the sinful, His patience and His long-suffering, +and His fiery indignation against hypocrisy; they have meditated +on His teaching, on all the words of His that have been preserved +concerning the love and grace of God, concerning the remission of +sins, the gift of eternal life, the judgment to come, the eternal +blessedness of the righteous, and the doom of the lost; they have +felt the spell and the charm of that ideal perfection to which He +calls them in His precepts, and which He illustrated and transcended +in His own character: but they have been conscious that it was not +merely by the power of the great and pathetic story of His earthly +history, or by the power of His spiritual and ethical teaching, that +He gives to men the life of God, and constantly renews, sustains, +and augments it. They shared the very life of their Lord. He lived +in them. They lived in Him. And it was in the power of this common +life that they knew God. + +Nor is it only the immediate knowledge of God that is rendered +possible by this union with Christ. Christian men are conscious that +they do not receive strength from Christ for common duty, as they +might receive strength from One who, while He conferred the grace, +stood apart from them, but that in some wonderful way they are +strong in the strength of Christ Himself. They are too often drawn +down into the region of baser forces, and then they fall; but their +very failure verifies the truth of their happier experiences, for it +brings home to them afresh what they are apart from Christ; and when +they recover their union with Him--which indeed had not been lost, +tho for a time it was not realized--they recover their power. + +The man who has had, and who still has, such experiences as these +will listen with great tranquillity to criticisms which are intended +to shake the historical credit of the four Gospels, altho the story +they contain may have been the original ground of his faith in +Christ. The criticism may be vigorous; he may be wholly unable to +answer it: but what then? Is he to cease to believe in Christ? Why +should he? + +Let me answer these questions by an illustration. Towards the +close of our Lord's ministry, when He was in the neighborhood of +Jericho--just leaving the city or just entering it--Bartimeus, a +blind man, who was begging at the side of the road, heard that Jesus +of Nazareth was passing by, and He appealed to the great Prophet to +have mercy upon him. Jesus answered his appeal, and gave him sight. +Now it is possible that Bartimeus may have been told by some passing +traveler, of whom he knew nothing, the story of a similar miracle +which Jesus had worked a few weeks before in Jerusalem, and this +may have been the ground, and the only ground, of his confidence +in our Lord's supernatural power. If, after he had received his +sight, some sagacious friend of his had asked him how it was that he +came to believe that the Nazarene Teacher could give sight to the +blind, nothing would have been easier than for his friend to show +that, whether the story of the Jerusalem miracle was true or not, +Bartimeus had no trustworthy evidence of its truth. A tale told by +an unknown stranger! This was no sufficient reason for believing +that Jesus had given sight to a man born blind. Did the stranger +who told the tale know the beggar who was said to have been cured? +Was it certain that the man was blind? Had the stranger examined +his eyes the very morning of the day on which he received sight? +Was it certain that the vision was not gradually returning? Was the +stranger present when Jesus made the clay, and put it on the blind +man's eyes; close enough to see that no delicate operation was +performed during the process? The sending of the blind man to wash +at the Pool of Siloam was suspicious: what could that washing have +to do with a miracle? Did the stranger go with the man to the pool, +and keep his eye upon him while he was there? Was it quite certain +that the blind beggar who was sent to Siloam was the man who came +back to the city and declared that Jesus had healed him? Might not +one man have been sent to the pool, and another man have come back +to Jerusalem? It looked very much as if there were some previous +understanding between the blind man and the Nazarene Prophet. The +Prophet had rich friends; they could have made it worth the man's +while to come into the plot. Had Bartimeus considered all these +difficulties? Was it not more probable that the stranger's story +should be false than that the miracle should be true? Would it not +be well for Bartimeus to suspend his faith in Jesus until he had +made further inquiries about the miracle? + +We can imagine the answer of Bartimeus. I think that he would have +said: "At first I believed in the power of Jesus of Nazareth, +because I was told that He had given sight to another blind man; +now I am sure of His power, because He has given sight to me. It +is possible, as you say, that the story about the blind man in +Jerusalem is not true. You have asked me many questions which I +can not answer. I can not explain why he should have been sent to +the Pool of Siloam. I acknowledge that the evidence which I have +for the miracle is not decisive. As Jesus has restored my sight, I +think that the story is probably true; but whether the story is true +or not can not disturb my faith in Him, for if He did not heal the +other man, He has healed me." + +And so the faith in the living Christ of those who have had the +great experiences of His power and grace which I have described +is not shaken by any assaults on the historical trustworthiness +of the story of His earthly ministry. Much less can it be shaken +by discussions concerning the nature and origin of the ancient +Scriptures of the Jewish people. Their confidence in the books, +both of the Old Testament and the New, may perhaps have to be +suspended until the controversies of scholars are closed, or until, +on historical and critical grounds, they can see their own way to +firm and definite conclusions about the main questions at issue; +but not their confidence in Christ. They may be uncertain about +the books; they are sure about Him. Both Christian scholars and +the commonalty of Christian people approach the controversies on +these ancient records with a settled faith in the power and grace +and glory of Christ. Their faith in Him rests on foundations which +lie far beyond the reach of scientific and historical criticism. +They know for themselves that Christ is the Savior of men: for they +have received through Him the remission of their own sins; He has +translated them into the divine kingdom; He has given them strength +for righteousness, and through Him they have found God. + + + + +LIDDON + +INFLUENCES OF THE HOLY SPIRIT + + +BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE + +Henry Parry Liddon was born at North Stoneham, Hampshire, in 1829. +His intellectual power and fearless and earnest preaching attracted +immense congregations to St. Paul's Cathedral, London. He sought +to meet the speculative fallacies of his day by truth clearly and +boldly proclaimed. Probably his greatest fault in delivery was that +he tied himself slavishly to a manuscript in all his preaching. +There was a force and intensity to his delivery, however, that often +projected his words towards his hearers like great projectiles +across a battlefield. Dr. Arthur S. Hoyt recommends him for study +in these words: "Canon Liddon brings the riches of exegesis and +theology and philosophy to the pulpit, and gives to the sermon the +distinction of his refined and spiritual personality." He died in +1890. + + + + +LIDDON + +1829-1890 + +INFLUENCES OF THE HOLY SPIRIT + + _The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound + thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it + goeth._--John iii., 8. + + +Who has not felt the contrast, the almost tragic contrast, between +the high station of the Jewish doctor, member of the Sanhedrin, +master in Israel, and the ignorance of elementary religious truth, +as we Christians must deem it, which he displayed in this interview +with our blest Lord? At first sight it seems difficult to understand +how our Lord could have used the simile in the text when conversing +with an educated and thoughtful man, well conversed in the history +and literature of God's ancient people; and, indeed, a negative +criticism has availed itself of this and of some other features in +the narrative, in the interest of the theory that Nicodemus was +only a fictitious type of the higher classes in Jewish society, +as they were pictured to itself by the imagination of the fourth +Evangelist. Such a supposition, opposed to external facts and to all +internal probabilities, would hardly have been entertained, if the +critical ingenuity of its author had been seconded by any spiritual +experience. Nicodemus is very far from being a caricature; and +our Lord's method here, as elsewhere, is to lead on from familiar +phrases and the well-remembered letter to the spirit and realities +of religion. The Jewish schools were acquainted with the expression +"a new creature"; but it had long since become a mere shred of +official rhetoric. As applied to a Jewish proselyte, it scarcely +meant more than a change in the outward relations of religious +life. Our Lord told Nicodemus that every man who would see the +kingdom of God which He was founding must undergo a second birth; +and Nicodemus, who had been accustomed to the phrase all his life, +could not understand it if it was to be supposed to mean anything +real. "How," he asks, "can a man be born when he is old? Can he +enter a second time into his mother's womb, and be born?" Our Lord +does not extricate him from this blundering literalism; He repeats +His own original assertion, but in terms which more fully express +His meaning: "Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born +of water and of the Spirit, he can not enter into the kingdom of +God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is +born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye +must be born again." Our Lord's reference to water would not have +been unintelligible to Nicodemus; every one in Judaea knew that +the Baptist had insisted on immersion in water as a symbol of the +purification of the soul of man. Certainly, in connecting "water" +with the Spirit and the new birth, our Lord's language, glancing +at that of the prophet, went very far beyond this. He could only +be fully understood at a later time, when the sacrament of baptism +had been instituted, just as the true sense of His early allusions +to His death could not have been apprehended until after the +crucifixion. But Nicodemus, it is plain, had not yet advanced beyond +his original difficulty; he could not conceive how any second birth +was possible, without altogether violating the course of nature. +And our Lord penetrates His thoughts and answers them. He answers +them by pointing to that invisible agent who could achieve, in the +sphere of spiritual and mental life, what the Jewish doctor deemed +so impossible a feat as a second birth. Nature, indeed, contained no +force that could compass such a result; but nature in this, as in +other matters, was a shadow of something beyond itself. + +It was late at night when our Lord had this interview with the +Jewish teacher. At the pauses in conversation, we may conjecture, +they heard the wind without as it moaned along the narrow streets +of Jerusalem; and our Lord, as was His wont, took His creature into +His service--the service of spiritual truth. The wind was a figure +of the Spirit. Our Lord would not have used the same word for both. +The wind might teach Nicodemus something of the action of Him who is +the real Author of the new birth of man. And it would do this in two +ways more especially. + +On a first survey of nature, the wind arrests man's attention, as +an unseen agent which seems to be moving with entire freedom. "The +wind bloweth where it listeth." It is fettered by none of those +conditions which confine the swiftest bodies that traverse the +surface of the earth; it sweeps on as if independent of law, rushing +hither and thither, as tho obeying its own wayward and momentary +impulse. Thus it is an apt figure of a self-determining invisible +force; and of a force which is at times of overmastering power. +Sometimes, indeed, its breath is so gentle, that only a single +leaf or blade of grass will at distant intervals seem to give the +faintest token of its action; yet, even thus, it "bloweth where +it listeth." Sometimes it bursts upon the earth with destructive +violence; nothing can resist its onslaught; the most solid buildings +give way; the stoutest trees bend before it; whatever is frail and +delicate can only escape by the completeness of its submission. +Thus, too, it "bloweth where it listeth." Beyond anything else +that strikes upon the senses of man, it is suggestive of free +supersensuous power; it is an appropriate symbol of an irruption of +the invisible into the world of sense, of the action, so tender or +so imperious, of the divine and eternal Spirit upon the human soul. + +But the wind is also an agent about whose proceedings we really +know almost nothing. "Thou hearest the sound thereof"; such is our +Lord's concession to man's claim to knowledge. "Thou canst not tell +whence it cometh, and whither it goeth"; such is the reserve which +He makes in respect of human ignorance. Certainly we do more than +hear the sound of the wind; its presence is obvious to three of +the senses. We feel the chill or the fury of the blast; and, as it +sweeps across the ocean, or the forest, or the field of corn, we see +how the blades rise and fall in graceful curves, and the trees bend, +and the waters sink and swell into waves which are the measure of +its strength. But our Lord says, "Thou hearest the sound thereof." +He would have us test it by the most spiritual of the senses. It +whispers, or it moans, or it roars as it passes us; it has a pathos +all its own. Yet what do we really know about it? "Thou canst not +tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth." Does the wind then +obey no rule; is it a mere symbol of unfettered caprice? Surely +not. If, as the psalmist sings, "God bringeth the winds out of his +treasuries," He acts, we may be sure, here as always, whether in +nature or in grace, by some law, which his own perfections impose +upon His action. He may have given to us of these later times to +see a very little deeper beneath the surface of the natural world +than was the case with our fathers. Perchance we explain the +immediate antecedents of the phenomenon; but can we explain our own +explanation? The frontier of our ignorance is removed one stage +farther back; but "the way of the wind" is as fitting an expression +for the mysteries now as it was in the days of Solomon. We know that +there is no cave of AEolus. We know that the wind is the creature +of that great Master who works everywhere and incessantly by rule. +But, as the wind still sweeps by us who call ourselves the children +of an age of knowledge, and we endeavor to give our fullest answer +to the question, "Whence it cometh, and whither it goeth?" we +discover that, as the symbol of a spiritual force, of whose presence +we are conscious, while we are unable to determine, with moderate +confidence, either the secret principle or the range of its action, +the wind is as full of meaning still as in the days of Nicodemus. + +When our Lord has thus pointed to the freedom and the mysteriousness +of the wind, He adds, "So is every one that is born of the Spirit." +The simile itself would have led us to expect--"So is the Spirit +of God." The man born of the Spirit would answer not to the wind +itself, but to the sensible effect of the wind. There is a break of +correspondence between the simile and its application. The simile +directs attention to the divine Author of the new birth in man. The +words which follow direct attention to the human subject upon whom +the divine agent works. Something similar is observable when our +Lord compares the kingdom of heaven to a merchantman seeking goodly +pearls; the kingdom really corresponds not to the merchantman, +but to the pearl of great price which the merchantman buys. In +such cases, we may be sure, the natural correspondence between a +simile and its application is not disturbed without a motive. And +the reason for this disturbance is presumably that the simile is +not adequate to the full purpose of the speaker, who is anxious to +teach some larger truth than its obvious application would suggest. +In the case before us, we may be allowed to suppose, that by His +reference to the wind our Lord desired to convey something more +than the real but mysterious agency of the Holy Spirit in the new +birth of man. His language seems designed, not merely to correct +the materialistic narrowness of the Jewish doctor, not merely to +answer by anticipation the doubts of later days as to the spiritual +efficacy of His own sacrament of regeneration, but to picture, in +words which should be read to the end of time, the general work of +that divine person whose mission of mercy to our race was at once +the consequence and the completion of His own. + +It may be useful to trace the import of our Lord's simile in three +fields of the action of the holy and eternal Spirit; His creation of +a sacred literature, His guidance of a divine society, and His work +upon individual souls. + +I. As, then, we turn over the pages of the Bible, must we not +say, "The wind of heaven bloweth where it listeth"? If we might +reverently imagine ourselves scheming beforehand what kind of a +book the Book of God ought to be, how different would it be from +the actual Bible. There would be as many bibles as there are souls, +and they would differ as widely. But in one thing, amid all their +differences, they would probably agree; they would lack the variety, +both in form and substance, of the holy Book which the Church of +God places in the hands of her children. The self-assertion, the +scepticism, and the fastidiousness of our day would meet like the +men of the second Roman triumvirate on that island in the Reno, +and would draw up their lists of proscription. One would condemn +the poetry of Scripture as too inexact; another its history as too +largely secular; another its metaphysics as too transcendental, or +as hostile to some fanciful ideal of "simplicity," or as likely +to quench a purely moral enthusiasm. The archaic history of the +Pentateuch, or the sterner side of the ethics of the psalter, or +the supernaturalism of the histories of Elijah or of Daniel, or +the so-called pessimism of Ecclesiastes, or the alleged secularism +of Esther, or the literal import of the Song of Solomon, would be +in turn condemned. Nor could the apostles hope to escape: St. John +would be too mystical in this estimate; St. James too legal in +that; St. Paul too dialectical, or too metaphysical, or too easily +capable of an antinomian interpretation; St. Peter too undecided, +as if balancing between St. Paul and St. James. Our new Bible would +probably be uniform, narrow, symmetrical; it would be entirely +made up of poetry, or of history, or of formal propositions, or of +philosophical speculation, or of lists of moral maxims; it would be +modeled after the type of some current writer on English history, +or some popular poet or metaphysician, or some sentimentalist who +abjures history and philosophy alike on principle, or some composer +of well-intentioned religious tracts for general circulation. The +inspirations of heaven would be taken in hand, and instead of a wind +blowing where it listeth, we should have a wind, no doubt, of some +kind, rustling earnestly enough along some very narrow crevices or +channels, in obedience to the directions of some one form of human +prejudice, or passion, or fear, or hope. + +The Bible is like nature in its immense, its exhaustless variety; +like nature, it reflects all the higher moods of the human soul, +because it does much more; because it brings us face to face with +the infinity of the divine life. In the Bible the wind of heaven +pays scant heed to our anticipations or our prejudices; it "bloweth +where it listeth." It breathes not only in the divine charities of +the gospels, not only in the lyrical sallies of the epistles, not +only in the great announcements scattered here and there in Holy +Scripture of the magnificence, or the compassion, or the benevolence +of God; but also in the stern language of the prophets, in the +warnings and lessons of the historical books, in the revelations of +divine justice and of human responsibility which abound in either +Testament. "Where it listeth." Not only where our sense of literary +beauty is stimulated, as in St. Paul's picture of charity, by lines +which have taken captive the imagination of the world, not only +where feeling and conscience echo the verdict of authority and the +promptings of reverence, but also where this is not the case; where +neither precept nor example stimulates us, and we are left face to +face with historical or ethical material, which appears to us to +inspire no spiritual enthusiasm, or which is highly suggestive of +critical difficulty. Let us be patient; we shall understand, if we +will only wait, how these features of the Bible too are integral +parts of a living whole; here, as elsewhere, the Spirit breathes; +in the genealogies of the Chronicles as in the last discourse in +St. John, though with an admitted difference of manner and degree. +He "bloweth where He listeth." The apostle's words respecting the +Old Testament are true of the New: "All Scripture is given by +inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, +for correction, for instruction in righteousness." And, "Whatsoever +things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we +through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope." + +"But thou hearest the sound thereof, and canst not tell whence +it cometh, and whither it goeth." The majesty of Scripture is +recognized by man, wherever there is, I will not say a spiritual +faculty, but a natural sense of beauty. The "sound" of the wind +is perceived by the trained ear, by the literary taste, by the +refinement, by the humanity of every generation of educated men. But +what beyond? What of its spiritual source, its spiritual drift and +purpose, its half-concealed but profound unities, its subtle but +imperious relations to conscience? Of these things, so precious to +Christians, a purely literary appreciation of Scripture is generally +ignorant; the sacred Book, like the prophet of the Chebar, is only +"as a very lovely song of one that hath a pleasant voice, and can +play well on an instrument." Or again, the "sound thereof" is +heard in the admitted empire of the Bible over millions of hearts +and consciences; an empire the evidences of which strike upon the +ear in countless ways, and which is far too wide and too secure +to be affected by the criticisms that might occasionally seem to +threaten it. What is the secret of this influence of Scripture? Not +simply that it is the Book of Revelation; since it contains a great +deal of matter which lay fairly within the reach of man's natural +faculties. The Word or eternal Reason of God is the Revealer; but +Scripture, whether it is a record of divine revelations or of +naturally observed facts, is, in the belief of the Christian Church, +throughout "inspired" by the Spirit. Inspiration is the word which +describes the presence and action of the Holy Spirit everywhere in +Scripture. We know not how our own spirits, hour by hour, are acted +upon by the eternal Spirit, though we do not question the fact; we +content ourselves with recognizing what we can not explain. If we +believe that Scripture is inspired, we know that it is instinct with +the presence of Him whose voice we might hear in every utterance, +but of whom we cannot tell whence He cometh or whither He goeth. + +II. The history of the Church of Christ from the days of the +apostles has been a history of spiritual movements. Doubtless it has +been a history of much else; the Church has been the scene of human +passions, human speculations, human errors. But traversing these, +He by whom the whole body of the Church is governed and sanctified, +has made His presence felt, not only in the perpetual proclamation +and elucidation of truth, not only in the silent, never-ceasing +sanctification of souls, but also in great upheavals of spiritual +life, by which the conscience of Christians has been quickened, +or their hold upon the truths of redemption and grace made more +intelligent and serious, or their lives and practise restored to +something like the ideal of the Gospels. Even in the apostolic age +it was necessary to warn Christians that it was high time to awake +out of sleep; that the night of life was far spent, and the day of +eternity was at hand. And ever since, from generation to generation, +there has been a succession of efforts within the Church to realize +more worthily the truth of the Christian creed, or the ideal of the +Christian life. These revivals have been inspired or led by devoted +men who have represented the highest conscience of Christendom in +their day. They may be traced along the line of Christian history; +the Spirit living in the Church has by them attested His presence +and His will; and has recalled lukewarm generations, paralyzed by +indifference or degraded by indulgence, to the true spirit and level +of Christian faith and life. + +In such movements there is often what seems, at first sight, an +element of caprice. They appear to contemporaries to be onesided, +exaggerated, narrow, fanatical. They are often denounced with a +passionate fervor which is so out of proportion to the reality as to +border on the grotesque. They are said to exact too much of us, or +to concede too much. They are too contemplative in their tendency +to be sufficiently practical, or too energetically practical to do +justice to religious thought. They are too exclusively literary +and academical, as being the work of men of books; or they are too +popular and insensible to philosophical considerations, as being +the work of men of the people. Or, again, they are so occupied with +controversy as to forget the claims of devotion, or so engaged +in leading souls to a devout life as to forget the unwelcome but +real necessities of controversy. They are intent on particular +moral improvements so exclusively as to forget what is due to +reverence and order; or they are so bent upon rescuing the Church +from chronic slovenliness and indecency in public worship as to +do less than justice to the paramount interests of moral truth. +Sometimes these movements are all feeling; sometimes they are all +thought; sometimes they are, as it seems, all outward energy. In +one age they produce a literature like that of the fourth and fifth +centuries; in another they found orders of men devoted to preaching +or to works of mercy, as in the twelfth; in another they enter the +lists, as in the thirteenth century, with a hostile philosophy; +in another they attempt a much-needed reformation of the Church; +in another they pour upon the heathen world a flood of light and +warmth from the heart of Christendom. It is easy, as we survey +them, to say that something else was needed; or that what was done +could have been done better or more completely; or that, had we +been there, we should not have been guilty of this onesidedness, +or of that exaggeration. We forget, perhaps, who really was there, +and whose work it is, though often overlaid and thwarted by human +weakness and human passion, that we are really criticizing. If +it was seemingly onesided, excessive or defective, impulsive or +sluggish, speculative or practical, esthetic or experimental, may +not this have been so because in His judgment, who breatheth where +He listeth, this particular characteristic was needed for the Church +of that day? All that contemporaries know of such movements is +"the sound thereof"; the names with which they are associated, the +controversies which they precipitate, the hostilities which they +rouse or allay, as the case may be. Such knowledge is superficial +enough; of the profound spiritual causes which really engender +them, of the direction in which they are really moving, of the +influence which they are destined permanently to exert upon souls, +men know little or nothing. The accidental symptom is mistaken for +the essential characteristic; the momentary expression of feeling +for the inalienable conviction of certain truth. The day may come, +perhaps, when more will be known; when practise and motive, accident +and substance, the lasting and the transient, will be seen in their +true relative proportions; but for the time this can hardly be. He +is passing by, whose way is in the sea, and His paths in the deep +waters, and His footsteps unknown. The Eternal Spirit is passing; +and men can only say, "He bloweth where He listeth." + +III. Our Lord's words apply especially to Christian character. +There are some effects of the living power of the Holy Spirit +which are invariable. When He dwells with a Christian soul, He +continually speaks in the voice of conscience; He speaks in the +voice of prayer. He produces with the ease of a natural process, +without effort, without the taint of self-consciousness, "love, +joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, +temperance." Some of these graces must be found where He makes His +home. There is no mistaking the atmosphere of His presence: in its +main features it is the same now as in the days of the apostles. +Just as in natural morality the main elements of "goodness" do not +change; so in religious life, spirituality is, amid great varieties +of detail, yet, in its leading constituent features, the same thing +from one generation to another. But in the life of the individual +Christian, or in that of the Church, there is legitimate room for +irregular and exceptional forms of activity or excellence. Natural +society is not strengthened by the stern repression of all that is +peculiar in individual thought or practise; and this is not less +true of spiritual or religious society. From the first, high forms +of Christian excellence have often been associated with unconscious +eccentricity. The eccentricity must be unconscious, because +consciousness of eccentricity at once reduces it to a form of vanity +which is entirely inconsistent with Christian excellence. How many +excellent Christians have been eccentric, deviating more or less +from the conventional type of goodness which has been recognized +by contemporary religious opinion. They pass away, and when they +are gone men do justice to their characters; but while they are +still with us how hard do many of us find it to remember that there +may be a higher reason for their peculiarities than we think. We +know not the full purpose of each saintly life in the designs of +Providence; we know not much of the depths and heights whence it +draws its inspirations; we can not tell whence it cometh or whither +it goeth. Only we know that He whose workmanship it is bloweth where +He listeth; and this naturally leads us to remark the practical +interpretation which the Holy Spirit often puts upon our Lord's +words by selecting as His chosen workmen those who seem to be least +fitted by nature for such high service. The apostle has told us how +in the first age He set Himself to defeat human anticipations. "Not +many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, +are called"; learned academies, powerful connections, gentle blood +did little enough for the gospel in the days when it won its first +and greatest victories. The Holy Spirit, as Nicodemus knew, passed +by the varied learning and high station of the Sanhedrin, and +breathed where He listed on the peasants of Galilee; He breathed +on them a power which would shake the world. And thus has it been +again and again in the generations which have followed. When the +great Aquinas was a student of philosophy under Albertus Magnus at +Cologne, he was known among his contemporaries as "the dumb Ox"; so +little did they divine what was to be his place in the theology of +Western Christendom. And to those of us who can look back upon the +memories of this University for a quarter of a century or more, few +things appear more remarkable than the surprizes which the later +lives of men constantly afford; sometimes it is a failure of early +natural promise, but more often a rich development of intellectual +and practical capacity where there had seemed to be no promise at +all. We can remember, perhaps, some dull quiet man who seemed to +be without a ray of genius, or, stranger still, without anything +interesting or marked in character, but who now exerts, and most +legitimately, the widest influence for good, and whose name is +repeated by thousands with grateful respect. Or we can call to mind +another whose whole mind was given to what was frivolous, or even +degrading, and who now is a leader in everything that elevates and +improves his fellows. The secret of these transfigurations is ever +the same. In those days these men did not yet see their way; they +were like travelers through the woods at night, when the sky is +hidden and all things seem to be other than they are. + +Since then the sun has risen and all has changed. The creed of the +Church of Christ, in its beauty and its power, has been flashed by +the Divine Spirit upon their hearts and understandings; and they are +other men. They have seen that there is something worth living for +in earnest; that God, the soul, the future, are immense realities, +compared with which all else is tame and insignificant. They have +learned something of that personal love of our crucified Lord, which +is itself a moral and religious force of the highest order, and +which has carried them forwards without their knowing it. And what +has been will assuredly repeat itself. + + + + +W. M. TAYLOR + +CHRIST BEFORE PILATE--PILATE BEFORE CHRIST + + + + +BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE + + +William Mackergo Taylor, Congregational divine, was born at +Kilmarnock, Scotland, in 1829. He was for many years pastor of the +Broadway Tabernacle, New York. He had an impressive presence and +his delivery was marked by a magnetic earnestness. During the first +ten years of his ministry he spoke memoriter, but subsequently +wrote out his sermons with detailed care and preached them from +manuscript, but their delivery was without the freedom and freshness +of extemporaneous address. He came to regret this, for he said: "If +I might speak from my own experience I would say, that memoriter +preaching is the method which has the greatest advantages, with the +fewest disadvantages." He died in 1895. + + + + +W. M. TAYLOR 1829-1895 + +CHRIST BEFORE PILATE--PILATE BEFORE CHRIST[5] + + [5] Reprinted by permission from "Contrary Winds and other Sermons," + by William M. Taylor, D.D., copyrighted, 1883, by A. C. Armstrong & + Son. + + _Pilate saith unto them, What shall I do, then, with Jesus, + which is called Christ?_--Matthew xxvii., 22. + + +During my late visit to my native land I had the great enjoyment +of seeing, and somewhat carefully studying, Munkacsy's famous +picture of "Christ Before Pilate." Rarely, if ever, had I been so +much moved by a work of art; and I propose to give, as nearly as I +can recall it, the sermon which it reached to me as I sat silently +contemplating the figures, which, even as I looked at them, seemed +to grow before me into life. + +But, first, I must try to describe to you the picture itself. The +canvas is large, and the figures, all of which are on the line of +sight, are of life size. The scene is in the pavement or open court +before the governor's palace, which was called in the Hebrew tongue +Gabbatha, and in which, after all his efforts to wriggle out of the +responsibility of dealing with the case, Pilate ultimately gave up +Jesus to be crucified. At one end of the court, on a raised bench, +and drest in a white toga, Pilate sits. On either side of him are +Jews, each of whom has a marked and special individuality. The two +on his left are gazing with intense eagerness at Christ. They are +evidently puzzled, and know not well what to make of the mysterious +prisoner. On his right, standing on one of the seats, and with his +back against the wall, is a Scribe, whose countenance is expressive +of uttermost contempt, and just in front of this haughty fellow +are some Pharisees, one of whom is on his feet, and passionately +urging that Jesus should be put to death, presumably on the ground +that, if Pilate should let Him go, he would make it evident that he +was not Caesar's friend. Before them again is a usurer, sleek, fat +and self-satisfied, clearly taking great comfort to himself in the +assurance that, however the matter may be settled, his well-filled +money-bags will be undisturbed. Beyond him stands the Christ in a +robe of seamless white, and with His wrists firmly bound; while +behind, kept in place by a Roman soldier, standing with his back to +the spectator, and making a barricade with his spear, which he holds +horizontally, is a motley group of onlookers, not unlike that which +we may still see any day in one of our criminal courts. Of these, +one more furious than the rest is wildly gesticulating, and crying, +as we may judge from his whole attitude, "Crucify Him! crucify Him!" +and another, a little to the Savior's left, but in the second row +behind Him, is leaning forward with mockery in his leering look, and +making almost as if he would spit upon the saintly one. There is but +one really compassionate face in the crowd, and that is a face of a +woman who, with an infant in her arms, most fitly represents those +gentle daughters of Jerusalem who followed Jesus to Calvary with +tears. Then, over the heads of the on-lookers, and out of the upper +part of the doorway into the court, we get a glimpse of the quiet +light of the morning as it sleeps upon the walls and turrets of the +adjacent buildings. All these figures are so distinctly seen that +you feel you could recognize them again if you met them anywhere; +and a strange sense of reality comes upon you as you look at them, +so that you forget that they are only painted, and imagine that you +are gazing on living and breathing men. + +But, as you sit awhile and look on, you gradually lose all +consciousness of the presence of the mere on-lookers and find your +interest concentrated on these two white-robed ones, as if they +were the only figures before you. The pose of Christ is admirable. +It is repose blended with dignity; self-possession rising into +majesty. There is no agitation or confusion; no fear or misgiving; +but, instead, the calm nobleness of Him who has just been saying, +"Thou couldst have no power at all against me, except it were given +thee from above; therefore he that delivered me unto thee hath the +greater sin." The face alone disappoints. Perhaps that may be owing +to the lofty ideal we have of the divine Man, so that no picture +of our Lord would entirely please. But tho the painter has wisely +abandoned the halo, and all similar conventionalisms of art, and has +delineated a real man, for all which he is to be highly commended, +yet the eyes which look so steadily at Pilate, as if they were +looking him through, seem to me to be cold, keen, and condemnatory, +rather than compassionate and sad. It is a conception of the Lord +of the same sort as that of Dore, in his well-known picture of the +leaving of the Praetorium, and the eyes have not in them that deep +well of tenderness out of which came the tears which He shed over +Jerusalem, and which we expect to see in them when He is looking at +the hopeless struggle of a soul which will not accept His aid. It +is said that the artist, dissatisfied with his first attempt, has +painted the Christ face twice; but this, also, is a partial failure, +and here, so at least it seemed to me as I looked upon it, is the +one defect in his noble work. But if there is this defect, it is one +which it shares with every other effort that human art has made to +delineate the Lord. The Pilate, however, is well-nigh faultless. +Here is a great, strong man, the representative of the mightiest +empire the world has ever seen, with a head indicating intellectual +force, and a face, especially in its lower part, suggestive of +sensual indulgence. There is ordinarily no want of firmness in +him, as we may see from the general set of his features; but now +there is in his countenance a marvelous mixture of humiliation and +irresolution. He cannot lift his eyes to meet the gaze of Christ; +and while one of his hands is nervously clutching at his robe he +is looking sadly into the other, whose fingers, even as we look +at them, almost seem to twitch with perplexed irresolution. He is +clearly pondering for himself the question which a few moments +before he had addrest to the multitude, "What shall I do with +Jesus which is called Christ?" He is annoyed that the case has +been brought to him at all, and as he feels himself drifting on, +against his own better judgment, toward yielding to the clamor of +the multitude, he falls mightily in his own conceit, and begins to +despise himself. He would, at that moment, give, oh, how much! to +be rid of the responsibility of dealing with the Christ, but he +cannot evade it; and so he sits there, drifting on to what he knows +is a wrong decision, the very incarnation of the feeling which his +own national poet described when he said, "I see and approve the +better course; I follow the worse." Thus, as we look at these two, +we begin to discover that it was not Christ that was before Pilate +so much as Pilate was before Christ. His was the testing experience. +His was the trial; his too, alas! was the degradation; and at that +coming day when the places shall be reversed, when Christ shall be +on the judgment seat, and Pilate at the bar, there will still be +that deep self-condemnation which the painter here has fixt upon +his countenance. It is a marvelous picture, in many respects the +most remarkable I ever looked upon, and, even from this imperfect +description of it, you will easily understand how, as I sat intent +before it, it stirred my soul to the very depths. + +But now, with this portrayal of the scene before us let us see if +we can account, first, for the hesitation of Pilate to give up the +Lord, and then for his final yielding to the clamor of the people. +Why all this reluctance on his part to send Jesus to the cross? He +was not usually so scrupulous. A human life more or less gave him +generally very little concern. He had all a Roman's indifference +for the comfort of those who stood in any respect in his way; and +had no compunction, as we know, in mingling the blood of certain +turbulent Jews with the very sacrifices which at the moment they +were offering. Had Christ been a Roman citizen, indeed, he would +most likely have been very watchful over His safety, for in regard +to all such the imperial law was peculiarly strict, but the life +of a mere Jew was a very small thing in his estimation. Wherefore, +then, this unwonted squeamishness of conscience? It was the result +of a combination of particulars, each of which had a special force +of its own, and the aggregate of which so wrought upon his mind that +he was brought thereby to a stand. + +There was, in the first place, the peculiar character of the +prisoner. A very slight examination had been sufficient to convince +him that Christ was innocent of the charge which had been brought +against Him. But in the course of that examination much more than +the innocence of Christ had come to view. He had manifested a +dignified patience altogether unlike anything that Pilate had ever +seen; and His answers to certain questions had been so strangely +suggestive of something higher and nobler than even the most +exalted earthly philosophy that he could not look upon Him as a +common prisoner. He was no mere fanatic; neither was He after the +pattern of any existing school, whether Jewish, Greek, or Roman. +There was about Him an "other-worldliness" which brought those +near Him into close proximity, for the time, with the unseen; and +an elevation which lifted Him above the tumult that was howling +for His destruction. Probably Pilate could not have described +it to himself, but there was something which he felt unusual and +exceptional in this man, marking Him out from every other he ever +had before him, and constraining him to take a special interest in +His case. Add to this that his wife had sent to him that singular +message--"Have thou nothing to do with that just man, for I have +suffered many things this day in a dream because of him,"--a message +which, in those days of mingled scepticism and superstition--for the +two always go hand in hand--must have produced a deep impression on +his mind. Moreover, there seemed some fatality about the case. He +had tried to roll it over upon Herod, but that wily monarch sent the +prisoner back upon his hands. He had attempted to release Him, as +the Passover prisoner for the year, but neither was there any outlet +for him in that, for the people had preferred Barabbas. And so the +responsibility had come again to his own door, and could not be +passed on to another. Still again, he saw that the Jews were acting +most hypocritically in the matter. It was a new thing for them to be +zealous for the honor of Caesar, and he could easily see through the +mask they wore into the envy and malice which were the motives for +their conduct. The deeper he went into the case he discovered only +the more reason for resisting their importunity, and, however, he +looked at it, his plain duty was to set the prisoner free. + +Why then, again we ask, was his perplexity? The answer is suggested +by the taunt of the Jews, "If thou let this man go thou art not +Caesar's friend; whosoever maketh himself a king speaketh against +Caesar." He foresaw that if he resisted the will of the rulers he +would make them his enemies, and so provoke them to complain of +him to the emperor, who would then institute an inquiry into the +administration of his office--and that he was not prepared to face. +He had done things as a governor which would not bear the light, +and so at the crisis of his life he was fettered by deeds of the +past from doing that which he felt to be the duty of the present. +You may, perhaps, remember that expression of the prophet, which +thus reads in the margin: "Their doings will not suffer them to turn +unto their God": and that other, which affirms, concerning Israel: +"Their own doings have beset them about." Now these descriptions +most accurately define the cause of Pilate's perplexity here. His +conduct in the past had been such that he had not the courage to +take any course which might lead to an investigation of that. If +he could deliver Christ without provoking that, then he would most +cheerfully do so; but if by delivering Christ he would provoke that, +then Christ must be given up to the cross. Hence his perplexity +at the first, and hence, also, his yielding in the end. His past +misdeeds had put him virtually into the power of those who were +now so eager for the condemnation of the Christ. On three several +occasions his arbitrariness had been such as all but to instigate +a rebellion among the people, and his cruelty and contempt for +justice, when he had a personal end to gain, were sure, upon appeal +to the emperor, to be severely punished; so to save himself from +banishment and disgrace, if not even death, he delivered over Jesus +to the will of the Jews. He wished to do right in this case more +than ever he had wished before; there was something about it which +in his view made it more important that he should do right now than +ever before; but through all his past official life he had, by his +enormities and oppressions, been unconsciously weaving round himself +a net, in the meshes of which he was now inextricably caught. His +guilty conscience made him a coward at the very time when most of +all he wanted to be brave. He had come to his "narrow place," where +he could turn neither to the right hand nor to the left, but must +face the naked alternative "yes" or "no"; and he fell because in his +former life, when he was thinking of no such ordeal, he had sold +himself by his evil deeds into the power of the enemy. + +Now, what a lesson there is in all this for us! Men think that +they may live for the time being as they please, and that at a +convenient venient season they can repent and turn to God. But the +present is conditioning the future, and making it either possible +or the reverse for us to do right in the future. He who neglects +the laws of health every day, and lives in intemperance and excess +of all kinds, is only making it absolutely certain that when fever +lays him low he will die, for he has eaten out the strength of +his constitution by his follies. And, in the same way, he who +sets all morality at defiance in his ordinary conduct only makes +it inevitable that when his convenient season does come, when his +time of privilege and testing does arrive, he will fail to rise to +the occasion, and be swept away into perdition. The tenor of our +ordinary life determines how we shall pass through exceptional and +crucial occasions, therefore let us bring that up to the highest +level by doing everything as unto God, and then we shall be ready +for any emergency. + +Nor let me forget to add here, that in spite of all his efforts +to keep back investigation, Pilate's day of reckoning with the +emperor did come. The Jews complained of him after all, in spite of +his yielding to them now; and as the result he was banished, and +afterwards, so tradition says, he committed suicide. Thus the ordeal +and the disgrace came, notwithstanding all he did to avert them, +and he had not under them the solace which he might have enjoyed +if only he had stood firm on this great and memorable occasion. +Therefore let us all, and especially the young, take to ourselves, +as the first lesson from this deeply interesting history, that we +should be careful not to hamper ourselves for the discharge of duty +in the future by guilt of the present. By our conduct now we are +either coiling cords around us which shall hold us fast at the very +time when we most desire to be free, or we are forming and fostering +a strength of character which, through God, will triumph over every +temptation. If "to be weak is to be miserable," it is no less true +that to be guilty is to be weak. Preserve yourselves, therefore, +from this danger, and seek above all other things to keep your +consciences clean; then when you will need all your strength for a +crisis, you will not sit, like Pilate here, in nervous perplexity +bemoaning your helplessness even while you yield to the adversary; +but you will shake the temptation from you with as much ease as the +eagle shakes the dewdrop from his wing. Keep yourselves pure: so +shall your youth be full of happiness, and you shall go forth out +of it with no encumbering past to clog the wheels of your endeavor. +How happy he whose youth thus leaves him with a smile and sends him +forth upon the duties of manhood with a benediction! But he, how +miserable! whose early years heap bitter maledictions on his head, +and push him forward into active life with a conscience already +laden with guilt, and a soul as weak before temptation as a reed is +before the wind. + +But while there is thus in this history a lesson for all time, I +think Munkacsy, by the appearance of his wondrous picture now, has +made it evident that there is also something in it specially adapted +to these modern days. It is with artists in the choice of their +subjects as it is with ministers in the selection of their themes. +Both alike, consciously and unconsciously, and most frequently +perhaps unconsciously, are affected by the spirit of their age. +The atmosphere--literary, moral, political, and religious--which +is round about them, and which they are daily breathing, does, +insensibly to themselves, so influence them that their thoughts +are turned by it into a channel different from that in which those +of a former generation flowed. Hence, whether the painter would +admit it or not, I see in this picture, at this juncture, at once a +mirror of the times and a lesson for them. The question of Pilate, +"What shall I do, then, with Jesus which is called the Christ?" +is preeminently the question of the present age. No doubt we may +say with truth that it has been the question of all the Christian +centuries, and each one of them has faced it and solved it after its +own fashion. It has tested the centuries even as it tested Pilate, +and those in which Christ was rejected have been the darkest in +the world's history; while those in which He has been hailed as +the incarnate God have been the brightest which the earth has ever +seen, because irradiated with truth, and justice, and benevolence +and purity. But tho we are always prone to exaggerate that in the +midst of which we are ourselves, it seems to me that in no one age +since that of the primitive Church has this jesting question been so +prominent as in our own. All the controversies of our times, social, +philosophical, and theological, lead up to and find their ultimate +hinge in the answer to this inquiry, "Who is this Jesus Christ?" +If He be a mere man, then there is for us nothing but uncertainty +on any subject, outside of the domain of the exact sciences; and +we must all become agnostics, holding this one negative article +of belief, that nothing can be known about anything save that of +which we can take cognizance with the bodily sense. But if He be +incarnate God, then He brings with Him from heaven the final word on +all subjects concerning which He has spoken; and tho in His person +He is the mystery of mysteries, yet, at once received, He becomes +forthwith the solution of all mysteries, and faith in Him is at once +the satisfaction of the intellect and the repose of the heart. It +is perfectly natural, therefore, that all the controversies of the +day should turn on Him. The lives of Christ which have been written +during the last thirty or forty years would make in themselves a +very respectable library; and the cry even of the sceptic is, "I +could get on very well with unbelief, if I only knew what to make +of Christ." Yes, that is just the difficulty. Christ is here in +the Scriptures a character portrayed in literature; He was in the +world for thirty-three years, and lived a life exceptional in every +respect, but most of all in the moral and spiritual departments, so +that of Him alone perfection can be predicated; He has been ever +since a most potent factor in history, for through His influence +all that is pure, and noble, and exalted, and lovely and of good +report, has come into our civilization. Now, these things have to +be accounted for. If He was only a man, how shall we explain them? +And if He was more than a man shall we not take His own testimony +as to His dignity and mission? If we are to be unbelievers, we must +account for Christ on natural principles; but if we cannot do that, +then we must conceive Him as He claims to be conceived. There is no +alternative. Those in the age who have the spirit and disposition of +Pilate will anew reject Him! but those who are sincere and earnest +in their inquiries will come ultimately out into the light, for "if +any man be willing to do his will, he shall know of the doctrine +whether it be of God." + +And what is true of the age, as a whole, is true also of every +individual to whom the gospel is proclaimed. For each of us, my +hearers, this is the question of questions, "What shall I do with +Jesus which is called Christ?" Shall I reject Him and live precisely +as if I had never heard His name? or shall I accept Him as the Lord +from heaven in human nature, trust in Him as my Savior, and obey Him +as my King? I must do the one or the other; and yet how many are +seeking, like Pilate, to evade the question? They try to escape the +responsibility of dealing with it as a direct alternative of yes +or no. But as one has well said, "necessity is laid upon us. The +adversaries of Christ press upon us to give our verdict against Him. +We are troubled and perplexed, for we have long heard about Him, +and have had each of us his own convictions. We would still remain +neutral. We try--and try in vain--to escape from the spirit, the +conversation, the literature, the question of the times. Again and +again we wash our hands. But neither our silence nor our actions are +of any avail; and so we are found sitting, conscious of the presence +and the claims of our Savior, and, like Pilate, not daring to look +at Him, as we puzzle over the answer which we must give to the +question that is being forced upon us--Who is this Jesus Christ?" +Perhaps this description accurately portrays some one here this +morning. + +If so, let me give him one parting word. It is this: You can not +evade the decision, but be sure that you look at the Christ before +you give Him up. Nothing is so remarkable in the picture to which +I have so often this day referred as the evident persistency with +which Pilate keeps his eyes from Christ; and few things are so +saddening as to meet with men who profess to have, and really have, +difficulties about Christ, but who have never read the gospels or +the New Testament with any attention. + +Let me urge you earnestly, therefore, to study these gospels and +epistles before you give your voice against the Lord, and I am +very sure that if you ponder them thoroughly you will soon accept +Him. Give over trying to solve all the difficulties and so-called +discrepancies in the Scriptures which form the stock-in-trade of +the infidel lecturer--all these are but as dust which he raises +that he may blind your eyes to the really important question, "Who +is Christ?" Settle that, and if you do, all other difficulties +will vanish. Turn your face to the light, and the shadow will fall +behind you. Look at the Christ before you give Him up. And remember, +if you do reject Christ, you have still to account for Him. It +is unreasonable for you, if you believe only in the natural and +material, to leave such a phenomenon as Christ unexplained. + +Yes, and I must add here that if you reject Him you must yet +account to Him. Go, then, and ponder this text; yea, may it continue +sounding in your inmost heart until you have determined to receive +and rest upon Him as your only Savior, and say to Him, like Thomas, +"My Lord and my God." + + + + +JOHN HALL + +LIBERTY ONLY IN TRUTH + + + + +BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE + + +John Hall was born at Market Hill, County Armagh, Ireland, in 1829. +For many years he was pastor of the Fifth Avenue Presbyterian +Church, New York, where he had a large and devoted following. He was +of fine physique, and there was a power in face and voice that at +once commanded his audience. He spoke without manuscript, and his +style was marked by great sincerity, directness and earnestness. He +died in 1899. + + + + +JOHN HALL + +1829-1899 + +LIBERTY ONLY IN TRUTH + + _And I will walk at liberty, for I seek thy precepts._--Psalms + cxix., 45. + + +God is the Governor of this world. Some one may say, that is a +very elementary truth. Even so; there have been long ages in the +history of our race when that truth was not accepted and when the +most intelligent of our race believed something directly opposed. +There have been multitudes of men, for example, who believed, like +Aristotle, that matter is eternal. There are multitudes still who +believe that in some way or other nature governs itself. There is a +large class of thinkers who, without taking the name to themselves, +are practically pantheists, and, like Spinoza and Fichte and Hegel, +persuade themselves that all is God, as they express it, and that +God is all. You do not need to be told that the earlier portion of +the Old Testament Scriptures God has given to us that we might have +these illusions banished, and that we might be made to know that God +is the Creator and the Ruler of all things, that He is not nature, +and nature is not God; that He is not to be confounded with the +works of His hands; that He is a distinct, personal and holy Being, +who has created all, and who has a right, on the ground of creation, +even if there were no other, to be the Ruler of all. It took long to +make men understand this truth, simple and elementary as it seems to +you and to me. + +When we say that God governs the globe, we do not mean the mere +earthly, solid structure on which we dwell. We mean that He governs +the inhabitants of it, the communities and the individuals. "The +Lord reigneth, let the earth rejoice." "The Lord reigneth, let the +nations tremble." "He raiseth up kings and he putteth them down." +He calls into being Pharaohs that He may show His power and His +glory in relation to them. His providence is most holy and wise and +powerful, and it is not general merely, it is particular, extending +to all the creatures and to all their actions. These things we have +to keep in mind in relation to Jehovah. + +Now it would seem, surely, that if a man believed this his common +sense would dictate to him that, living in a world that God had +made and God rules in every detail, if he wishes to be happy in +it, he must have respect to the law of Him who has made and who +rules. Common sense indicates that if we live in a house it is +desirable to be on good terms with the head of the house if we +wish to be comfortable. Common sense dictates that if a man is +in the employment of others, it is wise for him to have a right +understanding, to stand well with the head of the department in +which he is engaged. Common sense teaches us that if we are subjects +in a kingdom and wish to be safe and happy, we must respect the +laws by which the kingdom is ruled. And we have only to extend this +principle, and we get to the point that was before the Psalmist's +mind when he says: "I will walk at liberty, for I seek (or, as it +is in the revision, without changing the meaning, 'I have sought') +thy statutes." I am living in Thy world, I am dependent upon Thee, +I have taken pains to know what Thy will is, that I may do it; and +so I walk at liberty. That is the idea that is brought to us in the +text, and it is easy for you to see how good and practical that idea +is. + +But the question may arise, can we know the precepts and the +statutes that God has given to us? You do not need to be told that +that is within our reach. God has spoken to us in this revelation, +as He did speak less articulately in the works of His hands, and +in the instincts and convictions that He produced in our spirit. +We have His revelation in our hands. We can seek the knowledge of +it. In many instances well-meaning and right-minded boys, under +great difficulties, have sought education that they may get on in +this world. In many other cases boys have had education at their +very doors, and have never sought it, and consequently have been +of little account in the world. Now the difference is not great, +in this aspect of it, between ordinary secular education and the +spiritual education of which the text gives us an illustration. Here +are God's statutes and precepts put within our reach. We can search +them, seek them, know them and do them, by the grace that God is +willing to give, or we can push them aside, ignore and disregard +them, and take our own way, and the result will be absolute and +everlasting failure in our lives. We can not have this too solemnly +fixt in our thoughts. God has spoken to us. What shall we do with +His word? Shall we neglect it and pass it by, or shall we take it, +study it, seek it, as the verse expresses it, and make it the rule +of our lives? Jesus Christ has come down from heaven to live among +us, and has said to our race, "Come unto me and learn of me"; and +there are millions to whom this message has come and they disregard +and ignore it; they do not come to Him, they do not learn of Him. +Can we wonder if the Judge should say to them when they appear at +His seat, "I never knew you"? If you read the First Epistle to the +Thessalonians, you will see pictures of an angry God, as an avenging +fire, in the apostle's description. On whom does the fire fall? On +whom does the Judge show his indignation? Is it upon the misers and +the miscreants and the murderers of the race merely? Oh, no. It is +upon them that "know not God and obey not the gospel of his Son." +Is it any wonder that the sacred writer should say, "Remember thy +Creator in the days of thy youth"; not merely remember that there +is a God--remember thy Creator, who made thee and in whose hand thy +fortunes are. Remember in the days of thy youth, the formative days, +the days when character is being shaped. What is well begun is half +ended. The life that is well begun, in this way has a guaranty of +usefulness and success. The life that is not begun in this way has +a dark and gloomy prospect before it. Remember thy Creator. We all +know well what is meant when some one says to us, on going away from +our homes, "Don't forget your home, don't forget your mother." We +know what that means. And God's messenger speaks to us in the same +tone when he makes this appeal: Remember thy Creator; remember His +power, remember His will, remember His statutes, seek His precepts, +and by doing this thou wilt be able to walk at liberty. + +You may have mere liberty, and not light and not the liberty of +God. You may combine liberty with means, with power, and with a +certain degree of prosperity; you may combine it with equality and +with fraternity, and yet not have the true enlightenment. True +enlightenment comes in the way, indicated in the text, by the +seeking of God's precepts, the knowing of God's statutes, and this +you and I need to keep in mind. "What is liberty?" once asked Burke. +"What is liberty without wisdom and without virtue? Such liberty +is the greatest of all possible evils, for it is vice and folly +and madness, without tuition and without restraint." Mere liberty +without other forces working in the sphere that it opens up, is +only another name for license. "Give me liberty or give me death," +said Patrick Henry--not because he felt the need of enlightenment. +He had been enlightened by the teaching of an intelligent Scottish +father, by the preaching of the splendid sermons of Samuel Davies, +and especially by the daily study, which he kept up to his dying +day, of his Bible. He had been enlightened by these things. What +he craved for himself and for his fellow men was open space in +which, unhindered, other and mighty influences might tell upon his +fellow men and make the country what, in the blessing of God, it has +become. Settle this in your minds: Liberty is simply the freedom +for other forces to act, and it is for you and me who are free, to +see what these forces are, and we never can have any so good as +those which the Psalmist speaks of when he says that he sought God's +precepts, he studied God's statutes, that he might do them, and so +walk at liberty. We want to walk at liberty. How can we do it? If +we do not thus walk at liberty, there is only one alternative--stay +in bondage and walk in bondage, moving about indeed, and apparently +free, but with moral chains binding our natures and our whole +being in bondage to the powers that will rejoice in our misery and +ultimate ruin. It is to make men understand this that we have such +institutions as we enjoy to-day. For this end church edifices are +reared. For this end people are invited to come and be regularly in +them and under their influence. For this end God has been pleased +to give us the day of holy rest. For this purpose the ministry has +been instituted. Our business is to make men seek and know God's +precepts and statutes, that they may do them and that they may walk +at liberty. "We ministers are for you; our business is to seek +your moral and spiritual good, your full and complete liberation. +Our business is to enlighten you with the truth as God has been +pleased to reveal it unto us. You do not come to these churches for +our sakes, to hear us. You do not give your money that we may be +sustained and upheld. I tell you I would rather sweep the streets, +I would rather carry bricks on my shoulder to the builder, than be +a mere official person maintained because he can teach so much and +get so many people to hear him. Brethren, it is that you may be +enlightened and saved with the light of life, that God has brought +us into the position in which we are now together. Keep this in your +thoughts; and that you may be enlightened and free, look upward and +not downward, nor around you. In that statue in our harbor, the +light that will shine is light that comes, I suppose, from the heart +of the earth; but the light that is to enlighten the world is the +light of the sun, the Sun of Righteousness. See that you have that +shining into your souls, that you may walk at liberty. + +Having looked at the former part of this text, namely, what the +Psalmist did with a view to the end, we look at the end at which he +was aiming. He studied God's Word, not simply that he might have so +much intellectual knowledge. He studied it for practical uses. He +studied God's precepts that he might obey them. I do not need to +remind you that you and I have advantages greater than he had, in +some important respects. He had the revelation in part; we have it +in its completeness. He had the preparatory dispensation; we have +the dispensation that fulfils the promises of the preparatory. He +had the beginning; we have the complement. We know more than he +did. He wrote these words, "I have sought thy precepts." He knew of +the Paschal Lamb and of its typical significance; we know the Lamb +of God that taketh away the sin of the world. He knew the Hebrew +priest and the general character of his functions. We know a High +Priest who has passed into the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God. He +knew of the altar and the victim, and the blood that made typical +atonement; we know of the great sacrifice on the cross, bringing in +a redemption that is complete and eternal. He knew of a Messiah that +was to come. You, even children in the Sunday-school to-day, know of +that Messiah risen, risen triumphant, risen a conqueror, risen for +you, risen because He has finished the work God gave Him to do. If +the Psalmist studied God's will that he might walk at liberty, how +much greater is the obligation upon us to do the same, and how much +greater our facilities and our encouragement. Let us try, then, to +travel in the Psalmist's steps, and let us see some, not all, of +the forms of liberty that we can have by compliance with the divine +precepts. + +There is liberty, in the first place, from the world. I use the word +now in the sense in which it is used so frequently in the Bible--not +merely this round globe or the hundreds of millions that are upon +it--not merely these millions in that capacity. The world lieth in +the wicked one; the mass of men, that is, do not know God. They +constitute the world of the New Testament; we can be in bondage +to this world. Natural men are in bondage to it. They are not at +liberty in relation to that natural world. It is without God; it +does not ask what His will is. It enquires as to its own will, and +it tries to enforce it. You sometimes see cliques and coteries and +collections of men insisting at any cost upon carrying out their own +will. This is only the spirit of the greater world of which they +constitute a section. Sometimes men are in bondage to the world +in this sense, and the mainspring of their life is to stand well +with it, to do what their set, their society, the world round about +them, wishes them to do. Sometimes the bondage is aggravated by +another feature, viz., the effort to rise higher, to get upon a more +elevated plane, to get into another set; and, oh, how aggravated is +the bondage under which many thus live and labor! Freedom from that +is obtained when we walk according to God's statutes. Believers, +the world is not your master. One is your Master, even Christ, and +we are brethren in Him, and He is reasonable and kind and just and +brotherly, and you can walk with Him. His favor is enough for you, +His smile satisfies you. Fellowship with Him is the best society. +Let society stigmatize you, let it stamp its enmity upon you, but +seek God's precepts. If you only have Christ walking with you, +then you walk at liberty. But as to the life-work in which many +are busy, or trying to get up a little higher socially, take this +precept of the Word, "Godliness with contentment is great gain"; +and these things, the godliness with the contentment, will break +these clanking chains of insane and stupid ambition and will prepare +you to walk at liberty. "I am in the place where God puts me. I am +trying to do the work that God gives to me. I am responsible to Him. +I belong to Him. He is my Father, Christ is my Brother, heaven is my +home. This I believe on the authority of His word. I will walk at +liberty." Let me commend that form of true freedom to you. + +There is liberty, in the second place, from bad ways. Do I need +to describe these bad ways to you? You can not live in the city, +you can not read the newspapers, you can not hear the gossip, you +can not know what is going on in the circles in which you mingle, +without knowing some of these bad ways. There is the lover of this +world's possessions, so strongly denounced in Isaiah's prophecies: +beginning, perhaps, with necessary saving, but coming slowly but +steadily to a sordid love of the thing that is saved, till the whole +spirit is mercenary, and gold is the deity that is practically +worshiped. There is the drunkard, sipping a little innocently, as he +thinks, at the beginning, then going a little farther, and secretly, +until shame is lost and the victim is under the power of the +drink--degraded, wretched, irresponsible, not ashamed of himself, +for shame is gone, but an object for which all are ashamed that are +connected with him. There is the gambler, beginning perhaps with +what he deemed innocent recreation, and catching the spirit of the +thing till it masters him, until he flings away all that he has, and +all that he hopes to have, in the chance of recovering something +already lost, till life is a burden and fortune is gone, and suicide +is perhaps the tragical termination. These are specimens of the +bad ways--marked specimens, I grant, but still simple specimens. +There is freedom from this when we seek and do God's statutes--real +freedom. We learn to walk circumspectly; we learn to keep the heart +with all diligence; we learn to hate evil and to do good; we learn +to flee from the snares that Satan sets for the feet of men. We walk +securely, for we have been taught of the Spirit to walk with God. +Make sure, dear hearers, that you have this liberty. + +There is liberty from bad memories--bad, putrid memories. When the +corrupt imagination contemplates indulgences in sin, it often dwells +upon these long before the actual execution of them, and as they +linger in the mind they photograph themselves upon its surface, and +they stay there. There may be compunction for the sin, there may be +shame over it, there may be vows against it, there may be honest +purposes to resist and overcome it, and these purposes to a good +degree carried out; but the horrid, poisonous memories remain in the +soul. You know what it is to be in a house where animal matter is +decaying and poisoning fumes are being scattered up and down. Oh! +the misery of the human mind that is haunted with the ghosts of bad +deeds that have been done in the past. It is bondage of the keenest +and sorest kind. There is liberty from these to those who walk in +God's statutes, liberty that can be had nowhere else. "A new heart +will I give you, and a right spirit will I put within you. I will +take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a +heart of flesh." Happy are they to whom this word was fulfilled in +their early youth, and who in consequence were kept from the sins, +the very recollection of which is sometimes like the beginning of +hell. + +There is bondage to bad associates and bad associations. In how many +instances, in thoughtlessness, inexperience, under the impulses of +mere feeling, do men become entangled in connections that mar their +lives and spoil all their happiness--make happiness practically +impossible! I speak what I know, when I say that there are too +many cases in which boys are practically ruined where they go as +pupils to schools away from their parents' supervision, thrown into +dependence, in some degree, upon those whom they call friends, and +these friends bad, initiating them into ways and habits and modes of +thinking and doing, for which they only want the liberty of later +years that they may put them into practise, with disgrace, misery +and ruin. Relief from this bondage, escape from it, these can be had +when we seek God's statutes, when we walk according to His precepts. +Wisdom's ways are pleasantness, and her paths are peace. There are +no bad habits in them; there are no entangling associations in them; +there are no corrupting and degrading influences in them. There is +nothing in them that plays upon passion, till passion, once our idol +and our sport, becomes our ruler and our cruel tyrant. To escape all +these, this is the way: seek God's statutes, that you may know and +do them, and you shall walk at liberty. + + + + +BACON + +GOD INDWELLING + + + + +BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE + + +LEONARD WOOLSEY BACON, Congregational divine, born in New Haven, +Conn., 1830. He was educated at Yale, from which university he +graduated in 1850. He has filled the position of pastor in many +important churches and has done much theological and literary work. +Among other things he edited Luther's "Deutsche Geistliche Lieder" +(New York, 1883), and wrote "History of American Christianity" (New +York, 1897). + + + + +BACON + +BORN IN 1830 + +GOD INDWELLING[6] + + [6] From "The Simplicity That Is in Christ," published by Funk & + Wagnalls Company. + +_Thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose +name is Holy: I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also +that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of +the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones._--Isaiah +lvii., 15. + + +Inhabiting eternity; yet making His abode within a broken heart! It +seems as if we might apprehend either of these things singly; but +both together--how can it be? The distresses, the wants, the fears, +of life, make us long that indeed it were so. Our soul crieth out +for God, for the living God. + +We cry; but there seems no answer; only an awful silence. We look +upon the outward facts of life and death, and see the steady, +unswerving march of law--the unbroken, irrefragable chain of causes +and effects--never yielding nor bending to all our needs, to all our +prayers. And God seems so far, so far away! We turn the pages of +our knowledge from the physical to the metaphysical, and we come +no nearer. Our philosophical, our theological, yes, our religious +meditations upon the nature and attributes of the infinite One--the +omniscient, the eternal, the unchangeable--set Him more and more +beyond the reach of our fellowship and prayer. But all the time, +one thing testifies to us of a heavenly Father that hears and loves +and answers, and that is our ineradicable need. The cravings of our +nature cannot be rebuked by scientific observation of the constancy +of law, nor by philosophic meditation of the properties of absolute +and infinite being. We need, we must have, a Father. Our heart and +flesh, our soul, crieth out for the living God. + +In such a strait, there is true comfort in this word of the Lord +by His prophet, in which the full measure of the difficulty is set +forth, and the solution of it is found in faith. + +It has seemed to me that we need not seek in vain in the created +works of God for helps to that faith by which we know that the +infinite and eternal God can have fellowship with us and can dwell +within the narrow precincts of a human heart. + +That sight in visible nature which gives to us the highest sense +of vastness,--the aptest suggestion of infinity,--is doubtless the +aspect of the starry heavens;--to all of us, ignorant or learned, +poetic or unimaginative. It needs no diagrams nor distances from +a book of astronomy to tell the lessons of the firmament. "Their +sound is gone out into all the earth, and their words to the end of +the world." + +And yet it is when we come to study the dimensions of this operation +in detail, that the sense of its vastness grows upon us and +overpowers us. David never could have felt, as we can feel, the +force of his own words: + + 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! + +They are like the chariot of Ezekiel's vision, "so high that it +was dreadful." It seems a fearful thing to have to do with such +magnitudes; and when we hear of scholars in their observatories +measuring the distances among the stars, it overcomes us with a +giddy feeling, as when we see men clambering on church spires, or +crossing the East River on a strand of wire. A row of figures on a +slate does seem such a frail support on which to go marching through +the starry spaces! We almost shudder when we see human science +springing clear of the narrow boundaries of the earth, and on such +attenuated threads of calculation venturing boldly forth to other +planets, and thence over chasms of space so vast that it is easiest +to call them infinite, until he reaches the fixt stars. No longer +content with numbering and naming the host of heaven, and marshaling +them in constellations, this tiny creature must take upon himself +to scrutinize their constitution, must weigh their floating bulk, +must + + "Speed his flight from star to star, + From world to luminous world, as far + As the universe rears his flaming wall," + +and, as if bearing in this amazing flight the measuring-rod which +once the prophet saw in an angel's hand, must measure the paths +along which the planets travel, and tell in human language the +distances on the chart of heaven. + +And how human language staggers under the burden thus laid upon it! +We begin with attempting to state the least of these distances in +numbers of a unit of earthly distance, but, when we speak of some +of our near neighbors in celestial space as being twenty trillions +of English miles away, the words will not hold the meaning--they +carry no conception to the mind. They are good to cipher with, +but that is all they are good for. We try to invent a new form of +speech, and for our unit we take the distance which a cannon-ball, +if retaining the velocity with which it leaves the gun, would travel +in twenty-four hours, and say that, at this rate of speed, it would +take so many months, and years, and centuries, to reach such and +such of the nearer stars. But this, too, is a clumsy failure; and +we resort, at last, to the heavens themselves for a standard of +measurement, and find it in the velocity of light. It shoots from +the sun to the earth, a distance of ninety-two millions of miles, +in eight minutes and seven seconds. And we attempt to represent the +distance of certain of the stars by stating how many years, how many +hundred years, how many thousand years, it takes a ray of their +light to reach the earth. But it is all in vain. We commonly speak +of imagination as outstripping, in its speed, the slow-paced reason; +but here it is the reason that has outrun the imagination. From +these unspeakable tracts of space, over which the reason of man has +not hesitated to go, + + "Sounding along its dim and perilous way," + +the imagination shrinks back and refuses to follow. We know things +which we cannot conceive. In presence of such stupendous magnitudes, + + "Imagination's utmost stretch + In wonder dies away." + +We can only bow with awe in the presence of things which the +calmest computations have revealed, and seizing the words kindled on +the lips of inspiration, sing aloud in worship: + + "O Lord, how great are they works! + In wisdom hast thou made them all!" + +I have shown you what is wonderful. Come now and I will show you +what is more wonderful. For I will show you these infinite spaces +of the sky, and the glory of them, and the innumerable host of +starry worlds, gathered up in a moment of time, within the tiny +pupil of a human eye. It is wonderful that the heavens and the host +of them should be so great; but that, being so great, they should +be able to become so infinitely little,--this passes all wonder. +The shepherd stretched upon the ground amid his sheep gazes up into +the starry depths, and finds them wonderful; but never thinks how +far more wonderful than the heavens which he beholds is himself +beholding them. As he lies gazing, long lines of light, from planet +and star and constellation, come stretching on through the infinite +void spaces, to center on the lenses of his drowsy eye. Side by +side, and all at once, yet never twisted or confused, these ten +thousand rays of different light enter the little aperture in the +center of the eye which we call the pupil. There they cross, in a +point which has no dimensions, and separate again, and paint in +microscopic miniature upon the little surface of the retina, behind +the eyeball, the inverted facsimile of the visible heavens. There, +in the ante-chamber of the brain, marches Orion, with his shining +baldric and his jeweled sword; there glow Arcturus and Sirius, and +the steadfast North Star; there pass the planets to and fro; and +the far-off nebulae are painted there with suffused and gentle +radiance--all the heavens and the glory of them gathered in that +slender filament of light, threaded through that tiny aperture, +painted by their own rays upon that little patch of nervous network, +apprehended, felt, known through and through by that finite human +mind. How far stranger and sublimer a thing is this than the mere +bulk of the worlds, or the mere chasms of void space in which they +hang weltering! + +By this sublime fact of God's visible creation, we are led on to +apprehend and feel the sublimest of the glories of God Himself, set +forth in the prophet's words,--that He whose lifetime is infinite +duration, whose dwelling-place is infinite space,--He who before +the earth and the world were made was no younger, neither will be +older when they are all consumed,--whose presence reaches out to the +farthest fixt star that eye or telescope has ever described floating +upon the far verge of the universe, and occupies beyond in all the +orbits of worlds yet undiscovered, and still beyond in the regions +of space where is naught but the possibility of future worlds, and +fills all this immensity to repletion,--that this "high and lofty +One that inhabiteth eternity" should enter into some poor, crusht +and broken spirit, that trembles at the very whisper of His voice, +and should make the narrow recesses of that heart His abode, His +home. This is the mystery and glory of the Godhead,--not alone that +He should be infinite, eternal, immortal, invisible, but that being +all these, He should yet be apprehended by the little mind of a man, +and call Himself that man's Friend and Comforter and Father. + +For it is not more evident that the tiny pupil of human eye can take +in the expanses and abysses of the heavens, than it is that the +little soul of man can receive into itself the infinite God. + +I. Man receives God into himself by the intellect. We trifle with +the facts of our own consciousness, if we suffer the theological +description of God as incomprehensible to divert us from the fact +that our minds are made for nothing more expressly than for this, +that they should receive God. The lowest rudiments of the knowledge +of the simplest forms of matter are the beginnings of the knowledge +of God. If we could remember, you and I, now that we are grown, all +that came to us in infancy--the first struggles of the childish mind +with the questions that we are not done with yet, we should see how +soon the knowledge of God comes to the little one. Beyond the cradle +in which it wakes up to the wonders of a new day is the nursery, and +beyond the nursery is the house, and beyond the house is the garden, +and beyond the garden there lies all the world, and beyond the +world shuts down the sky with its stars, and beyond the sky--what? +"Tell me, father--tell me, mother, what is there beyond the sky?" +And, according to your knowledge or your ignorance, your faith or +your unbelief, you may tell the little questioner of heaven, or of +infinities of other worlds, or of infinite waste room and empty +space, and he will believe you. But attempt to tell him that beyond +is nothing, and not even room for anything, and will he believe you? +He may seem to believe you, but it is impossible that he really +should believe. The infant mind--any mind--rejects it as impossible. +It cannot live in anything less than infinite space. It stifles. It +leaps up and beats its wings against any bars with which you would +cage it in, but that it will break through and take possession of +its inheritance. + +And as with infinite extent, so with infinite duration. How well I +remember, as a very little child, when men were talking of the end +of the world, and the great comet stretched amain across the sky, +and men's hearts were failing them for fear, how the thought of +infinite duration prest in, inexorably, on my soul! Come judgment +day, come final conflagration, come end of all material things, come +cessation and extinction of all angels, all souls, all sentient +creatures, still this could not be the end. Eternity must needs go +on and on, tho there were never an event or thought to mark its +movement. There cannot be an end. + +They err, not measuring the import of their own arguments, who +tell us, in that pride of not-knowing which is so high uplifted +beyond any pride of knowledge, that the very form of the word +infinite marks it as the sign of a thing inconceivable, being a mere +negation. Nay, verily, it is the word end, limit, cessation, that +is the negative word, having no meaning except as the negation of +continuance; and infinite is the negation of this negation--a thing +positive, affirmative, real. + +So, then, it is not the idea of infinity to which the human mind is +unfitted. The mind is so made that it cannot help receiving that. +The incredible, inconceivable idea is the idea of absolute end. So +far is the idea of infinity from being inconceivable, that it is +just impossible to thrust the conception out of the mind. And with +the conception of eternity, there rushes into the thoughtful spirit +at once, the awful and lovely conception of "that high and lofty +One who inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy." By such a wonder +of creation is it, that He who made the little ball of the human +eye so that it can take in the heavens and the earth, has made the +petty intellect of man so that it can take in the knowledge of the +infinite God. + +II. But, secondly, it is even a greater wonder than this, that the +infinite God, whom the intellect has conceived, draws near for a +more intimate society with His creature, and enters the heart +of man through the gateway of his affections. I say a greater +wonder; for it must be confest that this ideal of the intellect, +this center in which all infinite attributes inhere, does by +His very majesty so overawe the heart that we shrink away from +Him. By every new perfection of His nature, that grows upon our +apprehension; by His awful power as the Almighty; by His perfect +knowledge as the All-wise; by His unswerving steadfastness as the +Faithful and True--the Immutable; by the very infinitude of His +nature, He is withdrawn farther and farther from the possibility +of being counted among those humble objects on which the tendrils +of a human heart are able to lay hold. How, for instance, shall +this Inhabitant of eternity, whose name is Holy, be well-pleased +with His petty creature who has dared withstand His perfect law, +and looks shrinking toward the throne of infinite Majesty, fearing +and crying, "Unclean! unclean!" How shall any prayer that we can +frame bring arguments to bear upon the Mind that knows the end +from the beginning, and to whom there is not a word upon our lips, +but lo! He knoweth it altogether? How can any pitiful plight into +which we may fall move the compassion of Him who is immutable, and +under whose benign government even the pains and severities that +befall His creatures are wrought into a plan of common beneficence +to the whole? These are questions which the awe-struck intellect, +gazing upward at the infinite attributes that adorn the name which +is holy, puts to the yearning heart, which, with all the craving +of its love, with all the outstretching of its need, gropes after +a God to worship, to love, to pray to, if haply it may find Him. +And the heart cannot answer back the intellect with arguments of +language. But love contains more reason than many arguments; and the +strong instincts of affection and devotion with which the humble and +contrite heart reaches out after the love and personal friendship +of an infinite Creator are themselves an argument that God will not +refuse Himself to the affections which He has Himself implanted. The +hunger and thirst of our hearts for God are a promise from Him that +they shall be filled. He cannot deny Himself. + +The very arguments by which we climb to the knowledge of the +infinite Spirit are like mountains that separate us from any +relation with him of childlike prayer and mutual love. But a +trustful confidence can say to these mountains, "Be ye removed and +be ye cast into the sea," and it shall be done. + +Have you ever pondered that dark mystery of human nature, the origin +of the frightful idolatries of India? It seems to be proved that +they had their beginning, not (as the prepossessions of modern +science would suggest) through development from some form of +fetishism baser and coarser still, but by degradation from the most +refined and abstract speculations on the infinity, the spirituality, +and the immutability of God. No subtler metaphysics is taught to-day +in the lecture-rooms of Yale and Princeton than was taught long +centuries ago by Hindoo sages, enthroning their supreme divinity in +the everlasting, impassive repose of the unconditioned, far beyond +the reach of affection, sympathy or prayer, until the needy millions +cried out, stifling, famishing, "Give us a God to love, to worship, +to pray to!" and, for lack of answer, betook them to the forest or +the quarry or the mine, to the carver and the smith, and made them +gods that were no gods. So little can argument and reason hold us +back in times when the stress of life comes down upon us, and the +cravings of the soul grow strong! + +I am bringing to the altar of God my offering--my poor little +offering of thankfulness and prayer. Here have I my little bundle +of anxieties, cares, troubles,--it may be the concerns of a nation +in fear and perplexity; it may be the distress and terror of +some sorely afflicted little household; it may be the secret of +bitterness of some humble and contrite spirit; in any case, a matter +how infinitely small when measured by the scale of immensity and +eternity; but oh, how great a thing to me! And there meets me, in +the way, a philosopher. "And what, forsooth, have you there? Show +it me, now." And I unroll before Him my little bundle of griefs, +of cares, of pains, of sickness, of fears, of forebodings,--here +a handful of myrrh from a troubled heart, and there a sprig of +frankincense from a grateful spirit. "And this, then, is what you +would bring to lay before the infinite, the eternal, the omniscient, +the unchangeable God!" And each great title smites upon my heart +with discouragement and dismay. "This is what you would bring to +Him in prayer and deprecation! But do you not know that all this +is a part of a perfect system?--that it is all fixt by the laws of +nature, which no prayer can change or suspend without upsetting the +constitution of the universe. You would lay before God your wretched +plight to move His pity? Tush! Did He not know it all a hundred +thousand ages ago, or ever the earth was?" And I cannot gainsay Him, +and I cannot cease to pray. But by and by the philosopher himself +comes face to face with some of the overwhelming things in human +life and human death. He hangs with tears and wringing of hands over +some cradleful of childish anguish, and shrinks from what the laws +of nature, the system of the universe, are doing there--so pitiless, +so deaf to prayer, so blind to agony; and he looks away, and looks +up, and cries, "My God, my God!" And his reason is not one whit +the less true, because now, at last, his love and faith are also +true and strong. The awful wonder of God's unchangeable infinity +abides; but out of cloud and darkness breaks forth, oh, what light +of fatherly love! And the bewildered soul sings:-- + + And can this mighty King + Of glory condescend? + And will He write His name + My Father, and my Friend? + I love His name! I love His word! + Join all my powers and praise the Lord! + +And now behold a mystery--the mystery of godliness, without +controversy great, manifest in the flesh! That He may come over +these mountains of helpless separation, that we may be helped to +know, to love, to trust that which is far too vast for the reach +of our clinging affections to clasp, what wonders of condescending +tenderness will not our Father do! There draweth near to us One +having the likeness of man, but glorious with an unearthly glory, +as of the only-begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. He +stands beside us in our daily cares, our household joys and griefs, +our business troubles and anxieties, our national fears and sorrows. +He shares our temptations. He is touched with the feeling of our +infirmities. He carries our sorrows. He bears our sickness. He dies +our death. How easy to love Him, to come near to Him, to trust Him! +Being lifted up, how doth He draw all men unto Him! And what mean +those wonderful words of His, telling of His intimacy, His sonship, +His oneness with the invisible and eternal God? Could it be, +perhaps, that such an one might bring us nearer to the inaccessible +Light--might help us to draw nigh as seeing Him who is invisible? +Oh, Master, show us the Father and it sufficeth us! And hear now +His gracious words: "He that believeth on me believeth on him that +sent me." "He that hath seen me hath seen the Father also." Thus the +high and lofty One, who hath wonderfully entered into our narrow +understanding, cometh also into our heart, and draweth us to His own +bosom "with the chords of love, with the bands of a man." + +III. Finally, with a true spiritual intercourse and converse, which +no man can define, which is as the viewless wind that men know altho +they see it not, and feel its quickening and refreshment, altho they +cannot tell whence it cometh nor whither it goeth, God entereth into +our spirits, "not to sojourn, but to abide with us," and we become +the temples of the Holy Ghost. + + + + +JOSEPH PARKER + +A WORD TO THE WEARY + + + + +BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE + + +JOSEPH PARKER was born at Hexham-on-Tyne, England, in 1830. He +was a prodigious worker, writer, and preacher. His "The People's +Bible," in twenty-eight large volumes, a popular commentary on +the Scriptures, is his greatest work. To a naturally energetic +personality he added great originality and resourcefulness. He +gave much time to the preparation of sermons, reading them aloud +as he wrote in order to test their effect upon the ear. A strong +personal quality pervaded all his preaching. "If I have not seen Him +myself," he said, "I cannot preach Him." In lectures to students he +gave much valuable advice gathered from the storehouse of his own +varied experience. He gave particular attention to the use of the +voice. "It is not enough," he said, "that you be heard; you must be +effective as well as audible; you must lighten and thunder with the +voice; it must rise and fall like a storm at times; now a whisper, +now a trumpet, now the sound of many waters. There is an orator's +voice, and there is a bellman's. The auctioneer talks; the orator +speaks." Dr. Parker's sermons are published in numerous volumes. He +died in 1902. + + + + +JOSEPH PARKER + +1830-1902 + +A WORD TO THE WEARY[7] + + [7] From "The People's Bible," by Joseph Parker, published by Funk & + Wagnalls Company. + +_The Lord God hath given me the tongue of the learned, that I should +know how to speak a word in season to him that is weary._--Isaiah +1., 4. + + +The power of speaking to the weary is nothing less than a divine +gift. As we see the divinity in our gifts shall we be careful of +them, thankful for them: every gift seems to enshrine the giver, +God. But how extraordinary that this power of speaking to the weary +should not be taught in the schools. It is not within the ability +of man to teach other men how to speak to the weary-hearted, the +wounded in spirit, the sore in the innermost feelings of the being. +But can we lay down directions about this and offer suggestions? +Probably so, but we do not touch the core of the matter. There is an +infinite difference between the scholar and the genius. The scholar +is made, the genius is inspired. Information can be imparted, but +the true sense, the sense that feels and sees God, is a gift direct +from heaven. + +It is a common notion that anybody can sing. Why can you sing? Why, +because I have been taught. That is your mistake. You can sing +mechanically, exactly, properly, with right time, right tune, but +really and truly you can not sing. Here is a man with his music and +with the words; he sings every note, pronounces every word, goes +through his lesson, finishes his task, and nobody wants to hear him +any more. Another man takes up the same music, the same words, and +the same hearers exclaim, "Oh, that he would go on for ever!" How +is that?--the words exactly the same, the notes identical--how? +Soul, fire, ever-burning, never consuming, making a bush like a +planet. The great difficulty in all such cases is the difficulty +of transferring to paper a proper or adequate conception of the +power of the men who thus sway the human heart. There are some men +whose biographies simply belie them, and yet every sentence in the +biography is true in the letter; but the biography is little else +than a travesty and a caricature, because the power was personal, +it was in the face, in the voice, in the presence, in the gait, in +the touch--an incommunicable power; the hem of the garment trembled +under it, but no biographer could catch it in his scholarly ink. + +Very few ministers can enter a sick chamber with any probability +of doing real and lasting good. They can read the Bible, and they +can pray, and yet, when they have gone, the room seems as if they +had never been there. There is no sense of emptiness or desolation. +Other men, probably not so much gifted in some other directions, +will enter the sick room, and there will be a light upon the wall, +summer will gleam upon the windowpane, and angels will rustle in the +air, and it will be a scene of gladness and a vision of triumph. How +is that? The Lord God hath given me the tongue of the learned that +I might know how--_how_ to speak a word in season to him that is +weary. The Lord God hath not only given me a word to say, but hath +given me learning to teach me how to speak it. Place the emphasis +upon the how, and then you develop all the mystery, all the tender +music, all the infinite capacity of manner. + +We may say the right word in the wrong tone; we may preach the +gospel as if it were a curse. The common notion is that anybody can +go into the Sunday-school and teach the young. We sometimes think +that it would be well if a great many persons left the Sunday-school +all over the world. Teach the young--would God I had that great +gift, to break the bread for the children, and to be able to lure +and captivate opening minds, and to enter into the spirit of the +words-- + + "Delightful task! to rear the tender thought, + To teach the young idea how to shoot." + +It requires to be father and mother and sister and nurse and +genius to speak to the young. They may hear you and not care for +you: they may understand your words, and be repelled by your spirit. +You require the tongue of the learned to know how to speak, and +that tongue of the learned is not to be had at school, college, +university--it is not included in any curriculum of learning--it is +a gift divine, breathing an afflatus, an inspiration--the direct +and distinct creation of God, as is the star, the sun. The speaker, +then, is Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the representative of the +Father, the incarnate Deity--He it is who is charged with the subtle +learning; He it is whose lips tremble with the pathos of this +ineffable music. + +Tho the gift itself is divine, we must remember that it is to be +exercised seasonably. The text is, "that I should know how to speak +a word in season." There is a time for everything. It is not enough +to speak the right word, it must be spoken at the right moment. Who +can know when that is! We can not be taught. We must feel it, see +it hours beyond: nay, must know when to be silent for the whole +twenty-four hours and to say, "To-morrow, at such and such a time, +we will drop that sentence upon the listening ear." "The day after +to-morrow, he will probably be in circumstances to admit of this +communication being delivered with sympathy and effect." How few +persons know the right time--the right time in conversation. Some +people are never heard in conversation tho they are talking all +the time. They talk so unseasonably, they talk when other people +are talking; they can not wait; they do not know how to come in +along the fine line of silence: they do not understand the German +expression "Now an angel has passed," and they do not quickly enough +follow in his wake. Consequently, tho chattering much they are +saying nothing--tho their words be multitudinous, the impression +they make is a blank. + +I have a ripe seed in my hand. As an agriculturist I am going to sow +it. Any laborer in the field can tell me that I should be acting +foolishly in sowing it just now. Why? "It is out of season," the man +says. "There is a time for the doing of that action: I will tell you +when the time returns--do it then, and you may expect a profitable +result of your labor." + +Then I will change the character and be a nurse, and I will attend +to my patient (perhaps I will over attend to him--some patients +are killed by over nursing), and I will give the patient this +medicine--it is the right medicine. So it is, but you are going +to give it at the wrong time, and if you give the medicine at the +wrong time, tho itself be right, the hour being wrong you will bring +suffering upon the patient, and you yourself will be involved in +pains and penalties. Thus we touch that very subtle and sensitive +line in human life, the line of refined discrimination. You may +say "I am sure I told him." You are right--you did tell him and +he did not hear you. You may reply, "I am perfectly confident I +delivered the message,--I preached the exact words of the gospel." +So you did, but you never got the hearing heart, your manner was so +unsympathetic, so ungentle, so cruel (not meant to be--unconsciously +so), that the man never understood it to be a gospel. You spoilt the +music in the delivery, in the giving of the message. The Lord God +giveth the tongue of the learned, that he to whom it is given may +know how to speak--how to speak the right word--how to speak the +right word at the right point of time. You want divine teaching in +all things, in speech not least. + +This is a curious word to find in the Bible. Does the Bible care +about weary people? We have next to no sympathy with them. If a man +be weary, we give him notice to quit: if he ask us to what place +he can retire, we tell him that it is his business not ours. Now +the tenderness of this Book is one of the most telling, convincing +arguments on behalf of its inspiration, and its divine authority. +This Book means to help us, wants to help us, it says, "I will try +to help you, never hinder you: I will wait for you, I will soften +the wind into a whisper, I will order the thunder to be silent, +I will quiet the raging sea; I will wait upon you at home, in +solitude, at midnight, anywhere--fix the place, the time, yourself, +and when your heart most needs me I will be most to your heart." +Any book found in den, in gutter, that wants to do this, should be +received with respect. The purpose is good: if it fail, it fails in +a noble object. + +Everywhere in this Book of God we find a supreme wish to help man. +When we most need help the words are sweeter than the honeycomb. +When other books are dumb, this Book speaks most sweetly. It is +like a star, it shines in the darkness, it waits the going down of +the superficial sun of our transient prosperity, and then it breaks +upon us as the shadows thicken. This is the real greatness of God: +he will not break the bruised reed. Because the reed is bruised, +therefore the rude man says he may break it. His argument in brief +is this: "If the reed were strong, I should not touch it, but +seeing that it is bruised what harm can there be in completing the +wound under which it is already suffering? I will even snap it and +throw the sundered parts away." That is the reasoning of the rude +man--that is the vulgar view of the case. The idea of the healing +is the idea of a creator. He who creates also heals. Herein we see +God's estimate of human nature: if He cared only for the great, the +splendid, the magnificent, the robust, and the everlasting, then +He would indeed be too like ourselves. The greatness of God and the +estimate which He places upon human nature are most seen in all +these ministrations in reference to the weak and the weary and the +young and the feeble and the sad. Made originally in the image of +God, man is dear to his Maker, tho ever so broken. Oh, poor prodigal +soul with the divinity nearly broken out of thee, smashed, bleeding, +crushed, all but in hell--while there is a shadow of thee outside +perdition, He would heal thee and save thee. Thou art a ruin, but +a grand one,--the majestic ruin of a majestic edifice, for knowest +thou not that thou wast the temple of God? + +When we are weary, even in weariness, God sees the possibility of +greatness that may yet take place and be developed and supervene in +immortality. How do we talk? Thus: "The survival of the fittest." It +is amazing with what patience and magnanimity and majestic disregard +of circumstances we allow people to die off. When we hear that +thousands have perished, we write this epitaph on their white slate +tombstones: "The survival of the fittest required the decay of the +weakest and the poorest." We pick off the fruit which we think will +not come to perfection. The gardener lays his finger and thumb upon +the tree, and he says, "This will not come to much"--he wrenches +the poor unpromising piece of fruit off the twig and throws it down +as useless. In our march we leave the sick and wounded behind. +That is the great little, the majestic insignificant, the human +contradiction. We go in for things that are fittest, strongest, +most promising, healthy, self-complete, and therein we think we are +wise. God says, "Not a lamb must be left out--bring it up: not a +sick man must be omitted: not a poor publican sobbing his 'God be +merciful to me a sinner' must be omitted from the great host. Bring +them all in, sick, weary, wounded, feeble, young, illiterate, poor, +insignificant, without name, fame, station, force--all in: gather up +the fragments that nothing be lost." Let us go to that Shepherd--He +will spare us and love us. When our poor strength gives out, He will +not set His cruel heel upon us and kill us, He will gather us in +His arms and make the whole flock stand still till He has saved the +weakest one. + +Did we but know the name for our pain we should call it Sin. What +do we need, then, but Christ the Son of God, the Heart of God, the +Love of God? He will in very deed give us rest. He will not add to +the great weight which bows down our poor strength. He will give us +grace, and in His power all our faintness shall be thought of no +more. Some of us know how dark it is when the full shadow of our sin +falls upon our life, and how all the help of earth and time and man +does but mock the pain it can not reach. Let no man say that Christ +will not go so low down as to find one so base and vile as he. +Christ is calling for thee; I heard His sweet voice lift itself up +in the wild wind and ask whither thou hadst fled, that He might save +thee from death and bring thee home. There is no wrath in His face +or voice, no sword is swung by His hand as if in cruel joy, saying, +"Now at last I have My chance with you." His eyes gleam with love: +His voice melts in pity: His words are gospels, every one. Let Him +but see thee sad for sin, full of grief because of the wrong thou +hast done, and He will raise thee out of the deep pit and set thy +feet upon the rock. + + + + +McKENZIE + +THE ROYAL BOUNTY + + + + +BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE + + +ALEXANDER MCKENZIE was born at New Bedford, Mass., in 1830, and +graduated from Harvard in 1859. Since 1867 he has been pastor of +the First Congregational Church, Cambridge, Mass. His voice is +rich, full and sympathetic, and his pulpit style that of one man +talking earnestly and directly to another, there being no attempt +at oratorical effect. He is to-day probably the most acceptable +preacher at Harvard, and the leading Congregational minister in New +England. The discourse reprinted here is from his volume "A Door +Opened," and has been noted as one of the greatest sermons of the +century. + + + + +McKENZIE + +BORN IN 1830 + +THE ROYAL BOUNTY[8] + + [8] Reprinted by permission of Dr. Alexander McKenzie and the + publishers, Houghton, Mifflin Co. + +_And King Solomon gave to the Queen of Sheba all her desire, +whatsoever she asked, besides that which Solomon gave her of his +royal bounty. So she turned and went to her own land, she and her +servants._--1 Kings x., 13. + + +The Queen of Sheba came from the uttermost part of the earth to hear +the wisdom of Solomon. She was amazed at all that she had heard, +and delighted with all that she saw, and confest that after the +generous rumors that had reached her in her distant home the half +had not been told her. She brought her present to him, as was the +custom of the times; and when she went away she asked a gift of +him, and history says that the king gave her all that she desired; +and that, having given her everything of which she had thought, +he added something more of his own thought. He gave her this, not +because she had desired it, but because he had desired it; not for +her heart's seeking, but out of his heart's wishing to bestow. This +is the simple record: "And King Solomon gave to the Queen of Sheba +all her desire, whatsoever she asked, besides that which Solomon +gave her of his royal bounty." These last words describe the added +gift, and this was doubtless the best of all; that upon which she +would think with the greatest pleasure, and of which she would speak +with the greatest pride. The word "royal" is well chosen, for we +think of something which is great when we apply this term to it, as +we speak of a royal deed, royal magnificence, royal benevolence, +royal bounty. We readily approve the action of the king, for it is +this excess of giving, beyond that which is demanded of us, which +makes the real generosity. We are in the habit ourselves, so far +as we are generous at all, of reaching beyond the real necessities +and requests of our friends, and giving out of the largeness of +our hearts. It is this excess which commands the high price. It is +the added, extraordinary beauty of a painting which enhances its +worth. Some pictures are sold by the square yard, and some by the +inch. It is that which genius adds which is the royal bounty. It +marks the difference between genius and talent. To be what we must, +and to do what we must, is narrow and uninteresting. The man who +is just, and no more, wins our praise for his integrity, but not +our regard for his liberality. There are some men who would on no +account have their measures in the slightest degree too small, but +would be quite as careful not to have them too large. There is no +reason why justice should not be combined with charity, and a strict +regard for the legal demands which are made upon us with the excess +out of a free heart which will make our justice beautiful. I saw in +a fine country town a tall, graceful tree which cast its pleasant +shade upon the path, and I marked that men had fastened upon it an +iron frame which held a lamp that gave out its light upon the path. +The tree was not the less a tree that it added the light, and the +lamp was not less a lamp because it belonged to the tree. I came +afterward and found that the bark of the tree had grown up around +the iron where it was fastened to it, till the frame and lamp were +fairly incorporated in the tree itself. It is easy thus to enlarge +our life, adding beauty to strength, giving what our heart desires +to give to that which Sheba asks at our hands. This thought is +strongly expressed by St. Paul, "Scarcely for a righteous man," the +man who does exactly what he ought to do, and nothing more, "will +one die." Yet peradventure, for a good man, who does all he ought +to do, and adds something because he wants to do it, some would +even give their life. This man appeals to our heart which is ready +to respond. The best things are indeed only to be given in this +way. They can not be bought. They can not be had for the asking; +such things as confidence, and friendship, and courtesy, which no +statute can demand, but which the royal heart delights to give; and +there is a like royalty which is able to receive and prize the gift. + +This is God's way, to whom all life is but the expression of his +heart. We rejoice continually in his bountiful goodness. What is the +need of flowers? He could have made a strong and honest earth which +would take in the seed and give it out in harvest, and thus we could +live; but when He had made the earth substantial, useful as it is, +He added flowers, because He wished to give them, was delighted to +look upon them, and knew how happy we should be who saw them blossom +by the roadside. There is no need of birds. The world would go its +way, the seasons would follow one another, the sun would rise and +set, the forest trees would reach up toward the clouds, without +them. God made all this, and then filled the quiet woods with forms +of beauty, and changed silence into songs. Even heaven itself has +more than we should have looked for or asked for. We might have +had a good delightful heaven, without pain or sorrow or sighing, +without death, and such a heaven we have. But in the vision of the +Apocalypse, which only dimly sees the heavenly reality, its streets +are covered with gold, as it were transparent glass; its gates are +pearl, and the strong walls, which can not be moved, glisten with +jewels. So it might have been with the arrangement of this world. We +might have had men to care for us, women to nurture us, fathers to +work for us, a society whose process might move on with industry and +safety from year to year. But God has added the richer delights of +love and sympathy, of all that we name friend and friendship. It is +in the same way that He frames His ordinances for us. We could have +had all days alike, but when He had made six good days He added a +seventh which should be wearied by no work, wherein the soul should +be at leisure to live with itself in quietness, and worship God. He +might have supplied all our wants in the course of nature, bringing +His gifts to our door with regularity, and we should have lived our +appointed time; but He does more than this. He lets us thank Him +when we take our daily bread, and blesses the bread with the love +which gives it. He even lets us tell Him what we wish, and to our +wishes He gives patient heed. He might have left us to conscience +and experience, in the light of nature to frame our character and +our hope, but to these He has added the thought of other men, the +revelation of His wisdom by His saints, the gift of His spirit to +our spirit, to be in us a continual light. + +There is a very good expression of God's way of dealing with us +in a line of the twenty-third Psalm, "My cup runneth over." This +seems unnecessary. To have the cup full, or a little less than full, +is enough for us, and more convenient. For us, but not for God, +who delights in filling it; and when we bid Him stay His hand, He +keeps on pouring, and the water flows, till, presently, the cup is +overflowing, but not because we thought to have it so, but because +of His great delight in giving; until it would seem as if He could +not stop, or content Himself with that which He has already bestowed +upon us. Let this stand as a simple expression of His way with us. + +When we come upon anything that all good men approve, we may be very +certain that we have found something which God Himself approves, +and which is the method of His life. We like, among ourselves, this +principle of the cup that runneth over. Our liking for it we have +inherited from God. We might expect, therefore, that when the Son of +God has His life in the world He will live by this rule, which is of +heaven and of earth; and it is even so. His first miracle would seem +unnecessary. There have been people who blindly but honestly wished +that He had never wrought it. Why did He do it if there was no need +of it, if it were even possible that it should be wrested from its +meaning? He had gone as a guest to a wedding, perhaps because the +bride was his friend, and there came that grave calamity which would +mar the feast; for presently it was whispered to Him, "They have +no wine." Surely they could have a wedding without wine. Not that +wedding. Not in the custom of that time. He knew that the bride, +if she lived to be old, would never recover from the shame of her +wedding-day, whose beauty was lost. Here was a necessity, in love, +in kindness; and that the cheeks of this girl might not redden with +shame, He reddened the water into wine. + +He was at Capernaum. They brought to Him a sick man with the palsy. +They broke up the roof, and lowered him to the feet of Jesus, who +knew well what they wanted. He passed over the little thing which +they sought, and, governed by His own feeling, not by theirs, he +said, "Son, be of good cheer; thy sins are sent away from thee." +That was enough. In a few days, the man would be able to walk +without His help. Death comes to the succor of cripples. The man +gave no sign of discontent, but Jesus found that the friends were +unsatisfied, and He thought within Himself, "You brought him here +that he might be raised up, and be made able to carry his bed home. +I have done a greater thing for him, but I will add this which +you want." "Arise," He said, "take up your bed and go your way." +He did the greater work which made the soul strong, and for the +lesser work,--well, He threw that in. It was the royal bounty. +There was a time later than that, after His resurrection, when some +of His disciples had toiled all the night upon the sea, and had +taken nothing. He could not have it a fruitless night for them. In +the morning He was their risen Savior, who might well bestow some +spiritual gift becoming to the resurrection. This He did, but He +said, "Cast your net on the right side of the ship, and you will +find what you have been seeking." They cast it, therefore, and drew +it in, full of fishes, a hundred and fifty and three. This is the +record of a fisherman, who wrote that the fish were large; and of an +old man, who remembered the number of them. They drew their net to +shore, and there was a fire of coals, and fish laid thereon, another +fish. When they had enough, one that was better than all was added. +Have you not sometimes wished that you could have had that hundred +and fifty-fourth fish? This was Christ's way all the while, and is +His way still. He fills the net as full as it will hold, that our +life may be sustained, and then He adds more, that His love may be +gratified, and that which He adds is the "royal bounty." + +The work of our Lord was not merely in meeting the wants of men, but +in creating the wants; not in gratifying their great desires, but in +making their desires great. His own work in the world was twofold: +to teach men how much more there was which they could enjoy, and how +much more there was which He was eager to impart. The greater the +desire, the surer it was that it would be met by His desire. Indeed, +a large desire is necessary to wealth. We must look out toward that +wherein our riches lie. "He who would bring home the wealth of the +Indies must send out the wealth of the Indies." To him whose desires +are allowed liberty there comes the answer of fulfillment from "the +unsearchable riches of Christ." In all His life and in all His +teachings we see vastly more than men ever asked, much more than +they are willing to take even to-day. It has often been, as it was +at the first, that "he came unto his own, and his own received him +not"; but to those who received Him He gave all they wished, and +more than they had thought; He gave the right to become the sons of +God. They would have been content with a greater prophet, a bolder +leader, a stronger king, a Messiah who should enthrone Israel and +bring the nations in homage to its feet. He came bringing God to the +world, giving an eternal liberty, erecting an everlasting kingdom. +They wanted manna; He gave the bread of life. They wanted wells of +water; He gave the well that should be within them, springing up +for evermore. They wanted a leader; He gave a Savior. They wanted +man; and He was God. This has continued even to our time. Many +admire Christ because He was a teacher, neglecting that wherein He +was infinitely more than teacher. They are glad of an example; He +was that, but, far beyond it, He was the life whereby righteousness +became possible. There are those who would be content with His +beautiful spirit, His blameless life, His deeds of charity, His +patience, His submission, His consent to a death which He could not +avoid. He offers to the world the spirit of the Eternal, the life of +God to be lived upon the earth; He lays down the life which no man +could take from Him; and, with all the roads leading from Jerusalem +open before Him, walks with determined step to Calvary and the +cross. Beyond that which has contented many in the world, He gave +Himself, the world's Redeemer, the Lamb of God, the Good Shepherd +giving His life for the sheep. + +It is very, very sad to mark how ready we are to measure Christ's +gifts to us by our narrow wants and limited desires; not by the +greatness of His love, not by His exhaustless riches, not by the +fulness of the grace of the Eternal, who is the Father and friend of +all men. If ever we shall pass beyond the gratifying of ourselves, +and allow Christ to gratify Himself in blessing us, we shall find +in a glad experience what the simple words mean, "I am come that +they might have life"--oh, friends, do not stop there, finish the +sentence,--"I am come that they might have life, and that they might +have it more abundantly." We ask life of Him, and He gives us life, +and offers length of days forever and forever. We pray that we may +live; and we set up a goal at seventy or ninety years, when He draws +no line across our path. "I give eternal life," He says. We pray for +help that we may live; He offers more than that in the unrivaled +sentence, "Because I live, ye shall live also." We think of life as +being, and are content. We use existence as a synonym of living, but +He said, "This is eternal life, to know God, and me." + +So for ourselves; we are to live as His disciples. We wish to be +true, useful, and generous. We wish to do in small measure such +things as He did,--in His name to give the cup of water, and the +healing of the sick. He grants all that we desire, then speaks out +of His own heart, and His desire, "The works that I do shall ye do, +and greater works than these"; for the miracles which attract us or +baffle us, which draw us to His love, or possibly turn us from His +word, which are only miracles because they are strange to us, are to +be exceeded in the things which we do, when by our teaching we open +the eyes of men that they may see God, and lift them up to the ways +of holy living, and raise them from being into life. Our visions of +heaven in our reverent imagination, even in the exultant words of +the Revelation, are not equal to the simple truths which He taught, +and men learned to repeat after Him. For what are golden streets +and jeweled walls beside that which He meant, "In my Father's house +are many mansions." "I go to prepare a place for you." "Ye shall +behold my glory." "Ye shall be loved as I am loved." The thought of +Christ far outruns the aspiration of the world, as it comes to us +from the lips of that disciple whom Jesus loved, "We shall be like +him, for we shall see him even as he is." + +What do we need, then? To enlarge our desires! Yes, but to consent +to God's desires. To wish for more, but to consent to be blest as +Christ longs to bless us. We must know the methods of God, whose +will to give is greater and more constant than our will to receive. +We must adjust our life to God's desire. Faith is the compact of the +soul with God, rather than with itself. "Open thy mouth wide, and I +will fill it," is a promise ever old and ever new. We must be firm +enough and aspiring enough to hold the cup after it has begun to +overflow, and to let God's hand pour the water of life as long as He +will, for this world and all the worlds that are to be. If we could +desire more, if we could ascend to God's desire for us, life would +be transfigured. + + "The balsam, the wine, of predestinate wills + Is a jubilant longing and pining for God." + + "God loves to be longed for, He loves to be sought, + For He sought us Himself, with such longing and love." + +We wish now to take this method for our own in all our dealing +with God. Our sense of what is right, the voice of conscience, the +commands of Scripture, call us to our duty. Let us do what they +require till conscience is satisfied; but let us add to this more +than a rigid obedience asks for, all that a loving heart, grateful +and generous, wishes to bestow. The little questions of life, small +matters of casuistry, minute affairs of conduct, would be quite +readily determined if we would live by this rule, wherewith God +blesses us. That question which with unusual urgency now presses +upon us, how we shall regard the Sabbath day, would not be difficult +if it were our delight to remember it, and to keep it holy because +it is our delight to please Him who has given to us its sacredness +and blessedness. It is pitiful when we find ourselves questioning +how much of the day should be holy; how much of it should be given +to the thought of God and the divine life; how much of it we should +yield to the holy spirit of truth; how many of the hours we should +keep in the remembrance of Him whose resurrection gives to the +Sabbath its greater meaning. We should keep the Sabbath holy as if +we desired to keep it holy. All its hours should be sacred. They +need not be less joyous, less friendly, for being holy; and we can +not be gratified with the spirit in which we find ourselves trying +to divide the time. Keep twenty-four hours for God, and if by any +means you can make the time overflow add a twenty-fifth hour. + +We question again about money. What proportion of our property +should we devote to God? The Jews said one-tenth. Can we do no +better, after so long a time? Let us give the whole, and if by any +means we can compass it, let us add another tenth, simply to show +what a delight it is to give all things to Him, and to let Him make +the allotment in His care for us, and for our household, and for the +Church, and for the wide world that we are living in. There are many +who do this, and they learn how true is that word of Christ that is +called to mind among the Acts of the Apostles, "It is more blessed +to give than to receive." + +Thus, in all things let us make the way of God our own, become His +children entirely, receive the love of Christ in its fulness, make +up our own life in His name, according to the largeness of His +thought. If we will consent to it, we can be great and rich and +strong. It seems strange to say that we are not ready to be blest, +but of many it is true. They are not willing to be greatly blest, to +have the cup run over. They are willing to be useful, but not very +useful. They ask to be set in His service, but when He takes their +word and breathes His own desire into it, they shrink back. It is a +very serious thing, if we are able to perceive it, to consent that +God should bless us as He pleases, should have His own estimate of +our character, His own measure of our powers, His own vision of our +accomplishment, and should call us to greater service, to diviner +employment, than we have ever dreamed of. It was a wise woman who +said, "I have had to face my own prayers." We face our prayers when +God gives His own wish to our words, and makes them large enough +to hold His thoughts. It is one of the hardest things to believe, +but one to which, in humbleness of mind and in a faith which will +not falter, we should consent,--that high word of calling and +consecration which Christ gave more than once,--"As the Father hath +sent me into the world, even so send I you." Not our thought but His +thought makes our calling, and the thought of God is the summons and +the guidance of our life. Even so, even according to Thy greatness, +and Thy gentleness which makes men great; Thine infinite purposes, +and Thine eternal grace; even so, O Lord of mercy and of truth, send +us into the world! + +As we close these thoughts, let us remember that promise which comes +at the close of the Old Testament, which almost seems to reverse +the promise at the beginning of the Old Testament, "I will never +open the windows of heaven and pour out a flood again"; for the last +of the prophets brings to us the word of God, that He will open +the windows of heaven, and pour out a flood again. It shall not +come to destroy, but to preserve; it shall create life; it shall +enlarge life, but it shall be after the measure of His will, not +ours. "Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, and prove me now +herewith, if I will not open the windows of heaven, and pour out a +blessing that there shall not be room enough to receive it." Not +drops here and there, but showers of blessing. Not running brooks, +but broad rivers. Not pools of water, but a shoreless sea; deep, +deep waters, when, looking up into the infinite Love, and consenting +to be blest of God as God would bless us, we bring all the tithes +into the storehouse and the remainder of the tithes, if any have +been left. "I will pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be +room enough to receive it." Not room enough to receive it; that is +the royal bounty. + + + + +FARRAR + +WORK IN THE GROANING CREATION + + + + +BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE + + +FREDERICK WILLIAM FARRAR was born in Bombay, India, in 1831. He +was educated at King's College, London, and at Trinity College, +Cambridge. He became dean of Canterbury in 1895, and died in 1903. +His Life of Christ, the most widely read of his many religious +works, has been translated into many languages--even into Japanese. +The following illustrates his power of emphasis. + +"There, amid those voluptuous splendors, Pilate, already interested, +already feeling in this prisoner before him some nobleness which +touched his Roman nature, asking Him in pitying wonder, 'Art thou +the King of the Jews?'--Thou poor, worn, tear-stained outcast, in +this hour of Thy bitter need--O pale, lonely, friendless, wasted +man, in Thy poor peasant garments, with Thy tied hands and the +foul traces of the insults of Thine enemies on Thy face and on +Thy robes--Thou, so unlike the fierce, magnificent Herod, whom +this multitude which thirsts for Thy blood acknowledged as their +sovereign--art Thou the King of the Jews?" + + + + +FARRAR + +1831-1903 + +WORK IN THE GROANING CREATION[9] + + [9] Reprinted by permission of Messrs. E. P. Dutton & Co. + +_And God saw everything that he had made, and behold it was very +good._--Gen. i., 31. + +_For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain +together until now._--Rom. viii., 22. + +_And there shall be no more curse._--Rev. xxii., 3. + + +In those three texts you have the past, the present, the future of +our earth; what was, what is, what shall be; the perfectness which +man has marred, the punishment which he is enduring, the hope to +which he looks. What share we may have in the marring or the mending +of this our transitory dwelling, that is our main subject to-day. + +We see some glimpses at least of the truth that actively by +sympathy, by thoughtfulness, by charity, by unselfishness, by loving +one another;--that even passively by abstaining from the fashionable +and universal vice of biting and devouring one another;--we see +that by honesty, by self-reverence, by reverence for others, by +obeying the golden rule of "doing unto others as we would they +should do unto us," we may do very much to limit the realm of +sorrow, and to substitute a golden for an iron scepter in its sway +over human hearts. We see, too, that our own inevitable trials and +humiliations,--all the neglect, all the insult, all the weariness, +all the disappointment, all the ingratitude, which may befall +us,--can be better borne if we be cheerful and active in doing good. +Labor for God is the best cure for sorrow, and the best occupation +of life. + +Can we to-day push the inquiry yet further, and learn whether it is +in our power in any way to mend the flaw which runs for us through +the material world; or in any way to diminish for ourselves and for +mankind the pressure of that vast weight of laws which exercises +over us, undoubtedly, a sway of awful potency? The whole creation +groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now; can we--not by +any strength of ours, but because God permits and desires it, can we +do anything to hasten that blest hour for which we wait--the hour +of the new creation; of the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our +body; of the restitution of all things; of the _palingenesia_ of the +world? + +I think we can. I know that the supposed helplessness of man is +a favorite topic of modern materialism, which makes of man the +irresponsible tool of forces which he can not resist, the sport +and prey of dumb powers which are alike inexorable and passionless. +This philosophy--if we may call it a philosophy--laughs to scorn the +notion of a miracle, and makes virtue and vice not the conscious +choice of free beings, but the inevitable result of material causes +and hereditary impulses, of which in all but semblance, we are the +mere automata and slaves. My brethren, into all these speculations +of a baseless atheism, I need not enter. To us, nature means nothing +but the sum total of phenomena which God has created; and since in +the idea of nature is included the idea of God, a miracle becomes as +natural and as easily conceivable as the most ordinary occurrence. +And we know that we are free, that God does not mock us, that we +can abhor that which is evil, and cleave to that which is good. The +laws of nature are nothing, then, for us but observed sequences, and +we do not admit that there is anything fearful in their uniformity. +It is true that nature drives her plowshare straight onwards, and +heeds not what may be lying in the furrow; it is true that therefore +she shows an apparent indifference to human agony; it is true that +if the fairest and sweetest child which earth ever saw be left at +play in the face of the advancing tide, the tide will still advance +and drown the little life; it is true that the fire in its ruthless +vividness will roll over the loveliest maiden whose rich dress +should catch its flame. It is a law that resistance must be equal +to force, and that if there be a certain amount of pressure of +vibration, whatever comes of it, a structure will give way, even +though, alas, it hurl nearly a hundred human beings, with one flash +of horror, into the gulf of death. But is this any reason for a +fierce arraignment of nature, as tho she were execrably ruthless, +and execrably indifferent? Not so, my brethren. Death whenever it +comes is but death. None of us has any promise of this or that +amount of life. It needs no railway accident, no sinking ship, or +breaking ice, or burning town, or flame from heaven, or arrow in the +darkness, or smiting of the sun by day, or the moon by night, to +cut short our days. An invisible sporule in the air may do it, or a +lesion no bigger than a pin's point. + + "He ate, drank, laughed, loved, lived, and liked life well; + Then came--who knows?--some gust of jungle wind, + A stumble on the path; a taint i' the tank; + A snake's nip; half a span of angry steel; + A chill; a fishbone; or a falling tile,-- + And life is over, and the man is dead." + +But is this any reason why we should look on ourselves as victims +of dead irresponsible forces? Why so? Death is but death, and if we +live faithfully, death is our richest birthright. "Were you ready to +die that you jumped into the stormy sea to save that child's life?" +said a gentleman to an English sailor. "Should I have been better +prepared, sir," the sailor answered, "if I had shirked my duty?" A +sudden death is often, and in many respects, the most merciful form +of death; and the apparently terrible death of a few may save the +lives of many hundreds. The uniformity of nature may sometimes wear +the aspect of passionless cruelty; but as we learn more and more to +observe and to obey her laws, we find more and more that they work +for countless ends of beneficence and beauty, that out of seeming +evil she works real good, out of transient evil enduring good. The +fires which rend the earthquake and burst from the volcano, are the +quickening forces of the world; her storms lash the lazy atmosphere +which otherwise would stagnate into pestilence, and it is for man's +blessing, not for his destruction, that her waters roll and her +great winds blow. + +But are we, after all, so very helpless before the aggregate of +these mighty forces, as materialism loves to represent? Not so! +"Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands," said +the Psalmist, "Thou hast put all things under his feet." "Replenish +the earth, and subdue, and have dominion," said the first utterance +of God to man. And what is this but an equivalent of the latest +utterances of science, that "the order of nature is ascertainable +by our faculties to an extent which is practically unlimited, and +that our volition counts for something in the course of events"? +Man has done much to make the world in all senses a worse place for +himself, but he has also, thank God, done much to make it better, +and he may, to an almost unspeakable extent, remedy for himself and +for his race the throes and agonies of the groaning universe. God +meant His earth to be a more blest place for us than it is, and in +every instance men have made it more blest when they have read the +open secrets, by virtue of which, for our excitement, if not for our +reward, "herbs have their healing, stones their preciousness, and +stars their times." Ancient nations have shuddered at the awfulness +of the sea. It drowns ship and sailor; but "trim your sail, and the +same wave which drowns the bark is cleft by it, and bears it along +like its own foam, a plume and a power." The lightning shatters +tower and temple; but once learn that it is nothing but the luminous +all-pervading fluid which you may evolve by rubbing a piece of +amber, and brush out of a child's fair hair, and then with no more +potent instrument than a boy's kite you may dash harmless to the +earth the all-shattering brand which was the terror of antiquity; +nay, you may seize it by its wing of fire, and bid it carry your +messages around the girdled globe. Zymotic diseases smite down the +aged and young, but, when you have learnt that they are caused by +myriads of invisible germs which float in the water or the air, you +have but to observe the commonest rules of sanitary science, to +filter and boil the dangerous water, to insure free currents of air, +to breathe as nature meant you to breathe, through the nostrils, and +not through the throat, and you rob them of half their deadliness. +Why has smallpox been stayed in its loathly ravages, and deprived +of its hideous power? Why does the Black Death rage no longer, +as it raged among the monks of this Abbey four centuries ago? +Why do we not have pestilence, like that great plague of London, +which destroyed 7,165 persons in a single week? Why has jail fever +disappeared? Why are the cities of Europe horrified no longer by the +hideousness of medieval leprosy? Because men live amid cleaner and +purer surroundings. Because rushes are no longer strewn over floors +which had been suffered to be saturated with the organic refuse of +years. Because the simplest laws of nature are better understood. +Because, in these respects, men have remedied by God's aid, some of +those miseries for which the Savior sighed. + +And this amelioration of man's miseries is a great, and noble, and +Christlike work. Would that there were no other side to the picture! +Man, alas! also has done, and may do, infinite mischief to the +world he lives in. He may cut down the forests on the hills, and +so diminish the necessary rain. He may pluck up the grasses on the +shore, and so lay waste whole acres to the devastating sands. He may +poison the sweet, pure rivers of his native soil, till their crystal +freshness is corrupted into deathful and putrescent slime. He may +herd together, as we suffer our poor to do, in filthy tenements +which shall breed every species of disease and vice. He may indulge +or acquiesce in senseless fashions and pernicious vanities which +shall mean not only wasteful ugliness and grotesque extravagance, +but leave shattered health and ruined lives, to the mothers of his +race. He may in greed of competition extirpate the game of the +forest, the fishes of the sea. He may destroy the exquisite balance +of nature, by shooting down or entrapping the sweet birds of the +air, till his vines and his harvests are devastated by the insects +on which they feed. He may suffer the chimneys of his manufactories +to poison the atmosphere with black smoke and sulphurous acid, till +his proudest cities are stifled at noonday, as we all have seen in +London for these many weeks, with the unclean mirk of midnight fogs. +He may suffer noxious gases to be vomited upon the breeze, till +the most glorious buildings in his cities corrode and crumble--as +the stones of this Abbey are doing--under their influence,--till +the green woods blacken into leafless wastes, and life is lived +at miserable levels of vitality under the filthy reek. There is +hardly any limit to the evil, no less than to the good, which man +may do to this his earthly environment. Nor is it less deplorable +that he may go out of his way to do endless mischief to himself by +his misuse or abuse of the properties of things. From the dried +capsules of the white poppy he extracts opium, and he grows acres of +poppies that with thousands of chests of that opium he may degrade +into decrepitude and wretchedness the most populous nations upon +earth. Nature gives him the purple grape and the golden grain, +and he mashes them and lets them rot and seethe, and assists, and +superintends, and retards their decomposition, till he has educed +from them a fermented intoxicating liquor; and not content with +this luxury, he pours it into Circean cups of degrading excess; +not content with even fermentation, he further, by distillation, +extracts a transparent, mobile, colorless fluid, which is the +distinctive element in ardent spirits, and these, whatever may +be their legitimate use in manufacture or in medicine, he has so +horribly abused that they have become to mankind, the _spiritus +ardentes_ indeed, but not of heaven--fiery spirits of the abyss, +which have decimated nations, ruined continents, shortened millions +of lives, and turned for millions of God's children, and millions +of Christ's little ones, life into an anguish, and earth into a +hell. Do not say we can do nothing to soften for man the deadly +agencies which are working in the world,--for all this mischief, and +incalculably more than this, is man's own doing. + +But let me ask you to glance for a moment at one of the beneficent +secrets which nature has yielded up to man. Have you ever realized, +with heartfelt gratitude to God, the priceless boon which He has +granted to this generation in the diminution of pain? One of our +best surgeons has just told us the strange yet simple story of this +discovery, from the first dim intimation of the possibility in +1789, till in 1846 it might almost be said that in Europe we could +name the month, before which all operative surgery was agonizing, +and after which it was painless. But what an immense, what an +enormous boon is this application of anodynes! "Past all counting +is the sum of happiness enjoyed by the millions who have, in the +last thirty-three years, escaped the pain that was inevitable in +surgical operations; pain made more terrible by apprehension; +more keen by close attention; sometimes awful in a swift agony; +sometimes prolonged beyond even the most patient endurance, and then +renewed in memory, and terrible in dreams. This will never be felt +again." And besides this abolition of pain, it would take long to +tell how chloroform and ether "have enlarged the field of useful +surgery, making many things easy which were difficult, many safe +which were perilous, many practical which were nearly impossible." +But another lesson this eminent man of science draws, which bears +directly on our subject, is that while we are profanely decrying +nature, discoveries the most blest, boons the most priceless, may +lie close to us and yet God leave us to discover them; and that we +may endure many needless miseries, falsely accusing nature and even +God, only because we have neither hope enough to excite intense +desire, nor desire enough to encourage hope. We wonder that for +forty years the discovery of anesthetics was not pursued, tho, after +the pregnant hint of Sir H. Davy, it lay but half hidden under +so thin a veil. Our successors will wonder at us, as we at those +before us, that we were as blind to who can tell how many great +truths, which, they will say, were all around us, within reach of +any clear and earnest mind. They will wonder at the quietude with +which we stupidly acquiesce in, or immorally defend, the causes +which perpetuate and intensify our habitual miseries. Our fathers +needlessly put up with these miseries "as we now put up with typhoid +fever and sea-sickness; with local floods and droughts; with waste +of health and wealth in pollutions of rivers; with hideous noises, +and foul smells"; with the curse of alcoholic poisoning, and many +other miseries. Our successors, when they have remedied or prevented +these, will look back on them with horror, and on us with wonder +and contempt, for what they will call our idleness or blindness, or +indifference to suffering. Alas! in the physical as in the moral +world, we murmur at the evils which surround us, and we do not +remove them. We multiply those evils, and make life wretched, and +then curse nature because it is wretched, and neglect or fling away +the precious gifts and easy remedies which would make it blest. And +is it not so in the spiritual world? Nine-tenths of our miseries +are due to our sins. Yet the remedy of our sins is close at hand. +We have a Savior; we have been commemorating His birth, but we live +and act as tho He were dead; in our own lives and those of others we +suffer those miseries to run riot which He came to cure; we talk and +live as tho those remedies were undiscoverable, while from day to +day His Word is very nigh us, even in our mouths and in our hearts! + +For one sermon you hear about work for the secular amelioration of +the suffering world for which Christ sighed, you may (I suppose) +hear fifty on passing ecclesiastical controversies and five thousand +about individual efforts for personal salvation. And yet one pure, +self-sacrificing deed, one word of generosity to an opponent, one +kindly act to aid another, may have been better for you in God's +sight and far harder for you to do, than to attend in the year +the 730 daily services which this Abbey provides. Yes, I am glad +that I have preached to you to-day the duty of what some would call +secular work--as tho secular work were not often the most profoundly +religious work!--for the amelioration of the world. And I say, it +were better for you to have made but two blades of grass grow where +one grew before, than if, with the hollow, hateful, slanderous heart +of some false prophets of modern religionism, you were every morning +to do whatever modern thing may be analogous to binding your fringes +with blue, and broadening your phylacteries,--to making the hilltops +blaze with your sacrificial fires, building here seven altars, and +offering a bullock and a ram on every altar. And so, my brethren, +let us leave this Abbey to-day with conceptions of duty larger and +more hopeful; with more yearning both after the sympathy of Christ +and after His activity; with more faith to see that the world would +not be so utter a ruin but for our perversity; with more hope to be +convinced that even we can help to redeem its disorders, and restore +its pristine perfectness. Let us obey the command, "Ephphatha, Be +opened!" Let us lift up our eyes to see that, tho the air around us +is colorless, the far-off heaven is blue. Let us see and be thankful +for the beauty of the world, the sweet air, the sunshine, the sea, +the splendid ornaments of heaven, the ever-recurring circles of +the divine beneficence. Let us learn the secrets of the mighty +laws which only crush us when we disobey them, and which teach +us, with divine inflexibility, that as we sow we reap. Let us not +hinder the students of science in their patient toil and marvelous +discovery by the crude infallibilities of our ignorant dogmatism. +Let us believe--for we were saved in hope--that "Utopia itself +is but another word for time"; and that, if our own work seems +but infinitesimal, yet "there are mites in science, as well as in +charity, and the ultimate results of each are alike important and +beneficial." And so the more we share in the sigh and in the toil of +the Savior, the more shall we share in His redeeming gladness. + + + + + "Dr. Burrell always sounds a bugle-call to high emprise. This + one will stir whatever of knighthood is active or latent in the + heart of the young man who reads it."--JOHN BANCROFT DEVINS, + _Editor New York_ "_Observer_." + + * * * * * + +THE LURE OF THE CITY + +By DAVID JAMES BURRELL, D.D., LL.D. + +_Pastor of the Marble Collegiate Church, New York City_ + +Addrest to "the youth whose lot is cast in the city or whose heart +is turned that way; who knows himself a man, and with eyes aloft, +means to make himself a better one; who plans a full equipment, that +he may win splendidly."--_From the Preface._ + + "I have seldom had more pleasure than I have found in reading + Dr. Burrell's strong and suggestive book. It is a book for the + present hour and the present age. In a style singularly lucid + and wonderfully attractive, Dr. Burrell sets forth the dangers + of the city on the one hand and its advantages on the other. + Each of the twenty-two chapters might stand by itself as a word + of cheer, a bugle-call or a warning. The epithet most suitable + to the book, as a whole, is 'sane.' Nothing is overstrained. + Everything is practical, and the book is thoroughly manly, + and is infused throughout with the author's vigorous and + winning personality. It is emphatically a book for the young + man."--MARGARET E. SANGSTER, _Editor of the St. Nicholas + Magazine_, New York. + +_12mo, Cloth. $1.00, net; by mail, $1.08_ + + FUNK & WAGNALLS COMPANY, Pubs. + NEW YORK AND LONDON + + + + +A JUNIOR CONGREGATION + +A CHILDREN'S SERMON APPROPRIATE TO EVERY SUNDAY OF THE YEAR, +TOGETHER WITH HINTS FOR FORMING A JUNIOR CONGREGATION + +By JAMES M. FARRAR, D.D. + +_Pastor of the First Reformed Church, Brooklyn, and Minister of the +First Organized Junior Congregation_ + +The church-going men and women of to-day were the church-going +children of their youth. But theirs, most likely, was a _compulsory_ +attendance. This, however, is the _Children's Age_. More time, more +thought, more energy are, in this generation, given to the study, +development, and discipline of children than has ever been attempted +in any past century. _The Children's Church_ is being organized in +congregations where the children's welfare and the church's future +are close at heart. Children in such a church love to attend, for +theirs is _A Junior Congregation_ worshiping with the regular +congregation, thus forming habits of church-going in their best +habit-forming years, and acquiring a familiarity with the church's +services and ordinances that will help them grow into sturdy church +workers. + +_12mo, Cloth. $1.20, net; by mail, $1.28_ + + +FUNK & WAGNALLS COMPANY, Pubs. + +NEW YORK AND LONDON + + + + +=Rev. T. De Witt Talmage, D.D.=: "I heartily commend his book. He +has rendered invaluable service." + + { _OF THE VOICE_ + _PERFECTION_ { _GESTURE_ + { _BEARING_ + +=THE DRILL-BOOK OF VOCAL CULTURE= + +By Prof. EDWARD P. THWING. + +A Comprehensive Study of the Fundamental Constituents of Effective, +Graceful Speaking. Heartily Commended by the Highest Authorities. + +[Illustration: decoration] + +OUTLINE OF CONTENTS. + +What Elocution Really Is--Outline of Preparatory Physical Training +by Respiratory Exercises and Gymnastics--The Production of +Tone--Cultivating the Articulation Along the Lines of Pitch, Melody, +and Force--Rate of Movement--Personation or Picturing--Gesture and +Extemporaneous Speech--Facial Expression. + +=Prof. J. W. Churchill=, Andover: "It is an invaluable treatise." + +=The Independent=, New York: "Compact and inexpensive, but it omits +nothing essential." + +=_16mo, 111 pp., Illustrated, Paper Covers, 25 cents. Post-free._= + + +=FUNK & WAGNALLS COMPANY, Publishers,= + +=NEW YORK and LONDON= + + + + +=Profit and Loss= +=in Man= + +By ALPHONSO A. HOPKINS, Ph.D. + + +The New Gospel of Patriotic, Economic, and Political Common Sense on +the Temperance Question. The most up-to-date and powerful plea for +Prohibition upon purely economic grounds that has been written in +years. It is calm and dispassionate, and discusses the problem from +the cold matter-of-fact standard of dollars and cents. + + +CONTENTS + + I. The Cost of a Boy. VIII. Moral Facts and Political Factors. + II. Boy and Bar. IX. Dictionary Politics. + III. Manhood and Law. X. A Curse, a Crime, and the Cure. + IV. Labor, Liquor, and Law. XI. Publicans and Republicans. + V. Christian Loyalty. XII. Democrats and Drink. + VI. Barabbas. XIII. Methods of Settlement. + VII. Moral and Political Force. + + "The unique idea of placing temperance on a commercial basis, + of considering the difference between the actual cash value + of a man who drinks and the man who abstains, is intensely + interesting and profitable. Prof. Hopkins claims that each young + man twenty-one years of age represents a cost to society of two + thousand dollars ($2,000). Will he pay--will he 'make good'--on + the investment if he becomes a drinker? That's the question! In + the United States are one and a half millions of drunkards--a + stupendous loss of an investment aggregating over five billions + of dollars ($5,000,000,000)."--_Cumberland Presbyterian, + Nashville, Tenn._ + +_12mo, Cloth, 376 pp. $1.20, net; by mail, $1.32_ + + FUNK & WAGNALLS COMPANY, Pubs. + NEW YORK AND LONDON + + + + +A WORKING GRAMMAR + +OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE + +By JAMES C. FERNALD, L.H.D. + + _Editor of the "Students' Standard Dictionary." Author of + "English Synonyms, Antonyms, and Prepositions," "Connectives of + English Speech," Etc., Etc._ + + +In this book Dr. Fernald has covered the field of English grammar +in an immensely practical and entirely new and popular manner. +Recognizing the large number of persons who have not the time to +study ponderous definitions and arguments, he has prepared what is, +in every sense, a very concise and useful "working grammar." Herein +the business man, stenographer, clerk, lawyer, physician, clergyman, +teacher--everyone who would refresh and enrich his knowledge +of English--will find, in simple statement, a clear and lucid +explanation of the principles of English grammar. All that makes +the study of grammar a mystery is eliminated, and the whole book is +constructed so as to enable any intelligent person to find his own +way, by its teachings, to a correct working knowledge of English. + +_Price, $1.50, net; post-paid, $1.64_ + + FUNK & WAGNALLS COMPANY, Pubs. + NEW YORK AND LONDON + + + + +THE PREPARATION OF MANUSCRIPTS FOR THE PRINTER + +By FRANK H. VIZETELLY, F.S.A. + +_Associate Editor of the_ "_Standard Dictionary_," _etc._ + + +This book is designed for the guidance of all who have any concern +with printing, and will prove of permanent value to all persons +engaged in writing or in copying manuscripts. Typographical marks +are exemplified and explained; the different sizes of type with +their names and uses are presented, with aids in the computing +of space which manuscripts will occupy in printed form; the book +also shows authors how they can effectively reduce the cost of +corrections in type, and tells them when, where, and how to make +such corrections and how to dispose of manuscripts. + + "Is at once the most exhaustive and most succinct of the many + books at the service of the young author."--_Evening Mail_, New + York. + + "A thoroughly practical little book which will prove + invaluable to all who are interested in the preparation of + manuscript."--_Times_, Brooklyn, N. Y. + +_12mo, Cloth, 153 pages. 75 cents_ + +FUNK & WAGNALLS COMPANY, Pubs. NEW YORK AND LONDON + + * * * * * + +Transcriber's note: + +Minor typographical errors have been corrected without note. +Irregularities and inconsistencies in the text have been retained as +printed. + +Missing page numbers are page numbers that were not shown in the +original text. + +Mismatched quotes are not fixed if it's not sufficiently clear where +the missing quote should be placed. + +Page 36: ... have cried (oh, how men do cry in those storms of the +soul, in those tempests and terrors of the heart), "Lord, save us +... The transcriber has supplied the closing parenthesis. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The World's Great Sermons, Volume 7: +Hale to Farrar, by Various + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WORLD'S GREAT SERMONS, VOLUME 7 *** + +***** This file should be named 44441.txt or 44441.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/4/4/4/4/44441/ + +Produced by Julio Reis, Moises S. 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