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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d7b82bc --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,4 @@ +*.txt text eol=lf +*.htm text eol=lf +*.html text eol=lf +*.md text eol=lf 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..2a197b0 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #55160 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/55160) diff --git a/old/55160-0.txt b/old/55160-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 202dbaf..0000000 --- a/old/55160-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,4892 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg EBook of The War and the Gospel, by Henry Wace - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most -other parts of the world 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. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - -Title: The War and the Gospel - Sermons & Addresses During the Present War - -Author: Henry Wace - -Release Date: July 20, 2017 [EBook #55160] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE WAR AND THE GOSPEL *** - - - - -Produced by Cindy Horton, Larry B. Harrison, Bryan Ness, -and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at -http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images -generously made available by The Internet Archive/Canadian -Libraries) - - - - - -Transcriber's Note: Italic text is denoted by _underscores_ and bold -text by =equal signs= - - - - -THE WAR AND THE GOSPEL - - - - - THE WAR - AND - THE GOSPEL - - SERMONS AND ADDRESSES DURING - THE PRESENT WAR - - By - HENRY WACE, D.D., - Dean of Canterbury, - Hon. Fellow of Brasenose College, Oxford; - Fellow of King’s College, London. - - London: - CHAS. J. THYNNE, - 28, Whitefriars Street, E.C. - - 1917. - - - - -PREFACE. - - -As is usual in Cathedrals, it is the duty of the Dean of Canterbury -to preach on the chief Festivals of the Christian year; and most of -the following Addresses have been delivered in the discharge of this -office. My comfort in the performance of this duty, especially to an -audience of soldiers, in these solemn days, has been the sense that I -was commissioned to deliver the message of a Gospel which has “brought -Life and Immortality to light,” and which proclaims the good news of -the presence of a Saviour in all the circumstances Of life or death. I -have simply endeavoured, therefore, to bring some of the light of this -Gospel to bear on the distressing and perplexing experiences which this -War has forced upon us all, and especially upon those who have borne -its chief sacrifices. I am sure that, if only believed and realized, -the message of this Gospel is sufficient to support and to strengthen -us under all such trials and strains; and I hope I am not presumptuous -in offering these slight contributions towards that purpose to a wider -audience than my Cathedral congregations. - - H. WACE. - -CANTERBURY, January 1917. - - - - -CONTENTS - - - PAGE - - I. THE CHRISTMAS MESSAGE (preached in - Canterbury Cathedral, Christmas Day, - 1914) 1 - - II. CHRISTMAS AND THE WAR (preached in - Canterbury Cathedral, Christmas Day, - 1915) 16 - - III. THE THINGS SEEN AND THE THINGS - NOT SEEN (preached in Canterbury - Cathedral, Easter Day, 1915) 28 - - IV. THE EASTER MESSAGE (preached in Canterbury - Cathedral, Easter Day, 1916) 40 - - V. THE NEED AND THE MEANS OF RIGHT - JUDGMENT (preached in Canterbury - Cathedral, Whit Sunday, 1915) 53 - - VI. THE ADVENT MESSAGE AND THE WAR - (preached in Canterbury Cathedral, - Advent Sunday, 1914) 67 - - VII. DIVINE JUDGMENT AND RENOVATION - (preached in Canterbury Cathedral, - October 11th, 1914) 82 - - VIII. RESISTANCE UNTO BLOOD (preached in - Canterbury Cathedral, Good Friday, - April 21st, 1916) 97 - - IX. INTERCESSION FOR KINGS AND RULERS - (preached in Canterbury Cathedral the - Day of the King’s Accession, May 6th, - 1915) 105 - - X. THE CHRISTIAN SANCTION OF WAR (Address - at the Service of Intercession in Canterbury - Cathedral, August 9th, 1914) 117 - - XI. THE WARNING OF THE TOWER OF SILOAM - (preached in Canterbury Cathedral, - October 25th, 1914) 129 - - XII. THE RIGHTEOUS IDEAL (preached in Canterbury - Cathedral, January 15th, 1915) 143 - - XIII. REASONS FOR INTERCESSION (preached in - Canterbury Cathedral, June 17th, 1916) 158 - - XIV. THE ETERNAL SOURCE OF GOODNESS - (preached at Holy Trinity Church, - Margate, November 7th, 1915) 173 - - XV. THE NATIONAL IDEAL (preached in Canterbury - Cathedral, January 3rd, 1915) 188 - - XVI. RELIGION AND WAR (from _The Record_, - Thursday, September 3rd, 1916) 203 - - XVII. PRAYER FOR THE DEAD (from _The Record_, - Friday, November 20th, 1914) 215 - - XVIII. CHRIST AND THE SOLDIER (preached in - Canterbury Cathedral at the Military - Church Parade, September 27th, 1914) 228 - - XIX. THE ETERNAL LIFE OF THE SOUL (preached - in the Nave of Canterbury Cathedral - at the Military Church Parade, October - 15th, 1916) 239 - - - - -THE CHRISTMAS MESSAGE. - -A SERMON PREACHED ON CHRISTMAS DAY A.D. 1914. - - “_And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly - host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on - earth peace, good will toward men._”--St. Luke ii. 13, 14. - - -If Christmas this sad year is to be a real comfort and help to us, -we must realize very clearly what it is that was the cause of the -joy of the Angels, and has been always the source of the true joy of -Christmas, during the nineteen hundred years or more since that first -outburst of heavenly praise and song. The reason had been announced by -one Angel to the shepherds abiding in the fields in the words, “Fear -not; for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall -be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a -Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.” The Jewish people were looking and -longing for the Christ Who would come, as is expressed in Zacharias’ -song, to deliver them from the hand of their enemies, and to grant -unto them that they “might serve Him without fear, in holiness and -righteousness before Him all the days of their life.” This was the -promise which, as Zacharias said, had been given by the mouth of God’s -prophets since the world began, for which they had craved through long -suffering, and captivity, and disappointment; and it is this promise -which the angel declared was now fulfilled. A Saviour had been born to -them, One Who was able to realize for them the great hopes of blessing -which the prophets had held out. He would be able, in the words of -another angel, “to save them from their sins,” and by saving them from -their sins to save them from the sufferings and sorrows which those -sins had entailed upon them. By the birth of our Lord that had become -an accomplished fact. There existed from that moment One Who stood -between heaven and earth, between God and man, and united both--the Son -of God and the Son of Man, with power “to save to the uttermost all -who come unto God by Him,” and able, first by His sacrifice for our -sins, and then by His exercise of the royal authority and power which -are entrusted to Him, to put down all enemies under His feet, and to -deliver up the Kingdom to God the Father, “that God may be all in all.” - -That is the grand consummation which, to the vision of the Angels, was -comprehended in this simple saying, “Unto you is born this day in the -city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.” Let us clearly -observe that it is not merely the future hope, but the present fact, -which causes the Angels’ rejoicing. The Saviour is born, the King is -revealed, the work of redemption is actually commenced. “Glory to God,” -they exclaimed, “in the highest, and on earth peace; goodwill toward -men.” The goodwill of God toward men is now embodied in the Babe Who -is Christ the Lord; or, as it is translated in the Revised Version -(in different words, but with the same meaning), God’s goodwill is -manifested “to men in whom He is well pleased.” It is much more than a -general declaration of peace and goodwill. It is a grand revelation, a -revelation which opened the heavens and evoked from a host of Angels, -such as had never before nor has since been seen, a burst of glory to -God for the blessing that from that moment there was a living Saviour -in human form in the world. - -Now I wish to urge this fact upon you this morning in all its glorious -reality, because it is in that fact alone that we can find comfort -and help amidst the dark distress of such a Christmas as this, and -because it affords us the one supreme guidance in our deep perplexity. -The feeling is in all our hearts, and the phrase on many lips, “What -a contrast is exhibited by this tremendous and cruel war to the -words of hope and peace in the angels’ song,” and the old complaint -is uttered, Where is the promise of His coming--the coming of the -Prince of Peace? But we have only to consider the immediate sequel of -the first Christmas Day, to realize that the assurance given by the -angels, and their joy, involved no such facile creation of a time of -peace and righteousness as the eager hopes of men imagine. The first -result of the Saviour’s coming to His people, and claiming their trust -and allegiance, was that they rejected Him and crucified Him. He -rose from the dead and sent His Apostles to proclaim His resurrection -and His full assumption of His power as a King and Saviour, but they -continued to reject Him; and the result was that, instead of entering -on that Kingdom of righteousness and peace and glory of which their -prophets had spoken, their nation was crushed in scenes of “blood -and fire and vapour of smoke,” and all the bright hopes of Zacharias -were apparently extinguished. So the world went on, Christmas after -Christmas, and century after century, through successive scenes of war -and destruction and desolation, of which the spectacles of which we -read day by day afford us a horribly vivid example. If the angels’ song -had meant simply to promise peace on earth, it was contradicted by the -experience, not merely of bitter times like the present, but by every -year and every century which followed. - -But where, then, is the fulfilment of the promise? You have the record -and the evidence of it in your New Testament. There, in the history of -the Apostles and disciples of our Lord, and in their Epistles, you -behold a body of men whose souls are filled with peace, and with the -sense of the goodwill of God, and who are living the life described -and enjoined by our Lord in the Gospels--the life of the Sermon on -the Mount, and of His parting discourses to His disciples recorded by -St. John. They are living in the midst of that world of passion and -violence and tyrannical domination of which I have spoken, and yet they -speak to us in tones of the most profound peace, and joy, and hope, -and even exultation. The reason is that, through faith in our Lord, -in His sacrifice, and in the promise of His spirit, they have found -peace with God--the peace of which the angels spoke; they live in the -blessed assurance of His goodwill, and they look forward with infinite -rejoicing to His return, to establish, as He promised, a new heaven and -a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness. - -That spiritual Kingdom of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy -Ghost has subsisted continuously from that time to this. It is here in -the midst of us. There are souls whom we are privileged to know, who -are visibly living in that kingdom of Divine peace and goodwill, and -who, when they leave us here, pass, as we and they are assured, into -fuller realization of that kingdom, looking forward to its complete -establishment and revelation at the Day of the general Resurrection. -That is the kingdom Of the Lord’s elect, of the Saviour’s followers, -of the saints--perfect or imperfect, but still saints, of all ages, -the Church of Christ and the Kingdom of God. It is a kingdom within -which every Christian soul is admitted by baptism to his place and -his privilege, and it rests only with him to claim its blessings by -his faith and his life. In a word: the Acts of the Apostles and the -Epistles are the record of the fulfilment of the angels’ promise of -peace and love and Divine goodwill, for all who would submit to the -King and Saviour whose advent they proclaimed, and who would receive -His blessings in the way in which He offered them. To all whom would -“repent and believe and be baptised in the Name of Jesus Christ for the -remission of sins,” the promises of the angelic song were fulfilled, -and they have been fulfilled similarly to this hour. - -But has the promise, then, no bearing on the ordinary secular life -of mankind? Are the instincts of men wrong in looking eagerly to it, -as they have done from generation to generation, for the prophetic -assurance of peace between men, as well as of peace between men and -God--of goodwill from man to man, as well as from God to man and man -to God. Most certainly they have not been wrong in that eager hope and -expectation; but where they have been wrong, and still are wrong, is in -their conception of the methods and means by which that secular peace -and those purely human blessings and happiness are to be realized. If -Christ is, as the angels said, the Saviour, the Saviour of the world; -if He is the King Who alone can save His people from their sins; and if -war and all the miseries of the world are, in one form or another, the -consequences of those sins, then the only way of obtaining salvation -from those sins, and deliverance from those miseries which are God’s -judgments upon them, is by submitting ourselves entirely to Him, -repenting of our failure in obedience to Him, living only by His laws, -and seeking His grace and His Spirit for our guidance and inspiration. -Have we done that? Has Europe at large been doing it these last fifty -years? - -People ask how such a war as this can be possible after nineteen -centuries of Christianity. What do you mean by Christianity? If you -only mean that, during the greater part of those centuries, there has -been a general and nominal acknowledgment of the authority of Christ -and of His laws, such a description of the condition of the world -during that time may be allowed. But if you mean a real submission -of the mass of men and women, in heart and life, to the will, the -love, and the Spirit of Christ, then we have not really had nineteen -centuries of Christianity, and the state of the modern world, out -of which this war has arisen, has not been a Christian state. It is -notorious for instance, and not impugned anywhere, that the spirit of -Germany, which has provoked this war, has not only not been a Christian -spirit, but has been violently anti-Christian. The Divine authority -of Christ as the King and Saviour of the world has been openly and -vehemently impugned for at least a generation or two, especially in -the public and authoritative teaching in the Universities, which have -such immense influence in German life. Christ to them has not been the -King of kings and Lord of Lords, the very incarnation of God, “the -brightness of His glory and the express image of His person.” - -If we are honest, we must also acknowledge that in far too great a -degree the same failure has prevailed among ourselves. It has, to say -the least of it, not been sufficiently recognized in our literature of -late years, or in our public life, that “all form is formless, order -orderless,” which is not entirely subject to Christ and informed by -His Spirit. The very vice with which we now charge the Germans has -been more than a temptation among ourselves. We have had great writers -among us exalting statesmen and kings of the past on the ground of -their mere strength. It was a great English writer of the last century -who glorified Frederick the Great of Prussia as an example of a really -strong king; and it is not a long step from that glorification to the -worship which has been paid on the Continent of late to the supremacy -of strength and self-assertion. That is not the Christian spirit, and -the “red ruin and the breaking up of laws,” into which Europe is now -plunged, is to be charged, not to any weakness in Christianity, but -to a grievous neglect, and in some degree to the very negation, of -Christianity. - -The peace and goodwill which the message of the angels promised is, -in fact, within the scope of Christianity, and might be realized in -the world at large, but solely on the condition of the true methods -being observed--on condition, that is, of Christ, and the law of -Christ, being acknowledged from the heart as the true and only source -of peace and truth and goodwill, and on the condition of penitent, -humble, and earnest devotion to Him. That is the one supreme condition -on which peace to the world is promised by the Gospel. When emperors, -and kings, and statesmen, and soldiers, and men and women in general -believe the angels’ proclamation that Christ is their only Saviour, -their only King, that He alone, by His sacrifice, His laws, and His -grace can save His people from their sins, then, but then only, may -they hope in the life of the State, as well as in that of the Church, -to realize the angels’ promise of peace and goodwill. In a word: it is -not by strength, nor by liberty, nor even by law, that the blessings of -which Christmas holds out the promise can be realized. It is only by -Christian liberty, Christian law, and Christian strength--that is to -say, liberty and law, and strength exerted in obedience to the will of -Christ--that these blessings can be obtained. It is not Christianity -that has failed; it is not the angelic song that has disappointed us. -It is nominal Christians who have failed, from not being Christians -in reality. And the angelic song has proved its truth by the very -disasters which have fallen upon men who have not lived as though -Christ were their Saviour and their King. - -But, thank God, if these considerations point to our weakness, they -also point to our hope, and to the means for our deliverance. We have -still as much reason to rejoice as the angels had when they sang this -song, because the great joy of it lies in the eternal fact that there -is a Saviour and there is a King, Who, if His people will trust Him, -will save them from their sins and all the miseries that their sins -involve. If our own lives and the life of our nation and the life of -Europe can be made truly Christian, if we can bring more of the love -of Christ and the life of Christ into our daily existence, we have the -assurance that He will save us, and will extirpate the abuses and the -falsehoods which have brought the nations of Europe to this terrible -pass. - -In a few days we are to have a Day of Humble Prayer and Intercession -to Almighty God. Let it be, above all, a day of humble acknowledgment -of our failure as individuals and as a nation in His true faith and -obedience. I would fain it had been called by the good old Christian -and English name of a Day of Humiliation. We ought to be humiliated. -We have, in such ways as I have indicated, been contented with a -half-Christian life in public affairs and in society. We and our -men of letters, and men of learning, and men of affairs, have been -affected with the same half-heartedness in our allegiance to Christ, -which shocks us when we see it displayed in all its nakedness in other -countries, and especially in the one which is chiefly opposed to us. -Let us be humiliated for it before God, not caring, in comparison with -our true relation to Him, what interpretation the world may put on our -repentance. - -But let us also rejoice more than ever in the assurance of Christmas -that a Saviour has been born to us, that we have an eternal King in our -Lord Jesus Christ, Who can save us from our sins, and our ruin, and -ourselves, if we will but give ourselves up to Him absolutely. Let us -realize with infinite thankfulness that the souls of those who are now -sacrificing their lives for us are in His saving and merciful hands. -Let us be reminded by the angelic vision that we ourselves, and the -souls of those who have passed and are passing away, are not brought -merely into contact with the “blackness and darkness and tempest” of -war, but are come unto “Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, -and to an innumerable company of Angels, and to the general assembly -of the Church of the Firstborn and to Christ the Judge of all, and to -the spirits of just men made perfect.” Let us realize this more than -we have yet done. Let us realize the truth of the Angels’ proclamation -that Christ and Christ alone is our Saviour and our King, that He alone -can save us, individuals and nations alike, from our sins; and then, -in spite of all the distress and anxiety which surrounds us, this may -prove the most blessed Christmas of our lives, and it may bring us a -happiness which will last unto life eternal. - - - - -CHRISTMAS AND THE WAR. - -A SERMON PREACHED ON CHRISTMAS DAY A.D. 1915. - - “_Who hath saved us and called us with an holy calling, not according - to our works, but according to His Own purpose and grace, which was - given us in Christ Jesus before the world began, but is now made - manifest by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ, Who hath - abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light - through the Gospel._”--2 Tim. i. 9, 10. - - -There has never been an occasion in our own lives, and there have been -few occasions in the world’s history, on which we have had more reason -for unbounded thankfulness for the blessed message of Christmas. We -are celebrating this Festival to-day in a sadder and darker world than -any of us can remember, amid scenes of bloodshed and desolation, of -which an adequate description can only be found in the lurid pictures -of the Book of Revelation, with war and hatred all around us instead of -peace and good will, and with death and destruction raging over a great -part both of Europe and of Asia. If we had to confine our vision to -the present world, and to the prospects it offers, men’s hearts might -well, in our Lord’s words, be “failing them for fear, and for looking -after those things which are coming on the earth”; but Christmas breaks -upon this dark scene with a message and a promise, which enable us to -lift our hearts and hopes above this present world and this earthly -scene. The heavens are opened; a great illumination bursts upon the -world; and an innumerable multitude of the heavenly host are heard -singing, in tones of rejoicing and thankfulness, “Glory to God in the -Highest, and on earth peace, good will towards men.” They are good -tidings of great joy, proclaiming peace and good will from God towards -men--good tidings of great joy which shall be to all people, that unto -us was born that day in the City of David “a Saviour, which is Christ -the Lord!” Such tidings of great joy are the very things for which our -hearts are yearning amid the distresses, bereavements and sorrows, and -the overwhelming anxieties of the moment, and such are the tidings -which Christmas brings. Let us beware of allowing the heavy burdens -and sorrows of the hour to obscure, or to muffle, to our hearts these -tidings of great joy. On the contrary, the darker the hour, the heavier -the burden; let us open our hearts the more to this glory of God -shining round about us, as on this day, and to the tidings of great joy -which are proclaimed to us by the Angelic Choir. - -It is well we should remember, in the first place, that, even though to -ourselves this hour is peculiarly dark, it is but an aggravation, and -we may hope a comparatively brief one, of human experience throughout -all history. That history has been from the first marked by two -aspects, in the sharpest contrast to one another. In the first place, -from century to century it has been one of incessant struggle, of war, -of the rising of nation against nation and kingdom against kingdom; -and the Book of Revelation depicts the world as ending in scenes of -greater struggle and desolation than have ever gone before. That has -been the terrible reality of human experience from the commencement -to the present time. But, on the other hand, throughout these -distressing scenes there has always been heard a moral and spiritual -Voice, assuring men that God was controlling all these sufferings and -struggles, and that all was working for good, alike to the world at -large and to the individual. - -You have the representation of the experience of every generation of -men in the pages of the Bible, and especially of the Prophet Isaiah. -He is known as the Evangelical Prophet, because he depicts in deeper -and nobler tones than any other inspired voice that blessed promise of -good will, of which the final proclamation was uttered to-day. But let -us bear in mind the circumstances under which the glorious promises -which we recite and sing at this season were uttered. Let us listen to -Isaiah’s own description of them in the twenty-fourth chapter: “Behold, -the Lord maketh the earth empty, and maketh it waste, and turneth it -upside down, and scattereth abroad the inhabitants thereof.... The -land shall be utterly emptied and utterly spoiled: for the Lord hath -spoken this word.... All joy is darkened; the mirth of the land is -gone. In the city is left desolation, and the gate is smitten with -destruction.” These were the visible realities around him, but he is -inspired to look over them and through them; and he ends that passage -by declaring that “it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord -shall punish the host of the high ones that are on high, and the kings -of the earth upon the earth;” and that, at the last, “the moon shall -be confounded, and the sun ashamed, when the Lord of Hosts shall reign -in Mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, and before His ancients gloriously.” -Isaiah and his fellow-Prophets were surrounded by scenes of war and -bloodshed and desolation as terrible as any we have around us in our -own day, and it was over these fields of battle and destruction that -the glorious songs were heard which are our delight and encouragement -at this season. “Comfort ye, comfort ye my people saith your God. Speak -ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and say unto her that her warfare is -accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned; for she hath received at -the Lord’s hand double for all her sins.” There is nothing more amazing -in the experience of the human heart, and more inspiring to ourselves, -than that these grand songs of hope and deliverance and comfort should -have echoed over the desolate fields of Judea, and lived in the hearts -of a people who were as crushed, and all but destroyed, as any of the -ruined nations of Europe of the present day. - -It has been the same all through history. Even where there was not the -inspired voice of Revelation, there was still among the Greeks and -Romans the ineradicable hope of a Golden Age; and an inner witness -of God’s Spirit kept alive in the whole human race a firm belief in -His justice and His ultimate deliverance, both for the world and for -individuals, from age to age. Let us not think, therefore, that in the -strain and distress and suffering of the present hour we are undergoing -any novel or special experience; and if we should be tempted to be out -of heart, let us be shamed by the faith of the past, by the inspiration -of the Prophets, and even by the uninspired faith and courage of -mankind at large. Let us believe, through all, as they did, that the -Lord reigneth, and that though “clouds and darkness are round about -Him, righteousness and judgment are the habitation of His seat.” The -birth of our Lord, which we celebrate to-day, and the Divine Voice -which spoke in Him through human lips, have given us a final assurance -that He is reigning, and that He will judge the world in righteousness. - -But it has done other things, of which my text more particularly -speaks, which are a source of still greater joy and assurance to us -individually. By the message which our Lord brought us, an infinite and -blessed light has been thrown over the great mystery which darkened -the minds, and dimmed the faith, of men before His time. The Apostle -says that our Saviour “hath abolished death, and hath brought life -and immortality to light through the Gospel.” Though looking first, -as we may and ought, with the Prophets, to the ultimate vindication -of righteousness and justice throughout the world, by the fulfilment -of God’s judgments in the struggles of mankind, there still remained, -and there remains at this moment, to many hearts among us, the mystery -of the sacrifice of life which such judgments involve--the mystery -of the destruction of thousands of lives precious in themselves, and -infinitely dear to those who loved them, and who lived with them and -for them here. Before the Gospel, men’s hearts strained at the burden -of that mystery, and it is wonderful that human nature endured it with -such courage and patience; but now, says the Apostle, God’s purpose and -grace in this bitter experience “is made manifest by the appearing of -our Lord Jesus Christ, Who hath abolished death, and hath brought life -and immortality to light through the Gospel.” - -It would be rather truer to the original, and more closely -corresponding with the facts, to say--not that our Lord hath abolished -death, for, alas! that still remains around us--but that He hath -brought death to nought, annihilated its power, and destroyed its -strength. “The last enemy,” we are told, “which shall be destroyed is -death”; but meanwhile, for every Christian soul, its greatest distress -and terror is gone because our Lord has thrown a glorious illumination -upon it, and has “brought life and immortality to light through the -Gospel.” He has enabled us to see beyond the grave, beyond those -dreadful battlefields, strewn with the bodies of those whom we had -loved and honoured, and has made manifest to us that they still live -on in a new life, and a glorious immortality. Who can estimate the -mercy to sad and sorrowing hearts of the establishment of that blessed -hope on the firm assurance of our Lord Himself, who, after suffering an -agonizing death here, appeared to His Apostles and declared, “Fear not; -I am the first and the last: I am He that liveth, and was dead; and, -behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and -of death”? The pain of bereavement remains--that is like the loss of -a limb, which time alone can soften--but the definite assurance, from -the Saviour’s lips, that those who have died in His faith and obedience -have entered on a new and blessed life, must be of infinite comfort -to those who loved them. We are not left any longer to hopes and to -future expectations; but can grasp the assurance of present realities -which are vouched for by the Saviour who took our nature upon Him, who -lived our life, and died our death, and showed Himself alive beyond -the grave. This is what we owe to the Saviour’s birth, with all the -gracious revelation of which it was the commencement. - -The Apostle’s assurance goes, indeed, beyond this illumination of our -present experience, and seems to throw a glorious light upon the whole -history of mankind. “God,” he says, “hath saved us, and called us with -an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own -purpose and grace which was given us in Christ Jesus, before the world -began.” It is now made manifest by the appearing of our Lord Jesus -Christ, but it existed from all eternity “before the world began.” -If so, then through those long ages which preceded our Lord’s birth, -this life and immortality were given to the millions to whom His Name -had not been manifested, but who died in the discharge of their duty, -and who faithfully made the sacrifices which were involved in His -government and just judgment of the world. Christ revealed the wars and -sufferings of this world as the inevitable consequence of the operation -of God’s righteousness and justice upon the evil, the sin, and the -Godlessness of mankind. Sooner or later those sins and evils gather to -a head, in some great corruption of society and political life, in some -enormous crime of ambition or pride; and the righteousness and justice -of God, working through the ordinary laws of human nature, evokes some -tremendous reaction against them; and we behold the overthrow of a -great Empire, or a European Revolution, or a world-wide clash of the -forces of right and wrong. That is the course of history, as determined -before the world began by the inscrutable righteousness and wisdom of -God. - -That is the condition under which the world now exists, and people -who talk of abolishing war are like people standing on the crater of -a great volcano, and trying to persuade themselves that there will be -no more eruptions. As long as there is evil in the world and God’s -righteousness in the world, you will have the moral reactions between -the two bursting from time to time into some awful conflagration like -the present. That is the revelation of the whole Bible, brought to its -culmination in the Book of Revelation. But what was manifested to-day, -and proclaimed by the Heavenly Hosts, was God’s love and mercy to -the individual souls who have been the victims of these convulsions, -and who might seem to have been treated as mere passing elements in -the temporal scene. At the Birth of Christ, and by means of it, were -manifested and assured God’s peace and good will to every soul of man -who passes through this brief scene of struggle and, it may be, of -death. It proclaims that for each individual soul death may be said to -have been in effect abolished, that for every one of them, according to -the eternal purpose of God, “life and immortality” have been prepared -and assured; and that the struggles and sufferings of this mortal life, -terrible as they may be, are not worthy to be compared with the glory -that was designed, before the world began, for those who do the will -of God. This is the blessed revelation of Christmas, and it is our -privilege to fix our eyes and our hearts upon it, amid the sorrows and -troubles of the moment; and in proportion as we do so, we shall respond -with our whole hearts and souls to the exhortation of the same Apostle. -“Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, unmovable, always -abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your -labour is not in vain in the Lord.” - - - - -THE THINGS SEEN AND THE THINGS NOT SEEN. - -PREACHED IN CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL, EASTER DAY, 1915. - - “_For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet - the inward man is renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which - is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal - weight of glory; while we look not at the things which are seen, but - at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are - temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal._”--2 Cor. iv. - 16. - - -These touching words of St. Paul are based upon the grand truth to -which Easter Day is a standing witness. “Therefore,” he says, or “for -which cause, we faint not.” That cause is stated in the verse just -before, “Knowing that He Which raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise -up us also with Jesus, and shall present us with you.” The Apostle -had just been giving a vivid description of the extreme strain, and -almost mortal struggle, in which the work of his ministry involved him. -“We are troubled,” he says, “on every side ... always bearing about -in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus -might be made manifest in our mortal flesh. So then death worketh in -us, but life in you.” The Apostle was undergoing a strain which was -draining the very life of his body, in order to preach the Gospel which -was bringing life to the souls of others; but he endured it in the -knowledge that, even if it involved the sacrifice of his life, He Who -raised up the Lord Jesus would raise him up also by Jesus, and present -him in a new life at the day of the Resurrection. In this knowledge, -his experience that his outward man was perishing did not make him -faint, for he knew that his inward man was being renewed day by day. -If he was daily dying, he was but experiencing the dying of the Lord -Jesus; and thus, by entering into closer sympathy with his Lord, he -was becoming united also with His life. Christ’s resurrection in glory -was an assurance to him of his own resurrection, and the sufferings of -the moment were as nothing to him in comparison with that glory. That -affliction was, after all, light and momentary, when it was realized -that it was working out for him, more and more exceedingly, an eternal -weight of glory. The things which he saw and felt at the moment were, -after all, but temporary, whereas the things which were not then -visible were eternal. If the earthly frame, which was his present -tabernacle, were dissolved by death, he knew that there was ready for -him “a house not made with hands, eternal, in the heavens.” - -Is not this application of the great message of the Resurrection -peculiarly opportune and welcome to us at the present moment? We are -living through a time when the things that are seen are distressing and -painful beyond anything in our experience--we might perhaps say, in the -experience of Christian Europe. We seem to have gone back, on a sudden, -to the days before the flood, when “the earth was corrupt before -God, and the earth was filled with violence”; and we seem to need a -re-issue of the Divine proclamation, after that world of violence had -been swept away: “Surely your blood of your lives will I require; at -the hand of every man’s brother will I require the life of man. Whoso -sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed; for in the image -of God made He man.” The curse of this violence and bloodshed is being -inflicted, day by day, upon innumerable homes; and day by day we each -apprehend it for our own families. In order to stay the curse, the -blood of our own brothers and sons is being poured out like water, and -the desolation of our homes is becoming more and more appalling. The -blood-stained fields of Belgium, France and Poland, the engulfing of -the innocent lives of women and children in the ocean--these are the -things that are seen; and we need some supreme assurance--nay we need -some Divine revelation--if we are to live through such experiences -in faith, and hope, and in Christian charity. We mourn, day by day, -the loss of precious lives, and we are appalled at the thought of the -further sacrifices of such lives, young and mature, which we fear must -be required; and so far as we look only on the things thus seen, our -hearts might well fail us. Like St. Paul, as he describes himself in -the context, “we are troubled on every side ... we are smitten down, -though not destroyed.” - -Let us then observe the manner in which the Apostle meets this -overwhelming oppression. He looks off from the things which are seen -to the things which are not seen; “for,” he says, “the things which are -seen are temporal (or temporary), but the things which are not seen are -eternal.” Perhaps that is the first condition for our seeing things in -their true light. It is very difficult for us not to have our vision -almost wholly occupied by the visible things around us, which are also -the things of which we are the most immediately sensible, and which -naturally absorb our ordinary thoughts, feelings and energies. Yet, as -a matter of fact, as St. Paul reminds us, they are a very small part -indeed of the realities with which we are surrounded. “The things which -are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.” - -Eternal as compared with temporary! Do we often realize sufficiently -what that comparison means? What is the longest life here? Call it -one hundred years, and what is that compared with life eternal, -everlasting, never ending? That is the ultimate reality with which we -are all concerned. Our hearts are filled, first, with the thoughts of -youth, then with those of manhood, then with those of old age; but -there lies before us, before each one of us, an interminable existence, -in which we are destined to experience profounder happiness, or -profounder unhappiness, than any we have experienced here. All that has -exercised our thoughts and feelings here will indeed leave its mark -upon us, but it will all pass away; it is essentially temporal, and -there lies before us an unending existence for weal or woe. - -So far, therefore, as any individual life is concerned, so far as -those young lives are concerned, whose premature loss is so bitter to -their nearest and dearest, and seems so sad to all of us, it is well -we should clearly realize that to the individual life itself, a few -years more or less--nay, half a life-time more or less--is practically -insignificant. Are there fifty, or forty, or thirty years behind it? -There is all eternity in front of it. There is a fulness of life and -joy, and even glory, before it, which can never end. To one who has -lived, and who dies, in the true faith and love of Christ, all the -gracious and glorious promises of our Lord and His Apostles are fully -assured; and even if, in any particular case, we may not have the -full evidence of that entire Christian devotion, we may surely apply -to every life which is willingly sacrificed at the call of duty, for a -righteous cause, and with a generous self-surrender, the assurance of -St. Paul, that God will render “to every man according to his deeds. -To them who by patience in well-doing seek for glory, honour, and -immortality, eternal life”; or, as he says again, “Glory, honour, and -peace to every man that worketh good, to the Jew first and also to the -Gentile.” Or, as we may surely paraphrase it, to the Christian first, -and also to every human soul. If, in fact, our vision were merely -confined to this world, and we did but catch a doubtful glimpse of -what is beyond it, the spectacle of the sacrifice of human life, and -particularly of young human life in a war like this, would be scarcely -endurable. But let us have, not merely that “gleam beyond it,” of which -the Christian poet speaks, but that clear vision beyond it, of an -eternal life of which our Saviour assures us, and of “the grace of the -Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy -Ghost,” in the peace of which that eternal life will be spent, and we -may be able to feel, like St. Paul, that the affliction of the moment -is light, in comparison with the eternal abundance of glory which -awaits the soul in the future. - -We are too apt, in a word, to take our stand within the horizon of -this life, and to judge of all things as they are reflected in this -world’s mirror; but if we would see them in their true perspective and -so measure their real values, we must take our stand in the life beyond -the grave. We must look, not at the things which are seen, but at the -things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, -but the things which are not seen are eternal. In some degree, though -not to the same extent, we may apply a similar consideration to the -sufferings of nations, and of the world as a whole, in a great war. It -is revealed to us in the Book of the Revelation of St. John that, at -the consummation of all things, after scenes of carnage which are at -least equal in their horror to the dreadful spectacle now before our -eyes, a new heaven and a new earth will be created, by Him Who sits -upon the throne making all things new. Even so far as the present -world is concerned, the sufferings and sacrifices involved in great -wars have doubtless won for future generations the greatest blessings -of true Christian civilization--liberty, order, peace, and justice. -It might, indeed, be thought that the price of such blessings was too -high, if we judged of the sacrifices of individual lives in the light -only of the things that are seen; but when we can feel that every -life thus sacrificed, that every suffering thus unselfishly endured, -works out for the sufferer himself an exceeding and eternal reward, -we can look to the things which are not seen, and can again realize -that, in comparison with them, it is not too much to speak, with St. -Paul, of “our light affliction which is but for a moment.” That is the -grand comfort, also, of the mourners who are left behind, who may be -similarly assured that, in their patient acceptance of their bitter -share of these sacrifices, they will be united with those they have -loved and lost, in the eternal blessedness to which St. Paul looks -forward. - -But who does not realize that we need very strong evidence, and the -firmest assurances, to sustain flesh and blood amid such bitter trials -as men and women are now experiencing--fathers and mothers, wives and -sisters, lovers and friends? It is not, perhaps, even a St. Paul whose -word alone would be sufficient to bear that strain. If we had only that -to depend on we could but speak of hope and trust; we could hardly say, -as he goes on to say, that “we know” that if our earthly house of this -tabernacle be dissolved we have a building of God, a house eternal -in the heavens. But the ground of his knowledge was the reality of -our Lord’s resurrection, and the assurances which our Lord, when so -raised, had given him. We know, he says, “that He Who raised up the -Lord Jesus shall raise up us also by Jesus.” The great certainty from -which St. Paul’s Gospel starts is that our Lord, Who had undoubtedly -suffered death in its most agonizing form, had not less undoubtedly -risen from the dead, and appeared again and again to St. Paul, as to -many others, and had given him the personal assurances on which we are -invited to rely. That is the cardinal fact of the Christian Faith. Had -our Saviour not risen, had He not appeared in such a form as to prove -that He had completely overcome death, then we should still, at the -best, have been in the region of hopes and imperfect beliefs, and of a -yearning trust. We could not have said, with the Apostle, that we know -that Christ is risen from the dead, and become the first-fruits of them -that slept. But now it is no mere prophet or Apostle, but the risen -Saviour Himself, Who stands in the midst of human life, as He stood in -the midst of His disciples on the morrow of His resurrection, and Who -said Himself, “I am the Resurrection and the Life. He that believeth on -Me, though he were dead, yet shall he live, and whosoever liveth and -believeth in Me shall never die.” Those were His own words; that is the -conviction He stamped upon the mind and heart of such men as St. Paul, -St. Peter, and St. John; and that is the sure foundation on which we -stand in believing that, if we suffer and die with Christ, we shall -also live with Him. - -Let me only add that this blessed revelation can only bring its full -blessing and comfort in proportion as we realize, for our own souls, -and for all who are dear to us, that union with Christ in spirit which -is essential to our union with Him in life, here and hereafter. “If -any man,” says St. Paul, “have not the spirit of Christ, he is none of -His.” There are, no doubt, degrees in which men can possess that spirit -of Christ; and even if we possess it in but a feeble degree, we may -humbly trust that He will not disown it, and that He will grant us some -portion of His grace and of His life. But if this eternal life, this -life of abundant glory, is open to us all provided we are in union with -Him, which of us will not be moved by the afflictions of the present, -and the eternal promise of the future, to seek for ever closer union -with that Lord of Life, looking less and less at the things that are -seen, and more and more at the things that are not seen, and knowing -that our life is hid with Christ in God? - - - - -THE EASTER MESSAGE. - -PREACHED IN CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL, EASTER DAY, 1916. - - “_If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, - where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on - things above, not on things on the earth, for ye are dead, and your - life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, Who is our life, shall - appear, then shall ye also appear with Him in glory._”--Col. iii. 1-4. - - -Easter Day brings us the most blessed message that could possibly be -proclaimed at any time; but at present it is perhaps more blessed and -more appropriate than at any other time in our experience. It tells -us, in the first place, that Christ was raised from the dead after His -crucifixion, and now sits at the right hand of God, Who has highly -exalted Him, and given Him a name that is above every name. But it -tells us, also, that the blessedness of that resurrection is open to -all of us, and that we are admitted to share in the glory which Christ -won for Himself; so that when Christ, Who is our life, shall appear -we also shall appear with Him in glory. If we appreciate what these -assurances mean, we shall be lifted up by them into the apprehension -of realities which transform our whole life in this world, and enable -us to look beyond it, to an eternal existence of the highest spiritual -bliss hereafter. - -There are two ways in which men may think of their position in life. -The realities of this life may be predominant in their thoughts, so -as almost to absorb their whole minds. That, I fear, is the natural -tendency of most of us. The claim which the things of this world make -upon us is so incessant, and often so intense, that we have too often -neither the energy nor the inclination to look beyond it. There have, -indeed, been good and brave men, who have said that we should not look -beyond it; that we should concentrate all our energies on the work -and the duties imposed upon us, and leave the future to take care -of itself, even though it be that vast, and, as we believe, eternal -future, on which we shall enter at death. That was necessarily the -attitude of good men before the revelation of the Gospel. There have -been, unhappily, some good men among us in recent times who practically -live a similar life, not realizing or believing the truths that are -opened to them by the Gospel, but content to do their duty to the best -of their power. I fear a similar life is practically lived by too many -Christians. Their interest and their thoughts are mainly absorbed in -this present visible world, in their duties, their pleasures, and their -worldly happiness; and they do not, for the most part, think of much -beyond. One consequence of this attitude of mind is that they judge of -all occurrences by their effect on this life; and particularly they -are apt to consider all the dispensations of God’s providence, all -His judgments and all His mercies, with reference to their effect on -this world. How is it possible, for instance, they ask, that a God of -perfect goodness and love can permit such an awful dispensation to -fall upon men as a great war like the present, that He can allow the -sufferings, and the bereavements, and the miseries which such a war -involves? I think, if we are candid with ourselves, we shall find that -when that question is acutely felt, it is practically with reference -to this life that it is urged. Why should there be all this suffering -in the world in which we are now living? Why should so many young and -precious lives be sacrificed? Why should so many homes be darkened, and -so many hearts all but broken, in this present time? It is the present -suffering and the present time that are uppermost in our thoughts. We -are apt to speak and think as if the life in the present world of those -who are lost had been the matter of greatest consequence for them, -and as if we were without any positive compensation, to them and to -ourselves, except the victory of the cause for which they laid down -their lives. - -Now the great blessing of the Easter message is that it entirely -reverses this aspect of life. It reveals to us, on the assurance of -Christ and His Apostles, that this world and this life are a very small -thing indeed compared with the realities which Christ has revealed -to us by His resurrection. He has revealed to us, first for Himself -and in His own person, and secondly for ourselves, that the world in -which we really live is an eternal and spiritual realm, in which we -are privileged to be in the company of Christ Himself, and of all the -souls who, from the commencement of the world, have lived and died in -harmony with the spirit of Christ and the will of God. That is the -real life into which every one in this congregation is admitted, if -he will. One of those great men in the past, to whom I have referred, -imagined the case of men having lived all their lives in a cave to -which only broken beams of sunlight penetrated, and who had no idea of -the splendid vision of the sun, and of the earth with all its beauties, -which would burst upon their vision the moment they stepped outside -their cave. That, as his marvellous wisdom perceived, is the case of -too many among us, even among Christians. We have our caves, created by -the temporal interests and obligations around us; and broken gleams, -from the truths of the Gospel which we imperfectly realize, afford -a dim religious light to our condition. But, in reality, there is a -spiritual, a glorious, and an eternal world around us, which will burst -upon us with overpowering splendour when, after death, we step out of -the cave of this flesh. The problems of God’s dispensations, both to -the world at large and to ourselves, are beyond our comprehension and -solution, because they have reference not merely to this world, in -which most of us live for no more than three score years and ten, but -to that eternal and infinite world of spirits, which will endure for -ever, and which is beyond our ken. To each individual soul, young or -old, the question of chief importance is not what happens to them in -this world, whether their life be short or long, whether it be a happy -life or a sad one, but what happens to them afterwards, in that eternal -career, which opens to them all at death. The only true Christian -attitude, as the Apostle says elsewhere, is to “look not at the things -which are seen, but at the things which are not seen, for the things -which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are -eternal.” - -But what are these things that are eternal? That is one of the most -precious parts of the Christian revelation. In some respects, of -course, they must remain unknown to us while we are in the flesh, for -“eye hath not seen nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart -of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him.” -But though we do not know what the external circumstances of that life -will be, we do know, because Christ Himself, and His Apostles on His -authority, have revealed it to us, what the essential part of them will -be so far as our spiritual nature is concerned. They will be simply -and precisely the spiritual things which are the highest and best in -this world. They will be perfect truth, and peace, and love, and, in a -word, all those graces and perfections which were manifested in Christ -Himself. The Apostle bids us “seek those things that are above, where -Christ sitteth on the right hand of God”; and then he proceeds to -explain what those things are. “Put on,” he says, a few verses further, -“as the elect of God a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, -meekness, long suffering; forbearing one another, and forgiving one -another; ... even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye; and above all -these things, put on love, which is the bond of perfectness ... and -whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, -giving thanks to God the Father through Him.” That is the character of -the future world, the future society, to which we have the privilege of -being admitted at death: a world in which all the graces and glories -of the Christian character exist, without any of the imperfections by -which even the holiest lives are clouded here; a world of perpetual -thanksgiving to God the Father for the love with which He has loved us; -a world in short which is ablaze with the light and warmth of all love -and truth. - -One blessed consequence from this revelation of the nature of the -spiritual world, in which the risen Christ reigns, is that we can enter -it, and live for it, even in the present life, without any disregard -of the obligatory claims which this world has upon us. However busy a -man’s life, however absorbed he may necessarily be in the requirements -and duties of his daily occupations, he can also be exerting his -energies of thankfulness and prayer to God, of truth and love and -compassion and meekness and peace, which make the life of the eternal -world. There is no occupation or condition of life in which those -blessed graces may not be exerted and cultivated; and men and women -may thus live in the spirit and light Of Heaven, even while they are -confined within the cave of the flesh. In proportion as they are living -in this light even here, they are being prepared for the eternal Heaven -of the future; they are fulfilling, all the more completely, their duty -to the society and the life of this world because they are guided by -the illumination, both of the present Heaven which overshadows their -souls, and of the future Heaven, of which the approaching gleams throw -flashes of light across their path. - -But what I would more particularly ask, at the present moment, amid -the strain and distress of these months and years of war, is whether -the promise of this eternal blessedness, the vision of this unseen -and eternal world, does not justify the Apostle’s description of all -the sorrows and sufferings which he and his fellows underwent, as -“our light affliction, which is but for a moment.” If this world were -the main scene of our life and of our hopes, there would be something -appalling in the destruction, or mutilation, of so many of the best -lives among us, and the cruel bereavement of those who are left -behind. But in the light of this revelation, is it not our privilege -to regard it all as “a light affliction, which is but for a moment,” -and which is working for us all, for those who are taken and for those -who are left, a far more exceeding and eternal glory? What does it -matter to a life, however young and bright, that it should be cut short -in this world if, through death in the discharge of duty, it passes -to the full enjoyment of those “things that are with Christ,” in that -world where Christ will welcome it with the greeting: “Well done, good -and faithful servant, enter thou into the joy of thy Lord?” It is, -indeed, a hard fate for those whose life in this world is, for the -future, maimed by injuries, or marred by bereavement. But for them, -too, there is the assurance of Christ that if they suffer with Him, and -in sympathy with Him, they shall also be glorified together, and that -all they suffer, in obedience to His will here, will help them forward -in the way that leads to everlasting life. These are not mere human -hopes and imaginings; they are the express promises and assurances of -the Lord, Who suffered and died upon the Cross, and of those Apostles, -whom He commissioned to bring His message to the world. This Heaven, -of the present and the future, has been constituted by them the great -reality, the greatest of all realities, the supreme reality, of our -lives, here and hereafter; and in proportion as we look at everything -here in the light of it, the sorrows and sacrifices of this life are -reduced to comparatively small proportions, and the hope and the -blessings of the eternal life become the great Heaven, the glorious -vault of God’s light and love by which we are surrounded. - -It is thus that Easter Day brings home to us a message which satisfies -the deepest cravings and necessities of life, and affords a practical -solution of the difficulties which, without such a revelation, are -involved in the miseries of war. War itself, indeed, points to some -such solution, and compels men in practice to embrace it. It has been -said that war is the greatest of educators, and there are various -senses in which this is true. It educates, it exercises, it manifests, -as nothing else does, some of the highest excellences of human nature: -self-sacrifice, endurance, mutual devotion, faith and loyalty, and, -in Tennyson’s pregnant phrase, “all that makes a man.” But perhaps its -greatest educative influence consists in the fact that it compels men -to act, without hesitation, on the instinct, which God has implanted -in their hearts, that nothing in this world is of any importance in -comparison with the maintenance and the assertion of righteousness, -truth, justice, and mercy. The mass of a people may be living in -comfort and luxury, with their minds and affections mainly engaged in -the energies, the pleasures, and the interests of this life; but as -soon as some great challenge is offered to those supreme principles -of righteousness and mercy, on which the whole fabric of true human -life depends, their hearts spring up with an instinct that everything -they value in this world must be sacrificed in defence of those moral -and spiritual causes. The moment the note is struck of a great war -for righteousness, like the present, that moment men and women feel -compelled, by their very nature, to “set their affection on the things -above,” not on the things of this world; they realize, that to this -world they must become practically dead, and live for those high -moral and spiritual causes which are the supreme treasures of mankind, -and that, in this sense at all events, their “life is hid with Christ -in God.” If, as we may confidently say, we are warring for right and -truth, and for the maintenance of the will of God among men, we may -then apply even to the war itself, and all the national and individual -sacrifices it entails, the thankful conviction of the Apostle that -“our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far -more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.” It is working out for our -nation and Empire, and for the world at large, the establishment on -a firmer basis than ever of true Christian civilization. Those whose -lives are sacrificed are but brought by death into the nearer presence -of Christ, where His love and His mercy, no less than His justice, will -be still more to them than in the world they leave; and those who are -left behind may learn to prize the privilege of suffering with their -Saviour, that they may in time be glorified with Him. - - - - -THE NEED AND THE MEANS OF RIGHT JUDGMENT. - -CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL, WHIT SUNDAY, 1915. - - “_The Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, Whom the Father will send in - My Name, He shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your - remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you._”--St. John xiv. 26. - - -Never in our time, perhaps never in the history of the world, has there -been such urgent occasion as there is to-day for joining with all -our hearts, in the prayer of the Whit Sunday Collect, that God will -grant us, by the help of His Spirit, “to have a right judgment in all -things.” We have before our eyes the most tremendous illustration ever -afforded of the awful consequences which may ensue from the absence of -such a right judgment, and the prevalence of a wrong judgment. In the -first place, the war itself is entirely due to the exercise of a wrong -judgment by some person or persons. Nothing but a great misjudgment, on -one side or the other, of the circumstances which occasioned the war, -or of its consequences, could have precipitated all the nations of -Europe into such a deadly and disastrous conflict. - -Every statesman, of course, thinks that some other statesman has -blundered, but the mutual recriminations form at least a general -confession of wrong judgment somewhere. When we see such wrong judgment -possible among the ablest and most powerful men in Europe, in a -matter which involves the sacrifice of tens of thousands of lives, -the desolation of thousands of homes, and the devastation of some -of the fairest countries in Europe, have we not need to cry to God, -with the most intense earnestness, that He will grant to us, and to -all who act for us and with us, the help of His Spirit to give us a -right judgment in all things? This gift of a right judgment may seem, -perhaps, in ordinary times, a comparatively small matter to be treated -as the culminating blessing won for us by the Death and Resurrection -and Ascension of our Lord. This is the final festival of the series -which commemorates the great events of His Life; for Trinity Sunday, -which follows, does but sum up the whole substance of the Christian -revelation, as that of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. The Whit Sunday -Collect embodies the final craving of the Christian life, for those -gifts which, on our Lord’s Ascension, He became empowered to bestow -upon His Church. But we may appreciate, at this time, better than ever -before, why all those gifts are summed up in the prayer that we may be -granted a right judgment in all things. Upon that right judgment in -the leaders of the Christian nations depends the peace of the whole -world, and the possibility of ourselves leading a peaceable life in all -godliness and honesty. It is demonstrated, by the most awful example -ever given, that all the wisdom, all the experience, all the knowledge -of human nature, accumulated for twenty centuries, are insufficient, of -themselves, to ensure that right judgment; and we are driven to-day to -act upon the exhortation of St. James, “If any man lack wisdom, let him -ask of God” and “it shall be given him.” - -But this failure of good judgment in the political management of the -world is not the only, nor the most terrible, exhibition which is -afforded at the present time of the grievous liability of human nature -to form wrong judgments. The worst and most distressing exhibition of -all is seen in the moral perversion of one of the greatest of European -nations. Unless our own judgment is absolutely perverted, Germany has -become possessed by an utterly false, un-Christian, and even inhuman -judgment in moral conduct. The case was justly summed up in a letter -published the other day by an eminent member of our Church, the Dean of -Exeter--“Women outraged, treaties broken, inoffensive citizens, women -and babes, murdered wholesale by land and sea, wells poisoned, deadly -gases taking the place of manly conflict, Houses of God ruthlessly -destroyed, fair lands desolated, noble cities destroyed without -provocation, without reasonable object or purpose, the world filled -with abominable lies, the hymn of hate chosen as a national anthem, and -a baleful curse placed, as a nation’s prayer, on the lips of children, -and placarded in the streets, a fit sequel to the hymn of hate”--this -is the moral and religious spectacle which Germany now exhibits, and -its rulers and guides not only allow these things to be done, but have -pleasure in them that do them. It is not merely that these un-Christian -and inhuman things are done, but that they are justified, that they are -treated as lawful and meritorious, that the spirit which promotes them -is recognized and applauded as the right spirit--this is the amazing -and appalling exhibition of wrong judgment which Germany now offers to -the world. - -Let us, moreover, if we would duly appreciate the lesson to be derived -from such a spectacle, bear in mind the character and capacities of the -nation by which it is exhibited. We should bear in mind that Germany -is probably the most highly educated country in Europe; its science, -its literature, its arts, its industry have been among the finest -that the world has seen. In religion it gave Europe the Reformation; -and the great Protestant nations of the world, alike in Europe and -America, recognize the immense spiritual debt they have owed to it in -the past. Our own theological literature, during the last century, -has acknowledged an immense debt to it, and German scholars have, in -our own time, been in the front rank of the learning of the world. It -is a country which was proud of its culture, and, in such matters as -I have mentioned, with full justice. No thoughtful man can treat the -Germans, as a nation, as inferior to any other in Europe, in all the -externals of such culture. All the achievements of past history, all -the acquisitions of Christian civilisation, lay open before them, as -much as before ourselves, and they are bound to us by intimate ties of -blood and of common interests. It is a nation, in short, with every -equipment which human intellect, and art, and Nature can bestow; and -yet, notwithstanding all this, the nation, as a whole, has formed a -judgment so false and inhuman, on the very elements of moral duty, that -we are forced to recognize that in fighting it we are fighting not -merely a political foe, but a moral outlaw from Christian civilisation. - -If such an awful perversion of judgment is possible, have we not -reason to tremble at the possibilities of human error? The horrors I -have recalled are a disgrace to Germany; but let us not disguise from -ourselves the lamentable fact that they are also a disgrace to human -nature. To this, we must realize, human nature can come, in spite of -literature, and science, and art, and the traditions of generations, -and profound religious capacities. One cannot divide the Germans from -all other human races, or even from ourselves, and say that they have -a human nature of their own. It is our common human nature which, in -this case, has succumbed to such a degraded judgment, and which has -become false to the inherited principles of Christian civilization. -What we ought to learn from so distressing a spectacle is the absolute -need of some influence higher than any that mere human nature, when -left to itself, can exert, if the moral judgment, the moral sense, the -moral character of nations and races, and of ourselves among them, -are to be kept true to the ideals towards which human nature, at its -best, has always been striving, and which our Lord Jesus Christ has -revealed as the eternal standard established by God. I am afraid -there can be no doubt respecting one cause, at all events, of this -terrible degradation. For the last generation or two, in consequence -of the prevalence in Germany of a false philosophy and an extravagant -criticism, the minds of the educated classes in that country have -been imbued with a complete distrust of the Scriptures, and of the -revelation of God in Christ; and, in consequence, they have abandoned -all deference to the authority of God’s Word and the example and -teaching of our Lord. I believe, indeed, that faith in God and God’s -Word, and love of Christ, still subsist in much of their old intensity -among the simpler classes of the German nation--among numbers to whom -the name and the teaching of Luther are still a venerated influence. -But they have ceased to mould the character and guide the thoughts of -the educated classes, and the consequence is that human nature has -broken loose from all control, and has abandoned itself to an unbridled -lust of power and of earthly pleasure. - -It is painful to contemplate such a spectacle, and to recall it to -you; but it is necessary we should realize what it means, if we are -to learn the lesson which is the most imperative for us at this -moment, and if we are to take home to our minds the full blessing of -the promise of Whit Sunday. It is encouraging to bear in mind that a -similar spectacle and crisis existed in the world at the time when our -Lord spoke the words of the text. The Roman Empire, although, like the -German nation, it rendered great services to mankind, was in His day -developing into a terrible despotism, and its rulers were becoming -the incarnation of a ruthless and unscrupulous force. The age of the -twelve Cæsars, some of whom were monsters of violence and vice, was -commencing; and at that moment there appeared another influence, that -of the twelve Apostles, who proclaimed in the world the authority and -the inspiration of another King, their Lord and Master, who taught -the blessedness of another ideal--the ideal of poverty of spirit, of -mourning, of meekness, of mercy, of purity, and of peacemaking. The -two ideals struggled side by side for three centuries; but the spirit -of violence proved unable to crush the spirit of meekness, and had at -last to acknowledge its superiority, and to submit, in great degree, at -all events, to the authority and example of our Lord. The mostly highly -organized physical force that the world at that day had ever seen was -slowly but surely undermined by the spirit of Christian meekness and -love; and from that moment Christian principles of conduct extended -their authority more and more over the whole range of worldly life, -and even over the fierce passions and struggles of war. Gradually -there became established those principles of chivalry under which, as -our great philosophical statesman described it, there prevailed “that -sensibility of principle, that chastity of honour, which felt a stain -like a wound, which inspired courage whilst it mitigated ferocity, -which ennobled whatever it touched, and under which vice itself lost -half its evil by losing all its grossness.” That great amelioration of -human passion and of human evil was won by the persistent contemplation -and assertion of the authority and example of our Lord, and by the -perpetual inculcation of the teaching of His Apostles. The Spirit -of God, descending as on this great day, inspired Evangelists and -Apostles to write those Gospels in which the Person, the teaching, -and the example of our Saviour are so marvellously depicted, and -those Epistles in which they are brought home to our hearts with such -touching force. The same Spirit was vouchsafed to the great teachers -and leaders of the Church, and quickened in the hearts of the people -at large the gracious seed which was thus sown. If the new embodiment -of the rule of force in human affairs is to be effectually overcome, -it can only be by the same means. It cannot be done by our arms alone. -Force alone is no remedy for force. The Spirit of Christ as it lives in -the Books of the New Testament, must again make its appeal to the minds -and consciences of the nations of Europe; and the Spirit of God, acting -through those examples and exhortations, must bring home to us, once -more, the life and love of Christ, must open men’s hearts to receive -His image, and so enable them once more to have a right judgment in all -things. - -The prayer of the Collect, therefore, should turn our hearts and minds, -at this juncture, to the supreme necessity, if we would save ourselves -from the dangers of wrong judgment, and if, according to a famous -saying, we would “save Europe by our example,” of submitting our -hearts and lives with the deepest earnestness to the ideals set before -us in the Scriptures, and especially in the teaching and example of -our Lord and His Apostles, as the only sufficient means of maintaining -a right judgment among us on the great moral problems of life. As a -nation we have hitherto enjoyed unique advantages in this respect. To -no other nation in the world has it ever been given to have the Word -of God, the whole Word of God, read aloud in our churches, Sunday by -Sunday, for more than three hundred years; and to have thus had the -words and deeds of Christ, and the exhortations of His Apostles, and -the devotions of Psalmists and Prophets, impressed upon our minds -week by week, and sometimes day by day, until much of them has become -the most familiar of all the records of our memories. There has been -another means, moreover, especially in Scotland, but in England also, -by which we have been kept in constant touch with the same influence, -and that is the custom, which generally prevailed till recently, of -Family Prayer, and the reading of the Holy Scriptures in the family -circle. By these means that Divine Seed was sown in the hearts of young -and old, and it could not but produce much fruit. If we desire to -preserve the Christian instincts, which can alone protect us against -such dreadful relapses into a world of violence and ungoverned passion -as human nature has been proved capable of, let us submit ourselves -with renewed earnestness to those Divine Words, and to that Christian -discipline, which have maintained for so long, in this country, the -character of Christian gentlemen and gentlewomen, and have upheld among -us, in spite of our many faults and failures, at all events the main -principles of a right judgment. When our Lord says, in the text, that -His Spirit would bring all things to the remembrance of the Apostles, -whatsoever He had said unto them, He gave a promise which was in the -first instance fulfilled, as I have said, in the writings of the -Evangelists and the Apostles, but to which it is also the privilege -of every Christian to appeal. If we will read His Scriptures, He will -open our minds to understand them, He will bring home to us, by His -fellowship, the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the Love of God; He -will save us from false judgments of all kinds; and will enable us to -uphold in our own hearts, and in the world at large, that truth and -love, that meekness, gentleness, and humility, for the protection of -which we are now appealing to the arbitrament of battles, and of the -God of battles. May He grant us victory in that appeal; and when it -has been granted to us, let us strive to render the victory secure by -living more devoutly in His faith and fear, and seeking more diligently -the Grace of His Holy Spirit. - - - - -THE ADVENT MESSAGE AND THE WAR. - -IN CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL, NOV. 29, 1914. - - “_Because He hath appointed a day, in which He will judge the world in - righteousness by that Man Whom He hath ordained; whereof He hath given - assurance unto all men, in that He hath raised Him from the dead._” - - -The season of Advent, with which the Church’s year reopens brings to -us a message of peculiar appropriateness and encouragement at the -present moment. It does so because it lays the corner-stone of the -grand edifice of the Gospel, or the good news of God, of which we -shall follow the construction through the Church’s year. What is the -special message of Advent? It is the message of that grand verse in the -Psalms, “Righteousness and judgment are the habitation of His seat.” It -proclaims to us the message of the prophets, opened to us in triumphant -tones by the prophet Isaiah in the Lesson of to-day, that righteousness -is the very foundation on which God is building up society; that it -is the very root from which our own lives and the life of our nation -derive their existence; that it was to promote this righteousness that -our Lord came into the world at His first Advent in great humility; -and that it is to establish that righteousness finally that He will -come again in great glory to judge the quick and the dead. This is the -beginning of God’s revelation to us, and it is also the end and the -culmination of His revelation. It is the beginning of the Gospel, and -it is also the end of the Gospel. - -If we would understand the blessing of the Gospel, we must begin -with the conviction that the one great object for which this whole -dispensation of human society exists is that complete righteousness, -the glory of the Divine righteousness, may be established in it, and -that nothing but this can promote either the glory of God or the -happiness of man. Read the Psalms with this consideration in your mind, -and I think you will be deeply impressed with the fact that every -prayer to God embodies a prayer for the establishment of right against -wrong; so that the Psalmist only dares to pray for himself so far as -the deliverances and successes he prays for are in harmony with the -righteous will and purposes of God. Every prayer is in the spirit of -the exquisite Psalm of this evening: “Deliver me, O Lord, from mine -enemies: for I flee unto Thee to hide me. Teach me to do the thing that -pleaseth Thee, for Thou art my God: let Thy loving spirit lead me forth -into the land of righteousness.” We have no right to ask or expect help -on any other condition than that; for the one supreme work which God is -working day by day, and year by year, and century by century, is the -realization in human life of what that righteousness and judgment are, -which are the foundation of His throne. - -Advent reminds us, in the first place, of this grand and simple fact, -and bids us make it the starting point of all our Christian thought -and hope; but it gives us the further assurance that God is not -only carrying forward that work of righteousness now, but that He -will complete it hereafter. It repeats that message which St. Paul -proclaimed to the world at large, through the Athenians, that “God hath -appointed a day in the which He will judge the world in righteousness -by that Man Whom He hath ordained; whereof He hath given assurance -unto all men, in that He hath raised Him from the dead.” That was -the culmination of St. Paul’s Gospel to the people of Athens. That -is the culmination of the message of the Gospel to ourselves at the -present day. What do we need more than all at this moment? What are our -minds full of but the dreadful spectacle before us of the whole earth -filled with violence, of an awful outbreak of hatred, unrighteousness, -injustice, wanton cruelty, and barbarity? The words of Isaiah read -this morning are exactly applicable to the spectacle of Belgium and -France at this moment: “Your country is desolate; your cities are -burned with fire; your land, strangers devour it in your presence, -and it is desolate, as overthrown by strangers. And the daughter of -Zion is left as a cottage in a vineyard, as a lodge in a garden of -cucumbers, as a besieged city.” Might not our hearts almost fail us -as we contemplate such a volcanic eruption of injustice and violence -after nineteen centuries of Christianity? But our hearts will not fail -us, any more than the heart of Isaiah failed him in his day. And why? -Because of this assurance--an assurance deep down in our souls--that -this unrighteousness cannot prevail. That conviction lies very deep in -human nature, even apart from God’s revelation in the Psalms and the -Gospel. But by this revelation it is given an irrefragable strength, -and we grasp with the deepest conviction the assurance of the Psalmist: -“Let the floods clap their hands, and let the hills be joyful together -before the Lord, for He is come to judge the earth, with righteousness -to judge the world, and the people with His truth.” That is the message -of Advent, and there never was a time in history when we could grasp it -more thankfully with all our hearts and souls. - -There is something inexpressibly elevating and inspiring in this -message of a future judgment and of the final vindication of -righteousness, as it enables us to look beyond this present scene -of distress and trouble, to realize that all that is passing around -us is in reality only part of a far larger and grander scene, and -that the events of the hour are but a brief passage in a universal -history, which has been carried forward for centuries under God’s -hand, and is being worked out under His guidance to a glorious and -righteous conclusion. If you allow your gaze and your thoughts to be -fixed mainly on your own lives, on the lives of your own generation, -or even of our own national history, you may well be distressed and -perplexed at the apparent defeat of righteous causes and purposes, at -the overthrow of the laborious work of years of peace, at what seems -like the destruction of those bonds of human society to which prophets -and saints and soldiers and statesmen had devoted their labours and -their very lives for generations. So it seemed to Isaiah in his day; -so it seemed to Habakkuk when he exclaimed, “that judgment doth never -go forth.” So it has seemed to many a devoted servant of God and man, -if he trusted only to his own eyes, from generation to generation. -Nothing but prophecy, the prophecy of the Old and New Testaments, -is, in fact, adequate to the strain thus put upon men and women by -these experiences. But only believe, as the prophets assure you, only -believe as our Saviour declared, and as His Apostles proclaimed -by His commission, that it is but part of one great history, one -great universal dispensation, in which God is steadily ensuring, by -whatever means may in His Divine wisdom be necessary, the supremacy of -righteousness and the overthrow of evil, and you can then live through -it, and struggle through it, not merely with the patience, but with the -exultation, which marked the Jewish prophets and psalmists. Belgium and -Northern France are now passing through the very experiences, to the -letter, which Isaiah described in the case of the people of Israel in -his day; but Isaiah looked through all these distresses to a time when -“the Lord’s House should be established in the top of the mountains and -should be exalted above the hills, and all nations should flow into -it”; when “out of Zion should go forth the law, and the word of the -Lord from Jerusalem”; when “He should judge the nations, and should -rebuke many peoples, and should beat their swords into ploughshares, -and their spears into pruning hooks, when nation should not lift up -sword against nation, neither should they learn war any more.” That -was Isaiah’s assurance, even in the dark days he describes. We have -a hundred-fold more ground for the same assurance when it has been -proclaimed to us by our Lord Himself, and sealed with His blood, and -countersigned with the assurance and the blood of His Apostles and -Saints. - -Even from this general point of view, the message of Advent comes to us -with a supremely inspiring force in the crisis of our great national -struggle, but it has other aspects of profound grace and comfort as -well as of warning. The most gracious, perhaps, of all its aspects is -the assurance it gives us that the final judgment of the world, the -final establishment of righteousness, the final reward of the good, -will be in the hands of our Lord Jesus Christ. This, of course, is a -matter of faith, based on positive revelation, resting on the personal -assurance of our Lord and His Apostles. It is no matter of speculation, -no matter of opinion, but a positive statement of fact, which is one of -the corner-stones of the Christian religion. There is too much tendency -at present to resolve that religion into matters of mere human -thought and feeling and hope, and to make its acceptance depend on its -conformity to modern ideas; but there is no possibility of treating in -that manner such a point of definite, momentous, fundamental fact as -that our Lord Jesus Christ has been appointed by God to be the Judge of -quick and dead, to sum up the whole world’s destiny, and to assign to -each one of us, to every one in this congregation, his place hereafter -in the Kingdom of God or outside it. The office of judge, even in this -world, is a solemn one. How infinitely awful is the position of the -Eternal Judge of all! Now the substance of the revelation of Advent -is that this great office is not veiled, as it was to the Jews, and -as it must needs be, without revelation, to all the world, in the -mysterious, distant, and dread form of the absolute majesty of God -Himself; but that it is formally delegated to One Who is not only the -Son of God, but the Son of Man, to the Lord Jesus Christ, Who took our -flesh and blood upon Him, Who died for us and rose again. “God hath -appointed a day,” St. Paul says, “in the which He will judge the world -in righteousness by _that man_ Whom He hath ordained ... Whom He -raised from the dead.” The grace which is involved in this declaration -is so infinite that I hesitate to speak freely of it in my own words, -and I am thankful to be able to express it in language of one of the -most authoritative of all divines, our own Bishop Pearson, in his grave -and deliberate _Exposition of the Creed_. “If,” he says (page 305), -“we look upon the judgment to come only as revealing our secrets, as -discerning our actions, as sentencing our persons, according to the -works done in the flesh, there is not one of us can expect life from -that tribunal at the last day.... It is necessary, therefore, that -we should believe that _Christ_ shall sit upon the throne, that our -Redeemer shall be our Judge, that we shall receive our sentence, not -according to the rigour of the law, but the mildness and mercies of -the Gospel; and then we may look not only upon the precepts, but also -upon the promises of God. Whatsoever sentence in the sacred Scriptures -speaketh anything of hope, whatsoever text administereth any comfort, -whatsoever argument drawn from thence can breed in us any assurance, -we can confidently make use of them all in reference to the judgment -to come; because by that Gospel which contains them all we shall be -judged. If we consider Whose Gospel it is, and Who shall judge us by -it, ‘_we are the members of His Body, of His Flesh, and of His Bones; -for which cause He is not ashamed to call us brethren_.’ As one of our -brethren He hath redeemed us, He hath laid down His life as a ransom -for us.... Well, therefore, may ‘_we have boldness and access with -confidence_,’ by the faith of Him unto the throne of that Judge, Who is -our brother, Who is our Redeemer, Who is our High Priest, Who is our -Advocate, Who will not by His word at the last day condemn us, because -He hath already by the same word absolved us, saying, ‘_Verily, verily, -I say unto you, he that heareth My word, and believeth on Him that sent -Me hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation, but is -passed from death into life_.’” - -At a time when death is all around us, when so many of our nearest and -dearest and best may pass at any moment through the shadow of death to -the judgment which is beyond, it is of infinite comfort to be assured -by this Divine message that they pass, not to a severe tribunal which -will judge them by the letter of the law, and by a strict estimate -of their faults, but to this gracious and merciful throne of their -Brother, their Advocate, and their Redeemer, Who will judge them with -infinite mercy and equity. I do not hesitate to say that He will judge -them with peculiar sympathy, because they have died in the very cause -in which He died Himself, and which it is His office as a judge to -maintain--the cause of righteousness. In the ancient Church, martyrdom -was regarded as ensuring remission of sins and absolution. Soldiers, no -doubt, would feel that it would be putting their case too high to place -their sacrifice of their lives in the cause of their King and country, -in a war like this, on quite the same level as the heroic martyrdom of -the great Saints of old. But it is a sacrifice of the same nature. It -is coloured by the virtue of the sacrifice of Christ Himself, and of -His followers; and we may confidently be assured that those who meet -their death on the battlefields of this war in the spirit of faith in -Christ, and in simple devotion to duty, will be received by Him in the -sense of those gracious words, “Well done, good and faithful servant,” -and may hope to be admitted in some degree into the joy of their Lord. -According to the judgment of the ancient Church, and the greatest of -our own Divines, we may confidently bear the memories of them in our -prayers before that Throne of gracious judgment--not presuming to know, -or desiring to know, more than this, that they are in the hands of One -Who is at once a Judge and a Saviour, and trusting that, in praying -for His gracious and merciful reception of them, we are but giving -expression to the yearnings of His own Divine and Human Heart. - -Such are some of the blessed assurances which the Advent Season brings -us, and we cannot be too thankful for them in our present time of -distress. But it brings us one lesson of warning, which it is equally -important for us to bear in mind. A war like this is undoubtedly a -judgment. It springs from the sins of men, from their passions and -their lusts, their lack of love, their unrighteousnesses of various -kinds. War shows us death, and all that is involved in death, as -the natural consequence of human passions, when not controlled by -the spirit of Christ and the Will of God. “When lust hath conceived -it bringeth forth sin, and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth -death.” That is the law of Nature. It applies more or less to all -who are engaged in war, and we, in this war, must not shrink from -acknowledging our part in the accumulation of human wrong which has, -at length, exploded into this scene of violence and misery. Advent, -therefore, bids us look into our own hearts and lives, and ask -ourselves what there has been in them which is not in conformity with -the Will of God and with the law of the Saviour Who is to be our Judge. -One immense blessing conferred on us by the knowledge that He will be -our Judge is that we know, by His teaching and by His example, what -are the principles of that righteousness and judgment which it is His -office to enforce. It points us to the records of His love and teaching -in the Gospels, to the messages of His Apostles, and to the Bible -which was His law, as our guide in daily life in all circumstances -and relations. That is the standard by which we shall be hereafter -judged; and in proportion as we believe and realize this, shall we -devote ourselves to its study and strive after its fulfilment. We are -sadly reminded now that in this world there is no comfort on which we -can permanently rely; but there is one comfort in life and in death of -which we may be assured; it is that which our Lord revealed to us, when -He gave us at once this command and this assurance, “If ye love me, -keep my commandments. And I will pray the Father, and He shall give you -another Comforter, that He may abide with you for ever.” Let us seek -that comfort in life and in death, and it will not fail us. - - - - -DIVINE JUDGMENT AND RENOVATION. - -CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL, OCTOBER 11, 1916. - - “_And He that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things - new._”--Rev. xxi. 5. - - -These words were uttered by Him that sitteth on the throne, as the -interpretation of the grand vision which passed before the Apostle at -the conclusion of the Revelation vouchsafed to him. “I saw,” he says, -“a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth -were passed away.... And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, -Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, -and they shall be His people, and God Himself shall be with them, and -be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes, and -there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall -there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away. And He -that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new.” - -But this vision was the sequel of fearful scenes which had passed -before the Apostle as the future course of the Divine judgments -was unrolled before him. He had witnessed a terrible succession of -destructions, and plagues, and wars, falling upon the inhabitants of -the earth, involving miseries and sufferings incalculable. He had seen -passing before him the awful punishments inflicted upon the enemies of -God, of Christ, of righteousness, and truth. One quotation in the final -scene will be enough to remind you of the nature of the visions. “I saw -an angel,” says the Apostle (chapter xix. 17), “standing in the sun; -and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the fowls that fly in the -midst of heaven, Come and gather yourselves together unto the supper -of the great God; that ye may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of -captains, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses, and of -them that sit on them, and the flesh of all men, both free and bond, -small and great.” At length, when these fearful plagues and judgments -are completed the Apostle sees a great white throne and Him that sat -on it, from Whose face the earth and the heaven fled away, and there -was found no place for them. Then the books were opened, and the dead, -who stood before God, both small and great, were judged, every man -according to their works. Then it is, after this awful consummation, -that the Apostle sees a new heaven and a new earth. And He that sits -upon the great white throne says, “Behold, I make all things new.” - -Such, in brief, is the burden of the Book of Revelation. It will -be observed that it involves these two cardinal points: First, the -judgment and the extirpation of all that is evil by a series of -struggles and agonies; and secondly, after this terrible experience, -the creation of all things new. The first part, however, in the -process of the Divine administration, consists of a series of scenes -of miseries, disasters, and bloodshed than which nothing more terrible -can be imagined, and which are described with a lurid force to which -no other human writing offers anything comparable. War and disease -and the confusion of all the elements of human society, and even of -heaven and earth, are brought before us, until men are reduced to -cry to the very mountains and rocks to cover them. All is described -as the inevitable result of the wrath of God against evil and its -representatives, and a fearful joy is ascribed to the heavenly beings -who behold this vindication of the Divine righteousness. The four and -twenty elders fall on their faces and worship God, saying (xi. 17), “We -give Thee thanks, O Lord God Almighty, Which art and wast and art to -come, because Thou hast taken to Thee Thy great power and hast reigned. -And the nations were angry, and Thy wrath is come, and the time of -the dead, that they should be judged, and that Thou shouldest give -reward unto Thy servants the prophets, and to the Saints, and to them -that fear Thy Name, small and great, and shouldest destroy them which -destroy the earth.” And then in awful response are heard, in the temple -of God, “lightnings and voices, and thunderings, and an earthquake and -great hail.” - -These dread scenes, these fearful judgments, are depicted as the -inevitable preliminary in the manifestation of the Divine Will and -the establishment of the Divine Kingdom. This is the main fact which -stands out broadly from the Book. It is not necessary, for the purpose -of appreciating this, to comprehend the signification of each of the -awful scenes which are predicted. How far they are capable of any -explanation before the final events may well be doubted. Old Testament -prophecy remained in great part mysterious until the moment of its -accomplishment, and the full interpretation of Christian prophecy -can hardly be less dependent upon its actual realization. But one -thing is plain, that the establishment of the Kingdom of Christ upon -earth, the full realization of all its promises of peace and goodwill, -the complete manifestation of the glory and power of its King--that -these great hopes and blessed promises cannot, according to the Book -of Revelation, be realized without the world passing through scenes -of fearful struggle and misery, and without the execution of Divine -judgment upon the evil and falsehood with which it abounds. - -These are stern truths which it is well for us to bear in mind amidst -the terrible scenes which are now being enacted in the present war. The -New Testament begins with promises of peace, and it ends with a vision -of peace and glory in which God will wipe away all tears from our -eyes; but the warning is conveyed to us, through the mouth of the last -Apostle, that this blessed condition cannot be reached except through a -manifestation of Divine justice and Divine wrath, which will bring upon -earth and upon all mankind inconceivable miseries. The sins of men must -be brought into judgment. The Divine righteousness must expose their -real character by the consequences they naturally involve. The truth -must be manifested that there is a Judge of all the earth, Who brings -every work of man into judgment, whether it be good or whether it be -evil; and the evil in the works of men is so deep and far-reaching -that its judgment must needs involve the most terrible suffering. In -proportion as God takes to Himself His great power and reigns, the -first result must be seen in these agonies of human nature, and must -culminate in the disruption of the very elements of nature itself. - -It is well we should remind ourselves how fearfully these pictures -of the Apostle of love have been fulfilled in the history of the -world since his time. It was not long after he wrote, when a series -of persecutions broke upon the Christian Church, which were at length -avenged by terrible intestine wars between the heads of the Roman -Empire, and in due course of time, by the overthrow of that Empire -itself in a long series of wars and devastations, which can only be -fitly described in some of the vivid language of the Apocalypse itself. -It would be appalling if we could realize the extent to which Europe -was filled with “blood and fire and vapour of smoke” during the five or -six centuries which elapsed between the overthrow of the Roman Empire -and the establishment of the Christian civilisation of the Middle -Ages. Then followed the incalculable miseries and untold bloodshed -involved in the contest between the Christian and the Mohammedan -world, throughout the long period of the Crusades. Add to this all the -intestine wars between Christians themselves during the Middle Ages, -and the fearful devastation of which the East was the victim in the -course of Mohammedan conquests and revolutions, and you have before -your eyes a picture not adequately described elsewhere than in this -terrible Book. The Reformation was followed by a long series of wars, -during which a great part of the surface of Europe suffered the most -cruel devastations; and even to the present day the whole world open to -our observation has been suffering from almost continuous bloodshed in -one part or other of its surface. - -The scenes which strike us with such horror at this moment are but a -specimen of agonies which have been endured for long generations in -the successive struggles of mankind; and if we are horrified at the -wars and agonies around us, we may be reminded, by the readiness of all -nations for such conflicts, that they are almost the normal condition -of humanity. In the middle of the last century Burke calculated that, -assuming the numbers of men then upon earth to be computed at 500 -millions at the most, the slaughter of mankind in the various wars -and revolutions which were known up to that date amounted to upwards -of seventy times that number, or 35,000 millions. That, on what -he thought a moderate estimate, represents the amount of bloodshed -which the passions of men had, up to his time, inflicted upon human -society. How much more is to be added to that tremendous calculation -for the wars which have followed since that date in the East and West? -Taking these facts into account, we shall see good reason to recognize -that the Book of Revelation, in its fearful scenes, is but a true -description of the actual experience of mankind. The plagues, and -destructions, and slaughters which that Book depicts, as the result of -the just judgments of God, have, as a matter of fact, been realized, -and it is through scenes of suffering and misery of this nature that -the world is being conducted by the Divine justice to its ultimate goal. - -But we have the more reason to be inexpressibly thankful that that -goal is revealed to us as one of peace and bliss. It is when we bear -in mind the miseries and agonies which the Book of Revelation depicts, -and which are brought so bitterly home to us by such a war as the -present, that we realize the full force of the promise that “God shall -wipe away all tears from their eyes, and there shall be no more death, -neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: -for the former things are passed away.” Seeing what the world has -been hitherto, and the miseries by which it is burdened now, we might -well despair of such a result, unless we had the express assurance of -Revelation that there is One sitting upon the throne Who gives this -as the very definition of His work, “Behold, I make all things new.” -We should, indeed, be ungrateful not to recognize that the state of -things around us contains in itself some pledge and earnest of this -revelation. Grievously as the passions of mankind degrade them in -practice, there is nevertheless publicly recognized, in principle, -a higher standard of responsibility, a higher and more universal -obligation to maintain peace and goodwill on earth, than at any -previous time in the world’s history. Even amidst such a war as is now -waging, principles have been established for its conduct, which produce -a great alleviation of its miseries, compared with those which were -suffered in the great struggles of nations and of races in previous -ages, or even during the last century. But still, none must feel more -grievously than those who have the conduct of human affairs how slight -would be our hopes of the establishment of complete peace on earth, did -it depend simply on the wisdom or strength of even the wisest leaders -of mankind. They cannot extirpate the passions which are the real -ultimate cause of the wars and fightings among us. They cannot take out -of men’s hearts the lusts which war in their members, and which nullify -the best laws and institutions. Our hope lies in the assured faith -that all the terrible scenes of which the earth is full, like those -in the Book of Revelation, are under the control of Him that sitteth -on the throne, that they are working out great purposes of truth and -justice, that the actions of all men, small and great, are subject to -His ultimate judgment, and that, finally, when the issues of right and -wrong in this world have been thus worked out, in a manner which shall -vindicate the truth and righteousness of God, He will fulfill His great -work, in which He is even now engaged, of making all things new. - -It is, indeed, an unconscious faith of this kind which sustains men, -and has ever sustained them, amidst the confusions and sufferings of -life and history. A deep instinct compels them to believe that they are -in the hands of a God of justice and truth, and to appeal to Him in -the midst of their struggles, and even in those crises in which their -best efforts seem to be defeated. But it is the special privilege, the -special grandeur, of the Christian Faith to have an explicit assurance -of this truth from the mouth of the Judge Himself. He said unto His -Apostle, “Write, for these words are true and faithful.” He, the King -of Peace, left with His last Apostle the warnings and the promises of -this Book. Lest men should be discouraged by the terrible experiences -through which they were yet to pass, He warned them beforehand that -such experiences were inevitable, and that the world would have to -pass through a purgatory of this kind; but at the same time He told -them that, when judgment was completed, a new Heaven and a new Earth -would be the result, and He bade them be assured that, amidst whatever -darkness and confusion, He was sitting on the throne making all things -new. - -All that we have to do individually is to see that we are true to Him, -and in our hearts live in obedience to His will. In the text He goes -on to say to the Apostle, “I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the -end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the water of life freely. -He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and _I_ will be his God, -and he shall be My son.” “Blessed,” he says again, “are they that do -His commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and -may enter in through the gates into the city. For without are dogs, -and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and -whosoever loveth and maketh a lie.” We are not able, with our limited -and earthly vision, to discern “the work that God worketh from the -beginning of the world,” or the course of His judgments in the world -at large. That is beyond us, and we must submit and take our part, -whatever it may be, in these mysterious manifestations, possessing -our souls in the patience which such assurances as those in the text -can alone provide. But we can have the comfort, for our own selves, -of passing through this strange and painful scene in sure and certain -hope of our ultimate blessedness, provided in our own hearts and souls -we give ourselves up to the rule and the order of Him Who is the -Beginning and the End, the First and the Last, provided we make it the -whole purpose of our lives to do His commandments, and, by His grace, -overcome the evil which besets us in our own lives. Our personal and -private lives reflect in greater or less degree those stern experiences -which this Book describes in the case of the world at large. We have -our sins, and as the consequences of our sins our sufferings and -sorrows, desolations and punishments of various kinds, and we must -expect to have to bear them till the moment of our departure arrives. -But by God’s grace we are also allowed in some measure to anticipate -the privilege which is held out to the world at large, and which is our -own ultimate hope. The fulfilment of the blessed promise of making all -things new is not merely commenced, but, if we will, is consciously -commenced, within our hearts and souls while we are upon earth. “We -ourselves,” says St. Paul, “groan within ourselves, waiting for the -adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body,” just as “the whole -creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.” But we -have the first-fruits of the Spirit. His grace is within us at all -times to give us new hearts and new spirits, to introduce His peace -into our souls, and to enable us to spread that peace around us. Let -us only seek it faithfully, and the renewing and replenishing water of -life will restore us and maintain our energies, and will be in us as a -well of water springing up into everlasting life. - - - - -RESISTANCE UNTO BLOOD. - -CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL, GOOD-FRIDAY, APRIL 3, 1916. - - “_Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin._”--Heb. - xii. 4. - - -“Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin.” That is -the manner in which the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews applies -the Cross of Christ as an example and an inspiration to Christians. He -is exhorting them to “lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth -so easily beset us,” and to “run with patience the race that is set -before us,” “looking unto Jesus the Author and Perfecter of our Faith, -who, for the joy that was set before Him, endured the Cross.” It is an -aspect of our Saviour’s Cross which it is most important to realize -if its significance for ourselves is to be duly appreciated. What was -it that brought our Lord to the Cross? Of course, the ultimate cause -was that the will of God required that sacrifice to be made for the -expiation of human sin. “Him,” said St. Peter, “being delivered up by -the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and -by wicked hands have crucified and slain.” But God’s counsel and will -were worked out by human agencies; and it is of infinite interest to -consider what were the motives which led men like the leaders of the -Jewish nation to commit the awful crime of putting to death the Son of -God, manifested in perfect human nature. The simple explanation is that -He “resisted unto blood, striving against sin.” Our Lord strove against -sin, and sinners could not endure His antagonism; and the opposition -between the two was so intense that one or other of the two antagonists -had to be overpowered. That is the substance of the story of our -Lord’s life as told by the Evangelists. Our Lord came proclaiming that -the Kingdom of Heaven was at hand--a Kingdom with higher claims and -severer judgments than the Jews could tolerate. It claimed a spiritual -perfection instead of a legal one, an obedience of the heart instead -of a mere compliance in external acts; it penetrated into the secrets -of the conscience; and our Lord further declared that He Himself was -the Judge by Whom these claims would be enforced. The Jewish rulers -felt that this amounted to superseding themselves and their authority, -and they treated our Lord as a usurper who must be suppressed. The -tremendous denunciation of the Scribes and Pharisees: “Woe unto you, -Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites,” was an act of open and righteous -hostility to the authorities who had rejected His mission and spurned -His claims. They felt that He or they must be overthrown, and they used -the Roman Government to destroy Him. - -It thus appears that our Lord’s crucifixion was the culminating -struggle in the never-ceasing battle between right and wrong, -righteousness and sin, in which the history of mankind consists. Our -Lord appeared as the representative of absolute righteousness, and He -was put to death because men could not endure that righteousness. In -His rejection by the Jews and His crucifixion by the Roman Governor, -the highest official representatives of human righteousness at that -time and place combined to condemn themselves. But they could not have -consummated that sacrifice without the consent and even co-operation -of our Lord Himself. He had power, if He had chosen to exert it, to -destroy them and assert His Divine supremacy. “Thinkest thou,” He -said, “that I cannot now pray to My Father, and He shall presently -give Me more than twelve legions of angels? But how, then, shall the -Scriptures be fulfilled, that thus it must be?” Instead of destroying -His enemies, He submitted to be put to death Himself. He allowed the -unrighteousness of human nature to break in full force upon His own -head; He Himself became its victim, and a victim of such infinite -greatness as to constitute an expiation for all the sin of mankind. Sin -and evil can only be avenged by an adequate exhibition and endurance -of their consequences. But that endurance and that manifestation were -afforded, in the highest conceivable form, in the destruction, so far -as men could effect it, of perfect goodness and holiness. That was -what our Lord’s submission to the Cross involved. When that expiation -had been made to God and God’s righteousness, our Lord assumed His -full authority as a Saviour and a Judge, and, by His Resurrection and -Ascension, established the Kingdom of Heaven in all its grace and -power. Henceforth men have lived under that dispensation of love as -well as of justice, and the Cross has been held aloft among them as the -means and the assurance of forgiveness and of grace. - -No human being can imitate our Lord in that supreme act of -self-surrender to His Father’s will, by which He abandoned all His -right and power to avenge Himself on His enemies, and became the -supreme victim, and therefore atonement, for human sin. But it is -possible for men to follow Him in the course of action which brought -Him to that awful decision and agony. “He resisted unto blood, striving -against sin.” So far as we strive against sin and evil, whatever the -consequences to ourselves, we are following Him to the foot of the -Cross. It is not the mere endurance of suffering, the mere surrender -of life in itself, which renders us followers of our Lord in His -sacrifice: men have endured much and sacrificed much for more or less -selfish reasons, for ambition or for military glory and power. But -the essence of our Lord’s sacrifice was that it was made in the cause -of righteousness and truth only. “To this end was I born,” He said, -“and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness -unto the truth.” We are following Him so far as in all our words and -acts we are bearing witness unto the truth. That witness may at any -time involve suffering and death. God has so constituted mankind that -few great causes have ever been finally won without the voluntary -sacrifice of life. That sacrifice may sometimes be made, like that of -our Lord and of the martyrs, by the voluntary endurance of the cruel -penalties inflicted by the enemies of the truth; or it may be endured -in obedience to the claim of lawful authorities that we should take up -arms and offer our lives, in defence of some righteous cause. Men may -act in our Lord’s spirit if they submit to wrong in their own persons, -rather than avenge themselves. But the authorities who, as St. Paul -says, are the ministers of God, are bound to protect those committed -to their charge, and for that purpose have a right to call upon those -under them to use the sword at their command to defend the right. In -so using the sword at the command of their rulers, at whatever cost to -themselves, they also are acting in Christ’s spirit, because they are -upholding righteousness and asserting the truth in the manner required -by their duty. To all forms of organized sin the witness of the Jewish -sacrifices holds good. “Without shedding of blood is no remission.” -That, so long as the present dispensation lasts, is the unalterable law -of God’s Will and Word. Soldiers, therefore, who are obeying a lawful -command in defence of the right, are offering their lives in the spirit -in which Christ endured the Cross, and may claim the comfort of being -fellows with Him in the “holy war” of right against wrong. - -But if the Cross of Christ is to be the centre of our lives, we must -strive to live in all things, and not only in such great crises as -those of war and the battlefield, in the spirit which brought our Lord -to His Cross--the spirit of absolute obedience in all things to the -righteous will of God. What the Spirit of the Cross requires of us -is the absolute surrender of our own wills to the will of God, and -the constant endeavour to bear witness to that will, and to promote -it in every part of our lives. It is not the mere meditation on the -sufferings of the Cross which will bring us into harmony with it. -The Apostles do not dwell much on them, profoundly as they must have -been moved by them. What they dwell on is the spirit which moved our -Saviour to accept them and to bear them. That spirit is to be discerned -throughout His life, as well as in His agony in the garden and in His -sayings on the Cross. It is embodied in His gracious words: “Whoever -shall do the will of My Father which is in Heaven, the same is My -brother and sister and mother.” The Cross is the highest and final -expression of His devotion and His Father’s will; but we can follow -that spirit in every duty, however humble. If the National Mission is -to fulfil its object, it must impress that spirit of supreme devotion -to the will of God, as revealed in Christ, upon the nation as a whole, -and the Cross must become the symbol of our national, no less than of -our individual, life. - - - - -THE KING’S ACCESSION AND INTERCESSION. - -CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL, 1915. - - “_I exhort, therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, - intercessions, thanksgivings, be made for all men: for kings, and for - all that are in authority: that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life - in all godliness and honesty._”--1 Tim. ii. 1. - - -It is in fulfilment of the duty prescribed in this text that we -hold every year a Service of Thanksgiving and Intercession on the -anniversary of our King’s accession to the throne, and I am sure we -all know and appreciate the abundant reasons we have for offering such -thanksgivings. We know that every public action of the King since he -came to the throne has borne witness to his unreserved devotion to the -welfare of his subjects in all parts of his Empire. His visit, for -instance, to India was a very arduous and anxious undertaking, and was -prompted by his own desire to assure the Indian people of his deep -personal care for them, and also to strengthen the bonds between them -and his subjects at home; and no doubt the generous service which -Indian princes and soldiers are now rendering to the Empire on the -plains of Flanders is in great measure due to the influence of that -visit, in deepening the loyalty and devotion of his Indian subjects. -We have had abundant evidence, moreover, in the last few months, of -the King’s deep sympathy with his people in the sorrows and losses -which this war is inflicting upon them. He has sent his son and heir -to serve with his soldiers at the Front, and has himself visited them -there to thank and cheer them, and he has lately set a very conspicuous -example of personal self-denial in the ordinary habits of life. We see -that the King and Queen live for the good of their subjects, and for -the promotion of all that is good and true and gracious throughout -their vast Empire, and that their example is one of the chief -influences which are working among us for these noble ends. Knowing and -appreciating all this, I need not say more to induce you to join with a -full heart to-day in the words of our Service, and to “yield unfeigned -thanks to God” that He was pleased, as on this day, to place His -servant our Sovereign Lord King George upon the throne of this realm. - -But I think it may be desirable and opportune to lay some special -stress on those intercessions which we are bidden to offer “for -kings and for all that are in authority, that we may lead a quiet -and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty.” Those words remind -us, first of all, that the purpose of God, so far as this world is -concerned, is that we may live a life of peace in all godliness and -honour--a state of peace in which men may enjoy the happiness for -which God intended them, in which they may “replenish the earth and -subdue it,” and develop to the utmost the faculties and capacities -with which God has endowed them. That is the main object to be kept in -view for the purpose of the present life. The next fact of which the -words remind us is that the maintenance of these peaceful conditions -of life depends mainly upon Kings and all that are in authority. It -does not depend merely upon Kings, but also upon those in authority, -who are the Kings’ Ministers. In some parts of the world, as in this -country, Kings no longer have the power by themselves, and of their own -motion, to determine the course of public affairs, to keep the peace or -to declare wars. Yet their position must always give them an immense -influence in the government of a nation; and even now, in the two -greatest countries of Europe--Germany and Russia, they have not merely -the supreme control, but the supreme initiative, in affairs of State. -The peace of the world, the possibility of our living a quiet and -peaceable life, depends in Europe, in the main, on the rulers of Russia -and Germany, upon those in authority in France, and upon the King of -England and his Ministers. - -It is a momentous fact, and a surprising one to realize. God has so -constituted mankind that the welfare of the masses, of the millions of -ordinary men and women, depends upon the actions of a few dozens of -the leading men in the various countries of Europe. We are proud of -being a constitutional country, and of the fact that by the election -of members of Parliament--by selecting, that is, the members of the -House of Commons--the vast majority of Englishmen have a voice in -creating their own Government; and to a certain extent in that way we -govern ourselves. But nevertheless, in the last resort, the fate of the -country depends upon the dozen or two men who are placed in power by -the House of Commons. It is a simple fact that the mass of the people -in this country had no voice whatever in determining whether we should -or should not enter upon this terrible war. It was determined for us in -the course of a few hours by the King’s Ministers, and by the action -they took in their relations with other countries. In the nature of the -case it must be so. Whether they will or not, great masses of people -and great nations cannot do without a Government; and when they have -established one, that Government must necessarily act in many critical -emergencies without waiting to consult the people whom it governs. A -nation and its King, with his Ministers, constitute as much one body, -to use St. Paul’s image, as the various elements and limbs of the human -body and its brain. We become one single organism, under the control -and management of the brain of that organism, which is the King and -his Ministers. It is an awful responsibility for men to have entrusted -to them, to be able to declare war and thus to launch many millions -of men in their own country, and hundreds of millions of men in the -Empire and in other countries, upon a gigantic struggle, of which all -we know for certain at the outset is that it will involve a sacrifice -of tens of thousands of lives, the devastation of fair countries, and -the waste of enormous treasure. But so it is and ever must be. In the -freest republics that ever existed the chief rulers have had similarly -to act as the brain of the whole people; and it depends on their wisdom -and faithfulness, not merely at critical moments, but in that daily -administration of affairs out of which critical moments arise, whether -the people shall live a quiet and peaceable life or not. - -We must add to this the fact--which no one would be more ready -to recognize than these leaders and rulers, Kings, Ministers, or -Presidents, themselves--that the affairs with which they have to deal, -the problems they have to solve, are too vast and mysterious to be -fully grasped by any human brain, and that they are liable to the -most grievous miscalculations. If you need evidence of this, look at -the outbreak of the present war. Our rulers in this country had no -idea at all, within a few days of the event, that such a war was about -to break upon us; the rulers of all other nations have been loudly -proclaiming, ever since it began, that they are not responsible for it, -and that it would not have happened but for circumstances which they -could not foresee or control. There seem, indeed, to have been wild and -unscrupulous spirits in Germany who were eager for it, and who had long -been intriguing for it; but none the less it burst upon Europe suddenly -and unexpectedly, and it baffled the foresight of European statesmen in -general. In the face of such imperfect competence for these problems -of statesmanship, and of such enormous responsibility for them, are -we not compelled to stretch out our hands towards Heaven, and implore -God’s guidance for the rulers who are feeling their way amidst such -dim lights--“for kings and for all in authority,” upon whose words -and actions the fate of the world and its peace, the happiness and -the very life of millions of men and women are dependent? If, indeed, -we could not do so, we might well despair. We should behold before us -a mass of nations rising against one another, blinded--as we see in -Germany that nations can be blinded--by passion and pride, and fighting -wildly, almost like men in the dark, and we might well feel helpless -before such a chaos. But knowing, as it is the privilege of Christians -to know, that “the Lord sitteth above the water-floods,” that “the Lord -remaineth a King for ever,” knowing, as another Psalm says, that “the -Lord is King, be the people never so impatient. He sitteth between the -cherubim, be the earth never so unquiet,” we cry unto the Lord in our -trouble, and implore Him to deliver us out of our distress. - -There is another reason for our thus appealing to Him, which is, that -we are assured by His Word that the whole history of the world has -been under his control, and that He has been directing its course -throughout, and determining the fate of nations for His own purposes. -We have before us the most conclusive evidence of this in the history -of the Jews. The course of their history and their position in the -world at the present day were announced to Abraham and Moses thousands -of years ago, and they have fulfilled, and are now fulfilling, the -place and the function in the world which were then assigned to them. -There is nothing, accordingly, on which the Bible insists more urgently -and constantly than that the great issues of war and history are in the -hands of God. It is not merely that He exercises a general controlling -influence over them, but that He has His own purposes, which He is -gradually fulfilling by means of “the unruly wills and affections -of sinful men.” It teaches us that “except the Lord build the house -they labour in vain that build it; except the Lord keep the city the -watchman watcheth but in vain.” He does not merely interpose in the -course of the building, but He is the Builder. He is building up, -through the ages, some great design, and all nations will be made in -the end to conform to it. - -It is certain, for instance, that it was not by our design or -forethought, or our skill, that the Empire which we are now called on -to defend was built up. A hundred years ago--nay, fifty years ago--no -statesman seems to have imagined that the British Empire would grow, -or could grow, to the vast dimensions it now possesses. Not merely -did they not imagine it--some of them actually deprecated its growth. -It has not been by our will and design, but in great measure against -them, that the British nations have been developed into one great -body politic. It must be the hand of God which we see in all that -development. We have, whether we will or no, a great work laid upon -us all over the world--in India, in America, and in the Islands of -the sea--and we recognize that it is by God’s will that this task and -responsibility, which is at the same time a great privilege, has been -laid upon us. We may well, therefore, implore continually His help -and guidance in the discharge of it. Is it not, then, an imperative -duty, is not St. Paul right in putting it in the very forefront of our -duties, that we should offer up supplications, intercessions, urgent -prayers for the King and for all in authority under him, that they -may be guided to know God’s will in the vast problems which are set -before them? that “God’s wisdom may be their guide and that His Arm may -strengthen them,” and that He may direct their actions and endeavours -to His own glory, to the accomplishment of His great designs, and to -the welfare of our people? - -Let us ask ourselves earnestly whether we have realized, as we ought, -since this war began, that it is in God’s hands, and not in ours, to -determine its issue. War is not merely an appeal to the sword--it is, -in a far higher degree, an appeal, the final appeal, to God Himself. -Lord Bacon observes that great soldiers and Commanders have always been -conspicuous for their acknowledgment that the issues of their great -battles and campaigns all depended upon some supernatural power. They -knew better than others the infinite accidents and chances upon which -the issue of war depends, and they realized that it was in God’s power -to determine that issue as He pleased. I fear it must be owned that we -have not, as yet, acknowledged this truth in the present war as much as -we ought. If we had, would not the Services of Intercession in this -Cathedral and elsewhere be more frequently and more earnestly attended? -Let us be reminded then, by this Service of Prayer and Supplication, -on the anniversary of the Accession of our King, how deeply he and -his Ministers need that prayer and intercession, how wholly dependent -they are, in bearing the momentous burdens laid upon them, upon “the -good hand of our God upon them”; and let us henceforth “pray without -ceasing” for God’s blessing upon our King, and particularly, at this -time, for his victory over the bitter enemies by whom he has been -forced into this dreadful struggle. - - - - -THE CHRISTIAN SANCTION OF WAR. - -AT THE SERVICE OF INTERCESSION FOR THE KING’S NAVAL AND MILITARY FORCES -IN CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL, AUGUST, 1914. - - -We are assembled here this afternoon, at the call of our King in -Council and of our Archbishop, for the purpose of solemn intercession -with Almighty God on behalf of his Majesty’s naval and military -forces now engaged in war. That is in accordance with the solemn -practice of our fathers at all the great crises of our history; and -it is only about fourteen years since we were similarly interceding -with Almighty God in this cathedral, when the King’s forces were -engaged in an arduous struggle in South Africa. But the gravity of our -present struggle is greater than that of any in the memory of living -men, perhaps greater than that of any other in our history. The very -existence of our Empire, and even the independence of our Kingdom, is -at stake; and the Power by which we are threatened has been, of late -years, deemed the greatest military force in Europe, and a naval force -only second to our own. It may be that the capacities and resources -of our Kingdom and Empire will be strained as they have never been -strained before, and that all our manhood, and even our womanhood, -will be called upon for all the force and endurance of which they are -capable. Prayer to God is incumbent upon us at all times; but there -are special reasons why, in a great war, it is the most important of -all duties, and the most precious of all privileges. The issues of war -are, in an extraordinary degree, beyond the control of man. The issue -of a battle or a campaign may, in fact, be determined by incidents, -moral and physical, which no human power can foresee or control. Our -own deliverance from the Spanish Armada was certainly determined, in an -incalculable degree, by the tremendous storm which wrecked the Spanish -fleet at the critical moment; and again and again in history have -great battles been decided by influences of that nature, or by some -incalculable turn in the feeling and temper of an army. Consequently, -when nations go to war they place themselves and their fortunes in the -hands of God in a more absolute manner than in any other human affairs. -That is what we have now done by declaring war against Germany; and we -have, therefore, more reason than at any other time in our history to -fall before God’s footstool, and to implore Him for the protection and -blessing which He, and He only, can give us. It is still more true now -than in the Psalmist’s time that “there is no king that can be saved by -the multitude of an host, neither is any mighty man delivered by much -strength; an horse is counted but a vain thing to save a man, neither -shall he deliver any man by his great strength. Behold the eye of the -Lord is upon them that fear Him, and upon them that put their trust in -His mercy.” In that spirit we now bow before His throne--in the words -of our daily prayer in time of war and tumult--before the throne of -“the only Giver of all victory.” - -Coming before Him in these solemn circumstances, and with this -momentous petition, it becomes us to ask ourselves whether we are doing -so in a spirit, and with a cause, in which we can expect His blessing, -and a favourable answer to our prayers. “If I incline unto wickedness -with my heart,” says the Psalmist, “the Lord will not hear me.” If we -are to offer our prayers with a believing and confident heart, we must -have our conscience clear; and before men ask God’s blessing in so -tremendous an issue as that of war, they must consider with the most -solemn earnestness whether they can feel assured that what they are -doing and asking is in accordance with His will. - -As to the lawfulness of war itself, though some good Christian minds -are troubled by the question, the answer seems clear and simple. War -is justifiable for the same reason that it is lawful to put men to -death for great crimes, like murder and treason. The conscience of -mankind at large, the conscience of Christian States at large, has -uniformly wielded the sword of justice in avenging and averting, by the -punishment of death, such crimes of violence and treachery as destroy -the very frame of Society. That use of the sword of justice, moreover, -has the express support of Revelation, for St. Paul has declared that -the ruler “beareth not the sword in vain; he is the minister of God, -an avenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil.” But if it is -lawful to use the sword of justice against individuals, it must be -equally lawful to use it against a community of individuals--in other -words, against a society, or a nation, who are unjustly destroying or -threatening the lives and the peace of another society or nation. The -use of the sword--which is an elementary name for war--has been shown -by thousands of years of experience to be, in the last resort, the only -effectual means of punishing and preventing unjust violence. It is vain -to argue what might be possible or desirable if man were an uncorrupt -creature. He is, as a matter of fact, a sinful creature; and, as St. -Paul plainly says, it is God Himself who has put the sword into the -hands of human authority to punish, and to restrain, the effects of -that sinfulness. - -Thus the mere fact of our resort to the sword need not of itself burden -our consciences. But if this account of its awful purpose be true, one -indispensable condition for its use is obviously requisite. If the -purpose of the sword is to punish injustice, then we must take care -that it is used for that solemn purpose only. It was not given to men -to enable them to gratify their ambition or pride, or to enlarge their -kingdoms at their pleasure, or for any selfish purpose whatever. He -who draws the sword for any purpose but that of upholding justice and -judgment on the earth is committing the crime of murder on the vastest -scale, and renders himself justly liable to the stern use of the sword -against himself. If, therefore, we are to come before God with a clear -conscience at this moment, we must be able to say, from our hearts, -that we have not now drawn the sword from any selfish motive, or under -the influence of any violent passion, but that we have drawn it simply -and solely in the discharge of our bounden duty, and in fulfilment of -just promises and engagements to our neighbours. My brethren, I believe -it may be confidently asserted that this country has never been engaged -in a war in respect to which this could be said with more unqualified -confidence than in the present case. - -I think, indeed, we may thankfully consider, in reviewing our long -history, that the wars by which our Empire has been developed and -established have, on the whole, been of this character, and have -not been prompted by either national or dynastic ambition. The -wars under Queen Elizabeth, in which the germs of our Empire were -laid, were mainly prompted by a just indignation against the cruel -and superstitious tyranny of Spain; and the wars of Marlborough -and Wellington were similarly fought to protect Europe against an -overbearing and unjust domination. In the heat of those struggles we -may have been betrayed, in some instances, into an unjust use of the -sword; but, on the whole, we may thank God that the wars which have -established Great Britain in its present position have been--at least -mainly--fought in just causes. Certainly in the present instance we -have no other motive or object. We covet no other nation’s possessions; -we have not interfered--and do not desire to interfere--with any other -nation’s affairs; we would not willingly exert our influence for any -other purpose but that of promoting righteousness and freedom; and if, -in our later history, we have erred, as human beings can hardly avoid -erring sometimes, the errors have been due to a failure of judgment, -and not of motive or intention. As to the particular occasion of this -war, we have offered no provocation whatever, except what has been -called “the strong antipathy” of right to wrong; the provocation which -adherence to promise and treaties must ever offer to those who would -break them; the provocation which defence of the weak must ever offer -to those who would overbear them. We can say in a word, with a good -conscience, that we are at least earnestly endeavouring to act as the -servants of Him of Whom the Psalmist exclaims: “The Lord is King; the -earth may be glad thereof; yea, the multitude of the isles may be glad -thereof. Clouds and darkness are round about Him; righteousness and -judgment are the habitation of His seat.” It is in the cause of that -righteousness and judgment that we desire to act. - -But there is one other condition that we must fulfil, if we are to -dare to claim the favour of God in this great struggle. We must not -only ask whether we are upholding righteousness in our public action -but whether we are observing it in our own hearts, and in our national -life. Sufferings, we are told in our Prayer Book, may be sent “to -correct and amend in us whatever doth offend the eyes of our Heavenly -Father.” Can we fail to be sensible that there is much in our lives, -both private and public, which must offend His eyes? Our private sins -must be left to our private consciences. But who has not listened -during the last few years, with a painful sense of their justice, -to reproaches among ourselves at the luxury, the extravagance, the -reckless pursuit of pleasure, the general self-indulgence, which have -been too prevalent among us? With what heart can men appeal for God’s -favour and protection, in their hour of need, who, in their hours of -well-being, have neglected His worship and disregarded His Word and -Sacraments? Before going into battle as a nation and as individuals, -let us seek His absolution in that comprehensive prayer of our Litany -“that it would please Him to give us true repentance, to forgive us all -our sins, negligences, and ignorances, and to endue us with the grace -of His Holy Spirit to amend our lives according to His Holy Word.” - -In so far as we approach Him in this spirit, we may humbly hope for -His blessing on the bravery and the self-sacrifice of our sailors and -soldiers. Those sacrifices, moreover, alike for them and for ourselves, -will be relieved of their worst bitterness, and will be glorified by -a sacred and Divine example. They will not be fruitless sacrifices. -They will be sacrifices which will win for the fellow-countrymen of -those who offer them, and for the world at large, grand additions to -that edifice of righteousness and judgment, of Christian civilization, -towards which the hopes of mankind are directed with an inexpressible -yearning. If this war results, as we now pray that it may, in the -reassertion of principles which were in danger of being forgotten -or overridden, in the re-establishment of the faith of treaties, -and in the protection of the weak against the strong, it will have -established for Europe and the world a great consolidation and advance -in the essential principles of national truth and justice. It is a -comparatively poor thing to die for glory, or for power and wealth; -but it is a grand thing to die for righteousness and equity, for the -God who allows us to be His instruments in upholding them, and for -the King and country whose call we are proud to obey. If, moreover, -men go to war in this spirit, they may claim a still more Divine -privilege. In the sacrifice which soldiers make in a righteous cause, -they are following, in the most essential characteristic, the “author -and finisher of our Faith,” the “Captain of our Salvation,” whose -work is summed up in that soldier-like phrase, “He resisted unto -blood, striving against sin.” The soldier who sheds his blood on the -battlefield in a righteous cause, and with a righteous purpose, is -doing the very thing that Christ did, and he may be assured of Christ’s -approval and blessing. In quiet times we may fail to realize adequately -the solemn truth that, whenever we receive the Holy Communion, we are -receiving spiritual benefits which were won for us by the sacrifice of -the Body and Blood of our Saviour Christ. If war, in one aspect, is a -horrible thing, so was the Cross; but the whole hope of the salvation -of mankind, here and hereafter, was won by that Divine bloodshed; and -its grace and glory are reflected over every battlefield, in which -blood is shed in the long struggle against unrighteousness. In these -convictions, and with these solemn resolves, let us now appeal to God, -in firm and humble faith, for His help in this hour of need; and let us -enter into this dread conflict with the full assurance that “God is our -refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.” - - - - -THE WARNING OF THE TOWER IN SILOAM. - -PREACHED IN CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL, OCTOBER 25, 1914. - - “_I tell you, Nay; but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise - perish._”--Luke xiii. 1-5. - - -“Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.” In these solemn -words, twice repeated, our Lord affords us a flash of light upon the -principles and methods of the Divine judgments, and utters a solemn -warning; and I think that both the revelation and the warning will be -found intensely applicable to the distressing sufferings and anxieties -through which we and our country are now passing. Our Lord had been -speaking about the severity of the Divine justice, and about the -blindness of men in not foreseeing the approach of His judgments. “Ye -hypocrites,” He said, “ye can discern the face of the sky and of the -earth; but how is it that ye do not discern this time? Yea, and why -even of yourselves judge ye not what is right?” and He warns them that -if they fall into the hands of justice, they will not depart thence -till they have paid the very last mite. At this mention of the Divine -judgment, some who were present told Him of a dreadful act of violence -which had recently occurred, of some Galilæans, “whose blood Pilate -had mingled with their sacrifices.” It would seem they were members of -an extremely zealous sect of Jews, who objected to the custom which -then prevailed of offering sacrifices in the Temple for the welfare of -the Roman Government; and Pilate treated their conduct as treasonable, -and had them slaughtered in the Temple while they were offering their -own sacrifices. The object of the interruption seems to have been to -ask our Lord whether these men had brought such a punishment upon -themselves by unusual sin, and it may also have been intended to tempt -Him to pronounce some censure on Pilate, and thus to bring Himself into -conflict with the Roman authorities. But our Lord’s reply lifts the -matter at once out of any personal or local bearings, and lays down a -principle which applies to all such tragedies. “Suppose ye,” He said, -“that these Galilæans were sinners above all the Galilæans because -they suffered such things? I tell you, Nay; but, except ye repent, ye -shall all likewise perish.” He drives the truth home by applying it to -another recent tragedy, which might have seemed a mere accident. “Those -eighteen,” He said, “upon whom the tower in Siloam fell, and slew them, -think ye that they were sinners above all men that dwelt in Jerusalem? -I tell you, Nay; but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.” -It is not for you, He seems to say, to be curious about the reason why -these particular men have suffered in this way. What you should do is -to learn that you are all liable to suffer in the same way, and that -you will do so unless you repent. - -Now, it will be seen that there is a momentous revelation contained -in these words, respecting the real cause of such dreadful disasters -as these two incidents illustrated. When He says, “Except ye repent, -ye shall all likewise perish,” He clearly intimates that a Divine -judgment is going forward in the world, which sooner or later brings -suffering and destruction upon men in consequence of their sin. Even -what we might call a physical accident, like the fall of a tower which -kills eighteen persons, is a warning to men that they are liable to -such a death at any moment, and that, therefore, they should repent -and be prepared for it. It is an example of what may befall any of us, -and of what will befall all of us in one way or another, unless we -repent. If we look more particularly into the example of the men whom -Pilate slaughtered, we shall realize that it has a peculiarly close -application to our own day. These men, who were resisting the Roman -Government, were examples of the vehement passions which were at that -time surging among the Jewish people. Our Lord Himself was the victim -of the fierce hatred of foreign influence which prevailed among the -people. The priests and Pharisees said among themselves, “What do we? -For this man doeth many miracles, and if we let Him thus alone, all -men will believe on Him, and the Romans will come and take away both -our place and our nation.” And the High Priest, Caiaphas, replied, “Ye -know nothing at all, nor consider that it is expedient for us that one -man should die for the people, and that the whole nation perish not.” -Thus it was that the passions of the Jewish people were worked up into -such blindness and wickedness, that they committed the awful crime of -putting our Lord to death; and then in forty years the prediction of -our Lord was fulfilled, and the great mass of them perished in just -such a slaughter as that which Pilate committed, the blood of the -nation being shed in torrents in the Courts of the Temple, and amidst -its sacrifices. These events--the massacre by Pilate, the murder of -our Lord, the destruction of the Jewish people--were not separate and -disconnected events. They were all the consequence of the sins and -evil passions which our Lord denounced among the Jews of His time; -and the disasters which the Jews suffered were the judgments of God’s -righteousness upon those sins. - -Now what this reveals to us is the constitution of that world of human -society amidst which we live. The bedrock of it, the basis of its -whole constitution, is the righteousness of God and His unwavering -maintenance of His moral laws. As the Psalmist says, “Clouds and -darkness are round about Him,” and we cannot follow in all respects -His mysterious dispensations; but one thing we know for certain, that -“righteousness and judgment are the habitation of His seat.” All His -providential government of mankind is based on the assertion of right -and the punishment and repression of wrong; and, as another prophet -says, when you see God’s judgments in the world you may be sure that -the object of them is that the inhabitants of the world may learn -righteousness. But it is of the first importance we should realize -how those judgments are for the most part executed. It is not, as a -rule, by the special and visible interposition of God’s hand. There -have been times, indeed, as on various occasions in the history of -the Jews, such as the deliverance of His people from Egypt, when God -manifestly interposed, by miraculous means, to punish His enemies and -to deliver His people. But for the most part, and in the general course -of history, the moral and religious laws which God has established in -human nature are left to work out their natural consequences, and men -are punished not merely because of their sins, but by their sins, and -by the working out of their sins in their lives. The explanation of the -chief troubles of mankind, and in particular of the wars and sufferings -which have cursed the earth from generation to generation, is contained -in that statement of St. James: “From whence come wars and fightings -among you? Come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your -members? Ye lust and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot -obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not. Ye ask, -and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your -lusts.” When the men and women of whom a nation is composed give way -to those lusts of which St. James speaks, to covetousness, jealousy, -sensuality, and untruthfulness, they are gradually storing up the fuel -of passions for some great conflagration, which arises in the natural -course of things, as the consequence of some great public injustice -into which they are betrayed. They thus rouse the indignation of other -people, they commit injustices which must be resisted, and then the -world is convulsed in some great war like the present. - -War, in fact, is the natural penalty by which, under God’s -constitution of the world, the evil passions of men punish themselves. -We may take an example from the physical world. The earth under our -feet is held together, and affords us a sure foothold, by virtue of -certain physical and chemical laws which are perpetually at work in it, -such as the law of gravitation and the laws of chemical attraction. -They are always working silently, and it is by means of the incessant -action of those laws that the whole face of the earth is maintained -from day to day. But from time to time, from some causes which we -do not yet understand, something occurs to disturb their ordinary -peaceful course, and then by their own natural action they produce -some tremendous convulsions, like earthquakes or the eruptions of -volcanoes. So it is with the moral world of national and international -life. It is maintained in peace and stability, as a rule, by the -principles of mutual trust and regard, if not of love, which are at -the root of social and political life; but if falsehood and jealousy -and covetousness accumulate in some part of the world, there is sure, -sooner or later, to be a terrible convulsion and a devastating -eruption of “blood and fire and vapour of smoke.” War is thus the -outburst, the visible embodiment, of the passions behind it, of the -accumulated sins which nations and generations have been indulging. We -look with horror on war and all its miseries, and justly so; but what -we ought to look on with more horror are the sins and wickedness and -passions of which war is the inevitable result. People say that war -is wrong, and of course it is wrong that there should be war; but the -wrong in it is not the actual waging of the war, not at least the using -of the sword, in the Name of God, to assert right against wrong; that -is the bounden duty of the lawful authority. Where the wrong lies is in -the passions which make the war, and which compel men to resort to so -terrible a vindication of righteousness. - -Have we not, I must ask, a glaring illustration of the profound moral -principles thus asserted by our Lord in the present war? The means -of communication in our day enable us to realize the feelings which -are at work over the face of Europe amidst this terrible convulsion; -and there is one fact which is appallingly conspicuous in that -manifestation. That fact is the falsehood, the hatred, the violent -imputations of evil motives, the overbearing ambition which are at work -in the great nation--for a great nation it is--with which we are at -war. As I will presently observe, I am far from acquitting ourselves -of all blame in the matter. There was never a human struggle yet in -which either side was perfectly free from blame; but as to the gross -misrepresentations which are eagerly disseminated abroad respecting -the motives and the conduct of this country, there can be no question -whatever, and no adequate excuse. Whatever faults and errors we have -committed, our statesmen have not been animated in the development of -our Empire by greed and selfish ambition, or by a mere desire to be -supreme over other nations. So far as our enemies are acting upon these -ideas of our motives, they are absolutely blind; and there is nothing -more terrible in the revelations which this war affords than that -individuals and nations are capable of such absolute delusions, on so -vast a scale, respecting one another’s motives and characters. It is -plain that what has made this war is a total absence of that Christian -charity between individuals and nations which St. Paul inculcates as -“the very bond of all virtues,” and which is therefore the bond of all -society. The most heart-rending thing, after all, is not that we are at -war, but that Christian nations should be capable, in their daily life -and thought, of such an absolute negation of those principles of moral -life and faith which our Lord came to establish among us. Our Lord here -warns us that unless men repent of this uncharitable temper, and of the -sins associated with it, war can never be abolished, and we shall all -perish in some fearful conflagration. At present the conflagration, -like the tower in Siloam, has wrought its destruction mainly upon -others than ourselves. A modern despot, indignant, like Pilate, at -opposition to the claims of his nation, has mingled the blood of -Belgian men and women and children with their sacrifices, with their -ruined churches and desolated homes. But it is certainly not because a -people like the brave Belgians were sinners above all men that dwelt -in Europe that they have thus suffered. “I tell you, Nay,” our Lord’s -Voice is heard in this text; “but, except ye repent, ye shall all -likewise perish.” Look to yourselves; ask yourselves whether there are -or have been sins prevailing among you which, under the laws of God’s -righteousness, must work out their evil consequence in your social and -national life; and repent, lest ye likewise perish. - -It is impossible, in dealing with this subject, not to express, as -I have done, a deep indignation at the motives and the spirit which -have been displayed by our enemies in this war. But we should miss the -whole purpose of our Lord’s warning unless we applied it in the first -instance, and in the main, to ourselves. Let us bear in mind that what -has happened in Belgium and France might in conceivable circumstances, -in the further development of scientific warfare, in the air as well -as in the sea, happen to ourselves; and let us take to heart the clear -warning of our Lord that the only way to avert such destructions, and -to avoid perishing ourselves, is to repent, and from our hearts to -cultivate among us those principles of charity, truth, righteousness -and religion, which alone can keep human nature in peace. - -After all, can we be sure that we are not partly to blame for this -war by our own faults and failures? Have our statesmen, have we -as a nation, been looking facts in the face and meeting them with -faithfulness and self-sacrifice? Do not many among us ask whether this -war would ever have been possible if we had realized our danger and -our duty in time, and prepared ourselves, at whatever cost, to avert -the danger? How far have we, and those who guide us, allowed ourselves -to be diverted from the truth of our condition by sectarian and party -passions and uncharitable class jealousies? Have we seriously laid to -heart “the great dangers we are in by our unhappy divisions?” Is it -compatible with the love of God and of Christ that those divisions -should prevail so far as to lead to the curtailment of the Christian -instruction of our school-children, and the secularization of property -left by our ancestors for the hallowing of God’s Name and the promotion -of Christ’s Kingdom? We have, moreover, been on the verge of civil -war; and the very possibility of such war is proof enough, on the -principles we have been considering, that some of the passions which -lead to all wars have been rife among us. The possibility of that -intestine war seems, in fact, to have been one of the considerations -which encouraged the present attack upon us. Add to all this the social -and personal vices, against which good men among us and great societies -have been struggling for years, and have we not abundant reason to -apply earnestly to our nation and to our individual selves the Lord’s -warning: “Repent, or ye shall likewise perish?” For my part, I could -wish that we were afforded an opportunity, by some solemn appointment -of a Day of National Humiliation as well as Intercession, to search -our consciences in the sight of God, and to unite in one great act -of national repentance. But let us at least endeavour to discharge -this duty of repentance and amendment for our own souls and in our -individual lives; and we may then be assured that we are doing the best -we can towards averting from our nation that suffering and ruin, which -are brought so closely home to us in the miseries of our Allies. - - - - -THE RIGHTEOUS IDEAL. - -AT CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL, SEPTUAGESIMA SUNDAY, 1915. - - “_Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, - nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the - scornful. But his delight is in the law of the Lord: and in his law - doth he meditate day and night._”--Ps. i. 12. - - -It is with the utmost appropriateness that this psalm is placed first -in the Psalter, for it expresses the spirit which underlies all other -psalms, and, in fact, the whole of the Scriptures. Its message lies, -indeed, at the root of the religion of the Old Testament, and of the -New Testament also. Let us notice, in the first place, that its opening -word--the word “blessed”--is the keynote of the Scriptures from first -to last. In the first chapter of Genesis, which we have read this -morning, we read, not only that God saw everything that He had made, -and behold it was very good; but more particularly, that when God made -man He blessed them, and gave them a special commission. He placed -them in the Garden of Eden, in which He made to grow every tree that -is pleasant to the sight and good for food, the Tree of Life also in -the midst of the Garden. He blessed them, and intended them to be -blessed; and He gave them a command which they had only to obey in -order to enjoy that blessing. Man forfeited the blessing by disobeying -the command; but the last chapter of the Bible, which we have read this -evening, describes the recovery of it by those who have faithfully -served Him. It describes a day when there shall be no more curse, but -the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in the new Garden of the -Tree of Life. “The throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and -His servants shall serve Him; and they shall see His face; and His name -shall be in their foreheads. And there shall be no night there; and -they need no light of lamp, neither light of the sun; for the Lord God -giveth them light: and they shall reign for ever and ever.” Thus the -Bible holds out, from beginning to end, the prospect of blessedness, or -perfect happiness, as that which God designs for men, and which will be -ultimately bestowed upon His faithful servants. Between the beginning -and the end, in the midst of this great dispensation, when our Lord -appeared with His new covenant, His message is described as a Gospel, -as “good tidings of great joy,” and the first word He utters in that -great Sermon on the Mount, which contains his special teaching, is this -characteristic word “blessed.” He repeats it again and again, “Blessed -be ye poor.... Blessed are ye that hunger now.... Blessed are ye that -weep.” The promise of blessing is thus the keynote of our Saviour’s -message. - -Now this characteristic of the Bible and of our Saviour’s teaching -explains, and in great degree justifies, the universal craving of -men and women for happiness. The pursuit of happiness in one form or -another is the most universal motive of human conduct. It inspires some -of our best exertions, and it prompts most of our sins. The motive -of our first mother, as described in the third chapter of Genesis, -is still that of nearly all of us, in one way or another. “When the -woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant -to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of -the fruit thereof and did eat.” The world, the flesh, and the devil -are perpetually offering men fruits of this kind, and the craving for -the happiness they promise is so great that men and women seize them, -in spite of the knowledge they have in their consciences that to do -so is wrong and against the will of God. In daily life we find that -different fruits--forbidden fruits--appeal to different classes of men -and women, but they are all liable to be attracted by some fruit or -other and to be possessed by some “ruling passion.” It is striking, -moreover, to look at the course of history, and observe how different -fruits, different ideals, have attracted the various nations of the -world. To the Greek the attraction was that of beauty and art, and -their temptation was to give themselves up to the pleasures which -those ideals could afford them, with but little moral restraint. -The fruit which most attracted the Roman mind was that of rule and -power. The passion, indeed, for creating great empires has been -one of the strongest in mankind. We see it in full strength in the -great Assyrian and Babylonian empires, and, unhappily, we see it in -full force in a great nation of the present day. These pleasures and -glories have accordingly been the subject of a vast amount of human -literature--poetry, and history, and song. - -But the characteristic of the people of Israel, and of Jewish -literature, is that none of these ideals of happiness, whether of -beauty or glory or power, have animated their best representatives. The -one ideal which was always before the minds of their great prophets, -and poets, and teachers was the ideal of righteousness, the ideal of -the law of God, which is the subject of this first Psalm. The truth, -with which the Book of Genesis opens, that God has given a law to -men, that He has declared His will to them, and given them statutes -and commandments in which that will is expressed--this is the supreme -thought in the mind of the Jewish Psalmist or prophet, and, in spite -of all their faults, of the Jewish nation as a whole. Psalm cxix. -is, perhaps, the fullest expression of this conviction and passion. -That psalm is one long variation of its opening verse, “Blessed are -they that are undefiled in the way, and walk in the law of the Lord. -Blessed are they that keep His testimonies, and seek Him with their -whole heart.” “O how love I Thy law! it is my meditation all the day.” -“How sweet are Thy words unto my taste! yea, sweeter than honey to -my mouth! Through Thy precepts I get understanding, therefore I hate -every false way.” You will see that these phrases express a positive -passion in the mind of the Psalmist for the law of God--as strong a -passion at least, or even stronger, than the passions of some men for -the pleasures of sense, and of others for the pleasures of ambition and -worldly success. “I opened my mouth,” says the Psalmist, “and drew in -my breath, for my delight was in Thy commandments.” The whole frame of -the man, his body as well as his mind, is absorbed in this passion for -the law of God. The Jew craves for blessing, or for happiness, as much -as the Greek or the Roman, but he seeks that blessing in the knowledge -and obedience of the law of God. He knows it is to be found in the way -of righteousness and nowhere else. Thus the first Psalm is a fitting -introduction to all the rest. “His delight,” it says, “is in the law -of the Lord; and in His law doth he meditate day and night. And he -shall be like a tree planted by the waterside, that will bring forth -his fruit in due season. His leaf also shall not wither; and look, -whatsoever he doeth, it shall prosper.” This psalm, in short, embodies -the very essence of the belief of the true Jew, which is that the law -of God and the righteousness of God are the one source of all happiness -and blessedness, and that the highest privilege of men and women is -to give themselves up, body and soul, to the pursuit of the happiness -which is there to be found. - -I think we shall all recognize that the tendency of men and women -is, for the most part, too different from this. They may wish to do -right and to avoid wrong, but it is comparatively rare for the supreme -passion of their lives to be the pursuit of righteousness, and for -the supreme love of their lives to be for the law of God. Is it not -our general tendency to pursue our own objects, to seek enjoyment, -and happiness, and success in our own ways, and to regard the law of -God, and the principles of righteousness, as a controlling power, an -external authority, which checks us when we are in danger of going -wrong and so far guides us? but the love of it, and the longing for -obedience to it, is too rarely the main motive of our lives. That is -the characteristic of those whom we regard as Saints, but it is not, I -fear, the characteristic of the mass of men and women. This, however, -is the ideal put before us, throughout the Scriptures, as that which -ought to be predominant in our hearts and lives. “Thou shalt love -the Lord thy God,” says Moses, “with all thy heart, and with all thy -soul, and with all thy might.” “This,” said our Lord, “is the great -commandment.” “Blessed,” according to this Psalm, “is the man whose -delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law doth he meditate day -and night.” It is not enough for such a man not to do wrong; his whole -soul is absorbed in the passion for doing what is right. He believes -that the law of God has set before him a great ideal, a vision of the -perfection of human nature; and his great craving is to realize that -ideal and to be what God intended him to be. He knows that all blessing -is to be found in that law and in those visions of perfection, and he -pursues them with his whole heart. - -This spirit of the godly man is associated with another aspect of -the same truth which is ever present in the Bible, and which is very -imperfectly realized among men in general. We are apt to be satisfied -with recognizing right and wrong as one of the many elements with which -we are concerned in life. Life is a vast scene of innumerable passions, -and interests, and pleasures, and schemes--personal, social, political, -and imperial; and nearly all of us recognize, no doubt, that right and -wrong, righteousness and justice, have a momentous place among these -various energies and interests; but in the light of the Bible, and in -the teaching of our Lord, that is a very imperfect view to take of -their position. There, right and wrong, righteousness and justice, are -supreme over all other interests; they are the foundation on which -the whole edifice of life is built up; or they are, as it were, the -very cement by which the whole is held together. As the history of the -Jewish people is told in the Bible, every event in their career is -shown to turn on the question of their righteousness or wickedness. -God’s one object is to educate them to be a righteous nation, to keep -His commandments, and statutes, and judgments, so that they may realize -His great design for them. They suffer punishment, such as invasion -by enemies, or captivity by Assyria or Rome, not merely because of -the ambition of those nations, and of their own comparative weakness, -but because they were becoming faithless to the law of God, and not -living for His honour and glory. All that the world, and the worldly -historian, might see of them was that they had provoked the Assyrian -or Roman monarch by some act of self-assertion and pride, and that -he avenged himself by invading and desolating their country. But the -prophetical men who wrote the Books of Kings, and other historical -Books of the Old Testament, went behind this immediate cause, and -saw that it was by the providence of God that the people were thus -punished, because they had forgotten the God of their fathers, and -were ceasing to serve Him. They were inspired to see this element of -righteousness, and of the law of the Lord, as the most essential in -the whole history, and asserting itself continually under the control -of God’s providence. - -I venture to think we might illustrate the matter by an example from -modern science. We know now that the most important and universal -force in nature is that of which one of the most familiar forms is -electricity. We know that its influence in the form of light and -magnetism pervades the whole of nature; we know that the very movements -of our limbs, of our hands and fingers, are dependent upon it, that -this is the force which animates our nerves and through them controls -our whole bodies. We know that the element in which it works--the -ether--pervades the whole universe, and that the light which flashes -from stars hundreds of millions of miles away is due to this subtle -force. And yet until less than a hundred years ago men hardly realized -its existence. It was an unseen force, which worked behind all other -forces, and even men of science had but a dim appreciation of it. So it -was with this supreme force of righteousness, until it was brought into -full light by the revelation of the prophets and of our Lord and His -Apostles. What they revealed to us, what the Bible is teaching in every -page, what our Lord, above all, impresses on us with supreme force, is -that God’s righteousness is like the ethereal fluid, which is at once -the illuminating agent and the motive force of all human life. It is -quiet for the most part, and men hardly observe it; but on a sudden it -bursts out into some great storm, like that which startled the author -of Psalm xxix. “The voice of the Lord is upon the waters: the God of -glory thundereth: the Lord is upon many waters.” We see the flash of -the lightning of righteousness, and hear the crash of its thunder. “The -voice of the Lord divideth the flames of fire. The voice of the Lord -shaketh the wilderness.” That is the meaning, no doubt, of a great war -like the present. Some evil had been accumulating, some passions of -ambition and greed, some failures in duty, some defections from truth, -faults of one kind in one nation, and sad failures of duty in another, -and, on a sudden, some spark lights an explosion, and the whole world -is ablaze with flames of fire. So it is also in our private lives. We -may go on for a long time yielding to weaknesses, or even sins, and -righteousness may seem to be silent, the voice of conscience may seem -to be a mere voice and not to be asserting its supremacy; but, on a -sudden, or after a long and gradual accumulation of wrong-doing, God -asserts His law, our neglect of righteousness finds us out, and God’s -justice is vindicated upon us. - -These considerations ought to lead to a deeper devotion to those -principles of right and wrong, and to that supreme vision of -righteousness which the Bible and our Lord and His Apostles impress -upon us; but I would add that it is the great message we should take -home to ourselves, not merely in our individual lives, but in our -national life. We see before us a great nation, endowed with some of -the highest capacities of human nature, allowing itself to be absorbed -more and more, year by year, by a great passion for power and dominion -and supremacy in the world. This passion has taken such hold on it -that it thinks itself justified in over-riding and defying the laws -of truth and justice and mercy, even in the imperfect form in which -they have been formally recognized in the law of nations. Everything, -we are told, must yield to the demands of a nation which believes that -a certain supremacy in the world is necessary for it. The consequence -is that the air has to be cleared by this awful outburst of national -thunder and lightning. But let us apply the danger and the lesson to -ourselves. What is our own ideal as a nation and as an empire? Perhaps -we too have been in danger of being fascinated too much by that vision -of empire. It is a legitimate ideal when applied to right purposes, -and subject to the right control; but those purposes must be those of -Divine righteousness, and the control is the control of the law of -God. If we make it the main object of every power with which God has -entrusted us to promote His laws, to support and to spread further the -Kingdom of His Christ, to do righteousness and justice in the world, so -far as our power and influence reaches; if for that purpose we strive -to ensure that all our legislation, and all our imperial and national -action, is deliberately and constantly directed to the support and -extension of the law of God and of Christ, then we may hope for God’s -blessing on our achievements, and may trust to be preserved from those -perversions of national spirit, and from that military and arbitrary -passion, against which we have at this moment to maintain so desperate -a struggle. Let us strive after this great object, alike in ourselves, -in our country, and throughout our Empire, and then we may hope that as -a nation we may be, in the Psalmist’s words, “like a tree planted by -the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season,” and -that whatsoever we do may prosper. In a word, as a nation no less than -as individuals, let our delight be in the law of the Lord, and in His -law let us meditate day and night. - - - - -REASONS FOR INTERCESSION. - -CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL: DAY OF SPECIAL INTERCESSION FOR THE WAR, JUNE 17, -1915. - - “_The heathen make much ado, and the kingdoms are moved: but God hath - shewed His voice, and the earth shall melt away._”--Ps. xlvi. 6. - - -We are come here this evening to offer our earnest prayers and -supplications to God for His help in this grievous and dangerous crisis -of our national life, to entreat Him to grant the victory to our King -and his Allies, and to deliver our nation, our Empire, and the world -from the violence and oppression with which they are threatened by the -enemy. In order that we may do so aright, it is necessary we should -realize distinctly what is God’s special concern with the war, and -what is our own relation to Him in respect to it. Now, the one supreme -truth which I would urge upon you this evening is that the war, as a -whole--its origin, its course, its end, and its purpose--is in the -hands of God, and that we must look to Him, and to Him alone, for our -guidance in it, and our deliverance from it. I fear we are too much -disposed to think of the natural causes of the war, of the natural -means we have of conducting it, and of the human and physical forces -which are engaged in it; while we think of God as standing outside the -struggle, and appeal to Him to interfere in it, as we might appeal to -some great human power, in our extremity. We are too much disposed -to act and think as if the result depended entirely on the number of -men we can put in the field, upon the munitions of war we can obtain, -the guns and the shells and the other physical means we can bring -into action. It is true that these thing--men and the munitions of -war--are the indispensable instruments of success and victory. Even -in times when God interfered miraculously, He required His people, as -under Joshua and David, to put forth their full strength, and to make -the utmost sacrifices for their cause. But the main lesson which is -inculcated in the Scriptures respecting war is that it is one of God’s -great agencies for carrying out His will and accomplishing His own -purposes, and that its issue is in all cases absolutely in His hands. -It is He Who permits war; it is He Who in the exercise of His righteous -judgment, occasions war; it is He Who alone can determine the issue of -war; and it is His purposes, and not ours, which are brought to pass by -war. - -If, in fact, we would apprehend our position and the position of our -Empire and of Europe in this war, we must in spirit see God upon His -throne, permitting by His judgment the fierce passions of war to break -forth, and controlling the whole course of the tremendous storms they -involve by His justice and His will. As the Psalmist says, “The Lord -reigneth, be the people never so impatient, He sitteth between the -Cherubim, be the earth never so unquiet.” Or, again, “The Lord is King, -the earth may be glad thereof; yea, the multitude of the isles may be -glad thereof: Clouds and darkness are round about Him, righteousness -and judgment are the habitation of His seat. There shall go a fire -before Him and burn up His enemies on every side. His lightnings gave -shine unto the world: the earth saw it and was afraid.” That might -be taken for a picture of war with the thunders and lightnings of its -“red artillery.” Let us, if we would turn this occasion to due account, -look up for a while from the human thunders and lightnings by which -the earth and sea are now shaken; let us raise our eyes and our hearts -to the Psalmist’s vision of God sitting on His throne, above all these -earthly and human struggles and sufferings, and though clouds and -darkness are round about Him, yet controlling them by His righteous -judgment. - -Let us look into this general consideration a little more particularly. -War is the result of human passion, human error, and human sin. If -only men were unselfish, wise, and true, there would be no occasion -for the struggles from which it springs; but instead of that they are -covetous, foolish, and blind, and God has so constituted mankind that -the ultimate appeal of these passions and follies must be made to -force; and in the ordinary course of His providence He leaves them to -make that appeal. He lets their passions work themselves out to their -natural results, and so bring their own punishment upon themselves. -If, indeed, men sought His guidance and grace in all humility and -earnestness before war broke out, we may be confident He would guide -and control them; but the very danger of their pride and their passion -is that it makes them forget Him, and then He suffers them to find -their need of Him by leaving them to bear the consequences. But -when those consequences have broken out into war, they are then, in -the most absolute degree, subject to His over-ruling hand. It is an -essential characteristic of war that it sets forces loose which are -beyond calculation, and beyond human control. Ordinary ways of action -are suspended, and we become subject to the most unexpected and most -incalculable influences. We are beginning to see it ourselves in the -present war. We are forced to resort to public measures which all -confess to be absolutely unprecedented; and the whole world, old and -new, is immersed in dangers and disorders never before dreamed of. But -when men and nations are in this tumult and disorder and blindness, -then they realize, as they too often fail to do in quiet times, -that they are absolutely dependent on God. He has at His command -infinite natural and spiritual forces by which the result of a war -or a battle can be determined. As in the famous battle of Joshua, or -in the destruction of the Spanish Armada in our own history, storms -and tempests, or a mere turn in the weather, or it may be added, the -invisible interposition of some angelic agent, may defeat all human -schemes and determine the issue of a battle, and, through a battle, -the fate of an Empire. Of great commanders, moreover, no less than of -kings, the words of our Collect are true, that their hearts are in -God’s rule and governance, and that He disposes and turns them as it -seems best to His godly wisdom. - -The message of the Bible, in fact, from first to last, the message of -Jewish history, and the message of the Psalms, is that God is in a -pre-eminent degree the “Lord of war,” with Whom it lies to bring on -men the judgment of war, to control war, and to make wars to cease. -“O come hither,” says the Psalm of my text, “behold the works of the -Lord, what destruction He hath brought upon the earth. He maketh wars -to cease in all the world, he breaketh the bow, and knappeth the spear -in sunder, and burneth the chariots in the fire. Be still, then, and -know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen and I will be -exalted in the earth.” Or, as it is expressed in another Psalm, “There -is no king that can be saved by the multitude of an host, neither is -any mighty man delivered by much strength. A horse is counted but a -vain thing to save a man, neither shall he deliver any man by his great -strength. Behold the eye of the Lord is upon them that fear Him, upon -them that put their trust in His mercy.” Or, once more, “We have heard -with our ears, O God, our fathers have told us, what Thou hast done in -their time of old; How Thou hast driven out the heathen with Thy hand, -and planted them in; how Thou hast destroyed the nations and cast them -out. For they gat not the land in possession through their own sword; -neither was it their own arm that helped them; but Thy right hand and -Thine arm, and the light of Thy countenance, because Thou hadst a -favour unto them.” - -The first conviction, then, with which we should come before God to-day -is that, although the utmost efforts on our part are required, still, -when we have used the last ounce of our strength, and made the last -sacrifice of life and limb, we are absolutely dependent for the issue -upon the will, the power, and the over-ruling providence of God. We -are bound to fall at His feet as His helpless creatures, absolutely -dependent on His hand. We are bound to recognize that the wealth and -power we enjoy, the great position which this Empire occupies in the -world, have been gifts from Him, and that we gat not this possession -by our own sword; neither was it our own arm that helped us; but God’s -right hand and God’s arm, and the light of His countenance, because He -had a favour towards us, for some great purposes of His own. - -But what were those purposes? If we feel that we are thus the -instruments of God’s hand, to be used as He pleases, we must needs -ask, with anxious earnestness, What are His great purposes? and can we -know whether we are acting in accordance with them? We know that we -are not in the hands of an arbitrary power or an unreasoning will. We -know that whatever God does is done with reason and justice and love. -Here, again, it is our privilege to have revealed to us, in God’s Word, -the great purposes for which He is working. His methods and His ways -of carrying His purposes out are beyond our comprehension, but He has -graciously told us what those purposes are. Their great object is the -manifestation of His glory, His truth, His love, to be the light, the -salvation, the infinite happiness of man. That was the object of the -whole of His work in establishing the people of Israel in their land, -in protecting them, in bringing punishments upon them, in delivering -them from their enemies, or allowing them to fall into captivity. By -means of them--through their history, their Prophets, their Psalmists, -and their Kings--He made known that grand revelation of Himself which -is recorded in our Bibles. All these acts were done, and their memory -is preserved, in order that all the world might see and learn that -in knowledge of Him, in obedience to Him, in love to Him and prayer -to Him, is life and health, in body and soul, in this world and in -the next. Let us be assured that that remains His purpose, and the -guiding rule of His providence, throughout all history, and in our -own, to the present day. If God has given us wealth, and strength, and -prosperity, and imperial power, we may be sure that it is in order that -we may be His instruments for the spread of His Kingdom, for bringing -the knowledge of Christ and of Christ’s salvation to the ends of the -earth, that the love of Christ, the example of Christ, the law of -Christ may be established throughout the world. Do not let us suppose -that there is any other object whatever in God’s dispensations. The -manifestation of God in Christ, and the bringing of all human souls, -all human life, into harmony with it, into the full enjoyment of it, -and consequently into perfect obedience to His will--this is the end of -all the struggles, of all the wars, of all the sufferings of mankind, -mysterious as they are, and utterly baffling to our feeble apprehension. - -There is surely an infinite comfort in realizing this great revelation. -If we grasp the assurance that this is the sure and certain end -of God’s dispensations, we can bear with patience, and even with -thankfulness, the sufferings and sorrows through which they are worked -out. While we bitterly mourn the loss of those who are sacrificed in -such a war as this, we can feel that they have laid down their lives -in the eternal battle in which Christ is the Commander, and in which -we are all taking part, and that we remain one with them, and they one -with us, in serving Christ and asserting the will of God. - - One army of the Living God, - To His command we bow, - Part of the host have crossed the flood, - And part are crossing now, - -or will be crossing soon. Only let us take care, if we are to have the -reward, hereafter, of having served in this great army, that we are -working, fighting, dying, and suffering bereavement, in the cause of -this great Commander and in accordance with His will. - -But if these are the purposes with which God has directed all history, -and controls all wars, we cannot dare to come before Him, and ask for -His help, unless the spirit in which we are joining in this war is -in harmony with His, and unless we mean, with His help, to act and -fight in entire devotion to Him, and in obedience to Christ. If we -fought merely to gain victory, to assert the supremacy of our Empire, -to establish our superiority over other nations, we could not expect -His countenance and help, and we should be affronting His Majesty and -His Holiness by asking for it; but these are not our aims. They are, -it appears, in the main, those of our enemy, and for that reason we -may be confident that God’s face will be against them. But, so far as -we are fighting for a kingdom and an Empire which acknowledges in all -things the sovereignty of our Lord Jesus Christ, which endeavours to -act, to govern, and to serve in accordance with His will, and which -will promote and protect the spread of His Kingdom--so far as we are -conscious in our consciences that that is our aim--we may confidently -come before Him and appeal to Him to help us with His right hand and -His holy arm. But we cannot thus serve Him and obey Him as a nation -unless we obey and serve Him in our own individual lives; and when -we kneel, therefore, before Him to-day we are called upon to pledge -ourselves, with the utmost sincerity and earnestness, to give our -hearts and wills and lives up to Him in all things, with greater truth -and singleness of heart than we have ever yet realized. - -If we look candidly into the recent life of our nation, it must, I -fear, be acknowledged that we have in many respects grievously failed -in this Christian spirit. The habits of our people have in too many -respects declined from the Christian standard which was set us by our -forefathers in their best days. The worship and service of God and -Christ have not been held so high among us as the supreme duty of life. -We see it in the increasing neglect of the public worship of God, in -a less general piety of life, in a growing disposition to acquiesce -in standards of action which are not in all respects those of the New -Testament; in the failure to look to the authority of Christ and His -Apostles as the supreme rule in all the relations of life, in the -relations of men and women, in the ideals of domestic and private life. -We have lived too much for this life and too little for the next. We -have cared too much for time and too little for eternity. We shall not -be able to fulfil the purposes of God for our nation and for the world -unless we amend our lives in these respects, unless we humbly confess -our failure before Him, and set ourselves resolutely to live more -Christian lives in the future. If we kneel before Him this evening in -this spirit of confession for the past, and of heartfelt devotion for -the future, we may come boldly to His throne of grace; and we may be -thankful to be assured that our country and our country’s cause, and -the welfare of all who are dear to us, here and hereafter, are in His -hands. You are invited to begin your supplication this evening with -that penitential Psalm, in which David confessed from the bottom of his -heart his own grievous sin, but was also inspired by God’s Holy Spirit -to seek comfort and regeneration, righteousness and peace. That is the -spirit in which we should approach God at all times, but especially -in a time of sore trial like the present; and if we do so, we may -confidently join in the concluding petition, in which the Psalmist -beseeches God’s blessing upon His nation. “The sacrifice of God is -a troubled spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, shalt Thou -not despise. O be favourable and gracious unto Zion; build Thou the -walls of Jerusalem. Then shalt Thou be pleased with the sacrifice of -righteousness,” with the devoted offerings and service of a regenerated -and Christian nation. God grant it, for Christ’s sake. - - - - -THE ETERNAL SOURCE OF GOODNESS. - -PREACHED AT HOLY TRINITY CHURCH, MARGATE, NOVEMBER 7, 1915. - - “_Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh - down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither - shadow of turning._”--St. James i. 17. - - -In these words a singularly vivid picture is set before us. God is -represented to us as the Sun in the Heavens, from Whom light and warmth -are perpetually streaming. The text does not merely say that all good -gifts come from above and that none but good gifts come from thence. -It means also that those good gifts are perpetually being poured upon -us, just as light and heat are perpetually flowing from the sun. But -it points out one great difference between the physical sun and this -Divine source of grace and glory. The sun and the other lights of the -heavens which are dependent upon it are all liable to be obscured or -eclipsed. They are “subject to variableness and shadow of turning,” -that is, to the shadows occasioned by their turning in their daily -revolutions, so that daylight is succeeded by the darkness of night, -and the moon waxes and wanes. But the light of the Divine glory and -grace is never thus obscured from us. It is perpetually shining, and -we can enjoy its blessed influence at every moment. God is the Father -of Lights--the Father of Light of all kinds; and all grace and truth -are perpetually proceeding from Him. “Every good gift and every perfect -boon is from above,” coming down continually from “the Father of Lights -with Whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.” This is the -great truth which is embodied in the beautiful words of the Collect -just used, “Lord of all power and might Who art the Author and Giver of -all good things.” - -This is the first grand truth which is revealed to us by our Christian -faith. It is involved in the revelation of God to us as our Father in -Heaven, and it is impressed on us in the Sermon on the Mount, when our -Lord bids us live as “the children of our Father which is in Heaven: -Who maketh the sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth -rain on the just and on the unjust.” It would be well for us to realize -this more fully and constantly. We see the sun in the Heavens; we are -sensible of its lifegiving influences day by day; but we do not always -have so vividly before us the Supreme Sun of the spiritual Heavens, -and we are tempted to live without the constant realization of His -presence. There are, indeed, experiences which are a great trial to our -faith in this constant Presence, and which even make men and women ask -themselves in perplexity whether there can be, in reality, any such -perpetually Divine source of all good things--whether any Divine Power -is really at all times pouring the best blessing upon mankind. What is -the meaning, for instance, many anxious hearts have asked themselves -at a time like this--what is the meaning and the explanation of such -fearful miseries as the world is now suffering through the present war? -Can it be a God from Whom all good things are perpetually coming Who -permits half the world to fall into such distresses and agonies as we -have heard of lately, and are daily hearing? The evil in the world has -at all times been a perplexity to faith, and when manifested on such a -tremendous scale, when it rises before us in the monstrous form of an -awful war, the question presses upon our hearts and minds with painful -force. But the privilege of the Christian is to maintain through all -these distresses the proclamation that the love of God, the goodness -of God, the mercy of God, the blessing of God are still at work, -notwithstanding the clouds with which they seem obscured. Clouds and -darkness may be round about Him, but righteousness and judgment are the -habitation of His throne. - -The general explanation of this great mystery is that these sufferings -are the means by which God asserts the supremacy of righteousness and -truth. He has so ordered the world that unrighteousness, ungodliness, -untruth, immorality of all kinds inevitably punish themselves by -leading to appeals to force, and so provoke the wars and fightings -of which St. James speaks in this Epistle. “From whence,” he says, -“come wars and fightings among you? Come they not hence, even of your -lusts, that war in your members? Ye lust and have not; ye kill, and -desire to have and cannot obtain”--can there be a truer description, -in brief, of the origin of the present war? These are God’s judgments, -in which He so orders the world that nations and individuals punish -themselves for their indulgence in covetous and unbridled passions. -They will not submit to be checked by conscience or by reason, and -therefore God leaves them to the natural consequences of their mutual -lusts and violences. In fact, the miseries of war are a conspicuous -instance of the great truth that good things are always coming from -God. Vengeance for evil is a good thing; and the punishment, even -the bitter punishment, of selfishness, whether in individuals or in -national life, the severest punishments of covetousness, arrogance, -forgetfulness of God, disobedience to Christ--these punishments are -good things; and if God is chastising Europe for such sins, and -ourselves in no small measure, He is doing it at once in judgment and -in mercy. It is a warning to every nation, and to every man and woman, -to consider in what respect they have been failing in their duty to God -and to Christ, to their neighbour, and even to themselves, and to pray -God to open their eyes and enable them to repent and amend. What we see -before us in a convulsion like this, is the outburst of the lightnings -and thunders of righteous judgment, and if it brings men to their knees -in penitence and amendment of life, it may prove one of God’s greatest -blessings to the world. - -We may understand this the better if we consider, more particularly, -the means by which God is always pouring upon the world those blessed -influences of goodness and righteousness of which the text and the -Collect speak. They tell us that He is like the sun in the heavens -pouring His bright beams upon us and the world at large. Where is that -Sun? It is in the Person of our Lord Jesus Christ, in all His words -and deeds, and in those Scriptures which, as He said, testify of Him. -The answer is contained in the truth that “God, Who, at sundry times -and in divers manners spake in times past unto the fathers, by the -prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by His Son, Who is -the brightness of His glory and the express image of His Person.” “No -man,” we are told, “hath seen God at any time. The only begotten Son -Who is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him.” He declares -Him in various ways. In the first place, the grace and truth and glory -of God are seen in the Face of Jesus Christ, in His life as recorded -in the Gospels, and in His words. “He that hath seen me,” said our -Saviour Himself, “hath seen the Father.” It is God Himself Who is seen -in every act and word of Jesus Christ, and if we want to know God, to -realize His character and His will, we have only to study the life and -words of our Lord, and we see it all in vivid human features. God in -Christ is as visible to the eyes of our hearts and minds as the sun in -the heavens. As the physical sun is visible to every human eye, so the -sun of the spiritual world--God Himself--is visible to every human mind -in the person of our Lord. This comparison is as old as the Psalms. -“The heavens,” says the 19th Psalm, “declare the glory of God, and the -firmament sheweth His handiwork,” and then it proceeds, “the law of -the Lord is perfect, converting the soul, the testimony of the Lord -is sure, making wise the simple.” The law of the Lord of which the -Psalmist spoke was that revelation of the Will of God which was given -to the Jews at sundry times and in divers manners, and is recorded -in the ancient Scriptures. But that law is now summed up, explained, -enlarged, and perfected in the face of Jesus Christ, and in His words. -In Him is God to be seen. In Him is the source of the highest moral and -spiritual goodness. - -The Collect goes on to pray “Graft in our hearts the love of Thy Name, -increase in us true religion, nourish us with all goodness.” The Name -of God means the character of God, and if we are to love character we -must see it, and we can see it in Jesus Christ and nowhere else. If -you wish to love God, you must learn to love Jesus Christ. To love God -is to love righteousness, truth, and goodness, and in Jesus Christ we -see them in life and in human reality. Righteousness, goodness, truth, -purity, grace, may be loved, indeed, in the abstract; but the love -for them must be infinitely deepened if we see them concentrated in a -living person, so that the love of them is identified with the love of -Him. If, in fact, we would keep the love of these great things alive -in our hearts, if we would continually deepen it, if we would have -the eyes of our minds and hearts opened more and more, the supreme -necessity is that we should learn more and more of Jesus Christ, live -with Him by constant study of His deeds and words, and so open our -souls to the impress of His grace and truth. The history of the world -since He lived and died is the sufficient proof of this fact. The -Christian Church, which is charged with the duty and the privilege of -living in His spirit and working in His name, has, notwithstanding many -failures and faults, held up before the world the highest standard -of goodness and truth. There is no more conspicuous illustration of -this influence of Christ and His Church than the fact that the noble -Societies which, by their devoted care of the wounded, now mitigate the -horrors of war, are called “Red Cross” Societies, and were founded and -maintained in obedience to the spirit of Christ. Since Christ came, -it is through Him that all these good things do come, and if we would -enjoy them we must live and work in His light. - -But this is far from being the sole means by which Christ is the source -of all good things. He promised His disciples before He died, that He -would send the Holy Spirit into the world Who should bring to their -remembrance all things that He had told them, and should be to them and -to their followers an adviser and comforter, such as He had Himself -been while He was with them--Who should convince them of sin, of -righteousness and judgment--teach them, that is, what sin is, and what -righteousness is, and bring home to them the nature of the judgment of -God. He formed them into a Society, to be a perpetual witness of Him to -the world; and He established two ceremonies (which we call Sacraments) -to be a perpetual pledge to His followers of His love and of His grace, -and to be a special means by which that grace should be bestowed on -them; so that the source of this Divine illumination and bounty is not -merely Christ in the past, in His life on earth, as we read of Him in -the words of the New Testament, but Christ living and working in His -Church by means of those words, and by means of the Sacraments which -testify of them and bring them home to every individual soul. The -words of Christ and the Sacraments of Christ are means which can be -seen and handled, by which the grace of God is manifested and conveyed -to us. - -Moreover, He has told us, as I have mentioned, that the Old Testament -throughout, the Law, the Prophets and the Psalms, speak of Him, -reveal His character and His Will. To the Jews, who had only the Old -Testament, He said, “Search the Scriptures, for in them ye think ye -have eternal life, and they are they which testify of Me.” Combined, -these are the visible, tangible, and audible instruments by which the -“Lord of all power and might, the Author and Giver of all good things,” -shines into our hearts and speaks to our inmost souls. There are, -indeed, and always have been, other influences in the world by which -goodness and truth are impressed upon us; and there are, and always -have been, many gracious human influences by which they are upheld in -our hearts and in the world at large; but these are all imperfect, -and liable to perversion, in comparison with the influence of Jesus -Christ and His Church and the Holy Scriptures; and we can never be -sure of their being kept true and unperverted, except so far as they -are brought to the test, and subjected to the influences, through the -Person of Jesus Christ and of His words in the Holy Scriptures, of that -Lord of all power and might from whom all good things do come. - -These considerations may help to explain to us the source of the evils -which have plunged Europe into its present convulsions and they will -be the best guide to ourselves for our own action in the present and -the future. It is, unhappily, an unquestionable matter of fact that a -great part of Europe, and especially of Germany, has lost sight for a -generation or two of that Sun of Righteousness, Who is the Author and -Giver of all good things. They have rejected the authority of Christ, -and denied the Divine reality of the revelation of God’s will in the -Old Testament. The consequence is that they have deprived themselves -of the influences of that Divine light, and have been setting up -standards of right and wrong in national and individual life, which -are inconsistent with it. Some of the best instincts of a strong and -manly nation have consequently been perverted. National ideals have -been pursued which are inconsistent with Christian civilization, and -men have been driven by these perverted instincts and passions into the -hell of war. We may be sure that Europe will not again enjoy permanent -peace until, by the merciful correction of that Lord from Whom all good -things do come, the love of His Name has again been grafted in their -hearts, and the true religion of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ -revived and increased. - -But it becomes us to apply to ourselves, very seriously, the same -considerations. Must we not admit that among ourselves also a similar -disregard of the only source from Whom all good things do come has -been sadly and increasingly prevalent of late years, and perhaps for a -generation or two past? What is the meaning of the acknowledged falling -off in attendance at Divine Worship, of the increasing disuse of family -Prayers, and of the daily reading of Scripture in the family, and of -the less distinctively Christian tone of much of our literature and -of our stage? Let us put it to our own consciences whether we live, -as we ought, in the constant sense that it is only in the word of God -and of Christ, as contained in the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New -Testaments, in constant subjection to His word and to the influences -of His Spirit, that we can be sure of finding the true light to our -paths, and a rod and a staff to comfort us amidst the temptations and -perplexities of the world? Do we live under the constant influences of -the Scriptures, and of the ordinances and Sacraments of Christ? If not, -it can only be because we do not believe the blessed assurances of this -text, and of our Church’s Collect. Unless men and women are blinded for -the time by the influence of some strong passions, or of some perverted -teaching, could they fail to submit themselves day by day to the Lord, -from Whom all good things do come, so that those good and gracious -things may sink more and more deeply into their souls, mould their -characters, and guide them more and more into the way that leadeth to -everlasting life? Men will travel far to sunny lands for the healing -influences of this world’s sun upon their bodily health. Can they -fail, if they realize the blessing offered them day by day, to seek the -companionship of the Lord Jesus Christ and His Father, for the sake of -their spiritual health in this world and in the next? - -Let us then, in the first place, be led back by these present trials -and agonies to the only source of all truth and light for this world -and the next, to the words which God spake “in sundry times and in -divers manners,” in ages past, and above all, to those which He spake -by His Son, the brightness of His glory and the express image of His -Person; and if we feel their supreme preciousness for ourselves, let -us do everything in our power to promote and spread those sacred -words and that divine light throughout the world, as you are asked to -help in doing this morning. Here lies the only hope for ourselves, -the only hope for our people at large, for our nation and empire. -Let us henceforth join with a new earnestness in the prayer of the -Collect: “Graft in our hearts the love of Thy Name, increase in us true -religion, nourish us with all goodness, and of Thy great mercy keep us -in the same; through Jesus Christ our Lord.” - - - - -THE NATIONAL IDEAL. - -PREACHED IN CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL, JANUARY 3rd, 1915. - - “_Ye shall walk in all the ways which the Lord your God hath commanded - you, that ye may live, and that it may be well with you, and that ye - may prolong your days in the land which ye shall possess._”--Deut. v. - 33. - - -We have been summoned this evening by our King and by the Chief Pastor -of our Church, to a Service of humble prayer and intercession to -Almighty God on behalf of our Nation and Empire now engaged in war; -and in the Form of Humble Prayer in which we have just joined there -is an exhortation explaining and urging upon us the spirit in which -that intercession should be made. In addressing you this evening I -would draw special attention to one point in that exhortation. Before -all else, we are told, we must remember that those who would receive -good at the hands of God must go to Him in humility, with a due sense -of their many faults and continual short-comings in His sight. In -other words, a humble prayer must be before all else a prayer of -humiliation. It is a principle which is impressed upon us every day -in the Exhortation at the beginning of our prayers. “The Scripture,” -we are told, “moveth us in sundry places to acknowledge and confess -our manifold sins and wickednesses; and that we should not dissemble -nor cloke them before the face of Almighty God our Heavenly Father; -but confess them with a humble, lowly, penitent and obedient heart; to -the end that we may obtain forgiveness of the same, by his infinite -goodness and mercy,” and we are surely bound, on an occasion like this, -to take to heart the words which follow, viz., that “although we ought -at all times humbly to acknowledge our sins before God: yet ought we -most chiefly so to do, when we assemble and meet together” as we do -to-day, to implore His special mercy in the greatest crisis which our -nation and Empire has ever had to encounter. If every morning and -evening ought to waken in us a humble, lowly, and penitent confession -of our sins, surely an hour when, as a whole Nation, we are seeking -God’s merciful and gracious help calls for still deeper and humbler -confession of our sins. - -There has been, I fear, some reluctance among us to yield ourselves -to this penitent humiliation, and it will be well therefore to remind -ourselves a little of the reasons there are for it. Now the first -and most patent of all the reasons why we should recognize our sins -and wickedness is the bare and ghastly fact of this war in itself. -We are all distressed and grieved by it, and are all saying what a -horrible thing it is that war--and such a war--should be possible in a -Christian Europe. But what we should first of all realize is that it -is a horrible exhibition of the sin and wickedness of human nature. -Just contrast what Europe was a few months ago with the scenes that -are now exhibited in Belgium, France, and Poland. A few months ago, -Europe was a prosperous country, full of wealth, comfort, and enjoyment -of all kinds. Its many millions were engaged in quiet occupations -which employed their energies happily. “They ate, they drank, they -bought, they sold, they planted, they builded.” Fathers and mothers -and children, families young and old, cities and villages were in the -enjoyment of plenty, and full of hope for the future. God had prospered -them, and there was much hope that the wants and sufferings which -were still the lot of too many among them might be gradually removed -by benevolent legislation and mutual help; but, on a sudden, at a few -days’ notice, this scene of happiness, and hope, and well-being is -overthrown as if by an earthquake. Some parts of it are overwhelmed -by “blood and fire and vapour of smoke,” and the whole of it, from -the extreme west of our Isles to the East of Russia, from the Baltic -to the Mediterranean is transformed into a vast Barracks, in which -sons and fathers are torn from their families, leaving behind them -too often the lamentation and mourning of wives and mothers, weeping -for those who are not. The language of the prophet is not too strong -for the occasion “The land was a Garden of Eden and is become a -desolate wilderness.” I ask you, is not such a sudden and disastrous -transformation the most clear proof we could have of some deadly evil -being at work in human nature? What else, but some deadly, inherent -evil could in a few weeks or days blot out all peace in Europe and let -loose a sort of hell in human society and human life. We were proud -of the growth of civilization, and were constructing all sorts of -schemes of social and political development, when, on a sudden, our -civilization explodes, and we find ourselves surrounded by its wrecks -in fire, and ruin, and carnage, and hatred, and violence of all kinds. -All this explosive force of evil must have been there. There must have -been corruptions, and sins, and vices at work which we did not surmise; -and fair as the life of Europe seemed outside, it must really have been -in some respects rotten to the core. This war has not been imposed -upon Europe from without, as it was when the great barbarian invaders -poured over it fourteen hundred years ago. All this horror, and misery, -and bloodshed, and ruin has sprung out of the materials--out of the -civilized materials--provided by Europe itself, and it must be some -internal disease, some original vice and corruption which is revealed -to us in the ghastly spectacle which is now presented by so large a -part of the most favoured lands of the world. - -Some one perhaps may be tempted to say that this indictment applies to -the countries which have provoked this war, but not to Europe at large; -but that, I am sure, would be, if not unjust to those countries, at -least not candid with respect to ourselves. Is it not the case that, to -an increasing extent of late years, the civilization of Europe has been -united, and marked in the main by similar characteristics? Have not the -literature and many of the ideas of Germany penetrated the literature -and the thought of France and England? Has there been conspicuous -among us any protest against the habits of thought, the tendencies -of religious belief or unbelief, the luxuries if not the waste of -living, which have prevailed elsewhere? If the life and civilization -of Europe has ended in this great catastrophe, can we honestly stand -aside and claim to be free of all blame, and to have had no share in -the tendencies and evils which have produced so horrible a result? -We shrink from them in their full development, we denounce them, we -resolve to fight against them to the last, and to re-establish sounder -and more Christian principles of public and social life, but dare we -say that we have not dallied with them? Can we honestly claim to have -repudiated them at their source, so as to be free from any part or lot -in sins and errors which have led to so hideous a result? I will not -try to drive such painful questions further home. I will only say that -if we are honest with ourselves, we shall not venture to adopt the -Pharisee’s attitude and exclaim, on a day like this, “God, I thank Thee -that I am not as other men are, or even as this German.” In a word, we -have had some share, at all events, in the tone of thought and life -which has prevailed in Europe for the last two generations, and we -shall be more true to God and to ourselves if we are content, on this -day of humble confession and intercession, simply to exclaim “God be -merciful to me a sinner.” - -But confession of sin should be but the first step to amendment of -life, and for the purpose of that amendment we must endeavour to -realize more particularly what the sins are, which in God’s righteous -judgment have brought this misery upon us. Many of them we have -acknowledged in the Litany in which we have joined. We have prayed -for deliverance from those sins wherein as a nation we have grieved -God. We have confessed to pride, boasting, and self-sufficiency, to -covetousness, worldliness, and indifference to the needs of others, to -drunkenness, impurity, and all manner of self-indulgence, to trusting -in our own strength and forgetting God, to want of faith in God, to -want of love to Him and to one another, to a want of charity towards -all men. These are the sins charged upon us by the chief pastors of -our Church, and they constitute surely a grievous catalogue of vices, -sufficient in themselves to account for the failure of the civilization -of which we form a part, and to require us to humiliate ourselves very -deeply before God. We are called upon by the Archbishops not merely -to pray, as we do in our daily Litany, against those evils, but to -acknowledge that they are sins wherein, as a nation, we have grieved -God. Now it must be left to our individual consciences to apply those -grievous confessions to our own hearts and lives. Of some of them, -perhaps, we shall all acknowledge ourselves to have been guilty; and -we are bound to put it earnestly to our hearts and consciences how -far we have individually been guilty of them. But it is not for the -preacher, who is deeply sensible of his own sins, to press such charges -upon others. I would rather adopt this evening the more gracious, and, -I hope, more helpful course of reminding you of the one supreme and -sufficient method by which all such sins, whatever they may have been, -may be overcome, and may be averted for the future. - -It is the method and the obligation impressed upon us in the text by -the great Law Giver of Israel when he was laying the foundation of the -Jewish nation. It is instructive to remember that the discourses of -Moses recorded in the Book of Deuteronomy are described as having for -their first and immediate object to lay down the principles on which -the Jewish people could realize the great purpose which God had in view -for them, and could become a strong and prosperous nation. “These,” -said Moses, in the verses following the text, “are the commandments, -and the statutes, and the judgments, which the Lord your God commanded -to teach you, that ye might do them in the land whither ye go to -possess it: that thou mightest fear the Lord Thy God, to keep all His -Statutes and His Commandments, which I command thee, thou, and thy son, -and thy son’s son, all the days of thy life; and that thy days may be -prolonged. Hear, therefore, O Israel, and observe to do it; that it -may be well with thee, and that ye may increase mightily.” And then he -proceeds to sum up those statutes and judgments in the momentous words -which Our Lord Himself selected as the first and great commandment of -the Law, “Hear O Israel,” said Moses, “The Lord our God is one Lord: -and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with -all thy soul, and with all thy might.” That, in the words of the book -in which our Saviour sought the great principles of His own life, and -which He quoted again and again as laying down eternal truths--that -is the great principle on which a sound moral, religious, and secure -national life must be founded--the principle of loving the Lord our -God with all our heart, and with all our soul, and with all our might. -The God Whom the people of Israel were thus called on to love with all -their heart, soul, and might, was the God Who had delivered them out of -Egypt and its bondage, and Who was about to establish them in the land -of Canaan by wonders and signs which could only have been wrought by -His supreme power, and Who, in the most solemn and awful circumstances, -had declared at Mount Sinai the cardinal laws of social and national -life. The God to whom our Saviour applies the principle was His Own -Father, the God Who is seen in His Own words and in His ministry, Whose -will is so graciously explained to us in the records of His life and in -the words of His Apostles, and Whose character, therefore, and will are -clearly and distinctly revealed. Our Lord, when He adopted these words -of Moses, declared to the whole world that in order that they may live, -and that it may be well with them, and that they may prolong their -days in the peace and happiness He designed for them, the one supreme -condition is that they should love the God Who is His Father, with all -their heart, soul, mind, and strength. If they do that, if the whole -of their lives is submitted to His will as revealed by His Son Jesus -Christ, then they will have a supreme authority, a secure guide in -their personal, their family, and their social life; and He adds to the -assurance of Moses the promise of His Holy Spirit to interpret His will -to them and to assist them in their struggles. That is the one and the -sufficient condition for realizing here on earth the blessing of the -peace which God designs for us. Life animated by that love would secure -it--and that alone. - -Now the one question it would be well for us to put to ourselves on -this day of confession and self amendment is whether it has not been -the chief wickedness, and the growing wickedness, of Europe at large, -and of ourselves in particular, to fail to make this love of God, -this submission to God and to Christ, the one supreme principle and -inspiration of our whole life, private, social, and public. I would -ask whether religion, as people generally understand it, has not been -allowed to become of late years, in an increasing degree, too much of a -private and personal matter--a matter of individual preference, a part -of a man’s character which could hardly be treated as an absolute duty, -so that a man who did not live a religious life was, as it were, within -his rights, and that he could not be treated as neglecting a supreme -obligation? Has it not been our temptation, as a nation, to legislate -without a supreme regard to this first duty, so as even to allow our -children and the children of the nation to be educated without supreme -regard to it? Has not attendance at Divine Worship been grievously -neglected of late years as a consequence of this growing decay of the -love of God? Have not the words of our Lord and His Apostles been -losing the authority which they used to possess among us, and which -they must possess with all who believe them to be a revelation of the -supreme Will of Almighty God? As a consequence of all this, has there -not been a grievous loss among us of the sense that we are all under -the judgment of God, that we shall all stand before the judgment seat -of Christ, to give account of all that we have done in the body, good -or bad? And has not the most momentous of all controlling influences -been thus grievously weakened in our own lives? It is enough for one -like myself to suggest the question. It needs a prophet with a Divine -Mission to drive it home. - -But the concluding considerations I would urge from such a review of -the condition of the Christian world, and of our own world at this -moment, is that if we would overcome the sins which have undermined -the peace of Europe and brought about the present awful convulsion, -if we would restore and re-establish among ourselves those principles -of Christian Faith which alone can make the nation great and happy, -and keep it so, the one effectual means which includes all others, -the one means which would at once enable us to know what we ought to -do and would provide us with the grace and power to fulfil it, is to -deepen in our own souls, and to revive all around us and among our -people at large, that love of God in Jesus Christ which reveals to us -“whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever -things are of good report,” which gives us a supreme and eternal motive -for following it, and which ensures us the power to overcome the -terrible temptations which beset us. Let us go home from these prayers, -not merely resolved to amend one particular fault, or to combat one -particular evil of our day, but surrendering ourselves more absolutely -than we have yet done to the will and love of God our Saviour, in all -things bringing the revelation of His will, in our Lord Jesus Christ -and in the Scriptures, to bear more than ever on our private, social -and public duties. In short, in the words of the text, let us resolve, -as the supreme law of our life, to walk in the ways which the Lord our -God and our Saviour Jesus Christ have commanded us, that it may be well -with us, and that we may prolong our days in the country and the Empire -in which His providence and His mercy have placed and supported us. - - - - -RELIGION AND THE WAR. - -FROM “THE RECORD,” SEPTEMBER 23, 1916 - - -The way in which this war is stirring the deepest thoughts of our -people has received a striking illustration during the last three weeks -in a discussion in the pages of the _Westminster Gazette_. In that able -journal religious questions have not ordinarily so congenial a home -as in the _Spectator_, and it is the more illustrative of the tone of -the public mind that, since August 28th last, hardly a day has passed -without the appearance in its columns of letters of great earnestness -on the subject of “Religion and the War.” The discussion was opened -on that day by an anonymous article under that title, which opened -with these words: “‘Verily Thou art a God that hidest Thyself.’ The -words of the Prophet come back to me when I hear the preachers trying -to reconcile the terrors and horrors of this war with the idea of an -all-powerful and all-beneficent Creator”; and around the difficulty -thus started the whole discussion has turned. The writer says he has -listened, during the last few months, to many sermons, and read many of -the articles and pamphlets and books “in which Divines and Philosophers -have endeavoured to plumb these deep waters,” and he states briefly -the principal arguments that he has found in them. It is not necessary -for the present purpose to quote them all, especially as I think the -writer has been unfortunate in his pulpits and his books. Several of -the pleas he quotes are mere platitudes, such as “that the ways of God -are unfathomable, and that one must walk in faith and believe that -things are somehow good.” The point to which he reduces the question is -that under the strain of our present experience “people see suddenly -that the doctrine of an omnipotent and all-loving Creator, as commonly -expounded in pulpits, is at war with the plain facts of the visible -world.” To this problem all the subsequent letters are directed, and -they afford impressive and painful evidence of the distress with which -many men and women seem to be groping in perplexity. There are many -striking and touching observations in them, and sometimes, as by Lord -Halifax, the central principles of the Christian Faith are applied -to the problem. But it is disappointing to find that it is not in -the Bible or in the Christian Faith that most of the writers seek -for a solution of their difficulties. Too many of them seek refuge -in philosophical discussions of matters like the Divine omnipotence -and the abstract problem of evil. The first writer comes to the -conclusion that “theology remains tangled up in its own conception of -omnipotence--which brings us at best to the conclusion that God has -so limited His own power as to permit the existence of evil, and at -worst invests Him with attributes which are the reverse of benevolent,” -and to this philosophical question writer after writer returns. The -consequence is that the light which is thrown upon the whole problem -by the Scriptures and by our Lord Himself is obscured in a maze of -philosophy and words. - -What, then, has revelation to say upon the subject? The first thing, -and the most important, which it has to say is almost ignored in the -discussion. As has been said, the problem propounded by the opening -writer is to reconcile the terrors and horrors of this war with the -idea of an “all-powerful and all-beneficent Creator.” From the point of -view of the Bible, of the Psalms in particular, and of our Lord, that -description of the Creator leaves out His most important attribute. -If we add as the Psalms invariably imply, “an all-righteous Creator,” -an element is introduced into the problem which raises entirely fresh -considerations. If you merely ask the question how the pain and -misery of the war are compatible with perfect beneficence and perfect -omnipotence, the answer is obscure. But if you introduce the question -of the compatibility of the permission of such suffering with perfect -righteousness combined with benevolence, the problem is radically -altered. God is dealing with a creature who is not merely capable of -pain and happiness, but of a righteousness and a truth like His own; -and to bestow upon this creature happiness without righteousness would -be inconsistent with the main object for which he was created, and -such an idea would, in fact, involve a contradiction in terms. Once -recognize that there is no happiness possible for man except in the -harmony of his nature with the Divine righteousness, and it is evident -that the main object of an all-benevolent Creator must be to produce -this righteousness in man, and to repress and extirpate, by whatever -means may be requisite, the evil which is incompatible with his -happiness. - -Now the Scriptures, from the third chapter of Genesis to the last -chapter of Revelation, exhibit God as employing suffering as a remedy -for unrighteousness or sin. It is a punishment, but it is also a cure. -It may be such suffering as is involved in the condemnation of man to -eat his bread by the sweat of his brow, instead of being able to “put -forth his hand” and seize whatever he craved without effort. It may be -the severer remedy of the punishment of death, or the bitter surgery -of war. But what the Scriptures reveal is that all the suffering of -life, slight or severe, is instituted by God, and employed by Him, to -promote and uphold that righteousness in man which can alone qualify -him for that harmony with God, which is the happiness for which he was -intended. The free will, whatever its degree, with which man has been -endowed, must be educated by the suffering which follows its misuse, -as well as by the satisfaction which is conferred by its right use. -Accordingly it appears to be the cardinal fact of man’s constitution -that unrighteousness throws his nature into disorder, and brings a -similar disorder into his whole social condition. Families, societies, -and nations can only realize their true purposes, they can only -exhibit a true order, when the individuals of whom they are composed -are righteous, and are thus qualified for their true functions. Let -the individuals or component parts become disordered, and the whole -society must be disordered, and involved in confusion and perhaps ruin. -I have sometimes imagined the case of a visitor introduced to some -vast machine, working under immense pressure, and being told by his -guide that unfortunately every part of the machine was more or less -imperfect, and some of the parts almost rotten. Would the visitor care -to expose himself long to the risks of the inevitable explosion? But -that is exactly the case of every human society, small or great. All -the individuals of which it is composed are grievously imperfect, and -some of them are positively vicious. Is it any wonder that it develops -antagonistic forces within itself, and that sooner or later it bursts -into a great conflagration--the conflagration of a revolution or a -war? God, in fact, by this constitution of mankind, has provided that -unrighteousness shall punish itself. He does not intervene, as a rule, -to inflict a special punishment. He leaves men to work out their own -punishment, and to realize from it that there was some corruption at -work in their lives. - -If it be asked whether an all-powerful and all-beneficent Being could -not have provided some less distressing method of education, the -first reply may be that of Bishop Butler--that it is foolish for such -creatures as we are to try to devise schemes for the construction of -better worlds than the one we live in. But the Gospel has provided an -answer which removes all temptation to such folly. It reveals the -momentous fact that “God, of His tender mercy, did give His Only Son, -Jesus Christ, to suffer death upon the Cross for our redemption.” -There is no need to enter upon theories of the Atonement in order to -appreciate the bearing of that solemn truth upon this problem. Christ, -Who lived and died for our redemption, found it necessary for that -purpose to submit to the sufferings of the Cross--sufferings at least -as bitter as any that are inflicted in war--and He said He submitted to -them because it was the will of His Father--of the God Whom He called -“His Father and our Father, His God and our God”--that He should do -so. It is one satisfactory feature in this discussion that the moral -authority of Christ is generally recognized; but it is very little -noticed, if at all, that that authority declares, both by repeated -assurances, and by the most touching personal experience, that the -infliction and endurance of death and agony are compatible with the -most perfect relations of love and tenderness between God and the -Sufferer. - -Our Lord has thus given His blessed personal sanction to what, after -all, has been the instinctive belief of human nature, even before He -lived and died. Cicero, for instance, in his _De Officiis_, states it -more than once as a cardinal principle of human life and duty that -it is more contrary to nature to do or allow unjust acts than to -endure any suffering, loss, or even death. But the Cross of Christ -elevates this inspiring and consoling conviction to the height of a -Divine revelation and consolation; and to those who realize it, the -main practical problem of the sufferings of war is solved. All such -suffering is God’s remedy for moral evil, and is allowed because it is -the only means by which man’s nature can be purified and renovated. -From this point of view it becomes quite unnecessary to perplex -ourselves with philosophical questions respecting omnipotence. When God -has once established a constitution, either for nature or for human -nature, He has limited His Own action by the laws of that constitution -so long as it lasts. He can, indeed, interfere with it for good cause; -and He has done so, both in nature and human nature, by miracle. But -to interpose by miracle to avert all distressing consequences of those -laws would be to abolish the constitution altogether, and this He will -not do until the present dispensation is brought to an end. For the -present, God is governing and educating men by means of the laws which -He has established, both physical and moral, and He leaves men to take -the consequences of their moral violations of those laws, no less than -of their physical. - -The example of Christ, in His submission, should be enough to prevent -any man “replying against God” for this constitution of things. The -reflection which should be aroused in our minds by such “terrors and -horrors” as those of this war is, on these principles, that there -must have been something terribly false and vicious in the condition -of the nations of Europe to produce so awful a manifestation of the -consequences of evil. They are the consequences which, under the laws -of human nature established by God, inevitably follow the prevalence -of unrighteousness; and for that reason they are justly described in -Scripture as the manifestation of “the wrath of God” against evil. -On the principles of the Christian Faith, in short, there is one -certainty amidst all our perplexities in this matter. The war and all -its miseries reveal to us the fact that great injustices and moral -evils were prevalent in Europe, and the greatness of the misery may -be taken as a measure of the greatness of the evil. We think we see -these moral and religious evils in the state of our enemies, and -particularly in the state of German life and religion. But we shall -make a fatal mistake if we allow ourselves to think that all the evil -and unrighteousness has been on their side. If we are candid with -ourselves, we shall recognize that a disregard of God and Christ, -a grievous disbelief in the revelation and the guidance they have -given us, and a consequent decay of religion, and looseness of moral -obligations of all kinds, have been making way among us, and have -affected not only our private life, but our standards of public action. -We are discovering more clearly, day by day, that if we are to meet -the terrible dangers by which we are threatened, we must revive, both -in public and in private, the standards of Christian principle which -we formally acknowledge--self-denial, self-control, truth in word and -deed, the fear of God, and the love of Christ; and in proportion as we -succeed in these efforts shall we find that the problems of “religion -and the war” are much simpler, better understood by our fathers, and -more easily grasped by ourselves, than is supposed in the discussion -from which we started. - - - - -PRAYER FOR THE DEAD. - -FROM “THE RECORD,” NOVEMBER 20, 1914 - - -The question of Prayers for the Dead, and particularly of the adoption -of such prayers in the public services of the Church, has for some time -been pressed forward among us, and under the strain of the distressing -bereavements of the present war it is likely to become urgent. An -attempt has more than once been made at St. Paul’s to celebrate what -would have been a formal _Requiem_ for those who have fallen; and -though it has not yet been fully successful, it may very likely be -renewed. In the forms issued by authority, both at the time of the Boer -War and during the present war, supplications on behalf of the dead -have been introduced, which provoked a gentle remonstrance from even -so moderate and tolerant an Evangelical as the Bishop of Durham. Other -forms will no doubt be prepared by authority for use at the national -intercession on the first Sunday of next year; and in many quarters -much anxiety is felt lest the introduction of such supplications -should be further extended. - -This anxiety will not be lessened by the deliberate observations on the -subject which were made by the Primate, in a sermon he preached at All -Hallows, Barking, on All Souls’ Day, which is fully reported in the -_Guardian_ of November 5. He said that “we are not forgetful of the -long and mischievous abuse of the devotion” of praying for the dead “in -the later mediæval days, until,” as Dr. Mason said “it might almost -be said that the main object of religion in the fifteenth century had -been to deliver souls out of the ever-heightening horrors of Purgatory, -and to ensure the living against incurring them.” “We understand,” -said the Archbishop, “why repression of these mischiefs, prevention of -these perils, took in our formularies and our Prayer Books so stern, -so drastic, a character that no explicit Prayers for the departed at -all were admitted into the public language of the Church, and people -were taught to rely, in those public offices, upon that alone which -can be definitely proved by Holy Scripture. I have no word of censure -for those men--Laud and Andrewes, remember, were among them--who thus -handled the difficulties which they had to face. But,” the Archbishop -significantly proceeded, “surely now there is place for a gentler -recognition of the instinctive, the natural, the loyal craving of the -bereaved; and the abuses of the chantry system and the extravagances of -Tetzel need not now, nearly four centuries afterwards, thwart or hinder -the reverent, the absolutely trustful, prayer of a wounded spirit, who -feels it natural and helpful to pray for him whom we shall not greet -on earth again, but who, in his Father’s loving keeping, still lives, -and, as we may surely believe, still grows from strength to strength -in truer purity and in deeper reverence and love. I must not dwell on -that to-day, but in our thought of what our College of Clergy can do, -and has already done, ‘for the perfecting of the Saints, for the work -of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ,’ I do not like -to pass unmentioned a task of wise teaching and of careful guidance, -which at a time of such special opportunity and need may appropriately -be ours.” - -These, I think it must be felt, are very significant words. They -indicate clearly that, in the mind of the Archbishop’s advisers, the -present time of bereavement and distress affords an opportunity for -authorizing the use of Prayers for the Departed, which go beyond “that -alone which can be definitely proved by Holy Scripture.” Now, I hope -that, without any lack of respect, I may say at once that, while there -are, as I believe, many members of the Evangelical School to whom some -modification in the language of our Prayer Book in reference to the -departed would not be unwelcome, we should be unanimous in deprecating -in the strongest manner the introduction of anything beyond “that which -can be definitely proved by Holy Scripture”--meaning, as no doubt the -Archbishop does, that which can be proved to be conformable to Holy -Scripture. Supplications which are not strictly conformable to Holy -Scripture may be “natural”--too natural--“instinctive,” and prompted by -a “loyal craving.” But the very place and function of Holy Scripture -is to direct and control our natural and instinctive cravings; and to -allow such natural and instinctive cravings to carry us beyond the -limits which a strict adherence to Holy Scripture would prescribe, is -to abandon an essential principle of the Church of England, and to -forsake the sure guidance which the revelation of the Gospel affords us. - -This, in fact, is the very source of the superstitions by which the -worship of God has been corrupted in the Church of Rome. There is no -better illustration of this danger than is afforded by those abuses -in connection with the belief in Purgatory, which the Archbishop so -severely denounces. The Roman system of Prayers for the Dead did not -originally rise from the doctrine of Purgatory, though in their extreme -form they were based on that doctrine. But, historically, the doctrine -of Purgatory was developed out of an undue and unscriptural indulgence -of Prayers for the Dead; and in so far as natural instincts are allowed -at the present day to dictate any such unscriptural indulgence, a -tendency will again be encouraged towards a belief in some form of -Purgatory. The Archbishop asks whether we need be afraid of the abuses -of four centuries ago. But it is not a question of the circumstances -of four centuries ago; it is a question of the dangers of human -nature in every century, and not least in a century like the present, -when there prevails in the Church an avowed drift towards the errors -against which, as the Archbishop says, even Laud and Andrewes thought -it necessary to be on their guard. The condition of the departed is -a matter on which nature can tell us nothing. Our whole knowledge -respecting it, all our hopes respecting it, are derived from the -revelations of our Lord and His Apostles in the New Testament; and if -we wish our prayers in relation to the dead to be in accordance with -truth, and to be acceptable to God, we have more reason on this subject -than on any other “to rely in our public offices upon that alone which -can be proved by Holy Scripture.” - -This is so cardinal a principle of our Church that I cannot but feel -confident that it is by an inadvertence, if language is used by -any persons in authority which seems to imply a disregard of it. I -apprehend that what it really means is that our Reformers excluded from -our Prayer Book forms of Prayer for the Dead which were in use in the -primitive Church; and that an appeal is being made to that primitive -example as an authority for their reintroduction. Now, I fully admit -that primitive practice has a _prima-facie_ claim to favourable -consideration; and, as I have urged for years, if that principle were -only acted upon, the Romish practices which are being forced upon our -Church by the ritualistic party would be at once condemned. What, -then, let us ask, were the Prayers for the Dead which were in use in -the primitive Church? The description of them given by Bingham in his -account of the ceremonies at the interment of Christians in the ancient -Church (vol. viii., Oxford edition, p. 151) is in perfect harmony with -that of Field and Ussher, and will not, I think, be questioned. At the -interment, as at the Communion Service, “a solemn commemoration was -made of the dead in general, and prayers offered to God for them--some -Eucharistical, by way of thanksgiving for their deliverance out of -this world’s afflictions, and others by way of intercession that God -would receive their souls to the place of rest and happiness, that -He would pardon their human failures, and not impute to them the sins -of daily incursion, which in the best men are remainders of natural -frailty and corruption; that He would increase their happiness, and -finally bring them to a perfect consummation with all His Saints by -a glorious resurrection.” The spirit and purpose of these prayers -is illuminated by an observation of Archbishop Ussher (_Answer to a -Jesuit_, chapter vii): “In these and other prayers of the like kind we -may descry evident footsteps of the primary intention of the Church in -such supplications for the dead, which was, that the whole man, not -the soul separated only, might receive public remission of sins and a -solemn acquittal in the judgment of that Great Day, and so obtain a -full escape from all the consequences of sin, _the last enemy being -now destroyed, and death swallowed up in victory_, and a perfect -consummation of bliss and happiness. All which are comprised in that -short prayer of St. Paul for Onesiphorus, though made for him while he -was alive: _The Lord grant unto him that he may find mercy of the Lord -in that day_.” - -In other words, all these prayers are for those mercies and blessings -which are revealed and promised in Holy Scripture, and for them -alone. They are not prayers for any alteration in the condition of -the Christian soul during the mysterious period between death and -the Resurrection, respecting which very various opinions have been -held by the Fathers of the Church. They are simply prayers for the -fulfilment, especially at the Day of the Resurrection, of those -promises of justification or acquittal, and of final glory in body -and soul, which are definitely given us in the New Testament. The -objection has been raised that of the fulfilment of these promises we -have certain assurance, and that therefore we need not pray for them. -But, as Ussher and Field abundantly show, this objection is based -upon a serious misconception of the nature of prayer. The ancient -Church, in accordance with the whole spirit of the Scriptures, realized -the privilege of receiving everything from God in the nature of a -gift, and therefore prayed to Him for the very things He had most -surely promised. It is in that gracious childlike spirit that these -supplications for the Christian dead were made in primitive Christian -times; and though that spirit has become, unhappily, somewhat obscured -among us, yet no one can use the petition “Thy Kingdom come” without -being sensible that he is praying for a blessing which is most certain. -For these prayers of the early Church, therefore, there was a full -warrant in Holy Scripture, and there is no occasion to appeal to any -other authority for them. - -Why, then, it will be asked, should they not be used in the Church of -England? The first and chief answer is that, in substance, they are -used. In the Burial Service we pray “that it may please Thee shortly -to accomplish the number of Thine elect and to hasten Thy kingdom that -we, with all those that are departed in the true faith of Thy Holy -Name, may have our perfect consummation and bliss in Thy eternal and -everlasting glory.” That is a prayer in the very spirit described by -Bingham and Ussher as that of the primitive Church. Nor can I interpret -in any less comprehensive sense the prayer in our Communion Service, -“that we and all Thy whole Church may obtain remission of our sins, -and all other benefits of His passion.” Field’s statement (vol. -ii., Cambridge edition, p. 97) is fully justified by these prayers. -“Touching Prayer for the Dead, it is well known that Protestants -do not simply condemn all prayer in this kind; for they pray for -the Resurrection, public acquittal in the Day of Judgment, and the -perfect consummation and bliss of them that rest in the Lord, and the -perfecting of whatsoever is yet wanting in them.” - -If, therefore, in the Revision of the Prayer Book now pending, or -in official forms of intercession now under consideration, it is -contemplated to add anything to the language of the Prayer Book, -what we have to ask is that such additions may be kept within these -scriptural and primitive limits, and may not introduce petitions -which imply suppositions respecting the condition of the soul in -the intermediate state, of which Scripture tells us nothing. Even -the Archbishop’s language might give some encouragement to such -suppositions, when he speaks of praying “for him ... who still lives -and, as we may surely believe, still grows from strength to strength, -in truer purity and in deepened reverence and love.” Whoever believes -that does so without warrant of Scripture, and prayer based on such a -belief has no authority in revelation. The hope of the Christian is -not that his soul will be gradually purified after death, but that, in -the words of the commendatory prayer in the Service of the Visitation -of the Sick, it may, in death itself, be washed in the blood of that -immaculate Lamb, and presented, when it leaves the body, “pure and -without spot” unto God. Prayers, in short, which have any tinge of a -purgatorial view are unauthorized by Scripture, and inconsistent with -a most blessed element of Evangelical hope and faith. Short of this, I -could wish, for my own part, that we might imitate the purer forms of -prayer in the early Church by more specific mention of the departed, -as in what seems to me the beautiful expressions of the earlier Burial -Service. “We commend into Thy hands of mercy, most merciful Father, -the soul of this our brother departed, and his body we commit to the -earth, beseeching Thine infinite goodness to give us grace to live in -Thy fear and love, and to die in Thy favour; that when the judgment -shall come, which Thou hast committed to Thy wellbeloved Son, both this -our brother and we may be found acceptable in Thy sight.” After all, -in presence of the mysteries of death, and of the condition of those -we have lost, what prayer can be more comforting than one which simply -commends to our Father’s gracious hands, through our Saviour’s merits -and grace, the beloved soul after which we yearn? That is a Prayer for -the Dead which may be offered without scruple and without cessation, -and in which we may find, day by day, and in every moment of sorrow and -distress, our refuge and our consolation. - - - - -CHRIST AND THE SOLDIER. - -ADDRESS AT THE CHURCH PARADE, IN THE NAVE OF THE CATHEDRAL, SEPT. 27, -1914. - - “_Let not your heart be troubled; ye believe in God, believe also in - Me._”--St. John xiv. 1. - - -My brethren, when your Commanding Officer did me the honour to ask -me to address you, I thought I would try to bring before you, in the -simplest and briefest form, the special message which is brought by the -Gospel of Christ to men in such a position as that in which you now -stand--a position of great anxiety and solemn responsibility. You will -meet that responsibility, of course, in the manly and cheerful spirit -which has marked soldiers of great races at all times, from the Jews, -Greeks, and Romans to our own days. But the Gospel of Christ has the -characteristic privilege of bringing good news to human nature in all -circumstances. It sheds a new and blessed light on life and all its -duties, on death and all its fears, and I would fain impress on you, in -one sentence of our Saviour, what is the supreme blessing and guidance -which it affords, especially to soldiers. - -That blessing is contained in the few words of my text: _Ye believe in -God; believe also in Me_. They are the first words of our Saviour’s -address to His disciples, at the moment when they were in great trouble -and anxiety, on account of His having told them that He was about to be -violently taken from them. It was no ordinary trouble that they were -about to encounter, but one of the greatest and bitterest that ever -befell human beings. Yet He begins, at once, by bidding them not be -troubled. _Let not your hearts be troubled_, He said. But how were they -to avoid it? He gives them a short and sufficient reason: _Ye believe -in God; believe also in Me_. Remember who they were. They were Jews, -full of the faith of the old Covenant; familiar with the psalms which -we sing every day, believing in God as Abraham did, as David did, as -Isaiah did, and as He Himself had taught them to believe. That was -and is, a grand faith to live in. But our Lord brought an addition to -it, which made it, and makes it, infinitely better. _Ye believe in -God_, He said; _believe also in Me_. He uses the same word of belief -in Himself which He had used of belief in God. “You put your trust in -God,” He seems to say; “You give yourselves up to Him, to obey His -will for life and for death. Do the same for Me. Give yourselves up -also to Me, to obey Me, to trust Me and to love Me.” The privilege of -doing that is the reason He gives them for not letting their heart be -troubled. If they would obey and trust Him with the same faith which -they gave to God, they would have still surer ground for comfort and -strength than if they only believed in the God of their fathers. - -This was a great claim for our Lord Jesus Christ to make. But He went -on to shed His blood on the Cross in attestation of it; and, according -to His promise, He rose again after being put to death, to assure us -that He was the living Son of God He claimed to be; and that is our -sufficient reason for believing it. For that reason we take His word -for it, and trust everything He said. But why does this assurance bring -that special comfort to His disciples, and to ourselves, which He -promises? There are many reasons; but on this occasion I will mention -only the one which He Himself proceeds to state. He goes on to declare -at once what is perhaps the greatest of all the comforts which He -brings. He tells us what is our eternal Home, whither He was Himself -going, and where we are meant to go. He says at once: _In My Father’s -house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go -to prepare a place for you; and if I go and prepare a place for you, -I will come again and receive you unto Myself, that where I am there -ye may be also._ Every one of us must ask himself, sooner or later, -where he is going; what is his eternal Home? More especially must we -ask ourselves this question when we are brought face to face, in any -way, with the great issues of life and death. When nations are marching -in their millions to conflicts which must mean an early death to many -of them, we must crave for an answer, more than ever, to the question, -What is beyond death? What is the life into which we shall pass from -this world? - -Now, in these few words, our Saviour gives us an assurance on this -question which is more than sufficient. We shall go into a world in -which He is ready to meet us, and in which He is preparing mansions -for us. Without the Gospel, there is a complete veil over the future -life. But to the Christian that veil is lifted by the Saviour and His -Apostles in some glorious details, and above all--far above all--in -this: that the Lord Jesus Christ, that living Man of whom you read -in the Gospels, Whose character stands out so clearly there, in all -graciousness, justice, love, and power, is preparing homes for us, and -will be there to receive us unto Himself. David was inspired to sing, -_When I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear -no evil, for Thou art with me; Thy rod and Thy staff comfort me_. It -was a great height of inspired faith to be able to utter that prayer -of trust in the great God of his fathers, surrounded, as he then was, -by clouds and darkness. But what a vastly greater blessing it is to -be able to say it of the Lord Jesus Christ, Whom we are privileged -to know, not only as God, but as Man in flesh and blood, and to be -assured that in death, as in life, we have with us all the sympathy, -all the tenderness, as well as all the righteousness and justice, which -He showed during His life on earth. Had He not reason to say: _Let not -your hearts be troubled; believe in Me_? - -But if it is to be a comfort to us to know that we shall be received by -the Lord Jesus Christ when we pass from this world, and that, whether -we pass suddenly or slowly, we shall find ourselves in His hands, we -cannot fail to realize that one condition on our own part is essential. -We must come to Him with a character, and in a condition, which He -can approve. He will meet us in two capacities; first, as our Saviour -and friend, but also as our Judge. Without waiting for that ultimate -judgment which He has announced, the thought of our closer approach to -Him at death must make us deeply apprehensive of His personal judgment -on our character and our lives. If we desire to meet Him in happiness, -we must be preparing ourselves, while we are here, so as to be at least -in general harmony with His will and His character. In consequence of -those inveterate sins of mankind, which bring about wars and all other -such miseries, He Himself, with His own deliberate consent, was brought -to death, and sacrificed His life as an atonement for our evil; and -by that sacrifice He has won from God the Father, His Father and our -Father, the right to forgive us and to judge us mercifully. We may be -sure accordingly that He will receive us into the arms of His mercy, -and pardon our innumerable failures and offences, if we truly repent of -them. But if we are to be at peace with Him hereafter, in His mansions, -He must needs expect us, while we are here, to be trying to grow like -Him, and to be doing His will. This accordingly is the second main -point which follows from this assurance of our Lord. It places us under -the strongest possible obligation to live here as Christ would have us, -in order that we may look forward with full hope to living with Him -hereafter. - -Consequently, this promise of Christ obliges us to Christen, as it -were, or to Christianize, the work of our lives, and every duty or -profession in which we are engaged. This is a principle which has -innumerable applications; and I will only apply it this morning to one -aspect of the profession of a soldier. Men had great ideals before -Christ came. Few things are nobler, in the profession of arms, than -the examples of self-sacrifice, of bravery, of generosity, exhibited -by the ancient Jews, Greeks, and Romans, and, in our own days, by the -Japanese. But the history of the Christian world has shown that it -is possible to raise those ideals, if not to a higher, yet to a more -gracious, height by adding a Christian touch or colour to them. The -knighthood of the Middle Ages, for instance, exhibited the highest -qualities of a manly soldiery, elevated, purified, and illuminated -by the supreme graces of gentleness, of mercy, of tenderness for the -weak, of that impulse to save the suffering and the crushed, which is -embodied in our Lord’s character as “the Saviour.” The knight of the -Middle Ages was essentially the saviour of the weak, the champion of -women, bound by oath to uphold all right and righteousness, to avenge -wrong, to maintain, in the midst of his stern duties, the mercies and -graces of Christian feeling. One of them, as he stood at the bier of -the most famous knight of his day, is described in the old romance as -exclaiming: _And now, I daresay, that Sir Lancelot, there thou liest: -thou wert never matched of none earthly knight’s hands; and thou wert -the courtliest knight that ever bare shield; and thou wert the truest -friend to thy lover that ever bestrode horse; and thou wert the truest -lover of a sinful man that ever loved woman; and thou wert the kindest -man that ever stroke with sword; and thou wert the goodliest person -that ever came among press of knights; and thou wert the meekest man -and the gentlest that ever ate in hall among ladies; and thou wert the -sternest knight to thy mortal foe that ever put spear in the rest_. -Can we fail to be sensible that, even in such an imperfect example, -something of the grace of Christian tenderness has been shed over the -character--an essence of Christian feeling, which would make impossible -in such a soldier any brutal violence or wilful injustice? It was, in -fact, the conscious example of Christ which controlled them. They all, -more or less, resembled the knight of our own noble poet Spenser: - - For on his breast a bloody cross he bore, - The dear remembrance of his dying Lord: - For Whose sweet sake that glorious badge he wore, - And dead, as living ever, Him adored; - Upon his shield the like was also scored, - For sovran hope which in his help he had. - -That is the true badge not only of Christian service to the wounded, -but of Christian warfare itself. - -Such, my brethren, is the spirit in which you can apply to your present -duties the exhortation of our Saviour in this gracious and cardinal -text. It bids you to add the belief in the presence of Christ, the -obligation of obedience to Christ, trust in Christ and love towards -Him, to all the other principles by which you are animated. The fact -that you are here, that you are making great sacrifices, that you are -ready to make the greatest sacrifice of all, for your country, is proof -enough that you are animated by high and generous motives, that you -wish to live and die for the greatest of all causes, for righteousness -and justice, for your King and your country. But if you would do the -best you can, do one thing more. Take care to add the spirit of Christ -to these motives and impulses; strive to enter more deeply, day by -day, into His heart and will, to realize more and more, even in the -midst of war, that “new commandment” which He gave us, _that we should -love one another_; and so prepare yourselves to meet Him whenever you -have to do so, as we all have, soon or late, in such a character that -He may be able to say to you: _Well done, good and faithful servant, -enter thou into the joy of thy Lord_. In a word: You believe in God, -and in all that the Name of God stands for--righteousness, truth, -goodness of all kinds: believe also in Christ, and let His love, His -mercy, His purity, His absolute self-sacrifice, add His own peculiar -grace to all your words and deeds, and then you may cherish the -confident hope that _where He is there you will be also_. - - - - -THE ETERNAL LIFE OF THE SOUL. - -PREACHED IN THE NAVE OF CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL, AT THE MILITARY CHURCH -PARADE, OCTOBER 15, 1916. - - “_O God, Thou art my God; early will I seek Thee._”--Psalm lxiii. 1. - - -These words ought to be in the heart and the mouth of every soul in -this congregation. They are the first words of a Psalm, which has been -used as a morning Psalm by many generations of Christians, and it is -the privilege of all of us to echo them. But let us consider carefully -what they mean. Who is the God to Whom they speak? We are in the House -of God, to worship God; and we open our worship, every Sunday, with -a Psalm which tells us who He is. “The Lord,” it says, “is a great -God, a great King above all Gods. In His hand are all the corners of -the earth, and the strength of the hills is His also. The sea is His, -and He made it: and His hands prepared the dry land. O come, let us -worship and fall down, and kneel before the Lord our Maker.” That is -the God to whom the Christian speaks. He is the God Who made heaven and -earth, and whose will and power upholds them from hour to hour. He is -our maker, “and we are the people of His pasture, and the sheep of His -hand.” In other words, “All things were made by Him, and without Him -was not anything made that was made.” - -The word “God” is too often used lightly in common conversation among -us, but without due remembrance that it is the Name of the Most awful -and supreme reality that can be thought of. We do not use lightly the -name of our King, but God is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Our -lives and our souls are in the hollow of His hand every moment; and if -we considered only His supreme Majesty and our weak and passing frames, -we are perfectly insignificant beings before Him. But it is to this -Being that the Psalmist addresses the words “O God, Thou art my God; -early will I seek Thee.” We may all say that, as well as the Psalmist. -It is our privilege to speak to the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords, -as our own; we may call Him our God, our own God, we may tell Him that -we seek Him, that we seek Him above all things, and we may say, as the -Psalmist goes on to say, “My soul thirsteth for Thee, my flesh also -longeth after Thee: in a barren and dry land where no water is. Thus -have I looked for Thee in the sanctuary (in a Cathedral like this) that -I might behold Thy power and glory.” How is it that humble and feeble -creatures like ourselves can thus call the God of heaven and earth our -own, and speak to Him, and tell Him, in this earnest language, that we -cannot do without Him? Where, above all, can we find Him and approach -Him? - -The Psalmist used these words, and we may use them too, because this -God is the nearest of all things in the world to us, and because we are -in daily contact with Him in our hearts and souls. It is true He is so -great and infinite, that He has made the world, and all its marvels -and glories; but we are more concerned to realize that He has made -our own selves, and our minds and hearts and consciences, and when we -look into those hearts, and listen to those consciences, we are only -experiencing, in ourselves, the work of His hands, and listening to His -voice. Above all other things, God made right and wrong, He made us to -realize the difference between right and wrong; He made the truth, and -enabled us to love it, and to hate what is false; in a word, He made -our consciences and our minds; and He lives and works in them, as much -as He does in the world at large. It is very well for us to look up -to the heavens, to think of Him as the Creator of all those stars and -worlds, or to look into the infinite mysteries of this world’s life, -its minute elements and atoms; but it is more important for us to think -of Him as the Giver, and Ruler, and Guide of our very souls and bodies, -Who determined what we were made for, and what we ought to do, what -sort of a life we ought to live, putting into our hearts the knowledge -of our duty, warning us of it by the constant voice of our consciences, -and bidding us realize that He will judge us, for our obedience or -disobedience to His will and His commands. Think of God, by all means, -in His greatness and His Majesty, and His awful powers, but then think -of Him as actually in contact with you in your own souls, teaching you -and speaking to you in your consciences, and calling to you, by your -sense of right and wrong, to remember that He is your judge, and that -your very life and happiness depend upon your union with Him. That is -the thought of God that should be incessantly in our minds. As the -Scripture says more than once, you need not go to the heavens to seek -Him there, you need not go into the depths of the earth to seek Him -there, but He is near you, nearer to you than anything else, in your -very souls and consciences; you hear His voice there, you feel the -influence of His Spirit; there you can always find Him, you can turn to -Him at any moment and say “O God, Thou art my God; early will I seek -Thee.” - -There is no reality in the world which can be compared, in its -momentous importance, to this. It must be brought home to us, by the -experience which is thrust upon us by the Great War, that everything -else with which we have to do, everything else in the world, passes -away from us. So it does indeed from everybody, at all times, whether -times of war or of peace. There comes a time to every soul when it -has to leave the body, and, with the body, everything else with which -it has been associated in this world. We all know it when we think -seriously about it; but the misfortune is that, in ordinary life, men -do not think seriously about it. All their thoughts and interests -are engaged in the business and the pleasures and the interests of -this life, and they seldom look beyond. But in days like the present -we are forced to look beyond them. You, above all, who, at the call -of duty, have laid behind you, for the present, all the ordinary -interests of life, and are offering yourselves to all the risks of the -battlefield--you have reason to ask, with supreme earnestness, what -is the reality for which you are making this sacrifice, and what will -remain to you if the full sacrifice should be exacted from you. - -It is the grand answer of our religion, to say that, whatever happens, -God remains to you. This God, moreover, is not a distant God, not -merely the Maker of the heavens and the earth, but your God, the God -of your inmost soul, the God of your conscience, the God whose eye -sees into your hearts, and Whose hand has been with you from your -childhood, to help you, to guide you, and to inspire you with all the -thoughts of truth, of manliness, of faithfulness, of purity, which you -have felt working in you. Whenever the outward clothing of our souls -drops off from us, whether in the death of old age, or the death of -sickness, or the death of the battlefield, our souls will certainly -be in the immediate presence of One Supreme Reality; and that is the -God with Whom, in our conscience, our souls have been in contact day -by day, and night by night, throughout our lives. That is why we come -to worship Him here, that is why we pray to Him day by day, and I hope -hour by hour, and minute by minute. That is why we should say to Him -like the Psalmist “O God, Thou art my God; early will I seek Thee.” -Nothing else is of permanent and everlasting consequence to us, but our -relation to Him, and our union with Him--His relation to us, and His -love of us. While everything is shaking around us, while the kingdoms -are moved, and lives seem thrown away as things of small value, let -us remember that one great Living Being remains to all of us, to those -whose lives are lost on earth, and to those who remain, and that is -the Eternal God, the Giver of all truth, and righteousness and love; -and the greater the strain and stress of life and death, the more may -we confidently exclaim, in the tumult of the battlefield as much as in -the peace of this sanctuary, “O God, Thou art my God; early will I seek -Thee.” - -But when and where are you to seek Him? The question has been answered -in the truths of which I have reminded you. Seek Him in obedience to -that Voice of His, which you hear in your consciences, seek Him in -obedience to those principles of right, as against wrong, which He has -implanted in you, and which His Spirit is continually reviving in you; -seek Him in trying, day by day, to do His Will as He has revealed it to -you in His word, especially as He has revealed it to you in the life -and teaching of His Own Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. Seek Him in those -sacraments and ordinances of His Church which he has instituted for -our comfort. If you obey our Lord Jesus Christ, and try to follow His -life, His Spirit will speak to you continually in your consciences, -will help you to know your duty and to do it, and you will be saying -in practice what you say in words: “O God, Thou art my God; early will -I seek Thee.” Our Lord has told you that if you are true hearted in -trying to do this, He will forgive you your failures and weaknesses, -that He has died to make atonement for them, that He will take you -by the hand as you pass from this life to the next, and will be your -advocate and sponsor before the face of the righteous and Almighty God. -Let us bring this spirit into all we do and all we think, and we shall -then be able to join in the succeeding words of this Psalm, “Have I not -remembered Thee in my bed: and thought upon Thee when I was waking? -Because Thou hast been my helper: therefore under the shadow of Thy -wings will I rejoice. My soul hangeth upon Thee: Thy right hand hath -upholden me.” May God grant us all this faith and this eternal life -through Jesus Christ our Lord. - - -Hunt, Barnard & Co., Ltd., Printers, London and Aylesbury. - - - - -WORKS BY HENRY WACE, D.D., - -Dean of Canterbury. - - -SOME QUESTIONS OF THE DAY. - - BIBLICAL, NATIONAL AND ECCLESIASTICAL. First Series, cheaper re-issue. - Demy 8vo., Cloth, Gilt, =2/-= net. - - -SOME QUESTIONS OF THE DAY. - - NATIONAL, ECCLESIASTICAL AND RELIGIOUS. Second Series. Demy 8vo., - Cloth, Gilt, =3/6= net. - - -PROPHECY, JEWISH AND CHRISTIAN. - - Considered in a Series of Warburton Lectures at Lincoln’s Inn. Cheaper - re-issue. Crown 8vo., Cloth, Gilt, =1/6= net. - - * * * * * - - -PAMPHLETS. One Penny each. - - =The Atonement.= - - =The Estimate and Use of the Holy Scripture in the Church of England.= - - =The Church of England and Roman Vestments.= - - =The Main Purpose and Character of the XXXIX Articles.= - - -London: CHAS. J. THYNNE. - - - - - * * * * * - -Transcriber’s Note - -Minor punctuation errors have been corrected (i.e. missing periods). -Original spellings and variations (i.e. civilization and civilisation) -have been retained, except for the following apparent typographical -errors: - -Page 35, “temporaly” changed to “temporal.” (for the things which are -seen are temporal) - -Page 89, “eleswhere” changed to “elsewhere.” (a picture not adequately -described elsewhere) - -Page 94, “idolators” changed to “idolaters.” (whoremongers, and -murderers, and idolaters) - -Page 106, “thoughout” changed to “throughout.” (gracious throughout -their vast Empire) - -Page 223, “repecting” changed to “respecting.” (respecting which very -various opinions have) - -Chapter VIII’s sermon, Resistance Unto Blood, was incorrectly labeled -as having taken place April 3, 1916. It has been corrected to read -April 21, 1916. (The correct date was listed in the Table of Contents.) - -The following inconsistencies were present in the original text: - -Differences in the titles given in the Table of Contents and chapter -headings for these sermons: - - Chapter IX - Chapter XI - -Differences in the dates given in the Table of Contents and chapter -headings for these sermons: - - Chapter XIII, Reasons for Intercession - Chapter XVI, Religion and War - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The War and the Gospel, by Henry Wace - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE WAR AND THE GOSPEL *** - -***** This file should be named 55160-0.txt or 55160-0.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/5/5/1/6/55160/ - -Produced by Cindy Horton, Larry B. 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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. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - -Title: The War and the Gospel - Sermons & Addresses During the Present War - -Author: Henry Wace - -Release Date: July 20, 2017 [EBook #55160] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ASCII - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE WAR AND THE GOSPEL *** - - - - -Produced by Cindy Horton, Larry B. Harrison, Bryan Ness, -and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at -http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images -generously made available by The Internet Archive/Canadian -Libraries) - - - - - - -</pre> - - -<p> - <span class="pagenum"> - <a name="Page_i" id="Page_i">[i]</a> - </span><br /> - <span class="pagenum"> - <a name="Page_ii" id="Page_ii">[ii]</a> - </span><br /> - <span class="pagenum"> - <a name="Page_iii" id="Page_iii">[iii]</a> - </span> -</p> - -<div id="half-title"> -<p>THE WAR AND THE GOSPEL</p> -</div> - -<div id="titlepage"> - -<h1>THE WAR<br /> -<span class="f50">AND</span><br /> -THE GOSPEL</h1> - -<p class="ph3">SERMONS AND ADDRESSES DURING<br /> -THE PRESENT WAR</p> - -<p><span class="f80">By</span><br /> -<span class="ph4">HENRY WACE, D.D.,</span><br /> -<span class="f80">Dean of Canterbury,<br /> -Hon. Fellow of Brasenose College, Oxford;<br /> -Fellow of King’s College, London.</span></p> - -<p style="margin-top: 6em">London:<br /> -CHAS. J. THYNNE,<br /> -28, Whitefriars Street, E.C.</p> - -<p class="f80">1917.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="chapter"></div> - -<p> - <span class="pagenum"> - <a name="Page_iv" id="Page_iv">[iv]</a> - </span><br /> - <span class="pagenum"> - <a name="Page_v" id="Page_v">[v]</a> - </span> -</p> - -<h2>PREFACE.</h2> - -<p class="noindent">As is usual in Cathedrals, it is the duty of the -Dean of Canterbury to preach on the chief Festivals of the Christian -year; and most of the following Addresses have been delivered in the -discharge of this office. My comfort in the performance of this duty, -especially to an audience of soldiers, in these solemn days, has been -the sense that I was commissioned to deliver the message of a Gospel -which has “brought Life and Immortality to light,” and -which proclaims the good news of the presence of a Saviour in all the -circumstances Of life or death. I have simply endeavoured, therefore, -to bring some of the light of this Gospel to bear on the distressing -and perplexing experiences which this War has forced upon us all, -and especially upon those who have borne its chief sacrifices. I am -sure that, if only believed and realized, the message of this<span -class="pagenum"><a name="Page_vi" id="Page_vi">[vi]</a></span> Gospel -is sufficient to support and to strengthen us under all such trials -and strains; and I hope I am not presumptuous in offering these -slight contributions towards that purpose to a wider audience than my -Cathedral congregations.</p> - -<p class="right" style="margin-right: 2em"> -<span class="smcap">H. Wace.</span></p> - -<p><span class="smcap">Canterbury</span>, January 1917.</p> - -<div class="chapter"></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_vii" id="Page_vii">[vii]</a></span></p> - -<h2>CONTENTS</h2> - -<div class="center"> -<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="Contents"> - -<tr> - <td class="tdr" colspan="2"></td> - <td class="tdr f80">PAGE</td> -</tr> - -<tr> - <td class="tdr top">I.</td> - <td class="tdl hangtbl top"> - <span class="smcap">The Christmas Message</span> (preached in<br /> - Canterbury Cathedral, Christmas Day, - <br />1914)</td> - <td class="tdr bottom"><a href="#Page_1">1</a></td> -</tr> - -<tr> - <td class="tdr top">II.</td> - <td class="tdl hangtbl bottom"> - <span class="smcap">Christmas and the War</span> (preached in<br /> - Canterbury Cathedral, Christmas Day,<br /> - 1915)</td> - <td class="tdr bottom"><a href="#Page_16">16</a></td> -</tr> - -<tr> - <td class="tdr top">III.</td> - <td class="tdl hangtbl bottom"> - <span class="smcap">The Things Seen and the Things<br /> - not Seen</span> (preached in Canterbury<br /> - Cathedral, Easter Day, 1915)</td> - <td class="tdr bottom"><a href="#Page_28">28</a></td> -</tr> - -<tr> - <td class="tdr top">IV.</td> - <td class="tdl hangtbl bottom"> - <span class="smcap">The Easter Message</span> (preached in<br /> - Canterbury Cathedral, Easter Day, 1916)</td> - <td class="tdr bottom"><a href="#Page_40">40</a></td> -</tr> - -<tr> - <td class="tdr top">V.</td> - <td class="tdl hangtbl bottom"> - <span class="smcap">The Need and the Means of Right<br /> - Judgment</span> (preached in Canterbury<br /> - Cathedral, Whit Sunday, 1915)</td> - <td class="tdr bottom"><a href="#Page_53">53</a></td> -</tr> - -<tr> - <td class="tdr top">VI.</td> - <td class="tdl hangtbl bottom"> - <span class="smcap">The Advent Message and the War</span><br /> - (preached in Canterbury Cathedral,<br /> - Advent Sunday, 1914)</td> - <td class="tdr bottom"><a href="#Page_67">67</a></td> -</tr> - -<tr> - <td class="tdr top">VII.</td> - <td class="tdl hangtbl bottom"> - <span class="smcap">Divine Judgment and Renovation</span><br /> - (preached in Canterbury Cathedral,<br /> - October 11th, 1914)</td> - <td class="tdr bottom"><a href="#Page_82">82</a></td> -</tr> - -<tr> - <td class="tdr top"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_viii" id="Page_viii">[viii]</a></span>VIII.</td> - <td class="tdl hangtbl bottom"> - <span class="smcap">Resistance unto Blood</span> (preached in<br /> - Canterbury Cathedral, Good Friday,<br /> - April 21st, 1916)</td> - <td class="tdr bottom"><a href="#Page_97">97</a></td> -</tr> - -<tr> - <td class="tdr top">IX.</td> - <td class="tdl hangtbl bottom"> - <span class="smcap">Intercession for Kings and Rulers</span><br /> - (preached in Canterbury Cathedral the<br /> - Day of the King’s Accession, May 6th,<br /> - 1915)</td> - <td class="tdr bottom"><a href="#Page_105">105</a></td> -</tr> - -<tr> - <td class="tdr top">X.</td> - <td class="tdl hangtbl bottom"> - <span class="smcap">The Christian Sanction of War</span> (Address<br /> - at the Service of Intercession in<br /> - Canterbury Cathedral, August 9th, 1914)</td> - <td class="tdr bottom"><a href="#Page_117">117</a></td> -</tr> - -<tr> - <td class="tdr top">XI.</td> - <td class="tdl hangtbl bottom"> - <span class="smcap">The Warning of the Tower of Siloam</span><br /> - (preached in Canterbury Cathedral,<br /> - October 25th, 1914)</td> - <td class="tdr bottom"><a href="#Page_129">129</a></td> -</tr> - -<tr> - <td class="tdr top">XII.</td> - <td class="tdl hangtbl bottom"> - <span class="smcap">The Righteous Ideal</span> (preached in<br /> - Canterbury Cathedral, January 15th, 1915)</td> - <td class="tdr bottom"><a href="#Page_143">143</a></td> -</tr> - -<tr> - <td class="tdr top">XIII.</td> - <td class="tdl hangtbl bottom"> - <span class="smcap">Reasons for Intercession</span> (preached in<br /> - Canterbury Cathedral, June 17th, 1916)</td> - <td class="tdr bottom"><a href="#Page_158">158</a></td> -</tr> - -<tr> - <td class="tdr top">XIV.</td> - <td class="tdl hangtbl bottom"> - <span class="smcap">The Eternal Source of Goodness</span><br /> - (preached at Holy Trinity Church,<br /> - Margate, November 7th, 1915)</td> - <td class="tdr bottom"><a href="#Page_173">173</a></td> -</tr> - -<tr> - <td class="tdr top">XV.</td> - <td class="tdl hangtbl bottom"> - <span class="smcap">The National Ideal</span> (preached in<br /> - Canterbury Cathedral, January 3rd, 1915)</td> - <td class="tdr bottom"><a href="#Page_188">188</a></td> -</tr> - -<tr> - <td class="tdr top">XVI.</td> - <td class="tdl hangtbl bottom"> - <span class="smcap">Religion and War</span> (from <cite>The Record</cite>,<br /> - Thursday, September 3rd, 1916)</td> - <td class="tdr bottom"><a href="#Page_203">203</a></td> -</tr> - -<tr> - <td class="tdr top">XVII.</td> - <td class="tdl hangtbl bottom"> - <span class="smcap">Prayer for the Dead</span> (from <cite>The Record</cite>,<br /> - Friday, November 20th, 1914)</td> - <td class="tdr bottom"><a href="#Page_215">215</a></td> -</tr> - -<tr> - <td class="tdr top">XVIII.</td> - <td class="tdl hangtbl bottom"> - <span class="smcap">Christ and the Soldier</span> (preached in<br /> - Canterbury Cathedral at the Military<br /> - Church Parade, September 27th, 1914)</td> - <td class="tdr bottom"><a href="#Page_228">228</a></td> -</tr> - -<tr> - <td class="tdr top">XIX.</td> - <td class="tdl hangtbl bottom"> - <span class="smcap">The Eternal Life of the Soul</span> (preached<br /> - in the Nave of Canterbury Cathedral<br /> - at the Military Church Parade, October<br /> - 15th, 1916)</td> - <td class="tdr bottom"><a href="#Page_239">239</a></td> -</tr> -</table></div> - -<div class="chapter"></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[1]</a></span></p> - -<h2><span class="smcap">The Christmas Message.</span></h2> - -<p class="center noindent">A SERMON PREACHED ON CHRISTMAS DAY A.D. 1914.</p> - -<div class="sc-ref"> - -<p>“<i>And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude -of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory -to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will -toward men.</i>”—St. Luke ii. 13, 14.</p> - -</div> - -<p>If Christmas this sad year is to be a real comfort and help to -us, we must realize very clearly what it is that was the cause of -the joy of the Angels, and has been always the source of the true -joy of Christmas, during the nineteen hundred years or more since -that first outburst of heavenly praise and song. The reason had been -announced by one Angel to the shepherds abiding in the fields in the -words, “Fear not; for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great -joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in -the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.” The -Jewish people were looking and longing for the Christ Who would come, -as is expressed in Zacharias’ song,<span class="pagenum"><a -name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[2]</a></span> to deliver them from the hand -of their enemies, and to grant unto them that they “might serve -Him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before Him all the days -of their life.” This was the promise which, as Zacharias said, -had been given by the mouth of God’s prophets since the world -began, for which they had craved through long suffering, and captivity, -and disappointment; and it is this promise which the angel declared -was now fulfilled. A Saviour had been born to them, One Who was able -to realize for them the great hopes of blessing which the prophets had -held out. He would be able, in the words of another angel, “to -save them from their sins,” and by saving them from their sins to -save them from the sufferings and sorrows which those sins had entailed -upon them. By the birth of our Lord that had become an accomplished -fact. There existed from that moment One Who stood between heaven and -earth, between God and man, and united both—the Son of God and -the Son of Man, with power “to save to the uttermost all who come -unto God by Him,” and able, first by<span class="pagenum"><a -name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[3]</a></span> His sacrifice for our sins, -and then by His exercise of the royal authority and power which are -entrusted to Him, to put down all enemies under His feet, and to -deliver up the Kingdom to God the Father, “that God may be all in -all.”</p> - -<p>That is the grand consummation which, to the vision of the Angels, -was comprehended in this simple saying, “Unto you is born this -day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.” -Let us clearly observe that it is not merely the future hope, but the -present fact, which causes the Angels’ rejoicing. The Saviour -is born, the King is revealed, the work of redemption is actually -commenced. “Glory to God,” they exclaimed, “in the -highest, and on earth peace; goodwill toward men.” The goodwill -of God toward men is now embodied in the Babe Who is Christ the -Lord; or, as it is translated in the Revised Version (in different -words, but with the same meaning), God’s goodwill is manifested -“to men in whom He is well pleased.” It is much more than -a general declaration of peace and goodwill. It is a grand revelation, -a revelation which opened the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_4" -id="Page_4">[4]</a></span> heavens and evoked from a host of Angels, -such as had never before nor has since been seen, a burst of glory to -God for the blessing that from that moment there was a living Saviour -in human form in the world.</p> - -<p>Now I wish to urge this fact upon you this morning in all its -glorious reality, because it is in that fact alone that we can find -comfort and help amidst the dark distress of such a Christmas as -this, and because it affords us the one supreme guidance in our deep -perplexity. The feeling is in all our hearts, and the phrase on -many lips, “What a contrast is exhibited by this tremendous -and cruel war to the words of hope and peace in the angels’ -song,” and the old complaint is uttered, Where is the promise -of His coming—the coming of the Prince of Peace? But we have -only to consider the immediate sequel of the first Christmas Day, to -realize that the assurance given by the angels, and their joy, involved -no such facile creation of a time of peace and righteousness as the -eager hopes of men imagine. The first result of the Saviour’s -coming to His people, and claiming their trust and allegiance, was -that they rejected Him and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_5" -id="Page_5">[5]</a></span> crucified Him. He rose from the dead and -sent His Apostles to proclaim His resurrection and His full assumption -of His power as a King and Saviour, but they continued to reject -Him; and the result was that, instead of entering on that Kingdom of -righteousness and peace and glory of which their prophets had spoken, -their nation was crushed in scenes of “blood and fire and vapour -of smoke,” and all the bright hopes of Zacharias were apparently -extinguished. So the world went on, Christmas after Christmas, and -century after century, through successive scenes of war and destruction -and desolation, of which the spectacles of which we read day by day -afford us a horribly vivid example. If the angels’ song had -meant simply to promise peace on earth, it was contradicted by the -experience, not merely of bitter times like the present, but by every -year and every century which followed.</p> - -<p>But where, then, is the fulfilment of the promise? You have -the record and the evidence of it in your New Testament. There, -in the history of the Apostles and disciples of our Lord, and -in their Epistles,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_6" -id="Page_6">[6]</a></span> you behold a body of men whose souls are -filled with peace, and with the sense of the goodwill of God, and -who are living the life described and enjoined by our Lord in the -Gospels—the life of the Sermon on the Mount, and of His parting -discourses to His disciples recorded by St. John. They are living -in the midst of that world of passion and violence and tyrannical -domination of which I have spoken, and yet they speak to us in tones of -the most profound peace, and joy, and hope, and even exultation. The -reason is that, through faith in our Lord, in His sacrifice, and in the -promise of His spirit, they have found peace with God—the peace -of which the angels spoke; they live in the blessed assurance of His -goodwill, and they look forward with infinite rejoicing to His return, -to establish, as He promised, a new heaven and a new earth, wherein -dwelleth righteousness.</p> - -<p>That spiritual Kingdom of righteousness and peace and joy in the -Holy Ghost has subsisted continuously from that time to this. It is -here in the midst of us. There are souls whom we are privileged to -know, who are visibly living in that kingdom<span class="pagenum"><a -name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[7]</a></span> of Divine peace and goodwill, -and who, when they leave us here, pass, as we and they are assured, -into fuller realization of that kingdom, looking forward to its -complete establishment and revelation at the Day of the general -Resurrection. That is the kingdom Of the Lord’s elect, of the -Saviour’s followers, of the saints—perfect or imperfect, -but still saints, of all ages, the Church of Christ and the Kingdom of -God. It is a kingdom within which every Christian soul is admitted by -baptism to his place and his privilege, and it rests only with him to -claim its blessings by his faith and his life. In a word: the Acts of -the Apostles and the Epistles are the record of the fulfilment of the -angels’ promise of peace and love and Divine goodwill, for all -who would submit to the King and Saviour whose advent they proclaimed, -and who would receive His blessings in the way in which He offered -them. To all whom would “repent and believe and be baptised in -the Name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins,” the promises -of the angelic song were fulfilled, and they have been fulfilled -similarly to this hour.</p> - -<p>But has the promise, then, no bearing<span class="pagenum"><a -name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[8]</a></span> on the ordinary secular life -of mankind? Are the instincts of men wrong in looking eagerly to it, -as they have done from generation to generation, for the prophetic -assurance of peace between men, as well as of peace between men and -God—of goodwill from man to man, as well as from God to man and -man to God. Most certainly they have not been wrong in that eager -hope and expectation; but where they have been wrong, and still are -wrong, is in their conception of the methods and means by which that -secular peace and those purely human blessings and happiness are to be -realized. If Christ is, as the angels said, the Saviour, the Saviour -of the world; if He is the King Who alone can save His people from -their sins; and if war and all the miseries of the world are, in one -form or another, the consequences of those sins, then the only way -of obtaining salvation from those sins, and deliverance from those -miseries which are God’s judgments upon them, is by submitting -ourselves entirely to Him, repenting of our failure in obedience to -Him, living only by His laws, and seeking His grace and His Spirit for -our guidance and inspiration.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_9" -id="Page_9">[9]</a></span> Have we done that? Has Europe at large been -doing it these last fifty years?</p> - -<p>People ask how such a war as this can be possible after nineteen -centuries of Christianity. What do you mean by Christianity? If you -only mean that, during the greater part of those centuries, there has -been a general and nominal acknowledgment of the authority of Christ -and of His laws, such a description of the condition of the world -during that time may be allowed. But if you mean a real submission -of the mass of men and women, in heart and life, to the will, the -love, and the Spirit of Christ, then we have not really had nineteen -centuries of Christianity, and the state of the modern world, out -of which this war has arisen, has not been a Christian state. It is -notorious for instance, and not impugned anywhere, that the spirit of -Germany, which has provoked this war, has not only not been a Christian -spirit, but has been violently anti-Christian. The Divine authority -of Christ as the King and Saviour of the world has been openly and -vehemently impugned for at least a generation or two, especially in -the public and authoritative teaching in the Universities,<span -class="pagenum"><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[10]</a></span> which -have such immense influence in German life. Christ to them has not -been the King of kings and Lord of Lords, the very incarnation of -God, “the brightness of His glory and the express image of His -person.”</p> - -<p>If we are honest, we must also acknowledge that in far too great a -degree the same failure has prevailed among ourselves. It has, to say -the least of it, not been sufficiently recognized in our literature of -late years, or in our public life, that “all form is formless, -order orderless,” which is not entirely subject to Christ and -informed by His Spirit. The very vice with which we now charge the -Germans has been more than a temptation among ourselves. We have had -great writers among us exalting statesmen and kings of the past on -the ground of their mere strength. It was a great English writer of -the last century who glorified Frederick the Great of Prussia as an -example of a really strong king; and it is not a long step from that -glorification to the worship which has been paid on the Continent of -late to the supremacy of strength and self-assertion. That is not -the Christian spirit, and the “red<span class="pagenum"><a -name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[11]</a></span> ruin and the breaking up of -laws,” into which Europe is now plunged, is to be charged, not to -any weakness in Christianity, but to a grievous neglect, and in some -degree to the very negation, of Christianity.</p> - -<p>The peace and goodwill which the message of the angels promised is, -in fact, within the scope of Christianity, and might be realized in the -world at large, but solely on the condition of the true methods being -observed—on condition, that is, of Christ, and the law of Christ, -being acknowledged from the heart as the true and only source of peace -and truth and goodwill, and on the condition of penitent, humble, and -earnest devotion to Him. That is the one supreme condition on which -peace to the world is promised by the Gospel. When emperors, and kings, -and statesmen, and soldiers, and men and women in general believe the -angels’ proclamation that Christ is their only Saviour, their -only King, that He alone, by His sacrifice, His laws, and His grace can -save His people from their sins, then, but then only, may they hope in -the life of the State, as well as in that of the Church, to realize the -angels’ promise of peace and goodwill.<span class="pagenum"><a -name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[12]</a></span> In a word: it is not by -strength, nor by liberty, nor even by law, that the blessings of -which Christmas holds out the promise can be realized. It is only by -Christian liberty, Christian law, and Christian strength—that -is to say, liberty and law, and strength exerted in obedience to the -will of Christ—that these blessings can be obtained. It is not -Christianity that has failed; it is not the angelic song that has -disappointed us. It is nominal Christians who have failed, from not -being Christians in reality. And the angelic song has proved its truth -by the very disasters which have fallen upon men who have not lived as -though Christ were their Saviour and their King.</p> - -<p>But, thank God, if these considerations point to our weakness, they -also point to our hope, and to the means for our deliverance. We have -still as much reason to rejoice as the angels had when they sang this -song, because the great joy of it lies in the eternal fact that there -is a Saviour and there is a King, Who, if His people will trust Him, -will save them from their sins and all the miseries that their sins -involve. If our own lives and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_13" -id="Page_13">[13]</a></span> the life of our nation and the life of -Europe can be made truly Christian, if we can bring more of the love -of Christ and the life of Christ into our daily existence, we have the -assurance that He will save us, and will extirpate the abuses and the -falsehoods which have brought the nations of Europe to this terrible -pass.</p> - -<p>In a few days we are to have a Day of Humble Prayer and Intercession -to Almighty God. Let it be, above all, a day of humble acknowledgment -of our failure as individuals and as a nation in His true faith and -obedience. I would fain it had been called by the good old Christian -and English name of a Day of Humiliation. We ought to be humiliated. -We have, in such ways as I have indicated, been contented with a -half-Christian life in public affairs and in society. We and our -men of letters, and men of learning, and men of affairs, have been -affected with the same half-heartedness in our allegiance to Christ, -which shocks us when we see it displayed in all its nakedness in other -countries, and especially in the one which is chiefly opposed to us. -Let us be humiliated for it before God, not caring, in comparison<span -class="pagenum"><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[14]</a></span> with -our true relation to Him, what interpretation the world may put on our -repentance.</p> - -<p>But let us also rejoice more than ever in the assurance of Christmas -that a Saviour has been born to us, that we have an eternal King in -our Lord Jesus Christ, Who can save us from our sins, and our ruin, -and ourselves, if we will but give ourselves up to Him absolutely. -Let us realize with infinite thankfulness that the souls of those who -are now sacrificing their lives for us are in His saving and merciful -hands. Let us be reminded by the angelic vision that we ourselves, -and the souls of those who have passed and are passing away, are not -brought merely into contact with the “blackness and darkness and -tempest” of war, but are come unto “Mount Zion, to the -city of the living God, and to an innumerable company of Angels, and -to the general assembly of the Church of the Firstborn and to Christ -the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect.” -Let us realize this more than we have yet done. Let us realize the -truth of the Angels’ proclamation that Christ and Christ alone is -our Saviour and our King, that He alone can<span class="pagenum"><a -name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[15]</a></span> save us, individuals and -nations alike, from our sins; and then, in spite of all the distress -and anxiety which surrounds us, this may prove the most blessed -Christmas of our lives, and it may bring us a happiness which will last -unto life eternal.</p> - -<div class="chapter"></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[16]</a></span></p> - -<h2><span class="smcap">Christmas and the War.</span></h2> - -<p class="center noindent">A SERMON PREACHED ON CHRISTMAS DAY <span -class="smcap">A.D.</span> 1915.</p> - -<div class="sc-ref"> - -<p>“<i>Who hath saved us and called us with an holy calling, not -according to our works, but according to His Own purpose and grace, -which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began, but is now -made manifest by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ, Who hath -abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through -the Gospel.</i>”—2 Tim. i. 9, 10.</p> - -</div> - -<p>There has never been an occasion in our own lives, and there -have been few occasions in the world’s history, on which we -have had more reason for unbounded thankfulness for the blessed -message of Christmas. We are celebrating this Festival to-day in a -sadder and darker world than any of us can remember, amid scenes -of bloodshed and desolation, of which an adequate description can -only be found in the lurid pictures of the Book of Revelation, -with war and hatred all around us instead of peace and good will, -and with death and destruction raging over a great part both of -Europe and of Asia. If we had to confine our vision to the present -world, and to the prospects<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_17" -id="Page_17">[17]</a></span> it offers, men’s hearts might -well, in our Lord’s words, be “failing them for fear, and -for looking after those things which are coming on the earth”; -but Christmas breaks upon this dark scene with a message and a -promise, which enable us to lift our hearts and hopes above this -present world and this earthly scene. The heavens are opened; a great -illumination bursts upon the world; and an innumerable multitude -of the heavenly host are heard singing, in tones of rejoicing and -thankfulness, “Glory to God in the Highest, and on earth peace, -good will towards men.” They are good tidings of great joy, -proclaiming peace and good will from God towards men—good -tidings of great joy which shall be to all people, that unto us was -born that day in the City of David “a Saviour, which is Christ -the Lord!” Such tidings of great joy are the very things for -which our hearts are yearning amid the distresses, bereavements and -sorrows, and the overwhelming anxieties of the moment, and such are the -tidings which Christmas brings. Let us beware of allowing the heavy -burdens and sorrows of the hour to obscure, or to muffle, to<span -class="pagenum"><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[18]</a></span> our -hearts these tidings of great joy. On the contrary, the darker the -hour, the heavier the burden; let us open our hearts the more to this -glory of God shining round about us, as on this day, and to the tidings -of great joy which are proclaimed to us by the Angelic Choir.</p> - -<p>It is well we should remember, in the first place, that, even though -to ourselves this hour is peculiarly dark, it is but an aggravation, -and we may hope a comparatively brief one, of human experience -throughout all history. That history has been from the first marked -by two aspects, in the sharpest contrast to one another. In the -first place, from century to century it has been one of incessant -struggle, of war, of the rising of nation against nation and kingdom -against kingdom; and the Book of Revelation depicts the world as -ending in scenes of greater struggle and desolation than have ever -gone before. That has been the terrible reality of human experience -from the commencement to the present time. But, on the other hand, -throughout these distressing scenes there has always been heard a -moral and spiritual Voice, assuring men that God was controlling<span -class="pagenum"><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[19]</a></span> all -these sufferings and struggles, and that all was working for good, -alike to the world at large and to the individual.</p> - -<p>You have the representation of the experience of every generation of -men in the pages of the Bible, and especially of the Prophet Isaiah. -He is known as the Evangelical Prophet, because he depicts in deeper -and nobler tones than any other inspired voice that blessed promise -of good will, of which the final proclamation was uttered to-day. -But let us bear in mind the circumstances under which the glorious -promises which we recite and sing at this season were uttered. Let us -listen to Isaiah’s own description of them in the twenty-fourth -chapter: “Behold, the Lord maketh the earth empty, and maketh -it waste, and turneth it upside down, and scattereth abroad the -inhabitants thereof.... The land shall be utterly emptied and utterly -spoiled: for the Lord hath spoken this word.... All joy is darkened; -the mirth of the land is gone. In the city is left desolation, and -the gate is smitten with destruction.” These were the visible -realities around him, but he is inspired to look over them and<span -class="pagenum"><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[20]</a></span> -through them; and he ends that passage by declaring that “it -shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall punish the host -of the high ones that are on high, and the kings of the earth upon -the earth;” and that, at the last, “the moon shall -be confounded, and the sun ashamed, when the Lord of Hosts shall -reign in Mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, and before His ancients -gloriously.” Isaiah and his fellow-Prophets were surrounded -by scenes of war and bloodshed and desolation as terrible as any we -have around us in our own day, and it was over these fields of battle -and destruction that the glorious songs were heard which are our -delight and encouragement at this season. “Comfort ye, comfort -ye my people saith your God. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and -say unto her that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is -pardoned; for she hath received at the Lord’s hand double for -all her sins.” There is nothing more amazing in the experience -of the human heart, and more inspiring to ourselves, than that -these grand songs of hope and deliverance and comfort should have -echoed over the desolate<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_21" -id="Page_21">[21]</a></span> fields of Judea, and lived in the hearts -of a people who were as crushed, and all but destroyed, as any of the -ruined nations of Europe of the present day.</p> - -<p>It has been the same all through history. Even where there was not -the inspired voice of Revelation, there was still among the Greeks and -Romans the ineradicable hope of a Golden Age; and an inner witness of -God’s Spirit kept alive in the whole human race a firm belief -in His justice and His ultimate deliverance, both for the world and -for individuals, from age to age. Let us not think, therefore, that -in the strain and distress and suffering of the present hour we are -undergoing any novel or special experience; and if we should be tempted -to be out of heart, let us be shamed by the faith of the past, by the -inspiration of the Prophets, and even by the uninspired faith and -courage of mankind at large. Let us believe, through all, as they did, -that the Lord reigneth, and that though “clouds and darkness are -round about Him, righteousness and judgment are the habitation of His -seat.” The birth of our Lord, which we celebrate to-day, and -the Divine Voice which spoke<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_22" -id="Page_22">[22]</a></span> in Him through human lips, have given us a -final assurance that He is reigning, and that He will judge the world -in righteousness.</p> - -<p>But it has done other things, of which my text more particularly -speaks, which are a source of still greater joy and assurance to us -individually. By the message which our Lord brought us, an infinite -and blessed light has been thrown over the great mystery which -darkened the minds, and dimmed the faith, of men before His time. -The Apostle says that our Saviour “hath abolished death, and -hath brought life and immortality to light through the Gospel.” -Though looking first, as we may and ought, with the Prophets, to the -ultimate vindication of righteousness and justice throughout the -world, by the fulfilment of God’s judgments in the struggles of -mankind, there still remained, and there remains at this moment, to -many hearts among us, the mystery of the sacrifice of life which such -judgments involve—the mystery of the destruction of thousands of -lives precious in themselves, and infinitely dear to those who loved -them, and who lived with them and for them<span class="pagenum"><a -name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[23]</a></span> here. Before the Gospel, -men’s hearts strained at the burden of that mystery, and it is -wonderful that human nature endured it with such courage and patience; -but now, says the Apostle, God’s purpose and grace in this bitter -experience “is made manifest by the appearing of our Lord Jesus -Christ, Who hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality -to light through the Gospel.”</p> - -<p>It would be rather truer to the original, and more closely -corresponding with the facts, to say—not that our Lord hath -abolished death, for, alas! that still remains around us—but that -He hath brought death to nought, annihilated its power, and destroyed -its strength. “The last enemy,” we are told, “which -shall be destroyed is death”; but meanwhile, for every Christian -soul, its greatest distress and terror is gone because our Lord has -thrown a glorious illumination upon it, and has “brought life -and immortality to light through the Gospel.” He has enabled -us to see beyond the grave, beyond those dreadful battlefields, -strewn with the bodies of those whom we had loved and honoured, and -has made manifest to us<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_24" -id="Page_24">[24]</a></span> that they still live on in a new life, -and a glorious immortality. Who can estimate the mercy to sad and -sorrowing hearts of the establishment of that blessed hope on the -firm assurance of our Lord Himself, who, after suffering an agonizing -death here, appeared to His Apostles and declared, “Fear not; -I am the first and the last: I am He that liveth, and was dead; and, -behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and -of death”? The pain of bereavement remains—that is like -the loss of a limb, which time alone can soften—but the definite -assurance, from the Saviour’s lips, that those who have died -in His faith and obedience have entered on a new and blessed life, -must be of infinite comfort to those who loved them. We are not left -any longer to hopes and to future expectations; but can grasp the -assurance of present realities which are vouched for by the Saviour -who took our nature upon Him, who lived our life, and died our death, -and showed Himself alive beyond the grave. This is what we owe to the -Saviour’s birth, with all the gracious revelation of which it was -the commencement.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_25" -id="Page_25">[25]</a></span></p> - -<p>The Apostle’s assurance goes, indeed, beyond this illumination -of our present experience, and seems to throw a glorious light upon -the whole history of mankind. “God,” he says, “hath -saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our -works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given -us in Christ Jesus, before the world began.” It is now made -manifest by the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, but it existed -from all eternity “before the world began.” If so, then -through those long ages which preceded our Lord’s birth, this -life and immortality were given to the millions to whom His Name had -not been manifested, but who died in the discharge of their duty, -and who faithfully made the sacrifices which were involved in His -government and just judgment of the world. Christ revealed the wars and -sufferings of this world as the inevitable consequence of the operation -of God’s righteousness and justice upon the evil, the sin, and -the Godlessness of mankind. Sooner or later those sins and evils -gather to a head, in some great corruption of society and political -life, in some enormous<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_26" -id="Page_26">[26]</a></span> crime of ambition or pride; and the -righteousness and justice of God, working through the ordinary laws -of human nature, evokes some tremendous reaction against them; and we -behold the overthrow of a great Empire, or a European Revolution, or a -world-wide clash of the forces of right and wrong. That is the course -of history, as determined before the world began by the inscrutable -righteousness and wisdom of God.</p> - -<p>That is the condition under which the world now exists, and people -who talk of abolishing war are like people standing on the crater of a -great volcano, and trying to persuade themselves that there will be no -more eruptions. As long as there is evil in the world and God’s -righteousness in the world, you will have the moral reactions between -the two bursting from time to time into some awful conflagration like -the present. That is the revelation of the whole Bible, brought to its -culmination in the Book of Revelation. But what was manifested to-day, -and proclaimed by the Heavenly Hosts, was God’s love and mercy to -the individual souls who have been the victims of these convulsions, -and who might seem to have been treated as<span class="pagenum"><a -name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[27]</a></span> mere passing elements in -the temporal scene. At the Birth of Christ, and by means of it, were -manifested and assured God’s peace and good will to every soul of -man who passes through this brief scene of struggle and, it may be, of -death. It proclaims that for each individual soul death may be said to -have been in effect abolished, that for every one of them, according -to the eternal purpose of God, “life and immortality” -have been prepared and assured; and that the struggles and sufferings -of this mortal life, terrible as they may be, are not worthy to be -compared with the glory that was designed, before the world began, -for those who do the will of God. This is the blessed revelation of -Christmas, and it is our privilege to fix our eyes and our hearts upon -it, amid the sorrows and troubles of the moment; and in proportion -as we do so, we shall respond with our whole hearts and souls to -the exhortation of the same Apostle. “Therefore, my beloved -brethren, be ye steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of -the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the -Lord.”</p> - -<div class="chapter"></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[28]</a></span></p> - -<h2><span class="smcap">The Things Seen and the Things Not -Seen.</span></h2> - -<p class="center noindent">PREACHED IN CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL, EASTER DAY, -1915.</p> - -<div class="sc-ref"> - -<p>“<i>For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man -perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day. For our light -affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more -exceeding and eternal weight of glory; while we look not at the things -which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things -which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are -eternal.</i>”—2 Cor. iv. 16.</p> - -</div> - -<p>These touching words of St. Paul are based upon the grand truth to -which Easter Day is a standing witness. “Therefore,” he -says, or “for which cause, we faint not.” That cause is -stated in the verse just before, “Knowing that He Which raised up -the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also with Jesus, and shall present us -with you.” The Apostle had just been giving a vivid description -of the extreme strain, and almost mortal struggle, in which the work -of his ministry involved him. “We are troubled,” he says, -“on every side ... always bearing about in the body the dying -of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made<span -class="pagenum"><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[29]</a></span> -manifest in our mortal flesh. So then death worketh in us, but life -in you.” The Apostle was undergoing a strain which was draining -the very life of his body, in order to preach the Gospel which was -bringing life to the souls of others; but he endured it in the -knowledge that, even if it involved the sacrifice of his life, He Who -raised up the Lord Jesus would raise him up also by Jesus, and present -him in a new life at the day of the Resurrection. In this knowledge, -his experience that his outward man was perishing did not make him -faint, for he knew that his inward man was being renewed day by day. -If he was daily dying, he was but experiencing the dying of the Lord -Jesus; and thus, by entering into closer sympathy with his Lord, he -was becoming united also with His life. Christ’s resurrection -in glory was an assurance to him of his own resurrection, and the -sufferings of the moment were as nothing to him in comparison with that -glory. That affliction was, after all, light and momentary, when it was -realized that it was working out for him, more and more exceedingly, -an eternal weight of glory. The things which<span class="pagenum"><a -name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[30]</a></span> he saw and felt at the -moment were, after all, but temporary, whereas the things which were -not then visible were eternal. If the earthly frame, which was his -present tabernacle, were dissolved by death, he knew that there was -ready for him “a house not made with hands, eternal, in the -heavens.”</p> - -<p>Is not this application of the great message of the Resurrection -peculiarly opportune and welcome to us at the present moment? We are -living through a time when the things that are seen are distressing -and painful beyond anything in our experience—we might perhaps -say, in the experience of Christian Europe. We seem to have gone back, -on a sudden, to the days before the flood, when “the earth was -corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence”; -and we seem to need a re-issue of the Divine proclamation, after -that world of violence had been swept away: “Surely your blood -of your lives will I require; at the hand of every man’s -brother will I require the life of man. Whoso sheddeth man’s -blood, by man shall his blood be shed; for in the image of God made -He man.” The curse<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_31" -id="Page_31">[31]</a></span> of this violence and bloodshed is being -inflicted, day by day, upon innumerable homes; and day by day we each -apprehend it for our own families. In order to stay the curse, the -blood of our own brothers and sons is being poured out like water, and -the desolation of our homes is becoming more and more appalling. The -blood-stained fields of Belgium, France and Poland, the engulfing of -the innocent lives of women and children in the ocean—these are -the things that are seen; and we need some supreme assurance—nay -we need some Divine revelation—if we are to live through such -experiences in faith, and hope, and in Christian charity. We mourn, day -by day, the loss of precious lives, and we are appalled at the thought -of the further sacrifices of such lives, young and mature, which we -fear must be required; and so far as we look only on the things thus -seen, our hearts might well fail us. Like St. Paul, as he describes -himself in the context, “we are troubled on every side ... we are -smitten down, though not destroyed.”</p> - -<p>Let us then observe the manner in which the Apostle meets -this overwhelming<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_32" -id="Page_32">[32]</a></span> oppression. He looks off from the things -which are seen to the things which are not seen; “for,” he -says, “the things which are seen are temporal (or temporary), but -the things which are not seen are eternal.” Perhaps that is the -first condition for our seeing things in their true light. It is very -difficult for us not to have our vision almost wholly occupied by the -visible things around us, which are also the things of which we are -the most immediately sensible, and which naturally absorb our ordinary -thoughts, feelings and energies. Yet, as a matter of fact, as St. Paul -reminds us, they are a very small part indeed of the realities with -which we are surrounded. “The things which are seen are temporal, -but the things which are not seen are eternal.”</p> - -<p>Eternal as compared with temporary! Do we often realize sufficiently -what that comparison means? What is the longest life here? Call it -one hundred years, and what is that compared with life eternal, -everlasting, never ending? That is the ultimate reality with which we -are all concerned. Our hearts are filled, first, with the thoughts -of youth, then with those of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_33" -id="Page_33">[33]</a></span> manhood, then with those of old age; but -there lies before us, before each one of us, an interminable existence, -in which we are destined to experience profounder happiness, or -profounder unhappiness, than any we have experienced here. All that has -exercised our thoughts and feelings here will indeed leave its mark -upon us, but it will all pass away; it is essentially temporal, and -there lies before us an unending existence for weal or woe.</p> - -<p>So far, therefore, as any individual life is concerned, so far as -those young lives are concerned, whose premature loss is so bitter to -their nearest and dearest, and seems so sad to all of us, it is well -we should clearly realize that to the individual life itself, a few -years more or less—nay, half a life-time more or less—is -practically insignificant. Are there fifty, or forty, or thirty years -behind it? There is all eternity in front of it. There is a fulness of -life and joy, and even glory, before it, which can never end. To one -who has lived, and who dies, in the true faith and love of Christ, all -the gracious and glorious promises of our Lord and His Apostles are -fully assured; and even if, in any particular<span class="pagenum"><a -name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[34]</a></span> case, we may not have -the full evidence of that entire Christian devotion, we may surely -apply to every life which is willingly sacrificed at the call of -duty, for a righteous cause, and with a generous self-surrender, -the assurance of St. Paul, that God will render “to every man -according to his deeds. To them who by patience in well-doing seek -for glory, honour, and immortality, eternal life”; or, as he -says again, “Glory, honour, and peace to every man that worketh -good, to the Jew first and also to the Gentile.” Or, as we may -surely paraphrase it, to the Christian first, and also to every human -soul. If, in fact, our vision were merely confined to this world, -and we did but catch a doubtful glimpse of what is beyond it, the -spectacle of the sacrifice of human life, and particularly of young -human life in a war like this, would be scarcely endurable. But let -us have, not merely that “gleam beyond it,” of which the -Christian poet speaks, but that clear vision beyond it, of an eternal -life of which our Saviour assures us, and of “the grace of the -Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the -Holy Ghost,” in the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_35" -id="Page_35">[35]</a></span> peace of which that eternal life will be -spent, and we may be able to feel, like St. Paul, that the affliction -of the moment is light, in comparison with the eternal abundance of -glory which awaits the soul in the future.</p> - -<p>We are too apt, in a word, to take our stand within the horizon -of this life, and to judge of all things as they are reflected in -this world’s mirror; but if we would see them in their true -perspective and so measure their real values, we must take our stand -in the life beyond the grave. We must look, not at the things which -are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things -which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are -eternal. In some degree, though not to the same extent, we may apply -a similar consideration to the sufferings of nations, and of the -world as a whole, in a great war. It is revealed to us in the Book of -the Revelation of St. John that, at the consummation of all things, -after scenes of carnage which are at least equal in their horror -to the dreadful spectacle now before our eyes, a new heaven and a -new earth will be created, by Him Who sits<span class="pagenum"><a -name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[36]</a></span> upon the throne making -all things new. Even so far as the present world is concerned, the -sufferings and sacrifices involved in great wars have doubtless won -for future generations the greatest blessings of true Christian -civilization—liberty, order, peace, and justice. It might, -indeed, be thought that the price of such blessings was too high, if -we judged of the sacrifices of individual lives in the light only of -the things that are seen; but when we can feel that every life thus -sacrificed, that every suffering thus unselfishly endured, works out -for the sufferer himself an exceeding and eternal reward, we can look -to the things which are not seen, and can again realize that, in -comparison with them, it is not too much to speak, with St. Paul, of -“our light affliction which is but for a moment.” That is -the grand comfort, also, of the mourners who are left behind, who may -be similarly assured that, in their patient acceptance of their bitter -share of these sacrifices, they will be united with those they have -loved and lost, in the eternal blessedness to which St. Paul looks -forward.</p> - -<p>But who does not realize that we need<span class="pagenum"><a -name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[37]</a></span> very strong evidence, and -the firmest assurances, to sustain flesh and blood amid such bitter -trials as men and women are now experiencing—fathers and mothers, -wives and sisters, lovers and friends? It is not, perhaps, even a St. -Paul whose word alone would be sufficient to bear that strain. If we -had only that to depend on we could but speak of hope and trust; we -could hardly say, as he goes on to say, that “we know” -that if our earthly house of this tabernacle be dissolved we have a -building of God, a house eternal in the heavens. But the ground of his -knowledge was the reality of our Lord’s resurrection, and the -assurances which our Lord, when so raised, had given him. We know, he -says, “that He Who raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us -also by Jesus.” The great certainty from which St. Paul’s -Gospel starts is that our Lord, Who had undoubtedly suffered death in -its most agonizing form, had not less undoubtedly risen from the dead, -and appeared again and again to St. Paul, as to many others, and had -given him the personal assurances on which we are invited to rely. That -is the cardinal fact of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_38" -id="Page_38">[38]</a></span> Christian Faith. Had our Saviour not -risen, had He not appeared in such a form as to prove that He had -completely overcome death, then we should still, at the best, have -been in the region of hopes and imperfect beliefs, and of a yearning -trust. We could not have said, with the Apostle, that we know that -Christ is risen from the dead, and become the first-fruits of them that -slept. But now it is no mere prophet or Apostle, but the risen Saviour -Himself, Who stands in the midst of human life, as He stood in the -midst of His disciples on the morrow of His resurrection, and Who said -Himself, “I am the Resurrection and the Life. He that believeth -on Me, though he were dead, yet shall he live, and whosoever liveth and -believeth in Me shall never die.” Those were His own words; that -is the conviction He stamped upon the mind and heart of such men as St. -Paul, St. Peter, and St. John; and that is the sure foundation on which -we stand in believing that, if we suffer and die with Christ, we shall -also live with Him.</p> - -<p>Let me only add that this blessed revelation can only bring its -full blessing and comfort in proportion as we realize, for<span -class="pagenum"><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[39]</a></span> our own -souls, and for all who are dear to us, that union with Christ in spirit -which is essential to our union with Him in life, here and hereafter. -“If any man,” says St. Paul, “have not the spirit of -Christ, he is none of His.” There are, no doubt, degrees in which -men can possess that spirit of Christ; and even if we possess it in but -a feeble degree, we may humbly trust that He will not disown it, and -that He will grant us some portion of His grace and of His life. But -if this eternal life, this life of abundant glory, is open to us all -provided we are in union with Him, which of us will not be moved by -the afflictions of the present, and the eternal promise of the future, -to seek for ever closer union with that Lord of Life, looking less and -less at the things that are seen, and more and more at the things that -are not seen, and knowing that our life is hid with Christ in God?</p> - -<div class="chapter"></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[40]</a></span></p> - -<h2><span class="smcap">The Easter Message.</span></h2> - -<p class="center noindent">PREACHED IN CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL, EASTER DAY, -1916.</p> - -<div class="sc-ref"> - -<p>“<i>If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which -are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your -affection on things above, not on things on the earth, for ye are -dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, Who -is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with Him in -glory.</i>”—Col. iii. 1-4.</p> - -</div> - -<p>Easter Day brings us the most blessed message that could possibly -be proclaimed at any time; but at present it is perhaps more blessed -and more appropriate than at any other time in our experience. It tells -us, in the first place, that Christ was raised from the dead after His -crucifixion, and now sits at the right hand of God, Who has highly -exalted Him, and given Him a name that is above every name. But it -tells us, also, that the blessedness of that resurrection is open to -all of us, and that we are admitted to share in the glory which Christ -won for Himself; so that when Christ, Who is our life, shall<span -class="pagenum"><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[41]</a></span> appear -we also shall appear with Him in glory. If we appreciate what these -assurances mean, we shall be lifted up by them into the apprehension -of realities which transform our whole life in this world, and enable -us to look beyond it, to an eternal existence of the highest spiritual -bliss hereafter.</p> - -<p>There are two ways in which men may think of their position in -life. The realities of this life may be predominant in their thoughts, -so as almost to absorb their whole minds. That, I fear, is the -natural tendency of most of us. The claim which the things of this -world make upon us is so incessant, and often so intense, that we -have too often neither the energy nor the inclination to look beyond -it. There have, indeed, been good and brave men, who have said that -we should not look beyond it; that we should concentrate all our -energies on the work and the duties imposed upon us, and leave the -future to take care of itself, even though it be that vast, and, -as we believe, eternal future, on which we shall enter at death. -That was necessarily the attitude of good men before the revelation -of the Gospel. There have<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_42" -id="Page_42">[42]</a></span> been, unhappily, some good men among us -in recent times who practically live a similar life, not realizing -or believing the truths that are opened to them by the Gospel, but -content to do their duty to the best of their power. I fear a similar -life is practically lived by too many Christians. Their interest and -their thoughts are mainly absorbed in this present visible world, in -their duties, their pleasures, and their worldly happiness; and they -do not, for the most part, think of much beyond. One consequence of -this attitude of mind is that they judge of all occurrences by their -effect on this life; and particularly they are apt to consider all -the dispensations of God’s providence, all His judgments and -all His mercies, with reference to their effect on this world. How is -it possible, for instance, they ask, that a God of perfect goodness -and love can permit such an awful dispensation to fall upon men as a -great war like the present, that He can allow the sufferings, and the -bereavements, and the miseries which such a war involves? I think, if -we are candid with ourselves, we shall find that when that question is -acutely felt, it is practically<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_43" -id="Page_43">[43]</a></span> with reference to this life that it is -urged. Why should there be all this suffering in the world in which -we are now living? Why should so many young and precious lives be -sacrificed? Why should so many homes be darkened, and so many hearts -all but broken, in this present time? It is the present suffering and -the present time that are uppermost in our thoughts. We are apt to -speak and think as if the life in the present world of those who are -lost had been the matter of greatest consequence for them, and as if -we were without any positive compensation, to them and to ourselves, -except the victory of the cause for which they laid down their -lives.</p> - -<p>Now the great blessing of the Easter message is that it entirely -reverses this aspect of life. It reveals to us, on the assurance of -Christ and His Apostles, that this world and this life are a very -small thing indeed compared with the realities which Christ has -revealed to us by His resurrection. He has revealed to us, first for -Himself and in His own person, and secondly for ourselves, that the -world in which we really live is an eternal and spiritual realm, -in which we are privileged<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_44" -id="Page_44">[44]</a></span> to be in the company of Christ Himself, -and of all the souls who, from the commencement of the world, have -lived and died in harmony with the spirit of Christ and the will of -God. That is the real life into which every one in this congregation -is admitted, if he will. One of those great men in the past, to whom -I have referred, imagined the case of men having lived all their -lives in a cave to which only broken beams of sunlight penetrated, -and who had no idea of the splendid vision of the sun, and of the -earth with all its beauties, which would burst upon their vision the -moment they stepped outside their cave. That, as his marvellous wisdom -perceived, is the case of too many among us, even among Christians. -We have our caves, created by the temporal interests and obligations -around us; and broken gleams, from the truths of the Gospel which we -imperfectly realize, afford a dim religious light to our condition. -But, in reality, there is a spiritual, a glorious, and an eternal -world around us, which will burst upon us with overpowering splendour -when, after death, we step out of the cave of this flesh. The problems -of God’s dispensations, both to<span class="pagenum"><a -name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[45]</a></span> the world at large and to -ourselves, are beyond our comprehension and solution, because they have -reference not merely to this world, in which most of us live for no -more than three score years and ten, but to that eternal and infinite -world of spirits, which will endure for ever, and which is beyond our -ken. To each individual soul, young or old, the question of chief -importance is not what happens to them in this world, whether their -life be short or long, whether it be a happy life or a sad one, but -what happens to them afterwards, in that eternal career, which opens -to them all at death. The only true Christian attitude, as the Apostle -says elsewhere, is to “look not at the things which are seen, but -at the things which are not seen, for the things which are seen are -temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.”</p> - -<p>But what are these things that are eternal? That is one of the -most precious parts of the Christian revelation. In some respects, -of course, they must remain unknown to us while we are in the flesh, -for “eye hath not seen nor ear heard, neither have entered -into the heart of man,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_46" -id="Page_46">[46]</a></span> the things which God hath prepared for -them that love Him.” But though we do not know what the external -circumstances of that life will be, we do know, because Christ Himself, -and His Apostles on His authority, have revealed it to us, what the -essential part of them will be so far as our spiritual nature is -concerned. They will be simply and precisely the spiritual things which -are the highest and best in this world. They will be perfect truth, and -peace, and love, and, in a word, all those graces and perfections which -were manifested in Christ Himself. The Apostle bids us “seek -those things that are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand -of God”; and then he proceeds to explain what those things are. -“Put on,” he says, a few verses further, “as the -elect of God a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, long -suffering; forbearing one another, and forgiving one another; ... even -as Christ forgave you, so also do ye; and above all these things, put -on love, which is the bond of perfectness ... and whatsoever ye do in -word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to -God the Father through Him.” That is<span class="pagenum"><a -name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[47]</a></span> the character of the -future world, the future society, to which we have the privilege of -being admitted at death: a world in which all the graces and glories -of the Christian character exist, without any of the imperfections by -which even the holiest lives are clouded here; a world of perpetual -thanksgiving to God the Father for the love with which He has loved us; -a world in short which is ablaze with the light and warmth of all love -and truth.</p> - -<p>One blessed consequence from this revelation of the nature of the -spiritual world, in which the risen Christ reigns, is that we can -enter it, and live for it, even in the present life, without any -disregard of the obligatory claims which this world has upon us. -However busy a man’s life, however absorbed he may necessarily -be in the requirements and duties of his daily occupations, he can -also be exerting his energies of thankfulness and prayer to God, of -truth and love and compassion and meekness and peace, which make the -life of the eternal world. There is no occupation or condition of -life in which those blessed graces may not be exerted and cultivated; -and men and women may<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_48" -id="Page_48">[48]</a></span> thus live in the spirit and light Of -Heaven, even while they are confined within the cave of the flesh. In -proportion as they are living in this light even here, they are being -prepared for the eternal Heaven of the future; they are fulfilling, -all the more completely, their duty to the society and the life of -this world because they are guided by the illumination, both of the -present Heaven which overshadows their souls, and of the future Heaven, -of which the approaching gleams throw flashes of light across their -path.</p> - -<p>But what I would more particularly ask, at the present moment, amid -the strain and distress of these months and years of war, is whether -the promise of this eternal blessedness, the vision of this unseen -and eternal world, does not justify the Apostle’s description -of all the sorrows and sufferings which he and his fellows underwent, -as “our light affliction, which is but for a moment.” If -this world were the main scene of our life and of our hopes, there -would be something appalling in the destruction, or mutilation, of -so many of the best lives among us, and the cruel bereavement of -those who are left behind.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_49" -id="Page_49">[49]</a></span> But in the light of this revelation, is -it not our privilege to regard it all as “a light affliction, -which is but for a moment,” and which is working for us all, for -those who are taken and for those who are left, a far more exceeding -and eternal glory? What does it matter to a life, however young and -bright, that it should be cut short in this world if, through death -in the discharge of duty, it passes to the full enjoyment of those -“things that are with Christ,” in that world where Christ -will welcome it with the greeting: “Well done, good and faithful -servant, enter thou into the joy of thy Lord?” It is, indeed, -a hard fate for those whose life in this world is, for the future, -maimed by injuries, or marred by bereavement. But for them, too, -there is the assurance of Christ that if they suffer with Him, and in -sympathy with Him, they shall also be glorified together, and that all -they suffer, in obedience to His will here, will help them forward -in the way that leads to everlasting life. These are not mere human -hopes and imaginings; they are the express promises and assurances of -the Lord, Who suffered and died upon the Cross, and of those<span -class="pagenum"><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[50]</a></span> -Apostles, whom He commissioned to bring His message to the world. This -Heaven, of the present and the future, has been constituted by them -the great reality, the greatest of all realities, the supreme reality, -of our lives, here and hereafter; and in proportion as we look at -everything here in the light of it, the sorrows and sacrifices of this -life are reduced to comparatively small proportions, and the hope and -the blessings of the eternal life become the great Heaven, the glorious -vault of God’s light and love by which we are surrounded.</p> - -<p>It is thus that Easter Day brings home to us a message which -satisfies the deepest cravings and necessities of life, and affords -a practical solution of the difficulties which, without such a -revelation, are involved in the miseries of war. War itself, indeed, -points to some such solution, and compels men in practice to embrace -it. It has been said that war is the greatest of educators, and there -are various senses in which this is true. It educates, it exercises, -it manifests, as nothing else does, some of the highest excellences -of human nature: self-sacrifice, endurance, mutual devotion,<span -class="pagenum"><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[51]</a></span> faith -and loyalty, and, in Tennyson’s pregnant phrase, “all -that makes a man.” But perhaps its greatest educative influence -consists in the fact that it compels men to act, without hesitation, -on the instinct, which God has implanted in their hearts, that nothing -in this world is of any importance in comparison with the maintenance -and the assertion of righteousness, truth, justice, and mercy. The -mass of a people may be living in comfort and luxury, with their -minds and affections mainly engaged in the energies, the pleasures, -and the interests of this life; but as soon as some great challenge -is offered to those supreme principles of righteousness and mercy, -on which the whole fabric of true human life depends, their hearts -spring up with an instinct that everything they value in this world -must be sacrificed in defence of those moral and spiritual causes. -The moment the note is struck of a great war for righteousness, like -the present, that moment men and women feel compelled, by their very -nature, to “set their affection on the things above,” -not on the things of this world; they realize, that to this world -they must become practically dead, and<span class="pagenum"><a -name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[52]</a></span> live for those high moral -and spiritual causes which are the supreme treasures of mankind, and -that, in this sense at all events, their “life is hid with -Christ in God.” If, as we may confidently say, we are warring -for right and truth, and for the maintenance of the will of God among -men, we may then apply even to the war itself, and all the national -and individual sacrifices it entails, the thankful conviction of the -Apostle that “our light affliction, which is but for a moment, -worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.” -It is working out for our nation and Empire, and for the world at -large, the establishment on a firmer basis than ever of true Christian -civilization. Those whose lives are sacrificed are but brought by death -into the nearer presence of Christ, where His love and His mercy, no -less than His justice, will be still more to them than in the world -they leave; and those who are left behind may learn to prize the -privilege of suffering with their Saviour, that they may in time be -glorified with Him.</p> - -<div class="chapter"></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[53]</a></span></p> - -<h2><span class="smcap">The Need and the Means of Right -Judgment.</span></h2> - -<p class="center noindent">CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL, WHIT SUNDAY, 1915.</p> - -<div class="sc-ref"> - -<p>“<i>The Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, Whom the Father will -send in My Name, He shall teach you all things, and bring all things to -your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.</i>”—St. -John xiv. 26.</p> - -</div> - -<p>Never in our time, perhaps never in the history of the world, has -there been such urgent occasion as there is to-day for joining with all -our hearts, in the prayer of the Whit Sunday Collect, that God will -grant us, by the help of His Spirit, “to have a right judgment -in all things.” We have before our eyes the most tremendous -illustration ever afforded of the awful consequences which may ensue -from the absence of such a right judgment, and the prevalence of -a wrong judgment. In the first place, the war itself is entirely -due to the exercise of a wrong judgment by some person or persons. -Nothing but a great misjudgment, on one side or the other, of the -circumstances which occasioned the war,<span class="pagenum"><a -name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[54]</a></span> or of its consequences, -could have precipitated all the nations of Europe into such a deadly -and disastrous conflict.</p> - -<p>Every statesman, of course, thinks that some other statesman has -blundered, but the mutual recriminations form at least a general -confession of wrong judgment somewhere. When we see such wrong judgment -possible among the ablest and most powerful men in Europe, in a matter -which involves the sacrifice of tens of thousands of lives, the -desolation of thousands of homes, and the devastation of some of the -fairest countries in Europe, have we not need to cry to God, with the -most intense earnestness, that He will grant to us, and to all who act -for us and with us, the help of His Spirit to give us a right judgment -in all things? This gift of a right judgment may seem, perhaps, in -ordinary times, a comparatively small matter to be treated as the -culminating blessing won for us by the Death and Resurrection and -Ascension of our Lord. This is the final festival of the series which -commemorates the great events of His Life; for Trinity Sunday, which -follows, does but sum up the whole substance<span class="pagenum"><a -name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[55]</a></span> of the Christian -revelation, as that of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. The Whit Sunday -Collect embodies the final craving of the Christian life, for those -gifts which, on our Lord’s Ascension, He became empowered to -bestow upon His Church. But we may appreciate, at this time, better -than ever before, why all those gifts are summed up in the prayer that -we may be granted a right judgment in all things. Upon that right -judgment in the leaders of the Christian nations depends the peace of -the whole world, and the possibility of ourselves leading a peaceable -life in all godliness and honesty. It is demonstrated, by the most -awful example ever given, that all the wisdom, all the experience, all -the knowledge of human nature, accumulated for twenty centuries, are -insufficient, of themselves, to ensure that right judgment; and we are -driven to-day to act upon the exhortation of St. James, “If any -man lack wisdom, let him ask of God” and “it shall be given -him.”</p> - -<p>But this failure of good judgment in the political management of the -world is not the only, nor the most terrible,<span class="pagenum"><a -name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[56]</a></span> exhibition which is -afforded at the present time of the grievous liability of human nature -to form wrong judgments. The worst and most distressing exhibition of -all is seen in the moral perversion of one of the greatest of European -nations. Unless our own judgment is absolutely perverted, Germany has -become possessed by an utterly false, un-Christian, and even inhuman -judgment in moral conduct. The case was justly summed up in a letter -published the other day by an eminent member of our Church, the Dean -of Exeter—“Women outraged, treaties broken, inoffensive -citizens, women and babes, murdered wholesale by land and sea, wells -poisoned, deadly gases taking the place of manly conflict, Houses of -God ruthlessly destroyed, fair lands desolated, noble cities destroyed -without provocation, without reasonable object or purpose, the world -filled with abominable lies, the hymn of hate chosen as a national -anthem, and a baleful curse placed, as a nation’s prayer, on the -lips of children, and placarded in the streets, a fit sequel to the -hymn of hate”—this is the moral and religious spectacle -which Germany now exhibits,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_57" -id="Page_57">[57]</a></span> and its rulers and guides not only allow -these things to be done, but have pleasure in them that do them. It -is not merely that these un-Christian and inhuman things are done, -but that they are justified, that they are treated as lawful and -meritorious, that the spirit which promotes them is recognized and -applauded as the right spirit—this is the amazing and appalling -exhibition of wrong judgment which Germany now offers to the world.</p> - -<p>Let us, moreover, if we would duly appreciate the lesson to -be derived from such a spectacle, bear in mind the character and -capacities of the nation by which it is exhibited. We should bear -in mind that Germany is probably the most highly educated country -in Europe; its science, its literature, its arts, its industry have -been among the finest that the world has seen. In religion it gave -Europe the Reformation; and the great Protestant nations of the world, -alike in Europe and America, recognize the immense spiritual debt -they have owed to it in the past. Our own theological literature, -during the last century, has acknowledged an immense debt to it, and -German scholars have, in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_58" -id="Page_58">[58]</a></span> our own time, been in the front rank of -the learning of the world. It is a country which was proud of its -culture, and, in such matters as I have mentioned, with full justice. -No thoughtful man can treat the Germans, as a nation, as inferior -to any other in Europe, in all the externals of such culture. All -the achievements of past history, all the acquisitions of Christian -civilisation, lay open before them, as much as before ourselves, and -they are bound to us by intimate ties of blood and of common interests. -It is a nation, in short, with every equipment which human intellect, -and art, and Nature can bestow; and yet, notwithstanding all this, the -nation, as a whole, has formed a judgment so false and inhuman, on the -very elements of moral duty, that we are forced to recognize that in -fighting it we are fighting not merely a political foe, but a moral -outlaw from Christian civilisation.</p> - -<p>If such an awful perversion of judgment is possible, have we not -reason to tremble at the possibilities of human error? The horrors -I have recalled are a disgrace to Germany; but let us not disguise -from ourselves the lamentable fact that they<span class="pagenum"><a -name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[59]</a></span> are also a disgrace to -human nature. To this, we must realize, human nature can come, in -spite of literature, and science, and art, and the traditions of -generations, and profound religious capacities. One cannot divide the -Germans from all other human races, or even from ourselves, and say -that they have a human nature of their own. It is our common human -nature which, in this case, has succumbed to such a degraded judgment, -and which has become false to the inherited principles of Christian -civilization. What we ought to learn from so distressing a spectacle -is the absolute need of some influence higher than any that mere -human nature, when left to itself, can exert, if the moral judgment, -the moral sense, the moral character of nations and races, and of -ourselves among them, are to be kept true to the ideals towards which -human nature, at its best, has always been striving, and which our -Lord Jesus Christ has revealed as the eternal standard established -by God. I am afraid there can be no doubt respecting one cause, at -all events, of this terrible degradation. For the last generation or -two, in consequence of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_60" -id="Page_60">[60]</a></span> prevalence in Germany of a false -philosophy and an extravagant criticism, the minds of the educated -classes in that country have been imbued with a complete distrust -of the Scriptures, and of the revelation of God in Christ; and, in -consequence, they have abandoned all deference to the authority of -God’s Word and the example and teaching of our Lord. I believe, -indeed, that faith in God and God’s Word, and love of Christ, -still subsist in much of their old intensity among the simpler classes -of the German nation—among numbers to whom the name and the -teaching of Luther are still a venerated influence. But they have -ceased to mould the character and guide the thoughts of the educated -classes, and the consequence is that human nature has broken loose from -all control, and has abandoned itself to an unbridled lust of power and -of earthly pleasure.</p> - -<p>It is painful to contemplate such a spectacle, and to recall it -to you; but it is necessary we should realize what it means, if -we are to learn the lesson which is the most imperative for us at -this moment, and if we are to take home to our minds the full<span -class="pagenum"><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[61]</a></span> blessing -of the promise of Whit Sunday. It is encouraging to bear in mind that -a similar spectacle and crisis existed in the world at the time when -our Lord spoke the words of the text. The Roman Empire, although, like -the German nation, it rendered great services to mankind, was in His -day developing into a terrible despotism, and its rulers were becoming -the incarnation of a ruthless and unscrupulous force. The age of the -twelve Cæsars, some of whom were monsters of violence and vice, -was commencing; and at that moment there appeared another influence, -that of the twelve Apostles, who proclaimed in the world the authority -and the inspiration of another King, their Lord and Master, who taught -the blessedness of another ideal—the ideal of poverty of spirit, -of mourning, of meekness, of mercy, of purity, and of peacemaking. -The two ideals struggled side by side for three centuries; but the -spirit of violence proved unable to crush the spirit of meekness, and -had at last to acknowledge its superiority, and to submit, in great -degree, at all events, to the authority and example of our Lord. -The mostly highly organized<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_62" -id="Page_62">[62]</a></span> physical force that the world at that -day had ever seen was slowly but surely undermined by the spirit of -Christian meekness and love; and from that moment Christian principles -of conduct extended their authority more and more over the whole range -of worldly life, and even over the fierce passions and struggles of -war. Gradually there became established those principles of chivalry -under which, as our great philosophical statesman described it, -there prevailed “that sensibility of principle, that chastity -of honour, which felt a stain like a wound, which inspired courage -whilst it mitigated ferocity, which ennobled whatever it touched, -and under which vice itself lost half its evil by losing all its -grossness.” That great amelioration of human passion and of human -evil was won by the persistent contemplation and assertion of the -authority and example of our Lord, and by the perpetual inculcation -of the teaching of His Apostles. The Spirit of God, descending as -on this great day, inspired Evangelists and Apostles to write those -Gospels in which the Person, the teaching, and the example of our -Saviour are so marvellously depicted, and<span class="pagenum"><a -name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[63]</a></span> those Epistles in which -they are brought home to our hearts with such touching force. The same -Spirit was vouchsafed to the great teachers and leaders of the Church, -and quickened in the hearts of the people at large the gracious seed -which was thus sown. If the new embodiment of the rule of force in -human affairs is to be effectually overcome, it can only be by the same -means. It cannot be done by our arms alone. Force alone is no remedy -for force. The Spirit of Christ as it lives in the Books of the New -Testament, must again make its appeal to the minds and consciences of -the nations of Europe; and the Spirit of God, acting through those -examples and exhortations, must bring home to us, once more, the life -and love of Christ, must open men’s hearts to receive His image, -and so enable them once more to have a right judgment in all things.</p> - -<p>The prayer of the Collect, therefore, should turn our hearts and -minds, at this juncture, to the supreme necessity, if we would save -ourselves from the dangers of wrong judgment, and if, according to a -famous saying, we would “save Europe<span class="pagenum"><a -name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[64]</a></span> by our example,” of -submitting our hearts and lives with the deepest earnestness to the -ideals set before us in the Scriptures, and especially in the teaching -and example of our Lord and His Apostles, as the only sufficient means -of maintaining a right judgment among us on the great moral problems -of life. As a nation we have hitherto enjoyed unique advantages in -this respect. To no other nation in the world has it ever been given -to have the Word of God, the whole Word of God, read aloud in our -churches, Sunday by Sunday, for more than three hundred years; and to -have thus had the words and deeds of Christ, and the exhortations of -His Apostles, and the devotions of Psalmists and Prophets, impressed -upon our minds week by week, and sometimes day by day, until much of -them has become the most familiar of all the records of our memories. -There has been another means, moreover, especially in Scotland, but -in England also, by which we have been kept in constant touch with -the same influence, and that is the custom, which generally prevailed -till recently, of Family Prayer, and the reading of the Holy<span -class="pagenum"><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[65]</a></span> -Scriptures in the family circle. By these means that Divine Seed was -sown in the hearts of young and old, and it could not but produce -much fruit. If we desire to preserve the Christian instincts, which -can alone protect us against such dreadful relapses into a world of -violence and ungoverned passion as human nature has been proved capable -of, let us submit ourselves with renewed earnestness to those Divine -Words, and to that Christian discipline, which have maintained for -so long, in this country, the character of Christian gentlemen and -gentlewomen, and have upheld among us, in spite of our many faults and -failures, at all events the main principles of a right judgment. When -our Lord says, in the text, that His Spirit would bring all things to -the remembrance of the Apostles, whatsoever He had said unto them, He -gave a promise which was in the first instance fulfilled, as I have -said, in the writings of the Evangelists and the Apostles, but to which -it is also the privilege of every Christian to appeal. If we will -read His Scriptures, He will open our minds to understand them, He -will bring home to us, by His<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_66" -id="Page_66">[66]</a></span> fellowship, the Grace of our Lord Jesus -Christ and the Love of God; He will save us from false judgments of all -kinds; and will enable us to uphold in our own hearts, and in the world -at large, that truth and love, that meekness, gentleness, and humility, -for the protection of which we are now appealing to the arbitrament of -battles, and of the God of battles. May He grant us victory in that -appeal; and when it has been granted to us, let us strive to render -the victory secure by living more devoutly in His faith and fear, and -seeking more diligently the Grace of His Holy Spirit.</p> - -<div class="chapter"></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[67]</a></span></p> - -<h2><span class="smcap">The Advent Message and the War.</span></h2> - -<p class="center noindent">IN CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL, NOV. 29, 1914.</p> - -<div class="sc-ref"> - -<p>“<i>Because He hath appointed a day, in which He will judge the -world in righteousness by that Man Whom He hath ordained; whereof He -hath given assurance unto all men, in that He hath raised Him from the -dead.</i>”</p> - -</div> - -<p>The season of Advent, with which the Church’s year reopens -brings to us a message of peculiar appropriateness and encouragement -at the present moment. It does so because it lays the corner-stone of -the grand edifice of the Gospel, or the good news of God, of which -we shall follow the construction through the Church’s year. -What is the special message of Advent? It is the message of that -grand verse in the Psalms, “Righteousness and judgment are the -habitation of His seat.” It proclaims to us the message of the -prophets, opened to us in triumphant tones by the prophet Isaiah in the -Lesson of to-day, that righteousness is the very foundation on which -God is building up society;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_68" -id="Page_68">[68]</a></span> that it is the very root from which our -own lives and the life of our nation derive their existence; that it -was to promote this righteousness that our Lord came into the world at -His first Advent in great humility; and that it is to establish that -righteousness finally that He will come again in great glory to judge -the quick and the dead. This is the beginning of God’s revelation -to us, and it is also the end and the culmination of His revelation. -It is the beginning of the Gospel, and it is also the end of the -Gospel.</p> - -<p>If we would understand the blessing of the Gospel, we must begin -with the conviction that the one great object for which this whole -dispensation of human society exists is that complete righteousness, -the glory of the Divine righteousness, may be established in it, and -that nothing but this can promote either the glory of God or the -happiness of man. Read the Psalms with this consideration in your -mind, and I think you will be deeply impressed with the fact that -every prayer to God embodies a prayer for the establishment of right -against wrong; so that the Psalmist only dares to pray for himself -so far as the deliverances<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_69" -id="Page_69">[69]</a></span> and successes he prays for are in harmony -with the righteous will and purposes of God. Every prayer is in the -spirit of the exquisite Psalm of this evening: “Deliver me, O -Lord, from mine enemies: for I flee unto Thee to hide me. Teach me to -do the thing that pleaseth Thee, for Thou art my God: let Thy loving -spirit lead me forth into the land of righteousness.” We have -no right to ask or expect help on any other condition than that; for -the one supreme work which God is working day by day, and year by -year, and century by century, is the realization in human life of what -that righteousness and judgment are, which are the foundation of His -throne.</p> - -<p>Advent reminds us, in the first place, of this grand and simple -fact, and bids us make it the starting point of all our Christian -thought and hope; but it gives us the further assurance that God -is not only carrying forward that work of righteousness now, but -that He will complete it hereafter. It repeats that message which -St. Paul proclaimed to the world at large, through the Athenians, -that “God hath appointed a day in the which He will<span -class="pagenum"><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[70]</a></span> judge -the world in righteousness by that Man Whom He hath ordained; whereof -He hath given assurance unto all men, in that He hath raised Him from -the dead.” That was the culmination of St. Paul’s Gospel -to the people of Athens. That is the culmination of the message of the -Gospel to ourselves at the present day. What do we need more than all -at this moment? What are our minds full of but the dreadful spectacle -before us of the whole earth filled with violence, of an awful outbreak -of hatred, unrighteousness, injustice, wanton cruelty, and barbarity? -The words of Isaiah read this morning are exactly applicable to the -spectacle of Belgium and France at this moment: “Your country is -desolate; your cities are burned with fire; your land, strangers devour -it in your presence, and it is desolate, as overthrown by strangers. -And the daughter of Zion is left as a cottage in a vineyard, as a -lodge in a garden of cucumbers, as a besieged city.” Might not -our hearts almost fail us as we contemplate such a volcanic eruption -of injustice and violence after nineteen centuries of Christianity? -But our hearts will not fail us, any more<span class="pagenum"><a -name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[71]</a></span> than the heart of Isaiah -failed him in his day. And why? Because of this assurance—an -assurance deep down in our souls—that this unrighteousness cannot -prevail. That conviction lies very deep in human nature, even apart -from God’s revelation in the Psalms and the Gospel. But by this -revelation it is given an irrefragable strength, and we grasp with the -deepest conviction the assurance of the Psalmist: “Let the floods -clap their hands, and let the hills be joyful together before the Lord, -for He is come to judge the earth, with righteousness to judge the -world, and the people with His truth.” That is the message of -Advent, and there never was a time in history when we could grasp it -more thankfully with all our hearts and souls.</p> - -<p>There is something inexpressibly elevating and inspiring in -this message of a future judgment and of the final vindication of -righteousness, as it enables us to look beyond this present scene -of distress and trouble, to realize that all that is passing around -us is in reality only part of a far larger and grander scene, and -that the events of the hour are but a brief<span class="pagenum"><a -name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[72]</a></span> passage in a universal -history, which has been carried forward for centuries under God’s -hand, and is being worked out under His guidance to a glorious and -righteous conclusion. If you allow your gaze and your thoughts to be -fixed mainly on your own lives, on the lives of your own generation, -or even of our own national history, you may well be distressed and -perplexed at the apparent defeat of righteous causes and purposes, at -the overthrow of the laborious work of years of peace, at what seems -like the destruction of those bonds of human society to which prophets -and saints and soldiers and statesmen had devoted their labours and -their very lives for generations. So it seemed to Isaiah in his day; -so it seemed to Habakkuk when he exclaimed, “that judgment doth -never go forth.” So it has seemed to many a devoted servant of -God and man, if he trusted only to his own eyes, from generation to -generation. Nothing but prophecy, the prophecy of the Old and New -Testaments, is, in fact, adequate to the strain thus put upon men -and women by these experiences. But only believe, as the prophets -assure you, only believe<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_73" -id="Page_73">[73]</a></span> as our Saviour declared, and as His -Apostles proclaimed by His commission, that it is but part of one great -history, one great universal dispensation, in which God is steadily -ensuring, by whatever means may in His Divine wisdom be necessary, -the supremacy of righteousness and the overthrow of evil, and you can -then live through it, and struggle through it, not merely with the -patience, but with the exultation, which marked the Jewish prophets -and psalmists. Belgium and Northern France are now passing through -the very experiences, to the letter, which Isaiah described in the -case of the people of Israel in his day; but Isaiah looked through all -these distresses to a time when “the Lord’s House should -be established in the top of the mountains and should be exalted above -the hills, and all nations should flow into it”; when “out -of Zion should go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from -Jerusalem”; when “He should judge the nations, and should -rebuke many peoples, and should beat their swords into ploughshares, -and their spears into pruning hooks, when nation should not lift up -sword against nation, neither should they<span class="pagenum"><a -name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[74]</a></span> learn war any more.” -That was Isaiah’s assurance, even in the dark days he describes. -We have a hundred-fold more ground for the same assurance when it has -been proclaimed to us by our Lord Himself, and sealed with His blood, -and countersigned with the assurance and the blood of His Apostles and -Saints.</p> - -<p>Even from this general point of view, the message of Advent comes -to us with a supremely inspiring force in the crisis of our great -national struggle, but it has other aspects of profound grace and -comfort as well as of warning. The most gracious, perhaps, of all its -aspects is the assurance it gives us that the final judgment of the -world, the final establishment of righteousness, the final reward of -the good, will be in the hands of our Lord Jesus Christ. This, of -course, is a matter of faith, based on positive revelation, resting on -the personal assurance of our Lord and His Apostles. It is no matter -of speculation, no matter of opinion, but a positive statement of -fact, which is one of the corner-stones of the Christian religion. -There is too much tendency at present to resolve that religion -into matters of mere human<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_75" -id="Page_75">[75]</a></span> thought and feeling and hope, and to make -its acceptance depend on its conformity to modern ideas; but there is -no possibility of treating in that manner such a point of definite, -momentous, fundamental fact as that our Lord Jesus Christ has been -appointed by God to be the Judge of quick and dead, to sum up the whole -world’s destiny, and to assign to each one of us, to every one -in this congregation, his place hereafter in the Kingdom of God or -outside it. The office of judge, even in this world, is a solemn one. -How infinitely awful is the position of the Eternal Judge of all! Now -the substance of the revelation of Advent is that this great office is -not veiled, as it was to the Jews, and as it must needs be, without -revelation, to all the world, in the mysterious, distant, and dread -form of the absolute majesty of God Himself; but that it is formally -delegated to One Who is not only the Son of God, but the Son of Man, -to the Lord Jesus Christ, Who took our flesh and blood upon Him, Who -died for us and rose again. “God hath appointed a day,” St. -Paul says, “in the which He will judge the world in righteousness -by <em>that man</em> Whom He hath<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_76" -id="Page_76">[76]</a></span> ordained ... Whom He raised from the -dead.” The grace which is involved in this declaration is so -infinite that I hesitate to speak freely of it in my own words, and I -am thankful to be able to express it in language of one of the most -authoritative of all divines, our own Bishop Pearson, in his grave -and deliberate <cite>Exposition of the Creed</cite>. “If,” he says -(page 305), “we look upon the judgment to come only as revealing -our secrets, as discerning our actions, as sentencing our persons, -according to the works done in the flesh, there is not one of us can -expect life from that tribunal at the last day.... It is necessary, -therefore, that we should believe that <em>Christ</em> shall sit upon the -throne, that our Redeemer shall be our Judge, that we shall receive our -sentence, not according to the rigour of the law, but the mildness and -mercies of the Gospel; and then we may look not only upon the precepts, -but also upon the promises of God. Whatsoever sentence in the sacred -Scriptures speaketh anything of hope, whatsoever text administereth -any comfort, whatsoever argument drawn from thence can breed in -us any assurance, we can confidently make use of them all<span -class="pagenum"><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[77]</a></span> in -reference to the judgment to come; because by that Gospel which -contains them all we shall be judged. If we consider Whose Gospel it -is, and Who shall judge us by it, ‘<i>we are the members of His -Body, of His Flesh, and of His Bones; for which cause He is not ashamed -to call us brethren</i>.’ As one of our brethren He hath redeemed -us, He hath laid down His life as a ransom for us.... Well, therefore, -may ‘<i>we have boldness and access with confidence</i>,’ by the -faith of Him unto the throne of that Judge, Who is our brother, Who is -our Redeemer, Who is our High Priest, Who is our Advocate, Who will -not by His word at the last day condemn us, because He hath already by -the same word absolved us, saying, ‘<i>Verily, verily, I say unto -you, he that heareth My word, and believeth on Him that sent Me hath -everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation, but is passed -from death into life</i>.’”</p> - -<p>At a time when death is all around us, when so many of our nearest -and dearest and best may pass at any moment through the shadow of -death to the judgment which is beyond, it is of infinite comfort<span -class="pagenum"><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[78]</a></span> to be -assured by this Divine message that they pass, not to a severe tribunal -which will judge them by the letter of the law, and by a strict -estimate of their faults, but to this gracious and merciful throne of -their Brother, their Advocate, and their Redeemer, Who will judge them -with infinite mercy and equity. I do not hesitate to say that He will -judge them with peculiar sympathy, because they have died in the very -cause in which He died Himself, and which it is His office as a judge -to maintain—the cause of righteousness. In the ancient Church, -martyrdom was regarded as ensuring remission of sins and absolution. -Soldiers, no doubt, would feel that it would be putting their case too -high to place their sacrifice of their lives in the cause of their -King and country, in a war like this, on quite the same level as the -heroic martyrdom of the great Saints of old. But it is a sacrifice -of the same nature. It is coloured by the virtue of the sacrifice of -Christ Himself, and of His followers; and we may confidently be assured -that those who meet their death on the battlefields of this war in the -spirit of faith in Christ,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_79" -id="Page_79">[79]</a></span> and in simple devotion to duty, will be -received by Him in the sense of those gracious words, “Well done, -good and faithful servant,” and may hope to be admitted in some -degree into the joy of their Lord. According to the judgment of the -ancient Church, and the greatest of our own Divines, we may confidently -bear the memories of them in our prayers before that Throne of gracious -judgment—not presuming to know, or desiring to know, more than -this, that they are in the hands of One Who is at once a Judge and a -Saviour, and trusting that, in praying for His gracious and merciful -reception of them, we are but giving expression to the yearnings of His -own Divine and Human Heart.</p> - -<p>Such are some of the blessed assurances which the Advent -Season brings us, and we cannot be too thankful for them in our -present time of distress. But it brings us one lesson of warning, -which it is equally important for us to bear in mind. A war like -this is undoubtedly a judgment. It springs from the sins of -men, from their passions and their lusts, their lack of love, -their unrighteousnesses<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_80" -id="Page_80">[80]</a></span> of various kinds. War shows us death, -and all that is involved in death, as the natural consequence of -human passions, when not controlled by the spirit of Christ and the -Will of God. “When lust hath conceived it bringeth forth sin, -and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.” That is -the law of Nature. It applies more or less to all who are engaged in -war, and we, in this war, must not shrink from acknowledging our part -in the accumulation of human wrong which has, at length, exploded -into this scene of violence and misery. Advent, therefore, bids us -look into our own hearts and lives, and ask ourselves what there has -been in them which is not in conformity with the Will of God and with -the law of the Saviour Who is to be our Judge. One immense blessing -conferred on us by the knowledge that He will be our Judge is that we -know, by His teaching and by His example, what are the principles of -that righteousness and judgment which it is His office to enforce. -It points us to the records of His love and teaching in the Gospels, -to the messages of His Apostles, and to the Bible which was<span -class="pagenum"><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[81]</a></span> His law, -as our guide in daily life in all circumstances and relations. That is -the standard by which we shall be hereafter judged; and in proportion -as we believe and realize this, shall we devote ourselves to its study -and strive after its fulfilment. We are sadly reminded now that in -this world there is no comfort on which we can permanently rely; but -there is one comfort in life and in death of which we may be assured; -it is that which our Lord revealed to us, when He gave us at once this -command and this assurance, “If ye love me, keep my commandments. -And I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter, -that He may abide with you for ever.” Let us seek that comfort in -life and in death, and it will not fail us.</p> - -<div class="chapter"></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[82]</a></span></p> - -<h2><span class="smcap">Divine Judgment and Renovation.</span></h2> - -<p class="center noindent">CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL, OCTOBER 11, 1916.</p> - -<div class="sc-ref"> - -<p class="center">“<i>And He that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all -things new.</i>”—Rev. xxi. 5.</p> - -</div> - -<p>These words were uttered by Him that sitteth on the throne, as the -interpretation of the grand vision which passed before the Apostle -at the conclusion of the Revelation vouchsafed to him. “I -saw,” he says, “a new heaven and a new earth: for the first -heaven and the first earth were passed away.... And I heard a great -voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, -and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people, and God -Himself shall be with them, and be their God. And God shall wipe away -all tears from their eyes, and there shall be no more death, neither -sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the -former things are passed away. And He that sat upon the throne said, -Behold, I make all things new.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_83" -id="Page_83">[83]</a></span></p> - -<p>But this vision was the sequel of fearful scenes which had passed -before the Apostle as the future course of the Divine judgments -was unrolled before him. He had witnessed a terrible succession of -destructions, and plagues, and wars, falling upon the inhabitants of -the earth, involving miseries and sufferings incalculable. He had -seen passing before him the awful punishments inflicted upon the -enemies of God, of Christ, of righteousness, and truth. One quotation -in the final scene will be enough to remind you of the nature of the -visions. “I saw an angel,” says the Apostle (chapter xix. -17), “standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, -saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, Come and -gather yourselves together unto the supper of the great God; that -ye may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the -flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses, and of them that sit -on them, and the flesh of all men, both free and bond, small and -great.” At length, when these fearful plagues and judgments -are completed the Apostle sees a great white throne and Him that sat -on it, from Whose face the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_84" -id="Page_84">[84]</a></span> earth and the heaven fled away, and there -was found no place for them. Then the books were opened, and the dead, -who stood before God, both small and great, were judged, every man -according to their works. Then it is, after this awful consummation, -that the Apostle sees a new heaven and a new earth. And He that sits -upon the great white throne says, “Behold, I make all things -new.”</p> - -<p>Such, in brief, is the burden of the Book of Revelation. It will -be observed that it involves these two cardinal points: First, the -judgment and the extirpation of all that is evil by a series of -struggles and agonies; and secondly, after this terrible experience, -the creation of all things new. The first part, however, in the -process of the Divine administration, consists of a series of scenes -of miseries, disasters, and bloodshed than which nothing more terrible -can be imagined, and which are described with a lurid force to which no -other human writing offers anything comparable. War and disease and the -confusion of all the elements of human society, and even of heaven and -earth, are brought before us, until men are<span class="pagenum"><a -name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[85]</a></span> reduced to cry to the very -mountains and rocks to cover them. All is described as the inevitable -result of the wrath of God against evil and its representatives, and -a fearful joy is ascribed to the heavenly beings who behold this -vindication of the Divine righteousness. The four and twenty elders -fall on their faces and worship God, saying (xi. 17), “We give -Thee thanks, O Lord God Almighty, Which art and wast and art to come, -because Thou hast taken to Thee Thy great power and hast reigned. -And the nations were angry, and Thy wrath is come, and the time of -the dead, that they should be judged, and that Thou shouldest give -reward unto Thy servants the prophets, and to the Saints, and to them -that fear Thy Name, small and great, and shouldest destroy them which -destroy the earth.” And then in awful response are heard, in the -temple of God, “lightnings and voices, and thunderings, and an -earthquake and great hail.”</p> - -<p>These dread scenes, these fearful judgments, are depicted as the -inevitable preliminary in the manifestation of the Divine Will and -the establishment of the Divine Kingdom. This is the main fact<span -class="pagenum"><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[86]</a></span> which -stands out broadly from the Book. It is not necessary, for the purpose -of appreciating this, to comprehend the signification of each of the -awful scenes which are predicted. How far they are capable of any -explanation before the final events may well be doubted. Old Testament -prophecy remained in great part mysterious until the moment of its -accomplishment, and the full interpretation of Christian prophecy can -hardly be less dependent upon its actual realization. But one thing -is plain, that the establishment of the Kingdom of Christ upon earth, -the full realization of all its promises of peace and goodwill, the -complete manifestation of the glory and power of its King—that -these great hopes and blessed promises cannot, according to the Book -of Revelation, be realized without the world passing through scenes -of fearful struggle and misery, and without the execution of Divine -judgment upon the evil and falsehood with which it abounds.</p> - -<p>These are stern truths which it is well for us to bear in mind -amidst the terrible scenes which are now being enacted in the present -war. The New Testament<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_87" -id="Page_87">[87]</a></span> begins with promises of peace, and it ends -with a vision of peace and glory in which God will wipe away all tears -from our eyes; but the warning is conveyed to us, through the mouth of -the last Apostle, that this blessed condition cannot be reached except -through a manifestation of Divine justice and Divine wrath, which will -bring upon earth and upon all mankind inconceivable miseries. The -sins of men must be brought into judgment. The Divine righteousness -must expose their real character by the consequences they naturally -involve. The truth must be manifested that there is a Judge of all the -earth, Who brings every work of man into judgment, whether it be good -or whether it be evil; and the evil in the works of men is so deep and -far-reaching that its judgment must needs involve the most terrible -suffering. In proportion as God takes to Himself His great power and -reigns, the first result must be seen in these agonies of human nature, -and must culminate in the disruption of the very elements of nature -itself.</p> - -<p>It is well we should remind ourselves<span class="pagenum"><a -name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[88]</a></span> how fearfully these -pictures of the Apostle of love have been fulfilled in the history of -the world since his time. It was not long after he wrote, when a series -of persecutions broke upon the Christian Church, which were at length -avenged by terrible intestine wars between the heads of the Roman -Empire, and in due course of time, by the overthrow of that Empire -itself in a long series of wars and devastations, which can only be -fitly described in some of the vivid language of the Apocalypse itself. -It would be appalling if we could realize the extent to which Europe -was filled with “blood and fire and vapour of smoke” during -the five or six centuries which elapsed between the overthrow of the -Roman Empire and the establishment of the Christian civilisation of -the Middle Ages. Then followed the incalculable miseries and untold -bloodshed involved in the contest between the Christian and the -Mohammedan world, throughout the long period of the Crusades. Add -to this all the intestine wars between Christians themselves during -the Middle Ages, and the fearful devastation of which the East was -the victim in the course of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_89" -id="Page_89">[89]</a></span> Mohammedan conquests and revolutions, and -you have before your eyes a picture not adequately described elsewhere -than in this terrible Book. The Reformation was followed by a long -series of wars, during which a great part of the surface of Europe -suffered the most cruel devastations; and even to the present day the -whole world open to our observation has been suffering from almost -continuous bloodshed in one part or other of its surface.</p> - -<p>The scenes which strike us with such horror at this moment are but -a specimen of agonies which have been endured for long generations in -the successive struggles of mankind; and if we are horrified at the -wars and agonies around us, we may be reminded, by the readiness of all -nations for such conflicts, that they are almost the normal condition -of humanity. In the middle of the last century Burke calculated -that, assuming the numbers of men then upon earth to be computed at -500 millions at the most, the slaughter of mankind in the various -wars and revolutions which were known up to that date amounted to -upwards of seventy times that number, or 35,000 millions. That,<span -class="pagenum"><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[90]</a></span> on what -he thought a moderate estimate, represents the amount of bloodshed -which the passions of men had, up to his time, inflicted upon human -society. How much more is to be added to that tremendous calculation -for the wars which have followed since that date in the East and West? -Taking these facts into account, we shall see good reason to recognize -that the Book of Revelation, in its fearful scenes, is but a true -description of the actual experience of mankind. The plagues, and -destructions, and slaughters which that Book depicts, as the result of -the just judgments of God, have, as a matter of fact, been realized, -and it is through scenes of suffering and misery of this nature that -the world is being conducted by the Divine justice to its ultimate -goal.</p> - -<p>But we have the more reason to be inexpressibly thankful that that -goal is revealed to us as one of peace and bliss. It is when we bear -in mind the miseries and agonies which the Book of Revelation depicts, -and which are brought so bitterly home to us by such a war as the -present, that we realize the full force of the promise that “God -shall wipe away all tears from<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_91" -id="Page_91">[91]</a></span> their eyes, and there shall be no more -death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more -pain: for the former things are passed away.” Seeing what the -world has been hitherto, and the miseries by which it is burdened now, -we might well despair of such a result, unless we had the express -assurance of Revelation that there is One sitting upon the throne -Who gives this as the very definition of His work, “Behold, I -make all things new.” We should, indeed, be ungrateful not to -recognize that the state of things around us contains in itself some -pledge and earnest of this revelation. Grievously as the passions -of mankind degrade them in practice, there is nevertheless publicly -recognized, in principle, a higher standard of responsibility, a higher -and more universal obligation to maintain peace and goodwill on earth, -than at any previous time in the world’s history. Even amidst -such a war as is now waging, principles have been established for its -conduct, which produce a great alleviation of its miseries, compared -with those which were suffered in the great struggles of nations and of -races in previous ages, or even<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_92" -id="Page_92">[92]</a></span> during the last century. But still, none -must feel more grievously than those who have the conduct of human -affairs how slight would be our hopes of the establishment of complete -peace on earth, did it depend simply on the wisdom or strength of even -the wisest leaders of mankind. They cannot extirpate the passions which -are the real ultimate cause of the wars and fightings among us. They -cannot take out of men’s hearts the lusts which war in their -members, and which nullify the best laws and institutions. Our hope -lies in the assured faith that all the terrible scenes of which the -earth is full, like those in the Book of Revelation, are under the -control of Him that sitteth on the throne, that they are working out -great purposes of truth and justice, that the actions of all men, small -and great, are subject to His ultimate judgment, and that, finally, -when the issues of right and wrong in this world have been thus worked -out, in a manner which shall vindicate the truth and righteousness of -God, He will fulfill His great work, in which He is even now engaged, -of making all things new.</p> - -<p>It is, indeed, an unconscious faith of<span class="pagenum"><a -name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[93]</a></span> this kind which sustains -men, and has ever sustained them, amidst the confusions and sufferings -of life and history. A deep instinct compels them to believe that they -are in the hands of a God of justice and truth, and to appeal to Him in -the midst of their struggles, and even in those crises in which their -best efforts seem to be defeated. But it is the special privilege, the -special grandeur, of the Christian Faith to have an explicit assurance -of this truth from the mouth of the Judge Himself. He said unto His -Apostle, “Write, for these words are true and faithful.” -He, the King of Peace, left with His last Apostle the warnings and -the promises of this Book. Lest men should be discouraged by the -terrible experiences through which they were yet to pass, He warned -them beforehand that such experiences were inevitable, and that the -world would have to pass through a purgatory of this kind; but at the -same time He told them that, when judgment was completed, a new Heaven -and a new Earth would be the result, and He bade them be assured that, -amidst whatever darkness and confusion, He was<span class="pagenum"><a -name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[94]</a></span> sitting on the throne -making all things new.</p> - -<p>All that we have to do individually is to see that we are true -to Him, and in our hearts live in obedience to His will. In the -text He goes on to say to the Apostle, “I am Alpha and Omega, -the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst -of the water of life freely. He that overcometh shall inherit all -things; and <em>I</em> will be his God, and he shall be My son.” -“Blessed,” he says again, “are they that do His -commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may -enter in through the gates into the city. For without are dogs, -and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and -whosoever loveth and maketh a lie.” We are not able, with our -limited and earthly vision, to discern “the work that God -worketh from the beginning of the world,” or the course of -His judgments in the world at large. That is beyond us, and we must -submit and take our part, whatever it may be, in these mysterious -manifestations, possessing our souls in the patience which such -assurances as those in the text<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_95" -id="Page_95">[95]</a></span> can alone provide. But we can have the -comfort, for our own selves, of passing through this strange and -painful scene in sure and certain hope of our ultimate blessedness, -provided in our own hearts and souls we give ourselves up to the rule -and the order of Him Who is the Beginning and the End, the First and -the Last, provided we make it the whole purpose of our lives to do His -commandments, and, by His grace, overcome the evil which besets us in -our own lives. Our personal and private lives reflect in greater or -less degree those stern experiences which this Book describes in the -case of the world at large. We have our sins, and as the consequences -of our sins our sufferings and sorrows, desolations and punishments of -various kinds, and we must expect to have to bear them till the moment -of our departure arrives. But by God’s grace we are also allowed -in some measure to anticipate the privilege which is held out to the -world at large, and which is our own ultimate hope. The fulfilment of -the blessed promise of making all things new is not merely commenced, -but, if we will, is consciously commenced, within our hearts and -souls while we are upon<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_96" -id="Page_96">[96]</a></span> earth. “We ourselves,” says -St. Paul, “groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, -to wit, the redemption of our body,” just as “the whole -creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.” But -we have the first-fruits of the Spirit. His grace is within us at all -times to give us new hearts and new spirits, to introduce His peace -into our souls, and to enable us to spread that peace around us. Let -us only seek it faithfully, and the renewing and replenishing water of -life will restore us and maintain our energies, and will be in us as a -well of water springing up into everlasting life.</p> - -<div class="chapter"></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[97]</a></span></p> - -<h2><span class="smcap">Resistance Unto Blood.</span></h2> - -<p class="center noindent">CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL, GOOD-FRIDAY, APRIL 3, 1916.</p> - -<div class="sc-ref"> - -<p class="center">“<i>Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against -sin.</i>”—Heb. xii. 4.</p> - -</div> - -<p>“Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against -sin.” That is the manner in which the author of the Epistle -to the Hebrews applies the Cross of Christ as an example and an -inspiration to Christians. He is exhorting them to “lay aside -every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us,” and -to “run with patience the race that is set before us,” -“looking unto Jesus the Author and Perfecter of our Faith, who, -for the joy that was set before Him, endured the Cross.” It is -an aspect of our Saviour’s Cross which it is most important to -realize if its significance for ourselves is to be duly appreciated. -What was it that brought our Lord to the Cross? Of course, the -ultimate cause was that the will of God required that sacrifice to be -made for the expiation of human sin. “Him,” said<span -class="pagenum"><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[98]</a></span> St. -Peter, “being delivered up by the determinate counsel and -foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified -and slain.” But God’s counsel and will were worked -out by human agencies; and it is of infinite interest to consider -what were the motives which led men like the leaders of the Jewish -nation to commit the awful crime of putting to death the Son of God, -manifested in perfect human nature. The simple explanation is that -He “resisted unto blood, striving against sin.” Our Lord -strove against sin, and sinners could not endure His antagonism; and -the opposition between the two was so intense that one or other of -the two antagonists had to be overpowered. That is the substance of -the story of our Lord’s life as told by the Evangelists. Our -Lord came proclaiming that the Kingdom of Heaven was at hand—a -Kingdom with higher claims and severer judgments than the Jews could -tolerate. It claimed a spiritual perfection instead of a legal one, -an obedience of the heart instead of a mere compliance in external -acts; it penetrated into the secrets of the conscience;<span -class="pagenum"><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[99]</a></span> and -our Lord further declared that He Himself was the Judge by Whom these -claims would be enforced. The Jewish rulers felt that this amounted to -superseding themselves and their authority, and they treated our Lord -as a usurper who must be suppressed. The tremendous denunciation of -the Scribes and Pharisees: “Woe unto you, Scribes and Pharisees, -hypocrites,” was an act of open and righteous hostility to the -authorities who had rejected His mission and spurned His claims. They -felt that He or they must be overthrown, and they used the Roman -Government to destroy Him.</p> - -<p>It thus appears that our Lord’s crucifixion was the -culminating struggle in the never-ceasing battle between right and -wrong, righteousness and sin, in which the history of mankind consists. -Our Lord appeared as the representative of absolute righteousness, and -He was put to death because men could not endure that righteousness. -In His rejection by the Jews and His crucifixion by the Roman -Governor, the highest official representatives of human righteousness -at that time and place combined to condemn themselves. But<span -class="pagenum"><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[100]</a></span> -they could not have consummated that sacrifice without the consent -and even co-operation of our Lord Himself. He had power, if He had -chosen to exert it, to destroy them and assert His Divine supremacy. -“Thinkest thou,” He said, “that I cannot now pray to -My Father, and He shall presently give Me more than twelve legions of -angels? But how, then, shall the Scriptures be fulfilled, that thus -it must be?” Instead of destroying His enemies, He submitted -to be put to death Himself. He allowed the unrighteousness of human -nature to break in full force upon His own head; He Himself became its -victim, and a victim of such infinite greatness as to constitute an -expiation for all the sin of mankind. Sin and evil can only be avenged -by an adequate exhibition and endurance of their consequences. But -that endurance and that manifestation were afforded, in the highest -conceivable form, in the destruction, so far as men could effect it, -of perfect goodness and holiness. That was what our Lord’s -submission to the Cross involved. When that expiation had been -made to God and God’s righteousness, our Lord assumed<span -class="pagenum"><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[101]</a></span> His -full authority as a Saviour and a Judge, and, by His Resurrection and -Ascension, established the Kingdom of Heaven in all its grace and -power. Henceforth men have lived under that dispensation of love as -well as of justice, and the Cross has been held aloft among them as the -means and the assurance of forgiveness and of grace.</p> - -<p>No human being can imitate our Lord in that supreme act of -self-surrender to His Father’s will, by which He abandoned all -His right and power to avenge Himself on His enemies, and became the -supreme victim, and therefore atonement, for human sin. But it is -possible for men to follow Him in the course of action which brought -Him to that awful decision and agony. “He resisted unto blood, -striving against sin.” So far as we strive against sin and evil, -whatever the consequences to ourselves, we are following Him to the -foot of the Cross. It is not the mere endurance of suffering, the mere -surrender of life in itself, which renders us followers of our Lord -in His sacrifice: men have endured much and sacrificed much for more -or less selfish reasons, for ambition or for<span class="pagenum"><a -name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[102]</a></span> military glory and -power. But the essence of our Lord’s sacrifice was that it was -made in the cause of righteousness and truth only. “To this -end was I born,” He said, “and for this cause came I -into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth.” We -are following Him so far as in all our words and acts we are bearing -witness unto the truth. That witness may at any time involve suffering -and death. God has so constituted mankind that few great causes have -ever been finally won without the voluntary sacrifice of life. That -sacrifice may sometimes be made, like that of our Lord and of the -martyrs, by the voluntary endurance of the cruel penalties inflicted -by the enemies of the truth; or it may be endured in obedience to the -claim of lawful authorities that we should take up arms and offer -our lives, in defence of some righteous cause. Men may act in our -Lord’s spirit if they submit to wrong in their own persons, -rather than avenge themselves. But the authorities who, as St. Paul -says, are the ministers of God, are bound to protect those committed -to their charge, and for that purpose have a right to call<span -class="pagenum"><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[103]</a></span> upon -those under them to use the sword at their command to defend the right. -In so using the sword at the command of their rulers, at whatever cost -to themselves, they also are acting in Christ’s spirit, because -they are upholding righteousness and asserting the truth in the manner -required by their duty. To all forms of organized sin the witness of -the Jewish sacrifices holds good. “Without shedding of blood -is no remission.” That, so long as the present dispensation -lasts, is the unalterable law of God’s Will and Word. Soldiers, -therefore, who are obeying a lawful command in defence of the right, -are offering their lives in the spirit in which Christ endured the -Cross, and may claim the comfort of being fellows with Him in the -“holy war” of right against wrong.</p> - -<p>But if the Cross of Christ is to be the centre of our lives, we -must strive to live in all things, and not only in such great crises -as those of war and the battlefield, in the spirit which brought our -Lord to His Cross—the spirit of absolute obedience in all things -to the righteous will of God. What the Spirit of the Cross requires -of us is the absolute surrender of our own<span class="pagenum"><a -name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[104]</a></span> wills to the will of -God, and the constant endeavour to bear witness to that will, and to -promote it in every part of our lives. It is not the mere meditation -on the sufferings of the Cross which will bring us into harmony with -it. The Apostles do not dwell much on them, profoundly as they must -have been moved by them. What they dwell on is the spirit which moved -our Saviour to accept them and to bear them. That spirit is to be -discerned throughout His life, as well as in His agony in the garden -and in His sayings on the Cross. It is embodied in His gracious words: -“Whoever shall do the will of My Father which is in Heaven, the -same is My brother and sister and mother.” The Cross is the -highest and final expression of His devotion and His Father’s -will; but we can follow that spirit in every duty, however humble. If -the National Mission is to fulfil its object, it must impress that -spirit of supreme devotion to the will of God, as revealed in Christ, -upon the nation as a whole, and the Cross must become the symbol of our -national, no less than of our individual, life.</p> - -<div class="chapter"></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[105]</a></span></p> - -<h2><span class="smcap">The King’s Accession and -Intercession.</span></h2> - -<p class="center noindent">CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL, 1915.</p> - -<div class="sc-ref"> - -<p>“<i>I exhort, therefore, that, first of all, supplications, -prayers, intercessions, thanksgivings, be made for all men: for kings, -and for all that are in authority: that we may lead a quiet and -peaceable life in all godliness and honesty.</i>”—1 Tim. ii. -1.</p> - -</div> - -<p>It is in fulfilment of the duty prescribed in this text that we -hold every year a Service of Thanksgiving and Intercession on the -anniversary of our King’s accession to the throne, and I am -sure we all know and appreciate the abundant reasons we have for -offering such thanksgivings. We know that every public action of the -King since he came to the throne has borne witness to his unreserved -devotion to the welfare of his subjects in all parts of his Empire. -His visit, for instance, to India was a very arduous and anxious -undertaking, and was prompted by his own desire to assure the Indian -people of his deep personal care for them, and also to strengthen the -bonds between them and his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_106" -id="Page_106">[106]</a></span> subjects at home; and no doubt the -generous service which Indian princes and soldiers are now rendering -to the Empire on the plains of Flanders is in great measure due to -the influence of that visit, in deepening the loyalty and devotion of -his Indian subjects. We have had abundant evidence, moreover, in the -last few months, of the King’s deep sympathy with his people -in the sorrows and losses which this war is inflicting upon them. He -has sent his son and heir to serve with his soldiers at the Front, -and has himself visited them there to thank and cheer them, and he -has lately set a very conspicuous example of personal self-denial in -the ordinary habits of life. We see that the King and Queen live for -the good of their subjects, and for the promotion of all that is good -and true and gracious throughout their vast Empire, and that their -example is one of the chief influences which are working among us -for these noble ends. Knowing and appreciating all this, I need not -say more to induce you to join with a full heart to-day in the words -of our Service, and to “yield unfeigned thanks to God” -that He was pleased, as<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_107" -id="Page_107">[107]</a></span> on this day, to place His servant our -Sovereign Lord King George upon the throne of this realm.</p> - -<p>But I think it may be desirable and opportune to lay some special -stress on those intercessions which we are bidden to offer “for -kings and for all that are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and -peaceable life in all godliness and honesty.” Those words remind -us, first of all, that the purpose of God, so far as this world is -concerned, is that we may live a life of peace in all godliness and -honour—a state of peace in which men may enjoy the happiness -for which God intended them, in which they may “replenish the -earth and subdue it,” and develop to the utmost the faculties -and capacities with which God has endowed them. That is the main -object to be kept in view for the purpose of the present life. The -next fact of which the words remind us is that the maintenance of -these peaceful conditions of life depends mainly upon Kings and all -that are in authority. It does not depend merely upon Kings, but -also upon those in authority, who are the Kings’ Ministers. -In some parts of the world, as in this<span class="pagenum"><a -name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[108]</a></span> country, Kings no longer -have the power by themselves, and of their own motion, to determine -the course of public affairs, to keep the peace or to declare wars. -Yet their position must always give them an immense influence in the -government of a nation; and even now, in the two greatest countries -of Europe—Germany and Russia, they have not merely the supreme -control, but the supreme initiative, in affairs of State. The peace of -the world, the possibility of our living a quiet and peaceable life, -depends in Europe, in the main, on the rulers of Russia and Germany, -upon those in authority in France, and upon the King of England and his -Ministers.</p> - -<p>It is a momentous fact, and a surprising one to realize. God has so -constituted mankind that the welfare of the masses, of the millions of -ordinary men and women, depends upon the actions of a few dozens of the -leading men in the various countries of Europe. We are proud of being a -constitutional country, and of the fact that by the election of members -of Parliament—by selecting, that is, the members of the House -of Commons—the vast majority of Englishmen have a voice<span -class="pagenum"><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[109]</a></span> in -creating their own Government; and to a certain extent in that way we -govern ourselves. But nevertheless, in the last resort, the fate of the -country depends upon the dozen or two men who are placed in power by -the House of Commons. It is a simple fact that the mass of the people -in this country had no voice whatever in determining whether we should -or should not enter upon this terrible war. It was determined for us -in the course of a few hours by the King’s Ministers, and by the -action they took in their relations with other countries. In the nature -of the case it must be so. Whether they will or not, great masses of -people and great nations cannot do without a Government; and when they -have established one, that Government must necessarily act in many -critical emergencies without waiting to consult the people whom it -governs. A nation and its King, with his Ministers, constitute as much -one body, to use St. Paul’s image, as the various elements and -limbs of the human body and its brain. We become one single organism, -under the control and management of the brain of that organism,<span -class="pagenum"><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[110]</a></span> -which is the King and his Ministers. It is an awful responsibility -for men to have entrusted to them, to be able to declare war and thus -to launch many millions of men in their own country, and hundreds of -millions of men in the Empire and in other countries, upon a gigantic -struggle, of which all we know for certain at the outset is that it -will involve a sacrifice of tens of thousands of lives, the devastation -of fair countries, and the waste of enormous treasure. But so it is -and ever must be. In the freest republics that ever existed the chief -rulers have had similarly to act as the brain of the whole people; and -it depends on their wisdom and faithfulness, not merely at critical -moments, but in that daily administration of affairs out of which -critical moments arise, whether the people shall live a quiet and -peaceable life or not.</p> - -<p>We must add to this the fact—which no one would be -more ready to recognize than these leaders and rulers, Kings, -Ministers, or Presidents, themselves—that the affairs with -which they have to deal, the problems they have to solve, are too -vast and mysterious to be fully grasped<span class="pagenum"><a -name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[111]</a></span> by any human brain, -and that they are liable to the most grievous miscalculations. If -you need evidence of this, look at the outbreak of the present war. -Our rulers in this country had no idea at all, within a few days of -the event, that such a war was about to break upon us; the rulers -of all other nations have been loudly proclaiming, ever since it -began, that they are not responsible for it, and that it would not -have happened but for circumstances which they could not foresee -or control. There seem, indeed, to have been wild and unscrupulous -spirits in Germany who were eager for it, and who had long been -intriguing for it; but none the less it burst upon Europe suddenly -and unexpectedly, and it baffled the foresight of European statesmen -in general. In the face of such imperfect competence for these -problems of statesmanship, and of such enormous responsibility for -them, are we not compelled to stretch out our hands towards Heaven, -and implore God’s guidance for the rulers who are feeling their -way amidst such dim lights—“for kings and for all in -authority,” upon whose words and actions the fate of the world -and its peace, the happiness<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_112" -id="Page_112">[112]</a></span> and the very life of millions of men -and women are dependent? If, indeed, we could not do so, we might -well despair. We should behold before us a mass of nations rising -against one another, blinded—as we see in Germany that nations -can be blinded—by passion and pride, and fighting wildly, almost -like men in the dark, and we might well feel helpless before such a -chaos. But knowing, as it is the privilege of Christians to know, that -“the Lord sitteth above the water-floods,” that “the -Lord remaineth a King for ever,” knowing, as another Psalm says, -that “the Lord is King, be the people never so impatient. He -sitteth between the cherubim, be the earth never so unquiet,” we -cry unto the Lord in our trouble, and implore Him to deliver us out of -our distress.</p> - -<p>There is another reason for our thus appealing to Him, which is, -that we are assured by His Word that the whole history of the world -has been under his control, and that He has been directing its course -throughout, and determining the fate of nations for His own purposes. -We have before us the most conclusive<span class="pagenum"><a -name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[113]</a></span> evidence of this -in the history of the Jews. The course of their history and their -position in the world at the present day were announced to Abraham -and Moses thousands of years ago, and they have fulfilled, and are -now fulfilling, the place and the function in the world which were -then assigned to them. There is nothing, accordingly, on which the -Bible insists more urgently and constantly than that the great issues -of war and history are in the hands of God. It is not merely that -He exercises a general controlling influence over them, but that He -has His own purposes, which He is gradually fulfilling by means of -“the unruly wills and affections of sinful men.” It teaches -us that “except the Lord build the house they labour in vain -that build it; except the Lord keep the city the watchman watcheth -but in vain.” He does not merely interpose in the course of the -building, but He is the Builder. He is building up, through the ages, -some great design, and all nations will be made in the end to conform -to it.</p> - -<p>It is certain, for instance, that it was not by our -design or forethought, or our skill, that the Empire which -we are now called<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_114" -id="Page_114">[114]</a></span> on to defend was built up. A hundred -years ago—nay, fifty years ago—no statesman seems to -have imagined that the British Empire would grow, or could grow, -to the vast dimensions it now possesses. Not merely did they not -imagine it—some of them actually deprecated its growth. It -has not been by our will and design, but in great measure against -them, that the British nations have been developed into one great -body politic. It must be the hand of God which we see in all that -development. We have, whether we will or no, a great work laid -upon us all over the world—in India, in America, and in the -Islands of the sea—and we recognize that it is by God’s -will that this task and responsibility, which is at the same time -a great privilege, has been laid upon us. We may well, therefore, -implore continually His help and guidance in the discharge of it. Is -it not, then, an imperative duty, is not St. Paul right in putting -it in the very forefront of our duties, that we should offer up -supplications, intercessions, urgent prayers for the King and for all -in authority under him, that they may be guided to know God’s -will in the vast problems<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_115" -id="Page_115">[115]</a></span> which are set before them? that -“God’s wisdom may be their guide and that His Arm may -strengthen them,” and that He may direct their actions and -endeavours to His own glory, to the accomplishment of His great -designs, and to the welfare of our people?</p> - -<p>Let us ask ourselves earnestly whether we have realized, as we -ought, since this war began, that it is in God’s hands, and -not in ours, to determine its issue. War is not merely an appeal to -the sword—it is, in a far higher degree, an appeal, the final -appeal, to God Himself. Lord Bacon observes that great soldiers and -Commanders have always been conspicuous for their acknowledgment that -the issues of their great battles and campaigns all depended upon -some supernatural power. They knew better than others the infinite -accidents and chances upon which the issue of war depends, and they -realized that it was in God’s power to determine that issue as He -pleased. I fear it must be owned that we have not, as yet, acknowledged -this truth in the present war as much as we ought. If we had, would -not the Services of Intercession in this<span class="pagenum"><a -name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[116]</a></span> Cathedral and elsewhere -be more frequently and more earnestly attended? Let us be reminded -then, by this Service of Prayer and Supplication, on the anniversary -of the Accession of our King, how deeply he and his Ministers need -that prayer and intercession, how wholly dependent they are, in -bearing the momentous burdens laid upon them, upon “the good -hand of our God upon them”; and let us henceforth “pray -without ceasing” for God’s blessing upon our King, and -particularly, at this time, for his victory over the bitter enemies by -whom he has been forced into this dreadful struggle.</p> - -<div class="chapter"></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[117]</a></span></p> - -<h2><span class="smcap">The Christian Sanction of War.</span></h2> - -<p class="center noindent">AT THE SERVICE OF INTERCESSION FOR THE KING’S -NAVAL AND MILITARY FORCES IN CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL, AUGUST, 1914.</p> - -<p>We are assembled here this afternoon, at the call of our King in -Council and of our Archbishop, for the purpose of solemn intercession -with Almighty God on behalf of his Majesty’s naval and military -forces now engaged in war. That is in accordance with the solemn -practice of our fathers at all the great crises of our history; and -it is only about fourteen years since we were similarly interceding -with Almighty God in this cathedral, when the King’s forces were -engaged in an arduous struggle in South Africa. But the gravity of our -present struggle is greater than that of any in the memory of living -men, perhaps greater than that of any other in our history. The very -existence of our Empire, and even the independence of our Kingdom, -is at stake; and the Power by which we are threatened has<span -class="pagenum"><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[118]</a></span> -been, of late years, deemed the greatest military force in Europe, and -a naval force only second to our own. It may be that the capacities -and resources of our Kingdom and Empire will be strained as they have -never been strained before, and that all our manhood, and even our -womanhood, will be called upon for all the force and endurance of which -they are capable. Prayer to God is incumbent upon us at all times; -but there are special reasons why, in a great war, it is the most -important of all duties, and the most precious of all privileges. The -issues of war are, in an extraordinary degree, beyond the control of -man. The issue of a battle or a campaign may, in fact, be determined -by incidents, moral and physical, which no human power can foresee or -control. Our own deliverance from the Spanish Armada was certainly -determined, in an incalculable degree, by the tremendous storm which -wrecked the Spanish fleet at the critical moment; and again and -again in history have great battles been decided by influences of -that nature, or by some incalculable turn in the feeling and temper -of an army. Consequently,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_119" -id="Page_119">[119]</a></span> when nations go to war they place -themselves and their fortunes in the hands of God in a more absolute -manner than in any other human affairs. That is what we have now done -by declaring war against Germany; and we have, therefore, more reason -than at any other time in our history to fall before God’s -footstool, and to implore Him for the protection and blessing which -He, and He only, can give us. It is still more true now than in the -Psalmist’s time that “there is no king that can be saved by -the multitude of an host, neither is any mighty man delivered by much -strength; an horse is counted but a vain thing to save a man, neither -shall he deliver any man by his great strength. Behold the eye of the -Lord is upon them that fear Him, and upon them that put their trust in -His mercy.” In that spirit we now bow before His throne—in -the words of our daily prayer in time of war and tumult—before -the throne of “the only Giver of all victory.”</p> - -<p>Coming before Him in these solemn circumstances, and with this -momentous petition, it becomes us to ask ourselves whether we are -doing so in a spirit, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_120" -id="Page_120">[120]</a></span> with a cause, in which we can expect His -blessing, and a favourable answer to our prayers. “If I incline -unto wickedness with my heart,” says the Psalmist, “the -Lord will not hear me.” If we are to offer our prayers with a -believing and confident heart, we must have our conscience clear; and -before men ask God’s blessing in so tremendous an issue as that -of war, they must consider with the most solemn earnestness whether -they can feel assured that what they are doing and asking is in -accordance with His will.</p> - -<p>As to the lawfulness of war itself, though some good Christian -minds are troubled by the question, the answer seems clear and simple. -War is justifiable for the same reason that it is lawful to put men -to death for great crimes, like murder and treason. The conscience of -mankind at large, the conscience of Christian States at large, has -uniformly wielded the sword of justice in avenging and averting, by the -punishment of death, such crimes of violence and treachery as destroy -the very frame of Society. That use of the sword of justice, moreover, -has the express support of Revelation,<span class="pagenum"><a -name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[121]</a></span> for St. Paul has -declared that the ruler “beareth not the sword in vain; he is -the minister of God, an avenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth -evil.” But if it is lawful to use the sword of justice against -individuals, it must be equally lawful to use it against a community -of individuals—in other words, against a society, or a nation, -who are unjustly destroying or threatening the lives and the peace -of another society or nation. The use of the sword—which is an -elementary name for war—has been shown by thousands of years -of experience to be, in the last resort, the only effectual means of -punishing and preventing unjust violence. It is vain to argue what -might be possible or desirable if man were an uncorrupt creature. -He is, as a matter of fact, a sinful creature; and, as St. Paul -plainly says, it is God Himself who has put the sword into the hands -of human authority to punish, and to restrain, the effects of that -sinfulness.</p> - -<p>Thus the mere fact of our resort to the sword need not of -itself burden our consciences. But if this account of its awful -purpose be true, one indispensable condition for its use is -obviously requisite.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_122" -id="Page_122">[122]</a></span> If the purpose of the sword is to punish -injustice, then we must take care that it is used for that solemn -purpose only. It was not given to men to enable them to gratify their -ambition or pride, or to enlarge their kingdoms at their pleasure, -or for any selfish purpose whatever. He who draws the sword for any -purpose but that of upholding justice and judgment on the earth is -committing the crime of murder on the vastest scale, and renders -himself justly liable to the stern use of the sword against himself. -If, therefore, we are to come before God with a clear conscience at -this moment, we must be able to say, from our hearts, that we have not -now drawn the sword from any selfish motive, or under the influence of -any violent passion, but that we have drawn it simply and solely in -the discharge of our bounden duty, and in fulfilment of just promises -and engagements to our neighbours. My brethren, I believe it may be -confidently asserted that this country has never been engaged in a war -in respect to which this could be said with more unqualified confidence -than in the present case.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_123" -id="Page_123">[123]</a></span></p> - -<p>I think, indeed, we may thankfully consider, in reviewing our -long history, that the wars by which our Empire has been developed -and established have, on the whole, been of this character, and -have not been prompted by either national or dynastic ambition. The -wars under Queen Elizabeth, in which the germs of our Empire were -laid, were mainly prompted by a just indignation against the cruel -and superstitious tyranny of Spain; and the wars of Marlborough -and Wellington were similarly fought to protect Europe against an -overbearing and unjust domination. In the heat of those struggles -we may have been betrayed, in some instances, into an unjust use -of the sword; but, on the whole, we may thank God that the wars -which have established Great Britain in its present position have -been—at least mainly—fought in just causes. Certainly in -the present instance we have no other motive or object. We covet no -other nation’s possessions; we have not interfered—and -do not desire to interfere—with any other nation’s -affairs; we would not willingly exert our influence for any -other purpose but that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_124" -id="Page_124">[124]</a></span> of promoting righteousness and freedom; -and if, in our later history, we have erred, as human beings can hardly -avoid erring sometimes, the errors have been due to a failure of -judgment, and not of motive or intention. As to the particular occasion -of this war, we have offered no provocation whatever, except what has -been called “the strong antipathy” of right to wrong; the -provocation which adherence to promise and treaties must ever offer to -those who would break them; the provocation which defence of the weak -must ever offer to those who would overbear them. We can say in a word, -with a good conscience, that we are at least earnestly endeavouring to -act as the servants of Him of Whom the Psalmist exclaims: “The -Lord is King; the earth may be glad thereof; yea, the multitude of the -isles may be glad thereof. Clouds and darkness are round about Him; -righteousness and judgment are the habitation of His seat.” It -is in the cause of that righteousness and judgment that we desire to -act.</p> - -<p>But there is one other condition that we must fulfil, if we are -to dare to claim the favour of God in this great struggle.<span -class="pagenum"><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[125]</a></span> We -must not only ask whether we are upholding righteousness in our public -action but whether we are observing it in our own hearts, and in our -national life. Sufferings, we are told in our Prayer Book, may be sent -“to correct and amend in us whatever doth offend the eyes of our -Heavenly Father.” Can we fail to be sensible that there is much -in our lives, both private and public, which must offend His eyes? -Our private sins must be left to our private consciences. But who has -not listened during the last few years, with a painful sense of their -justice, to reproaches among ourselves at the luxury, the extravagance, -the reckless pursuit of pleasure, the general self-indulgence, which -have been too prevalent among us? With what heart can men appeal for -God’s favour and protection, in their hour of need, who, in -their hours of well-being, have neglected His worship and disregarded -His Word and Sacraments? Before going into battle as a nation and as -individuals, let us seek His absolution in that comprehensive prayer of -our Litany “that it would please Him to give us true repentance, -to forgive us all our sins, negligences, and<span class="pagenum"><a -name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[126]</a></span> ignorances, and to endue -us with the grace of His Holy Spirit to amend our lives according to -His Holy Word.”</p> - -<p>In so far as we approach Him in this spirit, we may humbly hope for -His blessing on the bravery and the self-sacrifice of our sailors and -soldiers. Those sacrifices, moreover, alike for them and for ourselves, -will be relieved of their worst bitterness, and will be glorified by -a sacred and Divine example. They will not be fruitless sacrifices. -They will be sacrifices which will win for the fellow-countrymen of -those who offer them, and for the world at large, grand additions to -that edifice of righteousness and judgment, of Christian civilization, -towards which the hopes of mankind are directed with an inexpressible -yearning. If this war results, as we now pray that it may, in the -reassertion of principles which were in danger of being forgotten -or overridden, in the re-establishment of the faith of treaties, -and in the protection of the weak against the strong, it will have -established for Europe and the world a great consolidation and advance -in the essential principles of national truth and justice.<span -class="pagenum"><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[127]</a></span> It is -a comparatively poor thing to die for glory, or for power and wealth; -but it is a grand thing to die for righteousness and equity, for the -God who allows us to be His instruments in upholding them, and for the -King and country whose call we are proud to obey. If, moreover, men go -to war in this spirit, they may claim a still more Divine privilege. -In the sacrifice which soldiers make in a righteous cause, they are -following, in the most essential characteristic, the “author -and finisher of our Faith,” the “Captain of our -Salvation,” whose work is summed up in that soldier-like phrase, -“He resisted unto blood, striving against sin.” The soldier -who sheds his blood on the battlefield in a righteous cause, and with -a righteous purpose, is doing the very thing that Christ did, and he -may be assured of Christ’s approval and blessing. In quiet times -we may fail to realize adequately the solemn truth that, whenever we -receive the Holy Communion, we are receiving spiritual benefits which -were won for us by the sacrifice of the Body and Blood of our Saviour -Christ. If war, in one aspect, is a horrible thing, so was the<span -class="pagenum"><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[128]</a></span> -Cross; but the whole hope of the salvation of mankind, here and -hereafter, was won by that Divine bloodshed; and its grace and glory -are reflected over every battlefield, in which blood is shed in the -long struggle against unrighteousness. In these convictions, and with -these solemn resolves, let us now appeal to God, in firm and humble -faith, for His help in this hour of need; and let us enter into this -dread conflict with the full assurance that “God is our refuge -and strength, a very present help in trouble.”</p> - -<div class="chapter"></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[129]</a></span></p> - -<h2><span class="smcap">The Warning of the Tower In Siloam.</span></h2> - -<p class="center noindent">PREACHED IN CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL, OCTOBER 25, -1914.</p> - -<div class="sc-ref"> - -<p class="center">“<i>I tell you, Nay; but, except ye repent, ye shall all -likewise perish.</i>”—Luke xiii. 1-5.</p> - -</div> - -<p>“Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.” In -these solemn words, twice repeated, our Lord affords us a flash of -light upon the principles and methods of the Divine judgments, and -utters a solemn warning; and I think that both the revelation and -the warning will be found intensely applicable to the distressing -sufferings and anxieties through which we and our country are now -passing. Our Lord had been speaking about the severity of the -Divine justice, and about the blindness of men in not foreseeing -the approach of His judgments. “Ye hypocrites,” He -said, “ye can discern the face of the sky and of the earth; -but how is it that ye do not discern this time? Yea, and why even -of yourselves judge ye not<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_130" -id="Page_130">[130]</a></span> what is right?” and He warns them -that if they fall into the hands of justice, they will not depart -thence till they have paid the very last mite. At this mention of the -Divine judgment, some who were present told Him of a dreadful act -of violence which had recently occurred, of some Galilæans, -“whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices.” -It would seem they were members of an extremely zealous sect of Jews, -who objected to the custom which then prevailed of offering sacrifices -in the Temple for the welfare of the Roman Government; and Pilate -treated their conduct as treasonable, and had them slaughtered in the -Temple while they were offering their own sacrifices. The object of -the interruption seems to have been to ask our Lord whether these men -had brought such a punishment upon themselves by unusual sin, and it -may also have been intended to tempt Him to pronounce some censure -on Pilate, and thus to bring Himself into conflict with the Roman -authorities. But our Lord’s reply lifts the matter at once out -of any personal or local bearings, and lays down a principle which -applies to all such tragedies. “Suppose<span class="pagenum"><a -name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[131]</a></span> ye,” He said, -“that these Galilæans were sinners above all the -Galilæans because they suffered such things? I tell you, Nay; -but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.” He drives -the truth home by applying it to another recent tragedy, which might -have seemed a mere accident. “Those eighteen,” He said, -“upon whom the tower in Siloam fell, and slew them, think ye that -they were sinners above all men that dwelt in Jerusalem? I tell you, -Nay; but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.” It is -not for you, He seems to say, to be curious about the reason why these -particular men have suffered in this way. What you should do is to -learn that you are all liable to suffer in the same way, and that you -will do so unless you repent.</p> - -<p>Now, it will be seen that there is a momentous revelation contained -in these words, respecting the real cause of such dreadful disasters as -these two incidents illustrated. When He says, “Except ye repent, -ye shall all likewise perish,” He clearly intimates that a Divine -judgment is going forward in the world, which sooner or later brings -suffering and destruction<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_132" -id="Page_132">[132]</a></span> upon men in consequence of their sin. -Even what we might call a physical accident, like the fall of a tower -which kills eighteen persons, is a warning to men that they are liable -to such a death at any moment, and that, therefore, they should repent -and be prepared for it. It is an example of what may befall any of us, -and of what will befall all of us in one way or another, unless we -repent. If we look more particularly into the example of the men whom -Pilate slaughtered, we shall realize that it has a peculiarly close -application to our own day. These men, who were resisting the Roman -Government, were examples of the vehement passions which were at that -time surging among the Jewish people. Our Lord Himself was the victim -of the fierce hatred of foreign influence which prevailed among the -people. The priests and Pharisees said among themselves, “What -do we? For this man doeth many miracles, and if we let Him thus alone, -all men will believe on Him, and the Romans will come and take away -both our place and our nation.” And the High Priest, Caiaphas, -replied, “Ye know nothing at all, nor consider that it is<span -class="pagenum"><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[133]</a></span> -expedient for us that one man should die for the people, and that the -whole nation perish not.” Thus it was that the passions of the -Jewish people were worked up into such blindness and wickedness, that -they committed the awful crime of putting our Lord to death; and then -in forty years the prediction of our Lord was fulfilled, and the great -mass of them perished in just such a slaughter as that which Pilate -committed, the blood of the nation being shed in torrents in the Courts -of the Temple, and amidst its sacrifices. These events—the -massacre by Pilate, the murder of our Lord, the destruction of the -Jewish people—were not separate and disconnected events. They -were all the consequence of the sins and evil passions which our Lord -denounced among the Jews of His time; and the disasters which the Jews -suffered were the judgments of God’s righteousness upon those -sins.</p> - -<p>Now what this reveals to us is the constitution of that world of -human society amidst which we live. The bedrock of it, the basis of -its whole constitution, is the righteousness of God and His unwavering -maintenance of His moral laws. As the<span class="pagenum"><a -name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[134]</a></span> Psalmist says, -“Clouds and darkness are round about Him,” and we cannot -follow in all respects His mysterious dispensations; but one thing -we know for certain, that “righteousness and judgment are the -habitation of His seat.” All His providential government of -mankind is based on the assertion of right and the punishment and -repression of wrong; and, as another prophet says, when you see -God’s judgments in the world you may be sure that the object of -them is that the inhabitants of the world may learn righteousness. But -it is of the first importance we should realize how those judgments -are for the most part executed. It is not, as a rule, by the special -and visible interposition of God’s hand. There have been times, -indeed, as on various occasions in the history of the Jews, such as the -deliverance of His people from Egypt, when God manifestly interposed, -by miraculous means, to punish His enemies and to deliver His people. -But for the most part, and in the general course of history, the moral -and religious laws which God has established in human nature are left -to work out their natural consequences, and men are punished not -merely because of their sins, but by their<span class="pagenum"><a -name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[135]</a></span> sins, and by the working -out of their sins in their lives. The explanation of the chief troubles -of mankind, and in particular of the wars and sufferings which have -cursed the earth from generation to generation, is contained in that -statement of St. James: “From whence come wars and fightings -among you? Come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your -members? Ye lust and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot -obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not. Ye ask, -and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon -your lusts.” When the men and women of whom a nation is composed -give way to those lusts of which St. James speaks, to covetousness, -jealousy, sensuality, and untruthfulness, they are gradually storing -up the fuel of passions for some great conflagration, which arises in -the natural course of things, as the consequence of some great public -injustice into which they are betrayed. They thus rouse the indignation -of other people, they commit injustices which must be resisted, and -then the world is convulsed in some great war like the present.</p> - -<p>War, in fact, is the natural penalty by<span class="pagenum"><a -name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[136]</a></span> which, under God’s -constitution of the world, the evil passions of men punish themselves. -We may take an example from the physical world. The earth under our -feet is held together, and affords us a sure foothold, by virtue of -certain physical and chemical laws which are perpetually at work -in it, such as the law of gravitation and the laws of chemical -attraction. They are always working silently, and it is by means of -the incessant action of those laws that the whole face of the earth -is maintained from day to day. But from time to time, from some -causes which we do not yet understand, something occurs to disturb -their ordinary peaceful course, and then by their own natural action -they produce some tremendous convulsions, like earthquakes or the -eruptions of volcanoes. So it is with the moral world of national and -international life. It is maintained in peace and stability, as a -rule, by the principles of mutual trust and regard, if not of love, -which are at the root of social and political life; but if falsehood -and jealousy and covetousness accumulate in some part of the world, -there is sure, sooner or later, to be a terrible convulsion and a<span -class="pagenum"><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[137]</a></span> -devastating eruption of “blood and fire and vapour of -smoke.” War is thus the outburst, the visible embodiment, of -the passions behind it, of the accumulated sins which nations and -generations have been indulging. We look with horror on war and all -its miseries, and justly so; but what we ought to look on with more -horror are the sins and wickedness and passions of which war is the -inevitable result. People say that war is wrong, and of course it is -wrong that there should be war; but the wrong in it is not the actual -waging of the war, not at least the using of the sword, in the Name of -God, to assert right against wrong; that is the bounden duty of the -lawful authority. Where the wrong lies is in the passions which make -the war, and which compel men to resort to so terrible a vindication of -righteousness.</p> - -<p>Have we not, I must ask, a glaring illustration of the profound -moral principles thus asserted by our Lord in the present war? -The means of communication in our day enable us to realize the -feelings which are at work over the face of Europe amidst this -terrible convulsion;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_138" -id="Page_138">[138]</a></span> and there is one fact which is -appallingly conspicuous in that manifestation. That fact is the -falsehood, the hatred, the violent imputations of evil motives, the -overbearing ambition which are at work in the great nation—for -a great nation it is—with which we are at war. As I will -presently observe, I am far from acquitting ourselves of all blame in -the matter. There was never a human struggle yet in which either side -was perfectly free from blame; but as to the gross misrepresentations -which are eagerly disseminated abroad respecting the motives and the -conduct of this country, there can be no question whatever, and no -adequate excuse. Whatever faults and errors we have committed, our -statesmen have not been animated in the development of our Empire by -greed and selfish ambition, or by a mere desire to be supreme over -other nations. So far as our enemies are acting upon these ideas of our -motives, they are absolutely blind; and there is nothing more terrible -in the revelations which this war affords than that individuals and -nations are capable of such absolute delusions, on so vast a scale, -respecting one another’s motives and characters. It is<span -class="pagenum"><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[139]</a></span> -plain that what has made this war is a total absence of that Christian -charity between individuals and nations which St. Paul inculcates as -“the very bond of all virtues,” and which is therefore the -bond of all society. The most heart-rending thing, after all, is not -that we are at war, but that Christian nations should be capable, in -their daily life and thought, of such an absolute negation of those -principles of moral life and faith which our Lord came to establish -among us. Our Lord here warns us that unless men repent of this -uncharitable temper, and of the sins associated with it, war can never -be abolished, and we shall all perish in some fearful conflagration. -At present the conflagration, like the tower in Siloam, has wrought -its destruction mainly upon others than ourselves. A modern despot, -indignant, like Pilate, at opposition to the claims of his nation, -has mingled the blood of Belgian men and women and children with -their sacrifices, with their ruined churches and desolated homes. But -it is certainly not because a people like the brave Belgians were -sinners above all men that dwelt in Europe<span class="pagenum"><a -name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[140]</a></span> that they have thus -suffered. “I tell you, Nay,” our Lord’s Voice is -heard in this text; “but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise -perish.” Look to yourselves; ask yourselves whether there are -or have been sins prevailing among you which, under the laws of -God’s righteousness, must work out their evil consequence in your -social and national life; and repent, lest ye likewise perish.</p> - -<p>It is impossible, in dealing with this subject, not to express, as I -have done, a deep indignation at the motives and the spirit which have -been displayed by our enemies in this war. But we should miss the whole -purpose of our Lord’s warning unless we applied it in the first -instance, and in the main, to ourselves. Let us bear in mind that what -has happened in Belgium and France might in conceivable circumstances, -in the further development of scientific warfare, in the air as well -as in the sea, happen to ourselves; and let us take to heart the clear -warning of our Lord that the only way to avert such destructions, -and to avoid perishing ourselves, is to repent, and from our hearts -to cultivate among us those principles of<span class="pagenum"><a -name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[141]</a></span> charity, truth, -righteousness and religion, which alone can keep human nature in -peace.</p> - -<p>After all, can we be sure that we are not partly to blame for -this war by our own faults and failures? Have our statesmen, have -we as a nation, been looking facts in the face and meeting them -with faithfulness and self-sacrifice? Do not many among us ask -whether this war would ever have been possible if we had realized -our danger and our duty in time, and prepared ourselves, at whatever -cost, to avert the danger? How far have we, and those who guide us, -allowed ourselves to be diverted from the truth of our condition by -sectarian and party passions and uncharitable class jealousies? Have -we seriously laid to heart “the great dangers we are in by our -unhappy divisions?” Is it compatible with the love of God and of -Christ that those divisions should prevail so far as to lead to the -curtailment of the Christian instruction of our school-children, and -the secularization of property left by our ancestors for the hallowing -of God’s Name and the promotion of Christ’s Kingdom? -We have, moreover, been on the verge of civil war; and the<span -class="pagenum"><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[142]</a></span> very -possibility of such war is proof enough, on the principles we have been -considering, that some of the passions which lead to all wars have been -rife among us. The possibility of that intestine war seems, in fact, -to have been one of the considerations which encouraged the present -attack upon us. Add to all this the social and personal vices, against -which good men among us and great societies have been struggling for -years, and have we not abundant reason to apply earnestly to our nation -and to our individual selves the Lord’s warning: “Repent, -or ye shall likewise perish?” For my part, I could wish that we -were afforded an opportunity, by some solemn appointment of a Day of -National Humiliation as well as Intercession, to search our consciences -in the sight of God, and to unite in one great act of national -repentance. But let us at least endeavour to discharge this duty of -repentance and amendment for our own souls and in our individual lives; -and we may then be assured that we are doing the best we can towards -averting from our nation that suffering and ruin, which are brought so -closely home to us in the miseries of our Allies.</p> - -<div class="chapter"></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[143]</a></span></p> - -<h2><span class="smcap">The Righteous Ideal.</span></h2> - -<p class="center noindent">AT CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL, SEPTUAGESIMA SUNDAY, -1915.</p> - -<div class="sc-ref"> - -<p>“<i>Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the -ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of -the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the Lord: and in his law -doth he meditate day and night.</i>”—Ps. i. 12.</p> - -</div> - -<p>It is with the utmost appropriateness that this psalm is placed -first in the Psalter, for it expresses the spirit which underlies all -other psalms, and, in fact, the whole of the Scriptures. Its message -lies, indeed, at the root of the religion of the Old Testament, and -of the New Testament also. Let us notice, in the first place, that -its opening word—the word “blessed”—is the -keynote of the Scriptures from first to last. In the first chapter of -Genesis, which we have read this morning, we read, not only that God -saw everything that He had made, and behold it was very good; but more -particularly, that when God made man He blessed them, and gave them a -special commission. He placed<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_144" -id="Page_144">[144]</a></span> them in the Garden of Eden, in which -He made to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for -food, the Tree of Life also in the midst of the Garden. He blessed -them, and intended them to be blessed; and He gave them a command which -they had only to obey in order to enjoy that blessing. Man forfeited -the blessing by disobeying the command; but the last chapter of the -Bible, which we have read this evening, describes the recovery of it -by those who have faithfully served Him. It describes a day when there -shall be no more curse, but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall -be in the new Garden of the Tree of Life. “The throne of God -and of the Lamb shall be in it; and His servants shall serve Him; and -they shall see His face; and His name shall be in their foreheads. -And there shall be no night there; and they need no light of lamp, -neither light of the sun; for the Lord God giveth them light: and they -shall reign for ever and ever.” Thus the Bible holds out, from -beginning to end, the prospect of blessedness, or perfect happiness, -as that which God designs for men, and which will be ultimately<span -class="pagenum"><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[145]</a></span> -bestowed upon His faithful servants. Between the beginning and the end, -in the midst of this great dispensation, when our Lord appeared with -His new covenant, His message is described as a Gospel, as “good -tidings of great joy,” and the first word He utters in that great -Sermon on the Mount, which contains his special teaching, is this -characteristic word “blessed.” He repeats it again and -again, “Blessed be ye poor.... Blessed are ye that hunger now.... -Blessed are ye that weep.” The promise of blessing is thus the -keynote of our Saviour’s message.</p> - -<p>Now this characteristic of the Bible and of our Saviour’s -teaching explains, and in great degree justifies, the universal craving -of men and women for happiness. The pursuit of happiness in one form -or another is the most universal motive of human conduct. It inspires -some of our best exertions, and it prompts most of our sins. The motive -of our first mother, as described in the third chapter of Genesis, is -still that of nearly all of us, in one way or another. “When -the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was<span -class="pagenum"><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[146]</a></span> -pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she -took of the fruit thereof and did eat.” The world, the flesh, and -the devil are perpetually offering men fruits of this kind, and the -craving for the happiness they promise is so great that men and women -seize them, in spite of the knowledge they have in their consciences -that to do so is wrong and against the will of God. In daily life -we find that different fruits—forbidden fruits—appeal -to different classes of men and women, but they are all liable to -be attracted by some fruit or other and to be possessed by some -“ruling passion.” It is striking, moreover, to look at -the course of history, and observe how different fruits, different -ideals, have attracted the various nations of the world. To the Greek -the attraction was that of beauty and art, and their temptation was to -give themselves up to the pleasures which those ideals could afford -them, with but little moral restraint. The fruit which most attracted -the Roman mind was that of rule and power. The passion, indeed, for -creating great empires has been one of the strongest in mankind. -We see it in full strength in the great<span class="pagenum"><a -name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[147]</a></span> Assyrian and Babylonian -empires, and, unhappily, we see it in full force in a great nation of -the present day. These pleasures and glories have accordingly been the -subject of a vast amount of human literature—poetry, and history, -and song.</p> - -<p>But the characteristic of the people of Israel, and of Jewish -literature, is that none of these ideals of happiness, whether of -beauty or glory or power, have animated their best representatives. The -one ideal which was always before the minds of their great prophets, -and poets, and teachers was the ideal of righteousness, the ideal of -the law of God, which is the subject of this first Psalm. The truth, -with which the Book of Genesis opens, that God has given a law to men, -that He has declared His will to them, and given them statutes and -commandments in which that will is expressed—this is the supreme -thought in the mind of the Jewish Psalmist or prophet, and, in spite -of all their faults, of the Jewish nation as a whole. Psalm cxix. is, -perhaps, the fullest expression of this conviction and passion. That -psalm is one long variation of its opening verse, “Blessed are -they that are undefiled in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_148" -id="Page_148">[148]</a></span> the way, and walk in the law of the -Lord. Blessed are they that keep His testimonies, and seek Him with -their whole heart.” “O how love I Thy law! it is my -meditation all the day.” “How sweet are Thy words unto -my taste! yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth! Through Thy precepts -I get understanding, therefore I hate every false way.” You -will see that these phrases express a positive passion in the mind of -the Psalmist for the law of God—as strong a passion at least, -or even stronger, than the passions of some men for the pleasures of -sense, and of others for the pleasures of ambition and worldly success. -“I opened my mouth,” says the Psalmist, “and drew -in my breath, for my delight was in Thy commandments.” The -whole frame of the man, his body as well as his mind, is absorbed -in this passion for the law of God. The Jew craves for blessing, -or for happiness, as much as the Greek or the Roman, but he seeks -that blessing in the knowledge and obedience of the law of God. He -knows it is to be found in the way of righteousness and nowhere -else. Thus the first Psalm is a fitting introduction to all the -rest. “His delight,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_149" -id="Page_149">[149]</a></span>” it says, “is in the law -of the Lord; and in His law doth he meditate day and night. And he -shall be like a tree planted by the waterside, that will bring forth -his fruit in due season. His leaf also shall not wither; and look, -whatsoever he doeth, it shall prosper.” This psalm, in short, -embodies the very essence of the belief of the true Jew, which is that -the law of God and the righteousness of God are the one source of all -happiness and blessedness, and that the highest privilege of men and -women is to give themselves up, body and soul, to the pursuit of the -happiness which is there to be found.</p> - -<p>I think we shall all recognize that the tendency of men and women -is, for the most part, too different from this. They may wish to do -right and to avoid wrong, but it is comparatively rare for the supreme -passion of their lives to be the pursuit of righteousness, and for -the supreme love of their lives to be for the law of God. Is it not -our general tendency to pursue our own objects, to seek enjoyment, -and happiness, and success in our own ways, and to regard the law -of God, and the principles of righteousness, as a controlling<span -class="pagenum"><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[150]</a></span> -power, an external authority, which checks us when we are in danger of -going wrong and so far guides us? but the love of it, and the longing -for obedience to it, is too rarely the main motive of our lives. That -is the characteristic of those whom we regard as Saints, but it is not, -I fear, the characteristic of the mass of men and women. This, however, -is the ideal put before us, throughout the Scriptures, as that which -ought to be predominant in our hearts and lives. “Thou shalt love -the Lord thy God,” says Moses, “with all thy heart, and -with all thy soul, and with all thy might.” “This,” -said our Lord, “is the great commandment.” -“Blessed,” according to this Psalm, “is the man whose -delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law doth he meditate day -and night.” It is not enough for such a man not to do wrong; -his whole soul is absorbed in the passion for doing what is right. He -believes that the law of God has set before him a great ideal, a vision -of the perfection of human nature; and his great craving is to realize -that ideal and to be what God intended him to be. He knows that all -blessing is to be found in that law and in<span class="pagenum"><a -name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[151]</a></span> those visions of -perfection, and he pursues them with his whole heart.</p> - -<p>This spirit of the godly man is associated with another aspect of -the same truth which is ever present in the Bible, and which is very -imperfectly realized among men in general. We are apt to be satisfied -with recognizing right and wrong as one of the many elements with which -we are concerned in life. Life is a vast scene of innumerable passions, -and interests, and pleasures, and schemes—personal, social, -political, and imperial; and nearly all of us recognize, no doubt, that -right and wrong, righteousness and justice, have a momentous place -among these various energies and interests; but in the light of the -Bible, and in the teaching of our Lord, that is a very imperfect view -to take of their position. There, right and wrong, righteousness and -justice, are supreme over all other interests; they are the foundation -on which the whole edifice of life is built up; or they are, as it -were, the very cement by which the whole is held together. As the -history of the Jewish people is told in the Bible, every event in their -career is shown to turn on<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_152" -id="Page_152">[152]</a></span> the question of their righteousness or -wickedness. God’s one object is to educate them to be a righteous -nation, to keep His commandments, and statutes, and judgments, so that -they may realize His great design for them. They suffer punishment, -such as invasion by enemies, or captivity by Assyria or Rome, not -merely because of the ambition of those nations, and of their own -comparative weakness, but because they were becoming faithless to the -law of God, and not living for His honour and glory. All that the -world, and the worldly historian, might see of them was that they had -provoked the Assyrian or Roman monarch by some act of self-assertion -and pride, and that he avenged himself by invading and desolating -their country. But the prophetical men who wrote the Books of Kings, -and other historical Books of the Old Testament, went behind this -immediate cause, and saw that it was by the providence of God that -the people were thus punished, because they had forgotten the God of -their fathers, and were ceasing to serve Him. They were inspired to -see this element of righteousness, and of the law of the Lord,<span -class="pagenum"><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[153]</a></span> -as the most essential in the whole history, and asserting itself -continually under the control of God’s providence.</p> - -<p>I venture to think we might illustrate the matter by an example -from modern science. We know now that the most important and universal -force in nature is that of which one of the most familiar forms is -electricity. We know that its influence in the form of light and -magnetism pervades the whole of nature; we know that the very movements -of our limbs, of our hands and fingers, are dependent upon it, that -this is the force which animates our nerves and through them controls -our whole bodies. We know that the element in which it works—the -ether—pervades the whole universe, and that the light which -flashes from stars hundreds of millions of miles away is due to this -subtle force. And yet until less than a hundred years ago men hardly -realized its existence. It was an unseen force, which worked behind -all other forces, and even men of science had but a dim appreciation -of it. So it was with this supreme force of righteousness, until it -was brought into full light by the revelation of the prophets<span -class="pagenum"><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[154]</a></span> -and of our Lord and His Apostles. What they revealed to us, what the -Bible is teaching in every page, what our Lord, above all, impresses -on us with supreme force, is that God’s righteousness is like -the ethereal fluid, which is at once the illuminating agent and the -motive force of all human life. It is quiet for the most part, and -men hardly observe it; but on a sudden it bursts out into some great -storm, like that which startled the author of Psalm xxix. “The -voice of the Lord is upon the waters: the God of glory thundereth: the -Lord is upon many waters.” We see the flash of the lightning of -righteousness, and hear the crash of its thunder. “The voice of -the Lord divideth the flames of fire. The voice of the Lord shaketh the -wilderness.” That is the meaning, no doubt, of a great war like -the present. Some evil had been accumulating, some passions of ambition -and greed, some failures in duty, some defections from truth, faults of -one kind in one nation, and sad failures of duty in another, and, on a -sudden, some spark lights an explosion, and the whole world is ablaze -with flames of fire. So it is also in our<span class="pagenum"><a -name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[155]</a></span> private lives. We -may go on for a long time yielding to weaknesses, or even sins, and -righteousness may seem to be silent, the voice of conscience may seem -to be a mere voice and not to be asserting its supremacy; but, on -a sudden, or after a long and gradual accumulation of wrong-doing, -God asserts His law, our neglect of righteousness finds us out, and -God’s justice is vindicated upon us.</p> - -<p>These considerations ought to lead to a deeper devotion to -those principles of right and wrong, and to that supreme vision of -righteousness which the Bible and our Lord and His Apostles impress -upon us; but I would add that it is the great message we should take -home to ourselves, not merely in our individual lives, but in our -national life. We see before us a great nation, endowed with some of -the highest capacities of human nature, allowing itself to be absorbed -more and more, year by year, by a great passion for power and dominion -and supremacy in the world. This passion has taken such hold on it that -it thinks itself justified in over-riding and defying the laws of truth -and justice and mercy, even in the imperfect<span class="pagenum"><a -name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[156]</a></span> form in which they -have been formally recognized in the law of nations. Everything, we -are told, must yield to the demands of a nation which believes that a -certain supremacy in the world is necessary for it. The consequence -is that the air has to be cleared by this awful outburst of national -thunder and lightning. But let us apply the danger and the lesson to -ourselves. What is our own ideal as a nation and as an empire? Perhaps -we too have been in danger of being fascinated too much by that vision -of empire. It is a legitimate ideal when applied to right purposes, -and subject to the right control; but those purposes must be those of -Divine righteousness, and the control is the control of the law of -God. If we make it the main object of every power with which God has -entrusted us to promote His laws, to support and to spread further -the Kingdom of His Christ, to do righteousness and justice in the -world, so far as our power and influence reaches; if for that purpose -we strive to ensure that all our legislation, and all our imperial -and national action, is deliberately and constantly directed to the -support and extension of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_157" -id="Page_157">[157]</a></span> the law of God and of Christ, then we -may hope for God’s blessing on our achievements, and may trust -to be preserved from those perversions of national spirit, and from -that military and arbitrary passion, against which we have at this -moment to maintain so desperate a struggle. Let us strive after this -great object, alike in ourselves, in our country, and throughout -our Empire, and then we may hope that as a nation we may be, in the -Psalmist’s words, “like a tree planted by the rivers of -water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season,” and that -whatsoever we do may prosper. In a word, as a nation no less than as -individuals, let our delight be in the law of the Lord, and in His law -let us meditate day and night.</p> - -<div class="chapter"></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[158]</a></span></p> - -<h2><span class="smcap">Reasons For Intercession.</span></h2> - -<p class="center noindent">CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL: DAY OF SPECIAL INTERCESSION FOR -THE WAR, JUNE 17, 1915.</p> - -<div class="sc-ref"> - -<p class="center">“<i>The heathen make much ado, and the kingdoms are -moved: but God hath shewed His voice, and the earth shall melt -away.</i>”—Ps. xlvi. 6.</p> - -</div> - -<p>We are come here this evening to offer our earnest prayers and -supplications to God for His help in this grievous and dangerous -crisis of our national life, to entreat Him to grant the victory -to our King and his Allies, and to deliver our nation, our Empire, -and the world from the violence and oppression with which they -are threatened by the enemy. In order that we may do so aright, -it is necessary we should realize distinctly what is God’s -special concern with the war, and what is our own relation to Him in -respect to it. Now, the one supreme truth which I would urge upon -you this evening is that the war, as a whole—its origin, its -course, its end, and its purpose—is in the hands of God, and -that we must look to Him,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_159" -id="Page_159">[159]</a></span> and to Him alone, for our guidance in -it, and our deliverance from it. I fear we are too much disposed to -think of the natural causes of the war, of the natural means we have of -conducting it, and of the human and physical forces which are engaged -in it; while we think of God as standing outside the struggle, and -appeal to Him to interfere in it, as we might appeal to some great -human power, in our extremity. We are too much disposed to act and -think as if the result depended entirely on the number of men we can -put in the field, upon the munitions of war we can obtain, the guns and -the shells and the other physical means we can bring into action. It is -true that these thing—men and the munitions of war—are the -indispensable instruments of success and victory. Even in times when -God interfered miraculously, He required His people, as under Joshua -and David, to put forth their full strength, and to make the utmost -sacrifices for their cause. But the main lesson which is inculcated in -the Scriptures respecting war is that it is one of God’s great -agencies for carrying out His will and accomplishing His own<span -class="pagenum"><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[160]</a></span> -purposes, and that its issue is in all cases absolutely in His hands. -It is He Who permits war; it is He Who in the exercise of His righteous -judgment, occasions war; it is He Who alone can determine the issue of -war; and it is His purposes, and not ours, which are brought to pass by -war.</p> - -<p>If, in fact, we would apprehend our position and the position of -our Empire and of Europe in this war, we must in spirit see God upon -His throne, permitting by His judgment the fierce passions of war -to break forth, and controlling the whole course of the tremendous -storms they involve by His justice and His will. As the Psalmist says, -“The Lord reigneth, be the people never so impatient, He sitteth -between the Cherubim, be the earth never so unquiet.” Or, again, -“The Lord is King, the earth may be glad thereof; yea, the -multitude of the isles may be glad thereof: Clouds and darkness are -round about Him, righteousness and judgment are the habitation of His -seat. There shall go a fire before Him and burn up His enemies on every -side. His lightnings gave shine unto the world: the earth saw<span -class="pagenum"><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[161]</a></span> it -and was afraid.” That might be taken for a picture of war with -the thunders and lightnings of its “red artillery.” Let us, -if we would turn this occasion to due account, look up for a while from -the human thunders and lightnings by which the earth and sea are now -shaken; let us raise our eyes and our hearts to the Psalmist’s -vision of God sitting on His throne, above all these earthly and human -struggles and sufferings, and though clouds and darkness are round -about Him, yet controlling them by His righteous judgment.</p> - -<p>Let us look into this general consideration a little more -particularly. War is the result of human passion, human error, -and human sin. If only men were unselfish, wise, and true, there -would be no occasion for the struggles from which it springs; but -instead of that they are covetous, foolish, and blind, and God has -so constituted mankind that the ultimate appeal of these passions -and follies must be made to force; and in the ordinary course of -His providence He leaves them to make that appeal. He lets their -passions work themselves out to their natural results, and so<span -class="pagenum"><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[162]</a></span> -bring their own punishment upon themselves. If, indeed, men sought -His guidance and grace in all humility and earnestness before war -broke out, we may be confident He would guide and control them; but -the very danger of their pride and their passion is that it makes -them forget Him, and then He suffers them to find their need of Him -by leaving them to bear the consequences. But when those consequences -have broken out into war, they are then, in the most absolute degree, -subject to His over-ruling hand. It is an essential characteristic of -war that it sets forces loose which are beyond calculation, and beyond -human control. Ordinary ways of action are suspended, and we become -subject to the most unexpected and most incalculable influences. We -are beginning to see it ourselves in the present war. We are forced -to resort to public measures which all confess to be absolutely -unprecedented; and the whole world, old and new, is immersed in dangers -and disorders never before dreamed of. But when men and nations are -in this tumult and disorder and blindness, then they realize, as they -too often fail to do in quiet<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_163" -id="Page_163">[163]</a></span> times, that they are absolutely -dependent on God. He has at His command infinite natural and spiritual -forces by which the result of a war or a battle can be determined. As -in the famous battle of Joshua, or in the destruction of the Spanish -Armada in our own history, storms and tempests, or a mere turn in -the weather, or it may be added, the invisible interposition of some -angelic agent, may defeat all human schemes and determine the issue -of a battle, and, through a battle, the fate of an Empire. Of great -commanders, moreover, no less than of kings, the words of our Collect -are true, that their hearts are in God’s rule and governance, -and that He disposes and turns them as it seems best to His godly -wisdom.</p> - -<p>The message of the Bible, in fact, from first to last, the message -of Jewish history, and the message of the Psalms, is that God is -in a pre-eminent degree the “Lord of war,” with Whom -it lies to bring on men the judgment of war, to control war, and -to make wars to cease. “O come hither,” says the Psalm -of my text, “behold the works of the Lord, what destruction -He hath brought upon the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_164" -id="Page_164">[164]</a></span> earth. He maketh wars to cease in all -the world, he breaketh the bow, and knappeth the spear in sunder, and -burneth the chariots in the fire. Be still, then, and know that I am -God: I will be exalted among the heathen and I will be exalted in the -earth.” Or, as it is expressed in another Psalm, “There is -no king that can be saved by the multitude of an host, neither is any -mighty man delivered by much strength. A horse is counted but a vain -thing to save a man, neither shall he deliver any man by his great -strength. Behold the eye of the Lord is upon them that fear Him, upon -them that put their trust in His mercy.” Or, once more, “We -have heard with our ears, O God, our fathers have told us, what Thou -hast done in their time of old; How Thou hast driven out the heathen -with Thy hand, and planted them in; how Thou hast destroyed the nations -and cast them out. For they gat not the land in possession through -their own sword; neither was it their own arm that helped them; but Thy -right hand and Thine arm, and the light of Thy countenance, because -Thou hadst a favour unto them.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_165" -id="Page_165">[165]</a></span></p> - -<p>The first conviction, then, with which we should come before God -to-day is that, although the utmost efforts on our part are required, -still, when we have used the last ounce of our strength, and made the -last sacrifice of life and limb, we are absolutely dependent for the -issue upon the will, the power, and the over-ruling providence of God. -We are bound to fall at His feet as His helpless creatures, absolutely -dependent on His hand. We are bound to recognize that the wealth -and power we enjoy, the great position which this Empire occupies -in the world, have been gifts from Him, and that we gat not this -possession by our own sword; neither was it our own arm that helped -us; but God’s right hand and God’s arm, and the light of -His countenance, because He had a favour towards us, for some great -purposes of His own.</p> - -<p>But what were those purposes? If we feel that we are thus the -instruments of God’s hand, to be used as He pleases, we must -needs ask, with anxious earnestness, What are His great purposes? -and can we know whether we are acting in accordance with them? -We know that we are<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_166" -id="Page_166">[166]</a></span> not in the hands of an arbitrary power -or an unreasoning will. We know that whatever God does is done with -reason and justice and love. Here, again, it is our privilege to have -revealed to us, in God’s Word, the great purposes for which He -is working. His methods and His ways of carrying His purposes out are -beyond our comprehension, but He has graciously told us what those -purposes are. Their great object is the manifestation of His glory, -His truth, His love, to be the light, the salvation, the infinite -happiness of man. That was the object of the whole of His work in -establishing the people of Israel in their land, in protecting -them, in bringing punishments upon them, in delivering them from -their enemies, or allowing them to fall into captivity. By means of -them—through their history, their Prophets, their Psalmists, and -their Kings—He made known that grand revelation of Himself which -is recorded in our Bibles. All these acts were done, and their memory -is preserved, in order that all the world might see and learn that in -knowledge of Him, in obedience to Him, in love to Him and prayer to -Him, is life and health, in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_167" -id="Page_167">[167]</a></span> body and soul, in this world and in the -next. Let us be assured that that remains His purpose, and the guiding -rule of His providence, throughout all history, and in our own, to the -present day. If God has given us wealth, and strength, and prosperity, -and imperial power, we may be sure that it is in order that we may -be His instruments for the spread of His Kingdom, for bringing the -knowledge of Christ and of Christ’s salvation to the ends of -the earth, that the love of Christ, the example of Christ, the law of -Christ may be established throughout the world. Do not let us suppose -that there is any other object whatever in God’s dispensations. -The manifestation of God in Christ, and the bringing of all human -souls, all human life, into harmony with it, into the full enjoyment of -it, and consequently into perfect obedience to His will—this is -the end of all the struggles, of all the wars, of all the sufferings -of mankind, mysterious as they are, and utterly baffling to our feeble -apprehension.</p> - -<p>There is surely an infinite comfort in realizing this great -revelation. If we grasp the assurance that this is the sure and<span -class="pagenum"><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[168]</a></span> -certain end of God’s dispensations, we can bear with patience, -and even with thankfulness, the sufferings and sorrows through which -they are worked out. While we bitterly mourn the loss of those who are -sacrificed in such a war as this, we can feel that they have laid down -their lives in the eternal battle in which Christ is the Commander, and -in which we are all taking part, and that we remain one with them, and -they one with us, in serving Christ and asserting the will of God.</p> - -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="poem"> - <div class="stanza"> -<p>One army of the Living God,</p> -<p class="i2">To His command we bow,</p> -<p>Part of the host have crossed the flood,</p> -<p class="i2">And part are crossing now,</p> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class="noindent">or will be crossing soon. Only let us take care, if -we are to have the reward, hereafter, of having served in this great -army, that we are working, fighting, dying, and suffering bereavement, -in the cause of this great Commander and in accordance with His -will.</p> - -<p>But if these are the purposes with which God has directed all -history, and controls all wars, we cannot dare to come before -Him, and ask for His help, unless the spirit in which we are -joining in this war<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_169" -id="Page_169">[169]</a></span> is in harmony with His, and unless we -mean, with His help, to act and fight in entire devotion to Him, and -in obedience to Christ. If we fought merely to gain victory, to assert -the supremacy of our Empire, to establish our superiority over other -nations, we could not expect His countenance and help, and we should -be affronting His Majesty and His Holiness by asking for it; but these -are not our aims. They are, it appears, in the main, those of our -enemy, and for that reason we may be confident that God’s face -will be against them. But, so far as we are fighting for a kingdom -and an Empire which acknowledges in all things the sovereignty of our -Lord Jesus Christ, which endeavours to act, to govern, and to serve in -accordance with His will, and which will promote and protect the spread -of His Kingdom—so far as we are conscious in our consciences that -that is our aim—we may confidently come before Him and appeal -to Him to help us with His right hand and His holy arm. But we cannot -thus serve Him and obey Him as a nation unless we obey and serve Him in -our own individual lives; and when we kneel,<span class="pagenum"><a -name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[170]</a></span> therefore, before -Him to-day we are called upon to pledge ourselves, with the utmost -sincerity and earnestness, to give our hearts and wills and lives up to -Him in all things, with greater truth and singleness of heart than we -have ever yet realized.</p> - -<p>If we look candidly into the recent life of our nation, it must, I -fear, be acknowledged that we have in many respects grievously failed -in this Christian spirit. The habits of our people have in too many -respects declined from the Christian standard which was set us by -our forefathers in their best days. The worship and service of God -and Christ have not been held so high among us as the supreme duty -of life. We see it in the increasing neglect of the public worship -of God, in a less general piety of life, in a growing disposition to -acquiesce in standards of action which are not in all respects those -of the New Testament; in the failure to look to the authority of -Christ and His Apostles as the supreme rule in all the relations of -life, in the relations of men and women, in the ideals of domestic -and private life. We have lived too much for this life and too -little for the next. We<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_171" -id="Page_171">[171]</a></span> have cared too much for time and too -little for eternity. We shall not be able to fulfil the purposes of -God for our nation and for the world unless we amend our lives in -these respects, unless we humbly confess our failure before Him, and -set ourselves resolutely to live more Christian lives in the future. -If we kneel before Him this evening in this spirit of confession for -the past, and of heartfelt devotion for the future, we may come boldly -to His throne of grace; and we may be thankful to be assured that our -country and our country’s cause, and the welfare of all who are -dear to us, here and hereafter, are in His hands. You are invited to -begin your supplication this evening with that penitential Psalm, in -which David confessed from the bottom of his heart his own grievous -sin, but was also inspired by God’s Holy Spirit to seek comfort -and regeneration, righteousness and peace. That is the spirit in which -we should approach God at all times, but especially in a time of sore -trial like the present; and if we do so, we may confidently join in the -concluding petition, in which the Psalmist beseeches God’s<span -class="pagenum"><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[172]</a></span> -blessing upon His nation. “The sacrifice of God is a troubled -spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, shalt Thou not despise. -O be favourable and gracious unto Zion; build Thou the walls -of Jerusalem. Then shalt Thou be pleased with the sacrifice of -righteousness,” with the devoted offerings and service of a -regenerated and Christian nation. God grant it, for Christ’s -sake.</p> - -<div class="chapter"></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_173" -id="Page_173">[173]</a></span></p> - -<h2><span class="smcap">The Eternal Source of Goodness.</span></h2> - -<p class="center noindent">PREACHED AT HOLY TRINITY CHURCH, MARGATE, -NOVEMBER 7, 1915.</p> - -<div class="sc-ref"> - -<p>“<i>Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and -cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, -neither shadow of turning.</i>”—St. James i. 17.</p> - -</div> - -<p>In these words a singularly vivid picture is set before us. God is -represented to us as the Sun in the Heavens, from Whom light and warmth -are perpetually streaming. The text does not merely say that all good -gifts come from above and that none but good gifts come from thence. -It means also that those good gifts are perpetually being poured upon -us, just as light and heat are perpetually flowing from the sun. But -it points out one great difference between the physical sun and this -Divine source of grace and glory. The sun and the other lights of the -heavens which are dependent upon it are all liable to be obscured or -eclipsed. They are “subject to variableness and shadow of<span -class="pagenum"><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[174]</a></span> -turning,” that is, to the shadows occasioned by their turning -in their daily revolutions, so that daylight is succeeded by the -darkness of night, and the moon waxes and wanes. But the light of -the Divine glory and grace is never thus obscured from us. It is -perpetually shining, and we can enjoy its blessed influence at every -moment. God is the Father of Lights—the Father of Light of all -kinds; and all grace and truth are perpetually proceeding from Him. -“Every good gift and every perfect boon is from above,” -coming down continually from “the Father of Lights with Whom is -no variableness, neither shadow of turning.” This is the great -truth which is embodied in the beautiful words of the Collect just -used, “Lord of all power and might Who art the Author and Giver -of all good things.”</p> - -<p>This is the first grand truth which is revealed to us by our -Christian faith. It is involved in the revelation of God to us as our -Father in Heaven, and it is impressed on us in the Sermon on the Mount, -when our Lord bids us live as “the children of our Father which -is in Heaven: Who maketh the sun to rise on the evil and on<span -class="pagenum"><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[175]</a></span> the -good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.” It would -be well for us to realize this more fully and constantly. We see the -sun in the Heavens; we are sensible of its lifegiving influences day by -day; but we do not always have so vividly before us the Supreme Sun of -the spiritual Heavens, and we are tempted to live without the constant -realization of His presence. There are, indeed, experiences which -are a great trial to our faith in this constant Presence, and which -even make men and women ask themselves in perplexity whether there -can be, in reality, any such perpetually Divine source of all good -things—whether any Divine Power is really at all times pouring -the best blessing upon mankind. What is the meaning, for instance, many -anxious hearts have asked themselves at a time like this—what is -the meaning and the explanation of such fearful miseries as the world -is now suffering through the present war? Can it be a God from Whom -all good things are perpetually coming Who permits half the world to -fall into such distresses and agonies as we have heard of lately, and -are daily hearing? The evil<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_176" -id="Page_176">[176]</a></span> in the world has at all times been a -perplexity to faith, and when manifested on such a tremendous scale, -when it rises before us in the monstrous form of an awful war, the -question presses upon our hearts and minds with painful force. But the -privilege of the Christian is to maintain through all these distresses -the proclamation that the love of God, the goodness of God, the mercy -of God, the blessing of God are still at work, notwithstanding the -clouds with which they seem obscured. Clouds and darkness may be round -about Him, but righteousness and judgment are the habitation of His -throne.</p> - -<p>The general explanation of this great mystery is that these -sufferings are the means by which God asserts the supremacy -of righteousness and truth. He has so ordered the world that -unrighteousness, ungodliness, untruth, immorality of all kinds -inevitably punish themselves by leading to appeals to force, and so -provoke the wars and fightings of which St. James speaks in this -Epistle. “From whence,” he says, “come wars and -fightings among you? Come they not hence, even of your lusts, that -war in your members? Ye<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_177" -id="Page_177">[177]</a></span> lust and have not; ye kill, and -desire to have and cannot obtain”—can there be a truer -description, in brief, of the origin of the present war? These -are God’s judgments, in which He so orders the world that -nations and individuals punish themselves for their indulgence in -covetous and unbridled passions. They will not submit to be checked -by conscience or by reason, and therefore God leaves them to the -natural consequences of their mutual lusts and violences. In fact, the -miseries of war are a conspicuous instance of the great truth that -good things are always coming from God. Vengeance for evil is a good -thing; and the punishment, even the bitter punishment, of selfishness, -whether in individuals or in national life, the severest punishments -of covetousness, arrogance, forgetfulness of God, disobedience -to Christ—these punishments are good things; and if God is -chastising Europe for such sins, and ourselves in no small measure, He -is doing it at once in judgment and in mercy. It is a warning to every -nation, and to every man and woman, to consider in what respect they -have been failing in their duty to God and<span class="pagenum"><a -name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[178]</a></span> to Christ, to their -neighbour, and even to themselves, and to pray God to open their -eyes and enable them to repent and amend. What we see before us in a -convulsion like this, is the outburst of the lightnings and thunders of -righteous judgment, and if it brings men to their knees in penitence -and amendment of life, it may prove one of God’s greatest -blessings to the world.</p> - -<p>We may understand this the better if we consider, more particularly, -the means by which God is always pouring upon the world those blessed -influences of goodness and righteousness of which the text and the -Collect speak. They tell us that He is like the sun in the heavens -pouring His bright beams upon us and the world at large. Where is that -Sun? It is in the Person of our Lord Jesus Christ, in all His words -and deeds, and in those Scriptures which, as He said, testify of Him. -The answer is contained in the truth that “God, Who, at sundry -times and in divers manners spake in times past unto the fathers, -by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by His Son, -Who is the brightness of His glory and the<span class="pagenum"><a -name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[179]</a></span> express image of His -Person.” “No man,” we are told, “hath seen God -at any time. The only begotten Son Who is in the bosom of the Father, -He hath declared Him.” He declares Him in various ways. In the -first place, the grace and truth and glory of God are seen in the Face -of Jesus Christ, in His life as recorded in the Gospels, and in His -words. “He that hath seen me,” said our Saviour Himself, -“hath seen the Father.” It is God Himself Who is seen in -every act and word of Jesus Christ, and if we want to know God, to -realize His character and His will, we have only to study the life and -words of our Lord, and we see it all in vivid human features. God in -Christ is as visible to the eyes of our hearts and minds as the sun in -the heavens. As the physical sun is visible to every human eye, so the -sun of the spiritual world—God Himself—is visible to every -human mind in the person of our Lord. This comparison is as old as the -Psalms. “The heavens,” says the 19th Psalm, “declare -the glory of God, and the firmament sheweth His handiwork,” and -then it proceeds, “the law of the Lord is perfect, converting -the soul, the testimony<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_180" -id="Page_180">[180]</a></span> of the Lord is sure, making wise the -simple.” The law of the Lord of which the Psalmist spoke was that -revelation of the Will of God which was given to the Jews at sundry -times and in divers manners, and is recorded in the ancient Scriptures. -But that law is now summed up, explained, enlarged, and perfected in -the face of Jesus Christ, and in His words. In Him is God to be seen. -In Him is the source of the highest moral and spiritual goodness.</p> - -<p>The Collect goes on to pray “Graft in our hearts the love -of Thy Name, increase in us true religion, nourish us with all -goodness.” The Name of God means the character of God, and if -we are to love character we must see it, and we can see it in Jesus -Christ and nowhere else. If you wish to love God, you must learn to -love Jesus Christ. To love God is to love righteousness, truth, and -goodness, and in Jesus Christ we see them in life and in human reality. -Righteousness, goodness, truth, purity, grace, may be loved, indeed, -in the abstract; but the love for them must be infinitely deepened if -we see them concentrated in a living person, so that the love of them -is identified with the love<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_181" -id="Page_181">[181]</a></span> of Him. If, in fact, we would keep the -love of these great things alive in our hearts, if we would continually -deepen it, if we would have the eyes of our minds and hearts opened -more and more, the supreme necessity is that we should learn more and -more of Jesus Christ, live with Him by constant study of His deeds and -words, and so open our souls to the impress of His grace and truth. The -history of the world since He lived and died is the sufficient proof -of this fact. The Christian Church, which is charged with the duty and -the privilege of living in His spirit and working in His name, has, -notwithstanding many failures and faults, held up before the world the -highest standard of goodness and truth. There is no more conspicuous -illustration of this influence of Christ and His Church than the fact -that the noble Societies which, by their devoted care of the wounded, -now mitigate the horrors of war, are called “Red Cross” -Societies, and were founded and maintained in obedience to the spirit -of Christ. Since Christ came, it is through Him that all these good -things do come, and if we would enjoy them we must live and work in His -light.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_182" -id="Page_182">[182]</a></span></p> - -<p>But this is far from being the sole means by which Christ is the -source of all good things. He promised His disciples before He died, -that He would send the Holy Spirit into the world Who should bring to -their remembrance all things that He had told them, and should be to -them and to their followers an adviser and comforter, such as He had -Himself been while He was with them—Who should convince them of -sin, of righteousness and judgment—teach them, that is, what sin -is, and what righteousness is, and bring home to them the nature of -the judgment of God. He formed them into a Society, to be a perpetual -witness of Him to the world; and He established two ceremonies (which -we call Sacraments) to be a perpetual pledge to His followers of -His love and of His grace, and to be a special means by which that -grace should be bestowed on them; so that the source of this Divine -illumination and bounty is not merely Christ in the past, in His -life on earth, as we read of Him in the words of the New Testament, -but Christ living and working in His Church by means of those words, -and by means of the Sacraments which testify of them and<span -class="pagenum"><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[183]</a></span> -bring them home to every individual soul. The words of Christ and the -Sacraments of Christ are means which can be seen and handled, by which -the grace of God is manifested and conveyed to us.</p> - -<p>Moreover, He has told us, as I have mentioned, that the Old -Testament throughout, the Law, the Prophets and the Psalms, speak of -Him, reveal His character and His Will. To the Jews, who had only -the Old Testament, He said, “Search the Scriptures, for in -them ye think ye have eternal life, and they are they which testify -of Me.” Combined, these are the visible, tangible, and audible -instruments by which the “Lord of all power and might, the Author -and Giver of all good things,” shines into our hearts and speaks -to our inmost souls. There are, indeed, and always have been, other -influences in the world by which goodness and truth are impressed upon -us; and there are, and always have been, many gracious human influences -by which they are upheld in our hearts and in the world at large; -but these are all imperfect, and liable to perversion, in comparison -with the influence of Jesus Christ and His Church and the<span -class="pagenum"><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[184]</a></span> -Holy Scriptures; and we can never be sure of their being kept true -and unperverted, except so far as they are brought to the test, and -subjected to the influences, through the Person of Jesus Christ and of -His words in the Holy Scriptures, of that Lord of all power and might -from whom all good things do come.</p> - -<p>These considerations may help to explain to us the source of the -evils which have plunged Europe into its present convulsions and -they will be the best guide to ourselves for our own action in the -present and the future. It is, unhappily, an unquestionable matter -of fact that a great part of Europe, and especially of Germany, has -lost sight for a generation or two of that Sun of Righteousness, Who -is the Author and Giver of all good things. They have rejected the -authority of Christ, and denied the Divine reality of the revelation -of God’s will in the Old Testament. The consequence is that -they have deprived themselves of the influences of that Divine -light, and have been setting up standards of right and wrong in -national and individual life, which are inconsistent with it. Some -of the best instincts of a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_185" -id="Page_185">[185]</a></span> strong and manly nation have -consequently been perverted. National ideals have been pursued which -are inconsistent with Christian civilization, and men have been driven -by these perverted instincts and passions into the hell of war. We may -be sure that Europe will not again enjoy permanent peace until, by the -merciful correction of that Lord from Whom all good things do come, the -love of His Name has again been grafted in their hearts, and the true -religion of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ revived and increased.</p> - -<p>But it becomes us to apply to ourselves, very seriously, the same -considerations. Must we not admit that among ourselves also a similar -disregard of the only source from Whom all good things do come has -been sadly and increasingly prevalent of late years, and perhaps for -a generation or two past? What is the meaning of the acknowledged -falling off in attendance at Divine Worship, of the increasing disuse -of family Prayers, and of the daily reading of Scripture in the family, -and of the less distinctively Christian tone of much of our literature -and of our stage? Let us<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_186" -id="Page_186">[186]</a></span> put it to our own consciences whether -we live, as we ought, in the constant sense that it is only in the -word of God and of Christ, as contained in the Holy Scriptures of -the Old and New Testaments, in constant subjection to His word and -to the influences of His Spirit, that we can be sure of finding the -true light to our paths, and a rod and a staff to comfort us amidst -the temptations and perplexities of the world? Do we live under the -constant influences of the Scriptures, and of the ordinances and -Sacraments of Christ? If not, it can only be because we do not believe -the blessed assurances of this text, and of our Church’s Collect. -Unless men and women are blinded for the time by the influence of some -strong passions, or of some perverted teaching, could they fail to -submit themselves day by day to the Lord, from Whom all good things do -come, so that those good and gracious things may sink more and more -deeply into their souls, mould their characters, and guide them more -and more into the way that leadeth to everlasting life? Men will travel -far to sunny lands for the healing influences of this world’s -sun upon their bodily health.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_187" -id="Page_187">[187]</a></span> Can they fail, if they realize the -blessing offered them day by day, to seek the companionship of the Lord -Jesus Christ and His Father, for the sake of their spiritual health in -this world and in the next?</p> - -<p>Let us then, in the first place, be led back by these present trials -and agonies to the only source of all truth and light for this world -and the next, to the words which God spake “in sundry times and -in divers manners,” in ages past, and above all, to those which -He spake by His Son, the brightness of His glory and the express image -of His Person; and if we feel their supreme preciousness for ourselves, -let us do everything in our power to promote and spread those sacred -words and that divine light throughout the world, as you are asked to -help in doing this morning. Here lies the only hope for ourselves, the -only hope for our people at large, for our nation and empire. Let us -henceforth join with a new earnestness in the prayer of the Collect: -“Graft in our hearts the love of Thy Name, increase in us true -religion, nourish us with all goodness, and of Thy great mercy keep us -in the same; through Jesus Christ our Lord.”</p> - -<div class="chapter"></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[188]</a></span></p> - -<h2><span class="smcap">The National Ideal.</span></h2> - -<p class="center noindent">PREACHED IN CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL, JANUARY -3rd, 1915.</p> - -<div class="sc-ref"> - -<p>“<i>Ye shall walk in all the ways which the Lord your God -hath commanded you, that ye may live, and that it may be well with -you, and that ye may prolong your days in the land which ye shall -possess.</i>”—Deut. v. 33.</p> - -</div> - -<p>We have been summoned this evening by our King and by the Chief -Pastor of our Church, to a Service of humble prayer and intercession -to Almighty God on behalf of our Nation and Empire now engaged in war; -and in the Form of Humble Prayer in which we have just joined there is -an exhortation explaining and urging upon us the spirit in which that -intercession should be made. In addressing you this evening I would -draw special attention to one point in that exhortation. Before all -else, we are told, we must remember that those who would receive good -at the hands of God must go to Him in humility, with a due sense of -their many faults and continual short-comings<span class="pagenum"><a -name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[189]</a></span> in His sight. In -other words, a humble prayer must be before all else a prayer of -humiliation. It is a principle which is impressed upon us every -day in the Exhortation at the beginning of our prayers. “The -Scripture,” we are told, “moveth us in sundry places to -acknowledge and confess our manifold sins and wickednesses; and that we -should not dissemble nor cloke them before the face of Almighty God our -Heavenly Father; but confess them with a humble, lowly, penitent and -obedient heart; to the end that we may obtain forgiveness of the same, -by his infinite goodness and mercy,” and we are surely bound, on -an occasion like this, to take to heart the words which follow, viz., -that “although we ought at all times humbly to acknowledge our -sins before God: yet ought we most chiefly so to do, when we assemble -and meet together” as we do to-day, to implore His special mercy -in the greatest crisis which our nation and Empire has ever had to -encounter. If every morning and evening ought to waken in us a humble, -lowly, and penitent confession of our sins, surely an hour when, as a -whole Nation, we are seeking<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_190" -id="Page_190">[190]</a></span> God’s merciful and gracious help -calls for still deeper and humbler confession of our sins.</p> - -<p>There has been, I fear, some reluctance among us to yield ourselves -to this penitent humiliation, and it will be well therefore to remind -ourselves a little of the reasons there are for it. Now the first and -most patent of all the reasons why we should recognize our sins and -wickedness is the bare and ghastly fact of this war in itself. We are -all distressed and grieved by it, and are all saying what a horrible -thing it is that war—and such a war—should be possible in -a Christian Europe. But what we should first of all realize is that it -is a horrible exhibition of the sin and wickedness of human nature. -Just contrast what Europe was a few months ago with the scenes that are -now exhibited in Belgium, France, and Poland. A few months ago, Europe -was a prosperous country, full of wealth, comfort, and enjoyment of -all kinds. Its many millions were engaged in quiet occupations which -employed their energies happily. “They ate, they drank, they -bought, they sold, they planted, they builded.” Fathers and<span -class="pagenum"><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[191]</a></span> -mothers and children, families young and old, cities and villages were -in the enjoyment of plenty, and full of hope for the future. God had -prospered them, and there was much hope that the wants and sufferings -which were still the lot of too many among them might be gradually -removed by benevolent legislation and mutual help; but, on a sudden, -at a few days’ notice, this scene of happiness, and hope, and -well-being is overthrown as if by an earthquake. Some parts of it are -overwhelmed by “blood and fire and vapour of smoke,” and -the whole of it, from the extreme west of our Isles to the East of -Russia, from the Baltic to the Mediterranean is transformed into a -vast Barracks, in which sons and fathers are torn from their families, -leaving behind them too often the lamentation and mourning of wives and -mothers, weeping for those who are not. The language of the prophet -is not too strong for the occasion “The land was a Garden of -Eden and is become a desolate wilderness.” I ask you, is not -such a sudden and disastrous transformation the most clear proof we -could have of some deadly evil being at work in human nature?<span -class="pagenum"><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[192]</a></span> What -else, but some deadly, inherent evil could in a few weeks or days blot -out all peace in Europe and let loose a sort of hell in human society -and human life. We were proud of the growth of civilization, and were -constructing all sorts of schemes of social and political development, -when, on a sudden, our civilization explodes, and we find ourselves -surrounded by its wrecks in fire, and ruin, and carnage, and hatred, -and violence of all kinds. All this explosive force of evil must have -been there. There must have been corruptions, and sins, and vices at -work which we did not surmise; and fair as the life of Europe seemed -outside, it must really have been in some respects rotten to the core. -This war has not been imposed upon Europe from without, as it was when -the great barbarian invaders poured over it fourteen hundred years ago. -All this horror, and misery, and bloodshed, and ruin has sprung out of -the materials—out of the civilized materials—provided by -Europe itself, and it must be some internal disease, some original vice -and corruption which is revealed to us in the ghastly spectacle which -is now presented by so large a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_193" -id="Page_193">[193]</a></span> part of the most favoured lands of the -world.</p> - -<p>Some one perhaps may be tempted to say that this indictment applies -to the countries which have provoked this war, but not to Europe at -large; but that, I am sure, would be, if not unjust to those countries, -at least not candid with respect to ourselves. Is it not the case that, -to an increasing extent of late years, the civilization of Europe -has been united, and marked in the main by similar characteristics? -Have not the literature and many of the ideas of Germany penetrated -the literature and the thought of France and England? Has there been -conspicuous among us any protest against the habits of thought, the -tendencies of religious belief or unbelief, the luxuries if not the -waste of living, which have prevailed elsewhere? If the life and -civilization of Europe has ended in this great catastrophe, can we -honestly stand aside and claim to be free of all blame, and to have had -no share in the tendencies and evils which have produced so horrible -a result? We shrink from them in their full development, we denounce -them, we resolve to fight against them<span class="pagenum"><a -name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[194]</a></span> to the last, and to -re-establish sounder and more Christian principles of public and -social life, but dare we say that we have not dallied with them? Can -we honestly claim to have repudiated them at their source, so as to -be free from any part or lot in sins and errors which have led to -so hideous a result? I will not try to drive such painful questions -further home. I will only say that if we are honest with ourselves, we -shall not venture to adopt the Pharisee’s attitude and exclaim, -on a day like this, “God, I thank Thee that I am not as other men -are, or even as this German.” In a word, we have had some share, -at all events, in the tone of thought and life which has prevailed in -Europe for the last two generations, and we shall be more true to God -and to ourselves if we are content, on this day of humble confession -and intercession, simply to exclaim “God be merciful to me a -sinner.”</p> - -<p>But confession of sin should be but the first step to amendment -of life, and for the purpose of that amendment we must endeavour -to realize more particularly what the sins are, which in -God’s righteous judgment have brought this misery upon<span -class="pagenum"><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[195]</a></span> -us. Many of them we have acknowledged in the Litany in which we have -joined. We have prayed for deliverance from those sins wherein as a -nation we have grieved God. We have confessed to pride, boasting, -and self-sufficiency, to covetousness, worldliness, and indifference -to the needs of others, to drunkenness, impurity, and all manner of -self-indulgence, to trusting in our own strength and forgetting God, -to want of faith in God, to want of love to Him and to one another, -to a want of charity towards all men. These are the sins charged upon -us by the chief pastors of our Church, and they constitute surely -a grievous catalogue of vices, sufficient in themselves to account -for the failure of the civilization of which we form a part, and to -require us to humiliate ourselves very deeply before God. We are called -upon by the Archbishops not merely to pray, as we do in our daily -Litany, against those evils, but to acknowledge that they are sins -wherein, as a nation, we have grieved God. Now it must be left to our -individual consciences to apply those grievous confessions to our own -hearts and lives. Of some of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_196" -id="Page_196">[196]</a></span> them, perhaps, we shall all acknowledge -ourselves to have been guilty; and we are bound to put it earnestly to -our hearts and consciences how far we have individually been guilty -of them. But it is not for the preacher, who is deeply sensible of -his own sins, to press such charges upon others. I would rather adopt -this evening the more gracious, and, I hope, more helpful course of -reminding you of the one supreme and sufficient method by which all -such sins, whatever they may have been, may be overcome, and may be -averted for the future.</p> - -<p>It is the method and the obligation impressed upon us in the text -by the great Law Giver of Israel when he was laying the foundation of -the Jewish nation. It is instructive to remember that the discourses -of Moses recorded in the Book of Deuteronomy are described as having -for their first and immediate object to lay down the principles on -which the Jewish people could realize the great purpose which God had -in view for them, and could become a strong and prosperous nation. -“These,” said Moses, in the verses following the text, -“are the commandments,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_197" -id="Page_197">[197]</a></span> and the statutes, and the judgments, -which the Lord your God commanded to teach you, that ye might do them -in the land whither ye go to possess it: that thou mightest fear the -Lord Thy God, to keep all His Statutes and His Commandments, which -I command thee, thou, and thy son, and thy son’s son, all the -days of thy life; and that thy days may be prolonged. Hear, therefore, -O Israel, and observe to do it; that it may be well with thee, and -that ye may increase mightily.” And then he proceeds to sum -up those statutes and judgments in the momentous words which Our -Lord Himself selected as the first and great commandment of the Law, -“Hear O Israel,” said Moses, “The Lord our God is -one Lord: and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, -and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.” That, in the -words of the book in which our Saviour sought the great principles -of His own life, and which He quoted again and again as laying down -eternal truths—that is the great principle on which a sound -moral, religious, and secure national life must be founded—the -principle of loving the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_198" -id="Page_198">[198]</a></span> Lord our God with all our heart, and -with all our soul, and with all our might. The God Whom the people of -Israel were thus called on to love with all their heart, soul, and -might, was the God Who had delivered them out of Egypt and its bondage, -and Who was about to establish them in the land of Canaan by wonders -and signs which could only have been wrought by His supreme power, and -Who, in the most solemn and awful circumstances, had declared at Mount -Sinai the cardinal laws of social and national life. The God to whom -our Saviour applies the principle was His Own Father, the God Who is -seen in His Own words and in His ministry, Whose will is so graciously -explained to us in the records of His life and in the words of His -Apostles, and Whose character, therefore, and will are clearly and -distinctly revealed. Our Lord, when He adopted these words of Moses, -declared to the whole world that in order that they may live, and that -it may be well with them, and that they may prolong their days in the -peace and happiness He designed for them, the one supreme condition -is that they should love the God Who is His Father, with all<span -class="pagenum"><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[199]</a></span> -their heart, soul, mind, and strength. If they do that, if the whole -of their lives is submitted to His will as revealed by His Son Jesus -Christ, then they will have a supreme authority, a secure guide in -their personal, their family, and their social life; and He adds to the -assurance of Moses the promise of His Holy Spirit to interpret His will -to them and to assist them in their struggles. That is the one and the -sufficient condition for realizing here on earth the blessing of the -peace which God designs for us. Life animated by that love would secure -it—and that alone.</p> - -<p>Now the one question it would be well for us to put to ourselves on -this day of confession and self amendment is whether it has not been -the chief wickedness, and the growing wickedness, of Europe at large, -and of ourselves in particular, to fail to make this love of God, -this submission to God and to Christ, the one supreme principle and -inspiration of our whole life, private, social, and public. I would -ask whether religion, as people generally understand it, has not been -allowed to become of late years, in an increasing degree, too much -of a private and personal<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_200" -id="Page_200">[200]</a></span> matter—a matter of individual -preference, a part of a man’s character which could hardly -be treated as an absolute duty, so that a man who did not live a -religious life was, as it were, within his rights, and that he could -not be treated as neglecting a supreme obligation? Has it not been -our temptation, as a nation, to legislate without a supreme regard to -this first duty, so as even to allow our children and the children -of the nation to be educated without supreme regard to it? Has not -attendance at Divine Worship been grievously neglected of late years -as a consequence of this growing decay of the love of God? Have not -the words of our Lord and His Apostles been losing the authority which -they used to possess among us, and which they must possess with all -who believe them to be a revelation of the supreme Will of Almighty -God? As a consequence of all this, has there not been a grievous loss -among us of the sense that we are all under the judgment of God, that -we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ, to give account -of all that we have done in the body, good or bad? And has not the most -momentous of all controlling<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_201" -id="Page_201">[201]</a></span> influences been thus grievously weakened -in our own lives? It is enough for one like myself to suggest the -question. It needs a prophet with a Divine Mission to drive it home.</p> - -<p>But the concluding considerations I would urge from such a review -of the condition of the Christian world, and of our own world at this -moment, is that if we would overcome the sins which have undermined -the peace of Europe and brought about the present awful convulsion, -if we would restore and re-establish among ourselves those principles -of Christian Faith which alone can make the nation great and happy, -and keep it so, the one effectual means which includes all others, -the one means which would at once enable us to know what we ought to -do and would provide us with the grace and power to fulfil it, is to -deepen in our own souls, and to revive all around us and among our -people at large, that love of God in Jesus Christ which reveals to -us “whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, -whatsoever things are of good report,” which gives us a supreme -and eternal motive for following it, and which<span class="pagenum"><a -name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[202]</a></span> ensures us the power to -overcome the terrible temptations which beset us. Let us go home from -these prayers, not merely resolved to amend one particular fault, or -to combat one particular evil of our day, but surrendering ourselves -more absolutely than we have yet done to the will and love of God our -Saviour, in all things bringing the revelation of His will, in our -Lord Jesus Christ and in the Scriptures, to bear more than ever on our -private, social and public duties. In short, in the words of the text, -let us resolve, as the supreme law of our life, to walk in the ways -which the Lord our God and our Saviour Jesus Christ have commanded -us, that it may be well with us, and that we may prolong our days in -the country and the Empire in which His providence and His mercy have -placed and supported us.</p> - -<div class="chapter"></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[203]</a></span></p> - -<h2><span class="smcap">Religion and the War.</span></h2> - -<p class="center noindent">FROM “THE RECORD,” SEPTEMBER 23, -1916</p> - -<p>The way in which this war is stirring the deepest thoughts of our -people has received a striking illustration during the last three -weeks in a discussion in the pages of the <cite>Westminster Gazette</cite>. In -that able journal religious questions have not ordinarily so congenial -a home as in the <cite>Spectator</cite>, and it is the more illustrative of the -tone of the public mind that, since August 28th last, hardly a day -has passed without the appearance in its columns of letters of great -earnestness on the subject of “Religion and the War.” The -discussion was opened on that day by an anonymous article under that -title, which opened with these words: “‘Verily Thou art -a God that hidest Thyself.’ The words of the Prophet come back -to me when I hear the preachers trying to reconcile the terrors and -horrors of this war with the idea of an all-powerful and all-beneficent -Creator”; and around the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_204" -id="Page_204">[204]</a></span> difficulty thus started the whole -discussion has turned. The writer says he has listened, during the -last few months, to many sermons, and read many of the articles and -pamphlets and books “in which Divines and Philosophers have -endeavoured to plumb these deep waters,” and he states briefly -the principal arguments that he has found in them. It is not necessary -for the present purpose to quote them all, especially as I think the -writer has been unfortunate in his pulpits and his books. Several of -the pleas he quotes are mere platitudes, such as “that the ways -of God are unfathomable, and that one must walk in faith and believe -that things are somehow good.” The point to which he reduces -the question is that under the strain of our present experience -“people see suddenly that the doctrine of an omnipotent and -all-loving Creator, as commonly expounded in pulpits, is at war with -the plain facts of the visible world.” To this problem all -the subsequent letters are directed, and they afford impressive and -painful evidence of the distress with which many men and women seem -to be groping in perplexity.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_205" -id="Page_205">[205]</a></span> There are many striking and touching -observations in them, and sometimes, as by Lord Halifax, the central -principles of the Christian Faith are applied to the problem. But -it is disappointing to find that it is not in the Bible or in the -Christian Faith that most of the writers seek for a solution of their -difficulties. Too many of them seek refuge in philosophical discussions -of matters like the Divine omnipotence and the abstract problem of -evil. The first writer comes to the conclusion that “theology -remains tangled up in its own conception of omnipotence—which -brings us at best to the conclusion that God has so limited His own -power as to permit the existence of evil, and at worst invests Him with -attributes which are the reverse of benevolent,” and to this -philosophical question writer after writer returns. The consequence is -that the light which is thrown upon the whole problem by the Scriptures -and by our Lord Himself is obscured in a maze of philosophy and -words.</p> - -<p>What, then, has revelation to say upon the subject? The -first thing, and the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_206" -id="Page_206">[206]</a></span> most important, which it has to say -is almost ignored in the discussion. As has been said, the problem -propounded by the opening writer is to reconcile the terrors and -horrors of this war with the idea of an “all-powerful and -all-beneficent Creator.” From the point of view of the Bible, -of the Psalms in particular, and of our Lord, that description of the -Creator leaves out His most important attribute. If we add as the -Psalms invariably imply, “an all-righteous Creator,” an -element is introduced into the problem which raises entirely fresh -considerations. If you merely ask the question how the pain and -misery of the war are compatible with perfect beneficence and perfect -omnipotence, the answer is obscure. But if you introduce the question -of the compatibility of the permission of such suffering with perfect -righteousness combined with benevolence, the problem is radically -altered. God is dealing with a creature who is not merely capable of -pain and happiness, but of a righteousness and a truth like His own; -and to bestow upon this creature happiness without righteousness would -be inconsistent with the main object for which<span class="pagenum"><a -name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[207]</a></span> he was created, and -such an idea would, in fact, involve a contradiction in terms. Once -recognize that there is no happiness possible for man except in the -harmony of his nature with the Divine righteousness, and it is evident -that the main object of an all-benevolent Creator must be to produce -this righteousness in man, and to repress and extirpate, by whatever -means may be requisite, the evil which is incompatible with his -happiness.</p> - -<p>Now the Scriptures, from the third chapter of Genesis to the last -chapter of Revelation, exhibit God as employing suffering as a remedy -for unrighteousness or sin. It is a punishment, but it is also a -cure. It may be such suffering as is involved in the condemnation -of man to eat his bread by the sweat of his brow, instead of being -able to “put forth his hand” and seize whatever he craved -without effort. It may be the severer remedy of the punishment of -death, or the bitter surgery of war. But what the Scriptures reveal -is that all the suffering of life, slight or severe, is instituted by -God, and employed by Him, to promote and uphold that righteousness -in man which can alone<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_208" -id="Page_208">[208]</a></span> qualify him for that harmony with -God, which is the happiness for which he was intended. The free -will, whatever its degree, with which man has been endowed, must be -educated by the suffering which follows its misuse, as well as by -the satisfaction which is conferred by its right use. Accordingly -it appears to be the cardinal fact of man’s constitution that -unrighteousness throws his nature into disorder, and brings a similar -disorder into his whole social condition. Families, societies, and -nations can only realize their true purposes, they can only exhibit -a true order, when the individuals of whom they are composed are -righteous, and are thus qualified for their true functions. Let the -individuals or component parts become disordered, and the whole -society must be disordered, and involved in confusion and perhaps -ruin. I have sometimes imagined the case of a visitor introduced to -some vast machine, working under immense pressure, and being told -by his guide that unfortunately every part of the machine was more -or less imperfect, and some of the parts almost rotten. Would the -visitor care to expose<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_209" -id="Page_209">[209]</a></span> himself long to the risks of the -inevitable explosion? But that is exactly the case of every human -society, small or great. All the individuals of which it is composed -are grievously imperfect, and some of them are positively vicious. Is -it any wonder that it develops antagonistic forces within itself, and -that sooner or later it bursts into a great conflagration—the -conflagration of a revolution or a war? God, in fact, by this -constitution of mankind, has provided that unrighteousness shall -punish itself. He does not intervene, as a rule, to inflict a special -punishment. He leaves men to work out their own punishment, and to -realize from it that there was some corruption at work in their -lives.</p> - -<p>If it be asked whether an all-powerful and all-beneficent Being -could not have provided some less distressing method of education, the -first reply may be that of Bishop Butler—that it is foolish for -such creatures as we are to try to devise schemes for the construction -of better worlds than the one we live in. But the Gospel has provided -an answer which removes all temptation to such folly. It<span -class="pagenum"><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[210]</a></span> -reveals the momentous fact that “God, of His tender mercy, did -give His Only Son, Jesus Christ, to suffer death upon the Cross for -our redemption.” There is no need to enter upon theories of the -Atonement in order to appreciate the bearing of that solemn truth -upon this problem. Christ, Who lived and died for our redemption, -found it necessary for that purpose to submit to the sufferings of the -Cross—sufferings at least as bitter as any that are inflicted in -war—and He said He submitted to them because it was the will of -His Father—of the God Whom He called “His Father and our -Father, His God and our God”—that He should do so. It is -one satisfactory feature in this discussion that the moral authority -of Christ is generally recognized; but it is very little noticed, if -at all, that that authority declares, both by repeated assurances, -and by the most touching personal experience, that the infliction and -endurance of death and agony are compatible with the most perfect -relations of love and tenderness between God and the Sufferer.</p> - -<p>Our Lord has thus given His blessed<span class="pagenum"><a -name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[211]</a></span> personal sanction to -what, after all, has been the instinctive belief of human nature, even -before He lived and died. Cicero, for instance, in his <cite>De Officiis</cite>, -states it more than once as a cardinal principle of human life and -duty that it is more contrary to nature to do or allow unjust acts -than to endure any suffering, loss, or even death. But the Cross -of Christ elevates this inspiring and consoling conviction to the -height of a Divine revelation and consolation; and to those who -realize it, the main practical problem of the sufferings of war is -solved. All such suffering is God’s remedy for moral evil, and -is allowed because it is the only means by which man’s nature -can be purified and renovated. From this point of view it becomes -quite unnecessary to perplex ourselves with philosophical questions -respecting omnipotence. When God has once established a constitution, -either for nature or for human nature, He has limited His Own action -by the laws of that constitution so long as it lasts. He can, indeed, -interfere with it for good cause; and He has done so, both in nature -and human nature, by miracle.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_212" -id="Page_212">[212]</a></span> But to interpose by miracle to avert -all distressing consequences of those laws would be to abolish the -constitution altogether, and this He will not do until the present -dispensation is brought to an end. For the present, God is governing -and educating men by means of the laws which He has established, both -physical and moral, and He leaves men to take the consequences of their -moral violations of those laws, no less than of their physical.</p> - -<p>The example of Christ, in His submission, should be enough -to prevent any man “replying against God” for this -constitution of things. The reflection which should be aroused in our -minds by such “terrors and horrors” as those of this war -is, on these principles, that there must have been something terribly -false and vicious in the condition of the nations of Europe to produce -so awful a manifestation of the consequences of evil. They are the -consequences which, under the laws of human nature established by God, -inevitably follow the prevalence of unrighteousness; and for that -reason they are justly described in Scripture as the manifestation -of “the wrath of God<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_213" -id="Page_213">[213]</a></span>” against evil. On the principles -of the Christian Faith, in short, there is one certainty amidst all -our perplexities in this matter. The war and all its miseries reveal -to us the fact that great injustices and moral evils were prevalent in -Europe, and the greatness of the misery may be taken as a measure of -the greatness of the evil. We think we see these moral and religious -evils in the state of our enemies, and particularly in the state -of German life and religion. But we shall make a fatal mistake if -we allow ourselves to think that all the evil and unrighteousness -has been on their side. If we are candid with ourselves, we shall -recognize that a disregard of God and Christ, a grievous disbelief in -the revelation and the guidance they have given us, and a consequent -decay of religion, and looseness of moral obligations of all kinds, -have been making way among us, and have affected not only our private -life, but our standards of public action. We are discovering more -clearly, day by day, that if we are to meet the terrible dangers -by which we are threatened, we must revive, both in public and -in private, the standards of Christian<span class="pagenum"><a -name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[214]</a></span> principle which we -formally acknowledge—self-denial, self-control, truth in word -and deed, the fear of God, and the love of Christ; and in proportion -as we succeed in these efforts shall we find that the problems of -“religion and the war” are much simpler, better understood -by our fathers, and more easily grasped by ourselves, than is supposed -in the discussion from which we started.</p> - -<div class="chapter"></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[215]</a></span></p> - -<h2><span class="smcap">Prayer for the Dead.</span></h2> - -<p class="center noindent">FROM “THE RECORD,” NOVEMBER 20, -1914</p> - -<p>The question of Prayers for the Dead, and particularly of the -adoption of such prayers in the public services of the Church, has for -some time been pressed forward among us, and under the strain of the -distressing bereavements of the present war it is likely to become -urgent. An attempt has more than once been made at St. Paul’s to -celebrate what would have been a formal <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">Requiem</i> for those who have -fallen; and though it has not yet been fully successful, it may very -likely be renewed. In the forms issued by authority, both at the time -of the Boer War and during the present war, supplications on behalf of -the dead have been introduced, which provoked a gentle remonstrance -from even so moderate and tolerant an Evangelical as the Bishop of -Durham. Other forms will no doubt be prepared by authority for use at -the national intercession on the first Sunday of next year; and in -many quarters much anxiety is<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_216" -id="Page_216">[216]</a></span> felt lest the introduction of such -supplications should be further extended.</p> - -<p>This anxiety will not be lessened by the deliberate observations on -the subject which were made by the Primate, in a sermon he preached -at All Hallows, Barking, on All Souls’ Day, which is fully -reported in the <cite>Guardian</cite> of November 5. He said that “we are -not forgetful of the long and mischievous abuse of the devotion” -of praying for the dead “in the later mediæval days, -until,” as Dr. Mason said “it might almost be said that the -main object of religion in the fifteenth century had been to deliver -souls out of the ever-heightening horrors of Purgatory, and to ensure -the living against incurring them.” “We understand,” -said the Archbishop, “why repression of these mischiefs, -prevention of these perils, took in our formularies and our Prayer -Books so stern, so drastic, a character that no explicit Prayers for -the departed at all were admitted into the public language of the -Church, and people were taught to rely, in those public offices, upon -that alone which can be definitely proved by Holy Scripture. I have no -word of censure for those men—Laud and<span class="pagenum"><a -name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[217]</a></span> Andrewes, remember, were -among them—who thus handled the difficulties which they had to -face. But,” the Archbishop significantly proceeded, “surely -now there is place for a gentler recognition of the instinctive, -the natural, the loyal craving of the bereaved; and the abuses of -the chantry system and the extravagances of Tetzel need not now, -nearly four centuries afterwards, thwart or hinder the reverent, the -absolutely trustful, prayer of a wounded spirit, who feels it natural -and helpful to pray for him whom we shall not greet on earth again, but -who, in his Father’s loving keeping, still lives, and, as we may -surely believe, still grows from strength to strength in truer purity -and in deeper reverence and love. I must not dwell on that to-day, but -in our thought of what our College of Clergy can do, and has already -done, ‘for the perfecting of the Saints, for the work of the -ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ,’ I do not like -to pass unmentioned a task of wise teaching and of careful guidance, -which at a time of such special opportunity and need may appropriately -be ours.”</p> - -<p>These, I think it must be felt, are very<span class="pagenum"><a -name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[218]</a></span> significant words. -They indicate clearly that, in the mind of the Archbishop’s -advisers, the present time of bereavement and distress affords an -opportunity for authorizing the use of Prayers for the Departed, -which go beyond “that alone which can be definitely proved -by Holy Scripture.” Now, I hope that, without any lack of -respect, I may say at once that, while there are, as I believe, -many members of the Evangelical School to whom some modification in -the language of our Prayer Book in reference to the departed would -not be unwelcome, we should be unanimous in deprecating in the -strongest manner the introduction of anything beyond “that which -can be definitely proved by Holy Scripture”—meaning, -as no doubt the Archbishop does, that which can be proved to be -conformable to Holy Scripture. Supplications which are not strictly -conformable to Holy Scripture may be “natural”—too -natural—“instinctive,” and prompted by a “loyal -craving.” But the very place and function of Holy Scripture is to -direct and control our natural and instinctive cravings; and to allow -such natural and instinctive cravings to carry<span class="pagenum"><a -name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[219]</a></span> us beyond the limits -which a strict adherence to Holy Scripture would prescribe, is to -abandon an essential principle of the Church of England, and to forsake -the sure guidance which the revelation of the Gospel affords us.</p> - -<p>This, in fact, is the very source of the superstitions by which the -worship of God has been corrupted in the Church of Rome. There is no -better illustration of this danger than is afforded by those abuses -in connection with the belief in Purgatory, which the Archbishop so -severely denounces. The Roman system of Prayers for the Dead did -not originally rise from the doctrine of Purgatory, though in their -extreme form they were based on that doctrine. But, historically, the -doctrine of Purgatory was developed out of an undue and unscriptural -indulgence of Prayers for the Dead; and in so far as natural instincts -are allowed at the present day to dictate any such unscriptural -indulgence, a tendency will again be encouraged towards a belief in -some form of Purgatory. The Archbishop asks whether we need be afraid -of the abuses of four centuries ago. But it is not a question<span -class="pagenum"><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[220]</a></span> -of the circumstances of four centuries ago; it is a question of the -dangers of human nature in every century, and not least in a century -like the present, when there prevails in the Church an avowed drift -towards the errors against which, as the Archbishop says, even Laud and -Andrewes thought it necessary to be on their guard. The condition of -the departed is a matter on which nature can tell us nothing. Our whole -knowledge respecting it, all our hopes respecting it, are derived from -the revelations of our Lord and His Apostles in the New Testament; and -if we wish our prayers in relation to the dead to be in accordance with -truth, and to be acceptable to God, we have more reason on this subject -than on any other “to rely in our public offices upon that alone -which can be proved by Holy Scripture.”</p> - -<p>This is so cardinal a principle of our Church that I cannot but -feel confident that it is by an inadvertence, if language is used by -any persons in authority which seems to imply a disregard of it. I -apprehend that what it really means is that our Reformers excluded -from our Prayer Book<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_221" -id="Page_221">[221]</a></span> forms of Prayer for the Dead which -were in use in the primitive Church; and that an appeal is being made -to that primitive example as an authority for their reintroduction. -Now, I fully admit that primitive practice has a <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">prima-facie</i> -claim to favourable consideration; and, as I have urged for years, -if that principle were only acted upon, the Romish practices which -are being forced upon our Church by the ritualistic party would be -at once condemned. What, then, let us ask, were the Prayers for the -Dead which were in use in the primitive Church? The description -of them given by Bingham in his account of the ceremonies at the -interment of Christians in the ancient Church (vol. viii., Oxford -edition, p. 151) is in perfect harmony with that of Field and Ussher, -and will not, I think, be questioned. At the interment, as at the -Communion Service, “a solemn commemoration was made of the -dead in general, and prayers offered to God for them—some -Eucharistical, by way of thanksgiving for their deliverance out of -this world’s afflictions, and others by way of intercession -that God would receive<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_222" -id="Page_222">[222]</a></span> their souls to the place of rest -and happiness, that He would pardon their human failures, and not -impute to them the sins of daily incursion, which in the best men are -remainders of natural frailty and corruption; that He would increase -their happiness, and finally bring them to a perfect consummation -with all His Saints by a glorious resurrection.” The spirit and -purpose of these prayers is illuminated by an observation of Archbishop -Ussher (<cite>Answer to a Jesuit</cite>, chapter vii): “In these and other -prayers of the like kind we may descry evident footsteps of the primary -intention of the Church in such supplications for the dead, which was, -that the whole man, not the soul separated only, might receive public -remission of sins and a solemn acquittal in the judgment of that Great -Day, and so obtain a full escape from all the consequences of sin, <em>the -last enemy being now destroyed, and death swallowed up in victory</em>, and -a perfect consummation of bliss and happiness. All which are comprised -in that short prayer of St. Paul for Onesiphorus, though made for him -while he was alive: <em>The Lord grant unto him that he may find mercy of -the Lord in that day</em>.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_223" -id="Page_223">[223]</a></span></p> - -<p>In other words, all these prayers are for those mercies and -blessings which are revealed and promised in Holy Scripture, and for -them alone. They are not prayers for any alteration in the condition -of the Christian soul during the mysterious period between death -and the Resurrection, respecting which very various opinions have -been held by the Fathers of the Church. They are simply prayers for -the fulfilment, especially at the Day of the Resurrection, of those -promises of justification or acquittal, and of final glory in body -and soul, which are definitely given us in the New Testament. The -objection has been raised that of the fulfilment of these promises -we have certain assurance, and that therefore we need not pray for -them. But, as Ussher and Field abundantly show, this objection is -based upon a serious misconception of the nature of prayer. The -ancient Church, in accordance with the whole spirit of the Scriptures, -realized the privilege of receiving everything from God in the -nature of a gift, and therefore prayed to Him for the very things He -had most surely promised. It is in that gracious childlike spirit -that these supplications for the Christian dead were made in<span -class="pagenum"><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[224]</a></span> -primitive Christian times; and though that spirit has become, -unhappily, somewhat obscured among us, yet no one can use the petition -“Thy Kingdom come” without being sensible that he is -praying for a blessing which is most certain. For these prayers of the -early Church, therefore, there was a full warrant in Holy Scripture, -and there is no occasion to appeal to any other authority for them.</p> - -<p>Why, then, it will be asked, should they not be used in the Church -of England? The first and chief answer is that, in substance, they -are used. In the Burial Service we pray “that it may please -Thee shortly to accomplish the number of Thine elect and to hasten -Thy kingdom that we, with all those that are departed in the true -faith of Thy Holy Name, may have our perfect consummation and bliss -in Thy eternal and everlasting glory.” That is a prayer in the -very spirit described by Bingham and Ussher as that of the primitive -Church. Nor can I interpret in any less comprehensive sense the prayer -in our Communion Service, “that we and all Thy whole Church may -obtain remission of our sins, and all other benefits of His<span -class="pagenum"><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[225]</a></span> -passion.” Field’s statement (vol. ii., Cambridge edition, -p. 97) is fully justified by these prayers. “Touching Prayer -for the Dead, it is well known that Protestants do not simply condemn -all prayer in this kind; for they pray for the Resurrection, public -acquittal in the Day of Judgment, and the perfect consummation and -bliss of them that rest in the Lord, and the perfecting of whatsoever -is yet wanting in them.”</p> - -<p>If, therefore, in the Revision of the Prayer Book now pending, -or in official forms of intercession now under consideration, it is -contemplated to add anything to the language of the Prayer Book, -what we have to ask is that such additions may be kept within these -scriptural and primitive limits, and may not introduce petitions -which imply suppositions respecting the condition of the soul in the -intermediate state, of which Scripture tells us nothing. Even the -Archbishop’s language might give some encouragement to such -suppositions, when he speaks of praying “for him ... who still -lives and, as we may surely believe, still grows from strength to -strength, in truer purity<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_226" -id="Page_226">[226]</a></span> and in deepened reverence and -love.” Whoever believes that does so without warrant of -Scripture, and prayer based on such a belief has no authority in -revelation. The hope of the Christian is not that his soul will -be gradually purified after death, but that, in the words of the -commendatory prayer in the Service of the Visitation of the Sick, -it may, in death itself, be washed in the blood of that immaculate -Lamb, and presented, when it leaves the body, “pure and without -spot” unto God. Prayers, in short, which have any tinge of a -purgatorial view are unauthorized by Scripture, and inconsistent with -a most blessed element of Evangelical hope and faith. Short of this, I -could wish, for my own part, that we might imitate the purer forms of -prayer in the early Church by more specific mention of the departed, -as in what seems to me the beautiful expressions of the earlier Burial -Service. “We commend into Thy hands of mercy, most merciful -Father, the soul of this our brother departed, and his body we commit -to the earth, beseeching Thine infinite goodness to give us grace to -live in Thy fear and love, and to die in Thy<span class="pagenum"><a -name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[227]</a></span> favour; that when the -judgment shall come, which Thou hast committed to Thy wellbeloved -Son, both this our brother and we may be found acceptable in Thy -sight.” After all, in presence of the mysteries of death, and of -the condition of those we have lost, what prayer can be more comforting -than one which simply commends to our Father’s gracious hands, -through our Saviour’s merits and grace, the beloved soul after -which we yearn? That is a Prayer for the Dead which may be offered -without scruple and without cessation, and in which we may find, day -by day, and in every moment of sorrow and distress, our refuge and our -consolation.</p> - -<div class="chapter"></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[228]</a></span></p> - -<h2><span class="smcap">Christ and the Soldier.</span></h2> - -<p class="center noindent">ADDRESS AT THE CHURCH PARADE, IN THE NAVE OF -THE CATHEDRAL, SEPT. 27, 1914.</p> - -<div class="sc-ref"> - -<p class="center">“<i>Let not your heart be troubled; ye believe in God, believe -also in Me.</i>”—St. John xiv. 1.</p> - -</div> - -<p>My brethren, when your Commanding Officer did me the honour to ask -me to address you, I thought I would try to bring before you, in the -simplest and briefest form, the special message which is brought by the -Gospel of Christ to men in such a position as that in which you now -stand—a position of great anxiety and solemn responsibility. You -will meet that responsibility, of course, in the manly and cheerful -spirit which has marked soldiers of great races at all times, from the -Jews, Greeks, and Romans to our own days. But the Gospel of Christ has -the characteristic privilege of bringing good news to human nature -in all circumstances. It sheds a new and blessed light on life and -all its duties, on death and all its fears, and I would fain impress -on you, in one sentence<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_229" -id="Page_229">[229]</a></span> of our Saviour, what is the supreme -blessing and guidance which it affords, especially to soldiers.</p> - -<p>That blessing is contained in the few words of my text: <i>Ye -believe in God; believe also in Me</i>. They are the first words of our -Saviour’s address to His disciples, at the moment when they -were in great trouble and anxiety, on account of His having told them -that He was about to be violently taken from them. It was no ordinary -trouble that they were about to encounter, but one of the greatest -and bitterest that ever befell human beings. Yet He begins, at once, -by bidding them not be troubled. <i>Let not your hearts be troubled</i>, -He said. But how were they to avoid it? He gives them a short and -sufficient reason: <i>Ye believe in God; believe also in Me</i>. Remember -who they were. They were Jews, full of the faith of the old Covenant; -familiar with the psalms which we sing every day, believing in God as -Abraham did, as David did, as Isaiah did, and as He Himself had taught -them to believe. That was and is, a grand faith to live in. But our -Lord brought an addition to it, which made<span class="pagenum"><a -name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[230]</a></span> it, and makes it, -infinitely better. <i>Ye believe in God</i>, He said; <i>believe also in Me</i>. -He uses the same word of belief in Himself which He had used of belief -in God. “You put your trust in God,” He seems to say; -“You give yourselves up to Him, to obey His will for life and for -death. Do the same for Me. Give yourselves up also to Me, to obey Me, -to trust Me and to love Me.” The privilege of doing that is the -reason He gives them for not letting their heart be troubled. If they -would obey and trust Him with the same faith which they gave to God, -they would have still surer ground for comfort and strength than if -they only believed in the God of their fathers.</p> - -<p>This was a great claim for our Lord Jesus Christ to make. But He -went on to shed His blood on the Cross in attestation of it; and, -according to His promise, He rose again after being put to death, to -assure us that He was the living Son of God He claimed to be; and that -is our sufficient reason for believing it. For that reason we take His -word for it, and trust everything He said. But why does this assurance -bring that special comfort to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_231" -id="Page_231">[231]</a></span> His disciples, and to ourselves, which -He promises? There are many reasons; but on this occasion I will -mention only the one which He Himself proceeds to state. He goes on -to declare at once what is perhaps the greatest of all the comforts -which He brings. He tells us what is our eternal Home, whither He was -Himself going, and where we are meant to go. He says at once: <i>In My -Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have -told you. I go to prepare a place for you; and if I go and prepare a -place for you, I will come again and receive you unto Myself, that -where I am there ye may be also.</i> Every one of us must ask himself, -sooner or later, where he is going; what is his eternal Home? More -especially must we ask ourselves this question when we are brought face -to face, in any way, with the great issues of life and death. When -nations are marching in their millions to conflicts which must mean an -early death to many of them, we must crave for an answer, more than -ever, to the question, What is beyond death? What is the life into -which we shall pass from this world?</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_232" -id="Page_232">[232]</a></span></p> - -<p>Now, in these few words, our Saviour gives us an assurance on this -question which is more than sufficient. We shall go into a world in -which He is ready to meet us, and in which He is preparing mansions -for us. Without the Gospel, there is a complete veil over the future -life. But to the Christian that veil is lifted by the Saviour and -His Apostles in some glorious details, and above all—far above -all—in this: that the Lord Jesus Christ, that living Man of whom -you read in the Gospels, Whose character stands out so clearly there, -in all graciousness, justice, love, and power, is preparing homes for -us, and will be there to receive us unto Himself. David was inspired -to sing, <i>When I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will -fear no evil, for Thou art with me; Thy rod and Thy staff comfort me</i>. -It was a great height of inspired faith to be able to utter that prayer -of trust in the great God of his fathers, surrounded, as he then was, -by clouds and darkness. But what a vastly greater blessing it is to -be able to say it of the Lord Jesus Christ, Whom we are privileged -to know, not only as God, but as Man in<span class="pagenum"><a -name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[233]</a></span> flesh and blood, and to -be assured that in death, as in life, we have with us all the sympathy, -all the tenderness, as well as all the righteousness and justice, which -He showed during His life on earth. Had He not reason to say: <i>Let not -your hearts be troubled; believe in Me</i>?</p> - -<p>But if it is to be a comfort to us to know that we shall be received -by the Lord Jesus Christ when we pass from this world, and that, -whether we pass suddenly or slowly, we shall find ourselves in His -hands, we cannot fail to realize that one condition on our own part is -essential. We must come to Him with a character, and in a condition, -which He can approve. He will meet us in two capacities; first, as -our Saviour and friend, but also as our Judge. Without waiting for -that ultimate judgment which He has announced, the thought of our -closer approach to Him at death must make us deeply apprehensive of -His personal judgment on our character and our lives. If we desire to -meet Him in happiness, we must be preparing ourselves, while we are -here, so as to be at least in general harmony with His will and His -character. In consequence of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_234" -id="Page_234">[234]</a></span> those inveterate sins of mankind, which -bring about wars and all other such miseries, He Himself, with His own -deliberate consent, was brought to death, and sacrificed His life as -an atonement for our evil; and by that sacrifice He has won from God -the Father, His Father and our Father, the right to forgive us and to -judge us mercifully. We may be sure accordingly that He will receive -us into the arms of His mercy, and pardon our innumerable failures and -offences, if we truly repent of them. But if we are to be at peace with -Him hereafter, in His mansions, He must needs expect us, while we are -here, to be trying to grow like Him, and to be doing His will. This -accordingly is the second main point which follows from this assurance -of our Lord. It places us under the strongest possible obligation to -live here as Christ would have us, in order that we may look forward -with full hope to living with Him hereafter.</p> - -<p>Consequently, this promise of Christ obliges us to Christen, as it -were, or to Christianize, the work of our lives, and every duty or -profession in which we are<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_235" -id="Page_235">[235]</a></span> engaged. This is a principle which has -innumerable applications; and I will only apply it this morning to one -aspect of the profession of a soldier. Men had great ideals before -Christ came. Few things are nobler, in the profession of arms, than -the examples of self-sacrifice, of bravery, of generosity, exhibited -by the ancient Jews, Greeks, and Romans, and, in our own days, by the -Japanese. But the history of the Christian world has shown that it -is possible to raise those ideals, if not to a higher, yet to a more -gracious, height by adding a Christian touch or colour to them. The -knighthood of the Middle Ages, for instance, exhibited the highest -qualities of a manly soldiery, elevated, purified, and illuminated -by the supreme graces of gentleness, of mercy, of tenderness for the -weak, of that impulse to save the suffering and the crushed, which is -embodied in our Lord’s character as “the Saviour.” -The knight of the Middle Ages was essentially the saviour of the -weak, the champion of women, bound by oath to uphold all right and -righteousness, to avenge wrong, to maintain, in the midst of his -stern duties, the mercies and graces of Christian feeling.<span -class="pagenum"><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[236]</a></span> One -of them, as he stood at the bier of the most famous knight of his day, -is described in the old romance as exclaiming: <i>And now, I daresay, -that Sir Lancelot, there thou liest: thou wert never matched of none -earthly knight’s hands; and thou wert the courtliest knight that -ever bare shield; and thou wert the truest friend to thy lover that -ever bestrode horse; and thou wert the truest lover of a sinful man -that ever loved woman; and thou wert the kindest man that ever stroke -with sword; and thou wert the goodliest person that ever came among -press of knights; and thou wert the meekest man and the gentlest that -ever ate in hall among ladies; and thou wert the sternest knight to thy -mortal foe that ever put spear in the rest</i>. Can we fail to be sensible -that, even in such an imperfect example, something of the grace of -Christian tenderness has been shed over the character—an essence -of Christian feeling, which would make impossible in such a soldier any -brutal violence or wilful injustice? It was, in fact, the conscious -example of Christ which controlled them. They all, more or less, -resembled the knight of our own noble poet Spenser:</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">[237]</a></span></p> - -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="poem"> - <div class="stanza"> -<p>For on his breast a bloody cross he bore,</p> -<p class="i2">The dear remembrance of his dying Lord:</p> -<p>For Whose sweet sake that glorious badge he wore,</p> -<p class="i2">And dead, as living ever, Him adored;</p> -<p>Upon his shield the like was also scored,</p> -<p class="i2">For sovran hope which in his help he had.</p> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class="noindent">That is the true badge not only of Christian -service to the wounded, but of Christian warfare itself.</p> - -<p>Such, my brethren, is the spirit in which you can apply to your -present duties the exhortation of our Saviour in this gracious and -cardinal text. It bids you to add the belief in the presence of Christ, -the obligation of obedience to Christ, trust in Christ and love towards -Him, to all the other principles by which you are animated. The fact -that you are here, that you are making great sacrifices, that you are -ready to make the greatest sacrifice of all, for your country, is proof -enough that you are animated by high and generous motives, that you -wish to live and die for the greatest of all causes, for righteousness -and justice, for your King and your country. But if you would do the -best you can, do one thing more. Take care to add the spirit of Christ -to these motives and impulses; strive to enter more deeply,<span -class="pagenum"><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[238]</a></span> day -by day, into His heart and will, to realize more and more, even in -the midst of war, that “new commandment” which He gave -us, <i>that we should love one another</i>; and so prepare yourselves to -meet Him whenever you have to do so, as we all have, soon or late, -in such a character that He may be able to say to you: <i>Well done, -good and faithful servant, enter thou into the joy of thy Lord</i>. In -a word: You believe in God, and in all that the Name of God stands -for—righteousness, truth, goodness of all kinds: believe also -in Christ, and let His love, His mercy, His purity, His absolute -self-sacrifice, add His own peculiar grace to all your words and deeds, -and then you may cherish the confident hope that <i>where He is there you -will be also</i>.</p> - -<div class="chapter"></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[239]</a></span></p> - -<h2><span class="smcap">The Eternal Life of the Soul.</span></h2> - -<p class="center noindent">PREACHED IN THE NAVE OF CANTERBURY -CATHEDRAL, AT THE MILITARY CHURCH PARADE, OCTOBER 15, 1916.</p> - -<div class="sc-ref"> - -<p class="center">“<i>O God, Thou art my God; early will I seek -Thee.</i>”—Psalm lxiii. 1.</p> - -</div> - -<p>These words ought to be in the heart and the mouth of every soul -in this congregation. They are the first words of a Psalm, which has -been used as a morning Psalm by many generations of Christians, and -it is the privilege of all of us to echo them. But let us consider -carefully what they mean. Who is the God to Whom they speak? We are -in the House of God, to worship God; and we open our worship, every -Sunday, with a Psalm which tells us who He is. “The Lord,” -it says, “is a great God, a great King above all Gods. In His -hand are all the corners of the earth, and the strength of the hills is -His also. The sea is His, and He made it: and His hands prepared the -dry land. O come, let us worship and fall down, and kneel before the -Lord our Maker.” That<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_240" -id="Page_240">[240]</a></span> is the God to whom the Christian speaks. -He is the God Who made heaven and earth, and whose will and power -upholds them from hour to hour. He is our maker, “and we are -the people of His pasture, and the sheep of His hand.” In other -words, “All things were made by Him, and without Him was not -anything made that was made.”</p> - -<p>The word “God” is too often used lightly in common -conversation among us, but without due remembrance that it is the Name -of the Most awful and supreme reality that can be thought of. We do not -use lightly the name of our King, but God is the King of Kings and Lord -of Lords. Our lives and our souls are in the hollow of His hand every -moment; and if we considered only His supreme Majesty and our weak and -passing frames, we are perfectly insignificant beings before Him. But -it is to this Being that the Psalmist addresses the words “O God, -Thou art my God; early will I seek Thee.” We may all say that, -as well as the Psalmist. It is our privilege to speak to the King of -Kings, the Lord of Lords, as our own; we may<span class="pagenum"><a -name="Page_241" id="Page_241">[241]</a></span> call Him our God, our -own God, we may tell Him that we seek Him, that we seek Him above all -things, and we may say, as the Psalmist goes on to say, “My soul -thirsteth for Thee, my flesh also longeth after Thee: in a barren -and dry land where no water is. Thus have I looked for Thee in the -sanctuary (in a Cathedral like this) that I might behold Thy power and -glory.” How is it that humble and feeble creatures like ourselves -can thus call the God of heaven and earth our own, and speak to Him, -and tell Him, in this earnest language, that we cannot do without Him? -Where, above all, can we find Him and approach Him?</p> - -<p>The Psalmist used these words, and we may use them too, because this -God is the nearest of all things in the world to us, and because we are -in daily contact with Him in our hearts and souls. It is true He is so -great and infinite, that He has made the world, and all its marvels -and glories; but we are more concerned to realize that He has made our -own selves, and our minds and hearts and consciences, and when we look -into those hearts, and listen to those consciences, we are only<span -class="pagenum"><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">[242]</a></span> -experiencing, in ourselves, the work of His hands, and listening to -His voice. Above all other things, God made right and wrong, He made -us to realize the difference between right and wrong; He made the -truth, and enabled us to love it, and to hate what is false; in a -word, He made our consciences and our minds; and He lives and works -in them, as much as He does in the world at large. It is very well -for us to look up to the heavens, to think of Him as the Creator of -all those stars and worlds, or to look into the infinite mysteries -of this world’s life, its minute elements and atoms; but it is -more important for us to think of Him as the Giver, and Ruler, and -Guide of our very souls and bodies, Who determined what we were made -for, and what we ought to do, what sort of a life we ought to live, -putting into our hearts the knowledge of our duty, warning us of it by -the constant voice of our consciences, and bidding us realize that He -will judge us, for our obedience or disobedience to His will and His -commands. Think of God, by all means, in His greatness and His Majesty, -and His awful powers, but then<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_243" -id="Page_243">[243]</a></span> think of Him as actually in contact -with you in your own souls, teaching you and speaking to you in your -consciences, and calling to you, by your sense of right and wrong, to -remember that He is your judge, and that your very life and happiness -depend upon your union with Him. That is the thought of God that should -be incessantly in our minds. As the Scripture says more than once, you -need not go to the heavens to seek Him there, you need not go into the -depths of the earth to seek Him there, but He is near you, nearer to -you than anything else, in your very souls and consciences; you hear -His voice there, you feel the influence of His Spirit; there you can -always find Him, you can turn to Him at any moment and say “O -God, Thou art my God; early will I seek Thee.”</p> - -<p>There is no reality in the world which can be compared, in its -momentous importance, to this. It must be brought home to us, by -the experience which is thrust upon us by the Great War, that -everything else with which we have to do, everything else in the -world, passes away from us. So it does indeed from everybody,<span -class="pagenum"><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">[244]</a></span> -at all times, whether times of war or of peace. There comes a time -to every soul when it has to leave the body, and, with the body, -everything else with which it has been associated in this world. We -all know it when we think seriously about it; but the misfortune is -that, in ordinary life, men do not think seriously about it. All their -thoughts and interests are engaged in the business and the pleasures -and the interests of this life, and they seldom look beyond. But in -days like the present we are forced to look beyond them. You, above -all, who, at the call of duty, have laid behind you, for the present, -all the ordinary interests of life, and are offering yourselves to -all the risks of the battlefield—you have reason to ask, with -supreme earnestness, what is the reality for which you are making this -sacrifice, and what will remain to you if the full sacrifice should be -exacted from you.</p> - -<p>It is the grand answer of our religion, to say that, whatever -happens, God remains to you. This God, moreover, is not a distant -God, not merely the Maker of the heavens and the earth, but your God, -the God of your inmost soul, the God of your<span class="pagenum"><a -name="Page_245" id="Page_245">[245]</a></span> conscience, the God -whose eye sees into your hearts, and Whose hand has been with you from -your childhood, to help you, to guide you, and to inspire you with all -the thoughts of truth, of manliness, of faithfulness, of purity, which -you have felt working in you. Whenever the outward clothing of our -souls drops off from us, whether in the death of old age, or the death -of sickness, or the death of the battlefield, our souls will certainly -be in the immediate presence of One Supreme Reality; and that is the -God with Whom, in our conscience, our souls have been in contact day -by day, and night by night, throughout our lives. That is why we come -to worship Him here, that is why we pray to Him day by day, and I hope -hour by hour, and minute by minute. That is why we should say to Him -like the Psalmist “O God, Thou art my God; early will I seek -Thee.” Nothing else is of permanent and everlasting consequence -to us, but our relation to Him, and our union with Him—His -relation to us, and His love of us. While everything is shaking -around us, while the kingdoms are moved, and lives seem thrown away -as things of small value,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_246" -id="Page_246">[246]</a></span> let us remember that one great Living -Being remains to all of us, to those whose lives are lost on earth, -and to those who remain, and that is the Eternal God, the Giver of -all truth, and righteousness and love; and the greater the strain and -stress of life and death, the more may we confidently exclaim, in the -tumult of the battlefield as much as in the peace of this sanctuary, -“O God, Thou art my God; early will I seek Thee.”</p> - -<p>But when and where are you to seek Him? The question has been -answered in the truths of which I have reminded you. Seek Him in -obedience to that Voice of His, which you hear in your consciences, -seek Him in obedience to those principles of right, as against wrong, -which He has implanted in you, and which His Spirit is continually -reviving in you; seek Him in trying, day by day, to do His Will as He -has revealed it to you in His word, especially as He has revealed it -to you in the life and teaching of His Own Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. -Seek Him in those sacraments and ordinances of His Church which he -has instituted for our comfort. If you obey<span class="pagenum"><a -name="Page_247" id="Page_247">[247]</a></span> our Lord Jesus Christ, -and try to follow His life, His Spirit will speak to you continually -in your consciences, will help you to know your duty and to do it, and -you will be saying in practice what you say in words: “O God, -Thou art my God; early will I seek Thee.” Our Lord has told you -that if you are true hearted in trying to do this, He will forgive you -your failures and weaknesses, that He has died to make atonement for -them, that He will take you by the hand as you pass from this life to -the next, and will be your advocate and sponsor before the face of the -righteous and Almighty God. Let us bring this spirit into all we do -and all we think, and we shall then be able to join in the succeeding -words of this Psalm, “Have I not remembered Thee in my bed: and -thought upon Thee when I was waking? Because Thou hast been my helper: -therefore under the shadow of Thy wings will I rejoice. My soul hangeth -upon Thee: Thy right hand hath upholden me.” May God grant us all -this faith and this eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.</p> - -<p class="p2 bt center">Hunt, Barnard & Co., Ltd., Printers, London and Aylesbury.</p> - -<div class="chapter"></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">[248]</a></span></p> - -<p class="ph2">WORKS BY HENRY WACE, D.D.,</p> - -<p class="center noindent bb">Dean of Canterbury.</p> - -<p class="bktitle">SOME QUESTIONS OF THE DAY.</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>BIBLICAL, NATIONAL <span class="smcap">and</span> ECCLESIASTICAL. -<span class="smcap">First Series</span>, cheaper re-issue. Demy 8vo., -Cloth, Gilt, <b>2/-</b> net.</p> - -</div> - -<p class="bktitle">SOME QUESTIONS OF THE DAY.</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>NATIONAL, ECCLESIASTICAL <span class="smcap">and</span> RELIGIOUS. -<span class="smcap">Second Series.</span> Demy 8vo., Cloth, Gilt, -<b>3/6</b> net.</p> - -</div> - -<p class="bktitle">PROPHECY, JEWISH AND CHRISTIAN.</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>Considered in a Series of Warburton Lectures at Lincoln’s Inn. -Cheaper re-issue. Crown 8vo., Cloth, Gilt, <b>1/6</b> net.</p> - -</div> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p class="bktitle">PAMPHLETS. One Penny each.</p> - -<div class="hang"> - -<p>The Atonement.</p> - -<p>The Estimate and Use of the Holy Scripture in the Church of -England.</p> - -<p>The Church of England and Roman Vestments.</p> - -<p>The Main Purpose and Character of the XXXIX -Articles.</p> - -</div> - -<p class="center bt p2"><span class="smcap">London</span>: CHAS. J. THYNNE.</p> - -<div class="chapter"></div> - -<div class="tnotes"> - -<p class="ph3">Transcriber’s Note</p> - -<p>Minor punctuation errors have been corrected (i.e. missing periods). -Original spellings and variations (i.e. civilization and civilisation) -have been retained, except for the following apparent typographical -errors:</p> - -<p>Page <a href="#Page_35">35</a>, “temporaly” changed to -“temporal.” (for the things which are seen are temporal)</p> - -<p>Page <a href="#Page_89">89</a>, “eleswhere” changed -to “elsewhere.” (a picture not adequately described -elsewhere)</p> - -<p>Page <a href="#Page_94">94</a>, “idolators” changed -to “idolaters.” (whoremongers, and murderers, and -idolaters)</p> - -<p>Page <a href="#Page_106">106</a>, “thoughout” changed to -“throughout.” (gracious throughout their vast Empire)</p> - -<p>Page <a href="#Page_223">223</a>, “repecting” changed -to “respecting.” (respecting which very various opinions -have)</p> - -<p><a href="#Page_97">Chapter VIII</a>’s sermon, Resistance Unto -Blood, was incorrectly labeled as having taken place April 3, 1916. It -has been corrected to read April 21, 1916. (The correct date was listed -in the <a href="#Page_vii">Table of Contents</a>.)</p> - -<p>The following inconsistencies were present in the original text:</p> - -<p>Differences in the titles given in the Table of Contents and chapter -headings for these sermons:</p> - -<p class="noindent ml3"> -<a href="#Page_105">Chapter IX</a><br /> -<a href="#Page_129">Chapter XI</a></p> - -<p>Differences in the dates given in the Table of Contents and chapter -headings for these sermons:</p> - -<p class="noindent ml3"> -<a href="#Page_158">Chapter XIII</a>, Reasons for Intercession<br /> -<a href="#Page_203">Chapter XVI</a>, Religion and War</p> - -</div> - - - - - - - - -<pre> - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The War and the Gospel, by Henry Wace - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE WAR AND THE GOSPEL *** - -***** This file should be named 55160-h.htm or 55160-h.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/5/5/1/6/55160/ - -Produced by Cindy Horton, Larry B. 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